-Six weeks later-
As Alex crept into her apartment in the early hours she turned on her phone and tried to navigate round by flash light. Seeing Kelly was fast asleep on the bed and not wanting to disturb her Alex kicked off her shoes and lay on the couch.
Shutting her eyes she replayed in her head every report she had read wondering if she had missed anything. As she ran through the details tiredness took over and she fell asleep. It wasn't long after she shut her eyes that the dreams started. But with each passing second the dreams turned more into nightmares until she abruptly woke, gasping for air.
Sitting up she tried to control her breathing before looking over at the kitchen, in particular at the cupboard that Kara used to call the Whiskey cupboard. Shaking her head she buried her head in her hands and tied to calm herself.
"You okay?" Kelly asked moving over to Alex.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Alex asked looking round.
"It's fine. Why are you sleeping on the couch?" She asked turning on a light.
"I got back late and didn't want to wake you." Alex explained as Kelly sat next to her.
"Any breakthroughs?"
"No. Another dead end." Alex said miserably as Kelly pulled her in for a hug.
"Want to talk about the nightmare?" Kelly asked.
"Kara was in her pod, which is filling with water. She's screaming for help, but the water level keeps rising. I try, but no matter what I do I can't free her."
"Was Kara afraid of drowning?" Kelly asked.
"No, that's on me. I almost drowned a few years ago. Since then drowning is a common theme in my dreams."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Kelly said wondering how many other traumas Alex was hiding.
"It's not like I told you." Alex said.
"Want to try and get some sleep?" Kelly asked.
"I don't think I could right now." Alex replied, her heart still racing.
"Then let's watch some TV." Kelly said, encouraging Alex to lie down and use her lap as pillow.
As Alex lay down Kelly covered her with a blanket before tuning into a comedy while gently stroking Alex's head. After a moment Kelly said.
"I'm proud of you."
"For what?" Alex asked.
"Not going to the kitchen."
"I wanted to."
"I know." Kelly replied.
-00-
"People of National City. I am here today with both sadness and pride." Lex said to the press as he stood near the waterfront, next to a covered statue. "Today is about honouring Supergirl. A day that should be joyous. But a day that can't be because Supergirl was taken from us all too soon. But just because she is gone does not mean that part of her can't live. She tried to shine lightness into the dark, to be the beacon that would guide the lost home. She may be gone, but hope isn't. Together we can fight the darkness. We can shine brightly and protect this city and I will do my best to be a Paragon of Hope to this City, no to this Country." Lex went on, trying not to laugh at his own joke.
"That self serving son of a bitch." Alex said as she entered the office and caught the tail end of the dedication speech.
"Ignore him." J'onn said.
"Kind of hard when he is everywhere." Alex said.
"Any luck?" J'onn asked.
"Another dead end." Alex said collapsing in her chair. "Did you speak to mom last night?"
"I did. I told her you were fine."
"Thanks."
"But you should call her."
"I will." Alex said.
"You you seem troubled." J'onn said passing Alex a cup of coffee.
"Between you and Kelly I feel I can't have any inner thoughts anymore." Alex complained.
"It's only because we care." J'onn pointed out.
"I know."
"So what's on your mind?" J'onn asked.
"I know we have found nothing to suggest that Kara is alive and I know you all think I should move on. Hell, sometimes even I do. I even stopped by her apartment this morning. I was going to start packing it up. But I couldn't. Something is telling me she is still out there. I know you think I'm mad, but there is something more to this."
"The answer to this is still Lena. If we find her we'll find the truth." J'onn said.
"I know. But we should have found her by now. I know Lena is intelligent, but no one is that good. I mean maybe she could use what she knows about us to stop us finding her, but she doesn't know Kate and Kate has not found anything either."
"She has every reason not to be found." J'onn reminded her.
"Yeah but why is Lex paying us so much to find her?"
"Maybe because he knows you have more motivation than anybody to find her?" J'onn suggested.
"Something feels off." Alex replied.
"Have you talked to Kelly about it?" J'onn asked.
"Yes. She still thinks it is probably an unhealthy guilt complex. But she said she'd keep supporting me where ever I took this."
"One way or the other we will get to the bottom of this." J'onn assured her.
-00-
As Lena walked through the corridors of Lex's secret research building she stopped in a server room and connected a hard drive. As she set off the back up she started to look through some of the stored data, shaking her head as she did so. Then she found a directory that piqued her interest. Scanning through it her eyes went wide and she glanced impatiently at the hard drive.
For what seemed like hours she waited for the backup to finish before checking the correct data had downloaded. Convinced it had she looked back at the screen to check the room number. She then carefully place the hard drive in her pocket before continuing her search.
Coming to a door she looked through the small observation window and saw Kara, apparently unconscious lying on a bed in the middle of the room, various tubes coming out of her.
"What have you been up to?" Lena asked as she opened the door.
As she approached Kara she saw an electronic tablet on small table to the side. Picking it up she started scanning the contents, reading various files before finally saying. "Got you." She then gave a final tap before putting the tablet down and looking at the Kryptonian. When Kara's eyes opened she said.
"Kara?"
"Lena?" Kara questioned confused.
"It's me. But we don't have much time. We have to get you out of here. But first we need to remove the contacts, he may be able to trace them."
"Contacts?" Kara asked confused wincing due to the sound.
"What's wrong?" Lena asked.
"Too loud." Kara said covering her ears.
"We'll work on that later, first the contacts." Lena said as she carefully removed the devices. Once she had removed the contacts Lena started to take out various tubes that were connected to Kara.
"Did my pod crash?" Kara asked.
"Not exactly." Lena said as she helped Kara to stand. As soon as Kara put weight on her legs she wobbled, then sagged.
"Easy, you've not used your legs for awhile." Lena said supporting her weight.
"Don't understand." Kara said, her throat dry and thirsty as the room spun.
"I'll explain everything once we are out of here." Lena said aware of a brighter green tinge to Kara's veins. "Come on, let's go."
"No where to go." Kara mumbled. "Everything's gone."
"If we don't leave here soon it will all be for nothing." Lena said partially dragging Kara to another room. Realising she needed both hands she leaned Kara against a wall and started typing at some controls. She then checked she had the hard drive secured in her jacket pocket before taking Kara's weight again.
"Ready?" She asked Kara.
"For what?"
"Freedom." Lena said as she activated a portal. "Let's go."
Instead of stepping through the portal onto land they found themselves falling.
Despite her weakness, Kara grabbed hold of Lena and tried to fly. However, too badly affected by what had happened all she managed to do was slow their decent until they crashed through some tress and hit solid ground in a sickening thud.
TBC...
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.