Chapter 53
Four Months Later
“He was trying to rip my arm off on purpose, I swear,” Alex defended, rubbing her arm as she opened the door for her girlfriend before following her into Noonan’s. “Your dog is trying to kill me.”
“Krypto is not trying to kill you Alex,” Kara retorted, a smile on her face. “You say that and how was it that I found you two that first night I asked you to look after him while I was at my mom’s place?”
“The dog is manipulative and stubborn, he did that all on his own.”
“He disobeyed one of the main rules I had for him and crawled on the bed with you to snuggle,” Kara giggled, a gleam in her eyes. The two found a small table close to the back away from the lunch crowd, one that was usually reserved for them by several of the staff that knew their routine. “And how many times since then, when you’ve stayed the night have we woken up to find him staring at your face with his leash in his mouth?”
Alex just hummed and Kara giggled as the waitress came around to take their order, disappearing just as quickly as she appeared. “I’m just glad that we managed to get away from work for a little while to meet up for lunch,” the redhead commented. She reached across the table and took one of Kara’s hands in her, bringing it to her lips to press a kiss to the blonde’s knuckles. “It’s been too long since we’ve had any time by ourselves.”
“You mean time spent out of the bedroom,” Kara retorted, a bright grin on her face.
Her words were suggestive enough to bring a blush to Alex’s cheeks and the woman cleared her throat. “While that is nice,” Alex replied. “Sleeping with you, loving you, sleeping next to you, intimacy, it’s not the same as going out on a real date and being close to each other.”
Kara smiled at that and squeezed Alex’s fingers. “I know,” she murmured. “I’ve missed this too.” It took her a couple weeks of dating the other woman to realize that while Alex was very much a realist, someone that always assumes the worst first, underneath the tough exterior and protective shell, she was a romantic at heart. The flowers, chocolates, and boxes of potstickers delivered to her at work all pointed to someone with a romantic heart, especially since they were her favorites. When Alex first discovered the tattoo on her back, she traced it softly with her fingertips and asked about the significance of the quote and flowers. Since then, Kara has always received bouquets of lilies, with a single tiger lily always present in the batch.
The two fell into easy conversation after that, discussing what was happening at work or Alex's upcoming outing with Carter to the aquarium up in Coast City. She had been working diligently for the past few months to try to get the boy on her side, but nothing had swayed him. Finally she contacted an old colleague and managed to get tickets to the opening of the new aquarium and research center further up the California coast line. It was another couple weeks before it opened, but Carter was already jabbering Kara's ear off about it. He warmed up to her girlfriend immensely after she told him about the tickets, and Kara could only hope that he came to see Alex as another big sister rather than someone trying to take his sister from him.
“Kara, Kara…” Alex’s voice pulled her from her thoughts and the blonde focused back on the woman sitting across from her.
“Sorry, I was lost in my mind for a minute.” She smiled apologetically. “I was thinking about how you and Carter are doing.”
“I wondered what had you distracted from your food,” the redhead smirked, gesturing at the food laid out on the table.
Kara squealed, “Food!” She devoured the rack of ribs on the platter and the numerous side dishes that she ordered with her main course. Alex bit down a grin as she started in on her burger, a blush crossing her face as she listening to her girlfriend’s moans of pleasure.
“I thought I was the only thing that could pull those sounds from you,” she said, eliciting a blush from the blonde. “It feels silly to be jealous of a rack of ribs and side of green beans.”
“I don’t know, these ribs do delightful things to my tongue, I might just leave you for them.”
“They might do delightful things to your tongue, but can they do the same things I do with my tongue?”
A smirk crossed Kara’s face as she took in the lecherous grin on Alex’s face. “No,” she purred out. “No one quite does what you do, so I might keep you around.”
“Your appreciation means a lot.” Alex rolled her eyes and finished her food while Kara finished her own giant meal.
“I know we don’t usually talk a lot about work and…” Kara made a flying motion with her hands. “Things when we’re on a date, but I have to ask, have you heard anything from Cadmus recently?”
