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Lena gradually entered the elevator of her apartment building and pushed herself as much as she could to the side. As the elevator went up, she winced as it pinged at each floor it passed. Never in her life has she been so pissed that she lived on the top floor in the penthouse. Once the elevator arrived at her stop, she gradually went to the front door. She stared at it for a moment until she realized that she needed keys. Her hands shakily went into her pockets and took out her keys. She tried to put them through the keyhole, but couldn’t. Her hand wouldn’t stay steady. She stood at the door for almost ten minutes trying to get the key through the keyhole almost to the point of tears. Miraculously, it slipped through and she was able to unlock the door to get inside. She went straight to her bedroom, turned on the lights, and went to her wall-length mirror. She winced at what she saw. Her hair was frayed and matted, she had dark circles under her eyes, cuts and bruises on her cheeks and jaw, her $1000 red business suit was tattered with the sleeves barely hanging on and with one of her pant legs missing, and she just realized that she had been walking around this whole time with 1 black high heeled shoe. She would cry if she could but she was all cried out. Lex had kept her in his underground bunker for the last couple of days. It was pitch black the majority of the time except when he came down to torture her. She shivered when she thought about it. Fortunately, she was saved by Supergirl.
She remembered Supergirl having a high level of concern if she was okay or not, but the only thing Lena could think about was getting home. Supergirl offered to give her a ride home as well as the DEO. She knew that they were being nice, but she wanted to have some semblance of dignity when leaving. She was used to being an ice queen before them commanding respect. Not the broken woman that they dazed and confused in the bunker. She hated having people feel sorry for her. The only thing she wanted to do was to change out of her clothes, take a nice, long bath, get some wine, and go to bed.
She was able to do the first two things just fine. Taking the dirty clothes off and taking a bath help to make her feel more herself again. However, she shouldn’t have expected the status quo to stay the same. As she was about to take the wine she poured in the kitchen back to her bedroom, the lights all went out. She heard a loud pitch scream and instantly hit the floor and covered her head. The scream is unusually loud which surprised Lena since her penthouse is soundproof. It took her a minute to realize that the scream she heard was coming from herself. She broke down into tears and curled up into a little ball on the floor.
“It shouldn’t be this hard,” she sobbed.
She was finally finding her footing in National City after moving here six months ago. It wasn’t fair that Lex could just swoop in and prove that she had no control over her life. She hated not having any control. Her mind started spiraling until she heard a knock on the door. She felt her heart rate quicken.
What if this was Lex coming back to finish the job? He already took me once. Is he going to finish the job? Where can I even hide?
Lena racked her brain on what to do. She knew that there was a safe room in her house. It was just 15 feet away from the kitchen. However, she couldn’t force herself to move. She felt paralyzed with fear. She started clawing at her throat because she felt like she couldn’t breathe.
I can’t believe that I met my end like this.
As her breathing starts to become more and more difficult, she starts to hear a voice. It was very faint at first, but the voice got louder and louder until she recognized it. The voice reminded her of sunshine and happiness: Kara. However, Kara couldn’t be here with her. She didn’t know she was back. She doesn’t even know if Kara knew that Lex kidnapped her. She started to panic until she heard the voice become louder to the point she could understand what they were saying.
“Lena, I need you to look at me. Lena, Lena, please look up.”
Gradually, Lena looked up and saw Kara’s face right in front of hers. She was glowing.
Lena started to sob and said, “You aren’t real.”
The woman before her frowned and placed her hand on her face which felt very warm and tender.
“Lena, do you feel this?”
Lena nodded slightly.
“This is real. We are real. I need you to breathe with me. You think you can do that?”
Lena nodded again slightly and started breathing along with the woman next to her. They did this for 10 minutes until Lena started to calm down.
Kara smiled and asked, “Are you feeling better now?”
Lena nodded and said, “Yes. I feel a little bit better. You’re really here.”
Kara chuckled. Lena smiled slightly. Kara’s laughter was one of the things that brightened her day even when she was depressed.
“Why are you surprised that I am here?”
Lena frowned and said, “Well, you are glowing for one thing.”
Kara frowned at her for a moment until she cackled, pulled the phone from next to her head, and said, “I know cell phones cause a lot of things, but I didn’t think it would make me look supernatural.”
Lena looked away sheepishly. She couldn’t believe that a cellphone flashlight made her think that she was hallucinating her best friend of all things.
