We're really sorry this took so long to get done, but we've had some really shit past few months. Read the AN at the end of the chapter for an updated schedule. We've also cleaned up the two previous chapters.
SUPERGIRL: S3EP18 - GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT
March 2018
"Previously, on Supergirl…
With the help of Legionnaires Artemis (former Green Arrow protégée Evelyn Sharpe), Mon-El, Brainiac 5, and Saturn Girl (a 23-year-old version of Kara and Barry's adopted daughter Ellie from the future, who is calling herself Imra Ardeen), Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter have stopped three Worldkillers. The first, Reign, remains imprisoned in a secret Justice League facility, where Lena Luthor and Caitlin Snow are desperately trying to separate the personalities of Samantha Arias and Reign. The second, Purity, is missing; her whereabouts unknown. The final worldkiller, Pestilence, is dead. Murdered by Artemis with a plasma-bow. In outrage, Kara sent the Legionaries back to the future aboard their ship. Unbeknownst to her, Mon-El stayed behind and is now hiding in National City.
Furthermore, M'gann M'orzz, who recently relocated from Metropolis to spend time with J'onn J'onzz and his ailing father M'yrrn, stumbled across the remnants of Arthur Coville's 'Cult of Rao'. After helping a woman extricate herself from the Cult, M'gann discovered that the cult members had in their possession a mineral from Krypton - a form of Kryptonite called Harun-El. Believing that this new Kryptonite could perhaps counter the Worldkillers, Winn Schott seeks out Mon-El to use his Timeship to scan nearby space for any potential other deposits of the mineral."
Kara sat on a couch in her loft, snuggled into Barry's side. Ellie was nestled between Barry's legs, eyes fixed on the television, which was showing 'Thor: Ragnarok.' Ellie had only recently discovered the existence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks primarily to Ruby, and now insisted on watching all the movies in order. She was, however, only allowed to continue her movie binge on the weekends, because after watching each movie, she would call up Cisco in a frenzy and gush about it. The utter nerd entirely encouraged such practices, and they often broke down into hour-long discussions about… well everything really. Kara had lost count. Kara herself had only seen a few of the movies, and didn't really care that much about them. Why did she need fake superheroes and supervillains when there were plenty of real-life ones? She'd much rather watch Star-Trek, but she was holding off on binging the show with Ellie until she was older. Thanks to her telepathy, Ellie was far smarter and mature than most, if not all, girls her age. Being able to simply 'download' concepts direct from peoples brains helped in that regard. Though ironically she struggled with maths; not being as good with abstract, meaningless numerical values. It amused Alex to no end.
Cisco and Winn, it should be noted, had been banned from Ellie's physical presence until she finished her marathon, lest either of the nerds accidentally spoil anything for her. Barry, being the only one of them immune to Ellie's powers, was permitted only as long as he didn't think too hard about the movie they were watching at the time. Kara's solution to this problem was simple. After all, she could be a very good distraction for him when she wanted to be.
On the other side of the couch sat Alex, also intent on the TV. She, like Kara, had never particularly cared for superhero movies, but since Ellie had started this madness with Iron Man, Alex had been as engrossed as Cisco and Ellie were, often joining them in their… well, Alex called them debates, Kara called the shouting matches. Only, Alex didn't really care about the characters - except perhaps the Black Widow, as Kara couldn't help but notice the uptick of Alex's heartbeat whenever the spy appeared. She cared about the science. She spent the entire movie with a notebook in her hand, writing down what the movies got right, vs what they got utterly wrong. Suffice to say, only superspeed had stopped the remote from ending up embedded in Kara's television when they watched 'Ant-Man'.
The final occupants of Kara's loft that night were J'onn and M'gann. The Martians sat at Kara's dining table, talking together quietly in the Martian-Language. Kara didn't know what the conversation was about, though she could have eavesdropped with her Legion Ring.
"I thought Thor was just an alien with a superpowered hammer," Alex was saying as Kara traced copies of her' S' sigil, intersected with Barry's lightning bolt, into his bare arm, "Why can he still use his lightning without it?"
"It's the Odinforce, duh! Now shush! Loki's about to come back!" Ellie snapped, practically bouncing against Barry's legs. If there was one thing Kara was worried about when it came to these Marvel movies, besides Alex's rather unnatural infatuation, it was Ellie's obsessive love of Loki. If this kept up, she'd need to keep an eye on her daughter, or she may very well end-up dating her first supervillain instead of punching him.
Ellie whipped her head towards Kara, eyes violet, and poked out her tongue. Kara reciprocated, blowing a raspberry for good measure. Ellie giggled, but then Hulk appeared, Kara's daughter screamed like a One-Direction fan, and she was once again consumed by the movie.
