A/N: Happy Holidays everyone! Let's celebrate the festive season with the exceedingly angsty and emotionally devastating climax of the story! No, really, even I got emotional writing it. This chapter is LONG, so settle down, get comfy and maybe have a box of tissues on hand just in case.
Kara had succeeded in drawing most of the attention away from Jordan as he fled with Ellis and Nora, but a few drones had lingered and continued to pursue them. It took Jordan a long time to fully shake them off his tail. They were almost halfway up the West Coast before they could be sure that they were in the clear, allowing Jordan to quickly drop Ellis and Nora off at a safe house in Sacramento before bursting back towards Knight City at full speed for Kara.
As he had dreaded, he had been too late. By the time he got back, clean-up had already commenced and the night was resuming as usual. The propaganda machine was in full swing as news projections across the city detailed a successful capture of an unnamed international fugitive that was hiding out in the city. Ellis and Nora eagerly awaited his return, the latter of whom was optimistic that he would return with Kara by his side, but Ellis knew the truth. She could sense it, feeling Kara and Jordan's energies far apart as he began his return.
Nora hopefully rose from her seat as Jordan flew back into the safe house, but her spirits were swiftly crushed when she saw he was alone. Jordan couldn't bear to look either of them in the eye as he arrived, realising that everything that he had called Kara – pathetic, bitter, full of anger and a failure – all applied to him now. She was his last remaining family member and the last connection he had to his father, whose legacy was one that Jordan spent every minute of every day trying to honour and hold up. Failing to watch Kara's back meant he had failed to do just that.
"They got her. I was too late," he choked in disbelief, "God fucking dammit! Fuck!" he screamed as he turned to the nearest wall and punched a hole through it.
"She's being held in the tower," Ellis said, tuning into Kara's weak psychic energy, "She's alive, Jordan."
"Not for long," he muttered in reply.
"Then we don't have time to waste." Ellis sprung up out of her seat, rushing to Jordan and placing a hand on his cheek, "Hey. Snap out of it. She needs us. We'll take that tower and get her back as well."
Jordan shook his head. "That's the thing, Ellis… We can't. I don't know if we can take the tower and save both of them. We might have to choose… Kara or Cody."
"No, we don't. We'll fight with everything we have to save both," Ellis confidently retorted, "It's what your father would have done, Jordan. Nora and I go for Sinclair. You go for Kara."
"Splitting up could kill us."
"We'll be fine. We're survivors, we'll make it through this."
"How can you be so sure?"
Ellis took a moment to think of the best answer. The truth was that she wasn't sure. From the start, this plan never seemed to be one that they would walk out of unscathed. One of them, maybe even all of them could die in the process of carrying it out. But even in the face of the impossible, she wouldn't lie down and take the easy route. There was something within her that compelled her to believe that they could do just that – the impossible – and it was something she had learned from the very woman who had given herself up to allow them to get away.
"I'm not," she honestly replied, "I just have hope."
Kara slipped in and out of consciousness while being transported to Lord Tower. Another collar around her neck kept her weak and relief only came once she was dragged into the empty room which would hold her captive. When the collar came off, the red sun lamps were switched on, basking the room in a cherry hue and beginning the process of draining every bit of her power. She was forced to stand in the center of the room, being pulled up by her arms as the chains cuffed to her wrists attached to the roof. A slowly increasing burn spread through her shoulders, back and chest as the pull forced her upright.
Several guards served watch over her as she was left to be softened by the red lamps, feeling more and more of her power being zapped away every minute. She felt like she stood for an eternity before the door to the room finally opened once again. An increasingly intense pounding began thumping in her chest as she realised it was finally time.
Maxwell Lord stepped in, and the two came face to face for the first time in 131 years. With whatever strength she had left, she tugged forward, attempting to break free of her constraints and wrap her hands around his throat. Even though a titanic rage exploded in Kara's being, it wasn't enough to quell her pain and exhaustion. She couldn't break her restraints and was forced to remain in bondage as Lord slowly stepped towards her.
"Kara Zor-El," his deep voice slowly boomed, "It's been a long time."
Joseph Knight was physically everything that Maxwell Lord wasn't. There weren't much other bodies that Lord could have picked that appeared more different than his original. Knight was of Polynesian origin, and while Lord had never been anything close to an imposing figure, Knight had been blessed with the genetics of a Greek God. His Herculean frame couldn't even be hidden by the neat suit, as Kara could make out his robust muscles even through the clothing. He possessed a thick, well-kept beard that faded into long, black hair that was neatly tied into a bun. While the tangible body in front of her bore no resemblance to the previous one that the person inside of it had inhabited, Kara stared deep into his eyes and saw that the bastard really was inside there.
"Fuck you," Kara spat back. Lord smiled, amused by her expected defiance. He began circling her as he spoke.
"I knew this day would come. A lot of people thought you died, but I didn't believe that, no. I knew that you were out there somewhere. I knew that it was just a matter of time before you came back. Before we met again."
He stopped as he was in front of her again.
"I knew you were here," he said, taking in a deep breath through his nose as he closed his eyes for a moment, "I could sense it, I could feel it… Something was amiss in this city for the past few days and I just knew it had to be you. I've got a lot of questions."
"I'm not telling you shit," Kara growled back.
Lord smiled again. "We'll start with an easy one then. Why did you come back?"
"I came back to kill you."
"Oh, I'm sure you did, but there's more to it. Maxxine Moonlight. The nomads. Konrad Jensson. Been doing a lot of running around with your nephew and uh, what's her name… Ellis?"
"You took my sister away from me. I wasn't about to let you take hers as well."
She saw the realisation hit Lord as his mouth opened and he nodded. "Cody Reed. That's what you wanted with Jensson. You want to put her back in her own body. I hate to break it to you, but Cody doesn't exist anymore. Her engram was destroyed after the procedure."
Kara held back a smirk at his smug ignorance. He had no idea that Cody's engram was somewhere in the subnet of this very building, eagerly awaiting her moment of liberation.
"Where is Jensson?" he repeated.
Kara replied with a question of her own, "Where are my friends?"
"They got away, but I'll find them soon. Perhaps, I'll let them off if you tell me where Jensson is."
"A monster like you isn't capable of mercy."
Lord despicably cackled. "A monster? You're calling me a monster? You, Kara Zor-El, the woman who ended my first life by literally ripping me apart limb by limb? The woman who has spent the last sixty years of her life as a mercenary? Here's what you never understood," he grunted, taking a step closer to her, "You and I are more alike than you have ever thought."
"I am nothing like you," Kara rebuked.
"There it is. You probably fancy me a liar, yet you stand there and say things like that. See. That's your problem, Kara. You have always been a hypocrite. We lost control of this planet the day you and your cousin and the rest of your little friends showed up. You went out there every day, every night, thinking that you were saving lives, thinking that you could empower us when you were just too fucking blind to realise that you were doing the opposite. How arrogant were you to think that you could lead us? There was only ever one person who was meant to lead humanity to salvation and that was me!
