"Don't push her anymore, Winn." Kara placed a hand on Lena's shoulder gently, setting limits on her friend. Winn hummed sadly in frustration and threw his head to back, unfortunately understanding. "I'm sure if Lena didn't do it, it was for a good reason. And that's okay because her chip is amazing and helps a lot of people." The green eyes shot at Kara with tenure, admiring the blonde quietly for a long time. Attracted for the Kryptonian's strong arms, Lena laid her head on Kara's shoulder and crossed their arms, causing a shy little grin in her own mouth. The silence between them was comfortable as the other talked over and over, only enjoying each other's presence. That was enough for them. Counting Kara besides her, Lena was at home.
"Guys!" The group jumped out and gazed speedily towards the entrance, seeing James approaching. He was panting. His ribs rose and fell in a crazy way that everybody thought he could fall at any moment. His eyes wide open like a gosh turned up in his way, letting everyone leave their stuff to focus on him, worried. "You-... You guys have to see this." James picked up the remote on top of the round wooden table and pressed the button, turning on the set of screens that he lit directly into an interview, where he had nothing more and nothing less than Morgan Edge in the lead.
'Protecting Supergirl after everything that's happened is an injustice to ourselves. We all saw the video that hit the internet of miss Luthor and miss Ryan going head to head, and miss Ryan was clearly saying that the owner of L-Corp ruined her life. My team sought more information to be able to bring the truth to all of you in National City, and the fact is that Supergirl and Lena Luthor were arrested after that, and they only got out because the super cousin came to save the inconsequential reporter. Funny, right?' Edge Morgan gave a fake chuckle and Lena frowned, funneling her eyes to the television.
"What is this maniac talking about? Kara was sick, logically sir Kent would help her." Realizing her fury, Kara laced her fingers with Lena and squeezed them lightly, trying to calm her friend down a bit. The relationship between these two was never the best, but it was getting worse, and that worried the Kryptonian. "We didn't do anything illegal, it was self-defence. They were going to let us go anyway."
"Yeah, but he didn't say that on TV." Nia said.
"That rogue. Always twisting stories to his advantage." Lena snorted, returning her attention to the screen.
'Now I wonder, is Superman also in the middle of all this? We all know the rumors that are floating around of a Super and a Luthor romance. And now they've gone to the television show? We have to agree that this is idiotic. Even though miss Luthor is playing the Good Samaritan right now, I'm curious to know what our dear Surpergirl would do if miss Luthor simply tried to kill us in a PMS crisis.'
Lena and Kara frowned at the same time, disgusted.
'It's not news how sentimental women get at this stage, and being a Luthor I fear that certain primal instincts of her upbringing will surface. Her fault? No, PMS, but with this romance between the two I wonder who our Kara would choose. Protect us or miss Luthor? Maybe she's not that super hero we—' The television was suddenly turned off and everyone looked to the side, seeing Alex with the controller in his hand. "Who does this piece of shit think he's talking about? I'm going to kill him!"
"You can't take your gun. You're a DEO agent." Reminded J'onn.
"Alright, I'll finish him off without her." J'onn put a hand to his forehead, worried. The redhead's fury was visible for miles. Her eyes caught fire, engulfing everyone within her deadly aura. There was no one who doubted that she would be able to kill Morgan Edge with her bare hands, especially J'onn. He had personally trained her to be the best of the best among combatants, but Alex had an impulsive temper and her thirst to protect her sister was immeasurable. J'onn feared that she would make an unavoidable blunder.
"Now he wants all those years of Kal-El saving the world to come to nothing just because he got us out of prison? That's all I needed." Kara complained.
"But this story of the romance between you had not been resolved with the television program?" Winn found it strange, remembering last time he checked the data on the number of searches on them, the percentage had dropped considerably. Why return to this subject now when no controversy has been raised? "Some people are never happy with the happiness of others." Lena groaned, feeling her throat close at the memory of Morgan Edge's smug face. It made him nauseous.
Seeing the warm environment torment those souls with incalculable revulsion, Kara couldn't help but cast a wistful gaze at the ground. Whenever something bad happened, it directly affected everyone she loved, and now that Morgan Edge had promised to ruin their lives even Lena's entire effort to be respected in National City could end in a blink, and there was nothing she could do to help. Kara had even published several pages of heroic acts that Supergirl had done in recent weeks, such as preventing a bank robbery or an attempted murder, but nothing came of it. National City always preferred to read about deadly controversies or romance rumors, and it was driving her crazy.
Lena saw the Kryptonian throw her head back and ruffle her hair, exhausted from all the problems she had. A stab of guilt hit Lena in the stomach. She was to blame for Kara being in this state. Morgan Edge was only after Kara because Lena let her get involved in this fight even though she knew Morgan Edge was an unscrupulous sexist. If she had stopped it, maybe Kara wouldn't be suffering so much right now, and being aware of this possibility of a peaceful reality hurt her, but unfortunately it was too late to regret it.
