#he's also trying to take down leviathan just not with brainy and lex

[owl-with-a-pen]

What if Nia had gotten so angry at lex after what happened with brainy, she went to go try and kill him? 😳 and brainy had to stop her. We’ve seen the dark side of brainy before but never in Nia really, discluding “reality bytes”

- Oooh, I like this idea a lot! I brought a few more characters into play for this as well, hope you don’t mind!

“I’m gonna kill him.”

Nia stormed past Kara for the third consecutive time, swivelling on her foot just shy of hitting the far wall so that she could continue pacing across Lena’s lab. Her hands were clenched so tightly together that her fingers were beginning to burn, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was ending Lex’s sorry existence once and for all.

“Nia,” Kara cut in, taking a placating step forward, “just think for a second-”

“You can’t stop me, Kara,” Nia snarled. She knew she’d gained something of an audience since Lena and Alex had returned from the recovery room, could feel their eyes tracking her every movement, but just thinking about who they’d been tending to, the state he’d been in when they’d found him in Leviathan’s ship, made the anger inside her chest that much more vitriolic. There was a pressure growing inside her skull, throbbing along to the beat of her heart. She stopped short, jerking her arm in the direction Lena and Alex had come from. “Look what he did to Brainy. Months of hurting him, putting him through god knows what!”

“And you have every reason to be angry,” Kara said gently.

Nia snorted, rolling her eyes. “Great, ‘cuz I was totally asking for your permission.”

“Nia-”

“No.” Nia turned to Kara then, jaw clenched tight. “Y’know what? No. You don’t have a right to tell me I’m wrong here. Lex kills people, Kara, did you think of that, huh? Did you think of who Brainy might have helped Lex kill? What Lex might have made him do?” Nia could feel tears burning in her eyes, could taste a thickness in her throat, but she forced every bit of strength into her voice regardless. “None of us stopped that.”

“None of us knew,” Alex muttered.

“And who’s fault is that?” Nia shot back, whirling on Alex accusingly. “Brainy’s? Or maybe, maybe the truth is, it was ours. I ignored my dreams and we all, we all ignored him!” Nia sucked air through her teeth. She knew she was trembling, but seeing those concerned looks on her friends’ faces did nothing to cool the fire welling inside of her. She swallowed hard, ignoring the iron tang in the back of her mouth, and drew out a slow breath. “But, most importantly,” she said carefully, “it’s Lex’s fault. This is all Lex’s fault.”

“I don’t disagree with you,” Lena said. Her expression had been especially still throughout Nia’s tirade, although something about it now looked distinctly uneasy. “But, Brainy was careful. I saw him-” Lena cringed suddenly, looking away.

Nia knew why, just as well as anyone else in the room did. Lena had known Brainy had been working for Lex – for months - and she hadn’t said a word. She’d kept his secret. No, no, she hadn’t kept his secret, she hadn’t cared about it.

“It was only brief,” Lena said quickly, glancing back to her, “but during that time, he promised me that no one would be harmed whilst he aided with Lex’s schemes. He wouldn’t have broken his code, Nia. Not even for Lex; I’m certain.”

“You killed him.”

“What?”

Nia stared at Lena coldly. “You shot him, right? You shot your brother in the heart and you didn’t think about it. Because it was justice.”

“It wasn’t justice-” Kara tried desperately.

“I’m not talking to you!” Nia gritted. She didn’t even spare Kara a passing glance. All of her attention was devoted to Lena. “Let her talk.”

Lena’s eyes were bright, shimmering things. Still, she didn’t look away this time. Instead, her lips twitched into sharp smile. “What do you want me to say?” she asked coldly. “That killing my brother was cathartic, that it closed old wounds that I thought might never heal?” She raised her chin. “No, you want the whole truth. That my actions stopped a threat that would have continued relentlessly unless someone had the nerve to take that shot. To leave his lifeless body to rot with the worms like he deserved.”

Kara made a pained sound in the back of her throat.

Lena glanced at her. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said plainly. “I don’t condone this. But, not because I don’t agree with her.” Lena turned back to Nia, her brow furrowed. “Nia, taking a person’s life is something you can never take back.”

Nia bared her teeth. “And yet, that’s exactly what the Anti Monitor did.” She gestured at Lena frankly, feeling wayward strands of dream energy snap and spark between her fingers. “Absolve you, or whatever.”

“I’d kill my brother again without a moment’s hesitation,” Lena said stiffly, lifting herself to her full height. “But, we can still stop him without resorting to that.” Her expression softened. “Even if we couldn’t, my actions, they aren’t yours. Nia, you don’t have the stomach for this. You shouldn’t.”

Nia clenched her hands again, feeling her energy pool into every digit. Vibrant blue light simmered against her palms. “No offence, Lena, but you don’t know anything about what I’m capable of right now.”

“Nia?”

Nia faltered, the shock of her power dimming as she half turned to meet the new voice behind her back.

Brainy was stood in the lab’s entryway, his shoulder pressed heavily against the wall. If the frailness of his expression was anything to go by, Nia was certain it was the only thing keeping him from keeling over.

His green skin was still far too pale to be healthy, and his blond hair clung to the side of his jaw with cold sweat, but he was awake. He was…

Why was he awake?

Between the two of them, Lena and Alex had been able to help along Brainy’s natural healing process using a cocktail of experimental drugs, the names of which Nia wasn’t even going to try to pronounce. But Brainy’s IV wasn’t present, instead she could see an angry looking bruise already beginning to blossom over the delicate skin on his left hand.

The dream energy dissolved from Nia’s hands in an instant, rocketing back towards her chest so quickly that she nearly choked. She rushed over to him, reaching tentatively for his arm.

This close, she could see the shadows that had sunk into his cheek bones, the red veins that still branched along the whites of his eyes. He held one arm protectively around his chest, clenched between the steady glow of his three life projectors.

“Brainy,” Nia said breathlessly, running her hand carefully along his arm, desperate to offer any kind of support she could. “You shouldn’t be up.”

Brainy clenched his teeth, lowering his head. “I-I overheard…” he managed.

It took her a second, but although his eyes were heavy lidded, Nia realised that Brainy was looking down at her hands, at the vibrant energy she’d summoned only moments ago. Something heavy settled inside her stomach at that look.

“Nia,” Brainy continued softly. “You- you don’t need to do this.”

A pained laugh caught in Nia’s throat. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

Brainy smiled tiredly, lifting his head with clearly more energy than he had to expend. Nia ached to do something for him, to take that hurt away, but the anger inside of her no longer burned like fire. Instead, it twisted deep in her gut, churning together with every bit of fear she’d been trying to hold down since the moment they’d gotten Brainy out of Leviathan’s clutches.

“Killing Lex…” Brainy said, meeting Nia’s eyes. “It will not take back what I did. I worked for him of my own volition, he didn’t force me into anything.”

Nia swallowed hard, closing her eyes.

“You have every right to be angry with me,” Brainy said earnestly. “But, please, don’t channel that anger into something this destructive. Lena is right. Taking a life is never worth it. There is always a better way.”

Nia’s eyes shot open at that. She blinked quickly, shaking her head. “I’m not,” she said. “I’m not mad at you.”

When Brainy only stared at her, Nia felt the twist in her stomach sour even further. She gritted her teeth, blinking back against the sudden burn in her eyes. “I- I don’t want to be,” she said weakly.

“It’s okay.”

Nia startled at the feel of Brainy’s fingers brush against her free hand. She clenched the one around his arm in response. “It’s not okay,” she gritted. “It wasn’t your fault. I-”

“From what I understand,” Brainy said, “emotions do not always make sense. But that does not make them any less real.”

For a long moment, Nia couldn’t say a word against him. Because, as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She was angry, so angry, but she was also terrified and sick and hollow. There was a bitter hole in her heart, one that had only continued to grow in the months since Brainy had broken up with her. He’d barely spoken to her since, had hardly stood to be in the same room as her at all. The closest they’d gotten was work-related interactions and even then, he’d been so distant, like a part of him hadn’t even been there.

And when she’d seen Brainy in Leviathan’s ship, every single piece of bitterness had surged to life in a united front to keep her grounded, to keep her away from every other emotion threatening to tear her apart. It had warped into a violent rage, an acrid burn inside her lungs, fuelling her on this fruitless pursuit to, what? Kill Lex? As though that’d make her feel better, as though any of this would make her feel better?

Nia couldn’t find it in her to say that all out loud. Instead, she sniffed hard, biting her lip. “You left me alone,” she said lowly. “And that killed me.”

“I know,” Brainy said, his voice pained. “It… it killed me too, and I know this isn’t enough, that it won’t take away the hurt, but I am so, so sorry, Nia Nal.” His eyes fluttered suddenly, and he closed them quickly, lowering his head. “I will always be sorry.”

Nia knew this wasn’t the right time to have this conversation. Brainy’s complexion was already losing the little colour he’d gained; his jaw was tight with discomfort, and as a harsh shudder ran up his spine, she watched as he lost the last of his composure, leaning his head against the wall with a weak grimace.

Nia wasn’t sure what she was feeling in that moment, but when Brainy’s legs nearly gave out, she didn’t hesitate. Her arms were wrapped around his back before she even knew that she was moving forward, burying her face securely into the side of his neck. His skin was sticky with cold sweat, but she didn’t care, she only hugged him fiercer, unable to keep a sob from heaving its way out of her throat.

“It will be enough,” she whispered, feeling as Brainy slowly began to relax into her embrace. “It’ll just take some time.”

There was more she wanted to say now. The words practically thundered inside her ears, clawing to be let out. Words like, how much she loved him, how she’d never stopped loving him, but how even that couldn’t take away the resentment she’d stored against herself, against him, for leaving her without a proper explanation, for making her feel like her feelings were unwarranted, unreciprocated.

But her throat was tight, and the only sounds she was able to make were the harsh gasps as her chest hitched and fell outside of her control. She could hear Brainy’s pulse beating away against her cheek, the moisture of his own tears wetting strands of her hair.

All she wanted to do was hold on and never, ever let go.

Brainy didn’t say a word, either. Although, for him, it was for a far more pressing reason. His breathing was already beginning to strain against her shoulder, and when he suddenly dipped dangerously in her arms, Nia strengthened her hold around him, leaning them both against the wall to support their combined weights.

“So, does this mean no one’s murdering anyone anymore?” Alex asked from across the room.

Nia’s chest clenched. She’d totally forgotten that her reunion with Brainy had been met with an audience. She lifted her head from his shoulder, blinking against the brightness of the room before turning towards her friends.

Alex was already on her way over to them, her eyes reviewing every inch of Brainy in both parts medical and familial concern. Kara and Lena hovered awkwardly together, seemingly aware that crowding Brainy right now might not be the best plan.

Nia met Kara’s gaze warily, offering her an apologetic wince. “I…” she began.

“It’s okay,” Kara said softly, her eyes creasing with a smile.

Nia sighed, shaking her head. “Okay,” she said levelly. “Maybe, maybe we don’t have to kill him. But the next cell we put that asshole in, he’s never getting out of.”

Kara’s smile widened into a grin. “Now, that’s a plan I can get behind.”

“First thing’s first,” Alex cut in, rousing Brainy enough that he was able to glance blearily up from Nia’s shoulder. She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead, narrowing her eyes at the result. “You’re telling me what the hell you did with your IV. Then, you’re going back to bed.”

Brainy nodded weakly, mumbling a quiet apology, although Nia knew Alex wasn’t looking for one. In fact, she was pretty certain she’d heard Alex forgive Brainy at least a dozen times over while he’d still been delirious from the radiation.

Nia chuckled, helping Alex manoeuvre Brainy’s weight back down the hall.

“C’mon Wildcat,” she murmured into his ear. “We’ve got you.”

Maybe they hadn’t had a chance to get everything out in the open just yet, but they would. 

Once Brainy was healthy and rested, they’d have all the time in the world.

#supergirl #supergirl fanfiction #brainia #supergirl season 6 #nia nal #brainiac 5 #dreamdox #kara danvers #alex danvers #lena luthor #kara zor el #lol is anyone keeping count of how many different ways i've written brainy getting saved from leviathan yet? #it's .. many #but all the season 6 hype is finally giving me a bit of that hurt/comfort writer's fuel #also. don't ever yank your IV out kids. it's a bad time. dont do it.

[cyclone-rachel]

to heal a heart is slow || a supergirl fic

Querl already hadn’t been getting much sleep.

Then again, he didn’t require much- or perhaps that was only an excuse, something he would say in order to convince others of... something.

That he was more efficient? It was a certainty, given who he was, and his intellect, and just how many things he decided he had to do. He was supposed to carry on as though the inhibitors didn’t affect him, and for what was required of him, they didn’t.

That he fit their expectations of him? That was unclear. He knew what they wanted from him, whether “they” were his Legion teammates or Supergirl and her friends. He did his work, helped them in every way he could, and in return, they gave him a home. Gave him somewhere he could live without worrying that his family would intrude, and if they tried, he would be protected.

How could he not show gratitude in return?

No, neither of those were completely true. He was more efficient, and he did his best to fit their expectations- even if sometimes there was miscommunication regarding what they were, as was the case when he had just started working with Alex at the DEO. And for Lex, he certainly made sure to be efficient, to convince him he was a more suitable work partner.

But it was more than that, and something he couldn’t bring himself to admit to anyone.

That being, especially as of late, he did not want to sleep.

~

“She was supposed to be safe, Lena.” he tells her. “All of them- I nearly died, exposing myself to radiation I thought would be fatal on the Leviathan ship because, if I did that, Supergirl- Kara- and the others would survive.”

“But Lex decided he would kill them anyway.” Lena finishes. “Sounds like him.”

Querl nods. They sit beside one another, after they have trapped the Phantoms- after she has seen him at his most vulnerable, most full of rage and wrath, most desiring vengeance. He has told her about his feelings, and now they must work through them together.

Especially with Lena having just given up something she put so much of herself into, which he can relate to.

“And now... every second that passes, we could be putting Kara in more danger by not rescuing her. I am putting together a plan, and we have the means to break into the Phantom Zone, but who knows what state she will be in when, or if, we find her?”

“We both know that Supergirl is strong.” Lena says. “And perhaps that’s why we gravitated to her. I trust she’s fighting her way back to us just as much, or even more than, we’re fighting to get to her.”

“Indeed.” Querl answers.

“But, Brainy... it’s also okay to not have everything together. You can take time to grieve, to miss her. You’re allowed to be upset. There’s no shame in that, I promise.”

Because I feel it too.

“Do you know why I came to the twenty-first century?”

Lena shakes her head.

“Of course not. My... my ancestor, Brainiac 1, he... unleashed a plague over my home planet, Colu, and then any planet with a significant AI population. If the Legion had not moved so quickly and got me to this time, I would have died then. And I can’t say whether I would be content with that, dying as a hero, a Legionnaire, but still constrained.”

His fingers brush over his forehead, before he continues.

“During that time, and indeed in all of my darkest moments, I have thought of Supergirl.” he says. “I remember what she has done, what she would tell me if she were there... but now she is gone because of me. Because I chose stopping Leviathan over taking down Lex.”

“Nobody blames you for that.” Lena says. “Isn’t that what you were supposed to do?”

“Yes. But I... I should have been able to do both. There should have been some way...”

“But there wasn’t.”

Lena holds his hands, just like before, and he looks at her.

“There wasn’t, Brainy. You chose to stop Leviathan, as you were told, and you did. That is heroic- and you were not the one who sent Kara away. He did that. Would you have?”

“Never.”

“See?” she said. “If we are to free Supergirl, we have to go forward, and that includes forgiving ourselves. Even if it’s hard.”

Even if we also have to forgive ourselves for things like almost mind-controlling the world, or trapping Supergirl in Kryptonite.

“Is that advice from Kelly Olsen?”

“Maybe.” she says with a slight smile. “But we can both use it, after all we’ve done.”

“Indeed.” Querl says, before pulling his hands away from hers. Steadying himself, making sure that he is ready to tell her what has been on his mind today, ever since he saw Lex on the television.

(Although it has continued there, held a place in his thought tracks, since he saw Kara be sent into the place to which she never wanted to return again)

“I have had nightmares, about her.” He confesses. “I have been studying the Phantom Zone, researching its properties to determine how best to set Kara free, and whenever I try to sleep, I see her inside it. Reliving her greatest fears, infected by the Phantoms that inhabit such a place… trapped forever inside her own nightmare. Forced to live in a place where time does not pass, in her mind-prison- something I would not want anyone to experience. Especially not Supergirl, or anyone else I…”

He takes a breath, letting himself think the word as Lena puts a hand on his shoulder, before he says it.

“Anyone I love.”

Querl wipes his eyes, before going on.

“What if we never get her out?” he asks. “What if my future- the Legion’s future- is changed forever, without her there to guide us? Who will I become, if she is not present? When I fall asleep, how much longer will I continue being haunted by her image, hearing her heart ceaselessly beating beneath my proverbial floorboards?”

“Brainy.” Lena says. “Querl. Come here.”

She opens her arms to him, and he moves over, as they hug one another close.

