And my arms are tough
But they can be bent
They can be bent
And I wanna fight
But I can't contend

I guess that's love
I can't pretend
I can't pretend

Tom Odell

"Kara?!" Mon-El suddenly shot up in his bed, wide-eyed and pulse racing. His head throbbed and his chest felt uncomfortably hot, but all he cared about was finding Kara Zor-El and holding her close.

"Good, you're alive. Kara would have killed me if you died." J'onn said jokingly, approaching his bed, "I shouldn't have let you brush me off about your injuries yesterday. I apologise."

"I wouldn't have let you help, not until I was sure Kara was okay." He rubbed his face with his hands, trying to get some feeling back into his fingers.

"Yeah, speaking of which…"

"She's mad at me?" Mon-El looked sheepish as he pulled on his clothes.

"Mad doesn't really cover it. Vengeful fury I think comes closer." Alex appeared and looked over his vitals, "You're all better. But I don't hold out hope for you once Kara gets back."

"Great." Mon-El sighed, just as James and Winn rounded the corner, arguing about something.

"All I'm saying is, you can make this thing bulletproof and alien proof, but one guy and a hammer and it just fails?"

"Yeah, because obviously we have a lot of battles with–" They looked up and their faces said it all.

"Oh god. How bad was it?" Alex asked.

"We had to pull her off one of the terrorists because we were genuinely concerned she might kill him in front of everyone at the bar."

"I'm dead." Mon-El said matter-of factly.

"No, but you're gonna get pretty damn close." Kara said, touching down next to his bed.

"Ah, now, see, before you get mad–"

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice stern and detached.

"Uh, yeah, Alex said I'm fine."

"Oh, well in that case, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?" Kara snapped.

"Okay, we're gonna go do… important DEO things now." J'onn ushered everyone out of the room and Mon-El watched them go with a rising sense of dread.

"I'm waiting?" Kara said and he stood and started pacing.

"I… Kara, I just…" He nervously scratched his chin, but he couldn't meet her eyes.

"You could have DIED. You could have DIED, MON-EL! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You needed their help more than me." He stared at a patch of floor behind her.

"I was away from the Kryptonite, you still had lead in your system, so that's just idiotic, Mon-El. Why do you get to decide that I needed more help?"

"Well you were barely conscious, I could hardly have asked, could I?"

"No, you don't get to take the high road in this conversation, not when you just did something so stupid."

"Kara," he started, but she smacked his shoulder angrily and he winced.

"When did you develop a death wish? How could you be so stupid?!"

"How could I?" Mon-El flicked his eyes up to hers, his anger giving him strength, "How could I? You were DYING. YOU WERE DYING IN MY ARMS, KARA, FROM SOMETHING THAT I DID TO YOU! I could feel it, do you know that? I could feel your pulse fading. I could feel your breathing get slower, and you were getting cold. You were dying, no matter how far away from the Kryptonite you were, and I couldn't…" His breath caught in his lungs, "It was MY FAULT. It's all my fault." There were tears running down his face and the room was spinning, but all he could see was the glistening of Kara's eyes, and how sad she looked.

"Goddammit Mon-El! It wasn't your fault! If it had been me and Alex on the ship, she would have done the same thing. If our positions had been reversed, I would have done the same. You didn't have a choice! Don't turn that into an excuse for self-hatred – don't make me the reason that you think you deserve to die, Mon-el, don't you dare!"

There was an incredibly long pause as both of them glared angrily, the air between them crackling with unease and tension, and Winn looked up from where he was pretending not to eavesdrop and asked the group: "They're both safe now. Why are they so angry at each other?"

"Because they love each other, sweetheart." Eliza said rationally.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Kara barked.

"I promise. Seriously, Kara, I mean it, now can we please just move past this?!"

"Move past it? God, Mon-El you nearly died!" She picked up the empty glass from the bedside table and for a moment it seemed she might throw it.

"So did you!"

"No, that's different, because if you–"

"I love you!" Mon-El interrupted.

"What?" The glass in her hand shattered and she took a step back, staring him in the face.

"I love you! I'm in love with you. That's why I was going to let myself die. I love you. I never want to be with anyone else." He breathed a sigh of relief and shoved his hands in his pockets, "I'm not just saying it because I want to end this argument, and I'm not just saying it because I can – I love you so much. And I know you struggle to talk about your feelings, and that's fine, I don't need you to say it back, but I just… I just wanted you to know."

