August 7th, 2017
It was a sunny day in National City.
Summer had arrived in full force and various businesses were temporarily closed due to the heat. There had actually been a brief spell of rain during the afternoon (the first form of precipitation in over two months), but now the scorching temperatures had returned, causing the many abandoned offices in town to turn into giant ovens. One of the few businesses that couldn't quite afford to take a break was L-Corp; since they were at the forefront of funding the reconstruction of the city after the Daxamite invasion and Lillian Luthor's assault just two weeks after that.
Lena Luthor had spent the last two months making sure that they did just that, not only out of a feeling of moral obligation, but also because she was pretty sure that if they didn't do their part, Kara would soon drop to the ground out of pure exhaustion trying to reconstruct the whole damn city by herself.
Lena was currently in her office, sweat sticking to her despite the air conditioning, while her mood was a stark contrast to the sunny disposition of the weather. She was ticking her nails on her desk while pressing her phone to her ear, as she stared intently at the link a certain idiot had just sent her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taSH_nZkRdw
"Hey! Lena!" the voice on the other end sounded. "What's up?"
"Winn, what am I looking at?" Lena grumbled.
Winn fell quiet for a moment. "Is that a riddle?" he asked confused. "Because it's a pretty unfair one, I must say. It's like what Bilbo pulled when he-"
"It's a legitimate question," Lena interrupted through gritted teeth. "A guy with your hacking skills should have better things to do than find a way around my spam filters, so I'll ask again: what the hell am I looking at?"
"Oh!" Winn laughed as he apparently seemed to catch on. "You mean the link I sent you? Well, it's pretty self-explanatory, right?"
Lena sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, because she really had better things to do. "There is nothing self-explanatory about some people doing a song and dance with puppets! For your information; I hate musicals! So what's the point of sending me this?!"
"First of all; I'm pretty sure that 'hating musicals' is some sort of horrendous disease and you should definitely have that looked at." He chuckled, while Lena rolled her eyes. "And about the link, it's just like the song says: If you were gay... that would be okay!"
There was a sudden cracking sound, as the pen in Lena's hand bent beyond repair. "I'm not gay!!" she exclaimed. "Why would you say that?!"
"I'm not dumb, I see things," Winn chirped in a way too cheerful tone, causing Lena's frustration to increase exponentially. "It wasn't that hard to put together, really. After the whole strawberry thing, I started thinking back about you and Kara and it just kind of made sense that-"
"There is no strawberry thing!!" Lena snapped, feeling more embarrassed by the second.
"You want me to call it something else? I mean, it's really not a problem since inventing great names is kind of my thing, BOSS."
"I'm not your boss."
"No, no, you're the BOSS; the Benevolent Overlord Saving Spectres."
Lena groaned loudly as she hung her head down. "I'm not in the mood for this, Winn. I'm not a hero and even if I was, BOSS would still be a silly name."
"Okay... rude," Winn grumbled. There was a moment of silence on his end. "Are you sure this is about the name?" Winn suddenly questioned. "Or are you still mad about that mistake we made after your birthday party?"
Lena straightened up, her eyebrows raising in disbelief. "The mistake we made?! It was your fault!!"
"Oh, come on! How was I supposed to know that he was just a guy that had escaped the psych ward and not a ghost?"
"BECAUSE YOU COULD SEE HIM!!"
"Well, yeah, exactly: I was in shock! I thought your ability had somehow rubbed off on me! I was already imagining great names that we could call ourselves as a superhero duo!" Lena shook her head, puzzled how a guy that smart could sometimes be so dumb. "Oh crap," Winn muttered. "I have to go. Alex is giving me the death stare, I'm pretty sure she's figured out this isn't a work-related conversation. We'll talk about the Kara thing later, okay?"
"There's nothing to talk ab-"
A beeping sound signalled that the man had already hung up and Lena sighed as she put her phone down, before burying her face in her hands. It was uncanny how Winn had the ability to deduce her deepest secrets with virtually no information. First the whole seeing ghosts thing, and now the Kara thing.
Oh... great. Now she was calling it 'the Kara thing' too.
Lena sighed and rested her chin on one hand as she let her eyes go over her newly refurnished office from where she was sitting behind her desk. The top floor of her building had finally been completely repaired, which meant that she at last had her office back. The one thing she'd insisted that they didn't bring in yet was a new couch, because she'd felt that there was someone else who should get a say in that. That is how yesterday, Lena Luthor had found herself in the middle of an IKEA, looking at furniture with her best friend for whom she'd recently realised she had some inconvenient, not to mention disproportionately intense feelings.
