#that and the fact that kara seemed to think it was fine to treat lena completely differently with each side of her personality | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dimensiontripperhibiki · 4 years

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The End is Where we Begin

Crisis AU. Instead of Barry being told by the Monitor that he’s going to die in Crisis, Kara is told instead. She sets out to prepare herself and her family and friends for her ultimate demise. Supercorp. No actual character death in this by the way!

“Would you be okay without me?” The question came out of nowhere and having been engrossed in the movie they were watching, Alex did a doubletake and looked at Kara in surprise. “What?” “Without me.” Kara wasn’t looking at Alex. She was watching her own fingers fiddling with the blanket draped over the two of them. “Would you be okay?” Alex reached for the remote, pausing the movie. She’d known that something was wrong. Kara had been unusually quiet all night and she’d only eaten half the pizza she usually would. The other two were still on the coffee table in front of them. “You mean if you moved away or something?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, I guess. You could say that. Or maybe if I wasn’t around for some other reason. Like if something happened to me. You know, the thing with Rein happened last year and I’ve almost died more times than I care to count since I became Supergirl.”

“Where is this coming from?” Alex frowned, turning more on the couch so she was facing Kara. “What’s going on?” Kara bit her lower lip, managing a slight shrug. Feeling Alex’s hand come to rest on her arm she felt her eyes prickle with tears. She quickly blinked them away. “Can you answer the question?” “Of course I wouldn’t be okay. How could you think that?” Alex shook her head in disbelief. “I’ve told you so many times, I can’t lose you. I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to you.” Kara nodded mutely, swallowing against the lump in her throat. “You’re kind of scaring me, Kara,” Alex admitted nervously. “Tell me what’s going on. Why are you suddenly thinking about this stuff?” “We both know it a possibility. I just have a bad feeling, Alex. Like something is going to happen to me.” “Like dying?” “Right.” Kara nodded in response. “And I just want to know that you’ll be okay so I can…” “What? Go gently into that good night?” Alex’s tone was slightly harsh when she spoke but there was no disguising the worry in her voice. “If thinking I’m going to be okay will help you do that then no, Kara. I won’t be okay. Not by a longshot. Losing you would destroy me.” Kara felt her eyes dampen slightly as she recalled the Monitor’s words to her. “Alex…” “In the coming crisis, Supergirl must die.” “It’s not gonna happen.” Alex wrapped her arms around Kara from the side, drawing her close to hug her tightly. She pressed her lips firmly to Kara’s hair. “I’m never going to let anything happen to you.” Kara sniffled softly and nodded her head, letting herself relax into Alex’s gentle embrace. She closed her eyes as Alex’s fingers gently combed through her hair and after a short while she felt herself starting to drift off. It was only an especially deep breath from Alex that dragged Kara back into consciousness. “I think I’m going to get some sleep.” “Oh. Yeah, of course. Seems like you need it.” Alex gave a gentle chuckle when Kara elbowed her gently in the ribs. “Ow!” “Will you stay? I mean...stay with me?” Kara asked quietly as she pulled herself away from Alex. She bit her lip as Alex studied her closely but her nerves melted away when her sister flashed a warm smile. “Sure. Get ready for bed and I’ll put this pizza in the fridge for tomorrow.” Alex replied as she used Kara’s knee as leverage to push herself up off of the couch. Kara watched Alex for a moment before she got to her feet and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She went through her usual nighttime ritual before she padded into her bedroom and slipped into bed. “In the coming crisis, Supergirl must die.” Kara stared at the Monitor, her expression blank as she tried to take in what he was saying. If she was honest, she was still stunned by the fact that he had appeared in the middle of her apartment, seemingly out of nowhere. “What does that mean?” “Something is coming.” The Monitor replied in his usual monotone drawl. “Something which will force you to make the ultimate sacrifice for those you love. And the billions of lives at stake.”

