Hello again, everyone! It's finally time: this story lives yet again on Fanfiction! In case you received a notification in your inbox and went: "what the hell, chapter 25?" or otherwise didn't know I was remaking this story for the past year or so, welcome back!
So, I've rewritten everything up to the point where the plot remained more or less the same. Everything from here onwards will be fairly significantly different to the original version of this story, so it didn't make any sense for me to keep it around. The purpose of this rewrite was to actually have this story have a cohesive narrative the whole way through while matching the rest of the series in the universe this fanfic belongs in - and is, indeed, the backbone to.
The bad news, of course, is that the obsolete version of the story is gone. Personally, I don't miss it - I lost the plot around this chapter then, and I grew to resent what followed. If you miss it (I wouldn't understand it, but I respect it), the original google doc still exists, and I can probably figure out some way to get you access. If that's the case, please shoot me a PM and I'll get back to you ASAP.
The good news is that you get a much better story that's actually getting updated every few weeks, so the hiatus for this story is officially over! Moreover, there is the aforementioned universe that exists around this fic. You can find it in detail over on my profile here on AO3 (same pen name, Darthkvzn), or look for these stories, in chronological order:
-She Stole My Heart (and most of my valuables)
-The Girl Who Could Knock Out the Hulk (you are here!)
-Changing of the Guard
-A Cold Day in Erebus
-Thanatos Scowled
-To Rule Alone, To Build Together
-Close Encounters of the Gem Kind
-You and Me, and the Woman We Could Be
-Like a Puzzle Piece
And that's it for now! So, I recommend you go and read this story from the beginning, and if you want more, try out any of the other fics in the series! They're as standalone as possible, but there's many fun nods to the larger continuity, and upcoming crossovers between the crossovers! I hope you enjoy!
"Continuing our coverage of the Avengers' recent exploits, several financial experts have raised concerns over Stark Industries' hasty acquisition of OsCorp's Manhattan-based operations, following the joint S.H.I.E.L.D.-Avengers mission that uncovered and shut down its secretive and potentially illegal underground laboratories. Pennsylvania Senator and longtime Stark critic Howard J. Stern called the purchase a 'thinly veiled hostile takeover', which earned him a scathing rebuke from Stark Industries' CEO, Virginia Potts.
In a statement, Ms. Potts reminded Senator Stern that, quote, 'though he continues to contribute his genius in the design and production of our companies' many advanced technologies, Tony Stark has long divested himself from his company in any administrative capacity'. According to Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark 'has little patience or time for stuffy boardrooms and quarterly reports, preferring to spend his time improving and employing the technology the Avengers need to adequately counter threats such as the one OsCorp's clandestine operations posed to the American people, and potentially, the world at large.'
Though the Avengers have earned widespread acclaim for uncovering massive, alleged wrongdoing so soon after the Chitauri invasion, a growing number of voices are beginning to question giving potentially undue power and authority to, what some consider, a 'group of glorified vigilantes'."
Kara grimaces, grunting softly as she wakes and the news report ends, the TV turning off on its own. She blearily opens her eyes to the same medical room Sue was kept in, though she notices that the power dampeners are offline. She feels...sore, which is something of a novelty. Ever since she landed on Earth, she's all but forgotten what pain and exhaustion feel like. It usually leads to quirky situations where she forgets to mimic the humans around her, but there's nothing funny about how heavy her arms and legs feel, or the dull ache running through her abdomen.
Rao, she almost died.
Her throat feels very dry, so she looks around for water, which leads to a mild surprise, in the form of Lena's sleeping form sat beside her. She looks a mess, her eyes bruised with worry and insomnia, but Kara still sighs in relief. It feels like a lifetime ago, but seeing her bleed from stray debris, and knocked out cold by that red bolt of light was terrifying. It enraged her, almost beyond reason – and, if she's honest with herself, it made her careless. If she'd been more vigilant, enjoyed herself a little less while taking down Doctor Doom...perhaps this could've been avoided.
The frosted glass door to the room slides open, revealing her sister. Alex looks like she's sprinted all the way here, her cheeks red and her eyes wide. "Kara!" –she breathes out. She strides to her left, opposite of Lena, and hugs her tight. "Oh my god, you're okay. You're okay..." –she whispers, sounding like the weight of the world's been lifted off her shoulders.
"H-hey, Alex..." –she croaks out. Kryptonian or no, her throat complains from the sudden exertion.
Alex immediately lets go, concern plain on her expression. "What is it? Did I hurt you?"
Kara shakes her head. "No, I...I think I'm back to normal. I'm just a little sore, still."
"Normal as in 'Girl of Steel' normal, or what?" –she asks, dubious.
