Chapter Text
“Have I ever told you that you're my favorite person?” Lena queried, green eyes alight with joy from seeing her best friend, who had also brought food with her. Kara smiled, giggling a bit as she ducked her head to adjust her glasses. Lena gestured for Kara to come in, and closed the door behind her while the blonde set the bag of Big Belly Burger takeout down on the glass table.
Lena walked around to the sofa, sitting to Kara's left. “Of course it's always nice when you visit, but I have to assume you're not just here to have lunch with me. What else brought you?”
Kara made a shrug-like motion, hands falling into her lap. “I just wanted to see you, no ulterior motives.” The brunette could visibly watch her thinking. “But now that you mention it.. can you tell me what you know about Mercy Graves?”
The pair decided to eat while the food was still hot, Lena spilling information as well as parts of her childhood to her reporter friend between bites of burger. They continued talking long after the food was gone, laughing at stories from each other’s younger days until Kara checked her watch and noticed it was well past her lunch break time.
“We should have lunch together more often,” Kara acknowledged, still smiling despite the fact that she had to leave.
“Absolutely,” Lena nodded in agreement. “I can go to CatCo next time if you think it'd be alright?”
“I'm not really sure that's a good idea,” Kara replied hastily, knowing how often it seemed she had to leave the building for Supergirl emergencies. She amended her statement to be less suspicious. “Since you're the boss and all. Might make some people nervous.”
“Right,” Lena sighed. “Well- Kara?” Panic replaced whatever she was about to say as her friend fainted, falling across her lap. She quickly but carefully moved the blonde in order to stand, checking for a pulse and any exterior wounds although she hadn't heard a gunshot or had any other reason to believe that Kara was in danger. To Lena's relief, she was very much alive.. but her veins were a glowing spiderweb of green.
She pulled out her phone and dialed Alex’s number, acting with urgency and ignoring the pang of betrayal she felt to her core. Only one thing in the world had that effect on a person, and she knew that Kara wasn't human. But it wasn't important now, they could discuss this after Kara was safe.
“Hello?” came Alex’s voice from the other end of the call.
“Alex, it’s Kara. She just collapsed from kryptonite poisoning.”
“What? How do you know-”
“Doesn't matter right now, please hurry.”
“I'll be right there.”
Lena hung up, mentally going through anything she had that might help the situation. There was a chance that the kryptonite was directly bleeding into Kara's system, so she checked the blonde again for injury. Finding nothing, her second assumption was that someone had released kryptonite into L-Corp’s ventilation system. She left Kara's side to rifle through a drawer in her desk, procuring a small device just as Alex and a few DEO agents arrived.
Lena pocketed the device and followed them to HQ, not once taking her eyes off the blonde as she was laid on a gurney and carted off to a room with yellow sun lamps.
“Miss Luthor, you can't go back there-” She pushed her way past the agent guarding the door. He attempted to pull her out of the room before Alex waved him off.
“She's fine, I trust her.”
The impact of the director’s words would have been greater if not for the situation at hand. The sun lamps, combined with the anti-kryptonite shield did the job of stabilizing Supergirl but only enough to bring her back to consciousness. Lena’s heart ached seeing Kara in this much pain.
“There's nothing we can do. The kryptonite is everywhere.”
“If we take her off-world, she’ll die.”
“There has to be something we can do,” Alex pleaded.
“This might help,” Lena offered, handing the device from her pocket to Brainiac. He was ecstatic.
“What is that?” Alex asked, looking up from her sister to the device in Brainy’s hands.
“It’s-” Lena started.
“A radiation-controlled proto-environment housed in a vacuum-sealed mechanical exoskeleton,” Brainy interrupted, placing the device on Kara and pressing a button. The exoskeleton, complete with helmet, fitted itself to the Kryptonian’s body.
Too much time passed. Nobody moved, except for Lena, to stand opposite of Alex by Kara's other side. The situation seemed bleak, although with the addition of Lena's invention, Brainy calculated the probability of Kara's survival had jumped to 80 percent. Nobody stopped hoping.
Kara sat up. Two sets of arms flung themselves around her, and she recognized that she was alive but covered in something.. She went to remove the helmet.
“Don't!” Lena blurted, her hand shooting out to pull Kara’s away from the sealant. “The suit should help. Any breach in it, until we figure out how to reverse the contamination, will kill you.”
“Lena?” The glass dome covered head swiveled to face her. “How did you know..?”
Lena let go of Kara's hand, taking a step back as she remembered why she was angry. “I spent how long keeping Reign contained? I've seen more than enough to know how kryptonite affects your biology.” She deadpanned, crossing her arms over her chest and going into the ‘strictly business’ mode Kara hated seeing her in as Supergirl. It was too distant and cold for the blonde’s liking.
Kara turned to Alex. “Can, uh. Can we have a minute?” She heard Lena let out a ‘hmph’ and redirected her full attention to the brunette as her sister left the room, dragging Brainy with her.
“Bold of you to assume I want to talk.”
“Well.. do you?”
Lena’s face softened a bit, although she kept her distance and standoffish posture. “I thought we were done with keeping secrets.”
Kara burst out laughing in disbelief. “Oh, were we? Who else on this planet knows how to make the chemical that almost killed me five minutes ago?”
“That wasn't me,” Lena growled. “You were with me for god’s sake, how could it have been me?”
“You have a number of people willing to do anything you ask of them at your fingertips! All you had to do was say the word!”
Lena let out a frustrated shout and kicked the empty shell that once housed the exosuit across the floor, finally hitting her breaking point. She couldn't stay calm anymore when Supergirl was ready to place the blame on her at the drop of a hat. “Why is it so hard for you to trust me?!” she yelled. “I may have not been getting along with Supergirl, but what would I gain from killing her?! From killing you?”
Kara had no answer for that one. She remained silent as Lena regained her composure, stilling her shaky voice and body. She took a deep breath and swiped the back of her hand across her face. “Exactly,” she grumbled, holding back more angry tears.
“Lena, I-”
“What?” she spat.
“I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to fault you for the kryptonite, I’m just.. scared. I don't want to live the rest of my life in this thing,” she gestured to the suit.
Lena shook her head. “You won't. I'll find a way to clear it, I promise you that. But if you want to continue this friendship, you're going to have to have a little bit of faith in me.” She left the room on that note, heading back to L-Corp. The blueprint for the dispersal device was sitting around somewhere, and she figured that was the best place to start.