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Chapter Text

And boom! Bright white light; so bright that it feels like this is it; this is what they call the gateway to heaven. Although, who is she kidding? She is a Luthor, although she would like to believe that she was not as rotten as the rest of the bunch, still there’s no way anyone with that last name is going anywhere but a specially-reserved suite in the Devil’s den.

Well atleast Lucifer’s hot.

Or, that’s what Lena thinks before it all goes dark.

The next time she opens her eyes, it’s pretty clear that there’s something wrong with the world, because this is definitely heaven and a blonde angel; sorry, Lena’s favourite blonde, buff and kind-blue-eyed angel is hovering over her head, face dripping with concern and definitely tears, a lot of tears.

“Oh My God Alex! You’re awake!”, and a huge hug springs from nowhere, the Kara-Danvers special kind of hug, the ones where Kara Danvers puts her shoulders, her toned, muscular shoulders around your neck, because you are significantly shorter than her, she dips her face down into your hair as if burying herself in your scent; the kind of hug where the warmth of her affection swells every vein and artery in your body and you feel like you are home; the kind of hug where her embrace feels like a giant, soft, tender yet strong protective shield, and you feel for the first time in your life, you’re truly safe.

Yeah, so Kara is currently giving Lena that hug, after months. But wait, isn’t Lena still angry? Isn’t the feeling of betrayal still fresh in her mind? Eh! but Kara’s scent, her touch, her breath on the neck…

Wait what!? … Alex!?

Lena looks up awkwardly from over the heroine’s shoulders to find the mirror across the bed. Yep, Auburn hair, with that god-awesome hair-cut, arms like that of a soldier, toned but not buff like Kara, eyes that generally exude confidence and intellect, a reflection of her character, but right now, shows mostly exhaustion. Damn!

So, yep, they swapped bodies.

Kara’s hugging her!

Somehow Kara doesn’t know that this isn’t Alex.

Shit! That’s why Kara’s hugging her.

Somehow, she’s alive even after the terrible explosion.

Kara’s not hugging her. Kara’s hugging Alex. Of course.

Before Lena could figure out further, Kara held her shoulders and pulled her out of the embrace.

Its immediately cold.

“Hey, how are you feeling?”, damn those earnest eyes…Those beautiful blue eyes!

“I… I’m fine?”, Can being in someone else’s body even be described as ‘fine’?

“Obviously you’re not fine! You almost died Alex! What happened?”

The care, the fear, the concern in the woman’s eyes, it’s painful, almost more painful than the sharp sensation in certain places where she was already bandaged. Also, its familiar. Why’s it familiar? Is it because Lena has often been the object of this concern over the last five years? But it’s not like that care was genuine! It was a façade, while Kara pretended to be her friend… or was it? Lena is not certain about anything regarding their friendship anymore. Friendship? Well…

“I’m fine Kara. The explosion was an accident. I didn’t intend to do it.”, Lena quickly defended.

“Well, of course” Kara huffed. “Why would you intentionally try to blow up the DEO lab?

Of course, the defense was unnecessary. Kara thinks she is Alex now. She wouldn’t suspect Alex for doing something so hedonistic. She’s not a Luthor after all. All that mistrust and interrogations and allegations and deceptions are delicious privileges of the Luthors-only package.

Lena clears her throat, getting ready to speak. What? She doesn’t know either. Thank God she doesn’t have to. Because Kara starts talking again. This time a little softer. Her head is bowed down, looking at her fiddling fingers.

Damn those dorky fingers!

“Hey, Lena came by. She woke up an hour ago.”

That must be Alex. If she’s already up, why didn’t she tell Kara about the swap? Is this another ploy? What for? To mend things? Or punish her?

“She left this letter for you and left.”

“What? How can she leave? Was she okay?”, everything came out all at once. Even if Lena hadn’t caused the explosion intentionally, but she was a part of the experiment along with Alex.

“I don’t think she is. But you know, she probably wouldn’t have listened to me even if I had tried to stop her.” Kara’s voice is getting smaller by the sentence.

“So, you let her go? Injured?”, Lena quivers, quieter now.

I would’ve stayed Kara, if you would’ve asked. I would’ve done anything if you would’ve asked. You never asked.

