Kara was bored. Which, she knows, is not actually a bad thing. She'd just finished giving Lena the CatCo tour and helped her settle in and was now supposed to be 'out on assignment'. Which was just code for Supergirling. But there was nothing to save and so she was left to swing her legs and fiddle with her cape back at the DEO.
Oh, and annoy Winn.
"Come on!" She spun her spinny chair around one full rotation, stopping herself so she was facing her friend once more. "7/11 hold up? A house fire in the 'burbs? Cat up a tree? Snake up a tree?!"
"I'm telling you!" Winn finally threw up his hands, scooting his chair back from his overenthusiastic, superpowered friend. "It's quiet! Even Maggie's just patrolling today – I can't help you!"
"Urgh!" She pushed her chair away, so she rolled away from the techy and his useless scanners. "I just feel amped up with nowhere to go."
"Amped up?" Winn asked, turning in his chair to face the superhero.
"I don't know," she did another spin. "Like… like something is going to happen. And I just have to wait on my hands until it does."
Something started to beep on the computer. She perked up.
"Looks like you're about to get your wish," Winn said, then raised his voice, shouting towards the conference rooms. "J'onn!"
J'onn was suddenly in the room, both supers on their feet looking at the overhead screens. "What is it Agent Schott?"
"Ah… If you thought yesterday is bad, check this out," he made a flicking motion and the screens were suddenly filled with the same map from yesterday. But instead of one blinking red dot, there were four. All converging on one location.
The aliens nodded to each other before taking off – Winn already moving to let NCPD know to clear the approximate radius of the attack.
Ky was honestly starting to consider that maybe she was cursed. The universe was filled with the inexplicable – so a curse was not out of the realm of possibility.
Cursed, because she'd spent almost a third of her life fighting to get back to earth – get back to the nice safe planet filled with nice safe humans. And now, in the first week of being stateside, she was being attacked for the second time.
She wanted a refund.
The heat of Drew's fire made her flinch, even as she ducked behind the ledge of rock that Craig had created for them. Fortunately, it was a Sunday morning, so the streets were relatively empty. Unfortunately, that made it that also meant that half of the crew (including Gertrude) were still off trying to track the 90 sent down a year ago.
"Ky!" Drew was shouting over the roar of their own flames. "You have to move!"
Move where? Because right now the options were limited. She could go up, which would mean leaving behind the people literally assigned to protect her. Or forward, away from the fire fight, but towards the center of town, thus endangering civilians.
But Drew could only hold them off like this for so long – White Martians used heat against the Greens. They would not last, even with Lincoln running interference from the surrounding buildings.
Fortunately, National City came with backup.
The sound of Supergirl and J'onn J'onzz landing on the other side of their makeshift barrier had Ky almost sighing in relief. But peaking around the chunk of stone turned out to be a mistake. Even from her narrow vantage point she could see that things were going poorly. Lincoln was pinned down; Drew was already running out of fuel; Craig was limited in this terrain.
Supergirl and J'onn were dealing with one each, leaving two closing in on their position. Drew slumped very briefly, steady stream of flames withering. The sound of the other fights was chaotic, thudding fists, crunching metal, smashing glass, the occasional high pitch screech… Cursed – Ky'd put money on it.
"Ky," Craig shouted, moving to reinforce their rocky hideaway. "When I say run, go!"
Where? Honestly – Craig was cool and all, but no master mind. And also, did he actually think she'd abandon everyone?
"Run!" Okay, guess she was moving, because suddenly the rock face she was leaning on was being shoved away – colliding with the approaching Martians and exploding in a hail of stone.
She dived towards a nearby car wreck, using the coverage to try and outflank the Martian approaching Drew in their weakened state. A good plan, if, suddenly, the car she was ducked behind was lifted directly into the air by a huge, white claw, revealing the Martian that Lincoln had been dealing with.
No time to worry for her friend, Ky scrambled back, just managing to flatten herself enough that when the car was tossed her head wasn't taken with it.
