"So your parents were sent off well?" Kara asked just as she and Anais landed in front of a expensive-looking building J'onn had requested their appearance at.
"Yeah," Anais gave a light shrug of her shoulders. "I told them the man from the pod was another Kryptonian so there was nothing to worry about. They and my godparents are leaving to get some well needed rest."
"You believe that?"
Anais snorted. "They're all science geeks. Anyways, where the hell are we?" The two made it into the building and found the familiar DEO employees going about their usual tasks. "Where are we?" Anais repeated her question and hoped someone would finally answer them.
"The Department of Extra-Normal Operations, where else?" J'onn stopped by them, wondering why they were acting so clueless.
Both women exchanged exact, incredulous glances.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Kara followed J'onn first. "This has always been here? With the glass and the views and...and you made me fly to that cave every day!"
"DEO has several facilities, Kara."
"A bat bit me in the last one."
"Whiner," J'onn calmly said, eliciting a snicker from Anais but a rather offended look from Kara.
"Hey, sis," Alex greeted when the trio entered the medbay room.
"You knew about this place, too?" Anais raised an eyebrow. She was beginning to feel rather offended herself for not being in the loop.
"Yeah, it's like a block from my apartment. It's kind of like the old place. Maybe better."
Kara decided to put that behind them or else they would never get to the news of the moment. She gazed at the unconscious man in Alex's care. "He has to be from Krypton. He must have escaped before the planet exploded, like Clark and I did."
"He's comatose. His vitals are stable. Breathing is normal. There's nothing else we can really learn from him because…" Alex had tried to stick a needle in the man's arm but the needle broke instead.
"That proves he's from Krypton!"
"I think it just proves he's not human," Anais chimed in her opinion. Kara looked at her seeming rather offended. "There's a lot of aliens that have freaky strength, myself included."
"Which means he could be dangerous," J'onn said what everyone else had already assumed.
"Sir, I would request that Winn help with the investigation," Alex said once she saw Winn coming into the room. "We need someone to analyze the pod's telemetry, and Winn does read Kryptonian."
At the questioning looks from Kara and J'onn, he meekly explained, "I got bored. I thought I'd pick up a new language. Space talk!"
"You want to prove your worth, Mr. Schott? Find out something my team of highly trained alien experts can't," J'onn said, meaning it as a kind way of letting Winn know his time probably wasn't going to be of much use.
Winn took that as the exact opposite. "Challenge accepted."
Anais laughed quietly. J'onn nodded Winn to follow him out but stopped under the threshold for a moment. "Oh, Solar, your friend is being released in twenty minutes."
Anais eagerly nodded and thanked him again. She turned to meet the smiling faces of Kara and Alex. "What?"
"Arun is getting released today?" Kara asked even though they already knew the answer.
"Yes, he was officially declared nonthreatening," Anais rolled her eyes. "That's still rude but... it's behind us. We're going to watch the Venture space launch tonight after he shows me his art shop."
"Oh, going on a date already…?" Alex purposely teased and Kara really did try to suppress her laughter.
"It's not a date, Alex. He's showing me his life and I'm going to show him mine," Anais smiled brightly at the thought of finally meeting someone like her. "And don't worry Kara, I'll stay clear of the apartment so you and James can have some alone time."
"Oh, so you're the one going on a date?" Alex shifted her teasing glance to Kara instead.
"Yup," Kara answered fast. "It's gonna be great. We are finally both free and clear to just hang out. No aliens trying to destroy the Earth. Just him and me, together like normal people, doing what people do on dates." She had to stop though when she noticed Alex's intense look. "What?"
Alex cleared her throat and purposely moved away from her sister. She went to put down the needle she'd tried using on the mysterious man. "You're just kind of doing that thing where you are super overeager, which means that you really aren't, but you're trying to convince yourself that you are."
"You got all of that from that one response?" Anais blinked in genuine surprise. She wondered if this was what it was like to have a sibling. Sure her parents knew her emotions well but a sibling, she imagined, knew more things about you that the parents wouldn't.
"She does that a lot, you'll see," Alex moved on out of the room but of course Kara went after her, protesting what had been assumed about her.
"I'm excited! I am so excited!"
Anais didn't say anything but she was pretty sure someone who was genuinely excited about something wouldn't go so hard trying to convince someone that they indeed were really excited. Thankfully, things didn't enter into an actual argument since Kara was called away by Cat. Though when she did go, she didn't do it before uttering one more time that she was "super uber excited" which really just proved Alex right.
"Every day I get to know something new about your sister," Anais chuckled as now she and Alex headed towards the main room.
"That's going to happen. I'm really just looking out for her," Alex felt the need to clarify. She didn't want to sabotage Kara's long awaited date but she just knew that Kara wasn't truly happy at the moment. "And I'll be looking out for you too, just so we're clear."
Anais blinked. "What? What did I do?"
Alex playfully rolled her eyes. "Your parents asked me to keep an eye on you."
"Oh great-"
"And keeping my word…" Alex came to a stop suddenly, making Anais dread what was coming, "I want you to be extra careful when you're around Arun."