“No, of course not! I called Jess and asked her to keep an eye on her, in case she feels sick. Also, J’onn is following her...” She said handing over the letter.

She sent J’onn to follow me!? She still doesn’t believe me? What would I have done? Blown up other government labs across the country?

Lena opens the letter.

So, you have probably guessed by now what happened. Kara doesn’t know. Please keep it that way till I come back. She is too weak to come with me now. She took a pretty huge Kryptonite blast today. If she knows, she will want to come with. I have to go after Otis. I’ll be back as soon as I can and explain everything. Brainy is already in the lab trying to look into the cause of this and cook up an antidote.

I know you don’t want to spend time with my sister right now, but help me out this onetime Luthor and I’ll owe you. Also, you take rest.

Lena tears up the letter.

What do I do now? I can’t leave the room. I can’t tell Kara about this. So, I’ll have to pretend to be Alex until she comes? What the actual hell! Everytime I think my life can’t get any more weird than this, it does!

“Well, what?” Kara asks, “She asked me not to open the letter or X-Ray vision it. But I guess you can tell me what she wrote, can’t you? Is she okay? Is she hurt? Where did she have to go so urgently? What happened in the Lab?”

“Why don’t you ask the spy you sent after her?”, the retort was so completely involuntary that it shocked even Lena.

“What? Spy? What are you talking about?”

Damn Luthor! Be Alex Danvers! Don’t fight for Lena Luthor’s right to privacy. What would Alex say? Probably something like “One spy isn’t enough for a Luthor?”

“I mean, its good you sent J’onn after Lena. We should keep an eye on her, shouldn’t we?”, Lena nervously chuckled.

“What are you talking about!? I didn’t send J’onn to spy! Actually, I didn’t send him at all. He saw me worried about her leaving so urgently without proper medical checkup and he volunteered to keep an eye on her from a distance to make sure she doesn’t faint or anything. Moreover, with Otis back in National City, Lex can’t be far behind, and I don’t trust that man at all Alex. I just cannot sit by, doing nothing, waiting for him to attack while Lena is out there, vulnerable.”

Oh…

“Oh…”

“Also, you were right the other day. We don’t do enough to ensure Lena’s safety. Sure, we save her when attacked, but we actively do almost nothing to stop those attacks from happening in the first place. Isn’t that why we reopened the Cadmus file in the first place?”

What? Alex Danvers, the brooding, formidable, ever-suspicious Alex Danvers is worried about a Luthor’s safety?

But then again, she is sworn in to protect all citizens of America, or atleast National City.

Moreover, even if she cared, that’s all definitely in the past now. The Superfriends, especially My-sister-is-my-first-priority Danvers cannot care for the woman who hurt her sister so bad. She cannot be bothered about the safety of a Luthor who broke her sister’s trust, used her, locked Supergirl up in Kryptonite, stole Myriad and tried to mind-control the world!

“Yeah, but isn’t the safety of every citizen our responsibility?”

Kara looks confused. Damn! did I mess it up? Does Alex not say stuff like this?

“Yeah sure, but Lena is…”

“Well, she is sometimes useful in missions I guess.”

“What are you talking about? What’s up with you? I know that you are pretty hurt about the recent events and Lena’s recent… well, misjudgements, but didn’t you Don’t-judge-a-person-by-their-worst-mistakes me the other day about her?”

That’s rich! They collectively deceived me for years, kept making a fool of me, my friendship, my love, and somehow its my mistake?

“I did?”

“What is up with you Al? Are you alright? You’re acting so… I don’t know…”

Shit shit shit… Damage control…. Damage Control…!!!

“I’m sorry Kara, I guess I’m still a little loopy from all the pain meds.” She nervously chuckled.

“Do I need to call the Doctors?” Kara rushed, almost standing up to leave already.

“No no no… I’m fine. I’m fine now. Just tell me everything going on around. Give me updates on the mission.” Yes, ask about business. Safe waters. “Where are we on Otis?”

“I don’t know. Nia, M’gann and Winn are handling that. Brainy is in the lab since the explosion, working on something I apparently don’t need to know about. He and Lena had a little chat before she went away. None of them bothered to tell me what it was about.”

“You didn’t eavesdrop?”

