Hey all! Here's the new chapter!
Many thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions or ideas! :D
Read on!
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"She's stubborn, huh." Alex turned off the heat of the stove. "Didn't even mention it."
"Yeah, she is. Reminds me of someone else." Kara moved, so she was laying on her back on the counter, the cold feeling wonderful.
Alex scraped off some of the food she had cooked onto a plate, then dropped the skillet into the sink. She froze once she saw Kara. "You know, it's just unfair." Alex walked closer to the puppy.
Kara turned over to lay on her front, giving Alex a confused look. "What?"
"Sit up for me real quick."
Kara sat up, her ears perking up as she looked up at her big sister. Her tail wagged a bit behind her.
"Do your puppy eyes."
Kara was tempted to snort out of amusement before stopping herself. Her puppy eyes in her regular form were surprisingly effective, but now?
A quick test was needed.
Kara looked down towards her paws, doing her best to adjust her facial features, which felt odd to do. She did her best to press her ears against her head. She made her eyes wide and pleading and a bit watery. Once she felt she was ready, she looked up towards Alex.
"...That is effective." Alex's voice sounded strained. She was sure Kara's eyes sparkled for a quick second. It was unfair that she was still weak for Kara's puppy eyes.
Kara let a whine escape and tilted her head. It sounded desperate and real.
"Okay, stop that," Alex booped Kara's nose, making Kara sneeze. It was too cute.
"Why do you keep doing that?!" Kara pawed at her nose furiously, wanting to get rid of the itch. Alex snickered and reached with her hand to poke at Kara's nose again. Kara lunged at the approaching hand, trapping Alex's entire arm in a hug, standing on her hind legs. "No more."
"If mom could see you now." Alex scratched at Kara's ears with her hand that wasn't trapped in a hug. Alex froze. "Oh crap, mom."
Kara froze. Oh right, Eliza.
"We should facetime her."
"Yeah." Kara woofed and let go of Alex's arm.
"I'm gonna go drop off the food, and then we'll facetime her." Alex picked the plate and grabbed some utensils, and made her way to the room Lena was resting in.
Kara waited patiently, hoping that Lena would like the food. Alex wasn't known for her cooking skills; she would know.
A few minutes later, Alex came back, chuckling. "Winn was telling Lena about Wendy's national roast day and what happened at Catco."
Kara couldn't help but grimace, remembering how tense Catco had been. 'That was...a scary day,' Kara thought.
Kara and the rest of the Catco employees had been horrified when one of the PR people of Catco reached out to Wendy's Twitter to roast them. When Cat had found out what that employee had done, she had been annoyed before seeing Wendy's response. Then she quietly walked back to her office with a coffee Kara had gotten for her. Cat Grant had closed the door, yelling for no one to disturb her.
Kara and everyone else could only watch as @CatGrant and @Wendys went at it on Twitter for hours, with Wendys bowing down by the evening. There were many times when employees would struggle not to let out a sound at a comeback. It was difficult to do her job as Cat's assistant while hearing Cat talking to herself about her next comeback.
The person who ran Wendy's Twitter on that day must've felt pain.
"I remember you calling me, freaking out about it." Alex snickered. "You were so scared Cat was going to come out of her office and fire you each time Wendy's replied."
"It was a legitimate fear!" Kara glared towards the older Danvers. Cat was scary for being a short woman, and Kara couldn't help but respect that.
Alex patted Kara's head. "I'm gonna pretend I understood that. Anyways," Alex reached down into her boot, unzipped a compartment, and pulled out her phone.
"That's where you had your phone?" Kara tilted her head. She's always learning something new about the agent's uniform.
Alex hummed thoughtfully as she unlocked her phone. "I guess you can stay there." Alex sat back down, adjusting her chair so her back was to the counter.
Kara padded over and rested her head on Alex's left shoulder. Alex smiled at the gesture before catching a whiff of dog breath.
"You better not lick me; you have gross dog breath," Alex warned, starting the call.
Out of spite, Kara licked Alex's cheek, making Alex grimace. "Oh, you little sh-"
Both of them looked towards the phone once they heard it go through.
"Alex, how is-is that Kara?" The left side of Eliza's face appeared, with the usual commotion of the DEO being heard in the background.
