Chapter Text
2011
On the one hand, it had barely been a month, and she was no closer to dealing with this. On the other hand, there was just too much.
Waking up in the middle of the night from her night-terrors once more, Lena stumbled out of bed and sought out something, anything, to help her get a grip and calm down.
It was only on reading about the latest from the Daily Planet and National City Tribune that allowed her to calm.
Steeling her heart, she focused on the date, on knowing what the day ahead would bring. Just like every day before it.
Kara wasn't yet Supergirl, but in time would be. Lex wasn't yet arrested, but was already badly-regarded by the general public ... even by some of his own side that just want aliens to go back into space, because dead alien kids are still dead kids and don't want to be caught supporting making kids dead.
Unlike in the other timeline, she's not intent on actually trying to save Luthor Corp starting with a basic name change to L-Corp, given, just... everything about it that she now knows.
This time, she needs to settle the groundwork for an entirely new company, with no connection, aside herself, to Luthor Corp. And the move would be in the wake of a total shutdown and dismantling of Luthor Corp.
But first...
She had letters to finish penning, to get a transfer out of MIT to NCU. That way as she goes through her final year before graduation it would be less obvious that she knew more than she should... and... maybe, just, maybe... she could strike up a friendship with someone that these... memories... said would become her best friend, earlier.
Weeks later
"Thank you for accepting my transfer." She spoke after greetings were exchanged.
"Not a problem, Miss... Well, Miss Mercer." She nodded, keeping only half of her feelings off of her face. She was yet to hit eighteen years of age, afterall, and whilst it had become known in certain circles she was smart as hell... she was also not well-regarded in those same circles, simply for being the one that wasn't born into the riches she now had access to. "Please, sit down and we can discuss the particulars-"
It was a shock when she finally encountered her possibly-future-best-friend. It wasn't at NCU, though she had been able to confirm that Kara was in attendance. That being because her own course load was, despite her intelligence, also extra loaded with her other, things.
No it was...
"Hi! Welcome to Noonans, what can I... get.... are you okay?"
panicKARA?shockNoonans?fearImnotreadypanicshelooksgoodloveIMNOTREADYhelpwaitpaniccalmpanicbreathpanicbreath
She carefully sipped from the coffee, almost pointedly ignoring the half-panicking kryptonian to her side. "Are you sure, that wasn't, I mean... you hit your he-"
"Not that hard." She mumbled, knowing Kara heard despite how low she spoke. "I'll be fine. Just... reminded me of someone."
"...Oh. Uh."
At the sudden shift away, she found her hand darting out for the blonde, and held her back in place. "Not, not in a bad way."
Paniccalmshakesbreathe
"... Are you sure on that? That was one heck of a panic attack."
She snorted.
'Heck. Typical, Kara still can't curse.'
"I wasn't prepared for the reminder, is all."
She carefully looked back up, and almost melted at the weight of concernworryfear in her friends' eyes.
Weeks. Lunches at Noonans. weekends at Kara's apartment, that the woman had no right to own on just a Noonan Waitress' salary... but then the Danvers weren't lower class, and even in the middle, Lena guessed that the mother made sure that her daughters were looked after financially enough to not have to scrimp and save.
She still hadn't mentioned that her name wasn't Mercer. That she was a Luthor.
Kara still hadn't mentioned she was Kryptonian.
Alex, whom she'd met a few weeks after that meeting at Noonans... had looked upon her with a sort of knowing suspicion.
But she was just seventeen. Her eighteenth birthday was coming up. Far as Alex should be able to tell - even if she knew she was a luthor - was simply that the adopted Luthor is a heavily-traumatised genius that wants away from her family.
Because... it's true.
2012
The weeks had turned to months, and although she still kept up her work in secret, such that she knew that Alex was getting more and more suspicious but yet not behaving any more hostile that initially... but the weight, of... everything. Of the future. What would likely be happening in a few years.
As nice as Connor was, the things needed to make him possible couldn't, shouldn't, happen. He, his circumstances, was a fluke that somehow just threaded a needle through the holes in plans and events and plans and events into there being a hero named Superboy.
Hah.
Superboy.
Maybe she should try to one-up Cat and get Kara named 'SuperWoman' or 'Wonder Woman' or something, if the non-suited appearance happens first. Kara, according to some of the memories, at times felt that being known as Supermans Cousin seemed to have put extra weight on her shoulders. And that connection came out in the Supergirl-CatCo interview.
And she doesn't need the crest to be visible to satisfy the need to bear the El.
