Hey everyone! It's the first day of the 9 week hiatus and I know its not exactly good news but I feel like it's chance for us to use all our gifts and skills to make the most of it and express our support and love in our own way.
So here is another chapter of Moon Fortress and this one is VERY IMPORTANT as you will see very soon!
I stop now and let you read ;)

One thing tho; this chapter is back to Kara's POV

Chapter 12: Tooth and Nail

Awareness came slowly back to Kara and gently awakened her senses. For a long moment she resisted opening her eyes, until she registered the rhythmic movement beneath where her head was resting. At first she was willing to ignore it. It actually felt soothing, lulling her back to sleep, but then the voice in her head nudged her to question the reason and she finally gave in.

Opening her eyes, Kara had to blink many times until she found out exactly where she was and it stunned her.

Kara couldn't believe her own eyes as she turned her head and looked at the face right above her head, thinking it might be a fragment of her dreams. She definitely was still asleep, because there was no way she would fall asleep in this man's arms!

The shock of the reality and memories from last night made her push against Kai's chest a bit harder than she meant to and felt backwards into the covers behind her, exposing them to the crimson rays of Rao.

"Grife! Did I fell asleep?"

Kara heard Kai groaning while trying to free herself from the thick speeder cover.

"Yeah. I think we both did."

She stood up hurriedly, praying to Rao that he wouldn't mention or even remember how they had slept through the storm.

Kai stood up tiredly and squinted against the light. His hand came up to scratch his head and Kara grimaced as he hissed when his hand touched the wound on the side of his head. It looked far more terrible in the light of day.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, you?"

"I'm fine."

"Then let's get going."

Kara didn't object and just followed him to find the speeder bike and by the time they got themselves back to the DEO they felt close to collapsing.

Winn brought them the first aids kit and they started tending to their wounds. To Kara's surprise they even had a stitching device that looked very familiar.

"Is that –"

"Yeah that was Lexie's. It's very handy."

Winn answered her question before she had even finished it in a pitched and nervous tone that confused her, but she had no time to worry about that when Alex's alias was mentioned. Kara turned her head only to meet Kai's gaze. She knew he was thinking the same thing.

"Where's J'onn?"

Kai asked with stern voice, while cleaning his head injury.

"He had to go out for some personal matters. He said he'd be back in a few hours."

Kara considered helping Kai with stitching his head wound, but Winn was faster. Maybe that was for better. Kara's cheeks felt hot as she remembered again the moment she woke up with Kai's arms wrapped around her protectively and her head burrowed into his chest. She felt so confused. She couldn't read or interpret it. Maybe keeping distance from him was a smart move. Kara knew well how attachments could ruin the kind of job she was doing.

"We need an express ship to Starhaven."

Winn looked at him questioningly. "Starhaven?"

"Lexie's cover is compromised. We saw them boarding her onto the ship and they're on their way to Starhaven as we speak! We shouldn't lose a moment because they aren't going to stay there long and if we miss them, we won't be able to find her again in time."

Kai hissed as Winn finished stitching his head and sterilized it.

"Oh, okay but before that –"

Kara watched discreetly, as she was patching up her shot wound, how Winn kept glancing at her and then bent down a bit to whisper something into Kai's ear.

Something was wrong and Winn wasn't good at hiding it. To prove her point, Kai and Winn excused themselves shortly afterwards, claiming that they were going to find a fast ship.

She spent the next half an hour walking nervously around and thinking what she had to do. She was losing her wits over Alex's situation. Part of her was happy that she was still alive, but she also knew it wouldn't be like that much longer and they needed to go after her soon or else - No she wouldn't allow that. She could call for back up and -

Kara stopped pasting when she remembered how she'd lost her holo device and her heart started pounding in panic. What could she do? Was there another protocol or means to contact the base?

"Think Kara! Think!"

She begged herself to recall if there had been anything. There was an escape pod in the same hangar where she first landed on Daxam. Maybe she could find something on it to contact Krypton.

With renewed determination, Kara moved towards the door to find Kai and let him know she was leaving to go get some supplies for their trip and instead go for the secret pod.

But she hadn't even opened the door when Kai appeared in front of her.

"We need to talk."

Kara nodded and bit her lip in irritation.

"Sure, but before that, maybe I should go to get some supplies for our trip?"

"No."

Kara noticed how his face seemed darkened and his voice sounded very strict.

Kara sensed danger. "Okay."

She nodded and took a few steps back with her eyes searching around the room to form a plan. She spotted her laser gun on the table and tried to step near it subtly.

"Did you find a ship to get us to Starhaven?"

Keep stalling him Kara.

She swallowed hard when Kai slammed the door behind him and moved closer to her without bothering to answer her.

"Cut the crap Kryptonian!"

Kara felt her heart stop and her ears were ringing manically. What did he say?

"What –"

"Drop the act! I know you're a spy just like Lexie or should I say Agent B35?! I should've known right from the start! I saw the signs but ignored them because I wanted to believe that some good people were actually working here! I was so stupid!"

