A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for being so loyal! I'm sorry these posts are so irregular. I've been working on an original and trying to find a good place to put it. Hope y'all like this chapter!

Chapter 17

Water sprayed at her feet as she slammed her fist into the damn bowl for the hundredth time. Her face showed blankly while she pounded the remaining droplets out and then refilled it. It was a satisfying sound to hear the crack of the plastic against her hand. Especially so when she saw the disgruntled look on her mentor's face as he grappled with what to do after she did it.

Oliver stared at her curiously, analyzing every facial feature and crease. He'd had her doing this for days now. She would look at him with an almost petulant countenance and then proceed to break the bowl whilst staring at him point blank. He didn't know what to do while Cisco formulated a different type of nulling factor to rid Kara of her powers temporarily that didn't manage to give her Kryptonite cancer.

"Kara, I said to smack the water, not shatter the bowl," he repeated for the fiftieth time, grabbing a ceramic container from his stack.

"I know! Rao, Oliver, I know! You've had me smack this bowl for days! When can I stop?"

"When you stop asking that question! Your patience is worse than a three-year olds!" He rubbed his face, letting his finger drag down his cheek. "Kara, being a hero takes precision and patience. You can't always jump the gun and fix everything in the blink of an eye. Also, slapping the water increases your natural strength when you're not under the sun which I'm positive that you have none of.

Kara rolled her eyes at him. "Oliver, I know, but don't you think that we should focus on the other part of fighting. Particularly the actual fighting."

"Kara, I need you to trust my judgement. Please just trust me right now." He looked at the clock then back at her. "Alright, just…let's end there today, okay?"

Kara nodded, running her hands through her hair. "Oliver, thank you. I do appreciate you." She shrugged. "Most of the time."

The man gave a tight grin before turning around and walking out. Kara sighed and bent down to begin picking up the shattered pieces of plastic strewn around the training room. She truly did trust him, but it was the impending sense of danger that always seemed to push her towards wanting to do something useful. Well, more useful than slapping a stupid bowl of water. She wanted to fly and punch and destroy the person who had caused her so much pain in the past months.

She still vividly remembered how it felt when the bullets punctured her skin. She remembered how it felt to be utterly alone and know you were going to die. She remembered each tear, cry, and strike of fear that had coursed through her body and mind. It was constantly there, at the back of her mind, clinging to each thought until she couldn't help but dwell on it.

Kara felt a gush of wind and then the pressing of hands over her eyes. She smiled inwardly and leaned into the body behind her.

"Guess who?"

Kara laughed and turned around, pressing her lips against his. "Barry Allen, when it comes to stealth you are absolutely the worst."

"Hey!" he said, lifting his hands in mock insult. "I can be stealthy." His arms snaked around her back and pulled her closer to him. He grinned and leaned forward before she twisted her head, his lips landing on her cheek. "C'mon! You don't have your powers in this room. Think about it."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Hm. Tempting. But I have to go meet with Kon-El. You're more than welcome to come."

"Ah, well actually, I have to meet with the chief at NCPD to lock in my position. With my experience they appointed me the head of the forensic department, which is awesome. It's an upgrade from my other earth, so I'm pretty excited."

"You should be!" Her phone dinged and she groaned. "It's time for me to go. Can we get together later?"

Barry nodded. "Yeah sounds good. I'll meet up with you at Noonans."

The woman smiled to herself as she waved one last time before walking out. He was perfect. More than anything she had ever had before. This life she had, the life she made for herself, was something she found herself treasuring even more than before. The tragedies of life had all seemed to bring the best part of it back to her, and for that she was eternally grateful.

Kara stopped in front of the room, and her hand quickly pushed the door open, the metal frame swinging shut and clicking to suction it closed. She saw the mere boy in the glass box, frozen and unmoving. He eyes followed her as she sat, legs crossed right outside. He slowly inched his way to sit across from her.

"Kara Zor-El."

"Kon-El, it's nice to see you again." She grinned. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to get you out of this box."

"It's alright, Kara. Someone has to answer for what happened," he affirmed, his gaze vacant.

"Kon-El, I promise I'll get you out of there." Her face contorted, hoping to Rao that she could make him believe it himself.

