A/N: Hey, y'all! I hope you guys enjoyed last chapter! There's a lot of hidden things in this story that I have purposely put in to foreshadow the big bad and problem. I hope y'all are catching them! Well, here we go!
Chapter 15
Kara's mouth fell open as she stared in front of her. She had no reason to believe a word he was saying. He was a criminal. A genius who was an expert at manipulation. Krypton was dead. He had no right to promise her a world that had killed itself out of selfish desires.
She often longed for her home. The way the red sun felt on her skin. The beautiful architecture. It was a place she often escaped to when things were confusing in her life. It was her crucible and just as Oliver Queen had Lian Yu, she had Krypton. It was her reminder of a world she could have lived in. A lifestyle that she should have lived in, but fate had not intended that for her. She had a different purpose in life and as much as she wanted to return to her world, she had so much here that she couldn't give up.
She scowled at the man in front of her, surprised at how easily he had gotten under her skin.
"Krypton is dead, and how do you know my name?"
He smiled at her, stepping closer. "I was told your name, and no, Kara. Krypton is still alive, and I can take you there. To live out the rest of your childhood. To be Kara Zor-El instead of having to live out a lie. You were never meant to be a human. You adopted the mission to save the world, but you cannot even seem to do that. You let Mon-El be sacrificed, Astra be killed, and you killed Non. How can you be a hero if those closest to you suffer? Run away. Go to Krypton."
Kara turned and rammed her shoulder into the person behind her. The man stumbled back and she rushed towards Lex, inches from reaching him, until strong hands pulled her back to her spot. Her hands scratched against the hard metal, and she could feel her skin tearing from the abrasion. She shook her head at him, disgusted.
"Krypton is dead," she repeated. "Krypton is dead, but Earth is still here, and I refuse to let you wreak havoc against it. This is my planet and no matter what you offer me, I will not return to a planet that was so ignorant of their destruction, but I will do everything I can to make sure that you are put behind bars."
"I expected no less from you. I had hope, but it was clear whose side you are on," Lex replied, motioning for the guards to leave them.
Kara's stomach churned as she recognized what was happening. This was a distraction. A way to keep her from the team.
"What have you done, Lex?" she asked, her voice filled with panic.
"I told you before. I'm not a fool. You see, I am sure you know about our project, but the problem was getting it to grow like a regular human. We enlisted the help of my dear sister and she fixed the problem for me. However, we needed something from you," he said, stepping forward and grabbing something from her neck.
"What is that? What have you done?" Kara pressed, each second increasing her worry.
"It is a device that analyzes your body structure. I had the guards place it on you when you were taken from the car." He pressed his finger to the metal cuffs, the steel falling to the ground.
"What are you doing?"
"You have choice before Superboy is unleashed. You can either make sure your dear sister and boyfriend are safe, or you can make sure Lena is. Either way, one of them won't survive. I have my driver prepared to ram the car off a cliff, and Max Lord is currently ready to kill Lena. Don't worry. I'll even tell you were she is. I have her in a research facility on the outskirts of Metropolis." He smiled at her. "One final choice before Superboy finishes the job and everyone you love is killed."
"No! Please no! You won't kill your sister!" Kara was panicking. She needed to be in two places at once. She couldn't lose someone else.
"I am sorry, Kara. I gave you a chance to return to Krypton without having to make this choice, but you have refused. You have chosen to face this consequence. Better make a choice fast," he warned.
She stepped towards the man, her eyes quickly changing from its normal bright blue. He stepped back, the heat from her eyes nearly igniting his skin.
"I suggest you let me go and make a choice. Me or your family?"
Kara's eyes pulsed for a second before slowly changing back to their normal color. She shook her head at the man and pressed down with her feet, catapulting herself in the air. The Bluetooth in her ear was turned on, and she prayed that Kal was listening.
"Kal? Kal, are you there? Please be there."
The com crackled before she heard his voice. "Kara, is that you?"
"Kal? Thank, Rao. I need you to find Alex and Barry! They're heading towards National City, but they're in danger! Alert Bruce that the experiment is about to be released!"
"Kara, what are you talking about? Where are you going?"
"Just go, Kal! We don't have time!"
She heard the wind as he sped around the DEO, whipping papers all over the room. She turned off the com, propelling her body faster than ever before. She could feel herself gaining in speed as she concentrated, fear driving her faster and faster. Lena was her best friend. She would not die for her.
