Something to Fight For

It was hopeless to try and distract himself, Chase knew, but he had to try. He couldn’t stay still, knees bouncing with nervous energy, running a hand through his hair constantly. He didn’t even care about messing his hair up, he just needed to feel something, something other than the weight of what he and friends, his family, are up against. It’s impossible to escape it, carrying the weight on his back like a new bookbag, stiff and uncomfortable and never sitting perfectly along his shoulders. It feels like the uncomfortable warmth of his father’s hand on his shoulder, squeezing just tight enough to hurt.

Chase tries to escape the pressure the only way he knows how, tinkering with his Fistagons. There’s not much left that Chase can actually fix on his current Fistagons, not after he’s spent hours every night for the past week and a half down in his workshop with them. He’s secured the wiring, tried to minimize the discharge they give off, re-fitted the cuffs, and even had some of the other runaways put them on to see if they fit comfortably enough to use. He doesn’t want to think about one of his friends using the Fistagons, because that’s supposed to be a last resort. Someone other than Chase using the Fistagons means someone other Chase could be staring death in the face.

That’s the reality that Chase is really running from. The very real possibility that they might lose someone when they face Jonah and PRIDE again. Their parents had been killing for Jonah for almost two decades, and they’d already proved they would go to extreme measures even against their own children when they kidnapped Karolina. Chase doesn’t want to lose anyone else. Losing Amy two years ago had been hell, it tore the group apart and he’s still not sure that they’ve totally recovered. Sometimes it seems like they get along purely because they are constantly around each other, it’s hard not to care about people you see every day. He can’t imagine losing anyone else and he’s scared to find out what would happen if they did. He can’t imagine going a single day without trading jabs with Wilder, wrestling with Molly, teasing Nico about her heart eyes for her girlfriend, training with Karolina. He can’t even think about losing Gert and the soft intimacy they’ve settled into now that they’re finally, finally together.

Chase shook his head to clear his thoughts, not wanting to spiral further into the all too depressing possible future, Instead he focuses on on the Fistagons again, propped up on special holders for easy viewing. He wished he had his blueprints, wanting to compare the final product to his original design. He’s halfway considering drawing up a new set of blueprints for Fistagons 2.0 when he feels a presence behind him. He can’t help but stiffen as he registers the person behind him, his back straightening and jaw clenching. He hates himself for the reaction, but he can’t help it. The air around him changed, the figure behind him embodies strength in every way and his reaction to such a presence who born from years of cowering beneath his father. He hates himself even more because Kara is nothing like his father.

“Chase?” Kara asks softly. Chase can’t tell how far away from him she is, but he knows she stopped moving when Chase stiffened. “What are you still doing up?”

“Tinkering,” Chase has to clear his throat after he speaks, his voice shaky, “gotta keep the Fistagons in tip top shape.”

“Tinkering,” Kara draws the word out, still standing motionless a good distance from Chase, “at two in the morning?”

“You’re awake too,” Chase doesn’t know why he’s suddenly so defensive.

“There was a fire downtown,” Chase looks over his shoulder and sees that Kara is dressed in her Supergirl uniform, “I just got back and I could hear that someone was still awake.”

“Right,” Chase nods. Sometimes he forgets that Kara has super senses along with all her other powers. Even in uniform, Kara always seems to human. He wonders if that’s intentional, if she’s always holding back from her true self.

“Chase,” Kara said softly and Chase spun on his stool to face her. “Are you okay?” She asks so softly, so sincerely that Chase feels like crying. Kara exudes strength from her pores, yes, but she’s also the personification of love and empathy. It’s part of why Chase struggles to separate Kara and his father in his head. They’re so different in personality, polar opposites really, but an almost terrifying air of strength surrounds them both.

“I-” Chase clears his throat again, feeling his eyes grow moist under Kara’s concerned gaze. She looks conflicted, taking a miniscule step forward, so small Chase probably wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t looking directly at her, before stopping again. Chase knows she’s waiting for him, to continue speaking or give any kind of indication that she could move closer. “I don’t think so.”

He’s surprised by the admission, and then even more when he looks into Kara’s eyes and silently asks for something. He isn’t sure what he’s asking for, if it’s comfort or vindication. He almost expects to be chastised for his tears. Stein men aren’t weak, they don’t cry, not for anything. The sound that he makes when Kara hugs him is soul-wrenching, coming from the back of his throat as a half-choked sob. Chase is tall enough that when Kara hugs him, his head rests against her shoulder even when he’s sitting down. He feels the fabric of Kara’s cape against his hands as he hugs her back hard, the material soft and hard at the same time, just like Kara and the dam inside him breaks.

