Author's Note: This chapter really brings in a lot of uncertainty for Lena, and starts to push Kara and Lena together more.

I hope you enjoy.


Chapter 3 - The Truth about The Order

Kara, Alex and Nia arrived at Ledecestre about twelve hours later. They had picked up the pace after they took a brief break at Ravensthorpe. This was the new clan from Norway. One of the hidden ones, Basim, had set up a bureau in that village.

They visited, ate some food, even got some rest before they left and continued the rest of the way. They knew the bureau was in the eastern part of Ledecestre, near a marsh, but weren't entirely sure where the entrance was, as they had to live in the shadows so it wasn't a building out in the open. They also knew that in this town, they would be attacked on sight.

With this information, they tied their horses to a tree outside of the town, before they put their hoods up and walked into the town to make their way to the bureau.

Alex, and Nia led the way with Kara walking a distance behind them to ensure there wasn't anyone following them. As well as to keep a watch to ensure there wasn't anyone here to cause them harm. They had a trainee with them after all.

Kara wandered the area behind them, watching for danger. Until she spotted something. She walked over to Alex, "Hey, I'm going to check on something, I'll meet you in there."

Alex nodded, "Sure, I'll see you down there."

Kara nodded back and walked over to what she had seen. She'd know that cloak anywhere. They were clearly trying to stay hidden as well, as they had their hood up over their head. Kara hoped that this person had the same mindset and wouldn't cause a scene because then they'd both be revealed.

The individual in question was standing at a blacksmith looking at weapons that were hung up on the wall.

"Interesting seeing you here," Kara stated standing near the individual, looking at the swords in front of them and not at the person.

The person reached for the handle of one of their daggers, as she peered over to Kara, "Isn't it a little risky standing so close to me, I could finish the job."

"You could, but I don't think you will," Kara said, before leaning in to whisper, "Lena."

"Why so confident, Kara?" Lena asked, letting go of her dagger and tracing her fingers over the blade of a longsword. It wasn't the type of weapon she normally went for but she wanted to keep up appearances as she spoke to the hidden one.

"You know as well as I, that if a disturbance is created, we won't be fighting each other. We'll be fighting the warriors in this town since they are neither associated with the order or the hidden ones," Kara reminded, stepping over to take a look at a bow.

Lena stepped in Kara's direction leaving the longsword to look at the bows as well, "You make a valid point. If we were anywhere else, I'd finish the job."

Kara made a sound that was almost a laugh, "Ha, I don't think you would have."

Lena looked over her mask straight at Kara this time, "How can you be so sure?" She wanted to see what kind of reaction she was going to get from Kara with that question.

"You are just as curious as I am about the connection we share," Kara stated, turning to look Lena in the eyes. "I suspect that is why you are here, in this town. Why we've run into each other." She stepped close to Lena, "That was you in the woods wasn't it?"

Lena smirked under her mask, "Maybe I'm just lucky."

Kara smiled, "Maybe I'm just lucky. This is the third time now that we have run into each other. Almost like fate has a hand in it."

"Maybe you are just careless with information that you share," Lena said offhandedly.

"Now that we know it was you in the woods. Who is to say I won't just use my hidden blade to take you out right now," Kara asked, clasping her two hands together in front of her, her left wrist facing up so that if she wanted, she could easily move forward to stab Lena.

"You wouldn't do that because there is some part of you that thinks I'm not who I say I am, and if you kill me thinking you know now, and find out differently, it'll eat you alive," Lena answered, hoping she was right.

Kara dropped her hands to her sides, and was about to answer when she noticed someone looking at them curiously. They started walking in their direction, so Kara took a shot to hide by pulling off Lena's mask and kissing her.

"Hey-" The person started but then immediately stopped.

Lena wanted to resist but once she'd heard the voice, she held back and went with it. She couldn't help it, Kara was a really good kisser, but she was also her enemy. There was also the fact that if Kara didn't do this, they'd have ended up in a fight with the town. Which could have been bad for both of them.

The man waved his hand at them, "Pftt," And walked away.