“It’s okay.” She continues. “We’ll do whatever we can, to get her out- no matter what. And until then, we’ll hold onto our hope.”

Querl nods, as she slowly releases him.

“Just like Kara would.”

“Exactly.”

#papa don't look #supergirl #supergirl season 6 #supergirl spoilers #lena luthor #brainiac 5 #querl dox #minifics #fanfics #brotp: what makes you think i'm so special

[buddha-in-disguise]

I haven’t had a chance to watch 5.17 again yet, but some initial thoughts.

1st things 1st, there were some sublime choices from Melissa Benoist as the Director. I have a couple of screen captures of the ones that immediately spring to mind. She definitely showed her nuanced understanding of the characters, and that really was so fantastic to see. She deserves another shot in the directors chair in S6 if she wants to (& it sounds from interviews as if it is something she’d like to have chance to do more of). Even without understanding the characters, some of the lighting & overall framing of shots were so good! From lighting to just mirroring chess board pieces. I loved it. I felt the Eve fight scene was pretty masterful.

The episode itself. Whilst it did give up a couple of twists (the most major being Lex set up Jeremiah’s death), honestly it fell pretty flat for a number of different reasons.

My biggest problem (& this isn’t new for me), is that Lex’s behaviour was entirely predictable. That all bar a couple of plot points weren’t things that the fandom haven’t already talked about in one way or another almost Ad nauseam.

A big part for me was this flashback episode leaves us with no more truly relevant details on things than before the episode began.

Lex setting up Leviathan? Knew he was going to do it, this is Lex we are talking about.

Lex manipulating Lena, especially against Kara. C’mon, you’d have to be either blind, or in denial this has been going on for months on his manipulation of Lena. Yes, she should realise he is doing it, but again, Lena (as even Mon-El mentions) is the product of her abusive family. That doesn’t simply disappear!

Eve - we knew she was back, so again no real surprise on Lex manipulating her. Again (oh and side note. If you’re going to hate on Lena for ‘killing’ people & say her manipulation by Lex doesn’t excuse her, but don’t say the same thing about Eve, who killed outright for both Leviathan and Lex, your hypocritical hatred of Lena is showing. Check yourself at the door).

Lillian. She had already admitted she wasn’t Earth 38 Lillian to Lex from the award ceremony dialogue. So again, it wasn’t a surprise.

Honestly I could keep going, but you get the picture.

With only 2 episodes left, (& even had it been a full 3 episodes as I expect them to perhaps try and extend 5.19 into a longer one, perhaps over 1.5 hours instead of the usual hour schedule), we still have no clear answers on anything. Leviathan? Nothing was added to their story, and considering they were supposed to be the big villain of S5, only Lex has been that so far. And when you have an episode that does nothing more than we saw in S4, to ‘expose’ Lex ..... news flash. We know all this about him.

What we don’t know is who leads Leviathan? Who else is part of the organisation? We practically know nothing about them.

I felt this episode would’ve been better placed after Winn’s first episode (I’ve said I felt having him over that 2 episode arc was a waste, as again that 2nd episode did absolutely nothing plot wise that couldn’t have been added in the 1st episode, & the 1st episode didn’t add a lot either! I’m not saying don’t bring Winn back, but make it relevant & not 2 filler episodes). To have it done so late in the season makes zero sense to me. It feels messy.

On to William Dey. I’m not even going to try & pretend I like the character. I absolute despise him, & not because of trying to be Kara’s LI. I despise him, because once again we had him in scenes that others should have been in, especially Alex at the beginning. She is supposedly working with J’onn, and while I get they might not want her around Lex, have her working remotely from the tower, sending that information from the video clip to J’onn and Kara. After all, she did that from the DEO. J’onn has all that computing power & I’ve yet to see it used to any full potential.

I also found it strange William just walked up to Kara & J’onn as if they’re best of buddies, but we have nothing to suggest he knows Kara is Supergirl. I hate he has that level of familiarity with them. It again feels rushed & disjointed & totally wrong for any of the characters. Failing having Alex working it, how about having Nia, who again I keep repeating, is an actual reporter, but also as Dreamer could help scout out & report back in with them all back at the Tower.

I also found the wording Lex used to Eve in regards William. "Activate William."

So activate how exactly? Sure they got him working as a journalist, but how? Through clues being sent to him? Is he under some kind of control? I can think of a host of different ways to phrase that, but activate? That sounds an awful lot like some kind of manipulation that is far more than straight forward sending William some clues is about.

And about this. William is a Nobel Prize winning Journalist, & yet not once has he been able to do anything without someone giving him the heads up! I know some journalism requires that, but constantly? If he is so good at his job, he should be finding more than dead ends. It grates like crazy.

Then he simply arrives at Kara’s with sympathy baked goodies - only to then launch into needing help over what he has found. There is a time & a place for that kind of thing. That was neither the time nor the place. I know Lex wanted to get Leviathan on board with his plan, & needed to show they were about to get Supergirl looking at them far too closely, but really? Just no. He could’ve met Kara at CatCo. Met Kelly at Obsidean. Texted or called Kara to check it was okay to drop by her apartment even. But doing so unannounced, when he knows Kara & Alex have just lost their father? It also grates.

Now onto Kelly - lovely to see her supporting Alex - and Kara - after the loss of Jeremiah. But does she know Kara is Supergirl? We still don’t know for certain! The inference in this episode is Kelly does know, as William tells them about the warehouse, then Kelly & Alex are at the tower with J’onn in the same outfits, as Supergirl lands, stating there was nothing at the warehouse. So yes, it is highly likely Kelly now knows. But how or when did she know. It’s these kind of details most fans actual want, not to have to make educated guesses on! This is a reason fans get frustrated. We were being told who used to get to know Supergirl’s identity, but now with Kelly, nothing! And people wonder why fans feel the LGBTQ characters are getting shortchanged this season. It isn’t just about lack of screen time. It’s about lack of depth of story, when previously they had people falling over themselves to show how they knew Kara was Supergirl.

Another example of this lack of depth or explanation is Brainy. Sure he is likely doing what he is because of future Brainy’s warning, but it still comes across as Brainy seemingly stupid considering his apparent intellect. We have been thrown these plot lines, but they’re then left for us to have to fill in the blanks as each episode airs, as we’re not getting them otherwise.

It is far too chaotic for my liking.

So once again my overriding sense after watching this episode is frustration. It still feels like a total mess, with no answers (& even if they give us those answers, 3 episodes - now 2 - would be nowhere near enough time to do it without rushing. It even felt rushed at times in this episode).

William continues to be an absolute waste of space, (and God do I feel sorry for Staz over this), taking perfectly good screen time away from other already established characters, who could do what he has just as easily.

The Kara and Lena push & pull is giving us nothing new! Nothing. It’s gone well past giving us angst to us having had enough. Like with Lex, they seem to have gone too far with a good thing, & now rather than enjoying it, the majority simply hate it. With a passion. I am sick to the back teeth with it. Lena deserves to finally be rid of this villain tag, & given her rightful place back with the Superfriends (after a damn sit down talk with Kara - not Supergirl - and get on some level ground for good this time). I don’t expect a miraculous friendship rebuilt in seconds, but I do want actual forward progress between them to stick. Not 1 step forward, 2 steps back. I certainly don’t want this carrying on into S6, or at least not without resolving more than this.

In all the 5 seasons I’ve watched Supergirl, I don’t think there has ever been such underlying anger or frustration on how the season has panned out, both from fans & media alike. The disconnect from the fans to the show is huge right now, & really I cannot understand how the end of S4, which was seen as a real step forward for the show, to the excitement of S5, & how it was being portrayed; to this.

I want so much to be able to sit here & write positively over the episodes generally, but too often this season I’ve not been able to do it. I feel so sorry for the cast, because I know they love the show so much, and I want nothing more than to be writing positively about it each episode, but I simply can’t do that.

So in conclusion.

Phenomenal directing by Melissa Benoist.

Complete & utter frustration & disconnect everywhere else.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lgbtq #chyler leigh #alex danvers #azie tesfai #katie mcgrath #nicole maines #kelly olsen #supercorp #brainy #david harewood #j’onn j’onzz #m’gann m’orzz #white martian #green martian #lena luthor #lex luthor #jon cryer #lillian luthor #brenda strong #jesse rath

[ithinkthingsaboutstuff]

Well I am bored and can’t get back to sleep. So it’s time for a supergirl s5 rant no one asked for.

Now every season has its issues and there were some outside “issues” this season (COVID-19 and Melissa being pregnant) so I will keep that in mind.

That being said.

This season had problems from the word jump. This was for a few reasons.

1- The plot was all over the place

And I don’t mean, ‘oh there was not enough of [blank character] so it was bad.’ No, I mean it was literally jumping between to many elements. Like what was this season about really?

Was it about a new tech environment taking over people’s lives? Was it about an ancient occult power coming out of the shadows to “take” the earth? Was it about adjusting to a post crisis world? Was it about the Luther siblings joining forces to achieve common goal and brainy is a secret inside man?

Now I understand that most tv shows have multiple plot points to follow that’s normal and expected. However, you need to have them meet up in away that is rewarding to the viewer and makes sense for the story that you are trying to tell. And there is an old writing trick called “one step at a time” Basically it boils down to, The audience will only believe one thing at a time.

Eg. You tell the audience this character can only do something in a certain way, (like the sups and the yellow sun,) but then you say that actually never mind this is another way to do it,(like Kara can keep her speed and only her speed under a red sun). This is bad writing as there is no set up or pay off and you cheated your audience by just changing the rules you made for no reason. (Think that kid on the playground that does that “unbeatable force field” thing in a game of tag.)

This can also apply to story concepts this is called a “conflicting narrative” in season 5 this apples to leviathan.

At the start of the season (ep 1 -8) we are told that they are ancient and magical based villains, all good. 

and their big plan is to therefor, of course  *checks notes* to use advice sci fi tech to achieve their goals and do something? with the people inside, yeah that makes sense what else would they use? Magic? that thing the super family is vulnerable to? Nah.....sarcastic’s aside, if you establish one thing you can’t turn in round with no explanation. 

They actually have a good example of this concept working in this season, in ep 10 with Brainy and his changing physical appearance. 

It was set up in the ep early on that our brainy was ‘off’ compared to the other Brainy’s, we get an explanation in the bar scene with the Rath siblings and then it is built upon with a Kara and Brainy scene, then after a build up and a reason (a character based one I might add) it is then and only then that it gets revealed and guess what.... that is hands down the best ep of the season. 

I literally have re-watched that ep so many times cause it’s that good. It is great self contained episodes and builds on per established character moments and plot points (brainy’s character inconsistency and the crisis plot aftermath) it’s the gold standard of what I’m talking about.

it sets up and pays off what it is trying to do and give character base reason for the story. 

But the season as a whole don’t do this effectively because 

2- They focus on making the plot the compliment characters, and not the characters complimenting the plot.   

the blanket term for this is, this is called “build up and release” this is used to drag out tension effectively. there are 2 ways to do this but basically 

1- answer one thing, then that answer leads to another question     

2- give partial answers through out a space of time, to keep attention but not make it the only focus of any given moment.

but anyway,

season 5 has this issue where they bring up a point then either don’t carry it through or don’t ‘step it out’ in a way that leads well to the story.

remember what i said about accepting one thing at a time? now let me ask.

If Leviathan is secret why did they reveal themselves now?

I don’t know and guess what, I don’t care, because the show didn’t care either. they never set up why they came out of the shadows or why that even mattered? so why would anyone care outside of “season’s bad guys”. 

you know what this season did care about the Luther siblings. there is nothing wrong with that per say, I just don’t see why they needed Leviathan if they didn’t actually want to develop them in anyway. If the post crisis season was just about taking down the Luther’s then fine nothing wrong with that.

but here is why they NEEDED the Leviathan ‘plot’ (and i use that loosely) is that they needed it to justify Lena working with Lex and not have her come off as “too evil” that way she can say

“i’m only working with you because I want to get rid of Leviathan” 

instead of 

“i’m working with you because i have the same motives as you”

which would not play well in her “redemption” (and i use that term even looser) they kept an aspect to the story purely to complaint a character they wanted a particular outcome, so they kept a plot element around regardless of how well it actually worked with the story.    

and then there’s the bitch himself LEX (John did a great job tho tbh)

he is the biggest example of ‘plot fitting character’, Lex didn’t fail ONCE the whole season, no problems or surprises and it was “oh so easy for him” like that is just frustrating for everyone, i’m not saying “the hero’s should win all the time” No, but the villains need to earn their wins to. here is why that is an issue if you make it to easy.  

1- the audience wants to see every character have their problems with achieving their goals and how they go about solving the problems as it is and hear me out...entertaining   

2-  when a character always has things “go to plan” it feels super forced, the Human error, is built into us (the audience) as people, so to see it not come into play at all, at any point, feels fake as we all know life don’t work that way for anyone. especially if there are people actively trying to stop you. 

overall you shouldn’t force a plot to fit a character, you should write a character to fit the plot their in (or in other words have them adapted to new situations they don’t even have to do it well) 

Ironically a good example of this in s5 was William

they built up that he was a journalist and that he was hiding something, fast froward and it turned out that he was trying to uncover Leviathan (unknowingly to him) and not apart of them. 

this is a good way for a character to compliment the plot. 

they said here is a new journalist and he doesn’t even know the depths of what he is looking into and that’s a smart move.      

i’m just going to leave this clip here...

this tied in character and plot really well it exampled character and now after this scene they can shift his behaviour and have a reason for it. not just ‘oh actually he was never a jerk and he is nice now’. no it was “he is trying to achieve a goal using this method and now he has been exposed”. This gives a plot based obstacle and character reaction (that failed to work) and it works actually quiet well for a network conspiracy plot.

character completing plot.

and finally 

3- Rushed endings  

now this one is actually treaty to talk about, cause of well the COVID- 19 problems so i can’t be to judgemental about it cause that is a dick move. And on top of that the lead actress (of an action show) was pageant so they had to use he a little less (in fight scenes anyway) so again I’m not going to be a dick about it, and you know i don’t want anyone being forced to work during a pandemic if its not at all necessary. So, i will keep this brief.      

There are still things that fell flat due to being to rushed.

1- the tech/ VR take down.

It was built up for at least 10 eps and they took it down in 5 mins with a pep talk from Kara, like um ok that was easy i guess, don’t know why y’all were worried if you could fix it in an afternoon. this is not a bad plot line in theory, but it was given to much attention for the solution it was given. 

2- Leviathan lady (don’t know and don’t care what her name is) being a robot alien thing.

this one is not too bad? but it was shown way to late in the game and again they didn’t focus enough on Leviathan for this to be of any real audience value outside of a surprise/ shock value. So why should i care now? they barely did anything interesting this season but then you give me something cool 2 mins after it doesn’t matter anymore (with the others bottled). why was this not done earlier in the season? but anyway.   

3- Lena’s “redemption”  

I could write a whole separate rant about this, but for time and my sanity i won’t. but basically, my main issue is that the whole season Lena was spiralling downward and doing worse and worse things to people, and that’s fine from a story pov, but after at least 15 to 17 eps of this and countless bad decisions and judgements she dose ONE good thing and, well that’s all your needed to do, all is forgiven.

now i am all for redemption arcs but one of the main words there is ARC!!!

there needs to be a reflection, apologies, rejections and making mistakes and then truly changing for the better, and still making mistakes!!

it was disgustingly quick and it honestly made me a little uncomfortable. I want to see people grow and learn but people have to earn their own way there. and another thing redemption is not something another person should be reasonable for giving you. (*cough* Kara *cough*)  redemption is something you give yourself through hard choices, personal loses and hard work. and guess what you can do all that and still NEVER get back what you messed up, that was real change and growth is as, 

redemption, real redemption         

comes in the moments when you don’t benefit from it, Lena loses nothing in helping Kara in the end and gains everything she throw away in a minute flat. So, yeah i think it was rushed in a way that made my jaw drop in disbelief because of how badly rushed it was. 

But getting out of that head space.

I like trying to end on a positive note the only part of the ending that was not rushed was Brainy’s bottling of Leviathan, 

it was set up as a thing that be could do (ep 10),it was a hard choice to make (as it was going to kill him) and was given time to feel the full weight of the choice, the Rath sibling hand hold, then Lex taunting him and taking the bottle, and then Brainy being left there alone, Then a bit of hope with Nia’s vision. it was the best part of the ending this season and i want to see more.  that is how you don’t rush an ending let the audience feel the consequences for the character choices with the character.   

anyway season 5 rant over.

#brainiac 5 #supergirl #legion of super heroes #supergirl season 5 #long post #lena luther #lex luther #supergirl cw #nia nal #rant #brainy #querl dox #kara danvers #alex danvers #no editing we die like men

[urwelcomeforthis]

out of the ash, i rise

also posted on AO3

Alex doesn’t notice it, at least not at first.

In her defense, she – everyone, really – was exhausted.

It had taken a lot of time and effort and energy to figure out what Lex Luthor was up to in this new world, and then they had to stop him and it was a whole ass group effort, and it was one of the most draining things she had ever done.

But in the end, they had done it, and a lot of things were explained along the way.

