Chapter 9
(Fort Rozz)
"We should be close to the Dendara Corridor according to the directions," Kara D said, as she, Kara K, Livewire, and Frost were walking through the prison.
"Glad one of us was listening," Livewire replied. She turned to Kara K. "So what's your deal, huh? Are you Supergirl's long-lost relative?"
"You could say that," Kara K nodded.
"She's my, um, she's my cousin... that I never knew I had until recently," Kara D lied.
"Oh, so another super-cousin," Livewire said.
"Yeah, I'm still wrapping my head around the fact she didn't die with the rest of our planet," Kara D said.
Suddenly, an explosion erupted as the women lost their balance and stumbled over, grabbing the cell doors for support.
"Uh, so are we sure Matilda and that red android lady are gonna be able to figure out..."
"Just focus on the mission, okay?" Kara D interrupted Livewire.
"Fine," Livewire said, as the women continued walking. "So this Reign character. We're getting information so we can kill her?"
"No, of course not," Kara D said. "Priestess will have information that I could use to get through to her."
"What?" Livewire scoffed. "Come on, you and your Pollyanna BS. You think you're gonna get through to Reign?"
"I got through to you," Kara D pointed out. "There must be something good in you that I could trust to come with me."
"She's got a point there," Kara K agreed.
Livewire glared at Kara D. "I came with you because there is a maniac on the loose and I wanna take her down. If you think I wouldn't fry you right now..."
"So do it," Kara D challenged, as Livewire considered.
Kara K quickly stepped in front of her counterpart and glared at Livewire. "If you wanna hurt her, you're gonna have to go through me first."
"And me," Frost added, also glaring at Livewire as icy mist surrounded her hands. "Try it and see what happens."
Livewire sighed as she looked at Kara D. "All I'm saying is somebody as evil as Reign deserves to die."
"And anyone else who thinks otherwise is just a sucker?" Kara D asked.
"Now you're catching on," Livewire said.
"Sometimes you just have to go for the kill if there's no other choice," Frost said.
"Can't disagree with that," Livewire said, before she and other women noticed the corridor filling with fog all of a sudden. "There's the fog. Looks like we're here."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Frost muttered, as she, Livewire, Kara D, and Kara K slowly walked towards the fog.
"Just stay alert for anyone who might try to attack us," Kara K advised.
"Is it colder in here?" Kara D whispered.
"It ain't my doing," Frost remarked.
As the four women moved through the fog, something whizzed past behind them. Kara D and Kara K turned around simultaneously, and when they turned back forward, a hooded ghostly figure with a demonic face was in front of them as it snarled in their faces.
Hearing the noise behind them, Livewire and Frost turned around to find that Kara D and Kara K were gone.
"Supergirl?" Livewire called out.
"This is the part where you prepare for whatever scary monster is about to attack you," Frost said.
Sure enough, the demonic hooded figure appeared and attacked them, sending them both flying many feet back as Livewire landed against the door of the prison while Frost slammed into a pillar. The two women recovered after a moment and saw two of those demonic figures rushing at them. Livewire wasted no time firing a powerful blast of electricity at one of the demons, while Frost fired a steady beam of ice at the other demon. The demon attacked by Livewire's electricity was completely vaporized, while the demon attacked by Frost was frozen solid before it crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces as nothing was left of it.
The two women got back to their feet. "Supergirl!" Livewire called out, as she and Frost continued through the prison. They were looking around for the Kara D and Kara K. "Supergirl?! Superwoman?! Can either of you hear me?!"
"Over here," Kara K replied with a groan.
Livewire and Frost found Kara K in a corner getting back to her feet. The edge of her head bleeding as blood ran down her face.
"You're bleeding," Frost noted with concern.
"I'll be fine, especially if we make it back to Earth," Kara K said.
"Where's Supergirl?" Livewire asked.
"We got attacked by some kind of phantom or whatever it was," Kara K said. "It took her."
(Elsewhere in Fort Rozz)
Kara D opened her eyes as she came to.
"Kara Zor-El," an eerie female voice whispered. "Kara Zor-El," the eerie voice whispered again.
Kara D sat up, finding herself on the ground. "Frost? Superwoman?" she called out. She looked around. "Leslie?"
"Kara Zor-El," the voice whispered yet again.
(Legion ship)
"Vessel temperature rising," the automatic voice announced, as Imra and Tess were trying to fix the console. "Ten degrees to critical overheating."
