Chapter Text
“I know where she is.”
Linda’s words seem calm, which does nothing to dim Kara’s rage. The red in her eyes barely vanishes and she keeps her fighting stance.
“And how do you know that?” Kara’s accusatory tone isn’t lost on Linda and she tilts her head.
“I only want to help, I care about Lena, too.”
Kara unclenches and clenches her fists again. Linda might not know that she has seen footage of her at the mansion. It’s not like Kara wants her to be involved in this in a bad way, but she still can’t bring herself to trust that Linda isn’t.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Linda raises her chin in a fashion that painfully reminds Kara of Lena.
“Look, I need you to trust me here. I’ll explain later.”
With a deep angry huff, Kara straightens up and nods.
“Lead the way then.”
-
The two Supergirls hover over an abandoned warehouse at the harbour and Kara couldn’t care less that anyone could see them. She’ll deal with that later, because right now all she can think about is Lena.
She looks over at Linda, meeting her stare. Her blue eyes look cold against the grey clouds in the sky.
Kara has barely ever felt this nervous. She doesn’t know what she’ll walk into. Her mind is in overdrive, running through various worst cases, feeding further into her anxiousness.
“Whatever happens, don’t lose focus on what’s important.” Linda has never looked this serious. The unfamiliarity of her usually carefree doppelganger sends Kara into a nervous shaking state. It feels like everything’s wrong.
“We have to keep Lena save.” Kara replies and Linda nods.
They both descend and crash through the windows in the ceiling. Linda’s hard landing sends small waves through the ground, emanating from the craters around them. Kara is more graceful and immediately scans the vicinity.
In front of them stands a bald man, his dark suit impeccable aside from a little dust on his shoulder, a result of Linda’s entrance.
With a reluctant gesture he swipes his shoulder clean and turns around.
“Where is Lena?” Linda seethes through gritted teeth.
“And which of you is my little bird?” Lex ignores Linda’s question, an expectant look directed at Kara.
Kara huffs and straightens. She glances at Linda who is solely focused on Lex. This is it, this is where she has to decide whether she trust her or not. Kara nods at Lex, as if he’d understand.
“I’m here, so where is- “, before Kara can finish the sentence a green light hits her at her chest, blasting her off her feet.
Eve walks out of the shadows and towards Linda, her cannon raised and ready to fire another shot.
Lex is snickering as he walks up behind her.
“Now, Supergirl, you have a choice to make.” He turns to Linda who glares at the couple.
“Do you want to stay here and save that pathetic excuse of a superhero…” He gestures at Kara who is seething in pain. “Or do you want to come with me and see Lena?”
Linda looks between Kara and Lex. She squeezes her eyes shut. “Damn it.”
With a sigh she opens her eyes at Lex. “Take me to her.”
Eve throws a metal plate the shape of the emblem on their supersuits at Linda who catches it.
“Put this on. It’s a safety measure. If you turn on us, we’ll activate it, sending a generous dose of Kryptonite through your body.” Her voice sweet and a smile on her lips as if she just didn’t threaten to kill her.
“Fine.” Linda snarls and places the plate on her chest and it sticks to it.
“Now, this should be fun.” Lex steps around Eve. “Follow me then. And don’t even try anything.” He waves a remote into Linda’s face. “I have no reservations to make use of this, even if it means to make you drop out of the sky.” His lips twitch in a manic way, as if the thought of having that kind of power over a Kryptonian gave him pure pleasure.
His feet slowly lift off the ground as he ascends. Linda stares at him with big eyes.
“Ah, yes. I’ve used the Kryptonian DNA in Lena’s lab to enhance myself. It’s… a compromise. For now.” He turns and flies towards the hole in the ceiling, when he stops halfway.
“Are you coming?” He sneers and Linda nods. She glances at Kara before she flies after Lex and they both leave.
“Now where were we?” Eve turns to walk towards Kara.
-
“We haven’t heard from either Supergirl and Snowbird in the last two hours.” J’onn is briefing a group of agents back at HQ.
“Agent Danvers will be here shortly. Until then, try to find out everything you can on the Eve Teschmacher. She might have been a victim, but there is a small chance, that she is more involved in this.”
The agents nod as they disperse.
“J’onn!” Alex rushes into the conference room. “I need you to find Lena. There is a chance that either Kara or Linda or maybe even Lex are close to her, we have to make this our priority.”
“I already tried, but so far no luck.”
“Then try again!” Alex all but shouts at J’onn. Surprised by herself, Alex immediately shifts and tries to relax her posture. “Sorry, I just-“
“It’s ok, Alex. I’ll try again.” J’onn walks towards her and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We will find them.”
“We have to.”
A knock at the door makes both of their heads turn.
“Sorry to interrupt, but there was a seismic event at the harbour. Should we send someone to investigate?” The agent at the door looks expectantly at the two superiors.
