Something hard hit her chest, waking her up from the peaceful dream and pulling her back into the stark disappointing reality that had become her existence.
She had apparently fell over beside the bar and decided the bed was too far in her inebriated state. She was glad she had opened the blinds because Non stood above her with his self righteous sneer and she knew she would have killed him if she'd had a hangover.
"What is this?" She picked up the object he had thrown on her chest. It was a mask, it matched their uniforms, which was to say their prison suits only a bit remodeled, perfectly. It was hard steel with eye slits and covered the entire face. It looked like something she had seen at a Halloween ball, only…..sturdier and a little more elegant. "Masks?"
She hated looking up to anyone, especially her husband, but she refused to climb to her feet. She hoped he would be gone soon anyway.
"Yes. Since Kara has arrived it's safe to say her pod did." Astra rolled her eyes at the obvious. "The pod your sister sent….it likely has the dossier of all the prisoners on Rozz. We wouldn't want to give the government an advantage." Astra stared at the mask in her hands. He was right, Alura would have included anything she thought Astra would need to keep Kara safe if the other criminals escaped. It was almost ironic since she had been the one to release most of them. "It will also hide your identity from Kara." Which was likely his true intention.
"Why could you never love her Non?" she asked sadly.
He stared at her angrily. "She is not my child." Astra only stared at him. "The-" he trailed off. She had known him too long to believe his lies. "I knew you loved her father. Even before we married, I knew."
"Then why did you marry me?"
"Because I love you." He all but shouted at her.
Her only response was to stare at him sadly from her position on the floor. They both knew she didn't love him. He had always known, her heart had belonged to another before they had even met. But he didn't like sharing what he considered his and he held on to her too tightly. Too possessively. She hadn't seen it on Krypton. Or maybe she had but was too numb from her loss to realize it's dangerous potential. It was too late to regret her decisions there, Krypton was gone.
"It shouldn't have mattered. She is your niece."
"I did not want a niece, Astra. I wanted my own."
She shook her head. "I will wear the mask. Instruct the others to do the same. It is a good plan." He nodded, just as eager to be done with the conversation as she was to end it.
"Then our plan to raid Maxwell Lord is still in effect?" She nodded. "Good I will prepare a team.
"Have you found the Hellgrammite?"
Non hesitated. "Yes…..he has only one source of food, it was not so hard to locate him. The D.E.O has also become interested in him, they have set up a trap to capture him."
Astra let the news sink in. He wasn't vital to their plans. Non had been against searching for him. He claimed it a waste of recourses, he believed the man would die out on his own. Astra believed the same but she was of the mind to keep all her people safe, and to understand why he had wished to leave they had kept his needs well met.
"Bring him to me before they capture him. I wish to speak. Perhaps he can be of use to us."
"I don't see how." Non protested irritably.
Astra finally stood and placed the mask on the bar. She leveled him with a hard stare. "If we can turn the trap for him around and get an agent alone we can interrogate them on this D.E.O. You may think the humans inconsequential but I do not. I would like to know what they know. What kind of weapons they have in their hands."
Non spread his arms wide, looking more like the arrogant fool she considered him to be. "What weapons could they have that could hurt us. Here with the yellow sun we are invincible."
She regarded him quietly before sighing. "We are not gods, Non. Don't let your pride and foolishness blind you to the true goal."
He sneered but nodded. "I will do as you ask." He turned his back on her and glanced over his shoulder before he left the room. "You should let go of the past Astra. They are all dead. My brother….your sister. They are dead. We are alive. I am alive."
~N~
Non was furious when he left his wife. He didn't see what the bug could do for their cause but Astra was General. What she said went. It didn't mean he couldn't insert his own plans into the mix. He had been watching Kara closer than Astra. He knew she had family, a weakness. And unlike his wife he was willing to use that weakness.
He knew where the bug was. And he knew just what to have it do for him.
~K~
Kara had been having a wonderful day…well after the initial disastrous morning. She had been saving snakes from trees, stopping robberies, lifting heavy things safely. She was really getting the hang of the superhero work. She was going to have to find a way to thank Cat for her advice without giving herself away.
Sure the D.E.O was still a little miffed at her but she knew it was going to take more than the mundane things to earn their trust, no matter how annoying it was for her. And she was still sore with Alex for kicking her ass and using Kryptonite on her but a part of her knew she was right.
She sighed and turned on her TV. A grin pulled at her mouth almost immediately. They were still showing her many successful feats. Many stations were still reporting on the tanker disaster but even they were now saying she might have some redeeming qualities. And of course CatCo was spearheading all the support. Cat had turned the broadcasting station into a regular Supergirl cheerleading team.