The blonde nods. Her eyes glow with the beginnings of heat vision, just to prove she's not bluffing. Alex sighs, relieved. "I guess Tony's idea panned out, after all." –she grudgingly recognizes.
Kara raises an eyebrow. "Since when are you on a first name basis with Iron Man?"
"Since we've all spent a week trying to figure out if you'd wake up or not." –Lena chimes in, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't wanna interrupt your moment."
Alex snorts. "Too loud?"
"Too loud." –Lena confirms. Her drowsy scowl softens. "Hey, Kara." –she says, exhausted, taking Kara's right hand between her own. "It's so good to see you awake."
Kara purses her lips. "Oh, dear. Was it really that bad?"
"Well, you lost almost half of your blood volume before we could get the sword out, so yes. And it's not like we could find you a donor, or like we could've done a transfusion if we had, impenetrable skin and all." –Lena rambles. "It was...touch and go, for a day or two."
Alex glances between the two, knowingly. "And then Tony got the bright idea of moving you to the top floor and knocking down part of the roof, so you'd get some direct sunlight. Even came up with a 'solar absorption suit', but we vetoed it."
Kara tilts her head. "Why's that?"
Lena blushes. "It, uh...it was skin-tight."
Alex snorts. "Hell of an understatement, Luthor. It was practically a gimp suit made out of flexible solar panels. Would've had to vacuum you in and everything."
Kara's ears suddenly get a little too warm. "Oh."
"It was a genuinely good idea – the technology would've amplified the amount of sunlight your system could take in, sped up your recovery tenfold. But you were already stable and it really was quite lurid, so we decided against it." –Lena explains, embarrassed.
"I see..." –Kara hums. "Well, I made it. We all did, right? We won?"
Alex sighs, leaning back into her chair. "Centipede lost this one, for sure, but I'm not so sure that means you guys won." –she says.
"We've got the Serum, the armor, the data, and that damn sword." –Lena counters. "All things considered, I'd call that a victory."
"A growing portion of the public wouldn't. Not to mention the governments and corporations growing concerned that you guys straight up co-opted about a third of OsCorp International." –Alex says, then shakes her head, turning to Kara. "But we've been over this already. We shouldn't bum you out when you've just woken up."
Kara frowns. "No, I wanna hear it. What happened after I got beat?"
The sliding door opens again. Doctor Helen Cho walks in, holding a tablet. "I see Agent Danvers continues to be the only one of you three with any common sense. I expressly forbid any work talk until after I evaluate my patient, ladies. Now, off you go, Miss Luthor. Family only."
Lena doesn't look very happy about it, but she rises from her seat. She gives her hand a little squeeze before she files out. "I'll let everyone know you're up." –Lena says. "Assuming you're cleared, they'll all want to see you...and you do need to catch up. There were more than a few developments while you were out."
She, too, exits the room. Doctor Cho rolls her eyes. "'Assuming you're cleared', she says. You're an extraterrestrial lifeform who just miraculously recovered from a fatal wound in just over a week. If it were up to me, I'd keep you in observation until we can understand just how the hell your body healed so quickly. But it isn't, so I won't." –she laments. "Not that I could examine you to my heart's content, anyway, but it seems like you've become something of a hero, Supergirl. People need you, out there." –she smirks.
Kara chuckles. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Index evaluators always complained about me. My skin's so impenetrable I can't even get an X-Ray." –she recalls, amused, then sighs. "Or...I guess it was."
"I can hardly imagine." –Helen says, as she monitors her readings. "If it helps at all, this is extremely unlikely to happen again. The blade you were wounded by is heavily secured, and seems to be unique, if S.H.I.E.L.D.'s spectrometric sweep of the globe is to be trusted."
The blonde takes a hand to her abdomen, feeling the rough, tilted scar left behind by the sword. It doesn't hurt at all, but something in her core clenches at the memory of the blade sliding through her with ease. "Just what was it? What was that sword made out of?"
Alex purses her lips. "A highly irradiated, extraterrestrial mineral."
Doctor Cho pipes up. "Its radiation doesn't seem to have any short or medium term effects on humans – though it does behave very similarly to gamma radiation – but it almost seems designed to annihilate Kryptonian biology, specifically when it's powered up. The blood we recovered from the scene...it all showed signs of intense, accelerated cellular degradation. Even if this Doctor Doom character hadn't decided to stab you with it, you would've died within fifteen, maybe twenty minutes of continued exposure to the sword. Though fortunately, there are some caveats to this."
She sets the tablet aside and pushes the monitors away, instructing Kara to sit on the bedside for a check-up. Alex stands beside her, face full of concern. "The mineral's potency decays exponentially as you get farther away from it. I could place it in the corner and you'd only feel some moderate nausea. Put it outside this room, and you'd barely feel a thing."