Alex’s face scrunched for a moment before shaking her head, “No, our sources have indicated that the group has gone underground for the moment. J’onn and the rest of the DEO are content to let them stay underground, but I’m concerned. Lillian doesn’t seem the type to let this go lying down, and thwarting her numerous times like this just means that she’s going to come back harder than ever. I don’t like the idea of waiting for her to strike, that leaves it on her terms and in her territory.”
“I don’t like it Alex, but what can we do? We don’t have any idea on where to look for her.”
“You think you could get your little hacker friend and Lena to poke around, look for anything connected to Lex or his businesses, maybe even old Luthor Corp holdings, or unknown acquired companies?”
“I can ask,” Kara said, pulling out her phone to send a text. “I’m not supposed to know that while Winn called in sick today, he and Lena are having a gaming session in the other secret section of her office. I can’t remember if today was Overwatch day or Fortnite though…” The response to her text was immediate and Kara glanced down at her phone. “Overwatch day then, they must be pissed at their team members and taking a break to bitch about them. Lena said she and Winn would get right on to digging through anything else they can find. Winn dug through a lot to find Lena months ago but they’re both still rooting out old bolt holes that Lex had all over the country.”
“The guy was paranoid, I would be surprised if he didn’t have more secretly stashed away, or Lillian for that matter. She’s far too crafty to not have backup plans for backup plans.”
“I will let you know what they find when they get back to me,” Kara replied, standing up from the table. “I would stay longer, but I’ve got to get back to work, you know what my boss is like.”
“Terrifying,” Alex chuckled, standing as well. “I’ll cover the bill, and I’ll talk to you later. Dinner?”
“Come over and I’ll cook for you again.” Kara grinned, fixing the collar of the redhead’s leather jacket. “We can watch some more Star Trek, try to complete your education, or catch up on Survivor and try to figure out what’s real and what’s not?”
“I still think it’s hilarious that you’re the one educating me about science-fiction space related TV shows.” Alex shook her head as she paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant with Kara. “How’d you get into watching Star Trek anyway?”
“My mother,” Kara replied. “She’s not a big fan of Star Wars, I don’t think she’s seen a movie all the way through, though I love them as well. She’s a big Trekkie though, which is probably why she was so good a picking up Kryptonian when she was learning.”
“Maybe I should learn Klingon, might help with figuring out Kryptonian, since I’m having no luck with the language.”
“The languages sound nothing alike so probably wouldn’t help you as much as you want.” Kara bit her lip before continuing, “But thank you, it’s, I appreciate that you’re trying to learn my native language.”
“I love you Kara, I’d do anything for you.” Alex smiled and pressed her forehead against Kara’s and they stood there for a moment, just being near each other.
“I love you too Lexie,” Kara murmured, pressing a kiss to Alex’s lips. “I’ve got to go, I’ll see you later?”
Alex tugged her in for another quick kiss before releasing the blonde. “Definitely, I’ll be there.”
Kara giggled and nearly skipped her way back to CatCo, her mind still focused on her beautiful girlfriend rather than on what her mother’s schedule would be for the day. She finally managed to school her face as she walked into Cat’s office, but she could tell from the amusement in her mother’s eyes that she didn’t fully succeed. “Did you have a good time at lunch?” Cat asked, her right eyebrow quirked as she looked at her daughter.
“Ah, um, yes Ms. Grant,” Kara stuttered out. She fiddled a moment with the tablet in her hands before pulling up Cat’s schedule. “Um, right, you have a meeting later with marketing, and then Oprah called you this morning and she wants you to call her when you’re available.”
Cat let out a sigh and twirled around in her chair. “She’s doing a special on women in high positions of leadership and influence, and of course, who’s more influential than the most powerful person in National City?”
Before Kara could reply, a loud explosion echoed across the city, causing the building to quake and several of the windows to shatter. Kara was at her mother’s side in less than half a second, blocking the older woman from the shower of glass from her shattered windows. “What in the Lois Lane was that?” Cat growled out as she glanced out her shattered balcony window.
“Lois Lane?”
“Good equivalent for hell darling, now I think it would be a good idea if you went to investigate that explosion. Be careful.”