“Nope. She specifically told me not to.”

“And you listened?”

“What do you mean? Of course. She can have secrets.”

Well… Just not when there’s Kryptonite involved.

Kara kept fiddling with the edge of the blanket. Lena have seen this move way too many times to know that she is contemplating saying something.

Should she ask? Would Alex ask?

She didn’t need to. Kara herself started, too shy, too small, delicate.

“D… Do you think I lost her forever?”

“She who?”

Who else did you hurt with your lies and deception?

“Lena Alex! What’s up with you?”

“Oh sure… Of course…” Damn it! It’s like they have their own secret language! Wait what…?

“She’s just so cold to me Alex… It’s like she doesn’t know me… Or… I don’t know… Even when she was talking to me before the explosion… She wasn’t there… it was as if even talking to me... Looking at me was hurting her…”

Something’s choking her, because definitely this tightness she feels in her throat and chest wasn’t normal. So, she kept staring holes at Kara’s hand, her nervous, caring, soft hands.

Well, maybe because you called her a villain Kara! Maybe because she dedicated her entire life to NOT be exactly that and you called her JUST THAT. Maybe because even when she was doing everything she could to undo her family’s terroristic endeavours and your betrayal pushed her right into their arms. Maybe because she trusted you Kara… She trusted you with her deepest darkest thoughts, her worst mistakes and she trusted you with her hea…

“I messed it up Alex… I messed it up so bad…”

The CEO looked up for the first time since Kara had started talking.

Is she crying?

Her hands tickled, trying to reach out and touch the white knuckles of Kara’s fists, or smudge the tears off her cheeks with her thumb. Could she do that? If she tried to hold her, wrap her in her arms, would the deception break? Would Kara find out that she wasn’t Alex?

So, she just stares. Stupidly, she keeps staring.

“I just…” Kara sniffled, “I don’t want to give up Alex… I can’t give up trying to get her to forgive me… but I don’t want to see her hurt everytime I try…”

“Alex, Kara…”, Dreamer burst in through the door, panting, worried.

“Calm down Nia!”, Kara stood up to walk up to her. “What happened?”

“Lex has Lena.”

Chapter Text

Lena sits on the bed stupefied, watching Kara sprint across the room through the door.

Shit shit shit!! Lex took Alex! I have to tell Kara now. I have to tell her that her sister is in danger because of me!!!

Nia runs after her, equally worried. Lena can see how Kara usually resorts to superspeed in such emergencies and not having them was not something she particularly enjoyed. It also doesn’t escape notice that she had a bandage across her torso that peeked out from under her tee. It probably still hurts from trying to walk and she has to support the rib with her elbow sometimes. Lena wonders how much time it takes for the Super to recharge back from a complete flare.

She gets out of bed, limping after the duo towards the control room. Brainy and J’onn are already there, typing furiously and moving from screen to screen.

Kara rushes toward J’onn without even acknowledging the others.

“How did this happen? I thought you were there? You told me you would take care of her! You promised!” Even with flared strength, Dreamer and Vasquez are having a hard time holding Kara back.

“Supergirl, I understand that you are angry and worried, and rightfully so; but there were more than a dozen goons, all heavily dosed with Harun-El. I am so sorry I could not keep my word to you.”, Lena has never seen the proud, statuesque Martian so small before.

Harun-El! My formula… My invention… My brother… Again…!

But Kara is already not listening. She redirects her lash-out towards Brainy, near the screen which was probably already trying to track Lena (or Alex).

“Where did that psychopath take her?”

“I cannot currently tell where Lena was taken. As much as I hate Lex Luthor, he is a smart man. He has activated jammers to make sure that the Kryptonite and Harun-El signatures not traceable.”

“There must be some…”

“Trace the watch! Trace the emergency signal watch that Kara gave her.” Lena interrupts. Brainy immediately gets typing.

“I don’t know if she even wears it. She probably destroye…”, Kara wonders aloud, glaring at the screen. She could probably drill holes into them right now; with or without powers.

“She does.” Lena asserts.

“How do you…” Kara looks at her. For the first time since this ordeal started, Lena looks at Kara, really look at her. Her eyes are moist, but she’s not crying. She has probably dared her tears to fall before Lena is back safe. Determination and urgency being the motivating force, there was still something unidentifiable behind that glassy blue.

