"Yo, Kieran, I need- Kieran?"
Bella poked her head into the lab with Alex behind her, and she frowned when they found it empty. Alex stepped into the lab and bent down by the computer. She clicked a few buttons and scrunched her face
"Huh. That's weird."
"What?"
"The computer's been wiped," she said.
Bella pursed her lips and left the room with Alex on her heels. She entered the room where the others waited and didn't even realize that Em and J'onn were gone, too busy getting Regina's attention.
"Hey, Kieran's gone. She erased the computer, and I'm willing to bet twenty bucks that she left her phone too."
Regina sighed and looked at Emmett.
"Where is she?"
Emmett checked his watch and said, "She's heading East. J'onn and Em are maybe two minutes behind her."
"Hold on, you knew she would leave?" Bella asked.
"The moment Emmett got the text from Rosalie, I went to Charlie. He managed to procure a tracking device that I gave to Emmett, which he put on Kieran's collar. The moment Kieran went beyond a hundred feet, it activated, and Emmett's been monitoring it for the last several minutes. Em and J'onn went after her the moment she went out of range."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Bella asked.
"Because you would sneak out with her."
"I – okay, that's fair," Bella muttered.
"Exactly. Now, Rosalie will stay here with Alex and Kelly while the three of us are going to offer backup to J'onn and Em and bring Kara home."
"Wait, what? Hold on -
"Alex," Kelly interrupted.
"No way! It's my sister!" Alex argued. "I'm going."
"Alex, please, let us do the dirty work," Bella said. "I promise we'll bring Kara home."
"This -
"-is not just a rescue mission," Regina interrupted. "While we are going for Kara, and we will bring her home, this is personal. I do not intend on letting their actions against my daughter go without consequence."
"You're going to kill them?"
"Have you forgotten who I am?" Regina drawled.
Alex ground her teeth, and Kelly stepped forward, cupping her cheeks.
"Baby, you know I am the last person who would ever say this, but let them do it their way," she said softly.
Alex closed her eyes and rested her forehead on Kelly's. She gave a sharp nod, and Regina swept out of the room with Bella and Emmett behind her.
Kieran kept her head high as two men led her to the living room. She should have known they were at the old house, the one no one knew about because it was purchased under an alias. They wanted to make a point by using the home where they shot the first picture of Kieran with Lex, Lionel, and Lillian having lunch meant they were playing the guilt game. There were men all armed and eager to shoot at a moment's notice. The place was heavily fortified and protected, and Kieran wondered if she made a mistake coming alone. They reached the living room, and the first man opened the door while the second pushed Kieran into the room.
The door shut behind her, and her hands twitched at her side, tempted to tug and pull at her shirt. Lillian eyed her from the couch, cold and detached as usual, and Kieran looked at Lex.
"Where's Kara?"
"No hello?"
"Where. Is. Kara?" she repeated.
Lex sighed dramatically and went over to the wall, pressing a button near the light switch. The bookcase fell and revealed a glass wall that showed Kieran how far Lex and Lillian went in making their point. Kara hung from chains with green lines pulsing beneath her skin. Her suit was torn into shreds, showing bruises and cuts all over her torso, and blood steadily dripped from her forehead. Kieran walked over and tapped on the glass. Kara lifted her head slowly, and blue locked with green. It took a moment, but Kara sagged in relief with a wry smile.
"Hi," Kieran mouthed.
Kara's smile fell, and she screamed something that Kieran couldn't hear. In the reflection, Lex approached Kieran from behind, and Lex pricked the side of her neck. Kieran's vision blurred, and she slumped down into Lex's arms.
"Fuck," Em sighed, limping beside J'onn.
"I'm sorry. I should have sensed him."
"No, dude. It's not your fault. I shouldn't have been so quick to disregard a sniper."
J'onn helped Em behind the trees and sat them down. He tore off a piece of his shirt and knelt beside them. He gently peeled the top away from their skin, and Em ground their teeth. It was a through-and-through, and no major artery had been hit, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Em closed their eyes and took deep breaths as J'onn wrapped their waist.