For the first time since the start of the conversation, his mouth turned upwards in a smile for a short second before returning to its original state of anger. "I will not hold it against you, Kara Zor-El, if you can't."

Kara held her hand against the pane of the glass, the boy slowly placing his atop it on the other side. Her heart nearly broke seeing him so broken and lost. She couldn't help but remember and the memories only served to solidify her resolve. She pulled her phone out and punched in the number. The phone rang for a second before it was quickly answered.

"Kara? You okay?"

"J'onn, I need you do something for me."

She heard a sigh at the end of the line. "You want Kon-EL released."

"Just for the day. Please," she pleaded.

"Kara—" he started

"Please, Rao. He's just a kid! Let me show him earth. Let me train him."

"Kara, it's more complicated than that. I can't exactly snap my fingers and release a Cadmus experiment into the general public without causing a scene."

Her eyes furrowed over in anger. "And why the hell not? J'onn, this isn't just an experiment! It's a boy who was poked and grown from a cell. He's suffered enough." She cupped her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and shot Kon-El an apologetic look as she backed to a more secluded part of the room.

"That's exactly my point, Kara! He's an experiment. He's a clone."

"J'onn, that's hardly an excuse and you know it. You're the director of the DEO. Just make it happen. I need you to trust me."

There was a shuffle at the other end as he decided what to do before a click and a resigned sigh. "Kara….fine. Alright, you have my blessing. You can take Kon-El out for the day. Try not to be too conspicuous and work out the specifics by yourself. I want him back in the cell by tonight."

Kara's heart fluttered, and she gave Kon-El the thumbs up before thanking J'onn and then ending the call. She rushed over to the boy and pressed her palm to the pad, unlocking the cell. The boy stepped back hesitantly and gave her a wary look.

"Kara Zor-El, I don't know about this."

She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards her. "First of all, you can't call me Kara Zor-El out there. It's just Kara. My last name is Danvers and as far as you know, I am your…uh. I'm your sister."

"Sister?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We can work out the paperwork later. So we need to come up with a name for you." Her eyes came alive at the prospect at helping create a whole new identity for the young boy in front of her. "Kon-El. Kon. That's it! Your name can be Connor. Connor Danvers." She grinned at him, waiting for him to respond.

He nodded slowly as if digesting the name. "Connor Danvers. Alright. I am Connor Danvers," he repeated.

"Great! So you look about…seventeen? eighteen? Let's be generous and say eighteen."

"Eighteen," he said. "And how old are you?"

"Um. I like to say I'm twenty-five. Which is true, but I was in hyper sleep for twenty-four years. So adding all that up…let's just stick with twenty-five. I'm twenty-five," she rambled.

"Twenty-five. You'll teach me about Earth?" he asked. A glimmer of hope flashed through his eyes. A glimmer that he might find redemption in this cheerful and out-going woman.

"Of course! I'll take you to the mall and then to Noonan's so we can meet up with Barry."

His eyes glazed over like he was receiving an info dump, and his body stiffened. "I was supposed to kill Barry."

Kara paused mid-step, smile plastered onto her face in a well-what-do-you-say-to-that kind of way. "Um. Yeah. I-I guess so. Let's not think about that. I'll take you to the mall to get some clothes and then…oh my gosh I forgot."

"What is it?"

"Your powers. You have the same as me. Maybe we shouldn't go to the mall. It was really difficult for me to go there when I first came to this planet. The noises and smells. Honestly, humans are disgusting."

She practically skipped over to the end of the room, opening the door and watching it swish open. The boy looked paralyzed. Dumbstruck and scared as if the action might open a portal to another world and suck him into it. It was the same look she wore when she had landed.

"Conner?" The boy didn't move. "Kon-El!" His head snapped to hers in such a fast manner that she was scared he would get whiplash just from the cracking motion.

"What?"

"Let's go. I promise. I won't let anything happen to you. Trust me."

He nodded and took in a shaky breath. "What about your earth language? How will I communicate?"

"It's called English, but Winn and Cisco are working on a neuro-input thingy that should teach you English or something. I'm not sure how it works. You have it easier than I did. When my sister taught me, she was doing it all on her own."

"Sister? You have a sister from Krypton?"