"Alex, I already told you he wasn't dangerous-"
"You don't know someone's intentions, alright? Now Arun has been living on Earth for a long time. You know who is biologically, but you don't know what kind of person he is in reality," Alex was very serious in this matter. She would be repeating this to Anais every time she deemed it necessary. "So today, while you're out with him, watch yourself. Don't go to his apartment yet."
"Alex, c'mon," Anais laughed at the absurdity of her words. "I'm not a little kid. And I certainly have the means to protect myself."
"I know you do, but I still want you to be alert," Alex smiled and hoped Anais would understand she was just looking out for her too. She left Anais in the central room afterwards but even as Anais tried pushing Alex's words away it was impossible.
Alright, so maybe she couldn't fully trust Arun yet but it didn't mean she had to view him as a villain.
"You alright?"
Anais flinched when Winn touched her shoulder. She snapped out of her thoughts and waved him off. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Alex is trying to be my big sister."
"And that's...bad…?" Winn wasn't sure due to her straight face. "I mean, I know Alex can be scary but, she's fine. She's cool."
Anais chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes. "She is but she just had this idea that I shouldn't be so trusting in Arun."
"He was cleared of any threats, right?"
"Yes!"
"Well, I mean...it wouldn't hurt to be cautious," Winn flashed her a nervous smile when he noticed she was close to glaring at him. "Or not... not works too. Do whatever you feel is right."
She ultimately smiled. "Way to stand your ground. You know, if you're going to be working here, you'll need to learn how to do that."
"Me work here?" Winn's eyes went wide at the idea. "At the DEO?" His laughter wasn't received well since Anais had been dead serious.
"C'mon, Winn. You're more than qualified to be here. Plus, it's pretty obvious you want to be here too," Anais nudged him on the side.
"Yeah…" Winn wasn't going to outright admit the D.E.O. would be a working dream for him. Whether he admitted it or not, it was obvious for Anais.
~ 0 ~
When Arun was finally released, he made a direct demand to go out and eat. Apparently, what the D.E.O. served wasn't as great as one would think. Anais laughed but didn't protest to some tasty lunch.
"We can do whatever you want but I just can't get home until eleven," Anais warned Arun after they walked into the restaurant Arun chose. He apparently had a taste for Italian. "My roommate Kara has a hot date tonight."
"You and Supergirl room together?" Arun was immediately shushed by Anais, even though no one actually heard his question. He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly confused on her rudeness. "What?"
"You can't just say stuff like that out in the open."
"Why? It's not like any of the humans can actually hear us."
"Doesn't matter," Anais frowned.
Arun left it at that and picked up the menu. "What do you feel like having? It's on me, by the way."
"I really love pasta so a chicken alfredo would be delicious," Anais then lowered the menu, revealing a smile on her face. "And thanks for the invite. Next time it's on me."
Arun smiled back. "Don't worry about it. On Solaria, it's customary for the men to pay for the meals."
"Ah, chivalry and tradition - that's not new," Anais playfully rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, Solaria is nothing like...Earth," Arun's brief condescension didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. "Solaria was beautiful in its time. It was always bright and sunny. People were always elegant and there was order."
"Order?"
"Yes, you know, classes? We didn't have to mingle with anyone outside our social class."
"Aha," Anais scrunched her face behind her menu. "Kinda sounds boring."
"What?" Arun sounded offended but Anais wasn't going to keep her opinions to herself just for fear of upsetting him.
"Well, it sounds like a boring, rich place. Don't get me wrong, being rich is probably fun but all the snootiness that comes with it?"
Arun was frowning when Anais put down her menu. "You don't understand. When we can, I'll show you images of Solaria. You'll change your mind in a snap."
"Okay," Anais chuckled.
A young waitress stopped by their table to get their order. Arun ended up ordering on behalf of Anais - which she was a bit surprised with since she was very capable of doing that on her own - then ordered for him afterwards. While they waited for their meals, Arun talked about himself - and a bit of Solaria - for Anais.
As it turned out, Arun was more traditional in that he didn't really mingle with humans except for when he worked. Survival, basically. He viewed humans as a necessity to survive so he kept his interactions civil and short. Anais thought it weird that after living on Earth for ten years, he still kept that type of mentality.
"On Solaria, I was part of a high class so I was just raised with different perspectives," he said with a careless shrug. "Your family was one of them, by the way. The Mjorklands were known for their fine weaving skills. They made the finest clothing on the planet."
"So we were fashion designers?" Anais' joke was met with another frown. She ultimately stopped laughing when he wouldn't lighten up. "My mother never mentioned it."
"Irais should have told you about your history," Arun said quietly, though Anais swore he seemed more upset than she was about the matter.
"She just answered what I would ask. And most of that time was spent in hiding and being absolutely quiet."
"Sorry," Arun apologized. As the waitress came back with their meals, Anais took her turn to talk more about her background.
"My mother was murdered by humans - my father's family, actually - and after the DEO found me, two of the government's employees adopted me," Anais smiled at the thought of her adoptive parents. "They're good people. I love them."
"I'm sorry about Irais," Arun honestly meant it. "But...what was she thinking mingling with humans? Procreating was already a…"
Anais raised an eyebrow, an expression of incredulity flashing across her face. "I'd be careful how you finish that sentence since it's pertaining to me."
