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Kara, just hurled off of L-Corp’s penthouse balcony, barely gets to swerve mid-air as she pushes triple the energy she usually spends just to keep herself from destroying another service road.
She groans as soon as she regains aerial control. She dusts the shards of glass off her shoulder and picks a rather pesky one out of her lashes.
‘You said it was some sort of rock!’ she yells at Winn over her communication device.
‘Well, isn’t it?’ she barely hears Winn as she adjusts her earpiece. ‘Or maybe I kind of left out the part about it moving?’
Kara speeds upward. She pauses as she got high enough, squinting at her target which still happens to be in Lena Luthor’s office. She backs away enough to get better aim and plummets back into the building, bursting through more glass and furniture before hitting her actual target – a rock with a murderous purpose.
Both Kara and the humanoid creature crash into another wall.
‘Kara—‘ that would be Alex, sounding like her salary will be spent in lieu of Lena Luthor’s insurance ‘—if you don’t destroy it sooner, L-Corp will turn into that thing’s crumbled cousin.’
Kara stumbles out of the rubble she created and waves a hand dismissively.
‘Five more minutes,’ she answers as casually as she could—
Until the creature, rising from the rubble starts to glow with Kara’s least favorite color. Green seeped through the cracks of its anatomy and the crevices of its bare head.
Kara could swear it was smirking if it had actual lips.
‘Well, how darn wonderful this day is turning out to be—‘
‘Kara it’s going to—‘
Winn? Alex?
Kara wasn’t really sure who it was screaming over her earpiece as she hurls herself towards the enemy.
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The youngest member of a family of three, spectating from below L-Corp along with over a hundred other millennials with their phones out, gets a perfect shot of Supergirl flinging herself out of the top of the building with a humanoid rock at least five times her size on an arm lock.
It was a nice shot – an everyday National City thing, really. Creatures and Supergirl in a mid-air battle to the death. Only this time the Girl of Steel and her opponent overdid themselves with the grand finale: a breathtaking spectacle of green exploding like fireworks a la New Year.
For once the police were quick to push the crowd back as it began to rain debris and… well… Supergirl.
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Lena Luthor had long been “salvaged” out of the building before the creature was even ten feet from her. Supergirl had gracefully flown in and saved her life for perhaps the tenth time. The games Lex played with her had doubled in number since the fall of Cadmus. She suspects her mother had something to do with it, considering the damage it had caused on the Girl of Steel’s anatomy.
For starters, whoever sent the creature seemed sure that Supergirl would come to her rescue, because it was ready – ready to injure National City’s resident hero. Second, it wasn’t too intent on keeping anything intact in her building, just like how a cyborg wreaked havoc in her company’s lobby just two months ago.
To be quite frank it was getting tiring, and now she was looking at her savior, her only shot at ending her family’s assassination games, bleeding and injured, seated on a stretcher with a tired smile on her face as she spoke rather animatedly to a secret service agent Lena remembers to have introduced herself as Danvers.
She has seen Supergirl get hit, get hurt, but she never saw her bleed. It was alarming and perhaps even unnerving. She wasn’t one to make a habit out of depending on saviors, especially not on Supers, but the sight of the Girl of Steel bleeding through head damage and one arm on a cast was one that screamed mayday.
If Gods could bleed, if Gods could be pulled down to the earth, then how long until her “family” finally succeeds?
She lights out a barely noticeable sigh and makes her way to her literally fallen hero.
Yes, she was shaken, but she was also tired of being afraid.
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‘Alex, I’m fine, really—‘ Kara gently swats Alex’s hand as the other girl attempts to examine the hideous cut on her head, ‘—I’m under the Sun. What’s there to worry about?’
Alex smacks her sister on the same injured spot on her head with the tablet she was holding. It was safe to say Kara’s medical reports were now unreadable with the device bent and cracked around the screen.
‘What’s there to worry about is the fact that someone made a walking Kryptonite bomb!’
‘Kryptonite?’
The Danvers both turn to see Lena Luthor who was now within conversational distance.
‘I assume it’s the substance that thing was infused with,’ Lena continues as none of the Danvers spoke up. ‘It would seem it was programmed to not only come after me, but destroy you as well, Supergirl.’
