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"This is not good," Lucy whispers to herself as she pushes Alura further into cover. Peeking around the corner into the rest of the warehouse, she can see signs of at least four people moving around looking for them. Given the limited vantage point she has from here, the actual number is definitely higher than just four. With the way things are going, she wouldn't be surprised if it was actually forty.
"Is there another way out?" Alura asks, voice just slightly too loud in the quiet of the warehouse.
"Shh," Lucy hisses, ducking back out of sight and pushing them both into the shadows. Listening carefully, she doesn't hear any sign of someone coming their way, but it's not a big place. They'll be found eventually. "Whispers, Alura. They don't have super hearing, but it's not hard to hear someone talking when it's quiet even with human ears."
Alura nods, face carefully blank in the way it's been since they left the DEO. Lucy's pretty sure it's a Kryptonian thing, based on how Kara acts when she's around Alura and other people. Her usually bubbly and energetic friend became reserved and quiet, sticking to Alura's side and almost looking like her shadow. It made sense, given what she knows about Krypton, but it still feels weird. Even her military mask isn't quiet so... stoic.
It always makes Lucy itch, makes her long for the woman she knows is hidden underneath that too-calm surface. The woman she's gotten to know during their seemingly endless meetings about Kryptonian-Human diplomacy and discussions about the universal nature of law no matter the jurisdictional specifics.
In a more pressing matter, it makes her understand how the people chasing them had confused Alura for Astra. It wasn't just looks, it was that Kryptonian bearing. The average human didn't understand the true meaning and importance of the family crests or guild specific clothing, they saw a reserved Kryptonian that looked like the former general of the enemy forces behind Myriad and made assumptions.
Assumptions that got Alura and her human bodyguard trapped in a warehouse with an unknown number of assailants hunting them.
"Is there another way out?" Alura asks again, this time so quietly that Lucy can't actually hear the words. She only knows what Alura said because it's the same thing she'd asked before.
Looking around, Lucy curses to herself and leans to the side to take another peek around the corner. "I don't think so, not from here. They probably chased us here deliberately, based on that ambush. I'm not sure I'd trust any exits we found even if we could get to them."
Whatever this is, it was clearly well-planned. Her cell and radio signals had been jammed, their vehicle herded down one empty street to another until they'd finally been chased over a spike strip in front of this warehouse.
No one had expected this level of reaction to Alura's presence, doubly so considering her presence on Earth was still a relative secret. Until actual, official, progress was made on several keep agreements, no one wanted to announce the existence of a surviving Kryptonian enclave. Particularly one that was rather fragile and undefended.
Alura had even agreed to wear a power-dampening cuff while on Earth to help her blend in, a cuff Lucy was eyeing as she ran through a dozen different calculations and ideas to handle their current situation. She only had two magazines for her sidearm, her bodyguard role mostly symbolic and an excuse to give Alura someone at her side who knew humanity and could explain anything she was uncertain about. She wasn't equipped to take down an unknown number of assailants.
"Right now, I think we need to see if we can get a defensive wall of some kind set up," Lucy decides, checking the boxes around them. They're wood and metal, better than she'd expected given how the attack so far had gone. Wood and metal would give them a decent amount of protection.
The problem was, they wouldn't move quietly.
"Tell me what you need me to do," Alura whispers, clearly seeing that Lucy has made a decision.
Pointing towards the nearest crate, Lucy silently indicates where she wants it to go. "On my signal, you grab that one and move it there, I'll grab another one and move it next to it. It won't be quiet, so move it as quickly as you can and then get behind it. We've at least got a solid concrete wall behind us, that'll give us some extra cover."
It's not ideal, but it could be worse. Gunshots will trip sensors and set off alarms, maybe even get Kara's attention from wherever she is in the city. Lucy might not be able to radio for backup, but anything in National City that makes a lot of noise is guaranteed to get backup sooner or later.
They just have to hold out long enough to reach the 'later'.
Checking one last time to make sure there aren't any assailants closer than she'd thought, Lucy gives the signal and sprints for the crate she'd picked out. It's light enough to move, thank goodness, and she gets it into place quickly, just as Alura does the same with the other.
They vault over the crates with a display of athleticism Lucy hasn't needed since she'd qualified for DEO combat readiness. She's impressed despite the danger at how easily Alura keeps up, making it over the crate without needing assistance or even seeming to take any effort to do so.
She had the cuff on, but if it wasn't fully functional...
As shouts filled the warehouse, Lucy turned to Alura. "Is the cuff fully dampening your abilities?"
Alura nods slowly, raising her arm to look at the sleek black metal with a faint blue glow shining from under the edges. "I am afraid so. The agents at your DEO were very careful to measure the dampening power to meet human standard abilities."
Well, shit. "What if we take it off?"
Alura considers for a second, wincing slightly as the first shot from their assailants rings out and impacts the wall over their heads. "I do not know. Alexandra could not be sure if my body would process the yellow sunlight while my powers were dampened, and we refused to allow Kara to test the device."