Brainy’s sudden break up with Nia in order to protect her, so he could pretend to be a double agent while actually being a triple agent.

If she tries to think about that one too hard, her brain starts to hurt a little, but in the end, he was on their side, was obviously and desperately in love with Nia, and they were working it out, so whatever, that’s a nice ending.

Andrea Rojas being a weird shadow thing and enforcing arm for Leviathan? Wholly unexpected but apparently being shady as shit came with being a CEO in National City.

Although if Alex cares to admit it to herself the other female CEO of National City had been the one who really won it for them all.

She was glad, that in the end, Lena Luthor had been a force for good.

The surprise on Lex’s face when Lena had shown her hand was maybe one of the best things Alex had ever seen.

The look on Kara’s face when Lena, brain hooked up to the same machine as Lex, had fallen to her knees, lasting only moments longer than Lex himself, was decidedly one of the worst.

The newspapers had all heralded Lena as a hero, and they were right, she was.

Her sacrifice wouldn’t be forgotten, not by anyone.

Particularly not by Supergirl, who had shown more raw emotion in that moment, projected on screens around the world, than anyone had ever seen displayed by her or her cousin.

The picture of Kara on her knees reaching for Lena as a blood curdling scream of agony fell from her lips accompanied every single article.

It had been weeks now, and Kara was still sullen and desolate at the loss of her best friend, but she still showed up to work, still performed her duties.

Alex was just too tired to realize that it was more than just the loss of a friend, and that something in Kara’s behavior was…... off.

So, when Kelly, one night at dinner carefully asks Alex where it is that Kara has been disappearing to every night, she could honestly kick herself.

She sat, fork loaded with food frozen halfway to her open mouth, as her brain ran over every time she had seen Kara in the past few weeks.

Kelly, to her credit, sat and patiently let Alex work her way to the dawning realization that she hadn’t seen Kara once at night since the Lex ordeal, receiving mumbled excuses about articles when sister nights or game nights were cancelled on.

She lowered her fork down to her plate.

Kelly just reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a solid squeeze.

For the next three nights she does everything she can think of to try and get Kara to come over to watch a movie, or have dinner, but all she receives are halfhearted excuses and quick “I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?’ replies, but she never presses her sister.

Something about the look in Kara’s eyes stops her from asking.

Instead, she does something far dumber, ducking her eyes from her girlfriend’s when she reveals her plan, not wanting to see the way they roll.

It’s how she finds herself in a lead lined van at 8 p.m. every night, following the dot on the screen that is Kara, the tracker in her glasses lit up in green.

Kara always goes to the DEO’s desert facility. Alex isn’t entirely sure what happens there, to make the green dot disappear every single night, but she has an idea.

It takes her a week to work up the courage to follow her sister to the facility, waiting until the tracker goes dormant to walk down into the most secure reaches of the building.

Placing her palm on the coded security panel, she walks into the room that houses one of the two portals to Argo.

It isn’t shimmering with energy when she enters, but she can feel the warmth that radiates off of the coils and she finally knows where it is her sister disappears to every single night.

She tries to fight the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that for the first time she’s not enough for Kara, that this life and their family isn’t where she’s been going to seek comfort, but still.

It would be a lie to say it doesn’t twinge, a little.

She turns on her heel and heads home, chews the inside of her cheek raw trying to formulate the next part of her plan.

Like all Danvers Sister plans however, it falls apart the moment she sees Kara and decides to just wing it.

“I know you’ve been going to Argo.” She blurts the moment the two are alone together in a room in J’onn’s Tower.

Kara just blinks slowly at her, not denying it, not confirming it, not saying a damn thing.

The silence is thick, and Alex fidgets, chastising herself for her impulsiveness.

“Do you know why?” Kara asks, voice low when she finally breaks the silence and Alex lifts both shoulders in a desolate shrug.

“I – is it because you need your mom? I know I haven’t been the best sister lately, or maybe ever, but-” she shuts up the moment Kara holds a single hand in the air to stop her, eyes blazing.

“You have always been the best sister so please never say that again. And I did need my mom, but not for what you think.”

Alex tries to not ask more, tries to ignore the relief flooding through her that it’s not because Kara has finally done the one thing Alex has always feared most, that she hasn’t decided to leave Earth behind to go back to her first home.

Kara studies Alex for a long moment before nodding once, obviously having decided something.

“Meet me tonight at the portal at 8.”

Alex nods, her eyes staying on Kara’s retreating form before she’s out of sight.

She doesn’t tell anyone where she and Kara are going. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t but something in Kara’s reticence to even tell her makes her stop short, telling Kelly instead they’re finally having a long-needed sister’s night.

Kelly, always intuitive beyond what anyone else realizes, hugs Alex hard before she goes, requests that she be careful.

It doesn’t escape either of them that she’s not wearing the weapon J’onn gave her when she promises she will be and walks out the door.

She and Kara don’t speak as they wait for the portal to hum to life, but Alex casts small sideways glances at her sister as they stand there, shoulder to shoulder.

Her sister’s jaw is set, shoulders thrown back, entire body tense.

Alex can’t help but be nervous at whatever is awaiting them on the other side but still she remains silent.

The pink waves of the portal flicker into being and they step through together, the heat and light from the red sun invading every bit of Alex’s senses.

“Follow me.” Kara directs as they step down onto the gravel path in front of them.

She trudges behind Kara, dully noting that this side of the portal had been moved from its previous location.

Instead of opening on the out skirts of Argo City it’s now placed in what seems to be a back yard. The house in front of them is a few stories high, the stone fencing around it is at least 10 feet tall and a few feet thick.

It reminds Alex of a castle or a barricade, meant to keep invaders out. Or more likely, prying eyes.

Kara reaches a set of steps on the outside of the house that lead down into a basement and Alex continues to follow behind silently, taking in the colors and the strange plants surrounding them that were once a part of Kara’s past life on Krypton.

When they reach a metal door Kara stops and turns towards her.

“You can’t tell anyone. Not even Kelly. Not yet.” There’s a glaze over Kara’s blue eyes and Alex can’t help herself when she reaches out and places a hand on her sister’s arm.

“Kara what is it? What has got you this upset?” Her eyes are moving so fast across the planes of Kara’s face as she tries to communicate that whatever it is, Alex is on her side, always, always, always.

“It’s – you’ll see. It’s better if you see.” Kara swallows thickly before she pushes the door open and steps inside.

Alex follows, her eyes working to adjust to the manufactured lighting in the space.

The door swings shut sealing them in, and Alex looks around the room.

It looks almost like an Earth laboratory, benches and worktables pushed around to line the walls, alien equipment humming and littering every crevice.

In the middle of the room there sits what looks like an enclosed, glass coffin filled with a blue, glowing liquid.

It vaguely reminds Alex of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Kara, seemingly haven forgotten that Alex is with her, makes her way towards the Snow-White coffin, and Alex watches from her spot in the shadows as she places a careful, reverent hand on top.

She can hear Kara murmuring words to whatever is in the box, and she’s thankful that on Krypton there is no super hearing that can detect the way her heart has begun to pound in her chest.

She doesn’t have to move any closer to know who is in the coffin.

In her entire life there is only one person Kara has ever looked at in that way.

“Kara.” She croaks from her spot.

It feels like she’s stuck in a pit of thick molasses.

When Kara looks up her hand doesn’t move from its place on the glass, her tear stained cheeks and wide eyes silently begging Alex to understand.

“Kara what have you done?” She finally forces out, lifting her foot like it’s a dead weight to make her way across the room.

She comes to stand across from Kara on the other side of the glass. She doesn’t look down.

She can’t.

“I brought her to the one place I could save her.” Kara is no longer looking at Alex and is instead locked onto the woman laying locked in glass below.

Alex is dumbstruck, a thousand thoughts fighting in her mind to be vocalized as she watches her sister, a modern-day Frankenstein, fight to bring the dead back to life.

She must take too long to say anything because Kara speaks up again, her voice cracking as she talks.

“It’s working. I – it’s illegal. Even here. But my Dad, he knew how. It was in his books. My mom knows, she’s been helping me.”

Alex fights against her roaring in her ears and works to stamp down the panic building in her chest.

“Kara, will she even be…. Will it be her? When she wakes up?” She’s whispering, she can hear the fear in her own voice, but god, what the actual fuck was Kara thinking.

“Yeah, yeah it will be her.” Kara sounds sure but not sure enough, and rage licks its way up Alex’s spine.

“What if it isn’t, Kar? And even if it is, how are you going to explain this?” She’s gone from whispering to shouting in five seconds flat, but it’s justified, she’s justified in this, in her anger.

She can’t fathom it, what Kara’s done.

Robbed a grave, stolen a body, taken it off world and worked to fucking reanimate it, ripping a soul from whatever place it ended landing to rest for eternity.

Kara looks up at her now, eyes hardened but tears still flowing freely.

“I don’t know Alex, ok? I don’t know! All I know is I can’t be in a world where she doesn’t exist. I can’t. I can be in a world where Krypton exploded, and I lost everyone – twice. I can be in a world where Jeremiah is dead, where Kenny is dead, fuck, where even I’ve died! But I cannot be in a world where she isn’t alive.”

Alex is dumbstruck again, watching as Kara’s chest heaves after her outburst, after she admitted that a single soul is worth more to her than an entire planet of her own people, more to her than maybe anyone.

She feels the tug of an invisible string under her chin urging her to look down, but still she doesn’t, can’t. The moment she does this is real, and she can’t let it be real.

She watches Kara turn around and fiddle with the machines hooked up to the glass device, her shoulders shuddering as she sobs silently.

She takes a deep breath to steady herself.

When it doesn’t work, she takes another one.

She swallows heavily, ignoring the way every sense of self-preservation in her body is screaming at her to turn and run back into that portal and never come back.

She looks down.

The body is suspended in the liquid, floating a good five inches from the bottom. Bare feet are spread apart, toenails painted what looks like a dark red. Her eyes trace up pale, bare legs until she’s mid-thigh, a cream-colored gown covering the skin. Hands rest folded together on a stomach, a white petaled flower held between them. The crest of El sits on the shoulder of the gown.

Alex swallows thickly, realizes Kara changed her. Kara placed the flower there.

She shakes herself and forces herself to continue.

Her eyes trace up the pale neck, the familiar freckle taunting her from its spot there. Dark hair floats in the liquid, wavy and undone in death. She sees lips painted devastating red and finally allows herself to look at the closed eyelids, the sharp eyebrows above for once looking peaceful and relaxed.

She can hear Kara say something in Kryptonian, but she ignores it, still trying to process what her sister has done.

She’s not sure how long she stands there staring at the body of her former friend when the blue liquid flashes a bright purple color and begins to lower.

She watches it for only a moment before her gaze flits back towards the woman’s face.

When she meets the green and white of open and panicked eyes, her knees give out.

She stumbles back, falling hard on her ass as she watches the coffin click open, the liquid fully drained.

When a fully alive and reanimated Lena Luthor slowly sits up, hair heavy and dripping wet, Alex reaches for her wrist, forgetting she left her weapon back on Earth.

She doesn’t move as Lena turns her head slowly to face where Kara is standing, still as a statue, not even daring to breathe.

Lena’s voice is cracked and scratchy from disuse in death. She only says one word, her fingers clutched tightly around the flower in her hands.

“Kara.”

Kara falls to her knees, hands reaching out towards Lena, landing on either side of her face.

“i n̩.ʒa͡ʊ, i kɹuvuʒ.”

(My love, my miracle.)

When Lena’s forehead comes forward to rest against Kara’s, Alex lets go of the air she had been holding in her lungs.

Quietly she stands on shaking legs and walks back towards the edge of the room, uninterested in being a voyeur of the reunion happening between the two women.

With a last look over her shoulder at Kara and Lena who remain huddled together, gripping each other tightly, she opens the steel door and steps back out under the red sun.

#supercorp #kara danvers x lena luthor #supergirl #alex danvers #kelly olsen #alex danvers x kelly olsen #kara danvers #lena luthor

[1237tnb]

I’ll Love You Into Healing (SuperCorp)

Chapter 1:

Kara and Lena stood in Lena's lab. Lena worked diligently creating a powerful vault to house the cell of Leviathans that Lex had stood from Brainy.  

Kara stood over Lena's shoulder impatiently, before she began to pass around the room.  

What was it with Luthors? Why couldn’t they do right? Whenever Kara had to deal with them, she had to deal with another mess to clean up.  

She shot her eyes back over to see what Lena was doing only to see Lena lay both of her hands flat on the desi and stand up straight.  

“You seem very annoyed with me.” Lena commented. It had been like this for a little over a month now. Lena had apologized multiple times and not comment any further on Kara's callous attitude, but it was all becoming too much.  

“Well, why would not have to do this if you didn’t create the tech that Lex is using now! I told you that he was no good, but you trusted him anyway.”

Lena stood up even straighter and cleared her throat. She tried to keep the hurt out of her eyes, and instead settled on grabbing an item on her desk to tinker with.  

“I already apologized for that. I told you that I was working on a project to help people I was just misguided in my reasoning.”

“And I told you that I don’t want to talk about the past.”

Then why did you bring up the past? Lena pushed the thought down, flipped her hair to the other side of her head, and went back to running simulations on her program.  

After several minutes Lena cleared her throat and spoke up.  

“I'm leaving National City.” Lena announced. “I came here to do good and change the negative narrative around my family’s name, but it seems that every time I try to do good that I make things worse for you and your friends, and the city. So, I’m leaving, right after I finish this chamber for Leviathan.”

Kara's eyes widened. She knew deep down that she didn’t want Lena to leave, but on the surface Kara was so angry.

People like Lillian and Lex were the reason that Kara couldn’t have a normal life and why Kara’s friends were never safe. Maybe if Lena left, National City would return to normal.  

Lena stood up and walked out her lab passing Alex and Kelly on the way out.  

Alex and Kelly nodded to Lena respectful before they looked to Supergirl. They then looked behind themselves to see if Lena was in ear shot.  

“Why...?” Alex looked around before looking at Supergirl. “Why were you talking to Lena like that?”  

“Like what?” Kara shrugged.  

Kara and Alex gave one another a knowing glance, before the refocused their eyes on Kara.  

“You were being super rude.” Alex spoke blatantly.

“Well... If it wasn’t for Lena, we would not have to be hunting Lex down now!” Kara crossed her arms in front of her, and Alex looked around confused. Were they talking about the same Lena, because the last time Alex checked, Lena was Kara’s best friend of three years? Lena had killed Lex only for him to be brought back to life by the Monitor, and Lena helped them save the world, even risking her life to save Kara’s.  

“I... do not understand.”  

“Lena used Myriad and Q waves to create the technology that Lex is using to threaten all of us now.”  

“No... that was Brainy. Lex is using Brainy’s tech. Brainy had been helping Lex for the last year. That is why Lex put Brainy in charge of the DOA. That’s why Brainy broke up with Dreamer. Lena’s technology has only contributed to a small portion of Lex’s plan. Lex did not want Lena’s technology. He wanted Lena, but Lena chose us. She chose you.”  

Kara shook her head. Her arms were still crossed as she pivoted on her heel and turned away from Alex and Kelly. To her surprise, they were making it clear that they did not share Kara’s sentiments about Lena’s actions over the last year.  

“Still...”  

“Kara...” Kelly did not know if it was her place to speak, but she decided to speak anyway. “Have you still not forgiven Lena? You forgave Brainy after everything. He freed the Toy Man and nearly got multiple people killed. He lied to us for almost a year, but you forgave him.”

“Are you saying that I shouldn’t have? Brainy only did what he did, because he thought that he was doing the right thing to save the world.”  

“Yeah, so did Lena.” Alex pressed.  

Kara opened her mouth say something, when Kelly stepped forward and interjected.  

“Kara as doctors, Alex and I investigated the project that Lena was working on. She brilliantly was trying to create a way to reduce violent tendencies and pain in individuals in order to stop crime. She got close to figuring out how to do it, but she did not account for the way that the brain adjusts to stress.”  

“Kara as crazy as it might sound, Lena was trying to create a system to protect people for a long time, so that people like you and I do not have to do what we have to do to keep the world safe. She was really trying to protect us.”  

“So, you’re on her side?! You think that it is okay to take away people’s free will.”  

“No.” Alex shook her head. “We...” Alex pointed back and forth between Kelly and herself. “We absolutely do not think that.”

“That’s actually why we think that Lena discontinued the experiment.” Kelly interjected again.

“She realized that pain is inevitable, and that it is something that we need to grow and enjoy the good times, and also that free will is something that needs to be preserved.”  

“Well... I don’t know why you both are vouching for her! Do you not care how she hurt me? She pretended to be my friend for months and used kryptonite against me.”

Alex’s eyes widened and she rescinded what she was going to say next. Kelly and she then stepped forward and sat the tablet on Lena’s desk, before both turned on their heels and left Lena’s lab hand in hand despondently.  

Kara stood in Lena’s lab by herself still seething. She waited in frustration. Nearly an hour had gone by for the conclusion that Lena wasn’t coming back, that she must have gone home or to her office for the night.  

Kara sauntered out of the lab making sure that the powerful lights went off behind her.  