‘Would seem so,’ Alex answers for Kara, slightly gesturing for Kara to keep shush. There was slight pout on the hero’s features, Lena Luthor twitches an eyebrow at the sight. ‘We have retrieved samples from the rubble to analyze the genetic makeup of the assailant. I won’t beat around the bush, Miss Luthor. We don’t think Cadmus is quite done with any of us.’
Lena nods, giving off exhaustion more than understanding.
‘We’ll find out who’s been sending these assassins, Miss Luthor,’ Kara tries to reassure the CEO, only to be effectively kept out of the conversation by a sharp pain shooting up her side and all the way through her head. She couldn’t resist the groan that crawled out of her throat.
Alex does not miss how the Luthor’s hand raise ever so slightly and folds back into a loose fist on her side.
‘I—I want—‘
It was almost surreal, how the usually composed woman was without the right words she usually confidently picks and the right gestures she would effortlessly almost enthrall people around her with.
Her hands, albeit in little movements, were twitching and her mouth opens tentatively.
‘I want to help—‘
For a second, Lena Luthor seemed almost disappointed with her own voice. She clears her throat and repeats the statement, looking directly at Kara this time.
‘I want to help.’
Kara, still blinking the haze out of the edges of her sight, meets her sister’s equally pondering eyes.
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‘So, define help.’
Winn’s reaction was unreadable at first, but the more Alex explained what the new sitch was and what it would entail, the nerdier he got – if that was even possible. He’s been having nerdgasms at the idea of Lena Luthor providing materials and additional knowledge. Of course, until Alex explains that the issue at hand was the suit—
‘Help—‘ Alex puts down her reading materials and makes air quotes ‘—is Lena Luthor insisting on super-powering Supergirl’s suit.’
‘Wait, wait—‘ Winn lifts an eyebrow, smug smile suddenly slipping off his face ‘—my suit?’
‘It’s not your suit,’ Alex clarifies. She picks her debriefing documents back up and starts reading again.
‘It is! I worked so hard on it way before any of you DEO people got involved! Wait—what does J’onn have to say about this! Surely he hasn’t—‘
‘J’onn thinks it should be okay to allow Lena Luthor to provide assistance as most of the material expenses we have been handling for the past couple of months involves damage payments on properties within a two kilometer radius of places she goes to and owns—‘
Winn, looking completely and utterly harassed, gestures for further explanation.
‘—she is to stay in the building within two months, which is the expected completion of the suit, and J’onn is to wipe her memory at the first sign of betrayal, which Kara insists will not happen.’
‘But Kara will trust anyone!’
‘Yes, I said that, too.’
‘She’d trust a humongous gorilla if it gave her ice cream!’
‘I said something remotely close to that, too.’
‘—and?’
‘Well, you know Kara.’
Winn groans and hoped it was loud enough for Kara to hear.
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The aforementioned Kryptonian was stretching uncomfortably on the Sunbed. She wasn’t used to having anyone else apart from Alex or J’onn within arms-reach while she healed. She had always felt that it was only appropriate that people closest to her saw her times of weakness – the times she was without a choice but to be vulnerable.
What made the situation ten times unbearable was the presence of one Lena Luthor who had been examining the rapidly healing cuts, bruises and bones. She seemed very professional about the whole ordeal, and if Kara were to be completely honest, it would appear that she is the only one being childish about the fact that Lena had been poking and pressing her surprisingly warm fingertips on random places of her exposed skin.
Sure, have Lena stick around. Oh, take my suit off so it doesn’t get any worse!
Kara kept her lips pursed as she tried her best to distract herself with internal arguments.
‘Um—‘
Lena smiles without taking her eyes off the elbow she was examining at the first sound of Kara’s voice.
‘Yes, Kara?’
Kara could swear Lena was being smug about the whole situ—wait, what?
‘Pfft—what are you talking about?’ Kara tries her best to hide a grimace overly forced smile. She lifts her better hand and waves it dismissively, ‘—I’m not—‘
Lena finally stops her little experiment and brings her gaze directly into her eyes. Ever so slowly, a smile tugs at the corner of her lips.
Yep, smug.
Kara finds herself immediately silenced.