Kara was broken from her thoughts by Alex plopping down on the bed next to her. She turned over to face Alex, watching as her sister got under the blankets with her. A small smile tugged at her lips as she watched Alex shiver and try to wrap the blankets tighter around herself. “I hope you’re not going to steal all of my blankets tonight.” “You invited me in here, remember?” Alex grinned at Kara. “You practically asked for your blankets to be stolen.” Kara turned her face into her pillow to hide the smile that tugged at her lips. “Whatever.” She didn’t get a response from Alex and she looked up again to see that Alex’s eyes were closed. “Do you remember when we used to do this as kids?” Alex smiled softly at the memory. “You mean when you used to crawl into bed with me and I’d pretend to be annoyed about it for five minutes until I gave in?” “Mmhm,” Kara mumbled in response. “You’ve always been the person I feel safest with. Back when I had nightmares, nothing could calm me down like you did.” Alex opened her eyes to look at Kara, noticing the sadness reflected in Kara’s blue eyes. “Well, the feeling is mutual.” Kara felt her eyes prickle with tears once more and she moved forward, wrapping her arm around Alex’s waist. She buried her face in Alex’s chest to hide her tears. “I’m sorry about bringing that up before.” “It’s okay.” Alex murmured, her arms going around Kara. “There’s no limit to what you can talk to me about.” She felt Kara nod into her chest and waited for a moment before she continued. “I meant what I said though. I’ll die before I let anything happen to you. You should know that by now.” Kara hummed in acknowledgment and Alex sighed softly. “Get some sleep. I’ll treat you to breakfast tomorrow. Deal?” “Leftover pizza is breakfast,” Kara mumbled before she pulled back just a little. “Pizza can be lunch tomorrow,” Alex smirked in response. “I’m buying you real breakfast.” Kara smiled warmly in response. “Thanks, Alex. You’re the best.” “I’m aware.” ---- The second Kara opened the door, Nia knew that something was up. Kara was wearing a weird, almost crazy smile on her face. “Uh...hi.” “Hey, Nia!” Kara’s voice came out a little higher than usual and she quickly ushered Nia into the apartment. “Thanks for coming!” “You’re welcome?” Nia asked unsurely. She heard Kara close the door behind her. A moment later the Kryptonian was brushing past her, hurrying toward the kitchen. “Can I get you anything to drink?” “A glass of water would be nice. Thanks.” Nia hung up her bag and jacket and ventured into the kitchen behind Kara. She accepted the glass of water offered to her with a small smile. “Thanks.” She took a sip, watching Kara begin to nervously fidget in front of her. Slowly, she lowered the glass and set it on the kitchen table. “What’s wrong?” “Am I that obvious?” Kara asked with a small smile. “We’ve been friends for a while now, right?” “Right?” “And...I like to think we’re close friends.” Kara continued anxiously, wringing her hands in front of her. “Like I am with Brainy, James, Lena…” She grimaced slightly at the last one. “Well uh...like I was with Lena. Not that I don’t want to be friends with her again. I do. I definitely do, I’m just…” “You’re rambling, Kara,” Nia said with a soft smile. She reached out, placing a hand upon Kara’s to stop her fidgeting. “What do you need from me? A kidney? Because I’m willing but I didn’t think you of all people would need something like that…” Kara managed a soft laugh at that and felt herself calm slightly. “I need a favor. A really big favor. And I need you to keep it a secret from everyone. Nobody can know.” Nia frowned at that but nodded for Kara to go on. “Okay, I promise.” “There’s this...person I know. Well, he’s not really a person, more like...a being. Like a god. Almost.” Kara answered carefully. “And he’s told me something about my future. I need you to tell me if it’s true.” “You know a god?” Nia asked in confusion. “Like Thor?” “No. Can we focus?” Kara gripped Nia’s hand back. “This is really important. Will you do it? Please?” “Use my dream powers? Of course.” Nia answered without hesitation. She noticed the worried look on Kara’s face. “There’s something else.” “He needs to be here,” Kara admitted, tugging Nia toward the couch. “To...sort of give you a boost. And so you can see what he knows.” “I guess it’s fine,” Nia replied, trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was about to meet a god. “So you can just call him?” “I’ve never tried.” Kara took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Uh...hey! Monitor?” She heard a gasp from Nia and opened her eyes to see the Monitor had appeared next to them. “Whoa. I didn’t expect that to work. You just appear when I call you?” “Not always.” The Monitor answered, briefly glancing at Nia before he turned his focus back to Kara. “However it is imperative that you understand the threat which is to come. And your role in preventing it. Therefore I will help you to see the truth. Along with Dreamer. Of course.” Nia sat down heavily on the couch. “You know me?” The Monitor nodded. “You too will have a role to play.” “Can we just get this over with?” Kara sat down next to Nia. “Very well. Close your eyes.” Kara glanced at Nia and reached for her hand, grasping it tightly. “Just in case.” She mumbled before she let her eyes close. She felt a touch to her head and she opened her eyes. She expected to see the room she had been in, but instead, she found herself in the middle of the street, people running past her. “Nia?!” “I’m here.” Nia appeared next to Kara, glancing around. “What the hell is…” Kara grabbed Nia’s arm, trying to back them both away as a wave of red rushed toward them. She barely managed to stumble back before they were engulfed. Everything turned black for a split second and then the next few minutes were a series of flashes. The DEO being wiped away. Brainy. Nia. James. Catco. Her mother. Kal and Loius with the baby. Alex getting caught up in the red mist as she tried to help people escape it. Lena struggling to find a solution until the very end. Over and over again, the scenario played out in different ways, finally ending with Kara herself flying into the red wave. Kara gasped as she was dragged back to reality and she quickly jerked her hand away from Nia’s. The Monitor was gone. “Kara…” Nia’s voice was trembling as she stared at Kara. “What the hell was that?” Kara opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, unable to get her words out for a moment. “The Monitor was right. I-I have to die.” “What are you talking about?” Nia got to her feet, anxiously staring down at Kara. Kara’s fingers dug into the couch, inadvertently piercing the upholstery. “In the coming crisis, Supergirl must die. That’s what the Monitor told me. If I’m going to save everyone else, I have to sacrifice myself.” “Kara!” Nia exclaimed loudly, trying to break Kara from the trance she seemed to be in. She was relieved when Kara met her eyes but it did nothing to ease the panic she felt. “This can’t be right. There has to be something else we can do. Anything. You can’t just give up.” Kara bowed her head, trying to hide the tears that filled her eyes. “You saw it, Nia. All of those timelines. Billions of them. And there’s only one way to stop what happened.” “It can’t be!” Nia sat down on the coffee table in front of Kara. “W-We just have to tell Alex. Maybe we can figure something out.” “We’re not telling Alex!” Kara’s voice was sharper than she intended it to be as she looked up at Nia. “Not yet. You can’t tell anyone about this, Nia. You promised.” Nia gritted her teeth. That was a promise she wished she hadn’t made. “You can’t do this alone, Kara.” “I’m not alone. I have you.” Kara forced a smile to her face but it quickly slipped away. “Thanks for doing this for me. I know it couldn’t have been easy to see all of that.” “Kara, are you okay?” Nia asked gently, concerned by the way Kara seemed to be shutting herself off from what she was feeling. Or trying to at least. “I’ll be fine.” Kara lied, slowly getting to her feet. “I just need some time to process. Um...you should probably be getting back to work, right?” “Well...yeah but I can stay if you want me to.” Nia said even as she followed Kara to the door. “It’s fine,” Kara replied in a strained tone of voice. “This crisis isn’t coming anytime soon. We have some time. I think.” “O-Okay.” Nia took her things from Kara and watched as Kara opened the door for her. “I don’t like leaving you alone like this.” “I’ll be okay.” Kara’s voice shook as she spoke. “Alex will be back soon. I’ll be fine.” Nia wanted to argue but Kara seemed so opposed to letting her stay that she relented, her shoulders slumping. “We’re going to figure this out. We have to.” Kara nodded and watched as Nia walked out of her apartment. She didn’t give Nia a chance to turn around before she closed the door behind her. As soon as the latch clicked into place, Kara felt her knees weaken beneath her. She lowered herself to the floor, still clutching the door handle and finally let her tears flow, unhindered. She wasn’t ready. Alex wasn’t ready. She still had so many things she needed to do. To make amends for. ---- Lena glanced up at the sound of a soft knock at her office door. Her brow furrowed for a moment before the door opened and Kara walked in. Lena sighed and made a mental note to fire her new secretary. She got to her feet, closing her laptop. “Something I can help you with, Miss Danvers?” “Sorry. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by like this.” Kara said as she walked toward Lena’s desk. A few months ago, Lena would have rushed to assure Kara that she could stop by whenever she wanted. That she always had time for the reporter. “I must admit, I am surprised to see you stop by like this.” She gestured toward Kara’s clothing. “I thought you were more partial to red and blue now.” “I didn’t want to come over as Supergirl,” Kara answered quietly. “I do need to ask you something though. For work.” “So that’s why you’re here.” Lena was annoyed that she felt somewhat hurt by the revelation. She schooled her expression to not show it. “What is it I can help you with?” “I was wondering if you could help me with something.” Kara rested her hand on the back of the seat in front of her. She didn’t want to sit down and she was sure Lena wouldn’t appreciate the suggestion that she intended to stay for a prolonged time, but she needed to do something with her hands. “I was wondering if you know of anything that could make...something or someone disappear.” Lena stared at Kara for a long moment. “That’s all? You don’t have anything else for me to go off of?” Kara nervously bit her lip. “It’s um...like a red wave? And it wipes out everything in its path. Including people.” Lena briefly pursed her lips. “You’re talking about anti-matter. Only a theory of course but...theoretically, anti-matter could destroy everything it comes into contact with. Without exception.” Kara’s grip on the back of the chair tightened. “Is there any way to stop it? If it enters our universe?” “There’s no way that I know of.” Lena frowned at the sound of a creak. “Supergirl, you’re breaking my chair.” “Huh? Oh, sorry. I’m so sorry.” Kara quickly let go of the chair and stepped back. “I’ll replace it. I’m sorry.” Lena nodded slowly, not entirely sure what to say. She was still furious with the Kryptonian. Still hurt beyond repair but something wasn’t right. Kara could barely look at her. “Why did you need to know?” “What?” “About the anti-matter.” Lena walked around her desk to sit on the edge of it. “Is something happening?” “Maybe…” Kara replied faintly. She took a deep breath to calm herself. “Sorry. I’m acting...weird, right? I’m just frazzled and it’s been a long week. Sorry.” “Stop apologising.” “Right,” Kara muttered, cursing her lack of focus. She almost regretted not coming in her suit. She could have used the confidence boost. She was silent for a minute, trying to think of what else to say. “Lena, listen. I’m really sorry. For everything.” Lena frowned. “I thought I told you t-” “Stop apologising. I know.” Kare interjected before Lena could finish. “I just needed you to know that I’m sorry. I’m never going to not be sorry for what I did to you. And our friendship. I betrayed you and everything our friendship stood for. I just hope that you’ll be able to forgive me someday.” She watched Lena look away and figured that was her cue to leave. She didn’t want to push. She was surprised that Lena had allowed her to stay in her office for as long as she had. “I should be going. I’m…” “You’re keeping something from me,” Lena interjected, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She noticed surprise flash across Kara’s face. “You’ve lied to me enough that I know what it looks like now.” “I’m not lying to you. But there is something I need to tell you.” Kara said reluctantly. “And I will. I just don’t know how to say it yet. I don’t know if I even want to say it. To you or anyone else.” “If that’s the way you feel.” “I should go.” Kara said quietly. She waited for an answering nod from Lena before she turned and walked back to the door she’d entered through. She paused with her hand on the door handle. “Lena?” “Yes?” “Me coming to see you is never just about work.” Kara didn’t look at Lena as she spoke. “I miss you.” Lena opened her mouth to reply but before she could say anything Kara was gone, shutting the door carefully behind her. Sighing, Lena pinched the bridge of her nose. “A solution for anti-matter.” She mumbled to herself, slowly lowering her hand. She glanced over her shoulder at her laptop. She’d been working non-stop for what felt like weeks, barely giving herself time to eat and sleep. She supposed a break to work on a new project wouldn’t hurt. TBC (I think. If you guys like it. Just experimenting here!)

#Supercorp #Supergirl #Kara Danvers #Lena Luthor

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helloalycia · 4 years

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cheater [three] | kara danvers

summary: Kara catches on to the way you're distancing yourself from her and tries to get to the bottom of it.

warning/s: none (I think?).

author's note: This is the final part to the mini imagine so I hope you like it! I'll be posting a lena one tomorrow :)

part one | part two | masterlist | wattpad

A few weeks had passed since Anna had spoken to me, and in those few weeks, I had become more aware of how I was treating those I cared about. Specifically, Kara.

I still hung out with her and spoke to her, obviously, but I was cautious as to how much of myself I was giving out. I didn't want to appear reliant, clingy or annoying towards her. She didn't deserve that and I didn't want to risk her leaving me because of it. We still went out for lunch and hung out at each other's flats, but it was less frequent than usual. Anytime I thought I was inputting my opinion into her life, I drew back. If we were hanging out, I cut it a little shorter. I didn't want her to feel trapped.

I thought it was going well, really well actually. I thought I was doing it right, having her as a friend without suffocating her with my apparent power to over-care. But then she confronted me about it and I knew I'd screwed up.

I was photocopying something when she approached me, cornering me in against the photocopier.

"Hey," I greeted her, smiling politely before realising she wasn't smiling back. "What's up?"

"I'm hoping you can tell me," she said, crossing her arms.

"I don't understand."

She sighed, her blue eyes staring back at me with confusion. "Did I do something wrong? Have I upset you somehow? Are you angry at me?"

I immediately shook my head, stepping forward to place a hand on her crossed arms. "Kara, no, of course not! What's made you think that?"

She breathed out through her nose, uncrossing her arms. "You've been very withdrawn recently. I feel like I may have offended you somehow."

I pursed my lips, feeling my face go warm. "You haven't... I don't understand. Things are good between us. We hang out. We talk."

"Barely," she added. "You seem off with me. Distant."

I tried to laugh it off. "Kara, I don't get it. I'm fine!"

Her blue eyes darkened as she searched my expression curiously. "No, you aren't... I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong."

I gave her a knowing, albeit, nervous look. "Kara."