"No - I didn't mean it like that!" Arun went wide-eyed once he realized she was right. "It's just...Solaria had a strict rule about procreating with another species. We had these other species sometimes tour on our planet and...well, sometimes they got our people to give them a second look. It's just not right. I mean, look at the consequences you have. Your father never accepted you and his family killed your mother. You yourself only have half of a Solista's abilities."
"And I'm fine with the abilities I have," Anais said calmly despite feeling insulted in about ten different ways.
"I...I just wish that you could have everything you were supposed to have," Arun said, sighing.
Anais grabbed her fork and practically stabbed her pasta with it. She understood what Arun was trying to say and maybe in a way he was right. There were powers that she would never get to experience.
'Hang on, we're hearing of a possible explosion aboard the Venture…'
Anais looked up to the television hanging against the wall. "The Venture…"
"Yeah, humans wanting to reach space," Arun laughed to himself, missing Anais roll her eyes at him.
'Here's all we know at this time. There are over 200 people aboard the craft and the ship itself seems to be propelling down to Earth…'
"Oh my God," Anais dropped her fork on her plate.
'There are no further details, but keep it right here, and we'll continue to bring you the very latest. We can only hope wherever Supergirl and Solar are, we pray they're watching this.'
"I have to go!"
"What? Where!?" Arun scowled as Anais jumped up from her chair. "They'll take care of it!"
Anais was already out the door when he said that. She took off in her speedy run down the streets, picking up her suit on the way, then took off into the sky. She already saw the red cape of her partner and smiled in relief. Supergirl felt the weight of the craft lessen and glanced to see Solar right beside her pushing against the craft's front.
"Good timing!" Supergirl exclaimed.
"What the heck happened!?" Solar groaned as the ship continued to push against their collective force.
Suddenly, they felt a third force join theirs. Supergirl recognized the similar red cape of her cousin and beamed.
"...no frikin way!" Solar was the first to exclaim after seeing Superman smile at them from behind the ship. He breathed an icy air into the engines to force a shut down of its energy.
Between the three aliens, they were able to safely bring the craft into a landing just outside the city.
"That was awesome!" Supergirl laughed when she got to hug her cousin.
Solar practically ripped her away from Superman to have her turn. "Hi! I'm Solar! I love your work!"
Superman laughed at the two women. "Nice to meet you, Solar. I'm a fan of your debut."
Solar screeched and turned to Supergirl. "I really like him!"
"Way to go!" they heard a little girl's voice not too far. The three aliens turned to see a family biking down the road.
The boy next to her pointed at the aliens. "Look, it's Superman!"
"I used to change his diapers," Supergirl felt the need to reveal, making Superman throw her a sharp glance while the boy nearly lost it.
"Uh, not exactly sure you have to tell them that," he whispered but Kara giggled.
"No, I think I really do."
"I think she did," Solar agreed with her own laugh.
~ 0 ~
When Supergirl and Solar brought Superman back to the DEO, there was a whole crowd awaiting to see the Man of Steel. Of course, the man had to stop and greet every employee in the room.
Alex noticed J'onn's grim face as Superman made his way down the crowd. "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Is...is Superman's appearance a problem?"
"...no."
Alex raised an eyebrow at J'onn but he didn't say anything afterwards. Instead, she heard Winn's squeak beside her.
"Oh. He's coming toward me…" he tried to straighten himself out just as Superman walked up to him.
"Winn, this is my cousin, Superman," Kara almost laughed at his wide-eyed face.
"Hi. I have a million questions," Winn's words were tumbling out of his mouth before he could realize what he was even saying. "When Lex Luthor set off the earthquake in California, did you gauge the focal depth with your X-ray vision?"
"Winn, please breathe," Anais honestly pleaded for him to take a break. He seemed purple around the edges of his face.
"Alex. It's good to see you," Superman hugged Alex next. So far, she seemed like the only one not completely awed by his appearance.
"You, too."
"Kara told me Jeremiah may be alive. And you know your father means a lot to me, so...if there's anything I can do…"
"Thank you, Clark," Alex took his request to heart.
Superman finally met J'onn's hard look and matched expressions with him. "J'onn." Even his tone had flattened.
"Superman. Nice to see you again."
"Oh, don't worry. I won't be staying long."
"Uh, I just invited Superman to visit our mystery guest," Kara jumped into the conversation - if it even qualified as a conversation - before they argued or something along those lines. "Solar, how about you lead the way?"
Anais saw Kara's intentions and of course helped in what she could. "Right this way." And on the way, she grabbed Winn so he could finish asking those questions she knew he was just dying to ask.
~0~
The unconscious man remained just that: unconscious. There didn't seem to be any progress in his state, nor a decrease, but it was difficult to track when they couldn't get any vitals. His hard skin made it far more challenging to do the simplest of things.
"He landed on Earth last night in a Kryptonian pod. We don't know who he is," Anais explained after leading Superman into the room.
"Did you try using a Quantum scan to determine his age?"
"First thing we did," Winn answered since Anais had gotten lost on the point.
"And Kara X-ray-visioned him for foreign objects, like a cybernetic data core?"
