"Alex, you need to calm down!" Kara insisted as she wrapped her arms around her. "We will find her, I promise!"
"I can't calm down!" Alex howled. She was in a rage, tears streaming down her face, drawing the attention of the medics, Hank, and some other agents. The video of Astra and Non had not disappeared from the computer, but the image of seeing Astra with a bullet in her shoulder was too painful for either of them to bear. "Astra, we will get you out of there!" She desperately tried to struggle away from Kara.
"Don't come here!" Astra wailed from the screen. "He'll trap you!"
Non struck her hard in the head and she winced.
"Let her go!" Alex roared.
"You won't be able to find her. She's mine now."
"No!" Astra shook her head. "If I belong to anyone, it's Alex." She received another hit and her head snapped back, blood dripping from her nose as well as her shoulder.
"Listen, I'll save you! I swear to that!"
"Good luck!" Non cackled. The screen went dark and Alex unleashed a swarm of curses.
"Give me something special," she growled. "I need to heal quickly so I can go find her."
"Knowing him, he's going to be mobile. He could move her anywhere right after we find her."
"If he just did that trick with the screen... he's taunting us with her! Get me out of here!"
"Hey, it's only been a few days since you got brought in here. Rest and we will find her."
A few hours later...
Kara felt her heart pounding in her chest as she surveyed the city once more. No sign of Astra. But soon, she did see Non.
"NON!" she shouted. He looked up at her and smiled. "WHERE IS SHE?"
She touched down beside him.
"You want to see her? Fine then." Non raised his hand and a bright white light appeared above him, glowing brighter and brighter, and when it finally faded away, Astra was there in front of him, laying in a mess of blood.
"Aunt Astra!" Kara stared to move forward.
"Little One... don't!"
She took a few more steps and a sound like a scream pierced the air, only it was about at the sonic level. Kara recoiled as she covered her ears as much as she could and Astra was crying out as she did the same, blood easily seeping through her fingers.
And she still has that bullet in her shoulder...
Fighting through the sound, Kara threw herself down beside Astra and covered her ears, drawing back a tiny bit when she felt the blood.
Then she felt her harshly ripped away and Kara's eyes widened as she saw her disappear again.
"All you're going to see of her again is in a state like that," Non stated. "Do you really want to do that until you eventually see her dead?"
Kara's eyes glowed red.
"And I wouldn't laser-eye me if you even want to see her again." He left so fast that she almost ended up lasering the building behind him.
Then she saw he'd left something behind. It looked a little like a mini-computer on a watch and when she slowly picked it up, Non's face flickered onto the screen.
"If you want to keep seeing your precious aunt again, then keep in touch with this. Give it to Alex."
"And what if I refuse to?"
"Well, she'll die anyway, so if you want to know how she's doing at times, take it to her. It'll be only her shown on here and you two can speak to her, but I will not let her go."
Back at the DEO...
"I will not let her slip from me again!" Alex snapped, grabbing the watch from Kara and putting it on her wrist. The computer was closed at the moment and she left it that way. "I'm keeping this so I can check up on her."
"Okay, but lay down, Alex. I can tell you're in pain."
"I'm in agony right now, but it'll mean nothing if we don't find Astra and destroy Non!"
"Calm down. You really need to."
Alex's shouts died down, then she started whimpering. "Kara... it hurts knowing she's in danger like that."
"I know how you feel," Kara murmured back. Cat had recovered, but almost died.
"No, you don't! Lena wasn't captured by her ex-husband and used to lure in anyone!"
"Alex... I know how much you love her. And believe me when I say we will get her back."
"How do you believe that? She could be dead before we find out where Non's keeping her."
"You have another thing to deal with right now," Kara said as she glanced at her phone. "Your mom's on her way."
"Oh my god... you told her?!"
"I had to, Alex. You're injured and you're her daughter."
"But when she finds out I'm with Astra, she's going to kill me herself!"
"Hey, she's not that way. She'll listen to you."
"How do you know?"
"Because we will tell her how you got those injuries exactly. You got those trying to protect Astra."
"It didn't work anyway. She's still gone!"
"But she's not dead yet, so we still have a chance to get her back."
"I don't know..." Alex opened the computer-watch and was not at all surprised to see Astra with a fresh scratch on her face.
"Baby, don't worry, I will get you out of there," she whispered to her. Astra's expression was pleading as she looked at her.
"I hope so. I can't tell you the location... Non will kill me if I divulge even a little bit." She sighed. "Please... get me away from this pain..."
"I will... I promise... I'll do everything I can."
