Oh my dear dear readers, I am sorry for the delay! The holiday season is crazy busy! Add in writer's block and well... you get nothing good! I hope you all had happy holidays if you celebrate :)
Anyways, all I'm going to say about this chapter is I'm sorry lol and BUT also if you pay careful attention you'll see that things aren't as bleak as they seem, I promise!
Anyways, I don't own Supergirl and all that. Enjoy (if you can ha ha)!
Alex woke to the soft light of dawn dusting the insides of the crude cabin. For a moment she stayed curled in the armchair she had fallen asleep in, mind racing with confusion as she recalled her dream of J'onn as well as the lengthy string of circumstances that had landed her in this strange place.
Kara.
Alex jerked upright before relaxing slightly as she found Kara's sleeping form safely nestled in the bed across the room. They were safe for the moment. And with some sleep and medical attention to her shoulder and Kara's leg, things were looking up a little. Of course none of that would be enough to fend off CADMUS if they were found.
That thought gave Alex the motivations she needed to stand up. Fighting a groan, she stretched out her sore muscles, every inch of her body aching. However she had to admit that her shoulder was feeling a little bit better already. Kara was right to insist on it being treated.
The real question however was whether Kara had improved at all.
Pausing only to grab the half-full bottle of water they had found tucked in a cupboard, Alex quietly approached the bed.
"Alex?"
To Alex's surprise, Kara was awake, her blue eyes half open and clouded. Sweat glistened on her forehead, thin form curled slightly around her injured leg. She looked awful but still substantially better than the day before.
"Hey," Alex sat down on the edge of the bed, putting her hand to Kara's forehead and breathed a sigh of relief. The Kryptonian's fever had definitely gone down. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." Kara's voice rasped in her throat. "How about you? Did you keep your promise?"
Alex couldn't believe that Kara actually remembered that, but pulled up her sleeve to show off her shoulder bandage. "I did. Good as new. Here, drink this." She unscrewed the water bottle and offered it to the young woman.
Kara frowned, not taking the bottle. "Did you drink?"
"I already had some," Alex lied without a second thought. She didn't know the last time she had drank but it really didn't matter. Kara needed it more than she did.
"It's the same amount as last time."
Damn. Kara was sharp.
"I found another bottle," Alex didn't miss a beat. "Really. Go on."
Kara stared at her suspiciously for a long moment then finally drank the water.
"Slowly," Alex reminded her as the Kryptonian gulped down the liquid. "I don't want you to get sick."
Kara obliged but even at a slower pace, the water was gone in moments. However even the small amount seemed to do wonders, color returning to her cheeks. "Did…" Kara bit her lip and stopped.
"What's up?" Alex shifted closer to the girl.
"Did… Did we find any food?" Kara looked almost ashamed to ask the question. Alex's heart immediately went out to her. The Kryptonian was probably actually starving, thanks to her quick metabolism.
"I'm sorry, Kar. I couldn't find anything." Alex squeezed Kara's hand.
"That's okay," Kara gave a brave attempt at a smile. She squared her shoulders, jaw set with resolve and then all of a sudden she was pulling herself out of the bed.
"Whoa!" Alex jumped up to steady her. "Where are you going?"
"We need to bury the man. You can't do it with one arm," Kara said matter-of-factly, as if this had been the plan the whole time.
"Kara…" Alex bit her lip, unsure how to tell Kara that burying the man was not a strategic use of their energy and time. "You need to save your energy – our energy - for getting better, for getting out of here…"
Kara looked at her, emaciated, bruised, bloody, and scarred and suddenly her crystal eyes were brimming with tears for a man she had never known. "It's not right." She stood, propped up by a wall, trembling visibly. "It's not right, Alex."
"I know." Alex moved to pull her close into a hug. "Oh Kara, I know. None of this is right."
"We used his house, his things… We can't just leave him there, Alex," Kara cried.
Alex knew absolutely nothing about the old man lying dead outside the cabin. For all she knew, he could have been a serial killer. But she couldn't deny that they were probably still alive because of his cabin. Kara couldn't have made it another night out in the wilderness.
"We'll make sure he's laid to rest, Kara. But right now I only really care about keeping you safe. We'll come back for him, okay?"
Kara continued to tremble. "In the lab, there were so many, Alex…"
"What?" Alex pulled back slightly to look at her. "There were so many what?"
Kara looked at her, bright blue eyes suddenly dull and lifeless. "Bodies." Her gaze darted away and Alex was suddenly reminded of how much she still didn't know about Kara's time with CADMUS.
"Kara." Alex cupped the Kryptonian's cheek. "Kara, look at me please?"
Slowly Kara's eyes drifted back to her.
"We will find a way to remember and honor each and every life CADMUS stole, okay? We will. I promise. But right now, I need you to focus on fighting for your own life because I will not let CADMUS take you too. We need to keep fighting and I need you fully with me. Okay?"
