LVEZ - I will do my best to read it all as soon as possible and get back to you. I don't have a lot of time on my hands for the next month or so, but I'll do my best to finish it quickly. Thank you for the recommendation! I appreciate you and SLITH both, and am glad that I started this story.

*Everybody go check out Project Kryptonians x2, if you have time or want to. It is written by SLITH and LVEZ. I just started and it's great.*

"Dad?!"

"Jeremiah?!"

The girls froze in shock. What was he doing here? Why was he helping them? Was Lillian right all along? Was he really loyal to Cadmus?

Kara was the first to move. "Jeremiah, I don't understand. What are you doing here?! Why are you helping them?"

Jeremiah looked at his girls with a sad smile. "I'm doing this to protect my daughter. It's the only way."

Kara stepped towards him. She noticed he did not make the word 'daughter' plural, and frankly did not like the sound of that. "What do you mean this is the only way?! You releasing them is endangering us even more, I don't understand how you think this is helping."

Her adoptive father unlocked the cell door. "All will be revealed in due time. Don't worry about it until you have to."

Alex was on the verge of exploding. "Dad, what the hell are you talking about? Why are you being so cryptic? You need to put them back in that cell, or else they're going to kill Kara! What happened to you?!"

Jeremiah opened it wide, and Lillian and Hank stepped out. "Alex, I'm sorry. I'm doing this to protect you. You won't understand now, but you'll see later. This is for your own good."

Alex stepped up to him. "And what about protecting Kara?! Hm? We both promised to each other we would protect her. Now look at you. What the hell are you doing? You're going to get her killed!"

Her father simply shook her head. "I'm sorry, Alex. But I'm doing this for you, not her." With that, he handed Lillian a kryptonite pistol. She stood there with a smug grin and pointed it at Kara.

"Time for you to pay for what you've done, alien. You locked me in this cell, and treated me as if I was inferior. When truthfully, it's always been you. It's time for you to learn that Luthors always win."

Alex made a bold move and stepped in front of Kara. "If you want to shoot her, you'll have to shoot me too."

Lillian seemed indifferent and prepared to pull the trigger anyways. She had absolutely no qualms whatsoever about shooting Alex. There was zero love lost between the two. The only thing that stopped her was Jeremiah.

"Lillian, you promised me that no matter what, Alex would come out alive. Let me deal with her, please."

Alex's eyes welled up. "Dad, what is going on? You handed her the pistol... openly giving her a way to kill Kara. Your daughter. Why do you only step in for me?"

Jeremiah simply walked up to his daughter, and smashed his metal fist into her stomach. Upon contact, his arm became entirely steel. Alex was sent flying into the wall, and crumpled to the floor.

Kara stood open-mouthed, staring at Jeremiah's steel arm, before she was jolted out of her reverie from Alex's moan of pain. She quickly ran over to check if Alex was okay.

"Lex, talk to me. Please say something. Are you okay?"

The only response was a groan of pain and a slight nod. Kara should have known that Alex would say yes. Seeing her big sister in so much pain lit her eyes ablaze. Clearly, Jeremiah had no intent to help either of them, so she disregarded all of her restraint and tackled him.

Hard.

They both went tumbling to the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lillian trying to line up a shot. However, Lillian couldn't shoot quite yet because she couldn't risk hitting Jeremiah or Hank. They were her only escape, her only chance at getting out.

As Jeremiah and Kara regained their footing, they engaged in a brief hand-to-hand exchange. It seemed that Jeremiah not only had an enhanced arm, but he was just enhanced in general. He had improved speed, improved strength, and he almost matched Kara in terms of combat skill.

His foster daughter finally found an opening near his legs, and dove down to take them out from under him. Only, she was met by a vicious elbow to her back. She crumpled to the floor and looked up to find Hank standing over her.

"So we meet again, little girl. Time to finish what I started. Once I'm finished with you, I'll kill your sister too."

Jeremiah was about to protest, but was interrupted by Alex yelling from across the room. Her pain only intensified when she realized she was unable to help her sister. She was about to watch Kara get killed in front of her.

Hank activated his kryptonite emitters in his gauntlets, and Kara immediately felt the effects wearing down her system. She became dizzy and light-headed, but still managed to stand on her feet.

Kara stood determined, unwavering. "You won't kill her. I won't let you." With that, she dropped low and sweeped his legs out. When Hank was knocked to the floor, another dizzy spell hit her, and Jeremiah capitalized. He smashed his steel knuckles into her face, and immediately drew blood. Kara was thrown back by the force of the strike, and landed hard on the ground.

She got on all fours, coughing out blood, but was determined to protect Alex. She stood slowly and unsteadily, and ran to meet Jeremiah again. The kryptonite was wearing her down, but she wouldn't let up. She didn't need her powers to fight, she had learned that much.

Kara looked over to her older sister, still struggling to catch her breath, and drew strength from her need to protect her. She kicked her adoptive father hard in the knee, and he screamed in pain as he fell to the floor.

Even though she had sufficiently subdued Jeremiah, her efforts had distracted her. She found herself being kneed ferociously in the stomach by Henshaw. She gasped as she felt her ribs breaking inside of her, but managed to pull away.

She landed a hard uppercut to Henshaw's chin, which threw him back slightly, but it wasn't enough to deter him. Hank backed up a couple paces, got a running start, jumped high into the air, and landed a brutal hook to Kara's jaw. Her body couldn't take it anymore, and she dropped to the ground.

Alex crawled over to where her sister laid, unmoving. She was afraid that she had just watched Kara get killed. When Alex finally reached her, an overwhelming sense of relief crashed over her when she saw Kara's chest rising and falling, albeit slow and uneven. Her eyes were still fighting to stay open, and her breathing was labored.

"Kara, please, stay with me. I know you can do it. Fight to stay awake, please. For me. They'll kill us both if you let go on me now."

Kara nodded slowly, but felt her will drain when she looked over and saw Hank approaching. She pressed up against Alex, covering her as much as possible, doing her best to protect her older sister in her current state.

And braced herself.

But nothing came.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw that J'onn had come to their rescue. He had just phased through the wall and tackled Hank to the floor. They were locked in fierce combat, so J'onn was too preoccupied to notice Lillian and Jeremiah escaping.

Hank finally bested J'onn and knocked him to the ground, making a beeline for the door. With all of them subdued and on the floor, no one was able to stop their escape.

Lillian turned back one last time. "It's over for you, kryptonian. Your time here is done." With that, she raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

Kara screamed in agony as she felt the bullet tear through the flesh and muscle in her stomach. Her hand flew to the wound as blood began pouring out.

Alex was a mess, but despite that, she was trying to help Kara keep pressure on the wound. She was too winded and injured to chase after them, and her little sister was seriously hurt. She had to focus.

Kara's vision faded in the corners, and she was losing consciousness. The pain was finally beginning to overwhelm her. She could barely make out her big sister frantically telling her to "stay with her" and to "keep her eyes open."

But she couldn't.

The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Lillian's smug smile and Jeremiah somberly shutting the door.