Kara tilted her head, her ears working to pick up a sound. Anything to lead her to the research facility where Lena was being held. She heard a scream in the distance and immediately directed herself towards the noise. Her body crashed through the door and into the room, seeing Lillian in front of Lena with Max holding a gun at them. He had dried blood around the front of his suit, and his nose was red.
"I'm sorry, Lena. I got new orders. Turns out you aren't going to be bait for Supergirl. Step out of the way, Lillian."
"Never."
Fear climbed through her body, nearly choking her. Kara rushed in the room, everything moving in slow motion. She was inches from reaching Lena before someone tackled her, throwing her into the wall. She grunted from the force, hands slamming her head into cement. Kara's head smashed into her attacker's nose, driving him backwards. The person flew back, and Kara got a glimpse of the man. Of the boy really. He had blonde hair, like her own….no, he had everything like her own. This boy was…her…but not. She held her hands up as he stared at her, no emotion in his eyes.
"Who are you? You don't have to do this," she pleaded with him.
His eyes showed no recognition that he understood what she was saying, nor did he make any efforts to slow down. His fist clenched, and Kara recognized the squinting look on his face. Quickly, she threw herself out of the way as the beams of light exploded from his eyes. Kara rushed towards him, her arms slipping around his neck. Her hand was laid on the top his head while the other squeezed against his throat. The boy kicked backwards, and her grip lessened, allowing him a second to grab her hands and throw her in front of him.
Lena looked around, seeing the clone fighting Supergirl. Max's attention had shifted, and his finger had paused on the trigger. She had a chance. Before she could take another step, Max's eyes returned to the two women. Lillian pressed her hand against her daughter's upper body, keeping her from moving.
"Lena, I never wanted you involved in this. Despite what we've gone through, daughter, I do love you. These aliens and metahumans are not good for this world, but you were never supposed to join this. I am sorry." Lillian smiled at her confused daughter and reached behind her, pulling out a gun.
She was the leader of Cadmus, and she would be damned if she walked into a meeting with Max Lord without a gun. She raised the gun and slowly stepped towards the power-driven man.
"Max, you are never going to leave this building alive."
He smiled at her. "I'm not sure about that," he replied, his eyes narrowing.
Lillian could feel the pressure begin to build and the gun slowly tilt towards her own abdomen. She could hear Lena behind her, trying to negotiate with Max, but she could only focus on how fast it seemed to be moving. Lena grabbed her hands, trying to pry the gun from her. She shook her head. Her daughter was strong, and she should have expected Lena wouldn't stand there and let Max kill them.
"No, Lena. Go!" she screamed as the two of them tried to stop the gun's positioning.
"Mother, shut up! I can help!"
"Lena, for god's sake just go! Leave and escape!" Lillian shouted.
Lena shook her head at her, eying everything around her. Max was currently holding his head, as blood poured from his nose. She didn't know the extent of these powers but suspected he couldn't control multiple people at once without losing a significant amount of blood. She grabbed a microscope from the table beside her and rushed the man, raising it over her head. Her arms came down, the microscope making its slow decent onto his head.
Barry Allen jerked awake, his feet smacking into a body next to him. His eyes roamed the car as he struggled to remember what had happened. The events from the past hour flooded back, and his eyes widened as he realized what happened. He grunted as he sat up and saw Alex laying down next to him. He kicked her, the woman jumping up and glaring at the man in front of her. She grimaced at the pain of sitting up too quickly and groaned.
"Damn. What happened?"
"Lex is what happened. He took Kara and shoved us in our lovely car," Barry muttered, his ego still burning. The fastest man in the universe, and he was trapped by a genius psychopath…in a car. "Oliver is going to have blast shoving this in my face."
"What?" Alex asked, trying to loosen the rope tying her wrists back.
"I said Oliver is going to be disappointed in me."
"Yeah, he probably is. The two most powerful people on this earth and you just got trapped in a damn car. Pretty disappointing."
Barry rolled his eyes and smiled, seeing the rope fall from Alex's wrists.
"Wow. Whoever tied this clearly didn't know what he was doing."
"That's great. Do you still have your gun?"
She shook her head. "No, they must have taken it before they shoved us in here." She eyed his metahuman cuffs. "I might be able to unlock those and then you can phase us out of here, right?"
He nodded and held out his wrists in front of his body. "Take your best shot, Alex."
