The Red Shadow

Chapter 10: Flare

"Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope."

Fitzgerald F. Scott, The Great Gatsby

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Miles outside National City, hovering above the bare flatlands, Kara's rescue team aboard the Legion cruiser was searching for her secret location desperately. To the outsiders, the futuristic flying vehicle was undetectable owing to the ingenious cloaking mechanism protecting it from prying eyes and technology alike. There was no device advanced enough to pick their signal in this century.

A day after jailbreaking Alex, Brainy and Winn had finally found clues to Kara's whereabouts by hacking into the DEO main servers thanks to Mon-El implanting the bug and allowing them temporary access. It had proved harder than they first believed, though. They had found transactions for some vehicles that had been used to transport "A Target" the same day as Kara's abduction. It was too much of a coincidence and thus a promising lead.

Mon-El was standing in the commanding center of the ship, eyes glued to the scanning light blue holograms that showed activities or constructions in their one kilometer radius with high resolution. While others were in deep discussions over a possible plan and preparing, he was in his red and blue suit and apart from his eyes, not a single other muscle in his body was as much as twitching, resembling a statue. Legs apart and arms crossed tightly over his chest, the side of his thumb was touching the timid outline of the Kryptonian glyph sewn there, his symbol of hope and honor. The contour was defined but not filled, as if the right to use her family's coat of arms was yet unearned to him – never having the chance or the courage to ask her for her consent - and it was as if something was misplaced from his heart there. Something he had long searched for yet never found in that dark future. Nothing even close. All of his heart belonged to the woman who had changed him inside out for good. The woman who had saved his soul and had given meaning and purpose to his life. A beacon of hope and goodness in this vast universe and everything he aspired to be.

A red dot started glowing among the 3D map. It was the van they had been tracking. Mon-El felt his heart racing even though he knew there was little chance Kara could there. He simply couldn't help the increasing level of anxiety and anticipation in himself.

"Brainy," Mon-El called, but the ship was already adjusting its direction towards the red dot location. Everyone hurried towards their seats and strapped in, ready for landing.

The vehicle of interest was burned to a crisp and scrapped to cover any evidence. Someone – from Cadmus without a doubt – had gone to far lengths to make sure no one could trace their tracks, yet nothing was impossible for a genius and a twelfth level intellectual. Their tech and combined insight allowed them to reconstruct an intact model of the vehicle and went further to predict the size and weight of a second vehicle that had continued to transport Kara from there from the dust pattern at the site. It turned out to be a helicopter. The people behind this clearly had resources and had thought everything through.

As they got back on the ship with preoccupied thoughts – since tracking a helicopter could prove more difficult –Mon-El felt someone tapping on his shoulder. It was J'onn.

"Mon-El, are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, just worried," Mon-El replied truthfully but tried to stand less stiff and look stronger than he really felt.

"Me too, but you have to trust that she's strong," J'onn encouraged and he nodded as they walked through the curved narrow hallway together. Despite the silence, Mon-El sensed the weight of it and that there was something on J'onn's mind that he was about to share and he was only about to be proven right when J'onn stopped in his track, gesturing for him to do the same, letting others getting farther away from them.