Work Text:
Thunder and Lightning
Kalex Week Day 1: General AU
I own nothing.
Alex twitched and groaned, trying to turn over so she was no longer lying on whatever was poking her in the back.
“Alex! Don’t move, okay?” That was Kara. Why was Kara sad? Or scared? Worried? “Caitlin! J’onn! Lena! She’s waking up!” Why was she calling for the others? Why were the others even here?
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Alex felt Kara’s hand brushing back hair from her face.
That didn’t make any sense. She had just shorn her hair on that side. Her hair tended to grow quickly, but not that quick. Tiredly (why was she so tired?), she blinked open her eyes. The lighting was dim, most of the glow coming from Kara’s sunbed in the corner.
They were at the DEO.
Why were they at the DEO? How were they at the DEO? She had been in Central City for a conference. She and Lena were both going to be speaking at it, Lena more than her. Alex had gone ahead of them because someone had tried to set up an assassination attempt (really, at this point, people should know better). Kara and Lena were waiting for Alex’s ‘all clear’ before arriving. The pair had been in Star City visiting Oliver and Felicity, oohing over little Mia.
Alex knew this, because both of them had been sending her texts containing pictures of the little girl in various outfits. This including miniature versions of several onesies modeled after hero costumes, made mostly by Winn in order for them to be accurate.
“Kara?” She managed to croak out, reaching for her. What was going on?
“It’s okay Alex, you’re going to be alright zhao.” Kara turned to see who had entered.
Caitlin and Lena were tied, Lena allowing the other woman to enter first to check Alex’s vitals. She made her way to Kara’s side, wrapping one arm around the blonde’s waist and laying a hand over the pair tangled together on the edge of the bed.
“You gave us both a scare Alex,” Lena told her. “Don’t ever do this again.”
Alex coughed. “What even happened?” Kara broke away to get her some water. She helped her sip it while Caitlin finished what she was doing.
Caitlin frowned. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was in Central City for the conference,” Alex began, feeling better now that her mouth wasn’t so dry and the tiredness was fading. “I’d just sent Vas back with the wannabe assassin and my report.” She frowned, trying to remember. “I was…phone. I was on my phone looking at the new pictures you two,” she sent a stern look at her lover and their shared best friend, “had just sent me. You really dressed Mia in a miniature DEO uniform? How on any Earth did Oliver let you do that? Where did you even get it?”
Lena snickered. “Winn and Cisco both missed their calling in Fashion. And Felicity was the one to convince, but after the mini-Green Arrow outfit she was sold.” Considering the size of the smile on Oliver’s face in the picture of the two of them in the matching outfits, Felicity had been hard pressed to deny the other outfits.
“…Do I even want to know?” Alex looked at Caitlin. The woman was shaking her head.
“Those pictures are never going to see the light of day outside of this group,” she assured her patient. “Their antics aside, what else do you remember?”
That was a loaded question that Alex wasn’t certain she knew the answer to.
“I’m not sure,” Alex admitted slowly. “I don’t…what happened?”
“There was a second particle accelerator explosion at the hotel,” Caitlin explained. “A much smaller one, but it caused a lot of damage to the hotel and surrounding area. Barry’s been chasing down new metas since then, as well as the pair of scientists who are responsible.”
“They did it on purpose, although we’re not entirely sure as to why.” Lena took up the explanation. “I did discover that my brother was funding them from prison,” her smile was vicious, “that stream of revenue has now been stopped.”
“Which of us was the target?” Alex asked, shifting so the ties on her gown were no longer digging into her.
“Any of us, all of us,” Lena shrugged. Her brother wanted her dead. He wanted her two protectors dead almost as badly as he did her. He had proven several times over that he didn’t care about collateral damage. “Does it really matter at this point?”
“It doesn’t,” Kara asserted. “All that matters is that it didn’t work. Alex is fine, right?”
“Well…” Caitlin hesitated. It was highly unnerving to have all three of them staring at her. “We’ll need to run a few tests, but-”
“I’m a meta,” Alex cut her off. “Just how long have I been unconscious?” The longer she was awake, the better she was feeling. She was also starving.
