Double upload, the last chapter was too short. Also I promise more Karamel soon (i.e. after this chapter it picks up!)
Part One - Empathy - Chapter 5
The next day, there was a breakthrough in the case. J'onn's team were finally able to track Maxwell Lord at an unmarked warehouse on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
As security led them inside, they found him and some of his employees tinkering with some kind of machine.
"Mr. Lord, we need your help," J'onn said sternly.
Maxwell turned to face them, surprised. "J'onn J'onzz, what a surprise! I haven't see you in a long time." He stepped away from the machine and walked up to them, wiping his hands on a towel. "What can I do for you?"
"We need you to help us understand the effects of a Kryptonite bomb that was used on Supergirl," J'onn explained. "Since you were able to synthesize Red K and an antidote, we thought you could help."
Maxwell's face grew serious. "That's no easy task. If the bomb was a mixture of Silver and Green K, it was designed to emit a new frequency. The Red K antidote was a prototype when I altered it."
J'onn spoke up. "We need to know how to reverse the effects, she's running out of time."
Maxwell nodded. "I understand. Let me take a look at the bomb's fragments and see what I can do."
Over video conference, Lena and Brainy helped Maxwell with his analysis, while J'onn kept watch outside the warehouse. Finally, after what felt like hours, they made progress.
"Even without knowing the exact mixture quantities, we've been able to reconstruct the resonant frequency this bomb emitted," he said excitedly. "We can create a destructive interference, it should neutralize the effects of the bomb had on Supergirl."
Lena and Brainy immediately get to work on building the antiphase emitter while J'onn contacted Alex to update her on their progress.
"Maxwell's helping us neutralize the effects of the Kryptonite bomb," J'onn told her. "We should have a solution soon."
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. Also, mom just arrived, I'm picking her up and taking Clark to meet the Legends. Maybe they can figure who is did this—"
"Alex!" J'onn heard Winn yell followed by Alex reprimanding him and presumably slapping him, given the smacking noise heard on his end. He couldn't stop himself from chuckling, missing their childish sibling antics.
Alex thanked J'onn for the update and stood behind Winn with her arms crossed, glaring at him.
"OW!" Winn whined frowning at her, "Jeesh, I was just letting you know I got some leads," Winn said, pointing to the screen. He turned on his chair as Alex's interests peaked.
"So, last night, I made a detection module that would run through all of the footage looking for something odd. And this morning, I saw this..."
Alex leaned in to see what Winn had found, but immediately frowned. "What? I don't see anything."
"Exactly it's only a blip, but if we decelerate the speed and increase the number of frames." Winn said, "You can see someone or something disabling the camera."
Alex leaned in closer to the monitor and studied the grainy image. "Can you enhance it any further?" she asked.
"I can try," Winn said, working his magic on the footage. After a few moments, he stopped. "I can't get a clearer image, but look there," he said, pointing to a figure that can be seen walking down the stairs.
"That's one of Kara's neighbors. I recognize her from the building directory." Winn pulled up the neighbor's file and started scanning through the information. "Her name is Mrs. Jenkins. She's a retired school teacher who lives alone."
Alex nodded thoughtfully and sent Darius and James to interrogate her, while she and Kelly stayed to see if Winn could uncover more from the street coverage.
Back in the dream world, Mon-El could be seen singing "Funny Face" to Kara (as Jo), charming her with his infectious energy and funny dance moves.
They danced around the room, lost in their own little world.
And Mon-El couldn't help but think how much he's missed her after all these years and how infectious her happiness is to him.
For a moment, he forgot that they're in a dream world, that Kara's life was in danger, and that he was supposed to be focused on finding a way to bring her back. He got lost in the moment, enjoying the thrill of the spontaneous adventure with Kara.
Finally, they both collapsed onto the floor, laughing and out of breath. Kara looked up at Mon-El, her eyes shining with happiness, as she asked about his photographs.
Mon-El smiled at Kara and told her about his passion for capturing the world through his camera lens, which wasn't a complete lie. He had taken up photography in the future, as a beautiful reminder of the different worlds the Legion has been to.
He talked about the thrill of experiencing different cultures and capturing the beauty of nature in his photos. He told her about his travels to different parts of the world and how he had met some amazing people along the way.
Kara listened with rapt attention, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and wonder. "I have always wanted to travel and see the world, but so many people depend on me…I-I can't leave."
And for the first time since he's started playing along, he saw her go off script, her real life slipping through.
"Kara," He whispered, capturing her attention. "You don't have to keep living with the weight of all of the worlds on your shoulder. You have friends." He smiled, "You have superheros who can help." Mon-El encouraged her to follow her dreams.
"Life is too short to be stuck in one place or-or one timeline…" He swallowed a small lump in his throat as he saw her flinch, "Th-there is so much beauty in the world you deserves to experience."
"You're absolutely right Dick!" Kara nodded, her Jo mask snapping back into place. "Paris sounds amazing," she said, her voice soft and dreamy.
Mon-El forced a smile as he lost her, and continued to follow the script.
Superman and the Legends gathered in the Waverider's control room, reviewing the data they had gathered from their investigation into the time anomalies.
"According to our analysis, the anomaly was caused by Supergirl revealing her secret identity to the world," said the voice of Gideon.
Clark nodded and sighed, "That's what I suspected. It was a pivotal moment for Kara, but it caused a ripple effect in the timeline."
"I think we need to go back and stop her from revealing her secret," suggested Spooner.
Clark shook his head, "No, we shouldn't change the past without knowing all of the pieces, it could have a more disastrous consequences on the future. We need to make sure that everything goes smoothly."
"Agreed," said Ava, "We'll monitor the timeline from here and make sure that no further anomalies occur."
"Thank you, Legends. We couldn't do this without your help, send Sara my regards." Clark smiled at Ava and the rest of the team before getting dropped off at the DEO.