"Kara." Lena called her low, almost no having her voice out of her throat, but not for super. Kara almost immediately lifted her head, giving Lena her full attention. No matter how quietly Lena spoke or the slightest changes in her heart palpitations, Kara would always pay attention to the CEO, no matter what situation they faced. "Maybe... Maybe you better get out of National City for a while." Kara's brow subtly joined. "You can stay at our place in Dublin, remember? The one we signed with the lawyer, your name is on there too. You can stay there until things settle down and I-"
"Do you want me to go to Dublin and leave you here?" Kara's voice was so low Lena was able to read her disbelief without even looking at her face. And at that, the CEO kept her own lips closed, quiet. "No, Lena! I'm not leaving you here alone with that monster!"
"Kara, please. It's my fault all this is happening. If I hadn't let you join our conversations, maybe now you wouldn't be-"
"What? Happy while you were unfairly in jail all this time? This is not your fault, it's only his. You're a hardworking woman who does what you want and doesn't depend on any man to achieve your dreams. He who is wrong for trying to frame you just because you don't need him and all his charm to survive. Please don't shed a tear for him. He doesn't deserve it." Lena sniffed and Kara carefully cupped her face, wiping the drops from her cheek with her thumb, keeping her gaze sweet in green eyes. "I... I'm sorry, Lee." Lena frowned slightly, not understanding that sudden apologies. "I promised to protect you, but no matter how many times I write about you and talk about how amazing you are, it seems like there's always someone who wants to vilify you just for hanging out with me. The death attempts, the kidnappings, and now this. All your efforts are being wasted because of me, and I... I couldn't protect you. I'm a terrible superhero, and friend."
"Hey... That's not true. Kara, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have this amazing family. I'd still be sad in Metropolis pretending that innocent deaths weren't my family's fault, and I would never have met you, that person I..." Lena took a deep breath and looked into blue eyes. "...I admire her huge heart, my best friend. And I never regret anything that happened to me to be with you. You were the best thing that happened in my life."
Kara sniffed and wiped the tears with her hands, trying to compose herself. "But I didn't want you to go through that. You should be smiling, laughing, playin-" Kara trailed off as she felt Lena's hands on her face, forcing her to look into her face. "And what am I doing here at the DEO? You did it, Kara. You do it, every day." Lena struggled to smile, feeling another stubborn tear roll down her skin. "I just didn't want you to be in that situation either." Lena confessed softly. "Then I guess we're even." The CEO chuckled at Kara's comment, elasticating the blonde to laugh too. Kara was right, whatever happens they always thought of each other's happiness and safety first and foremost, and that drove them either to go fight to protect, or shut up and run away. In the end, there will always be someone after Supergirl, and there will always be someone after a Luthor. Maybe their destiny is exactly that, not trying to act to protect, but simply accepting and facing, together. And they knew that if they had each other, regardless of the consequences, it would be worth it.
After a few minutes Kara decided to fly to CatCo and continue her work and Lena did the same, heading to L-Corp. Kara needed to clear her head. She had to distract herself from Morgan Edge, and she'd take anything for that, even Snapper Carr's screaming, but what she found there was much, much worse. In front of the gates of CatCo, hundreds of paparazzi were waiting for Supergirl to talk about the controversial news, and that pissed her off. Kara had no option but to enter through the CEO room window. She hated it. She felt like a fugitive in her own home, but all was lost. There was no avoiding it.
"Are you okay?" Kara jumped at the sound of the voice, turning towards the source. Nia was at the entrance to the room looking at the blonde in a way as scared as the Kryptonian, unmoved by the sudden reaction of the veteran heroine. "How... How did you know I was here?!" Kara wanted to insult the girl in every way possible, but her chest was pounding so hard she had no idea how to go about it, giving her one more reason to hate this situation. "I... dreamed you were here. Awake." Kara nodded, after trying to calm her own heart. Honestly, she found it hard to believe that Nia had gotten to CatCo before her, that she'd flown in, but come to think of it Kara had no idea how long she and Lena had talked. So maybe, just maybe, they were so absorbed that Nia left without telling anyone — or maybe she did, Kara didn't know, but that wasn't the point now. She had something even more important to worry about. "How are things over here?" Kara questioned, watching a slight sadness born on Nia's face.
"I think you would have to see it yourself."