“Four months,” Lena answered when it appeared the other two weren’t going to say anything. Kara looked distressed just thinking about it. There had been a few moments where they had honestly believed Alex would never awaken.
“Four…four months?” Alex stared at her. “No wonder I’m hungry.”
Kara giggled, taking that statement as the okay to do as she had wanted since carrying Alex out of the wreckage. She hugged her lover to her tightly, heedless of the tubes and wires. Alex winched, but returned the embrace.
“Great, now there’s going to be two bottomless pits.” Lena teased good-naturedly.
“You should be alright, but start with simple things.” Caitlin warned her. She disconnected the machines that were no longer needed. She had been around enough meta-humans and super-powered people to know the signs.
“Right, any ideas what my power might be?” Alex had read over enough of the reports from STAR Labs to know that different powers had different markers, although some were similar. A few were a little hard to determine, such as the mental based powers. Alex didn’t feel all that different.
“Not yet,” Caitlin replied. “We’ve been more concerned over the other injuries you sustained.”
“Which are all healed,” Kara said. “The head injury was the worst,” her lip wobbled as she held back tears, “and your heart stopped twice during surgery when they had to go in and repair some internal damage and remove the shrapnel from your back.” She had needed to keep reminding herself that Alex was in one piece. Her human was still alive and breathing.
Lena motioned for Caitlin to follow her out the door so they could leave the two alone. Kara didn’t care if they were there or not, but Alex would. The stubborn woman refused to remove herself from the impression that she had to be strong in front of everyone all the time. Lena had the same tendency, so she couldn’t exactly fault her friend for it. They would have it out later. Right now, Kara needed her more.
Kara had the decency to wait until the others were out of the room before climbing into bed with her lover. Alex shifted to the side so there was more room, but she needn’t have bothered. Kara picked her up so she was in her lap, curled into her chest.
“I was so scared Alex.” She whispered. She couldn’t even ask Alex not to do this again because it wasn’t anything they could control. Neither of them could give up this life, not when what they did was something that felt like what they were meant to do.
“I know,” Alex understood that kind of fear all too well every single time Kara ended up beneath the sun lamps for more than minor injuries. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
“No, Alex, you don’t have anything to apologize for.” Kara nuzzled her face against Alex’s hair. “Lena’s already ordering food, and then I’ll go get your favorite.”
“The food truck in Chicago?” Alex sighed, already imagining dripping cheese and perfectly grilled ham between toasted bread and topped with sautéed onions and peppers.
“Of course,” Kara reluctantly let her go. “Wanna shower?”
“Are you saying I stink?” Alex laughed as Kara backtracked and babbled before frowning at her. Kara stopped after a moment, pouting. “Come on, let me shower before the food gets here. I’d like to be in some real clothes.”
“Right!” Alex squealed as Kara levitated off the bed to bring them to a standing position. Alex remained ensconced in her arms, despite the protest that she could walk.
Kara walked them to the small bathroom attached to the room. The shower stall was tiny, big enough for only a single occupant on purpose. Even so, Kara remained in the room as Alex showed.
Alex blinked as time seemed to slow for a brief moment, seeing each individual drop of water as it fell before returning to normal. Blinking again, she reached to steady herself against the wall. Perhaps she wasn’t as well as she felt.
“Alex?” Kara sounded strange, word drawn out as if she were speaking incredibly slowly.
“Kara?” Alex reached out, trying to find the blonde. “Kara, I think-”
“Alex!”
Alex stumbled to a stop before striking the wall. She was completely dry, despite the fact that the shower was still running and she had just stepped out of it. She was shaking.
What the hell?
“Hey, I got you,” Kara wrapped a towel around her, not really knowing what else to do. “I guess we know what your power is now.”
“Kara, what just happened?” She hated when her body did things she didn’t want it to. She had trained hard to be as in control of it as humanly possible.
“You’re a speedster.”
Much, much later that night they were in their apartment. It hadn’t changed much in the four months she had been in the Medbay.
It was comforting, that bit of familiarity.
She had lost four months of her life. Now she had super-speed.
It was far from a fair tradeoff. She would much rather have those four months back.