"Take a look around. This world belongs to me now. I sit at the head of the table. This is my kingdom, and nothing happens in this city without me catching wind of it. All I have done is simply allowed humanity to take control of its fate once again. You never should have come back, but I'm glad you did because now I have the chance to make you feel as helpless as I and every other human on this planet have because of people like you. And now, you finally have the chance to acknowledge me as the rightful leader of not just this city, but of this whole damn planet. Acknowledge me."
Lord's impending fury hit its boiling point as Kara remained silent. He couldn't hold himself back any longer, bursting towards her with a fist and striking her across her jaw.
"Acknowledge me!" he screamed as he sent another fist crashing into her face. "Acknowledge me! Acknowledge me! Me! Me!" he screamed a final time, grabbing her by the hair with one hand and using the other to batter her face several times.
Without the benefit of her powers, the blows all mangled her. Several cuts opened up on her face and she felt a swelling begin below her left eye due to a fractured orbital bone. And yet, despite being battered and bruised, she wasn't broken just yet. She refused to acknowledge him. That was the thing that he had never understood about her. It wasn't her physiology or powers that made her. It was her will that defined her, her unbreakable spirit. She chose to be silent again as she stared back at him, knowing it would rile him up more than any words could.
He stepped back, wiping the blood from his hands with a handkerchief as he brought his rage under control. He didn't want to kill her just yet. While there were search parties all over the country looking for her friends, he was cognisant of the fact that they could be hiding in plain sight and were planning on coming for her. In that case, she needed to remain alive, but he wasn't done tormenting her just yet. He pushed aside his blazer, pulling out a large knife from its sheath at his waist.
"You know what this is, don't you?" he taunted her, recognising the despair and fury form on her face, "This is the very same knife that I used to slice Alex Danvers' throat open. You're from the House of El, a family that once stood for a whole lot more than what you are now. What would your mother and father think of you today? You wore that crest on your chest trying to live up to them, but you failed, and it seems like you've forgotten about everything it stood for. I think you need a reminder of your failures," he scolded her as he stepped forward, "A permanent reminder."
He walked until he was right in front of her, staring for just a moment into her eyes before lifting the knife. It first pierced the center of her chest, shallow enough to not be fatal, but deep enough to cause her unimaginable agony. He slid the knife across her chest, carving out the House of El crest with gaping lacerations into her flesh. She bit her tongue trying to muffle her screams and remain stoic, but even her pain threshold was exceeded as she yelled in agony. He took his time with it, finding pleasure as a sadistic artist shaping his masterpiece out in the flesh of the one person he hated the most in the entire universe.
By the time it was done, Kara had nearly passed out from the pain. And there it was, her family crest on her chest once again, this time a scarlet letter burning with the scorching heat as blood flowed from the gashes, running down to stain the rest of her white vest.
Re-entering the city was not an option for Jordan and Ellis. The number of eyes looking for them would result in them being made out almost immediately, a scenario in which they would be highly unlikely to escape again. However, they had only been found out because of the trail they left behind from Jensson's capture, and none of the squad members that attacked them were carrying anti-speedster weaponry, so they were sure that Nora hadn't been identified.
Jordan and Ellis sat a mile past the city limits, hidden in the mountain range and uncomfortably having settled for sending Nora alone into the city. She dressed well for her part, wearing a sharp corpo suit. She gave them updates on her position through the comms device hidden in her ear right up until she was in front of the first checkpoint to enter the tower's premises. She hid all of her nerves behind a cold-blooded gaze that was met by the immediate suspicion of the guards on duty.
"What do you want?" one of them asked.
"I'm here to see Ms Sinclair. Alva Industries, here to discuss business," she replied, handing him the datashard with the modified access tag.
Without even bothering to scan the shard, he tossed it back to her. "Sorry. We're on high alert at the moment. No one gets in."
"Push him," she heard Jordan say.
Nora feigned anger. "This meeting was scheduled weeks in advance. Scan the damn shard, it'll verify who I am."
"Plans change, tough luck. Come back another time."
Nora continued to persist. "You are making a mistake of unfathomable proportions. Our business cannot wait, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that. Critical thinking is probably above your pay grade."
The guards weren't having her persistence in the slightest as they all raised their weapons at her.
"We won't ask again," he growled, "Get the fuck out of here. We don't care who you are, we'll blow you to pieces right here."
The plan had fallen apart at the very first stage. Getting past the first checkpoint, even though it looked intimidating, seemed to be the easiest part of the whole deal. They knew things wouldn't go as expected, that they would have to improvise at one or maybe several points but having to do it so soon spelt trouble.
"Nora, get back!"
Spotting movement in the corner of her eye, Nora glanced up to see Jordan in the sky flinging an immensely large boulder towards them. She immediately shifted back at the last second, watching as the guards were crushed. The entrance had been broken open too and she immediately knew what she had to do. She heard Jordan bark the instruction in her ear, but he never needed to as she instantly burst into full speed towards the second checkpoint. Time slowed down around her, allowing her to waltz past those who couldn't react quickly enough to stop her. The turrets had already activated and began firing the instant the first checkpoint had been compromised, but Jordan attached himself to the back of a large mech and manoeuvred it around, using it to shield himself and Nora from the fire coming their way.
Jordan had dropped Ellis off on a rooftop close to the tower, which was just far enough away for her to be mostly safe while allowing her a good view to help him with a sniper while he fought off the mechs, drones and guards that were now swarming him. The change in circumstance had forced him to use the solar airhypo now. With the vast array of turrets also firing at him from every direction, he had slim chances of not taking serious damage before Gideon shut the systems down. The hypo supercharged him momentarily, granting him extra durability to tank shots and extra power to deal with the platoons in front of him.
Ellis did her best, shooting out adversaries behind him, drones above him and occasionally blowing apart a turret if she had the chance, but there was little chance he'd find reprieve. Every drone that was taken down was immediately replaced by another. Shooting out a single turret felt inconsequential when dozens of others still continued to fire. The supercharge was slowly wearing off, meaning the hits started to feel a little more painful and were only going to compromise him more and more.
For as fast as Nora was, the split-second delay between the boulder impact and her run had her walking a fine line in her attempt to get to the front desk. The building's security measures activated instantaneously, one such measure being an electromagnetic field which dampened metahuman powers. If she didn't get to the desk before the field hit her, she would lose her powers in the middle of her run and tumble forward to her death. She could slow down before getting to the desk, but that would open herself up to gunfire. It was a choice that she had to make in literal milliseconds. She zipped past the two guards at the second checkpoint, seeing five more past them around the vicinity. She was sure they had noticed her with their enhanced reflexes from their cyberdecks.