Kara continued kissing Lena even after the guy stormed off. Her lips were so soft, and on some level it felt different kissing someone with just as much fire as the other. It brought her right back to Repton, wanting to get Lena naked, but she knew that would never happen. So she wanted to indulge herself. She wanted to imprint this moment into her memory, so that if it never happened again, she'd remember it.

Lena pulled back moments later, "Wow…" She breathed in, wanting to do that again. "I wish we weren't enemies." She finally got a good look at Kara, "Oomph, looks like I got you good with that punch." She said touching the area of Kara's black eye.

"Yeah well, lucky shot." Kara brushed it off, before continuing her thought, "Who says we need to be on the same team for this to work," She wanted to at least pose the question. She knew in her heart that this idea wasn't a good one, but she also couldn't help how right it felt to kiss Lena. Even being in her arms felt right.

Lena looked at Kara confused, "I can't be with someone that kills people for sport."

Kara shook her head, "Come with me." She directed Lena to follow her away from the open marketplace. Once they were in a more secluded area, Kara continued her thought, "I think you know I was telling you the truth yesterday. We don't kill people because we can. Are you seriously telling me that you haven't seen anything strange within the order?"

Lena shook her head, "That doesn't have anything to do with what I may or may not have seen within the order."

"Sure it does. It has everything to do with it," Kara defended the point. "Every single member of the order that I have spoken to, never cares like you do. They don't care about the people, all they care about is power. You're not like them. You are the first person within the order that I've come across that cares for the people. That says to me that either you don't know the truth about the order, or you don't believe in the order's way. And if that were the case, if you didn't believe in the order's way, you wouldn't think what you think."

Lena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her enemy was trying to convince her that she didn't know everything about the group she was a part of. Why would her mother not tell her everything? "Maybe I do know, and I still care about people."

Kara shook her head, "No, you are either one or the other. From that, I don't think you truly know what the purpose or goal is of the order. Until you do, you will never learn the truth. That is why I am here, I want to figure out why you have a necklace like mine but right now I can't trust you."

"I wouldn't trust me, and I can't say I trust you either. For all I know you are lying to me so that you can distract me from killing you," Lena said, not sure what to do here.

"I do not know how else to convey to you that I am not your enemy here, not in the way you think, anyways. If you were truly a member of the order, then yes, we would be enemies but everything I've seen says the contrary," Kara restated her previous statement. "I am not going to kill you, not until you know the truth. If after you learn, you still want to kill me, then we can fight it out."

"What if I don't want to kill you?" Lena asked. Part of her wanted a way to contact Kara, the other part of her wanted an idea of where the hidden one might be so she can later kill her if needed.

"Let's make a deal, in three days time I'll meet you in Glowecestre on the dock," Kara suggested. This worked for numerous reasons, it was near the area of the bureau they were going to next, but also left it far enough away that Lena wouldn't know where to go without her.

Lena thought for a moment. She still wasn't sure if Kara was right or not, but if she was right she'd want a way to contact the hidden one. Such a strange thought. She'd been trying for months to find this very hidden one. She'd found her, but now something in Lena was telling her not to kill Kara. "Okay," Lena agreed to the terms. "I will head back to Jorvik, and then I'll see you in Glowecestre."

"Once you arrive, then we can finally determine what we are to each other. Enemies, or friends," Kara confirmed making sure the terms were clear.

Lena gave a swift nod. She watched Kara do the same and was about to walk away, but Lena grabbed onto her face, and pulled her in for another kiss. She wanted to remember those lips on her, just in case this was the last time. The way Kara held onto her, how she felt so safe, even for just a moment.

She pulled back, and walked away into the shadows.

Kara turned and watched Lena walk away before she walked over to the entrance to the bureau.

XXXXXXX

After a few minutes of wandering around, Kara finally found the entrance to the bureau. She had found a new hole in the ground within a building that had been destroyed years ago. It looked like it was just created, so she jumped down into it thinking Alex might have created it.

