Chapter 16
Author's Note: So, I know that's a slightly cruel cliffhanger but it's going to be the last update for a couple of weeks. I'm into exam season and it's my final year, and I'm dying frighteningly quickly. I've fully got the story planned now from here until we catch back up to the flash-forward at the beginning of this story, which means when I manage to get back to writing it won't be too arduous.
Until next time, drop me a comment to let me know what you think, it helps me keep my love for this.
War had broken out on the streets of National City, and Kara could hear it all. Every scream, every plea for help, every resonating sound of an energy weapon being discharged by the Daxamite soldiers. It was almost painful to her, having to listen to those sounds and not rush out to help where she could. There was no real chance for her to make an impact, Kara knew that. For every life she could rush out and save the Daxamite's could take six more in that time, by staying away from the conflict she could at least prevent escalation. Kara hated that it was Oliver's voice that she heard those words in.
The Daxamite's had begun their invasion and in minutes National City was lost. NCPD was torn apart and even the DEO was barely able to hold out for more than a few minutes. Even with the best weapons in the DEO armoury they were at a disadvantage, the Daxamite's had better weapons, more numbers, and were vastly more coordinated. They weren't just fighting an invasion, they were practically leading a resistance.
Oliver again. Kara scolded herself.
At the least she knew that her allies were safe, the bar being one of the few places in National City they all knew would be off the radar enough for them to go unnoticed by the Daxamites. It bought them some time, though Kara couldn't help but to worry that it wouldn't be enough. Then, to make matters worse, Lillian Luthor had found them. With Mon-El and Lena captured aboard the mothership Lillian wanted to make a deal, to "save her daughter". Part of Kara wanted to believe Lillian, that the woman truly cared enough about Lena to make a deal with her enemy, but after everything Lillian had put them through Kara knew to watch for an ulterior motive.
Of course, they had refused her help.
"You're making a mistake, Agent Danvers." Lillian hissed.
Before either sister could utter a response, a voice filled the room.
"I disagree!"
Kara turned on her heel, her eyes involuntarily bursting wide at the sight in front of her. Fully clad in their armour, was Oliver's team; Wild Dog, Black Canary, Mr Terrific, Spartan, and The Green Arrow himself. Lost for words, Kara's mouth opened and closed of its own accord for a few moments, her brain trying to formulate something to say. Oliver briefly caught her eyes in a sideways glance before he stepped forward towards Lillian.
"We don't need help from someone like you, Mrs Luthor," Oliver spoke lowly and dangerously. "I suggest you leave, while you still can."
Lillian took a measured step towards Oliver, clearly unintimidated.
"Someone like me? A little hypocritical of you, Mr Queen." It was practically imperceptible, the way Oliver's eyes slightly widened in surprise at that. "Oh, it didn't take me long to work out who you are, I have my sources. The visitor from another dimension and his cadre of vigilantes too apparently." Lillian took another step, leaving little distance between her and Oliver. Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Kara had to use her super hearing to catch the words of the Luthor matriarch. "Tell me, would they still accept your help if they knew you were lying to them too? I wonder."
The sound of Oliver's teeth grinding in anger was practically audible even without super hearing. Kara couldn't stop the way her mind ran away with that, whatever lie Lillian claimed Oliver had told them. Part of her wanted to doubt it, to just pin it on another of Lillian's manipulations, that it was just her attempt to create further discord to force them to accept her help. Then, would Oliver have responded the way he did if Lillian was lying? Forcing herself to prioritise, Kara pushed those thoughts down, knowing that the invasion was a more immanent threat.
With a self-satisfied smirk on her lips, Lillian turned to Kara.
"I understand why you all don't trust me," Lillian's voice was little more than a whisper, making sure Kara was the only one listening to her. "But whatever happened in our past, I'm asking you to leave it there. The love I feel for my daughter is real. Please, Kara. Help me save her."