She decided to take her chances with fighting them off rather than chancing it with the dampening field. She halted her momentum a few meters before the desk, realising she had made the correct choice when the field hit her an instant later and she felt her powers fade. She hadn't walked in empty-handed, however. She immediately drew a plasma pistol from her back holster and spun around, opening fire on the guards before they could on her. She wasn't the most proficient with handheld weapons and never had been. Some of her shots went astray, but just enough of them hit their targets before the cartridge emptied. The six guards either dropped, had holes blown through their chests or limbs burnt off, allowing her just enough time to run to the desk and place Gideon's shard into the first access point she saw.
She waited no more than a second for a monitor to boot up and display Gideon's face on-screen.
"How long, Gideon?" Nora asked.
"Just a few more seconds."
"Nora, update? Jordan's getting torn to shreds out here," Ellis asked.
"Just a couple more seconds."
As a speedster, time always felt like it was moving slowly for her, but even without her powers, the seconds dragged. She knew that every explosion and every shot fired outside was only putting Jordan in more peril, and feared that it could be too late by the time Gideon was in.
Finally, the building lights dimmed before being turned into a light blue hue.
The turrets stopped firing, the drones shut down and the mechs collapsed, finally giving Jordan a breather as the heavy pressure on his chest forced him to hunch over. Blood dribbled from his nose as he took in a couple of deep breaths through his mouth, but there was no time to waste as he immediately leapt into the sky, snatching Ellis and bringing her back down to ground zero with him as he sped into the tower. The doors slammed shut and were barricaded by a heavy wall once they were in, signalling that the building had been placed on lockdown.
"Where's Kara?" Jordan asked Ellis as they rendezvoused with Nora.
Ellis closed her eyes for a second as she pinpointed Kara's exact location. "Underground," she replied, "Sinclair is up top."
Jordan took another deep breath before placing a hand on her shoulder, "Be careful, okay?"
"Let's go get them back."
The red sun lamps had fully drained Kara of her powers. Her mouth had gone dry after being filled with blood. The grief of every ache had been multiplied a thousand-fold as the cuts on her face throbbed. Her chest burned, smouldering with the intensity of a sun as it felt like her flesh was still being ripped through. She had been left in the room alone to wallow in her anguish. Her mind went to the darkest corners as the worst voices in her head started to torment her.
But she couldn't give up here. Was her story really meant to end submissively dying alone at the hands of a man like Lord? She couldn't let it end here. She wasn't who Lord said she was, not even close. He thought he was torturing her by carving her family crest into her chest, but he ended up just reminding her exactly who she was. She was still Kara Zor-El, daughter of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze, and she would be damned to die a coward's death.
Her moment of opportunity arrived sooner than she anticipated. The red sun lamps flickered before going out, then being replaced by a dim light blue hue. She waited a few seconds to see if the door would open, but nobody came through. The lamp shutdown all but signalled that Gideon had assumed control of the building and Jordan, Ellis and Nora were in. Without exposure to sunlight, her powers wouldn't come back quickly if they even came back at all. She couldn't power her way out of this predicament.
She had learnt how to become less reliant on her powers over the years, but it was like fighting against her innate nature to not use them. It was extremely rare when she never had them, being able to count just the handful of times in her life when she had completely lost them. Luckily, she had received training from her mentors who had been very insistent on prepping her for a day like this.
In fact, the situation she found herself in right now was one that one of them had experienced himself and specifically prepped her for. She had seen him demonstrate this escape, and despite having never tried it before while also being extremely physically compromised, it was her only shot and she had to try take it. She looked up at the ceiling, noting that the chains were attached to two metal hooks riveted into the ceiling.
Using the strength she had left, she clasped her hands around the chains before agonisingly lifting her legs up until she was hung upside down like a bat. Her chest flared with agony as she did so, forcing her to take a momentary breather before gripping the chains and pulling herself up closer and closer towards the ceiling until she was right up to it. And then, she let go.
She let herself fall, the chain links clicking until there was a sudden jolt and halting of her momentum mid-air before she fell to the floor. The hooks that the chains had been attached to snapped out of their rivets, freeing Kara of her restraints. The jolt had unfortunately tugged harder on her left shoulder, which now throbbed with an immobilising pain. She was sure a few tendons had been torn, but she fought through the pain and scrambled to her feet, grasping the chains once again.
A guard came bursting through the door, but Kara swung the chain at his head, knocking him to the floor before rushing over to wrap her arms around his neck. She snapped it with a strained twist before quickly grabbing a pistol and turning it to the gauntlets on her wrists, shooting the chains off. Now completely free of restraints, Kara fired at the first guard that appeared at door, riddling him with bullets as she emptied the clip.
Another quickly appeared behind him, but with the magazine empty, Kara found herself a sitting duck.
She braced for the incoming fire in what would have been a futile attempt, but to her luck, no such fire came. Instead, the guard's head was blown off by a plasma blast. She rose to her feet, cautiously stepping out of the doorway to take a peek where the shot had come from. Jordan stood at the end of the hallway, prudently still aiming with the pistol before realising that it was Kara who had stepped out.
"Kara!" he shouted out, sprinting over towards her.
The burst of energy she had pulled from the depths began to dwindle. She attempted to walk towards him but could only take a few unaided steps before she felt her legs giving out beneath her, remaining upright only by leaning against a wall. Jordan reached her just in time to grab her, stopping her from completely falling over. He had seen the blood on her chest but now was utterly mortified as he fully made out the carvings from which the blood had seeped out of.
"Where's Ellis? Nora?" Kara immediately asked, noting that Jordan was alone.
"They're gone after Sinclair," Jordan replied before taking out the second solar airhypo and placing it in Kara's hands, "Here."
"Go help them."
Jordan immediately shook his head, "I'm not leaving you."
"Jordan-"
Kara couldn't get another word as he cut her off, insisting that he couldn't leave her to what he believed would be her certain death.
"No, I'm not leaving you again!" he exclaimed, tightening his grip on her arms.
"Jordan, listen to me," Kara sternly pleaded, "Lord is my mission. Mine, not yours. They need you more."
"And if you die?"
"I'll drag him down to Hell with me."
Again, it was Kara's insistence that prevailed, but for a different reason this time. They had no choice earlier when they were ambushed. Kara had guessed right when she thought that Lord didn't want to kill her yet, but that wasn't the case now. Even with a boost from the hypo, she would eventually be weakened and possibly unable to even make it to Lord before she succumbed. But this was her mission, one that she had accepted could end this way the moment she agreed to help Ellis back on Sadostia. And Jordan was finally understanding that now. She needed this. She needed to end him or at least die trying. Cody had always been their main priority, Lord was just a bonus for them. But for Kara, it was everything.
So, no more words needed to be said. Jordan simply stepped back and placed the pistol in Kara's other hand before speeding off, and she was alone again. The sounds of rapid footsteps and shouts started to echo in the hallways. The entire building has been thrown into disarray and Jordan had taken out a few of them on this level in his pursuit to find Kara. But there were still probably dozens more guarding the way to Lord.