There, both Anais and Winn matched in nervous smiles. "She was just going to do that today…" Anais laughed and thanked God that Kara was coming in at that moment. "Kara, remember how you said you were going to use your x-ray vision to see if this guy had any foreign objects?"
Kara's eyebrows raised together, knowing exactly where that came from "Of course I was!" she released a small laugh. "What kind of person would I be if I forgot to do that…"
Superman entertained the show for another minute before very calmly advising, "You should probably go and do that."
"Yeah, okay," Kara x-ray visioned the stranger but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "No, nothing."
There was a ping on the tablet Winn had carried in with him. "Oh, hey, my handy translator just finished decrypting the pod's data log. Now, it seems sleeping beauty on his journey from Krypton passed through something called the Segara Beyal." He showcased his tablet for the three to see an image of a constellation.
"The Well of Stars," Kara recognized first. "My father took me there once. Time doesn't pass there."
"So that's why he's still so young?" Anais gazed down at the unconscious man and wondered what his story was.
"Oh, hey, speaking of age, I've been meaning to ask…" Winn lowered his tablet and garnered a wide, nervous smile. "Superman, you're 12 years older than Kara, right? 'Cause you do not look it."
Superman smiled. "Kryptonians age at a much slower rate here on Earth."
"You look fantastic…"
"When you're finished, we have something more important to talk about," Alex's appearance made the group divert their attention to her.
"Like what?" asked Kara.
"The Venture. The company behind the Venture said there was an explosion when the ship reached low orbit insertion."
"So?"
"Well, if something like that was gonna go wrong it would've happened earlier in the flight."
"The Venture was built here in National City, right?" Anais waited for the others to confirm her question. "Well, then somebody has to know something. That would include on who would gain the most if this craft had actually burned up." The others started agreeing with her and so she added, "And, I don't know, maybe a mild-mannered reporter could make some inquiries while he's here in National City. Perfect cover up."
"The DEO is going to take a very interested look too," Alex promised the man in question.
"Great," Kara clapped a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "You can work out of Catco. Just steer clear of Ms. Grant. She's been in a mood."
"Don't worry, I've got some sway with Cat Grant," Superman promised in a strangely certain way.
~ 0 ~
While Kara returned to CatCo. with her cousin, Clark, Anais decided to stay back at the DEO. She couldn't really see herself returning to Arun just yet. In fact, while she was staying clear of him, she wasn't exactly staying away from him.
"Anais, what are you doing?" Winn's voice startled her into almost dropping the tablet she'd swiped from some poor clueless employee. She was still in the room where the unconscious man remained, making her presence even more suspicious.
"Just...playing Candy Crush?" Her convincing face wasn't really convincing.
Winn raised an eyebrow at her as he further walked into the room. "Really? Cos it seems-" as he moved, Anais purposely slipped the tablet behind her back, "-like you're trying to hide something." And when he tried reaching for the tablet behind her, she jerked to the side with the biggest smile on her face. "Anna?"
Winn stepped back with his arms crossed over his chest. "I could try to take that tablet-"
"But you would fail since I am a speedster."
"Or I could call J'onn?"
Anais' face dropped at the threat. "You wouldn't…"
"I would."
Anais groaned and slowly pulled the tablet to her front. "I liked you a lot before this moment, Winn."
"Yeah, most women don't like me anyways so I'm okay with this."
"I wasn't doing anything bad, I was just...researching."
"About what?"
"Arun…"
Winn paused for a second and looked at her curiously. "Why would you do that? I thought you were going to get to know him today."
"I did, and...while I only heard a little about him, it's...not the best." Anais hated to admit that someone she'd been so excited for was letting her down in the worst way.
"Why? Did he do something? Does the DEO need to go pick him up?" Winn was already turning to leave when Anais grabbed onto his arm.
"No! It's nothing like that," she sighed. "He just kind of sounded...smug, you know? It sounded like he thought he was better than the humans."
"Well," Winn swayed his head, "He is super strong, can fly, has telepathic abilities, has solar powers, is a speedster...yeah, I think he has the makings of someone superior to us."
"Having super powers doesn't make you better than anyone else, Winn," Anais said softly. "Arun can have all that but if he has an ugly personality, then he's the worst of the worst."
"C'mon, Anais, you met him for like what? An hour? You can't know everything about someone in one hour."
"I know, that's why I was just looking him up," Anais raised the tablet. "I wanted to know what Arun did in the community."
"And what came up?"
"Um, just what he said he did. He runs an art shop, does paintings every now and then. He seems like a good man-"
"Then why don't you give him the benefit of the doubt and just get to know him a little more? Maybe there's some qualities that make him a good friend. And listen, if he does turn out to be the worst then by all means kick his ass and bring him back to the DEO."
Anais laughed. "I will."
"Hey," Alex stopped by and poked her head into the room. "We might have found something about the Venture accident."
Both Anais and Winn followed Alex into the main room where they had several photos on the screen.
"Ooh, that's Lex Luthor!" Winn immediately recognized the well known criminal of Metropolis.
"Is it?" Anais knew of Lex, but not what he looked like.
"So we did digging and it turns out that there was one passenger who had a seat booked on the Venture but mysteriously didn't show up last-minute," Alex indicated one of the employees to zoom in on the picture of the trio. "Lena Luthor."
