Cleo didn't t hang on.

There were more shouts and a few grunts then heavier thuds. Seconds later, Kara's apartment door slammed open, the doorknob lodging firmly into the drywall from the force.

"Kara!" Daggers in each hand, Cleo scanned the room – and found Lucy, gun trained at her and finger on the trigger.

Despite the effort required to move, Kara planted herself between them. "Put the weapons down! Both of you!"

The daggers disappeared. Cleo bowed her head in deference. "Nai, Ypsilotáti."

Lucy was far less obedient. "Get out of the way, Kara." No wonder she'd risen to the rank of Major. If Kara had been less irritated (or well trained in command), Lucy would have had a clear shot at Cleo.

"No." She turned to fully face Lucy. "Cleo is an old family friend. Put the gun down. She isn't here to hurt me." Kara held Lucy's gaze, willing the other woman to listen. Slowly, one unwilling inch at a time, the gun lowered until it rested against Lucy's thigh. "Thank you."

Now that a throwdown was momentarily off the table, all of Kara's energy drained away. She staggered to the couch and flopped down. "What are you doing here?"

"I Prinkípissa Diana anisychoúse, kalí mou. Eísai tycherí pou móno egó ímoun arketá kontá kaí éftasa edó prin apó ekeíni gia na do an eísai kalá."

"Fuck!" Diana was going to kill her for not calling her back. She wasn't going to care that Cat had demanded her presence. Kara could have called or texted on the way to CatCo. "I'm sorry Diana had to send you to check on me."

Cleo's grin was filled with mischief…and a bit of affectionate malice. "She will be here soon enough. You had us all worried, mikré ílie."

"Want to fill me in?" Lucy hadn't holstered her weapon. She remained poised for action.

Rao, the last twenty-four hours had been a disaster. All Kara wanted to do was either get her powers back or curl up in a ball and sleep until the embers of the drug left her system and the bruises and (probably) broken arm healed. "Lucy, this is Cleo. She and I grew up together. My sister sent her because I forgot to call her back after I left a crater in that parking lot."

The comment made it clear that everyone in the room knew Kara was Supergirl.

"Cleo, meet Lucy. She works with me at CatCo." There was absolutely no way that Kara wanted to tell Cleo (or, Rao forbid, Diana) how close she'd come to being a Cadmus victim.

"Since when do reporters carry guns, Kara?"

Kara gave in and closed her eyes. Her life had become a train wreck, and her engine was headed for a cliff.

"I'm not a reporter," Lucy answered. "I'm a lawyer. Former Army Judge Advocate General."

The silence that followed grew so heavy that Kara started to sit up and open her eyes. "How were you able to free Kara from her kidnappers?"

So much for hiding that bit of information from Diana.

"I have a few friends with the right skills," Lucy responded.

Cleo chuckled. "Mou arései, Kara. An den ítan tóso mikrokamoméni, tha mporoúse na gínei exairetikí Amazóna." Then she switched to English. "You have my thanks. Kara is well-loved and precious to many."

"Is she now?" Kara's eyes snapped open at Lucy's livid tone. "I heard she was engaged."

"What?" How did Lucy know that? Kara pushed off the couch without thinking and whimpered as her arm reminded her of that convenience store bat.

"Sit down!" Two voices chimed together.

Pouting, Kara slumped back onto the couch. "Fine." She crossed her arms and glared at Cleo and Lucy. If she had to sit, she wasn't going to become the center of their attentions. It was time to break up the new Kara-sitters Club. "Cleo, see if you can pry the door out of the wall and close it. I'm sure my landlord," Diana, but Kara wasn't admitting that just yet, "is already upset over all the bodyguards you left littering the hallway."

"They were not very good," Cleo said.

Scrambling up the rocky hill, Kara searched for a hiding place. "Hurry up!" she whispered urgently at Cleo. "Antiope's right behind us." She could hear horses without using any of her super senses.

A rock shifted under her foot. She bit back a curse, thankful that her skin was impervious to cuts and scrapes. Kara finally crested the hill. Cleo was a step behind as they sprinted toward the hidden cave that they'd discovered the week before. The perfect place to hide and celebrate their victory.