Kara took a moment, hardly a second to a mortal, but in it she searched Lillian. The usual biological signs were there, she seemed to be telling the truth. It was in Lillian's eyes that Kara found herself pondering. Kara truly believed that Lillian was telling the truth, that she truly wanted to put their conflicts on hold in order to save her daughter. Still though, Kara knew that she couldn't trust Lillian, one way or another, she would have her own agenda, and on top of the invasion, Lillian Luthor was a threat she couldn't afford to risk.
"Get out." Kara spoke lowly.
Lillian sighed, holding out a phone to Kara. "Call me, if you change your mind."
Taking the phone from Lillian's hands, Kara watched the older woman leave. The line of heroes from Earth-1 stood their ground as the Luthor approached them, forcing her to walk around them to get to the exit. Once the door clicked shut behind her, Kara turned her full attention to the visitors.
"Oliver," Kara couldn't help but to smile a little. "What are you all doing here?"
"Okay, so don't be mad," Kara turned to see Winn nervously clutching his tablet. "But when the Daxamites attacked the DEO I might have sent out a distress call to Earth-1 before we evacuated."
Alex broke into a grin at Winn's admission, clearly glad for the assistance that Oliver and his team would provide. Kara couldn't help the mix of emotions stirring inside her. It had been over two months since she had last seen Oliver, since he had pushed her away even after she admitted how difficult it was for her to show her vulnerabilities, and she had walked from the storage room allowing him to return to Star City without a proper goodbye. Then again, things out in National City were looking bad, if James was right about the martial law and capturing of resisters then the Daxamite's were preparing for a full scale occupation, Oliver's team might just be what they needed to sway things back in their favour.
"It's good to see you, Oliver." Alex grinned as she walked across to him, holding out a hand that he shook firmly.
"I'm glad you called, from the look of things out on the streets you're going to need all the help you can get." Oliver dropped Alex's hand and pulled down his hood and mask. "You can lose the masks, we're with friends." As his team removed their masks, Oliver gestured to them one by one. "Wild Dog: Rene Ramirez, Mr Terrific: Curtis Holt, Black Canary: Dinah Drake, and Spartan: John Diggle."
Across the room Kara heard Winn's whispered. "So cool."
"It's good to have you all with us." Alex nodded at the group of heroes.
"I wish I'd known what we were walking into," Oliver admitted. "If Winn's message had contained more than just the S.O.S. I'd have come packing a lot more lead."
As Alex briefly explained their weapons situation, Kara realised Oliver's eyes had locked onto her, a look on his features she couldn't quite describe.
"Alex, would you mind brining my team up to speed on the situation?" Oliver asked, his gaze still on Kara.
Alex turned her head to follow his line of sight and grinned as her eyes landed on Kara. She turned back to the heroes with a grin on her lips. "Sure, follow me." With that, Alex lead the four towards the space where DEO remnants had been setting up a computer bank.
Once they had moved away, Oliver drifted over to Kara.
"Hi." He smiled faintly.
"Hi," Kara smiled back, despite what had happened in the storage room she couldn't help but still feel that same gravity pulling her towards Oliver. "Thank you, for coming when Winn called."
Oliver nodded slightly. "Of course. What's going on out there? I thought you told me that Mon-El was the last Daxamite?"
Kara snorted derisively. "I guess I've got a lot to catch you up on."
XXX
Learning that Mon-El was not only not the last of his kind, but also a Daxamite prince was surprisingly unsurprising to Oliver. It had tugged in the back of his mind the moment he had met Mon-El, the strange resemblance that the Daxamite shared to the person Oliver remembered being before the island. The first thought was that on his world Mon-El had come from a monied family, just like Oliver himself, but then Kara told him that he had been an attendant of the Daxam royal family and that just hadn't sat right. It had made sense, to a degree, perhaps exposure to royalty had given Mon-El his slightly off centre sense of entitlement. It made much more sense that he actually was the royalty.
"Why attack Earth?" Oliver asked. "Wouldn't it have just been easier to take Mon-El and leave the planet? Why stay somewhere that's going to fight back?"