Fear perhaps?

Brainy lets the machines do their whirring and gets up from the chair. “Alex, can I talk to you in private?”

All eyes turn to them immediately.

Oh! Alex! That’s me, I guess…

“Don’t worry Supergirl, its nothing. It’s about some other project.”, the Coluan quickly assures.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? Lex has kidnapped Lena! we have NO idea where he has taken her or what they’re doing to her and you want to talk about other projects!!”, the scream punctuated by a resounding bang on the table.

Whoa…! Golden ball of Sunshine can BURRRNNN! It’s a little selfish probably, Lena thinks, it’s nice. Nice, knowing Kara actually cares for her. Although Lena has never questioned that. Kara Zor-El Danvers could care the bejesus out of a person whom she probably doesn’t even know properly. To some extent, it was her job to care. The rare commodity that Lena craved from her best friend was trust.

Trust that she was a good person… that she was not like the other Luthors… that she was not JUST A LUTHOR…

Kara Danvers believed in her but did Kara Danvers believe her?

Evidently not…

“Supergirl, I have activated the trackers to pinpoint Lena’s watch location. There is nothing else I can do here. In the meantime, I do have something important to do elsewhere.”, Lena is brought out of her yet another Kara-Danvers-hates-me spiral by Brainy’s statement.

“Important? More important than this? More important than Lena…?” Kara screams as if it was outrageous even to think about anything else. There is a slight tremor in her hands. Lena itches to reach out and hold them like Kara had done for her multiple times in the past, a quick assurance, ‘Hey you’re not alone, I’m right here, with you, by your side, always.’ She can’t do that now, can she?

She will never forgive me for putting her sister’s life in danger. This is the last straw… came a voice perched on her right shoulder,

I cannot be the reason Alex gets hurt. I cannot be the reason anyone gets hurt. Not ever… I have to tell Kara… croaked the second voice on the left.

“Kara…”, Brainy’s voice now tender, almost apologetic, “…I promise, Lena is at the top of my priority list. Nothing will ever alter that. I give you my word. We will bring her home safe. But I really need to talk to Director Danvers alone. We will be back before you know it.”

Top priority. The phrase popped out to the CEO like a highlighted text in boring legal jargon. Lena is the “Top Priority”.

Nia steps forward and holds Kara. Not that she needs to be handled. Even when it is pretty evident that her interior has been shaken like a house of cards in a storm, the Super has held her composure. Probably years of training in crisis-management and panic-proofing yourself that came complementary with being a Superhero, Lena muses.

But friends care for you even when you don’t need to be cared for, don’t they? Or so Lena was told by a certain blue-eyed friend once. “I know you can order lunch yourself Lena, but I want to do it for you. I want to take care of you, even if I don’t have to.” Lord, please let that have been real… please let me believe for once that Kara had said that because she meant it, not to get closer to me to keep an eye on the reigning Luthor, please, let me keep this one thing… this one memory…

Kara calms down notably at the assurance and Brainy gestures Lena towards the conference room. They walk in silence. Lena imagines what conversations they must’ve had all these months when Lena kept burning one bridge after the other. Pretending to be their friend for almost two months and then betraying them, betraying Kara, trapping her in Kryptonite, stealing the Myriad, trying to mind-control the entire world, and the list goes on and on. Not to mention, how she had turned down Alex Danvers personally when she came to her after working together during crisis. She is certainly not foolish enough to expect the intellectual comradery she once shared with the Coluan to remain intact throughout all this.

Thankfully, she doesn’t have to take charge of the conversation.

“Ms. Luthor,” he starts as soon as they are inside the conference room, Lena’s heart clenches at the cold greeting. “I was told that you were made aware of the current situation through a letter Alex Danvers left addressed to you. Am I right to assume that you have received the letter and read its contents?”

“Yes Brainy”, Lena almost considered calling him ‘Agent Dox’, back to the basics. Who is she kidding, there is no salvaging this bridge now. But, that’s a matter for another time. More important things are at play now, stakes are higher, so she comes back, “I was told not to tell Kara about the little accident, but how can I not tell her now? Her sister has been kidnapped because of me! I have to tell her. I have to fix this.”