After a last heavy exhale, Kara put the hypo to her mouth and inhaled.
Immediately, the burst of solar energy into her system reinvigorated her. Most of the pains and aches had been dulled, and much of her powers, though still stifled, were restored. The sounds of the building were amplified to a thousand as her vision suddenly became crystal clear, also feeling the gashes on her chest start to heal and her left shoulder tendons partially reattach. She was able to zone in her hearing within just a couple of seconds, quickly picking up on Lord's voice. She wasn't able to pinpoint his exact location, but he was still on this sublevel.
Springing forward off the wall, the first group of guards that ran into her didn't even have the time to aim at her as she fired away with her plasma pistol, blasting them to shreds. The next few were either sliced apart or burned through by her heat vision. Without Lord's exact location, she would often come to a crossroads, not knowing exactly which way to go in the underground maze to get to him. But a soft, almost unnoticeable voice in the back of her head, one that didn't seem like her own began compelling her to take certain directions.
The guards proved no serious challenge as she battled her way through them. Now and then, a bullet spray hit her or a guard got close enough to strike her, but the supercharge from the hypo allowed her to push through any adversity and obliterate those who attempted to stand in her way. The crest carved into her chest that stained her body red with blood had become a source of empowerment rather than pain. The underground hallways of Lord Tower became a canvas, with blood and guts spraying everywhere to paint the picture of a fallen angel with a broken wing descending into Hell and fighting her way through hordes of demons to do battle with the Devil himself.
And eventually, after slaughtering all of his minions along the way, she found herself at the gateway to his throne, ready to take his soul.
Gideon turned the drones within the building against the guards, helping to eliminate a few and keep some more occupied. However, fighting through the still plenty horde of soldiers was taking a wholly unnecessary risk now that Nora had her superspeed back. Ellis had pinpointed Sinclair's exact location to be in her office on the 102nd floor. While Jordan had gone off to find Kara, Nora immediately wrapped an arm around Ellis and sped up the endless flights of stairs. She whizzed them past most of the guards in their path, sometimes stripping them of their anti-speedster weaponry with a free hand before continuing to the destination.
When they arrived on the floor, sounds of gunshots and barked instructions echoing in the hallways confirmed that Gideon had done her best to preoccupy Sinclair's detail with rogue drones. They followed the resonating chaos to its source, finding the initial group of seven guards having been brought down to three in their continuing firefight with four drones. Nora sped over to strike two of them unconscious, while Ellis blasted the remaining one's head off with her pistol.
"That's everyone on this floor," Gideon spoke through the drone.
Ellis took a second to hone in on Sinclair's exact location, "This way," she said to Nora as she turned around and sprinted further down the hallway right up to the large door at the end of it. "She's in there. Gideon?"
"The door seems to have a manual locking mechanism that's not connected to the subnet. Sorry, I can't open it."
"You ever phase through something before?" Nora stepped forward to ask Ellis.
"No."
"This will feel a little weird. Gideon, keep watch," she instructed as she wrapped an arm around Ellis' shoulders. With no warning or countdown, the sensation of a changing vibration unexpectedly came over her instantly. Within the span of two seconds, she felt her state of being warp from physical to intangible as Nora sped forward to phase them through the door.
All sense of weight and palpability returned as Nora halted once they were through. Still adjusting to her senses being restored, Ellis had no time to process the fact that Veronica Sinclair had been anticipating their arrival and waiting to strike the minute they came through. The electric blast flew towards them before they could react, hitting Nora square in the chest and shoving her back with a shock. No second shot was fired, giving Ellis a second to spot Sinclair at the other side of the room, dropping the large rifle she had just used.
"Nora?" Ellis latched on to her with concern, but she was relatively unharmed. That gave Ellis slight relief but it was entirely distressing to Nora, who immediately felt the connection to the source that powered her cut off.
"My speed," she muttered in reply.
"Anti-speedster gun," Sinclair explained, "Knew it would come in handy one day."
Ellis turned her full attention to Sinclair. She always knew this was going to be the most distressing part of the mission for her. The conflict arose quickly, where she wanted to feel joy upon seeing "Cody" again but then having to remind herself that it was just her body, now nothing more than a vessel for a different pilot.
"You must be the sister," Sinclair remarked as she locked eyes with Ellis, "Your sister's body is beautiful, but I've had to make a few upgrades."
Sinclair casually rolled up the sleeves of her office shirt before allowing her cyberarms to unfold and reconfigure to allow two large blades to sprout out of her forearms. It was an improvement to her, but to Ellis, it only stoked the rage of disgust even further. It was an act of desecration against the body of her sister, a body that didn't belong to Sinclair. The challenging part wasn't necessarily bringing Sinclair down. It was about bringing her down without causing substantial trauma to the body. It needed to still be viable for the procedure but having to hold back exposed them to significantly more danger and harm.
Knowing that it was only a matter of time before Nora got her speed back, Sinclair lunged towards her first, hoping to take her completely out of the equation. She swiped with her right blade, but Nora was able to backstep to get out of range. Sinclair turned her attention back to Ellis, rotating her arm around to fling the blade in Ellis' direction. Ellis had the luxury of a cybernetic arm of her own, using her left arm to block the blade and hooking it over Sinclair's arm before spinning around to whip an elbow into Sinclair's temple. Nora flew back into range to grab a hold of Sinclair's other arm while Ellis then kicked out Sinclair's leg, dropping her to a knee.
Nora and Ellis both fully understood that the key to winning this fight was getting rid of the blades. With both of Sinclair's arms immobilised and her stance compromised, Ellis attempted to hold her in place while Nora quickly drew her pistol and took aim at the blade's connection joint to the rest of the arm. Two quick shots from the powerful plasma pistol were all that was needed to blow the blade off the arm. Sinclair, however, still fresh in a fight that had just started, proved too strong to hold any longer. With the agility of a cat, she swung her body up and around to get back to her feet while also breaking the grips on her limbs. She rode the momentum to continue spinning back to face them and with Nora closest to her, raised her remaining blade high and brought it down in a quick slash that was almost imperceptible to the untrained eye.
Nora hadn't time to fully move out of the way. Sinclair's speed and nimbleness took both of them by surprise and she realised just a few split-seconds too late that a blade was coming down towards her. The only step back she could manage saved her life, but at the expense of one of her limbs. Effortlessly, the blade sliced clean through her left arm. The first sensation that came was a piercing. Then, with thousands of nerve endings being destroyed, the burning starts, overwhelming Nora's brain with millions of pain signals. She collapsed to the floor, wailing as she reached for the remaining quarter of her forearm just below the elbow.
