Hi Supergang!
Here is the penultimate (second-to-last) chapter of this epic fic which I have been writing for a YEAR. Wow. I hope everyone has enjoyed the ride! I'm considering the possibility of a second "season" for this story…but I have to hear from all y'all first. Lately there haven't been many reviews, so I'm not sure how many peeps are still following along. If you want more, all you gotta do is tell me.
Enjoy! :)
…...
I'd Carry a Plane for You
Chapter 25—Myriad (Part 2)
…...
When Kara and Alex came back from the balcony into the CatCo executive floor, hand in hand, Cat Grant knew right away that she hadn't been wrong to have faith in Supergirl—she could see hope and determination again in her young protégé's shining blue eyes. Kara definitely had a plan.
"Shall I call Max and tell him his nukes have been cancelled?" The domineering blonde boss lady asked, an unusual lightness in her tone as a heady feeling of relief swept through her. She had no idea what Kara was planning; but she knew it was better than nuking the city.
"Yes," Kara said simply, looking from Ms. Grant back to Alex, with a small, sideways grin. "'Cause my girl is a genius."
"I couldn't have figured it out if it hadn't been for you," Alex shook her head, smiling shyly back at Kara's adoring gaze.
"What did I do?" Kara asked innocently.
"You loved me," Alex shrugged, squeezing Kara's hand tight. "You loved me, and then I was me again…and now I understand how the Myriad signal works."
"I thought you were a field agent," Ms. Grant said skeptically. "Now you're a neuroscientist too?"
"She's both," Kara smiled proudly. "She has a PhD in Bioengineering. That's how she got recruited to the DEO."
"Also…photographic memory." Alex tapped the side of her head sheepishly. Ms. Grant just raised an eyebrow impassively, allowing Alex to continue. "Okay…" Alex nodded resolutely. "So, Myriad. It works by shutting down the connection between the amygdala, and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex."
"In English, please?" Ms. Grant asked impatiently.
"The parts of the brain that control emotion, individuality. Everything that makes you…you. Under Myriad, I could see, I could hear…but it was like I was a passenger inside my own body, not the one in control. All I could do was watch; I couldn't make my body do what I wanted. Like in a dream, when you're trying to run away but you're frozen? Like that. Then Kara just kept telling me she loved me…" Alex trailed off, lacing her fingers together with Kara's and smiling at her like Ms. Grant wasn't even there. "You were looking at me, and I was looking back at you; and even though I was frozen, I felt so connected to you…and it was like a switch flipped in my brain, and suddenly I was myself again. The signal was just…cut."
"So…I saved you…literally just by loving you?" Kara asked shyly, beaming back at Alex with the same bright love shining in her eyes.
"Yes. You did," Alex agreed quietly, and kissed her, wrapping a lock of Kara's long blonde hair around her finger. Kara leaned in magnetically, the fate of the world momentarily forgotten.
"Well that's all very well and good, and congrats on still being the most sickeningly adorable couple in the galaxy," Ms. Grant sighed dismissively. "But how does this great insight help us defeat Myriad? Kara can't just fly across the whole city proclaiming the power of love throughout the populace."
"She won't have to," Alex shook her head. "Ms. Grant, you're the CEO of the largest media conglomerate in National City…tell me you still have some analog equipment somewhere around here. Packed away in storage, maybe?"
"Not here…but my first news network acquisition—it's a tiny little station, practically worthless. I don't know why I even kept it. Please don't say something corny about sentimentality, Kara." The older blonde flashed a warning look at her young protégé.
"I didn't say anything!" Kara spluttered indignantly.
"Honey, no bickering during an apocalypse, okay?" Alex smiled and squeezed Kara's hand, only half-joking. Then, to Ms. Grant—"Can you take us there, right now? And call Max. Tell him to put his toy away and come work with us…we're going to need his help if we're gonna power up a 20-year-old broadcast network by ourselves."
…
As much grief as Maxwell Lord had given them in the past, it was nice to know that when the chips were down, he wasn't going to be a passive spectator to the end of the world just to spite them. With his help, it took them only a couple of hours to set up the old analog TV studio at KNCB—the dust-covered, abandoned remains of CatCo's first television acquisition.