"No. No she's an adopted sister. I guess she'll be your sister now too. Her name is Alex"

"Alex. My sister." Each word was said slowly and deliberately like he was committing them to memory each time he said them. "Will she come?"

Kara paused for a moment, rolling her head around. "No. I want it to be just the two of us for a while."

She grinned and grabbed his hand, yanking him down the halls of the DEO and then outside. The boy shied away from the sunlight, clutching his eyes and hissing.

"Whoa there Dracula. It's just the sun."

"I thought you said my name was Conner," he said, confusion muddling his already crunched face.

"Yeah it is. But Dracula is a vampire." It was said so matter-of-factly that the boy couldn't help but nod along as if it was completely obvious.

"Of course." He grimaced. "Is the earth's sun so bright?"

"Well, I mean…yeah. I guess so. But the sun is what gives us our powers."

She raised an eyebrow, waiting for more questions to come. They paused for a few seconds before she cleared her throat and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"I'm going to take you to my loft and then we'll go out. What about that?"

"To the mall?" he clarified warily.

"No no. Not to the mall. I'll take you to Noonan's. It's awesome. They have the best sticky buns."

He blinked twice, the words not registering in his mind as something fun or even not fun. Kara smiled sweetly and bent her knees, using the pressure to catapult into the air. The air swooshed past their face, their hair slicked backwards from the wind. The ride overall didn't take long, and they landed roughly through the window of her loft, spinning and crashing onto the ground.

"Sorry about that. I kind of snagged my foot on the edge of the curtain."

Conner's blond hair was ruffled and stuck out of several sides of his head. His eyes were blank and looked almost traumatized by the tumble.

"You're very fast," he pointed out simply.

Her smile widened as she nodded in pride at the boy. "So I've heard. I still have some things from Mon-El that I could give you. They should fit."

"Mon-El?"

The skip in her step faltered but returned just as fast as it had disappeared. She was okay. She had come to terms with him. She had to. Her grin stretched to the sides of her face as she looked at him, trying to keep the pain from showing.

"He was a good man."

She threw a shirt his way, Conner catching it quickly before it collided with his face. "I'm sorry if I hit a nerve."

"You didn't, Kon-El. I mean Conner. It's fine." She riffled through a set of shirts and jeans, turning around every so often to chuck another piece of clothing at him.

The boy struggled to catch all the strewn garments, and grunted when one smacked into his face in particularly hard fashion. Kara whipped around, hearing his disgruntled and muffled cry, and her face contorted in a mixture of laughter and guilt from seeing the boy glaring at her.

"I'm so sorry! I-I well, honestly, you look hilarious," she admitted, pulling shirts from off his head.

A black one caught her eye and she held it up to him, grinning openly. "Perfect fit."

Kara pulled and yanked him around the loft pulling things from dressers and hangers, holding them up to him and then frowning in disdain before trying another. She let out an exasperated sigh and nodded to him.

"Let's just go with the black shirt. I don't think we'll find something better than that."

"Okay."

She smiled and exited the bedroom, giving him time to change in peace. Five minutes later he stepped out of the room, pulling at the shirt and giving her a wary look.

"It's perfect, Conner. I think it's time we go and explore National City." Her face scrunched in pure, unconstrained joy as she tugged the boy out of her loft, quickly checking to see if anyone was watching and flying gently to the outskirts of the restaurant. The two landed softly on the grass, and she straightened her glasses, nodding towards the door.

The door clinked open, and she took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh doughy goodness the accompanied the quaint place that had become such a staple in her everyday favorite foods. The place was such a favorite, doubling as both a casual and fancy place to go.

She waved towards Jill, her favorite waitress, who quickly hurried over to them, pad in hand.

"How's National City's best reporter? Coffee to keep you awake? Or how about some sticky buns?"

Kara's eyes narrowed in hunger as her stomach growled from underneath. "Ooohhh. I'll take both. Thank you, Jill!"

She nodded, scribbling the order down. "And how about you? Would you like something?" she asked, eyes connecting with Conner's.

"What is she asking me, Kara?"

Jill's eyes widened. "What was that? A form of Spanish?"

Kara grunted, her throat constricting. "Uh-uh-uh yeah. Yeah it's a form of Spanish. My brother is just…um….trying to become more fluent…by speaking it?" Her voice betrayed her as it cracked in the middle of the obvious lie.