However, she stopped in her tracks as she approached the elevator.

“I’m worried about Kara.” Kara overhead Alex talking to Kelly. “I haven’t seen her act this way, since we adopted her when she first got to Earth. She was angry about everything and difficult to reason with.”

“I’m sure she’ll come around.” Kara heard Kelly breathe.  

“I’m just afraid that she won’t come around in time. I know she loves Lena as much as I love you. I don’t know if Kara would be able to handle it if Lena left National City for good, but she is being too stubborn to forgive Lena.” Kara heard Alex sigh, before she continued speaking.

“I can’t help but feel like this is my fault. I knew how Kara felt about Lena for years, and for years I tried to convince Kara that Lena was as bad as any Luthor, and I was wrong. Now, that Kara feels hurt by Lena, she is treating Lena worse than she treats Lex.”

Kara’s eyes widened. She felt her blood boil with rage. She couldn’t believe that Alex and Kelly were talking about her behind her back. Worse than that they were siding with Lena after everything.  

Kara ground her teeth together and stepped back from the elevator. Forget the elevator! She needed to clear her head.  

Kara flew up through the center of L Corp and crashed through the window at the top of the building, sending glass shards following dozens of stories down to the lobby.

Page Break

Chapter 2:

Kara spent the next few weeks in Argo City crashing on Clark and Lois’s couch. She could not believe her sister and Kelly. Moreover, she couldn’t believe that Jon, Meghan, and Dreamer all shared their sentiments. Even Kara’s own earthly mother agreed to Kara was being obnoxiously callous to Lena.  

Did they not see that Lena’s mother and brother had Jeremiah killed? Killed! They killed Jeremiah to get to Supergirl!

Kal remained uncharacteristically quiet as well as Lois. They just shot Kara concerned looks as they took care of young Jonathon until Kal finally said something.  

“Hey Kara, you know that we love having you here, but...”  

“But I am overstaying my welcome...” Kara sighed, draping her head down between her knees.  

“It is not even that.” Kal shook his head. “It is that we feel that you are avoiding your friends, and that it is just hurting you.”  

“They are all siding with Lena...!”  

“What’s wrong with that?” Kal asked as he picked up Jon’s muddy onesie off the floor and flipped it into the laundry basket that he was carrying under his arm.

“She... She... She hurt me. She used kryptonite against me. She lied about being my friend for months. She used me to steal Myriad. She did not accept my apology after I apologized a hundred times! Now, I am supposed to accept her apology, because she apologized a couple of times?”

“You know...” Kal scratched the back of his head. “Bruce and I have butted heads many times, and he also used Kryptonite against me, and he stole things from the Fortress of Solitude. He often saw me as the enemy and thought the worst of me simply because I am a Kryptonite.  

I mean you are mad at Lena because she did for three months what you did for three years.”  

“I was just trying to protect her!” Kara cried throwing her open hands forward exasperatedly.  

“Then why did you tell Dreamer, Mon-El, Kelly, Maggie, James, Winn, Jon, Meghan, Brainy, Barry, and Oliver all who you are long before you attempted to tell Lena?”

“Because they all have powers, and they are engrossed in this vigilante lifestyle!”

And Lena doesn’t? She is a genius beyond humanly plausible and more than capable of taking care of herself.”  

“Kal!” Kara exclaimed, before she frowned, and her shoulders slumped down. Her eyes dropped to her hands that were resting on the calves of her crossed legs. “Kal...”

Clark rested his hand on Kara’s shoulder and gave Kara an understanding smile.  

“Kara I am not trying to make you feel bad. I love you. You are my big cousin. I am just trying to help you see things from Lena’s perspective, because good friends are hard to find. Please do not right yourself out of being happy with someone that you genuinely care about. Do not gamble away time waiting for the perfect moment, go ahead and apologize. After all, after Krypton and the Crisis you should know that time is a precious commodity.”

Kara looked up and Kal and then returned to Earth. His words touched Kara, and she did not know if she had ever heard him say so much about one thing.  

Upon her arrival, she apologized to her friends and family, and then went to see Lena.

Page Break

Chapter 3:

Kara flew up to Lena’s high-rise apartment to see that it was mostly empty. The only things left were a few packed boxes and her bed on top of the box spring but without the headboard.  

“You really are leaving.” Kara’s eyes widened in surprise as her eyes panorama-ed around the sterile, white apartment.  

“Well, you know that they say, ‘Where there is smoke, there is a Luthor’.”  

Lena’s words stabbed Kara’s heart, even though Lena did not mean them to.

“I can’t escape my family’s name. It’s my curse. Everything I touch goes to ruin no matter how good my intentions are. I think it is time for me to get out of the way, and let the real heroes take care of things.”  

“Where will you go?”  

“I’ve thought about going back to MIT and finishing out my doctoral program. I could become a professor and research the implications of gravitational waves on dark matter and how we can harness that energy to create perpetual renewable energy. I could achieve tenure and spend the remainder of my days teaching. That sounds harmless enough.” Lena shook her head as she stared out of the National City skyline. She blinked back the angry tears that were stinging her eyes.  

Lena wiped away a stray tear that chased its way down her cheek and turned to Kara.  

“I finished the chamber. It should be able to contain the cell that Brainy created to hold Leviathan. Even Lex should be incapable of using it for his purposes. I gave it to Alex, and I also wrote up everything I know about what Lex is planning. I will be honest, however, I do not know much, because Lex never trusted me after I shot him. The only thing he ever trusted in is his belief that he is smarter than me.”  

Lena shrugged, before she slid her empty flower vase into a cardboard box that was filled with Styrofoam.  

“Lena I...” Kara still did not want to apologize.

“I am sorry that I hurt you Kara. I know that you do not want to talk about the past, but I need you to know why I did it.”  

Kara stood on the other side of Lena’s apartment, mouth ajar, ears ready to hear.  

“There’s a mathematician named Dr. Nash...” Lena began her story, still staring past Supergirl and to the gorgeous night skyline.  

“Dr. Nash Wells...?” Kara speculated.  

“No.” Lena shook her head. “Dr. John Forbes Nash. He attended Carnegie Mellon. He was brilliant and developed the concept of Game Theory that is widely used in Economics, Business, War, and International Affairs.

For years, he had a best friend who started as his roommate. After Nash’s wife and son, Nash loved no one more than he loved his best friend and his best friend’s daughter. The two were friends for more than a decade. Dr. Nash also worked with the US government to stop the Russians during the Cold War. One day when Dr. Nash was giving one of his lectures, he was detained by several men and forcibly taken to a mental institution...”  

Kara unthinkingly moved closure as she became enveloped in Lena’s story.  

“Dr. Nash demanded to know why he was being detained and why they would not release him.” Lena’s voice cracked and she felt herself begin to cry. “They told him that he had schizophrenia, and that his best friend that he had loved for so long did not exist. They told him that his best friend was just a product of his schizophrenia as well as his life’s work stopping the Russians.” Lena’s voice cracked again. “He didn’t believe them at first because he loved his best friend dearly, and his best friend was real to him, until why day he noticed that in twelve years, his best friend’s daughter had never aged once. “Lena coughed as the tears took over and agitated her eyes. “In one foul swoop, he realized that everything in his world was a lie, and to everyone else he was just some delusional old man. Even his own wife thought so little of him, that she eventually divorced him.”  

Lena cover her eyes with her hand, before she looked and looked back up. Her eyes were completely red, and her chest was tense.

“That’s how it felt when Lex told me not only that you were Supergirl, but that everybody (all of our friends and my family) knew but me. I was just some delusional fool. And you know Kara...” Lena’s chest seized as she choked out another sob. “It is not that it wasn’t completely obvious that you were Supergirl. I am a genius who went to MIT after all. It is that I loved you and I trusted you so much that I refused to believe that you would lie to you. I took you for your word!”

“Lena I...” Kara moved towards Lena hand outstretched.  

“I’m sorry for the pain that I caused you and using Kryptonite on you. I will never forgive myself for that. I will never forgive myself for becoming the villain.” Lena quickly turned on her heel and shut herself into her bedroom.  

Page Break

Chapter 3:

Kara sat in her apartment feeling even worse than ever. She was terrible. She was being terrible to Lena, and she had no excuse for it.  

She hurt Lena deeply, and Lena came to Kara’s rescue any way. Could Kara say that she would do the same for Lena? Kara wanted to say that she would, but at this point she just didn’t know.

She shut herself into her bedroom for what felt like another week. She knew that Lena would be leaving for New England any day now, but she did not know how to talk to her. She did not even know where to begin.  

The magical Mr. Mxyzptlk already showed her how she couldn’t fix how she messed up the last time. How was she going to fix how she messed up this time?

Kara buried her head in her knees when she saw her phone buzz. It was William. She did not want to deal with him right now. She did not even feel worthy of dealing with him right now. Kara was a terrible person, and she knew that he was going to ask her on another date.  

Why was Kara so willing to almost reveal her identity to William, but so unwilling to reveal her identity to Lena for so long?

Lena? Oh, how she loved Lena. For three years, Lena just saw Kara as Kara. Not as Supergirl, Kal’s cousin, Alex’s weird little sister, Cat’s lackey, a Kryptonion. No Lena, just mad saw Kara as Kara and that made Kara feel seen and loved. It was a feeling that Kara never wanted to lose, and she knew that she would lose it the moment that she revealed to Lena that she was Supergirl.  

“Ugh...” Kara was so stupid. She shoved the pillow in her face and growled allowed, before she fell backwards onto her bed.  

Was she really about to let Lena leave National City and become a college professor? She was really about to let Lena leave National City and become a college professor! There was nowhere near enough apologies in the world to take back all of the cruel words that Kara said to Lena, and the abysmal way that she treated her.  

Lena was going to move out of Kara’s life for good and there was nothing that Kara could do about it.  

Kara picked herself up off the bed. Nothing was getting done by sulking. She still had to help her friends stop Lex and the last remaining member of Leviathan.  

She flew to the temporary DOA hide out and began to make preparations with her friends.  

They all looked at her with deep concern. There was no way that they could do this without Lena, and the definitely could not do this with Kara is the depressed state of mind that she was in.

“Yes Jon,” Kara invited him to speak as she felt his leery eyes on her.  

“We think that we would have a higher chance of success if you asked Lena to help. Also, you seem like you are in a bad headspace...” He commented.

“Yeah... Well, I am sure that she does not want to help. I have been pretty awful to her these last two months, not to mention the last four years.” Kara pulled at the skin on her face stressfully.  

“I think she’d be willing to help if you asked.” Alex breathed caringly.

“I do not deserve her help. I do not deserve her friendship, and I do not deserve her.” Kara shook her head.  

“I was so disgusted by her abusive family that I did not realize that I was becoming her abusive family. I turned her reality into a reality similar to that of Dr. Nash.”  

The frowns on Alex and Kelly’s faces deepened again. They once again shot one another knowing looks.  

“Well Kara,” Jon measured his words as he looked down on his beloved friend. “If you deceived Lena into brokenness in four years. I believe that you can love her back into healing in a few more.”  

Kara’s eyes widened and she realized that that was the real lesson she was supposed to learn from Mr. Mxyzptlk. Healing Lena’s hurt from keeping her identity secret was not something Kara could heal overnight, because Lena was constantly carrying decades of baggage. It was something that would take years of trust and love to rebuild, but for a friend as amazing as Lena, it would be all worth it.  

Kara flew out of the hideout and back to Lena’s apartment.

Page Break

Chapter 4:

“Oh my gosh Jon! Be nice to your cousins!” Kara exclaimed as she finished packing the lunches for school.  

She turned around and blushed as she saw her absolutely stunning best friend Lena walking down the stairs of their quaint home escorting their youngest daughter Martha.

“Are you ready for work babe?” Lena asked Kara as she walked up to her, and Kara gently pulled Lena into her arms and kissed her lips longingly.  

“As long as I can come home to you!” Kara smiled with a wink.  

Kara and Lena had been married to one another for a little over five years now, and Kara was just as in love with Lena as she was the day, she met her.  

Their relationship was difficult at times, but working through the pain, heartbreak and betrayal all those years ago made it all worth it.  

“I’m going down to the capital today to propose my new STEM program to the governor. It has a focus on the inclusion of diversity of impoverished children of different races, ethnicity, and terrestrial origins. I really think that the governor is going to like it.” Lena blushed as she grinned for ear to ear.  

“Well...” Kara beamed at Lena, “You know what I think... I think that you should be the governor, but that’s just me.” Kara giggled and Lena giggled as well, before they kissed one more time.  

#Supergirl #supercorp #cw #lex luthor #superman #lena luthor #lillian luthor #alex danvers #lgbt #lgbtq #season 5 #season finale #season 6 #the cw #kara danver #kara zor-el #kal-el #clark kent #love #redemption #fanfic #fanfiction

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

So 5x18...

...Well hot d*mn.

Man when Supergirl fires on all cylinders...HOO BOY.

Case in point: *gestures to all of 5x18*

To be clear: I liked this one.

A WHOLE LOT.

Not that I disliked 5x17, necessarily. It’s just that 5x18 was more... Entertaining? ...I dunno. I dunno how to explain it.

...Okay yes I do and that explanation is: Someone remarked on Kara’s use of language and Kara overcompensated on the ‘NOooOOooOO I’m totally 100% normal!’ AND there was a musical quote AND it was WHILE TEAMING UP WITH ALEX TO FOLLOW A LEAD.

But I’m getting ahead of myself let’s backtrack...

TO THE TOWER! WITH ALEX! NIA! KARA! AND M’GAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!!

June Foray voice: WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY FOREVER?!?!?!

I know I’m not the first person to make that reference but it’s always fitting and, for real, recurring character status WHEN. (I mean. Obviously I would prefer series regular but that feels like a big ask considering that all future TV production is...uh. Ah. Erm....

...Up in the air. At the moment.)

And then we check in with the Luthors and Non Nocere isn’t working???

I am shocked! Shocked, I say!

And then we’ve got Obsidian doing something ill-advised which is basically the company’s MO at this point but KELLY AND WILLIAM ARE ON THE CASE REGARDLESS.

(So that’s kinda the one thing I’m sad about re: the Crisis reset; Andrea’s character development. But she’s sticking around for next season so I’m not too upset that she remains...kinda...one note for now.)

And THEN the library scene. 

It was so gooooood.

Then Leviathan and okay. Alright. Okay. Huge points in this episode’s favor: Rama Khan feels like a far more significant threat. And I feel like 80% of that is the fact that they just let him wear normal clothes. Thank you, show. Thank. You.

Also the rock effects were way better in this episode because they weren’t footing the bill for a giant crossover episode this time around

I am a little confused, though, by what has and has not happened with regards to Rama Khan on Earth Prime. Did the pre-Crisis stuff...happen? The dialogue...kinda made it hard to decide one way or the other. ‘He hasn’t been seen on this Earth for 100s of years’ but then also, ‘a chilly place you know quite well.’ So...he...did go to the Fortress. And fight Kara? But...all that stuff before Crisis...???

...Not gonna bother with that right now.

POINT IS...Leviathan is finally like...invested in killing Supergirl* and menacing in a very real way which both raises the stakes and makes it personal and that’s way more interesting than ‘nebulous evil organization that must be stopped.’

*I know they kinda sorta already did the whole, ‘let’s kill the Kryptonian!’ and invaded the Fortress but I don’t know what to tell ya, it was just lackluster.

J’ONN AND M’GAAAAAANNNNN

I am firmly in camp: I don’t care if they’re never green again I love seeing them in the super suits with their human faces IT’S GREAT.

Love that Nia’s snoring interrupts the moment.

Also love the deck of Rama Khan playing cards, that must’ve been a fun project for the graphic designers.

Then we’ve got William and Kara at CatCo and it’s baked goods! A hilarious line delivery by Staz! A ridiculous fabrication involving a shy, violent cat!

...Now I want Alex to actually own a shy, violent cat!

“Cats love me, for some reason.” “Of course they do.”

Side note: Love Kara’s blazer.

And then it’s ALIEEEEEENS TO THE RESCUE!

WHAT A TEAM UP, FOLKS.

We love to see it.

The interrogation scene is good n’ tense and ramps up to a very impressive showdown in the DEO (but BEFORE the sparks really start flying we get that rad shot of Kara leaping through the window and doing the superhero landing and it’s just

Perfection.)

Also perfect? Lex playing a game of transmatter pickle with the prisoners.

Then we jump back to the DEO where things are not going well!

Like, really really bad! 

But J’onn and M’gann save the day! If not the building!

RIP DEO. 2016-2020

Obituary: The DEO headquarters is survived by its elder sibling, the DEO desert base.

Look none of the favs work there anymore save for Kara and Brainy and they’re both gonna be better off working freelance for J’onn but I do expect Brainy to at least pick up some additional cash by working as a Lyft driver next season.

Me, watching the characters struggle to make it in the gig economy: I feel so seen.

The final portion of the episode is just ALL ACTING and I must say...good stuff.

Like. This cast, man. They take the plot points I’ve been ‘meh’ about all season and they turn in some stellar performances and suddenly I’m like STANDING OVATION, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES.

