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“Come help us deal with your stupid sister.”
Alex’s girlfriend hangs up on you before you can even say “hi” and you sigh.
“Sorry, Lee,” you say to your companion of the night. “I’m needed elsewhere.”
Lena nods and she signals for the check to arrive. “Super problems?” She asks low, too low to be heard by other than you.
You groan. “More like sister problems.”
The way your almost girlfriend's eyes widen at that warms your heart. “Is she alright? Was she hurt?”
You smile. “No. I don’t think so at least… they were going to try a new prototype tonight and I think Alex is poking her nose around… that was Luce. She is pissed.”
Lena’s brows furrow. “… Wait a moment… Alex is trying a new prototype and she didn’t tell me?!”
The indignation in her voice is cute, but it would be cuter if Lena and Alex weren’t such a volatile duo with explicit orders to never be on their own within the DEO. The order was given by both Directors, Lane and J’onzz, and you think wiser order hadn’t ever been given.
Lena and Alex, together, alone… not a good combo, no sir.
“More like Vasquez and Lucy are trying a new prototype and Alex got word about it at last minute.”
The vibrant excitement in your date sits ill with you. “Oh! What are they testing?”
“I don’t know.” And if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you, you think. You really don’t need Lena getting the idea she can come al-
“I’m coming with you,” Lena declares as she passes her card to the waiter.
“No.”
The raised eyebrow sent your way looks eerily like Alex’s. “I’m not asking you. I’m informing you.”
You stand up then. “I’m leaving now. I’m not taking you.” You turn and head to the door, not looking back.
You can almost hear the shrug on her voice, still low but so easily heard by you. “By all means, go. I’ll drive there on my own and you won’t be invited to the gala. Neither of your alter egos will be.”
That stops you short, just a foot from exiting the restaurant. L-Corp is housing a gala to raise donations towards several orphanages and this year promises to be amazing. Not only did Lena invite several of the major players in the philanthropy scene, she also invited all the kids the donations are going to help. The event is planned not so much like a gala, but a fair for kids and adults alike and the goal is to bring the money in while having fun.
Kara Danvers needs to be there to report on it, Snapper made sure to tell you that just today and Supergirl was promised her weight in potstickers and wants to play with all the children.
“This is so not fair,” you inform Lena as she comes stand next to you once the bill is settled.
“All is fair in love and science.”
“Don’t you mean all is fair in love and war?”
You have reached an alley and you super-speed into your uniform. Lena comes close to you and lets herself be picked up bridal style.
“Oh, no… Didn’t you hear I only make love and never war?” The purring words in your ear makes your face boil in embarrassment and not a little desire.
Rao, with any luck you will stop resembling a tomato by the time you arrive at the Desert Base.
XxXxX
“Alex!”
Hearing your sister’s name being yelled with such anger and exasperation shouldn’t be such a surprise. Lucy called you beyond mad, after all.
You and Lena enter the hangar and you can see Lucy in the middle of the open space, staring upwards and with her hands on her hips. She’s so tiny and yet she can fill up the space with that commanding air that makes you want to obey no matter what and you wonder how is it that Alex can date her.
Sure, your sister has so much fun most of the time pushing her buttons, but you’d get scared with a partner like Lucy. Once you raised your concerns to Lena about how Alex loves making Lucy angry and your friend got so flustered and you were left so confused.
Lucy gets really upset and Alex loves it… but well, the bruises you have seen on Alex’s wrists and back bothers you and it’s just because both Alex and Lena have told you on numerous occasions that they mean nothing bad that you haven’t acted against Lucy.
Also, you like Lucy. And you like that Lucy has mellowed Alex’s most reckless tendencies. She no longer charges on into battle without regard for her own safety, she no longer drinks herself to the point her liver and kidneys are gross (yes, you have checked with your x-ray vision) and she is no longer sad all the time.
Lucy is good for your sister… even if you don’t understand how Lucy interacts with her.
“I’m almost there! I need ten more minutes!” You can’t see where Alex is, yet, but she sounds like she’s having a little too much fun.
“If you do don’t come down right now, you will be tied up for the whole weekend!”