She shook her head, jaw locked with certainty. I tried to walk away, but she blocked my exit by stepping in front of me. I tried to side step her, but she simply followed, cornering me in with the photocopier.

"Kara, this is stupid and you know it," I complained, no longer joking now.

"What's stupid is how you've been acting lately," she said, just as seriously. "What is going on with you?"

I upheld her stare, determined not melt under her gaze and give in. I tried again to get out of that corner, but she was too quick and way stronger than me, so she stopped me every time. I sighed, feeling my stomach twist uncomfortably.

"It's not a big deal," I said quietly, avoiding her eyes.

"What isn't?"

I chewed the inside of my cheek nervously, before realising I had no other choice but to tell her the truth. I couldn't lie to Kara – she'd see right through me.

"Anna spoke to me a few weeks ago," I said, in a nonchalant way, hoping Kara would realise it wasn't an issue. "She told me she loved me still and wanted to get back together."

Kara's expression faltered as she widened her eyes with surprise. "What?"

"It was dumb on her part," I explained, feeling a sudden urge to let Kara know I wasn't interested. "I've moved on."

Kara pursed her lips with concentration as I continued.

"I reminded her that she cheated on me and she basically told me why," I said, giving a small smile to hopefully refute the pain that was returning in my heart. "I am apparently too loving to those I care about."

"What?"

I breathed out slowly, losing my smile. "She said I was too good. Too perfect. Too caring. I was too suffocating and so I pushed her away. It's dumb because I know I shouldn't care what she says, but it stuck with me."

Kara had an unreadable expression and I began to feel guilty.

"Look, Kara, I'm really sorry," I said, meeting her eyes. "I never wanted to make you feel like you were doing something wrong. I just, I thought that if I backed off a little... you know, gave you some space. Cared a little less. That you might stay around. I didn't... I didn't want to risk pushing you away like I did with Anna. I'm... I'm really sorry..."

I waited for a response, verbally or even a hint of an expression, but she simply stared at me with frozen eyes. I genuinely thought I'd screwed up, that she was fed up of my shit and was ready to call it a day with our friendship. Instead, she said nothing and stormed off angrily.

"Kara!" I called after her, before following her down the hall.

She was quick, as she manoeuvred around everybody, eyes searching the offices for somebody, I didn't know who. I kept calling her, trying to catch up to her but bumping into several colleagues instead. What was she up to?

"You!"

I saw as she found who she was looking for – Anna – and widened my eyes, realising what would happen.

"You are the most selfish, egotistical, manipulative woman I have ever met!" she yelled, storming towards Anna and getting in her face. "How dare you make Y/N question her relationships, our friendship!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Danvers?" Anna growled, pushing Kara back.

Kara seemed furious as I finally reached them. People were beginning to take notice of the two angry women and I managed to step between them before things escalated further.

"Woaaaaah, Kara, calm down," I said, blocking her vision of Anna and instead trying to get her to look at me. "Kara."

"You didn't deserve her." Kara glared daggers to Anna just before I managed to drag her away.

Reluctantly, Kara followed as I led her to a deserted conference room – anywhere to get away from Anna and what I was sure would soon be a fist fight if I hadn't stepped in.

"Kara, what the they hell?!" I shouted after closing the door.

Kara's jaw was clenched with anger as she shook her head. "I never liked her! She's always thought she was the best! That she could have anything she wanted!"

"Kara!"

"She hurt you!" she yelled, finally meeting my eyes. "It's her fault, all of this!"

My mouth closed as I breathed out through my nose, trying to find some way to argue her point, but she was right.

"She cheated because she's a horrible person, not because you care too much," she said with certainty. "One of the best things about you, Y/N, is that you care as much as you do. You make people feel seen and you make them feel good. And that isn't a bad thing at all!"

I felt embarrassed as she spoke, mostly because when she said it, it seemed right. Like I couldn't question it at all and that everything I thought about myself was false. Kara always sounded so certain that one couldn't help but want to believe her.

"She is hurting you even when you let her go," she said, swallowing hard. "She never deserved you, Y/N. And I hate that she's made you doubt yourself."

I didn't think Kara cared this much, yet she seemed so invested and it made me feel good, to know I had someone who actually cared.

"She never deserved you," she stated, her eyes glassy. "I'm sorry for shouting and getting angry, but she never did."

"Kara..."

Seeing her this upset made me feel guilty, and also hurt. I didn't think it would have this much of an effect on her.

"You're a great person, Y/N, one of the best I know. And you deserve someone who can see that. Someone like..." She paused, locking her jaw as she glanced at the ceiling before meeting my eyes. "Someone like me."

It took me a moment to realise what she'd said, and when I made sense of it, I was taken aback.

"Someone... someone like you?"

"Yes," she said, blue eyes softening as each second passed.

I felt my heart beating quickly the longer she stared, and it only intensified when she stepped closer to me, enough for me to feel the warmth of her skin.

Her eyes darted to my lips very obviously and I found myself drawn to hers, wanting to feel them against mine. She raised her hand, pressing it to my cheek, causing me to look her in the eyes again.

"How long?" I got out, feeling stupid for not realising sooner.

She licked her lips. "A long time."

I didn't know what to say, how to respond to that. It made sense though, now that I thought about it. Especially with how protective she'd been over me when it came to Anna. I thought it was her being a good friend, but it was a lot more than that.

Her other hand rested on my waist, sending shivers up my spine, before she moved closer and pressed her lips against mine. I closed my eyes and let her, resting a hand on her chest and returning the kiss.

I didn't realise how much I'd wanted to kiss her until now when it was actually happening. She was gentle yet passionate and I knew that she'd been bottling this up for awhile now, since she was kissing me like she was afraid it would be the first and last.

We pulled away soon enough, to my dismay, and I found myself staring into her pools of blue, attempting to puzzle together the confusion that was my brain.

"I think...," she spoke gently, her breath tickling my lips because of how close we still were. "I think that you deserve better than her. That you deserve me. And I'm here. If you want me."

I was still catching my breath as she looked between my eyes, calm and collected. I didn't know what to say – everything was happening quickly, too quick for me to keep up.

"And if you don't, which it seems you don't," she continued, stepping back and smiling awkwardly, "I can be your friend. Though that might be a little strange now."

I watched as she backed up awkwardly, nearing the door.

"Kara, that's not it," I spoke, earning her attention. "I don't– I don't know what to say. This happened quite fast and... I'm still trying to acknowledge the fact that you, well, you like me."

"I didn't mean to confuse you," she said, pressing her lips together as she nodded. She opened the door and glanced at me. "I'll go. Sorry if this messed things up. I just couldn't hold it in any longer and you deserved to know the truth."

I watched as she smiled once more before leaving. I tried to think of something to say to stop her, but I was still tongue-tied. And then she was gone.

***

I knocked on Kara's door and waited impatiently for her to answer. I could barely keep still, all of my thoughts wanting to burst out of my head. I had so much to say to her and I was never good with my words, but I didn't have time to write this down – I had to let her know how I felt.

She finally answered the door and seemed confused, but she smiled nonetheless.

"Hey, Y/N..."

"I should have come sooner, but my mind has only just decided to co-operate with my heart, so I'm here now," I explained, knowing it didn't quite make sense when I said it aloud.

She nodded slowly, still staring at me with furrowed eyebrows. She stood to the side, signalling for me to come in and I did, glad to not be stood in the same spot.

When she closed the door, I spun around and breathed out.

"You want a drink?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no, I just need to tell you this," I said, cutting straight to the point. "You've helped me through a lot, and it probably would have taken a lot longer for me to be okay after everything that happened with Anna if it wasn't for you."

Kara nodded, looking like she wanted to speak, but thankfully, she let me continue.

"I care about you a lot, Kara. I do. I don't want to lose you, not now that I know what it's like to have you in my life. I thought that the way I cared about you was platonic. But then you told me everything you did and you kissed me and it was... it was perfect." I breathed out slowly. "I don't want to lose that."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Kara finally spoke up, shaking her head. "Why do you think I'm going to leave?"

I chewed on my lower lip as I glanced at my shoes. "As I said yesterday, I tend to care too much and evidently, that makes people want to leave. Or in my case, cheat."

"And as I said yesterday, that's completely false," she said, grabbing my hand and squeezing it gently. "I would never do that to you."

"I'm not saying you will," I said, shaking my head. "I just, I don't want you to think that... god this doesn't make sense..." I groaned to myself. "I know what I want to say, but it makes no sense."

"Tell me what you're scared of," she said sternly, eyes glued to mine with a look of determination. "Tell me exactly what you're thinking, Y/N."

I avoided her eyes as I tensed my jaw nervously. "You're not like her... I know you're not." I rolled my eyes at how silly I sounded. "But I overthink. And I can't help but wonder if it'll happen again. We might get together and it might be great, but then I'll do something wrong and you'll get tired. And I don't think... I don't think I could take that. Especially if it meant losing you."

"Y/N, are you going to look at me?"

I reluctantly raised my head to meet her eyes.

"Do you remember when we first met?" she asked, her blue eyes sparkling beautifully.

I wondered what relevance that had, but I nodded. "Yeah... you showed me around when I first got the reporter job. You were Miss Grant's assistant back then."