He sobs into Kara’s shoulder, his cries driven by fear and hate. Fear of losing his friends, of losing Gert, fear of what he feels, the fear of facing his parents again and not being able to say for sure that they’ll all make it out okay. He hates PRIDE and Jonah from what they’ve done to his family. He hates his father, a deep, soulful hate that still can’t snuff out the craving Chase has for his father’s approval. He hates himself for craving that too, and it just makes him cry harder.

If Kara is surprised by his outburst, she doesn’t act like it. Her arms are steady around his shoulders, her warmth soothing instead of intimidating as she focuses on making herself as soft and open as possible. She’s been concerned about Chase for almost two weeks, watching him lose sleep and train too hard. He’s been so driven by fear and hate and it’s running him into the ground. Kara wasn’t the only one who noticed, but neither Lena, Alex nor Maggie knew how to approach him. Their shared suspicion that Chase had been a victim of domestic abuse complicated matters.

The four women were pretty sure Chase and greatly suffered in his LA home, but they didn’t think the other runaways had any idea. Gert was the only one they could see Chase having opened up to, but they weren’t sure that had actually happened. Chase seemed like the type to internalize, working out his problems in his head by distracting himself from them physically. Maggie had said it was a common coping mechanism, like Chase was making himself strong enough to beat the monsters in his mind since he couldn’t face the real ones. Except, Chase was going to face the real ones, because the Runaways had chosen to face PRIDE again and that put Chase in close proximity with his abuser. None of them had wanted to ask Chase about their suspicions, afraid he would lash out or shut down. They had hoped Chase would come to one of them on his own, when he felt safe enough to talk about what happened.

“Why?” Chase asked suddenly, his voice more broken than Kara had ever heard. “Why did they do this to us? Why did he do it?”

“Who, Chase?” Kara asks, because Chased switched from ‘they’ to ‘he’ and that could be the most important distinction. She feels Chase cling tighter to her and she’s sure she knows the answer, and when it comes tumbling from Chase’s mouth like a broken prayer, Kara feels her own heart break.

“My dad,” Chase’s whole body is shaking as he cries, “why does he keep hurting me, Kara? I haven’t seen him in months and he’s still right here.”

“I don’t know, sweetie,” Kara hopes Chase doesn’t mind the term of endearment that slips out before she can stop it. “I wish I did. I wish I could make it stop hurting?”

“Why can’t you?” Chase sounds broken and angry, lost in the tidal wave of emotions he’s been holding back for far too long. He stiffens slightly in Kara’s arms. “You’re Supergirl, you’re a fucking superhero. Saving people is what you do.”

“Saving people and stopping something from hurting are different things, sweetie,” Kara strokes his hair soothingly and can almost feel the fight leave his shoulders. “Some things will always hurt, and no matter how much I want too, I can’t change that.”

“Then what can I do?” Chase looks up at her, hopeful in a way Kara had never seen before. In all the time they’ve spent together training and cooking and settling into this family they’ve created, this is the first time Chase has genuinely looked to Kara for answers. “How do I make it stop? I just want it to stop hurting. I’ve lost so much, we all have. I can’t take any more pain.”

Kara fights against the tears that threaten to fall. The pain in Chase’s voice echoes the pain that has lived in Kara’s chest since she entered her pod and felt her planet die at 12 years old. It’s the kind of pain no child should ever have to face.

“You keep fighting,” Kara says, the answer as simple and complicated as that. “I know it’s hard and tiring. I know you’ll want to give up and it’s okay if you do. Some days you just can’t fight back. Do you know what to do on those days?” Chase shakes his head against her shoulder. “You lean on your family. Gert, Alex, Molly, Karolina and Nico, they’ll all be there for you, however you need them to be.” Chase can hear the certainty in her voice.

“No,” Chase shakes his head again, “I can’t do that to them. I can’t burden them with this.” Chase won’t be the cause of any strife for his friends, even empathy on his behalf.

“It won’t be a burden, not to them,” Kara knows the reassurance isn’t enough just coming from her but she has to try, “just like it won’t be a burden to Lena, or Maggie or my sister. Just like it’s not a burden to me.” She can feel him start to lean away so she let’s go of his shoulders. When he looks at her, eyes shining with gratitude, Kara feels the same warmth in her chest that she’s come to know so well the past few months. A deep, almost maternal care for the six kids who stumbled into her life with their pet dinosaur.

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Kara offers him a kind, reassuring smile and receives a watery one in return.

“Thanks, Kara,” Chase hugs her again, softer and more familia. Kara hugs him back gently. “Are you going to stay up?”

“I think so,” Chase half-turns back to his work bench, “too wired to sleep.” His unexpected emotional release had helped clear his mind, but he was still too full of energy to get any rest. Besides, he had been awake for so long now it would be easier to just stay awake anyway.

