Something to Fight For

Alex tried not jump when the door to the room he was in opened suddenly. Two women stepped in, the same two who had found the van.

“I’m Agent Danvers, FBI,” the taller of the two said, then gestured to her partner, “this is Detective Sawyer, NCPD.” The detective nodded her head in acknowledgement.

“You wanna tell us what six kids and a dinosaur were doing a stolen van in an abandoned warehouse?” Maggie asked, leaning her hands on the chair in a non-threatening pose.

“Sleeping.” Alex answered blandly, staring at his feet.

“That we much, we figured out for ourselves thanks.” Agent Danvers replied. “We were more asking about how the kids of the richest families in Los Angeles ended up in National City, wanted for kidnapping and murder.”

Alex felt his heart stop for a second. They knew. He swallowed thickly. Maggie shared a look with her fiancée, nodding slightly.

“I have nothing to say.” It was weak defense, Alex knew, but it wasn’t like he had another choice. He couldn’t really ask for a lawyer. He knew if he did, his parents would probably be called, they’d come with the rest of Pride and all the running he and his friends had done in the last few days will have been for nothing.

“I don’t think that’s true.” Maggie tried to catch the kids eye, but he refused to look up. “I think you’re scared, because you got caught in something over your head and now you’re in trouble.”

Alex looked up sharply at that, his eyes wide. He didn’t say anything.

“Struck a chord with that, didn’t I?” Maggie quieted after that, letting the kid work through his thoughts. She could read from his body language that she had struck a nerve. She met her Alex’s eye over the kids’ head, silently asking if they should continue or switch tactics. The DEO Agent took over.

“We can help you, Alex,” she started in a gentle voice, “but we can’t do that if you don’t tell us what happened.”

Alex’s mind raced. The two women were onto them, he knew, but could he betray his friends? They had so many secrets, none of them his to share. His stomach clenched when he thought of the secret he kept from Nico, how it tore them apart before they had a chance to really be anything. The Staff, Karolina and Molly’s powers, Chase’s abuse, Gert’s link with Old Lace. All their secrets balanced on the tip of his tongue, but Alex kept himself from saying anything.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he said instead. He opened his mouth to continue but closed it before anything more than a breath came out. The two women shared a look that Alex couldn’t see, he had resumed staring at his feet.

Alex and Maggie walked up to the main monitor a few minutes later, after standing in tense silence with the obviously scared out his mind boy who refused to say another word after claimed they couldn’t be helped.

“Have we found anything about their families yet?” Alex asked Winn, crossing her arms over her chest. This whole situation rubbed her the wrong way and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

“Yes, actually,” Winn dragged the information he was pursing on his tablet to the large monitor. “As you can see, these families are all vastly different.”

“I’ll say,” Alex mumbled, looking at the spread of doctors, scientists, engineers, actor, and religious leader presented to her.

“But they do have one thing in common,” Winn continued, “they all are part of a charity organization, PRIDE.” A spread of pictures filled the screen, mostly of the well—dressed parents of the six kids currently in the interrogation rooms, but a few that included them as well.

“They’re based in L.A., seem to be focused mostly on helping inner city kids it seems,” Winn pulled up an article about the construction of a school in poverty ridden area of L.A. “Most of their work has been towards this, but they have also made some contributions to other studies. These two,” he gestured to Dale and Stacey Yorkes, “have been working a cure for cancer that involves genetic modifications. They recently had a break in the research, a new medicine was launched just last week.”

“So, what changed between then and today?” Kara asked rhetorically, looking at the latest picture of the PRIDE families all together.

“That’s what we need to find out.” Alex had Winn pull the information back to his tablet, so she could see the live feed of the kids again. She surveyed them all carefully, looking for any sign that they could get one of the kids talking.

“Who should we talk too next?” Maggie asked as she came to stand beside Alex. Kara joined them as well.