“And how do you imagine you will accomplish this feat of “fixing this”? Supergirl is Solar-flared, so completely powerless. How do you imagine the circumstances improving once she knows that it is not you but Alex who has been kidnapped?”

“But I can’t…”

“Ms Luthor, Director Danvers was completely aware what she was getting into once she went out of the DEO quarters looking like you. We had gotten a lead from our sources that Lex Luthor was coming to National city on some business. After some due diligence, we also got evidence of Otis Graves’ arrival. The Director assigned me the mission of inviting you over to the DEO under pretences of a scientific cause…”

There goes… Another plot, another smokescreen, another betrayal… Another ploy to make sure the ever-gullible and inevitably-evil Lena Luthor doesn’t join her brother’s cult of Kill-all-Aliens.

“… because we concluded that there might be a threat to your life if your brother was coming to town, all guns ablaze. Initially, our plan was to keep you inside here so as to keep you safe until the threat was neutralised, but Supergirl got hit this morning by some Harun-El consumers. She has suffered considerable damages. Then, there was your lab accident. Mr. Murphy is really not in our favour today. So, Alex had to go out to scope out Mr. Luthor’s plans.”

…Keep me safe or…?

“What? Are you serious? Don’t you have any idea how dangerous my brother can be? Why would Alex put herself in danger like that?”

“Like I said, Director Danvers was aware of the risks. She imagined it would be better for her to bear said risks, a trained spy and soldier, rather than you an engineer and businessman…”

Oh…

“…Although, if she were here, she would want you to keep this a secret for a little longer. We want you brother to think that she has you. Otherwise, he will have no reason to keep her alive.”

“My brother is a smart man if you hadn’t noticed. He will figure out in moments that that is not me. She will get herself killed.”

“Alex Danvers is a smart woman, if you hadn’t noticed. If your brother can be fooled, she will find a way to fool him.”

“I could’ve handled myself you know. This is not the first time my life has been threatened by one of my family members. Not even the first time by this particular family member.”

“I’m quite aware of your capabilities. Nonetheless we wanted to…” For the first time throughout the conversation, Brainy looks up at her from the documents he has been pretending to be reading. “…Uhm… we did not want to take any risks.”

It felt like for a moment there, the little boxes were starting to collide. But Brainy is no amateur. He schooled his expressions before Lena could take a peek, “Besides, it’s our job.”

I have burnt more bridges than I can ever rebuild, haven’t I?

“Very well, what can I do to help?”

The Coluan takes a few moments to think. “Kara is not used to being so helpless, especially when its about…” He clears his throat, “Uhm… when its about someone she cares about. She will need her sister I imagine.”

“I’ll take care of her, I promise.”

~

The entire DEO compound blares with the one voice Lena knew and despised all too well. Once that voice used to be a symbol of hope for her. A tiny little girl, sobbing quietly under her bed, because she has broken a too expensive vase, from Prague or Rome or Dublin, and she was sure that she would not be getting dinner tonight; but that voice would bring the assurance that big brother will take the blame for the vase and also sneak in a slice of pizza and a tumbler of chocolate shake and on the roof of the giant palace, under the stars, all will be well.

Now though? It’s a voice of doom, the pathetic remains of the family that the young Luthor heiress once had, or did she ever? It’s a voice of doom for all the steps she has taken towards penance on behalf of the last name she carries, a warning that all that can be undone in the press of a switch; and Lena fears that, more than she fears dying. It’s a voice of doom for the people she loves, as angry and betrayed she feels by her found family, she would give her life before she lets her brother hurt one of them. It’s a voice of doom for the woman whom she pushed so far away from herself that it would probably take eons to cross the distance; the woman she had once dared to care for, the woman she had once cared to want, the woman she had once dared to love.

“Hola amigos!”, reverberates the sinister and all too cheerful voice and along with it, a face pops up on the screen, Lex Luthor is in the house.