She slammed her watch onto the floor of the car, breaking it into smaller pieces. Taking the hands of the clock, she pulled the thin metal from inside it. She pushed the small pin inside the metahuman cuffs, using it to pry open the inner workings. Taking a deep breath, she shrugged and continued.
"This will either work or not and end up killing us both," she muttered to herself.
"Don't worry, Alex. I trust you."
"I sure as hell hope so," she said, pressing the point to the side of the wire and snapping it in half. The bright blue light immediately dimmed, and Barry grinned, his body vibrating. His molecules phased through the metal cuffs, and they fell to the ground. His body slowed, and he high-fived Alex.
"Awesome job, Alex. I knew you could do it. Kara said you're practically a genius."
"Thanks. Let's go get Kara."
He nodded and grabbed her arm. The car swerved and smacked into the edge of the road, the bumper cracking and the momentum completely stopping. The impact threw the side of the car into the railing and it broke, the car swinging off the cliff. Lighting flashed through Barry's eyes as he made a split second decision. Alex's face was terrified as she clutched at the necklace around her neck. She had worn it until she felt she could give it to Kara, and it seemed like it was her lifeline the way she was holding it in her hands. His arms reached for her again, and he began vibrating, the two of them matching patterns and phasing through the car. It smacked into the water, immediately sinking, and Barry frowned, reminded that he couldn't fly. The two of them quickly fell from their position in the air and were suddenly on the side of the road, a streak of blue and red passing through their field of vision.. Alex fell to the ground on her back, her hands rubbing her face as she laughed.
"I'm not even sure what just happened, but thanks, Clark."
Clark smiled, setting Barry down. "I'm glad you just bought you both some time, Barry. I was afraid you would hit the water and the impact would kill you both. Out of curiosity though, what was your plan after you phased through the car?"
"Not sure. My only plan was try not to die. After that point, I was just improvising."
Clark grinned. "Well, good job anyways." His smile was gone as quickly as it had come, and he bit his lip. "Kara called me and said to make sure you both were okay. She sounded like she was in trouble."
Fear immediately grappled at both Alex and Barry as they thought about what might be happening. "We need to find her," they both said.
Kara was fighting to keep from accidentally killing him. He wasn't holding back and no matter what anyone said, she still considered him a living human. He had a brain and a heart, and she couldn't bring herself to kill him. She blocked another punch and was surprised when a burst of heat vision threw her back. Her body crashed into the pole behind her, and she pulled herself up from the ground.
He jabbed at her head, and she ducked, twisting and slamming her elbow against his cheek. He stumbled backwards, and she leaped up and fell down, her hands connecting in a fist and smashing onto his head. He fell to his knees but pushed off from the ground, his fist smacking into her chin. Her body flew through the air and landed a few feet back. She could taste the coppery blood in her mouth, and she spit, the taste reminding her that this boy was on par with her strength. He stalked towards her, his fist clenched.
Lena saw Supergirl on the ground in her peripheral vision. The situation was almost too cruel to be real. Supergirl was fighting to live, not defeat, her mother was fighting against her own mind, and still Lena hesitated from smashing the microscope on Max's head. He was on his knees below her, the blood splattering from his nose and onto the floor. Closing her eyes, she heard a gunshot, crash, and body fall to the ground.
Barry, Alex, and Clark crashed through the building, Clark's hearing alerting them to where Kara was. The three of them slowed to a stop, watching everything unfold in front of them. They saw Lillian fall as a bullet lodged itself into her stomach. They saw Lena smash the microscope over Max Lord's head and his body fall to the ground. They saw as Kara turned to see them and the momentary distraction allowing for Superboy to channel all of his strength into the hit that threw Kara's entire body into the ceiling above them. They saw as it came crashing back down in front of them, and the blood that poured from a deep gash on her forehead.
Barry's eyes blurred and his body shook from anger. He screamed, and his body shot towards the clone. The shock from the very fast man allowed for Superboy to be tackled to the ground. Alex rushed towards her sister, grabbing her head and setting it in her lap. Clark wasn't far behind, his body catapulting towards the small boy resembling Kara.
Lena turned to see the three new people enter and barely recognized the fact that she had just bashed the billionaire's head in. Her mother had just collapsed along with Supergirl, and she suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. Ignoring the paralyzing feeling, she rushed towards Project Superboy.
