Powerless

-Lena-

"Bezhgam i eul, udol Luthor!" [Meet your maker, Luthor scourge!]" Winn yelled as he fired off his rocket launcher.

"Aw, doshai kir Toy Boy. Nahn iovis wai gun rrup gampil?" [Aw, poor little Toy Boy. Is that the biggest gun you brought?] Lena asked executing a masterful combination move commondered from someone's Reddit on the drive over.

The young Luthor watched with satisfaction as a miniature of Lex whirled in the air, his regular battle suit morphing, power-ranger style, into an upgraded mega version with cannons on either shoulder that were larger than the figure's entire body. The resulting blast whited-out the screen for a moment and Lex stood with his foot resting on Toy Maker's fallen mangled body.

Enjoying her victory, Lena wondered idly if Winn knew the word for gun in Kryptonian. The nerdy agent had bragged about his space-talk skills the first time they'd hung out and she'd been working on it with him since. She was embarrassed to try it with Kara, often having a hard time wrapping her mouth around the vowel sounds. She avoided going to France for years for the same reason. At least she didn't have as much trouble with Kryptonian pronunciation and vocabulary as she did with French. In Kryptonian, letters at least tended to make sounds. If a letter didn't make a pretty enough sound in French, they just ignored it existed.

She looked over at Winn who was pouting and making waving motions of indignation at the screen as the finishing move animation played out. Winn had been absolutely wetting himself with excitement when he called Lena in the middle of a meeting to tell her that he'd found a mod online that reskinned the characters of a popular fighting game with real-world superheroes and villains. When she'd heard that the line up of characters featured her own brother and Winn's father, complete with individualized move-sets and catchphrases, Lena had excused herself from another pissing contest with her board to meet Winn at his apartment.

On her way there Lena had second thoughts, glumly contemplating the extra couple of hours of paperwork that decision was likely to cost her. But when she saw her brother move from monologuing over the moaning body of his enemy into an awkward white-boy touch down dance her brain admitted, Definitely worth it.

She'd been working to find her fugitive brother for weeks, hoping to prevent him wreaking havoc on humanity like he'd just done on the Toy Maker's face. Lena noticed Winn bouncing in his chair enthusiastically pointing at the screen. Oh God, she thought. The animation had just sent out a legion from the island of broken toys to morn their fallen father. Well, got to appreciate their commitment to source material.

Since loser got snacks, Winn grumbled as he moved, mock-groaning at the effort it took for him to open the fridge door to grab Lena's requested Evian water and lurched over to the counter for her bag of kale chips. Lena had to keep those here because she kept finding Kara innocently throwing them out, and she expected occasionally launching them into space, to save Lena from her fibrous green nemesis.

Tossing them over to her he said, "So when are you finally going to let the master in on your suit designs for Kara?"

Lena wished she hadn't let that slip one night. She was apologizing for canceling their plans while frustratedly cursing at her monitor which peeked his curiosity. She was unfortunately having trouble with the fabrication layering in her prototype re-superifizing Supergirl suit. Eh, need to think of a better name.

Lena had never seen the blonde girl so on-edge before these last few weeks. She was obsessively watching the news, yelling at the screen about saves she could have made like a football tailgater. She'd glare at cereal boxes to test if her powers were back constantly and seemed insecure, more like she was reassuring herself every time she told Lena they would come back. And did not let her lack of powers slow her down at all.

Lena didn't have any problem with Kara's lack of powers, it felt like less to worry about. But she understood how important being a hero was to the girl. Not sure how else to help, Lena had fired up the engines in her lab and got to work on something that might allow her to get some of that Supergirl spunk back.

"I'm probably good. I mean I am a Luthor after all." She said nodding to the still dancing Lex before flicking the console off. "We are taught from the cradle how to engineer the instruments of humanity's downfall." Lena commented dryly. "Lex had a few years head start on me, but I think I worked out how to irradiate uranium sufficiently to create a nuclear warhead when I was nine."