However, Jill seemed to accept it, crack and all, as she nodded, mulling over the new information. Her forehead crinkled as she looked at Kara curiously.

"I thought you only had a sister."

Kara nodded eagerly, desperately hoping that she could somehow stop the flow of questions before she slipped up. "I do! I mean…we don't talk about him a lot. He spent a lot of time in Spain studying there as a foreign exchange student, but he's back in National City to figure out what he wants to do for college." She was surprised she was able to come up with something so…realistic and relatively believable.

Jill nodded. "Oh. Okay. What's your name?"

Conner stared at her, not understanding a single word she was saying. He looked towards Kara, hoping she could shed some light.

Jill slapped her head. "Of course. I know a little bit. How about…¿Cómo te llamas?"

Kara's face paled immediately, and she tried signaling him from across the table. The boy calmly set his palms flat on the table and stared her in the eye. "Conner. Conner Danvers."

Jill smiled. "That's pretty much the only phrase I know in Spanish. Well it's nice to meet you Conner. I'll go get your order put in right away."

She scurried towards the kitchen, and Kara let out a pent up breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding. Exasperated, she looked at the boy and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"How did you know what she was asking?" she whispered fiercely.

"I didn't. I just told her my name."

Kara leaned back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest. "That was really close."

She felt hands snake over eyes, and she tensed before relaxing, smelling the familiar scent of vanilla and coffee. "Let me guess…Barry?"

"I should have known I couldn't sneak up on Supergirl." The last word was muttered into her ear softly, and she grinned at him, pulling him over in front of her."

"What are you doing here? We weren't supposed to meet for a couple more hours.

"Yeah I know. Winn just wanted me to drop this off."

It was a blue capsule the size of any regular pill. She examined it carefully. "What's this?"

Barry shrugged. "Some kind of ingestible translator I guess. It should help Conner speak English instead of Kryptonese."

Her eyes widened, and she shoved the pill towards Conner, gesturing towards the water in front of him. He took the sign and grabbed it from her open palm, fisting it and then chucking it down his throat, washing it down quickly.

"Conner? Do you understand?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Kara Zor—Danvers. Yes, Kara Danvers. I understand you. This device works perfectly."

Kara collapsed into Barry's side in relief. She saw Jill returning with her order and ushered Barry to an actual seat next to her.

"Well, the more the merrier, right?" Jill commented, bringing out her pad once more. "What can I get for you, sir?"

Barry shook his head. "No, I'm good. Thank you though."

"Alrighty then. Mr. Conner then. How about you? Want anything other than that water?"

"No, thank you. I am fine?"

Jill's eyebrows raised, and she turned to Kara for conformation that the boy had actually spoken English. "Did you-did he?"

Kara opened her mouth to respond but paused, her eyes glazing over. Barry glanced towards her, noticing the distracted gaze on her face. He slipped his hand over hers, quickly recognizing the intense stare.

"Oh yeah," he covered. "He um, he speaks English too." He stammered through the lie, trying to guess at what was said before and offer a quick and easy escape for the three of them.

"Oh," Jill said. "Well, your sticky buns should be out any second now."

Barry flashed her a bright smile. "We're going to need to get those to-go. Unfortunately, I need Kara to help show me around town before my big interview!"

"Oh of course! Let me get those for you right away!" The woman practically ran off, bounding for the sticky buns and a to-go box.

As soon as she was gone, he turned to Kara. "Let's go."

"What about Conner?"

"Don't worry about it. Cisco's on his way!"

She nodded and the two of them left, Kara shooting Conner a sympathetic look. Once they were in the alley, she ripped open her shirt, revealing the shining S on her chest. Barry gave her a sideways glance, eyebrow raised.

"Do you have to buy new shirts every time you do that?"

She shrugged. "Well, I mean,,,yeah. I do."

"Maybe I can have Cisco whip up another one of these for you." His voice held an air of excitement as he extended his arm in front of him. His body vibrated quickly, and she could see a costume pop out of the ring on the middle finger of his right hand. He changed and winked at her, the look of jealously freely seen in her face.

"I want one!"