“I will, you be careful too Mom, don’t mess with the glass,” Kara told her before disappearing back through the office and towards the stairwell. One quick change into her suit and Kara was rocketing off the roof of CatCo, her eyes narrowed behind her mask as she focused on the site of the explosion. It was in one of the deserted parts of town, just old warehouses and factories, but there were still enough people around for Kara to hear the sounds of screams and feet moving rapidly away from scene.
She heard it before she saw it, the loud ragged breaths quickly followed by a vicious roar and a low hiss as a twisted, humanoid form burst out of the wreckage. It looked like a monster straight out of a sci-fi film, a reptilian head and scales covering its entire body, claw-like hands scratching at the ground and a spiked tail set like a scorpion’s, ready to sting at any moment. The creature wasn’t any alien species she was familiar with, and she didn’t know where it came from but knew that it had to be contained before it got to the rest of the city. “Stop!” Kara ordered as she landed in front of the monster, attempting to see if it understood basic forms of communication.
The monster continued forward, either ignoring or not understanding the words spoken by the heroine. “Time to hit things I guess,” Kara muttered, bracing herself for collison as she sprung towards the monster. As soon as she grew close to the creature, Kara knew that something was wrong as she felt the tell-tale signs of kryptonite poisoning. Her movements became sluggish and pain wracked through her body as she hit the creature. A scream left her throat as her hand instantly broke on contact, green pulsing through her veins, and the monster easily swat her away, knocking her through several building walls. Kara grunted as she pushed herself up and held her hand to her chest as she activated the com in her ear.
“Lena,” she hissed out, the pain in her hand slightly distracting her. “Lena Luthor, get off Overwatch and pick up your coms.”
“Bitch, calm down, what?” Lena’s voice sounded in her ear and Kara rolled her eyes.
“Look, I’m dealing with some kind of creature down in the old warehouse district. Somehow it has kryptonite in it, or it’s made of kryptonite, either way, I’m injured and a sitting duck. I’m going to try to distract it, but I could really use some back up, can you contact Alex or… well anyone at this point?”
“Shit,” Lena mumbled. “I’ll put a call into the wifey, and I’ll see if I can get Sara, Kate or M’gann down there.”
“Much appreciated.” Kara ended the conversation and grit her teeth before springing back into action. She knew that since the creature had kryptonite in it that fighting it would cause her serious damage, or worse, but she couldn’t let the monster escape and reach the more heavily populated parts of the city. Grabbing a piece of rebar that had come loose from her collison with the wall, Kara charged at the beast again, wielding the piece of metal like a weapon.
The creature let out a roar as the pipe collided with its side, Kara’s strength still powered enough to send it reeling back a few paces. It lashed out again with its claws and Kara dodged enough so it only clipped her arm, but it left long gashes as the claws tore through her suit. “I could use some backup any day now,” Kara grumbled, shifting to a defensive stance as the monster started to advance.
“It’s coming, just hang on for a little bit longer.”
Before Kara could fully listen to Lena’s words, the monster collided with her again, the Kryptonite sapping all of her strength and abilities, rendering her sick and weak as it knocked her back into another building. She struggled to get up, her chest heaving and her heart slowing from the effects of kryptonite. Before the monster could draw any closer to her, Miss Martian landed between them and engaged the creature in a battle of strength. The martian wasn’t affected by the presence of kryptonite, but the monster wasn’t deterred and continued to try going around or through the martian to get at the fallen kryptonian.
“Supergirl!” Kara heard Alex’s voice and she struggled to push herself off the ground as her girlfriend came running up to her decked out in tactical gear. “Are you alright?” She whispered as she crouched down next to the fallen hero, her eyes filled with worry.
“My hand is broken and I’m pretty banged up, but nothing some time in the sun won’t fix.” The blonde’s attention strayed to where Miss Martian and several DEO agents were battling the creature. “What is that thing, how is it made of kryptonite?”
“Whatever it is, it keeps trying to get to you,” Alex muttered. M’gann landed a good hit and the monster roared out in rage before disappearing back into the charred wreckage of the building it came from.
“It’s gone,” M’gann called back, her breaths fast and labored. “I can go after it, but it’s tough, kept trying to get back to Supergirl, almost like it was gunning for you.”