"I still don't think this will work," the snide, sarcastic billionaire said casually as he manned the enormous camera pointed at Kara, who was sitting nervously behind the news desk. "You and Alex, you're—special. You know that. Just because you could reach her, doesn't mean it will work on everyone."
"Did he just give us a compliment?" Alex asked, overplaying a shocked reaction.
"I think he actually did," Kara giggled, then pressed her hand over her mouth, like she'd just realized how inappropriate it was to giggle during an apocalypse.
"All right, I get it, enough." Max rolled his eyes. "I still say this is stupid. We're just delaying the inevitable—the bomb is still Plan B."
"If you're so sure this isn't going to work, then why are you helping us?" Kara asked, cocking her head defiantly. Maxwell Lord smiled a little sadly, looking down at his shoes.
"Well…if it does work…it'll be a hell of a lot less cleanup than the bomb."
A few minutes later, the cameras were rolling, and Kara's face was broadcast on every TV screen, phone and computer in National City. Alex watched in a trance of awe and admiration as the girl she'd loved since she was thirteen years old spoke earnestly to the cameras, to the whole city, instilling every citizen with love, and hope, and faith. In Supergirl, and in each other. Within minutes, all their phones started ringing off the hook, as everyone they loved tried to call at once, James and Lucy and Winn and J'onn, who had made it back to the DEO in one piece, badly wounded but alive. It was over—they did it.
"Did we just save the world?" Kara asked a little breathlessly, a huge, beaming Supergirl smile lighting up her face.
"We did," Ms. Grant nodded, somehow managing to maintain her usual cool veneer despite the heady relief sweeping through all of them, that they were no longer surrounded by a city full of mindless zombie drones. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home to hug my son. And cook him a chicken." Kara chuckled a little. Why was it so hard for her boss to express happiness un-ironically?
"And I'm going to check on my LTE network. Or, whatever's left of it," Max said simply, sweeping past them without any fuss. He wasn't exactly sentimental, either. As Ms. Grant grabbed her purse and headed for her private elevator, she paused to squeeze Kara's arm, holding back her decidedly unprofessional smile as much as she could.
"Well done, Supergirl. I knew you'd find a better way."
"Thanks…but I couldn't have done it without Alex."
"I couldn't have done it without you," Alex countered, shaking her head with a goofy grin. They found each other's hands and laced their fingers together again, and Kara tugged gently to pull Alex in closer, pressing their foreheads together for a moment.
"And the most sickeningly adorable couple in the galaxy title remains intact," Ms. Grant sighed; but she couldn't suppress the smile anymore. "Enjoy your free-will, my dears. Kara, take the rest of the day off. I'm sure you have some Supergirl-ing to attend to."
"Yeah," Kara nodded absently, obviously not really listening as her attention was still entirely focused on Alex. Ms. Grant chuckled a little, and actually gave them both a pat on the head as she departed for the elevator.
"Guess we better head to the DEO and help J'onn get things back in order. He's hurt, he can't do it all himself," Alex sighed, her fingers playing absently with a long lock of Kara's blonde hair.
"Mm. At least he has my Aunt Astra," Kara added, so casually it sounded like an afterthought. But Alex's eyes went wide with alertness, as if someone had just thrown a glass of cold water in her face.
"What?" The dark-haired girl demanded incredulously.
"Oh…yeah…I didn't get a chance to tell you that part," Kara grinned sheepishly. "I left Astra in charge of the DEO. She was the only one who wasn't a zombie. It was time, Lex. Time to give her a chance to change, for real." Alex just shook her head incredulously, at a loss for words. "Are you mad?" Kara bit her lip.
"Of course not," Alex assured her anxious little alien with a grin.
"Really?" Kara asked warily.
"Really," Alex nodded, sealing the promise with a kiss. Kara sighed happily. "I mean…she helped us save the world, right?"
"Yeah. She did," Kara agreed, another giddy burst of euphoria washing over her as she let herself soak in the realization: her aunt was one of the good guys again. As the blonde girl had always known in her heart; but now it was real.
"So, after all this craziness is cleaned up…we should probably have her over for dinner," Alex smirked. Unexpectedly, Kara burst into tears. Alex didn't ask for an explanation; she just pulled her sweet blonde alien into a tight hug, holding her protectively and rubbing her back until the tears passed. Kara took a deep breath, not moving to pull away from Alex's arms just yet.
