Guys, don't freak out. Literally, just go along with the ride and trust me lol. This story is almost over (thankfully) and none of you should panic. I promise I'm not an a-hole.
There's a clue in here if you can find it.
Also, if you see a mistake, please let me know. I swear I'm seeing this chapter even with my eyes closed.
Lucifer sat behind his desk and watched the woman make her way through his office. It was rare he worked from home. But when his assistant informed him that Lillian Luthor of all people wanted to speak to him, Lucifer agreed on principle. Still, he wasn't a fool. Jack kept him updated with every event that happened from the moment Kara Danvers – Supergirl – publicly announced her marriage to Lena Luthor. It was the talk of the town, of every town, and it still was. A Luthor and a Super getting together would be the top news for as long as Cat Grant reigned over all of the media, and even when she didn't, no publication is ever stupid enough to pass up the opportunity to catch Lena or Kara at their most vulnerable moments. Lillian stopped in front of his desk, and he gestured for her to sit down. He would enjoy speaking with the woman who held a special seat in his domain once all was said and done.
"Lillian Luthor, I admit this is a surprise." Lucifer leaned over and stapled his fingers under his chin. "I assumed you would be halfway across the world with your son," he said.
"I would like to make a deal."
"Straight to the point. I like it. What kind of deal are you interested in?" he asked.
"I want the Kryptonian dead. In exchange, you can have whatever you desire."
"Which Kryptonian?"
"The one attached to my wayward daughter."
Lucifer was slow to respond.
"You want to arrange the death of the woman that your daughter is in love with?"
"Lena is not in love with that creature. She is doing this out of spite, and I grow tired of waiting for her to come to her senses."
"And killing Supergirl will make that happen?" he asked.
"It will, at the very least, ensure that I will not have to invite the thing over for the holidays."
"Why is this so important to you?"
"I told you. I am tired of waiting for my daughter to realize her mistake. As her mother, I am obligated to step in when she has lost her way."
"Have you forgotten who I am? You will have to do a lot better than that to-
Lucifer stopped and cocked his head. He studied the woman a little closer, seeing the way her suit had been altered in certain places, how her hair was thinning around the edges, and the somewhat grayish tint to her skin. The reasons became clear, and he sat back.
"You're dying."
Lillian bristled and said, "The doctors suggested that I get my affairs in order. So that is what I am doing."
"And one of your affairs is to kill Supergirl?"
"Yes."
"What of your daughter? Have you considered Lena in any of this?"
"Lena will move one. She and Lex will reunite, and I will die knowing that my family is safe and together."
Tilting his head, Lucifer weighed his options. A deal like the one being offered was too good to pass up, so he asked, "What are your terms?"
"I want the Kryptonian dead. But I would prefer to have Lena broken entirely when she comes to me. l want her to need her family, her true family, which will be Lex and me."
"So you're saying I have carte blanche?"
"Yes."
"Interesting. That would cost more."
"Whatever it requires, I will give."
"Including your fortune?" he asked. "Not that I need it, of course. But I never say no to more money."
"All of it?"
"I'll be generous and allow you to keep forty percent to do whatever you please with. That will leave me sixty percent."
"Fine. I will send the paperwork over this afternoon to ensure that sixty percent of my fortune goes to you after my passing."
Lucifer had met a lot of delusional women and men in his life, but none more so than the woman sitting in front of him. It was almost pathetic, truly, how easy it was to give his answer once he heard the terms.
"We have a deal," he said. "By the end of the week, Lena will be broken and at your doorstep. In return, you will give me your soul and sixty-perfect of your fortune."
Lucifer snapped his fingers, and the contract was set. Lillian sagged under the weight of what she'd done, and Lucifer stood from his desk.
"See to it that you remember your words, Miss Luthor. Because they may come back to haunt you once this is finished," he warned.
Kara didn't expect the call about a car parked in front of the hospital with a bomb tied to it. It was Monday! She was annoyed that someone started her week off with such foolishness. She excused herself from the office, glad to be free from all of the questioning about where she was going, and she flew toward the hospital. She landed near the car and froze. The ticking sound coming from under the hood was a lot faster than it should have been, and she realized that the timer would go off before she could disarm it. Kara panicked and picked up the car, flying into the air. She cleared the skyline just as the car exploded, and Kara watched a green cloud slam into her chest. Normally, Kara's powers would leave in stages after her exposure to Kryptonite. But she was falling from the sky the moment she came into contact with the substance.
Kara couldn't breathe, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she free-fell toward the city. She was half-conscious when she crashed into the park, unaware of her bones shattering on impact or the piece of her rib that lodged itself into her lung. She choked on her blood and scrambled to activate Lena's shield, but she couldn't. Kara dug at the dirt, willing oxygen into her body, but as the sound of sirens grew louder and louder, Kara's heart slowed to a stop.