"Ooooh Lena, what about this one?!"
Lena raised her eyebrows, watching Kara scurry towards a bright pink couch and plop onto it with an excited grin. She fondly shook her head as she walked across the store and crossed her arms while she stepped in front of the reporter.
"I'm not putting a pink couch in my office, Kara," she said sternly, although she was unable to fight off the smile that formed upon seeing Kara's adorable frown.
"But you said I would get to pick one I like."
"I said you could help me pick one," Lena corrected, "since you're probably going to use that couch almost as much as I do." She smirked as she looked down at the seated woman. "But you should remember that when I'm at work I'm supposed to look intimidating, and that's pretty hard to do when my couch looks like it was stolen from a dollhouse."
"Pfft," Kara waved her hand dismissively, "this couch is fantastic, and you're being judgemental." Lena just laughed at Kara's determination to defend such an over the top piece of furniture. "Besides," Kara continued, completely serious, "if people spend more than ten minutes with you, you won't be able to intimidate them anyway because they'll have figured out what a sweetheart you are."
Aaaand that was apparently a cue for her heart to try and beat right out of her chest. Lena swallowed nervously, hoping that the heat spreading on her cheeks wasn't too visible, and decided to pull out some humour to mask her emotions. Because Kara finding out about her feelings for her, was definitely number one on her list of things to avoid. You know, tied with leaving the reputation of the Luthor name in its current pitiful state. And with Kara finding out about her ability to see ghosts.
It was all pretty close, really.
Lena dropped her voice as low as she could, and summoned her best corporate glare. "What are you implying, Ms. Danvers?" She leaned down while raising one eyebrow and used her finger to lift up Kara's chin, as her best friend swallowed nervously. "You think that anyone could just mess with me?"
"I... no... I- I..."
Yeah, okay, that was a bad move. Because Kara was now blushing and stammering, and that made her even more adorable than usual, incredible as that may sound. Not to mention that her face was very close. It was oh so close, and it reminded Lena way too much of that fateful day when she'd confessed her feelings to an unconscious Kara and if Lena didn't know any better, she'd say that the woman's eyes had just flitted down to her cleavage. Great, now she was imagining things.
Get a grip, Lena!
She forced out a laugh and hoped that it sounded humorous as she straightened back up. "You should've seen your face," Lena teased. She was grateful that the blushing blonde was looking down as she laughed, because Lena was pretty sure that her own face was a little too red as well.
"Ha, ha, yeah you got me-"
Kara went to stand up but she tripped and fell down, causing Lena to actually let out a genuine burst of laughter. "Oh... oh god," she snickered, as she lent her a hand to get back up, "I'm sorry, are you okay?"
"Pfft, yes... yes, fine. Good, totally good. Indestructible, remember?" Lena smiled widely at the stammering woman, who adjusted her glasses and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm- I'm just a little tired, you know?"
Lena's smile faded slightly as she looked Kara over with concern. "Is it all the reconstruction work?" she asked carefully. "You know that people will understand if you take a day off, right?" Lena knew that without Supergirl helping with the heavy lifting, the repairs from the Daxamite invasion and her mother's assault would probably take years instead of the projected months, but that didn't mean that Kara needed to work herself into exhaustion.
"No, no," Kara said dismissively, "they need my help. I'll be fine, I just need to work a little harder like everybody else is doing. It'll pass, I'm sure. Just like those weird dreams..."
Lena frowned as Kara seemed to turn more serious while looking into the distance. "Dreams...?"
"It's- it's nothing, really," Kara stammered. Lena wanted to ask more, but Kara suddenly looked at the other side of the store and promptly darted away. "Here! This one looks comfy!"
Lena was still mentally replaying the purchasing of the couch that now stood in her office, when she suddenly got pulled out of the memory by the double doors of her office swinging open. Revealing Maggie Sawyer who casually strutted closer.
"Luthor," she greeted with a small smile, "it's been a while."
Before Lena could respond, Jess stumbled into the office after the woman, looking highly aggravated. "I'm sorry, Ms. Luthor! I left Hector in charge for half a second and he just let her barge in!"
"It's okay, Jess," Lena said with a smile, "I guess I can spare a minute."
