Author's Note: This is the chapter you've all been waiting for, the end point where Lena confronts the woman that killed her biological mother. This one has some violence in it, and someone does die in a semi-gruesome way, it's not detailed but it's pretty clear what happens to said character.

Happy reading.


Chapter 6 - The One That Manipulated Everything

Kara walked into the planning room, and walked over to Alex, "Hey, any idea what the plan is?"

Alex was about to answer when she noticed Lena wasn't with Kara, "Where's Lena?"

Kara looked beside herself for a second, even though she knew Lena wouldn't be there and looked back, "Oh, she said she went to get Sam, because Sam should be involved in this plan."

Alex looked at Kara confused, "No she didn't."

"Yes, she did," Kara re-iterated because that was what Lena had most definitely said to her as they were walking to this room.

At that moment Sam walked in with Nia.

"See, there's Sam right there," Kara pointed toward the entrance to the room.

"Yes, because J'onn instructed me to get Nia to bring her in," Alex pointed out.

"Why would Lena lie to me?" Kara asked no one in particular.

Alex turned away from Kara and walked toward J'onn, "We have a problem." She whispered to him.

"What is it?" J'onn asked, looking to Alex for answers.

"Lena has left the bureau under false pretenses. I suspect she is going to face Fulke on her own," Alex answered, guessing at Lena's motives. She hadn't known the woman long enough to know exactly what she was doing, but this was the most likely of things.

J'onn sighed in annoyance, "Like mother like daughter." He shook her head in thought before turning to Alex, "Alex, Kara, take Sam and try to catch up to her. I know she thinks she can do this alone, but Fulke has eluded us for years, she will not go down without a fight."

Alex nodded, "Understood." She turned to walk back to Kara, "Okay, I need the two of you to work together, can you do that? Lena is out there, she thinks she can do this alone, we need to find her. But I cannot have the two of you fighting each other."

Sam looked from Alex to Kara, "I won't attack you, if you don't attack me?" She put out her hand to shake.

Kara could see the sincerity in Sam's eyes, "Deal." She shook the offered hand.

XXXXXXX

After several hours of riding, Kara, Alex, and Sam stopped to take a break. They were sitting around a fire, eating meat from the deer they had cooked over the fire. The light from the fire, the only light besides the stars in the sky.

"I'm sure she's okay," Alex finally broke the silence, as she looked over to Kara who was clearly in deep thought. She hadn't seen her sister like this in a very long time. She seemed so focused, and yet so lost.

Kara exhaled a little loudly as she looked away from the fire, standing up onto her feet, "Can we go now?"

Alex shook her head, "You know we need a break, and time to rest. How much help would you be if we got there and you were too physically exhausted to do anything? What help would you be then?"

Kara looked at Alex annoyed, but she understood what her sister was saying. She wanted to be mad, but she knew that Alex was right. "Fine," She walked over and picked up her sword before sitting back down with a stone to sharpen it.

"You really should eat something, Kara," Alex held up the food that had been placed next to Kara over an hour ago.

Kara shook her head, "I'm not hungry."

"I know you're not, but you need to keep your strength up," Alex pushed the topic.

Kara picked up the piece of meat, and took a rather large bite out of it, "Better?" She asked sarcastically.

"Much," Alex nodded, before looking over to Sam. "How are you doing with all of this?"

Sam, who had been poking the fire with a stick, looked up from the fire surprised that someone was asking her a question, "With what?"

"Everything," Alex motioned to everything around them. "I bet you never thought you'd be sitting with two hidden ones around a fire. That has to be at least a little jarring, no?"

Sam nodded, "When you put it like that, you're right, but I've known Lena a long time and if she says it's okay, then I believe her. I just hope we get to her before Fulke gets into her head."

This statement piqued Kara's interest as she looked up from her sharpening, "What do you mean?"

Sam dropped the stick next to the fire, ensuring it was out by sticking it in the dirt before she looked at Kara, "Fulke has become an expert at manipulating people. I've seen it with my own eyes. She can convince even the strongest of minds to do her bidding."

"Lena seemed tough," Alex interjected into the conversation.

Sam nodded, "You're right, she absolutely is, but Fulke also practically raised Lena. The Queen, as I'm sure you can imagine, wasn't very loving toward the Luthor children, Lena especially. She was, after all, adopted into the family, which meant that Lena needed to fight a little harder to be seen by the Queen. So Fulke took her under her wing, she taught her everything she knows today. From how to fight, how to get close to someone, how to hide, everything Lena is, was created from Fulke's teachings."