"Which will be to rest right now," Kara added. "Aunt Astra, she was badly injured the day you were captured and needs to rest on her own."
"I can't rest when she's in danger!" Alex retorted.
"And you don't be able to help her if you're not at top strength! You know how dangerous Non is."
"You think I give a fuck?"
"Whoa, calm down or I'll take the watch back."
"No..." Alex let out a heavy sob, her body shaking. "I can't let her die. I love her too much to let her go."
With Astra...
The large screen had gone black. Kara had gone.
"Please..." Astra begged as Non walked back into the room where she was held, wearing a sneer on his face. "Let me out of here... I'll stop fighting you, I promise..."
"Why?" Non stepped over to her and ran one rough hand over her naked, injured form. She flinched. He had an artificial light that gave her only enough strength to stay awake, but every time one wound closed up, he opened another. And when he didn't have any weapons... he made his mark on her. He undid her chains and she slid to the floor onto her stomach, exhausted. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his lap.
"Why do you fight me so, Astra?" he crooned.
"Because you... have tried... to kill me... so much..,"
"I mean in our more intimate moments."
Astra glared at him. "You mean when you rape me?"
"Baby, you know you want it." Astra felt thoroughly disgusted by that remark.
"I'm not your 'baby' anymore. You gave up the right to call me that long ago."
"And who else calls you that? No one loves you as much as I did."
"Alex does. There's no one I love more besides my family."
"She doesn't deserve you."
"Well, you don't deserve anyone."
That did it. In a flash, Non flipped Astra over and smashed her onto her back. She gasped as his clothes teleported to the other side of the room and he was left as bare as she.
"I'll teach you more respect than that." He pressed her into the tough floor and Astra screamed as he slammed into her, lashing out with both arms, although less with the one weakened by the bullet wound. She felt both humiliated and betrayed by the violation, an intrusion on her body's physical healing and on her mental state.
"ALEX!" she cried. "KARA! ALURA!"
"You must know they can't hear you," Non exclaimed as he pressed down even more, crushing Astra beneath him. The terror on her face would be horrifying to anyone else but him. He was breaking her, both literally and figuratively.
Alura... I'm sorry I fought with you. If I die here, tell Alex I will never stop loving her, even in death.
All the fight had gone out of her and the only sounds that came from her were low moans of pain. The agony from her lower regions was spreading throughout her body and Astra felt the slightly familiar burn of blood between her legs.
She wished she were still back on Krypton or safe with Alex. If Alura saw any of this, she'd never let her out again. But Astra didn't want to be held back from the world, unable to do anything but survive it and bear its agony. And she was more than grateful when he stopped at last, leaving her bleeding out onto the ground.
Oh Rao...
The screen soon turned on again, showing Alex and Alura in beds right next to each other. Alura gasped in sheer horror as she saw her sister, who attempted to get to her feet.
"Astra... he did it again..."
She shot her a pleading look. "Don't. Don't do it." Her body was shaking, leaving her unable to back up her words, and she groaned as she fell back again. "I can't... I can't hold on..." Astra's eyes closed and Alex started shouting at her.
"Baby, don't you dare close those eyes! Don't you dare die on me! I will not allow you to leave us!"
With her last burst of strength, Astra roared, "I don't want you to see me like this!" Finally, she fell unconscious.
DEO...
Alex clenched her hands into fists.
"Calm down," Alura told her instantly. "Don't even think about it."
"Says the woman who just saw her sister bleeding to death."
"She is not dying! We will find her."
"Do you recognize that room she's in? It looks like the medic room she was previously held in before Non broke in to rape her, but dark and with no equipment."
"Does that give us any clue of where she may be?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"In the DEO."
"Say what?"
"Think about it. We're in the cave base right now, but in the city base, there's so many forbidden rooms where no one is allowed to go. They're soundproof, so no one would hear her or Non, and only J'onn has the key."
"Can Kara go over there?"
"With J'onn, yes. I have the earpiece in still; I can get her."
With Alura's help, Alex managed to send Kara flying that way. But on the way, they halted.
"He's here, turning his back on us," Kara growled. "Non, get out of our way!"
"Why?" He turned in the air, giving both of the aliens a view of the still body in his arms, in worse condition than even Alex and Astra combined, it seemed, more blood on her than she even thought possible. It was only her faint breathing that said she wasn't dead.
And Kara could hardly breathe herself at the sight of her girlfriend in the arms of her enemy.
"Give Lena to me," she snarled in a low voice. It was dangerous, usually showing that a fight was about to come up. "Let her go!"
Non shrugged. "If that's what you desire."