Cleo's breathless laughter spurred Kara on. They squeezed into the narrow entrance shoulder to shoulder. "I can't believe it worked!" She cradled the Bow of Athena they'd…borrowed from the Goddess' Temple. "Only the best soldiers guard the Temple!"

"They didn't seem to be that good."

"Let's hope Cat isn't as mad as…as your boss was about you pointing out their lack of skill," Kara muttered. She met Cleo's gaze, and her frustration fled in the face of that memory. Cleo must have remembered, too, and they burst into laughter.

"Want to share the funny?" Lucy scowled at them. "Because I'm the one who'll be doing damage control with the Queen and whatever minion hired those guys in the hallway." Most of her glare seemed locked onto Cleo.

Kara tilted her head at the door and raised an eyebrow at Cleo. The other woman nodded in understanding. This was Kara's mess to clean up. "I'll talk to Cat. It's not your fault my sister had a freak out and sent Cleo to rescue me."

"Ah." Lucy slowly smiled, losing her antagonistic posture. "You're in big trouble, aren't you?"

Ignoring Cleo's snicker from the doorway, Kara shrugged. "I've been there before."

"It will be more than harsh words if Prin…if Diana finds you in this condition, sweetheart." Cleo yanked the doorknob free and carefully closed and locked the door. "Have you no healers in this sty of a city?"

"None I could trust." Lucy grinned faintly when Kara pointed a finger at her for the interruption. "Cat's working on it. I'm a fair hand at emergency field medicine. The only real injury I could find was the arm, and you crashed the party before I could do more than get Kara into bed."

Cleo strode to Kara. "Then we shall take care of that now." Without so much as a by your leave, she scooped Kara off the couch and carried her toward the master bedroom. "We can't wait for Diana to arrive."

Kara, ready to protest and assert her independence, pressed her lips together.

"I am extremely disappointed in you, Kara." Standing next to General Antiope, Diana seemed wrapped in authority. Her stare pressed down on Kara until she hunched her shoulders beneath the weight of it. "You stole one of our most holy relics, a gift to the Queen from our Patron, the Goddess Athena."

She'd never forgotten that conversation, and she'd vowed to never disappoint Diana again. It hadn't been a realistic goal. Kara was a normal child with a normal love of naughty behavior and of pushing limits. However, her recent actions (many of which were far more serious than missing a check-in call) would certainly earn her well-deserved censure.

Her stomach knotted.

"Oh, for Athena's sake…" Cleo deposited Kara gently on the bed. "Our Crown

Princess is not an ogre." She slipped the grimy cardigan from Kara's shoulders before unbuttoning the shirt beneath. "She is simply worried, Kara. We all were, especially when the news was filled with your kidnapping and the death of the reporter."

"Elenor's dead?" She'd known but hadn't wanted to acknowledge it. Turning her head, Kara leaned into Cleo. A kiss pressed into the top of her head, and arms tightened around her. Comfort. Home. Acceptance. Tears burned and demanded an outlet, but Kara resisted. This, all of it, was her fault.

"Stop! You are not the one to blame," Cleo whispered. "It is the people tracking you. This General Lane and his soldiers."

Was it? If Kara had let Alex's plane crash, if she'd never donned The Suit, would any of it have happened? Had the Danvers been right all along?

The bed dipped on Kara's other side. "Your…friend's right, Kara. It's not your fault. Cadmus and my…the general have been hunting aliens long before you became Supergirl. They've been after Superman for years."

Yet they'd never managed to catch Clark or kill any of his friends or family. Kara knew she was faster and stronger, that she'd been far better trained in strategy and fighting than Clark.

Cadmus had a new weapon now, though. One that gave them unparalleled insight into Kara's physiology and abilities.

Alex. Agent Danvers. Bitterness and betrayal burned hotter than Krypton's lost Fire Falls in Kara's heart.

"They knew I blew out my powers. That's why General Lane kept staring at me in Cat's office." Like she was the biggest piece of birthday cake at a party. Had they sent that robot after her with the intent to weaken her? Or had that been a bonus when it had failed to kill her?

"All that knowledge won't do them much good for a while," Lucy said softly. "The general's been removed from command, pending an Article 32 hearing. Congress is already scheduling their own hearing into his actions and the existence and actions of the DEO and Cadmus."

Kara opened her eyes and reached for Lucy's hand. "I'm sorry."