They sat like that once more for several minutes before Kara's phone started buzzing in her pocket. Better be Lena, she thought sourly. Lena had been incredibly elusive lately, missing lunches or sleep-overs; even declining most of Kara's requests for interviews or quotes. If she didn't know better, she'd think she'd done something to offend her friend. But she did know better, because Sam was equally busy and impossible to reach, so she understood that Lena was just very focussed on whatever her latest project was. That didn't change the fact that, if the two women didn't get their acts together soon, Kara, Alex and Maggie would be staging an intervention.
She pulled out her phone and rolled her eyes as she saw Cisco's caller ID.
"Cisco, she isn't finished yet, you have to wait…
"It's not that. You need to get over here, both of you, and fast. John Stewart just showed up at STAR Labs… He says Hal Jordan is missing."
Several trips at superspeed later (Cisco couldn't get those teleports finished fast enough), Kara was standing in the Cortex at STAR Labs, arms folded, Barry on one side and Alex and J'onn on the other. Standing in the middle of the room, looking quite awkward, was John Stewart, second Green Lantern of Sector 2184.
John was not a member of the Justice League. In fact, he stayed away from the League and it's members whenever possible. As a result, they knew very little about him at all. Only that he'd been selected as the replacement for Hal's partner when he'd gone rogue almost a year ago.
"What's happened?" Kara asked, dispensing with the pleasantries. The man didn't want anything to do with them? Kara could respect that. It didn't mean she wanted anything to do with him either. But Hal was her friend, even if he said next to nothing of his past and spent most of his time off-world. If he was in trouble, there was nothing that would stand in her way.
John bit his lip, then started pacing around the Cortex.
"We were on Ungara, deflecting a comet that was going to destroy the planet and wipe out 13 billion people…" Cisco sucked in a breath, whispering, "thirteen billion," to Caitlin, who's jaw had fallen open.
"But Hal received an urgent message from the Guardians, telling him to head for the Vega System immediately. That was a week ago, and he hasn't checked in since, and his ring isn't responding." John shivered, then held out his hand. The ring on his finger glowed, and a hologram of a solar-system appeared over their heads.
"The Vega System is the most-war-ravaged region of space this side of the Virgo Supercluster. It sits right on the border between Sector 2814 and Sector 2813, Sinestro's old beat. Hell, Vega is the whole reason Sector 2814 gets two Lanterns, most places only get one."
He took a deep breath, then continued on.
"An ancient civilisation, one that predates the Green Lantern Corps, used the twelve terrestrial planets of the Vega System as a testing ground for experimentation. They were trying to create life itself."
Kara bit her lip.
"And they succeeded. Several times. And each time they came closer and closer to creating lifeforms that were perfect mirror images of themselves - what we would call human."
"Once they succeeded, these 'Ancients' just up and left. But they left behind an enormous city and most of the technology within it. Now, several thousands of years later, there are seven different intelligent species in the system fighting over ten planets, and every couple of hundred years, something new happens to disturb the balance."
He waved his ring, and each planet in the system illuminated in order as he spoke.
"The first planet in the system, Dakara, where the Ancient City now lies, is a dead world. No one has been able to get inside the Citadel - that's what the people of Vega call the City - in two and a half thousand years. It's protected by an energy shield and guarded by these things called Darkstars. Intelligence suggests that they're actually dead bodies locked inside nanotech suits, controlled by the artificial intelligence of the Citadel itself."
Kara went pale, and Barry ran a hand through his hair.
"The second planet, Karna, is the homeworld of the Gordanians."
"We have two Gordanian slavers locked in the DEO," J'onn said, "Their race has a deplorable reputation."
"It's well earned. Most of them are utter assholes. But they were behind the last big debacle in Vega, and still haven't recovered. The problem this time is over the planet Okarra."
John zoomed in to the fifth, sixth and seventh planets.
"Okarra is a planet rich in almost every mineral you can think of. It's incredibly valuable, and the races of Vega have been fighting over it since they first went to space. For the past two years, the planet has been embroiled in a major Civil-War between the Tamaraneans from the planet Tamaran, and the Xanshin from nearby Xanshi. These two are the last species created by the Ancients, the two closest to human."
"I met a Tamaranean woman once," Kara said, "On Krypton. My dad met with her one day, a couple of years before the planet was destroyed. I… don't know why, or who she was."
"Do they look human?" Alex asked. Kara shrugged.
"Sort of. They're humanoid, but about seven feet tall, have burnt orange skin, green eyes and can fly." Alex's jaw fell open.
"Don't forget the flaming hair," J'onn added, and Barry facepalmed.
"Oh yeah. Their hair bursts into flame. Shouldn't forget that."
"The Xanshin are more human-looking," John assured them, before looking down at the ground, "though their bodily proportions are rather exaggerated…"
"Why not just go looking for Jordan yourself?" J'onn asked, leaning forward on the Cortex console.
John looked back up at them, gaze unyielding. "I've never been to Vega before. Hal has the experience there; Sinestro taught him how the place works. If I go in blind… I might just make matters worse. Hal never shuts up about how good you guys are, so I came here to ask for your help."
The group of superheroes looked about one another. Not a word was said, but they understood all the same.