Kara nodded and followed the young reporter out of the room, and at the same moment, grief settled in the blonde's body. Wide-eyed eyes of all the staff watched each of her parents, shocked that their unnoticed presence was already inside the presidential room. As she walked, employees cleared the way for the super pass as if a big event was about to happen, but given the current circumstances Kara couldn't look on a bright side. She knew what they were thinking, rather, she didn't want to know. Though they were curious, and Kara knew that if she opened her mouth to explain anything, even to those who had the pure heart to really help her, the reporter side of them would come out sooner or later, and new gossip would be published, and she really wasn't in the mood to have more problems for today.
"Kara! It's your fault those damn paparazzi don't leave the front door! How can you work like that?!" Kara squeezed her eyes shut and put her hand to her temples, feeling them throb. "No, not now Snapper. I have a headache." She murmured as she massaged the sore area.
"And you think I'm not? It's because of you that all this is happening! And we're the ones who have to deal with the consequences. You're reckless and reckless, you always have been since you set foot in CatCo. I don't understand why Mrs Grant chose you to run all of this. Look what you've done to all of us. Is this how you think you're going to protect the world? Pretending to be-"
"Do you want to stop screaming, can't you see I'm in a bad way?!" Kara threw him a glare, receiving an even worse one. A selfish, judgmental look, stabbing even deeper into her soul. "I'm sorry if they're bothering you, do you think it doesn't bother me too? But there's nothing I can do. It's their job."
"And your job should be writing the pages for the magazine, not walking around with that walking problem." Kara clenched her fists and snorted deeply. "Or is Supergirl's heart so kind that she would risk everything for the daughter of psychopaths?"
"Don't speak ill of Lena!" Kara stood up suddenly, shocking everyone. A strong gust of wind came up, pushing all the bodies back. Her gaze was filled with fury. There were millimeters left for her patience to be exhausted and lasers to be fired from her eyes, and Snapper had noticed that, but he didn't give up. He lifted his nose in the air and composed himself, approaching Kara again. "She didn't do anything wrong, so don't you dare blame her." She growled through her teeth.
Snapper smirked, irritating the blonde. "Nothing? A CEO and the employee, nothing much. And she still comes after you whenever she can, I wish I had a friend like that too. Imagine, going out whenever you can and never having a loss. Good life, isn't it?" Kara pressed her fingers against her palm even harder, feeling that the blood no longer reached her fingertips. Nia watched the scene restlessly, rubbing her sweaty hands together as she skipped across the room. Working with the Kryptonian at the DEO had given her a broader view of how protective Kara as a leader was with her team, which included Lena, but it had also shown her that the super, like everyone else, had limits on very specific things, and Nia knew that Snapper was very close. And that was dangerous. "We see every day the things that happen here, we're not blind. And you still have the audacity to do this indecency inside the work. You two are too young and reckless, you can't just walk around like the world is of you and do whatever you want."
"And why not? Why don't you believe we're just friends? Why is she Luthor and I'm a simple reporter and Supergirl everyone loves? Or is it because... we're both women?" Snapper was silent for a few seconds, making Kara laugh. He didn't even blink, trying to process what Kara had said, and it was clearer than any answer he could offer. "You know? That's hilarious. I have to do what you say, I have to do what the population says, I even have to do things that people who have died say, but why can't I do what I want?! Who said that meeting a friend is indecent? Who has a ruler to measure how much I have to love to know if it fits society's standards? You? Your parents?" Kara took a deep breath and wiped her nose, trying to control herself. "Don't blame other people for not following the rules of this perfect world. No one is."
Snapper's face turned sour, but his mouth didn't move. Unconsciously, Kara nodded. She won.
"Kara." The Kryptonian quickly turned around, never imagining that she could be so happy to see someone who could bring her news of that hideous world. "James, what's up? Anything from Lena?" Anxiety reflected in her eyes, urging her friend to tell. "A friend called me earlier. The paparazzi also took over L-Corp." The blonde bit her lip as she listened, cursing the moment. Why did this have to happen to a good person like Lena? Kara couldn't understand. And that feeling of helplessness growing more and more in her chest made her even more nervous. This was going too far.
"Kara." James grabbed her arm and she looked up immediately. "Are you okay?" James was giving her a tender look, but filled with anguish, worried about her condition. Kara Danvers was not only his ex-girlfriend and a dear friend, though above all, she was his best friend's only cousin, and James had a responsibility to protect her for him. And he would do that. "Do you think I'm fine?" Kara whispered, and then aimed away from him. She had nothing else to say.
The Kryptonian was startled when felt her pocket vibrate. She picked up her cell phone and spotted the contact on the screen. In a matter of seconds her dazed eyes dilated, and she quickly answered the call. Curious, James stared at the blonde's facial expression fixedly, causing Kara sometimes to give him a cold shoulder, but he never respected it, accompanying every one of her actions. After a short time, Kara called off and raised James.
"So...?" He insinuated, waiting for his answer.
"It's Lena. I have to go."
And with that Kara flew away.