Kara's eyes were the size of saucers and she was wringing her hands awkwardly like she always did when she was nervous. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she had a chance, a pulsing blue portal appeared between them and Barry jumped through it.

"Kara!" He said excitedly, pulling her into a big hug, "Gosh it's so nice to see you. Oh, and everyone!" He waved over her shoulder, "Wait, are we in the DEO?"

"Yeah."

"Nice new digs! I wasn't going to say anything, but there were bats in the last one."

"That's what I said!" Kara laughed.

Barry turned around and pulled Mon-El into a hug too, "Hey man, good to see you."

"Barry, I really like you, but has anyone ever told you that you have the worst timing?" Mon-El said good-naturedly and Barry grinned.

"People have mentioned it." He extended his hand to J'onn, then Winn and James, "Cool suit man, you superhero-ing now?"

"Yeah, we're sort of a double act." James said.

"I made the suit!" Winn yelped.

"Awesome!" Barry high-fived Winn and looked at the three people he didn't recognise, "I'm assuming one of these people is the sister I didn't meet last time?"

"Oh! Yeah, this is my adoptive mother Eliza, my sister Alex, and her girlfriend Maggie."

"Excellent, it's so nice to meet you all finally! Kara's told me loads about you all. Maggie, I think you'd get along with my adoptive dad. You're both hardened cops, but you both like to have fun. And drink."

"Wait so you're Barry Allen?" Alex interrupted, "The Flash? You're a CSI too, right? I am going to geek out so hard."

"Yep. And it's so good to meet you all, but unfortunately I didn't come here for fun."

"How can we help?" Kara asked, crossing her arms.

Cisco, Julian and Felicity were deep in conversation while Oliver, Diggle and Wally admired each other's suits. Caitlin was noticeably absent, but neither team was willing to discuss it. Curtis and Rene hovered in the corner, unsure exactly where they fit into the equation.

A blue glow lit up the room and the DEO team jumped through. Oliver stood up straighter, "That's… a lot of people, Barry. I thought you were just going for Kara."

"Yeah, well, I figure if the Legends are unavailable, let's get another team in. Besides, Mon-El wouldn't let me go without him, and J'onn feels like he needs to supervise. Everyone else is just… on board."

"Uh-huh. So, introductions?" Diggle asked.

"Kara's told us about all of you. It is so cool to be here, with, with all of you." Alex gushed.

Barry beamed, "You all know Kara: Supergirl. This is her sister Alex, who is a brilliant scientific mind and also an excellent agent. This is J'onn J'onnz, head of the Department of Extranormal Operations on Kara's earth, and also, he's an alien."

J'onn revealed his true self and Rene and Diggle squared themselves up slightly. Even Oliver seemed a tad alarmed, but Curtis and Felicity were just fangirling in the corner.

"I go by Martian Manhunter."

"So cool. So unbelievably cool. Can anyone believe that this is our lives?" Felicity gushed.

"Felicity." Oliver said and she nodded and quietened.

"This is James Olsen, he goes by Guardian. He doesn't have any powers, but he has pretty good tech support. That's Winn Schott."

"Hey, I am not just tech support for James," he smiled, "I'm a DEO agent – which means I'm also Kara's tech support."

"And this is Mon-El, he's also an alien."

Mon-El waved, "Hi. Kara, your friends are all… Unnervingly attractive people."

"And Kara's boyfriend." Barry added.

"But they don't have powers though, right? Just Cisco, Wally and Barry?" Mon-El asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"No powers. Wow." Mon-El said quietly.

"You got a problem with that?" Oliver asked.

"What? No! No, that's not what I meant, I think it's amazing what you do. If I didn't have these powers I do not think I would be trying to save the world."

"Don't be ridiculous, Mon-El, of course you would." Kara said.

"Kara, think about it. Without my powers, I'm essentially useless. I was raised a spoilt prince – I had everything handed to me," he said. Felicity mouthed at Barry, 'prince?' And he nodded over Mon-El's shoulder.

"Except Kara." Winn piped up.

"Yes, thank you Winn." Mon-El glared.