"Red Sun!" she yelled over and over again, hoping to reach him through the frenzy of fighting in front of her. The clone turned to look at her and suddenly stopped everything that he was doing. He body stiffened, and he remained still, throwing both Barry and Clark off.
"Uh, Superman?" Barry asked, his vibrating fist ready to smash into its face.
"I don't know, Flash," he responded, confused.
Lena walked up behind them, her eyes hardened. "I installed some failsafe measures in his programming. What I said was just a code word to essentially freeze him and then wake him up after his brain has had time to reboot."
Barry nodded and ran, not really caring and eager to check up on Kara.
Clark gave the woman a tired smile. "Thank you, Lena. You saved our lives."
"It's the least I could've done. This was my mother's fault. Hers, my brother's, and that son of bitch Max."
"We will make sure to take care of this, Lena. Did you need anything?"
She shook her head. "I just need to leave. I don't even know how to begin to process everything that has happened."
Clark shook her hand. "I need to check up on Supergirl. Thank you, Lena."
The woman had large circles under her eyes, but she still smiled, walking away to her mother's body. She crouched in front of her, her mother's body shaking. Lena grabbed the gun in her hand and pulled it away from her.
"Why did you do that? You knew he could turn it against you."
Lillian smiled. "I needed to buy time. He was already in pain and adding to his struggle bought enough time for you to take care of Max."
Lena could feel the wetness build up behind her eyes. Her mother had been the source for so much pain and so much suffering, yet she had always loved her. She had strived to make her proud, to make her feel like Lena was worthwhile. It was the natural feeling for a child to want their mother to love them, but no matter what Lena did, she always felt inadequate. Now her mother was dying right now, and she could do nothing. She could ask for the Flash or even Superman to try and fly her to a nearby hospital, but it was too late. Her mother would die.
"Lena, I need you to leave. Do not trust the heroes. Do not trust anyone. I do not care if they saved you. No one can be trusted."
Lena shook her head. "You still won't give up. Supergirl saved my life. They all did. She believed in me."
Lillian grimaced, the pain spreading quickly. She shivered, suddenly feeling very very cold. It was the end. She knew that, yet she wasn't ready. Lillian smiled. That's what death was, though. A force of nature that often took you even though you weren't ready. It was her bastard son's fault and the thing he worked for. It was the so called superheroes of the world's fault. Her face hardened. She was going to hit them hard. One last act of defiance.
"Supergirl has lied to you. Your best friend, Kara Danvers, has lied to you," she managed, before her eyes widened and the last breath was pushed from her mouth.
Lena shook her mother, trying to get her wake up. "Mother? What? No! Mother!" A single tear fell down her cheek and onto the floor. She knew that her mother was an awful person. A serial killer, but she couldn't help but feel like a piece of her was ripped out. She had always held out hope for her mother's redemption. Now there was no chance.
Clark approached the three of them, crouching beside his cousin and placing his hand on her cheek. The cuts were already beginning to close and it was only a matter of time before they disappeared forever. It was a relief and all of them were slightly afraid that she wouldn't heal the same after everything the she had been through before.
Her eyes fluttered, and Alex lifted her head. "Kara? Kara? Are you okay?"
She frowned. "Ouch. That went well. The experiment Cadmus made can really hit."
Barry bit his lip and stared at her, turning to Alex. "What the hell did she just say?"
Worry creased Alex's forehead. "Kara?"
"Alex? This isn't good."
Alex's head dropped, and she gave Barry a tired smile. "Well, good news is I know what she's saying. Bad news is, she's speaking Kryptonese."
"What? Why the hell is she speaking Kryptonese?" Barry asked.
Alex ran her hand over her sister's forehead. "I think when the experiment hit her, he hit her hard enough to give her some alien version of aphasia." She peered into her sister's eyes, trying to make sure no other part of her brain was injured.
Clark shook his head. "As if we haven't been through enough." He narrowed his eyes. "I didn't know you spoke Kryptonese."
"Yeah, well when Kara had landed, she didn't speak English. I had to teach her English and then she taught me Kryptonese."
Kara sat up and groaned, pressing her hand to the back of her head. "Alex, I can understand you guys, I just can't find the right words to respond. All I can think of are words in Kryptonese."
Alex smiled, pressing her hand to her back to keep her upright. "That's usually how it goes when you get aphasia. Can you just stay still sometimes? And, oh, I don't know, don't get hurt!"