"I'll go," Kara said, "J'onn and M'gann can handle Purity if she shows up again. Barry needs to stay here to deal with the Thinker. I'll help you find Hal."
"If you're going then I'm coming too," Alex said, hand dropping to the gun at her waist, "It's about damn time I go to their turf for a change. Plus, Jordan still owes me from the last time he was in town."
Barry placed a hand on Kara's shoulder, and a jolt of lightning ran through her. The world slowed to a crawl, and Kara's hearing vanished as they shifted into Flashtime. She allowed herself a few seconds of blissful silence, before turning towards her husband.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Positive. I'm the best choice and the logical one. I have to go." Barry looked into her eyes for a few seconds.
"I trust you. Just come back to me, alright?"
She smiled softly, then pulled him in for a kiss.
"Always."
Barry let go, and the world returned to normal speed. Kara locked eyes with J'onn, who nodded, accepting her plan.
"Thank you," John said, smiling for the first time since they'd arrived at STAR.
"Well, if you're going into space, you aren't going unprepared," Cisco announced. Then he spun on his heel and rushed off down a corridor. The assembled heroes followed him to his workshop, arriving just in time to watch as he wheeled two mannequins out from a corner.
"Holy Rao," Kara whispered as Alex went slack beside her.
The new suit on display was similar, yet completely different to her last. The chest piece was slightly smaller, framed better over her chest, but the skirt was gone. In its place were metallic pants, a deep red, falling down to meet with a new set of boots, blue to match the bodice. The boots were similar to Barry's, but instead of flaring outwards at the back, hers flared upwards at the sides, tracing the curve of her leg. The belt was thinner again, still gold, but it now had the diamond shape at the peak. Both the ends of the sleeves and the tops and soles of the boots were trimmed in identical gold. The cape had transformed once again. Now, instead of hanging over her shoulders, it folded around her neck, creating a v-neck collar she could adjust as she wished. The cape's shape was like an elongated teardrop, tapering to a point just above her ankles. It had more volume than she was used to, and she realised it was so she could actually pin it around her like a wrap or cocoon. The edges were also trimmed in gold, and if she looked close enough, she realised they were actually Kryptonian glyphs. What did they…
'My name is Kara Zor-El. I am the last daughter of the dead planet Krypton, and I am a refugee. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin. But my pod got knocked off course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become... Superman. I hid who I really was until one day when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world. To most people, I'm Kara Danvers, a reporter at CatCo Worldwide Media, wife of Barry Allen, and mother of my daughter Ellie. But in secret, I'm a member of the Justice League, and I work with my adoptive sister at the DEO to protect this planet I call my home from anyone that means it to cause it harm. I am Supergirl.'
"It's beautiful," Kara whispered, "Thank you, Cisco… truly."
Cisco blushed.
"Oh it's nothing. I've been working on it since Reign destroyed my last suit. I know you've been wearing your old one for the past month or so, but I wanted to make sure this was perfect first. I had Sara give me everything from the Legion database about Kryptonian dress, so I could make it as accurate as possible. I tried to get the actual body piece to wrap more, but it impeded movement too much, so I decided the cape would work well enough. I also used the Kryptonian style for Alex's suit. Figured it matched…"
Kara blinked, tearing her eyes away from the gorgeous suit to fix on the second mannequins, which she'd completely forgotten was there.
Alex's suit was a dark navy blue, almost black. It was less metallic than Kara's was - it didn't need lead panelling like hers did - more formfitting like Sara's suit. Nor did it have a cape. But it did have a skirt of sorts. Starting at the waist and tapering out around the knees, it framed the suit's hips and hid a golden belt from open view, but it didn't cover her front. It was actually more like a tail than a skirt, or a cape that started at the waist and ended below the knees. Sewn within the inside of the skirt, which was a deep red, were dozens of pockets for small knives and throwing stars, and it also protected the extra cartridges on the belt from coming free or being pulled off. A small diamond shape, identical to the belt on Kara's suit, was framed by the point where the skirt tapered apart. Two gun-holsters adorned suit's thighs. The collar was also quite high and lined with dark gold metal.
"If you tap the collar, an emergency helmet will form - I borrowed Ray's nanites. It'll protect you from potentially dangerous toxins, or, if you're going into space, I suppose, vacuum. The suit can filter oxygen for you to breathe, but you'll need a tank if you're in space for longer than a few minutes.
Alex stepped carefully up to Cisco, then pulled him into a hug and started crying on his shoulder. The poor guy looked absolutely petrified. Kara took pity on him and eased Alex free, replacing his shoulder with her own. Letting Alex sob into her clothes instead.
"You're part of the crew now Alex. 100%."
"I am going to kick some serious alien ass."
The two sisters separated, and Kara turned to the assembled heroes.
"Clear the room. We're going to suit up."
Kara, Alex and J'onn followed John Stewart into the sewers of National City. They didn't speak. It seemed… rude somehow, to disturb the silence.