Jess huffed in annoyance as she straightened her blouse, before leaving the office while muttering something about incompetent assistants and arrogant police officers.
"I think she likes me," Maggie quipped, causing Lena to laugh as the detective took a seat on the other side of the desk. "So are you trying to work yourself into the ground now?" Lena frowned in confusion, while Maggie just gave her a questioning look. "Seriously, Luthor, you own this whole place and you insist on working even with these ungodly temperatures?"
Lena chuckled as Maggie adjusted in her seat. "I think I can handle it."
"Your armpit stains say otherwise."
Lena's eyes widened, immediately checking under her arms. Maggie barked out a laugh.
"Ha! Made you look!"
Lena turned her head back to the detective with an annoyed expression, while Maggie kept her grin in place. "So did you come here to vent your juvenile humour?" Lena asked with bemused irritation.
"No, actually," Maggie cleared her throat and sat up straighter, turning serious. "I need to give you a heads-up about something, but... if anyone asks, you didn't hear it from me." Lena frowned as she looked at Maggie's concerned expression. "They're assembling a special task force within the NCPD science division," she explained. "It's going to investigate some of those metal machines your mother used and see if we can track down who manufactured them, whether they knew what it was for, and so on."
Lena frowned at the woman. "Isn't the DEO better equipped for that job?"
"Objectively, yes. But the NCPD managed to get their hands on some of the remains of those machines, and I don't know if you're aware of the relationship between the police department and the FBI, but handing over our evidence to the feds is something we can get pretty touchy about. We have our pride, you know?" Maggie chuckled briefly.
"Okay," Lena said slowly, "so what does this have to do with me?"
"Well, we've already started recruiting for this task force and the general sentiment... well..." Maggie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "the general sentiment is that we should start with investigating L-Corp."
Lena sighed deeply, as her mood once again darkened.
"Look, Luthor, I tried to come at it from another angle," Maggie said, looking apologetic, "but you have to understand that everybody saw those things scanning for aliens, and the only known form of technology capable of doing that, is the alien detection device developed by L-Corp."
Lena rubbed her eyes, trying to contain her aggravation. "A device of which I cancelled the launch just last May, and of which I destroyed every last prototype," she breathed out. Granted, that had been a slightly impulsive decision, so shortly after finding out that her best friend was an alien. But looking back on it now, it was probably the right decision.
"That's exactly the problem," Maggie explained, "at the time of your mother's attack there was no one else that we're aware of with access to that technology. So... obviously they would set their sights on you. Look, kid, I know you didn't do it," Maggie gave her an understanding look. "But the only objective evidence I have for that, is the fact that I know about dr. Runnels. And I can't exactly stand up in the middle of a task force meeting and say: 'Lena Luthor is innocent, which I know because that kidnapped scientist probably spilled L-Corp's secrets to Lillian, which I know because her ghost showed up and saved everyone's ass by telling Lena about Cadmus's plans.'"
Lena swallowed, looking down at her lap. To be honest, there had been so much going on at the time, that she hadn't even stopped to think about her mother's floating killing machines displaying the same functions as her alien detection device. But it made sense now. Dr. Runnels had been a key part in the development of her device, so it was logical that Lillian would have been able to torture that information out of her.
"Did she say anything to you?" Maggie asked. "Anything that could tell us where your mother was hiding? Because if we find dr. Runnels' body, then we can prove that it was Lillian who kidnapped her, and it should be convincing enough evidence to exonerate you completely."
Lena sighed as she shook her head. "No, she... she was just worried about curing all the aliens. We didn't talk about anything else before she passed on. She... wasn't really herself anymore." Lena shook her head again as she turned her attention back to Maggie.
"Well, don't worry too much, alright?" the detective said encouragingly. "Not to brag or anything, but my current track record basically guarantees me to be assigned as head of the task force. I can't wait for McConnell to eat his heart out," she added with a smug smirk. "I should be able to direct the investigation away from you, but... you're not going to avoid being officially questioned."
Lena huffed out a humourless laugh. "I guess I can live with that."
"Good... good..."
Lena looked up from the paperwork in front of her, noticing that Maggie was still sitting there and giving her a curious look. "Is there something else?" Lena asked warily. Maggie just sighed as she kept looking at her.
"How's therapy?"