Sure enough, after walking through several dark hallways, she found the entrance to the bureau. Alex and Nia were sitting at a table looking through papers.

"Does anything seem out of place?" Kara asked, wondering if maybe Lena had been in here before them.

Alex shrugged, "I've never been here, have you?"

"Good point," Kara agreed with Alex's question. "I guess I haven't been here before."

"Why do you ask?" Alex asked, curious to understand why her sister would ask such a thing.

Kara slumped down onto a chair, "I just ran into Lena up there." She pointed up to the ceiling, to indicate it was topside that she'd spoken to the order member.

"What…?" Alex asked, clearly annoyed now. "Why didn't you say anything? Are you okay?"

Kara nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay. She knew as well as I that we couldn't create a disturbance so we just talked."

"What did she say? What did you say?" Alex wanted to know everything. Meanwhile Nia sat there between them turning her head back and forth.

"I don't think she knows the truth about the order, she doesn't believe me that her mother wouldn't have told her. So I think she is going to the Luthor Kingdom to figure it out," Kara answered. She didn't tell Alex everything, but her sister didn't need to know everything at this moment. Otherwise, she might freak out that she set up a place and time for her and Lena to meet up later.

"Oh… So you think that Lena might have gotten into this place," Alex surmised from what Kara had said.

"Yes, but none of us have been here before so we can't be sure if anything had been taken or not," Kara said, looking around the room to try and figure out if she could see something that might point to another person being in this room at some point. "Have you found anything?"

"Not yet," Nia spoke up, wanting to feel involved in the conversation. She looked up from her scroll to see both of them staring at her, "What? I found the documents about the necklaces. Alex and I just started looking through them when you came down."

"How did you find them so easily?" Kara asked, not believing that the trainee had found them so easily.

"They were in that locked office, it took some time to find the key because someone threw it up onto that bookshelf over there. Once we did however, it was just a matter of finding the documents. There were a lot of scrolls though, so it's going to take some time to go through," Nia explained. She might still be a trainee but she did have some useful skills in locating documentation. Throwing knives, not so much.

"Where are they so I can start looking through them," Kara asked.

Nia pointed into the room, "They are on the shelf by the table against the wall."

Kara walked into the room, picked up a couple scrolls and came back into the room, sitting back in her chair to read.

XXXXXX

It took about a day for Lena to finally arrive in Jorvik. She hadn't found much information since being in Ledecestre, but was determined to learn about the order. If that meant getting it from her mother directly or finding it on her own. She wanted to understand who she was working with.

Her entire life had revolved around the idea that the hidden ones had killed her biological mother when she was only four. She had made it her life's work to find the ones that did it and kill them. It was unlikely that she would find the one that did the deed, but if she was able to kill even one of them, then she'd feel complete.

She'd found one. Kara Danvers. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to kill her. Why? Why was Kara's story so believable? She wanted to understand why her entire life almost felt like a lie now.

"Hey sis," Lex walked over to her as she walked into the castle.

"Lex," Lena watched him walk over to her. "What are you doing here? Bored of ordering people around, all over England."

"Oh, I was just leaving actually. I had to check in with Mother and give her an update on the goings on in the world," He smiled, "What about you? Why are you home?"

"Same, here to provide an update," Lena copied what Lex had said, only because he didn't need to know why she was there. Plus she wasn't entirely sure if she could trust her brother now. Was he in on what the order was about or was he in the dark just as much. She didn't know, and she didn't want to ask.

He nodded, with that look that he didn't really care why she was there. He was just trying to be pleasant. "Well, I guess I will be seeing you then sis." He said as he walked away.

"Goodbye Lex," She watched him walk away before she walked up the stairs to her mother's quarters.

She walked into the Queen's quarters not long after. "Mother, are you her-" Lena was cut off as she overheard a conversation on the balcony.

"Are you sure, you saw what you saw?" Lillian asked the person on the balcony.

Lena could see her mother, but not the other person on the balcony. She stepped behind a pillar to hide just in case her mother sensed she was there.