After about a ten minute walk, the Green Lantern brought them to a dry and well-lit tunnel. At the end of the pipe was a ladder. Alex watched with no small degree of envy as she climbed down the ladder and the others floated. Kara couldn't help but giggle at her, which earned a scowl in return. At the base of the ladder was a large antechamber, with rows of seats arching down to a stage at the bottom. The cement was old and cracked, and stalactites hung from the roof, the dripping of water adding to the ambience. The scent of mould was heavy in the air. A dozen or more aliens lay wrapped in thin blankets in the bleachers. Gornians, Laraxians, Durlans… you name it, they were there. Homeless and alone.
But Kara's eye couldn't help being drawn towards the structure atop the stage. It was an enormous gateway made from solid grey stone with swirling patterns within it. It was a perfect ring shape, though a section at the bottom was embedded within the stage itself. Separating the outside of the ring from the inside was a track of silver metal, with dozens of glyphs etched in a single line following the curvature of the ring itself. Each rune was distinguished from the one beside it, sitting in a divided rectangle of the track. Situated at equal distances from each other around the circumference were large triangles that hung over both the exterior grey metal and the silver track of glowing symbols.
"So this is how most of the alien's get to Earth," Alex whispered, "I'd always assumed they all came by ship."
"I think we'd detect that many ships relatively easily don't you?" J'onn noted, shaking his head at his number two.
"It's called a Stargate," John said, leading the group towards the stone ring. Several people scattered around the underground cavern looked up at Kara as she passed, and she smiled and waved back at them. It was the least she could do for them.
"The Ancients built a network of them across the Milky Way Galaxy long ago. They can take you practically anywhere."
"We had one on Mars," J'onn said, "it was the first place the White Martians targeted. My first job was as a security guard there. When I escaped the death camps, I used the Stargate to come here. I tried to use it to go back sometime later, but couldn't get a lock. The Whites had destroyed it…" he trailed off, staring at the portal device in thought. But Kara was frowning now.
"Krypton didn't have one. I… I've never heard of a Stargate before." Why hadn't Krypton had one of these devices if they were so common?
John shrugged. "I don't know. The Ancients only put Stargates on planets they deemed habitable. Maybe Krypton was too toxic for them, so they didn't bother?"
He stepped up to a second device in front of the gateway. Shaped like a mushroom, the metallic device was covered in the same glyphs the ring was, patterned in two circles around a large golden half-sphere in the centre of the device. John started pushing the symbols, and the chevrons on the Stargate illuminated one by one in a clockwise manner.
"They're constellations," Alex realised, pointing at the glyphs. John pressed a seventh symbol, and the chevron at the peak of the ring, snapped open with a clang, then clamped closed once more. Then he pushed the half-circle, and a wall of water exploded out of the ring, roaring through the cave. The water, energy, whatever it was, flared outwards, before being sucked back into the ring itself and forming a rippling surface of mesmerising blue.
"Wow…" Kara whispered.
"Straight ticket to the planet Okarra," John said, pursing his lips. Alex took a deep breath and drew Barry's Legion ring from her pocket. She'd borrowed the device so that she'd be able to breathe regardless of the atmosphere on Okarra.
"Good luck girls," J'onn said, pulling both of them into a quick hug. He let them go, nodded his farewell, then turned and started making his way towards the surface. Kara, Alex and John stepped up to the rippling portal, shimmering with blue light. Kara reached out and, hesitantly, tapped the event-horizon. It squelched slightly under her touch, creating a series of ripples that radiated out before fading.
"Any tips?" Alex asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Don't hold you're breath. It's not water, even if it looks like it. And you'll exit at the same velocity you entered with, so don't run, just walk."
The Green Lantern squared his shoulders, then stepped through the puddle and vanished. Kara looked to Alex and mirrored her sister's dazzling smile. Then they clasped hands and stepped through.
They emerged into a war zone. Gunshots tore through the heavy air, soaring across a scorched no-mans-land that seemed to stretch for miles. There were no trees, no signs of civilisation. But there was a row of what had to be tanks fast approaching. Gathered around the foot of the stone pedestal the Stargate stood atop, were perhaps a hundred people, all taller than her, dressed in rags with burnt orange skin and hair that actually tapered into flickering flames.
Kara didn't know who was in the right or who was in the wrong in this conflict. She didn't know the stakes. But she did know that the sun beaming down on her right now was yellow. She could feel its power invigorating her. And she knew refugees when she saw them.
Kara rushed down the stairs as the Stargate disengaged with a soft whooshing sound, and the gathered Tamaraneans all shied away from her. Then they saw John. A Green Lantern they recognised. John and Alex followed her, immediately asking questions of what was happening, trying to get answers and see if anyone was gravely injured. Kara advanced through the crowd, aiming for who she assumed was the groups' leader. Standing beside an identical mushroom-shaped dialling device embedded in the white and black dirt, was a tall woman in torn purple clothing that actually contrasted rather well with her skin. Her hair, like the others, tapered to flame at the ends, and her eyes were entirely green—no irises or whites.
