Chapter Text
Kara is content, flying above the city she loves. Her eyes are closed, enjoying the feel of wind on her face. She feels a calm wash over her, as she always does when she flies. She listens to the sounds of her city, trying to discern where she would be needed next. In a city this big, at night, there is always someone in trouble. Always someone in need. When she is bathed in this peace, she briefly thinks that if everyone could fly, and feel this peace, then there would be less violence. She starts to get lost in a daydream, imagining this alternate world, wondering if it really exists. And if it does, if it would be possible for her to visit it one day. Suddenly, a particularly sharp, feminine scream, catches her attention. Her eyes shoot open in the dark as she slows down in the sky, zeroing in on the sound, searching for the source. She finally lands on an alleyway which is suspiciously close to CatCo, where she spends most of her days.
Please, Rao, do not let this be because of her. Kara pleas silently as she shoots through the air toward the offending alleyway. She can stop thieves in their tracks, rescue people from fires, thwart assassination attempts, all without batting an eye. But, knowing that innocent people were being hurt just because some evil alien wants to lure her in... it makes her heart wrench and her blood boil.
She finally lands in the alleyway east of CatCo in a practiced Supergirl pose and looks up just in time to see a lava coloured, 8 foot tall figure pin a middle aged woman to the brick wall behind her. It has her hands pinned above her head, held in place by its left hand. It looks down toward its right wrist where a spike, the same colour and texture as the rest of its body, is slowly emerging. The woman writhes in the alien’s grasp, trying to put as much distance between herself and her attacker as possible.
Before Kara has time to assess the situation any further, the alien has started to raise the protrusion and looks to be aiming it at the woman's neck, similar to how one would administer a needle and she realizes she has to step in before it goes any further.
“I don’t know what that does, but I can assume it’s not good. Lower your arm and step away from the woman before we’re forced to do this the hard way.” Kara allows her eyes to heat up, glimmering red as sparks of burning lasers fester from within her eyes - a silent indication of what ‘the hard way’ is. Kara speaks in a confident, collected way. A voice she uses to talk down attackers, perfected over years of interventions of a similar nature.
The alien turns toward her, and the first thing she notices is its piercing yellow eyes. In any other context, Kara might find them beautiful. They seem to see straight through her. The second thing she notices is that trying to converse with it will likely be pointless. She tries to mask her surprise as she glances down to where there should be a mouth. To where, on what appears to be a humanoid alien, there should be a mouth, there is nothing. Just more rocky, dark skin. Bright red shines through what could be best described as trenches in the aliens’ skin, looking similar to veins, but open and exposed. A thought briefly occurs to her. What are you? Kara takes a single step closer, scanning the aliens figure once again. Kara is by no means a walking encyclopedia on all things alien, but she does know more than even the average DEO agent. Her thoughts briefly stray back to schooling on Krypton. They were a family of scientists and government officials. They learned about other species, studied their biology. Of course, she never got to finish that education... No, can't think about that right now. Stay focused, Kara.
The alien drops the woman's hands from where they had been pinned above her head, before abandoning her completely as it turns and starts slowly trudging towards Supergirl. Looks like it has changed from its intended target. The woman stands stunned, shifting her eyes between Supergirl and the menacing alien. The woman finally seems to snap out of it when Supergirl shouts “Go!” The woman turns to leave, finally opting to choose self preservation over the opportunity to see a Supergirl fight in real life.
Kara’s gaze shifts back to the alien as she adapts a fighting pose. She keeps her fists raised in front of her in a maneuver meant to make blocking easy. Her feet spread to shoulder width as she shifts her weight from her heels to the balls of her feet, keeping her stance light, ready to jump away or forward at any moment. The alien seems to recognize this as an offensive pose and its eyes narrow as it reaches the conclusion that Supergirl would not be as easy as its previous target. It starts to walk in haste toward her as it raises the protrusion from its wrist and holds it head high. The angle makes it easy for Supergirl to deflect its attack, grasping somewhere near its elbow as she spins it around and restrains it. She keeps one wrist pinned to its back as she holds the other in front of its chest - and away from herself. Unfortunately, this position forces her into much closer proximity to the alien than she would prefer to be. She realizes that it is also now impossible to retrieve the alien restraints from within her pockets as both of her hands are occupied. She remembers her ear piece, used to contact the DEO when she needs backup, a mobile containment cell, or really anything she could need while out on patrol. Thank you Alex she silently praises her sister for reminding her to wear it the earpiece tonight. She cranes her neck to the side, attempting to press the contact button with her own shoulder rather than her fingers. In her efforts, she ever so slightly loosens her hold on the alien's wrist that is pressed against its back. This allows it the flexibility it needs to be able to bend its wrist toward her, she notes her lax hold on the alien too late as another spike quickly ejects from its wrist. It extends all the way out and embeds itself a solid four inches into the soft, supposedly indestructible flesh of her abdomen.