"Eliza!" Kara howled right next to Alex's ear, her tail smacking the back of Alex's head. "I'm so sorry for not calling you!"
"Kara!" Alex scolded, feeling her ear ringing.
"Oh, my-it's her. I could recognize those eyes anywhere." Eliza chuckled, relief clear in her voice. "Hold on, let me find a quiet place."
Kara rested her paws on Alex's shoulder, her head reaching out to nose at the phone. She couldn't help the urge to nuzzle against the phone.
"Kara, get down- oh, come here." Alex reached behind her, grabbing Kara around the belly, moving the puppy to her lap. "Now, settle down."
Kara couldn't help but be pleased. She could never refuse a hug from Alex.
They waited until Eliza seemed to find an empty room and settled down, placing the phone on the table, allowing the sisters to see her fully.
"My girls," Eliza said fondly. "Kara, I'm so glad you're okay. We had been so worried."
"I'm okay! Lena has been taking care of me!" Kara yipped.
"I assume that's you saying you're okay."
Kara nodded.
"If only we had a way to hear her speak," Alex muttered. "For all I know, she could be bad mouthing me."
"Alex!" Eliza scolded.
"Alex! I could never!" Kara let out a sharp bark, shooting Alex a hurt look.
"I'm kidding!" Alex could recognize the hurt look on Kara's face, even in her current state. "Sorry." Alex gave Kara's head a quick pat. "Mom, want to tell Kara what we found out?"
Kara swiveled her head to look towards the phone, interest clear.
"Well, I ran a couple of tests on your blood and the goo, and I must say, Kara, why would you touch something of unknown origin without gloves?" Eliza sounded exasperated. "Especially without gloves. We went over lab safety multiple times, Kara. Multiple times."
Kara just hung her head, feeling Alex poke her side. She really should've worn gloves. She had gotten so used to none of the chemicals in the DEO affecting her that she had gotten careless.
"I'm just thankful you're okay...but we will be going over lab safety again."
"Again?!" Kara grumbled but nodded.
Eliza heaved a sigh. "The tests showed the goo completely overtaking your DNA, turning you into, well, a golden retriever. Your Kryptonian DNA was absent, which I found to be shocking. However, I've been keeping an eye on some samples, and I've been able to see hints of Kryptonian. I will try sun blasting it later today and see if there are any changes. I can only assume the goo is somehow mixing with your DNA but there are still a lot of unknowns. Such as your ability to return to normal."
Eliza took a breather. "There are several ideas. It could be a waiting game, or we could find a cure, or the alien itself could change you back. We can't communicate with the alien currently, and I don't think you want to wait for too long."
Kara shook her head furiously at that.
"The alien communicates with some sort of sign language. I think if its use of appendages was anything to go by. It's not similar to any sign language on the earth from what I could tell. It looked very similar to a human, had very pale skin, almost white and its eyes would change color. It didn't have any ears or nails, so I'm assuming it did not communicate verbally hence the sign language and maybe it remains transformed most of the time. " Alex poked Kara's side. "You wouldn't happen to know an alien sign language by any chance?"
'An alien that talks with signs, very pale skin, changing eye colors...hmm, doesn't sound familiar to me at all, and I don't know that sign language. ' Kara just shook her head. She had heard about several species that communicated in such a way but had never met one personally.
"We have an NCPD detective in custody, says she knows a place where there could be someone who knows of its species. An alien hideout or something. She made a deal with me, but I can send another agent in my stead." Alex informed kara.
Eliza spoke up, "J'onn has spoken with the detective after you left. She was very adamant that she made a deal with you, and is not willing to work with anyone else." Eliza shifted a little in her seat. "She made that very clear with J'onn. You can expect a call from him later today, Alex."
"You can't be serious. I'm not leaving Kara alone with Ms. Luthor." Alex flinched as Kara nipped at her hand. "Fine, Lena." Kara let go.
"Isn't Winn with you? He could stay to watch over Kara." Eliza suggested.
Alex gave her mom a look. Kara just smiled widely at the thought of her best friend staying to hang out. She had a feeling Lena would get along with the tech genius.
"And Ms. Luthor is a very important woman. I'm sure she has her own security."
