Chapter Text
“They’re gone.”
Kara didn’t realize that she had spoken out loud, as an all-too-familiar sinking horror swept through her body. Argo was gone.
Kara couldn’t breathe. She had watched the scene play out before, minutes after her launch when she was thirteen, watching her planet burn in front of her eyes. Logically, she knew that she and Kal - safe in his pod in front of her - were the only survivors, but she could not process what it really meant to be alone.
She had watched, through the fog of the Black Mercy, as the world collapsed around her, as the seven-year-old Kal (that never was) faded from view, as her parents were out of reach. She watched as she chose to kill this world, to believe her sister, feeling it all crumble again.
Those scars were reopened, the surreal anguish of watching her family and culture and world die in front of her eyes. And this time, Kal was dead too - she had failed to protect him, and she was all alone.
Kara could only stand, shellshocked, senses unregistering as her breath accelerated against her will. She was under water, distant from everything around her, knowing that there was something she should be doing - another world needing saving - but all she could do was stand, and maybe breathe.
“There appears to be a projectile originating from Argo, trajectory towards Earth, approximate landing point in Star City in 1.7 hours,” Brainy rattled off, seemingly unshaken by the spectacle that had just taken place.
Kara’s eyes flicked to the screen, the wheels in her mind seeming to turn again, her body beginning to tremble as though to counterbalance it. “Jon-El,” she whispered. “They found a way to send him here.”
Kara shook her head, realizing that she needed to get going - there would be time for mourning later. “Briany, keep me updated on the projectile’s progress.”
Orphaned, without a planet, with a kryptonian babe to care for. Kara felt thirteen again.
It had been a long, long day.
Lena wasn’t sure what to expect when Alex Danvers came storming into her office earlier that morning, but she knew it couldn’t be good. The earthquakes felt wholly unnatural for National City, even if it did sit on top of the San Andreas fault. Thankfully, it seemed that she didn’t have to defend her reputation as a Luthor before getting down to helping people, but that hardly made up for the chaos she had seen.
Lena took a breath. There was nothing left for her to do. Her transmatter portal had worked, saving nearly 40% of the planet. And now she sat, aboard a random alien spacecraft currently coasting somewhere overhead of Earth-1. She twitched as she watched the terrified families around her, wanting to make herself useful somehow, knowing the crisis was far from over. Would all this fade, too?
Alex entered the room, making a determined bee line towards Lena, her eyes steely and grim. Lena stood, weaving through other Earth-38 refugees to meet Alex in the middle of the room.
“They want you on the Waverider.”
Lena was taken aback, knowing that the Waverider is where the supers - and some man known as the “Monitor” - were congregating. “Why?”
Alex shook her head. “I don’t know. But there’s a ferry ship waiting for you.”
“Are you coming with me?”
Alex shook her head again, clearly miserable from wanting to see her sister. “I have to stay and coordinate Earth-38 aid. We have a lot of people, and need to figure out what food stores we have on these alien ships or if Earth-1 can help, and get aid distributed.”
Lena nodded stiffly, not particularly enthusiastic to spend more time with Alex anyway. On the other hand, she was dreading being near Kara. That scenario... didn’t seem to be much better, but it seemed she was being summoned, by someone.
“Alright. Where do I go?”
Lena wrung her hands nervously, as she boarded the Waverider. It wasn’t like her to be so outwardly emotional - but it seemed that even her Luthor training was shakeable, under conditions like “the destruction of the entire universe” and “possible doom of the entirety of existence.”
She almost felt relief, hearing the vague rumblings of Kara’s familiar voice around the corner. Until she got close enough to hear, when Kara said something that made her blood run cold.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t trust a man who thinks Lex Luthor is an ally.”
Footsteps approached as Kara stormed away from the main command center. Lena braced herself, as Kara rounded the corner, looking up at her. Eyes red, face puffy from tears, and stress lining her expression, Kara halted suddenly as she looked at Lena. Lena’s eyes drifted down, to the baby sleeping in Kara’s arms. Lena opened her mouth to say something, but Kara decided to continue on, storming past her and away to some other part of the ship.
Lena wanted to follow, but… she had to see who Kara had been talking to. As she entered the room, she first noticed a tall man in seeming battle regalia, facing away to another corner. Upon taking a few steps in, her eyes followed his gaze, finding a short-haired brunette woman glowering threateningly at a man Lena thought long dead.
“This is impossible,” Lena sputtered. “I killed you!”
“Nice to see you too, sis.” Lex replied, with a wink. “I'm glad you've finally arrived! Please, make yourself comfortable.”
The other woman’s eyes darted between the two siblings, her face one of cynical distrust. Lex stepped forward, passing Lena, towards another entrance to the room. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to be attending to.”
Lena stared at his retreating back in slackjawed amazement. The other woman walked up next to her, standing to her side. “Complicated family situation?” she said grimly. Lena turned to her, sighing. “You have no idea.”
“I’m Kate,” she said, holding out her hand. Lena returned the gesture, “Lena.”
“Well, anyone who killed an enemy of Kara’s is a friend of mine,” Kate replied, though her brows furrowed slightly, picking up on how Lena had tensed at Kara’s name.
Lena glanced back at the other corridor, where Kara had gone. “Do you know why she has a baby with her?”
Kate winced. “How much time do you have?”