Kara gradually got up from the floor and held out her hand to Lena.
“Why don’t we move someplace more comfortable?”
Lena quickly grabbed her hand and was amazed that Kara pulled her up with so much ease. Kara used the light from her phone to guide them over to the couch. Kara started to sit down, but Lena stared at the couch hesitantly.
Kara frowned and asked, “Is there something wrong?”
Lena looked back and forth between the front door and the couch warily and said, “I think we should leave. Lex could be planning his next attack and it isn’t safe here.”
Kara rubbed her hand and said, “Lex isn’t the one who cut your power if that is what you are thinking.”
Lena frowned and asked, “How would you know?”
“There was a fight between Livewire and Supergirl in this area earlier. Livewire tried to gather enough energy to kill Supergirl from the power plant, but she overloaded herself with the electrical wiring in the area. The local energy company said that we will mostly be without power for at least 8 hours.”
Lena felt herself not being able to breathe again. She was already hidden in darkness for several days. She wasn’t sure if she could go through this again. She started patting her throat to try to help her breathe. Kara quickly stood up and cupped Lena’s face so they were staring directly into each other’s eyes.
“Lena, I need you to breathe with me. Breathe in and out.”
Lena nodded slightly and started following along with Kara. After five minutes, she started to calm down.
Kara looked at Lena directly and asked, “Do you trust me?”
Lena nodded and said, “Of course, I do.”
“I want you to close your eyes and start singing the song we sang at the karaoke together from start to finish in your head.”
“Sweet Love,” asked Lena while still breathing somewhat hesitantly.
“Yup, that is the one. Please do that and continue breathing. I will still be here, but I am going to try to do something to help you feel a little better, okay.”
Lena nodded and closed her eyes. As she started to sing the song in her head, it was a little bit hard at first to focus. But once she got into it, she started to feel less and less panicked until she realized her breathing was back to normal by the end of the song. She still had her eyes closed because she wasn’t sure if Kara was ready for her to open them yet. She was about to say something until she heard Kara say, “Open your eyes.”
Lena hesitated for a moment before opening them up slowly. She winced at first because everything was so bright. It took her a minute for her eyes to adjust, but when they did, she was floored by what she saw: At least a hundred candles were burning around the apartment or at least in the living room and kitchen. She looked up to see Kara beaming at her.
“How did you do all of this in such a short amount of time?” asked Lena baffled.
“I was heavily motivated. Besides, your eyes were closed for a good while.”
Lena frowned and said, “My eyes couldn’t have been closed that long. The song itself is less than 4 minutes.”
Kara smirked and asked, “Were you really paying attention to the time though when singing the song in your head.”
Lena rolled her eyes. Obviously, she wasn’t counting while singing, but she did get the point that Kara was trying to make. She was so panicky in the beginning that she didn’t know how long she sat there before she thought to sing the song in her head. She also knew she started slowly while singing in her head as well.
She shook her head and smiled. Only Kara could think of doing something this grand.
Lena smirked and said, “Okay, I can accept that you did this by yourself, but how did you know to bring the candles in the first place? How did you even know I was home at all?”
“Alex told me.”
Lena frowned. Alex was the one who examined her while she was at the DEO. She didn’t like that Alex would tell Kara about her. She knew that they were close and shared everything, but she thought that Alex would draw the line when it came to medical confidentiality. She started fuming until she heard Kara chuckle. She looked up at Kara startled.
Kara shook her head and said, “I am sorry to laugh. It is just I know what you are thinking. Before your brain starts spiraling, Alex didn’t tell me anything personal. She just said that she ran into you today and thought that you might use a friend. That was it.”
Lena looked away sheepishly and said, “I hate that you know me so well.”
Kara chuckled and said, “It would be kind of embarrassing if I didn’t sense we are best friends and all.”
Lena smiled as she started playing with her pajama bottoms and said, “Well, you didn’t explain why you had the candles still.”
Kara smiled and said, “I was getting to that part. After talking with Alex, I decided to get some food from the grocery store that is a block away from here to bring up. While there, the power went out. Seeing that it affected the entire block, I thought that you might have been affected too. So I gathered as many candles as I could and the food, and grateful for the first time in a while that I had cash on me, and headed here where I found you on the floor.”
“Wasn’t my finest hour,” muttered Lena.
Kara gently grabbed her hand and started rubbing soothing circles around it.