"She does. I just don't." Alex let out a frustrated sigh. "I just don't want to leave kara, okay? She doesn't have her powers."
'But I kind of do, I think.' Kara nudged Alex's hand, 'I just need to find a way to tell you.'
"I'm just letting you know. How is Ms. Luthor?" Eliza asked.
"She's super nice! She didn't even get mad at me when I chewed on her heel!" Kara barked in succession.
"She's a stubborn one. It turns out she had a concussion and didn't inform me until we finished signing the NDA's" Alex shook her head.
"Reminds me of someone. Someone who walked on a broken ankle for three days before being carried to the doctors at the DEO." The matriarch gave her oldest daughter a look.
"I am a doctor."
"You didn't complete your residency."
"But I am still a doc-ow!" Alex sent Kara a scolding look after feeling tiny teeth nip at her fingers. Kara sent her a glare back.
That had been an interesting week. After fighting with a tough alien, Kara had realized her older sister was acting weird. Whenever she entered a room, she would always find Alex leaning against something, and she thought it was just to appear cool, but something was off. For example, during a meeting, Alex was sitting instead of partaking in her usual prowling, often scaring the other agents in the room. After cornering her sister, Kara looked at her legs and forced her to go to the DEO doctors, practically carrying Alex there.
Alex had been stubborn, especially when it came to wearing a cast and using crutches. Of course, J'onn had suggested the eldest go home, but she refused.
"Yeah yeah, I was stubborn. You didn't have to carry me on your back for the following weeks." Alex grumbled. "Anyways, I'll wait for the call then. And I'll talk to Winn and Ms. Luthor about where we go from here. How is agent Dom?"
"He's been doing well, brain activity is all good, and he had some plants for lunch. Agent Leon has been keeping him company. They tried playing chess an hour ago, and guess who won?" Eliza asked in amusement.
"Agent Leon?" Alex guessed, knowing the agent was a good chess player.
"Agent Dom won." Eliza let out a chuckle.
Alex let out a small laugh while Kara let out a huff. "At least he's doing well. Anything new with the alien?"
"I had dropped off some more food options: some meats, fruits, and vegetables. And it appears that they like fruits and vegetables more. They really didn't like the smell of meat and stayed in the corner of the cell until we finally removed it."
"Interesting," Alex muttered. "Anything else?"
"No. I will try sun blasting the sample I have and see if there are any changes. If I find anything new, I will call back."
"Sounds good, talk to you later mom-Ow!" Alex exclaimed as Kara lunged at the phone, her claws digging into Alex's pants. "Kara will miss you, bye!" Alex hung up, cutting off her mother's laughter.
"I wanted us to talk more," Kara whined, sitting back in Alex's lap. She looked up towards her sister, who gave her a soft look.
"We'll call her later, okay?"
"Fine."
Alex picked up her sister and placed her gently on the floor. "Let's go see what the geniuses are doing." Alex fixed the chairs, tucking them under the counter. "Do you think Ms-Lena would be able to make a collar that can translate your thoughts, like from that movie with the dogs? The one where you cried in the beginning?"
"...Up?" Kara jumped excitedly. "I can be Dug! Oh gosh, I can be Dug! Let's go talk to Lena!" Kara began running around Alex's legs.
Alex let out a laugh as she watched Kara fool around. "I take it you found a revelation."
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Alex was displeased
"So what you're planning on doing is using my sister to improve your public image." There was an edge to Alex's voice, making Kara slink away from her. Winn moved away from the redhead as well, standing on the opposite side of her.
Lena straightened up. "Yes."
"No fu-"
"The device she destroyed was what I was going to use. And after thinking it over, I do agree that it was for the best for it to be destroyed, but now it leaves me scrambling to find something else." Lena noticed the guilty look appearing on Kara's face. "Actually, there is something else." She just remembered another detail.
"The device she destroyed was made of titanium, and she was a puppy."
Alex's eyes widened a bit before gesturing for Kara to get close as she knelt. Kara scrambled to sit in front of Alex. "Can you open your mouth?" Kara obliged, opening her jaw.
"Hmm, you still have small puppy teeth." Alex lifted Kara's jaw to see better, her fingers gently lifting the sides of Kara's mouth to see small unblemished teeth. Kara let out a small whine in discomfort. "Do you think you still have your powers?" Alex let go of Kara's jaw.