Ellis' first reaction was to scream out her name in concern, wanting to rush towards her. Momentarily distracted, she lost awareness of her positioning and found herself desperately jumping back to avoid the swipe aimed at her stomach. Just like Nora, she had reacted too late. The edge of the blade trailed along her abdomen, slicing an inch deep across her belly. Had she attempted to move any later, the blade would have penetrated deeper and her clutch at her belly would have been the only thing stopping her insides from spilling out in front of her. In agony, she stumbled back until her back hit a wall. She was just able to sidestep away from Sinclair's stab aimed at her gut, having done enough to remain cognisant of her surroundings and wary of her opponent.
Although staying at a distance made her more susceptible to the blade, Ellis had no choice but to retreat away as she tried to clear her mind from the fire of hurt that was clouding her mind. She was allowed a few extra seconds of relief with Sinclair initially struggling to dislodge her blade stuck in the wall, but before Ellis knew it, Sinclair was free and back on her with an agenda to slice her into pieces. Fighting a fight like this without the freedom to maim was unfathomably treacherous. Nora had already lost an arm and Ellis had gotten off relatively easy with a large gash, but the momentum of the fight seemed to be trending towards both of them succumbing.
Having regained her wits, she was able to block the next swipe before stepping forward and hooking her left arm over Sinclair's at the bicep again. With a grip in this close range, the blade was a non-factor, which allowed Ellis to throw two knees into Sinclair's chest. Although Sinclair's left arm had been damaged and without a blade, it was still operational, allowing her to return with a punch right behind Ellis' ear, disrupting her equilibrium. She shifted her focus to the wounded abdomen next, throwing several strikes directly at the gash before having her nose bludgeoned by a headbutt from Ellis.
The excruciating fire at the end of Nora's arm hadn't yet subsided. Her vision still seemed disrupted and the blood that was pouring from the stump was making her head feel increasingly light. But with adrenaline still coursing through her soul and a spirit that was yet to give up, she crawled towards her severed hand to retrieve the pistol that it was still grasping. She had no intentions of aiming it anywhere other than Sinclair's other blade, hoping to shoot it off just like how she had done the other one, but the window of opportunity to do so was scarce.
Ellis and Sinclair were tangled in a clinch, shoving each other around the room and engaged in a close-range brawl. An ill-timed shot from Nora could kill either of them, but it seemed inevitable that Ellis would lose the clinch battle with her more severe wounds, resulting in an eventual break which would give Sinclair the chance to deal a fatal blow. With each second that passed, Ellis came closer to the edge of the cliff that was death, but Nora had no choice but to wait for the perfect moment to take the shot.
Ellis, having noticed what Nora was planning to do, set up the chance to exit from the grapple safely by throwing another headbutt into Sinclair's nose, nearly crushing it this time. Her momentary pause from the blow allowed Ellis to drop down and slide under her right arm before shoving her away. Now fully separated, Nora needed no more than a second to adjust her sights and pull the trigger.
The plasma blast burned through the blade's connection lever, separating it from the arm. With the main threat neutralised, Ellis ran forward to whip an elbow into the back of Sinclair's head, further disorientating her. Whipping out her monowire, Ellis wrapped it around Sinclair's neck, pulling back and squeezing. Sinclair wasn't ready to concede yet, knowing full well that she would lose her second lease on life if she gave up, but her squirms did nothing to disrupt Ellis. The wire was firmly wrapped around her neck with an unrelenting grip, and Sinclair could do nothing as her trachea was squeezed shut, depriving her of oxygen until she lost consciousness.
Once the fighting squirms had completely stopped and she felt the body begin slumping, Ellis unfolded the wire, letting Sinclair drop to the floor. She gave herself a moment to take a breather before turning her attention back to Nora. She was already starting to go pale from the blood loss, having lost much of her energy and still being crippled by the excruciating pain. Not knowing when her powers would return, stopping the bleeding now was imperative, so Ellis ripped a sleeve off of Sinclair's shirt before rushing over to Nora to wrap a tourniquet above her bicep.
She was momentarily startled when the sealed door was ripped off its hinges but was allowed to let out a sigh of relief when Jordan stepped through. The relief quickly turned into worry when she realised that he had returned by his lonesome. Kara was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Kara?" Ellis asked with a sharpness that made clear her fears.
"She's fine," Jordan quickly replied before kneeling next to Nora, "Fuck. Make sure you wrap it tight."
Ellis had already tied the tourniquet as tight as possible. She was now fully focused on Kara, pressing Jordan further about her, "Jordan, where is she?!"
"She's fine, Ellis," Jordan repeated more sternly, "She took the hypo and went after Lord. I'll go back for her once we get to the lab. Gideon, where is it?" he asked, turning around to the drone guarding the door.
"It's underground, even deeper than where Kara was being held," Gideon replied.
"Lead the way. We haven't got time to waste," Jordan said, helping Nora to her feet before hoisting Cody's body onto his shoulder.
The energy boost from the hypo was only temporary. She had used up much of her strength and power in just getting to Lord, and the wounds of battle were starting to bear on her again, but she didn't care. She was ready to bash down the door to the room he was in, but she didn't have to as they opened for her. The room was empty, barren except for the imposing figure that stood at the far end of it. The lighting was dull, the biggest source of it coming from the large holographic display in front of Lord that displayed all of the information pertaining to the state of the tower.
"I underestimated you," Lord muttered, turned away from Kara as she limped in, "I don't often make mistakes, so I should've seen something like this coming."
"It's over, Lord," Kara mocked him, "She's going to destroy the subnet and burn your empire to the ground."
"No," he grumbled through clenched teeth, furiously shaking his head in denial as he spun around to face her, "No, no, my netrunners are onto her. They'll rip her from the system, we'll get back control and then I'll kill all of you. Starting with you, right now."
The bun tying up his long hair had been let down. The suit had been discarded for tactical pants, his shirt removed to put his herculean physique on full display. With a new, more powerful body for him and with her being weak and wounded, it seemed a somewhat fair fight to Kara. It wasn't going to be as easy ripping him apart now, but she still intended on doing just that. Just the sight of him was enough to stoke her fury to a level she had never thought was possible, and that feeling was no doubt mutual.
Lord initiated the battle, speeding forward with a quickness that caught Kara off-guard. His swift changes of direction initially baffled her, resulting in him quickly landing a perfectly placed punch landed that made Kara wobbly on her legs. He didn't just look the part now. She had felt the power of his strikes earlier but chalked it down to her unpowered state. He must have been holding back even then. His obsession for power in all of its forms resulted in the installation of subdermal cybernetic enhancements beyond the scope of anything else seen on the planet.
His kick came just as she recovered, not aimed at her head or abdomen but in between. His leg whipped into her chest, not only splitting apart the partially healed gashes on her chest again and striking with enough force to lift her off her feet and send her flying through the air before a hard landing in which her head snapped back against the floor. The breath had been knocked out of her while she was reliving the burn of her chest being ripped apart again.
"What's the matter, Kara?" Lord taunted her, "You thought you could just waltz in here and tear me apart again?"