Kara groaned and tentatively stood, all three people trying to help her up. "I don't need your help! I can stand up!"
Barry looked to Clark. "Any idea what she's saying?"
Clark shook his head. "I grew up on earth. No one taught me to speak Kryptonese."
Alex rolled her eyes at him. "Don't worry about it. We should probably head back to the DEO and get this situated. I want to make sure she doesn't have any more brain damage."
Kara's eyes widened, and she ran to Lena, the trio following close behind the blue blur.
Lena sat on her knees, her hands lingering on her mother's body. It was obvious the woman had died, and Kara didn't know how to approach her. She still didn't know she was Supergirl, and she still needed to maintain that boundary between them. She laid her hand on her back, and Lena twisted to look at her, her eyes misting, but her jawline set.
"Thank you, Supergirl. You saved my life. Again."
Kara nodded, and Alex stepped towards the woman. "I'm sorry. Is there anything you need at the moment?"
Lena shook her head, and stood up, her posture ridged and tense. "You can take care of the body. I have other things I need to take care of. Where are we?"
"You're on the outskirts of Metropolis. I have agents already proceeding to the scene. They should be here any moment. I will make sure to have a car deliver you back to National City. We have to go back to our facility. Is there anything else you need?" Alex asked, trying to gauge Lena's emotions.
The woman was stoic. Her face showed no emotion, pain, or recognition that her mother had just died. Max's crumpled form was next to them, and he had blood pooling on the floor beside him from his nose and the blow he took to the head.
Clark tilted his head gestured to Alex. "The agents are pulling up. We should head back."
Alex nodded. "Superman, take Supergirl back to the DEO. I'll have the Flash—" she paused, seeing the mischievous grin that spread across his face.
"Yeah, no."
He laughed. "C'mon, Alex. You have to."
Agents entered the building, quickly moving throughout to clear any evidence that they were there. The four exited, at a standstill outside, Alex facing Barry with her arms crossed and Kara shaking her head beside Clark.
"Don't tell me what I have to do, Allen. I will take a car back if I have to, damn it!
"Alex, just let him carry you back! The sooner we get to the DEO, the sooner we can figure out what's wrong with me!"
Alex whipped around to face her sister, scowling. "Clark can fly you back, and I will catch up later! Mom and dad can figure something out!"
"Alex, you're being unreasonable! We need to get back and recap."
She glared at the three of them, Clark raising his hands.
"I didn't say anything."
"Dammit, Barry. Just go slow," Alex muttered, her face already turning green at the thought.
"You got it," he responded, the four of them speeding towards National City.
Alex felt her stomach heave as he navigated the terrain. The wind was slapping her face, and it was all she could do to keep from heaving everything in her stomach up before they even got back to the facility.
The fast paced scenery stopped suddenly, and Alex's head nearly burst from the immediate stilling of trees and shrubs whooshing by. Her hands rested on her knees, and she bent over, mumbling obscenities.
"I swear, I never want to do that again," she said, pushing Barry.
Clark landed a second later, his armed wrapped protectively over Kara. Before they had a chance to get a word out, Jeremiah and Eliza rushed them, Caitlin following close behind. The two parents wrapped their arms around their children, pulling them close.
"Alex? What happened? Only Kara was wearing her suit since she always has it under her clothes, but the camera on her chest piece kept cutting in and out. We couldn't get a straight shot of what was happening."
Alex softly pushed her parents away, looking them in the eye. "It's a long story."
Kara rolled her eyes. "Understatement of the year."
Both of their mouths fell open. "Is she speaking Kryptonese?" Eliza asked, shocked and stunned.
"Yeah. The project they were working on packed quite the punch. We need to get her back to the room so we can run tests."
Jeremiah eyes closed, angry at Cadmus, at their experiment, but mostly at himself. He was responsible for this. He was the catalyst. He was their smartest asset, and he had no doubt that he might have inadvertently aided their research. It was most definitely has fault that she had been taken and tortured.
Alex saw the look on her father's face. She knew it well. It was a look that both she and Kara had worn many times throughout their life.
"Stop it, dad. It's not your fault."
"It is though. I helped them. I worked for them."
"You didn't have a choice, sweetheart. You did it to protect Kara. To protect our family," Eliza argued.
"We can discuss this later. We really need to get her down to her room," Alex responded, shutting down the conversation.
She grabbed Kara by the arm, practically dragging her down the hallway, Cait and her parents following close behind.
