Author's Note: Buckle up!
Lena's phone vibrated as a message appeared on her screen under Kara's name 'R U coming home?' . She hadn't looked at her phone at all and when she finally glanced at it she could see it was way past working hours, again.
She sighed texting back 'Soon. Wrapping up work'
She regained her focus, inspecting the prototype of the suit, trying to optimize the energy core. If she couldn't crack it by the end of the month she was going to make an interdimentional call to Star Labs to see if Cath or Cisco could help her figure it out. But those troubles were about to become minor and maybe if Lena hadn't had her eyes glued to the microscope she would have noticed the figure that came through her balcony. The sudden breeze gave away a clue but she wasn't unfamiliar by such arrivals.
"You didn't have to come pick me up, Kara. I'll leave by the front door tonight if you don't terribly mind" she said still concentrated and was not until she heard a loud crash that she looked up finding a collapsed figure "Oh my-!"
"Lena Luthor?" the intruder called clutching to her side. She had a redish skin and a glowing black and green uniform.
"Y-yes, I am Lena Luthor" she answered trying to assess the damage on her side.
"T-they are coming for you-you-you must choose" she spitted out fighting off the pain.
"Who is coming for me? Who are you?"
The alien woman took off her ring making the suit disappear and letting the damage be more noticeable "T-take this, if it's your will" she pressed it into her palm.
"A-A ring?" she asked confused and panicked by how fast the woman was bleeding out.
"The Corps"
"L-Corp?"
"Gr-Green Lantern Corps" she said looking her into her eyes "They are at risk"
"I-I know Supergirl, she-she can help you and your people" she looked into her pocket for the watch to call her, but the alien woman grabbed her hand to stop her.
"You can't tell her or anyone, the decision has to be yours" she repeated gravely.
"What does that mean?" Lena asked "who are you?"
"Soranik" she finally said "my name is Soran…" her eyelids gave away.
"No, no, no, hold on" she quickly pressed the bottom on her watch as she kept the pressure on the side.
Not three seconds later the red and blue blur dashed in "Lena, what's wron-?"
"You need to help her!" she cut her short "take her to the DEO!"
Kara saw the alien and quickly carried her giving Alex the signal that she was coming in hot.
"Come on, hurry up! We have to stop the bleeding!" Alex kept on shouting orders as several agents assisted in the operation while Lena helplessly saw everything from the other side of the glass. Kara approached her silently laying a blanket over her shoulders.
"They are doing the best they can"
"How can Alex even know her anatomy?" Lena whispered too absorbed on the scene in front of her.
"J'onn is guiding her through, apparently she's from the planet Korugar, so she's a long way from home, I don't think there's another one of her kind here on Earth"
Kara noticed the way Lena was still looking at the surgery and how she kept on fumbling with her hands, so she gently grabbed one "Hey, how are you? It must have been scary to have a dying alien crash into your balcony"
"Y-yeah, I thought you were the one coming in unannounced. Last time I stay late at work" she tried to joke around the issue but her own laugh fell short.
"Did she said why she was here or what she was looking for? Because by the looks of it she had been on the receiving end of a fight"
'Against something that is coming after me' Lena thought uneasily hiding her hand into the pocket of her trench coat to make sure the ring was still there, safe and sound.
"So?" Kara asked.
"What?" Lena shook her head after spacing out.
"Did she mentioned anything?"
"Um? I, she-she said her name was Sora something, um…Soran…Soranik"
"I'll look into our files, see if she has any records so we might know what happened to her"
"Let me know if something comes up"
"Of course" she kissed her temple "After Alex is done I'll take a look around the perimeter…meanwhile Lera is at the computer center"
"Thanks, love"
Lena walked in slowly finding Lera in her suit, keeping herself busy. That was very much a trait the girl had inherited from her. Trying to block out the rest of the world by doing something, anything, to avoid a topic.
"Hey, sweetie"
She turned around in a jolt recognizing the voice and then rushing to her side "Mom!" she hugged her "are you alright?"
"I am" she kissed the top of her head.