He ran forward to punt her in the head as she slowly got up to a knee, but she was able to get out of the way. She leapt forward with a punch of her own, but he ducked under it and spun around to land another powerful right hand. Not as well-placed as the previous one, but the power was still bludgeoning as she stumbled back. Now overconfident, he marched forward with a telegraphed combo this time, giving Kara just the opening she needed to dodge his strikes before exploding forward with an elbow to his temple. She whipped it across in a slicing motion, opening a large gash next to his left eye.
He had come to fancy himself a god. His body had been untouched for 61 years, not carrying a single blemish as he had crafted out an image of formidable perfection. The feeling of his own warm blood running down his skin incensed him all the more because it had been caused by someone who he perceived to be a false god. He rushed to reengage her with wild, quick combinations of strikes. Some of them got through, but she found her opportunities to evade and counter when she could, and with each more strike he took, his illusion of perfection was chipped away and he became more erratic.
He had trained 61 years for this day and enhanced his body in every way he could, even possessing the luck to have captured her beforehand and weakened her before the fight. Both had more than a century's worth of rage fuelling their spirits, but it was only Kara who was able to not let it cloud her ability. She knew how to use those emotions to her benefit, adding power and viciousness to her strikes without compromising her technique and composure. What she was lacking right now in strength, she made up for it with smarts and skill as they traded strikes. They bludgeoned each other without remorse, opening more gashes and bruising each other with strikes that would have killed most others.
The only thing keeping them in the fight was their mutual refusal to give up in the face of excruciating pain and adversity, their iron wills dismissing any thoughts of submission. That was usually something seen as commendable but not for them. Their iron wills were born from the most unholy of places. They refused to give up because they were undying in their conviction to take the other's life. They wanted nothing more than to kill the other right here, right now, and neither was willing to be denied that. It was a case of whose body would give up first and, in this case, Kara was the one at a disadvantage.
Her body had endured more anguish and abuse than it ever had. Her durability was diminishing faster than his with every strike absorbed. Blood was seeping out of her chest again, colouring her entire shirt red. Eventually, her slowing reflexes and harrowing agony allowed Lord to get the upper hand, as single-strike successes turned into two, then three until a four-punch combo finally dropped her. The final strike, an uppercut, snapped her head back as she collapsed, crashing to the floor again.
Lord hadn't gone untouched himself. Rather than pouncing on Kara, he used the break in the action to catch his breath while clutching at his aching abdomen with a fractured left arm. Hunched over, it took a great effort to rise as he groaned loudly while doing so before taking a big step further away from Kara. He knew better than to think she would so easily accept defeat, but he wanted it that way. He wanted her to expend every last ounce of energy only for it to all be in vain when he took her life. He wanted to revel in that satisfaction of tormenting her in every way possible, and he had one last way to do that. With his cyberdeck linked to the holographic projection system, he was able to signal the hologram with no more than a thought.
Kara's murky eyes cleared as she watched the projected image take form right in front of her. A woman. Perhaps the best person she had ever known. The image that had haunted her every day for the past 115 years. The hologram of Alex, strewn across the floor, gagged, beaten and with a deep slash across her throat. Those lifeless eyes stared back at Kara and all of a sudden, she found herself taken back to that ghastly night.
"It's a shame, isn't it?" Lord said, "She was a good woman. Her only fault was that she loved you."
"That's not a fault," Kara growled back in disgust, "That's exactly what made her human. Love. The ability to give it and receive it. Something that you lost a long time ago."
He didn't bother responding. Rather, he reached into the sheath strapped behind his back, pulling out his treasured knife again. It was the same knife he used that night, no doubt about it, but the one change he had made to it since then had gone unnoticed by design. He pressed his finger to the bottom of the handle, causing a green glow to slowly creep up the edges of the blade until they all radiated green. Without any hesitation, Kara agonisingly forced herself up off the ground onto her feet. She already felt her remaining power starting to be zapped by her proximity to the Kryptonite-laced blade. It was only going to get worse as he got closer, but she didn't care. It only gave her a new source of resolve because now, she knew exactly how she wanted to kill him.
He leapt forward with a swing. Kara dodged it. He faked a high swing before going low, tricking Kara and slicing across her left calf. The kryptonite edges cutting into her skin not only set her veins alight but sent shockwaves through her leg, causing her to fall to the floor in anguish. Somehow, she found an otherworldly awareness to roll away from the stab aimed at her chest and again forced herself up, now adjusting her stance to take weight off her compromised leg. With her movement impeded, she couldn't move out of range as well and was forced to stay close and try to block or evade the swipes coming her way. Eventually, the blade grazed her skin again, this time on her already damaged left shoulder.
She could tell he wasn't very experienced with a blade, at least not by her standards. He hadn't made overt mistakes with his movement yet, but it was only a matter of time before he did, and she was prepping herself to pounce on that moment when it arose. She saw his combat inexperience shine through again as he became frustrated with his inability to land the killing blow. Placed swipes became more like uncontrolled swings, one of which Kara was able to duck under and then fling her fist into his ribcage. The cracks were audible, all three of them. Lord hunched over in pain and Kara pressed forward.
She easily leaned back out of the way of his next wild swing before adjusting to get the right angle to whip her leg up at his left arm, driving her shin into the already compromised bone and shattering it completely.
Just like that, in the blink of an eye, it all slipped away from Lord. The pain had become too excruciating for him. He almost had Kara exactly where he wanted her, but his arrogance and experienced had cost him the one thing he wanted more than anything else while handing that thing for Kara right to her. His body became slow and weak while his mind began crumbling. He saw the deep, dark hole he was about to fall into and chaotically tried to get away from it, desperately swinging the blade in all directions to keep Kara away from him.
Eventually, the trajectory and speed of the swipe was all wrong, allowing Kara to catch his hand, twist it back towards him and drive the blade into his chest.
The puncture zapped his breath, sending him into a paralysing shock which was only compounded by the vile headbutt Kara flung right into his nose, breaking it into several pieces. She pulled him closer, driving the blade deeper, straight through his heart. She stared deep into his eyes, making sure that one of his last images would be the sight of his worst nightmare coming true. But she wasn't done just yet.
She ripped the blade out of his chest before raising it to his neck. She channelled every bit of rage, despair and hate in her body into a viciously slow, chasmic slice across his throat, giving him the very same death sentence he had given Alex with the very same weapon he had used on her.
Blood spurted from his throat as she let his body drop to the floor. When she killed him the first time, it was quick and brutal, probably even painless to an extent as the acute shock of her vicious blows numbed his brain, preventing it from processing the pain. Back then, it was all over before he knew it, but now, he was dying slowly, aware, in agony, and bowing down to her. Her eyes never left his as she watched him grasp his throat in vain while twitching on the floor, gurgling and choking on his own blood.
Remarkably, he still found it within him to grotesquely mutter a few more distorted words.
"It doesn't matter," he choked, "You'll never get this planet back. Earth, Knight City, they'll always be mine. Forever. My kingdom."