Also, reason #342 I love Jon Cryer’s Lex: that scene with Lena.

Terrifying.

Full disclosure: I went in to this episode fully prepared to be really annoyed with whatever was going to happen with Lena and I still don’t...love the trajectory of this season, being so tied up in her personal drama but. 

But.

Katie McGrath’s performance...went an awful long way here. In making this...not as bad as it could have been.

Like tearfully admitting she was hurt? And that hurt was the basis of all the nonsense she pulled? Finally owning up to the fact that this was never truly about the greater good but that it was all rooted in some personal issues and OUTRIGHT STATING SHE WAS BEHAVING LIKE A VILLAIN????

I am. Extremely impressed.

EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE THOUGH: Kara remaining distant both physically and emotionally throughout that scene! Not in like, a cold uncaring way, but in a, ‘I have emotions and I have a right to feel them and set boundaries in regards to my trusting you right now given all that has transpired’ kind of way.

GOOD. YES. GOOD.

(Lex’s outburst has that kind of same Nice Guy undertone--albeit more pronounced and rage-y--as Lena’s in the Fortress. Like, ‘I supported you and you still rejected my plot to take over the world’ and ‘I was kind to you and you still messed up my mind control’ which...I dunno I might just be digging in too deep here in order to further justify the character turn but I think Cryer’s performance regardless is a really sobering wake up call for Lena, different than Lex stuff we’ve seen before. It’s close and intense and uncomfortable in a way that really sells the motivation.)

“You’re a monster...but that doesn’t mean I have to be one too.”

Wow. Might be...the first time I’ve liked Lena all season.

...whispers: might be the first time I’ve liked her ever at all

For real: credit where it’s due, that was an excellent line read.

*insert applause here*

CUT TO ADORABLE J’ONN AND M’GANN MOMENT 

D’aaaawwwwwwwwww

But, look, it’s a little undermined by the fact that they both gotta try and embrace in those bulky super suits, I’m sorry, it’s true

...Maybe it’s more endearing that way?

HEY remember how I foolishly assumed that the now-unemployed Alex would simply continue to work with J’onn in an investigative capacity and, ya know, NOT jump straight back into costumed badassery? 

HA. HAHA HAHAAAA.

Those leaked set photos make sense now.

OH NO, WILLIAM!

Real glad Staz confirmed he’s returning. Otherwise I would not be able to DEAL WITH THE STRESS.

I already talked a little bit about the loft scene but some additional points! Beautiful lighting. Wonderful score. Excellent performances all around.

A truly great end to a truly great episode.

Like, it makes me retroactively sad, that we’re only getting 5x19, as opposed to 5x19 and 5x20 because I wish that the crew/writers/actors had a little more space to let all of this good work they’ve done settle and breathe. 

(But also, it was good that they stopped production, from a safety standpoint, so. Can’t be too upset.)

And, regardless of how the next episode goes down (b/c I’m gonna be real, SG always does really great set-ups for their season finales and then kinda...rushes to the finish line and that can only be further exacerbated in this particular case) I’m just really impressed with this effort here.  

...but also LET’S TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE SOME WILD GUESSES. Specifically, what is Alex’s vigilante name gonna be??? 

...

Alright I generally try to avoid addressing specific fandom complaints in these things b/c I generally try to avoid the fandom itself but of course some stuff has already leaked through all of my blocks/muting so:

‘Lena didn’t apologize!’ The words ‘I’m sorry’ were not said, sure, but 1.) season’s not over and 2.) for Lena, admitting she was wrong is huge. HUUUUUUUGE. It’s solid character growth and I really wish various subsets of fandom would recognize that it’s not fun, when fans hold on to negative stuff from characters’ past and refuse to acknowledge that the characters have changed.

‘Brainy should have seen this coming!’ This one is kind of more down to personal preference I guess but I feel like they’ve established that Brainy’s got a bit of a blindspot due to his feelings about his friends, so I don’t take this as a knock against his intelligence so much as him being stretched fairly thin because he’s playing all sides, and worried about the people he loves. YMMV, though. 

All the ‘fix-it’ stuff re: the last scene, by making Kara immediately forgive Lena. Lose me with that nonsense, bleh. 

#SG post #long post #supergirl spoilers #5x18 spoilers

[ladyshilya]

Supergirl: The Missing Link

I tool last week off because I needed a break. Last episode showed us how Lex was controlling everything that was happening at Obsidian through the manipulation of Eve. Let’s see what happens with bringing Rama Khan back.

The episode starts with Brainy talking with Lex about what he has been doing very specifically releasing the Suneater. Brainy wonders how is suppose to stand by while his friends get hurt. Team Supergirl tries to figure out if Leviathan was the one who released the Suneater and how Lena got to the fortress at the same time as Supergirl being there. Kara and Alex use a contact of Kelly’s to find out more on Leviathan. Gemma decides to bring Rama Khan back in to deal with the Supers.

J’onn can’t find any sign if Leviathan. Nia uses her dream powers to find out where Leviathan is hiding. Kara leaves Alex in order to see some new information William found. It seems William found proof that the message Margot had sent was done with an image changer. J’onn lets Kara know they found out where Leviathan is and Kara leaves to help them. 

M’gann, J’onn, Dreamer and Supergirl all battle Rama Khan and are able to capture him. Brainy comes in with the DEO to take Rama Khan and Dreamer and Supergirl follow because they want to be able to question him. Brainy talks with Rama Khan in his native language. Brainy lets Rama Khan know that he too is working with Lex and will help him escape if he brings them to his ship. While watching all of this Dreamer has a vision of Rama Khan’s staff scanning the DEO. Rama Khan askes Brainy why would he want to leave when he did everything to get there. Rama Khan breaks out of his restraints and attacks the DEO, destroying it. Dreamer confronts Brainy with how he has been acting and asks him to tell her want he is doing. Since he can’t Dreamer then tells him she will pick a side for him. 

Kara is worried because Leviathan has kryptonite and without Lena to help build her a kryptonite suit she will be vulnerable. J’onn assure Kara they will be able to be Levianthan. After Kara leaves J’onn and M’gann have a moment and kiss. 

William and Kelly investigate an employee number which happens to belong to Tess. Kelly remembers everything Tess did in the past and is concerned. When they bring up their concerns to Andrea. She tells them there is nothing in Tess’s past to show any concerns and Gemma was the one to recommend her. If they continue with this then they might want to leave the company. 

Alex stays with Pete to find out more about Leviathan but they hit a dead end. It seems he can’t get anymore information. When Alex tries to break into the special archives someone shoots at them. They worry about Pete’s family and Alex apologizes for pushing. Pete understand because he had been in the military. At times it hard to let that go but it is something that needs to be let go.

Also going on the inmates praising Lena for all she has done for them but one of the inmates attacks. Lex offers to help Lena figure out what happen to the inmates Non Nocere. It seem their eyes change before they start attacking. At the same time their bodies are overriding Non Nocere and are treating it like its the flu. Lex, Lena and Steve all try to make it to her office since she thinks another blast will help restore Non Nocere. While they run to her office during the riot Steve gets attacked and Lex helps save him. In the office Lena sends out another Non Nocere blast which knocks out many of the inmates or pacifies them. When Lena talks to Steve she finds out he no longer feels at peace anymore. 

Lena begins to realize that her project will never work. The human body will always adapt because pain is apart of life. Lena also realizes Lex knew the whole time her project would fail. I think we all knew her project would fail. When Lena confronts Lex, he explodes at her. Saying how he helped her and didn’t sabotage anything just so she could see her project fail. Lena also learns Lex plans on using some of her work to help with he’s plans for Leviathan and Obsidian. She refused to work with him.

Lex has the prison blown up. He also gets his meeting with Leviathan. Alex and Kelly talk about what happened. Kelly will stay at Obsidian to help keep digging but she realizes she will need to wear a mask. Alex might also want to consider wearing a mask. William trails Tess who notices him following her. She puts a hood over his head. 

Lena goes to see Kara where she tells her how her project failed. How Lex used her and is planning on using her work to help with Leviathan and Obsidian. Lena confirms that Lex is working with Leviathan and is planning on using Obsidian. Lena wants to help bring both Leviathan and Lex down.

First thing I am so happy there it not more crazy Lena. I get it she was hurt and we have all been crazy from our hurt before but she was becoming Luthor crazy. I hope this will be the start of Lena and Kara mending their friendship. I am worried about William. I am not sure what Tess is going to do to him but we all know she doesn’t want to kill anymore so hopefully she will stick to that. I respect what Nia did with Brainy. She still cares about him but if he is not on their side then she and the teams to do what is best for them. It was a really good boundary moment. 

Until next episode which looks like a war between Leviathan, Lex and the Supers. Lets hope there will be some friendship repairing between Lena and Kara as well as Brainy with the rest of the team. Of course I would love Nia and Brainy to get back together but its too soon for that.

#supergirl #CW Supergirl #supergirl spoilers #supergirl tv show

[kassies-take]

Lex Fucking Luthor Is Fucking With My Brain

None one probably cares but anyone else realize that there were TWO Lexosuits. This could’ve been both Toymans but I just have the image of Lex using it in season 4. While watching this scene I just picture Lex taking off the helmet to reveal himself or something. Not to hate on Lena, but the writers seem to be putting Lena down a dark path. So future Luthor sibilings take down?

Okay. But really the fact that Toyman did use Lexosuits is anything but a coincidence. Like was it not Lex’s plan to let Toyman free, let Winn come back and steal from the Legion ship. Was it not Lex’s plan to know that Toyman would hack the D.E.O to get the immortal code. So what’s to say that Lex isn’t also behind Toyman’s motives too. In season 4 Lex was behind everything. He has SO MUCH GODDAMN POWER that his own suits are at the D.E.O. I mean he owns the damn place but he is invading and manipulating EVERYTHING. Lex literally placed war against himself with Kasnia and America 

 He sits in LENA’S office this episode, places his own tech in LENA’S lab, then he sits his ass down in the D.E.O conference room. We all know that Lex wants to get rid of Leviathan because they are the only danger that threats his rule over Earth and probably the whole multiverse. Brainy better have a plan to stop Lex. 

Why the Monitor kept him alive, I have no idea what for. Yes Lex, helped find the Paragon of Truth but after the Vanishing Point he didn’t really help, besides the fact that he beat up a couple of Shadow Demons. 

Someone please tell me that Lena is not just being sidelined but has the ultimate plan that saves the world and her friends. This whole time Lena has been trying to make a name for herself, use the Luthor name as a force for good. She better have a good redemption story too.

SOMEONE GET RID OF LEX. I WANT THE BEST LUTHOR BACK (LENA)

#supergirl #supergirl cw #lex luthor #lena luthor #supergirl season 5 #supergirl 5x12 #i have a fucking headache from this season

[karazor--el]

Supergirl's Brainy Teases Intense Resolution to His Double Agent Storyline

Supergirl star Jesse Rath teased Brainy's confrontation with Lex, some 'intense' scenes, the return of his sister Meaghan Rath and more.

In the fallout of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," Supergirl's Brainiac-5 has embarked on his most difficult mission yet. On the advice of his female doppelganger, he distanced himself from the Super Friends and aligned himself with Lex Luthor in order to keep an eye on the supervillain's moves against Leviathan. As Season 5 moves into its final two episodes, this will come to a head when Brainy makes a decision that could nullify all the sacrifices he made to protect those he loves.

Speaking to CBR, Brainy actor Jesse Rath previewed what's in store for his character in the last two episodes of the season. He promised his double agent storyline will be resolved by the end of the finale, although some consequences will extend into next season. He teased a confrontation with Lex, some "intense" scenes, the return of his sister Meaghan Rath and more. He also reflected on creating a new voice for uninhibited Brainy, what it is like to work with Jon Cryer and why he'd wear his new comic book-inspired costume all the time if he could.

CBR: This season has been big for Brainy. I mean, his personality got almost an entire overhaul. How did you go about crafting this new voice for him?

Jesse Rath: I thought, for episode 10, it was important that each of the Brainies be distinct from each other. There was five of them, including my sister [Meaghan Rath], and two of them had transformations within that same episode. It was emo Brainy turning into the evil Brainy, and our Brainy Prime turning into the uninhibited Brainy. So I thought it was very important to be able to tell it was a different Brainy and a transformation through their voice. I thought it was very important that you could tell just by hearing that it was a different person. So I wanted there to be a distinct sound that could differentiate them between each other.

So yeah, the green Brainy -- uninhibited Brainy, who they referred to in the script as Suave Brainy -- is just like... I like to think of Family Matters when Steve Urkel takes the potion and becomes cool and he becomes Stefan Urquelle. It was more just uninhibited, more confident in himself and socially grounded. That's kind of what I was going for.

We've also seen a shift in terms of his looks, with a move towards a more comic book-inspired costume. Obviously, you're not wearing that getup all the time, but how has that changed your hair/makeup experience when do you get into it?

The green and blonde look? I mean, I love it. I would wear it all the time, if I could. I'd wear it home. I'm a big fan. It's made my life a lot more comfortable. I don't know if it's easier, but it's comfortable. I no longer have to wear a prosthetic forehead on on my face. That makes a world of difference, because it's very uncomfortable. There's a wire running down my back to turn on the lights and the thing is hot and I'm not very expressive in it and so it becomes hard to emote. You know, it's just a grueling process to put it on and take it off. So the fact that that's not in the mix anymore and that all have to worry about is being painted and get the wig thrown on me, it definitely is more comfortable and it's made my life a lot easier.

And you know what? Even if it was harder to do and more uncomfortable to wear, I'd still do it, because I love that it's the comic-accurate look and I know that it means a lot to a lot of fans out there that I look like this beloved character from the books and it means a lot to me too. I want to do the character justice and I want him to look the best he can. So it was a long time coming and I couldn't be more happy with the results.

Brainy has acted almost like a triple agent all season. Now, with the understanding that the season was cut a bit short due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, is that something we'll see a resolution to when everything wraps up?

Yes. You will. All that stuff comes to a head in these next two episodes. When I heard that we were obviously going to have to cut episode 20 from the schedule, I felt okay about it because episode 19 is such a strong episode. It's a great episode. David Harewood directed it. It's epic, action-packed. The whole storyline with Brainy comes to fruition. It comes to a point, and we leave on a cliffhanger. Whereas with episode 20, before we had time to resolve everything and see how the pieces landed, episode 19 will end on big cliffhanger, which is cool. I love it. It kind of puts Brainy in a very dangerous situation and I'm excited for everyone to see it. I think very strong episode. So I'm not worried about it at all.

How does Brainy's dynamic with Lex Luthor continue to evolve?

I think their patience with each other is wearing thin for both of them. I think Brainy can't really take it anymore. You know, knowing that Lex is actively manipulating him is a very frustrating thing for Brainy. You see in episode 18, he pulls the trigger on a decision and things start to crumble around him. He's aware that Lex is manipulating him and that, I think, is part of the whole reason why he's forced to work with Lex. It's working against all of his instincts that would put him opposite Lex, and so working with him, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do. I think you see, in these next two episodes, how that all unfolds.

You've been working pretty closely with Jon Cryer this season. What has that experience been like?

Well, it's a lot of fun working with Jon. He is a tremendous actor. I learned a lot from working with him, as I do with all my cast mates. It's great. He's a really down-to-earth, funny guy. Yeah, I've had a lot of scenes with Lex and then some more to come. We have a great one -- we have a couple great ones coming up in 18 and in 19, so I'm excited for everyone to see that. I think he does such a great job as Lex. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing that role now. It's so much fun working with him and I can't wait for you to see these next two episodes and see what happens with this whole Lex and Brainy storyline.

I'll admit that I'm particularly fond of the BrainNia relationship. That said, how will we see their relationship continue to grow?

Without 20 in our lineup anymore, there are certain scenes that I don't know if we'll see or if we'll have to wait till next season to see. But in this next episode, in 18, Nia does confront Brainy about everything, about him lying to her, working behind their backs and Supergirl and Nia do confront Brainy about how he's been acting. And in 19, I believe she starts seeing dreams of him. So yeah, there'll be some Brainy and Nia scenes. I don't know if it'll all be sunshine and rainbows, but we do get a lot of Brainy and Nia stuff to come in these next two episodes.

Last year, you had this frankly incredible scene where you ran through a gamut of emotions in about 30 seconds. As the season winds down, will we get to see a spiritual successor to that?

The closest thing I could think to that scene would be episode 10. I think that scene at the end of Season 4 of going through all the different Brainies maybe was like an audition in a sense to show that I could play multiple different versions of the same character. And I think that's what I really got to do in episode 10, which was physically embody all these different versions of Brainy.

But in terms of what's to come in these next two episodes, I'm not saying you should expect a bunch of Brainy cycling through a bunch of personalities, but things get just as intense and emotions are high and the situation is very dangerous. There are some epic scenes to come, and I think you'll be happy with it and I'm very excited for everyone to see. I'm very excited to it see myself!

Can you tease your favorite moment or scene from an upcoming episode?