The Martian grinned, horrible teethy red maw gaping. Fuck, Whites were terrifying. She had no idea how her mother was such good friends with one of these.
Knowing that running was futile (yesterday proved her takeoff was too slow), she went for dodging. Clambering to her feet, she managed to dive roll out under a veiny arm, twisting just in time to duck under another punch. This didn't seem to be doing her any favors though, her attacker just growing more furious. For a moment, a vivid image of her being a fly they were trying to swat came to mind.
Crouching, she launched herself directly at the creature, shoulder connecting squarely with their chest. It succeeded in vaulting them into the recently thrown car, but turning in her hovering position, Ky realized that everything was going to hell, fast. Even if Supergirl and J'onn were faring well against their opponents, Drew was boarding on a solar flare, Craig was flat on his back, and Lincoln was nowhere to be seen.
As if to prove her point, Drew's heat vision puttered out, and they slumped hard against what used to be a tree and was now just a smoldering stump. The Martian advanced. Ky dived right after them. Landing hard on their shoulders, she reached around and dug her fingers into the soft flesh under their chin (just how her mom taught her).
It screamed, bucking to throw her off. And when that failed, it reached around and grabbed her by the thigh, claws digging into her skin. Biting back a scream of her own, Ky was yanked off the creatures back and thrown into the ground. She felt the concrete give under her, dragging up a 10-yard grog of cement as she slid. Fuck.
The Martian turned and seemed to pause for a moment, watching as she struggled to sit back on her hands. Finally deciding a course of action, it phased, revealing a very human looking man in his mid-30s. He grinned, that special kind of vicious.
"You are who they sent us to kill?" It asked, stalking closer. Only now did Ky notice that the Martian she'd shoved engine deep into a car had recovered and was surrounding her. The sounds of fighting kept going, and she distantly heard Drew yelp in pain. "You are a child."
The Martian still in its true form reached her, planting its massive foot on her chest, its claws wrapping around her chest to firmly press her into the ground. She felt her chest constrict from the pressure but maintained her glare at the human looking man. She knew a leader when she saw one.
"How can you be?" He asked, crouching in front of her, eyes narrow. "Where did they hide you?"
"Fuck you," was all she spat, breathing too difficult to be any wittier.
"Ky!" Drew shouted, but it sounded strangled.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Supergirl's voice, immediately followed by a grunt and a crash.
"Ah ah ah!" The human looking one tutted, a smug look settling comfortably on his face. "One more move, and my friend here crushes her chest." Which he was already doing, but who was she to argue?
"What do you want with her?" That was J'onns voice.
"Oh, you mean you can't tell?" Ky arched her neck just enough that she could see Drew, on their knees, bleeding heavily from a wound, and Maggie Sawyer standing over them, gun drawn. She was forced to drop her head back to breath. "I thought all you Green's loved that communal telepathy - No secrets kept!"
Silence, except the sound of her blood rushing in her ears. It felt like her chest was groaning with the effort not to cave under the Martian. She could only breath in short gasps.
The Martian cackled – standing from his crouched position. Turning to gloat to the circle of superhero's trying to save her. "But this is perfect, is it not? The last Son of Mars can watch its last daughter be ground into dust like the vermin she is." His voice pitched into a snarl, turning back to look down on Ky. "And your mother is nowhere to be seen."
"Don't talk," Ky forced out of her throat, digging around at her thigh carefully. She coughed exactly once and felt the edge of her last birthday gift finally grip between her fingers. "About my mother."
"Oh, I know plenty, Green. She was the only thing standing between you and certain death for years. And now, she's left you. All. Alone." Ky inhaled, once, sharp.
"I'm never alone," and she stabbed the Martian holding her down.
Winn did it a year ago, almost to the day. So long ago, that he had all but forgotten.
It was a late-night decision. He'd been lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling of his apartment, mind whirling – Supergirl pajama pants and DEO t-shirt doing nothing to make him feel safer. It felt like the ground beneath his feet was quicksand and the more he struggled the faster he sank. It made panic well in his chest with every breath.