"You are covered in blood"
"Not my own, I might add"
"Yeah, you bleed red" she retorted "was the intruder trying to hurt you?"
"No-I-I don't think so" she swallowed the knot in her throat "maybe…warn me or us about something, but she passed out before I could make sense of things"
And there it was, the same look Lena had given Lera the day prior was now taking over on the youngest woman's face, knowing that what Lena had said was not a lie, but an interpretation of the truth. Secrets.
Alex exhaustedly exited the room after several hours. The others approached.
"The damage was too great but we were able to save her, barely. Next hours will be crucial, we had to induce her into a coma, she won't be answering any questions. Not even by J'onn's mind reading capabilities"
"So we know nothing but her name?" Kara asked.
"The wounds clearly show struggle and signs of battle, how she was able to sustain such hits is beyond me, especially since she wasn't wearing an armor"
Lena bit into her lower lip, that wasn't completely true, but she couldn't explain otherwise. For some reason she believed in the woman's advice when she asked her to not tell anyone, but it could be a trap all the same.
"I'm calling Kal, see if he knows something, maybe someone else got attacked or if there's another one of her kind near…anything"
"Do that"
"The rest should get some sleep"
Kara approached Lena "Want me to give you a lift home?"
"Thanks but I have to go to L-Corp first"
"Lena you aren't seriously about to work" she demanded in a stern voice.
The raven haired woman shook her head "My office's floor is completely covered in alien blood, I have to secure the scene before anyone can see it"
"Right" Kara sighed "I'll go with"
"Hey, you just said you need to check the perimeter, it's fine. I'll see you at the apartment. Make sure Lera doesn't stay in base too late, ok?"
"I don't want you to go on your own"
"You are National City's hero first"
"But-"
"I'll come along" interrupted Alex walking towards "We'll take a government issued car so we can run a few reds"
"You just performed surgery" Lena refuted.
"And now I could really use a drive" she replied "I'll drive"
"You sure, Alex?" Kara furrowed a brow.
"Yes, it will be a quick stop" she assured "Let's go, Lee"
"See you at home then" Kara said with little voice.
"Yeah, make sure Lera doesn't leave on her own"
Kara nodded as they walked to the elevator.
"Thanks for offering" Lena mentioned.
"Well, I agree with Kara, you shouldn't be on your own" Alex massaged her temples.
"Everything alright?" the youngest Luthor asked the older Danvers.
"It was just a long operation; I hadn't been that close to a surgery for a while" she rolled her shoulders back "I still can't explain how she survived all those injuries without any protection"
Lena held her tongue regarding the truth but offered an answer nonetheless "Maybe she lost her armor shortly after being attacked"
Alex hummed "Could be" they reached the basement "You should change clothes first. We want to maintain appearances and your current outfit screams 'horror movie' "
Lena took a look at herself really comprehending how those marks were more than mere stains. They were the struggle of life or death of someone else "You are right"
"We must have something lying around, once you are set we can get going"
Lena entered L-Corp's building leaving every security guard completely aback as how their boss was reentering without even leaving in the first place, on the same night, but Lena just flashed a confident smile avoiding any questions as she reached the elevator to go to her office.
Once there she was finally able to take in the scene, the bloodstains on the floor, the scattered papers, how it all made her feel like a vulnerable target. How not only that alien had landed on her balcony, but as how she knew her name beforehand and about Supergirl.
She knelt down to gather her research papers when she found an object she was sure wasn't there before. It was glowing bright like kryptonite but it wasn't anything of the sort, it looked like an old…
"Lantern?" Lena said out loud.
"One of many" came a deep hoarse voice from a dark corner of the room. A red flame was lighted as the huge masculine figure smoked "I'd say she beat me to it, but then again, that wasn't the real bet" he chuckle before pulling out a huge gun aiming the barrel at her from the distance.
Lena backed away bumping into the table reaching as discreetly as possible for her watch.