The woman in question was a black haired woman with stark blue eyes. She was smiling at the viewer while Lex and an older woman - their mother - was more or less straight faced.
"Lex's sister," Winn realized. "But Lex can't be involved in this. He's in prison thanks to Superman."
"So we're thinking this time it's Lena," Alex said the obvious but Anais shook her head in disagreement.
"Wait a minute, we're going to assume she concocted this whole thing just because she's Lex Luthor's sister?" Both Alex and Winn stared at Anais with faces screaming 'duh!' at her. Anais set her hands on her hips, extremely disappointed in them. "Guys! That's just wrong!"
"You know what's wrong? All the trouble the Luthors have caused," J'onn joined them and, by the looks of it, to help Alex and Winn.
"Lex Luthor," Anais thought she was correcting them. "Superman fought Lex Luthor, not Lena Luthor. It's prejudicial."
"Look, Anna-"
Anais pointed her index finger at Winn. "If you're going to use that nickname it will not be for prejudicial stuff like this."
"Lena Luthor is Lex Luthor's sister. The entire family is rotten to the core," J'onn said but Anais still wasn't buying it.
"Are there any records of Lena ever being involved in her brother's schemes?" Judging by the silence from the trio, Anais assumed the answer was a big fat no. "Then how can you be sure Lena did this?"
"Kara and Clark are going to visit her right now to get some answers. She just moved to National City so it'll be fast," Alex thought that would help Anais but it just did the opposite.
"You mean send the man who probably already assumes Lena is guilty?" Anais was sure that Clark would just see Lena as another Lex copy. Kara was always more open minded and could probably see more than Lex. Still, Anais felt like she needed to be the unbiased party for Lena's sake. "I'm going to join them."
"What for?" Winn asked.
"To make sure we all stay in line," she turned to leave.
~ 0 ~
Lena Luthor may have a reputation thanks to her older brother, Lex Luthor, but as she led Anais, Kara and Clark into her office she showed nothing but politeness and openness.
"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I wasn't aboard the Venture yesterday." Lena dropped her bag over her desk and sat down to face the three visitors. "There was an emergency regarding the planning for a ceremony I'm holding tomorrow. I'm renaming my family's company, and I had to cancel."
"Ah, lucky," Clark's tone was laced with disbelief, but even that didn't make Lena falter.
Lena, in fact, chuckled. "Lucky is Superman saving the day." Her smile widened when she saw Clark blink in surprise. "Not something one expects a Luthor to say, right?"
"And Supergirl was there, too," Kara said just before clearing her throat to add in an aura of innocence. "Along with Solar."
Lena then turned her attention to her and Anais. She looked them over but didn't necessarily see any familiar features she recognized from the Daily Planet. "And who are you exactly?"
"Um... I'm Kara Danvers," Kara answered with a nervous, tight-lipped smile.
"Anais Allen," went the second blonde in a much more carefree manner. "We're from CatCo magazine."
Lena raised an eyebrow at the two women as a smile spread across her face. "It's a publication not known for its hard-hitting journalism. More like 'high-waisted jeans: yes or no?'"
Kara and Anais exchanged glances with each other before Kara replied, "We're just tagging along today."
"Right. Can we just speed this interview along?" Lena gazed at the three of them with a resignation they didn't understand until she spoke again. "Just ask me what you want to ask, Mr. Kent. Did I have anything to do with the Venture explosion?"
"Did you?" Clark bluntly asked.
Anais sent him a disapproving glance but Lena had been the one to ask in the first place. Even then, Lena just smiled again. "You wouldn't be asking me if my last name was Smith." Her polite sarcasm was surprisingly restrained. Not everyone could remain so put together when being accused with attempted homicide.
"Ah, but it's not," Clark went on like nothing. "It's Luthor."
"Some steel under that Kansas wheat," Lena took in a breath and sighed. "It wasn't always. I was adopted when I was four. And the person who made me feel most welcome in the family was Lex. He made me proud to be a Luthor. And then he went on his reign of terror in Metropolis." She paused and looked away from the three, growing distant the more she recollected the path her brother took on. "Declared war on Superman. Committed unspeakable crimes. When Superman put Lex in jail, I vowed to take back my family's company. To rename it L-Corp." The mention of her company's new name was enough to pull her back to the present. "Make it a force for good. I'm just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family. Can you understand that?"
"Yes, we can," Anais was the one to answer her. "We can really understand that, Miss Luthor." She understood perfectly what Lena was trying to do because she herself was attempting to do the same thing. Sure, her family wasn't evil but the Allens were still a high class family surrounded by governmental science and laboratories. Anais moved to National City in order to make something out of herself on her own. She felt a terrible churn of her stomach due to the guilt of coming for Lena Luthor just for trying to do something good.
"I know why you're here," Lena raised her hands to show she was still acting in good faith. "Because a subsidiary of my company made the part that exploded on the Venture." She got up from her chair and went to a set of drawers on the side of the room, missing when both Kara and Clark x-rayed her entire office. Anais inwardly sighed but knew it was standard procedure. When Lena turned back, she held a USB in hand. "This drive contains all the information we have on the oscillator. I hope it helps you in your investigation." She promptly handed the USB to Clark. "Thank you. Give me a chance, Mr. Kent. I'm here for a fresh start. Let me have one."