‘I was given your file,’ Lena says, appearing nonchalant, like discovering Supergirl’s identity wasn’t exactly news. She returns to whatever goddamn witchcraft she was doing with Kara’s elbow that her skin continued to tingle at her touch. ‘You know—to help me analyze your body—‘
Kara gulps at the mention of a particular word. It doesn’t help that the object that is that word seems to be very uncooperative at the moment.
‘—and its genetic makeup,’ Lena momentarily makes eye contact with her again and Kara immediately regrets even looking towards the other woman’s general direction. There was that smile again, only it seemed there but not there. She wasn’t sure that even made sense. She is screwed.
‘And Kara?’
It takes almost a while before Kara found her voice and when it did come out it comes out nearly a whisper.
‘Yeah?’
‘Thank you.’
Kara blinks and the smugness was gone. Another blink, it was back. She answers anyway.
‘You’re welcome.’
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‘Oh my God!’
Kara could see Lena and Alex look up from the computer screen to Winn’s ecstatic face.
‘Nobody told me it looked this good!’
‘People would have if you weren’t so busy sulking in your chair for the past two weeks,’ Alex said.
Kara was standing on a circular platform, lit as brightly as possible on all possible angles, suit hooked on several hundred wires, all lit hideously bright.
The new suit felt lighter but sturdier. It wasn’t a deeper blue, initially to her disappointed but she has grown accustomed to it in a matter of minutes. Her family’s crest was now embossed in a light form of metal alloy on her chest, polished with red and gold, and was held down firm and connected with Kal’s red blanket on her comfortable shoulder plates. The warrior’s skirt was definitely an upgrade she approved of right off the bat, and the gauntlets felt firm around her fingers, hands and forearms. The boots are a teeny bit off around her instep though.
‘How does it feel, Kara?’ Lena asks without looking, which, Kara noted, was something she’d been doing since morning. The Luthor had yet to make any form of eye contact with her.
‘It feels great,’ she said with a smile so bright it will make Rao proud.
‘The boots need a few adjustments though,’ she adds as she stretches and kicks one leg.
After a few minutes of measurement finalizations, which were thankfully administered by Alex, Kara was made to do basic and combat movements with the suit. She’d been flexing her arms and fingers, feeling the material on her skin. Her smile was probably too big because the second she looks up at Lena and Alex, the Luthor immediately looks down and bites down on her lower lip, suppressing what seems to be a smile.
Kara thinks, either her smile is too contagious like other people keep telling her or something else is going on.
Somewhere at the bridge between the back and forefront of her mind, she was betting on the something else.
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Three consecutive days were all about endurance testing. Winn finally succumbed to the nerdiness and offered his services to Lena who graciously accepted.
Lena adopted several DEO technologies, used L-Corp owned engineering knowledge and welcomed alien technology in a few aspects of the suit. After all, Kara was an alien and that was something she wanted most of all to be incorporated into the suit. How she understood, Kara fought aliens using technology developed by humans – well, in this case, mostly Winn. If Kara were to go toe-to-toe with other aliens, she should carry her own heritage with her as well.
Lena wanted Winn’s Kryptonite absorber incorporated into the suit more than anything. But the bulkiness was something she had been lamenting on for two nights in a row now. While Winn insisted that it could just be left in chest-plate form, Lena refused. She insisted that Kara’s agility was an asset and she didn’t want that taken away.
It was only on the third night when she figured it out.
Out of her desperate need for coffee, she passes by Alex who seemed to be intent in developing her own form of heat vision. Kara’s sister might have been on the other side of the fiber glass, but Lena could tell she was troubled, perhaps even afraid deep down.
She was looking at something – a small ship, perhaps. No bigger than a sedan, but big enough to carry a single passenger.
Lena hesitates but walks inside when the door slides open automatically.
Alex looks over her shoulder at the sound of the doors opening. She acknowledges Lena with a nod.
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Alex asks returning her gaze at the ship before them, perhaps ready to receive an affirmation from the other woman.
Lena nods.
‘It’s Kara’s pod.’
Lena moves. She isn’t sure why.
‘She came to us in this, came to Earth in this—‘ a fond smile appears as Alex tilts her head a little ‘—and it’s the same pod I used to return her to Earth, to make sure she came back to us.’
Lena had a thousand questions in her head. How did a single passenger ship carry Kara through galaxies to this unassuming planet? How old was Kara? If she were a child then, did it terrify her to come to a planet that was completely different from hers?