“You know it is okay to be vulnerable. If you like, we can talk about what happened or if you just want to sit here, eat, and pretend like nothing happened, we can do that as well. Just know that I am here for you either way.”
Lena smiled as she squeezed Kara’s hand.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until Lena said softly, “I thought that I was rid of him.”
“Who?”
“Lex. I thought that coming here got him out of my life, but he just followed me here. There is nowhere I can go to to escape. Maybe, it would be better if I were to disappear.”
Kara pulled Lena in for a hug which startled her at first, but then caused her to smile. She leans into the hug. Kara’s hugs always felt like she was being embraced by the sun. She always felt so happy afterward. She knows it is because she has feelings for her. She just wished she knew that Kara felt the same way.
Kara looked down and smiled at her and said, “Don’t think that way. You have so many people on your side that will help you. You don’t have to face this alone.”
Lena sighed. As much as she wants to believe her, Lex always finds a way to ruin things.
Lena smiled softly at Kara and said, “I know you believe that, but Lex is ruthless. He stops at nothing to get what he wants. How do we even counteract that?”
Kara smirked and said, “I know it seems daunting, but we have time to make some changes…”
“Kara, he has already abducted me numerous times including a couple of days ago. What is realistically going to stop him from pulling this same shit tomorrow?
Kara rubbed her hand and said, “What if I had some information that can give you ease of mind?”
Lena shook her head and chuckled and said, “I don’t know about that.”
Kara smiled and said, “I am confident that you will find what I have to say very helpful.”
Lena stared at her warily and said, “Fine. What is this so-called information?”
“Well, when I talked to Alex, she wanted me to pass along some information about Lex.”
Lena frowned and asked, “She would entrust government info to you about Lex.”
“I think she thought more so you would be more perceptive to hear it from me. She said that she tried to tell you this earlier, but you seemed out of it.”
Lena winced when she thought about it. She vaguely remembered Alex trying to tell her something about Lex, but she was so focused on getting home that she tuned everything out.
She shook her head and asked, “What did Alex want me to know?”
“It looked like Lex was working with Mirror Master. The DEO and Supergirl were chasing them when Supergirl was able to use her laser beam to damage Mirror Master’s gun. Mirror Master was able to use it for him and Lex to enter into the nearest mirror. However, the gun malfunction and now Mirror Master and Lex are stuck in the mirror with no way out.”
“You are kidding me?” asked Lena baffled.
Kara shook he head and said, “Nope, they are stuck indefinitely. Initially, the thought was to just leave them both there to suffer, but others felt that it would be morally wrong. The tech that Mirror Master used was stolen from an alien race. To get the part necessary to recreate the gun, it would mean traveling to that alien planet which would take about two years.”
“So Lex will be stuck in that mirror for at least four years?” asked Lena hesitantly.
“Probably more so six years because it will take a while to actually build the thing,” mused Kara.
Lena started cackling until she started to cry.
Kara frowned and asked, “Are you okay?”
Lena shook her head and said, “I’m fine. I just like the irony is all.”
Kara looked at her quizzically, and said, “I am not sure what you mean.”
“Lex had Mirror Master kidnap me a couple of days ago. He placed me somewhere I was trapped, dark, and beat me with no way out. Now he is trapped like a rat with no escape. Karma really is a bitch isn’t it.”
Kara chuckled and said, “That she is.”
Lena wiped out a tear from her eye and said, “At least this gives me a chance to breathe and be ready. Next time, Lex won’t take me out so easily.”
Kara chuckled.
Lena cocked her head and asked, “What is so funny?”
“I thought that you would say something more along the lines of that you hoped he went insane by the time he comes out.”
Lena cackled and said, “I didn’t want to say it out loud, but it would bring me immense joy if he was a babbling fool by the time he can get out of there.”
Suddenly, Lena heard a loud gurgling sound. She blushed when she realized that it was coming from her stomach. She felt silly for not realizing that she would be hungry. She hadn’t eaten over the last several days.
Kara smiled and said, “Let's leave Lex and his crazy for the mirrors to worry about. This candle-lit ambiance shouldn’t go to waste. Let’s eat the food that I got from the grocery store and then we can watch a movie.”
Lena raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did we forget that the TV needs electricity to work?”
Kara smirked and said, “I brought a fully charged tablet with me with a bunch of downloaded movies. You know me and preparedness.”
Lena chuckled as Kara and she headed to the kitchen to continue their night.