Work Text:
Kara flexed her right hand and felt the wraps pull tight again when she made her fist. She made small movements, movements that she'd done so often that it was reflexive, grounding and just about the only thing she could manage after the last pummeling received. She breathed, side stepped, flexed and reset. Smooth movements, muscle memory lending her speed in the moment. The next series of blows came fast and hard, Kara tightened her core, bobbed to avoid most of the hits and kept her eyes peeled for the next opening. The strikes that she didn't manage to avoid radiated pain through her body. A particularly nasty strike threatened to take her hard-fought breath away but at that moment an opening in her opponent's defense finally appeared and Kara snapes to action.
She pounces forward, feints, crosses and jabs, landing a solid hit along a smooth jaw. Like ripples in a pond, Kara sees the impact finally rattle Reign. What small amounts of momentum had drawn together behind the jabs was stopped short when Reign's eye locked onto Kara's and a small smirk finally emerged under the mask.
' Seems like you may have some skill after all. Glad this fight won't be a complete waste of time. Come on then,' she beckons 'teach me something new ’.
Dragging her wrist across her busted lip, Kara wipes the blood clean and smiles. This is what she came here for, the challenge, a chance to see what she is really capable of.
Reign moved back, long lean movements with the grace of a born predator, and circled Kara. Shaking out her arms and sparing a glance around the arena.
“ That's what we’re all here for anyways, right?” She raises her arms towards the crowds gathered “ To learn, only the best fighters were invited, so i expect something more than common tournament standards. Surprise me ‘Supergirl’.”
Kara glanced towards Alex, her red gi making her stand out in the crowd easily. Long years of supporting each other through countless fights and even longer years supporting each other as sisters had built a language that only needed a glance. Alex’s quick nod and tight smile told Kara what she needed to do.
She tightened her belt and relaxed back into her ready stance, like resetting the fight, it brought Kara back to her center and she looked back towards Reign and nodded. “I think I've got a few things you haven’t seen before. ”
She’d need to fight hard and smart, Reign wasn’t like anyone she’d fought thus far. She had been fighting longer than Kara had and had climbed the ranks faster. Kara had hoped to be able to fight her in a tournament but she’d retired apparently and gone into private security, or so she had heard, so it was a bit of a shock to see her name amongst the participants at this tournament. Though, everything about this tournament was a surprise.
Reign smiled again and resumed her predatory circling, inching closer and waiting to see what Kara had in store. Kara was never known for her patience however so Regin didn’t have to wait long. She surged into motion, a blue blur across the sandy floor of the arena. Powerful steps launched her towards Reign - digging her fingers into Regin’s blocking arm followed by a quick strike to her forearm on the same side temporarily stunning her on one side. Kara used her forward momentum and twisted her body to bring her knee around and up into Regin. Driving her backwards and creating space to attack next. In the small gap created, Kara began rolling punches, combos trained into her muscles she called upon quicker than she could think. The rhythmic punches hitting with the power of a locomotive. Her moves almost a blur to anyone watching. Her blond hair snapping in its braid as she twisted with each hit.
While Kara had always been fit, the last few weeks of training had been her most intense ever and she could feel the extra gains giving additional power to her hits. Reign blocked what she could as she backed up towards the edge of the tournament ring. The rush of finally gaining ground flushed through Kara, confidence and speed gaining as she switched up her stance to sneak in a roundhouse kick and followed it up with her knee, the satisfying release of Reign’s breath telling her she’d landed a solid hit. Confidence now followed the rush of success and that was Kara’s second mistake. The first being that while she had always respected Reign, she’d been so focused on her own career that she hadn’t spent the time studying her opponent.
Only a few years older, Reign had been fighting since she was a kid, gaining recognition and easily defeating opponents outside of her weight class. By the time Kara could have fought her, she’d practically disappeared. There had been brief rumors of a kid a few years ago but nothing else really. So, Kara hadn’t researched, didn’t go back and watch tapes of old fights. When she and Alex had arrived at the tournament and seen the large tournament board laid out with their fights it took Kara a moment to look over all of her fights, recognising some names and others were new to her. When she got to her fight with Reign, it had taken her a moment to grasp. Then excitement set in and she’d been confident that while it would likely be a tough fight, Reign was all but retired and couldn’t be that much of a challenge. The first few fights hadn’t been difficult and Kara’s confidence had grown. When Alex had suggested she do a bit of prep work for the fight, Kara had opted not to study her opponent. The fight would be satisfying for giving Kara the chance to fight “one of the greats” but shouldn’t slow her down on her way to win everything.
The first mistake became apparent as soon as the gong had been hit and Reign had nodded her head and spoken her famous phrase, “ Wai Kru ”, no hint of softness or dulled senses in sight, only calm confidence. Kara was just able to get her block up before Reign had begun a powerful assault against her.