She asks none of these questions. At the moment, these things about Kara was far from her business. Instead, she settles for a neutral and trivial statement.
‘Krypton must have been truly technologically advanced to have made such a marvel.’
Alex smiles through a sigh, seeming almost unimpressed – almost.
‘Kara would tell me stories about Krypton, about how the stars were always within reach, how travel was like visiting a next-door neighbor here on Earth.’
It was Lena’s turn to smile fondly, albeit without her knowing.
And that’s when it hit her.
She laughs, effectively getting Alex’s full attention now.
‘Of course—‘ she says almost exasperatedly.
Alex doesn’t ask but furrows her brow.
‘Do we have the technology to at least melt a very small part of this craft?’
Lena could tell Alex was thinking about a thousand questions as well by how her eyes moved about, and the moment they settled on her, she must have figured it out, too.
‘No.’
Lena lets out a tired sigh and rubs at her temples.
‘But Kara can.’
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Somehow, Lena knew Kara would say yes if she asked permission over using part of her pod for the suit. The Kryptonian looked pensive for a day, even after agreeing to the plan and melting off part of her pod’s fin to create an alloy strong enough to encase Winn’s redesigned Kryptonite absorbers.
The absorbers were reduced into wires framed with the metal from Kara’s pod and elegantly merged on the very crest of the House of El. Lena couldn’t be any prouder of herself. She knew she’d smile her default smug smile as soon as Kara finds out about it.
But the first time Kara – no, Supergirl – tried it on, her fingers would always run on the surface of her family crest. Every time her fingers stopped on the edge of the symbol, Lena’s smile would falter, but not because she wasn’t happy about what she did, it was something else.
Being the Luthor that she was, deprived of the luxury to lament over feelings, she did not know how to examine that something else.
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Alex had nearly strangled the light out of Winn after he suggested the incredulous, which later on turned out to be the genius. He was right; they had to test the effectiveness of the suit against kryptonite while it was actually worn by Kara.
If Alex was worried, Lena was far beyond worrying.
The absorber, which Winn now officially calls the Schott Absorber, had been tested numerous times against Kryptonite, but it was never actually worn by Kara during testing. This was not the case because Lena overlooked this simple quality assurance test, but it was because a huge part of her was bugged by that particular something else.
They had to do it. Better see whether it screws up here than on the field.
‘Are you ready, Kara?’ Alex calls from outside the fiber glass encaging her sister in the same circular platform they had been using for testing since day one.
Kara gives the thumbs up and Lena can only gulp down the unfamiliar lump in her throat as Winn pushes a lever slowly upward, increasing the Kryptonite radiation levels as the lever went up.
Kara seemed to bear enough even as the green glowed even brighter and brighter.
‘We are over fifty percent Kryptonite exposure,’ Winn sounded worried. ‘Do you want me to go on?’
‘Push it, Winn,’ Kara answers for both Lena and Alex.
55%
60%
70%
It was Alex who first noticed Kara’s falling knees. The sharp breath she takes in makes Lena’s hands twitch closer to the panel Winn handled.
‘Kara?’ Winn’s hand stops at seventy on the panel.
Kara doesn’t respond. It bothers Lena that the Kryptonian was looking straight at them through the fiber glass, but did not respond.
‘She can’t hear us,’ Lena concluded, hand tapping Alex’s shoulder insistently. She barely touched other people. ‘Agent Danvers—‘
‘Drop the exposure level, Winn!’ Alex immediately tells Winn. It was a rare moment to see Agent Danvers worried.
Kara’s eyes darted about, landing on Winn’s movement, she lifts a hand, beckoning Winn to keep going.
‘Kara, I think it’s too much!’ Winn practically shouts, louder than even human ears could hear.
Kara shakes a head, ‘we have to do this!’
‘We stop now, Kara!’ Alex sounded angry as she pushes out of her chair and stalks closer to the platform Kara stood on.
‘Alex, please.’
From where Lena stood, she understood as much: Supergirl was not just Superman’s cousin; she was Kara Danvers. The implications of that statement made the cogs in Lena’s head turn, turn and toggle, enough to tug at the belts connected to her heart.
Something else.
Something else.
She feels herself panic at her epiphany.
‘Just a little more, Alex.’