"-Hard to say- It looked like they- But I cannot be-" The person answered but Lena wasn't able to catch all of it. She couldn't tell what the conversation was about.

Prior to meeting Kara, Lena wouldn't have thought anything of it and just waited for her mother to be done, but now that she might be in the dark, she wanted to know what the conversation was about.

Lena looked over to the window, and decided she needed to get to a better vantage point. If she climbed out the window and up the building she might be able to hear better. She moved through the room and out the window.

She hated climbing this building, it didn't have the best indents in the bricks to climb but when she had to climb it, she made it work. It took a few minutes but even as she was out on the side of the building she could hear the conversation better. So she half listened as she paid attention not to fall as she climbed.

The archers weren't the smartest of people, so she knew they wouldn't pay her much attention.

"I have always wondered if I should have let her in on everything, but now I am not sure that would have changed anything," Lillian spoke, sounding sure of her words.

"She has gotten to this point not knowing the truth. Would her knowing everything have changed anything, maybe. But I also believe that if she did know, she wouldn't be what she is now," The man answered.

Lena recognized the voice, but couldn't pinpoint how she knew the voice.

"You make a good point. While my daughter is resilient, she can be very ignorant to what is right in front of her. I have considered letting her into the truth of the organization, but I do not believe she could handle it," Lillian spoke.

Not sure I could handle it? Lena questioned, even more curious now as to what she didn't know as she pulled herself up onto the roof.

"My Queen, I do not want to tell you what to do, but I do think that if you do not tell her, that she will figure it out herself, and based on what I saw in Lunden, that might make her realize who her real allies are. Allies that aren't you," The man suggested.

Lena knelt down and looked over the edge, careful not to make a sound. It was brief, but she recognized him the second she did. Otis Graves. She seethed with anger knowing it was him. Growing up, Lena had known Otis' sister, but over time they had grown a part. Otis was part of that reason, when he had pulled her into a life of crime.

"I will take that under consideration, thank you Otis," Lillian said, "You may go." She directed him off the balcony, and watched him leave out of her room. "You can come down now." She looked up, knowing her daughter was up there, before she walked into her room as well.

Lena climbed down from the roof, and dropped down onto the balcony, "How did you know I was-" She was cut off as she was pointing upwards looking confused.

"Come now Lena, who do you think Fulke learned that move from," Lillian answered, picking up her goblet to take a sip.

"If you knew I was out there, why say what you said," Lena wanted to know.

Lillian smirked, "I wanted to see how you would react. The fact that you didn't jump down and kill Otis, spoke volumes to me."

Lena didn't know what to say to that statement. She had always done her best to stay in the shadows to get information, and when it came to killing, she only did it when the situation warranted it.

"You are here to learn what the order is," Lillian stated, knowing that was why Lena was here. She had spies all over the region of England.

"What is it that you aren't telling me?" Lena demanded, not afraid of whatever her mother could do to her. She wanted to know the truth that she'd been kept in the dark about.

"The Order was created years ago, well before you or I had been born. The people of the order use the world to take control of all aspects. We have people in all levels of government, from Kings, to Ealderman's to even farm hands. These are all things you know, however," Lillian explained, keeping to what she'd already told Lena.

"I know that. What I want to know is the shadier activities. Reign had mentioned that you had sent her on bounties that didn't make much sense," Lena wanted to understand. She wanted to understand why she was kept in the dark.

Lillian took another sip from her goblet, "Well, maybe I should have a bounty set on Reign then for questioning my order."

Lena looked at her mother confused, "Why would you do that? Why not just talk to her?"

"That is the part of the order you were never privy too. If someone crosses me, they don't live another day on this Earth. We do as we want, we kill who needs to be killed, we make sure that our people can work in the dark. Spinning stories, changing history, that's what the order is all about," Lillian answered, watching Lena's every move. This was the moment that could change everything.

Kara was right. Lena thought to herself. She hadn't known what the order was this entire time. "Then I want to know the truth. What happened to my mother?"

Lillian leaned against her table, " I do not know what happened to your mother."