“Miss me Supergirl? Of course you did! By the way, this is a recorded message, so don’t you fools try to talk back. Moreover, I know what you all are going to say… Our tiny long-haired Android-Man person would get busy tracing the signal, our sleep-woman, Superhero wannabe is probably already in tears, our Angry-Green-Mars-Man is probably trying to mind-read the shit out of my recording and Director Supergirl-Sidekick has a mission itinerary locked and loaded in the tip of her tongue. Aaaand… How can I forget our All-American-Cheerleader-From-Outer-Space?” He continued in an imitating shrill voice with faux seriousness, “If you hurt Lena in any way shape or form, I will find and kill you… huh! More like, give you a speech on hope and goodness.”

Everyone looks at each other. Damn he’s a smart man!

“… So anyway, if you are done ogling each other now and marvelling at my very obvious genius, I’m going to come to my demands… you know, or ransom, if that’s the word you’d prefer. So, my only teeny-tiny demand is for Supergirl to give me the formula for synthetic Kryptonite. Yep, you heard it right. Don’t worry, I won’t be using it on you, atleast not yet, but you know what they say, ‘never say never’.

No need to research my intentions, I have no needs or plans to keep it a secret, so I’ll tell you. The Harun-El my sister so generously created is unstable for human consumption. Although I’ve been dosing up my goons on them, they are not particularly healthy or permanent. I just need to know how my little sister here managed to stabilise Kryptonite and see if I can project the same technique on this particular concoction before I can use it on myself. I would’ve taken it from my sister dearest but I was told by a little birdie that the DEO had confiscated all papers regarding that particular experiment from her. Shame.

So, there you go. That’s all you need to know and in the spirit of full-disclosure, I almost forgot, you have like two hours to get to me before I drill a hole into my darling sister’s skull. I have heard that Supergirl cares a great deal about that, doesn’t she? So, chop chop, get to work. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, come alone Supergirl and don’t try to act smart, because I’m not particularly fond of my little sister at the moment. Address is on the screen. Tata…”

And poof… the screen turns black with an address blinking in white. Pindrop silence in the room. Nobody dares to move for seconds.

“Alex,” Kara turns to Lena (Alex), “Will you drive me there?”

Chapter Text

Is she crazy? Has she gone completely mad? If Lex gets hold of the formula, he will not only be able to make himself into an Anti-Superman 2.0 but also, he will have the biggest and only weapon he would need to fulfil his more homicidal urges. Why is she even considering this?

“What?”s and “Are you Serious?”s ring throughout the room but Kara is already on the her way down the hall. Lena runs, more like limps after her, calling out her name. Soon, she realises that they are headed towards the armoury. Kara only stops once she is inside.

“Hey Alex, which one would you suggest for me? Something easier to use with bad aim, because I don’t have any practice.”, she asks casually checking out some of the Automags from the shelves.

It’s weird seeing a bulletproof alien rummage through guns.

“Kara, we should talk about this don’t you think?” Lena speaks, as softly as possible, as if talking any louder will spook the blonde.

More like, I should talk and tell you that you are stupid and you should slow the hell down and listen to me.

“What’s there to talk about? Lex wants the formula; we give it to him and bring Lena back. Easy-peasy. Although if Lex Luthor is present, things can’t be expected to go completely smoothly. I don’t want to be completely vulnerable, thus, the gun.” Kara explains, holding up one, trying to aim it at a dartboard hanging on the door. “Now, choose one for me.”

“But…”, Lena tries to reason.

“Alex, you don’t HAVE to go, you know? I just asked you because I assumed that you would want to. I can totally take someone else… Or drive myself. Just get me the files, and that will be all.”

Everyone else also arrives at the armory by now. They look scared, walking on eggshells. Of Kara?

“Kara, we agree that we need to bring Lena back.”, J’onn starts, tentatively, taking a few steps toward the heroine. “But, giving Lex Luthor the formula to Kryptonite? Isn’t there any other way?”

“Is there J’onn? You tell me. Do anyone of you have any other way?”, Kara puts down the gun to cross her arms. She doesn’t sound angry, just determined.

“Well, not right away, but we can think of something else surely.”, Lena points out.

“In two hours? I’m sorry Alex, I trust this team completely and under any other circumstances, I would absolutely rely on you guys for suggestions, but this is too big a risk, one that I can’t take.”

“Kara, do you even understand the consequences of what you are proposing?” Brainy checks.