“It’s her.” Alex gasps. “It has to be Supergirl.”
-
Lex is an inexperienced flyer, but he tries to cover it up, like the narcissist he is. Every once in a while, he’d tumble a bit and blame the wind or a change in density of the air.
If it wasn’t such a serious situation, Linda would almost giggle at him. She remembers the first time she met him at Lena’s lab, she was intrigued by the maniac genius who wanted to play games with everyone he met just to prove that he could anticipate and outmanoeuvre everyone and everything.
Linda experimentally tucked at the plate still attached to her chest. It was stuck tightly, and she didn’t want to try and tear it off while they were above water. They had started to fly offshore and sure enough, soon there was no land in sight. Of course, Lex had another site, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, not to be found by anyone, not even his brilliant sister.
Lena… Linda’s thoughts kept wandering to the previous night. She was looking for her favourite person after she turned down the offer to kiss her. The sting in her chest felt foreign to her and even though it was uncomfortable, she was also happy for the new experience.
That was until she discovered that Lena had not returned home that night. She would sometimes fly by her apartment to listen to her slow heartbeat as she slept. Linda was aware, that people would probably consider her behaviour to be creepy, but it gave her peace of mind. Knowing that Lena was safe and sound in her bed. She didn’t need to be close to her to make sure.
Linda would do anything to make Lena happy, even if it meant hovering outside of Kara’s apartment and let her be the one that holds Lena at night. Let her be the one that gets to kiss Lena.
She wasn’t sure how she would feel about actually seeing either one of them after that night. She didn’t get a chance though. Trying to not hear the heartbeat she usually listens to at night, she expanded her senses, trying to flush out the familiar sound with noise.
And it worked, but not the way Linda thought it would.
What she heard, drew her attention away from the city to a place she had been to before. To the Luthor mansion.
-
Kara is still lying on the ground, back hunched over and face down. Footsteps echoed from the walls as a pair of high heels drew closer.
As Eve reaches her, she points her cannon at the cowering blonde. “Look at me, I want to see the light dim in your eyes when I end you, Kryptonian.”
Eve places the sole of her foot at Kara’s shoulder, trying to kick her on her back, but Kara doesn’t budge.
“You’re a psycho, you know that?” Kara slowly raises her head, with a smile on her face. There are no green lines on her face, no traces of Kryptonite poisoning.
“What? How?” Before Eve can finish, Kara pushes her over, the cannon falling out of Eve’s hands.
A humming noise from outside starts to grow louder. A light from above is shining throw the whole in the ceiling. The DEO has finally arrived.
Kara touches her chest where a transparent plate, just like the one Linda received from Eve earlier resides. But this one was made by a different Luthor, with different intentions.
“It’s a Kryptonite shield. It draws in and absorbs enough to give you some time to get away from the source.” Kara can still hear the way Lena excitedly presented her invention to her. Today it saved her life.
Kara stands up to look up, waiting for agents, possibly her sister to come reeling down so she can hand over Eve and follow Linda and Lex. Every minute she pends with Lex raises the risk of him figuring it out.
After all, he still thinks he has the original Supergirl in tow, just like they planned.
-
Lena wakes up with a pounding in her head. The mattress she finds herself on is thin and uncomfortable. The air around her is cold and clammy.
She sits up to look around the dimly lit room. The walls are metal and there are no windows. There is no furniture and so she walks towards the only door, opposite her bed.
She takes a deep breath and raises her hand to knock, when she remembers. She was in her office, trying to dig up the files she had on Eve. There was no way that Lex had known she would hire her. He could not have planned for this. Yet, he managed to escape her perfectly built prison. He must’ve had help from outside.
The footage of the blue and red flash entering her burning mansion played inside of her mind.
“But it was already on fire.” She tells herself as she lowers her hand again. Linda would never betray her like that, after all, she came from Kara. Then again, Kara didn’t tell her about her true identity for years. She doesn’t want to admit it, but she can’t put deception past either one of them.
With a shake of her head, she tries to rid herself of the dark thoughts.
They will come and save her.
She looks up at the door again and knocks.
“Hello?” She waits. Nothing.
With a huff she turns around and walks toward her bed.
With a shrieking sound, the door opens and more light falls into the room. Lena turns to see a bulking shadow in front of her.
Lena glares at the man, remembering how it was also him that entered her office and started to trash everything in a primal attempt to intimidate her.
She would have never gone with him willingly and so he had to use force. It’s the last thing she remembers, him towering over her before two strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders and a sting in her right arm made her jump. Darkness crept into her vision and the white of his teeth was the last thing she saw.
Now he is standing there, arms crossed over his chest.
“Mrs Luthor, glad to see you're awake. Your brother expects you to start working right away.”