Lena - 3
The paparazzi lined out on the road were excessive, the flashes of light almost blinding. The Supergirl Monument was full of masks and symbols. Green Arrow, White Canary and the rest of the Legends along with the Flash from that parallel Earth. Then there were Supergirl's friends and allies save for Lena and Alex who were at the other service for Kara. Two services, one for the hero and the real one for the woman.
The minister began his sermon for Kara as the President of the United States began to eulogize Supergirl.
President Marsdin started first, "Supergirl has always been a symbol more than a person. But in reality she was a protector who constantly put her own life in jeopardy to save those who could not save themselves. She stood up for inequality and the rights of all citizens, and strived to make sure that those who would seek to oppress or harm were stopped before they could enact those plans…
The Minister almost followed her in rhythm, "we are here to mourn the passing of a dearly beloved sister, daughter, cousin and friend. Kara Danvers. She was a reporter, and a good one. I didn't know her myself, but I have read her articles. Her voice was clear and rang bells on a number of issues that changed how National City's corporate and political players conduct themselves. That kind of call to action, that voice that shed light on so many things is now quiet, and we are left to wonder why it was snuffed out so early…"
"We only had Supergirl for a short five years, but in that time she changed our world for the better. While we still have our Superman, no one can deny the loss of our greatest of heroes. Supergirl was more than just a costume and super powers. She was a paragon of hope and duty. This world will be dimmer without her light…"
"Kara was a bright light in the lives of her family and friends. A true companion in this hard life, endlessly joyful and compassionate. There are no words to express this loss, but her sister Alex would like to try and explain what she meant to her, Alex."
"I can't do it." Alex whispered, leaning over to Lena. Lena hesitated for a second and then nodded and stood up, smoothing the creases in her skirt before walking up to take the minister's place.
Lena cleared her throat before talking, her voice full of heavy conflicted emotions, "it feels like a few minutes ago when I was giving my speech about Kara at the Pulitzer ceremony. I said a lot of how I felt then, but I omitted one vital thing. I was in love with her. While that love was conflicted in the moment, we were able to solve those conflicts just before she was killed. I have tried so hard to be worthy of her love in return, faltering on occasion because who could stand next to someone like Kara without feeling a bit inadequate. I won't go into why she was wonderful, we'd be sitting here all afternoon. What I will say is that she was the best of us, and I will strive to honor her in every way, for the rest of my life. Thank you Kara, for letting me love you. While I will always miss you and remember you with my whole heart, know that we will survive. We will make this world great, so that your legacy will burn long after the dust has settled on this stone. Goodbye my love." Lena wiped the tears from her eyes and forced her chin to stop quivering before taking her seat next to Alex.
"Thank you." Alex whispered in Lena's ear, squeezing her hand as Lena took hers.
"Supergirl will forever stand as a symbol of courage, honor and commitment, and to that legacy we light the eternal flame." Marsdin nodded and Superman descended from the sky and tossed down a lit torch to set aflame a much larger cauldron torch set in front of the Supergirl monument. Which struck Lena as a bit odd, why hadn't he used his heat vision?
In the same moment Clark stood and moved to Kara's graveside, acutely aware that there was no body in the casket or entombed in the Supergirl memorial three hundred feet away. Her body was cocooned in a status pod, using yellow star energy in an attempt to revivify her cells. He had no illusions that he would get his cousin back, but he had to try.
"When Kara came into my life I wasn't ready. I was just a kid really, trying to figure out my place in the world. So I pushed off the responsibility of taking care of her onto a couple that had been there for me when I needed guidance and help. It created a rift between Kara and me, and I have to admit I wasn't the most available to my cousin as she grew up. I feel like I wasted so much time, and I cannot figure out why I acted the way I did. She deserved for me to make time for her, and I will always regret it. Thankfully we were able to work most of that out recently, and I have been honored to have her in my life again. I'll miss you Kara." He sounded sincere, but Lena felt like there was something he was omitting.
Lena stared at him, a question on her lips. Cousin. She glanced over at the memorial and Superman hadn't stayed to make a speech. It was unusual, and in that moment she realized it had to be a lie. Superman was here, standing in front of her. She felt a flash of anger, but rode it out. Realizing as powerful as he was, he couldn't be in two places at once without help. He needed Kara, more than he would likely admit.
It bothered her, but she couldn't put a finger on why. So she sat trying to work out that problem as the rest of the service finished. She hugged everyone, promised to catch up with everyone at the alien bar they liked in a few hours and excused herself to look after some work responsibilities. Once she was back in her office she sat down at her desk deep in thought. It took a while, but it came as a literal eureka moment, as she remembered Kara's last fight with Lex.
"Hope, I need you to find every file Lex squirreled away and decrypt them. I need everything he worked on." Lena said excitedly, standing and beginning to pace. "Focus on schematics, but I want everything."
"Understood Miss Luthor. Initial estimate will take thirty hours." The AI said smoothly, the holographic interface activating and beginning to spin denoting it was starting the work.
