Chapter 5: Visions of the Future
Lena absorbed in Monica, her lips still tingling from her touch, her hands gently on the small of her back. The sight of the reporter, the bright face that used to bring relief to herself now sent her head spinning. There was nothing she could say that would explain the embrace. The warmth of Nova's hands was slipping away as her hands moved to her side. Oh no! Monica's head was turning to see the irritating distraction that stopped the kiss. Her gaze settled on the tall blonde not too far away. She was stunning yet dorky. Her fist was tightened to her side, while the other clutching a small purse. Nova's gaze pillaging Kara's body as she looked her up and down. Kara struggled not quiver over it. Monica instantly notices the glasses were unique, lined with lead. It was odd. Tony Stark once mentioned lead suppressed x-ray vision. He asked her once if she wanted lead contacts to mask her ever-changing eye color. She rejected the offer, claiming they'd only become vexing on the battlefield. She turned her head back to a fluttered slightly frozen Lena, brushed her supple hair behind her ear, gave her a hearten nod lending her some courage to speak. Lena gained her dispassion straightening her skirt. Kara, adjusted her glass to stop herself from obsessing over their fondness. This woman was closer to Lena then Kara had ever been. It showed blatantly, the way they looked at each other affectionate devoted to every second they shared. Echoing sounds of heels filled the silence. Lena stood in front of her desk both hands clenching onto it.
"S-Sorry to….uh interrupt, I can go," Kara said dim defeated relaxed her fist.
"Oh don't be rash, Kara. I superseded my time with Lena. My apologies." Monica reached for her cardigan tossed thoughtlessly onto Lena's chair. Lena looked behind her shoulder to Monica, who already had her cardigan on heading to her side. The tender exchange between them had officially passed. She yearned to be alone with her, to subside the heat between her legs.
"You're not leaving are you?" She asked.
Nova took in a breath, "Sadly yes. I have a meeting with Dirk Anger, at the Beyond Corporation soon. Plus, I never intended to interrupt your workday. It's important." Her attention drifted to the fidgety reporter. Kara was full on staring at Monica as she spoke to Lena.
Nova's eyebrows tightened out of curiosity. "It is Kara, right?"
"Oh, yes, Kara Danvers. I'm a friend of Lena's." She reached her hand out to Monica.
The palm of Monica's hand electrified as she moved closer to the blonde she shook Kara's hand dispatching a direct current through her whole body. Most people would wince at the contact snatched their hand away with a metallic distaste in their mouths. Kara shook firmly without even as much of a cringe. She hadn't even felt the current. When their hands parted a small spark danced between her fingertips. Kara's sense of equilibrium shifted jolted by Nova's touch. Lena noticed the spark. But, the spark did not alarm Nova. A glimmer of crimson red went over Kara's iris pattern. It gave Monica a chilling feeling. She swallowed the feeling to keep calm.
"Well, a friend of Lena's. I'm Monica Rambeau, take care of her while I'm gone. Will you?" She asked sweetly.
"Gone?" Lena's voice cut deep.
"I'll be back in a few days."
Lena's office door opened again stopping her very promoted protest. A young brown-skinned man stood well-dressed in a suit both hands in his pocket his shoulder keeping the door open wide enough for Monica to walk through.
"We're late." He said.
"I'm coming, Wally." She smiled briskly her head hung low walking to the door. Jess had just noticed Wally's appearance at her boss's door. He must have run up the side of the building slipped through an open window. Wally eyed the women in the room searching for the mystery woman he had heard so little about.
"Be careful," Lena warned her eyes softened. The feeling that hurt the most was the craving had already set in. She felt it in the back of her eyes as she watched Nova move toward the door joining his side. Her hand rose to her collarbone tracing it. Her heart had only one thought one need, despite her boiling feelings for Kara. All heart wanted was Nova.
Monica simply turned back gave Lena reassuring grin. "I'll miss you too, Little Luthor."
"How did she know I wanted to say that?" Lena thought.
As Monica passed Wally, he mouthed, "Damn, she's hot!" She blushed and just mouthed back "I know!" They both exchanged looks headed out the office into the small lobby down to the elevator. Jess's voice trailing off, "Hey, Hey, You!" Wally waved to her as the elevator door closed. The second the door was closed, Monica used her x-ray vision to look through the walls and focus on Kara. She scanned her whole body using every vision she could think of. "She runs hot. She's not human." She thought. A loud ding and they were both walking out of the elevator into the main lobby. Nova stopped outside of the elevator, her heart racing. Her head was tilted upward still watching Lena and Kara. She pinpointed her sight on Lena. The overriding feeling to protect her was screaming in her head. "Go now, before that thing hurts her!" She shook her head from trying to decide. "She wouldn't hurt Lena." She had to ensure her safety. It was unhinging Monica to the bone. "If she touches her, I'll..." She couldn't even think to hurt Kara. She couldn't understand why.
