-Lena-
The situation was desperate.
Lena felt like every hour she let tick by was risking Kara's life.
No response from the signal. No way to take out her mother's two superpowered goons, even with the kryptonite weapon she'd completed.
The only thing she could do was analyze the situation and place herself at the best advantage. Look for an opening.
The last few hours her mother had been distracted handling some situation. That gave Lena the time she needed to covertly rig together some explosives which she had in her trash bin hidden inside empty wrappers and water bottles.
She forced herself to eat a bag of chips and moved into the camera dark spot to squirrel away her latest creation.
She almost jumped out of her skin hearing the door click. Lena flung herself toward the bin, delicately releasing the bag, afraid of what might happen if she tired the throw it in with the half dozen other bombs.
She let out a deep breath and smoothed out her panicked features before turning to face Lillian Luthor.
The satisfied look on her mother's face made Lena feel nauseous contemplating the horrible outcomes of any of her mother's plots going well.
"It's time." The woman said and looked at her adopted daughter with something close to affection.
"He's undoubtedly still upset about your performance at his trial." She walked over to Lena's worktable and ran her fingers over the weapon Lena had been working on doggedly.
"You should bring him this to make amends."
Lena pulled back sharply breaking eye contact. ~Lex? Fuck. I do not need this right now.~ There was nothing like her alien-loathing psychotic brother getting broken out of jail to complicate things. There was no way Kara would get out of this alive if Lex replaced their mother as head researcher on this project.
Lena hung her head, letting her hair fall in front of her face, mind racing to figure out her next move.
"It's- not ready mother." She had no difficulty affecting embarrassment and shame around this woman. "I haven't been able to balance the conduit to control the relative power output with the new material."
That was true enough, granted Lex hadn't either. But it was unlikely that he cared his weapon could turn into a kryptonite bomb with enough ambient kinetic energy.
She shifted her gaze from the floor back to her work, not meeting her mother's eyes. A trick her legion of lawyers taught her. People who were lying actually made more eye contact because they wanted to watch facial expressions for acceptance.
Her mother walked over and tilted her chin up. Lena noticed a flash triumph in her gaze.
"I see." Lillian said. "Well perhaps you and Lex might appreciate some time together in the lab again. God only knows what you used to get up to when you were kids."
~Synthesizing uranium and blanketing the estate in surveillance equipment.~ Lena allowed herself to smile at the memory.
That seemed to encourage Lillian who tapped a button at her wrist. The dead-eyed boy gusted into the room and Metallo followed a few moments afterward. "Subject 13 protocol change. New mission. Attend to subject K2 exclusively. Lena may leave if she so chooses." Lillian pursed her lips considering. "However, she must be taken from the compound by our transport on autopilot with instrument panels dark."
Lena felt a dizzying burst at the idea of freedom.
The woman looked back at her daughter. "I hope to find you here when I return Lena. You are a Luthor and I want you to accept your place in this family."
Lena hated herself for the tug she felt in her chest. This woman had literally kidnapped, enslaved and forced her to listen to the torture of the woman she- her best friend. She shook her head, shelving these emotions to unpack with her very expensive therapist once she got them out of this hell hole.
Because her mother was right about one thing.
If Lex was coming than it was definitely time. She didn't have time to fly home on whatever transport her mother was talking about to collect reinforcements. She didn't have time to wait for Superman or the DEO to respond to her signal. Kara didn't have time.
She had to make her move now.
The young Luthor knew this compound like the back of her hand. Every trip to eat or relieve herself from the moment she arrived was a micro-scouting mission. She knew the placement of every camera. Locations of her mother's lab, the breakroom, the barracks. Security protocols, weapons, kryptonite stashes, all of it.
After the whirl of engines indicated her mother had left the premises, Lena took her waste bin and walked through the halls. The Kryptonian no longer on her scent gave her greater freedom of movement. She was able to distract a couple of guards and covertly place her explosives, camouflaged in garbage, into the bins of strategically important rooms.
Circling back to her workstation, she pocketed the kale chips packet filled with C4 and shouldered her kryptonite ray gun.
Lena checked her watch.
