Chapter Text
Alex can almost see the steam flowing out of Kara’s ears. She is absolutely fuming and has every right to be.
They stand above the underground lair that they’d just been in, DEO agents around them with their weapons drawn.
J’onn is standing in front of them with his arms crossed.
After they’d heard the telltale thumping, Alex and Kara, with Astra in her arms, had run through the same corridors they came from trying to reach the exit as fast as possible. The thumping got louder and louder until suddenly the piercing screech of metal doors being ripped open could be heard.
Alex whipped her head around but could barely see anything in the dim lighting. Worried that the creature would be able to come after them when they escaped, she drew her gun and ran backwards shooting into the darkness in hopes of hitting it. The only sounds that came from the darkness were the bullets ricocheting off something to the ground.
Is it wearing protective gear or is that just it’s biology? Alex made a mental note so they could add to her research into this creature.
As they neared the ladder to the exit, Kara reached behind for Alex so she could fly them all up. She repositioned Astra on one side, Alex held onto her other side and she flew up as quickly as she could
The creature ripped after them on the ladder. As it came closer, Alex could make out the general area it was in so she decided to try shooting again, just to slow it down.
But she didn’t get a chance to.
The latched door above opened just as Kara pushed against it, light spilling over them.
The creature shrieked in pain, stumbled, then fell down the ladder.
And Astra felt discomfort at the sound. She tried to look down into the large opening as Kara flew out, but there was nothing there. Before she could try and comprehend why the painful yell was so familiar, they had landed a few feet in front of the entry and the DEO soldiers who opened the door were surrounding them. Currently, she’s still holding onto Kara, too weak to stand on her own, barely conscious, but that doesn’t change their assumption that she’s a threat.
“You know the protocol for this type of thing,” J’onn works his jaw. Not only is Astra an ecoterrorist; the woman had tried to kill him, to expect leniency is ludicrous.
“She’s been through hell, we are not putting her in a cell again, I won’t allow it,” Kara says through her teeth. There’s no way Astra could deal with being locked up in the same place she was tortured. She should be staying with Kara.
“I’m the one in charge here, Supergirl.”
J’onn and Kara glare at each other. Alex glances past Kara at Astra, she looks like she is in excruciating pain.
“How about you fly her to the base, and get her checked out,” she says while turning back to J’onn, “Where she will be staying can be discussed after we make sure she has regained her strength.”
Kara pulls Astra closer and nods. J’onn presses his lips together before gesturing for her to be off.
“You have to understand what she’s feeling right now,” Alex says as they watch the two of them shrink in the sky. “She just found her.”
J’onn’s responds with a mix between a grunt and a sigh. “Did you at least learn something about what was after you while down there?”
“I believe the most important thing we learned happened when we left; it’s weakness.”
Kara speeds into the DEO facility, nearly barrelling into some of the soldiers. At this point, they're used to Supergirl’s antics and move out of the way. Carefully placing Astra onto her sun-bed before switching it on, she takes in her appearance.
She’d gone unconscious during the journey back, dried tears staining her cheeks. She’s still in what she wore in her coffin months ago when Kara sent her off to Rao’s light. Her face is just as still as it had been that night. Though less peaceful, more pained. Kara slowly brushes Astra’s hair away from her face before running her fingers through the white streak in her hair.
Astra is reading some literature as they sit together but doesn’t seem to be bothered by her combing through her hair, so she continues. Kara examines the multicoloured strands that flow through her fingers. For as long as she can remember her aunt had the odd streak of white hair. She’d always been curious about it. When she wondered aloud, her friends at school told her that her aunt is a mistake; that twins weren’t supposed to exist, and that’s why her aunt is marked as the spare. But how could she believe that the woman who makes her laugh and never lets her feel unintelligent and always treats her with respect isn’t supposed to exist?
She looks up at her, studying the concentration, the way her eyes follow the lines of text. A carbon copy of her mother's face but she’s pretty sure she’d know her aunt in a room full of clones. Looking down at the sketchbook in her lap, she lets go of the strands of hair and moves a little farther away so she could see better. As she starts sketching, she could see her aunt is suppressing a smile.
“You’re going to be okay,” Kara wipes a tear away. She lets go of Astra’s hair and leans down to kiss her forehead. “I promise. No one else is going to hurt you.”
It’s the middle of the night that Alex finds Kara asleep beside the closed sun-bed. She makes her way to her, carefully touching her shoulder. “Hey...”
Kara blinks her eyes open before her gaze goes straight to Astra, who is sound asleep.
“You should go home, Kara, you have work in the morning.”