The pain is instantaneous, a very present sharp sting and what feels like liquid fire extending through her torso originating from the point of impact. Her grasp on the alien instinctively tightens. Her shoulders tense, high and close to her body, which ironically, gives her the push she needs to press the button, activating an open line of communication. She lets out a sharp cry and then groans. The sound immediately followed by a click in her ear registering that the DEO’s side was now present as well.
“Supergirl! Are you okay? Do you need backup? Medical Attention? A containment cell?” Her sister's concerned voice fills her ear as she seems to have been called to attention by Kara’s pained cries.
Kara grunts out a “Yes,” in reply, indicating that she would, in fact, be needing all of what Alex had offered.
Kara finally realizes that she should probably retaliate against the alien, which still has its spike embedded inside her. Logic told her not to remove a foreign object once she’d been impaled, but she figured there's an exception to be made if said foreign object was still attached to her attacker. She tightens her grasp even further, with a strength that would have broken a human’s wrist. She looks down at her wound and with a deep breath in, slowly pulls its wrist away from her own body, the spike exiting her body. With both wrists still firmly in her grasp she spins the alien back around so that it was once again facing her. Without moving her head, Kara looks up at the offender through her eyelashes with fire in her eyes. Not literally though, after all, she didn’t want to kill the alien. She can't communicate with it. She doesn't know the alien’s motivations. She wants to know its motivations, which she would only get if she captured it alive.
That did not, however, stop her from being in pain and pissed off about it. She raises its wrists above its head and moves one hand to its chest, where with more strength than she likely should be using given her condition, she pushes. No, shoves is probably more accurate. She shoves the alien into the wall opposite them - hard. Its eyes widen in shock as one of its hands curl into a fist and come to rest on its forehead. It sucks in a sharp breath through its nose and let it go just as quickly. Supergirl wastes no time and in an instant is standing in front of it again, pinning its wrists above its head, similarly to how it had been holding the innocent woman not five minutes prior. Careful to avoid the sharp protrusions, she uses her free hand to open the line to the DEO back up.
“I’m gonna need a containment cell, with enough hands to ensure it has a smooth trip back to the DEO.” Kara’s voice wavers slightly as she trails off. She sucks in a sharp breath as she adds on, “And a med team. I took a hit.”
Her sister's voice comes back to her clear from the other line. “Okay. We’re on our way. Stay where you are, we’ve got your location, we’ll be there in five.”
Kara's eyes blink open, anxiety twisting knots in her stomach. Her eyes burn, taking a moment to adjust to the harsh lights surrounding her. She squints past the light to see the opposite end of the room which reveals a DEO logo on the center of the door. She lets out a sigh as she lets her eyes fall back shut when she realizes she's safe in a DEO hospital room. She was about to prepare to fall back into a blissful rest when a hand softly grasps hers.
"Hey... You just woke up. Don't fall back asleep on me now."
Kara feels herself smile, not needing to open her eyes to recognize it was Lena sitting at her bedside. Kara recognizes her by the sound of her voice. Recognizes her by the gentle slide of Lena's thumb over her own. Neither of which had ever failed to bring her comfort, and which certainly didn't fail now.
"Lena." is all she replies with. The smile on Kara's face and the warmth and affection in her voice when she speaks the other woman's name saying all that needed to be said.
"You know, you gave us quite the scare there." Lena pauses as Kara finally cracks her eyes back open. "You were passed out on the ground by the time we got there."
Kara looks down at her bandaged wound and her eyebrows furrow in confusion. It didn't seem that bad in the moment. "Blood loss?" She questions, looking back up at Lena for confirmation.
"Not enough to justify a fainting spell." Lena looks down at their hands entwined on the mattress. A look crosses her face, almost like... surprise? As if she hadn't realized she'd reached for Kara. She doesn't pull back though, which Kara is grateful for. Lena continues, "Your super healing doesn't seem to have been affected. You've been recovering at your normal rate and nothing seems to be physically out of the ordinary."
"Except for the giant hole in my stomach." Kara adds on. She laughs at her own joke, but winces at the pain from the sudden tensing in her gut.
Lena doesn't seem to find Kara's joke as funny as she had, "I said out of the ordinary, and a hole is pretty much to be expected when you get stabbed in the stomach." Lena stops and offers the Super a sympathetic look.
"Yeah... I guess I should have assumed if there's a deadly spike in one wrist, there's probably one in the other too." Kara gives Lena a self-deprecating smile.
Lena's eyes widen in surprise. With her free hand, she takes a voice recorder out of her pocket, clicks it on and places it on the side table.
"I thought I was supposed to be the reporter here." Kara gestures vaguely to the voice recorder.
"Yes, well I need your description of the alien. I wasn't going to push, I know you need your rest. But, if you're up for it?"
"My description of it?" Kara blinks. "Didn't we get it?"