Well, in 19, my sister comes back to the show. She will return to the show. So I have a handful of scenes with female Brainy, or Meaghan Rath, or whatever you want to call her. So I'm very excited to see those scenes. I always love working with my sister and I'm very grateful for her to come and do the show, so I can't wait to see those scenes.

Martian Manhunter actor David Harewood has directed a few episodes, and now Supergirl herself Melissa Benoist has made her directorial debut on the series. Would you be interested in directing, yourself?

I would! Yeah, I've always wanted to direct. It's something that I think is so cool, that Warner Bros. and The CW, that they allow their actors to direct. It's pretty cool. You know, I don't know any other networks that give us this opportunity and it's definitely something I'd like to take advantage of in the future. I think it's pretty cool. Yeah, I would like to do that. So who knows! Maybe Season 14 I'll be directing some episodes.

You joke, but look at Supernatural!

Exactly! Yeah. Fly in on my private jet and direct a couple. [laughs]

With Melissa directing the last episode, what was that experience like for you?

Oh, it was so cool. We were all so happy for her and proud of her and trying to support her. None of us had any doubt that she would be great. She's always filming and editing stuff on her laptop and she has a great eye for this kind of thing and, as you saw, the episode was amazing. Such a great episode! I love that whole sequence with "The Man Who Sold the World" song over Lex -- that montage of Lex giving speeches around the world. I thought it was a great episode, and I think she is a very talented director. We're all just very happy for her and very proud of her.

Do you have any game/book/TV/film recommendations for everyone stuck at home?

I've been playing a lot of video games. I play Mario Kart with my friends online. We've been doing a lot of Zoom calls and playing Codenames and games with my friends and family online. I watched all of Sopranos with my girlfriend and we really devoured that. We've just been making our way through television series. We watched Community -- for the fourth time, for me. I love that show so much.

I'm really taking this time to just consume a bunch of television and entertainment. It's really kept me going throughout this whole process. My girlfriend Holly and I, we're bunkered down here in LA, and we've been having a great time with each other, and we've been enjoying our quarantine. So we're making the most of it.

Airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Supergirl stars Melissa Benoist as Kara Danvers, David Harewood as Martian Manhunter and Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers. The Season 5 finale will air May 17.

CBR.

#supergirl

[karlenasuperluthor]

Not Very Okay At All

Hey there, this is my first Supergirl one shot, so I hope it’s good. It’s also the first time I wrote a dialogue-heavy thing, I usually don’t have much dialogue in what I write so this was a nice thing to do, not sure it’s my style, but it was fun to try.

Anyway, this is a little 2k words 5x19 fix-it/ what I think happened after the end of the episode.

Anyway, I’m gonna shut up. Enjoy. I would love to know what you think.

Oh! Also! Here’s an AO3 link, in case you prefer to read it there.

~~~~~

When the day ended, after Leviathan was defeated with the help of Brainy and everyone decided to come back tomorrow, fresh and well rested, to figure out how to take down Lex.

Kara offered Lena to come back to her place, order some take out and talk. They started while they were in Lena's lab, but they kept getting interrupted and Kara felt like she needs to talk this through with Lena if they ever want to move on and try to become friends again.

So here they were, in Kara's living room, with three pizza boxes on the table. One plain, mostly for Lena, one with pepperoni and another one with pineapples. They were all half eaten, with Kara take a slice from a different box every time and Lena only eating three slices before she was full.

They were silent all this time, neither knowing what to say to start the conversation in fear of saying the wrong thing while also not really knowing what they want to say. Eventually, though, Kara got tired of the silence and spoke up.

“You know what? Yes, I hurt you. I didn’t mean to, but I did. But you never listened to me, you used me, and you intentionally looked for ways to hurt me. And, yes, I probably could have done this differently, but I didn’t hurt you intentionally. I tried to do the right thing, tell you the truth. But you also forgot that I never owed it to you, no matter how much you mean to me, how much I meant to you.

"My truth was mine to share when I was ready. Because it's more than just a secret identity, it's also about my past, my planet, my family. The trauma of seeing my plant literally explode right in front of my eyes, knowing that my entire family and friends are there and there's nothing I can do to keep them alive. It's about being trapped in the Phantom Zone for 24 years, without time passing, the only thing keeping me occupied are the images of losing my plant playing over, and over, and over in my mind, in an endless loop, and being only 13 and not knowing if I'll ever get to earth, or if I'll spend the rest of eternity in this pace where time doesn't pass, where I would be forever stuck as a 13 year old. I was supposed to take care of my baby cousin, at 13 I was given the responsibility of taking care of him. And there I was, stuck in this place, absolute silence and darkness surrounding me, and I didn't know what would happen to me, what would happen to Kal-El, where he was.

"And don't– don't tell me that you're sorry, that you didn't know, because you not knowing that was a result of your actions, of you using me, leading me on for weeks, and then refusing to listen to me, to talk to me, no matter how hard I tried to have this conversation with you. You refused to talk to me, so you not knowing is a result of your actions and your decisions, because I tried, at every single turn, to give you a chance, give you the benefit of the doubt. I fought for you at the DEO, telling my sister and my friends that you were just confused, that you were just processing and that you needed time. But instead, you proved them all right. You went and used me, stole from me, used kryptonite against me, even after I told you why it scares me so much.

"I only made one single mistake, and that is not telling you the truth as soon as I was ready, letting Alex decide for me that it's not a good time, no matter when I wanted to do it. But you let that dictate your actions this entire year, you decided that your anger and hurt is more important to you than our friendship. And I know– I know that you didn't mean to let it get this far, but I gave you so many options to stop, to get out of the path you were on, and then you went and worked with Lex of all people, after everything he did to you. After all the times he betrayed you, tried to get you killed, gained your trust just so that he could manipulate you. You went to him, instead of me, when you knew I would listen to you, and talk to you, if you just gave me the chance."

Kara poured out every single thought she ever had over the last year, since she told Lena the truth, and Lena was stunned into silence.

"I… uh… I'm sorry." Lena said quietly. Kara could see the tears in her eyes, could hear the way she was holding them back. Lena took a deep breath and continued.

"I'm sorry I never listened to you, you were right, I let my anger and hurt lead the way. I thought I knew everything about you, and then you revealed this huge piece of information, and I felt so stupid. I just thought to myself 'wow, if it was this easy for her to hide something as big as this, what else could she be hiding from me?' and instead of coming to you, I just stewed in my anger, let it build and consume me. And then… then then the crisis happened, and suddenly Lex was part of the good guys, supposedly, and he came to me, and told me he'll work with me, used a truth seeker on himself to prove to me he was telling the truth, and I just followed him blindly, because he accepted me, this version of him never lied to me. And it was just so much easier to trust him so blindly than try and repair our relationship.

"But you're right, it was your truth to tell when you were ready. I just never thought about everything else that came with you being Supergirl, being an alien, because it was so much easier to be mad at you when I don't let my mind validate your actions. When I let myself be angry from having to find out from my dying brother. He used his dying breath to tell me this, knowing that this is when he did with it, while you had three years of friendship to come to me with this, it was so easy to justify my actions to myself and everyone around me. To push everyone I love away."

Kara opened her arms to Lena after she saw she was finished, indicating that she wanted a hug.

"You know, you need to stop assuming every time someone hurts you it was intentional and because you're a Luthor. Because as far as I'm concerned, as well as our friends, you're just Lena. You need to understand that once people get to know who you are, under the CEO persona with the killer heels and designer clothes and the looks that could kill, we see our friend Lena who likes to wear t-shirts with bad science puns on them and loves red wine and is crazy good at Monopoly even thought it's supposed to be pure luck, and cries and cried during every single movie we watch. We love you for you, and we keep you around because we like the person you are when you're around us, not because we want to keep an eye on the crazy Luthor that might go over the edge at any second. And know that you can always come to us for help, because we're never going to judge you for needing help"

"I promise I'm gonna try." Lena smiled a soft smile at her best friend.

"That's all I could ever ask for"

Kara tightened her arms around her best friend, happy that she finally got everything she ever wanted to say off her chest.

"Hey Kara?" Lena whispered

"Yeah?"

"Can we try and go back to being friends? I know it'll never be the same as before, or what it could have been, but I want to try, because I never had a friend like you, and I don't want to lose you"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

After a little while, Kara spoke up again.

"You know, another reason I never told you was because being friends with you was always so easy. You never expected me to always be okay, always be strong. My friends, and Alex, no matter how hard they try, they always see Supergirl when they look at me, even if they don't mean to. They always see that beacon of hope and love and compassion, and they always expect me to be strong, and happy, and provide comfort, that they sometimes forget that I need that comfort every now and then. That sometimes I need to be taken care of.

"They forget that sometimes I have bad days, because it isn't always easy to be happy after everything that happened to me. I have days when I need my mom more than anything, to hug her and feel her arms around me, smell her hair that I swear smelled like sunshine, or hear her voice telling me that everything is going to be okay. And I miss the way my dad would sneak me into his lab, and teach me everything he knows, and let me do my own science experiments, blowing stuff up, and accidentally setting equipment on fire, or how he would call me his sunshine, his piece of Rao. And I miss prying with my parents for Rao. I miss the red hue everything had from the light of Rao, and the way His color would change when the sun was setting, and everything would get this deep, dark red color and how beautiful it was. I miss knowing exactly where my life was going, knowing that once I finish my education, I'm going to be in the Science Guild with my father. I was so excited to get to spend every single day with him, he was my best friend. And I know they aren't doing it on purpose, trying to make me feel bad for not being okay, but they still do it, even Alex.

"But I never had that with you, you never expected Kara to be okay all the time, because just Kara was only human. I was only human to you, and you accepted me on my bad days just like you did on my good days, because part of being human was getting hurt, and not being okay. And sometimes I have days where I don't feel okay for no apparent reason, I just do, and it was okay. You never judged me. Never expected me to be this beacon of hope because you didn’t know that was me, and I wasn't ready to risk that, to possibly let that go."

"Hey, here's the thing. There are two things that you need to know. The first thing is that even those people, who seem to have got everything in life all sorted out... they probably haven't. Actually, everyone has days when they feel Not Very Okay At All. Some people are just better at hiding it than others. And the second thing you need to know... is that it's okay to feel Not Very Okay At All. It can be quite normal, in fact. And all you need to do, on those days when you feel Not Very Okay At All, is come and find me, and tell me. Don't ever feel like you have to hide the fact you're feeling Not Very Okay At All. Always come and tell me. Because I will always be there."

"Did you just quote Winnie the Pooh at me?" Kara giggled

"Yes, yes I did" Lena smiled as she said that.

"I never pegged you for a Winnie the Pooh kinda gal"

"Kara Danvers, there is a lot you still don't know about me"

"Well, I can't wait to find out"

~~~~~

For anyone wondering, this is the full Winnie the Pooh quote, it’s one of my favorites.

#supergirl #supercorp #supergirl fanfiction #supergirl fanfic #supercorp fanfiction #supercorp fanfic #lena luthor #kara danvers #my work #personal #text

[owl-with-a-pen]

I would love to see a Valentine’s Day chapter with Brainy and nia. We didn’t get to see much of it on that one episode, beside that fact Brainy went to her party and gave her chocolates that Yvette ate later. Just a simple one where Brainy is super sweet and asks nia to be his valentine wether this is before or after they’re together. Thanks!

Anon also asked:  Hi there! would you ever think of doing a valentine's themed fic for brania? I miss them so much and I love your work!

- I know I’m a day late, but I hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for the prompts x

Valentine’s Day was going to be weird this year, Nia knew it.

After everything Brainy had been through over the last few months, the last thing Nia wanted was to push the most commercial of commercial holidays on him, especially considering they’d never actually had a Valentine’s Day together. She couldn’t exactly count the epic failure that had been their first Valentine’s party  on account of the fact that they hadn’t seen each other the whole night.

And, last year?

There was no use sugar coating it; they’d both been going through hell last year. The break-up had still been fresh in Nia’s mind and although Kara had tried to help her out of the funk she’d been in, Nia had still spent the whole day curled up on the sofa - her only hot date that night had been with an ice cold tub of Ben and Jerry’s.  

Now that Nia understood the reason behind their break-up, she knew that Brainy hadn’t been faring any better than her at the time, either. The only thing he’d had to keep his mind occupied were the asinine tasks Lex had kept him performing as placeholders whenever a new piece of his plan had yet to unfold.

Nia tried not to linger on that year. What mattered now was that the truth was finally out. Brainy was safe and healthy and, most importantly, he was finally starting to feel like himself again. 

Nia didn’t care that Brainy hadn’t so much as made mention of the holiday – not even after Kara had invited them to a lowkey Valentine’s get together at her place later that evening, an invitation that had only been extended as far as the Super Friends. Considering Brainy had been reluctant to hang out with everyone as a group since Leviathan, Nia was only glad that he’d wanted to go at all. Besides, she didn’t care about gifts or celebrations, she was just thankful to put the past behind her and finally have Brainy back in her life.

Which was why she was all the more surprised to open their apartment door that evening and find Brainy stood on the other side, a bunch of roses held tightly in one hand.

A grin lit up Nia’s face in an instant. “Hey,” she said, not even trying to hide the glee from her voice. “Are those for me?”

“Indeed,” Brainy said, taking a step forward. In the same motion, he removed his other hand from behind his back, revealing a heart shaped box of chocolates. “I – uh – appreciate we have never successfully completed a Valentine’s Day tradition before, so allow this to be the first.”

Nia didn’t think she could smile any harder if she tried. She took the flowers from Brainy, the fresh scent of their petals brushing against her nose as she brought them to her face. She felt a blush race across her cheeks. “Real flowers, huh?” she asked mischievously.

Brainy’s lips quirked into a small smile of his own. “That is the custom,” he said, offering the chocolate box out to her with a practiced flourish. “As is this.” He cleared his throat, raising his chin. “Nia Nal, will you be my Valentine?”

A blush flooded across Nia’s face as she grinned again, nodding hard. “Yes, Brainy, of course I’ll be your Valentine.” She accepted the chocolates from Brainy’s hand, juggling them along with the flowers until they were both cradled in one arm. 

“This is amazing,” she said honestly, closing the space between them so that she could hug him with her free arm. She ducked her face into Brainy’s shoulder, squeezing him tight.

The warmth of him spread through her face as she buried her head into his throat. A moment later, she could feel Brainy’s hands travelling around her waist, pressing firmly against the small of her back. His touch sent something electric dancing up Nia’s spine and she softened against him, pulling away just enough to press a kiss against his lips.

When they parted, Nia didn’t miss the elated glimmer behind Brainy’s eyes. It was such a soft expression, one that hadn’t adorned Brainy’s face for so long, Nia had almost begun to forget what it looked like. Now that Brainy had begun to relax into himself, that happiness had become far more commonplace, although it still warmed Nia’s heart whenever she got to see that expression and know that she was the cause of it. Impetuously, Nia reached for Brainy’s face, brushing her thumb along his jaw, hoping to preserve that smile for as long as possible.

She blinked suddenly, realising belatedly that they were still stood in the middle of the doorway. “I should really put these in water,” she said, hugging the flowers against her side. She ushered Brainy inside with her free hand, turning to the kitchen to find a vase. “And by the way,” she continued over her shoulder, placing the heart-shaped box on the closest counter, “this isn’t technically the first time you’ve bought me a Valentine’s gift.”

Nia didn’t need to turn her head to know the face Brainy was pulling. “Ah, yes,” he murmured apprehensively. “Although, I wouldn’t say our first Valentine’s Day necessarily went… according to plan.”

“Oh, I remember,” Nia said, selecting an empty glass vase from the top shelf. She headed to the faucet, filling it with water. When she glanced up, she found Brainy watching her from across the kitchen counter, his arms folded across its surface. She smirked. “Didn’t you spend most of that party hidden in my closet?”

Brainy offered a tight smile, ducking his head. “Yvette was certainly a force to be reckoned with,” he admitted lowly, glancing up at her. “Although, I do appreciate you talking with her about boundaries.”

Nia’s expression softened. “Any time.”

She’d known Yvette hadn’t meant to take Brainy out of his comfort zone by dragging him to the dancefloor that night. Considering Nia had made herself MIA for most of that party – a party she’d specifically invited Brainy to - Yvette had only wanted for him to feel included.

But, the party hadn’t been Brainy’s thing to begin with. She’d left him to his own devices in a room otherwise filled with strangers, and maybe at the time she hadn’t realised just how anxious Brainy got in those sorts of situations, but she knew better now. Still, it didn’t stop her from feeling all kinds of crappy that she’d allowed that to happen, even if her head hadn’t totally been in the game at the time.

Nia played with the roses’ arrangement in their new home, spreading them equally around the vase. She sighed. “I didn’t exactly make that night any easier for you, though.”

“You had a lot on your mind,” Brainy said softly.

Yeah, Nia thought. She’d been so obsessed with finally making strides towards her role as a hero, taking up the mantle her mom had so proudly left for her, she’d even dismissed Brainy’s incredibly sweet gesture the first time around, disregarding his gift of chocolates in favour of a new training regime. But, not anymore. This time, they were doing this right.