Caitlin opened the door, motioning inside. "You know the drill, Kara."
She plopped down on the bed, both doctors already electrodes onto her forehead to monitor brain activity. Alex pulled up a chair next to her, leaning close.
"You need to stop."
Kara stared at her, her eyes narrowed in confusion. "What do you mean stop?"
"I mean you have rushed in twice. We have rushed in twice and nearly gotten ourselves killed! I refuse to let it happen a third."
"Thanks, Alex. I wasn't aware that I almost died twice. Thank you for reminding me." She leaned her head back on the pillow.
"Don't be like that. You know I'm right, Kara. We've run in halfcocked and its resulted in you almost dying and getting brain damage!"
"What do you expect to do about that, Alex? I wasn't exactly big on letting Lena die in that research facility. I had to do something!"
"Yeah and you and Barry are the most powerful people in the universe and yet you were trapped…in a damn car."
Kara's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I'm aware of that, Alex, and it hurts my pride to say it, but Lex is smart. He had us cornered."
"Lex is smart, but we have to be smarter. That means we have to train smarter."
"You want me to train? No offense Alex, but you got trapped in the car too."
"Not with me. I meant Oliver."
"You want me to train with Oliver?" Kara questioned, skeptically.
"Yes. He got you back to our earth, and he's disciplined. He's smart and calculated, and you trust him. I trust him. I'd have you train with Bruce, but that would mean you would be taught how to brood all the time."
Kara grinned. "Not sure if it's going to be much better with Oliver. That man and Bruce are practically doppelgangers."
"Either way, you trust him, and he's already offered to help."
"He's already offered?" She exclaimed, incredulous. "Why?"
"Because he knows you. He knows that you've been hiding under the fact that you're invulnerable. He knows that we act like you are, and that's probably what's made you so cocky. Kara, you aren't. This past month has proven that. You need to be smarter."
"Alright fine! I'll go train with Oliver. Has Cisco stabilized the breaches yet?"
"Last I heard, it was going really well. He got some help from a man he kept calling Dick Wells. Not sure who that is, but he said he is really smart."
Kara laughed, remembering her encounter with Harry and the playful banter that went on between the two of them.
The door to the room, opened quickly and Caitlin stepped in, a wide grin on her face.
"Good news. It looks like a mild concussion. If we put you under the yellow sun rays and try and stimulate that side of your brain, you should be good. We can say words and have you repeat them and hopefully that will be enough to trigger your memory. Or you might just be talking and have it come back. You might still slip some words in Kryptonese until you get a grip on your language functions, but it's nothing serious. Your wounds are already beginning to heal, so you should be okay to leave. I think Bruce wanted to see you."
Kara nodded, and the two women exited to find Bruce, Kara giving Caitlin a quick hug on the way out the door. The found the dark clad man in the office area alone, dressed in his suit.
"I'm glad to see you're doing good, Kara."
"I'm glad she's doing good as well, Bruce," Alex answered. "I assume you know about her issue with language at the moment."
"Yes I am well aware. I wanted to talk to you about something else. Wayne Enterprises is currently funding a think tank of the greatest minds on earth. I have a few candidates in mind that I was hoping you might help me with recruiting."
"Yeah, of course we will. Who?"
"There's a woman I met a while ago. She lives on an island full of women, completely isolated from the outside world. She's a warrior who has lived for a very long time, a formidable opponent and a valuable ally. There are others as well. I will give you a list, and once Kara has healed, I think it might be beneficial to go there and make an offer."
A woman burst through the doors, gesturing quickly to Alex and Kara.
"The experiment Cadmus was working on has awoken. He's yelling in a language I've never heard before, and he's becoming increasingly violent."
"Thank you. We're on our way," Alex breathed, the two women rushing out of the room and down the hallway, following the doctor to the cell dosed heavily in Kryptonite.
Kara felt the effect immediately and nearly fell to the ground before Alex caught her.
"Turn the levels down!"
"I'm sorry, Agent Danvers, but we can't or else he will escape," she explained pointing to the blonde boy currently slamming his palms onto the glass, attempting to escape.
"He looks different, Alex. Like he can understand what I'm saying, what's happening."
"After he hit you, Lena said a few words. They might have triggered some kind of failsafe that activated dormant neural activity."
Kara stepped forward carefully, placing her hands on the glass. "Leave us alone."