"Who are you supposed to be?" The woman said, the Legion Ring translating for her.
"I'm Supergirl," Kara said, stopping beside the woman and looking out towards the approaching line of tanks. They looked not dissimilar to earth tanks, or similar heavy-duty mobile weaponry from Krypton. She supposed that made sense.
"What in X-Hal's name are you doing?"
"Right now?" Kara asked, shooting the woman a smile, "I'm saving your buts. Get your charges off-world. I'll deal with these guys."
The woman rolled her eyes and was about to say something - no doubt berating her for being stupid - when Kara shot into the sky, powered up her eyes, and started carving a line between the tanks and the Stargate. To her credit, the Tamaranean resumed dealing the Stargate without more than a few seconds bewilderment.
"I don't care what your war is about," Kara yelled. She didn't know if the tank drivers or the troops inside could hear her, but if they could, this was their warning. "But targeting the weak and the helpless? That makes you the villain. Every time."
For a few moments, silence reigned over the barren plain. Then the Stargate burst to life, and the tanks all trained the canons on Kara. Great. So it was a day for punching.
Kara shot towards the tank in the centre of the line, dodging a blast of electricity from its canon. She could probably absorb it, but better safe than sorry. She weaved around three more shots - the others went wide - and landed right in front of the machine. Then she picked it up with absolutely no effort, and hurled it through the air, back the way it had come. A distant and dull crunching sound was the only indication it landed. Next. She gave the tank on her left a single good punch that crumpled the metal - mustn't be very advanced - and seemed to completely stall it. She turned right, just in time for a canon to train on her face. She jumped over the turret as it released another shot, which slammed into the tank she'd just disabled, making it explode. She landed on the cannon barrel, then ripped it free and used it like a cricket bat, crunching it into the side of the tank that tried to shoot her. It crumpled like paper. She walked over the top as a hatch on the roof was thrown open with a metallic clang, and a man with dark skin and pink eyes frantically crawled out, training an energy weapon on her. Kara let her new suit absorb the blast, which it did flawlessly, well done Cisco, then grabbed the man and tossed him behind her. She reached the other side of the tank and smirked. The two other machines had turned tail and were driving away as fast as possible. She turned around to check the other side, and was pleased to not they were doing so as well. A flash of green caught her eye, and she turned back to the Stargate as John landed on the ground beside her.
"You may have just made this a whole lot worse," he said, though it didn't seem to have any malice or disapproval to it, so that was a point in his favour.
"Don't care," she said frankly, then she floated up into the air and made her way back towards the Stargate. Most of the refugees were through, and Alex was talking to the leader woman, who was practically beaming at Kara.
"That… that was amazing! How did you do that?"
"Part of my amazing wits and charm," Kara said. The woman shook her head, chuckling softly as Kara landed on the ground.
"I am Koriand'r, captain of the Tamaranean ship Starfire-3." She winced. "Well, I was. We were evacuating the last resident refugees when we were shot down. I managed to get the survivors across the plain to the Stargate…" She took a breath then performed what was obviously a local greeting; closed eyes, a bow, and hand over heart. Kara made sure to ignore the fact that the tattered remains of the captain's uniform did not do much to hold in her rather impressive bosom.
"Your Alex says you search for the Green Lantern? Hal Jordan?"
"Yes," Kara said, smirking inwardly at the 'your Alex' comment. She glanced to Alex, who was blushing something fierce. She was having a much harder time not looking at the alien's impressive figure. "Can you help us?"
Koriand'r nodded.
"I know where he is… or at least, where he was going. He has been helping evacuate the refugees, from all three sides. Come with me back to Tamaram, and I'll tell you all I know."
Kara nodded, and together, the four of them walked through the Stargate once more.
"He's gone where?!" John exclaimed, jaw falling open in utter shock.
The three Earth-bound heroes were currently standing in a majestic temple building, overlooking an immaculate garden of trees with golden leaves. Sixty feet tall - easily the most prominent structure in the city - a statue of a woman wreathed in flames looked over the entire planet of Tamaran. It was a small world, Kara was quickly coming to realise. The curvature of the horizon was far more noticeable than on Earth, and she could see neighbouring Okarra in the night sky. Tamaran was probably the size of Earth's moon… maybe a little smaller. And it had no moons of its own. Aside from the obviously alien nature of its inhabitants and skyline, the city Koriand'r had brought them too was incredibly familiar. In fact, it almost felt like a hybrid of Krypton and Earth architecture. They were obviously less technologically advanced, with the buildings she'd seen so far made from metal or some local variant of brick. But she'd yet to see any sign of suburbia or urban scrawl like on Earth. The buildings were all large multi-story affairs - though oddly enough, no skyscrapers. If she had to guess, each one would house entire extended families, or perhaps guilds like they had on Krypton.