"Who the fuck hires men to hide in trees and shoot at random people?"
"Lex, and in his defense, we were trying to sneak on his property."
"Whose side are you on?" Em groaned.
"Mine," he joked. "And I should have known that Lex would fortify this place based on what he knows about Kara's team. It's like a brick wall everywhere I go, no pun intended." J'onn tightened the strip around Em's body. "Are you sure you want to wait on Regina? What if she doesn't come on time? I can get you back before she-
"Trust me," Em chuckled. "She'll be here."
Sure enough, Regina, Emmett, and Bella appeared behind them. Emmett was the first to notice Em's injury, and he stepped back with concern written all over his face. Regina kneeled beside Em and flexed her fingers, frowning.
"You idiot," she scolded. "I sent you to follow my child, not get shot."
"I'll be sure to tell the other guy that," Em said dryly. "Lex has the kind of security all paranoid men have."
"How many have you seen?" Emmett asked.
Em's eyes started to glaze over, and J'onn huffed.
"Maybe fifty. All with semi-automatic rifles and on rotation every five minutes," J'onn said, picking Em off the ground. "Listen, I can't risk it any longer."
Regina kissed Em's forehead and stood up.
"Take care of them," she said. "Or you will die a slow and painful death."
J'onn nodded and shot into the air, and Regina glanced at Emmett.
"Hold nothing back," she ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Emmett took off and gunshots soon followed in his wake. Then there were screams, shouts of terror, and Regina waited patiently for Emmett to return. Once he did, Emmett flicked blood off his shirt.
"I saved the last ten for you."
Regina nodded in approval and looked at Bella.
"Find your sister," she said.
"Of course."
Bella stepped backward and merged with the trees.
Emmett tracked Kieran to an empty room and frowned when he saw no one there. After Regina got rid of the remaining guards, they split up to cover more ground. Emmett was about to leave when he heard it. It was faint, but it was there. Emmett walked up to the wall and placed his ear against it.
There.
Emmett took a risk, punching through the plaster. Only he found glass, and Emmett kept ripping the wall apart until he saw her.
"Shit," Emmett whispered.
He didn't even think before jumping through the hole he made and snapping the chains around her wrists. Kara's body fell forward into his chest with little resistance, and Emmett didn't have a choice. He had to get her back, so he adjusted his hold on her and pulled out his phone. Emmett shot a message to Rosalie, telling them Kara was in bad shape and to prepare for his arrival, and then texted Bella. He had no idea if she had service wherever she was, but he wanted to tell her they had to find Kieran without him. Kara was barely breathing, and Emmett wasn't going to let her die. He swept Kara into his arms and glanced down into dim blue eyes.
"Hi, Supergirl," he said. "My name's Emmett. I'm Kieran's brother, and this is going to be a bumpy ride for a bit, but I'm taking you home."
Regina walked down the hall, well aware of the eyes tracking her movement, and she heard the trigger pull and turned just in time. The bullet stopped mid-air, and she let it fall to the floor. A woman stepped out and narrowed her eyes on her. Regina blinked in boredom, and she flicked some lint off her shoulder.
"You should hire better help. This house is filthy."
"What are you?"
"Don't you mean who?" Regina asked.
"A human would not be able to stop a bullet, so no."
"How insulting."
"I won't ask again."
"No, I suppose not." Regina scowled at the woman and said, "You must be Lillian Luthor."
"It depends on who is asking."
"My name is Regina Mills. I am looking for my daughter."
"I'm afraid I don't know whom you're referring to."
"You may know her as Lena."
"I see." Lillian cocked her head. "You truly traveled into a different realm to get her back?"
"You say that as if she is not worth traveling for."
"Are we talking about the same person?"
Regina twitched and said, "I will not ask again. Tell me where my daughter is."
"And if I don't? Got any more parlor tricks for me?" Lillian mocked.
Regina waved her hand, and the gun disappeared from Lillian's hand. She looked down, shocked, and Regina grinned.