You frown at that and when you turn to Lena to help you understand, you can’t find her.
You sigh. Of course, she is gone who knows where now that you are here.
“Hey, Luce!” you call to your friend. “What’s the emergency?”
Lucy turns and the scowl on her face lessens a little. “Your dumbass sister,” she informs you plainly. She points up and you follow her finger.
The hangar’s ceiling is high, really high. This is the hangar you use to train flying maneuvers and the one where J’onn and you have aerial fights. It’s also the one where agents learn to use the diverse flying machines the DEO have at its disposal, such as small rockets, gliders, and small aircraft. You don’t know how they managed to build such a high and resistant thing, but you at least now know why Lucy is so pissed.
Alex is sitting in the catwalk that runs across the hangar with her legs dangling down, a catwalk so high that it almost touches the ceiling and you know from experience that you need to walk hunched to not hit your head. She is in what you think is her issued underwear, a tank top and boy briefs, her legs are kicking the air happily and she is… tinkering with something that has… wings?
“She’s been up there for two hours now. She refuses to come down.”
You are still looking up. And… damn it, even with your eyesight you can’t really say what your sister is really doing. She has a toolkit besides her and she has a smudge of oil on her cheek and a smile so big on her face that you don’t want to know but you have to ask.
“What is she doing?”
“Our prototype had some serious issues… she’s fixing it, she says, but she won’t come down to let the rest of us see what the hell she’s doing.”
Oh. Understanding downs to you. “She wants to be the one testing it.”
“… yes.”
You look then at Lucy, frowning. “And why aren’t you up there with her?” You don’t think it would be a problem to drag her down.
“She locked herself up there,” Vasquez comes behind you. They are holding a tablet and the frown on their face concerns you a little. “She also bit Agent Kelly before doing so.”
You blink at Vasquez. “She bit Michael? She likes Michael!”
Vasquez shrugs. “She likes the prototype better?”
“And J’onn? Haven’t you call J’onn?”
Lucy massages her temples and Vasquez shakes their head. “He’s our last resort.”
Oh. “He threatened you.” It’s not a question but it would be nice to have it confirmed.
Lucy nods.
“He said if she lets her do something this stupid again, he will suspend her for a week,” Vasquez informs you.
You frown. “But… it’s not your fault Alex is… well, Alex.”
“Space Dad swears she started acting up when I joined the DEO,” Lucy mutters. “That’s bullshit, though.”
“Well…” you drawl. “He’s not wrong. She was the perfect agent before she started dating you.”
Lucy’s glare on you, makes you flinch and you fly to Alex in part to escape Lucy and in part to bring Alex down.
“Hey, sis!” Alex chirps the moment you are floating by her side.
“Alex…” you wave her, grabbing a wrench that threatens to fall off the catwalk and kill someone below. “So… how about we if go down for a little bit?”
“Nope,” she says happily. “I’m almost done.”
“Alex… Lucy is gonna be suspended if you don’t come down.”
That makes her pause and look up from whatever she is oiling. “What?”
“J’onn said she would be suspended if you pull a crazy stunt again.”
She blinks once, twice, before looking down to what you think looks like a mechanical skull. “Weren’t you on a date with Lena?” she asks you.
The topic change makes your head swirl. “Uh?”
“Weren’t you with Lee?”
“… Yes?”
She looks up again and turns her head left and then right. Her face brightens and you don’t need to look to know what has her so happy. “Lee!”
“Al!” Lena’s cheerful voice ricochets around your brain, making you wince. You love Lena, you love Alex, but the level of silliness and stupidity they reach when together makes you have honest to Rao migraines.
Lena comes to sit next to your sister and you see she has changed clothes. She is no longer wearing her red power-suit, but one of… yes, you can see the tag on her chest, one of Alex’s day-to-day uniforms. “What do I do?” She asks, eagerly.
Alex points to the backpack-like chunk of metal to the side. “I can’t make it ignite without it bursting into flames.”
“Alex!” You scold her because she knows, she knows, she can’t play with fire.
Your sister rolls her eyes. “Lena is here,” she tells you dismissively. “She’ll fix it.”
Lena nods once, sharply. “No problem.”