"Maybe you should work faster," Psi insisted.
"We're working as fast as we can," Tess assured her.
"Maybe you should make yourself useful and hand me that spanner wrench," Imra said to Psi.
Just then, Psi turned to the window as she started hearing indistinct whispers.
"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye," Psi started saying, as she sauntered towards the window.
"It's no good," Imra sighed. "I can't get a strong enough signal to reach planet Earth."
"Four and twenty naughty boys baked into a pie," Psi continued.
"Why are you quoting a nursery rhyme right now?" Tess wondered.
"The maid was in the garden hanging up the clothes," Psi went on, as Imra and Tess exchanged glances before they got up and walked up behind her. "When lowly came a blackbird and pecked off her nose."
They looked out the window and saw a pod fly into Fort Rozz.
"Something tells me whoever is on that ship is up to no good," Tess said.
"It's Reign," Imra paled in realization. "She's here."
(Fort Rozz)
"Kara Zor-El," the voice continued to whisper as Kara D walked slowly towards the woman who kept calling her name.
The woman, whose back was facing Kara D, turned around. "Daughter of Alura."
"Jindah Kol Rozz?" Kara D questioned.
"You know I am, and yet you ask," Jindah said. "Uncertainty will be your doom. Not green stone."
"I came to ask..."
"I know why you came," Jindah cut Kara D off. "The Phantom Zone dampened my powers, not the sight. Misery of your mother's design. But you'll be with her soon."
"Can you tell me about Reign?" Kara D inquired.
"She will destroy you," Jindah stated.
"I've heard otherwise," Kara D countered.
"You know nothing of the nature of destruction," Jindah retorted. "You are a child living in light. But there is darkness in all things. In every soul you know. Who will it take?"
"No one, if I have anything to say about it," Kara D answered, with determination.
"Ah," Jindah grinned creepily, as she neared the Girl of Steel. "Oh, you fly too close to the sun, hmm? I have languished in pain for time beyond reason because of you, the children of light." She pointed to Kara D's face. "But your pretty skin will soon be brittle scales in hellfire when the others awake and unite beneath the standard of Reign."
"Others?" Kara D asked, worriedly. "What do you mean 'others'?"
"Worldkillers," Jindah smirked. "The power, the pestilence, the purity."
Hearing footsteps behind her, Kara D turned around and saw that Reign had arrived.
"Priestess," Reign called out.
Jindah gasped happily. "My child. You've come." She smiled as she neared Reign, who kept a neutral expression on her face. "At last our time is upon us. Deliver me from this prison and we will bring anguish upon our enemies."
Kara D gulped, her blood running cold as she wondered what would happen next. She then paled as Jindah turned to her and, a few moments later, a bright orange circle shined on Jindah's chest as Reign attacked her from behind with heat vision. Jindah fell to the ground, dead, as Kara D gasped and staggered back.
"How do you have your powers here?" Kara D wondered, looking at Reign in shock.
"My powers aren't dependent on something as trivial as the sun," Reign answered. She neared Kara D. "You're different without your powers. Like a child, helpless and afraid."
"I'm not afraid of you," Kara D said, as she stood back up. "Even though we're enemies, there's still something that binds us."
"Save your speech, Supergirl," Reign sneered.
"No, no, you have to hear me," Kara D pleaded. "There is something in you that sees what you're doing is wrong, that sees the pain you're causing and regrets it." She moved closer to Reign. "You don't have to be my enemy. You want justice in the world, so do I, but we're not gonna find it by attacking each other."
"And that's where you're wrong," Reign said, as her eyes glowed reddish-orange.
Before she could unleash her heat vision, a blast of electricity stuck Reign in the back of her head, causing her to stumble a few feet forward while Kara D whirled out of the way.
"Watch out!" Livewire announced, as she, Frost, and Kara K arrived.
Reign turned to the newcomers. "Coming to Supergirl's rescue?"
"We're coming to take you down," Livewire said with determination, before unleashing a powerful blast of electricity from both hands, while Frost unleashed a steady blast of ice from both hands.
(Legion ship)
"We need to find Supergirl and the others," Imra said, as she, Tess, and Psi entered the bridge.
"What are you talking about? We need to find a way out of here!" Psi exclaimed.
"Vessel temperature rising," the automatic voice announced. "Five degrees to critical overheating."
Psi grabbed Imra's arm. "I refuse to get incinerated by a star!"