Kara stared at her for a long moment, eyes swirling with a mixture of exhaustion, sorrow, pain, and a tiny hint of hope. "Okay," she breathed finally.
"Okay."
"What is this for?" Kara obediently held the sharpened stick that Alex had handed her.
Alex glanced at her, satisfied to find the Kryptonian safely nestled in the armchair, leg still elevated. Getting Kara to stay in one spot while she fortified the cabin was like wrestling a very stubborn rhino.
"Back-up weapon," Alex explained absentmindedly, readjusting the cabin-owner's rifle that was swung across her back.
"What if we accidentally attack J'onn when he comes?" Kara examined the stick gingerly.
Accidentally hurting J'onn with their traps and weapons really was the least of Alex's worries but she wasn't going to tell Kara that. "We'll just give him a very nice apology. I'm not taking any chances and he's smart enough to know that. Besides, he can just read my mind and tell me he's here."
"He's really a Green Martian?" Kara fiddled with the edge of bandage on her leg.
"Don't play with that. And yes."
Kara pulled her hand away quickly. "I wonder how he escaped the White Martians."
Alex glanced at her. "You know about that?"
Kara gave her a slightly offended look. "I keep up with current events."
"How? Is there like a galaxy wide newspaper that I can subscribe to?" Alex stared at her.
That made Kara laugh, the sound precious. "As if it would be paper! Humans are so funny with their fragile information storage systems…" Suddenly she stopped, her smile fading. "Did you hear that?"
Alex froze, listening. "I don't hear anything."
Kara stiffened, eyes narrowing. "I thought…"
And then Alex heard it faintly in the distance: the barking of dogs.
CADMUS had found them.
All Alex's fear and panic solidified into cool determination as her senses were set afire. This was it.
"Kara, you need to get as far away from here as you can and hide. Once it's quiet again, come back and J'onn will find you, alright? I'm going to buy you some time." "What? No!" Kara protested, eyes wide.
"Just do it," Alex barked, quickly recounting the bullets left in the rifle. Five. She was going to make every single one count.
"Alex, they'll kill you!"
"I'll come join you as soon as I can." Alex was already checking the knife and various homemade weapons she had thrown together with things around the cabin.
"I won't go."
"Kara." Alex whirled, desperation bubbling over. "You need to go, right now. If you stay here, you will end up back in a laboratory cage as a living experiment. Do you want that?!"
Kara flinched, shrinking back. "But…"
"No buts. You're can't help, you're hurt and don't have powers; you'll just distract me. Go!" Alex nearly yelled, feeling absolutely terrible about the words coming from her mouth but also knowing that convincing Kara to go would give her the best shot at escaping.
Suddenly Kara's arms were around her, the Kryptonian clinging to her.
"You are an honorable human, Alex Danvers."
"I love you, little sis," Alex hugged her back.
"I love you too, big sister."
Then Alex slipped out of her arms and practically shoved her at the back door. "Go."
Kara hesitated at the door and Alex gave her a firm nod before turning back to her preparations, forcing herself not to look back. After a couple minutes, she finally let herself glance to where Kara had been. The Kryptonian was nowhere in sight.
Thank god. Alex hadn't been sure she would be able to convince Kara to leave. The girl was far too noble for her own good, much kinder than Alex could even believe was possible. If anybody deserved to walk out of this nightmare, it was Kara. Like a star in the night sky, she lit up the sky and signaled a way through the darkness. The universe was a better place for having Kara Zor-El in it; it was time for someone to fight for her world.
Taking a deep breath, Alex moved into position.
As the sounds of CADMUS's approach drew closer, she cocked her gun and relished the rush of adrenaline that coursed her veins.
Come at me, bastards. I'm ready for some revenge.
Kara moved through the forest as quickly as she could on her injured leg, circling the cabin with a wide berth. The last thing she needed was for Alex to see what she was doing and follow.
She paused at a tree, taking several deep breaths, steeling herself for what she was about to do. Although the threads of fever still clung to her mind, this decision was crystal clear.
Truly Kara had been afraid that she would not be strong enough, but in the end it was Alex who had given her the strength she needed.
Hoping she had made her way far enough from the cabin, Kara began her search for the CADMUS agents.
They were closer than she expected, armored forms crashing through the undergrowth, dogs barking loudly and viciously.
"Hey!" She yelled as loudly as she could, stepping out from behind a tree with her hands on her hips. "I have my powers, come any closer and I'll set this whole forest afire!"
Her presence elicited exactly the response she had expected
"Take her down!"
The green dart came out of nowhere, sinking into her shoulder and draining her very little strength immediately. Black specks twirled in her vision and for one moment she let despair fill her heart at what was to come.
For Alex.