You groan. “C’mon, Alex! Lena! You need to come down, you can’t try this if it can explode!”
“Relax, we know what we are doing,” Alex says, twisting something in her hands and crying happily in success. “Yes! This will fly now!”
You shake your head. “Guys, please.”
“Don’t you have a tiny Director to calm down?” Lena asks you and you groan again.
You can try getting physical with them. You can try grabbing them and forcing them down… but these two are so in sync and they think so alike they will escape you one way or another.
They have done it before.
If you go for Alex, Lena in all her graceful glory will jump down, forcing you to catch her and letting Alex escape with their toy. If you go for Lena, Alex will still have the time to escape with their toy.
If you try going for both they will make it so that none of you three make it down unharmed and… Alex will still escape with their toy.
The only way you can really win this is talking about their sense of responsibility and adulting… not that either act like adults when they are together.
“… What will it cost me to have you both down and complaint?”
Lena and Alex look from their respective tasks and look at each other. Lena raises an eyebrow and Alex’s lip twitches. Lena dips her head to you and Alex’s shakes a little. Lena’s eyes widen and Alex’s brow furrow. Alex’s nose wrinkles and Lena smirks.
As one, they turn to you.
“We are not going down,” they announce solemnly.
“Oh! Come on!”
“Bye, Kara.” With that, Alex pushes the tool kit out the catwalk and to your horror, it splits open as it starts going down.
“You, asshole!” You yell at her as you use your speed to catch every single tool and nail and screw and tidbit before they reach the ground and really kill someone.
The worst thing is, no matter how fast you do it, by the time you go back to them they would be finished with their tasks and they would still not come down.
“Nice catch, Supergirl,” Vasquez says with a smirk.
“I hate them both.”
Lucy sighs. “That makes three of us.”
Vasquez laughs. “I don’t hate them. I find them hilarious.”
Lucy’s murderous eyes are turned to her second-in-command before focusing on the crazy duo above. “Get ready to phone J’onn.”
You gasp. “You will be suspended!”
“I don’t care. I’ll make sure he suspends Alex too and I’ll make her pay for this.”
Your stomach clenches in worry at her words. “You won’t hurt her, will you?”
You are no stranger to Lucy’s moods and you have seen her hit the punching bag heavily when she is too angry. You have seen her lay it on the shooting range when she is frustrated and you have seen her scream and yell until she is blue in the face when things don’t go her way…
… And you have seen her manhandle Alex in several occasions, not that they know you have seen them.
You haven’t acted nor will you act because Alex, Lena, and even J’onn have told you Alex is in no danger repeatedly and emphatically.
You still worry, though.
And apparently, Lucy can hear that worry in your voice because her eyes shift from Alex and Lena and settle on you. They are warm and open and so understanding that you know why Alex is dating this madwoman. “Kara, I promise I won’t harm her.”
You nod and you are about to tell her how grateful you are your sister found in their relationship such comfort that she started being so bratty when Lee’s overjoyed squeal reaches your ears.
“Kara!”
You look up just in time to see Lena jumping down from the catwalk… if you didn’t know that Lena actually enjoys jumping off buildings, you would be so freaked out. But, right now, you were kind of expecting her to do this.
You meet her halfway on her descend, letting her enjoy the free fall for a couple of seconds. “One of these days I won’t catch you,” you growl at her with no real heat as you lower her easily to the ground. Her arms are around your neck and she is looking up with a big smile.
“No biggie,” she says with a shrug, letting go. “Alex will catch me.”
Once your feet touch down, you look up too.
Alex is holding the ends of what you see are mechanical wings and the reason that she is in her underwear is now evident: her arms and legs are encased in soft leather with more metal feathers and over her head, she is wearing that strange skull you saw before. The wings are designed so the movements of her arms make the metal wings move, almost as if she was a little kid playing being a bird… even her feet are in what looks like clawed shoes.
“Don’t you dare jump!” Lucy calls her.
“It’s gonna work!” Alex yells back.
“If you jump; your ass is mine!”
“My ass is already yours, dimwit!”
“You know what I fucking mean!”
“I can’t hear you!”