Alex sighs. "Being so close to von Doom, there was nothing you could do when he pulled the sword, but now, you and your team know better. Even if he somehow manages to produce another sword like it, he won't be able to pull the same shit again."
Kara shakes her head as the stethoscope settles on her chest. "I just...I don't understand. How do you know so much about it already? How could Doctor Doom figure all of this out? Heck, how could Fury?"
Doctor Cho's hand stills. Alex purses her lips. "JARVIS, is the room secure?"
"From everyone but me. You may speak freely, Agent Danvers." –he quips.
"What's going on?" –Kara frowns.
"There's no easy way to say this, but...Victor von Doom didn't find the shard. He stole it, from one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s experimental tech vaults." –she says. "They call it Kryptonite. It...would appear that it accompanied you on your trip here."
Kara pales. "You mean...you mean that thing is a piece of Krypton?"
"Fury is the only one who knows all the details, and he's refused to share everything." –Alex says, chagrined. "But yeah, the crystal is a small sliver of your homeworld – probably igneous material that rapidly cooled in the vacuum of space, if I were to guess."
Kara takes a hand to her forehead. "But...that can't be right." –she says. "They showed me everything they recovered from the crash, and there wasn't anything like that crystal in the wreckage."
"Think about it, Kara." –Alex says. "You started showing off superpowers almost as soon as you were exposed to sunlight. You proved invulnerable to everything they could throw at you. You know how reactionary we can be against potential superpowered threats." –she admits. "S.H.I.E.L.D. found the shard among the wreckage. While you were adjusting to your new powers, they examined your vessel, and they discovered that the Kryptonian tissue – hairs and dead skin cells – left behind by you and your parents had been charged by our sunlight, and subsequently corrupted by the Kryptonite fragment. They had a way to take you out, if needed. Why would they ever tell you?" –she asks, rhetorically, then chuckles, bitterly. "Why would we ever tell you?"
Kara's lips press tightly together. "Did you know about this, Alex?"
Her step-sister quickly shakes her head. She looks utterly enraged. "No. Trust me, Kara. If they'd told me, I would've quit on the spot. The only reason I haven't put in my resignation yet is because I've barely left this room."
"No, Alex, please don't quit yet." –Kara urges. Alex looks bewildered. "I know this is a major breach of trust, and they don't deserve you, but...between what we've uncovered so far, and this Kryptonite business, I can't help but think there's someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. who wants me dead, and we need to find them."
"Kara, you're...you're asking me to work with people who came up with a way to kill you. I don't even know if I can stomach obeying Hill, now, let alone Fury." –she winces. "Besides, I think...I think the Avengers might already be putting some kind of plan in motion."
Doctor Cho sighs. "I don't enjoy being proven wrong, Agent Danvers." –she chides. "I said 'no work talk' and I meant it – the Kryptonite reveal was arguably too much already. Even if I empathize, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave until I finish the examination. You may resume your plotting afterwards."
Alex purses her lips, but nods. "You're right, Doctor, I'm sorry. I'll let you finish." –she says, then turns to Kara. "I'll bring you some clothes. We'll probably be at the briefing room when you're done."
"Okay. Thanks, sis." –the blonde says. Alex leaves with a final worried glance.
"I'm sorry, Kara." –Doctor Cho says. "I'll let you go ASAP."
"It's okay, Doctor. You're right, I should take it easier for a while." –Kara admits.
Cho hums. "Be sure to do so. In weirdly morbid but perhaps more interesting news, I wanted to ask for your permission."
Kara raises an eyebrow. "What for?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. collected roughly four pints of your blood from the underground facility. They would've kept it, but your teammates raised enough of a fuss that Fury ordered it surrendered to us." –she says.
Kara tilts her head. "I'm assuming you can't just...put it back in." –she jokes.
Doctor Cho snorts. "No, but you wouldn't want me to. Let's just say it'd fail the 'five second rule' test." –she smirks. "More to the point, your body replenished this volume days ago, thanks to whatever healing factor your already incredible power set has also seen fit to give you."
"Right. So what do you wanna do with it?" –Kara asks.
"Research and understand the full potential of Kryptonian genes, of course." –she says, giving her a devilish smile. "Tony Stark may have hired me on to be the Avengers' physician, but my true passion and expertise lies in genetics. In his desire to destroy you, he could've inadvertently given us – or rather, you – the means to understand and unleash your full potential. To master your current powers...and perhaps even discover ones you didn't even know you had."
As always, thank you for your attention! Make sure to comment or message me if you have any questions about this story. Look me up on Twitter as Darthkvzn or Tumblr as darthkvznblogs if you'd like - and on Ko-fi, as Darthkvzn, if you like what I do and have a buck to spare.
Until next time!