The Stressful Encounter
“We need a plan to stop Andrea,” Kara says, pacing in front of Alex and J’onn. It’s been 45 min since Andrea pulled the gun away from Lena, but Kara hasn’t been able to relax. Just mere hours ago, Lena asked her to be her girlfriend.
“Kara, Lena will be fine.” Alex shakes her head, watching Kara carve a walking path into the dirt where she’s pacing frantically. “I think it’s best if J’onn and I go in alone, you’re too distracted.” Kara stops her pacing abruptly.
“No. Alex. Not happening.” Alex lifts her hands in surrender, realizing it’s fruitless to argue with her adopted sister. “Andrea can’t handle all three of us at once. Alex, you’ll be the distraction while J’onn and I rescue Lena and dismantle Myriad. Then we’ll take care of Andrea.” Alex shakes her head in disagreement.
“Kara, we need to wait for reinforcements. We don’t know what we are walking into. Last time the three of us barely managed to take Andrea down,” Alex pauses, choosing her next words. “With Lena’s safety our top priority, we need to be sure we can handle Andrea. Plus, we have no idea what Myriad is.” Kara places her hands on her hips, biting her lip anxiously.
“How fast can the other DEO agents get here?” Kara asks.
“J’onn would be here in five to ten…” Alex trails off, thinking about the distance between the DEO and the warehouse. “Maybe the rest would be 30 to 40 minutes, give or take.”
“That’s too long, Alex. I can’t wait that long.” Kara balks, trying to calm her nerves. It’s already been too long since Andrea has had Lena in her grasp. Any longer and Kara might explode from the anxiety coursing through her chest. Alex rests a hand on Kara’s arm.
“Lena will be okay, Kara. Just wait. I already put out the call. Winn sent out units as quickly as possible. J’onn should be here anytime.” Kara nods, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.
One Hour Later
Kara stands next to Alex with J’onn in front of a dozen DEO agents, listening as they develop a plan to rescue Lena and stop Andrea. Kara chews her bottom lip, her anxiety ever increasing with the length of time they are taking.
“Okay, unit Alpha,” Half of the agents stand straighter. “You’ll surround the back entrance of the warehouse, closing off any escape.” They all nod, tightening their grips on their weapons. Most of them holding semi-automatic rifles with rubber bullets. Killing Andrea is not an option, and they can’t take the chance with Lena in close proximity. “Unit Bravo,” Alex continues. The rest of the agents lean forward, listening intently. “You’ll surround the entrance, paying close attention to your walkies. If we need any assistance, you’ll be our immediate back-up.” They nod diligently. Alex turns to Kara and J’onn. “Supergirl, you will focus on Andrea. Keep her talking so J’onn can remove Lena safely from the situation. I’ll remove the immediate threat that Andrea poses to you. The Kryptonite weapon.” Kara nods, clenching and unclenching her fists in anticipation. With a signal from Alex, both teams from the DEO split, heading in their respective locations. Once they confirm they are in position, Alex, Kara, and J’onn ready themselves before entering the warehouse. It’s dark inside, despite the late afternoon sun sort of filtering through the few windows. Kara loses sight of J’onn and Alex, but can still hear their quiet footsteps beside her. Ahead of Kara, the same fluorescent light shines above the desk. As she steps closer, she can see the raven-hair of Lena, but Andrea is nowhere to be seen at the moment.
“Lena,” Kara hears J’onn whisper a few feet away. Lena’s head turns in their direction, her gaze landing on J’onn, Alex, and Kara. Her face is devoid of any emotion or expression. Kara frowns. Something’s wrong.
“Her weapon is missing, Supergirl. Stay vigilante.” Kara sucks in a breath at Alex’s observation. It seems like Andrea expected them.
“Get off me!” Lena’s sudden outburst captures Kara’s attention. J’onn seems to have tried to grab her arm to guide her out of the warehouse. Now, Lena’s backing away, fists raised against J’onn. Kara takes a step forward toward them, before a laugh echoes throughout the warehouse.
“What’s wrong, Kryptonian?” Andrea’s voice seems to flow out of the shadows. Kara whips around, peering into the darkness. Nothing. Lena shrieks again as J’onn attempts to grab her again.
“What did you do to her?” Kara snarls, her anger rising. The laugh comes again. Kara spins again, hoping to catch a glimpse of Andrea. Emptiness.
“Oh, you know. Just found out a good use for Myriad already.” Myriad? Kara tries to rack her brain, thinking back to when she first found the blueprints for the program in Andrea’s possession. Lena mentioned it was dangerous… Kara blinks as it hits her. Mind control. Myriad is a program for mind control. That’s why Andrea wanted it. Wait, she’s mind controlling Lena?
“Let her go!” Kara shouts into the darkness. There’s no response, just the sounds of Lena yelling at J’onn to leave her alone. “J’onn, it’s a mind control device. Lena’s under –” She gets cut off as she glimpses a bright flash of green out of her periphery. She barely manages to duck out of the way as the blast crashes into the wall behind her, dispersing. Panting slightly, she uses her heat vision in the direction it came from, but it hits empty air. “Alex, I can’t see her.”
“Me neither, Supergirl.” Alex’s voice comes from Kara’s right, farther into the warehouse. “She seems to be using the shadows as cover.” Alex is right, Andrea is able to merge her physical form with the darkness. Thinking quickly, Kara uses her heat vision to start small fires around the warehouse, removing a large percentage of the shadows.