"Look, I know you're scared right now and for good reason, but we're not leaving anybody behind," Tess said, firmly.
"Imra, we've reestablished communication with you from the D.E.O.," Brainy announced. "Do you copy?"
"Brainy, I copy," Imra replied, as she, Tess, and Psi were relieved.
"Thank goodness," Tess said.
"Hey, Imra, have you found the Priestess?" Winn asked.
"They're looking for her now," Imra answered. "But, Winn, Reign's here."
"What?" Barry and Winn asked in unison.
"Imra, who's with you on the ship with you right now and who went with Supergirl?" Barry asked.
"Psi and Red Tornado are here with me, while Livewire, Frost, and Superwoman went with Supergirl," Imra answered.
"You guys need to help them handle Reign," Winn said, urgently.
"Imra can't leave the ship," Brainy said. "She needs to control the throttles and manually hit these coordinates until the ship is steadied and Fort Rozz is back in its original orbit."
"I'll help the others while you stay here," Tess said to Imra.
"I can help too," Psi added. "Take this thing off me."
Tess and Imra exchanged glances before the former said, "You're the one with the key, so it's your call."
After considering for a moment, Imra sighed as she took out the key and unlocked Psi's power dampener.
Psi removed the device from her head and smirked at Imra. "See? Don't be afraid, Matilda."
"Let's go," Tess said, as she and Psi headed off.
(Fort Rozz)
Reign was hit in the chest by a blast of ice from Frost, but she was unaffected. Reign then dodged as Livewire fired another blast of electricity at her. While Frost's ice was incapable of hurting her, Livewire's electricity was a different story. Reign unleashed her heat vision at Livewire, who avoided it as she transformed herself into living electricity and traveled through the electric pillars around the prison. Reign fired several more blasts of heat vision at the moving electricity, but her opponent was too fast for her.
Livewire materialized in front of Reign. "Is that all you got?"
"You're nuisances," Reign said, before unleashing a steady beam of heat vision.
At the same time, Livewire unleashed a steady blast of electricity, which clashed with Reign's heat vision halfway as the two beams struggled to push each other back. Frost fired a blast of ice at Reign in an attempt to interrupt her heat vision, but Reign raised her hand, blocking Frost's ice blast with her palm while her heat vision continued clashing with Livewire's electricity. Livewire moved slowly towards Reign in an effort to overpower her, but Reign grabbed her by the throat.
"Get your hands off her!" Kara D snarled, rushing towards Reign, only for Reign to elbow her several feet back against a pillar.
Kara K rushed to her counterpart, helping the other woman back to her feet.
"And you need to stop... attacking my friends!" Livewire growled, as she grabbed Reign's arm that was holding her throat.
Livewire yelled as she channeled a surge of electricity through Reign's arm, resulting in a powerful shockwave that sent them both, as well as Frost, flying many feet back across the prison. Reign got back to her feet and stalked towards Livewire, about to fire heat vision at her.
"No, no, stop! Stop!" Kara D exclaimed, as Reign turned to her. "I'm the one you want, right? I'm the one who's trying to stop you. They came here because of me."
"She has nothing to do with my decision to come here," Kara K added. "I did so on my own accord."
"Then they can watch you two die first," Reign said, as her eyes glowed reddish-orange while Kara D and Kara K both gulped preparing for the inevitable.
A powerful cyclone appeared seemingly out of nowhere and swept Reign up, sending her crashing into one of the pillars, damaging it.
Kara D, Kara K, Livewire, and Frost saw that Tess, who was responsible for the cyclone, and Psi had arrived.
"Blackbird," Psi called out to Reign, who turned to her. "What's going on underneath that dark, dark shell of yours?"
Smirking, Psi fired a psychic blast at Reign, who tried to get back to her feet, but suddenly clutched her head as she screamed in agony. After several seconds, Reign stopped screaming and looked around in bewilderment mixed with fear.
"Where am I?" Reign muttered, her eyes wet with tears. "Where am I? What's happening?" She then noticed Kara D. "Supergirl?"
"Reign?" Kara D asked gently, as she, Kara K, Tess, and Frost looked confused by the Worldkiller's sudden change in attitude.
A moment later, Reign's expression hardened before she flew away.
"Chicken," Livewire hissed.
"What was that all about?" Kara K wondered.
"For a moment, it seemed as though she was a completely different person," Tess said.
"Or she could've been faking it," Frost shrugged.
"Whatever the case, let's go home," Kara D said.