"Alright, open a new project folder. Exclusive to me and Alex Danvers. Codename: Kara. Black level protocol on this one." Lena continued, clasping her hands together and then going to the bar to pour herself a scotch. She had lifted the bottle and then stopped herself, she couldn't keep turning to hide in a glass of booze. It wasn't healthy.
"Established project, should I send all files found on this search to that project?" Hope anticipated, making Lena smile proudly. "Please state a personal passcode."
"Alpha two seven delta slash slash nine gamma four two enable. Now I believe you have Alex's voice on record?" Lena asked and the hologram chirped loudly in response.
"Agent Danver's voice print attached with Black level clearance. Any additional protocols for this project?"
"Keep on my private server, all details, work and notes related to the project need to be separate from the L-Corp servers. All finances must be checked with me, and nothing on the books. All from private accounts." Lena specified, and the hologram reacted as it integrated the requests to the project profile.
"Protocols established, project has been sealed as requested." Hope stated, confirming the last detail Lena needed.
"Thank you, Hope. Please send silent updates on a three hour interval. I'll be out with friends." Lena said grabbing her coat, on the way out she stopped by Jess's desk. "Last thing for the night, make an appointment with Mister Hoy tomorrow morning. Then go home."
"Will do. Are you alright Miss Luthor?" Jess asked unexpectedly, causing Lena to pause and look back.
"No, but I will be. Thank you for caring Jess." Lena said with a warm smile, then turned fully to face her. "I hope you realize I value your work. I'll admit I've been selfish when it comes to you, and if you like there is a COO slot open in our New York office."
"I'll think about it." Jess gave her a professional nod and picked up the phone to make the appointment as requested. Lena nodded once and took off towards the elevator. Her driver opened the limo door as she exited the building. Lena shook her head and flagged a taxi instead. Twenty minutes later she arrived at the bar she had only visited twice… with Kara. She held onto the door handle for a protracted second before entering, pulling off her coat as she entered.
"Lena!" Nia squealed, rushing over and pulling her into a hug. Lena hugged back, a bit more tightly than she would've normally. "I'm so glad you're here. Barry was just telling us this amazing story about an alien invasion on his Earth that Kara helped stop."
"Can't wait to hear, I'm gonna check on Alex first." Lena motioned towards Alex with a nod of her head and Nia looked over nervously before heading back to the table with Querl, J'onn, five men and three women she hadn't seen before and Eliza. Nia sat next to Querl who glanced over and then the entire table waved. Lena smiled and waved back, then walked directly to the end of the bar where Alex was nursing a large glass of what appeared to be whiskey or scotch, sitting down on the stool next to her and ordering her own drink.
"Penny for your thoughts." Lena shook her head as the waiter set down her own glass full of amber liquid.
"Just thinking about how I failed her." Alex said, swirling the glass around, and watching it begin to whirlpool in the center.
"You didn't, maybe I didn't either. She made her choice, she could see the bullet and what it would do. She didn't even hesitate. Look, Alex, there is something I want to talk to you about. Could you come over to my office tonight?" Lena didn't want to explain more in earshot of J'onn or anyone else that might have super hearing.
"I guess. Is it about Kara?" Alex gave her a slightly hopeful look, and Lena nodded a few times causing Alex to focus her attention on her.
"Yes, it is about her legacy. I want you involved in this, and I hope you'll have a clear head when you come over tonight. Now, I'm going to leave you to join that group over there, but I hope you'll join us. Drinking alone is not a great choice, I would know." Lena gave her a weak smile, and stood up picking up her drink.
"I'll consider it." Alex said as she took a swallow of her drink and then pushed it aside. Lena squeezed her shoulder, and then headed to the table filled with interesting strangers.
"So you're Lena." Barry said immediately as she sat down.
"Did Kara mention me?" Lena asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Only about a hundred times, I seriously thought you two were dating before she mentioned… Mon-El?" Barry said with a small chuckle.
"Mon-El left years ago." Lena confirmed, and Barry opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Brainy.
"Actually I'm surprised he isn't here." Brainy said with a frown of frustration. "Of course it is possible the ripple hasn't been felt that far in the future yet."
"Ripples are pretty fast, the last one we experienced happened nearly instantaneously." Sara interjected.
"Or this timeline is wrong. Kara shouldn't be dead." Oliver interrupted with a heavy shake of his head.
"Does this have to do with that secret you refuse to talk about." Barry said pointedly. Oliver sighed and nodded.
"The Monitor promised Kara would be safe, alive for the coming Crisis. Yet when I heard about Kara and demanded an answer he could only tell me the Crisis has now been delayed. Whatever that means." Oliver looked deeply frustrated.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Barry said with a confused shrug.
"Not at the cost of Kara's life. She is far too valuable to the world to lose like this." Oliver couldn't quite look Barry in the eye.
"You made a deal, didn't you!" Barry said a bit too loudly, his tone almost mostly angry and frustrated, but also a bit playful.
"My life for yours and Kara's." Oliver admitted reluctantly.
"I would make that deal." Lena said easily, drawing a kind look from Oliver.