"But, Kara—"
"Please, Alex. Just a moment alone with him, okay?"
Alex nodded, and she and the doctor left the room, leaving her sister in the Kryptonite doused cell with a crazed Cadmus experiment.
"I'm not sure where I am. I don't remember anything. Where am I? Who are you?"
Kara's heart broke, her mind immediately going back to the day her pod crashed. The day when Kal-El had found her and dropped her off at the Danvers, only visiting every once in a while. She had felt so betrayed and angry then, wondering why he would dishonor his house. Didn't he know? Now was her chance to be different than him. To be the person she always wished she had as a child. She loved the Danvers, and she recognized that without Kal's choice, she wouldn't have them as her family, but she couldn't deny that his choice had always left her with a hole she never thought she should have had.
"My name is Kara Zor-El. You are at a government facility. We rescued you from a hidden corporation that wanted to use you as a weapon. They thought they had wired your brain, but a woman installed a failsafe that unlocked your neural activity. That's why you don't remember anything."
"…what? They wired my brain? What do you mean?"
Kara grimaced. "They spliced my DNA with someone else's and…created you."
"I'm a clone?"
"Yes. I am so sorry."
The clone's eyes hardened, and his hands slid from their place on the glass, falling to his side. "It isn't your fault. You rescued me."
"Do you have a name?"
"I have memories. Memories I know now that aren't real. I assume that's why I can speak Kryptonese. They must have felt the need to have me know the language. I remember my name as Kon-EL. I even remember you, Kara Zor-El. I was supposed to hate you."
"Kon-El, huh?" Kara mused.
"Yes." He paused, his back sliding down until he was sitting with his knees pulled to his chest. "What happens now?"
Kara limped forward, the green lights still highlighting the pain in her head and leg. She pressed her hand against the glass, looking him straight in the eyes.
"I swear to Rao that I will do everything in my power to get you out of there. You were a pawn of Cadmus, no different than I was. You should not have to suffer on their behalf."
"I will understand, Kara Zor-El. I will understand if you can't. That much power in a child who is genetically eighteen but was born yesterday…just don't blame yourself if you can't get me out of here."
Kara could feel the tears build up underneath her eyes. This boy was no different that she was. He might as well be a connection to Krypton, to her house. It was cruel to let him sit in a cage for something he had no control of.
"I have to go. I will be back, I promise."
The boy nodded, and Kara made her way to the door. She unlocked it, Alex practically falling inwards. Kara caught her, pulling her out of the doorway, the door closing behind them.
"Rao, you're worse than I am!" Kara accused, staring down the sheepish brunette in front of her.
"Hey! That's unfair. You were in a room with a crazy Cadmus experiment! I wasn't just going to leave!" Alex defended, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kara rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." She grinned slightly. "This reminds me of when I began teaching you Kryptonese."
Alex laughed. "Yeah well I was a lot better at learning Kryptonese than you were at learning English."
"No you weren't! I had to learn so fast in order to be able to communicate with you guys. You were learning for fun to have a secret sister language."
Alex slug her arm over her sister's shoulders. "While that may be true, we have something else to talk about."
"What's wrong now?" Kara asked, tired of a problem springing up every time life was beginning to reach a standstill.
Alex paused to stare at her. "Kara, you just spoke English."
"What?" Her eyes widened. "I did! That's great!"
"Yeah. Barry was just about going crazy not being able to communicate with you. I think he was about ready to learn Kryptonese. I think talking about learning English might have triggered a part of your brain."
"That wouldn't be such a bad thing. Strange how I got aphasia right when I need Kryptonese to talk to Kon-El. What's wrong?"
"James called me to tell you that Lena is still looking for you. She keeps nagging him about where you are. Turns out we haven't done a good enough job making people believe that you are away on assignment."
"Oh crap, I've totally forgotten about work. I need to go back."
"Are you sure you should go back permanently so soon after everything that has happened?"
"I have to, Alex. It's been almost a month since the Cadmus fiasco and even longer since I talked to Lena. Don't worry, I'll still train with Oliver."
"Good. He's coming tomorrow and you two can train in the Kryptonite room."
Kara smiled sweetly, hiding the fact that she was most definitely dreading working with Oliver Queen, aka the Green Arrow who had shouldered her during their fight against the Dominators.
"Awesome. That's awesome. Well, I'm going to go find Barry before I talk to Lena. Maybe he can come with."