“That might explain why it was made of kryptonite, someone made it to take out Kryptonians,” Alex stated. “But who, and where did it go?”
“Agent Danvers!” One of the other field agents called. “You need to come take a look at this.”
“Will you be okay?” Alex asked, looking down at her girlfriend again.
Kara nodded, “I’ll be okay, M’gann can help me get to Lena’s, I can patch myself up there.”
“Or I can patch you up bitch, tell M’gann to take you to my apartment.”
The blonde rolled her eyes at Lena’s voice in her ear. “Fine, Lena can patch me up. M’gann can you get me to her apartment?”
“Yes, do you need us here?” M’gann asked Alex and the agent shook her head.
“No, you two get out of here, get her in some sunlight and recharging, I’ll stop by Lena’s later if I find anything important.” Alex waved the two away and followed the other agent into the wrecked building. Outwardly it looked like the average abandoned warehouse, dark, dirty, filled with old equipment, but Agent Davies was waving her towards a wall where there was another gaping hole.
“It’s a false wall,” Davies explained, his voice rushed. “Never would have found it if that… well thing hadn’t broken out of here.”
Alex nearly gasped when she gingerly stepped through the broken wall and into the hidden room. Everything looked like it was straight out of a mad scientist’s lair, fresh from a Hollywood set. There were computers all around the dark room, many of them smashed, and a large glass chamber that had been filled with liquid was in the center of the room, also shattered. The liquid around the chamber was yellow tinged with flecks of a familiar green, the same color that glowed in Kara’s veins whenever the blonde was exposed to kryptonite.
“The creature must’ve been in here,” Alex said as she examined the glass chamber. “But, what was it and how did it get out?”
“I think somebody made it.” The red-haired agent turned when she hard Vasquez speak. She found the other agent in front of one of the only computers that hadn’t been destroyed in the chaos. “These records on here are sparse and with the system destroyed, there’s not a lot that I can gather, but it looks like someone grew the creature, or made it I guess, turning a normal human into a vicious monster.”
“Do we really have to guess who’s behind this?” Alex growled out. “This has Lillian written all over it, she’s the only one who would twist a human in such a way with kryptonite, most likely designed to take out a Kryptonian. The only other one who would dare is Maxwell Lord and he’s still wrapped up with those smuggling and terrorist charges since his girlfriend was a psycho.”
“Oh it’s definitely Cadmus Ma’am,” Vasquez replied. “I’ve run into this coding before when we cleared that mass exodus event. What I don’t understand though is that it looks like from these notes that the creature that broke out of here and attacked Supergirl was a failed project, or imperfect, maybe just practice?”
“If that creature was just practice,” Aled murmured, her face pale. “What will the final show be like?”
Lena paced around her apartment like a caged tiger, her hands flying as she ranted furiously in a mixture of Irish and English. Kara watched from her position under the high powered solar lamp as her best friend basically planned the demise for her own mother, and ran through colorful choice words in a mixture of languages. “Do I want to know what she’s saying?” M’gann asked, watching Lena in amusement and slight fear.
“You don’t,” Winn replied from his seat on the couch, his laptop propped up on his lap. “I’ve picked up a few things from game days, and let me tell you, her mouth is pretty filthy, she swears like a sailor.”
“Which is amazing since the Irish aren’t much for swearing,” Kara rolled her eyes. “Not that I’ve noticed anyway, but I’ve only popped over a few times when Lena wanted something authentic.”
M’gann continued to observe Lena’s pacing, which didn’t let up until her old roommate waltzed through the door and tugged the brunette in for a searing kiss. “You need to let up on the plans of torture and mayhem babe, we already have one Luthor causing trouble in the city,” Sara said when they parted. She left Lena to her stewing and sat down next to M’gann, swinging her legs over her lap. “You doing okay SugarBabe?” She directed her attention to the blonde sitting under the sunlamps, and Kara answered with a shrug.
“Broke my hand, but it’s better now, and waiting for Alex on word about that weird kryptonite creature,” Kara replied. She shut the lamp off and pushed it away, stretching the muscles in her hand to work out the kinks. Once all of the stiffness had worked its way out, she pulled out her phone and dialed her mother who answered after only half a ring.