"Yeah, I would too." Barry said reluctantly.
"Most of us would, it is what makes us who we are." J'onn observed.
"Kara would've done it in a heartbeat." Lena shut her eyes tightly on a wave of grief. "We had just told each other how we felt for the first time about an hour before she was killed by my mother."
"Yeah, I've been there." Oliver said, scrunching his nose from the distasteful memories.
"Really, that sounds like a story." Nia leaned in, deeply curious.
"If you'll excuse me." Sara said, partially because she already knew this story and partially because Alex looked like death and she wanted to make sure she was alright. Lena watched her go and then felt a vibration on her alert watch. The first batch of files were delivered to her project. One of which was a schematic.
"I just got a buzz from work. If Alex asks for me, tell her to come around to L-Corp." She mentioned this mostly to Nia who nodded, but also to Eliza and J'onn who both gave her questioning looks. She mouthed 'later' and they nodded in understanding. "It was nice to meet you all." Lena gave them all friendly smiles, and left the bar. Clark was just arriving as she stepped to the curb to hail a taxi.
"I was hoping to catch you." Clark said and Lena turned to nod at him. "Mr. Kent, where is your wife?"
"At the hotel she doesn't drink because of the hormones, we've been trying for a baby." Clark clarified, furrowing his brow as he realized how comfortable he felt in her presence. A sad smile crossed his face as he realized he had accepted Lena as Kara's love. Respected that relationship, and wanted to attempt to forge one of his own with her.
"Ah well, best of luck to you." Lena flashed him a quick pleasant smile, while trying to figure out how to get away from him.
"Yeah, it'll take a miracle to be honest. Speaking of which, I wanted to talk to you about Kara." Clark fidgeted slightly, giving her a look that said he didn't want to speak about this out loud.
"In private?" Lena guessed, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." Clark nodded with wide eyes, implying that it was a secret he wanted to relate to her.
"I'm headed to my office, it is very private there. Sound proofing and everything. The walls are even lead lined, if you get my meaning." Lena's office wasn't lead lined, but it gave him the confirmation he needed. His eyes went wide.
"I do, so you know." Clark sighed slightly, wondering if she knew everything.
"I do. She told me the night she died." Lena confirmed, giving him a look.
"Okay, I'll meet you there in half an hour. I should make an appearance." Clark motioned a thumb towards the bar.
"Yeah, the heroes are all telling stories." Lena gave him a wry smile, and climbed into a cab that had just pulled up. He gave her a nod and went inside, at the same time she closed the door.
Once back at her office she pulled up project Kara and found that the schematic was interesting and could potentially round out her project but wasn't what she was looking for. So instead she began to draft her own initial thoughts, hoping to reinforce the details with Alex's help. She looked up a time later when a pair of boots landed on her balcony, for a brief second she expected Kara to walk through the door.
"Should I call you Kal-El, Superman or Clark?" Lena stood and moved over to her bar, pouring herself a drink and offering him one.
"Clark, and no thank you, I never drink and fly." He quipped, repeating an old line he told Lois once.
"Funny. So you wanted to talk?" Lena turned to lean her back against the bar.
"My I?" Superman motioned towards the couch. Lena spread out her hand in invitation. "So, there are two things. The first is I need you to know that Kara's body is in a kryptonian status pod. We are trying to regenerate her body. I don't know if you are aware but Kryptonian cells do not die very easily. It is very possible she could have a partial or even a full restoration. However, if she does come back she may not be the Kara you remember."
"Thanks for letting me know, does Alex and Eliza know about this?" Lena moved to sit on a chair catty corner to the couch.
"I just told them. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up but I thought the three of you needed to know." Clark gave her a pained look, he still felt awkward when it came to Kara and her extended family.
"We weren't anything yet." Lena said, looking down at her glass, feeling the weight of the loss again.
Clark took a deep breath, shaking his head, "you were the love of her life. I know that, it's why I'm here. Kara thought of you as family, and would've happily accepted your hand in marriage. To that end, I will never think of you as a Luthor."
"That means a lot coming from you." Lena gave him a grateful look, then bit her lower lip hesitating to tell him about her idea. "Um, I have a project I'm starting to honor Kara. When I'm done I want you to be involved."
"Sounds interesting, I look forward to hearing about it. Unfortunately I do have to get back to Lois." Clarked looked out over the city, his gaze finding Lois with his x-ray vision and a small happy smile curled up the corners of his mouth.
"Well if things go well and you ever need a babysitter, I love children." Lena offered, feeling another wave of grief. She would never raise a child, not without Kara.
"I'll keep that in mind. See you soon Lena." Clark stood, and his calm demeanor shifted into something else. In that moment she could see how no one caught on that Clark and Superman were the same person. They carried themselves differently, and Superman filled the room with this almost overwhelming presence that she didn't feel when he was talking to her as Clark. It made her feel a bit less like a fool when it came to Kara, who used a lot of the same tricks.
"Later Clark." She waved, and immediately went to work. The second wave of documents had dropped including the one schematic she was looking for.
The Lexsuit.