"Alright. Call me when you're done? We need some time together that doesn't involve torture, clones, alternate earth's, and aphasia."
"Amen to that," Kara agreed, hugging her sister.
She tilted her head, trying to hear where Barry was. Hearing screaming, her eyes widened and she super speeded to the armory where Barry, Winn, and Caitlin were currently shaking their head at a distraught Cisco holding a souped-up version of Alex's gun.
"That's my bad!" he announced, lowering the gun. There was a small fire near the wall where a hole had opened up a doorway that wasn't there previously.
Glaring at the man, she turned her head, gently blowing out the flame. She raised her arms, exasperated, and let them fall to her side. "What the hell, Cisco?"
Barry rushed over to her, grabbing her in a hug. "You can speak English!"
"Yes. Alex and I were talking and well—never mind that. What are you guys doing?"
"We wanted a tour of the place," Cisco explained, swinging the gun up to emphasize his words while Kara attempted to duck out of the way each time.
"Rao, can you stop swinging that thing around! Winn! Why in the world would you take them to the armory?"
"Well," he stuttered, seeing the angry gaze that Kara had often given to Mon-El after he did something monumentally stupid. "We were talking about how you and Alex had taken out so many aliens, and they wondered how Alex could face said aliens, so I showed them to armory."
Kara narrowed her eyes, taking a moment to digest the words that were coming out of his month. She shook her head, rolling her eyes at the four of them
"That's-that's not surprising. Winn, just…make sure J'onn doesn't see this." She turned to Barry. "You want to come with me?"
"Sure," he said, shrugging his shoulders at his sheepish friends and following the blonde out of the room.
The two of them walked, not saying a word, heading to L-Corp.
"Crazy month, huh?" Barry commented, staring at her eyes.
"Yeah," she agreed.
He saw the distant look in her eyes and knew there was something bothering her. Considering the possibility that she didn't want to talk about it, he ignored his foremost thought and prodded.
"What's wrong? You haven't said a word."
She took a deep breath, turning towards him, the two of them standing at the front of the doors to the building.
"It's a lot to process. There's been so much and we haven't even had time to stop and digest it. It's just been one thing after another, and we've been moved like…chess pieces in a game we didn't even know we were playing. I…I was tortured, then sent to a different earth, fought a clone, got aphasia, and now I'm going to just go back to my normal life."
Barry frowned. "What are you saying?"
"I'm just…was this a good idea?" she asked him, her hand gesturing between the two of them. "I mean, you moved from everything you have ever known just to be here on an earth you don't recognize. We got, admittedly, humiliated by getting tapped in a car, and now here we are. Did we make a mistake?"
Barry paused, his mouth slightly agape as her words sunk in. His mind raced through everything that had happened from the point he had arrived on this earth to now. The pain, the fights, the fast paced evil they had had to deal with. Did they make a mistake?
He smiled, taking her hand in his. "No. We didn't. Kara, I know it's been a whirlwind of emotions, and it seems like everything has moved really fast, but isn't that the point? I mean, I am the Flash."
Kara laughed, shoving him off the sidewalk. "Barry! I'm serious!"
He grinned. "I know. I just wanted to see you laugh. But I know we didn't make a mistake. This wasn't an overnight thing. I…I can't explain it, but I want to be here. I need to be here. You and me, we're partners, right?"
"Psh. I'm almost positive we agreed that you're the sidekick. Ms. Grant called it."
"No. No I am not. I am your partner. I told you that you sometimes when it comes to love you need to speed things up. We didn't make a mistake. I want to be here. Plus, Winn already got all of my documents ready, and I'm pretty sure he would cry if I didn't use them."
"Probably. Barry, I know I've asked you this so many times before, but are you sure you want to stay on this earth?"
He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. "There's no place I would rather be. Now let's talk to this Lena Luthor and hope she likes me better than Cat Grant did."
Kara grinned and duo entered L-Corp, the two of them immediately being rushed into her office. Lena stood in front of a board where there were newspaper clippings, pictures, and arrows all scattered across, covering each inch in some kind of marking. Kara hesitantly entered, worried and every alarm in her body going off. Barry nudged her and pointed and horror filled her body. She stepped towards her friend.
"Lena?" she asked hesitantly.
She whipped around, an unreadable emotion on her face. Kara saw a slight smile on her lips, but it was gone quicker than it had appeared.
"You're Supergirl."