Kara shook her head, "I saw how devastated she was when she realized that Fulke was the reason her mother was dead. I can't imagine she would fall back into her again."

"I would hope not," Sam shrugged. "But as I said, Fulke had a way with people. She could convince people to do almost anything."

"Are you saying that she might pit Lena against us?" Alex asked the question she knew Kara would never want to admit as being true.

Sam shrugged again, "I don't know. She has certainly done it before, and with enough force, she could do it again. However, there is an anomaly this time with Kara being in the picture. Lena hasn't had that before, so Kara could be the reason Lena doesn't fully convert."

"How so?" Kara asked, not sure she was understanding what Sam was saying.

"You believe in her," Sam answered plainly. "Unfortunately, trust has never been something a Luthor gets, especially not Lena, so I am not sure what will happen."

Kara let the information sink into her, as she went back to sharpening her sword. She liked Lena, maybe even loved her on some level, but she never thought that she could be the reason someone didn't fall for another's tactics.

Even so, she would find Lena, and she would help her see who she was. Even if it was the last thing she did.

XXXXXXX

After taking a break from riding hours ago to get some sleep, it was a little over a day later, and Lena arrived at Fulke's lair. She knew that doing this alone could end badly, but she didn't want to put more people's lives in danger for her own failings. If she wasn't so naive she might have clued into what Fulke was a long time ago. Lillian was such a bad role model that the first person that showed her some support for her abilities, she latched onto. That person was Fulke.

She felt sick even thinking about the fact that she'd trusted Fulke.

Lena slid off her horse, and tied it to a nearby tree before she headed into Fulke's lair. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but as long as the people she cared for were safe, that's all that really mattered.

She snuck into Fulke's lair, but found no Fulke. It was a semi-dark lair. Lena wasn't sure if it'd always been this dark or if she remembered it differently. Either way, she couldn't see Fulke. Maybe she was in the tower, Lena wondered. The tower was one place Lena had never been to because it was usually off limits. Every time she'd tried to go into the tower Fulke would stop her. This was her moment, she was going to see what was in this forbidden tower.

"Do you really want to go up there?"

Lena stopped in her tracks at the voice. Her foot was on the first step, as she turned to face the darkness in the corner. Fulke is here. She thought, knowing the voice anywhere. "I want to know what you do up there."

"I don't think you want to go up there," The voice in the shadows warned.

"How do you know what I want?" Lena asked, stepping off the step to face the room, hoping she'd spot Fulke.

"I know you, and you don't have the stomach for what is up in that room," Fulke stepped out of the shadows just enough to make herself known.

"Is that where you torture people?" Lena asked, wanting to know.

Fulke smirked, "Lena, don't play me for a fool, just ask what you want to ask."

Lena clenched her jaw, feeling the emotion from getting the answer she knew the answer to already, as she stared down Fulke. "You killed my mother," She stated, anger dripping from her voice, as she stared down the woman that caused the pain.

Fulke laughed out loud in a menacing way, "There it is. There's the hunter that I trained so well."

"Answer me!" Lena demanded, wanting to hear her say it.

"I didn't hear a question," Fulke scoffed at the look on Lena's face, but she continued on like she was asked one. "Your mother, she was one of my greatest accomplishments. I was able to get so much information from her. And not only that, but there were often times that you would come into my lair, when she was up there… Dying."

Lena's hands gripped onto the hand of her dagger, and the side of her axe with the other, "Why?"

"Why not? This is who I am. I kill people for information to help the Order," Fulke answered with no hesitation. "Your mother was one of those people. She really gave me a challenge, because of her own abilities."

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

"She could survive things that others couldn't," Fulke answered, "She was special, and I did everything in my ability to make her suffer."

"NO!" Lena picked up her axe and threw it at Fulke, at the last second Fulke moved out of the way of the axe and it connected with the post behind, splintering the wood on impact.

"Very good," Fulke congratulated Lena for the throw, as she slowly clapped her hands. "Use that anger to fuel you. Use it to attack me. You know how well that has worked for you in the past."

Lena shook her head, "You are only trying to distract me."

"Am I?" Fulke questioned. "I have only ever wanted the best for you Lena. Why would I deter you now?"

"You are nothing to me. You killed my mother, I am-"

"You are what?" Fulke pondered walking back into the shadows. "You wouldn't be you without me. If I didn't teach you everything you know, you wouldn't be as strong as you are now. Hell, you wouldn't know what you know without me either."

