Alura transports them to a small building close to the edge of Kandor, just a few miles west of the city. It's surrounded by farming fields, most of which are becoming barren by this time with the impending doom of the planet forever inching nearer.
The conversation on the journey there is incredibly stilted, perhaps from the shock of everything going on. For Kara, it's seeing her mother alive and well for the first time since she was just a young girl. For Alura, it's seeing her daughter all grown up whilst knowing there's a twelve-year-old version of this very woman waiting at home in Argo with her father. For Alex and Lena, it's pure awkwardness from being in the same space as the pair of them.
It becomes clear very quickly that this is some kind of agricultural research facility, one that is for some reason, empty. One would think that the council would be doing everything they could to keep a place like this running constantly since they are fully aware of what's coming, even if they aren't willing to tell the public.
Alura leads them to some kind of stable to secure Bolt into and give him some kind of medical treatment for his wounds where the panther-like animals clawed at his legs and wings when they were trapped in the ship.
When they round the corner and they head inside the stable, they see a familiar winged beast.
"Hey Swoopy, how are you, buddy?" Kara joyfully moves to pat the head of the other H'Raka, the one that Nia, Kelly and Esme had, meaning that they are inside, safe and sound, exactly where Alex needs them to be. Exactly where all of them need them to be. They have a whole heap of questions and they have a lot of confusion surrounding everything but at the very least, they know that their group is safe.
Alura can't seem to take her eyes off Kara, watching the way she's interacting with the H'Raka and her gentle nature towards what many would believe to be a dangerous, ugly animal. Her daughter is instead enamoured, filled with love and intrigue, exactly what she's always wished for her to grow up to be. She might not know how Kara being here is possible but she's getting the feeling that she and Zor-El must have done something right to have a daughter like her.
Alura is the one to take a look over Bolt's injuries once he's been put into one of the pens in the stable, his head harness attached to a ring on the back wall so she can be certain that he won't instinctively set her on fire for hurting him accidentally in the process of trying to check him over.
She carefully hoses off all of the tree sap from his legs and is almost astonished by the state of his legs. They are very obviously badly cut up and he has some pretty gnarly-looking scratches but what's strange is the rate that he is healing. His cuts have scabbed over well and look like they have been healing for several days rather than just a few hours, it's remarkable.
"What is this stuff?" Alura grumbles to herself, mostly just in awe.
Lena, having overheard Alura's quiet question, jumps in to answer. "It's tree sap from one of the trees in The Scarlett Jungle. The giant snake thing broke a bunch of trees and when he ran, he got covered in it. The Rebellion use this to heal wounds from the plants from the forest but if what it's doing to Bolt is any suggestion, it could be used for a whole lot more than it currently is.
"Incredible," Alura mutters. "It has healing properties that are really quite fascinating. Are you sure this is naturally occurring? I've never seen anything like it, nor seen any record of it, although not many dare to venture that far into The Scarlet Jungle, you can see the reason why in that ship you were aboard."
Lena nods. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, we didn't go in there for fun. We had a goal in mind and we're lucky we made it out alive, that's all thanks to you." Lena looks over towards where Alex and Kara and surrounding Swoopy, greeting the other H'Raka with lots of fuss and attention. He's the favourite now they have learnt what a coward Bolt is, Bolt has really earned his name.
"I'm not sure that does make me feel any better, any business you have in there, it isn't good and since I know Astra was involved, I am doubly scared."
"What happened to Astra?" Lena questions.
"I think it's best we wait until we are all inside before we talk about all of that." Alura brushes her off and gets back to healing Bolt as best as she can.
Lena lets it slide, not necessarily happily, but she's content to wait because there's a high possibility that whatever it is she's going to say, it's going to be big because in the game they've been caught up playing, Astra's role is ginormous.
The three Superfriends watch Alura as she works for several minutes, bandaging him up and washing him off before adding some of the sap back onto his cuts, this time with a lot more precision since it was Bolt himself that rubbed himself in the gunk.
Alex is practically running towards the building with how fast she's walking and trying to encourage the others to walk too because she's so excited to get back to Kelly and Esme. For a second back in the jungle, well for a few seconds, she really thought that she was never going to see them again and she's honestly shocked that they are standing here now, alive and mostly unscathed, it's a true phenomenon.
Kara takes Lena's hand gently in her own, slipping her fingers between Lena's in a move that is well-practised. They all make their way across the field towards the building with haste in their steps, they know who is inside and they don't want to waste a moment.
Alura opens the door to the building with a code, pressing multiple buttons with various Kryptonese symbols scrawled across them in a rapid movement that she has obviously done many a time before today, all the while she has the three women behind her watching every move she makes while they wait with an obvious impatience to get inside.