"Oh, I can assure you. I have plenty of tricks to try. For my first one," Regina put her hand against Lillian's chest and pushed inside, "let's go with the puppet master routine."
Lillian gasped, and Regina did a quick tug. She held Lillian's heart in the air and squeezed.
"Now, let's see how long you'll last before you start begging."
Bella emerged from the trees and looked up at the sniper. She made a soft whistle, and the man glanced down. He didn't have time to pull the trigger before the branch he was lying on bent toward the ground. He yelped as he fell through the air and crashed hard into the ground. Bella picked up the gun that landed next to him and held it in the air, aiming at the sky.
"I bet my gun is better than yours," she mocked.
The guy groaned and looked up, confused, and Bella pointed a finger gun at him. She closed one eye and "pulled the trigger." A stream of fire shot out, and the guy didn't have a chance to yell before a smoking hole appeared in the center of his forehead.
Lillian cried out with tears streaming down her face, and Regina sat on the stairs with her ankles crossed. She loosened her grip on Lillian's heart and sighed, tracing the black veins.
"Waiting on you," Regina said flatly. "I can stop whenever you desire."
"Please," Lillian whined, hanging her head. "Please, please -
"Finally," Regina interrupted, standing up. "I was wondering if I would have to nearly break your heart for you to beg."
"I'll tell you where sh-she is. P-please, I'll tell you," Lillian stammered.
"Oh, I forgot how lovely it sounds when someone begs for their life," Regina said. "Do it again. Give me a good enough reason not to wrap my hands around your heart and squeeze the life from it. Make me not want to snap your spine after the hurt and pain you put my daughter through. Provide a good enough reason so that I want to give you a second chance after you made her feel worthless and less than perfect."
Lillian tried to catch her breath, but Regina's fingers tightened once again on her heart.
"Kieran is one of the brightest and most brilliant souls in existence, and you tried to dim her light, so you better cry, plead, and whimper for my mercy because I have every right to tear you apart with my bare hands." Regina stopped in front of Lillian and cocked her head. "On second thought-
Regina clenched her fist, and Lillian dropped to the floor next to a pile of ashes.
"What a waste of a mother," she sighed.
The window to her right opened, and Bella crawled into the house covered in dirt. She shook off most of the soil and barely spared Lillian a second glance as she approached her mother.
"Where have you been?"
"I took care of the guy who shot Em," Bella explained.
Regina's lips twitched, and Bella put her hands on her hips.
"So?"
"I have no idea."
"You killed her before you found out?"
"I have poor impulse control, but I'm sure you can find her."
"Do I have to do all of the work?" Bella scoffed.
Regina snorted and said, "Go."
"You're not coming with me?"
"I don't think you want me there."
Bella's smile was both grateful and relieved as she closed her eyes. Her body angled to the right, and Regina watched her daughter disappear in a cloud of smoke tinged red with streaks of black.
Lex paced back and forth in front of a semi-conscious Kieran. He was waiting for his mother, so when the door opened, he expected Lillian. Except it wasn't Lillian, and he was suddenly pinned to the floor. Dirt-stained fingers trailed down his cheek, and orange eyes flashed black.
"W-who -
A hand covered his mouth, and the woman on top of him tilted her head.
"You should have never put your hands on her."
Lex gave a muffled shout, and black tendrils snaked from parted lips and sunk into his eyes, nose, and ears. He began to shake, and the hand covering his mouth moved. Lex screamed as his skin quite literally melted from his bones, pooling around his body.
Bella knelt in Lex's remains, his blood mixed with what was left of his skin, and she giggled. She stood up slowly and made her way to her sister. Kieran, who was barely awake, stared at Bella in confusion and a little bit of fear. Bella ignored it and bent down, looking her in the eyes.
"Mom will be here soon," she whispered. "Can you wait that long?"
Kieran nodded shakily, and Bella tapped her on the nose.
"Good."
Bella stood up straight and walked out of the room, dripping blood in her wake.