She smiled reminiscently. "Exactly. And do you remember when we first properly hung out?"

I nodded. "You asked if I wanted to get coffee together because we had the same break."

"Yep. And what about when we exchanged numbers?"

"Kara, I don't understand wha–"

"Just answer," she said, giving me a knowing look. "I have a point."

"Okay... you asked me to add your number when you said you couldn't find your phone and I rang it off mine. It was under your desk."

"And do you really think I misplaced my phone under my desk?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

I pulled a face. "Well... now that you say it aloud, it sounds kinda dumb."

"Uh-huh. Now, what about the first time we hung out outside of work?" she asked, smiling at me adorably now.

I was growing agitated, mostly confused at what her point was. Nonetheless, I answered. "We were tracking down some contacts for an article and finished pretty late. You asked me if I wanted Potstickers at a place you know."

"Okay, I know you wanna slap me for all these questions, so I'll cut to the point," she said with an amused smile. "One more question though. Do you know what all of those instances have in common?"

I sighed. "No idea, Kara."

She began to play with my fingers between her hands as she chuckled. "It was me who asked you everything. I initiated our friendship always. I always wanted to hang out. One may argue that I am the clingy one in our friendship."

She was smiling knowingly, but I was still confused.

"What?"

She laughed at my expression. "Your fear? Of being the overly-caring one? Of pushing me away because you're too involved? It's been proven wrong by the likes of me. It's impossible for me to leave because I'm the one who doesn't leave you alone. I'm the one who wants to be around you."

I realised what she was saying and didn't know how to respond. Once again, Kara Danvers had a way of sounding right and making me feel wrong. I had no choice but to believe her words.

"That time I asked you to go out with me for coffee? That was when I began to like you," she admitted. "And the time I asked you to get Potstickers, that was when I fell in love with you. Which, by the way, is another thing you should consider. I'm in love with you, Y/N. And I know you probably don't feel the same, but you should know. Because that means I loved you first, which means, once again, I'm being super clingy."

I felt my lips lifting into a suppressed smile as she watched me confidently, a comforting smile on her lips.

"I'm here, if you want me," she said seriously, though her eyes were gentle as they stared through mine. "I promise you won't lose me."

I breathed out, feeling my eyes go blurry a little. Her revelation had made me a lot more emotional than I thought, but it was good. My heart was swelling with adoration, the first in a long, long time.

"Well, firstly, fuck you for making me cry," I said, letting go of her hand to wipe the corners of my eyes. She laughed as I met her eyes again. "Secondly, you're the only person I've ever met to say things as sweet as those. Thank you."

"I meant every word," she promised.

I cracked a small smile. "Thirdly... you really fancied the shit out of me back when we first met, didn't you?"

She rolled her eyes playfully, but her cheeks were turning pink; it was my turn to laugh.

"What do you say to giving us a shot?" she said, staring at me, a hint of hope in her expression.

I nodded. "I want to make this work. I actually fancy the shit out of you, too, Kara."

Her smile widened into a grin, making her eyes squint up adorably.

"I think it's my turn to initiate something," I joked, before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her lips.

I knew that I would always worry about my relationships, second-guess genuine actions and hesitate over little things – it was inevitable after what Anna did to me – but one thing I was certain of was Kara. It would work out, despite my fears. She reassured me always.

I trusted her.

#kara danvers imagine #kara danvers imagines #kara danvers x reader #kara danvers #melissa benoist #supergirl imagine #supergirl x reader #supergirl

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immaculate-benediction-batch · 5 years

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Sorry this is so long......How TV Creators Are Handling Subtext And Shipping

TV series creators have a hard time not tailoring content towards a strictly heteronormative audience, refusing to lean in to queer context, no matter howlarge an LGBTQ following a show may have.

Once a fictional character is put out for public consumption, it ceases to be the one thing it’s described as on paper. This is especially the case with TV and film, where said character goes through so many hands before hitting the screen and becoming public property.

There are three kinds of creators when it comes to queer content on TV. The first (and sadly, most typical) is the creator who will deny any intention of creating queer content, and who will also refuse to acknowledge a queer audience’s interpretation., This often results in an instant backlash, as the Supergirlcast and creators experienced after an embarrassing interview with MTV last summer. When prompted to recap the latest season, the cast broke into a cringeworthy song that mocked fans’ interest in the Supergirl/Lena Luthor pairing, with Jeremy Jordan repeatedly exclaiming that the two will never get together. It continued despite Katie McGrath’s attempt to save the interview saying, “The great thing about what we do is, like any art, anyone can read into it what they want.” Chris Wood then chimed in with “Sexuality is all about others’ perception of yours, right?”

Supergirl is a show with a large female following that from the beginning has gravitated toward the female relationships it portrays, with emphasis on those relationships with strong queer energy. At first, there was a group of internet fans that were drawn to the chemistry between Melissa Benoist and Calista Flockhart, which was maximized due to the characters’ intense mentor/mentee relationship, and that was fine, and for the most part went unacknowledged by the show.

However, upon Flockhart’s exit, Lena Luthor was introduced, played by Katie McGrath. Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor became fast friends, and fans’ fascination with Supergirl’s queer vibes grew strong enough for the the cast to take notice. One would think that by having Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer, two queer characters already in their orbit, fan speculation about others wouldn’t be such an inconvenience that it would have to be addressed by aggressively singing “They’re only friends!” over and over, as if the pairing were unfathomable.

But Supergirl hasn’t been the only show to outright reject queer interpretations. In fact, a few years back, the long-running series Supernatural was called out by its fans for purposefully inserting homoerotic subtext within storylines pertaining to male characters Dean and Castiel, and for rather indirectly addressing said subtext in interviews. In one of them, Misha Collins (Castiel) stated that in certain scenes with Jensen Ackles (Dean) he was directed to portray his character as a “jilted lover.”

During a Toronto Con panel in 2013, it was revealed that a line was changed by Ackles — who last year specifically requested no questions about the popular pairing be allowed during the Q portion of a panel for the show at New Jersey Con–from “I love you” to “We’re family. I need you” because the Actor didn’t think it suited his character. Despite fandom’s interest in the pairing, it hasn’t been enough for Supernaturalto follow through with an actual queer storyline, aside from the one recurring lesbian character, Charlie, who was ultimately killed off. It turns out our tolerance for queerbaiting does have its limits.

Another show that failed to address the sapphic energy between its leads, in effect rejecting a great opportunity to add a bonus layer to an already complex relationship between two women, was Damages. The thriller starred Glenn Close as powerhouse prosecutor Patty Hewes, and Rose Byrne as her protégée, Ellen Parsons. The series went on for five seasons and throughout, though it benefitted from incredible writing, its highlight was clearly the tension and undecipherable relationship between Patty and Ellen.

While there was never any doubt that their connection was what kept the the show’s palpable tension dial at a 10, anytime the subject was brought up to either cast or creators it was denied or waved off as “wishful thinking,” as Glenn Close put it. When pressed further, she added, “I think there’s something seductive about Patty and she just seduces people and she’ll lead people on. I think that can come across as pure seduction.”

With Person of Interest, Sameen Shaw (Sarah Shahi) and Root (Amy Acker) first connected under very unique, very dark circumstances in which one was holding the other against their will in a life threatening situation. But there was a sizzle there that the audience immediately responded to, and while both cast and writers admitted that was not their intention, something amazing happenedthey took that audience reaction and ran with it. In the end, Shaw and Root’s romance became one of the show’s more compelling storylines.

Jane the Virgin did the same. When a character, Petra, who wasn’t intentionally written as queer read queer to LGBTQ viewers, the writers saw no problem taking the interpretation and adopting it as canon. After years of keeping Petra as a sort of peripheral player within Jane/Rafael storylines, the character of Jane Ramos was introduced as Petra’s defense attorney and eventual love interest.

The third type of creator is everyone’s favorite. This is the one that takes whatever gay subtext or context there is, embraces it, and expands upon it, recognizing that it’s there from the beginning. In the Flesh and Killing Eve are true representatives of queer entertainment that isn’t trying to steer its characters toward a path they weren’t organically wanting to go.

In the Flesh, a BAFTA-award winning series from BBC 3, was easily one of the best shows that no one watched; a zombie show with depth, which isn’t easy to accomplish. The story takes place years after a virus epidemic that turned the infected into flesh-eating monsters is cured, and the rehabilitated are returning home. Its main character is Luke, one of the former infected, suffering from memories of the terrible things he did while sick, and tortured by his own suicide, which was prompted by the loss of love interest, Rick.

The series ran for only two seasons, with a total of nine episodes. It was inventive and creative and stands as one of the greats right next to shows like Hannibal and The Exorcist, which was unfortunately canceled by Fox this year after only two seasons of sacrilege, beautiful cinematography, Alfonso Herrera (Sense8) and a bisexual Father Marcus, played by Ben Daniels.

Killing Eve is a female-led thriller that proves that the secret to making great TV is treating characters like human beings with the capacity to change. Eve, who, when we meet her, is living a life that doesn’t seem particularly terrible, whose marriage appears to be solid, her job secure, is lured into potentially life threatening situations for the sake of following her inexplicable attraction to a female assassin. As if beneath the surface there is a dormant unrest that is awakened with the arrival of Villanelle in her life, and though she does not stop to examine exactly what she expects to get from it, she craves and wants more of these moments that have stirred her awake. She’s both excited and frightened by Villanelle’s audaciousness, by the intrusion into her life,

both figuratively and literally.