She was getting much further into investigating and mapping out Cadmus. It helped having that hacker on speed-dial, even if the woman was a bit of an idealist about freedom of information, but the whole 'theres a whole community who'd be concentration-camped if their existence even got out to Cadmus' had put the kibosh on exposing to the wider world.
She wished that particular reference to world war two was exaggeration. But the fact is, that, second only to Metropolis, the safest place for aliens in the United States was currently National City. Until you stop excluding the crap that is superhero vs supervillain stuff in Metropolis, which hasn't... infected... National City just yet.
Communities had grown in other cities, been discovered and then wiped out by Project Cadmus.
As she dug through her stolen Cadmus files, she couldn't help but wonder if it was even impossible trying to prevent the coming war. and if possible, if it was worth it. Or maybe... the war is what was deserved.
It's surprising that Clark didn't even try to kill Lex for the shit he pulled, hell plenty of men would kill if they had kids they never knew about until all but one had died and that last one was halfway brainwashed to be a living weapon for rogue government terror-
Among the files, something caught her eye.
And at first, she thought it was one of the earlier attempts at hybridizing Kryptonian and Human DNA. It'd certainly be about that time for Lex to start trying (another reason she was pushing so early...)
Then she realized it wasn't just preliminary research, but...
What?
'-ly 2001. Attempts to obtain tissue samples from Subject K once more a failure-'
'-tember 2003. Small sample of blood obtained from incident scene confirmed non-terrestrial, but insufficient to-'
'January 2004. Asset confirms presence on Earth of a relative of Subject K, now referred to as Subject K2, identity of-'
Kara. No... They know about Kara?! Knew all this time?
'March 2004. Asset has confirmed falsified ID of Subject K2 as Kara Danvers, living-'
theyknowLillianKnewLexKnewTheyKnewAllAlong!
'Asset confirmed success at obtaining samples from Subject K2 without Subject K2 and the human family being aware-'
nononononono
'-r 2007. Subject K2 shows less instability when being combined with genetics from subject L3X-'
waitconnorwasfromkal'sgenes
'-h 2008. As per previous, Experiment 5 failed to gestate within allocated surrogate Subject, resulting in death of the surrogate. Hereafter, difficulties at procuring surrogates necessitate use of artifical wombs for future Experiments'
they-no---LEXILLKILLYOUMYS-
'2010. Only two more samples remain from K2. Subject L3X has suggested using of genetic data from Subject L3NA-'
.... wait. L3X. L3NA. ... Lex. Lena. Lex you... you didn't... how... you...
'2012. Experiment 12 gestated for eight weeks before failure. As there are currently further samples of Subject K2's DNA, Experiment 13 will be the last opportunity for Project GodKiller, until and unless further samples could be obtained. Additionally, only the one harvest egg from Subject L3NA remains-'
She looked at the date.
That report was from three weeks ago.
She checked further into that file, hands shaking.
She read over it. Found the attached files, the research - the highly unethically produced research - and... she knew. She just knew.
The previous attempts, the artificial wombs were human tech, and were unable to properly sustain a kryptonian child - hybridized or not. The labs were underground, shielded even from starlight, and so the developing foetus wouldn't absorb enough light that the artificial womb would be sufficient. No wonder they...
But even supporting a human foetus required more resources than they were letting the artificial wombs consume.
And...
She gulped, at the idea.
It was crazy.
It was...
...
She looked over the data on the lab. Its location. The security specs.
And... She knew. She couldn't ask... She couldn't ask Clark, or Superman. Both, he'd say hell fucking no, and also-
She couldn't ask Kara. Kara didn't even know she knew about her, origin.
Not... Not until it was done.
...
But...
"Hey." She greeted as she sat at the stool of the bar.
M'Gann, same as always from those memories... looked at her and paused.
"You know what I want?"
"... Yes."
"... and why?"
"... Fucking hell. Yes." M'Gann started cleaning a glass, staring. "A year, you've been carrying that for a fucking year?"
"... can you get me what I want or not?"
"... Fine. Give me... half an hour." M'Gann poured out a large glass of scotch and passed it to her then departed, only to return more than an hour later.
Lena knew that she had spotted Maggie Sawyer take a seat in that time, and kept her head ducked.
She didn't want to be recognised by anyone... not that that was hard, right now.
"You lookin' to hire some muscle?" came from behind, as she saw M'Gann return to behind the bar.
"Whatthefuckwhatisthis!?"