Kara’s eyes were determined and strong, and probably the most beautiful things Lena Luthor has ever looked into.
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‘What does Winn call it again?’
‘The Schott Absorber.’
Lena rolls her eyes at the way the words rolled out of her mouth.
Kara’s laugh that followed begged for Lena to look up from the pads on the Kryptonian’s shoulder she was tinkering with, but she doesn’t. She couldn’t, especially not after today’s events. The metal extending towards Kara’s suit felt colder than the wrench she held.
Kara did power through the tests with flying colors. She even managed to float even at ninety percent Kryptonite exposure, and insisted that she was alright despite dropping back to the floor and gasping for breath as soon as the radiation was shut down. Alex wanted her to get back home and call it a day, but she insisted on staying for final adjustments – “insisted” being a whole minute of pouting.
‘Miss Luthor—‘
‘—Lena,’ Lena corrects Kara, finally willing herself to take a second to look up.
This close, she could see Kara swallow.
‘Right—Lena, are—are you alright?’
There was a smile in Kara’s eyes and Lena just couldn’t take it. She looks back down at her suddenly difficult task as she answered a ‘yes’ that was most likely said to urge herself to feel alright.
Lena could feel Kara shift. She must have noticed her discomfort. Darn sensitive alien.
‘Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask,’ Kara starts, sounding more chipper than Lena wanted. ‘This suit—‘
‘Hm?’ Lena responded anyway, not wanting Kara to feel any way down.
‘—it looks a lot like my uncle’s design.’
Lena looks up, suddenly intrigued.
‘Uncle?’
‘Superman’s father.’
Lena smiles and she couldn’t stop herself from doing so. It felt like an easy one; unlike the ones she’d been holding back for almost two weeks and a half.
‘I asked for a few aesthetic references. Alex found them when she cross-referenced your name and Superman’s. I had to ask her to do it. It was rather hard for me—there was nothing under Kara Danvers or Supergirl. I figured they may be confidential or—’
‘—Kara Zor-El.’
Lena looks back up at Kara, reasons to smile moving from all others related to nerdgasms to something much more unfamiliar – happiness.
Kara is smiling – and it wasn’t a Kara Danvers smile. It was someone else’s – someone who introduced herself just now. The smile wasn’t as bright as Kara Danvers’, but something about it made Lena’s hands stop whatever she was doing with the pesky shoulder pad.
‘My name.’
Kara Zor-El. Lena mouthed the name without breaking eye contact with Kara.
‘It’s a beautiful name,’ Lena says, still distracted by the fact that someone actually trusts her – Supergirl at that.
Kara was the one to breakaway this time. But, again, it wasn’t the kind of modesty she’d seen Kara Danvers show over and over. Somewhere in her eyes was a glint of a planet far gone, a civilization that was proud even after its own demise.
However, in a second, Kara Danvers resurfaces with a sunny bright smile and a laugh she refuses to directly show Lena.
Lena’s expression twists into a scowl as she realized what Kara Danvers had just done. The girl had probed the nerd in Lena using her own culture to break the ice. That made a lot of sense because Kara – the pest – Danvers was still laughing behind the curtain of her hair.
‘Nerd,’ Kara drawls playfully.
Lena tugs one last turn on a screw on Kara’s suit with extra force and whacks a wrench right on top of the Kryptonian’s head.
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‘Do you know Kara has nightmares?’
Lena looks from the cup of (awful) instant coffee in her hands and up at Alex who spoke first. Every night the Luthor needed a quick injection of caffeine, she and Alex would share a few words. Initially, she had intended for these sessions to be a form of research, to expand her knowledge about the Kryptonian—
But she never really expected how quickly she caved and turned these exchanges into a way for her to understand Kara – Kara Zor-El.
‘Nightmares?’
Alex takes this as a sign for her to continue, she sips from her own coffee cup, hands moving more animatedly now than the first few times she and Lena shared words.
‘Her first few nights on Earth were the worst for her. She’d wake up screaming and crying.’
Lena’s gaze fell back to her cup. It was hard to imagine Kara Danvers in that situations. Kara-Zor-El, yes, but not Kara Danvers.
‘One time the nightmare was so bad she destroyed part of our roof,’ Alex says fond, despite the property damage story.
‘Heat vision.’