Lucy's shrug aimed for casual and failed. "Dad made his choices a long time ago."

"I guess Alex did, too."

The hand under Kara's tightened into a fist. "The truth will come out soon. All the horrible things done because people like my dad are afraid of anything different than they are." Lucy pulled away. "I'll give you and Cleo some time to catch up." She stood, posture rigid and gaze averted. "Just…just call out if you need anything."

The bedroom door closed with a thump behind her as she left.

Silence filled the room. It pressed at Kara. On her shoulders. Her chest. Every part of her felt wrapped in tightening chains.

"Do you remember when I first joined the Royal Guard?" Cleo went back to unbuttoning Kara's shirt. She finally pushed it and the cardigan off, tossing them with unerring accuracy into the hamper near the closet.

"Not really." Kara had been working for Diana as an art conservator and beginning to dabble in photography at the time. It had been the first time she'd been off the island since Diana had rescued her in Coast City. "I was a shitty friend back then." The gentle brush of Cleo's fingers soothed her, reminded her of their childhood, as they'd learned to fasten each other's leather cuirasses, spaulders, and bracers.

Pressing Kara back into the pillows, Cleo went to work on removing Kara's pants. "You were busy with Princess Diana." Cleo didn't seem upset by Kara's neglect. "We were taking part in a training exercise several weeks after you and Diana headed to the mainland. The Temple Guards, the Royal Guards, and the Cavalry. General Antiope placed me in charge of a squad filled with some of the most experienced fighters." Pants in the hamper, Cleo scowled at the white bodysuit before finally locating the well-disguised zipper. "I took the squad down the cliff face by the Statue of Zeus."

"Did you magically sprout wings?" The cliff was made of slick granite at a terrifying angle.

Cleo shook her head. "We made the descent with nothing more than Amazon spirit and my determination to win." Her voice wavered then hardened. "Chara slipped halfway down."

Kara reached for Cleo's hand instinctively.

"I caught her arm but couldn't maintain my own position on the rocks, too." Cleo pulled away and carefully hung the body suit in Kara's closet. Leaving her back to Kara, she resumed speaking. "I let her fall to save myself. My choices, my arrogance, lost us one of Antiope's oldest companions and one of the kindest souls on the island. I made the decision to use the cliff. I steamrolled over all the arguments my squad laid out for me because I wanted to win a stupid war game.

"What you did, Kara? It's not the same. Your choice was to save people using the gift your Father Rao granted. The threat to Diana and our way of life. To you. That choice belongs to the people in the news. They chose hate and death."

"It…I…" Kara floundered.

Cleo turned around, eyes glassy until she blinked and her usual grin firmly in place. "Just think about it, mikré ílie. For now, we need to clean you up and take care of your arm." She headed for the bathroom. "I should call Her Highness and ask her to send Epione. You would find yourself on bedrest until your powers returned."

Kara heard water running and Cleo rummaging in the vanity cabinets. "You break it, you buy it," she called out.

"I believe you still owe me a new spear to replace the one you crushed with your mighty hand." Cleo emerged carrying a small plastic basin with water and several washcloths and hand towels. She set the basin on Kara's nightstand. "I've been waiting on that spear since we were first-year trainees with the Guard."

"It's not my fault you had the weakest spear on the island!" Kara pouted; she hadn't meant to break the spear in half when she'd borrowed it. Her control over her powers back then had been sporadic at best (and non-existent the rest of the time). "Besides, I arranged your first date with Tekli because you turned into a mime whenever she was around. That's payment enough."

Cleo ran a warm, wet washcloth over Kara's arms and hands. "She was pretty, wasn't she?"

"Was?"

"The years have been kind," Cleo answered. Her grin softened. "She wanted to come with me. Even threatened to stake me across the altar as an offering during Aphrodisia if I left her behind. She'll forgive me when I tell her my quick departure was the result of a royal command."

The soft touch of the cloth felt amazing. Kara melted into the mattress. "I love your wife. She's so patient. I don't know how she's put up with you this long."

"We love you right back, my Princess." Cleo covered Kara with the comforter. "Rest. Everything will be better when you wake. I promise. I'll keep you safe; it's my pleasure and my duty."

Kara slowly woke. It was dark. Only pinpricks of light broke the oppressive black around her. Where was the girehn Mother always left on? Rubbing at her eyes, she tried to sit up – and couldn't!