"We captured a Darkstar trying to infiltrate the New Kingdom Hall," Kori's sister, Komand'r said. The two women looked so alike it was uncanny, except for one difference. Komand'r had pitch-black hair with flickering purple flames, where Kori's was bright red. Komand'r was apparently next in line for the Tamaranean throne, a skilled general, and a well-known ruler. Indeed, Kara thought she possessed that natural charisma that all good leaders had that just couldn't be taught. It was… weird, seeing it reflected back at her. Unsettling even.
"Well… captured is a strong word. It is only thanks to Lantern Jordan that we discovered the intrusion at all. The creature was completely immune to our scanners and security. Our security teams succeeded in defeating it, but it self-destructed before we could get any information out of it."
"What we do know," Kori picked up, pacing around the long table in the centre of the room. Hovering above the table was a holographic rendering of the solar system, "is that the machine was trying to access the Royal quarters. Lantern Jordan guessed that its intention was to kill the King, and we agree. Jordan left, intending to travel to the Citadel and confront the Darkstar Hive mind. If our ancient enemies have aligned themselves with the Xanshi… our position would become very perilous indeed."
"So Hal has gone flying half-cocked into what might be a sentient alien city overrun by robot corpses?" Alex asked, rubbing her forehead.
"In simple terms," Kori admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "I would have gone with him, but we got an emergency signal from one of our enclaves on Okarra, and I had little choice but to fly out there immediately."
Kara massaged her temples.
"Can you take us to the Citadel now?"
Kori and Komand'r locked eyes, having a conversation without words in that way only sisters could. Then they turned back.
"Yes."
Kara stood on the deck of the Starfire-4, hands clasped behind her back, staring out the main-viewer into the space beyond. The Tamaranean vessel was nowhere near as advanced as the other star-ships Kara had used. For starters, it didn't even have a hyperspace engine, instead using FTL based technology. Even the Kryptonians - notorious xenophobes that they were - had hyperdrives. Kara's own pod had been fitted with one. While she was certainly no expert, she knew that hyperdrives were far superior, as they allowed a ship to travel through folded subspace, rather than normal space - turning what would be a year's long journey into a trip taking a few days. The FTL engines this ship used kept the Starfire in normal space, which meant lots of careful navigating and maths to avoid ploughing into things. It certainly looked cool, though.
A wave of blue-white fluorescent energy rolled off the ship's prow as they soared closer and closer to the nearby sun, like a surfboard disturbing the surface of a wave. Kara had never seen anything like it before. It was utterly transfixing.
"What's powering the ship?" Alex asked from behind Kara. She was standing beside Kori, John and her crew.
"X'Light."
Kara flinched. She'd had a feeling.
"X'Light? What's that?" Alex asked.
"You don't want to know," Kara said.
"Uh, yeah, I do. That's kind of why I asked."
Kori chuckled softly to herself.
"It isn't as dangerous as you think, Kara Zor-El. Our Light is not as… volatile as Rosharan Stormlight." Kara rolled her eyes, deliberately not thinking about the Legion Ring adorning Alex's finger.
"It doesn't matter if your Light is Stormlight or not. It's all Investiture in the end; which means it's all equally dangerous."
"Investiture is only dangerous if you use it wrong. It's just a tool…"
"You clearly haven't figured out what the rest of the universe did then," Kara snapped, getting particularly annoyed now. She spun around and fixed Kori with a glare. "There is an excellent reason very few races dare use Light."
Kori didn't look angry. Only curious. "Why?"
Kara looked to John, who was resolutely staring at the ground.
"Well Green Lantern? Are you going to tell her?"
John mumbled something, and though Kara heard it with her enhanced hearing, the others didn't, so she kept staring at him.
"It's against the Guardian's decree to help species advance beyond their level of development, Supergirl. You know that."
"Oh for fuck's sake, one of you spit it out already!" Alex demanded, folding her arms with a frown.
"Investiture, Alex, is the scientific name for what you'd call magic," John finally said, "It's the energy of everything, pulled directly from the Source. Across the cosmos, it's usually called Light."
"It's living power," Kara continued, "The source-code of reality. The magic Constantine and Zatanna use is temporary, it only exists as long as they maintain their connections to the Source. Investiture is magic pulled into the physical world and left here. Unbound. To be used at will by anyone. As a result, it has a tendency to develop Intent, and that Intent leads to…"
Kori gasped, the pieces fitting together. "X'Hal! Sentience! Light is alive!?"
"Sort of," John admitted, now scowling at Kara. "It's not as bad as Kara is making it out to be."
"It really is."
"No, it's not. It takes a long time for Light to develop true awareness."
"Wait a second," Alex said, stepping up to John and grabbing his hand, scrutinising his Lantern Ring. "This thing is alive?"
"No. But the Central Battery on Oa is fuelled by the Green-Light of Willpower. That's it's Intent: Will. And there is an entity, Ion, born of Will, that governs the use of that Light. The rings are like extensions of that mind. They have a cognitive aspect - they search for new hosts once their bearers die - but they aren't alive."