~3, 2, 1.~
She slipped through the hallway just as the guard's metronomic footsteps turned around the corner and slipped into an empty room. She nervously fingered her detonator. If she played her cards too early they could both be killed, or more likely, enslaved with the same neurological control devices fit on their alien jailor.
There was nothing Lena Luthor was more afraid of than being a puppet, her mind responsible for untold destruction.
~This is insane, illogical, irresponsible. I can't do this.~
She squeezed her eyes shut so hard she saw red. She didn't notice her hand was in a fist until the nails bit into her skin.
She felt the ghost of Kara's arms around her.
How many times had the girl comforted Lena when she felt lost, alone? Encouraged her when that facade of confidence slipped? She would always melt into those strong sure arms and feel like she could stand up stronger.
~The world needs Kara.~
Her eyes snapped open and she moved forward with absolute certainty.
Lena passed three rooms, took a left and ran into an errant guard coming back from an unscheduled bathroom trip.
"I need more kryptonite brought to my workstation." She said with an aire of authority.
"Yes boss." He said.
~Good. That means my mother made the rounds to let everyone know I'm not a prisoner.~
He was moving in the wrong direction to pick up what she had asked. "Now." She demanded and saw him startle, turning abruptly toward the weapons room.
Lena walked through the corridors like a Luthor, making eye contact with no one.
Finally she reached the door. The room her imagination had made for her inside her every nightmare this week.
She could almost feel Kara's presence behind it.
With a slow exhale she turned the handle.
For a moment Kara's beautiful blue eyes were the only things in the room. Her heart skipped a beat.
The Luthor used every drop of control she had not to run to her, to scream and cry and apologize for every bruise on her body.
She forced herself to take stock. The Kryptonian was hanging against a steel platform. Lena couldn't actually spot any visible injuries. She frowned thinking.
The girl had a pale green pallor, but there was no spidering in her veins or rings around her eyes. ~Low dose kryptonite poisoning to keep her contained.~ Lena had a surge of real hope. ~She must have her powers back. If I can just get her out.~
She hadn't realized how little confidence she had in her own plan until that flood of relief. Her white knight back in commission and black's queen was MIA, the board had changed.
Of course, Kara wasn't alone. There was still superpowered zombie boy playing the german shepherd.
"I need a kryptonian test subject of my own," she said to the boy. "Have her brought to my workroom. Unless you'd like to volunteer?"
She approached the platform with confident strides.
The Kryptonian moved. He stood between the two women instantaneously. His vacant eyes followed Lena. She considered him and fought back bile deciding on the necessary course of action to manipulate him.
"Stand down subject 13." Lena grabbed at her box of childhood trauma and changed her posture, her tone, gait, mannerisms, ethics. She became Lillian Luthor in that moment. Her eyes filled with contemptuous hate and she said nothing raising one eyebrow.
His posture went slack and he opened his mouth.
~What the fuck does that mean?~ Lena thought skeeved out.
"No. You worthless piece of garbage. Come here." She repositioned the weapon in her hands as if to hand it to him.
In three steps his position was clear from Kara and Lena took her shot.
The green beam hit him in the shoulder and he turned in pain, arm crashing through the concrete wall. Lena hit him again in the back of the head and he went down.
"Kon!" Kara yelled staring after the unconscious Kryptonian.
Lena pushed her detonator button and little explosions went off around the compound, each targeting specific locations to keep the guards trapped in place.
"I'm sorry. I swear, he'll be fine." Lena said. She ran to computer system on the worktable, hacking into the controls on Kara's restraints. "This thing won't do much more than stun a Kryptonian at full power. I'm just not sure how much time I bought us."
Kara smiled at her brightly. "Get me out of this and I'll have you in Paris for brunch before you can finish a verse of I Want it That Way."
Lena melted into that smile. ~No imagining. Focus.~
The Luthor's fingers flew over the keys, she didn't notice she was holding her breath until her head started to swim. Entering the final sequences one of Kara's arms was freed. ~Where is the kryptonite control? Here? Yes.~
*crash*
The door flew off its hinges and Metallo steped through bear-chested the machinery glowing a sickly green.
