"They're retreating!" Alex shouted above the chaos unfolding around her, dodging the wild fists of the Nodeis.
Kara, Maggie, and J'onn - all engaged in various states of combat - whipped their heads around to the growing sound of whirling blades. Lex's helicopters were closing in and wounded Nodeis clawed their way onto the descending ladders. Flashes of green and yellow erupted around them.
The DEO team grew hopeful. They pivoted their efforts from the receding waves of Nodeis to disabling their getaway rides. Alex and Kara led half the agents in bringing down five of the choppers: Kara airborne and smashing through blades while Alex shot projectiles from the ground. Maggie, J'onn, and the others gathered up the surrendering halfbreeds to take into custody. Lex's escape options grew fewer by the minute.
"Kara, if we don't make it out of here, just know I'm sorry for being a dick," Alex announced, reloading with precision after taking down another helicopter.
"If it's not too little too late," Kara began, punching a hole clean through the fuselage of another chopper. "Drinks are on you for like, eternity."
"I think I can manage that," Alex conceded with a relieved smirk, glancing over to the scuffle between Nodeisi siblings 50 feet to her left. Lex was attempting to free himself of Lena's sleeper hold.
"Jävla skit!" Lex snarled, cursing in his native tongue.
Lena clutched her brother's neck like a vise, the two violently xwrestling each other on the ground. Lex's free fist went sailing and missed his sister's face by inches. With a sudden jerk, Lex tumbled the two of them into a backwards somersault, freeing himself and casting Lena several feet away. Undeterred, Lena regained her footing and charged at her brother, landing a kick to his chest. Lex stumbled back and swung wildly, his punches giving way to fatigue and becoming easier for Lena to dodge. In a swift motion, the younger Nodei swept her brother's legs out from under him. Lex found himself flush against the ground, cheek pushed into the dirt with Lena's boot between his shoulder blades. She pulled out her phone and typed quickly.
"Your ride should be here any minute," Lena announced cooly, exchanging her phone for the gun in her belt. The weapon's click was conspicuous as she trained the barrel at Lex below.
"Oh?" Lex spat, muffled by the ground. "And where is it taking me?"
"Stryker Island Penitentiary."
The foot pressing on Lex's back began to move up and down, subtly at first and then growing more pronounced as the older Nodei began laughing.
Lena's eyebrow twitched as she tightened her grip on the gun.
"Have you finally succumbed to your own insanity, dear brother?"
"Quite the opposite," he gasped between cackles. "Just… I'm imagining your face when I tell you."
"Tell me what?"
Lex let out a grunt while being pressed further into the earth.
"A bit…shallow…for a trap…"
"What the hell do you mean, Lex?" Lena frowned, growing impatient. Keeping the gun pointed at her brother she jumped off of his back, ensuring that she was out of sweeping radius as he turned over.
Lex attempted to sit up until Lena barked out a warning, weapon raised. He casually reclined back on the ground.
"The lake," he clarified, his smile widening as he watched Lena's face pale. The Luthor was suddenly flung back to 19 years before.
When she saw strange bubbles forming on the lake's surface and decided to investigate, she was surprised to find him upon submersion. Roughly ten feet down in the depths, his frantic motions bore the signs of desperation.
"Did it strike you as odd," the elder Nodei continued. "That day, finding a deepwater trap in the shallow end?"
Met with silence, Lex took in his sister's stunned features with a satisfied chuckle. Time for the Luthor had stopped. For once, Lex was in no rush.
"Or how about the Sao who happened to stumble upon it, hm? Why would he be there in the first place?"
A crimson cloud had formed around him and his muffled cries became audible as she swam closer. Tentatively tapping on his shoulder, she alerted him of her presence. He jolted in surprise, his face an overwhelming combination of agony and fear. It was only then that he stilled long enough for her to view the grizzly sight. Just below his right knee - camouflaged by the algae-filled floor - the steel teeth of a trap were embedded in his flesh.
"Lex," Lena gasped. "You…"
Lena glanced up, immobilized by panic, as she surveyed the shore. A small crowd had formed. Those who weren't immediately assisting the man as he was hoisted from the water were staring at her. In her rush to save the man she did not consider the risk of exposure.
"Me," he nodded proudly.
She was an anomaly on Nodeisi.
"You exposed me," Lena whispered in disbelief.
She was a red flag for the Nodei.
Prior to this moment, the younger Nodei thought she understood her brother to a certain extent. To say she disagreed with his actions would have been an understatement, but at least she could fathom his position: so consumed by his savior complex that he took advantage of a dire situation. Adopting a Machiavellian attitude when all hope seemed lost in order to combat forces of oppression.
But this latest revelation shook her to her core.
Lex had actually orchestrated it all. Her own brother planned for Lena to be caught, outed as a halfbreed, and put into the line of fire. The full realization had effectively clotheslined her, transforming her mind's image of a protective brother into that of a sociopath.
"Brilliantly spotted."
She was a catalyst for everything that would go horribly wrong.
"You killed our people. You destroyed any trace of our home."
"Correct again."
"You killed our mother."
"Not without sacrifice," Lex echoed what he told Lena in her office days before. This time, however, he had abandoned the facade of a tormented son. In its place resided a gleefully malicious disposition.