Kara sighed, her gaze dropping for a moment. "Revenge. It was because of Krypton exploding that Daxam was destroyed. The House of El was one of the most prominent families on Krypton, so Rhea blames Kal and I for what happened. That and she's accusing me of "domesticating" her son."
"Domesticating Mon-El?" Oliver couldn't help but to chuckle at the ridiculousness of that statement.
"She asked him to leave with them, a few weeks ago. To head out to the stars and find a place to rebuild. Mon-El refused, told her that being on Earth was a better life and he wanted nothing to do with Daxam anymore." Kara rolled her eyes. "Apparently that's my fault too."
Oliver thought on that for a moment. He had sensed Mon-El's attraction to Kara the moment they had met, and it wasn't too much of a leap for him to infer that the Daxamite's true motivation for not wanting to leave Earth was the blonde stood before him. Then again, Oliver reasoned, Mon-El had a duty to his people as their prince. Even if what Kara said was true and Mon-El had turned away from Daxam's traditions – Kara had explained to him that they were a culture of hedonistic monarchs – he still could have made a difference as their ruler. That was something Oliver himself had learnt after The Undertaking, when he had been forced to step up and take control of Queen Consolidated, to turn the company that was associated with the biggest terror attack to hit Starling City into a force for good. In Oliver's mind, Mon-El's rejection of a chance to shape the future of his people for the better wasn't just naive, it was selfish.
"So, the invading army is being headed by a vindictive lunatic who hates you?" Oliver surmised. "I've been there before."
Kara cracked a smile at that. "Any tips on how to beat this, oh wise one?"
"Maybe a few." Oliver grinned.
Before he could continue Winn stole their attention.
"Uh, guys? I've just picked up on some sort of live transmission from Air Force One."
"Air Force One?" Kara took off towards Winn immediately, and Oliver fell into step beside her.
Alex started towards the monitors too, the team following behind her. "Wait, don't tell me the President is heading towards the conflict and not away."
"Every time I think I can't get happier that I voted for that woman." Kara beamed as they crowed around the monitors.
Winn's dual monitor display was split. On the left, backed by the seal of the President of the United States was Oliva Marsdin. On the right, Oliver could only assume was Rhea of Daxam.
"National City is mine," Rhea spoke. "And you should be thankful that is all I am currently taking from you."
"The militaries of Earth will unite against you." The President responded, getting to her feet and stepping around her desk.
"I am not afraid of your trembling militaries."
"Stand down."
"Stand down?" Rhea mocked. "I think you are confusing this situation with one in which you have any sort of negotiating leverage."
"This is not a negotiation this is a demand."
"You speak like that to me again and you will fell the consequences."
Oliver felt his hand tighten around his bow, he could already see where the conversation was leading.
"Oh my God, enough," A new voice sounded out from somewhere outside of both video feeds. "Alright ladies! If I wanted to listen to this adolescent macho-posturing, I would have stayed in D.C." A blonde woman stepped into the President's camera.
"Ms. Grant?" Kara leaned towards the monitor.
"Cat Grant?" Oliver questioned, remembering what Kara had told him about the woman. "Your mentor Cat Grant?"
Kara just nodded vigorously as she watched the feed.
"Is this who you want to be? Testosterone-driven windbags, boasting about your big guns? Surely we don't need to measure anything." Cat cocked an eyebrow at the camera. "We're women. We're tough, we're wise, and we're way above this pettiness. So, let's just roll up our sleeves and talk peace."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Rhea questioned, seemingly amused.
Cat placed a hand on her hip and answered. "I'm Cat Grant. Known on Earth as Queen of All Media."
"Oh," Rhea chuckled. "Well, Cat Grant, I'm Rhea, and Earth now has a new Queen."
"Oh. Oh, well, let me just give you a little bit of friendly advice, Rhea. That tiara that you have on the top of your head, it's overkill. Real royals, they don't need to try that hard."
"Okay, I love her." Dinah grinned from beside Oliver. He had to agree, Cat Grant was everything Kara had told him and some.