So, without any ground beneath his feet, he decided to write himself some hope.
Which is what found him dragging himself out of bed at 1am, digging his DEO issue laptop out from the safe and coding for two hours straight. Then, he promptly crashed and overslept. Alex's disappearance had been recent enough that J'onn hadn't even mentioned his lateness the next day. He'd patted his shoulder and told him to try to remember to set an alarm.
But that code had created a program which would run on the background of his DEO tablet for the next 355 days. It was just an icon that he added to the taskbar – he'd even designed it to look like a tiny handgun. It had sat there, not doing much except giving Winn the smallest ounce of hope. And for 355 days, it remained, dormant, a faded grey color. But, on day 356 it lit up green – forcing his computer to launch its asset tracking program.
He'd been so focused on the fight – so focused on making sure that everyone was on route, that positions were being taken, that Kara and J'onn and Maggie and the teenager who had crashed into their lives were okay – that he almost missed it. But when his entire computer was taken over with a map of National City, the symbol suddenly flashing bright and urgent at the far North of the screen.
Words and thoughts bottlenecked in his throat. His jaw dropped, eyes widened, his knees even buckled briefly, forcing him to catch himself on the central console.
He suddenly just had to trust that the Superfriends on the ground were okay, because he was ignoring everything but the comms in his right ear. He fumbled so hard with his cell phone, that it cracked on the plastic paneling around the central computer. He could not care less, because Luce Lane was answering.
"Winn?"
"Lucy-" but he didn't even know how to articulate it – his mind seemed to have crashed, eyes still locked on the green symbol moving at startling speed.
"If this is about the attack going on in the city, I already know, and I'm scattering a team."
"No – Lucy you have to come to the city base," he managed to push out.
"What? Why?" He could practically feel her frustration growing, but his chest was already too tight to engage. "I'm perfectly capable of running an op from the dessert Winn, and Vasquez is just as a good a central tech commander as you."
"No Lucy, you have to come back to base – It's Alex," the words were tumbling out, but now came to a stop – his eyes fixed on the symbol coming to an abrupt halt, right above the conflict happening in the streets. "Her subdermal tracker just came online."
Maggie's car swung around the bend too fast, and she had to jerk the car back hard to keep from causing property damage. She'd been so happy, enjoying a peaceful morning, knowing her girl was safe in the dessert and that there was nothing dragging her sister into conflict. The perfect shift. Then her phone rang, and dispatch came over the radio. Sometimes, she missed Gotham – at least it was constant violence, rather than this false sense of security sunny National City inspired.
She'd been the closest cop available, plus Supergirl was involved. So, she was ordered onto the scene while another Detective was asked to deal with the parameter and evacuation. Which is what found her careening through downtown. She didn't even need to follow navigation – she could hear the battle over the sound of her engine.
She slammed to a stop half a block away, watching as an infernian's heat vision faded and they collapsed. She'd only just had time to step out of her car when the advancing, monstrous creature screamed, another smaller form having slammed into their back and was now trying to rip out their throat. Maggie was sprinting, but she was still too far for accuracy when the Martian threw its assailant away.
The Detective finally skidded to a stop. Taking in the unconscious man on the ground, she dragged him just behind a nearby bench. The Infernian yelped as they tried to stand, so Maggie made her way over to give some cover. It was only then that she realized she'd met this particular alien two days before and that meant-
Wide eyes locked on the girl still in the crevasse of concrete her body created, a White Martian in human form approaching. All the fighting seemed to come to a pause, focused on the teenager whose life was literally in the hands of the enemy.
Maggie leveled her gun but knew better then to fire. Supergirl looked to be still fatiguing around the edges, and J'onn was holding his side, two Martians standing between them and the unfolding scene. Another was recovering and approaching the scene. They were out gunned.
"You are a child." The Martian still in its true form reached the teenager, pinning her to the ground with its massive foot. Maggie felt rage boil in her blood at the treatment, fingers inching around the trigger.