"Every time a race discovers Light and tries to use it, the same thing happens," Kara said smugly. "The Investiture forms an Intent and comes alive. Roshar is just the worst example. The entire universe is lucky that Odium can't leave that system, or he'd kill us all."
The temperature of the bridge seemed to rise for a few moments when Kara spoke the word.
"Odium? What is Odium?" Kori whispered, rubbing her arms, where goosebumps had formed.
"Pray you never find out."
"That's enough, Kara!" John snapped. "You have no right to tell anyone what they use and what they don't. Light is just as dangerous as electricity, and it wasn't Investiture that destroyed Krypton. That was your own greed."
Kara huffed, turning back to the viewscreen. She didn't care what John said. Light was dangerous, and now Kori knew that. Maybe they'd be more careful using it in the future. Her father had told her stories of Roshar as a child; tales of Honour, Cultivation and Odium, and the horrible desolations their Lights had inflicted upon the peoples of that world. Nothing had ever terrified her more.
A few hours later, the helmsman announced their arrival, and Alex came up beside her at the screen to watch. The fluorescent energy seemed to bend around the ship as they decelerated, and the wave of light rolling off the prow vanished in a burst of power. True space came back into view, and Kara found her gaze fixed on a dead world. A barren rock silhouetted behind a bright yellow star. It was, perhaps, the size of Mercury, and it was so small she could actually see the Citadel on its grey surface. A city, shaped like a snowflake with six arms, dotted with soaring silver towers. The entire structure was enveloped in a transparent, shimmering shield of energy, and it was only under the dome that any colour existed: green grass, and yellow lights in the towers.
"Wow…" Alex muttered.
"It is impressive,' Kara agreed.
"No signs of danger, Captain," the helmsman said. "Either they're ignoring us, or can't see us."
"Most likely the former," Kori said, biting a lock of flaming hair.
"Right then; let's find Hal and go home," Kara said. Then she turned on her heel and strode towards the elevator, Alex and John following behind.
Getting into the Citadel was actually far easier than Kara thought it would be. Using the Legion Ring and the upgraded suits Cisco had provided, Kara, Alex and John were catapulted from the Starfire's airlock into the depths of space. Their momentum preserved, the trio shot through the emptiness, hurtling towards the City. The oddest thing, for Kara at least, was the lack of sound. Moving at high speeds wasn't exactly new to her or John. Alex, however, had an enormous grin splitting her face, belaying her utter glee.
Once they caught the gravity of the dead planet, Kara's flight power returned, and she grabbed Alex and started slowing down. John did so as well, forming a construct rocket head around the trio as they shot towards the energy shield. The green-Light collided with the transparent barrier, then transformed into a drill and began grinding away. Sound returned to them, and the high-pitched whistling of the shield giving way was utterly deafening. Thankfully, it didn't take long for John to open the shield just large enough to slip through. They entered, the shield snapping closed behind them, and Kara lowered Alex down towards the ground.
Still, nothing attacked them.
They touched down on a grassy slope on the outskirts of one of the six piers, and Kara disabled her helmet, letting her hair fly free. Alex did the same, whistling in awe as they looked up at the towers. Lights flickered in the windows, but they saw no signs of human life. Unwilling to disturb the eerie silence, they made their way out of the park and down what looked like the main road.
In the heart of the city sat an island separated from the rest of the structure by a ring-like moat. Standing atop the island was a tower taller than all the others; quite thin, but with a section near the peak that widened to form three protruding sections along the main structure, before thinning out again at the very top. It screamed grand and important, and Kara instantly knew that this was where they needed to go. A silver-grey metal door cut like a rectangle, with a smaller square cut above it, stood out in front of them.
Kara cut the door open with her heat-vision, the door collapsing inward with a loud 'CLANG!' and something finally attacked them. A figure shaped like a man, but with skin a dull metallic silver colour, launched out the door at them. Twin swords were attached to its arms, and it wore a uniform of dark coppery red, with a helmet that hid its face. Kara dodged the blades as they came towards her, and Alex pumped two blasts of electricity from her gun into its face. The Darkstar's head exploded, but it didn't stop charging. It pivoted on the spot, luminescent orange Light pouring from it's the severed neck, and thrust towards Kara again. She grabbed the sword, intending to snap the creature's arm, but the metal bit into her hand - totally ignoring her invulnerability - and she screamed in pain. John stabbed the Darkstar through the chest with a sword of Green-Light, and it froze still, then collapsed.
Kara pulled away from the machine as it hit the ground, staring at her bleeding hand in shock.
"Kara!" Alex exclaimed, rushing to her side.
"I'm fine," she managed, watching as the wound healed as if it had never been. She looked up towards the sun, but the yellow light was beaming down on them. That shouldn't have happened. Alex grabbed Kara's hand, looking for a wound, but Kara's attention fixed on the Darkstar's body. That luminescent light continued to bleed off its form for several moments, before fading away to nothing.