Barry smirked at her and sped off, Kara following close behind from above. They crossed three streets before seeing a bank robbery in place. Police cars were already lined up and barricades erected to keep the general population from getting two close. Kara landed near Maggie, phone pressed against her ear and eyebrows narrowed as she tried to talk him out of it.

"You don't have to do this. Just let them go," she tried, her voice calm and convincing.

Kara could hear a gurgling cry from the other end and then a click as the line died. She approached the woman, the events of a year ago ringing in her head.

"Detective Sawyer. How may we help?"

She looked surprised but grateful and ushered her and Barry off to the side. "Man's name is David Ross. Wife took all the money from him in their divorce, and he snapped. Guy went into the bank and started waving a gun around. We don't have visual so we're not sure how many hostages there are, but he's losing it. I'm afraid in the next hour he might do something rash like kill one of them."

Kara nodded and peered at the building, making out the bodies inside. "There are 13 hostages. One is bleeding from a gunshot wound in the leg. He's lost a lot of blood."

"How do you want us to handle this?" Barry asked, taking the lead from Kara. He didn't understand why they hadn't just bust into the bank and tied up the criminal yet, but this was her city. Her call.

"Maybe Skippy here can zip through there and take the hostages out one by one. Then Supergirl can apprehend him." She turned to look at Kara. "The old-fashioned way."

She nodded and smiled. "The old-fashioned way," she agreed. "Alright, Barry. On three."

"One," he started, lightning flashing through the irises of his eye.

"Two."

"Go!"

He barreled through the building, phasing his way in and out of the wall, and grabbed the one with the gunshot wound. He carefully held him and ran him out, afraid that he might jostle him and cause him to lose more blood. One by one, he streaked back into the bank, the only thing visible being a flash of red before another person vanished. A minute later, he had everyone free, and Kara stood in front of the man, her arm raised to stop him from shooting her.

"What the hell—what did you do?" he yelled, his voice cracking slightly. His eyes were puffy and red-rimmed with tears. The man held the gun fully away from his body, his posture and body language indicating that he would rather do anything except fire the weapon.

She slowly approached him, arm still raised. "You don't have to do this, David. I know there's still good in you."

The gun shook in his hand, and Kara couldn't help but feel a spark of panic at seeing it so close to her. She pushed down the thickness in her throat and continued towards him.

"Please. You can set the gun down. It's not going to hurt me." It's not going to hurt me. She tried reminding herself that it was just a gun. There was no Kryptonite inside. It was regular bullets. Regular lead-lined bullets.

"My wife—she…my wife." he explained, his voice full of emotion.

Kara nodded, feeling her own throat constrict. "I know, David. I know, but this is your time to make a decision, and I know that you are a good man." She could see the edge of a photograph in the front pocket of his shirt. She squinted and saw David with a little girl probably about three-years-old. "You're a good man. A good man who's going to make a good choice. For you daughter."

She saw the pain flicker through his face and the crumple that followed. The gun slipped from his hand and clanged to the floor of the bank, the sound rattling through the empty building. Kara let out a breath she wasn't sure she had been holding in, and she took him by the hand. She slowly led him out where Maggie was waiting with handcuffs.

The man turned to Supergirl before raising his hands together in front of him. "Thank you, Supergirl. Thank you."

She nodded and nearly collapsed as soon as he had left. She felt her stomach heave and her vision swam. Barry sped over to her side and grabbed her by the shoulder. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he picked her up bridal style and ran to the DEO.

"Alex?" he called through his comm.

There was a crackle and then finally a voice. "Allen? That you? What's up?"

"Yeah it's me. Kara's not responding. We just took care of a hostage situation, but afterwards, she just stopped. I think she's having a panic attack."

He heard a bang he presumed was a slammed door and then a few more scrapes until silence. "Alex?" he asked carefully, his feet faltering slightly as he ran.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here. Get her here as soon as possible. I'm waiting in the AI room."

He sighed in relief and increased his speed, the wind brushing past his face. One step after another. Barry didn't bother with the door to the building, instead opting to go straight through it, going so fast that he didn't even have to consciously think about phasing in and out. The DEO agents fell backwards as a gust of wind propelled past them and towards the room that was immediately locked before anyone could so much as wonder what was going on.