The second the door is open, Alex shoves her way passed Kara and Lena, effectively tearing their joined hands apart so she can get to her wife and daughter. Kara and Lena don't so much as bat an eyelid though, they just let her go ahead and race their way in themselves, unaware of the look Alura is adorning, one of inquisitiveness.
Her eyes aren't on the group, just one person, and she's almost afraid to look away, too curious about the woman that is obviously her daughter, the woman that came out of a birthing pod just twelve years ago, a woman that looks like she's in her mid-twenties, a woman that doesn't make any sense and yet makes all the sense in the world because she's her daughter and that's all she needs to know and yet there's more she yearns to know.
They immediately enter a large room, the floor made of what appears to be tile except it's not smaller tiles like they have on Earth, the entire floor is one giant tile. There are muddy boots and clothes tossed aside in a far corner and there's some kind of tap or hose-like feature coming out of one wall over a drain. This is definitely an agricultural facility of kinds because this is the wet room for washing off before heading into the building fully.
They don't wash off though, despite the fact that they are all kinds of dirty, they aren't fussed. Instead, they direct themselves completely towards the door that they just know leads to the rest of their group, and Alex wastes no time in grabbing the handle.
She tries to pull the door open as hard as she can, almost falling on her butt when the door doesn't actually open. Kara snickers as she regains her footing and takes over, gripping the handle and sliding the door to the side. She really thought that the time they spent in the other accommodation would have prepared Alex for the sliding doors Kryptonians prefer.
Alex barely even registers Kara's amusement though because the moment the door is open, she's going through it and she's rushing to find the others. She doesn't have to look very far though.
The door leads directly into what looks to be a common area with a couch and a few chairs, all oddly shaped, their backs curved into the silhouette of a mountainside. They might be odd, but they are inviting, especially to their tired bodies that yearn for rest except it's not the couch they are interested in, it's the people sitting on the couch.
"Mommy!" Esme spots Alex before Alex can spot her and there's barely a moment's notice before she has her arms full of the little girl. Without missing a beat, Alex pulls her to her chest tightly and presses her nose into the shoulder of her daughter, overwhelmed with her joy and relief that she's been reunited.
It's not a few seconds later that Kelly is in the mix, the little family huddled together while Nia pops up to drag Kara and Lena into a hug too. "Hey, guys."
"Hey Nia, are you ok?"
Nia nods into the pair, happy to be held between two of the women she's spent the last couple of days worrying about. "I'm good, your mom is really nice, Kara."
That kind of snaps Kara out of the daze she's been in since seeing her mom again, the daze that has stopped her from fully comprehending what it means that they are in the same place and that she is interacting with someone that she shouldn't be interacting within the best interests of the future and someone that in her timeline, has been dead for decades.
Kara releases Nia and Lena from the hug and moves to hug Kelly and Esme. Once they are all reacquainted and settled, she can move on to the discussion they all need to have, preferably one without her mother first so the group can get back on the same page and share information about what's going on because for the others to be here and have spoken to her mom, they must know something they don't.
Alura allows them the time to say hello to each other and check over one another to ensure everyone really is ok and only once she's certain everyone is satisfied does she speak. She starts by clearing her throat to get their attention. "So, I think we have a lot to talk about, shall we sit?"
She gets several nods in response but no verbal confirmation but she figures that everyone is just as nervous as she is so she just takes a seat at one end of the couch with the hope that it will allow her the opportunity to sit beside Kara but not pushing it by outright expressing that desire.
Everyone follows suit and takes a seat. Kelly and Alex take chairs beside each other with Esme on Alex's lap and Nia takes another chair not too far away. There's one chair left and then the other side of the couch that should really only fit one other person but Kara and Lena squeeze in together.
It was Lena's decision to do that, she knows Kara and she knows her well. She can tell that Kara wants to be near her mother and she wants to allow herself to be open towards the strange interactions they are going to have to have but she's nervous, more nervous than Lena's seen her in a while.
It's not the same kind of nerves she's seen in Kara when they are in a sticky situation or when something terrible is happening to make them fear for their lives. Instead, it's the kind of nerves she's seen when Kara's got an interview with someone she admires or the nerves she's seen when she used to help Kara get ready for a date or two back in the day. The nerves she sees now are much more poignant though.
She can see it in Kara's face, the way her right eyebrow twitches slightly and the way she can see Kara's jaw move as she nibbles at the side of her tongue. It's tiny things but she knows them well and she knows she can help so she's unafraid to do something that makes her look a little strange in order to be there for Kara.
Kara does still end up beside her mother, she's just also squished up into Lena's side with her arm draped over Lena's legs and Lena's arm wrapped around her shoulder loosely.