Kara tilted her head before trying to make a shrugging motion.
"Looks like we still need those buttons," Alex sighed.
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'I want to help Lena.' All three humans looked towards Alex's phone.
"We can get back to that, but first, Kara, do you think you still have your powers?" Alex sat down next to her puppy sister.
Kara tilted her head, her tail wagging slowly. She got back up and began to paw at the colorful buttons.
After a few seconds of pawing, Alex looked down at her phone. 'Think so.'
"Can you try your best to explain?"
Kara huffed.
After a few minutes and a bit of editing, Alex read out what Kara spelled out, "'After sleeping in the sun the first time, I felt very tired and just out of it. The next day, I was very full of energy. Every time I'm in the sun, I absorb it, but it takes a while to go into effect. I think. Before I destroyed Lena's device, I had been blasted with sunlight from Dr. Malcolm's sunlamps a bit before, so I think that made it possible for me to destroy it.'"
"Dr. Malcolm's sunlamps have proven to be very strong," Lena added. "At least, according to the data I was given."
"Mom did say it appeared the goop was mixing with your DNA, so it makes sense. She could probably find out a lot more information." Alex muttered.
"So it's very likely that she could end up with her laser eyes and flight, and everything else," Winn noted, making Alex grimace.
Lena immediately began planning on fortifying her apartment.
"A flying puppy, that just sounds like a mess." Alex rubbed her forehead. "I don't even want to think about your laser eyes."
'Me either,' Kara thought. She wasn't even sure if she could control her powers in her current state.
"I'll call mom later, see if we could come up with something to suppress your powers. I don't think you want to deal with a strong, laser-eyed, flying puppy." Alex gave Lena a questioning look.
"I would prefer not to. " Lena sat back down on her bed, tension bleeding out of her. Winn paced around the room.
They were quiet for a bit before Alex spoke up, looking towards her sister, "You want to help Lena, Kara?"
Kara nodded. She wanted to make it up to Lena. She couldn't do much, but she was willing to do anything to make it right. The guilt of destroying Lena's device still lingered.
Alex sighed. She wanted nothing more than to take Kara back to the DEO forcefully, but she had a feeling that wouldn't go well. Kara was a puppy but a stubborn puppy.
There was only one option.
"If she is to help you with being on social media, will your team be willing to work with us?" Alex stood up, shoulders tense. "The both of you will be under DEO's protection as well."
Lena looked into Alex's eyes. "My team has been protective of Kara ever since she has come into my care, and I know Boss will be more than willing to work with you, although my team will have to fill out those NDA's, correct?"
"Yes. Being on social media poses a large risk, especially since Kara is Supergirl." Alex began to pace. "We will have to work on security rotations and perhaps have some tech people as well."
"I could stay!" They all turned to Winn. "I mean, I have my own stuff back at home." Winn turned to Lena, " with your permission, I could stay and help."
"That could work." Alex nodded.
"You want to help me?" Lena asked, bewildered.
"Well, other than being a fan, I used to work at Catco. While it was technical, I was able to catch trends and do analytics. And let me tell you, people love cute dogs, especially when they're puppies." Winn pointed towards Kara, who yawned widely yet cutely.
Somehow.
"Are you feeling alright to do a meeting later?" Alex asked. If John was to call her later in the day, she wanted to have a plan ready.
"A bit, yes, I will need to contact my assistant. Knowing my employees, I'm sure they had a plan ready for weeks." Lena reached under the bed frame and pressed a panic button.
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As it turns out, Mrs. Masters did have a plan prepared for weeks, which was begrudgingly shared with Alex. Much to Lena's surprise, Mrs. Masters advocated for Winn, saying, "Lena, darling, we need all the help we can get."
Later in the evening, J'onn called and set up communication for all parties.
It took four hours to settle on the same plan, on guard rotations, and share people's names to keep an eye out for, along with some extra information.
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The plan went into motion the next day, much to Kara's surprise.
It all started with a photo on the brand new Instagram account @LenaKL.
A photo of a golden retriever puppy in Lena's fixed penthouse, looking out the large window, looking absolutely majestic as the sun rose.
With a caption underneath, reading, "Hello, National City!"