mandrade122802 - That is exactly the route I'm taking this torture, but with a little twist... And by little, I mean large :) I'm definitely excited for the change in dynamic now that Alex is there with her. Will she resist the torture to prevent Lillian from getting what she wants? Or will she just accept it to keep Alex safe? A very interesting dynamic I'm excited to explore!
Jeremiah could do nothing but shake his head. He turned to Alex's guard and ordered for him to knock her out. Alex began to protest, but she was defenseless because of her cuffs.
He easily punched her in the head, knocking her out, before turning back to Jeremiah. "Sir, you didn't want to tell her?"
"It's probably best if she doesn't know. Had we told her, then she would not have taken it well."
"But sir, we'll be putting them together when we get there, I don't understand why I had to knock her out..."
Jeremiah sharply turned around and snapped. "Agent Pearson, you knocked her out because I told you to. Here at Cadmus, we follow orders, and I fully expect you to obey your superior. That should not even have to be said."
"But she was defenseless, and not to mention your own daughter! This is so wrong..."
He stopped midway through his sentence when he saw the glare Jeremiah was shooting him. He sighed. "Yes, sir."
Agent Hunter Pearson had never been one to agree with Cadmus, especially with the way they treated their subjects. But, they had helped him, and he had to repay his debt. After a rogue alien killed his parents, he was found by a Cadmus agent and was taken in.
Cadmus had saved him.
At first, he hadn't noticed how corrupt and truly horrid the organization was. He had been blinded by his gratefulness. But staring at Alex's limp form now, cuffs on, body turned towards her own father who had ordered her to be knocked out, it was really starting to get through to him how wrong this whole thing really was.
He worked for Cadmus out of obligation, and he hated every minute of it. But he couldn't risk leaving, because they would find him, and most likely kill him. He had been able to work his way pretty high up into the Cadmus ladder, and if he just all of a sudden up and left, that would be a one way ticket to a funeral.
So, he shut up and stopped protesting against Jeremiah, feeling horrible for what they were doing to their newest victims. Little did Hunter know, the sisters and Cadmus had... an extensive history...
Something he would soon find out on his own.
-00-
Alex awoke and jolted up immediately, shaking the stars out of her vision. Having been knocked out twice in as many hours had really messed up her head. She had a pounding headache and her vision was blurry. As she sat there trying to process what was even happening, her vision began to clear, very slightly.
That's when her wandering eyes immediately found Kara lying unconscious in the cell next to hers. And that's when she noticed that she too, was in a cell.
She immediately stood up, finding her hands to be uncuffed, and raced to the other side of her cell. Alex called out to Kara in hopes of waking her up.
Didn't take.
She decided to wait a little longer for Kara to come to on her own and surveyed their surroundings. It appeared they were in a large room, walls lined with green kryptonite, and they were both in what looked to be steel cells.
This was Cadmus.
As she took time to let that sink in, her hope began to dwindle. They're going to kill Kara, and I can't do anything to stop them. She finally... She finally healed from the first time they did this, and they had to take her again. What if she never recovers?
Alex pounded on the bars in frustration. All she ever had to do was protect her little sister, and she couldn't even do that. After letting Kara be taken all those years back, she somehow managed to let it happen again. She was jolted out of her thoughts by a moan of pain from Kara.
Immediately, she rushed over to the side of her cell closest to Kara. She called through the bars. "Kar, hey... Kara, are you okay? Say something... Please."
Kara responded by rolling over and coughing out blood onto the cell floor. She responded dryly. "Doing just dandy, Alex." She looked up to find her big sister's wide and worried eyes staring back at her, and decided to cut her some slack. "I'm serious, Lex. I'm okay. Don't worry, we'll get out of here."
That's when she took the time to properly investigate their surroundings for the first time. She found herself in a cell, and the walls were lined with green. "Lex, where exactly is... here? Don't tell me it's..."
Alex could do nothing but nod. "Dad was there when they crashed the truck into us. He wouldn't tell me where you were, and I- I thought you were dead..." Tears threatened to spill out of her wide brown eyes.
"Oh, Lex..." She did her best impression of a struggling worm, dragging herself with her single good arm and pushing with her bloody leg to reach Alex. She gripped her older sister's hand tight and reassured her. "I'm here, Alex. I'm right here, and I'm fine. A little banged up, but I'll make it. You don't have to worry, I'm not going anywhere. We'll get out of here."
She said it with conviction that she didn't quite believe in herself. Flashing Alex a shaky attempt at a reassuring smile, she pulled closer until they were joined at the edges of their cells. Alex just squeezed her little sister's hand wordlessly, unsure of how exactly they were going to get out.
Right then, Lillian and Jeremiah burst through the doors, Hank following close behind. Alex immediately stood, not showing any fear. As Lillian stepped towards Kara's cell, Alex's eyes lit ablaze. "Don't. You. Dare. Touch her."