“No I can’t leave her here alone,” She quickly sits up, not moving her eyes from the figure in the glowing light. She still can’t believe she is actually looking at Astra. That this is all real.
“She won’t be alone, I’ll be here,” Alex whispers. “I won’t let anything happen to her. You are exhausted, you can come back after you rest up and finish at work.”
“What about you, you need sleep too,” Kara could see how tired she is in the way she holds herself and as her eyes trace Alex’s face she found more signs of drowsiness.
“Yes but we’re working on the creature, I can’t just--”
“Let me see what you’ve got,” She gets up instantly. No one is safe with the details of what they’re up against still up in the air, especially Astra.
Alex leads Kara into the lab. There are books scattered on the table, a few papers on the floor. A whiteboard with various data written hastily sits in the corner. She skims the points, bulletproof? and weakness: solar rays? catching her eye.
“This is everything we know about the creature,” Alex gestures to the board. “We tried to cross-reference some of this with details from other cases but nothing matches. Now that I’ve seen them in person, they’re probably alien, however, there is no record of someone with that biology being in Fort Rozz. All we know for sure is they don’t like light, and my bullets didn’t penetrate their skin.”
“If their weakness is the sun why haven’t they come after us at night?”
“That I’m not sure of,” Alex looked over at the books spread over the table. “Possible they can’t push the latch? Could be hurt? Though what could hurt them, bullets didn’t work. Is there some sort of kryptonite but for the creature?”
Kara’s eyebrows furrowed. “Do we know there’s only one?”
“As far as we can tell yes, there were never any other sightings apart from, well, us, but honestly, we can get back to it in the morning. I just have to clean up some of the details, but I’ll stay here with Astra until you come back if it will make you feel better.”
Kara breathes in through her nose. “Okay, just--”
“Keep her safe. I know,” Alex gives her a smile, but the unspoken truth of who took her away from her the second time around hanging between them made it so it doesn’t reach her eyes. Also her exhaustion. She watches as Kara goes back to where Astra lays to give a goodbye kiss and can already feel the headache coming.
After taking a nap in one of the DEO cots, Alex does a quick check-in on Astra. She will most likely be weak for another day but Alex still wants to check her vitals in a few hours. Once she sees that she’s sound asleep, Alex makes her way back to the whiteboard, trying to figure this new creature out. How were they going to neutralize an enemy they weren’t sure the facts of? She is so in the zone, the time passing didn’t register until she heard a squeal from one of the DEO doctors.
Running out of the room to Astra’s she took in the scene. There is a glass of water on the table beside the sunbed where Astra is sat up slightly trembling, Doctor Miller appeared terrified, and needles, as well as glass shards from a pitcher, were scattered all over on the floor.
Alex looked incredulously at Miller. “She was tortured with needles in this facility, why would you think bringing some near her would be a good idea?”
With a sigh, she stepped aside for Miller to leave to get someone to clean up the glass. Astra didn’t look up as Alex stepped towards her, careful not to step on any shards.
“They shouldn’t have done that, I’m sorry,” She leans beside where Astra sat on the bed, keeping some distance. “We don’t need to take your blood to check your vitals, in fact, if we have the ability to, it just means you’re still not well.”
When she didn’t respond, she continued, “You’ll be fine though, Kara goes through these too. ‘Solar flares’. The sunbed’s a lot of help,” she pats between them.
Astra lifts her gaze slowly to look at her. Alex holds her breath, ready to be told off for what happened on the rooftop, but before she knew it there’s a flash of pastel and suddenly Astra is engulfed in Kara’s arms.
“Aunt Astra! You’re awake, are you ok? Did you sleep well? The sunbed’s amazing isn’t it? I’m so happy you’re alive and here and--”
“And still healing, be gentle,” Alex says softly. “Be careful where you step as well.” The shards may not hurt her Kryptonian skin but shuffling them around with her feet will just break them even smaller and make a bigger mess.
“Right! Sorry...” Kara adjusts her glasses as she looks at the shards on the floor, then looks back at Astra and smiles brightly. “I’m just so glad you’re here.”
“I…” she says but it’s clear her throat is still dry. Alex picks up the glass of water, almost considering handing it to Kara but instead slowly guides the straw to Astra’s lips and lets her take a few sips before placing it back on the table “Thank you, Agent Danvers.”
Alex nods and if Kara could feel the awkwardness she doesn’t speak up about it, just places an arm around Astra’s shoulder and leans her head against her.
“I am happy too, little one,” Astra manages to get out, but she sounded tired.
Kara starts to speak animatedly about something that Alex couldn’t focus on. She spends a few moments just staring at the two beings in front of her and realizes it would be better if she ducked out. She needs to get back to working on her theories on the creature anyways.