Kara couldn't say he was wrong. She didn't have a place on this planet anymore. Where he was mistaken was that she even wanted or needed it back. He had done everything in his power to take everything away from her and had almost succeeded – her second home, her dreams, legacy, the person she had loved the most, maybe even her honour – but he couldn't take the one thing that defined her above all else…
Her name. He couldn't take away who she was.
"You can keep it," Kara replied, dropping the knife, "I am my kingdom."
Lord's mouth twitched, appearing as if he wanted to get the last word in, but none more were said. Blood had stopped pouring from his throat because his punctured heart couldn't pump anymore, but whatever was already there had pooled up and was drowning him. His tightened, constricted chest subjected him to a horrifying squeezing sensation inside as his lungs were now unable to move. He was slipping away, slowly being pulled to his demise as his eyesight faded, the last image being that of the person who had now delivered him to death's doorstep for the second time, this time permanently.
Kara's eyes never left him until the gurgles and twitches stopped, only turning away when she was sure that the last hint of life had faded from his body. He was gone, and she could be sure this time. If Gideon couldn't destroy the entire subnet, she would at least isolate the copies of his engram and destroy them. The last ounce of adrenaline in her body dwindled and the revolting pains, some sharp and some dull, all started to become even worse. Every shred of energy, every bit of fight she had left in her had been drained, and she was exhausted beyond any sort of breaking point. She found it within herself to limp towards a wall before collapsing against it, sliding down to the floor to sit as she finally breathed free of the grip he had possessed over her soul for the past 115 years.
With her laboured breaths heavy and one hand pressed against her chest to stifle the bleeding, she reached into her back pocket to pull out the picture of her and Alex. She gazed upon it now, finally without an accompanying sense of heavy sorrow crushing her but a strangely empowering sensation of fulfilment. In a way, it wasn't just Kara being set free, but Alex too. She could fully rest in peace now, and while she probably would not have approved of what Kara did, she would have… understood, at least. And she would be nothing more than accepting of her sister finally finding the serenity that she never thought she would get back.
It seemed like she gazed at the image for hours before the blissful silence was interrupted by a loud bang at the door. Kara heard hands pry into it before it was ripped from its hinges and tossed away. She wasn't alarmed in the slightest, having already seen that it was Jordan with her x-ray vision. He immediately ran over to Kara, only paying a glance towards Lord's body before turning his full attention back to her. He eased his approach as he neared, noticing the picture in Kara's hands and kneeling beside her with a gentle touch on her shoulder.
"You alright?" he asked. He got the slightest hint of a smile in reply, one which he reciprocated before lightly shifting his hand under her armpit, "Let's go, they're waiting for us."
Kara struggled to get up on her own accord, having to be lifted to her feet by Jordan with an arm over his shoulder to support her weight as he gingerly guided her to the elevator. Gideon lowered them to the deepest level which consisted of nothing more than a narrow hallway with two large doors at the end, sliding open then closing and locking again as they entered the lab chamber. The first thing that caught Kara's eyes were the four horizontal pods with heaps of wiring attached to them. One more pod appeared different from the rest, standing vertically to the left away from the others. Several large monitors were stationed above each other behind the sets of pods in the center of the room.
Much to her joy, she spotted Ellis and Nora, the former of whom ran to her immediately in relief.
"Kara!" she shouted, halting her speed as she realised crashing into Kara would be agonising for her and instead carefully embraced her. Kara squeezed back with the little strength she had regained before following her to the monitors. Nora was seated on one of the open pods hunched over, forcing Kara to narrow her vision to see the missing limb and blood still slowly dripping from the end of it.
Feeling that she was able enough to walk unaided now, Kara pulled away from Jordan before walking over to Nora, both of them acknowledging each other with strained smiles.
"Hey," Kara greeted her as she placed a hand on Nora's shoulder, "Need a hand?"
"Fuck you," Nora replied through a hurting chuckle before she and Kara embraced.
Gideon's face formed on the monitors as she began speaking, "The body is prepped and I've isolated Cody's engram. I can begin the procedure."
"Go ahead," Ellis instructed.
An audible mechanical whirring began as the pod with Cody's body lit up in a bright blue hue. Even Nora and Ellis, without the benefit of super-hearing, picked up on the fluctuating electric buzzes as lines of codes fluttered on the monitors while the transfer began.
This was the moment Ellis had been waiting for, the moment she had been dreaming of for months. This was the culmination of everything she had been working to, and the one thing that was going to make the suffering, pain and fighting all worth it as she finally got to reunite with the one person she would choose over the world. She couldn't contain her excitement as her breathing became more ecstatically erratic with each second that passed by. It was a one-in-a-billion shot that they seemed to have made work, and she just couldn't wait for the pod to open up and allow her to embrace her sister again.
And then, it all shut down. The mechanical whirring was halted. The electrical buzz faded. The lab's lighting returned to normal and the pod had lost its blue hue. Ellis rushed towards it, impatiently tapping her hands on the glass.
"Gideon, open it. Wake her up," she babbled with child-like joy.
But no immediate reply came. The pod remained shut. After a couple of seconds, Gideon finally spoke again.
"I'm sorry, Ellis."
"You're sorry about what?"
"The procedure was unsuccessful. I can't bring her back. I'm sorry."
None of them understood or grasped what she had said at first, wondering if they had misheard. The others were too stunned to even say or think anything as their hearts dropped, but Ellis was sent into a furious rage.
"Why the fuck not?!" she screamed as she approached the monitors, "You said you could do it!"
"I could have, regarding the body was still viable. The procedure affects and alters the neurophysiology of the brain. Having already undergone a transfer, Cody's brain has been irreparably changed and is no longer the same as it once was. When you factor in the cybernetic enhancements that were made to the body as well… It's become incompatible with her engram. The body is no longer recognisable as hers."
"No, this can't be happening," Ellis cried, digging her nails into her head as tears began welling in her eyes, "You're telling me it was all for nothing?! Everything we did, it was just… all for fucking nothing. There's gotta be another option," she pleaded, "Something that we can do!"
Gideon remained silent for a few seconds again, something that was mistaken for an answer in itself but was rather her contemplating whether it was a good idea to divulge the information at her disposal to Ellis. In the end, she decided it wasn't her place to decide for them.
"Ellis, the vertical pod to your left. Enter it."
Despite being confused at first, Ellis obeyed Gideon's instructions and marched over without care. She entered the pod while Kara, Jordan and Ellis simply looked on as the panels lit up and began spinning around her. After more revolutions than any of them could count, the panels eventually stopped and Ellis was allowed to step out again.
"Hmm…" Gideon let out as she analysed the data she had collected.
"What?" Ellis hissed.
"The results are as expected. As Cody's sister, you possess many similarities to her on a neurophysiological and molecular level. Your body is compatible with her engram, but it would come at the cost of… you."
"I'll do it," Ellis immediately gawked, ripping off her tactical jacket and attempting to pry open another pod with her bare hands.