Lena huffed in annoyance, refocusing her attention on the paperwork on her desk. "It sucks," she stated, aggressively crossing out an egregious error on the financial analysis in front of her. "Just because the guy has a fancy degree in 'understanding people', doesn't mean he has to act like he knows everything. If I have to look at those beady little eyes of his one more time, I swear I'm going to-"
"Whoa, easy there Luthor," the detective chuckled. "From what I've heard, other people only have good things to say about dr. Talbot."
"Maybe he bribed them."
Maggie snickered at that. "Well, I'm glad you're at least going now."
"So glad that you'll finally give me my gun back?"
Maggie's smile disappeared, as she looked at Lena and her raised eyebrow. "Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. You've gone to what, two sessions? You'll get it back when I'm convinced you're okay."
Lena sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "And who made you my supervisor all of a sudden?" she asked, genuine annoyance slipping into her voice. "I don't appreciate being treated like a kid, or being called that either."
"Needing help doesn't make you a kid," Maggie tried to reason, leaning closer with her elbows on her knees as Lena pursed her lips and looked to the side. "I'm not trying to control you or anything Lena, I'm just worried ab-"
At that point, Maggie's phone saw fit to interrupt the conversation. Both women startled at the loud ringtone, as Maggie answered the phone. "This better be good, McConnell," she grumbled. Lena turned her head back to the detective, noticing that whatever was being said on the other end made her scrunch her eyes closed and rub her forehead. "Shit... I'll be there in ten." She put her phone away and turned back to Lena. "I have to go," she said stiffly, "someone thought it was a good idea to blow up a building full of people."
She grimly nodded Lena goodbye before heading for the doors. Lena was momentarily stunned by the casual way the detective made that announcement, but she remembered that in her line of work, this sort of thing probably happened all the time.
As she watched Maggie step out of her office, her eyes drifted over the clock hanging on the wall, which was telling her that it was 5:30 PM. Now, Lena had recently promised Kara that she would try to leave work at a reasonable hour from now on. And because Lena was starting to find it more and more difficult to say no to Kara, she had eventually agreed that she would make an effort to keep an eye on the time. On the other hand though... she still had that Daxam Drive lying around in her lab. And she still hadn't managed to get into it.
Lena sighed, her eyes flitting over the clock again, but let's face it; it was either go down to the lab and try to get some work done, or sit at home and longingly stare out of her window with a certain blonde superhero on her mind, who was way too busy reconstructing the city to stop by anytime soon. She huffed as she got out of her chair, and started heading down to her private lab. Just half an hour, she told herself. Forty-five minutes tops. Then she'd go home. Probably...
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By the time Lena left her lab, it was 8:30 PM.
She wouldn't have even noticed it either, if it wasn't for Jess poking her head into the lab while the assistant was on her way out. Lena should probably be concerned about her own lack of awareness when it came to the passage of time, but to be honest, there were more pressing matters on her mind. Like that stupid Daxam Drive, which seemed almost designed to keep humans out of it. Or the fact that her assistant saw fit to stay at work until 8:30. She was aware of the irony in that thought, considering her own working hours, but just because she was a workaholic didn't mean that Jess had to be one too.
As she rode the elevator back up to her office (she just left some paperwork there, okay?! she would get it and then she'd leave, honest), both of her intricate problems kept running through her head: How to extract the schematics of Daxamite aircrafts out of the Drive, which could lead to mankind owning spaceships, and how to get her assistant to leave at a reasonable hour and maybe start developing a social life. You know, one that didn't involve complaining about Hector's incompetence or begging Lena to fire the entire PR department because, quote: 'They're backstabbing lowlifes who never tried to defend you when people assumed you were evil, and they're just waiting for an excuse to hand this company over to the board!'
It was because she was lost in these thoughts, that she didn't immediately notice the woman that wasn't supposed to be there. Because of her brain focusing on these conundrums, it took Lena three and a half steps into her office to realise that there was someone waiting for her there. But when she did, she came to an abrupt stop, taking in the figure of the freakishly slim woman with the many tattoos and the tight red dress, as she felt the blood drain from her face. She observed for a moment, as the woman seemed to be staring intently at the few papers that the CEO had left on her desk, while Lena was now second-guessing the competence of her security team. Her feet remembered how to move, as she breathed out the woman's name with wary caution:
"Sinclair..."
The woman's head turned to her, leisurely, as if this situation was completely normal and just looked at her for a few seconds. Then she gave a lazy smile.