"About time," Livewire sighed with relief, as she and the other woman headed back to the Legion ship.
(D.E.O.)
Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it," Kara D said to Kara K, Tess, Caitlin, and Livewire while two agents were escorting Psi back to her cell.
"Anytime," Tess replied.
"Anything for another version of me," Kara K said. "But even if that wasn't the case, I would've helped anyway."
"Don't expect me to join you on another space suicide mission anytime soon," Livewire said.
"Be good, Leslie," Kara D said.
"With Reign still on the loose, I have no choice," Livewire said, before heading off.
"And to think she's the same Livewire that you, me, and Bart fought in that warehouse two years ago," Barry said.
"She's not as bad as I use to think she was," Kara D said. "There's some good in her, that's for sure."
"Even some of the worst enemies that we face can be capable of redemption," Barry said.
Winn turned to Kara K with a frown. "You look really familiar for some reason. I feel like I've seen somewhere before."
"She probably just has one of those faces," Kara D said, wanting to avoid the awkwardness of bringing up Indigo. "It happens."
"I guess you're right," Winn said.
"So you're another Kara from another Earth," Mon-El said to Kara K.
"Yeah, who are you?" Kara K asked.
"Mon-El," he introduced himself,
"Mon-El? Wait, are you..."
"No, Mon-El isn't related to us," Kara D answered before her counterpart could finish. "He's my ex-boyfriend."
"Oh, okay," Kara K nodded. "I'm Kara Kent. Nice to meet you, Mon-El."
"Nice to meet you too," Mon-El said, as they shook hands. "You know, you do look a bit like our Kara, especially in the eyes."
"Well, she is my alternate Earth counterpart, so it makes sense that there would be some resemblance between us even if we look different," Kara K pointed out.
"Good point," Mon-El nodded, before he walked away.
"All right, you guys ready to go?" Conner asked Kara K, Tess, and Caitlin. Kara D's extrapolator was in his hand.
"I'm ready," Caitlin answered.
Kara K turned to her counterpart. "It was nice working with you, Danvers. If you need my help with Reign or any other enemy, feel free to let me know."
"I'll keep that in mind," Kara D nodded.
"Speaking of help, I'd be more than happy to remain here and help stop Reign," Tess said, as everyone turned to her. "I'm sure the League could manage without me for a while, but I do want to inform Superman of my decision first."
"It's gonna be nice having you around, Tess," Conner said, with a smile.
"Looking forward to spending some quality time with you, Superboy," Tess said.
"It will definitely be refreshing working with a Red Tornado who is not programmed to cause chaos and destruction," Kara D said.
"So we're gonna have two super-computers on our team now," Winn said "That's gonna be so awesome." He turned to Tess. "I think you and Brainy would really get along."
"In that case, I can't wait to meet this Brainy," Tess said, with a smile.
"Is that 'Brainy' as in Brainiac?" Kara K asked.
"Well, he's called Brainiac 5," Kara D answered.
"We have a Brainiac 5 on our Earth, but a thousand years in the future," Kara K said. "He's a member of a team called..."
"The Legion of Superheroes," Barry finished.
"Yeah," Kara K nodded.
"Superboy mentioned your version of Brainiac 5," Winn said. "I heard he's much more serious than Brainy and used to be a supervillain."
"That's right," Kara K nodded. She turned to Conner. "All right, Conner, let's go."
"If you guys don't mind, I'm gonna drop Caitlin off on her Earth first," Conner said to Kara K and Tess.
"No problem," Tess said.
Conner opened a breach with the extrapolator and he, Caitlin, Kara K, and Tess went through it.
Earth-21
(Metropolis)
Superman flung Atomic Skull down with one hand, sending the radioactive meta-human crashing on an air conditioning unit on the rooftop of a building. He flew down and landed on the rooftop several feet away from Atomic Skull, who got back to his feet.
"Give it up, Atomic Skull," Clark demanded. "I'm not letting you hurt any innocents this time."
In response, Atomic Skull unleashed a bright purple blast of radioactive energy from his head.
Clark raised his arms, shielding his face from the blast, though he groaned as the blast, which was powerful enough to cause him pain, hit his arms instead. Atomic Skull rushed Clark, but Clark sidestepped and smashed his fist into Atomic Skull's face, staggering the latter back. The two then traded several powerful blows on the rooftop before Atomic Skull grabbed Clark by the neck and purple energy emanated from Atomic Skull's body, causing Clark to cry out in pain. Atomic Skull leapt off the roof with Clark in his grasp and the two struggled against each other while plummeting towards the ground.