‘Heat vision,’ Alex affirms with a laugh.
A comfortable silence whirred around a bit.
‘As we grew older they’d get worse. Sometimes I wish I could stop her from dreaming. She smiles. All the time, but she’ll never talk about how hurt she is or how lost she is sometimes.’
Lena was listening, despite the lack of eye contact.
‘Some of her worst nightmares were so deep down in her heart I only came to know about them when she was changed by a different form of Kryptonite.’
‘Kryptonite can do that?’
Alex nods. ‘The red ones. It’s like getting drunk but she’s not lost, only a little too sharp, without emotional barriers – the ones that attach her to us.’
Us. Lena loved the sound of that.
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For the following weeks, Kara and Lena went from avoiding and stealing glances to throwing metallic tools at each other – well, mostly Lena did the throwing. Kara wasn’t really allowed to throw anything else after losing control over the trance of her laughter and an entire computer desk (with the actual computer on) flew across the testing room.
But this was all on the surface.
Kara could care less what Lena flings her way when Alex and Winn were around. It was the closest thing she got to staying in contact with the other woman, but there were moments–and there were moments that only the two of them shared.
She might be emotionally dense sometimes, but Lena wasn’t exactly subtle either.
She only imagined changes in her suit, not an entire overhaul. Lena had her sit on the edge of the testing platform and now she was walking towards Kara with a strange metallic frame in hand.
‘And that would be?’ Kara wonders out loud as she stripped off the boots of her old suit. She had been changing in and out of them, rescuing National City by day (both as a reporter and Supergirl) and new suit testing in the middle of the night.
‘This—‘ Lena lifts the frame before Kara’s face ‘—is a faceplate.’
‘I’m not sure my face needs protection,’ Kara jokes and misses the whole intent behind Lena’s sudden cough.
‘Well—it’s not just a face protector, Zor-El,’ Lena rolls her eyes. ‘It’s also meant to keep the baddies out of your head.’
Kara snorts, ‘Baddies. Like a dream catcher.’
‘Ha-ha,’ Lena drawls playfully, but there was a distant look in her eyes for a second.
She beckons for Kara to tilt her head upwards, to give her a better view of the faceplate’s fit as she slowly slipped it on Kara’s head.
It was these moments when Kara was sure she wasn’t dense. And as much as she didn’t like cheating, it was hard to miss Lena’s thundering heartbeat.
Lena moves her hand to Kara’s forehead, brushing the tips of her fingers on the cold metal frame, all the while boring an unreadable gaze through Kara’s own. Kara could swear the other woman’s touch burned through the metal framing her face.
Lena taps the widest part of the plate, poised right at the center of Kara’s forehead, breaking the Kryptonian out of her reverie.
‘This—‘ she taps again ‘—it’s meant to protect you from the influence of red Kryptonite.’
Kara mouths an oh.
‘If Maxwell Lord can get his hands on one, there’s no telling Cadmus cannot.’
Kara wasn’t sure if they were having a conversation or what the conversation was meant to be like exactly. Back in Krypton, everyone was very upfront about everything. Nothing was unreadable, and right now Lena has yet to break eye contact, while she has yet to gain control of her own voice. It was… new.
She was probably under a spell, one the forehead protector could not save her from, and she had to say something.
‘And the part that makes my chin restrict me from smiling?’ That was godawful lame and Kara knew because it definitely didn’t work. She was still in Lena’s trance.
Lena’s fingers slide down the frame of Kara’s face and one curls under her chin, tipping her head upward.
‘This—it’s—‘
Kara wasn’t sure whether the other woman’s heartbeat was getting louder because of the decreasing distance between them, or because Lena was getting as nervous as she was over how much closer their faces were now.
‘It’s—‘ Kara repeats Lena’s last word, meaning for her to continue.
‘Kara—I—‘
Lena was closing her eyes now, lips parting. Everything was getting slower and slower and Kara couldn’t bear super speed sometimes—
But not as much as she suddenly despises super hearing—
There were thundering footsteps down the hallway. She curses under her breath and pushes carefully out of Lena’s personal space.
‘Someone’s coming.’
Lena sighs and walks back to her designated work desk.
‘Kara—‘ Alex appears through the sliding doors and pauses. She looks from Kara to Lena. ‘Everything alright?’