"Lena Luthor," she drawled, a sadistic amusement in her eyes, as she straightened from her position over the desk and turned to face her, "it has been quite a few years, hasn't it?" She let her eyes go over Lena, who felt rather scrutinised under the woman's intense look, before meeting her eyes again as her smile slowly faded. "Of course it wouldn't have been that long, if you'd actually come to one of my... special evenings."
Lena breathed in deeply, crossing her arms as she called on her poise and her dignity, thinking that maybe she should see this as an opportunity. If Veronica Sinclair was back in town, then Kara and the gang could probably use as much information as they could gather on the woman.
"Those 'evenings', as you call them, aren't the style of entertainment that speaks to me," Lena responded coldly. She squinted her eyes at the woman, who was now moving around the desk while curiously gazing around the office. "I thought you ended up on some alien planet?" Lena asked suspiciously.
Veronica chuckled as she stopped on the visitor's side of the desk. "Yes... National City's favourite hero apparently thought it was perfectly fine to strand a human citizen on a faraway planet. As opposed to the aliens on earth, who apparently deserve to be protected at all cost," she said slowly, almost thoughtfully, as she looked to the side for a moment. "But I suppose I should thank you for my return," she continued, turning her head back to throw a small, sinister smile Lena's way, "if it hadn't been for you activating those portals, I would probably still be stuck on that lousy planet. Then again... maybe that would have been better than my current predicament."
Lena scoffed, as she watched the very rich, very powerful woman complain about her life. "Oh, really?" Lena drawled sarcastically. "You're having a hard time finding ways to expand your fortune over the backs of other people?"
Veronica's previous amusement seemed to completely disappear from her face. "As a matter of fact, Luthor, yes... I've seen better days. Mostly..." she stepped closer to the youngest Luthor, and Lena's eyes widened at the scene because the woman had just stepped through one of the visitor's chairs. Not past it, not over it. But straight through. "...mostly because I'm dead."
Well, that was unexpected.
Lena cleared her throat, feeling slightly guilty that she was relieved at the thought of someone being dead, but at least that meant that the woman wasn't going around hurting innocent aliens anymore. So that was something. "I'm, uh... I'm sorry," Lena said carefully. "How... how did you die?"
Veronica scoffed, turning to the side and seemingly observing the flowers on the table. "An explosion, unfortunately. Can you picture it, Luthor? Someone like me, not even being poisoned, or stabbed, or double-crossed in some ingenious fashion. No," she sighed, "just an explosion. How incredibly mundane."
Lena frowned at this information, remembering the reason Maggie had left earlier in the day, and thinking this couldn't possibly be a coincidence. "You just died today?" she asked curiously. Veronica halted her strolling, turning slowly to face the youngest Luthor with a slight frown.
"How do you know about that?"
"I have my sources," Lena responded evenly, looking back with an equally suspicious frown. "So why are you still here? And how did you find out I can see ghosts this fast?" she asked warily.
Veronica looked at her for a moment, not responding immediately. She slowly tilted her head as a smile started pulling at her lips and Lena didn't like the look of it. "As I'm sure you're aware, Luthor," the ghostly woman started as she stepped closer once again, "knowledge is power. And to be honest, I see no reason to give you more power than you already have."
Lena's frown grew deeper, not sure what she was getting at. "What are you talking about? I'm... I'm not sure you understand how this works, but... if I'm going to help you, then I need to know what you want."
Veronica's eyebrows rose up at the statement, before she slowly broke out into a measured laugh. It was cold and not very friendly and Lena didn't like where this was going at all. "Who says I want your help, Luthor?"
Lena didn't respond, as she was momentarily stunned. Every ghost she had met so far in her life, always had a specific reason for still being here. Whether for the well-being of a family member or for less than noble reasons, like her mother, ghosts always had a reason to stick around. So what could possibly be the purpose of hiding that reason from her? From the only person that could actually see her?
"Forgive me," Lena started, "but without my help you can't really do much around here anymore. You can observe and you can listen, sure. But there's no way you can still-"
"You're not paying attention to what I'm saying, Luthor," the apparition of Veronica Sinclair interjected, still with that unsettling smile in place, "I just told you that knowledge is power. And as it turns out, I apparently don't need to be alive to garner knowledge. Pretty fitting, isn't it? A woman left to die, only to grow more powerful in death."
Veronica let out another laugh as she looked to the side and Lena was starting to worry at the egomaniacal tendencies of the woman. She wanted to garner knowledge? What was that supposed to mean?