"Light," Kara hissed, "magic; no wonder it hurt me." Magic, as Clark continuously told her, could bypass her invulnerability and interrupt her powers. She usually avoided it if she could.
John knelt by the creature's corpse, analysing it with his ring.
'Error. Foreign Light detected. By order of the Guardians, report this finding to Oa immediately.'
"Shit," John muttered.
Alex and Kara both stepped away from the corpse. John forged a construct blade and cut a hole in the centre of the Darkstar's chest. More orange Light leaked out for several moments, before vanishing, leaving behind what was clearly a decomposing skeleton.
"The Guardians intelligence was right. Walking corpses, powered by Light. But no Light I've ever seen before." John looked into the now open hallway. Another corpse lay there, and it had been cut open just as this one had. Hal. "The Citadel itself must be creating this new Light somehow; using it to power the Darkstars. But why send one to assassinate the King of Tamaran?"
Though John said no more, all three of them instantly realised why Hal had come here. He'd had the same question, and ignored the Guardians orders to return to Oa, instead entering the city with the intent to find out.
Carefully, Kara leading the way, they advanced deeper into the tower.
The Present Day…
Kara slowly blinked back into awareness, and immediately noticed that she was no longer in STAR Labs. The temperature had dropped drastically, and the architecture around them screamed Krypton. Also, there was snow everywhere—the Fortress of Solitude.
"Oh, good, you're finally awake."
Kara swivelled to face her cousin, who was sitting in his Superman suit a short distance away.
"What happened?" She whispered, rubbing her forehead.
"You kind of had a panic attack."
Kara's mouth went dry, and everything came back to her. Ellie…
"I was hoping you could tell me why there's a Kara clone on ice in my Fortress? I mean, I know I was dead for a bit, but that seems like something you probably should have mentioned to me?"
She followed his pointed hand towards a cryo-chamber on the far side of the room. Sure enough, trapped in suspended animation, was an exact duplicate of Kara.
There was only one answer she could come up with.
"Red Daughter… this Kara saved her," she breathed. And wasn't that just another nail in the coffin? All the work she'd done trying to save her Kasnian clone… it had been for nothing in her world. Here she'd managed it, if only half-way apparently. Just another memory of this Kara Danvers she'd destroyed. Mother. Wife. Hero. Was there anything left of this world's Supergirl to save?
"I can do it," a new voice said. A voice Kara was sure she remembered, but knew she'd never heard before.
Clark was on his feet in an instant, head jerking towards the entrance, where a slim figure was walking towards them across the snow. As it approached and the light fell across her, Kara honestly couldn't say she was surprised by who was revealed. Nothing could shake her anymore today.
A young 20 something woman with shoulder-length curly brown hair and a runners build. She wore a suit, not unlike Barry's, but there was a thin scar crossing her left eye, which was entirely white in colour. The other eye, untouched, was an identical blue to Kara's own.
"Hi Mom."
"Ally? What are you doing here?" Clark demanded, relaxing. So he'd met her before. Ally? That had to be short for Alex.
"I can bring them back—all of them. If you want," Kara's daughter said again, staring resolutely into her eyes.
"How?" She begged.
"At the Forge. We can go down to it and restore your memories."
Clark started violently shaking his head. "No way! Into the Dark Multiverse?! Absolutely not! We barely survived last time and you want to go down there again!?"
"The Destroyer can't touch me," Ally protested. "And I'm the only one that can control the Storm. After all, I was born there."
Kara didn't understand much of what they were saying, but it didn't matter. If she could restore this world's Kara? Her decision was already made.
"Let's go."
Authors Notes - Please Read
Part 2 of this section should be up next week.
We really are sorry about the lack of updates for this story. 2020 is the year that just keeps on giving, because, just as my mother has started recovering from her surgery, Miracle went down with an emergency root canal. In better news, beta reads on our original novel are finishing up.
Current plans:
Betas on our original novel will be back mid-December, so January will be the final revision for that book and maybe starting on the next one.
Post Blessing Act II, the end of Crisis: The Brave New World, and the next A Song of Snows and Waters by the end of November.
Finish writing Blessing Act III and Lost Daughter by mid-December for a Christmas to New Years publication window.
Start Red Daughter storyline for Crisis at the end of November for a pre-Christmas release.
Updates for Tales from the Shadowed Abyss and A Song of Snows and Waters will be more sporadic but should be one every two to three weeks.
Revision. Maybe. We've been contacted by someone who wants to do a potential Gemini Podfic/audiobook. If that does happen, we'll take the time to go back through the earlier chapters of Gemini Curse and revise them for spelling, grammar, speech and plot consistency. Don't expect it soon though, and its contingent on 2021 not sucking as much as 2020.
Question: Should we end this story after Reign and the Thinker's defeat and pick up with Red Daughter and the Dark Multiverse storyline in a sequel, or keep going here?
Love, Ghost and Miracle.