"Alright, where shall we start?" Kara asks, all too eager to have as much clarity on their situation as possible.
Alura hums as she thinks, a trait that Lena can't help but notice that Kara also does and it makes her heart ache in a strange kind of way to realize that it's one of the only things Kara has left of her mother, tiny traits of characteristics she can barely recall but still does without a second thought.
"I think it's best I just explain why I'm here to start with and then you can explain why you're here," Alura says with a hint of a demand, her voice strong enough that everyone can tell she's not going to back down easily but not so firm that it was an order. It reminds Kara of the days when her mom used to tell her to clean her room, it was simply a task she had to complete.
Kara sniffs, her nose full of smells she hasn't smelt for a long time. The smell of an air conditioner and scented pouches of herbs that were always around their home when she was young. She can smell the dust that she can see gently scattered over the windowsills and the faint scent of her mother's perfume, one so ghostly familiar it makes her want to cry. "That sounds good." Her voice is thick because she's barely holding back her emotions but nobody comments on it. Lena's arm just tightens around her shoulders by a tiny fraction.
Alura presses her lips together in a movement that once again, mirrors an action they have all seen a thousand times before in Kara, and then she starts her explanation. "Right, so, Astra came to Argo to see Kara, my Kara, and we caught her. She offered to make it easy for us, to hand herself over without a fight and to talk openly about what has been happening with The Rebellion if I speak to her privately. I couldn't pass up on the information so I agreed, with precautions of course."
Kara sucks her cheeks into her mouth to stop her from snapping at her mother for the obvious anger she holds towards Astra, a woman she loves because she loves her no matter what her flaws are. Astra offered up what little she has to get them to safety and yet her mom is still speaking down on her now.
"She told me that she knew she wouldn't get the chance to fulfil a promise she made and wanted me to do so for her, she begged me to and that was what got me to agree. Astra is many things but she's never been someone to beg. She told me where I could find your group and asked me to help you in any way I can and she gave me her spy beacon, she begged me to keep you all as safe as I can and to help you all out, she told me it will all make sense when I see who it is in the group, something that confused me quite a bit when I first saw just three people, all of whom I've no connection to."
"And then the beacon went off." Kara fills in.
"And then the beacon went off," Alura confirms. "I'm not sure why I even went out into the jungle that far, I could see that it was dangerous but something in my gut just told me I had to go and that I would regret it if I didn't so I went and found the rest of you. I knew who you were the moment I saw you and I wasn't about to leave you behind. I couldn't."
Kara can't look at her mother. It's been a long time since Astra died in her time and since she learned of the way her mother so ruthlessly sentenced her own twin sister to Fort Rozz and she thought she had dealt with the emotions that come with that a long time ago but it's quite obvious to her now that she's fooling herself because that's not true, not now that she's seeing it play out in real-time.
"Where is Astra now?"
"Let's hold off on that for a while." Alura says, "I want to know all about how you got there and why you're here." She reaches over to try and take Kara's hand but she pulls it away.
"No." Kara shakes her head. "I need to know what's going on with Aunt Astra. She's been there for me and she's a better person than you seem to think she is."
Alura sighs, looking down at the couch cushion between them for a long few seconds before looking up and trying to find Kara's eyes. "Kara, your aunt isn't as good of a person as she has led you to believe, she's done things that are—"
"She's done things that aren't great out of desperation to save the planet you're hiding the impending doom of."
"She's killed people, Kara." Alura looks desperate to get Kara to see reason but it's not happening.
"And you think the planet dying isn't going to kill people. Wilful negligence is murder too and we both know you have had a hand in hiding the truth from the public. You're two sides of the same coin and yet you still want to toss her away like she's nothing more than a nuisance to be rid of."
Alura breaks eye contact with Kara, she can barely stand to look into them. They are so familiar and yet so foreign. She's stared into them so many times over the twelve wonderful years she's had with her daughter but this version of her, this Kara, she's jaded in a way Alura doesn't like. She's seen things that haunt her, it's written across her irises in a way that can't be hidden and the anger…The anger in her eyes is nothing short of scorching, terrifying and untameable.
"Kara, I don't know what you think you know, but there are a lot of factors at play at the moment and there's a lot you don't know. Astra has handed over information about The rebellion and now she's being transported to a secure location until her trial, which won't take place until I'm present."
Kara shakes her head. "She's just put herself in so much danger to protect me and you don't even care."
"And how is it that she's put herself in danger? She was already surrounded, she wasn't escaping."
"You're going to sentence her to Fort Rozz along with any other members of The Rebellion you're going to catch because of the information you got from her will be sent there too. Do you think they're going to forget that she's the one that sold them out between being attacked by phantoms in The Phantom Zone? I don't think so."