"We will," Anais reassured her and was the first to move towards the door.
Once out in the safety of the streets, the three discussed their brief visit.
"I didn't see anything when I X-ray-visioned the room," Clark said as he safely tucked away the USB into his pocket.
"Yeah, me neither," Kara agreed. "What do you think?"
"I've learned through hard experience not to believe anything a Luthor says."
"Yeah, that right there is nothing but prejudicial," Anais turned on both of them, forcing them to stop walking.
"You clearly are new to this life but trust me when I tell you that I know all about Luthors," Clark said, believing to have Kara on her side so he was mighty surprised when Kara sighed beside him.
"Yeah, I know I'm not a reporter or anything, but I kinda believed her."
"And until we find evidence that says otherwise, there's no reason why we shouldn't," Anais grinned at Kara for the support she unintentionally gave for their side. "And, just to cater to both sides, I'll personally keep an eye on Lena from afar."
Clark didn't seem so on board with that but his cellphone rang. "It's Lois," he told Kara and stepped a bit away to answer.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to Arun?" Kara quietly asked Anais once they were alone. "Winn mentioned you seemed a little bit down after your lunch. Was it because you left to help Clark and I with the Venture?"
"No, actually...it was...just some things he said during our lunch," Anais shook her head. She didn't want to keep dwelling on something she couldn't really judge Arun on yet. "I do have to talk to him so, you know, I can get to know him better. Maybe I'm just overreacting, I don't know. What about you and James, though? He couldn't have been too happy about your date being interrupted?"
"Uum…" Kara gave a tilt of her head, "It feels…"
"Kara?"
Kara released a big sigh. "Honestly, it feels like it's a lot more difficult than it should be. I'm trying to juggle being Supergirl and this new job Cat is offering and then when I think about James and dating, I…" she shook her head, making a hand gesture that even she didn't know what she meant. "The spark that I felt before...it's not there anymore."
Anais thought about something but she decided that she wouldn't burden Kara with a thought like that, at least not until Kara gave signs that she was already thinking about it. "Maybe you need to take one thing at a time," she offered instead. "That job offer Cat gave you...that's time delicate so you might want to start with that."
Kara chuckled. "Yeah, maybe so."
"Listen, um, I hadn't mentioned it before but I'm going to talk to Cat as Solar. I feel like it's time," Anais nodded with certainty. She delayed it enough and poor James got all the wrap for it.
"You sure that's what you want to do?"
"Yes, absolutely. It's time she got off James' back for that and it's time for me to start sharing with the city," Anais smiled. She noticed Clark coming back to them and decided to take her leave so the two cousins could spend more time together. "I'll be on the lookout for Lena like I promised."
"Be careful," Clark honestly warned her.
"I'm not bulletproof but I am literally faster than the speed of light," Anais smirked proudly and turned to leave.
~ 0 ~
Alex gripped the folder between her fingers as she walked into the room J'onn was in. "I know why you and Superman aren't the best of friends," she just came out with it. She was sure if she thought about it she would turn around and leave. This wasn't something that could be ignored. "Operation Emerald." She let the file drop on the table beside them and waited to see J'onn's reaction.
The man was stoic but ultimately he did have to wonder. "How did you find out about that?"
"I cross-referenced your personnel file with Superman," Alex crossed her arms and hoped that this would be enough to elicit some type of explanation directly from him instead of getting it all from paper.
It seemed like she was on the right track.
"Back when I first took over the DEO, we got a report about a meteorite coming down in the desert. Superman would work with us back then, so we both headed out to investigate. We got there, it was dark and but I could see something down in the crater. Green, glowing like an emerald. It didn't affect me, but Superman got down there, he started heaving. Passed out."
Alex nodded with understanding. "It was Kryptonite."
"I named it that," J'onn admitted. "Superman wanted to destroy it all."
"But you kept it," Alex didn't mean that as an accusation of some horrible secret he harbored but even she was reluctant to keep such a dangerous object around.
"He was not the only Kryptonian out there, Alex. Their powers are limitless. Now we have a way to protect ourselves from them."
"Except "them" now includes my sister."
"Guys, we may have a problem," Winn made an quick stride into the room, nonethewiser of the tersed conversation just had. "I've been going over the data from Luthor Corp. Now, the oscillator that exploded on the Venture, it was located underneath the main passenger cabin, right?" He wasn't necessarily waiting for either Alex nor J'onn to answer. He just kept going. "In fact, it was housed under seat 23B. And according to the manifest, guess who was supposed to be sitting in seat 23B?" He used his tablet to show them the visual of venture's seating arrangement. "Lena Luthor."
"Lena Luthor wasn't behind the explosion. She was the target," J'onn realized along with Alex. It meant they were dealing with the worst of the Luthors.
~ 0 ~
If the DEO wanted a confirmation that Lex Luthor was trying to murder his baby sister, they got it only one hour after making the first realization. Lena had been almost killed while attempting to fly in a helicopter, but thanks to Solar, Supergirl and Superman she lived to see another day.
