Sacrifices

Chapter 4 - Lines In The Sand

Narrator's POV 

Our heroes surrounded the medical bay in the DEO, as usual. Before them was someone they didn't know. It looked like Kara, that was it. She was stable, at least for now. Brainy had done his best to whip up some technology that would be useful but no one had ever survived The Anti-Monitor's attacks as long as she had, or at all. The fact she'd defeated him and survived was rewriting Brainy's history. This was a problem of epic proportions. She needed a new suit, that was easy to tell, she must not have changed in a long time if she'd been able to tear a suit. There was supposed to be built in repairs but they only lasted for so many tears. Brainy was thinking out loud as the rest of the room stay silent. She was really there. 

Close family suffers from a tremendous loss the most. Everyone around her was her family but only one was her sister. There was not a single person that couldn't tell something was up with Alex. There was a tell in that look she kept in her eye. Seeing her sister just show up out of the blue to fight, and save the city by sacrificing herself and having killed someone, she didn't really know how to carry herself. Kara Danvers, was back and severely different. This had a butterfly effect. The poor agents who tried to ask their boss questions had received a less than enthusiastic 'fuck off', in a few different words. 
"Brainy, what happened to her?" Answers, she needed answers. 
"I do not know for this was not in my history books. Winn, did you see anything in the future?" Turning the question over to someone else was clever but still evading what they all already knew. 
"There was nothing about this. As far as I know the multiverse didn't exist anymore and there was only one Earth. Almost everyone died, excusing Superman." This was the last straw for Director Danvers.
"You knew she was supposed to die and didn't say anything?" Poor Winn felt a lump stuck in his throat and the raging redhead glaring at him was not helping. It was when she stared him down with the intention to seriously injure that J'onn stepped in. 
"Alex, don't. You have more control than that. We need to focus our energy on helping your sister." Why did he always have to be right? Anger management was sounding pretty good. 

Poor Lena Luthor hadn't said a word to any of them since the hero had shown up again. She clung to her phone like it was her child, for saved on the device was a clip the woman on the bed had sent to her. It had been an intentionally delayed message, a cruel twist of fate really. She'd been part way through the grieving process when she found it, resetting the clock. As it was she still hadn't finished the cycle. 
"I'll be waiting on the other side for you. Hopefully I won't see you too soon." That had been the message she'd received. That was when 'missing' turned into 'probably dead'. All that waiting for a spark of hope or a hint but none of them had an idea of what she had been going through. If something had possessed Supergirl to kill, she'd been severely broken. 

It was a cold day in their little hell. Not a single soul could really fathom the idea of leaving her bedside. Around the medical bay even agents had started to gather, in memoriam more than anything else. Sure, the hero was back but it wasn't difficult to tell she was an entirely new person. If she woke, they'd have a difficult job on their hands. The superfriends themselves had resorted to shifts of watching over the sleeping girl who looked oddly peaceful after everything, ignoring the angry Mark's on any visible skin of course. As if like clockwork, as soon as the building seemed quietest, it became eerie. When the next shift on Super watch changed over the level of security they felt went down significantly. She was gone, again. 

Security cameras had shown her just walking out with no resistance. Sparks flew from her fingertips as she disconnected any wires and she just walked out. How had none of them seen her? Probably the super speed. Where were they even supposed to look for her?

Kara's POV

It was here, somewhere. It had to be. All around me was meaningless junk and no actual clues about anything. I'd done as asked and found The Anti-Monitor and all he did was proclaim me 'free'. No more missions or warm-ups because there wasn't exactly a bigger big bad to fight. Begging for more left me with no better response. If this was his ideal of mercy, he clearly was not aware of all I had done for him. There was a suppressed personality inside me, buried so deep time may not even reveal it. I'd done it to better serve now what did I have? A drive to protect.