Alura doesn't want to think about that. "Kara, how are you here?"
"I think that's obvious."
With Kara's tone growing more and more aggressive and accusatory, Lena decides to jump in because it's clear from the awkward expressions on the rest of the team's faces that nobody else wants to because it's a family matter. To Lena, that's just bullshit. "We're from the future and we have a mission to accomplish in order to save a lot of lives."
In some ways, Alura was expecting that, she kind of guessed from some of the comments Kara made back when she first got out of the ship and from simply guessing from having her prepubescent daughter suddenly be standing before her as an adult but having it confirmed is a whole new ballgame.
"You're being serious?"
"Yes."
"What's the mission?"
"I can't say."
"Why not?"
"With all due respect, we've done way too much damage to the timeline already by simply interacting with you. We've already changed too much and we can't risk anything else happening that can cause rifts we can't fix."
A sour look crosses over Alura's face. "I need something. You may be my daughter, Kara, but you have given me no reason to trust that you aren't going to cause major issues by exposing council intellect. The people of Krypton can't know what's coming, it'll just cause panic and we have so many avenues to explore that could solve the issue before we even get to the kind of stages where we warn people."
"We need a piece of technology from Father's lab in Kandor. That's what we came here for. We had to land far away from the city so we weren't detected and then the plan was to trek all the way on foot. Astra helped us out part way through our journey. That's all I can share and even that is too much."
Alura's eyebrows pull together as she tries to make sense of what she's been told, the whirring of her brain only increasing with each new tidbit of information she manages to gather. "You came from off-world, was that because of the time travel or because you came from another planet?"
"Both," Lena answers. "We came from Earth."
"Oh Rao, no." Alura mumbles, all of the pieces clicking into place in one swoop. Kara's strange anger towards her, the look in her eyes, the way she holds herself, it all makes sense now. They might be working on solving the issues with the planet but they still have a backup plan in all else fails and that backup plan is Earth so for them to have come from Earth, that means they fail. They fail and this is who Kara will become because of that failure; a woman haunted by the rotting corpse of her planet and the family she's lost.
Kara and Lena find themselves looking to each other for answers as to why Alura just reacted that way, unaware of the pieces of the puzzle that just fell into place for her and just all around too tired for the conversation they are having and too in the dark about too many things to make sense of it all anyway.
"If you came from Earth then that means Krypton is gone," Alura answers their silent question. "Kara, please tell me it isn't true."
"I can't do that, ieiu." Kara switches to Kryptonese at the end, referring to her mother as she always did as a child, hoping to bring her some kind of comfort she can't help but think she doesn't fully deserve.
Alura turns in her seat, moving her body to better face Kara before grabbing her hand again, this time with enough strength that Kara doesn't bother fighting it. "How long?"
"Not long."
"Days? Weeks? Months? How long? I need to know."
"I can't tell you that." Kara shakes her head, "I can't tell you anything."
Alura drops her head down onto their hands, breathing deeply while she absorbs what that really means. Billions of people are going to die and she doesn't have the power to fix it.
She takes a while to collect herself enough to lift her head again but when she does, she's still completely unable to think of anything else or bring herself to pretend that she's alright when she's very well not. "I think we should go and rest and then reconvene to continue this conversation at a later time, we all have a lot to think about."
"I think that's a good idea," Kara says, voice small but not timid, just soft.
"The others can show you where the rooms are, go and wash up and get some sleep, you know how grumpy you can get if you don't get enough sleep." Alura tucks a stray strand of Kara's hair behind her ear and presses a kiss to her forehead, an act this is just second nature to her.
Kara's eyes immediately flood with tears. She can't decide if she's happy about her mother being here or not and seeing her again after all this time and a lot of that is because she can't decide if she wants to hug her or if she wants to slap some sense into her. Either way, her mother isn't going to let her hide anything so for better or for worse, she's stuck with her now.
Kelly guides them all up to where there are several bedrooms. This place isn't as big as the accommodation is so they have to share anyway. For the group, there are only two bedrooms, one with two large beds inside of it and one with just one large bed.
Kara and Lena are very happy to find that they are being allowed to take the room with just one bed for themselves but Kara knows why they are letting her have it. They know she has issues with her mom, they just saw it first-hand, and so they are trying to give her space.
Luckily, not all of the group want to give her space because, within minutes of being in their bedroom, their packs are dumped, their shoes and clothes shrugged off and they are beneath the sheets, heads resting on the same pillow and their eyes are closed. They can wash up later but for now, they just need to be close and they need to have the ability to hold a conversation without their eyes closing.