The second mistake’s confidence showed itself by Kara taking a moment while Reign recovered to glance back up into the stands. A quick glance and nod up to Alex to tell her she was alright and the fight was probably hers. The glance then slid a few meters to the right and Kara’s fast-beating heart suddenly stopped. A deep maroon coat and a yellow scarf helped Lena stand out easily amongst a sea of rivals wearing the more standard gi . Her pale skin, burnished dark hair and the aristocratic way she held herself only seemed to draw Kara’s eyes in more. Her mind flashed back to the last time they spoke, just after training the day before. Kara had been sparring with Alex and a few others she knew from previous tournaments, Nia “Dreamer” Nal, Winn “the Toyman” Schott, Querl “Brainy” Dox and Kelly “the Guardian” Olsen.
Everyone had been chatting amicably and pointing out some of the strengths and weaknesses they’d either seen in other fighters or heard about through the grapevine. As they packed up their kits and started heading out Alex broke off from the group and bumped her shoulder.
“ Hey there kiddo, nice work today.” Alex said as she came up beside Kara. Kara smiled at her older sister and bumped her shoulder back. “Not too bad yourself. I think a certain someone might be impressed..”
Kara smiled and watched her sister slowly start blushing as she quickly glanced across the room to where Kelly was chatting with Nia. It didn’t take a genius to see the way Alex and Kelly had been getting along since arriving. Sure, they’d competed on and off the past few years but it was only recently after Alex had been broken up with Maggie for a while that she'd really started spending more time chatting with Kelly. It was nice seeing Alex so relaxed and connecting with someone so well.
“Well, it seems like someone else might be impressed too.” Alex nodded towards the second entrance to the training area and Kara followed her lead.
There standing in the doorway was Lena Luthor. Arms crossed across her chest, she wore a black gi , and as Kara met her eyes, Lena raised an eyebrow and beckoned her over. What residual redness existed from the training barely masked the slow blush that crept up Kara’s neck and topped her ears. She looked over at Alex, who nudged her with a smile, and Kara walked over to Lena.
Nervously pressing down her white gi, Kara stepped through into the hallway.
“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting officially yet, Ms. Danvers.” Lena extended her hand towards Kara who quickly reached out to shake it.
“Ha, no, umm I mean yes, we haven’t met yet. Well, technically we passed each other at a tournament in Shanghai a few years ago but I didn’t talk to you, not that I didn’t want to! I mean, it all happened so quickly and by the time i figured out what I wanted to say you’d already passed me and were heading to your fight. But I am a big fan, your fights are some of my favorite to watch. Because of your skill! You um, you have this amazing ability to make your fights look like magic, it's really next level. I’ve been following you since then, not like a stalker though because that would be weird and I think I'm babbling a bit now so I'll just be quiet.” Kara looked bashful and noticed that she was still shaking Lena’s hand so quickly pulled it back.
Lena smiled and laughed gently “ No, no, it's good to know you’ve enjoyed following my career. It's mutual. You’re really something Ms Danvers. I'm sorry for interrupting your training, I didn’t know if I'd get a chance to talk to you before the tournament got really serious.”
K ara reached out a hand again towards Lena and then quickly retracted it “No, not a problem at all! I actually was hoping I'd get a chance to actually talk to you while we are all here. I’m glad you came by.” A large smile had taken over Kara's face, her eyes lighting up as she finished talking, rocking up onto her toes with a small bounce.
“Not too many people are happy to see me usually. The name is enough to scare most people off from even talking to me, the ones who get through usually aren’t happy to see me. “
“Well, that's just because they don’t know you!” Kara interrupted, “I mean, again, I know I don’t really know you, but I do know you’ve been actively involved in raising money for charity at all the tournaments you’ve entered. Usually not announced, but I get the insider information when I donate at the tournaments and a few people have pointed towards you for organizing things, sometimes even donating your winnings. I um, I really respected that about you.”
A look passed through Lena’s face before she schooled it back into the calm exterior she was known for. “ Well, you’re quite the investigator, and my request to remain anonymous doesn’t seem to be as respected as I’d thought. I may need to have a word with some of my people.” She smiled again before continuing, “I wanted to meet you as you’ve really been making your name the last few years- that fight against Siobhan Smythe last month for the world title was really amazing. However, being at the top isn’t always a good thing. I’ve seen it before, you get to the top and then don’t know where to go. Some people make bad decisions, accept bad offers, and trust the wrong people.”
Lena looked over Kara’s shoulder at the now empty room. “I’m sure you’ve got good friends around you, but I just wanted to warn you about anyone approaching you at this tournament with new offers or deals. Which I do realize seems ironic considering I'm approaching you and telling you not to trust new people who approach you, but I'm not offering you anything. I just wanted to share that and say that even though you may not have anything to go on, and a lot of hearsay to tell you not to, you can trust me.”
The words “ you can trust me ” echoed in Kara's mind as the repercussions from her second mistake made itself known in the shape of Reign’s fist making contact with Kara’s jaw. Her eyes snapped back towards Reign only to take a second hit, her eyes filling with tears as the pain of a broken nose radiated across her face. Reign’s intense glare tore through her mask and was the last thing Kara saw before the next hit dropped her to the floor and the world faded into blackness.