"So that's a yes?" The dark-haired girl asked tentatively.
"Yes, that's a yes," Kara sniffled, smiling again as she finally pulled back from Alex a little and wiped her eyes. Alex leaned in and pulled Kara's hand away, lightly kissing away the tear tracks from her face. "I really…really love you," the blonde girl sighed a little dreamily.
"I really really love you too," Alex hummed, smiling goofily at the effect her gentle attention was having.
"It would probably be wrong for us to go home right now for sexy time, huh?" Kara asked lightly, only half joking.
"Probably," Alex agreed, stroking a messy lock of blonde hair back behind Kara's ear. "DEO. Duty calls. And, you know, we should probably make sure J'onn and Astra aren't killing each other."
"Literally," Kara agreed with a sigh. "Okay, let's fly…but as soon as we're done adulting, there is going to be lots of dirty sex."
"Yeah?"
"Mm-hmm."
"So let's get the fuck out of here, then," Alex giggled. They shot into the sky, laughing deliriously like teenagers breaking curfew for the first time.
…
When they got back to the DEO, they found Astra calmly helping J'onn get the half-destroyed control room back in order, still free and un-cuffed, they noted, with no weapons pointing at her, no soldiers guarding her. J'onn had chosen to trust in Kara; if she truly believed her aunt was trustworthy now, he would follow suit. And it was pretty hard to argue against the older Kryptonian when she had just betrayed her own cause, and her husband, to stand with them. If that didn't show her true colors, what would?
"…Hey," Kara said tentatively, holding Alex's hand nervously as they stepped into the command center. "Is, umm, everybody okay?"
"Still standing," J'onn beamed at them, his expression as proud as any father. "You done good, kiddos."
"Thanks," Kara's slightly uneasy expression dissolved into a goofy grin. "Aunt Astra…thank you."
"It is I who should give you thanks, my sweet Kara. And you, Alexah. You have given me my honor back…you have given me my family back. I will teach your children to know everything of their noble Kryptonian heritage. Our planet may be gone, but our people…our people are not gone." Astra nodded sagely.
"Did we just get another mom?" Alex whispered, blushing bright pink, just like she always did when her mom and Kara's foster mom started rhapsodizing about their future grandchildren.
"Shh," Kara reprimanded under her breath, failing to suppress the goofy grin that spread across her face at the picture her aunt had just painted in her mind. "…And yes. We did."
Kara and Alex spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the wreck of Alex's lab and salvaging her work; but after a while, their adrenalin-heightened, we-just-saved-the-world buzz got the better of them, and they started playfully making out against one of the long metallic lab tables. Kara had her hands up the back of Alex's shirt when a gruff, throat-clearing sound made them break apart and look over at the doorway, suddenly aware that they had an audience.
"Jesus, Max," Alex groaned resentfully. "Pervy much? Don't you have anywhere better to be? Like, maybe at LordTech, helping your employees get through what just happened?"
"That's what corporate shrinks are on retainer for," the tech mogul shrugged unapologetically, his expression so detached it seemed almost sociopathic. "I'm more interested in what's still happening." Kara looked confused, and Alex just glared. "Look, your Martian boss believes me. He let me come and talk to you, didn't he?"
"Fine. Talk. Now," Alex growled, eyes narrowed suspiciously at the man who always seemed to have some ulterior motive up his sleeve, despite having just helped them save the city from zombification.
"I went to see how much damage the Kryptonian terrorists did to my LTE network," Max explained smoothly. "I found that since we ended their mind control, the Myriad wave has been amplified. Tenfold. And it's rising exponentially."
"What do you mean?" Kara asked warily, not wanting to believe it.
"Emergency rooms all over the city have been filled with people complaining of headaches," Max shrugged. "They're from Myriad. Which by my calculations will continue to amplify until…pop goes the cranium."
"Non couldn't control us…so instead he's just going to kill us. All of us." Alex shook her head incredulously.
"How long do I have to stop it?" Kara asked stonily.
"A whopping four hours, eleven minutes," Max said quietly, showing them the algorithm he'd created on his phone. "Normally I love a good countdown, but…this is bad. This is really bad."