She was wondering where they got all the pictures of her from when her phone startled her. She had thought it would be Winn again, or Alex since she had mentioned she would call after work. She had never expected the news. In fact it took a few seconds for it to hit and her smile to fade. When it did she was off her couch and out the window faster than a speeding bullet. Angier than she could ever remember being.
~A~
Alex awoke to pain in both her leg and head. Her body was sore in it's entirety but those were the worst. She vaguely remembered a Hellgrammite talon or fingernail or spike or whatever it was getting embedded in the flesh above her knee. It hurt like hell.
She tried to pull herself into a sitting position but only manage to lift up onto her side. Her leg felt like pins and needles. She wondered if there was some kind of venom in those needles.
"Finally awake I see." She turned to the man she hadn't seen lurking in the shadows. His voice sounded muffled but she could make out where the was even in the darkness. "I wouldn't move around too much if I were you. It's not fatal, even to you pathetic humans, but it won't feel pleasant."
"Venom?"
The man moved forward into the light. It wasn't the Hellgrammite but she couldn't see who it was, his face was hidden behind a mask. His eyes practically glowed through the slits, she could see why his voice sounded odd they were the only holes on the contraption. It covered everything from his forehead to his chin, it didn't even have holes for the nose. Oddly all she could think about was how stuffy it must be. Ironic what thoughts filter through your mind when faced with death. Or torture.
"I said it won't kill you. Feels like your leg is asleep doesn't it….it'll spread the more you move." It hurt but thankfully the more she moved the more it hurt, the numb feeling was starting to disapate.
"Are you a Hellgrammite?"
She could practically hear the disgust in his tone when he answered. "No I am not a bug." Something else moved in the shadows to her right, the Hellgrammite hadn't gone far either she noticed. And he hadn't been pleased at the man's tone.
"Then what are you?"
The figure began circling her slowly. "I've come to lead. To bring Earth up from the ashes and make it new. Better."
The Hellgrammite shifted again. Alex tried to keep her eyes on both of them but with the man circling her it was impossible. She settled for watching the crazy one. He was obviously the one in charge anyway.
"There isn't anything wrong with Earth now." She berated herself for antagonizing her captor.
"Oh but there is." He was suddenly in her face, pulling her up by her vest so she could see her breath fog on his metal mask. "Humans." He told her before dropping her hard back to the dirty concrete. He went back to circling her. "Your like parasites. Cockroaches. No matter how many die, hundreds replace them. You make the land inhospitable. I've seen it happen before I won't watch it happen again. Krypton was destroyed because people couldn't see what was right in front of them. They were one of the most advanced civilizations in the Galaxy. You humans," he sneered, making his disgust with he species as a whole evident. "Your less advanced. You shouldn't be allowed to continue destroying this planet. You need someone better to lead."
Alex had to bite her tongue. It was always the crazy ones that wanted to rule the world. Very ambitious. It didn't help her situation if anything it hurt it, the crazy ones always had a quick trigger finger. She knew she had been taken for something but she didn't want to antagonize him and return to the D.E.O dead or in pieces.
If she held in long enough she could buy them some time. She was sure Hank would have told Kara and they would all be looking for her. A cursory glance around let her know her utility belt had been stripped from her but it hadn't been thrown far. If she could find a way to get to the radio in it she could signal her position.
"I wouldn't do that. I move faster than you." He had been watching her eyes, somehow able to see perfectly in the dark.
"What do you want from me?"
He laughed, it sounded hollow and fake. "I want nothing from a human. It's Supergirl I'm after."
"What makes you think she will come for me?" Alex tried not to let he inner panic show. She knew her sister was powerful, hell she could fly and stop bullets with her skin. Still Alex was the big sister and it was her job to worry about her. Having a crazy alien focused on her sister worried her more than anything.
"You're family. El mayarah." Alex's blood ran cold as he uttered Kara's family motto.
"You're from Krypton." He was gone before she could say anything else. She searched around for him in the darkness but seconds later saw the reason for his abrupt departure.
A flurry of red, blue and blonde landed a few feet from her. "Alex!"
"No, it's a trap!"
Kara turned to look around but was hit in the face by the alien. Alex struggled to her feet as she watched Kara being launched through metal walls and further into the darkness with the man flying right after her.
She was going for her belt when the Hellgrammite wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Where do you think you're going?" He growled into her ear. A quick head-butt let her loose but reminded her of the throbbing pain she had nearly forgotten about.
She could hear the battle going on around her. The smashing of concrete and steel. She was slightly worried the warehouse would collapse and kill her before the damn bug got a chance.
