Chapter Text
**
Alex watched as Alura blinked once, twice, and finally seemed to focus on her surroundings. She coughed as she took a breath that sounded almost painful as she looked to her side, spotting Alex and Astra
“Astra,” she whispered, she reached out towards her, curling her fingers around Astra’s hand as Astra reached out to her at the same time “I dreamed of you” Alura continued
“I know,” Astra whispered as she tightened her grip on Alura’s hand “I know” Alura frowned and managed to weakly reach up and brush the tears away from Astra’s eyes
“What is this?” she wondered softly “hmm? You have nothing to cry for, my sister,” she let go of Astra’s hand and cupped her cheek “it is I should be crying,” she explained “I was the one who didn’t listen, who ignored you, who put you in that…place”
“I know,” Astra whispered, tears forming in her eyes again, even as she tightened her grip on Alex’s hand, needing her proximity to keep her from flying apart “and I don’t care, I don’t care about any of that, all that matters is that I have you back” Alura smiled weakly, still obviously tired. She frowned as she suddenly seemed to notice Alex’s presence; crooking her fingers she beckoned Alex closer
“I know you,” she whispered, frowning as she gently traced her fingers over Alex’s face. Her eyes suddenly widened in recognition “Alex,” she said, smiling “Alexandra Danvers,” Alex nodded as Alura’s eyes widened further “Kara” she whispered, there was a quiet shuffling sound and Alex looked back to see Kara standing awkwardly in the doorway
“Hi, Mom” Kara whispered, Alura slowly sat up, wincing as muscles that probably hadn’t been used in over twelve years began to finally move again
“Kara,” she repeated, staring at Kara as if she couldn’t quite believe that the woman in front of her was her own daughter. Kara suddenly rushed forward, throwing her arms around Alura and holding her tight, sobbing into her shoulder, looking like the little girl she had been when she’d last seen her mother on Krypton “oh, Kara, my brave daughter,” Alura whispered, stroking her hair, she looked over at Alex “you raised her,” she stated, clearly disbelieving “you helped her, cared for her” Alex nodded
“I did,” she confirmed softly, suddenly overwhelmed by Astra’s memories of Alura, having to remind herself that this wasn’t her sister, Kara was her sister. She glanced at Astra, who was hovering nearby, clearly unsure if she’d be allowed back into the group, Alex nudged her “go over there” she hissed, slowly, Astra awkwardly approached Kara and Alura, Alura looked up and, without a word, offered her hand to her sister, inviting her back in
“Thank you, sister” Astra whispered, slowly leaning and wrapping her arms around both Kara and Alura, Alex moved to step back, only for Alura to grab her arm
“You are a part of this family as well, Ms. Danvers,” she said softly “you have been from the moment Kara became your sister” she explained, Alex nodded, at a loss for words. After a long moment, everyone pulled away, Alura sighed as she leaned back on the gurney. She chuckled suddenly, reaching out to stroke Astra’s cheek again
“What?” Astra asked “what’s so funny?”
“You,” Alura answered, still chuckling “only you would fall in love with Kara’s sister” Astra snorted while Kara choked on her own spit
“Adoptive sister,” Astra pointed out, ignoring Kara’s flabbergasted expression and Alex’s groan “they share no blood”
“Obviously” Alura muttered
“Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” Kara yelped “are, are you telling me that, that, that…” she trailed off and fluttered her hands wildly
“I love her, Kara,” Alex explained softly “and she loves me” Kara’s eyes went wide as a saucers as she looked between her sister and her aunt
“So, so, so…”
“Yes, Kara,” Astra chuckled “we love each other”
“But, but, but, you…,” she waved at Alex “you, you…killed her” Astra nodded
“Yes she did, and I can never thank her enough for that”
“Thank her?” Kara echoed, Astra nodded
“Up until that point in time, I was spiraling down deeper into an abyss of insanity,” she explained “death was…a release from that”
“When I found out that she was still alive,” Alex picked up “I realized that I had to bring her back home to you,” she explained “I wasn’t expecting her to return my feelings, or for us to start bonding on an alien planet, or for us to see into each others minds,” at Kara’s confused expression, she elaborated “on Daxam, they put us both under a neural scan, I saw into Astra’s mind, her memories, and she saw into mine”
“Wait, I’m still confused,” Kara began “how does Mother know about this?”