Kai was rampaging in front of her and didn't give her a chance to even try denying, even though at this point there was no possibility that he would believe her. He knew far more than he should have.

"It's not like what you think."

Kara took a step towards him and tried on last time, but stopped when Kai drew his gun out in a swift motion and aimed at her head.

"Stay away from me you filthy rat!"

Kara gasped and raised her hands to show them empty and calm him. His face was contorted with fury and rage. He looked nothing like the kind Kai Rand who came outside in the sand storm just to find her and let her stay at the club, or the man who was holding her close to himself not that long ago. For some reason Kara felt so guilty for lying to him and it killed her to see how much he resented and feared her now.

"I mean you no harm Kai."

"I'm the one holding the gun here! So stop pretending to be the smart one!"

"I –"

"Who are you?"

Kara looked at him, pleading with her eyes so he would spare her this interrogation.

"Please I can't –"

"TELL ME YOUR REAL NAME!"

He shouted and walked closer to press the muzzle of his gun to her head. That was his mistake.

Before he even knew what had happened, she got hold of his gun and was on the other end of it instead. Kai gasped and the look of total betrayal filled his eyes. Kara kept the gun level at him with no intention to actually shoot him and started walking backwards in the direction of the exit.

"I don't want to hurt you Kai. But I can't let you know more than you already know."

"Do you even care what happens to people on Daxam every day?!"

"Yes, I've seen it all. I know what you're going through."

"NO YOU DON'T!"

This time Kara made the mistake and didn't act quickly enough when Kai jumped on her. They fought for the dominance over the gun, before their harsh moves send the dangerous object flying to the other side of the room and they started sparring instead.

Kicking, punching, clothes ripping, their shouts and grunts filled the room. Tables collapsing, chairs breaking, they threw each other around, causing their newly closed wound to reopen and adding fresh ones. They matched each other. Where Kara lacked the stamina, she was superior in technique and when Kai couldn't ward off her quick reflexes, he pounced on her with his greater muscle power.

Kai locked Kara under his weight and spat away the blood gathered in his mouth because of his profusely bleeding nose.

"All You Kryptonians do is ruining what little we achieved in the resistance!"

Kara growled under his iron grip on her hands pressed to the ground over her head and ignored the throbbing pain of her cut lip.

"That's not what we do!"

"Yeah I'm sure that's what you believe! You self-righteous, all mighty Kryptonians!"

"You don't know anything, you egotistical hedonist Daxamite!" Kara kneed him in the groins and over powered him in the moment of weakness. Now she was on top.

Kai looked at her with resentment burning in his eyes. "Shame on me for having mercy on you all those times!"

Kara only had time to glare daggers at Kai, before he threw his head forward and smashed it against hers. The momentum took away her balance and Kara lost her sight for a few seconds. She felt Kai wiggling out of her hold and when she opened her eyes, he was standing above her with the gun aimed at her head again. Kara swiped at the flow of blood from her nose. Her arms felt faint and shivered with exhaustion after fighting so much. She knew she couldn't pull out another move that would be fast enough like she initially did. Besides, Kai knew better this time and was standing a few feet away.

"Stay down Kryptonian!"

Kai's voice was muffled due to the inflation of his broken nose. He'd injured his own nose even further by crashing his head to hers. Kara looked at him from her half sitting, half lying position on the floor and saw him panting heavily and squinting against the pain. Apart from his nose, he had a cut above his left eyebrow and one of his sleeves was torn apart. Kara noticed how he was favoring his side. She must have given him a fractured rib there. He was tired. Maybe as wasted as she was feeling.

But he had the gun now.

"I'm not going to tell you anything!"

Kara finally recomposed herself and gave him her fiercest expression with a clenched jaw and hands balled into two painful fists. She sensed one of her thumbs was dislocated, but didn't let the sting from any of her injuries seep into her demeanor.

"I will make you talk!"

"I will die before saying a word"

"Then you leave me no choice."

Kara held her chin high and stared at the trembling gun in his hand, accepting her fate. She knew she shouldn't give in so easily, but she was out of options and couldn't think of anything. Her only regret was not saving Alex. Her heart broke when she thought about what ill fate was waiting Alex.

Her eyes then met Kai's stormy ones. The conflict was evident in them, hate and doubt fighting each other and Kara saw the cracks in his self-conviction.

"KILL ME!"

Kai flinched at her words and held the gun higher and firmer with his brow knitted and his lips pressed together like he was resisting his urge to defy her.

"DO IT!"

Kara punched at the floor. She could see how her insistence was crumbling his resolution by the second.

Kara gasped when Kai's finger moved to pull the trigger and closed her eyes instinctively and braced for her end.

But the pain never came.

"UUUUGH!"

She opened her eyes and saw Kai heaving in front of her and then threw the gun with all his might at the opposite wall behind Kara like it was a poisonous scorpion.

Kara stared with wide eyes and an open mouth, as his legs gave away and he dropped to his knees in front of her and covered his face with both hands. His upper body rattled violently with disheveled, intense emotions.