“The protectors,” Alex pointed first at Karolina’s feed and then Chase’s, “these two jumped up ready to fight when we found them. We need to find out why.” Maggie and Kara nodded, waiting for Alex to decide who to speak to first. “Kara, you go talk to Karolina, Maggie and I will handle Chase.”

“Why do you want me to talk to her?” Kara asked, knowing that Alex liked for them to either work together or for her to ask the questions on her own.

“There’s something…different about her,” Alex replied, meeting her sister’s gaze. Kara nodded her understanding. She wasn’t sure what Alex was feeling, but she trusted her sister’s instincts.

“Let’s do this thing,” Maggie said, steering the sisters back down the hallway. Maggie entered the room with Chase followed by Alex while Kara entered the room across from them.

Karolina looked up at the sound of her door opening, her fingers momentarily stopping their motions in fiddling with the clasp on her bracelet. She was surprised to see Supergirl entering the room, instead of one of the black clad agents she had occasional heard passing by the door.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Kara said after she opened the door, seeing how the girl in the chair had jumped.

“You didn’t.” Karolina went back to fidgeting with her bracelet, her eyes glued to the crest on Supergirl’s chest. Of course, she knew aliens existed before this whole deal began. That was impossible to deny when people like Supergirl existed in the world, but before it had seemed like such an abstract concept. Like, sure there were aliens, but not like, aliens, aliens. Not the evil kind who wanted to take over the world or destroy it.

“It’s not actually an ‘S,’ you know.” Kara broke the silence, seeing were Karolina’s gaze was focused.

“What?”

“This,” Kara tapped a finger against her chest,” it’s not an ‘S.’ It’s a symbol, from my world.”

“What does it mean?” Karolina asked, her curiosity peaked. She’d never heard of the iconic gold and red letter standing for anything other than ‘Super.’

“El Myrrha,” Kara said, “’Stronger together’ in Kryptonian.” Kara took a seat in the chair across from Karolina, making sure to keep her posture as relaxed and open as she could. Karolina seemed to sink back in on herself when Supergirl sat down, her hand returning to her bracelet.

“That’s a Gibborium bracelet, right?” Supergirl broke the silence that Karolina seemed to want to keep. The younger blonde looked up sharply. “Your moms like the head of the church, right?”

“You know who I am?” Karolina asked, hating how shaky her voice came out.

“I know your name, Karolina Dean, and you your parents are,” Supergirl paused, “I know you and your friends are in trouble, in a pretty big way.” At the mention of her friends, Karolina leant forward.

“Are they okay? Can I see them?”

“They’re all fine,” Kara waited until Karolina released the breath she had sucked in at the news, “but I can’t let you see them yet. We need to know what’s going on here.”

“We didn’t kill that girl.” Karolina said, figuring that’s what Supergirl meant when she said they were in trouble. “I swear we didn’t.”

“I believe you.” Supergirl replied truthfully. The girl before her didn’t have a mean bone in her body. “But I need you to tell me who did, so I can help you.”

“You wouldn’t believe me.” Karolina said, her gaze aimed at the table.

“Try me.” Supergirl replied easily. She was more than ready to wait it out. Karolina was so close to breaking, she could feel it.

“Even if I did tell you, there’s nothing you could do about it. They’ve already gotten away with it. Just like they’ve gotten away with everything else.” Karolina mumbled the last bit to herself, but Kara heard her perfectly.

“What else did they get away with, Karolina?” Kara asked gently, but the girl didn’t hear her.

Karolina twisted her Gibb bracelet around her wrist as her mind buzzed. PRIDE had done it, they’d killed so many people over the years, they’ve murdered kids. They kidnapped Karolina. They turned their own kids in for murder. The sided with an alien over their family. Karolina could feel the emotions building in her throat. So much had happened, at such a fast pace. She hadn’t had the time to process it before. But now she had been sitting in a windowless room for god knows how long with only her thoughts to keep her company, until Supergirl walked in.