He was standing in front of her again, it had taken him a second to shake off the headache she was sure to have given him but he looked fine now, and very angry.
She couldn't move well and Kara wasn't going to be able to help if the sounds she was hearing was any indication.
~K~
"Who are you!?" Kara demanded as she countered a punch aimed for her ribs. Heat vision and flight was a dead give away that she was fighting another Krypton. And it hurt. They shouldn't be fighting they should be working together. "What do you want?"
He hit her square in the chest sending her backwards into a steel beam. It bent in half as her body slammed into it. He was stronger than her and it was apparent he hadn't shied away from his abilities like she had. He wasn't distracted by the fighting coming from Alex and the Hellgrammite either.
"All I want Kara Zor-El is your demise." That brought her pause. Her full name. Before she could ask how he'd known it he had delivered another hit, this time to her head. Her ears were still ringing, disorienting her when he wrapped his hand around her neck and squeezed. She tried to pull free but his grip was too strong, she regretted not taking Alex's lessons seriously.
"I've hated you since your birth. You can't imagine how good it would feel to finally be able to end you." He loosened his grip as she tried to speak.
"Who- are.." his grip tightened again cutting off her air supply.
He leaned in toward her, she could only see his eyes through the mask but she had no recollection of them. Surely if he had known her on Krypton she would remember his eyes, his voice, anything.
"I'm the man that's going to kill Supergirl." He lifted her higher holding her above his head, high enough for her to see the agents fanning out behind him.
"She won't be dying today. Put her down." She had never been so grateful to hear Hank Henshaw's voice. At least she knew she wasn't Alex's only hope of escaping alive.
Surprisingly she dropped to the ground as the man released her and turned to face the agents. She sputtered and coughed on the ground, waiting until the waves of dizziness passed before she climbed to her feet.
"Ah." He said in mock reverence. "The infamous D.E.O." If Henshaw was surprised the strange Krypton knew of their Black ops organization he didn't show it. "You have no weapons that could harm me." He nodded toward the guns trained on him and moved forward to grasp at Hank's neck.
Kara tried to climb to her feet, she swayed unsteadily. She knew she had to act, if his strength was enough to cause her lingering pain she couldn't imagine what it was doing to a human.
She needn't have worried. Hank had it well under control. Kara barely had time to register her sister catching her around the waist as she stumbled towards them when he had pulled out a green dagger and slammed it into the arm holding him.
The Krypton let out a quick yell and dropped him. With a quick scathing glance back at Kara's weak figure he took off with the dagger still embedded in his arm.
Kara shifted to support Alex's weight and took sight of her leg. "Are you okay? Your bleeding."
"Hellgrammite needle…talon…thing…what are we calling those?" She asked Hank fustraited.
"Doesn't matter. Where is it?"
"Dead." She breathed out leaning further on Kara. Now that the adrenaline had wore off she was back to feeling the pain.
"By yourself?" she relished in the admiration she heard in Kara's tone.
"Yea I'm a bad ass." She smiled before slipping into a cringe as she shifted wrong on her leg.
Kara noticed moving to support even more of her weight. "Can we get the bad ass some drugs and a Band-Aid?" Alex couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.
"Yes of course, we have a team that will take you back to the D.E.O. I want a full report." He stared up at the hole left in the ceiling from the Krypton's exit. "I have a feeling whatever our friend here has planned it can't be good." Kara helped Alex out to the vehicle. She didn't voice her agreement but she knew he was right. He meant trouble for her even if he had no intention of harming civilians.
~N~
Non slammed the green dagger on the circular counter in front of one of his men. Astra was who no where to be seen and for once he was happy of her absence. "This punctured my skin." He showed the fellow Kryptonian the bloody gash in his suit. The wound had begun healing as soon as he had removed the blade but the fact remained that it had caused damage to begin with. And just being around the thing made him nauseated.
It apparently had the same effect on all the boy. He lifted it gingerly, examining it without touching the green blade.
"What is it?"
"That is our ticket to killing Supergirl." He took off his mask and turned back toward the exit. "don't breathe a word of this to General Astra. She still believes Supergirl won't hinder our cause." The boy nodded instantly and Non didn't doubt his loyalty. Still he was probably going to have to kill him afterwards, he couldn't have his plans getting back to Astra.
A/N: Okay so I've been annoyed with trying to fit this into the episode time frame and tonight I finally realized I have no idea why I'm trying to do that. This is my story and while I want it to follow a semblance of the series timeline I haven't watched all of the episodes of even the first season so...I'll try to keep it a little cannon but maybe now that I've remembered this is au and I already warned everyone I can get into the writing and less of the stressing.