Barry's feet skid to a stop in front of the brunette and gently deposited Kara onto the floor. She didn't stir, and her face wore a blank expression plastered onto a pale far-away gaze. Alex knelt beside her and shook her shoulder.

"Kara? Kara, can you hear me?"

The reaction was immediate, and her head snapped to the voice. They could both see the emotional turmoil tumbling through the light blue of her eyes and the shudder that reverberated throughout her body.

"A-Alex, help!" She screamed, her throat releasing a raw yell that echoed through the halls. The walls of her throat shook from the uncontained shriek and both recoiled from the suddenness of it.

"Alex! Please! No-no! Please no more! I won't tell you! Let me go!" She squirmed from Alex's hold and managed to get a hand free, knocking her sister in the arm. Alex gasped from the hit and clutched her dislocated shoulder.

"What's happening?" Barry asked, eyes alert and concerned seeing Kara thrash so violently.

"It was too soon, Barry!" Alex wheezed, trying to hold her down as much as she could. "She hasn't been regular Supergirl in forever. She just now got a clean bill of health to leave. She shouldn't have gone into there!"

"So she's hallucinating?" he asked, quickly clarifying.

"It's more of a flashback. Something in the bank must have triggered a reaction in her…some kind of PTSD."

"NO!" A bloodcurdling scream emanated from the blonde in her lap, and her fingers curled into a fist as her back arched.

"Kara!" Barry yelled, pressing his palm to her forehead. "Kara, please, it's not real! It's not real!"

Alex struggled with her, trying to wrap her in a hug. "Kara, it's not real. We're here. You need to snap out of it!"

Her head spasmed to the side before stilling and leaning back into Alex. Her breaths came shorter, and she slowly turned her head to look at her. "Alex," she whispered, her voice low and broken.

"Shhh…it's okay. I'm here." Alex could feel her calm down and her chest rise and fall, considerably slowing. "What happened there, Kara?"

"It was so terrible. I-I-I can't stop thinking about it," she stuttered, her face falling and tearing up.

Barry cupped her cheeks in his hands, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. "You don't have to talk about it."

She nodded and fell into Alex, resting until she finally passed out. Alex looked at Barry, concern and anger littering her face.

"Barry, we need to help her."

"How? Lillian is dead. There's no revenge to have."

"She's always had nightmares since she came to live with us, but it's never been this bad. It's happening in plain daylight now. The flashbacks are so bad that she actually thinks it's happening right then and there." She bites her lip. "Until we can help her, I don't think she should be out in the field anytime soon."

"I agree. She hasn't even recovered from her last bout of Cyan Kryptonite. She still limps, and she won't tell me but has frequent headaches."

"I wish there was something we could do," Alex added, brushing a stray hair from her sister's forehead. The two paused, letting the silence percolate before Alex broke it. "I wanted to kill her when we found her. I wanted to be the one."

Barry flinched, immediately understanding who she was talking about. The blunt confession unnerved him, but he admitted to himself that he would have had no qualms doing it himself if it came down to it. Lillian Luthor should have suffered for what she did.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"We take her home. Then we burn Cadmus's entire organization to the ground. It can't survive long without her."

Conner sat at Noonans looking vastly confused and waiting for Kara to return. He waited for thirty minutes before a long-haired man dressed in a dark blue shirt came rushing through the door. He scanned the room before finding him and running over.

"Conner, my man! I'm sorry it took so long. Turns out navigating a new earth is harder than you'd think."

"Who are you?" he asked quizzically.

"I'm Cisco Ramon, resident breacher and all-around awesome. Barry said he needed me to come and take you back to the DEO."

Conner nodded. "Of course. I will return with no problems." He stood up and extended his arms, wrists pressed together.

"Whoa! Whoa!" he said, backing up. "I'm not here to arrest you or anything. I'm just here to escort you back."

"My apologies. I thought I was being contained."

Cisco grinned, grabbing the to-go bags, slapping a twenty on the table, and leading the boy out of the restaurant. "Nope. I'm taking you back to the DEO, but Winn and I set up a gaming system. We're going to teach the most important thing about humans….gaming."

"Gaming?" he asked, unsure of the term.

"Yep. It's going to blow your mind."

"Huh. Alright then Cisco Ramon. Lead the way."