"Astra will help us," Alex said with deep conviction. "She never wanted this—even at her lowest point, she still wanted to save the planet, in her own messed up way. She never signed up for mass-murder." Kara just nodded mutely, stunned at this news that the world wasn't as saved as they'd thought. "Go talk to her, Kar, make a game plan. We're only gonna get one chance at this. I'm going to find J'onn and tell him what's happening."
"Okay," Kara agreed unquestioningly. Alex smiled bravely and ran out of the room.
"Finding them will be the easy part, you know," the cocksure billionaire said quietly to Kara after Alex had gone. "Defeating them with only you and your recently-reformed-terrorist aunt…that's the hard part. You have no backup this time, Supergirl. It's the two of you against an army. Your sidekick J'onn J'onnz is injured; he'll only be a liability if you bring him into combat. And no human can go out there, their heads would pop like a champagne cork if they got too close to the source. If you go out there and fight…you might win. But chances are, this is a suicide mission."
"You think I don't know that?" Kara asked, returning his frank stare with one of her own. "It's the end of the world, Max. I can't just do nothing. I have to try."
"I just want you to understand what you're facing, you know. So you'll be prepared." The smug tech genius folded his arms, his gaze as cool as ever.
"I get it. I'm prepared," Kara said simply.
"Good," Max nodded. Kara gave him a little nod of acknowledgement in return, and spun to follow after her wife. But she only got a few feet before she stopped and turned back.
"Do me a favor…don't tell Alex my odds, okay?"
"Okay," Max agreed.
…...
Kara paced the floor of the DEO liked a caged animal while Alex and her team worked tirelessly to make an attack plan for her and Astra to try to gain the upper hand on Non's army. As time wore on, the blonde alien girl saw plainly that they were all in pain, though they were all much too tough to complain. Alex's pain was the brightest to Kara, the most visible, the hardest to ignore; because she never had before. If Alex hurt, Kara made it better. She always had. But right now, she felt helpless and useless as she watched the girl she loved most, bending over a computer console rubbing her forehead with a shaky hand, refusing to admit how much it hurt. But Kara could see it. She was losing her mind over not being able to help.
"We can't wait anymore, Alex. We need to go now," Kara growled anxiously, her whole body thrumming with the determination that she was not going to witness the death of another world. She would rather die than be left alone on a dead planet.
"I know…I know," Alex sighed, rubbing the side of her head. The pain had grown so intense, she was having trouble thinking straight; but she was too stubborn to give into it. "You're…you're sure you understand how to put Fort Rozz on autopilot once you get in?"
"I understand," Kara nodded, looking to her aunt Astra, who gave her an approving nod back.
"I will engage the troops in battle. Non's attention will be focused on me. If he thinks I might be persuaded to rejoin him, he will be distracted. But still, you will have very little time."
"Go," J'onn urged them, wincing and holding the bandage across his ribs. He could barely take a step without limping. "Keep your comm open, Kara. We'll give you as much help as we possibly can."
"Copy that, Chief." Kara gripped her boss's impossibly strong arm, and they shared a moment of silence, both of them seeing in the other's eyes that they knew their odds, knew they were unlikely to ever lay eyes on each other again. Then she turned and walked away, not looking back. Her aunt rushed to follow her.
"You did not say goodbye to your brave one," Astra noted in confusion.
"If I say goodbye…I'll never leave," Kara admitted quietly. She kept moving forward, willing herself not to turn back for one final glimpse of the girl she loved, the girl she would do anything for. The girl she would die for. Instead, she flew through the corridors of the DEO, bursting through the outer doors and streaking across the sky to Fort Rozz at top speed, so even Astra could barely keep up.
At that speed, it took less than three minutes for Kara and Astra to reach Fort Rozz, landing on the dusty desert floor about a hundred yards away from the enormous alien prison. There were no signs of life anywhere Kara could see; it seemed abandoned.
"How do we ring the bell?" Kara asked warily. Her aunt just looked at her blankly. "Right…how do we let them know we're here?" Kara tried again. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Non was there, landing in front of them with a smug expression twisting his cruel features, as if he'd already won. Well…hadn't he? In less than five minutes, every human being on the planet would be dead. Kara felt her whole body thrumming with anxiety, anticipation. The stakes had never been this high.
"I think our presence is already known," Astra observed unnecessarily, her eyes cold as she leveled her gaze at her husband.