"Oh mighty Luthor," Winn said bowing his head in time with his arms. "Let us bask in your awesomeness so that you might, one day, make us in her image. More OP than the world can handle." He finished in a reverent tone.

Lena raised an eyebrow at him. "Better not let me get used to that genuflection. I might develop a taste."

Winn scoffed.

"Besides," Lena said. "You still work for the DEO and nerd-boy-wonder that you are, I am not letting my tech get within a mile of someone smart enough to reverse engineer the propulsion mechanism on my ion-beam cannons."

Lena smiled at that. The suit didn't have anything of the sort equipped, but she had been tossing random theoretical gadgetry as Winn since he first start asking about it to bug him.

"So, without the suit, how is Kara handling the whole extended flare thing?" Winn asked seriously.

"It was fine at first, but now I think the girl sleeps less than I do." Lena admitted sighing, "And believe me there are a couple of tricks I perfected in college to -eh relax a lady into bed when I want to," Winn made a retching noise.

"But she just gets up and starts scrolling through the Supergirl blogs speculating on why she abandoned the city." The only good thing that came out of those sleepless nights was that Kara was perfectly happy to sit while Lena played doctor, studying her physiology and cells structure to figure out how she could mimic the mitochondrial solar processing for her suit.

"Do you have any idea when your fearless leader will be back to cover for her?" Lena asked. "Or do you guys have any other Martians up your sleeve to stall for a couple of days. I am seriously so close to finishing the thing."

"So she hasn't tried to-" Winn mimed rescuing a baby and slid into Supergirl's signature heroic pose.

"No Winn. I told you, she promised not to. I haven't told her about the suit yet. But she doesn't have any powers and she's an adult. I trust her not to do anything reckless."

"Eh-" Winn said obviously nervous looking across the room. He waved his hands to get her attention and while he fumbled with the remote.

Lena turned confused and saw her.

She saw the woman she had listened to being tortured for two days and cried over while she was in a coma for three. The woman Lena had seen that morning burn herself on the smoking Hot Pocket that had set off Lena's fire alarms. The woman who had very specifically promised Lena a dozen times over that until her powers came back she absolutely would not, under any circumstances, run into burning buildings or step in front of bullets, literally walk out of house on fire, adorable small child clutching at her shoulders.

It was sweet. It was wonderful and heroic.

And it was so mother-fucking stupid, reckless and arrogant that it made Lena feel like her head was going to explode if she didn't start breaking things.

There were firefighters already inside the building, in full thermodynamic protective gear designed and donated to the city by L-Corp, standing not 20 feet away from the girl. Who now stood in half of her suit, crest on her chest, brown chinos covering her legs, on national news waving and signing autographs for the crowd who would probably become abundantly curious why Supergirl was hopping the K Line home instead of flying off into the sky.

No, no absolutely not. Lena felt her muscles clench and she grabbed her phone to yell at the Kryptonian until her ears bled.

"Woah, woah, woah. Lena. Wait. You have that look in your eye my dad used to get when Mattel would release some lazy nock-off Barbie." Winn said with mock-sarcasm obviously trying to get Lena to avoid saying something to Kara she was going to regret.

"Uharg, fine!" She said throwing her phone angrily back in her purse. "Then I am going to go get very very drunk and break expensive things before I go check my girlfriend for carbon monoxide poisoning and plot creative ways to help her kill herself."

Winn stood between her and the door looking uncertain.

Lena glared, not speaking until Winn moved out of her way hands in surrender in front of him. She nearly drove the points of her stilettos through his linoleum floor stomping her way to the elevator.

Not wanting to deal with seeing Kara right now or letting her staff see her like this, she grabbed the drinks cart from her office, including a full decanter she had just refreshed of her favorite whiskey, and brought it down to the lab with her.

Lena was livid and the alcohol did nothing more than keep her from rationally thinking her way out of her mood. At first, she had spent some time mixing some chemicals together to make loud explosions, a coping skill that had always satisfied her as a teenager.