Now at the DEO, the team was attempting to analyze a piece of the drone they'd managed to salvage. Winn was the closest, and the most eager, to see just what it was made up.
"This thing is like state-of-the-state-of-the-art! Kind of looks like something my dad might have built in one of his more murdery moments!"
"His what now?" Anais repeated in confusion.
"Nothing," Winn said without thinking. Yes, the world already knew just who his father was but if he could save one mind from knowing a terrible truth, then he was glad it could be Anais.
"We've acquired a partial print from the wreckage," Alex called from the controls. She had Agent Velasquez pulling up a mugshot of the man Anais, Kara and Clark fought earlier. "John Corben. International assassin for hire. He's been linked to Intergang, Kasnian terrorists, and the genocide in Corto Maltese. If you want somebody high-profile killed, this is the guy to hire. But who would want Lena Luthor dead?"
"Hey, where's Kara?" Winn asked after realizing they were short one blonde in the room.
"She, uh, is talking to James," Anais answered, sharing a knowing look with Alex. They wondered when poor Kara would get her thoughts straight. "And where's J'onn exactly? And Clark?"
"Also...talking," Alex knew the irony of the situation.
"Is everyone suddenly talking?" Winn paused just to wonder if he had anyone to talk to. Nope. He was lonely. Anais laughed at his expression, pulling him out of his momentary pensive state. "I have people to talk to," the man argued weakly.
"Didn't your girlfriend turn evil?" Alex raised an eyebrow at him. Winn was frankly offended they would throw that back at him.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure me, Kara and my young adoptive dad kicked her ass," Anais joining in didn't make him feel any better.
Winn opened his mouth but no words came to mind. Still, as he pointed between them something eventually came out. "You both...are mean."
Alex formed a small 'o' with her mouth. "Great comeback. You're almost as good as Kara."
"Well, while this is lovely, I'm going to see if I can convince Miss Luthor to postpone that renaming ceremony." Anais figured it was the best thing Lena could do but she had to see if Lena would be willing to even do it. She seemed really set on the ceremony when they visited her at L-Corp.
~0~
Lena was an exceptionally stubborn woman, Anais came to discover. While Lena went around the public event checking for any last minute changes or mending, Anais trailed after her giving her all the reasons why it would be better to postpone the event.
"I'm sorry, Miss…?" Lena briefly stopped her fast paced walking to look at Anais.
"It's just Anais," the blonde waved off with her free hand. The other hand rested over her camera that was slung around her neck. "And I just really think it's a big risk you're taking continuing on with this event when your brother is...well…"
"Trying to kill me?" Lena finished with no apparent hesitation. It almost made Anais feel sorry for the woman. It seemed like Lena was quite accustomed to aggressive family problems.
"Yeah…"
Lena seemed ready to talk but suddenly looked out to the park. She pursed her red lips together and nodded up ahead. "Do you see how many people showed up?"
Anais didn't understand but she looked over and shrugged. "Well, to be honest, not a lot." Lena laughed softly, knowing that Anais was trying to be polite in her answer.
"My brother's serving 32 consecutive life sentences for some awful things, and now when people think of me or the company...all they see is Lex's madness," she sighed and brought a hand to her forehead, gently rubbing her fingers over her skin. "I'm trying to make a life of my own and that includes this company that I know can be something good to the public."
"I know that, believe me," Anais was quick to say. "I've lived with my parents up until last month. This is the first time I'm on my own, in a new city...with my first job ever." She raised her camera a bit, making Lena smile.
"Then you should understand why I have to do this," Lena started walking towards the platform. "I can't start my life if I succumb to my brother's threats."
Anais had stopped following when Lena reached the platform and decided to mingle instead nearby. She was under the guise of a job - which would end up working to her benefit later when she showed Cat the pictures of the ceremony - but was still going to keep a close eye on Lena. And she knew Alex was nearby as well, keeping an eye on any strangers coming by.
When Lena began to address the crowd, Anais started snapping pictures. She had to admit Lena Luthor had no bad angles because every shot Anais took of her seemed to be perfect.
However, midway through Lena's speech, a laser shot right over Lena and hit a statue instead. It was enough to cause panic amongst the crowd. A couple more lasers shot through and struck a nearby building. Anais forgone her camera - in a safe spot of course - then returned as Solar. She was about to go towards the building when she got word of Supergirl and her cousin.
They would take care of the building so Solar could get the people around them to safety. One by one, she sped the people away but when it came to find the actual target, Solar had to actually fly into the air. She could hear Alex calling out the assassin and flew downwards.
Her eyes glowed gold as she fired her laser and caught the man's back. He screamed in pain when he felt the burn on his skin, but the man didn't catch a break because in the next moment Lena Luthor had made her mark with a bullet. It caught him near the clavicle and set him down.
"Badass," Solar said in utter awe.
"If you're done crushing, Miss Solar, we request that you bring the man back to the DEO," she heard Winn's voice over the comms.
Solar playfully rolled her eyes but did as told and super sped the assassin back to the DEO before he could even process.
~ 0 ~
"You did what now?" Alex gaped at both Anais and Winn the next day. Her dark eyes flickered between the two like a mother who was getting ready to scold her children.