"Sinclair... you're not making any sense." Lena searched the woman's eyes as they looked back at her. "You can have all the information on the living that you want, but that doesn't help you if you can't interact with them, right?" Lena was aware that her phrasing that as a question was not a good sign, and that if this was truly a battle of wits, then she was currently losing. To Veronica Sinclair of all people. Good grief.
"First of all," the woman stepped uncomfortably close, "you can call me Roulette, like everyone else does. And secondly; if I need someone to interact with the living, I'll be sure to let you know. But in the meantime, I have a better purpose for you."
Lena's expression turned incredulous, anger brewing under the surface, but she kept her tongue, waiting to see if the woman would maybe start making sense.
"As you might imagine, I wasn't the only person caught up in that explosion. Some people I... worked with... were there as well. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't be quite as inclined to follow my orders anymore now that they're dead. But now I have the knowledge of someone who can see people that are deceased. And who is apparently accustomed to dancing to their every whim." The woman's wicked grin grew wider, as she stepped back and looked at Lena's angry expression. "Have I mentioned yet... that knowledge is power?" She chuckled to herself, and Lena's anger was starting to mix with a familiar unsettling feeling. "So I think that this is what I'll do: I will politely ask them to follow my orders. If they don't, they will spend an eternity aimlessly lounging around this planet. But if they do, I will reward them with the name of the one person that can see them. But only when I have no use for them anymore, of course."
Lena's anger was now only contained by the unsettling feeling of knowing where this was headed, but despite only seeing one outcome to this conversation, she still asked the next logical question. "What if I refuse?" she asked through gritted teeth. "What if I don't want to be a part of your afterlife extortion system?"
"Well," Veronica threw her arms up, feigning an innocent expression that was honestly scarier than her smile, "then I guess my plans fall through, don't they? I guess I'll have no choice but to just let it go and tell them about you just like that. All of them. At the same time. Did I mention that there's quite a few of them? And I can only imagine how many more ghosts are wandering around this city, who would be very happy to know about your existence." Her smile returned, and the familiar fear that Lena hadn't felt since John Corben was now rising to the surface. "I guess some of them must be very desperate. They might make your life pretty difficult. But if you can handle it... if you think your company can handle its CEO being swarmed by needy ghosts..."
Veronica just kept looking at her with raised eyebrows, and Lena was both stunned and infuriated at how easily this woman had been able to back her into a corner. Not to mention the fact, and this was what made her angry more than anything, that none of this made any sense.
"Are you honestly this eager to have an army of ghosts at your disposal?! What is the use in that?! I just don't understand-"
"You don't need to understand, Luthor," the dead woman interjected as she stepped closer, "all you need to do, is tell me whether we have a deal... or we don't."
Veronica kept looking at her with a smug look, and Lena gritted her teeth, because they both knew what the answer was going to be. They both knew that Lena had been outmanoeuvred on this one. Lena was desperately racking her brain for another way out, but she had nothing on the woman. They might have gone to boarding school together, but she knew nothing of her life, her family, or anything else that might give her some sort of leverage in this situation. Lena let out an extended sigh, looking at the woman in front of her with one of her most hateful glares, but eventually, she reluctantly hissed out her answer.
"Fine. We have a deal."
Veronica gave her a devilish smile in response. "Very good. I knew you'd be reasonable." She stepped past the youngest Luthor and headed for the double doors, only to turn around one last time to face Lena, who was internally fuming at this point. "I will send over the first ghost when I'm done with him. And I suppose we'll see each other again at some point," she chuckled to herself while Lena gritted her teeth in anger, "when I feel like... you could be useful to me." With that last unsettling promise hanging in the air, Veronica finally turned away and left the office.
Lena stood there for a moment, counting to ten in her head. Like that ugly and arrogant dr. Talbot had told her to do when 'your emotions threaten to get out of hand.' However, it was quite clear that that quack wasn't up to the task of being a replacement for Lillian Luthor's life-long imbedded lessons on poise and dignity, as after her second attempt to calmly count to ten, she picked up her vase of plumerias on the table...
...and threw it at the wall.
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A bright light illuminated the rich cornfield, the tips of the plants grazing beneath her fingers. The sunlight pleasantly caressed her face, as a hand caressed her arm. Kara turned around into a familiar embrace, kissing familiar lips, their white garments pressing together. She pulled back and turned around, finding yet another person she thought she'd lost forever.