The season’s got a few episodes left, yet the most compelling, and most attentively queer moment is part of the fifth episode, in which the two women finally come face to face in Eve’s home. Eve is sopping wet in a gorgeous dress Villanelle’s purchased for her, she’s cold and visibly uncomfortable, therefore Villanelle suggests Eve should change, before proceeding to peel the dress off her herself. It is a scene that doesn’t downplay the very real danger Eve is in by having Villanelle in her home. However there is also an erotic aspect to it that is very purposeful, and as series creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge points out, the attraction is definitely mutual, “I knew that the first moment they see each other. I labeled that moment as ‘love at first sight.’ But I didn’t want it to be constrained to romance, or to lust, or anything like that. There’s something waking in Eve every day that she spends imagining what this woman is doing.”

This type of storytelling allows characters to evolve the way that they want to evolve as opposed to forcing them into a first page description. There is loyalty to the authenticity of the story, which comes from meticulous attention paid to the writing, which Waller-Green explains is all about going against cliché: “The moment something feels predictable, there’s a roar in me to just go to the most surprising place. I don’t want to bore myself.”

Often times, when female queer characters are introduced, it is done in order to titillate, and their storylines are the product of a male gaze fantasy. Killing Eve manages to avoid all of that with Villanelle, a character who seems to have no specific preference when it comes to sexual partners, and yet doesn’t feel the need to use her sexuality to get what she wants. In addition to that and the meaty tension between the two leads (Villanelle and the titular Eve, played by Sandra Oh), the attention paid to the very queer theme of the show is evident in backstories of characters that would normally go without one, like that of Eve’s former boss and best friend Bill, an older man in a heterosexual relationship who casually reveals he’s loved “hundreds” of men, much to Eve’s surprise, and further reveals he is in an open relationship, and happily so.

The series proves not only that queer characters are marketablethe BBC series was renewed for a second season before the first even airedbut that straight creators are capable of writing queer content that isn’t offensive or over-sexualized. Phoebe Waller-Bridge credits the authenticity of the series to a collaborative effort, stating, “Because it’s all about the characters, the little details that link the two worlds, everyone’s really made it a psychological piece rather than just an artistic painting of two different people’s worlds,” but it really just goes to show that that negative aspects of queer representation that include the dreaded male gaze perspective can be avoided as long as the bar is set high enough by the showrunner.

It only takes a little bit of creativity and imagination, and a willingness to challenge the idea that heterosexual-based television makes for the best and most successful stories.

Alex Velazquez is a writer, photographer, and queer Mexican living in Los Angeles, CA.

#sherlock #killing eve #supernatural #supergirl #queerbaiting #shipping #lgbt #in the flesh #jane the virgin #person of interest

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hobbitkiller · 4 years

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She-Ra, Supergirl, and Tangled: A Tale of Three Female Relationships: Part 3

*SPOILER WARNING FOR SHE-RA, SUPERGIRL, AND TANGLED: THE SERIES*

Previously on “A Tale of Three Female Relationships” AKA HobbitKiller clearly misses grad school but not enough to find secondary sources for a multi-part tublr. post (or thoroughly proofread):

In Part 2, I discussed the impact narcissistic mother figures, resentment for chosen ones, and repressing emotions has had on three female relationships in three different series: Adora and Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Lena and Kara from Supergirl, and Rapunzel and Cassandra from Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.

These posts are a deep dive into where these relationships went wrong and will eventually culminate in a discussion of what these relationships say about the portrayal of female characters and female relationships in media.

For today’s installment, I will be covering two subjects: Blond Bulldozers and I Don’t Care (I Ship It). WARNING: This one gets reallllllly long. Like, possibly multiple sittings.

PART VI: BLOND BULLDOZERS

In my first post in this series, I jokingly mentioned that one half in all three of these relationships is a superpowered blonde who saves the world.

There are of course many implications in the fact that, though all three of these shows strive for increased diversity compared to their source material (It is also interesting that these are all shows based on pre-existing franchises), the main character continues to be a fair-skinned blond woman.

That’s mostly a matter to be discussed another day, but I do find it interesting that all of these relationships feature one blond and one not-blond. Lena and Cassandra have black hair, and Catra is...well...a cat-person. Beyond that, the blond is not only the hero, but is typically depicted as morally superior and more righteous. Kara, AKA Supergirl, was literally declared the “Paragon of Hope” in the latest CW crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. That title could just as easily have gone to Rapunzel whose chief characteristics are her optimism, desire to see others achieve their dreams, and belief that everyone gets a second chance no matter their criminal past and exploits (seriously, everyone in Corona--the name of the kingdom unfortunately for right now--gets one total pardon as long as they’re sorry even if the tried to kill multiple people). Adora is a little less cotton-candy that Kara or Rapunzel. She has the same moral righteousness, but actually has more of an edge to her than many of her friends due to her upbringing as a child soldier. Still, all three blondes are meant, for the most part, to be the moral center of their shows.

But, the thing is, when I look at these relationships, I can’t help but think of another popular blonde/not blonde friendship that went wrong:

Ahhh, Wicked, the prototypical female friendship story for so many of us. Wicked aims to take this classic dynamic of the morally pure blond protagonist and their dark-haired frienemy and turn it a bit on its head. Throughout the musical, Glinda is treated as pure, superior, and good because she is flattering and pretty. In reality, Glinda is often selfish and lacks the courage to stand up to people and systems she believes are wrong. Elphaba, on the other hand, is treated like an outcast because of her green skin and social awkwardness. Yet, for most of the musical, she is the one with the moral righteousness. She is labeled “wicked” by those in power for challenging them and standing up to them.

We’ll discuss Wicked more in the finale of this multi-part post.

For now, I’d like to contrast that relationship to the three being analyzed right now. None of these three shows goes as far as Wicked did to undermine this trope of the perfect blond versus the darker brunette. This makes sense as none of the three properties is seeking to deconstruct their source material or turn it on its head in the way Wicked aims to do so for the Wizard of Oz (the movie more than anything else). They seek to update and diversify certain aspects to be sure (someone heard loud and clear the criticism that there are no people of color in Tangled), but not to challenge them.

That being said, each show does try to layer in flaws in their blond protagonists approach to relationships. These flaws tend to be more subtle than those of the people around them, perhaps to protect said blondes from becoming too unlikeable, but they are clearly there.

In the last post, I talked a lot about the resentment of the non-blondes in these relationships and how that helped lead to the relationships falling apart. Those characters are also much more the aggressors in said relationships and are much more set on taking down the other party.

However, the blondes in each relationship are not without blame for it falling apart.

In the previous post, I discussed how being friends of a so-called “chosen one” or “golden child” can breed resentment. I also mentioned that raising someone as a “golden child” is its own form of abuse. It creates a level of unrealistic expectations to always be perfect and responsible. It can be the same for a “chosen one.”

Adora, Kara, and Rapunzel all feel a tremendous amount of responsibility as the “saviors” of their respective worlds. This manifests itself in a need to constantly “fix” everyone else’s problems. Adora frequently describes her need to fix whatever goes wrong in the Rebellion. Kara feels it’s her job to fix things so much that she contacted her former boss’s estranged son behind her back to try to reconnect them. Rapunzel frequently becomes involved in the personal lives of her friends for the sake of fixing their problems.

To an extent, this is a good quality. All three of our blond saviors have good hearts and don’t want to see anyone else suffer, partially because all of them have suffered their own childhood traumas from being raised as a child soldier to witnessing one’s entire planet and species destroyed to being held prisoner for 18 years.

However, as the title of this section suggests, all three of these characters tend to take a bulldozer approach to their involvement with their loved ones’ lives. This creates tension in many of their relationships, not just those discussed in these posts. Adora’s attempts to help her friend Glimmer after Glimmer becomes queen come off as controlling and as though Adora doesn’t respect Glimmer’s position of authority. Kara, in addition to the incident with her boss’s son, had also tried to control the life of another alien (and eventual boyfriend), Mon El as well as did things like break into her sister’s apartment when she was sad. Rapunzel promises to fix everyone’s problems, which leads to friends feeling betrayed when she can’t follow through. She also frequently intrudes in Cassandra’s life and plans.

One of the most threatening things for people like Catra, Lena, or Cassandra is to feel as though they do not have control over their lives. When you already have trust issues, feeling like someone else is trying to control you can feel like you’re being trapped. Control is particularly important to Lena. In many ways, she has the same feelings of responsibility as Kara. Like Kara, Lena, having been raised by one of the most powerful and influential families on the planet, feels a sense of responsibility to be a world leader. She feels that even more keenly in light of the villainous actions of her mother and brother--that she has to restore honor to the family name. As discussed in the previous post, this feeling in Lena manifests itself in her actions towards her friends through buying them things or trying to solve problems for them such as buying Kara’s and James’s place of work, Catco, to save it from being purchased by a scumbag.