“Karolina?” The Kryptonian asked again after the girl in question remained silent. Her bracelet slid around her wrist, moving slightly so Kara could see the slight discoloration in the girls’ skin that came from years of wearing the bracelet in the same spot, leaving her with a stripe of skin that was less than the rest of her arm. Karolina was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize the clasp had come open until it was too late.

The silver bracelet fell to the floor with a clatter, but Kara was more concerned with the bright colors that seemed to slowly encompass the girl. Karolina felt a rush of heat through her body as her powers activated and looked at Supergirl with wide eyes. Supergirl had risen to her feet on instinct and Karolina followed, tripping over her chair as she backed away from the heroine before her. Her breaths came in sharp pants, her lights growing brighter in response to her fear.

Kara came back to her senses, relaxing her stance and putting her hands up in the universal sign of surrender when she realized Karolina was growing more terrified by the second.

“It’s okay, Karolina. I won’t hurt you. I promise.” Kara could hear the girl’s racing heartbeat. She inched around the table, making sure to move slowly and keep her hands up so Karolina could see that she wasn’t going to hurt her. “I’m going to pick up your bracelet, okay?”

Karolina nodded slightly, her lights still glowing brightly as Kara knelt down and gently picked up her bracelet. “Does this suppress your powers?”

Karolina again nodded as she watched Supergirl examine the round metal. Kara took a step closer and Karolina’s powers flared up in warning. She clenched her fists, afraid she would fire off a beam at the woman currently trying to help her. Kara backed away as the lights got brighter.

“Who do you trust to help you?” Kara asked softly. She knew the best thing to do when power got out of control was to be around the person who calmed you the most. She’s been in this spot many times before, except in those cases she was the scared girl and Alex was the one helping her.

“Nico,” Karolina answered without thinking. There wasn’t anyone else she trusted more to calm her down, or at least not freak out that she was glowing.

“Okay,” Kara reached for the door. “I’m going to get Nico. Everything will be okay, Karolina.” Karolina nodded, her eyes falling closed as she tried to get her breathing under control while Supergirl rushed out of the room.

Kara located Nico in a second, after Winn directed her to the room down the hall. She pushed the door open and spotted the girl leaning against the back wall.

“Nico?” She asked, just to make sure she was getting the right the person.

“What’s it to you?” Nico asked, her usual snark coming out as a defense mechanism. Supergirl held up the hand still holding Karolina’s bracelet.

“It’s Karolina.” She explained, watching as Nico’s brow furrowed and her heartrate increased.

“What happened? Is she okay?” Nico asked rapidly, rounding the table so she was standing right inside the door.

“She needs you.” Supergirl said simply, gesturing for Nico to take the bracelet from her. Nico did so quickly.

“Where is she?” Kara didn’t answer the girl verbally, instead leading her to the room she had left Karolina in and pushing the door open for Nico. “Karolina?”

Karolina’s lights had dimmed slightly in the time it took for Supergirl to get Nico, but they were still astoundingly bright. Nico held the hand not holding Karolina’s bracelet up to shield her eyes as she made her way to the glowing girl.

“Nico?” Karolina asked softly as the girl approached her.

“It’s me, Karo. I’m right here.” Nico reached up, caressing Karolina’s face gently. Karolina nodded against her hand, her eyes closing again. “It’s okay, Karo. You’re safe. You’re not there anymore. You’re here, with me. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Nico continued to whisper reassuringly to Karolina, Kara pulled the door closed to keep any other agents from wandering in and stepped to the far corner of the room.

Slowly, Karolina’s lights began to dim. Kara could hear her breathing and heartrate return to a normal level and heard the click the bracelet made as Nico fastened in back on her wrist. Karolina sagged against the wall, her energy drained, and Nico wrapped an arm around her waist to help steady her.

“Karo?” Nico asked softly. Karolina inhaled slowly, through her nose.