Clark pushed Atomic Skull back as he flew to the side and the two crashed into two light poles, knocking them down, before slamming against a building, causing some damage to it. Wrapping his arms around Atomic Skull firmly and ignoring the intense heat emanating from his radioactive opponent's body, Clark shot several hundred feet up into the air and punched Atomic Skull twice, sending him plummeting rapidly towards a large pond in a park. Atomic Skull dropped into the pond with a loud splash and sank to the bottom of it. Some civilians who were nearby came rushing over to the pond, watching as Atomic Skull's radioactive energy caused all the water to evaporate.
Clark descended into the now-waterless pond and stood in front of where Atomic Skull was lying. He stood there for a few seconds, keeping his fists clenched and ready in case Atomic Skull got back up. Certain that his opponent was unconscious, Clark picked Atomic Skull up and flew off on his way to turn him in to the authorities.
After making sure Atomic Skull was incarcerated at Stryker's, Clark was flying in the air on his way to his and Lois' apartment to wind down for the evening when his hearing picked up a familiar sound. He immediately flew to the source of the sound, arriving above the Daily Planet building within a few seconds. He saw Kara K, Tess, and Conner standing on the Planet's rooftop and descended in front of them.
"Glad to see you guys have made it back here in one piece," Clark said.
"The trip to space was a bit of a bumpy ride, but the important thing is we pulled through," Kara K said.
"There's something I want to tell you, Clark," Tess said, before telling him about her decision to stay on Earth-38 for a while.
Earth-38
(D.E.O.)
Kara D was standing in front of the ledge of the balcony when Barry walked up next to her. They were now in their civilian clothes.
"It sounded like things got pretty rough while you were up there," Barry said.
Kara D turned to him. "Yeah. Yeah, as far as ghost ships go, it wasn't the scariest I've ever been on, but it certainly wasn't a funhouse."
"Obviously," Barry agreed. "Now that you're back, what kind of information did the Krytonian Priestess give you about the Worldkillers?"
"She called them 'purity' and 'pestilence'," Kara D answered. "So now all we have to do is find them before Reign does."
"Well, good thing we have a metric ton of smart and powerful people who are gonna help us with that," Barry said.
Kara D sighed as she was quiet for a moment. "I feel badly that I couldn't get through to Reign. I saw a humanity in her. I got a glimpse of it and I should've been able to reach it. If Caitlin, Tess, and my doppelganger hadn't been there, who's to say that things wouldn't have turned out worse? Some of us could've even died."
"I'm sure you did your best," Barry said. "That's all you can do in a world where everyone is trying their best when it's much easier to do their worst. So don't beat yourself up over something out of your control. Trust me, it never helps. But at least you got through to Livewire. Considering how bad she was, I call that an achievement in and of itself. And I think that, no matter what happens, you'll find a way to get through to Reign too. You're one of the best people I know, Kara, and not because of you can lift buildings and defy gravity."
"Then why?" Kara D asked.
"Because you're as much human as I am," Barry answered. "And you know compassion and mercy, which I think is one of your greatest strengths."
The two smiled as they stared directly into each other's eyes. Completely lost in the moment, Barry and Kara D leaned towards each other and their lips were less than an inch from touching when the opening of a breach several feet away snapped them both back to reality. They watched as Conner and Tess emerged from the breach, which closed behind the two.
"I hope our appearance didn't interrupt anything," Tess said, apologetically.
Barry shook her head. "No, not at all."
"Barry and I were just talking, but it was nothing important," Kara D said.
"Here you go," Conner said, handing the extrapolator back to her. "So we told our Clark that Tess is gonna be helping us with Reign for the time being."
"And he understood of course, so that's already taken care of," Tess added.
"Welcome to the team, Red Tornado," Kara D held out her hand and Tess shook it.
Some of the dialogue from the Barry/Kara conversation at the end is from Bl4ckHunter's "The Hardships We Face", which is another Supergirl Season 3 rewrite fic that has Barry involved in the plot. Thanks to him for letting me use some elements from that story.
As of the end of this chapter, Tess is the latest person to voluntarily stay on Earth-38. It would've been nice to have Kara K do the same, but anyone who watched Smallville knows that, on top of Conner already helping out, she would be OP compared to the other characters. But I guarantee that she will return later in the story and help with the Worldkillers.