The others had finally found a way out of their desolate trance, with Jordan being the first to speak and rush towards Ellis, "No, you can't."
"I've got to bring her back."
"At what cost? She wouldn't want you to sacrifice yourself for her," Jordan protested, grabbing Ellis' arm. She quickly spun around, attempting to free herself from his grip in vain as she shoved him.
"It doesn't matter if I go, just as long she's back," Ellis snarled, "It's the only way, Jordan."
Jordan objected again, unwilling to budge an inch, but so was Ellis. Kara listened for a little longer before she zoned out of their bickering. She found it hard not to sympathise with either of them. She would have been behaving exactly like Ellis if she was in her position, but in Jordan's absence, she would have taken his place and been trying to convince her against it just as he was doing now. It still felt surreal to have come this far just to fail. Her pursuit of vengeance seemed trivial now. The Kara from a few weeks ago would have crumbled here, adding this to her long list of failures and wallowing in a pit of despair. But now, having remembered and truly accepted who she is, she didn't.
She had made the promise to Ellis to get Cody back. She had sworn to be the person that she didn't have when her sister was taken, and she was dead set on staying true to that. "It's the only way," Kara remembered Ellis saying, fixating on it.
"What if it isn't the only way?" Kara interjected, halting Ellis and Jordan's dispute, "What if I do it?"
They seemed taken aback by her suggestion at first before brushing her off without taking her seriously.
"You're Kryptonian, your body wouldn't be compatible," Jordan replied, "It wouldn't work."
"How do you know for sure?" Kara replied.
"Jensson never mentioned anything about cross-species transfers," Ellis said.
"Exactly," Kara retorted, limping over to the scanning pod and stepping inside, "Gideon. Scan me."
"Kara, we didn't come here to trade lives," Jordan chided, "Gideon, don't listen to her."
"Just do it," Kara demanded.
Gideon complied and the panels began spinning around Kara, scanning her for a few seconds longer than Ellis. It was a long shot, for sure, Kara knew that, but they hadn't come this far to accept failure so easily without trying every possible option. She stepped out of the pod once the scan was done, walking over to Jordan and Ellis as they waited for Gideon to explain the results.
"Remarkable," Gideon eventually said, "While Kara isn't a fit for Cody, she's partially compatible with Ellis, meaning I could do a dual procedure. Cody's engram could be transferred to Ellis' body, while Ellis would take Kara's body. Though I must emphasise – partial compatibility. The transfer might fail, and if it's successful, Kara's body will likely reject Ellis, seeing her as an intruder. The body will begin to attack itself and Ellis' condition would slowly deteriorate over several months until she is no more."
"Several months? More specific, how long are we talking?" Jordan asked.
"Around seven months, maybe eight, per my calculations."
Ellis and Jordan still seemed uneasy, but Kara turned to them without hesitation, "Ellis, we've got to do it."
"No," Ellis replied, pacing towards Kara, "I want her back but it doesn't have to come at the cost of you. She's my sister, it has to be me."
"Ellis-"
"No, we just got you back, we can't lose you again," Ellis wailed, "It has to be me!"
"Ellis, I am done," Kara sighed, placing her hands on Ellis' shoulders and leaning in, "I'm done with everything. I'm tired… tired of living for nothing. I've been looking for a way out for years, and this is my chance. My chance to die for something. I promised I'd help you get Cody back. This is it."
A part of Ellis understood. For years, she had only ever seen Kara through pictures of the youthful, exuberant woman in blue and red, but that woman stood in front of her now as a tortured soul with a broken body who had endured several lifetimes of anguish. But even this woman in front of her right now was still her hero. It was one thing to be a descendant of a great hero, it was something else to take their power and directly have to honour them.
"I don't know if I can. Your body, Kara," Ellis sobbed, "I can't… I can't be you."
Kara shook her head with a warm smile, "You don't have to be. You're worthy of this power, Ellis. More worthy than I've been in a long time."
"What if it's for nothing? What if I just die in a few months and you gave yourself up for nothing?"
"I know that you'll find a way to stop that from happening," Kara replied, not just to reassure her but because she truly meant it, "I'll get you your sister back… let me reunite with mine."
Ellis had all but begun weeping and hid it by burying her face in Kara's shoulder as she pulled her in for a tight hug. She had a vice-grip around the woman who had been her greatest source of inspiration, not wanting to let her go. Kara didn't rush her either, remaining in the embrace without moving away for as long as it took for Ellis to finally let go, placing a hand on the young woman's cheeks to wipe away her tears as she did so.
Nora came forward next. She hadn't spoken a word till this point, finally doing so as she embraced Kara, "Thank you for everything. If… when you see my dad, tell him I said hi."
Kara acknowledged her request with a nod and then it was Jordan next. Ever since they had reunited, she had only ever seen him tense with a tough exterior, not unlike herself. But his gaze was averted as she approached him, his eyes staring blankly at the floor as she saw him try to hold back the tears that were beginning to form in them. She raised his eyes to hers with a gentle nudge on his quivering jaw before moving her hand to his cheek. He simply placed his hand over hers, grasping it as he let the tears roll down.
"You don't have to do this," he trembled.
"It'll be okay," Kara calmed him, her voice shaking as well as her eyes became watery too. The man in front of her now was about as close to a son as she ever had, and she could feel it through the pain of this goodbye compared to the others. His hard exterior was finally broken as he allowed the tears to come running down his eyes while he embraced her. This time, it was Kara burying her face in a shoulder to hide her sobs, only letting go once she felt she finally had control of herself again.
"It's been a pleasure knowing you, Kara," Gideon said finally.
"You too, Gideon."
Kara walked over to the pod that had opened for her, gingerly setting herself upon it. Of all the ways she had envisioned dying, this was the one she never thought of. Of course, she never thought she would enter her eternal rest in a place like this for this purpose, but it was about the peace that she felt as she lay down. It was all done. The fighting, the pain, the sorrow, the burdens, they were all gone. She was free.
She thought the goodbyes were done, but that voice in her head, the same one that had guided her through the tunnels, popped up again. This time, it was clearer, more distinct… deep and soothing, comforting.
"Kara…"
She recognised it immediately, letting out a breath in awe. "J'onn…"
"My beautiful daughter," he shakily said, weeping as well.
"I'm sorry we couldn't see each other again," Kara whimpered with regret.
"You have nothing to apologise for. We'll reunite one day."
"Goodbye, J'onn."
"Rest easy, my child."
The anaesthetic had already started to disperse in the pod, but Kara hadn't noticed. She savoured each breath she took, knowing they would all be her last. Death didn't frighten her, nor did it feel uncertain. Even if there was nothing after it, the peace and quiet seemed just alright. But she had hope, and hope gave her certainty that she was going to see her family again, in some way, in some form.
And so, she closed her eyes, letting out her final, free breath as she entered her tranquil, eternal rest.