An amused smile came over Lillian's face, eyes glinting a sickening green. "Alexandra! It isn't so fun being on that side of the cell, now is it? And what exactly... are you planning to do about it? Hm? Last I checked, you're in a cell, and I'm not. Your little thing of a sister is also in a cell, and I'm not, so neither of you have any power against me. Funny how that works, no?"
Alex turned to Jeremiah and pleaded with him. "Dad, you can't seriously be supporting this. We are your daughters. Us. Me and Kara. How can you be going along with this?"
Jeremiah shook his head, rage pouring through his eyes. "No, Alex. You are my daughter. That thing is not." He motioned towards Kara. "Can't you see that she's ruined your life?! Ruined our family? Ruined me? Can't you see that all she brings around her is darkness? That she ruins everything you hold dear to your heart?"
Alex shot back. "Don't talk about her like that! None of that is even true, and you full well know it. How can you even say that when you're the one standing on that side of the cell?! You betrayed your family! We took Kara in, and she traded herself for the good of our family, so you wouldn't have to! Unless you forgot that?"
Jeremiah just smirked. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm on the right side of this cell and that's all that matters. If you want to stand by Kara, then you'll remain on the wrong side. Simple. You want to pull out this line about how noble Kara was when she traded herself. But she didn't do it to protect us, or to protect you. She did it because she realized that everything was her fault."
Alex was about to retort when she was cut off by a coughing spasm from Kara. She looked over and realized that Kara had been silent through this whole exchange, and was now coughing up more blood onto the floor. Her heart broke just a little more at the sight of her sister. Kara just couldn't seem to catch a break.
"Just... What do you want with her?"
Lillian took charge of the conversation again. "Same as we've always had. To create a weapon. Dear ol' Dad over here has been working for years and years on a weapon that has the potential to rid us of every little sliver of alien scum living on this planet. And your poor excuse of a sister over there has what we need to power it... A special kind of solar energy."
Alex just stared at her, not entirely comprehending what was being said. Lillian saw this and continued. "When she uses her heat vision, she harnesses the same frequency and wavelength of any normal sun ray, but she emits it with a different energy output. She harnesses sunlight energy to create her own form of heat, and that kind of energy is exactly what we need to power this."
"And what exactly is this so-called weapon you speak of? Why do you need Kara's solar energy to power it?"
Lillian snorted. "As if I'd tell you. Alexandra, these are all things you'll learn in due time. For now, I'll leave the alien with you to heal. We'll turn off the kryptonite emitters in the walls and stream sunlight into this room so she can get her powers back. As soon as tomorrow comes, we're starting experiments. And we need her heat vision if she's going to be useful."
As Lillian made a move to leave, Kara stopped her. "Lillian, if you only need me for the solar energy, then why do you need Alex? She can't give you what you need, and she is a trained agent who could probably figure out a way to escape with me. Having her here is a risk. Just take me and leave her alone. You wouldn't want to risk her getting us both out. If you let her leave, I'll cooperate willingly. You can do whatever you want to me."
Alex could see exactly what Kara was doing. She was sacrificing herself to get Alex to walk free. She shook her head vigorously, but Kara ignored it.
Lillian responded. "Oh? Is that so? Quite an intriguing proposition you have presented to me, alien. However, it's not as cut and dry as you may think. Though I admire your apparent selflessness, I am utterly disgusted by your lack of self-preservational instincts. This is why you're too weak to beat me. You'll never win, simply because you care too much about others, and not enough about yourself.
And plus, we do in fact need Alexandra. Both of you are required if we want to pull this off successfully. There are other things at play here that neither of you could possibly even hope to understand..." She contemplated saying something but decided against it.
"We'll be back tomorrow morning to begin the final phase of our mission. You two should get some rest. You'll need it." And with that, she briskly walked away, laughing maniacally.
The door slammed shut as they left. A couple seconds later, solar lamps around the room lit up, all pointed towards Kara, as the green in the walls simultaneously faded away. Kara and Alex looked to each other, unsure of anything that was going on.
Jeremiah completely denying any involvement with Kara, this whole thing about a massive doomsday weapon.
It was all too much.
Alex walked towards Kara and reached her hand out through the cell bars. As she squeezed her little sister's hand in a show of support, and gratitude for her willingness to sacrifice herself (though she was still not happy about it), so many different thoughts and questions were swirling around in her head.
How am I going to get us out of this? What is the doomsday weapon? What happened to Dad? I need to warn J'onn... I have to get Kara out, they'll kill her if they deplete her of enough solar energy...
Kara sat opposite Alex and she too was absorbed in her thoughts. But only one specific question was important to her.
Why would Lillian need Alex?