“Because we share a link,” Alura explained “a bond, we were meant to be one person, one mind, your aunt and I. After my pod escaped Krypton, I…dreamed of her, of you, of Alex”
“Only they weren’t dreams,” Kara realized softly “that’s how you know Alex” Alura nodded
“Somehow I saw what Astra was experiencing,” she explained “I saw what she felt for Alex, for you”
“So,” Kara looked between Alex and Astra again “what are you two going to do now?”
“Try to figure out where to go from here” Alex explained, she sudden winced as a sharp pain tore through her
“Alex?” Kara asked as she and Astra caught her as she stumbled, Alex could only gasp as the pain got stronger, ripping through her “what’s happening?!” Kara demanded, in answer Astra merely held Alex close
“I’m sorry,” she whispered “I’m so sorry, darling, I should have told you sooner, I’m sorry”
“What are you talking about?” Alex panted out
“Alex, look at your wrist,” Astra instructed softly, Alex frowned as she held up her wrist, the mark, the seal of custodianship, was gone “the mark is gone because whoever replaced you didn’t know about it” Astra explained
“Replaced me?” Alex echoed, Astra nodded
“Whoever they are, they intercepted the transport beam from the Daxamite ship, that’s why we rematerialized in midair,” she explained “because they took you, abducted you, and replaced you with a bio-synaptic clone”
“A doppelganger,” Alex realized as more of Astra’s knowledge filtered through her mind “an avatar, a body directly linked to my own mind, one that I’ve unconsciously controlling all this time like it was my own” Astra nodded
“Leaving you completely unaware of what was really happening” she finished as Alex gasped in pain again
“Then why does it hurt?!” she demanded
“I don’t know” Astra admited
“What’s going on here?” J’onn demanded as he and Winn rushed into the room
“Winn!” Alex panted out “I don’t time to explain, but, ah! I need, I need you to start tracking a signal from this room!”
“Alex?” J’onn asked
“Just do it!” Alex bellowed, howling in agony as she clung to Astra and Kara tighter
“Agent Schott!” J’onn snapped, trusting Alex’s judgment
“Yeah, yeah,” Winn pulled out his tablet and started typing “whoa! OK, there is definitely some kind of signal coming from in here”
“Track it to its point of origin!” Astra ordered, she turned back to Alex “breathe!” she ordered
“OK, got it!” Winn announced “uh, it’s coming from somewhere in the financial district”
“Narrow it down!” Alex panted out
“Yeah, yeah, uh…west 42nd street at the corner of Shuster and Siegel, uh it’s a place called…‘Biodynamic Medical’”
“Blood draw!” Alex panted out “my doctor sent me to get a blood draw from there about two weeks ago, that's how they my DNA!”
“Will someone kindly tell us what is going on?!” J’onn demanded
“Alex has been…replaced” Kara explained
“Replaced? Replaced by what?” Winn demanded
“A bio-synaptic clone,” Astra explained “she never came back from the Daxamite ship, because whoever cloned her took her off and left the clone in her place”
“And for the past few hours Alex has been walking around experiencing the world though the clone’s eyes,” J’onn grumbled, he tapped his comm. “Lucy, get a strike team ready at west 42nd Street, corner of Shuster and Siegel, a place called ‘Biodynamic Medical’…because Alex has been replaced by a clone,” he turned to the others as he crouched down next to Alex “strike team’s on the way,” he explained, he frowned at Alex, gently placing a hand over her cheek “we’re coming to get you” he told her, she nodded as she squeezed Astra and Kara’s hands
“I know” she whispered, and then everything went dark…
**
Alex blinked as she suddenly came back to awareness, she was lying down on what felt like a gurney, the sharp sting of antiseptic in the air as a bright light shone down on her from above. She could hear what sounded like a baby crying nearby, somewhere in the room, and something suddenly urged her to try and get up and find the sound, find the baby, protect the baby. Blinking, she looked around, spotting several people in medical scrubs gathered around a small table
“Subject is female, weight…a healthy five pounds, five ounces” a woman’s voice announced
“Any sign of deformities?” another woman asked
“No, Doctor, no sign of any growth or development problems” the first voice replied
“Good” weakly Alex tried to sit up, but she felt so tired, everything hurt. One of the people in scrubs, apparently having heard her, turned around quickly walked back over to her, easily pushing her back down onto the gurney with a hand on her shoulder
“Wh, who are you?” Alex mumbled “where…?” the person pulled down the surgical mask, revealing that is was a woman. She was older than Alex, with cold ice blue eyes, she smiled, a sharp, predatory smile as she eased Alex back down
“Rest now, Agent Danvers,” she said “you’ve had quite an ordeal,” her smile widened, shark-like “Cadmus thanks you for your service”