She walked over and looked at the face of her mother, which looked so much more real than any hologram could emulate her. She hugged her close, the touch reviving long-forgotten memories of her far too brief childhood on Krypton. As she stepped back and held her mother's hand, she reached out and held Mon-el's hand as well; the two people she thought she'd lost forever now safely by her side.
She turned her head and smiled in delight, as she saw another one of her favourite people stride closer in an immaculate white dress. Kara could almost feel the happiness radiating off herself as she watched Lena step up to her, and up to the two people holding her hands.
Lena stopped in front of her, smiling sadly as she so often did, while she let her eyes go over the three of them. "Why not?"
Kara tilted her head, smiling curiously at the question she didn't understand.
"If I know I can go after you, why shouldn't I?"
Kara's smile disappeared, all the happy feelings draining from her soul, as she watched the sight that she felt like she'd seen before. Like a nightmare that had remained dormant and now suddenly resurfaced. Kara started shaking her head, despair filling her, the sunlight suddenly obscured by dark clouds, as Lena slowly brought up a gun and put it to the side of her head.
"No..."
Kara tried to reach out, tried to prevent another person being lost to her forever, but her hands were trapped. She desperately looked to her sides, where her mother and Mon-el were both gripping her hands while giving her a sad smile, as if this was inevitable. As if this was going to happen anyway, as soon as she truly cared for someone. As a cold wind started to blow and all the corn around her started crumbling to dust, she tried to free her grip, desperately tried to pull her hands free, but they were firmly trapped in her past.
"No, no..."
Kara started pulling harder but her hands were not moving, her powers not responding, as she watched Lena's tears silently start to drop with a growing sense of desperation. Kara heaved, violently pulled at her arms, desperately shook her head, but Lena gave her that sad and resigned look that Kara had come to loathe... before her finger started moving over the trigger.
"LENAAAA!!"
Kara's scream lingered in the air as she panted and heaved, her tears wetting her face, and she noticed her arm stretched out towards the darkness. Kara breathed out and looked around, noticing her room, the closed curtains, her flower-printed pyjamas, the alarm clock that was telling her it was 4 in the morning and her thin blanket completely ripped apart by her outstretched hands. She whimpered as she hung her head and hugged her knees, sniffing at the memory of those dreams that wouldn't stop plaguing her.
As if the vivid dreams of her mother and Mon-el being safe weren't bad enough. As if her heart breaking a little every time she woke up from the image of two people that were respectively gone forever and possibly lost in space weren't bad enough, now Lena had started playing a part. Now every time that she dreamt of the people she knew were gone from her life, she also had to endure the recurring nightmare of losing the people she still had.
And it had gotten so much worse. That stupid nightmare she'd had when she'd almost died at the hands of Lillian Luthor, now was becoming so much more frequent and Kara couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand that she was avoiding everyone so she wouldn't have to face those nightmares. She couldn't stand that she was barely able to face her best friend anymore because of those images. She couldn't stand seeing Lena crying again, with that face that basically screamed that she didn't think she deserved anything.
Kara hugged her knees tighter, praying it would be morning soon so she could continue with the reconstruction work of National City, because that way she wouldn't have to think about it. That way she wouldn't have to face her human emotions, or those ominous images of Lena being somehow included with the people that she'd lost. Because if she just ignored her human side, then maybe it would go away. If she just concentrated on being Supergirl and just stayed away from the people that would inevitably get hurt by being around her, then maybe the nightmares would stop. Maybe the image of Lena embracing death would just go away.
Because of course she cared about other people too, but Alex was a fighter. J'onn had found purpose in protecting the people of earth, and she was pretty sure that Winn was terrified at the thought of dying. But with Lena it was all so painfully plausible. How many times had she seen that resigned look on her face, when talking about her family's legacy? How many times had Lena acted like her own life didn't matter at all? With anyone else it would be a bad dream. With anyone else it would just be a stupid dream that for some reason just wouldn't go away, but with Lena she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand those images.
Kara swallowed harshly as she clutched the small silver pendant around her neck with her best friend's initials in it, promising herself she was going to avoid being Kara Danvers. She was just going to be Supergirl, and nothing else, because that was what mattered and that was how she saved people. And hopefully, that's how the dreams would go away. Because she didn't want to see it anymore. Not with Lena in it. Anyone else would be bearable, but not Lena.
Anyone... but not her Lena.