“I’m pretty useless when it comes to science on earth,” Kara says, “but I know sometimes having company helps.”

“I don’t want to keep you up,” Despite what Kara said a moment ago, Chase still feels a little guilty about unloading his emotional turmoil on her. He’s not used to trusting adults with emotional problems, having just barely gotten used to trusting adults to give a crap about him in the first place.

“Don’t worry about that, I don’t need as much sleep as humans. Plus, I spent decades drifting through a timeless pocket of space sound asleep, so I’ve got a good stockpile.” Kara smiles when that pulls a chuckle out of him. “Hungry?”

“Not for anything you’re going to cook.” He mocks, glad Kara will let him shake off the emotional talk they had earlier without pushing him to talk more.

“How about heat-visioned take out then? I picked up plenty on my way home.” Kara’s suddenly glad she decided to indulge her craving for potstickers and fried rice after putting out the fire. Chase voices his agreement and Kara playfully muses his hair, glad that she pulls a half-hearted yelp at the motion. It’s more of a reaction that she thought she’d get and she knows it’s because Chase is feeling more like himself. She sweeps out of the workshop and up the stairs.

“Hey, there you are,” she’s unsurprised to see Lena is awake and sitting up in the bed they’ve shared for the past week and half. “I was starting to get worried.”

“Sorry,” Kara moves over for a quick kiss before heading to the closet. “I’ve been home for a little bit, but I got held up downstairs.” She changes her suit out for a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt.

“By what? Is everything okay?” Lena questions as Kara emerges from the closet again.

“Everything’s fine, don’t worry,” Kara kisses her again. “Chase needed to talk.”

“Okay,” Lena hums, eyebrow raised in expectant curiosity but Kara doesn’t offer any more information. “Are you coming to bed then?”

“No,” Kara pulls her hair up into a messy ponytail but leaves her glasses on the bedside table, “Chase is going to stay up working on the Fistagons and I’m going to keep him company.” There seems to be a lot that Kara wants to say, but won’t because she doesn’t want to discuss something that Chase told her in confidence, and without really meaning too. Luckily, her girlfriend is amazing and doesn’t press Kara for answers.

“Please don’t break anything.” Is all Lena says, making Kara roll her eyes as she ducks down to give her one last kiss goodnight.

Kara pauses briefly as she steps outside the bedroom she now shares with Lena, focusing her hearing to see if there is anyone else awake who might need something. She’s greeted with deep, even breathing and slow, steady heartbeats from all occupants so she heads back down the stairs. After a quick detour into the kitchen to reheat the food she picked up earlier, she joins Chase in his workshop again. He seems lighter when she returns, like he’s somehow better than he was before. Kara doesn’t bring up what happened before again, she doesn’t think Chase wants to think about it anymore. She’s just relieved she could do something, anything to lessen the pain he or any of the other kids feels.

The next day, when Gert pulls her to the side, thanks her and pulls her into the most sincere hug they’ve ever shared, Kara knows Chase will be okay. Maybe not right away, but he will be.

~

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Maggie asks, again, as she stands on the front porch of the Mansion with Lena.

“Kara seems to think so,” Lena shrugs, “she said she spoke with Chase about it.”

Maggie hummed thoughtfully. They were waiting for Alex to arrive with James and Winn in tow. The four women had finally decided to bring the male superfriends into the secret, officially. Of course, Winn already knew the kids and a little bit about them, but neither Alex, Maggie or Kara had disclosed their exact location to him and he didn’t want to push the issue. You could never be too careful after all. James only knew what he occasionally heard on the news, which wasn’t much. It seemed PRIDE thought their children were hiding out somewhere in LA so the news that reached National City was no more than the initial bits and pieces. Maggie was unsure about having the guys around, purely because the Runaways tended to have more reactions to discussing the men of PRIDE rather than the women, especially Chase and Karolina.

“And the others?”

“I think Ratscrew is worried about more people knowing where they are, he’s determined that PRIDE has a man inside the DEO no matter how unlike that scenario actually is.” Lena says, half looking over her shoulder even though she knows all the Runaways are in the backyard playing with Old Lace during their break from training. “The others are wary, too, but choosing to be okay with this because they trust us.”

“I feel like a mother of six and I’m not old enough to be any of those kids’ mom.” Maggie says with a slight laugh and Lena chuckles too. “Gotta say, I didn’t think I’d be raising six kids with you, Luthor.”

“Same, Sawyer,” Lena rolls her eyes. “That’s something that we should think about, actually.”

“What?” Maggie raises her eyebrow at Lena in question. “Want more kids?”

“Not with you,” Lena teases back, “I mean about taking care of the kids. Eventually, their names are going to be cleared and PRIDE will be in jail. What’s going to happen to them after that?”