"I was afraid of that." She hears footsteps to their right, and takes a deep breath before popping up and sighting, her shot missing but driving the man back into cover. "Plus, you've never had super powers before. Even if you have been absorbing the sunlight, there's no guarantee it would help."
She dimly registers Alura agreeing before popping up to take another shot. She doesn't see if this one lands, but she can tell it bought them a little more time. None of the attackers seem interested in rushing forward into her shots, which will help keep them safe for a little while. At least until she's out of bullets.
The stalemate continues, Lucy making sure to make every shot count to preserve her ammo as she finishes her first magazine and starts on her second. Surely by now someone has heard the commotion and help is on the way...
"Lucy, thank you," Alura says after Lucy's next shot, reaching out one hand to rest on Lucy's forearm with a gentle grip. "And I am sorry. I did not expect you to be in any danger when you volunteered to be my bodyguard."
Lucy tries to shrug it off. "Kind of goes with the title." She doesn't want to think about why Alura is apologizing. Doesn't want to consider the reasoning behind it. She's not out of bullets yet, there's still hope.
But Alura shakes her head, looking serious. "No, Lucy. We both know it was not supposed to go with the title. I was not supposed to be in any danger, and now you are in danger because of me. I have- I have enjoyed having you at my side, but I regret-"
"Nope," Lucy interrupts before Alura can finish. "No regrets, got it? I've enjoyed spending time with you too, and I would never want you to be in this position without me." Cursing the timing as she hears footsteps again, Lucy shakes Alura's hand off her arm to pop up, this time seeing three men poking their heads out of cover.
Her arm feels cold as she lets off three shots to push them back, a cold that doesn't fade until she's back under cover and Alura reaches out once more. "I can count. Both your supplies and the time we have been here. Let me surrender myself and end this before you are hurt for me."
"Not a chance," Lucy snarls, reaching out to grab Alura's shoulder and pull her close. "I am not letting you-"
The kiss surprises them both.
It's not clear who initiated the contact, and Lucy isn't sure it matters. She's wanted to do this for weeks now, no matter how she pretended otherwise. She's wondered if Alura felt the same, wondered if the glances her way meant the feelings were mutual, but she'd never expected to get confirmation. Especially not so... physically.
A crashing sound breaks them apart, Lucy letting out a steam of curses for both letting herself get distracted and for someone daring to interrupt. But nothing comes their way, no bullets or assailants storming their cover.
Exchanging a puzzled look with Alura, Lucy raises her sidearm and waits. She doesn't think it's the DEO arriving to help based on the lack of tactical orders being shouted, and no one is shouting about Supergirl to make her think it's Kara. But something is definitely going on out there.
After a few short moments things fall quiet again, and Lucy tightens her grip and takes a deep breath before standing. Her tactical sweep of the area in front of her is stopped halfway when she sees a familiar figure standing there, and she can't help looking away and down at where Alura is still next to her.
But if Alura is there, then how is Alura... there?
The white streak in her hair gives it away a second before the woman in front of her speaks, Kryptonian rolling from her mouth too quickly for Lucy to follow. She feels Alura stiffen, then surge to her feet and over the crates. Kryptonian detachment forgotten, sisters embrace for the first time in decades.
Belatedly, Lucy lowers her weapon, checking her remaining bullets before holstering it. Even if she'd actually use it, she doesn't have Kryptonite, so it's not like the thing is more than a hunk of metal at this point anyway.
She gives the sisters a few minutes to catch up, trying to work through the ramifications of Astra being alive and in front of her. It's difficult, though, when all she wants to do is remember how it felt to kiss Alura. She wants to kiss her again, see if a second kiss is even better than the first. Maybe after a date instead of an armed standoff?
"Agent Lane," Astra's voice- so similar to Alura's and yet so different- breaks her out of her musings. Thankfully her military training keeps the blush from showing on her face, and Lucy hopes it's enough to keep her thoughts a secret as well. "Thank you, for protecting my sister."
"Just doing my job." It's an instinctive wisecrack as the joint adrenaline rushes fade, and Lucy barely holds back her wince. It doesn't help that it reminds her of what she'd said to Alura just a few minutes ago.
Alura smiles as if she knows what Lucy is remembering, and Lucy finds herself distracted by the sight. They're still nominally in public, but Alura isn't hiding. She's still the Alura that Lucy- well- that Lucy wants to kiss. Anything more than that will take some self-reflection and probably some discussions. And now is not the time for either.
Astra looks between them for a moment before realization dawns on her face. "I had intended to announce my surrender to the DEO and begin negotiations for such, but now I see that must wait. Instead, I must ask what your intentions are towards my sister."
Alura laughs, pulling a surprise Astra in for a hug as Lucy sags back against the crate behind her.
This is so not how she saw this day going.