National City stood in silence in their homes, their schools, and their jobs as Cat Grant herself reported the demise of Supergirl. No one commented on the bloodshot eyes or the way she stammered over certain words.
It was almost eerie how the city came to a standstill.
Supergirl was Dead.
Wednesday found Sam rolling around downtown National City.
"Damnit. What the fuck is this thing?"
"Unknown species," Lena said flatly. "So maybe stop fucking around and take care of it?"
"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do, Luthor?" Sam snapped.
Lena clicked her teeth, and the coms went silent. Sam clenched her jaw and got to her feet. There was no use in apologizing. It wasn't like either of them meant it, but Kara's absence, while never easy in the first place, was beginning to weigh on them. It'd only been two days, but the criminals and villains in National City moved on from Supergirl's death within hours, and the crime rate had doubled. That meant Sam and J'onn carried the bulk of the fighting. And Sam knew she was strong. She was one of the strongest beings on the planet. So it made no sense why she was struggling to bring down a damn lizard.
"Will you focus!" Lena shouted.
Sam grunted and ducked the massive tail aimed for her head.
"Pay attention before you get yourself killed."
"Sorry, Lee."
"Whatever."
Sam took that for what it was. Everything was too fresh, too raw, and Lena was never the type to deal with her emotions until she had no choice. The makeshift family was teetering between destruction and implosion, and no one knew how to stop it. Lena had all but thrown herself into protecting the city, neglecting sleep and food in the process. Alex was angrier than usual and hung up her guns, spending every waking minute in her lab to figure out the kind of Kryptonite that was used on her sister. Kara's body remained at the DEO in a downstairs lab that only Lena, Alex, and J'onn had access to. They weren't prepared to let go, and Sam couldn't blame them. She wasn't ready either. Neither was Ruby or Bruce or Raven or Jinx.
Even Jack was hesitant to say his final wishes, choosing to believe that Kara would return.
No one bothered to keep Clark updated. The Kryptonian made it clear he blamed Lena for what happened, as did James, and Bruce was the first to break James' jaw for his comments. Diana stood in front of Clark, daring him to do something stupid at Kara's memorial, and Superman carried James away. That was the last they'd heard of them. But Diana went quiet after that. She merely checked on Lena and said nothing else. Literally. Diana temporarily hung up her cloak and buried herself in her museum work. Sam thought it was strange how the Amazonian retreated into her shell, not once letting anyone see how much Kara's death affected her.
Sam dodged the tail again and glared at the lizard.
"If you could please just end this fight so we can move on, that would be lovely."
"I'm trying!"
"No, you're not. If you were, you'd be fighting as Reign. Not as a superpowered human."
Sam hesitated and flexed her fingers.
"I don't like being in that headspace without Kara around."
"Do you trust us?"
"Barely."
"Samantha!"
"Fine, yes, I trust you."
"Then trust us to catch you when you fall. That thing is going to destroy the city if you don't, and you are the only one who can bring it down."
Sam groaned and bounced on her toes before giving Reign full control. She sank into the depths of her subconscious, and it felt like a blink of an eye. She would later learn it was almost ten minutes, but in one moment, Sam was on the ground looking up at a deformed lizard. And when she opened her eyes again, she was standing in the middle of the street, covered in a green and black goo-like substance. Sam grimaced at the lizard that was practically torn to shreds behind her. She felt sick. It was easier to be Reign when she had Kara. But without her, Sam felt like a monster. But her emotions took a backseat when she wavered back and forth.
"The hell?"
Sam tried to step forward but stumbled and lost her balance. She looked down when her arms started to burn. The green substance sunk beneath her skin, and Sam watched as green lines raced toward her heart. Once they reached their destination, Sam dropped to her knees like she'd been electrocuted. Her jaw locked, and her limbs went stiff. Sam's eyes flashed red, brown, and then red again.
"Sam? Sam, can you hear me?"
The green lines spread up her neck to her head, and Sam fell face-first to the concrete. It felt like Reign was being tortured, and in return, that meant Sam was being tortured too. She whined under her breath, hearing her screams echoing back to her in the depths of her mind.
"Hold on, Sammy! Just hold on, please!"
Sam's body arched off the ground, and she saw Ruby sprinting down the street before she saw nothing at all.
By the time Friday came around, it seemed as if the entire country had lost its collective mind. The United States had begun to feel the consequences of not having Reign nor Kara at their beck and call. The Justice League had to be called in when Superman was no longer capable of protecting Metropolis and National City. The Teen Titans had their criminals to worry about in Jump, and Gotham was a free-for-all. It seemed as if every villain and criminal in the country wanted their piece of the action. So when Arkham Asylum had the largest breakout in its history, Bruce and Diana had no choice but to go back.