“Well,” she said decisively, setting the vase to the side, “right now, my mind’s totally clear.” She glanced again towards the box of chocolates, biting the inside of her cheek. “C’mon,” she said, snatching them from the counter. “We can share these.” 

As she walked around the breakfast bar, she took Brainy’s arm, urging him towards the sofa. Brainy followed curiously a pace behind her.

As Nia settled, tucking her legs beneath her, she popped open the box, reading the label on the inside. She grinned. “There’s coffee flavour ones in here, too? Okay, I take back what I just said. We can share any except for those.”

Brainy supressed an obvious shudder as he sat down. “They are… all yours.”

“What?” Nia prodded playfully, nudging his arm. “Not a fan?”

Brainy wrinkled his nose, gesturing vaguely ahead of himself. “I just don’t understand how two opposing flavours serve to compliment one another.”

“Oh, and yet apples and olives are just… a natural choice on pizza,” Nia scoffed.

“Either one would be far more palatable covered in chocolate.”

Nia rolled her eyes. “Hey, I’ll agree with you about the apples,” she said, already perusing the selection, trying to find the coffee flavoured truffle as advertised on the card. “But, I’m pretty sure chocolate covered olives are a crime against nature.” She beamed when she found her prize, taking a large bite out of the candy. When Brainy’s face scrunched in disgust, she laughed, covering her mouth before any wayward chocolate dribbled out. 

She held the chocolates out on her lap for Brainy to browse, which only fuelled the next twenty minutes’ topic of discussion with good natured jabs aimed towards each other’s preferred chocolate flavours. 

By the time they needed to head out for Kara’s party, the first layer had been all but demolished.

“We should probably get going,” Nia said as she spied the time on the kitchen clock. She pecked Brainy’s cheek before unfurling herself from his side, stretching out her arms.

When she stood, she realised that Brainy hadn’t followed her up. Instead, there was a reserved look in his eyes, a nervous twist to his lips as he remained sat on the sofa’s edge, toying absently with his Legion ring. 

“Brainy?” Nia asked, her voice softening. When Brainy looked up, she smiled gently. “Everything okay?” 

Brainy opened his mouth as though he might answer, but instead, no words came out. Nia sat back down, resting her hand on his leg. “Hey, you sure you’re up for this? You know there’s no pressure.”

Brainy shook himself a little, clenching and unclenching his hand hesitantly. “I do,” he said carefully, glancing back towards her. “I am. It’s just…”

“I get it,” Nia said, squeezing his leg. And, she did. Even though the gathering would be small, filled with the people Brainy cared about, on some level, Nia understood that that was what he was dreading the most. As much as he knew that his friends had forgiven him, the real issue was that Brainy hadn’t yet reached a place where he’d been able to forgive himself. It’d come in time, but if he refused every get-together or social gathering entirely, it’d only take him that much longer to reach the obvious conclusion.

That he was loved. And that was never going to change.

And, hey, what better time to remind him of that than on Valentine’s Day?

“I’ll be with you the whole time,” Nia assured him. “And, if you’re not feeling it, we don’t have to stay for long. What d’you say?”

After a long moment’s consideration, Brainy glanced down, taking Nia’s hand. He smiled, a little of his confidence returning as he nodded his head. “Okay,” he said.

Nia grinned. “Okay.” 

Maybe she’d been wrong, maybe Valentine’s wasn’t going to feel as weird this year. After all, with flowers, chocolate, and finally having the chance to spend the day with Brainy at her side, Nia realised that maybe this might turn out to be the best Valentine’s Day she’d ever had.

#supergirl #my writing #my prompts #icey-slice #brainia #nia nal #brainiac 5 #querl dox #brainy #i did plan to post this yesterday but i ended up just not having the time #but hey! better late than never amiright

[cyclone-rachel]

do it for him || a supergirl fic

read on AO3 here

~

He had tied up all his loose ends.

Or at least, they had mostly been tied up for him- his sister, inevitably, had abandoned him and gone back to the Kryptonian she seemed to believe she could still be friends with. The false gods that made up Leviathan had either died or been sealed up in a bottle by Director Dox.

And Director Dox… he was dead.

Really, the only thing left was Supergirl herself, as well as all her friends that he didn’t care enough about to remember their names. And with the power of the bottled gods at his disposal, the potential of immortality practically in his grasp already- well, Supergirl may have been considered a goddess on this world already, but she didn’t stand a chance against him. If her friends were threatened, she would fall. It was as simple as that.

But as he discovered in the DEO one night (effectively being its owner and director now, until he could find someone new to take over for Dox- someone who was most definitely not friends with Supergirl, he’d learned his lesson there), it wasn’t.

~

It was like Reign all over again, from a different perspective.

Except instead of Kara not knowing that Lena was running tests on someone who’d become her friend (and trying to separate her from the villain who’d put Kara into a coma) until it was too late, she and Lena and the rest of the Super-friends were the only ones who knew the truth about Brainy, and were dedicated to healing him.

Kara knew that it hadn’t been that long, since J’onn had brought him back, and the team had decided that putting him in quarantine down here was the best way to keep him safe and make sure the radiation didn’t spread. With Lena tentatively back on their side, the team had access to technology that- hopefully- would keep him alive, and they could keep track of how he was healing.

(Of course, they weren’t going to pressure him into coming back immediately, or question him about what happened. He could do that on his own time, and even though it was harder for some of them than others, they knew that following Kara’s motto was the right way to proceed then.)

But it had felt like an eternity, watching Brainy sleep and only rarely come back to consciousness. There were many times when Kara had come down to this room, Brainy’s heartbeat in her ears, and watched him there, wishing that she could’ve apologized to him. That she could have trusted him more… anything, really.

(Even though he wasn’t listening, she had told him that- as well as cried, when she hadn’t had any words left)

He was stable, and out of danger. Everything was going to be fine- that was what she kept telling herself.

She just wanted to be able to talk to him, and hear his reassurance in person.

However, just like she supposed he’d had to wait when her life was at risk, she too would wait for him to wake up for good.

~

If Lex believed in luck, he would think that his own was almost too good.

Not only was the traitor- the former director of his organization, the so-called twelfth-level intellect, who he’d thought was starting to see things his way before he had tried to kill himself saving his friends- alive, he was also being held underneath the LuthorCorp building.

He didn’t admit he made mistakes, as a rule. But this was his chance to rectify a mistake he’d just found out he had made- dispose of Dox, snuff out the Brainiac family line before they could cause him any more trouble and kill one of the Super-friends, all at the same time.

It would be satisfying, at the very least, and as he went down to the basement he nearly counted down the minutes before another loose end of his was tied up, another problem no more.

~

There was another heartbeat, getting closer to the basement.

Kara had up to that point been focused on Brainy- watching the machines he was hooked up to, listening to his heartbeat. It was weak, and sometimes unsteady, but she could still hear it, which meant he was alive.

He wasn’t okay, by any stretch of the imagination. He still had a recovery process ahead of him. But as long as he was breathing, she had hope- for him, and for their second chance.

This new visitor, however, jarred her concentration, and as much as she tried to multitask, she had to be prepared for whoever was coming down there.

Kara knew it wasn’t any of her friends- she’d learned to recognize them with her super-hearing. But this newcomer still felt familiar, and by the time the elevator doors opened, that feeling made perfect sense.

“Lex.”

~

“Three years ago.” Lex started, walking over to Brainy. Kara blocked him from Lex’s view, but he was still looking at Brainy, how he was sleeping, arms laying by his sides over the blanket he was covered by. “Do you remember, Supergirl? Alex Danvers was kidnapped and held hostage by Richard Malverne. And you found her because…”

“She ripped her tracker out.” Kara said.

Of course I remember. And it’s something that you don’t deserve to be talking about.

“Bingo.”

Kara threw a glance back at Brainy, who hadn’t stirred.

“He still has his tracker.” She said. “And it led you here.”

“Got it in one.” Lex answered, one hand still on the gun he was carrying. “You know, you and your friends almost fooled me. I did believe Dox had died on the Leviathan ship. But just like any roach- just like you- for now, he continues to live on.”

He didn’t seem happy about that, and it was something Kara could celebrate- if her eyes weren’t burning already, if she wasn’t waiting for whatever he was going to do to Brainy.

“For now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Lex asked her. “I have to kill him. He wanted to die alone, sacrificing his life like any of you pathetic little heroes, and even if he didn’t get it back then, he may as well now.”

“No.” Kara said, making sure that she wasn’t leaving an opening for Lex to shoot him. “I won’t let you.”

Lex stared at her, for a moment, before he started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“That’s exactly what he said.” Lex answered, scoffing. “When I arrived to pick up the false gods he’d bottled. He believed I underestimated him- and that he would never let me kill you.”

He sounded dismissive, at that- like there was no way Brainy could have been able to stop him from killing Kara or her friends, and that it was obvious Lex knew Brainy’s plan.

Kara had only heard J’onn’s perception of the events- that while she was inside Obsidian Platinum, trying to convince the world that they didn’t just need to rely on a virtual reality system (in a way that Lena later remarked was very Ready Player One), and the rest of her friends were trying to stop Rama Khan and the rest of Leviathan, Brainy had managed to sneak aboard the Leviathan ship, and had in the end contained the gods.

Even if it had also nearly cost him his life, being on the ship and enduring the radiation that permeated it.

And from what Lex was saying, the gods had been contained in a bottle- just like what any other Brainiac would have done to planets.

Kara’s heart warmed, hearing that, despite the situation she was in. Just like any of her friends who came from dark pasts, with family members who had negative reputations, he’d managed to reclaim it for good, and she was proud of him.

(As she had been, too, when he’d removed his inhibitors.)

(She hoped she would be able to tell him that, when he woke up)

“If you’re asking me, I think he was right.” She said.

“Even though he betrayed all of you.” Lex stated. “He let the DEO fall, and nearly let all of the Kryptonite in it kill you. Does that really make him still your friend? Can you still protect him, knowing that he didn’t do the same for you?”

At some point, Kara might have said no- knowing how it felt like he was lost to her and the others, like he had drifted away with no explanation. But she remembered the look in his eyes when he asked her to use Myriad, how he had trusted her absolutely and expected nothing in return. How ever since they had first met, he was dedicated to helping her, making sure that she was safe- and how even recently, that hadn’t changed.

(During the attack on the DEO, she had heard him, while he was trapped under a fallen piece of the building. It had been quiet, inaudible to anyone who didn’t have super-hearing, but he had still said her name, and if he hadn’t been trapped, he could have helped her then, too.

Wanted to, in fact, even though his loyalties lay with Lex at that moment.

And although he couldn’t… it still counted for something.)

“I can.” She answered. “And I will- no matter what you say.”

And he did protect me- just not then.

But I didn’t see it until it was too late.

Lex groaned.

“You heroes.” He said. “Dox was useful, but I should have seen it before- he was just like you, all along.”

He pointed the gun at Brainy again, almost pulling the trigger.

“And as valuable as he was when he had let go of all of you… I don’t need him anymore.”

~

The world seemed to slow down, after that- although after she grabbed the gun, bullets still safely contained in it, everything sped up again. Kara wrenched the gun out of Lex’s hands, and folded it between them, making sure it was useless before turning her attention back to Lex himself.

“No Kryptonite?” she asked, and smiled as she saw that, for once, he looked surprised.

“No.” Lex said. “But I still win- because you won’t kill me. You can’t. Still the city’s hero, remember?”

Unfortunately.

“I know.” Kara answered, and Lex was back to his collected composure.

“Then you’ll let me leave.”

Kara wanted to groan.

“Yes, I will.” She said. “But if you come back, know that I won’t be alone.”

“Neither will I.” Lex told her, and then as if nothing had happened and he hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary, he went back to the elevator.

(Her hands were shaking as she watched him leave, and her eyes didn’t stop burning until after the elevator doors closed.)

(She wasn’t sure what exactly he meant- was it just because he’d taken the bottle?

But regardless, she was going to make sure she kept her promise as well, and if Lex made his way back down to attempt this again, she’d know he would regret it.)

Soon, Kara couldn’t see him anymore, and her focus was back to Brainy, and his heartbeat, and his eyes that were opening as he struggled to stay awake.

“Brainy?” she asked, relaxing, her voice no longer confrontational. Instead she was gentle, and she gave him a smile as he managed to sit up. “Are you okay?”

“I am unharmed.” He said, his gaze going to her hands, before he noticed how her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “What about you? Did something happen, while I was…”

Kara clasped one of his hands between both of hers, as she nodded.

“Lex tried to break in.” she said. “But I handled it.”

Brainy’s face grew grave, as he seemed to be looking past her, probably imagining Lex in the room.

“Thank you.” He answered.

“You’re welcome.” Kara said. “And… I never thanked you.”

“For what?”

His confusion almost broke her heart, as she gently squeezed his hand.

“Everything.”

“Betraying you? Not being able to see that Lex would try to kill you regardless of what I did involving Leviathan, and regardless of the order in which we set our plan into motion?”

Kara shook her head.

“I know you never wanted to betray me.” She said. “Or any of us. And, between you and me… I would’ve done the exact same thing you did. Also, just given the little talk Lex and I had, I don’t think he saw that coming at all.”

Brainy considered it, smiling now as he looked up at her again.

“That is reassuring.” He said.

“Thought so. And, Brainy?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for saving my life- all the times you’ve done it, or even tried to. What I said a few months ago, about you being good to your core? It’s still accurate. You are a true hero, and once you get better, I promise we’ll take Lex down together.”

“It would be an honor.”

#papa don't look #supergirl #fanfics #kara danvers #brainiac 5 #lex luthor #supergirl season 5 #supergirl spoilers #querl dox #karadox #ship: believe in all the possibilities #don't worry this isn't all in lex's pov #also i started this fic on saturday and it's only now done #i am sorry #but not sorry for that title #because i thought of it while finishing the fic and it was the only thing right then that i thought fit #for kara's pov at least #even though the rest of the song doesn't really

[buddha-in-disguise]

5.18 So that was a lot!

Posting without editing, so apologies for any errors. I am running on barely any sleep, but really wanted to get this written while I could.

Overall impressions were great episode .... but again there were issues for me. However I will address them as I go through my thoughts on it all, and please don't think I am trying go bring this episode down. I'm not. It really was great! I just still see things that haven't been done that could've easily occurred to appease fans further or are examples of why 5b has been so problematic for me.

The opening was good, in that they actually explained that Leviathan were no longer at the location they'd used in Earth 38 before Crisis. These little pointers are what have been missed a lot this season (a couple of examples later ref Kelly). Too often it's been, we need to find their location; no explanation as to why that is.

Now onto the whiplash with Kara and her anger towards Lena.

Kara is angry over Lena being at the fortress and the reaction over her use of Myriad. Alex is the one actually acknowledging Myriad is a trigger for Lena.

Alex, who suddenly starts defending Lena? Then Kara is convincing herself Lena is involved with Lex. Look, I get that she would feel suspicious, I get she has the right to feel angry. But it is this sudden, seemingly out of nowhere anger, not recognising the good in Lena she has staunchly defended until now. With Alex understanding Lena's position.

As I say, I'm not saying Kara doesn't have a right to be hurt and angry. But to see such a quick role reversal in the Danvers sisters in how they're talking about Lena? That is what I find difficult to get my head around.

I don't expect Kara to be there fully defending Lena as she has done. But this just feels OOC yet again. This really isn't normal for Kara. We've seen her angry and feeling betrayed by those closest to her before, but you could see how it built. Understanding as to why those actions left Kara feeling like she did (Astra and J'onn anyone?)

Did I mention whiplash? Because, whiplash.

But it is good to see Kara once again around a table brainstorming with most of the Superfriends. Using her intelligence and skills to try and figure things out.

Nia is also finally able to be involved properly. I still feel annoyed Nia isn't really in CatCo at all these days, because as much as I love seeing her as Dreamer, I want to see Nia as more than just a Superhero. I want to see her continuing as a journalist, and like Kara, use both skills together when feasible.

The Tower is actually getting used (those computers aren't simply sitting there looking pretty). How many episodes has it taken to see this used properly for more than a brief scene? Too long.

M'gann is back. I love M'gann, and despite still feeling angry that they had J'onn throw her into a DEO cell, with no due process simply for being a White Martian, I've always enjoyed the dynamic between the two characters, and it wasn't a surprise they kissed. Although god damn it, where was our Dansen kiss. Even a hug? But onto Dansen in a bit.

Alex got into some action. That car hood slide?! Phew. It is suddenly very hot in here. We certainly wouldn't complain if they throw a few more of those hood slides in future episodes.

This is the sort of thing a lot of fans love Alex for. Her kick ass, throwing herself around best.

Plus the scene with Kara in the library just before that, also had the Danvers sisters vibe we have just missed a lot this season, especially 5b.

The DEO being destroyed. Of course we knew it was coming, but it was still good to see the whole sequence of action leading up to it. Kara jumping through that window! Day. Made.

The Nia and Brainy scenes though. My poor Brainia heart. Actually the way Nia and Kara turned and walked away outside after the collapse of the DEO .... oof. Understandable but still gut wrenching. The parallels to Lena and Kara, with Brainy and Nia are also there. God damn it, what is with all this pulling apart relationships and friendships on the show this season.

