Chapter 3
The next day, while Kara went to work Alex was back at the DEO with El and Director Henshaw. El was debriefing them on what she could remember from her time in an effort to head off certain threats.
“If the timeline is right, a Hellgrammite is going to try and rob Plastino Chemicals tonight,” El explained.
“What do you mean if the timeline is right?” Hank asked.
“The short version is that time travel has a certain… ripple effect,” El explained. “You’re going to need a Speedster to properly explain it -”
“A Speedster?” Alex interrupted.
“Yeah, someone connected to the Speed Force. Like the Flash.”
“You know the Flash?”
“Carry on, El,” Hank said. “You mentioned a ripple effect?”
El nodded. “Let’s say I didn’t do anything. I came back in time and immediately left Earth for some far away corner of the galaxy where I couldn’t change anything. It would still be futile. At the very least, there has been a displacement of space and matter to account for my sudden presence, but on top of that, the very act of coming back sent ripples through space time, not just into the future, but the past as well. I can make predictions based on what I know of people and my own experience, but there are going to be discrepancies.”
Hank was silent while Alex was trying to wrap her head around the concept of time-space ripples. After a moment of silence, he took a deep, somewhat frustrated breath.
“Very well,” he grunted. “In any case, what can you tell me about Hellgrammites?”
“To start, they aren’t carbon based like humans. Their genetics have a chlorine foundation. As a result they have to consume chemicals like DDT to stay healthy.”
“Thus, robbing a chemical plant,” Alex concluded.
El nodded, leaning back slightly in her chair. Alex took the opportunity while sitting next to her to get a better look at the time traveler. She was currently without her signature red leather jacket, instead El was dressed in DEO issue sweats and black t-shirt. As a result, not only was the scar on her neck exposed but her arms as well, revealing at least one other scar on her right shoulder that looked like scratch marks. El was also thinner than Kara. It wasn’t to the point of looking gaunt or unhealthy, but she was noticeably leaner.
“Precisely,” El replied, bringing her back to the present. “Now, Hellgrammites can shapeshift, but their true forms look a bit like giant grasshoppers. They’re not particularly fast, but they can jump large distances, and are quite strong.”
“How strong are we talking?” Henshaw asked.
“Not as strong as Kara, but still enough to give her a challenge considering her current skill level. In my time, Alex put up a pretty decent fight before he abducted her.”
“Abducted?” Alex repeated. “Did the other me do something to piss him off in particular?”
“No,” El said, shaking her head. “The abduction was ordered by General Astra.”
Henshaw grumbled and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “And who is that?”
“General Astra was a Kryptonian Warlady,” El explained.
“Hold on,” Alex interrupted. “Did you say Kryptonian? There are other Kryptonians?”
“Fort Rozz was a Kryptonian prison,” El said. “It stands to reason that they would use it to imprison their own. When Astra learned of the danger Krypton was in, she tried appealing to the government only to be rejected. As a result, she and her followers took matters into their own hands. Their actions became more and more extreme, until eventually, a guard was killed by one of Astra’s men while under her orders. They managed to evade arrest for a while, but Astra was tricked into giving herself up when her niece was used as unwitting bait. Ultimately, she and her followers were sentenced to Fort Rozz by her sister, the same person who put most of those prisoners away.”
“So,” Henshaw muttered. “That means Astra is -”
“Kara’s aunt,” El finished with a nod.
*(OoO)*
“I can’t believe it,” Kara muttered. “Aunt Astra’s alive. And Mom… she - she -”
“She used you,” El said, watching as her younger self paced back and forth in the command centre of the DEO. J’onn, Alex, and a squad of agents had gone to Plastino Chemicals to run surveillance and try to stop the Hellgrammite before Astra could get to him, leaving the two of them alone so that El could explain the situation with Astra and her men.
“How could she do that?” Kara asked. “To her own sister? To - to - to me?”
“What Mom did to us was wrong,” El told her. “She betrayed your trust, and used you to hurt someone you love. It’s okay to not be okay with that.”
“I just…” Kara growled and threw her hands up in the air. “I can’t believe Mom would do something like this.”