“Yes, obviously Brainy. What do you think I want this? Do you think I want to divulge the formula of my greatest weakness to my greatest enemy? But I have to! I HAVE no choice! He has Lena. We all know that trying to fool or double-cross Lex Luthor is a risky game. What do you guys suggest I do?”, Kara lists out in one breath, clearly exasperated.

“But Kara…”, Nia tries to interrupt.

“But what? Moreover, I’m sorry but I think that this decision should be primarily mine. Kryptonite is MY weakness. This does not threaten or endanger anyone else in any way whatsoever. This might sound harsh, but I HAVE to do this.”

“How about Clarke?”, J’onn reasons, “You will also be putting him in danger and you are not the only Super that Lex Luthor has eyes for. Do you think he would agree with you on this?”

“I’m sorry but if Kal-El was where I am now, and Lex had taken Lois, he would have been at Lex’s doorstep by now.”, Kara shouts.

“That’s different. Lois is his wife!”, the calmness in the Martian has been long replaced by exasperation.

“And Lena is…” Kara goes on, and abruptly stops. The teardrops that welled her eyes until now begins to wet her cheeks. Her eyes widen along with all others in the room. Lena’s brain short-circuits.

She calms down. “I’m sorry, I cannot take this risk, please don’t ask this of me. I know I’m being selfish but please let me be selfish for once. I have chosen Kryptonite over her once and that was one of the worst mistakes of my life; I WILL NOT do it again. I have to be selfish right now. I’m sorry.”

Kara abruptly turns around and leaves, the gun in her hand. There’s some sound of her stomping to the file room, probably to retrieve the documents from the high-security vault. There’s a loud beep of the fingerprint authorization and a thud of the vault doors closing once Kara is out of there and on her way to the hall. She rushes to the hall and picks up the keys to a random DEO car. The CCTV footages of the garage showing on the screens of the halls show her immediately driving off.

~

Absolute silence. What the hell just happened? Why are they letting Kara get away? She’s completely vulnerable without her powers, only with a gun she can’t use to save her life; driving off to go to a person who hates her with a passion, to give him the recipe of Kill-Kryptonian juice. What is wrong with everyone?

“Why didn’t you guys stop her?”, Lena croaks. The fear, the absolute strangeness of it all has her throat closing up. Little boxes, Lena. Think of something. Do SOMETHING. She cannot do this! You cannot let her do this.

“She wouldn’t have listened.”, says Brainy, slumping down on the chair, tired, “When it comes to Lena Luthor, she never has.”

What is that supposed to mean? Why are these people so cryptic? I can’t do this. I have to get out of here.

“Hey Brainy, did you take care of the other problem that we had?”, Lena asks.

“Yes, I did look into it, it seems to me that the Hangalorian serum got hyperactivated by the explosion and the image inducer mistakenly swapped your data, changing your appearance. No antidote is required. The serum will deactivate in its own time and you will get back your faces.”, Brainy answers, no pretense or secrecy. When everyone turned to him, surprised, he gives a shoulder shrug and says, “Well, we kept it a secret to stop Kara from following. Since that ship has sailed, what’s the point?”

“Wait, how much longer till the serum deactivates?”, Lena asks again.

“According to my calculations, another hour or so.”

“That means, within an hour, if Kara is not there with the files, Lex will know that it’s Alex Danvers that he has in hostage?”

“Precisely.”

Everyone else just keeps listening to the conversation, slowly coming to the realization of what actually is happening.

“Okay, so I have to do what I have to within the hour.”, Lena rubs her hands together in determination, then turning to J’onn, “J’onn, can you please fly me to LCorp?”

Everyone looks at one another, probably trying to figure out what the Luthor heiress might have planned. Nobody has any qualms about her obvious genius but one hour is obviously too short a time period to come up with something.

Sensing their confusion as hesitance, Lena uncomfortably clears her throat, “I know that you all have absolutely no reason to trust me but I really have no other way to get to LCorp in time and beat Kara to the warehouse.”

J’onn looks at Brainy and Lena for a while and in silent agreement, moves into Lena’s personal space. “I need to…”, J’onn hesitates, gesturing vaguely with his hands.

“Yeah, sure. Thanks.”, Lena loops her hands around his neck and he swiftly picks her up.