"I asked him to," Anais raised a hand, making sure that everyone who knew would understand that she'd made the call. "I mean, I had some good shots of Lena at her ceremony but I thought the one where she took Corben down would be an extra help in her endeavor to show people she was different from her brothers-"
Alex raised a hand to stop the alien. "You hacked into a public street camera for a picture of Lena?"
"I asked Winn and he was really nice enough to do it-" Anais quickly looked at Winn with a big smile, "-and I have to say thanks again."
"It was nothing," Winn said before realizing Alex was now glaring his way. "O-or was it?" he made a face. "Does this at all jeopardize my new job at the DEO?"
Anais gasped, clapping one hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, does it? I-I didn't mean to - I just wanted to help Lena out. I sympathize with her, that's all."
Because Alex knew Anais was telling the truth, she decided to go easy and avoid them the trouble of being confronted by J'onn. "Our system is not meant to take pictures of people for magazine articles. Don't do that again, either of you." Her moving pointing finger was warning enough for the two in question.
"Got it!" the two chorused.
They waited until Alex left to be able to breath with relief.
"Winn, I am so sorry for that," Anais turned to the man afterwards. "I didn't even consider what would happen...I just thought it would help Lena."
"And it did," Winn said. They had both seen the article Clark had written about Lena that used some of Anais' pictures - which Cat would never know that she had given to the Daily Planet - and thought it was nice that Lena was getting a fair chance to start over.
"Congrats about your new job, by the way," Anais said once things cooled down. They headed for the hallway, intending on returning to the main room. "Sure it's gonna be more fun than working at CatCo."
"Definitely," Winn practically beamed at the thought of all the 'cool aliens' he'd get to see now that he was officially part of the DEO team. "Oh hey, did you ever get back to Arun?"
"No," Anais shook her head, feeling a little guilty she was purposely avoiding that subject.
"Don't you think you should do that?"
"Um, tomorrow," Anais said, though was only half sure of it. "Today I have something else planned."
"Like what?"
"...I've got a date with Cat Grant."
~ 0 ~
Cat was more than prepared for the interview James Olsen had finally set up for (in her mind) her and Solar. It was about damn time, she thought. This was the last thing she needed in her 'bucket list' to feel like she could...move on.
Overlooking the balcony, Cat saw the familiar gold streak zipping down the street. She stepped back when the streak started running up the building. With Solar's arrival, the media queen stumbled back from the force of wind.
"Miss Grant," Solar smiled widely. She had to admit she was fairly excited to do this interview. Kara had warned her that Cat was no joke when it came to interviews but it didn't scare Solar. She just wanted people to finally get an idea of who she was.
Cat got over her initial surprise fairly fast. She grabbed the recorder she left on the table and made a gesture that she wanted to turn it on. Solar gave her the nod to go for it.
"Curious, do you prefer running or flying?" Cat pointed out the balcony. "Because we've seen you do both…"
"Because I'm a speedster, I go about the same speed whether it's running or flying...but I like to run. It gives me some exercise," Solar made the motion of someone jogging.
"So, you're not of the same place as Supergirl nor Superman?"
"Nope," Solar popped the 'p' in that word. "I'm actually a unique case for my people. I am half human and half alien. A hybrid, if you will."
"Your half human?" Cat blinked in surprise. Solar nodded and allowed Cat to say her assumptions out loud. "One of your parents is human then...amazing…"
"They're both gone," Solar said before Cat started on a crusade to fish out the two. "It's just me and, um, that man that you saw the last time?"
"Name?"
"He hasn't picked one. Actually, I don't know if he's joining us, but he's not a danger to the public."
"So where are you from, then? I mean the alien part of you, anyways."
Solar smiled for a moment. "I'm from a planet called Solaria. My people are natural speedsters and can wield the sun's powers."
"Do you know if there are any more of them on this planet?"
"No, not really."
"And you…" Cat moved forwards, startling Solar for a second. Cat's eyes were scrutinizing the alien up and down. At one point, she started to circle Solar. "Where did you come from? I mean, you showed up only a bit after Supergirl. Where've you been?"
"Training," Solar could honestly say. "Because I'm half human, I developed my powers a lot later than my people typically do."
"And is that why you showed up, now? Because you were done training?"
"Yes, and no," Solar sighed. "Look, I'm not here to be painted as a hero with a tragic backstory, nor a wannabe Supergirl. I'm here because of who I am. I am Solar, half human and half alien. I was born on this planet," she pointed her index finger down, "So this is my home. You are my people too and I want to help. I want to do my part in the community."
"A bit cliche…" Cat's lips twitched into a smirk.
"But it's the truth and there's nothing to be ashamed of," Solar shrugged. "That's why I came to you, to tell you and your readers that I am here whenever I am needed and wanted." She tilted her head when another idea popped into her head. "Oh, right, and for you to lay off James. Don't threaten his job to get more interviews, please."
Cat's smirk fully developed. "Got your attention, didn't it?"
Solar playfully shook her head. "This interview is now over. Have a good night, Miss Grant." She gave a mock salute with her two fingers before rising into the air. She would definitely be looking forwards to reading Cat's article.
A/N:
As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"