"I wouldn't try to call for the lady in red boots" he snarled "If I wanted you dead, you would already have a whole in your stomach" he walked towards the light revealing his features. His glowing red eyes, his white skin tattooed with black marks running down his face "But then again my buyers wouldn't pay me" he pulled out a box "This is not the traditional way these babies should be delivered, but on your case the rules have been changed" he opened the box and two dashes rushed towards Lena as she barely caught both in her palm as a reflex. As she opened her fist she found a pair of rings not so different from the green from before, one yellow, another red. The emissary emitted a dry laugh that echoed in the silence of the room "Yeah, they belong to you alright; I just made the express fail-proof delivery. My part is done" he dropped his cigar stepping on it "I guess the green chick in spandex told you the rules, no one is to know you have those" he pointed at the jewerly walking past her taking the watch from her grasp and crashing it with one hand "So don't let the Kryptonian meddle or I'll have to take care of her myself" he said not missing the opportunity to severely remark his threat before chuckling darkly "And hey, enjoy the ride. Let it all consume you" he flashed a wicked grin showing his sharp teeth as he reached the balcony to jump off into a space motorcycle.
Lena stood still for what felt like eons. Her breathing shallow, her heart beating so fast it was hard to keep up…it hurt… something inside her was aching, like a premonition of what was to come. Then a ring called her attention, this time from her phone. Lena absently reached for her pocket to answer.
"A-Alex"
"Hey Lena, are you all set securing the scene?"
Lena blinked herself back to reality trying to incorporate, not knowing if the alien man was still within earshot "Ye-yes, I'll be down in a moment" she hanged up hiding the other two rings with the green one, not knowing what to do with them. She reached for the lantern that was on her desk and noticed the counterparts standing in the shadows where the man had been. She hid away those as well.
Lena put all the rings on the safety box behind the chronometric picture in her home studio hoping that by storing those away they would leave her thoughts as well. She wasn't sure if they were made out of kryptonite given that the glow was so alike, so by putting them behind lead she hoped the risk would be minimized. Part of her just wanted to dispose of them but the rational part feared that if they were indeed harmful they would fall on the wrong hands. And apparently a lot had been at stake for her to have them in the first place. She just didn't know the specifics yet.
Lena sighed fighting her insides, feeling torn and overwhelmed. So she tiptoed to her daughter's room finding her asleep while still wearing her full uniform. An astronomy book lying next to her with scattered notes and several other reports from the DEO she had been studying, that image reminded the Luthor so much of her college years.
Lena carefully grabbed the cover pushing it up to tuck her in. The girl in front of her was shy of a year old even though she looked so much older, but the only thing Lena cared about was that said girl was her child and that was enough to make the world a little bit brighter in its darkest time.
Lena left a silky kiss on Lera's head before going to the master bedroom ready to disrobe from the DEO clothes Alex had lend her, but her plans fell short as a sweet voice emerged.
"Lena?" Kara asked, her tone drowned with tiredness "I called Alex, she said you-" she cut herself off when she felt the other woman sneak into the covers and wrap her arms around her tightly, not a word spoken "Lena?" Kara asked aback embracing her as well rubbing soothing circles on her back "Hey, are you ok?" she whispered into her hair feeling her body tremble.
"Yes" Lena chocked out a rotten lie "Can you… just hold me please?"
"Of course" Kara urged kissing her forehead and humming softly a kryptonian lullaby for a couple of minutes "What's wrong?" she tried again, but felt Lena shake her head no nudging deeper under her chin "It's ok, Lena. Soranik will get better and when she does she can explain to us what happened. It was just by chance she found you, lucky for her. If you hadn't reacted to help out she would have been a goner"
Lena chocked against her chest repressing a sob "Kara…"
"I'm here" she cooed, full attention on her, but once more Lena evaded, she was so confused by it all, nothing made sense and still the gut feeling was hitting her. Something was wrong.
"I love you" Lena whispered instead cuddling into her arms.
Kara stroke her hair gently "I love you too" she answered knowing there was more to be said, but she wasn't pressing for answers. For now she knew the Luthor needed her to be there and that was just what she was going to do. Hold her tight.