“Kara? Are you alright? There were reports about a monster and Miss Martian sightings, but nothing about you.”
“I got hurt, but I’m fine now. M’gann took me to Lena’s apartment,” Kara replied. “Mom, this has to be off the record, but that creature, it was made of kryptonite.”
Kara heard the sharp exhale through the speaker and the soft muttering of curses before her mother spoke again. “Kryptonite, who… is that how you got hurt?”
“Yeah, I broke my hand and got banged up a bit, but some time with the sunlamps Lena made for me and I’m good to go.”
“But you can’t go up against that creature again, what if whoever made it created more?”
“I have to try Mom, I can’t just sit on the sidelines while everyone else fights if that monster comes back. It could really hurt a lot of people.”
She heard the older woman sigh. “I know, I know that you won’t be satisfied staying on the sidelines, but please be careful. Maybe see if that best friend of yours has any way to keep you safe from the effects of kryptonite for a while.”
“I’ll ask her, I’ll see you later Mo-”
Before she could finish, the television clicked on and a loud buzzing sound blasted from the device. Her heightened hearing detected the same sound coming from her mother’s TVs in her office and around the city. Just as it flickered to life and an image appeared on the screen, Alex raced into the room, her eyes wide. A dark figure showed on the screen, the face covered with a mask and their voice garbled. “Citizens of National City,” it growled out. Despite being altered, Kara could hear the tones beneath the alterations and immediately recognized the figure, Lillian Luthor. “It has been nearly a year since you started harboring a monster, a creature descended from the sky that you all worship as a savior, a god. It is disgraceful to debase yourself for this creature, to seek her aid and supposed benevolence when she has the power and ability to enslave us all. These aliens that you have invited into this city have already attempted once before and continue to systematically undermine our way of life, the human way of life. We have tried to help you before, to save you from your own ignorance but you continue to harbor these things, branding us as evil.” Static crackled across the screen again and the figure flickered for a moment before the screen cleared again.
“You will face judgment National City, for harboring and embracing this creature, the one known as Supergirl,” the figure continued. “And she will face destruction. Did you like the monster this morning, Supergirl? One of our projects that didn’t work out the way we wanted, but it’s only just the beginning. We have perfected our formula and now while National City faces it’s destruction, you will face your Doomsday.”
As her words finished, the screen faded to black and another, larger explosion sounded, this time it was from downtown. It was followed by several smaller explosions around the city, and terrified screams of people. “Mom…” Kara breathed out, her eyes wide. “Mom, you need to get to Astra and Carter and-”
“Kara!” Cat interrupted. “One of the monsters is just around from CatCo.”
“Mom, I’m comi-”
“No! It’s glowing green with kryptonite, I can see it from my office. You need to stay safe.”
“But Mom, I can’t just leave the city to fend for itself!”
“And I can’t lose my daughter!”
There was a crash on the other end of the conversation and the call was cut off, leaving Kara to stare at the wall blankly. “Mom, mom!” She quickly hit redial button but was met with a busy signal. “Shit!” She pushed herself out of the chair and started towards the balcony. “I have to go, Mom’s in trouble.”
“Kara, you can’t,” Alex said, grabbing her arm. “We found some files at the site, whatever Cadmus created, it’s even worse than the monster this morning.”
“The person on the screen,” Sara started. “They referred to it as Doomsday.”
“And they released it on the city, a creature made of kryptonite with its sole purpose to wreak havoc and destroy kryptonians,” Alex continued. “You can’t go out there.”
“I have to, you just can’t expect me to do nothing when people need my help, when my mother is in danger!”
“Which is why I made preparations,” Lena interrupted before the two women could start arguing again. When they turned to look at her, she gestured outside. “I’ll called in some help as soon as I heard kryptonite was involved.”
As she spoke, Green Lantern landed on the balcony and Batwoman strolled in through the front door. “So the SuperFriends are back together,” Kyle announced, placing his hands on his hips.
“Stop being a dork Kyle,” Kate said, rolling her eyes. She walked over to where Kara was standing with her fists clenched and pulled her honorary little sister into a hug. “Lena gave us a heads up, thankfully I was already pulling into the dock in the harbor when I heard. I called Maggie and she alerted the police as to what was going on, they’re already evacuating the more populated parts of the city. I know it’s not in your nature to stand down, let Green Lantern, Miss Martian, White Canary and I deal with this for now.”