“That’s up to them, isn’t it?” Maggie shrugs. “All of them except Molly are old enough to get legal emancipation, and she’s old enough to decide what she wants do after this is all over.”

“I just don’t want them to think they have to leave after this.” Lena said, standing up straight as the black DEO SVU came into sight.

“I don’t think they think that anyway, but we can ask them what they want to do before they head back to LA.” Lena nodded in response as she and Maggie stepped off the porch to greet the newcomers.

“This is where all of you have been living?” Winn asked as he climbed out of the car, staring at the Mansion with an open mouth.

“You knew about this?” James asked and Maggie looked over at Alex curisouly.

“I haven’t filled him in on everything yet,”

“You haven’t filled me in on anything.” James said, slightly annoyed. He knew Kara had been keeping something from him and he was sort of hurt that every one of his friends seemed to know something that he didn’t.

“But we will now,” Maggie says, a short burst of wind signaling that Kara has landed behind them. “So, before we head around the side of the house, let us fill you in.”

Taking turns, Maggie, Lena, Alex, and Kara filled the two men on what had happened so far with the Runaways, only to the extent that the kids had said they were comfortable with strangers knowing. They were innocent of the crimes they’d been accused of, their parents were the ones who actually did it, and they were going to keep them from doing it again. They left most personal information out and didn’t even mention the name ‘Amy.’ They didn’t even know who Amy was, only that she had a passed away two years ago, and they knew that the Runaways would not be comfortable with perfect strangers knowing about her. Kara made sure the two men knew she would not hesitate to physically remove them from the premises as soon as the kids showed any sign of being uncomfortable.

“We brought you here to help,” Lena finished them off, “and we won’t hesitate to make you leave if you’re hurting them instead of helping.”

“We’ll do whatever we can,” Winn promised, James agreeing at once. They both know that it’s important to their friends that these kids make it through this. James isn’t really sure what his purpose is here, but he’s always willing to help someone in need.

“Let’s go then.”

The shift in the backyard that occurs as soon as Winn and James appear is evident and obvious. The chatter dies down, Old Lace takes a defensive stance beside Gert in response to her sudden spike of anxiety. Chase stiffens, standing up straighter and Alex matches him. Kara can see Nico’s hands twitch, one towards Karolina and the other towards her staff. Karolina takes Nico’s hand in response, and Molly moves slightly closer to Gert. It’s the reaction Kara was expecting and she nods reassuringly at each teenager in turn when they make eye contact with her.

“Everyone, this is Agent Schott who you may have seen the last time we were at the DEO,”

“Hey, guys, I’m Winn.” Winn offers a little wave but doesn’t move forward at all. He receives acknowledging nods in response.

“And this is James Olsen.”

“The photographer, James Olsen? The one who won a pulitzer for that picture of Superman?” Karolina asks curiously. The others look at her in surprise.

“That’s me,” James hopes his smile doesn’t look too bright to be sincere. “You’re Karolina right? You like photography?”

“I guess, I’ve never tried it before.” Karolina shrugs slightly, remembering the art trip she had wanted to go on the day this mess started. There was going to a photography portion of the trip, Karolina remembered, and she had thought it might be interesting.

James nods, looking like he doesn’t know what to say next so Maggie steps up. The kids return to training under her direction, a wary Alex W. joining James on the sparring mats for a boxing lesson and Chase heading inside to get his Fistagons for Winn to see. Karolina returns to the pull up bar with Gert counting her reps for her and Nico helps Molly load the weights onto the bench press.

It happens slowly, but the Runaways relax a bit. Winn and James seem to be going out of their way to make sure the Runaways are comfortable, keeping conversation to lighter topics and making a conscious effort to not stare at Old Lace. Alex didn’t think the Runaways would say anything, but she knew they we’re grateful for the extra help. They didn’t trust the two men yet, Alex hadn’t expected them too, but it was comforting for them to know they had someone else watching their back from the DEO, and the support of the acting CEO of one of the most influential publishing companies in the world. She knows they made the right choice bringing in Winn and James when the Runaways invite them to stay for dinner.

It’s gratifying and it warms Alex’s heart to see the kids giving Winn and James a chance to earn their trust. She knows it’s because the trust her, and Kara, Lena and Maggie. That they know they wouldn’t let anything happen to them if they could help it. Winn helps Chase fine tune his Fistagons and James teaches all of the kids boxing moves that may be helpful if the fight gets down and dirty. They have two weeks left until the Runaways return to LA and Alex can see the weight of that resting heavy on each teenager’s shoulders.

It only gets worse when a news report comes across the screen a few hours later, claiming that the six teenagers suspected of murder and kidnappings have had all charges clear, a man named Darius taking the fall.