She dug through the rubble that had inadvertently blocked the door to...
Yet the thick glass window beside it, her hired alien muscle saw it all.
"... Are they growing clones?!"
"Not exactly. And most of them, they're... not viable." She spoke softly through her voice changer, face covered.
Behind her, the ruins of the underground Cadmus lab gave a lesson on how destructive some aliens could be at this stuff.
Then, the area in front of the door cleared, she gulped at the first bit of real magic... and forced the door open.
She gulped at the feeling of exhaustion, but knew she needed to move.
She could... she could feel the connection, now she knew about it. The same connection she was once recipient of with her mother.
And there it was.
There She was.
Her daughter. A foetus still growing, still viable, but if not taken from the artificial womb... would eventually fail here. would eventually die.
And THAT. Was. NOT. Going. To HAPPEN!
"You want us to..."
"No. This... this is a foetus now, but she will grow into person. And part of her genetic code, they took from me." She turned to the leader of the group she'd hired. "I... don't have the physical strength to carry this out. I didn't hire you just to destroy this facility. But to help me get my daughter."
They stared a moment, then... grins appeared. "Sure thing, Boss. Vrenick! Volok! Vrutak!"
that was either an alien chant, or the names of the three that responded to him. But not one word was said.
Three Weeks Later
"You said you had something to tell us?" Kara asked, arm in arm as they entered the Danvers Apartment.
She settled down on Kara's couch with a nod, hands shaking, and looking at her friends, all gathered for this at her request. Alex really looked like a Government Agent that was trying her best not to look like one, and failing.
Sam, she'd been pleased about, had become a friend through new circumstances, as she had with Kara, and had also a place here, though Alex didn't seem as... suspicious, about Sam. Which was hilarious, in a way.
"I... I'm pregnant."
Kara glanced down, stared, then back, and practically glomped her with a squeel, soon joined by Ruby.
"I didn't know you'd been seeing anyone?" Sam asked with a frown,
"You don't seem the type for one night stands, either." Alex spoke with a blank look.
"I... need to explain, a little. I uh... Uhm. So... Oh gosh this is difficult."
"Gosh?" Alex blinked, then grinned and looked at Kara a moment, "You said, Gosh?"
"... Not a one-night stand. Not a relationship. Not anything." She took a deep breathe, but then realised her pause gave time for looks of horror on all but one- "NOT RAPE EITHER!"
"O... Okay. Uhm... What?" Kara asked with a whisper, a look of fear.
"... If you say you're pregnant with the Son of God, I'll scream." came from Alex.
"... Right. I know you're no Virgin, but... come on? Immaculate Conception?"
"... Shut up... I..." Okay, get it all out in one go. Breathe in..."SomeoneStoleDNAFromTheTwoParents,"-gasp for breath, gasps of shock-"OneOfThoseBeingMeButTheArtificialWombCantSupportPastTwoMonthsSoWhenIRecoveredItAndTheFoetusInside-"
"You implanted yourself, surrogating for... yourself..."
Kara gazed softly, hand going to stomach halfway before, "Can I-"
"Not that far, but sure." Lena mumbled, then to the others, "The Artificial Womb technology... I... well... I went into that lab knowing it... she... was there."
"...How did they get your DNA?" Alex asked, shrewdly.
Time to pay up on the secret identity thing, then. Lena looked right in her eyes, and softly said, "You know my brother is a crazy asshole already. It wasn't working using his own DNA, and he wanted his 'Living Weapon' to be part Luthor. I... for a long time I just thought it was a nightmare, and not that I'd actually been attacked in my own room at the mansion and operated on, to harvest some of my eggs. But, wasn't a nightmare. It was real."
"... I'm going to kill him." Alex muttered.
"The... the other parent will probably beat you to the punch."
At the frown...
"Cadmus got tissue samples somehow from a government agency I've never heard of, they were labelled in the files I got hold of, Subject K2." I held her eyes long enough, so she knew what I was referring to, as I glanced at Kara. "I uh... hired some mercenaries to attack the facility and rescue my kid."
Alex glanced at Kara twice, rapidly. I nodded a little, and gripped my best friend tighter.
"Uh, what's with the nonverbal communication guys?" Sam asked from the side.
Ruby giggled a moment. "So are you and Kara gonna get married? Make an honest Father out of her?"
"... RUBY!"
"What?" Kara asked, shooting back a little in confusion.
Because of course Ruby figured it out. Damnit. Kids kryptonian genius is shining through again.