"I'll be back," Bruce promised.
"No, you won't," Lena said flatly. "In my experiences, when my parents leave me, they don't come back."
"I'm not like the others, Lee. I'll come back to you."
Lena rubbed her temples and nodded. Bruce kissed the top of her head.
"I love you."
"Love you too, Dad."
Bruce and Diana said their goodbyes, and they hopped on the plane that would take them to Gotham. It was one thing to have the Joker on the streets, but with Bane and Scarecrow at his side, Gotham needed all the help it could get. In the few hours that they'd been gone, Gotham seemed to descend into worse chaos. It got to the point that Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy decided to join forces with Ryan and Luke as Batwing to control the damage. Even Alice helped Mary to keep people fed and hydrated on the streets.
Sides were chosen, blood was shed, and Gotham was on the verge of a collapse.
That meant on Friday night, inching closer to midnight, Lena was watching the screens in the DEO control center with everyone else. It was the last safe place in National City, and each monitor displayed the cities under siege. Gotham was the worst of it all, and Lena nervously followed Batman's plane over the city. There was a news chopper a few feet behind it, the reporter singing the praises of the heroes who fought valiantly to keep Gotham safe. But Lena was one of the few people who knew that plane carried more than Bruce and Wonder Woman. J'onn was there too, a secret weapon they could use to locate Bane. They had the Joker, the dumbass all too eager to think that Harley Quinn had come to her senses, and he was frozen solid at an unnamed location. No one asked why or how, but it was one less psychopath on the streets.
"Oh, my God. Is that a –
Lena froze as a rocket shot through the sky toward the plane. It happened too fast, and the camera on the news chopper caught it all on tape. The plane jerked into the air to avoid the rocket but wasn't prepared for the second one that came right after it. The flames from the explosion reflected in everyone's eyes as the plane fell from the sky. It crashed into a warehouse and stayed there. Alex jumped up from her seat, her eyes wide, and Raven slowly stood as well. They could see the plane still on fire, and no one breathed. It was deadly silent in the DEO, and Lena felt that familiar feeling she had with Kara and Sam the longer she went without seeing Bruce or Diana or J'onn.
The news camera dropped to the road where Ryan was on her bike, speeding toward the warehouse with Luke behind her. Lena stepped away from the screens as the feeling grew stronger, and she felt like she was back on the water with her mother. Stuck, unable to do anything. She watched like everyone else as two vines erupted from the ground and yanked Ryan and Luke off their bikes into the air just as the warehouse itself exploded. The news reporter explained with a tone dipped in disbelief and shock that Batman's plane had gone down in the one warehouse that was used for storing gasoline for ships that passed through Gotham.
It was a bomb waiting to go off when the plane crashed into it, and Poison Ivy had saved Ryan and Luke's life. The camera switched to a roof a couple of buildings away where Poison Ivy stood. She had her eyes on the warehouse, even as she lowered Luke and Ryan to solid ground. The three of them stared at the flames licking the top of the sky.
Lena sucked in a sharp breath and turned on her heel. She pushed her way through the agents and ignored the coldness creeping into her chest.
I'll come back to you.
Yet another lie. Another person Lena loved was gone. There was no proof Lex orchestrated the plane crash. Gotham was a shit show, and everyone knew Batman's plane. But she knew deep down in her soul that he was responsible for Kara and Sam, and that's where it all started.
"Where is he!"
"I d-don't know! I haven't seen Lex since-
The gunshot echoed in the bar, and Lena stepped over the body. She went up to the next one and put it against his temple. The bar was the one place where Lex's henchmen would hang out, something Lena had known for a long time, and she figured one of them knew where he was. Lex was consistent and hated hiring new people. So if there was a plan at play, then one of them would know. So far, Lena was down six bodies with three more bleeding out. And she was running out of henchmen. She knew most people underestimated her, but the Luthors raised her. Plus, Lena lost her sense of morality the day her wife's heart stopped beating. At the thought of Kara, Lena slammed the butt of her gun against the guy's face. The sound his nose made as it broke from the impact wasn't satisfying enough, and she did it again and again and again. When he was pleading and crying for her to stop, Lena bent down and looked him in the eyes.
"I will only ask you once. Where is Lex?"
"He's with Lillian," the man cried. "They're at the main house. Lex wants us to meet him there on Sunday."
"Oh. That's too bad."
Lena killed him and the others before grabbing a bottle of bourbon off the shelf. The receiver jamming all phone calls in and out of the area would shut off the moment she was approximately twenty miles away, and police would finally get the reports of gunshots in the area. Lena paused and left a message for Alex and Alex alone, and she walked out the back door.
She was going to Metropolis.