"The thing is, is that I have brokered peace between Kanye and Taylor Swift, so I think mediating peace between our two worlds should be a piece of cake." Cat continued. "And, the future is female, we've all read the T-shirts. So, we are three strong, formidable women and we can do anything we want. So, let's just talk it out and come up with a harmonious solution, shall we?"
The look on Rhea's face spoke volumes. Kara turned to look at Oliver her eyes wide. They both knew that Rhea wasn't going to just give in. Nodding at her Kryptonian, Oliver stepped to the side, allowing Kara to speed past him and out of the door. One of the monitors Winn had set up flashed with a tracker marked Supergirl, that sped across the map towards Air Force One.
XXX
Kara returned with both the President and Cat Grant in tow. President Marsdin immediately excused herself to collect her thoughts, and so Oliver had observed Cat Grant. From what Kara had described to him, Oliver had been expecting someone different, even on the video feed from Air Force One Cat had looked more imposing. The reality was that she didn't even match Kara's height, and Oliver found it hard to believe that anyone was afraid of the woman in front of him. Then again, her speech to Rhea and the Daxamites had been one of the best Oliver had heard, Cat might even give Barry a run for his money when it came to motivating a room.
"Supergirl, I understand you setting up your rebel headquarters in a dive bar. It's very French Resistance." Cat spoke, commanding the attention of everyone around her. "But what are all these monitors, and satellites, and handsome armed men dressed in black?"
Oliver did his best to ignore the snort of amusement that Curtis let out at that comment.
Kara put a hand on her hip and smiled. "Well Ms. Grant, we work for a clandestine government organisation called the DEO."
"We're devoted to protecting the planet from extra-terrestrial threats." Alex finished for her.
"Oh, I see. Well you're doing a bang up job." Cat remarked dry, before turning around to face Oliver and his team. The five of them had been discussing the situation in National City before Supergirl had returned, even after The Siege and Damian Darhk the scale was a little beyond them. "And what's with the leather brigade over here? You're giving me flashbacks to that club Rob Lowe dragged me to in Vegas."
Out of the corner of his eye Oliver could see the rest of his team biting back smiles and laughs, even Diggle was poorly fighting his amusement. Clearing his throat, Oliver took a step forward.
"We're friends of Supergirl," He began, wanting to keep things simple. Then a thought arose in the back of his mind, and Oliver wondered just how difficult it would be to push Cat Grant off balance. "From a different version of Earth, another reality. We're here to help."
Over Cat's shoulder, Oliver could see Kara's eyes go wide, her surprising registering far more clearly than her mentors. Cat looked Oliver up and down for a moment before fixing her gaze back on his eyes.
"Well you're either a delusional lunatic, or I forgot to take my pills this morning. Can't wait to find out which." With a wispy smile, Cat turned and walked towards a bank of computers, Winn quickly rushed over to stop her from tampering with the equipment.
Oliver took a step back, turning his attention to John who was no longer hiding his amusement. A moment later, John met his eyes and cocked an eyebrow. Shaking his head at John's amusement, Oliver turned back to the others. Cat had drifted away from the computers and was looking at Alex and Supergirl. As the agent questioned something Cat had said, Kara buried her face in one hand.
"I'm sorry, did I not make myself clear?" Cat spoke as if she were talking to an infant. "Our leader-of-the-free-world Olivia is an alien."
That was news to Oliver, from the looks on the faces of people around the room, it was news to everyone.
"Oh, come on. The President is not…" Winn's attention drifted as Marsdin walked back into the room. "Oh My God the President is an alien!"
It took a moment for him to process, watching Olivia Marsdin walk into the room without the human features he had seen on her in the video feed from Air Force One. Her dark hair was gone, skin replaced by scales with a slight grey hue, her blue eyes sunken into her head. Fingers had been replaced by long, crooked appendages, almost talon like. It was a striking image, and it took a little of Oliver's control not to react in a similar manner to Winn. Then, Marsdin rolled her neck and shifted back into the form she had been wearing when Oliver had first seen her.