"What are you talking about?" Lena asked, confused by the statement.

"Who do you think sent you to Repton, Lena?" Fulke asked, smirking as realization hit her.

"No, I- I received a letter from the shopkeeper," Lena defended.

"Did you…? Come on Lena. I had been tracking that hidden one for weeks before you got a whiff of their whereabouts." Fulke started telling her story. "So I beat you to it, I set a trap. I instructed the shopkeeper to send you a letter, because I had gotten word that that very hidden one, would be going to that little town. I planned it perfectly so that you would run into her."

"No… You're lying. There is no way that you could have predicted that she and I would run into each other," Lena couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could Fulke have planned everything out.

"Hmm… Yes well, I have people everywhere," Fulke put emphasis on the last word. "People that would do whatever I instruct. Including your little hidden one."

Lena was taken aback by this statement, "No, Kara, she… She would never be on your side."

"How sure are you?" Fulke asked, knowing she was getting into Lena's head now. Making her doubt everything she knows. "Has she really been that forthcoming with you? Are you sure you know everything about her? Maybe she caused the fire that killed her family. Maybe she and I have been working together this entire time." She walked out of the shadows holding onto a dagger, touching the end of the blade with her other hand.

"I don't believe you. She cares about me, she wouldn't do what you are insinuating," Lena shook her head, wanting not to believe what was being said.

XXXXXX

Kara, Alex and Sam arrived outside where Lena had tied up her horse, and made their way toward the building.

"Kara, you go inside, we'll stand guard out here," Alex directed Kara to go into the cave.

Kara nodded, and ran inside, "Lena," She called out, and got no answer, but as she walked down the tunnel, she heard muffled voices. One of which she recognized, Lena. "I'm here," She shouted as she neared the door.

She turned the handle, but it would budge, it appeared jammed. She then tried to push the door, still nothing, that's when she heard the voice again.

"Did you know that she killed those members of the order in Lunden for me?"

Kara froze at the sound of the voice, Fulke was doing just as Sam had said she would and is trying to turn Lena against them. She needed to get through this door, and she needed to do it fast.

XXXXXX

"They were members of the order, you wouldn't have ordered someone to kill them," Lena pointed out the error in her words.

"Wouldn't I though? By killing them, I now hold control over the city of Lunden. Your friends in that little bureau of theirs, are under my control," Fulke said, watching Lena crumble with each and every word spoken.

"I don't believe you," Lena shook her head, wanting this whole thing not to be real.

"No? Have you ever wondered how they were able to keep their bureau hidden from the order?" Fulke asked, knowing this would confuse Lena to no end. "I control them. Your real enemy is with them."

Lena shook her head, "You have to be lying. They would never team up with you, you are their enemy, just as my family is their enemy."

"They teamed up with you didn't they… Why would they do that if they didn't already have experience with fraternizing with the enemy?" Fulke threw out knowing this could potentially give her the leverage she needed.

Lena shook her head.

"You see Lena, this is how life works. Sometimes you have to team up with your enemy to obtain the same goals," Fulke said, watching Lena very closely. "By killing the order in Lunden, I am now able to run the government how I see fit, and the Hidden Ones can do as they please, because of my protection."

Lena didn't know what to believe. Could Kara, and the others, really be working for Fulke? Did she fall into one of Fulke's traps like so many others before her.

Was it all a lie?

Fulke's grin grew as she watched Lena question everything. She had her.

Just then, someone came crashing through the door, falling to the ground from the impact.

"Lena, don't listen to her!" Kara stood up from the ground after bursting through the door that Fulke had locked during their extensive conversation. She swept the rubble off her right shoulder from slamming into the door with it.

"Why hello there Kara, nice of you to join us," Fulke smirked at the new addition to the conversation.

Kara took a few steps in Lena's direction, "Lena, we are not connected to Fulke, she is lying." She reached out to touch Lena who put her hand up stopping her.

"You could easily be lying to me right now," Lena shook her head, looking at Kara with pain in her eyes. She felt betrayed on all levels.

"I'm not, I promise you, the person that is lying here is Fulke," Kara pointed to the other woman in the room.

Lena pulled her dagger from the sheath on her belt, "How can I trust you?" She pointed the end of the dagger at Kara.

Fulke smirked from where she stood, proud that she was able to pit them against each other.