Lena takes in a pointed breath before responding, "You were passed out when we got there, remember? The alien was nowhere in sight." her gaze falls once again to their entangled hands. "We're lucky it didn't kill you." Lena's grip tightens a little on the Super's hand and her thumb runs over Kara's pulse point, as if to reassure herself that Kara was still here and that she was still living. 'I don't know what I would do without you.' Lena adds on to the end.
"Hey..." Kara gives her a soft look, and lightly squeezes her hand back. "You're not gonna lose me. I'm still here and I don't plan on going anywhere. I don't plan on leaving. I'm here to stay."
Lena looks up at that. They lock eyes and an unidentifiable look crosses Lena's features. They stay there for a moment, hands entwined. Intense green eyes reflected in Kara's kind blue ones. Lena breaks the eye contact first, looking down and clearing her throat. Kara sighs inwardly in response, she knows there's something on Lena's mind, something she wants to say. She respects Lena's boundaries and won't push, but it bothers her that something could be bothering Lena and there is nothing she can do about it.
"Okay so physical description... What did it look like?"
Kara goes on to describe the alien. What it looked like, how it behaved, it's strength and how their fight went.
"Okay!" Lena remarks, finally. "I think we've got everything we need." She reaches over and clicks the voice recorder off. "I'll relay this to Brainy and we should be able to gather a match to the species."
"Isn't it weird I didn't recognize it? Not even a little bit?"
Lena shrugs, "You can't expect to know everything. No one can." She smiles softly at Kara. 'I certainly don't.'
Kara smirks playfully, "I'm pretty sure you do know everything."
Lena blushes and looks back down, "Why are you so nice to me?" with her free hand, she fidgets with the hem of her shirt. 'I really don't understand. Do you know how clueless you make me feel?'
"Lena, you never have to be unsure about me, I love you."
Kara's breath catches in her throat. She had meant for it to sound platonic, she really had. But, the words came out charged with a strange sort of electricity. Electricity she's sure Lena can sense too. She sees Lena's face redden as her hand tenses where it's held by Kara's and the hand that had been fidgeting with her shirt freezes in place. Suddenly, all of that movement comes roaring back. In one quick movement, the hand holding Kara's jerks back and the voice recorder is snatched off the side table. She follows this by abruptly standing. "I have to give this to Brainy." Lena turns and all but runs out of the room. As she's leaving, Kara hears a quiet, muttered, 'Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.'
And Kara isn't sure how she expected Lena to react, but it certainly wasn't like that.
About an hour later, Lena finally reenters the room, accompanied by both Brainy and Alex.
"Wow, the whole team's here." Kara jokes.
"Kara." Alex responds firmly, "This is serious. Brainy?" She turns to Brainy in order to indicate for him to start talking.
"The description of your attacker matches that of the Cinerelians. They are a solitary species, who are distinctly peaceful and isolate themselves from the rest of the galaxy on their home planet Cinerel. They rarely reach out or travel to other planets and have no feuds with anyone, which explains how you'd never heard of them."
Kara scowls. "Peaceful?! It stabbed me! And if they rarely talk to other species, let alone leave their planet, what is one doing on Earth attacking random people? Also, how did it even stab me? Isn't my skin supposed to be impenetrable? Its spikey thing did not look stronger than a bullet."
Alex shakes her head, "All valid questions. Unfortunately, none of which we can answer until we bring the Cinerelian into custody."
"Then let's go." Kara pushes up onto her forearms. The sudden movement causing her to wince, which she tries - and fails - to hide. "Lets catch this Cinderella dude."
Lena lets out a laugh. "You're joking, right? You're not going anywhere. You can barely move without being in pain." Lena pauses and looks away. "And... there's something else."
Kara quirks an eyebrow and looks between the three of them. "Something else?"
Alex is the one who responds. "Well... The thing is... Those spikes you mentioned? According to our sources, they carry a venom in them."
Kara's eyes bulge, "Venom!?" None of her friends meet her eye. "GUYS. VENOM!?"
Brainy finally speaks up. "Well it seems that the Cinerelians have the ability to infect a host of their choosing with an aspect of their own."
Kara stared back at him. Clearly waiting for elaboration.
"Those infected gain abilities unique to Cinerelians. Some of their abilities include" Brainy raises one finger, beginning to count them, "enhanced strength, enhanced regeneration, limb detachment, fire breath, telepathy - which explains why they don't have mouths - and energy absorption. So, it's likely for the best that you didn't use your heat vision on it. Now, some of its abilities you already possess, so if one of those is the ability it has infected you with, it's unknown whether your own ability will be enhanced further or if there will be no discernable change."
"Limb detachment..?" Kara shudders to think about it.
'Please don't be telepathy, please don't be telepathy.' She hears Lena say.
"Lena, don't worry." Kara looks up and so does Lena at that while the other two look at Kara. "I won't get telepathy, with luck like mine, I probably will end up getting limb detachment."
Lena's expression falls to somewhere between amazement and horrified and all she replies with is "Shit."