Wally's hand touched her back, "What's going on with you?"
"Lena... She might be in danger. I can't... I need to… I don't know." Rapidly her irises were changing intensity, the coloration gliding through the spectrum. Her hands transmitted heat. The lobby was empty except for the two security officers posted at the front entrance. Their attention fixated on the security cameras.
"Eyes." He whispered.
She impulsively grabs her sunglass out of her pocket quickly put them on.
"Do you want to stay? I can..."
"No, neither one of us can stay. I'm going to need you if things go south at the meeting." Monica found her bearings.
"Ok, let's hurry then." He said.
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Kara let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She looked at the door as it closed. Lena gestured Kara to sit, they joined each other on the leather couch. Those gray eyes were still burning in her mind. The pattern of her iris was something Kara had never seen before on this earth. They were stormy with golden streaks around the pupil, incredible structure. She bit down on her lip thinking about their intensity.
"What do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Kara?" Lena crossed her legs.
Kara had almost missed the question. "Who was that?" She blurted out.
"She introduced herself." She said cutting a glance at Kara.
"I know. I just-I meant.."
Lena raised her eyebrows, "Who is she to me?"
"No. Well, yes. But, no. I've never seen her here at L Corp. You haven't mentioned her before."
"Monica and I attended Yale together. She recently returned to town." A notification went off on Lena's laptop. She had a meeting in the conference room. "I'm sorry to cut our chat short, I have a meeting."
"Oh, it's fine. I should get going." Kara rose from the couch, collecting her purse, headed to the door. Her hand was on the cold handle, "Lena, I'm sorry if I was too forward last night."
She left leaving Lena stunned. She rose from the couch headed to her desk sitting down, looked over her schedule with Kara words heavy on her mind. Kara wanted more from her than friendship. She had always felt her feelings were one-sided. Most of the time they had spent together Lena made attempts at flirting with her. Kara seemed oblivious to the advances. Stomaching Kara's affections and her clear love for Nova put her in knots.
The notification rang again, and she left to her meeting. Which was thorough the board had been reviewing projections all morning. They were hammering her with numbers. She was unprepared for. On top of the fact, her mind kept getting distracted by either Nova or Kara. Vigorous conversations spread out for hours until the meeting was over.
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Monica and Wally arrive at State 51, a ship-like factory, floated over a base operation restricted from civilian access. Dirk Anger, complete douche bag, who claimed he was much older than ninety years old retaining his young with special drugs provided by the corporation. The meeting was brief direct to the point. Monica and Wally needed funding to form the Nextwave. After Dirk saw their powers first hand, he was happy to shell out the cash. Under a condition of course, they would have to become private agents for Beyond. Dirk hell-bent on fighting terrorism throw Monica and Wally in with the new recruits. Wally quickly passed the basic tests. His training (with Monica) showed to the other recruits. They had to put in triple the effort just to seem subpar. Monica didn't want Dirk to know the full extent of her powers. She only gave minimum effort. Dirk yelled at her to improve, Wally spoke up to defend her. Dirk shut him down by demanding more agonizing training for both.
Monica spent her downtime lurking around restricted areas weaseling her way in through suggestible guards. She uncovered secrets about Beyond that weren't far from her expectations. A few days had passed the final test was approaching. Wally was running low on stamina. Monica knew she had to pick up what he was lacking. The whole recruitment class was deployed with a mission to take down a specific target. A veteran of Beyond accompanied the rookies to ensure the target was neutralized. Monica had gotten her hands dirty with the Avengers. When it came down it she instructed Wally to hang back. He wasn't ready for the reality of being a contracted hit man. Another recruit took the kill shot to be able to brag to Dirk. Once, the mission was completed those left alive returned to ship. Dirk, himself, commended those who returned. Only six out of twenty made it to the end of training. The others would fall in line into their positions at Beyond Corporation. Except, for the two most remarkable recruits Beyond had ever seen. Dirk made good on his promise to fund Nextwave. All new agents received tracker chips implanted underneath their forearm. Monica purchased a closed government facility outside of National City with the acquired funds. Considering it was in the terrible condition she got it dirt cheap. It was structurally gorgeous with access to seven levels of underground raw space. Wally only approved of the facility after she offered him a full floor to himself as an incentive to agree. His engineering skills came into serious use. They came up with a floor plan. The renovations took an additional three more days. Monica's apartment took up the entire top floor. Wally took the level above the two training levels.