She had missed Kara’s birthday. Lena’s Birthday. Her and Kara’s second anniversary.
Alex had been planning to propose then.
What the hell was she meant to do with super-speed?
Barry had already offered to help her learn to use her powers. Alex had already agreed to it, although she would be on the watch for any tricks. She had heard about how Oliver had ‘helped’ when Barry first gained his speed, just as she had heard how Barry had gotten revenge after another meta had temporarily switched Barry’s speed with Oliver’s talent with a bow.
Not that Kara would allow any such thing to happen. In fact, Kara was as adamant about being a part of Alex’s training as Alex had been about Kara’s in the first place.
“You’re over thinking this,” Kara muttered softly. “You’re alive. You’re faster than me now.” She giggled. “And you can’t tease me anymore about my food intake!”
Alex groaned. “Remind me to talk to J’onn about a food stipend, else we’ll need to live at the DEO.” She had matched Kara in sheer amount of food eaten for the first time since the alien had come to live with the Danvers.
“Lena already thought of it,” Kara said. “We have the best best friend, especially when she gets to thwart her mother.”
“…dare I ask what the two of you have gotten up to?”
“Well…” Kara buried her face into Alex’s neck for a moment.
“Oh god…what did you two do?” Alex fought her grin. There was a reason they worked as a trio, elsewise the one left out tended to have to get the pair out of a mess.
“I mean…crank calls, a few bashed up bases, some re-stolen funds donated to charities that needed it, a few trick programs that’ll send their servers crashing at different points…not much.”
Alex was shaking in laughter. “You two crank called…and J’onn let you get away with it?”
“Well…I mean…” Kara giggled. “Some of the others helped. J’onn may have made a few suggestions.”
“No way!” Alex denied.
“Okay, he may also have given all of those involved a very stern lecture about not messing around like unscrupulous teenagers.” Kara admitted. “Lena quoted something from Doctor Who back at him.”
That sounded more like the man who had become the adopted father of their rag-tag group. It was very much something Lena would do in response to being lectured. Alex would bet she might even know which quote it was.
She turned over so she could wrap her arms around Kara. “Winn isn’t allowed to design my suit. I’ve seen some of what he wanted to dress you in, remember?”
Kara giggled. “Yes, I do. Breakfast says Lena already has something by tomorrow.”
Alex thought about it. “Pancakes if you’re right, French toast if you aren’t.”
“Deal,” Kara agreed, “now sleep.”
Kara had not been wrong. Lena did have something ready for Alex.
“Oh, Alex it’s perfect!” Kara danced around her, taking it in.
It was very much like Barry’s suit, built to withstand the extreme speeds Alex would be running at. It was mainly blue, a shade darker than Kara’s own suit. Where Barry’s suit had gold, the same red as Kara’s cape traced seams and edges in contrast to the blue. On the left shoulder, like a badge of honor, rested the El crest. The emblem on Alex’s chest was a thin, ragged lighting bot split into tree prongs in red. Kara was already bugging Winn to add a miniature copy of Alex's new emblem in the same place on her suit.
“How does it feel?” Lena eyed her work critically, trying to find any flaws.
“Good, comfortable,” Alex fidgeted. “Tighter than what I’m used to.” She spun around. “No cape?”
“If you could fly, I would have added a cape.” Lena typed something into her tablet. “It’s tight because loose fabric would create drag.”
“She’s right,” Kara nodded. “Why do you think I drop the cape if I have to use my speed on the ground? It’s great in the air, not so much for running.”
Alex nodded. It made sense. Most of the heroes they knew who had capes did very little (if any) ground maneuvering. “Ok, now what?”
“Now you need a new codename,” Lena looked up, smirk firmly in place. “I figured you would rather come up with one yourself before Cat Grant gives you one.”
Alex eyed her warily. “Why can’t I just keep Agent? We can just add speed or something to it.”
“Agent Speed,” Kara shook her head. “Nope. That’s almost as bad as The Blur.”
“I was thinking Lightning,” Lena announced. She nodded to the scorch mark on the wall. “Fitting, since you mastered that particular trick so quickly.”
Alex looked down at her gloved hands. “Lightning…I like it.”