Winn seemed oblivious to his annoyed tone, "You're welcome."

"Honestly, I would not be fighting if I didn't have these powers. I admire what you're doing here."

"You're right, you're not good with computers like me, you're not a crazy genius like Alex, you're not a reporter, you're not a trained fighter, you just work in an alien bar," Winn said helpfully, "Wow, I'm not sure I realised just how little you do. You're, like, useless."

Mon-El rolled his eyes around to scowl at his friend, and Kara watched them both carefully. It wasn't a good idea to push Mon-El's buttons today, of all days.

"Winn I can rip you apart with my bare hands." Mon-El reminded him.

"Right, yes, sorry, I forgot for a second that we were speaking in hypothetical." Winn said uncomfortably and Mon-El rounded on him and was only stopped by Kara standing between them She put her hands on Mon-El's chest.

"Hey, you know what you need? A deep breath." She said, smiling, and he sighed.

"Fine. But from now on, he's paying for his drinks."

"Aw, man, seriously? I'm sorry!" Winn smacked his forehead.

"Call me useless again and I will…" He trailed off when he saw Kara's face, "Do nothing, because I am not on Daxam anymore, I am a superhero and I have to do good." It was almost a question and Kara couldn't help but smile.

"Wait, so what can you do?" Oliver asked.

"He's superstrong, bulletproof, really fast and can leap tall buildings in a single bound," Winn said before anyone else could answer, "and I, for one, admire him very much."

"Laying it on a bit thick there," Kara said out the corner of her mouth.

"Right, yep, shutting up now." Winn said.

"That would be a first," Alex said.

"He is sort of right though, I'm not that good at fighting, I just have the very unfair advantage of being invulnerable and stronger than everyone else."

"Barry told me what we're up against: a future speed villain?" Kara asked.

"Yeah, he wants to kill Iris to get to me."

"Doesn't that sound familiar?" Mon-El muttered to Kara, garnering some looks from their friends.

"We need the combined power of all of us to stop him, because I can't do it on my own."

"And hopefully we do it fast, because I've got business back in Star City." Oliver said.

"By business do you mean that crazy psychopath who tortured you? If we sort this problem out, maybe we could help you Ollie?" Kara suggested.

Oliver looked irritated, "You told them about Prometheus?"

"No, I told Kara about Prometheus. She's our friend, Oliver. Why are you acting like I read her your diary?"

"God, Barry, sometimes it's nice to think we can handle a problem ourselves."

"What, do you not want our help?" Mon-El asked, "Because if you've got it handled, it would be nice if you could pop over to our Earth and help us."

"Mon-El!" Kara scolded.

"What, now we're too proud to ask for help?" He retorted.

"Fair point." Kara shrugged.

"Maybe you could come and help us out when we're done?" Alex agreed.

"Why, what are you up against?" Oliver asked, concerned.

"A huge ship hovering over our Earth with an alien army and a Queen who wants to kill us. We have control of her ship, but when we get back we'd like to get rid of her, not just leave her there forever. She wants to kill Kara and kidnap Mon-El, and she'll do anything to get her way, including destroy the planet." Winn tuned it.

"Why does she want you? Who could be so evil they'd kill everyone just to get to one man?" Julian asked.

"Eobard Thawne?" Cisco said.

"Deathstroke?" Felicity joined.

"Prometheus?" Diggle suggested.

"Savitar." Barry nodded.

"My mother." Mon-El said bitterly.

"Oh. Oh that… that sucks man." Cisco stuttered, "That's like some Tangled, Star Wars, Oedipus stuff right there."

"I understood some of that." He said, "Yeah, she's evil. Truly evil."

"Well, we'll help you. The second we've dealt with our own problems." Felicity said, and Oliver scowled at her, until she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yeah. We'll help." Oliver said. Everyone in both parties agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yep. This year has been just the worst." Cisco said. Everyone concurred, some feeling it more acutely than others; Kara, Mon-El, Barry and Julian in particular looked the most affected.

"You're telling me." Kara muttered and Mon-El glanced over at her. She looked tired, just a little more worn down than usual, and he wondered if maybe this had been such a good idea. It had been less than 24 hours since they'd both nearly died, and now they were just going to jump right back into battle? He caught her eye, but she shook her head slightly and he nodded, but remained unsure.