"Astra, my love, you have defeated the humans and rejoined me in our hour of triumph," Non grinned sadistically. "I suppose you will beg me to take pity on your niece, and bring her with us? Sadly that is not possible. There are only two escape pods left aboard Fort Rozz…and those will be occupied by you and I."
"No," Astra shook her head calmly, never looking away. "They will not be occupied by anyone. I have not come to rejoin you, husband. I have come to stop you." Non gave a short bark of laughter.
"Is now the moment for humor, my love? Come, leave Kara Zor-El to be Queen of the Dead, and let us depart this primitive planet once and for all. Our glorious reign across the cosmos has only just begun…I will give you galaxies to rule. The Universe shall bend before us."
"Stop this, Non," Astra begged. "Myriad has failed. We sought to save this planet by force; but now we will find another way. The destruction of the humans will not bring Krypton back." Non just laughed again, cruel and cold. Kara took the opportunity of his distraction to blast right past him, heading for Fort Rozz. She heard Non yelling behind her, and she heard the sounds of fighting and laser blasts as Astra stepped between her husband and her niece. Please let her win, the blonde girl prayed silently to Rao as she raced inside the giant spaceship prison, looking for the control room. Please let her live. Let the house of El live.
Finding the control room was the easy part; but once Kara was inside, the override codes Astra had given her to input the autopilot commands weren't working. The entire engine grid appeared to be offline. "Alex, it isn't working. I can't power up the engines," Kara said worriedly, tapping on her little Bluetooth earring. "What do I do?"
"Open the center console, tell me what you see." Alex's voice was warm and steady in Kara's ear, despite the unbearable pain splitting her head like a dozen jagged, rusty knives.
"Okay, center console…" Kara nodded, even though there was no one there to see it. When she pried the panel open, her heart sank. There was the engine of the enormous ship…melted into a shapeless blob of twisted metal. For a moment, Kara was lost for words. Fort Rozz had no engines. Glancing at the countdown watch she'd hastily strapped to her wrist before taking off, she saw that they had only a minute left to do something. She took a deep breath. "I'm going to have to fly Fort Rozz into space myself, Lex. The engines have been completely destroyed."
"Kara, you can't fly a million-ton spaceship by yourself, don't be crazy. Even you have limits."
"I can. I have to," Kara said simply, finding herself outside again as she looked for the best spot to push on the giant ship to get it off the ground. She took one last look at Earth's blue sky. It was so beautiful.
"Kara, no!" Alex growled desperately. "Even if you could carry that much weight, once you break atmo there won't be any oxygen. You won't be able to generate thrust, you won't be able to breathe…you won't be able to get back."
"I know," Kara said quietly.
"No!" Alex yelled at her furiously.
"We don't have time to argue, Lex. The world is ending. I won't let that happen…I can't just let everyone die. I can't let you die. This is why I was sent here…this is why I was spared. I know that now." Kara's voice became eerily calm as she accepted wholly and completely the reality in front of her.
"Kara please…please don't go," Alex begged, choking over her tears as she fought to hold onto some shred of composure. "Please don't make me live without you…"
"It's me or the whole world," Kara shook her head with a sad little smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted her aunt still fighting with Non, both of them blasting each other through enormous rock faces so the air around them was thick with dust. There was no more time. The blonde girl shot silently into the sky, coming up under the top of Fort Rozz's outer ring, and pushing it into the air with all her strength. In her ear, Alex was crying and screaming at her.
"It's okay Lexie…I'm not scared." Kara's voice was oddly calm as she shot straight up into the sky with the enormous ship, its rings slowly beginning to revolve around her as she picked up speed. "I'll be with my parents in the light of Rao. But you have to promise…promise me you'll go on."
"No!" Alex yelled at her again, and Kara could hear the tears in her voice. It was the only thing cutting through her calm resolve, like a hot knife through butter. Kara couldn't bear to leave Alex so bereft. But she couldn't bear to watch her die, either.
"Alex, please. I need you to promise me, I can't do this without you," Kara begged. "Promise you'll find someone new, that you won't be alone. You have to know that everything I am, all the good I've ever done…it came from you, Lexie. From you loving me; letting me love you back. You gave me everything, everything I thought was lost forever when my world died…and now I'm going to give you the world. So you have to live. Really live. For me."