This need to take back control of her life and legacy, to me, is why Lena reacts so drastically to discovering that Kara is Supergirl. Being mad at Kara for keeping secrets is, frankly, hypocritical on several counts. Not only does Lena keep many, many secrets from Kara throughout the show, but she is also fine with the fact that Alex, Kara’s sister, never told Lena explicitly that she was an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO). Of course, the reason why Lena wasn’t mad at Alex is because Lena had already known who Alex was, thus giving her power and control in that relationship. Finding out that her friend had successfully hidden her identity for years and had been influencing events without Lena’s knowledge took away the control Lena felt she had over that relationship.

Cassandra also feels a keen lack of control over her life and her relationship with Rapunzel due to the fact that Rapunzel is both her monarch and direct employer. Cassandra serves Rapunzel and that is the first avenue through which they formed a relationship. Early in their relationship, Cassandra resented Rapunzel’s attempts to become friends and said the chance of a Lady in Waiting and a princess becoming friends was a million to one. Rapunzel, by nature of being “irrepressible” (as her friends call her), manages to worm her way into Cassandra’s heart to the point that Cassandra almost forgets that she and Rapunzel are not equals.

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What I find interesting about both Cassandra and Lena is that they both, in some ways, considered themselves the protectors of their naive blond friends. While it’s true that Cassandra always knew her station was below Rapunzel, part of her job early on was teaching Rapunzel how to be a member of the court--what to do, when to curtsy, who was who, etc. In fact, Rapunzel had so little exposure to the outside world, Cass was partly responsibly for teaching her how to interact socially in general. There’s also the added factor that Cassandra is 4 years older than Rapunzel, which can seem like a lot at their ages. Lena, as previously discussed, saw herself as a major figure in shaping the future of the world. She went out of her way to help Kara by buying Catco and tried to protect Kara if they were ever in physical danger together.

Both of these characters suffered from an abrupt challenge to the relationship roles they previously thought they had. Cassandra in this scene and Lena when Lex tells her that Kara is Supergirl.

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It’s interesting that, in that scene, Lex emphasizes the idea that Lena has been a fool. (And, fair enough, I’m pretty sure everyone who’s ever watched the show found it hard to believe that Lena never once realized her best friend was Supergirl. I mean...really, glasses?) But this idea, that she had been a fool plays right into Lena’s fear of losing control. It’s the idea that someone else was pulling strings while she was oblivious that taps right into her deepest insecurities.

Catra’s issues with feeling controlled by Adora are mostly revealed in the episode discussed last post called “Promise.” They come up again in the third season finale when Adora tries to convince Catra to come with her and leave a world that is crumbling out of existence and Catra declares that she will never go with Adora, and that she won’t “let you win” and “would rather see the whole world end (which it’s doing BTW) than let that happen.” Catra believes the way to get control back from Adora is to “win” at any cost.

In the end, this idea of “winning” becomes part of all three relationships. It’s no longer about working together or “us against the world” for the not-blondes who have felt crushed under the weight of their friends. Now it’s about achieving their goals in spite of the collateral damage.

And the most frustrating part is that the blondes are largely oblivious to the fact that they make their friends feel this way or that they are overstepping boundaries. They just think they’re doing the right thing because they’re “taking care of” or “fixing” the problem. They’re so concerned with taking care of or protecting their friends, that they don’t realize how patronizing and condescending that can feel.

So, even as these relationship turn so sour, why are so many people not only rooting for the friendship to return, but for our ladies to go the next level beyond?

PART VII: I DON’T CARE (I SHIP IT)

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I sometimes wonder how the greatest point of contention, the biggest source of toxicity, and the most exhausting part of fandom became shipping. I have seen more nastiness among fans and toward creators and actors about shipping than just about anything else.

Shipping has a long history in fandom, though that term is relatively recent. People have been writing fan fiction about Kirk and Spock getting together since the show was on and fan fiction was written and shared at either in-person gatherings or through semi-underground fanzines.

And, trust me, I’ve been in the trenches of a ship war. Back when Avatar: The Last Airbender was airing, I was a hardcore Zutara shipper. And, to be more honest, it made me a jerk. Part of that is just because I was a teenager at the time, and teenagers don’t always realize the potential impacts of their actions due to brain chemistry etc, etc. But still, the intensity with which I argued that my ship either would or should become canon when the creators of the show clearly preferred the other relationship embarrasses me when I look back at it.

These days, fandom shipping has gotten even more complicated and contentious.

Back when those women (and it was mostly women) were typing their Kirk/Spock fan fiction and mailing it to other fans, they knew Kirk and Spock would never actually get together on the show. That was the case for the majority of fandoms until very recently--that there was no expectations of actual canon lgbtq representation. People could claim there was deliberate subtext or coding, but very few, if any people, expected shows to actually have openly lgbtq characters.

Then, it started to actually happen. Not just in a, “the actor said they saw their character as gay” or “the creators said they coded that character as gay” way. Characters actually started being lgbt on screen in ways that weren’t demeaning or stereotypes. Major characters, too.

For me, a big moment that gave rise to the hopes of many that their lgbt ships might actually have a shot at being confirmed as canon was, funnily enough, the sequel show to Avatar: TLA, The Legend of Korra.

The above was the closest the couple got to an on-screen intimate moment, and some fans didn’t believe it was romantic until it was later confirmed by the show creators. Nickelodeon was only willing to go so far, after all. The followup comics, however, are much more explicit with the relationship and the two share multiple kisses and intimate moments.

Many fans argue that Korrasami (as the ship between Korra and Asami is called) was too subtle to be considered real representation. But a wave could certainly be felt throughout the world of animation afterword. Shows became even more bold about confirming lgbt characters or at least became less subtle in their coding.

And suddenly, the idea that a main character’s finale pairing might be anything other than straight became a real possibility and, in some cases, an expectation.

In addition to the growing visibility of lgbt relationships in media, another change was slowly taking place within fandom.

For much of modern fandom, the most popular ships have been male/male (mlm). Back when I was getting into fan fiction (because I love reminding people that I’m old), this was called “slash.” Slash was exclusively a term for mlm relationships. Same-sex relationships between women (wlw) were labeled “fem-slash,” and were much more rare.

Multiple people have discussed theories for why mlm was, and continues to be in many cases, the most popular type of ship. Some believe it has to do with the prevalence of straight women in fandom who might fetishize mlm relationships. While I have no doubt that’s partly true, I believe the other common argument has a great deal of merit: there were more mlm ships because male characters were more interesting and more prevalent.

Star Trek: The Original Series had only two main female characters and neither of them was given close to the emotional depth as Spock or Kirk. Lord of the Rings, which was one of the most popular pieces of media on which to write fanfic when I was younger, has so few women the movies had to add in a boat load of new scenes for Arwen.

Recently, though, not only have more shows invested in writing dynamic, interesting female characters, but they have included multiple diverse female characters with relationships with each other and not just the men in the shows.

So, not only do more people ship wlw ships, but more people expect to actually see those ships represented in their media. Never before has a wlw ship becoming “endgame” seemed more possible.

In many ways this is fantastic. More representation being not only more possible but more expected is absolutely necessary for our media to progress and grow. This has, however, lead to some growing tensions in communities where shipping has, in some ways, become its own form of activism, which means that there is not only people’s personal feelings and preferences for ships on the line, but people who feel that fighting for their ship to become canon is a proxy battle for their own acceptance.

All three of these wlw ships mean a lot to the people who ship them, and all three have been met with the desire, and occasionally demand, of canon validation as well as a heady mess of coding, accusations of queer baiting, and the lingering question of which, if any, relationships might get the same, and hopefully more explicit, validation that Korrasami had.

Let’s start this deep dive into these relationships as ships with the one that has, in canon, already been resolved.

Yep, that’s definitely a Disney twirl going on there.

One of the first points often made when the validity of a mlm or wlw ship is questioned is that, if you say an m/f couple do the same thing, no one would question that it was romantic. This makes it interesting, and sets off the shipping alarm for anyone who’s a fan of wlw ships when Tangled: The Series goes out of its way to not only give Cass and Rapunzel (ship name: Cassunzel) romantic moments like the above “Disney twirl,” but also directly parallels relationship moments that occurred between Rapunzel and her canon boyfriend/future husband Eugene (AKA Flynn Rider).

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Look familiar? It’s almost a shot-for-shot remake of Rapunzel and Eugene meeting for the first time. In this episode, Cassandra accidentally wipes Rapunzel’s memory to the point where Rapunzel thinks she’s still in the tower. It plays out, in part, as “What if Cassandra had found her instead of Eugene?”--something every shipper had doubtless already asked themselves at least once.

Another major moment of paralleling between the two relationships is the endings of both the movie and the series.

Eugene dies in the end of Tangled only to be resurrected by Rapunzel’s love. Cassandra dies in the series finale of Tangled: The Series, only to be resurrected by Rapunzel’s love. And it is love, that much is very clear.

The only debate really, is whether it’s romantic or platonic love.

Cassandra and Rapunzel never get official validation in the show or by the executive producers. The most confirmation fans get outside of the text of the show are comments made by some people who work on the show saying that they deliberately coded Cassandra as gay as they could whenever they could.