“Will you… will you get to my mom?” Kara asked, her throat dry and her voice thick. “Please?”
“I’ll find the Kitty Cat, not to worry.” The older woman squeezed her arm before looking at the others in the room. “Let’s go, the city is not going to save itself.” The four quickly took off out the window, leaving Lena, Winn, Kara and Alex behind.
Lena glanced between the other two women in the room before grabbing Winn by his arm and hauling him off the couch. “Come on Winn, let’s go check on the status of that thing.”
“What thing?” He grumbled out, but flinched back when Lena glared at him and motioned back to the women standing in the living room. “Oh right the thing, let’s go check on that thing.” The two disappeared into Lena’s private lab, leaving Kara and Alex alone in the room.
“I can’t do nothing Alex,” Kara said, trying to get her girlfriend to understand. “Cadmus, Lillian, they created these monsters and set them on National City, trying to get to me. I can’t leave the city to defenseless, I can’t hide away while those creatures wreck the city trying to find me.”
“Kara, Vasquez found more information on those computers, this, whatever it is, project Doomsday, it was originally started by Lex Luthor. He invented a serum to merge kryptonite and kryptonian technology with a human form as a way to kill Superman. This was literally designed to kill the strongest superhero Lex Luthor knew. Lillian Luthor is resourceful, she would have made it even more potent, they called it Doomsday for a reason!”
“I still have to try Alex, I can’t let anything happen to the city, to all of you.”
“And I don’t want anything to happen to my wife,” Alex finished, causing the blonde to stare at her in shock. “Kara I can’t…” Tears started to slip down her cheeks, but Alex just left them in favor of grabbing Kara’s hands. “These past few months, they’ve been, I’ve never been this happy, and I can’t imagine the rest of my life without you.” Both of them were crying at this point. “I keep picturing our life together, dating, getting married again, raising another dog together, raising a few children. National City and the world might be able to go on without Supergirl, but I can’t live without Kara Danvers.”
“I love you Alexandra Danvers, I can’t live without you either,” Kara murmured, leaning her forehead against her girlfriend’s. “I can’t let anything happen to you. You, my mom, my aunt, my brother, my friends, all of you, you’re my family, I already had to say goodbye to one family and I couldn’t do anything to help them. Please Lexie, you have to understand, I have to do something. You don’t think you can live without me, well I definitely know that I can’t live without you.”
“While all of this is very touching,” Lena interrupted, causing the two women to turn and look at her. “Winn and I might have a solution.” She held up a small device and handed it to Kara. “It’s made to go in your boot, it’s a kryptonite blocker. We’ve been working on it for a while now as kind of our secret project. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to get it to the point where it’s permanent, has a limited shelf life once you activate it.”
“Lena… you made this for me?” Kara moved to embrace her friend and Lena tugged on a few strands of blonde hair as she did.
“Well, you know how I feel about having to break in a new best friend.” The brunette pulled back and wiped a few tears away from Kara’s eyes. “Now go out there and save the day.” Kara pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and one to Alex’s lips before activating the device and rocketing out of the penthouse.
“I should probably get out there too, they’ll need some extra backup.” Alex turned to leave but Lena held up her hand.
“What a minute Danvers, I think Winn has something for you… Winn, get out here, they’re done being sappy!”
The man nervously stuck his head out from around the door and sighed. He walked fully into the room and set a small briefcase in front of the agent. “I’ve been able to… study some of the alien tech that Supergirl has dealt with and I was curious, so this is the prototype.” Alex opened the briefcase and pulled out a gun about the same size as her current piece. “It’s basically a blaster,” Winn explained. “I could get technical, but that’s what it is and it’s already been tested, just not field tested.”
“You guys made me a gun? You might be alright Luthor,” Alex replied, nodding at the both of them.
“Yes, well, you’re growing on me Danvers, though just do me a favor,” Lena requested. “Make sure you catch my mother and either blast her into space or drop her down a deep, dark hole.”
“With pleasure.”