"I…I love you, bluebird," Alex whispered brokenly.
"Do you promise?" Kara persisted. She could see the blackness of space fast approaching; she was almost clear of earth's atmosphere.
"I…Kara…"
"Promise," Kara whispered through the rushing wind, her voice ragged as the oxygen thinned.
"I…I promise," Alex whispered back, breaking down into a flood of tears.
"I'll love you forever, Lexie," Kara murmured with the last of her breath. Then with a burst of speed and strength that she'd never before attempted, the blonde girl swallowed the last of her oxygen reserves, and blasted clear through the outer ozone layer, her last glimpse of earth's blue sky fading away as the cold darkness of space consumed her. She felt the weightlessness that came with being beyond the reach of gravity, and she smiled serenely as she watched Fort Rozz gently floating away, drifting like a leaf on a meandering river current. It was over…earth was safe. Alex was safe. Everyone was safe.
Even with the pain of oxygen deprivation piercing through her chest, Kara smiled. The bright yellow sun shone over her drifting body as she let herself go limp, unresisting to the weightless silence of space that consumed her. Looking down at planet earth like this, for the first time since she was a child, she felt a love for the world that wrapped her body in warmth, despite the frozen vacuum of space that enveloped her. She tried to keep her eyes open, to keep looking at the beautiful sight of the revolving blue planet below her…but soon the lack of air made her vision grow fuzzy, and it became harder and harder to keep her eyes from sliding shut. Her thoughts became slow and foggy; but still peaceful. She really wasn't scared.
As her eyes finally closed, Kara thought she saw her pod silently moving toward her through the blackness of space; but she knew it was just a hallucination brought on by her oxygen-deprived brain. Maybe my pod will bring me home to Rao, the blonde superhero thought to herself with a dazed smile. Then she let the blackness take her.
…
When Kara woke up, she found herself back on her DEO sunbed, resting comfortably with a few monitors beeping beside her. "The world didn't end," she murmured woozily, her voice surprisingly croaky. So she definitely wasn't dead—dead people didn't get dehydrated.
"Nope. Still here," Alex voice murmured in her ear, warm and close and reassuring. Kara opened her eyes and smiled up at the only person in all the light of Rao she cared about in that moment.
"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen…in the whole universe," Kara grinned, groggy but content. She didn't even try to move; she just let Alex climb onto the sunbed with her, covering her with kisses.
"No, you are," Alex grinned back, her eyes swimming with tears. She rubbed her face into Kara's blonde hair, inhaling her sweet scent and holding her like she'd never let go.
"What happened?" Kara yawned softly.
"You saved the world…and then I saved you," Alex shrugged modestly. "With your pod."
"You flew my pod?" Kara asked, still slightly befuddled as she struggled to wake up more completely, rubbing her eyes as she turned into Alex's embrace, resting her head on her wife's arm.
"Mm-hmm," Alex smirked, a little of her cocky bravado returning to her dark eyes now that she knew Kara was all right. "I think your mom would have been proud of my piloting skills." Kara laughed, all the tension in her body leaving her in a rush as she grabbed Alex's face with both hands and kissed her hard.
"Lexie…you're my Supergirl."
"And I always will be…you're not getting rid of me, you big dumb hero." Alex kissed the end of Kara's nose. Kara giggled shyly.
"We saved the world," the blonde girl grinned hugely, still looking like she didn't quite believe it; like saying it out loud made it somehow real.
"We saved the fucking world," Alex agreed, her fingers playing through Kara's long hair contentedly. "How should we celebrate, hmm babe?"
"Can I eat my weight in pot stickers and ice cream?" Kara grinned hopefully. "I need my strength so I can make you scream my name all night long."
"Such a romantic," Alex teased, her cheeks flushing pink as she thought about all the different ways her very attentive little alien could achieve her goal.
"Damn straight," Kara nodded proudly. Then they both dissolved into giggles, holding onto each other as their bodies shook with joyful laughter. They had all the time in the world…they had the world. It was all still here. And Kara and Alex were going to spend the rest of their lives finding new ways to enjoy it.
…
…Stay tuned for final chapter! And remember that if you are interested in seeing a second season for this fic…you gotta leave a review and tell me! Peace out to all the Superfans! :)