Not feeling like that gave her enough physical release, she then walked over to the lab's safety drain near the entrance and tested her new bioethical disintegratable beakers by smashing synthetic glass filled with chemicals at the wall next to the drain before she sprinkled some powder over the mess leaving a goopy puddle.

Sitting back on her chair, she was intent on starting a new round of experimental trials, when the elevator door opened, unfortunately, right as one of her synthetic beakers hit the wall next to it.

Kara, in glasses and ponytail again, but still wearing those fucking chinos looked startled. "Um, -hey Lena. I was worried when you didn't text me back. But you look like – um -Well it looks like you're -alright."

"Yes Supergirl, I am quite alright. Maybe you should go out and rescue some more citizens. Perhaps stop a couple of bullets by lodging them in your kidneys. I hear the police department has decided to go with human-shields this year instead of Kevlar." Lena snapped out glaring at the wall, then shifted her eyes to Kara. "You promised me, -you promised me you wouldn't do this damn it."

"The fire," Kara said looking down at her shoes.

"I thought you were intelligent."

Kara looked hurt and responded heatedly, "Lena this is what I do. This is what Supergirl does. I thought you liked the whole hero thing. You picked her."

"I can't deal with this right now Kara. I can't trust you with- I can't. Just go Kara."

Lena turned her back. When she heard the elevator move away from her, her shoulders dropped.

The inebriated and frustrated CEO did not want to deal with the mess she had made right then, either with Kara or in her lab. So, she waited until she saw the woman leave on her security monitors, feeling her throat constrict when the elevator camera showed her girlfriend's face obviously wet with tears. Feeling raw with too many emotions, she went back up to her office.

Waiting on her office balcony was a caped figure she was not in the mood to deal with.

Lena had met with Kate on a few occasions since she helped get her out of the compound and Lena admitted she might consider the woman a friend. She was just a lot.

The specter that was Batwoman looked odd outlined by afternoon sun rays instead of cloaked in the blackness of night. Probably noticing that, she stood striking the Supergirl pose, then laughed before walking up toward Lena.

"Trouble in paradise Little Luthor?" Kate asked pulling off her cowl looking smug. "I just saw Blondie looking awfully tragic. Nearly got run over by a bus with how distracted she was. I'd put money on her over the bus, but she might crack those stupid glasses she wears."

"I'm going to put a shield generator around that balcony and watch all of you people bounce off it like bugs, " Lena said spitefully, wishing she had thought to bring what little whiskey was left back up with her.

"So hostile." Kate said sarcastically. "What's a poor bat to do? All the Danvers sisters snatching up the finest eligible women in National City. Had to come and see if you might have reconsidered going black."

"You could always stay in Gotham." Lena replied sarcastically rubbing her forehead. "Please leave Kate. Whatever this is about, I cannot help or talk or think right now, so I can't possibly be of use to whatever fetch quest the bat-brood has you on this time."

"We've always been at our best when you were all down in the dumps. Getting a little drink in you helps me keep up with that quick tongue of yours." She said ironically with a wink. "Then again, the first time we did this dance, you were ten, so that probably had more to do with you refusing to say more than five words to me at a time."

"Twelve, and I would rather not say any-" Lena started before Kate walked forward placing a few tablets on Lena's desk.

"This time, I thought I would return the favor. We found these at that compound. Each has a unique chemical structure. Oracle has been studying them back at the cave, and she let me – well at least she didn't notice when I swiped one of each from her chemistry set."

Lena pushed the tablets off her desk onto a piece of paper and held them up. "These look like what my mother was feeding that, well that boy that looked like-."

"Yeah Superboy was a trip. Usually the suit takes out most of the concussive trauma in a fight, but he left a few sunrises on my tender bits that took some weeks to heal." Kate admitted touching her side and wincing in remembered pain. "The rage on that one. We have a few theories, but no one saw a red ring and Bats didn't think a Luthor would go to the trouble of breaking in for a resurrection dip."