"You killed our father," Lena's voice finally cracked.
"And here you were taking credit for starting the war," Lex accused. "My dear, you were just a pawn. Always just a pawn."
Lena shakily raised her gun, trying to aim it at Lex. In her nanosecond of hesitation there was an explosion of green that sent the Luthor flying into a pile of rubble. The shock of the impact caused her muscles to seize up in temporary paralysis. She could only lie there and groan as an incessant ringing erupted in her ears.
"Lena!" Kara was torn away from the task at hand - dismantling one of the few remaining choppers - observing her girlfriend's predicament a moment too late.
Both Lena's incapacitation and Kara's ensuing distraction allowed Lex a few crucial seconds. Producing a pair of titanium cuffs from his suit, the Nodei jumped to his feet and heaved them into the air like a shot putter. Programmed to seek out one specific Kryptonian, the devices latched around Supergirl's wrists and emitted the distinct shade of Kryptonite green.
Kara yelped and recoiled in agony, involuntarily releasing a rotor mast of a smoking helicopter and plummeting to the ground along with it. The ensuing crash was deafening to human ears.
It bought Lex just the time he needed.
One of the three remaining helicopters swooped down, cutting through the massive cloud of burning fuel and scorched soil to retrieve the halfbreed commander. Clutching the ladder in relief, Lex rested on the rungs and watched as DEO agents rushed to Kara's aid below.
"Thank Rao for Kryptonite!" he mumbled, adrenaline wearing thin as his injuries began to take effect.
A jolt below him cut his celebration short. Expecting an alien, the Nodei was surprised to see a different DEO agent ascending the rungs.
"This cat-and-mouse shit is getting real old, Lex!" Alex yelled over the chopper's roar, cautiously dodging Lex's kicks as they gained altitude.
On the ground, Lena managed to regain some motor control, shuffling in a daze over to the cratered impact zone around Supergirl's crumpled form. Emerald cracks materialized across Kara's face, arms, and all other extremities showing through the angry rips in her costume. Her features were contorted in pain. Lena searched her surroundings for a discarded tool, anything to free the Kryoptonian from her poison.
Spotting a laser gun clutched in the arms of an unconscious Nodei, Lena scooped up the weapon and began firing at the cuffs. Maggie helped angle Kara's body away from the blast impact. After three shots, Lena was able to free Kara from her constraints, the green cracks slowly vanishing from the Kryptonian's face as she jumped back into action.
Up above, Alex avoided a kick to her hand, swinging up and grabbing Lex's ankle, then using the leverage to climb a two rungs higher. The ladder had begun retracting into the belly of the chopper. Lex was trying to stomp her out before she ascended to his level.
"You humans are like roaches," he growled, struggling to grip on the rope as he contorted vigorously, hoping to shake Alex off.
"Your cliché catchphrases are giving me a migraine," Alex groaned, reaching up with impeccable reflexes and finding purchase on Lex's ankle. "Do me a favor and shut the fuck up."
With a sharp tug, she managed to throw all of her weight behind the motion and pluck Lex off the ladder like a stubborn tick. Lex hurtled downward and emitted a strangled cry as he made contact with the ground. In a last-ditch effort, Lex managed to produce a retractable spear from his pocket and launched it upwards at the redhead. The javelin's trajectory was brisk and spot-on.
Alex shut her eyes reflexively, awaiting the fatal blow of the projectile. The impact never came.
Opening her eyes, Alex gasped as she saw Lena collapse on the ground, a spear sticking through her shoulder.
"Lena!" Kara cried, rushing to her girlfriend's side. Lena slumped into Supergirl's embrace, fighting for consciousness against the pain of the offending object. Maggie rushed to the scene as Kara gingerly readjusted Lena's body, hoping to alleviate the pressure of her wound. As the former FBI agent propped Lena up on her side, Supergirl's shoulders began shaking in rage.
"Your own sister…" the Kryptonian growled, voice strained in anger. "How could you?"
Sensing the intensity of Supergirl's ire, Lex scrambled to his feet in terror, trying to spot any possible escape route now that the choppers had been compromised. But the elder Nodei had run out of time.
"Supergirl, please…" he begged in vain before being vaporized by the blast of heat vision.
The previous chaos echoing around the battlefield had ceased completely. DEO agents and the few surviving Nodeis on the ground stared wide-eyed, paralyzed by the display of power they had just witnessed.
Nothing but a scorched patch of terrain remained where Lex stood moments before. The only sounds that lingered in the air were chopper blades, Lena's labored breaths, and Maggie's whispered reassurances. Even Kara stood unnervingly still, shocked by the rare lapse in control that had obliterated the enemy. Despite still being dazed by her own outburst, Supergirl rushed to Lena's side, cradling her girlfriend's head in her arms.
"It's going to be OK, Lena. I swear. He's…he's gone now, please stay with me," she mumbled, fighting back tears.
Alex, who had fought her way into the chopper, incapacitated the Nodei pilot, and took control of the aircraft, lowered the helicopter to the ground.
"Get her in here ASAP," she ordered. "She saved my life, I'm sure as hell saving hers!"
The team obeyed her commands, Kara remaining by Lena's side all the way back to the DEO.