He spared a glance over to John as Marsdin assured them that she meant no harm. His brother-in-arms had gone pale, much like how he always did whenever Barry used his speed around them. The look of amusement he had been wearing at Cat Grant's antics had vanished and Oliver didn't even try to mask his grin as he met Diggle's eyes. The older man simply shook his head and drew in a deep breath.
As Oliver tuned back into the conversation happening across the room, Cat Grant answered a phone call and disappeared into one of the back rooms of the bar. The President took a seat at one of the tables, motioning for Supergirl and Alex to do the same. Winn drifted over to join them, and Oliver did the same. He might not have fully understood the situation outside, Kara's quick appraisal of the events of the previous two months was sure to have missed out a few details, but Oliver knew that involving himself in whatever planning was about to be arranged was sure to help calm the nerves of himself and his team.
Oliver stood quietly as the President explained her story, a refugee on Earth who ran from invaders attempting to conquer her world. Her people lost to her, lightyears away from her home, Oliver could understand why Kara was so keen on the woman. With J'onn out of commission, Alex was named acting director of the DEO, and then The President's focus turned to Oliver.
"And you are?"
"A friend of Supergirl's. Winn called my team and I before they lost the DEO headquarters. We're here to do whatever we can to help."
The President inclined her head slightly, clearly not too pleased with Oliver's vague answer. He had no problem explaining who he really was – he had spent a considerable amount of time using the DEO to check and had no findable doppelganger on Earth-38 – but he thought explaining the concept of infinite alternate realities to the President could be left to the DEO once the immediate crisis was resolved.
"Director Danvers, you and your team will break into the DEO and access the positron cannon that is mounted in the roof."
The look on Alex's face made Oliver more than a little worried. "I might be a little out of the loop. What's a positron cannon?" The weapon sounded vaguely familiar to him, like it was something out of those sci-fi shows Felicity was so obsessed with.
"It's an energy weapon," Winn answered him, a little stunned. "Fires a beam a positrons that vaporize anything it touches."
The President continued as if Oliver and Winn hadn't said a word. "You are to fire on and destroy the Daxamite supership."
"There are civilians on that ship," Supergirl jumped in. "We have two friends up there."
"The Daxamites shot down Air Force One," The President pushed. "Make no mistake, they have the intent to destroy us."
Oliver was inclined to agree with her. From what he had seen on their short journey on the streets of National City, the Daxamite occupation was only just beginning. Civilians were being arrested for resisting, the Daxamite soldiers were talking about an imposed curfew, and from the looks of the weaponry that had shot down Air Force One things were only just beginning. That said, just because the Daxamite's posed a threat, didn't mean that innocent lives should be traded to stop them. With both Lena and Mon-El aboard the mothership, they had every obligation to do their utmost to act out a rescue mission before resorting to destroying the ship with them on board.
As the President wrapped up and got to her feet, Oliver began formulating a plan.
XXX
A conversation with Diggle and Curtis had helped Oliver figure out some of the finer details. He knew what they needed to do, how to get on board the Daxamite ship and retrieve Lena and Mon-El. It hadn't taken a huge leap to piece it all together, but there were two small hurdles that would need to be jumped over before they could execute the plan. It was going to be tight, and a little too off the wall for Oliver's usual liking, but the time pressure made it necessary.
Then Kara stormed out.
"Alex." Oliver was quickly over to the agent. "What happened?"
Alex huffed in frustration. "I told her I was going to follow President Marsdin's orders, Kara didn't like that."
Sighing a little at yet another issue cropping up, Oliver pulled focus. "We have a plan, but I need Kara for some reconnaissance before I can put anything into action. How much time can you buy before you have to make your assault on the DEO?"
Alex glanced across the room at a bank of monitors before turning back to Oliver. "We probably have an hour until the President is back in D.C. After that…I have my orders."
"That should be enough." Oliver nodded. Wheeling around to face his team he called out. "Curtis!"
Without hesitation, Curtis grabbed something from the countertop of the bar and threw it underarm across the room to Oliver. His hand closed around it mid-air, and he took off after Kara. Pushing through the exit to the bar, Oliver walked out into the night air of National City, thankful to see that Kara was still there. She was stood talking to Cat Grant, and Oliver slowed his step to let them finish talking.