"How can you be?" The human looking one asked, crouching in front of her. "Where did they hide you?"
"Fuck you," but Maggie could hear how hard speaking was. The words wheezed out of her, forced past the pressure on her chest.
"Ky!" the alien just behind her shouted, trying to stumble to their feet.
Kara also took a step forward, fists clenched, body taught. "Hey! Leave her alone!"
"Ah ah ah! One more move, and my friend here crushes her chest." Maggie took another half step forward, weighing the likelihood that her service weapon would do any damage.
"What do you want with her?" J'onns asked, straightening as best he could.
"Oh, you mean you can't tell?" Maggie's eyes zeroed in on the teenager, Ky she assumed, as she tried to look towards her and the alien she stood over. She couldn't hold the position long, face twisting in pain, and the Detective felt her teeth grind. "I thought all you Green's loved that communal telepathy - No secrets kept!"
Silence, except the sound of Ky's gasping breaths. Maggie allowed herself one glance at the supers. Kara's eyes were wide as saucers. J'onn's looked between the taunting ass and the girl held beneath another's foot, rage and fear alighting in his eyes.
The Martian stood from his crouched position, laughing in their face. "But this is perfect, is it not? The last Son of Mars can watch its last daughter be ground into dust like the vermin she is." Fuck, fuck, fuck. "And your mother is nowhere to be seen."
"Don't talk about my mother," Ky ground out. She coughed sharply, but Maggie had sharp eyes – she could see her right hand moving a little too inconspicuously.
"Oh, I know plenty, Green. She was the only thing standing between you and certain death for years. And now, she's left you. All. Alone."
Four years from now, on Ky's 18th birthday, Maggie will tell this story again. And she will explain that she should have known who she belonged to – only a Danvers would do something so fucking brave and stupid. In equal measures.
"I'm never alone," she hissed back defiantly, and, without taking her eyes off the man taunting her, she flicked open a switch blade and speared the White Martian holding her down.
The reaction was immediate. It screamed, rearing back and allowing Ky the room to roll away. Maggie fired six rounds directly into the back of the still human looking one. Supergirl and J'onn crouched to tackle, and then the sky closed up.
Or, that's what it looked like.
One second it's a beautiful, cloudless National City day, the next the whole block is shrouded in shadows. It was like a cloud materialized above. And from that cloud, a burst of light projected into the chaos. Directly onto the alien who was still recovering from the open wound in the vulnerable part of their thigh.
And from that beam, an avenging angel came.
One second the Martian was looking up in surprise, the next a figure was landing on him, a golden-brown sword embedding itself in its spine. It never even got the chance to scream, slumping to the ground, dead. The figure landed in a roll next to it.
They looked human enough shaped - the black body armor and shrouded helmet made anything identifiable impossible. But they were crouching between Ky and the remaining Martians, so Maggie was inclined to believe they were with the good guys.
Not to mention the guy facing off with Supergirl took one look at them and flew away – Forcing Kara to shout "I got it," and take off in pursuit.
"You!" the human one screamed – starting to transform back into its less appealing form. But the figure just tilted their head, reaching for something at the back of their tac belt.
Suddenly springing into a full sprint, the figure launched themselves at the mid-transformation Martian. Maggie's eyes widened when she realized that she literally just had a knife, maybe four inches long and that same golden brown as the sword currently occupied by the fallen.
Maggie suddenly realized she was much to human to be here. Ky was, apparently, a Green Martian. J'onn was once again grappling with their assailant, and whoever this new figure was, they certainty didn't seem human. Holstering her weapon, Maggie just reached down and grabbed Drew, shouldering her weight, dragging her towards the other fallen man. They needed to get out of here.
Which was a good thought, because suddenly the new figure was being bodily thrown into a nearby building, the glass window shattering around her body.
"Mom!" Ky's scream sent ice down her spine, and she turned just in time for the entire sky to light up again. This time, a beam landed directly on top of her.