“Clever,” Andrea says, emerging from the shadows near one of the flickering flames. Kara takes a step toward her, but stops as Andrea raises the pulsing weapon in her hands. “You’re a real pain in the ass, Kryptonian.” The gun whirs, the pulses becoming quicker. Kara braces herself to run or take the blast.
“Andrea!” Alex? Kara looks up as Alex completes a spinning back kick, hitting Andrea square in the chest. She goes flying, the gun crashing to the ground. Alex runs over, kicking the gun far away from Andrea’s grasp as she’s on the ground, clutching her chest. Hope flutters in Kara’s chest. They can win this. They just have to stop Myriad. Kara runs over to J’onn and Lena. Glancing at her raven-haired girlfriend, she notices the emerald-green dull and vacant.
“J’onn, can you reverse the mind control”
“I can try.” J’onn places a finger against his temple, closing his eyes, concentrating. Kara looks down at the laptop splayed open on the desk. There’s a progress bar with MYRIAD LAUNCH written above it. It’s at 89% completion. Kara tries tapping a few keys to no avail. She’s definitely not a tech genius. “Supergirl,” J’onn says, catching her attention. She looks over her shoulder, watching as the spark comes back into Lena’s eyes. Relief floods her body for a moment.
“Lena? Lena, we need to stop this.” Blinking a few times, Lena comes over to the laptop.
“Supergirl, move.” Lena begins tapping the keys frantically, trying to stop the progress bar from continuing. “I can’t get it to stop. It seems to be irreversible remotely.” A few more taps on the keyboard. “It’s linked to the satellite directly above National City. Andrea plans on using it to mind control the whole city. I’ll continue trying to stop it remotely, but there’s a fail save on the satellite itself.”
“I’m on it. J’onn help Alex if she needs it.” After he nods, Kara rushes outside, greeted by six DEO agents pointing their weapons at her. Once they notice its her, they lower them. Without a word, she crouches and leaps into the air, flying directly upward. Kara passes birds and clouds, entering the edge of space, eyes tearing from the sudden wind. “Lena, I’m almost near the satellite. How much time do I have?”
“I’d say less than five minutes, its at 97%.” Kara pushes herself faster, climbing past Earth’s atmosphere into the starry expanse of the space. She hovers a moment, locating the satellite. There! A burst of speed gets her to the satellite in record time. She grabs onto the satellite, pulling it away from the direction of National City. Just in case.
“Lena? What’s the fail save look like?”
“Find a grey panel.” Kara inspects the surface of the piece of orbiting metal. Spotting it, she rips it open to find a jumble of wires, all different colors.
“What’s next?”
“There should be two red wires and two green wires. Remove the red ones without disturbing the green ones. You have less than one minute, we’re at 99%.” Kara takes a breath before beginning to handle the wires, fingers shaking. She manages to undo the first red wire. “Twenty seconds, Supergirl. Don’t touch the green wires.” Kara realizes the second red wire is underneath a green one. Of course it couldn’t be easy. Tentatively, Kara eases the red wire out from under the green one. “Three, two – ” Before Lena finishes counting, Kara removes the second red wire. Silence.
“Lena?” A few more moments pass.
“All good, Supergirl. You did it.” Kara heaves a sigh of relief. Lena’s safe. National City is safe. Everyone’s safe.
SOMETIME LATER
At the DEO, Kara watches as Alex walks Andrea into a secure cell. Since being captured, she’s refused to speak. Maybe Alex can use the truth seeker on her later to understand Andrea’s motives and plans. Alex comes up to her.
“Glad we stopped that mess from happening.” Kara nods, her thoughts elsewhere. “Kara?”
“Huh?” Alex places her hands on her hips as Kara sheepishly smiles.
“Go check on her.”
“Talk later?” Alex nods as Kara begins backing out of the hallway. She takes off from the helipad, heading directly to LuthorCorp where she knows Lena will be. Landing in an alley beside the building, she quickly changes, covering the giant symbol on her chest. She walks quickly into the building as evening approaches. There’s one receptionist, Audrey, still in the building. She smiles at Kara when she hurries to the elevator. It seems to take forever coming down and going up, but when the doors slide open to the 26th floor, Kara practically runs to Lena’s office. Eve isn’t at her desk, so Kara knocks on Lena’s door. It swings open revealing a very tired looking raven-haired woman. Kara’s heart sinks.
“Kara?” Lena frowns slightly. “What are you doing here?”
“What? I need a reason to see my girlfriend now?” Lena smiles and Kara’s heart picks up. “I thought maybe we could catch an early dinner?” Lena backs into her office, allowing Kara to come inside. She closes the door with a soft click before turning back to Kara.
“Oh, I don’t know, Kara. I had a rough day.” Kara swallows hard, holding Lena’s sad gaze.
“I know. I’m sorry. After you went with Andrea, I didn’t know what to think. I called Alex immediately.” Kara takes one of Lena’s hands, rubbing it soothingly. “Do you want to talk about it?” Even though I know what happened, she adds silently. Lena takes a moment.
“No, I’d rather not relive that.”
“Are you okay?”
“I am now.” Lena smiles softly, making Kara’s heart swoop in her chest. She leans forward, capturing Kara’s lips with hers. The kiss is different. Like Lena is seeking comfort without wanting to ask for it directly. It still makes Kara’s head spin, despite the circumstance. “Want to come back to my place?” Kara nods. On the way to Lena’s private car, Kara makes herself a promise. She’ll tell Lena tonight. She’ll tell her that she’s Supergirl.