For long minutes neither of them moved or said a word. Their physical and mental fatigue had taken its toll on them. Kai had grown calm, but didn't look at her, like she wasn't even in the room. They simply sat where they were and kept to themselves.

The shriek of the metallic door broke their eerie silence. They both raised their heads to meet the intruder to their abyss.

The Martian stepped inside with a stoic posture and didn't seem even the slightest moved by their worn out condition and the level of destruction in the control room.

"I found you a ship."

Kara looked at Kai who was avoiding the Martian's eyes and laughed in mockery.

"Aren't you going to say anything about all this?"

The Martian crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Kara briefly before turning back to Kai. "I don't need to."

He then walked over broken pieces of glass and wood to find the only unimpaired chair and sat on it.

"But I do have a question. Are you done here? Because we have more important things to do."

Kara and Kai both looked at him in disbelief.

Kai turned and glared at Kara after ignoring her for the past 15 minutes. "You mean more important than capturing Kryptonian spies?"

"Yes."

Kara shrank away when the Martian got to his feet and came to crouch right in front of her and stared at her with glowing red eyes.

"I found out about Alex before you joined us. I knew about you even before you came here and I decided to let you do your job. I see in your mind that you only wish to save your partner."

Kara gasped at him in utter incredulity. In her peripheral vision Kai jumped up.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU KNEW ALL ALONG AND KEPT IT TO YOURSELF?"

The Martian faced Kai, completely unaffected by his outburst.

"Yes, because it didn't help our cause."

"IT WHAT?!"

The ridiculed expression on Kai's face told Kara that he had passed his limit with his superior at that moment and his eyes had a dangerous lunatic glow in them.

The Martian on the other hand looked as calm as a grandfather, handling his impatient five year old grandson who's been fussing over someone stealing his candy.

"I know your races have a long standing history in hating each other -"

"That's the understatement of the century. "

"But you have to see past through that and realize that you both want the same thing."

"NO WE DON"T!"

"If you stop yelling, I will tell you that you do."

Kai muttered under his breath and limped to the chair the Martian had been sitting on earlier and flopped on it heavily in defeat.

"Go on then. Enlighten me!"

"We want to know what the Beasts are delivering and how are they connected to the queen. The Kryptonian's secret services are also working to find out about this unknown deal and sent these agents to uncover that. They're not trying to disband the Rebels. If anything, they had been helping us. They work against Rhea here and the enemy of our enemy is our friend."

"I don't trust her! And why should I risk my life for some Kryptonian who lied to us for a whole year?"

Kara bit the inside of her lip to stop the offensive words she had prepared. She understood what the Martian was saying. They could work together because they had the same goal.

"You don't need to trust me." Kara surprised herself by her own voice.

Kai glared at her, but she continued.

"I know you have no reason to trust me, but you should realize that all I want is to save Alex and –"

"And then tell your generals all the details about the whereabouts of the DEO base and us?" Kai snorted and shook his head in disappointment.

Kara swallowed hard and tried to think of a way to explain in a way that wouldn't reveal much of her mission and could be enough to convince Kai.

"I don't know what they want with the resistance. Maybe just information on its status. All we know is the possibility that the Beasts are delivering equipment for developing a new weapon which would endanger the galaxy."

"What kind of weapon?"

"We don't know."

"You don't know or you don't want to tell us?"

"I'm not lying."

"I don't believe you."

The Martian cleared his throat. "She's telling the truth."

Kara finally overcame her tiredness and rose to her feet.

"Look I don't care anymore about my mission! I just want to save Alex! I don't even have my holo device which clearly you have hacked it. If you don't want to help me it's fine, but please let me go and find a ship. We're losing time with this pointless conversation."

"Your best chance is my ship. It will get you to Starhaven in one day."

Kara couldn't believe that the Martian was offering her his own ship.

"Th- Thank you."

"But only he knows how to work with its Martian engine." He nodded towards Kai who was watching them with an unwavering frown on his face.

"I'm not going!" Kai turned his back to them.

"We still need to know what's on that ship." The Martian pointed out.

"I don't care!"

"You don't care what Rhea is up to?"

That made him turn around and stare at the Martian with an unusual look.

"Fine I go! But only to see what's on that ship! I'm not helping you to save Lex- Alex!" he barked at Kara and she decided to take him on his offer.

"Thank you. I know it's not easy –"

"Save it fake Marley! I don't want to hear it!"

Kara didn't retaliate. She knew he had every right to be angry with her. All she could do right then was try not to worsen the situation by bickering with him.

"My name is Kara."

She thought maybe that could help them communicate easier. Sadly that didn't make Kai regard her any better and only a grumbled in annoyance.

"You'd better take care of those wounds sooner, before you head for the ship."

The Martian noted as he watched how they were both limping with bruised bodies and numerous cuts on their faces.

"You don't say." Kai mumbled as he walked out of the room and Kara followed him with a sigh.

Rao help me!

I know my updates have become sporadic cause I had a very busy Jan, but now I'm free and try to update more often.
Thanks for reading. 3