Kelly, while still frustrated she is working with William, in this episode it made more sense, as Nia and Kara were out doing Superhero things. I've said for ages though, William really isn't needed to simply stand over Kelly's shoulder as she does her thing. Okay, so he realised an image inducer was being used, but if Kelly was working this on her own, (with the Superfriends at The Tower), you can't tell me she wouldn't have been giving the footage the same level of detailed going over that William was. Nothing in those scenes couldn't have been done without him. Kelly is far more capable to do this. She is ex-military for gods sake.

Which leads me onto Dansen, but also Alex.

Once again we had them acknowledge that as ex-military Alex was finding it difficult to adjust. I broached this in an earlier piece I wrote when J'onn and Alex were talking about it. I would've far preferred Kelly had that conversation with her girlfriend, at home. That end scene with Dansen was great, but the dialogue with Kelly's ex-army buddy - that should've been Kelly when Alex says her actions led to it happening. That whole segment had Kelly and Alex talking written all over it. Another wasted opportunity of so many this season. It is especially galling as we've had so little meaningful Dansen content. That small change would've made a huge difference. Plus no hug? No kiss? M'gann and J'onn get one, but once again Dansen don't, and they don't even get the intimacy of a hug. It is ridiculous. And people wonder why fans have had increasing issue of the LGBTQ storylines. Or rather lack thereof.

Which brings me to my other bugbear from this season. Does Kelly know Kara is Supergirl? I mean I think she does after last weeks episode, which I've covered at the time. But that is only conjecture on what we saw, not what we know for certain. Where is Alex getting her income from? Is J'onn paying her, and if so, where is he getting the income from? Are Kelly and Alex actually living together? Because Kelly sure as hell looked comfortable in Alex's apartment, and Alex certainly looked as if Kelly not only was expected to be there, but belonged there. I know we can't get every minute detail about their lives, but these aren't small things. Plus it would only take brief dialogue to explain what the situation really is.

As for Alex becoming a vigilante. I will be honest, I've never been overly comfortable with vigilantes in shows, however they are littered throughout The Arrowverse. In fact, without them most Arrowverse shows wouldn't exist. As for the support of Kelly, that was a pleasant change. She understood the difficulties Alex faced, and offered a solution. After all, she has the Guardian shield. Whether she becomes her own version of Guardian I guess we wait and see. But since Alex needs to try and stop both Lex and Leviathan and has no other means to do it effectively, a vigilante is the most logical step. After all, isn't that what they've all been doing since Alex left the DEO? They just haven't placed a name to it until now.

Time to go onto Lex and Lena. Possible trigger warning here.

"You're a monster. But that doesn't mean I have to be one to."

First off. Jon Cryer and Katie McGrath were masterful in the scene where it all came to a head in the prison. Despite my misgivings of the overuse of Lex this season, there is no doubt this is why he is so good! His emotional range just came shining through. Just as Katie McGrath's did.

Him getting up into her face like he did, and her flinching. Here is what I tweeted about it: "Listen, I've been in an IPV relationship. I can't speak for victims of family abuse and if they grow up in the same way, but the way Lena flinched in this scene. That was me when my ex did what Lex did. That was real.

Katie McGrath's shone in tonight's episode."

Katie just completely nailed it. This is when I wish I could just stand there and tell her just how amazing that scene was. The same for Jon.

Those who have denied time and again Lena wasn't a victim of abuse, or it didn't excuse her for her actions in how Lex manipulates her, this is why we spoke about it. This is the victim of abuse. If she wasn't expecting that to escalate into a violent reaction, then that scene wouldn't have happened like it did. She was expecting the blow. That whole scene was visceral. I'm still trying to get to grips with how once again, the acting just brings through a depth so often lacking. So please spare me the excuses of she isn't a victim of abuse. That scene is canon now to the story. Between Lex last season, and this leaves no room for doubt, and if you do - you're not doing it for any other reason than to simply hate on Lena.

That last scene with Kara and Lena. Fucking finally! It's only taken 18 episodes to get there. Again I am still frustrated Kara is being so defensive against Lena, but I also do kind of understand it. She is also feeling hurt and no doubt worried. Is Lena trying to trick her again, like she had earlier in the season. Will she get her heart ripped out if Lena is presenting her with an act. Trust goes both ways, and both of them have found it difficult to reestablish it. I get that. I really do. Again though I just wish it hadn't taken until 5.18 for any kind of resolution between them to begin. Even if it had gone to the 20 episode season as planned, we couldn't get time to really get this sorted. Kara needs to let Lena explain why Lena did what she did with more than that speech. She needs to understand just how abusive the relationship is between Lex and Lena, and why to some degree Lena fell back into old habits like she did. Much like we had Lena and Andrea get that backstory, to really help show why Lena has trust issues, Kara and Lena now need to lay those cards out on the table in a similar way. No more hiding. Sadly I doubt we will get anything of that depth, and we certainly won't this season. But it is a start and that's more than I could've hoped for before the episode began.

Lastly, William getting black bagged by Eve. I wonder if her anger at Lex will make her use William as a pawn to gain revenge? Or will she let William know Lex was the one who has fed William those details, or activated him? Still a weird ass way to describe it by the way. But we will see. Honestly, William as a whole holds absolutely no interest for me. So I didn't even find myself reacting to what happened. It was ... meh.

And that's it for now. I've almost certainly forgotten something, but it was a lot to take in this episode.

Overall, I felt this episode was far better than some of what we've seen so far this season, particularly in 5b. It certainly leaves me looking forward to 5.19 with less dread than of late.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lgbtq #chyler leigh #alex danvers #azie tesfai #katie mcgrath #lena luthor #nia nal #nicole maines #kelly olsen #lex luthor #jon cryer #j'onn j'onzz #m'gann m'orzz #melissa benoist

[captaintroi]

Supergirl…. superdiving in originality.

As a lover of fantasy and sci-fi, it’s frustrating to often see the loss of potential in storylines, when shows can have almost anything happen.....particularly because they are fantasy and sci-fi.  The rushed ending for Game of Thrones was one huge disappointment.....but I’ll leave that for another time.  

Supergirl I fear is heading down the same path as GOT....it stands to disappoint a large fan base not just because of their controversial treatment of the Lena/Kara relationship, but because they are starting to lose originality.  Two characters are making this latest season 5 appear disjointed, the storylines to accommodate are spinning in every direction with no hope of reaching a satisfactory conclusion simply because Lex and William are taking up valuable screentime.  Jon Cryer is excellent in the role but basically, he is a Superman villain so the obsession with him is starting to show lack of originality. To be frank, his entire inclusion in the Crisis was pointless as they could have found a way to bring him back for the Superman and Lois intro, then have them all migrate to that show.  Instead, we have this storyline with no continuation of the so-called “fight for Lena’s soul” Lex all over the place, and as head of DEO removing Alex from badass action,  sidelining Kelly, making Brainy some weird emotionless 007 (instead of cute dorky self) separating him from Nia and thereby making her disappear..... since William has also taken her role as Kara’s sidekick. 

Also, let’s not even mention Andrea who should have had the focus Lex is getting. Her whole Obsidian North plot is going nowhere and Leviathan is a joke!  Then just to add some insult to the obvious baiting of the Lena/Kara dynamics the show loves to dance around.....we have William, a boring character with no purpose except to be the random guy they throw at Kara.  By now it should be obvious William and Kara have no chemistry....in-fact it’s cringe-worthy!  At least there was some chemistry with James and the initial-friendship with Kara wanting what she saw he and Lucy had.  Then with Mon-El the comedic chemistry was fantastic it was impossible not to laugh at their funny alien scenes, (and he had a story!!!!). However, William is just bland and that is because he has no other storyline, not the actor’s fault. The logical thing at this point (since I don’t think they can salvage season 5), is to just adapt his story to somehow involve Andrea who should by Season 6 start to emerge as Acrata.  Ideally, if they can’t figure out what to do with him, they should write him out because he serves no purpose and is taking valuable screen-time. 

In addition, the forced relationship with Kara is beyond fake, and so obviously a tool to divert attention from the writers having to tackle what they have ‘baited’ with Lena.  Having said that, I understand they can’t just toss him, and it’s not his fault, but for heaven’s sake course correct this character and recognize he is not right for a romantic story with the lead.  Supergirl is a hero...she is better off single than paired up with a random dull character for the sake of having a guy.  If they are so concerned with her image, they should think about the terrible message they are sending young girls...saying she’s nothing without a boyfriend.....any boyfriend will do....how sad in 2020!!  The writers need to understand that creating something or being an artist means you have to accept criticism too, and if a large number of the fans that make your show a success are not happy with your direction....it would be wise to consider why and try to understand their reasoning, instead of dismissing them.  Taking the pulse so to speak of your fanbase, is a rather important consideration if your goal is to continue for a few more seasons. 

#Supergirl #CWSupergirl #Supercorp #Superforced

[owl-with-a-pen]

also aw, please imagine Brainy and Alex both not being able to sleep, and staying up together in the Tower, talking about how much they miss Kara

- This is too cute and it inspired me to write a quick piece about it!

Brainy hadn’t moved from the Tower’s computer since they’d saved M’gann.

Alex knew why. Of course, she knew why. It was the same reason she’d found herself back here in the first place, even though her girlfriend was waiting patiently for her at their apartment. At their apartment. God, Alex only wished the warmth that knowledge brought was enough to melt the ice that still sat heavily inside her stomach, sending a fierce ache directly to her chest.

At least here, she felt like she could be of use, somehow. After spending most of the morning holed up in bed, it didn’t feel right to ignore this any longer.

And she knew she wasn’t the only one.

Brainy’s face looked so washed out behind the glare of the screen, highlighting the bags that hung heavy beneath his eyes. Still, there was something behind that look, something that hadn’t been not even a few hours ago. 

Alex had noticed it before – for just a moment, back there, fighting by his side against the Phantoms, it had felt like they’d finally begun to slip back into old habits, like the last few months had been nothing but a bad dream.

But, they weren’t, and Brainy was still holding back so much. Alex could see it written all over him, even as he tirelessly scoured his Phantom Zone map for the hundredth time that day, desperate to find Kara, to set things right.

Even with a multitude of enhancements at his disposal, she knew he was pushing himself. Sooner or later, Brainy was gonna crash.

Which was why Alex ambled her way over to Brainy’s desk, armed with two piping hot cups.

“Coffee,” Alex announced, setting one down loudly on the desk.

Brainy didn’t move his attention from the screen. He stared at it pragmatically, eyes narrowed. “I’m not thirsty,” he mumbled.

“That wasn’t a question,” Alex said, gesturing to the cup. “You need it.”

Brainy snorted. This time, he did look up at her, his eyes red rimmed. “I think you’ll find I’m fully capable of functioning adequately without it.”

“Uh-huh,” Alex said, rolling her eyes. She took a sip of her own coffee, peering over his shoulder at the complex diagrams repainting themselves over and over. “When was the last time you took a break?”

Brainy stilled, his hands stiffening suddenly over the keys. Frustration was practically leaking out from his pores, but this close, Alex knew it was more than that. She’d witnessed a few lapses in this cool and controlled personality Brainy had been trying to output over the last few days, not to mention the keyboard he’d nearly snapped in half in front of J’onn. 

When Brainy didn’t speak, Alex sighed, stepping carefully into his space. “Brainy?”

Brainy ducked his head, a tight grimace pulling at the corners of his lips. “We don’t have time,” he spat. “Every second we waste, Kara is-is out there, cold and alone and-and I can’t stand that.” He pushed himself from the desk suddenly, half turning in his chair to face her. “You shouldn’t either!”

“Trust me,” Alex said evenly. “I can’t.”

Brainy’s eyes were shimmering, desperation and pain flooding all at once to the surface. After everything, though? It was nearly a relief to see it. It definitely made Alex feel more confident to keep talking. “It hurts,” she admitted. “Every second knowing she’s in that hell, it’s like… it’s like sometimes I just forget how to breathe.”

“I know the feeling.” Brainy laughed weakly, wiping at his face. “I know the feeling and-and I can’t bear it. How do you bear it?”

“I don’t,” Alex said simply. “Not on my own, at least. I take solace in the fact that I’m surrounded with loved ones fighting just as hard as me to get Kara back.” When Brainy’s lips trembled, Alex reached for him impulsively, taking his shoulder firmly. “We’re all hurting, Brainy. But… but we’re hurting together. Sharing that burden, talking about how it makes us feel, knowing that we’re here for each other. That’s how I’m getting through every day.”

Brainy’s eyes darted from her suddenly, looking everywhere and nowhere at once. He sniffed. “I… am unfamiliar with that.”

“Sharing?” Alex snorted. “Really? You?” She winked. “I never would have guessed.”

Brainy ruffled a little at that before his brow furrowed. He frowned in consideration. “Although… I believe I may have made progress today.”

“Oh?”

“I… shared. I think. With Lena.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “And how did that go?”

Brainy blinked, as though curious to know the answer for himself. “I said some truly… vile things, but I also admitted to emotions I had been harbouring for far too long. I felt... better once it was all out. Lighter.” His eyes clouded again, his lips twisting as he reached suddenly, desperately for his ring finger, turning it rhythmically. “But it’s all still in there. I thought that by doing what Lena advised, it would take that pain away… I thought-”

“Heartache doesn’t work like that,” Alex said, giving his shoulder a tight squeeze. “It’s slow and awful and creeps up on you even when you think you have it handled.” She smiled gently. “But, if you feel like you want to share again, take a little more weight off your shoulders, I’m right here.”

Brainy watched her weakly, eyes still glittering with unshed tears. In that moment, Alex wasn’t certain if what she’d said had reached through to him. That was, at least, until he reached hesitantly for the coffee on his desk, sipping her peace offering carefully. “Thank you,” he murmured.

Even with enough caffeine in that cup to kill a baby elephant, Alex knew it wouldn’t stop the inevitable. When Brainy yawned around his next gulp, she took that as her cue. “Alright,” she said firmly, “enough computer screens. You’re taking a break.”

“Alex-”

“I know half of those mapping commands are automatic, so don’t even try to make up an excuse. You need a break. Right now.” She shot him a glare. “Come with me.”

It took a few moments, but eventually Brainy begrudgingly stood from his chair. Alex couldn’t help but smirk when she noticed he’d taken the coffee along with him, trailing behind her in a sleep deprived daze.

She guided him carefully down towards the leather sofa, grabbing the blanket J’onn had thrown over the arm as an afterthought. She sat herself down, folding one leg beneath her before patting the empty space at her side.

Brainy followed suit, mirroring Alex’s position as he curled into his side, keeping the coffee cradled protectively against his chest. Alex smirked, smoothing the blanket over her legs before throwing the other half over Brainy’s lap. The Tower got pretty cold at night, and although Alex knew Brainy didn’t feel the cold quite like she did, she also figured he could use the comfort right about now.

When Brainy let out a soft sigh, ducking his head, she knew that her suspicions were correct.

Alex drank her coffee slowly, watching as Brainy coddled his own cup, staring listlessly into its contents.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Alex said softly.

Brainy glanced up at her curiously. “I am thinking several things.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “Okay, smart guy. Tell me one thing you’re thinking.”

Brainy softened at that. He pursed his lips, gritting his teeth. She watched his fingers tighten around the cup, enough to distress the surface. Then, Brainy squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a long, slow breath. “I miss her,” he murmured. “And I… I can’t stop this guilt inside my chest, like it’s eating me alive. I-I can’t rest, knowing that she’s out there, knowing that I failed her.” Brainy blinked his eyes open, looking at Alex desperately. “If Lex hadn’t had Leviathan’s power, he would have never had the opportunity to use the Phantom Zone projector in the first place. She would still be here!”

“Hey,” Alex said gently, reaching for his knee. “If you hadn’t bottled Leviathan, I wouldn’t be here. Or M’gann or J’onn, or Nia. You saved us Brainy, don’t forget that.”

Brainy’s returning smile was watery. “But knowing that does not stop it from hurting.”

“I know,” Alex murmured. “I feel that guilt, too. I keep thinking of everything I could have done differently. If I’d been quicker at shooting Lex, then maybe…” Alex sucked in a breath suddenly, feeling the burn of her own tears threatening to spill over. “I guess we’re all just trying to find a way to blame ourselves.”

Brainy glanced at her worriedly, no doubt noting the pain in her own expression. He reached out his hand, still warm from the cup, and clasped it gently over the one she had rested on his leg.

“Sharing our pain,” Brainy said slowly, his fingers clenching carefully over Alex’s. “It isn’t… fun.”

Alex smiled grimly, sidling in close enough to knock her shoulder against his. “I never said it would be,” she pointed out. “But, it’s better than going it alone.”

Alex felt Brainy sag against her then, could feel the gentle brush of his hair as he finally began to settle against her side. “Yes,” he said softly, barely forming the word around another rather intense yawn. Alex grinned, winding her arm around his back as Brainy’s eyes finally began to flutter shut. “It is.”

#supergirl #supergirl fanfiction #brainiac 5 #alex danvers #alllll the softness #lol i should be in bed rn #my writing #my asks #cyclone-rachel