Lena nods and answers for the both of them, ‘Yes, we were just fitting the faceplate.’
Alex lifts her brow.
‘Fitting?’ she repeats. ‘Like, at least three meters away from each other?’
Kara clears her throat very slowly, clearly wanting Alex to understand just how much she was annoyed at the moment.
‘That’s new,’ Alex says with a smirk. ‘I’ll just come back later.’
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The first field test has finally come and everyone couldn’t even be more excited – Kara because it’s her suit, Alex because it’s a fabulous and awesome suit altogether and Winn and Lena because it was their pride and glory on Supergirl’s chest.
It was quite the debut.
Armed men were rampaging in the city, meant to draw one Lena Luthor out who, according to the police, had been in protective custody for a month and a half, manning her company from a distance through communication lines the unidentified baddies have traced and followed to the DEO building.
Kara lands gracefully on the ground, a few feet away from the armed men.
It took a while for them to recognize her, and Kara took that moment to take down the ones at the forefront, knocking them together.
The ones at the back were quick to recover from her offensive and shot the familiar horrifying green glow of Kryptonite laser beams out of their guns.
It was quite a blow – enough to push Kara back and almost bring her to her knees.
Quite. Almost. All words that made Kara smile in relief. She lifts her head enough to show her assailants that whatever they were doing did not work.
Later that day, casualties were a stunning zero and collateral property damage was a whopping 8%.
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Kara’s arms had been outstretched for the past hour. It didn’t tire her, really. She was just a little jumpy with all the touching Lena had to administer.
Kara internally curses (well, she doesn’t really curse) herself for being such a child about the situation.
Lena was examining the material of her arm protectors. They weren’t badly damaged as they all thought they’d be. Winn was the only one who insisted that the suit was very much ready. In fact, he discussed with Kara earlier about the early completion of the suit and how it was in its best state for action. Kara wondered if Lena Luthor was just too meticulous or there were other reasons she didn’t tell her about, reasons why she stayed.
Kara like the idea of other reasons more than anything.
‘How’s your flight so far?’
Lena breaks Kara out of her internal rambling.
‘Oh, it was good,’ Kara says, wondering if she should say something else as her answer felt a little too lacking.
‘Good how?’
‘Kind of hard to explain,’ Kara says with a smile.
Lena smiles freely right back.
‘Sometimes, there are words I couldn’t place,’ Kara adds.
‘You mean, like, language barriers?’ Lena beckons for Kara to put her arms down and relax them.
‘Yes, a lot of Kryptonian words don’t have counterparts in English.’
‘Really?’ Lena sounded more engaging than engaged. She walks behind Kara, moves her hair on one shoulder and touches the material above the Kryptonian’s nape. ‘Teach me a few of these differences, then?’
‘W—Well—‘ Kara swallows at Lena’s touch. She will never get used to it. She shakes her head and struggles to find her footing in the conversation. Anything, anything at all. ‘Why don’t we try basic structure differences?’
‘Okay.’
Lena’s voice sounded closer to her ear.
‘Um—love?’ Kara nearly kicks herself at the word she chose.
She feels Lena’s hands pause momentarily.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I mean—‘ Kara struggles to keep herself from sighing exasperatedly ‘—love is different for objects, inanimate ones, and for objects of—of affection.’
‘I see.’
Kara thought Lena didn’t sound too interested at all, her hands were moving again, fingertips lightly brushing the skin on her nape.
‘So how did you say it should be said for inanimate objects?’
Kara relaxes a little.
‘Shovuh.’
She feels Lena’s breath. Perhaps a smile?
‘And the other one?’ she asks.
Kara was a little too quick to clarify the further subdivision of love towards other people.
‘Ukiem—like mine for Alex.’
‘So—‘ Lena pauses again ‘—familial love?’
Kara nods.
‘—and the other kind?’
Kara almost panics. She no longer feels Lena tinkering with the suit. She hears her shift and move in front of her, eyes expectant. She couldn’t bring herself to look away.
‘Zhao—‘ Kara says, almost a whisper. Romantic, erotic love – she meant to add.
Lena draws herself closer.
‘I didn’t catch that.’
‘—zhao,’ Kara repeats, even softer than the first.
‘I can’t hear you if you keep whispering like that, Kara,’ Lena takes another step closer, too close now, less than a feet, perhaps.