~Damn. I thought mother would take at least one of her bodyguards.~ Lena turned her weapon on him, cranking up the power level.
He caught the beam on his chest and gave her a cocky look as the green glow from his power source intensified.
Lena's eyes widened and she moved her hand to disengage the kryptonite keeping Kara's powers suppressed.
"Thanks for the recharge." He said and blasted a beam of green in her direction.
She dove under the desk and heard the sound of metal ripping apart. Then Kara was screaming in pain. She looked up and saw the green beam redirected to the Kryptonian, the force pinning her body back.
Lena grabbed the explosive out of her pocket and threw it in the man's direction.
A blur intercepted the blinking device.
The boy bent over curling his body around the device as it went off.
The concussive force blew the two men back, Metallo landing near Kara.
Kon stood, unphased, his shirt still smoldering on his chest. Lena aimed her weapon at the boy again.
"Not so fast sweetheart." Metallo yelled.
Standing next to the blonde girl he took out a green blade and punched it through her side.
Lena didn't think. The blade went in and she saw red. Her shot hit him directly in the eye. The blade fell from his hands and the stone fractured.
She felt intense satisfaction of seeing him double over in pain.
Then Lena was in a head lock. Her weapon clattered to the ground as steel arms surrounding her fragile human neck.
Kara looked panicked, wrenching a leg free.
"He'll kill her." Metallo said and the hero froze. Grabbing at his face the man stood, resheathed his blade and picked up the helmet they had forced Lena to put on Kara the first day.
"Alright hero." He growled in his thick cockney accent. "You know the drill. Drain your powers or your little friend here gets her neck snapped."
Swallowing heavily Lena said as evenly as she could. "Go. He can't kill me."
"Can't I?" Metallo asked. He removed his hand to reveal the charred side of his face where she had hit him. He turned his face to the Kryptonian. "I knew you would be a worthless cunt. But Luthors and their obsession with family, pathetic. Now you're what? On a rescue mission for this trash?" Kara reached toward him. He moved out of her reach, offering the helmet forward.
"Hey kid. If she doesn't put this on, you go ahead and squeeze that one into jelly for me eh."
"No!" Lena yelled. *cough* Arms tightened around Lena's neck, she had to breath in tiny gasps.
Kara grabbed the helmet from his hands and jammed it on her head.
~Damn it woman.~ Lena thought.
Metallo watched as the girl's body arched, he dug his finger in her wound. She started to go slack much faster than last time. Flaring back to back couldn't be healthy.
The man walked over to the edge of the platform then looked over to smirk at Lena. His ruined face made the look that much more sinister. This was revenge.
He grabbed a shard off the ground and rammed into the girl's wound just as the last of her heat vision dribbled out.
She fell slack in her restraints.
He grabbed a larger shard from the ground. Fingers gripping around the blade. Blood ran down his arm as the blade cut into his hand, but he used it to stab into the Kryptonian again.
His eyes looked wild. He pulled the broken green blade back and stared down at it when awe then perverse satisfaction. An evil look in his eye he turned and tore Kara's suit at the neck.
"Jesus Christ stop!" Lena yelled. "What do you want?"
He turned to the dark-haired woman holding the kryptonite in his hand like a trophy. ~Oh I am going to mother fucking kill this one. She'll forgive me for one right?~ Lena didn't bother hiding masking the loathing on his face.
He seemed to enjoy it. "Ah, the cunt. She means that much to ya?" He licked his lips eyeing Lena suggestively. "I'm sure we could come to an-"
A whirling sound sliced through the air. The green blade clattered to the floor. As Matello went to reach for it, Batwoman entered the room pushing a button on her forearm. The metal object she'd thrown at his hand let out a liquid that caught him in the face.
He yelled as the peppery spray hit his wound.
The vigilante turned to Lena and her Kryptonian captor. "Hello gorgeous." Kate said giving her a wink. "Fancy running into you in this old gin joint."
Lena tried to give her rescuer a warning; she pointed at up at him and croaking out "Kryptonian -powers," over the vice pressing into her throat.