Yet, for the most part, the creators of this show are largely given a pass by Cassunzel shippers for not making their ship canon. Most understand that, as a Disney property, many hands are tied, particularly given that, due the previous establishment both form the end of Tangled and from the short Tangled Ever After that Rapunzel and Eugene do get married. The reaction seems to largely be that Disney and the show got about as close to confirming it as they could without doing so.

So let’s transition from the show that met, and in some ways, passed expectations to one that has set expectations super high: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

She-Ra is perhaps one of the most lgbtqia coded shows out there right now. The first season even ends with them saving the day with a rainbow.

Here is show-runner and executive producer Noelle Stevenson on queerness in her life and She-Ra:

youtube

Yet, despite these deliberate attempts to show representation and to challenge heteronormative ideas, the show has yet to show any of its primary characters or even second tier characters in queer romantic relationships. We have seen a few parents, one pair on in a photo, and their is one married couple of women, but none of these characters are prominently featured on the show.

She-Ra has set expectations incredibly high and has yet to deliver.

Even so, part of what sets She-Ra apart from the other two shows discussed here is that there are multiple queer shipping opportunities. Catra and Adora (ship name Catradora) are one of, if not the, most popular ships, but both Catra and Adora have other female characters with which they could be just as easily shipped.

On the one hand, the pressure is pretty high to establish at least one major queer ship before the end of the show. On the other hand, the pressure is much less that the ship specifically be Catradora.

The near-certainty that there will be one or more wlw ships confirmed before the end of She-Ra means, to me, that Catradora has the greatest chance to become canon.

So, there’s Cassunzel that never really had much of a chance for canon confirmation and Catradora, which has a better chance of becoming canon, but also has less pressure to become THE ship. Where does that leave Lena and Kara?

Anyone who has been in the Supergirl fandom knows that it can feel like a battleground. While all fandoms tend to have their issues, Supergirl’s can be so contentions that it, frankly, makes watching the show less fun. This doesn’t all fall on one groups shoulders, I’ve seen nastiness from many sides over different issues. However, the biggest point of contention tends to center around the potential ship of Lena and Kara (Supercorp).

Supercorp, as a ship, is completely valid. Kara has way more chemistry with Lena than she has had with any of her male love interests, and two of those guys were played by people whom actress Melissa Benoist was actually in relationships with (though the first was an abusive dirtbag, so lack of chemistry probably makes sense there). Lena once thanked Kara by filling her entire office with flowers. There are cuddles, and Kara’s unwavering (until recently) faith in Lena’s goodness. It’s hard not to ship them.

The issue in the fandom, is not so much that people ship Supercorp (though there are increasingly more people who have issues with the ship itself, which is something I’ll address about all three of these ships in the next post) but the vehemence with which some who ship Supercorp approach whether it will be endgame.

In a way, the frustration is understandable. Supergirl is, in many ways, a show that has made a point of including LGBTQ representation. The second season featured a multiple episode story arc of Supergirl’s adoptive sister Alex Danvers (I will stan her until the end of time) realizing she was a lesbian, coming out, and eventually starting a relationship with another woman. Supergirl also made headlines for featuring the first live-action trans superhero on tv with the introduction of Dreamer in Season 4. The trans actress who plays Dreamer, Nicole Maines, has even had input on how the character is represented including a recent episode that discussed the often ignored violence targeting trans people, particularly trans women of color.

She-Ra and Supergirl have different approaches to representation. She-Ra takes place in a fantasy world and appears to take the approach that nothing about identity or sexuality should be assumed about anyone. There is no heteronormativity in Etheria, yet no major characters are in non-m/f relationships. Supergirl on the other hand, is set in a world more similar to ours which has heteronormativity, homophobia, and transphobia, which leads to the show making episodes and story-arcs specifically about those topics while also somewhat constraining the show. There are arguments to be made about the worth of both approaches and both can serve a purpose for viewers, particularly young viewers, who are searching for characters like them in media.

So, why are the people behind Supergirl so often accused of homophobia?

I mentioned in the Blond Bulldozers section that it is a bit telling that all three shows being discussed here attempt to create diversity while having the whitest, most mainstream character as the lead. There are many who would argue that the true values of the shows are represented by their main characters, and that the rest are window dressing to try to make the show look good as a form of tokenism. The point being that shows won’t really show a commitment to diversity until the main characters are just as diverse as the rest of the cast.

These are all valid arguments.

A less valid argument is the claim that Supercorp is being deliberately baited by the creators of the show. Queer baiting is a term that seems to have a lot of subjectivity tied up with it. The general idea is that it is when creators purposefully use queer coding or other means to inspire queer shipping of characters as a means to draw in the queer community to their show but then never delivering on that potential.

In some ways, all three of these shows could be accused of queer baiting. The direct parallels in between Cassandra/Rapunzel and Eugene/Rapunzel were no accident. The coding and “anything can happen” while very little does on She-Ra is much the same. And Supergirl is trying to center a large part of the show around the relationship between Kara and Lena, a relationship they know many of the fans see as romantic.

Yet, to me, Supergirl, is actually a less guilty party, at least when it comes to Supercorp. One can, again, argue that the canon LGBT ships and characters exist to pander and draw in those audiences, but Supercorp, I believe, genuinely came out of a place of wanting Kara to have a strong female relationship with someone other than her sister, mother, or boss, and I’m sure this falling-out was in the plans fairly early on.

Has the show completely shut down the idea? No, I don’t think they would be foolish enough to do that. But I don’t believe that it rises to the level of baiting. Shows like Sherlock or movies like Pitch Perfect 3 are, to me, much more egregious examples.

Still, as I said, I can understand the frustration of Supercorp shippers, I just feel like the level of anger directed by some not just at the creatives who make the show but at other fans as well is not fully justified. (And yes, I know “not all Supercorps” and I also know other fans have been jerks. Sanvers shippers who are being asses about Kelly are just as bad.) And who knows? I’d never say never to the ship maybe becoming canon eventually after Kara and Lena work out their issues.

That being said, all three of these ships, regardless of canon status, are incredibly popular, and I want to examine more of what that is and the reason some people are wary of these ships and the potential messages they send. This leads me to our topics for our next installment:

MY WIFE IS A BITCH AND I LIKE HER SO MUCH

and

POISON PARADISE

I will try to make the next one shorter. Also, sorry for typos, I did not give this a thorough read-through. I used all my brain power just writing it.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #supercorp #she ra #spop #adora #catra #catradora #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #tts cassandra #cassandra #cassunzel

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ruffiorocks · 5 years

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Lena isn't mad that Kara "didn't tell her a secret" it's what comes with it.

Why do people insist on having a go at Lena with these lines:

"Wanting to hurt her because she didn't tell her she was Supergirl, Lena's evil!"

"Kara doesn't owe her identity to anyone".

Ok, so addressing the first one. There is sooo much more involved in Lena feeling betrayed or mad at Kara than just "she didn't tell me she was Supergirl". By that Logic anyone who knows Kara but doesn't know she's Supergirl has the right to be mad at her.

No, it's what comes WITH not telling Lena in particular that she's Supergirl that's got her mad. (At least in my opinion)

If Kara made friends with anyone else and then told them she was Supergirl it would probably be fine, like it was with Cat or Winn or Nia. Why? Because none of them has a prior history or family fued with Kara's family.

Lena is different, Lena has a history with Superman and was there during the Luthor V Super nonsense with Clark and Lex. Suffice to say no matter the fact that Lex lost his mind, Lena may not have wanted to be friends or overly associated with any super at all.

Lex may have gone mad, but he was loved by Lena and it was a super that drove him mad.

Now Lena was OK when she met Supergirl, and was friendly. But being respectful and friendly and working together to stop bad guys does not mean she wants the super round for a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Kara took away Lena's right to decide if she wanted to share her life and everything (most things) in it with a Super. With the cousin of the man who drove her brother crazy and someone who also has a massive fued with her mother.

Lena is the ONLY one who didn't get to decide if she wanted to be associated with Supergirl outside of professionally.

Next we have Kara's horrible treatment of Lena as Supergirl the moment she ASSUMED and felt threatened by her. There was no polite chat between besties, there was only accusations, Kara giving Lena orders and treating her like the enemy.

So yeah, again, Lena was betrayed by Kara there. You can throw out that Lena betrayed Kara with having Kryptonite, but what you fail to remember is that Lena didn't even know that Kara was Supergirl. You could say maybe she betrayed Supergirl but not Kara Danvers. But Lena didn't get all of the information, Kara did and acted like some how Lena betrayed her trust and friendship when in reality Supergirl and Lena didn't really have a massive friendship. Kara acted like Lena had betrayed Kara Danvers and treated her like she had.

Kara also attacked Lena for daring to make tech without telling her, Lena let most of it go and was remarkably patient until she had had enough of Kara's attitude and rightfully so. But again, she didn't know that it was her best friend doing this to her.

Don't you think if Lena has known Kara was Supergirl all of that could have been avoided?

Kara then took it to far (not that she hadnt already) and decide to use Lena's own boyfriend against her. You can all say that Lena is a bad best friend all you want, but Lena never used Mon El against Kara. Kara knew of Lena's insecurities, how difficult it must have been to start a relationship with Supermans bestie and how hard it was for Lena to form relationships but she didn't care and asked someone Lena was close to to betray her trust, which he did. Bare in mind the last guy Lena was into had to be sacrificed to save Supergirls life, so that makes it even more despicable.