There tracking devices from Beyond was long gone. Implanted in alley cats to keep Beyond out of their business. Just when they thought no one was tracking them they both landed themselves on one of the D.E.O's potential threat boards. Supergirl gulped when she saw Monica's picture on the board. Occupied by the renovations Wally hadn't even noticed Monica's strange behavior. She was normally an utter goofball with him. She'd been keeping to herself for days, even snuck out at night. Monica was lost in her own thoughts consumed by her own future. Supergirl was sent to gather information on the new threats. The facility sat isolated from any neighborhoods possible prying eyes. She flew over the building. A neon sign on the front of the building read Agents of H.A.T.E. Supergirl looked inside using her x-ray vision only to spotted two people inside. She moved in to get a better look. Through the glass window, she could see, yellow strike circling around a ping-pong table. "A speedster." She noticed a small white ball being bounced back and forth. The outline of his body became clear. He was playing himself. A woman fitting Monica's description was laying across a couch, snuggling a miniature bear to her chest, her arm hung off the couch fingertip touching a tablet on a nearby coffee table. The beautiful creature was fast asleep. Supergirl edged closer to the window. She listened to her enduring heartbeat. A space in her own heart seemed to melt the longer she watched Monica sleep. It groaned for her. Monica tried turning over into another position, a quiet whimper escaped, she'd held her side returning to her previous position. The fuss was faint but Kara heard it. She was injured. The desire to rush inside to assess her wounds came across Kara but Supergirl couldn't.
The yellow strike sped off into a distant room. He returned with a cozy blanket, laid it on her sleeping body, turned down the lights. Supergirl finally placed him, he gathered Monica from Lena's office. She couldn't recall the name she called him. He appeared younger without the fancy suit on. He'd sped off into an elevator leaving Monica alone. She peacefully slept. Kara couldn't pull herself to stop watching her. Johnn's voice in her ear broke her concentration.
"Supergirl, what do you see?" Johnn said.
"Two people are inside." She replied.
"What are they up to?"
"Nothing. They aren't a threat."
"Return to the DEO."
In minutes she was on her way back to the DEO muscle memory must have kicked in, her mind was swirling with thoughts of Monica. Her mouth dried thinking about her. Those intense eyes, subtle jawline, sensual lips, muscular frame, sweet scent, captivating smile, reddish-brown skin, dark golden brown hair that sashayed to her mid-back. Kara shook her head trying to focus on flying. She landed in the DEO she knew Johnn would debrief her on the targets. Alex got to her first thankfully.
"So, what were they?" she asked, "They've been spotted buying a lot of equipment."
Kara looked around before answering, "Can I talk to you alone?"
"Yeah, of course. You alright?"
"I'm not sure."
Alex ordered the personal to clear out the room.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"A few days ago, I met her." She pointed at the picture of Monica on the crime board. "Her name is Monica Rambeau ever since. I've been feeling strange."
"Did she do something to you?" Alex put both of her hands on Kara's shoulder, searching for any sign of distress.
"No, not like that Alex. I feel my whole world has shifted. It's her. I am sure of it now. I thought I liked someone else. Lena, but I think I was wrong." She paced back and forth avoiding Alex's eyes.
"Wait, Lena Luthor?!"
Kara looked down then back at her sister, "Yes. I didn't tell you because I thought you'd flip out."
Alex's expression softened, "You can tell me anything Kara."
"I know but..."
"You thought I wouldn't give her a chance because she is a Luthor."
Kara nodded fiddling with her hands.
"Kara, you've been so supportive of Maggie and I. The least I can do is return the favor."
Kara gleamed happy, "So you're not upset?"
"No. How does Monica fit-in in all of this?"
"I have dreams about her. We're together, like together together. "
"Oh." Alex floored not expecting that.
"I think I, sometimes, feel what she is feeling emotionally. The other day, for example, she felt so strong but today she's lonely. It's intense not being around her. I want to protect her." She inched closer to Alex. "After, we touched everything changed."
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