"I have really missed having your advice, Ms. Grant."
"And I have really missed giving it." Cat chuckled. Before she could continue, she noticed Oliver approaching. "Looks like we have company."
Kara turned quickly on her heel, the look on her face telling him that she had been expecting Alex. As soon as her eyes landed on Oliver though, her expression mellowed a little. Oliver crossed the rest of the distance to Kara, anxious to begin putting things into motion.
"We have a plan to extract Lena and Mon-El from the mothership," He began, coming to a stop in front of Kara and Cat. "But first I need you to collect some information for us." Oliver held up the device Curtis had thrown to him. "One of Curtis's T-Sphere's, it's programmed to download all data from electronic systems in its immediate area."
Kara plucked the T-Sphere from Oliver's hand and eyed it curiously. "What do I need it for?"
Oliver folded his hands behind his back. "I think I worked out at least part of Lillian's plan to rescue Lena, and if I'm right it's the key to getting them back undetected. You need to go to Lillian, tell her your willing to work with her, find out her plan, and stay there just long enough for the T-Sphere to pull all the data it can find. Then come right back to us."
"You're sure this will work?" Kara asked, her eyes giving away how desperate she was to save her two friends. "We don't have enough time to be wrong about this."
"I'm as sure as I can be," Oliver promised. "I don't exactly have a lot of experience breaking onto alien spacecraft…only breaking out of them." He added, both of them sharing a faint smile as they remember the incident with the Dominators.
"Okay," Kara nodded. "I trust you."
The two stayed there for a moment, not saying a word. Oliver knew Kara was doing the same as he was, looking into her eyes to see if the emotions that had played on them two months ago were still there.
"What are you standing around for then?" Cat Grant snapped them out of their distraction, both Kara and Oliver turning to look at her. "Shoo. Up, up and away. No time to lose."
Kara broke out in a gentle laugh, she turned back to Oliver with a smile. Then took to the sky.
"That is still so…" Cat spoke to herself. "Cool."
"Yeah," Oliver responded beside himself. "She is."
XXX
Kara returned in less than ten minutes, a scowl on her face undoubtedly from being forced to interact with Lillian Luthor. Oliver had gathered his team, plus Winn, Alex, Maggie, and James Olsen (who Oliver had only heard of in passing mention, and had no idea was also a vigilante) around one of the tables, and Kara joined them the moment she returned.
"I know what Lillian is planning," She asserted as she came to a stop at the opposite end of the table to Oliver. "She wanted to modify the Phantom Zone Projector at The Fortress to beam us up to the Daxamite mothership, then use Hank Henshaw's upgrades to bypass the security systems up there. Oh, and your ball thing did it's job." Kara held out the T-Sphere to Curtis, who took the device and quickly plugged it into one of the computers to start reading the information it had gathered.
The part about modifying a Phantom Zone Projector hadn't even been close to the way Oliver had expected Lillian to get aboard the mothership, he had never even heard of the device. Kara had told him about the Phantom Zone, but he had never known there was a way to access it. The other part of his prediction, and the most important part, was spot on.
"I was banking on her needing Henshaw to get through the Daxamite computer systems," Oliver told the group. "It gives us a way to get up there without her."
"How?" Kara questioned. "They seemed convinced that Henshaw is the only one who can interface with them."
Oliver placed his hands down on the table and fought down a grin. He was a little proud of himself for predicting Lillian's actions after so little interaction with her. Despite that achievement, he knew what was about to happen next was going to cause trouble. It was going to be difficult, but he and John hadn't been able to come up with an alternative that didn't involve accepting help from Cadmus.
"It's not Henshaw himself that they need, it's his cybernetics." Oliver spoke.
"Yeah, but it's not like we have any spare Cadmus cyborgs just laying around." Winn pointed out.
"Maybe not, but there is another option," Oliver sucked in a deep breath and looked over to Diggle. His brother-in-arms nodded in support. "We're going to find Jeremiah Danvers."