Kate looked uncomfortable admitting, "Bat Fam isn't feelin' our chances at getting him to find his happy place. It's not our style with people, but with him and all of that," She said gesturing vaguely. "We're worried we might need to put him down."

Lena secretly agreed. She was wary of Kara's enthusiasm toward the Kryptonian-boy. She knew her family, and the world was probably better off if any alien super-soldier they made was stopped for good. She accepted that her brain solved problems this way. Black had just upgraded a pawn that threatened the king. There might not be another way out.

The index finger of her hand trembled as she remembered her own hesitation at pulling the trigger. Feeling troubled she thought, Kill Frankenstein, her monster, the man with the gun, anyone else in their way? Queens, kings, bishops and pawns.

Feeling uncomfortable with her thoughts, Lena diverted the conversation, "Any idea how my mother is controlling him?"

"Not much about that, but we think we know something of what she's doing with his powers. It seems mommy dearest deactivated a least some of his powers and used these," Kate said nodding to the tabs "to reactivate them at will."

"Something that interacts with the expression of proteins in specific Kryptonian genetic markers?" Lena asked brow creased with concentrated curiosity.

"That was my guess," Kate said nodding sagely.

Looking up at the woman with a smirk Lena replied, "It's a good thing we didn't have any classes together. I would have enjoyed ratting you out when I caught you cheating off my tests."

Kate whistled looking innocent. "Anyway, I was hoping you might be better situated to make use of it. Maybe they could be altered somehow to work for humans. I've always thought I'd make a pretty good Superbat."

"Not on your life." Lena said scoffing.

Kate looked surprised.

"You, or rather your whole Bat Clan, are constantly up to shady nonsense. I personally cleaned up that whole thing Bruce did, appropriating an entire city's cell phones to get his bad guy without any fail-safes. Reckless idiot. I'll hack for a good cause. But that programming existing could have facilitated the worst cyberterrorism the world has ever seen. It could have shut down the global financial system in minutes and you people put it out there for anyone to trace. I am not being any part of putting the minds behind that on Kryptonian steroids," Lena said with conviction.

"Well," Kate said moving her hand to grab the pills. "then maybe if you wanted to make a trade. We've still been having a hard time with Superman allowing us to research the kryptonite, especially after the whole vault incident."

Lena felt cold. "If I catch you with kryptonite again Kate Kane," she continued with menace in her voice, "Gotham's black knights are going to have to contend with the Luthor that's never lost a game."

Kate held both palms out in surrender.

"Alright, alright little Luthor, no reason to get all Bruce Willis on me." Kate said still smiling, "I know you wouldn't really kill me," then tilted her head correcting "-probably. But I get your point. Hands off Blondie's magic green rocks. Scout's honor. At least from me." "Bruce" she said with emphasis, "plays by rules I don't dictate."

"If you can't trust him not to support your word, maybe you're playing for the wrong team," Lena observed feeling a little softer toward her for the vote of confidence.

Kate was silent for a moment and then slipped the cowl back on. Quietly she said, "He didn't want me- There's one more thing you have to know. Little boy sunshine left some blood at the scene where you shot him." Lena stiffened. "It looks like his DNA is a composite of Superman and - Lex."

Kate looked at her with sympathetic eyes before swinging off the balcony onto a nearby rooftop.

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Notes:

I personally really enjoy Winn and I've been trying to figure out how to use him more. He'll come up again for you in the next couple of chapters.

Also, I like to keep my plots nice and thick, but there are more endgame clues peppered in from here on out. The big stuff I've decided on already. I won't confirm or deny any of that and some of the holes I left are just questions I'm planning on answering soon. So if it has to do with one of those you may just see a trail of ellipses...

That being said, I'd enjoy hearing in the comments what you think might be coming up next.
Enjoy the hunt!