"You are lying. There is nothing that goes on in England that you don't know about. You must know what happened," Lena was trying to stay calm, but she was slowly losing her grip on reality. She was starting to see red.

"Do I?" Lillian smirked. "The real question is what have you been doing, dear daughter?"

Lena looked at Lillian confused, "What do you mean?"

"I have gotten a lot of reports that point to you working with the enemy," Lillian opened up and told the truth. She wanted to see what would come of this moment. The answer Lillain received would determine how the next couple minutes went.

Lena knew what Lillian was referring to. She'd been with the Hidden One Kara Danvers on more than one occasion now, in very public places each time. "I have been doing my job."

"Oh… Your job involves you having relations with the enemy? Our main job as part of the order is to take out the hidden ones. There is nothing that you could be doing with them that would help us. So I ask again, what are you doing?" Lillian asked again.

Lena was feeling trapped. She was up rather high in this castle, her back to the balcony. Her mother had her hand on the table near a dagger, her other hand holding the goblet. It was feeling more and more like she might have to run.

"Are my spies right?" Lillian asked, pushing the topic. "Or have you figured out the truth."

While Lena had been trying to figure out how to get out of the room that statement pulled her back to reality, "What truth? What else could there be other than you telling me that everything I thought I knew about the order was a lie?"

"You want to know just how much Fulke had a hand in it," Lillian stated, watching Lena so carefully.

Lena's brow creased in confusion. Fulke was her teacher, she was who she was because of that woman. Sure, she was a little odd, but she was a spy because Fulke taught her how to be one. "What are you talking about?"

"Ah, so you don't know. Interesting, then the only other reason for you to be here, would be to figure out who you are. Do you truly belong in the order…" Lillian answered, without saying anything. She wanted to gage how much Lena knew. The fact was she didn't know anything. "Choose your next words very carefully."

"You would really kill your own daughter," Lena questioned, wanting to know just how far Lillian would go for the order. Her confusion turned to one of anger, because she wasn't liking what she'd seen or heard since being here.

"If it meant protecting the order, I would do anything," Lillian answered with the utmost honesty.

"What does the order have that has turned you into this?" Lena wanted to know. She wanted to know why her mother was so evil.

"Power. Without the order, I wouldn't have the power that I have. With the ability to move mountains if I want." Lillian put down her goblet, and walked around the table leaving the dagger there. "You see, I grew up in a family that didn't much care for power, then I met your father, and I wanted more, I needed more. I almost lost it all when your mother came into the picture, but that was a small obstacle to get past."

"The order killed her, didn't they?" Lena asked, not even realizing she was talking about them in the past tense now. As if she wasn't a part of them anymore.

"There it is," Lillian reached into her belt, picking up a knife, tracing her fingers over the shininess of the blade.

"There what is?" Lena slowly backed away, back to the balcony. She knew this look on her mother's face. She knew this wasn't going to end well for her.

"You know I did love you Lena, I just wish you would have seen things from my side. That way you and I could have ruled over this land with your brother. I guess you were too like your father, and mother," Lillian answered slowly before she looked at Lena, and threw the knife.

Lena moved to the side quickly, the blade, slicing through her cloak, a piece of it falling to the ground. "Are you crazy?"

"You are no longer my daughter, you are an enemy of the order," Lillian stated with truth in her voice. She picked up another knife and threw it. This one however, bounced off of Lena's gauntlet.

Lena turned, and ran toward the balcony's edge, and without hesitation, she jumped off the ledge, and rolled onto another section of the castle below. She ran along the roof dodging knives flying in her direction, before she got to the end of the castle and dove into the river below. She hoped it was deep enough to prevent her from being killed, but she wasn't sure.

Lillian ran out to the edge, she threw a couple more knives as she watched Lena bound across the building and jump into the river below. "GUARDS!"

Someone with a spear ran into her room, "Yes my queen!"

"Alert every zealot, and put every guard on alert. Lena Luthor is an enemy of the state." Lillian ordered.

"Yes, my queen," The warrior nodded before running back out of the room.