"Ieiu!" she screamed. The sound didn't summon Alura or Kelex. Kara thrashed against the straps binding her to the…bed? No. Not her bed. The pilot's seat in her pod. A little of her panic eased; she hung, panting, for several minutes, gazing at the stars outside the clear cockpit.

Another light drew her attention away, though. One of the indicators on the onboard display blinked a somber red. "Please identify the current system error," Kara told the pod's artificial intelligence.

The AI didn't respond. Kara reached for the holographic display, inputting the manual override code. She'd been warned never to pilot without the AI, but no one had ever mentioned that the system would stop working. Luckily, she'd studied the schematics for one of her mechanical engineering courses.

It took seconds to trace the cause of the blinking light. How could all of the navigation and propulsion systems be unavailable? Kara glanced out the cockpit and then searched the star charts for this area of space.

A three-dimensional display popped up, along with a series of facts about the Phantom Zone. Kara didn't need the facts. Her mother was the Senior Adjudicator for the High Council. Kara knew more about the Phantom Zone than any other child in her cohort.

She couldn't be trapped there! The Zone was light-years away from the coordinates for Earth. "No!" Kara screamed. Nonononono!

"No!"

Jerking awake, Kara reached automatically for Cleo. "Kara? What's wrong?"

Kara shook her head. She didn't know. Not yet.

"They killed the general!" Lucy. That was Lucy's voice in the living room. Kara slid out of bed and Cleo followed. "Listen to me for once, damn it! I don't care about the mission. Not anymore. Don't you get it? Dad's dead. So is Harper."

The general was dead? Kara fumbled to open the bedroom door in her haste. She and Cleo stumbled into the hallway in a tangle of limbs.

The living room blazed with light despite the late hour. Lucy stood in front of the television, broken glass at her feet. She stared at the screen where a CatCo Breaking News banner scrolled a constant feed. "Do you hear me? God fucking damn it!"

Whoever was on the line must have responded. Lucy calmed a little as she listened.

"I'm sending a team to your location." Lucy gestured frantically at Kara and Cleo until Cleo offered up her cellphone. Pinning her own phone between her ear and her shoulder, she texted frantically on Cleo's. "Stay the fuck alive. Vas says Alpha Team can be there in thirty minutes. Less, if we scramble a bird."

Her jaw tightened and even without her powers, Kara heard the voice (if not the words) spewing from the other end of the conversation.

"So help me God I will kill you myself if you don't shut up and follow orders! This is my fucking op and I'm ordering you to evac," Lucy snarled. Her eyes narrowed. "What was that? Are you there?" Lucy's fingers pounded the screen of Cleo's phone with the force of her texting. "Answer me, damn it!"

A/N:

A very special thank you to Alpha Zulu 2.0 for helping with accurate translations of the Greek used by Diana, Cleo, and Kara! I've included notes for all the translations in this chapter below and will be updating previous chapters in my spare time.

For those of you who might be interested, the notes are listed as: transliterated Greek - English phrases (actual Greek)

Nai, Ypsilotáti - Yes, Your Highness (Ναι, Υψηλοτάτη)
I Prinkípissa Diana anisychoúse, kalí mou. Eísai tycherí pou móno egó ímoun arketá kontá kaí éftasa edó prin apó ekeíni gia na do an eísai kalá - Princess Diana was worried, my dear. You are lucky that only I was close enough and got here before before her to check if you are okay (Η Πριγκίπισσα Ντιάνα ανησυχούσε, καλή μου. Είσαι τυχερή που μόνο εγώ ήμουν αρκετά κοντά και έφτασα εδώ πριν από εκείνη για να δω αν είσαι καλά)
mikré ílie - little sun (Μικρός Ήλιος)
Mou arései, Kara. An den ítan tóso mikrokamoméni, tha mporoúse na gínei exairetikí Amazóna - I like her, Kara. If she weren't so small, she could be an excellent Amazon (Μου αρέσει, Κάρα. Αν δεν ήταν τόσο μικροκαμωμένη, θα μπορούσε να γίνει εξαιρετική Αμαζόνα

Kryptonese translations:
girehn - lamp (used here to imply a child's night light)

Ieiu - Mom/Mother