~

It feels so different than the numerous times Kara has carried her. She’s gentle in her touches but completely envelopes Lena’s body, leaving no chance of her ever falling. She positions Lena in such a way that she can nuzzle into the crook of the Superhero’s neck if she is scared of the height. Lena has always been preoccupied with world-saving thoughts or have been passed out everytime that happened, so, she hardly ever got to marvel at the toned biceps that supported her back and knees; the biceps that she often marvelled at through plaid pastels or finely-pressed dress-shirts, even her own oversized, worn-out MIT hoodies. Moreover, even if she wasn’t otherwise invested, she would’ve hardly had any interest in the obvious six-pack abs that rubbed against her through the blue latex, because all her affections and adorations had been reserved for a pair of blue eyes behind scratched glasses, obstructing the admirer’s view like a veil.

If only I knew that all I had to do was look up; and there they’d be, the same blue orbs, unobstructed and earnest.

J’onn, on the other hand holds her carefully, light touches, just firm enough to make it safe. Lena’s body hardly touches his chest while keeping his head held up. Within a fraction of seconds, there is sound of air gushing in from all around and there is the buzzing traffic of National city a few feet under them. If one journalist manages to look up at the sky, there will be a headline tomorrow.

“We never questioned your intentions you know?”, J’onn fumbles out, hesitant. He still doesn’t look down. Lena looks up at his face. Stoicism is still dominant in his features. Lena’s heart aches. Another friend lost, another heart hurt.

“What?”

“Earlier, when you asked for the ride. We weren’t contemplating whether to believe you or not. We were just shocked that you already had a plan.”

“Oh…That is… That’s nice to hear.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t you want to ask me what I plan on doing?”

“It doesn’t matter to me as long as it helps bring back my girls to safety.”

Before Lena can say anything further, they land at the balcony of Lena’s office. Instantly Lena is back to her CEO mode, but not before a quick assurance, with a warm hand on the Martian’s shoulder, “J’onn I know that I don’t deserve it, but please have a little faith that I won’t let anything happen to either of them.”

J’onn shoots a quick smile and a nod.

~

It isn’t long before the whole squad is standing is Lena’s office at LCorp, waiting for the woman, tinkering away in her lab. Jess has requested them to wait there for her.

Lena rushes in through the heavy glass door with a few papers in her hand. All eyes immediately snap towards her. The lot were clearly talking about something amongst themselves, but stopped abruptly.

“Okay…”, Lena clears her throat, “I have only about thirty minutes left before I get my face back, that means, Alex is in serious danger after that. By my calculations, the warehouse is at about one hour driving distance; half-an-hour more if Kara’s driving. So, we have fifteen to twenty minutes max to intercept Kara and bring her back to the DEO. Brainy and Nia, you guys wait outside the warehouse. I have my chopper on standby. I’ll go in as Alex and demand a meeting with Lex. You two use the distraction and save Alex. I have uploaded the building plan of the warehouse on the DEO database and have marked the most optimum way into the basement.”

“Wait, why the basement?”, Nia interrupted.

“Well, because as far as I can tell, Alex is held there.”

“How can you say that?”, Brainy enquires.

“Look at the map.”

“It’s lead-lined.”, Brainy catches on.

“Bingo! The entire basement s lead-lined and there are strong Kryptonite signals coming out of there. Although Lex is aware that Supergirl is incapacitated at the moment, he generally prepares ten steps ahead.”

“What makes you so sure that Lex will even talk to you? He specifically asked Kara to go”, asks J’onn.

“I don’t think he cares about who brings him the files, as long as he gets it.”

“What are in these files? Aren’t these the original formula?”, Brainy asks.

“Nope. I’ll explain later but I promise, these aren’t the right stabilization's formulae, just close enough to fool him for a while.”

“So, if we are giving him a false formula and rescuing Alex either way, why can’t Kara do the exchange? What if your presence makes him angry?”, J’onn counters.

Lena fumbles for a while.

“Yes, exactly.”, almost everyone agrees.

“What are you talking about? Supergirl is vulnerable. Lex has Kryptonite!”, Lena states, adamant.

“So are you, Lena.”, Brainy needlessly points out.

“I know, but I know how to work my brother.”