“Look,” El suggested. “Why don’t you and I go for a little flight? That way Vasquez doesn’t have to worry about an angry Kryptonian destroying her control centre.”
“What?” Kara squeaked, turning around quickly to look at Vasquez. “Vasquez, I-I’m so sorry. I would never -”
“You’ve already cracked the floors with all your pacing,” El interrupted, nodding towards the clear footprints left in the concrete behind Vasquez’s desk. “Come on, let’s go flying. Susan can contact us if there’s anything at the chemical plant.”
Kara looked conflicted for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding. “Alright.”
El smiled and winked at her. “Try and keep up, Supergirl.” Before Kara had a chance to respond, she was already floating. A second later, she was in the air, three hundred meters above the DEO, waiting for Kara to join her.
“Six seconds,” she said once Kara was floating in the air next to her. “Not bad, but there’s still room for improvement.”
“I’d have been faster, but I didn’t want to plow through every wall in the DEO,” Kara retorted.
“Don’t worry, we’ll work on it.” The two of them lapsed into silence as they gazed in the general direction of Plastino Chemicals. “It’s okay to be mad, you know.”
Kara turned to her, her head tilted and El smiled as a wave of nostalgia washed over her.
Darling, has anyone ever told you that you look like a puppy when you do that?
“What do you mean?” Kara asked, bringing her back to the present.
“We’re not like Kal,” El explained. “People like to compare us to him, and not without reason, but there’s a big difference between us and him.”
Kara snorted. “You mean besides the obvious?”
El nodded. “The difference between us and him,” she continued. “Is that we actually remember Krypton. Kal grew up here. He’s never heard the wind as it passed through the Singing Spires. Never seen the congregations at the Amethyst Islands. Never felt Rao’s light.” She paused and turned away for a moment. “Kal has never lost a planet. He doesn’t know the burden we carry.”
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don't think of them,” Kara whispered.
“There’s a pain that comes with the kind of loss we’ve experienced,” El explained. “And what you’re doing - becoming Supergirl - means that there is a lot more in the future. At some point, that pain is going to twist inside you. It’s going to light a crimson fire in your heart. It will make you fight harder, push farther than you thought possible. It’s important that you accept it.”
“I don’t know,” Kara mumbled. “Everything I’ve learned since coming to Earth has taught me that we, above everyone else, can’t afford to get mad.”
“We can’t afford to lose control,” El corrected. “And that’s true. But denying what you’re feeling isn’t control. All it does is push it down until it comes bubbling up when you least expect it.”
“Did that happen to you?” Kara asked, her voice soft.
“Several times,” El admitted. “The first time I had been infected with an artificial Kryptonite that removed my inhibitions. All of my demons came rushing forward and I became a threat to everyone around me. I eventually got a better handle on it, but… it never quite went away, and, some days, near the end of the war, it was all that kept me going. Anger is caustic, it will burn you from the inside out if you let it, but it’s also a tool. Mastering your emotions is the only way for you to find peace.”
Kara was silent for a while and El took the time to tune in on Alex’s heartbeat.
“I think I’m mad at Alex,” Kara whispered.
“Oh?”
“It’s just…” Kara sighed, frustrated. “She hasn’t been as… supportive of me becoming Supergirl as I thought she would. She’s spent the last two years fighting aliens, a-and I know I’m not invincible - you made that very clear - but I thought she would at least be happier having a Kryptonian on her side, or, at the very least… me.”
“That’s fair,” El replied. Unfortunately, this might have been the first of many unintended changes: in her timeline, Alex would have used the chemical plant robbery to put Kara in the field. The resulting drama would help strengthen their working relationship. “Alex has devoted basically her entire life to protecting you. She’s been in your corner basically since day one, but when you spend all that time looking out for someone, it can be hard to step aside and let them look out for themselves. Talk to her, though. Let her know how you feel, and listen to her side as well.”
“Okay,” Kara said, swallowing her emotions. “I think I can do that.”
“Good.” El decided a change in subject was in order and smiled mischievously. “So, have you decided what you’re gonna say when Cat interviews you?”
“No,” Kara squawked. “Why? Should I? What did you tell her?”