‘I—Lena—I said—‘
‘KARA! THE SUIT! IT’S ALL OVER THE NEWS—‘
Lena immediately steps back, leaving Kara cold enough to freeze Winn over with a single sigh.
Being the classiest of the lot, Lena smiles and heads over to Winn who held the latest copy of CatCo magazine excitedly.
.
.
.
Early the following day, the DEO thanked Lena Luthor endlessly as she decided she needed to go back to her company, saying that the timing couldn’t be any more perfect as she had set her schedule for two months and that finishing early was such a blessing.
Winn gave her a hug, a gesture she wasn’t accustomed to, but welcomed anyway. Alex shook her hand and offered to go out for coffee sometime, which she graciously accepted. J’onn, seemingly careful still, did not make any move to wipe her memoy – that must have been a good sign. Kara had not been around then. She had been busy trying to catch up with her duties as a reporter.
As disappointed as she was, her presence at L-Corp was long overdue. She was still the company CEO, and frolicking around pretending she had a social life was not a luxury she was allowed.
The sun had given in for the night to take over and she had yet to hear from Kara. No text, no call.
Nothing.
She sighs for the nth time since seven o’ clock, which says a lot because it was only ten minutes after seven. And it was then, when she heard that welcome gust of wind and soft thud on her balcony floor.
She turns her chair, half expecting an empty balcony so as not to disappoint herself any further, but there she was, glorious in that suit and Lena does not mind dissecting what exactly made her heart swell anymore.
National City may have been looking at their upgraded hero, their New and Improved Supergirl, their Girl of Steel. And she might have, too. But that was almost two months ago. She had intended for the city’s protector, for her protector to buff up against her adversaries Cadmus sent to destroy them both. She had intended to cut the ladder off of Olympus so this god would remain untouchable.
But as she stood from her chair and walked over Supergirl, smiling ever so slightly. She only saw Kara Zor-El. And the thought that she had taken part in looking after the girl who had lost so much made her heart thump in her chest inexplicably.
‘Well—‘ she starts as she stood directly in front of Kara ‘—I was beginning to think the perks of super speed included fast memory corrosion.’
‘Nerd,’ Kara says with a fond laugh.
There was a pause, not poignant, but tense, albeit not in an unwelcome way.
‘So, why are you here, Kara?’
‘Well—‘ Kara clears her throat, a little over-eager, looking like a child pushing a lie that will not even work before it was spoken ‘—I never got to explain—you know—my flight improvement.’
Lena scrunches a nose. Not classy at all.
‘That’s it?’ she laughs.
Kara laughs with her.
‘I was thinking—‘ Kara takes a step closer and Lena immediately realizes how much taller the Girl of Steel was and stronger she felt in that new suit ‘—I’d—I’d show you?’
She sounded unsure and nervous all the same, but Lena smiles anyway.
Kara gestures for her hand and Lena could hear herself curse at how quickly she let the other woman secure her hand in her firm ones. The Kryptonian tugs at her hand gently to get her close enough for her to hold.
‘Um—arms.’
Lena couldn’t help herself from smiling at Kara’s overall awkwardness. It was so surreal seeing her be Kara Danvers in that suit. She puts her arms around Kara’s neck, kicks off her shoes and steps on Kara’s boots.
The metal was cold on her toes but they felt nice – Kara felt nice.
Slowly, she was brought off the ground and way high up her company’s building – the kind of height that will definitely not attract unwanted attention, the kind of height that makes Lena gasp the moment she looks down and makes her hold unto Kara very, very tight.
Kara all but laughs and Lena, despite the fear of heights – or this particular inhumane height, wishes she had anything hard and metallic she could hit Kara on the head with.
‘I should say—‘ Kara starts ‘—the suit makes flying a lot more enjoyable.’
‘ENJOYABLE—‘ Lena looks at her incredulously ‘—YOU POMPOUS KRYP—‘
—she didn’t get to finish the sentence.
Lena Luthor is rarely at a loss for words. Her thoughts were always firm on what she wanted to say. She was never uncertain. The rare occasions that kept her from finishing sentences would be: one, another meta-human wreaking havoc just to destroy her, or two, a much more pleasant one—
Kara Zor-El kissing her like she was the sun.