Kate crooked her head looking into the boy's blank eyes. "Sounds like a party. How 'bout it junior? Care to fill a lady's dance card?" She crooked her finger in a challenge.
Lena gasped in relief, stumbling forward at the sudden freedom of her limbs.
Kon moved to intercept the woman in the bat costume. Kate managed to dance around his first attack but took the second in the abdomen with a grunt of pain. Why wasn't he using any other powers, the heat vision, the freeze breath. She'd seen it from him before.
A grappling hook came out of the shadows spinning around the boy's legs. Batman entered the room crashing down on to the Kryptonian boy with both legs. A pocket opened up and little pills rolled away from him.
Lena grabbed for them. They were labeled. ~Of course. Mother always ensures a fail safe on any unpredictable element.~ She took the one marked X and tossed it to Kate. "Get it in his mouth!" she yelled.
Metallo shot a beam green of energy at the pair which the bat deflected with his cape.
Lena saw a figure edge around the room as the combatants distracted their jailors. ~Fuck, why is she here?~ Lena thought. Matello slammed into the wall a few feet away from the woman who ducked behind a shelf.
~She is so god damn pregnant.~ Lena thought, seeing the woman awkwardly readjust her tactile gear around her abdomen as she crouched.
~Distraction. Distraction.~ the Luthor thought eyes shifting around the room.
She looked down into her own hand and rolled her eyes. ~C4 might be a little more effective than chucking a stapler at his head Luthor.~ At her command an explosion went off in the room next door.
The intensity of the green light cranked up as Metallo shot his energy beam blindly in the direction of the diversionary explosion. She saw the caped figure make use of those moments to jam the pill into the boys mouth.
Lena had thought the X tablet would have limited him to X-Ray vision. But the actual effect was unclear because he blurred out of the room leaving Metallo the only one left in the fight. ~That looks like it'll be tomorrow's problem~ she thought.
Matello kept up the energy beam. He started to sweat as green light leaked out of the seams of machinery on his chest.
She noticed Alex get away unseen and let out a breath of relief.
Then Lena sprinted back over to the controls, keying in the final sequences to release the constraints.
Agent Danvers had made it to the platform with Kara and was applying a pressure dressing to the leaking wound on her side. Her sister fell into the woman's arms as Lena finished her work.
Alex sagged under the Kryptonian's weight and Lena moved to the platform to help, supporting the girl from the other side.
"I swear I didn't have anything to do-" Lena started trying to explain as they made their way toward the door.
"Luthor." Alex paused and took Lena's free hand in her own. "I can only imagine what you needed to do to keep her alive. Thank you." Her throat constricted.
Lena opened her mouth to reply but was at a loss. She was prepared for anything but trust. Tears misted her eyes.
The green light filling the room flickered out, Metallo's energy source depleted. The black clade pair closed in around the powerless man. He growled in frustration.
The man backed away from the cowled team pursuing him and stumbled back over Lena's weapon. He smiled scooping it up and turning the barrel toward his own chest, intent use the weapon as a power source.
"No!" Lena screamed.
The calculations ran through Lena's head in a flash as he pulled down the trigger. The conduit, the raw power, the proximity of the varying frequencies of irradiation, the tensile strength of kryptonite. It meant one less goon to worry about in a second but, ~Shrapnel!~
She dropped Kara, pushed Alex on top of her and stood to shield them both with her body. The man crumpled to the floor, the internal implosion that that killed him sent tiny shards of kryptonite flying around the room.
Lena felt a sharp bite on the back of her neck before her vision went black.
.
.
.
.
.
Notes: Hey guys hate to leave you on a cliffhanger, next part will be super good I promise.
If anyone has any pointers on how to spice up the action sequence or if you were hoping for a bit more blow by blow from the Bats v Metallo let me know. I wrote another version with more of that first, but I decided to keep it more with Lena and Kara instead.
.
Thank you for the reviews! You guys are awesome and super helpful to the hole creative process.
I was having a hard time getting this chapter going in my brain. I started a couple versions but nothing felt right, then I read a comment about something someone enjoyed from one of the earlier chapters and it just clicked, so thank you Nighthawk :D