Kara held up her hands in front of her, "If everything I've done isn't enough to prove that you can trust me, then kill me here, and now." She pulled her sword from its sheath and tossed it aside.

"Just like that," Lena asked, confused that Kara was giving up so easily.

Kara nodded, "Just like that. I can't imagine what kind of trauma she put you through, but if you think that I am your enemy, then end it… I don't want to live in a world where you hate me."

Lena stared into blue eyes, looking for anything distrustful. She couldn't see it. All she saw was love, and honesty. Everything Kara was saying was true. She looked down at Kara's belt subtly, before shifting her eyes to look right in the direction of Fulke.

Kara gave a slight nod, before she quickly picked up her throwing knife and threw it at Fulke.

The blade pierced Fulke's armour, stabbing her in the shoulder, "Oh… Great shot." Fulke stepped back from the force, before she pulled out the knife and tossed it aside. "So my plan to push the two of you apart has failed. Oh well."

"What did you think would happen here? That you would turn Lena, and she'd kill us for you?" Kara asked, honestly wanting to know what Fulke's plan was here.

Fulke shrugged, "I've done it before. This will be more fun." She said as she stepped into the darkness to her left. "I have all of the control here." Her voice echoed in the darkness.

Kara picked up her sword from the ground, she stepped closer to Lena walking further into the room, in hopes to get a glimpse of Fulke. "It doesn't have to end this way Fulke, you could come quietly."

"Actually, it does have to be this way," Fulke said before two knives flew out of the darkness at them.

Lena stepped to the side, both passing her by.

"Ugh," Kara exclaimed as one of the knives caught the side of her cheek, blood spilling down the side of her face.

"Are you okay?" Lena asked, worried about Kara.

"Let's get her, and I'll be fine," Kara answered. She moved around the room, looking for a torch. Once she found a makeshift one, she lit it with one of the candles in the room. "Show your face," She waved the torch around trying to see in the dark.

"A torch, you really think that is going to help you here," Fulke's voice could be heard to the left of them.

Kara threw the torch in the direction Fulke was, a piece of her cloth catching fire. "There," She pointed to the minor fire moving in the dark.

Lena charged the darkness, "Fulke!"

Their daggers clanged against each other, a couple times, before Lena fell back into the light from Fulke shoving her back.

Fulke made her move and quickly ran for the tower.

Lena stood up, pulling her axe from the post, before she went for the tower. She didn't let the earlier conversation stop her, before she ran up the stairs with Kara behind her.

Once up top, they were greeted with a room covered in what they assumed was several years worth of blood. It was caked on the floor, on the furs in the room, even the chair that they assumed was used to strap the unwilling prisoners too.

"What do you think?" Fulke asked, standing across the room from them. "I can remember every scream, every cry for help, from every person I tortured."

"Don't…" Lena begged that Fulke not bring up her mother. "Don't you dare talk about her."

"Your mother-"

Before she could get the sentence out, Lena threw her axe again, this time however, the axe connected with its target. Smack in the middle of Fulke's chest.

Fulke stumbled back into the wall, surprised by Lena's choice, "Well.. Well.. Well… I-" She touched the axe, going to pull it out when she felt someone's hand on it.

Lena stood in front of her, holding the axe in place, "I don't think so."

Fulke fell blood filling her mouth, "Your mother-"

Lena pushed the axe in further, "Stop talking."

"Like…. mother, like... daughter.." Fulke said slowly as she lifted her left hand to point at the disappearing cut on Lena's cheek. Moments later her body fell limp, and she fell to the ground, dead.

Lena stood in place, unsure of what to do now, she'd just killed someone that used to mean so much to her. "What did she mean by that..?" She turned around to face Kara.

Kara looked at Lena, noticing the cut Fulke referenced, "It can't be."

"What is it?" Lena asked, not sure what was going on.

"One of the knives must have hit you, but it's disappearing," Kara answered skeptically, pulling off her glove so she could touch Lena's cheek. There was a very faint cut that slowly faded away into her skin.

Lena took a step away to look at a mirror nearby, just as she did the cut almost disappeared, "I don't understand… What does this mean?" She asked Kara hoping for an answer.

Kara shrugged, "I have no idea, but that is something we can figure out at another time. Fulke is dead."

Lena nodded, "Yes, she is finally gone. Now for the rest of the order."

Kara looked to her shocked, "You want to hunt down the rest of them, what about the vault your mother left?"

"Once we stop the order, then I will see what my mother left for me," Lena answered with purpose in her voice.