“Alex, NO!”
You can almost hear your sister think the “Alex, YES!” as she leaps.
Lena is jumping in joy besides you and you start hovering in preparation to catch your stupid sister.
But, just a second after jumping, Alex’s pushes a button on each hand and the machine comes to life.
It’s clumsy, it’s noisy and it’s so stiff, but your sister starts flapping and she manages to hold on the air for a really long second. Her tongue is poking out between her lips and you see her brow wrinkled in concentration. There is no air within the hangar, but after flapping hard, she somehow manages to find a way to glide down a little and it is then when her fun starts.
“See?!” She yells as she starts gliding in wide circles. “I’m flying!”
“No, you’re not!” Lucy yells. “You’re simply putting off your death!”
“This won’t kill me!”
“But I will! Come down here!”
You shake your head and hover up to fly alongside Alex. “She is spitting mad,” you tell her quietly.
Alex is finally close enough to the ground that she can easily see Lucy’s red, annoyed, face. Your sister winces and you refuse to feel any empathy towards her. “Fuck… I thought she was bluffing. She’s really pissed.”
You stare at her, shocked. “She called me in, Alex. She passed pissed an hour ago.”
Alex turns watery eyes to you and the pout on her face shouldn’t be that pitiful. “No, nuh-uh. Nope. Don’t look at me like that. You made her mad, you face her.”
“Kara…” she whines.
“Damn it, Alex, she is your girlfriend! You shouldn’t like making her mad!”
Alex’s pout is replaced by a smug smirk. “I like her mad.”
“Alex!”
Her smirk softens at your exasperation. “Really Kar, she doesn’t get mad-mad… Rao, I hate making her mad-mad… but, like… I enjoy pushing her and she enjoys it too.” She fumbles a bit with her wings, making a wide turn so you can keep gliding easily. “She likes it when I don’t listen… I mean, she could override my commands at any time and she could really force me to come down with one word… but she let me do this… so.” She almost shrugs before remembering that could possibly be a bad choice when she is using wings so high from the ground.
You frown, confused. “Then why she would call me?”
“She is a drama queen.”
You snort. “So, you are indeed made for each other.”
“Hey! I’m not a drama queen!”
“No, you are just dramatic.”
The lazy circles around the hangar bring you closer and closer to the ground and closer and closer to a tiny angry Director.
Alex is all smiles when her feet touch the ground and she makes a stupid flourish to Lena’s clapping, bowing reverently to an imaginary crowd. Her bowing is interrupted, though, when a loud smack is heard and Alex jumps a foot forward mid reverence.
“Damn it, Alex!” Lucy snarls. “That was stupid and reckless!”
Alex turns to face her girlfriend, a pout back in her face. She is rubbing her left butt cheek where Lucy just slapped her. “I didn’t die…”
“But you will wish you did the moment I’m done with you.” Lucy grabs Alex’s forearm and she starts marching her to the exit.
“But the prototype worked!”
“You weren’t authorized to use it or even fix it!”
“But-”
They are no longer within sight, but you can almost see how Lucy spanks Alex again. You can hear it clearly and you know that Alex’s complains will be shut down now.
“So…” Vasquez says. “I don’t call Director J’onzz?”
You shake your head. “I don’t think so, no. Let Lucy deal with her.”
Lena snorts. “She won’t be able to sit for a week.”
“Try a month,” Vasquez mutters
Lena nods with a grin on her face.
You look at them and sigh. You don’t get it. You don’t.
But, you also don’t want to get it.
So, you don’t ask.
“Alex!”
You sigh and turn to Lena. “Want to get out of here?” You ask her, pleading her with your eyes. You don’t want to be around for Alex’s next round of stupid.
Lena smiles. “Sure.” She wraps her arms around your neck again and lets you take her weight. “Take me home, Supergirl.”
“Alexandra!”
Alex’s delighted laughter is the last thing you hear before you flee with Lena in your arms.
And you smile. Maybe Alex changed after started dating Lucy, but she changed for good.
She is happier, more relaxed and overall at ease.
Yeah, it’s good she is dating Lucy.
Even if you don’t get how their relationship really works.