She had spent a few minutes getting to know Ruby better with Lois popping in to check on them every now and then. She was a bright girl, Kara was surprised to learn how much Lena had been helping with school work. Ruby came across as conscientious and hard-working. From what she could see Sam had done a good job raising her, which was little comfort for her. She selfishly kept hoping for a pang of guilt or remorse to make itself known. Even wanting to give the ring a reason to react badly to her, it never came.
Eventually Kara left her be. Ruby wanted to stay put and go back to the book she was reading before Kara unintentionally interrupted. She was met with an apprehensive looking Lois, sitting upright on the sofa.
"She's an enthusiastic one," Kara said, taking a seat next to her.
"She's certainly drawn to Clark's natural kindness." She looked over at Ruby's door and spoke in a hushed voice. "Look, you're always welcome here. That being said, I don't think it's appropriate with Ruby around." Kara looked over to Ruby's open door as well, she could only agree.
"I just want to see Clark, even if it's only a few minutes," she said.
"There was another power cut, biggest one yet, he went off to help," Lois said. Kara stood up.
"Where's this power cut centred?" She said.
"Clark went over to help co-ordinate the situation. His presence has a way of calming people down," Lois said. Kara knew exactly what was being implied and glared at her. A pulse from the ring rippled up her arm, Lois sat firm with a stern expression.
"You do a lot of good, Kara, but you can't deny there are people out there who a terrified of what you've become." Kara wordlessly grabbed the TV remote and switched it on over to the news, she had no intention of starting an argument. The words "Power cut reaches Metropolis General Hospital," sat in a breaking news banner. She left without a word, he would need help and nothing Lois would say could stop her.
"Kara…" Lois said, she reached out for her. Kara turned and shot an angry look her way, her eye twitched. Lois quickly let go and backed off. Loudly inhaling through her teeth, Kara walked out. Even if they feared her, she would help. Her mind felt foggy and she pushed any dissenting thoughts away. The door slammed behind her and the red uniform materialised around her body.
The relative sluggishness she experienced on the way over had only worn off slightly. The ring was doing very little in aiding her instincts, relying on her sense of direction to get here she needed. Not knowing Metropolis particularly well, she allowed herself to think of how Kal had treated her lately. Throwing her to the wolves on Oa and doing his best to distance himself from her since she got the ring. Forgoing rational thought on the matter, if only for a moment, let the ring home in on his position at an intersection further downtown. It was all she needed, she shot over to him. The city blurred beneath her. She found him at a large intersection, there was some smoke along with several damaged cars strewn about the place. A small, excited crowd had formed around him. The speed at which she arrived shocked some of the bystanders and the inertia knocked some of them over. The gasps and ruckus from her arrival got Superman's attention very quickly.
"Ah, Supergirl. Thank you for the fly-by but everything's under control. Just a few accidents from the traffic lights going out," he said, helping up some of the people she had knocked over. He also put on that irritating noble tone of his that he used in public.
"The power cut is expanding in area somehow, the general Hospital just got hit," she said flatly. He considered this for a moment.
"That'll be top priority then, I'll finish up here first and head over. They'll have procedures for this sort of thing, I'll make sure to get over there quickly."
She tried to ignore the civilians who were slowly backing away from her. She could not herself stop scowling at the few who were getting their phones out. Some looked confused as they fiddled with them.
"What?" Kara said sharply. The woman she had directed this at was startled and looked to Superman.
"It's alright," he said, immediately putting the woman at ease. Kara rolled her eyes.
"It's nothing, really," she said.
"Spit it out," Kara said, in the back of her mind she knew she was only proving Lois right, though did not care enough to do anything about it.
"It's just… my phone was on full charge when I left and it's already down to 30%" Superman's eye's widened.
"You, fiddling with your phone," she pointed at another man. "Mine isn't turning on at all."
"Same here" another voice chimed in amongst a smattering of similar phrases. There was also general chatter about how some of their cars had cut out on them and wouldn't start.
"It's never effected anything outside the mains before. Now I'm thinking about it, the traffic lights should be running on back-up power too." Clark said. A worried look appeared on his face, "The Hospital's backup generators…," Without hesitation they both shot into the sky.
"Lead the way," she said.
Kal's flight-speed felt frustratingly slow even with the ring playing up on her. When the hospital came in sight she thundered past him, landing hard at the hospital entrance. In her haste she had misjudged her deceleration slightly, causing cracks in the concrete where she landed.
"Bring me someone who's in charge," she said striding into the reception area. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked toward her, apart from a few nervous expressions no-one reacted to her.
"Time's a factor here," she said. A couple of nurses looked at each other.
"Errr… right away" he said, scurrying out of the room. Superman walked in behind her, immediately reading the room.