She knew he was going to drop her and as soon as he did, she raced down to catch her, enfolding Lena in her arms just as she was about to hit the ground. Kara carefully lay her there, right as she opened her eyes slightly. "Kara..."
"Lena, how did he get to you?"
"He just attacked me in the street... I fought..." She struggled to continue through raspy breaths. "I tried to get away..."
"Shh... I just wanted to know the first thing. But I know you wouldn't go down without a fight."
"Kara... Kara, I can't hold on..."
"You will!" Kara glanced up at J'onn. "We're heading to the DEO base right now and we can put you in the medical rooms while we do what we need to do there."
Lena moaned as pain shot through her from Kara lifting her back into the air. She flew slow, slow enough so that Alex noticed.
"Kara, why did you stop? You went offline for a moment."
"I had to... he had Lena... she's bleeding... it's really bad... she might not make it... I'll drop her off at the base."
"Worse or better than Astra?"
"Definitely worse."
"Then do that. I don't want her to die either. I may not entirely approve of her, but you love her more than most things."
Kara nodded and took off toward the base.
Just hold on, Lena... please hold on...
When she got through the window, she was surprised to see her cousin standing in the main control room. But she didn't let that deter her.
"Someone help!" she yelled. "Lena's injured!"
The whole room turned to stare at her and it was Clark who called for backup and then rushed over to her. "Kara, what happened?"
"I don't have much time to explain. Non caught Lena in the street... but I know where Astra is. She's here."
No sooner had she said that before Non burst in through the window and snatched Lena from Kara's arms, dipping low as he flew in and disappeared down the hall.
"LENA!" Kara shrieked. She set off in that direction instantly, ignoring Clark's protests to wait for him. As she moved on further, she could hear Lena call for her before she got pulled into one of the rooms and shot into it soon after the door closed.
The first person she saw was Astra, limply hanging from the wall by metal chains. Her focus trained right on her and she immediately burned away the chains with laser eyes. Astra fell to the floor, her eyes widening as she spotted her niece.
"Kara, you can't be here... he has Lena with him... she might be dead..."
Kara narrowed her eyes. "He has my girlfriend. I will not allow her to be taken from me. Not so close to when it was going to happen..."
"When what was going to happen?"
"Never mind right now." Kara peered into the darkness of the room. "Is there a light in here?"
"Yes. Right on the wall..."
She flipped it on... just as the room shook from Non smashing Lena into the wall.
"NO!" Kara soared toward him and grabbed the bloodied form from him before she could fall again. She laid Lena next to Astra, her gaze trained on Non.
"Get out before I have them stab you with Silver Kryptonite," she snarled at him before readjusting her attention.
Both Lena and Astra were hurt, but Astra wasn't covered in as much blood. They were still conscious, but suddenly, Lena broke into a fit of hacking coughs, lasting for almost a minute before she dropped back, her eyes closing.
"Lena?" With a terrible feeling, Kara touched her chest. Nothing. She wasn't breathing any longer. "Lena!"
Agent Vasquez has followed her and let out a startled sound as she came in beside her.
"Get the medics!" Kara growled. "Lena's not breathing!"
Vasquez tore down the hall again and returned with them. Kara motioned them toward Lena and they moved with astonishing speed as they raced to hook her to a machine that would help her. A few came back for Astra to bring her support as well.
Kara got up slowly, looking around for Non, but he had disappeared. If he could get in once already, he could get in again.
But, again, why would he rape and torture Astra when she was once his wife?
He'd nearly destroyed her and when Kara had wanted to stop him, he'd thrown Lena's broken body at her just to show what he could do to the ones she loved. Wait... that could be who he was after now.
As she exited the room, a faint shriek echoed through the air and she stiffened.
Alex!
Her instincts set her to autopilot and she flew down the hall toward Alex's room. Then she remembered something else.
My mother is in there too...
And when she burst in there, she saw her, laying on the ground on top of her mother, her burns once more blistering and opening.
She'd been protecting her...
Non was gone once more. Kara raced over to Alex, whose breathing was so irregular that she was surprised her mother hadn't noticed.
Wait. Alura was unconscious. That explained it.
Once Alex had been moved again as well and Alura transferred to a separate area, Kara sank to her knees, sobbing.
Mom... Astra... Alex... Lena... please don't let any of them die.
The four living people she loved most... all injured, from Alura, recovering from surgery, to Lena, who had been the unwilling victim of a near-murder.
She might not even make it...
Kara took a shaking breath.
Rao... they didn't deserve any of this... please keep them alive...