“I’m okay,” she said, opening her eyes and looking down at Nico, “I’m okay.”

“Karolina, maybe you should sit down.” Supergirl suggested, reminding the two teenage girls that she was still in the room with them. She had been content to let them work it out on their own, until she noticed Karolina becoming paler by the second the longer she stood on her feet.

“I’m fine,” Karolina insisted, though she made no attempt to move from the wall of stand up straight.

“She’s right, Karo,” Nico spoke up after surveying the girl, “you’re really pale.” Nico placed her hand against Karolina’s arm. “And cold. Karolina?”

Before the girl could respond to Nico’s statement, Karolina’s eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed in exhaustion. Kara dashed to her side, catching Karolina before she could hit the ground.

“Karolina?!” Nico called, worry written all over her face.

“She’s okay,” Supergirl said in an attempt to calm the distraught girl. “Nico, we can help her. It’s probably just a side affect of using her powers like that.” Kara prayed she was right, and her words wouldn’t come back to bit her in the ass later. Nico nodded slowly, calmed for the moment.

“We’ll take her to Agent Danvers, the agent who found you guys. She’s a doctor.” Supergirl explained, adjusting Karolina in her arms so she would be easier to carry. “Open the door and follow me.”

Kara carried the unconscious girl to her sister’s lab, Nico trailing behind, while ordering Winn to contact Alex over the comms and have her join them right away. Her sister walked in moments after Supergirl set Karolina down on one of the gurney’s.

“What happened?” Alex asked, pulling on gloves and moving to examine the unconscious girl.

“I’m not sure,” Kara replied. “She accidently took her bracelet off and then she just started glowing. The light was blinding, and it only got worse the more worked up she got. I tired to calm her down, but nothing was working. I went to get Nico and she helped calm Karolina down and put her bracelet back on. She was fine for a couple seconds and then she just collapsed.” Kara explained rapidly as Alex drew a bit of blood from Karolina and quickly ran some tests on it.

“There’s traces of solar radiation in her system.” Alex turned to Nico. “Do you know if her powers are powered by the sun?”

“I don’t know.” Nico stuttered out. “We only just learned about all this.”

“Okay, it’s okay. We can help.” Alex did her best to reassure the girl, who looked upset that she didn’t have any useful information. “Supergirl, take her to the sun room.”

“On it.” Kara picked the girl back up again, gesturing for Nico to follow her out. They moved a short way down the hall, entering the room Alex had moved their two yellow-sun immolator beds too, and placed Karolina on the one closest to the door. “These simulate the radiation from the sun,” Kara explained as she turned the device on. “If her powers are sun based, this should help her recharge.”

“Would it help if you took her bracelet off?” Nico asked, feeling uncharacteristically timid.

“It couldn’t hurt,” Alex entered the room. “Why don’t you take it off for her, Nico? She’d probably be more comfortable with that.”

Nico did as directed, unclasping the bracelet from Karolina’s wrist and then clasping it through her belt loop so she wouldn’t lose track of it. That seemed to make a difference, as Karolina’s color immediately improved. Nico remained by Karolina’s bedside, holding her hand, while Kara and Alex moved a little ways away to speak privately for a moment. Maggie joined them a few minutes later.

“Someone wanna fill me in?” She asked the Danvers sisters.

“Karolina’s an alien of some kind, with powers that are charged through solar radiation, at least it seems that way.” Alex explained.

“We were talking, and her powers kicked in by accident. She got scared and over exerted herself.” Kara filled in the rest.

“And the other girl?” Maggie looked back at Nico and Karolina.

“Nico’s the only one who could calm Karolina enough for me to get her here.” Kara replied. “Do you think we should let the rest of the kids know what happened?”

“Yes,” Maggie replied before Alex could say anything, “I don’t know how much Karolina told you, but we got a could bit of information from Chase. These kids have been through a lot,” Maggie gestured to the two girls. “This is just the tip of the ice berg.”