"No need to be alarmed," he said, slyly throwing an annoyed look at her in the process. He walked over to her.
"We don't want to put people on edge. I know the chief of medicine here, he'll know the best course of action." She reluctantly grunted in acknowledgement. The nurse returned quickly with someone in tow. His tag revealed it was the Chief of Medicine, he smiled at Superman.
"Hi there, the main lights may be off, and we could certainly use a hand here or there, but I'd say everything is largely under control," he said. Superman walked up and shook his hand, before leaning and speaking quietly
"Is there somewhere quieter we can talk," he said. A more worried expression emerged on his face as he led them through to an empty patient's room.
"Is there a problem?" He said.
"Time may be of the essence, so I'll skip the usual pleasantries. Further into the area affected by this power cut, phone batteries were draining. Have you had any issues with your back-up power," Superman said. The mere suggestion sent the Chief into deep thought.
"If there were a problem I would have been told by now, but if it's a possibility we could be in a lot of trouble," he said, running his hands through his hair. "The I.C.U. will be effected most, and there are surgeons operating as we speak."
"Traffic is grid-locked, we can't move them off-site," Superman said.
"Are you one-hundred percent certain this is going to be an issue?" He said.
"It's a risk we can't take, Supergirl and I could take patients off-site one by one," Superman said. The chief shook his head.
"That won't work, you move too fast. The people that need moving are in fragile states at best so couldn't take the strain. And it's not like we can just stitch up the patients in surgery…" as if on cue the door burst open. A panicked woman in a hard hat was puffing.
"Sorry to interrupt. I tried paging, but they aren't working." Kara exchanged a look with Superman and the Chief, knowing what was coming next.
"The generators are fluctuating, we thought it was just an error in the monitors at first… at this rate the hospital will be dead in the water very soon. What do we do?" She said.
"All power? Even the diesel powered…" he said.
"It's all of them," she said. The Chief stood completely still for a few seconds, before slumping down on to the bed.
"No transportation, power and gridlocked streets… hundreds of people…" he looked truly defeated.
The room was deflated and silent. The other three were simply at a loss for words, Kara was staring at her ring. All this time in the blackout zone and her ring remained unaffected apart from her own hang-ups. She activated shielding around herself just to be sure, it worked without a hitch.
"This is still working, seems to be immune," she said, her heart's beat was getting louder. The pounding drummed away "I'll find the source of this power cut and stop it."
"That could take too long, we need to protect the Hospital," Superman said.
"From what? I hunt down whatever's causing this and the problem ends," she said.
"We don't even know what's causing this or how to stop, there's no time," he said. She started breathing heavily as the ring burned through her body, calling for blood.
"It's a someone, not a something. I know it," she said. The ring guided this instinct, she was on the brink of homing in on it.
"Now's not the time for fighting, Doctor, I assume your backup systems are largely on site," He said.
"That's… yes," the Chief said. Kara was finding it difficult to concentrate on the room as the booming grew louder and faster. The taste of blood seeped its way onto her tongue.
"Use that shielding of yours on the hospital, it could protect everything inside," he said.
"I can't stay here forever, whatever's doing this needs to be put down," she said, snarling through the sentence and squaring up to Superman.
"These blackouts have never lasted longer than a few hours. You can chase it up after we know everyone's safe," he said. She clenched her fists, the temptation to take a swing at Kal and fly toward whatever the ring wanted to guide her was almost irresistible. She inhaled, weighing everything up in her head and wanting so much to give in to the allure of violence. The split-second it took to make the decision felt like a lifetime. Every essence of her being was leaning toward telling Kal to go to hell, but the lingering memory of why she was here in the first place danced away in at the back of her head. The talk about Lex and how Kal always had the best for people in mind, to bear no grudges and to protect people above all else. It was just enough to deny the ring of what it was calling for her to do.
Her hands went limp and she exhaled slowly.
"I don't know if the shielding will work, but it's our best bet," she turned to the chief.
"Once it's up no-one will be able to get in or out, make sure everyone is where they need to be. Do it quickly. The shield will be life-supporting, air won't be an issue. I'll stay at ground level, if it isn't working or there are any emergencies you need tell me immediately," she said.
"I'll get right on it," the Chief said, re-energised by even this small glimmer of hope.
"I'll be at the entrance, let me know the moment the Hospital is ready," she said, walking out. Kal joined her. The building was huge, she had never attempted a construct so large. She glanced over to Kal, hovering by her side. He gave her a nod of approval. Having pushed away the ring's will and letting her rage subside, that familiar heavy feeling weighed her down. Being out of sync with the ring had been vital for her to make the right choice, but fear and doubt crept in to replace them. In a weakened state and such a daunting task, she did not know if she had it in her to carry this plan through.