The despair disappeared, replaced with peace. She was still scared out of her mind but surrendering herself was the only way she could think of Alex making it out of this mess alive. And that was a trade she was willing to make.
"Where's the DEO agent?" Someone asked as CADMUS guards swarmed around Kara, holding her down. "Keep an eye out for her, she's dangerous."
"She's dead," Kara told them even though they hadn't been talking to her.
"Damn it, I wanted to kill her." Kara caught a glimpse of the speaker, a bruised face beneath a combat helmet. He must have been one of the guards Alex had beaten up.
"Did you call reinforcements?" Another guard asked.
"It doesn't even have its powers, see the cuts aren't healing?"
"Well I'm radioing in for transport now anyways…"
"This is Search Team Twelve, we have found Alien #379 in Segment 91. Alien is incapacitated, transportation requested."
"How's its condition?" Rough hands examined the wound at her thigh then reached for her neck, taking her pulse. "Not great but I think it'll make it back to the base. Remember that we have orders to resuscitate with the serum if it crashes. They need it alive."
"Yeah yeah yeah," the bruised guard seemed unconcerned. "It's in my pocket. But I'm more worried about it killing us if it gets its powers back. Where are those Kryptonite restraints?"
Suddenly he fell over, crimson staining the air as a shot rang out through the forest.
"Back away from her now!" a gruff voice called out. "Or you'll be next."
Alex. Oh no oh no oh no… Kara's heart clenched. This was not part of the plan.
The small band of guards reacted instantaneously, darting behind trees and returning fire. Screams rang out but Kara couldn't tell who was hurt and who wasn't. In the chaos, she managed to pull out the Kryptonite dart and throw it as far as she could, a small amount of strength coming back at the action. Next to her, the bruised guard lay lifeless and she pulled herself toward him to for his weapon. However something else caught her eye; falling out of his blood splattered pocket was a familiar golden syringe.
"Remember that we have orders to resuscitate with the serum if it crashes. They need it alive."
"Yeah yeah yeah. It's in my pocket."
Kara had seen a scientist use something similar to bring back Astra's powers one time. She wasn't sure if it was the same thing but there was no other option.
She made her decision as she tore off the syringe cap, plunged the needle into her good thigh and released its contents.
Instantly an agonizing burning spread from her leg to all areas of her body, heart jumping into overdrive as it raced in her chest. Kara could feel her body straightening and correcting as heat consumed her being, pure fire radiating from her injured thigh. The screams around her grew closer until she realized that she was actually the one screaming.
Just when Kara thought she might actually burn alive, the pain receded and she shakily pulled herself to her feet. Sounds and sights flooded her mind as her powers kicked in, the input as overwhelming and strange as being able to actually stand without pain.
"Alex!"
Kara quickly scanned the woods with her x-ray vision and found the agent crumpled a distance away, agents bearing down on her.
Pure rage and fear filled Kara, overcoming any conscious thought and sending her into autopilot. She was beside Alex in a moment, tearing CADMUS guards away, sending them flying like rag-dolls across the forest floor.
Before her, Alex was deathly still and Kara didn't know why.
"Oh Rao, no…" This was not supposed to happen, Alex was supposed to be safe…
Kara's already racing heart somehow beat faster as she turned to fight off the growing crowd of approaching agents. There were more of them now, some clothed differently than the usual operatives. For a moment it even seemed that they were fighting each other but Kara couldn't tell in the chaos nor did she care. One thing mattered: protecting Alex.
"Stay back!" She shielded Alex with her body, confusion and panic clouding her mind as shots rang out on all sides. She wasn't sure she could safely fly Alex away given her still-weakened state. But they couldn't stay either. "Stay back!" Kara screamed, turning wildly to the threats that surrounded them on all sides. She unleashed her laser vision on their surroundings, trees bursting into flames and screams filling the air.
She was going to have to try to fly. As Kara scooped Alex up and prepared to fly away, a sharp prick at her neck accompanied by the instant drain of energy alerted her that she had been hit by a Kryptonite dart again. Kara just shook it off, snarling in Kryptonian at the humans closing in. Somehow she still managed to get a couple shots of laser vision off before another dart hit her arm.
Falling to one knee, she tried to pull it out while fending off the guards closing in on them and still holding onto Alex.
Another dart found its mark and wheezing and shaking, Kara fell the ground.
The last thing she saw before green-tinted darkness closed in on her was Alex's still form being pulled away.
I am so sorry, Alex Danvers. I have failed you.
Heh heh... *backs away slowly*
If you are feeling sad/upset about this ending, read the author's note at the top of the chapter for a little encouragement.
I feel so-so about this chapter but I think it came out okay with some editing. The chapters right after writer's block are always the roughest ones for me! Let me know what you thought? :)
Also, I have the next chapter mostly ready so it should be a shorter wait this time!
Until next time!
~silverliningineachcloud