Lena knew that Kara asked James to betray her because he decided telling her was a good idea, even though that just causes her more pain. So Lena is in the knowledge that it was Kara all along, her best friend distrusting her, using her, manipulating people into betraying her.

Kara seemed to realise what she has done and tried to work things out with Lena as Supergirl but Lena wasn't having any of it, she even told Kara that she has friends who didn't betray her or scheme behind her back, and that they know she would never enter into a friendship with someone who had already breached that trust. In that scene you can see Kara KNOWS what she did was wrong, she has tears in her eyes. (Plus that's the scene where Katie thought she had really upset Mel).

Kara then went back to Lena and listened to her tell her about what Supegirl had done and how she could never trust her again. Again, you can see the regret and realisation on Kara's face.

Kara also totally neglected Lena for a really long time when Lex was out, only appearing to her as Supergirl and only going to her as Kara when she needed something.

Kara let Lena believe that her life was in danger more than once, leaving Lena to freak out and think she had died or that she had to protect both of them.

That is a hell of a lot to come screaming back to Lena when she realises this was all the work of her best friend. Not to mention the fact that Lena has saved Supergirls life several times, worked at the DEO, helped Supergirl, helped Kara Danvers etc. She would probably be thinking "and I still can't be trusted?"

She's also probably going to learn that Nia freaking knows and she's only been around for a short time. Lena doesn't know why Nia knows, because lo and behold she's the ONLY one not privy to that info.

She's also friends with all the Superfriends, been accepted into Kara's family, dated Supermans bestie and STILL isn't privy to the secret every one else is in on.

So, it's not something as simple as "Oh she's got her knickers in a twist because Kara didn't tell her she was Supergirl" it's all the SH*T that came with it.

Now for the second part:

You're right, Kara doesn't owe her secret identity to anyone. But the line becomes blurred when she is literally telling people she hardly knows, doesn't care when other people know and is making sure that her best friend is the one person in her group that isn't privy to that information when she's around for ALL the same situations as the rest of the gang who DO know.

Kara even knew that Lillian has known since season 2 but she still didn't bother to tell Lena, if she had come clean when she knew that Lillian could eventually tell her then things may have been different and Lex wouldn't have had the chance to do it for her. The moment Lillian told Kara she knew was the moment that Kara should have known Lena would eventually know to, and she should have dealt with it. "She doesn't owe anyone her secret?" Well when it's got to that point she kind of does because it's going to happen anyway.

Even Kara admitted that her reasons for keeping it from Lena were selfish because she just wanted someone to be Kara with. But that should have stopped being an option the moment Lena kept coming to the DEO, or saved her life or when Kara started treating her badly. Lena was allowed to be mad at Supergirl and make the decision not to be friends with her, but Kara took away that choice when she went back to her and tricked her into believing she was a different person, and not the one Lena didn't want to be around.

It's a complicated mess, and of course Lena isn't 100% innocent, but this is a defence of Lena not Kara, Kara has plenty of defences but not many that acknowledge Lena isn't the embodiment of all evil.

If you think this is simply a story of "you didn't tell me you were a superhero" then you haven't been paying attention.

#supergirl #lena Luthor #kara danvers #Supercorp

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wondertrashh · 5 years

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Wrong Royalty (One Shot)

A/N: Hey guys! So the last two days I have spent my nights reading imagines and I really wanted to write some. So here is just one of them. I’m using these imagines to get back in writing because I haven’t had the motivation to write the last few months. So eventually, I’m going to update my multi-chaper fic. I tried to keep the Reader genderless so everyone can read it. Enjoy! And let me know if you would like to see more.

Lena Luthor x Prince!Reader

Word Count: 1,679

Lena was sitting in her apartment rereading the same sentence that she has been reading for the pass 5 minutes.

“Oh my Gods, my love. You have been staring at that same page for almost 10 minutes. Take a break and come here.” You said from the couch. It had been painful watching Lena stare at her paperwork. At first you ignored it thinking that she was just taking her time reading. That was until she started to bounce her leg and Lena only did that when something was bothering her.

“I’m fine, (Y/N).” Lena said without even looking at you.

“You’re bouncing your leg. So, come over here and tell me what’s wrong.” When you mentioned her leg that was when Lena finally looked at you. You can tell that she was obviously stressing about something. So, you smiled and held out your arms hoping that she would take your advice and take a break.

With a sigh, Lena got up and crossed her living room to lay in your arms. She would never say it out loud, but Lena love being in your arms. They made her feel safe and secure and plus you have some killer arms. She doesn’t know how your arms are so buff because you barely workout, but she didn’t care.

“I’m worried about meeting your mother.” Lena whispered.

“Oh, my love. I understand why you would be worried, but my mom already loves you. She always asking about you when I talk to her.” You reassured your girlfriend. You completely understood Lena’s worry considering who her mom is. But, your mom loves everyone as long as they are not a threat to your wellbeing, which Lena isn’t.

“You sure?” Lena looked up with uncertain in her eyes and all you could do is smile. You originally came over to tell Lena who your mom was. However, after seeing how nervous she was about this, you decided that it would be better not to. If she knew that she was dating her role model’s kid, she would have a panic attack.

“I’m positive.” You kissed her.

xxx

Lena was positively annoyed. Her last meeting with the board did not go well and gave her a migraine. Now she just received a text from you informing her that you can’t make it to lunch because of work. She knows that your job demands a lot sometimes, but it still sucks when it cuts into your lunch dates.

Jess opens her door in the middle of her mental rant with an apologetic look.

“Miss Luthor, I know you do not have any meetings scheduled till 2 but Diana Prince from Prince Enterprise is here and would like to know if you can fit her in?” Jess hurriedly explained.

Diana Prince? As in THE Diana Prince? Lena couldn’t believe this. This has to be a dream.

“Miss Luthor?” Lena realizes that she hasn’t gave Jess an answer yet.

“Uh, yeah you can see Ms. Prince in.” Lena said while tiding up her already clean desk and standing up.

“Lena Luthor, thank you for seeing me last minute.” Diana Prince says with a huge smile when she walked in.

“It’s really no problem. It’s a pleasure meeting you.” Lena replied while shaking Diana’s hand. Wow she has really nice arms. How does she have time to run a company and get such buff arms.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too. I really hope I’m not taking time away from your lunch.” Diana said while sitting down. She really does look apologetic for coming in unannounced. It made you smile even wider knowing that she is as nice as everyone says she is.

“No, it’s quite fine. Usually I would have lunch with my partner, but they couldn’t leave the work. So, what brings you to my office today?” Lena asked. Prince Enterprise is in France, so she has no clue why Diana was in National City.

“I just couldn’t wait to meet you and I was hoping I wanted to come talk to you, one-on-one, before dinner tonight.” It took a second for Lena to fully understand what Diana just said, but when she did her face paled. Wait, she was meeting (Y/N)’s mother tonight for dinner. Diana can’t be their mother, right? No, can’t be. If Diana Prince was (Y/N)’s mother, they would’ve told her. Plus, (Y/N) and Diana doesn’t even have the same last name. But, if Diana was (Y/N)’s mother, it would explain why they have the same smile, the same friendliest to them, look the same, hell, they even got the same buff arms that Lena loves so much.

“Oh, dear (Y/N) didn’t tell you I was their mother, did they?”

xxx

You and Lena were at your apartment waiting on your mom to arrive. She texted you earlier letting you know that she was going to late because she was in the middle of something for her mission with Supergirl. You don’t really know anything about the superhero side of things. It wasn’t really your style. Yeah, sure, your mom taught you how to be an excellent warrior and you have the same powers as her. That’s what happens when you are a child of a demigoddess. But you prefer to live a normal life without thinking about the hero stuff, so you leave it to your mom, and she is perfectly happy with it.

“Hey darling, guess who I met today.” Lena said out the blue taking your attention away from what you were cooking, and you turned to face her.

“Um, I don’t know, the Queen of Genovia?” You replied sarcastically hoping to make her laugh because this the first time you two talked since she came over.

“Wrong royalty. Try Diana Prince, CEO of Prince Enterprise.” Lena said with a coldness to her that’s only used for business. Oh, my Gods she knows, and she is pissed. Why did your mom go to LCorp? She came out here to help Kara and the DEO with a mission.

“Lena, I can explain.” You said panickily, ready to explain everything but you were interrupted before you could.

“What you going to explain, (Y/N)? How you didn’t trust me enough to tell me who your mother is? Is (Y/L/N) even your last name or you been lying about that too?” Lena started asking questions that you were not prepared to answer so you looked at her speechless. It was until you saw that she started to cry that you spoke.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. My love, I do trust you. I trust you so much. I didn’t tell you that Diana was my mom because I wanted you to see me as a normal person. I been viewed as everything but normal since I was a kid because of my mom and then I met you and you didn’t know who I was and treated me how I always wanted to be treated. I had every intention of telling you the truth the last time I saw you, but you were so nervous about the dinner I didn’t want to make it worse. It was wrong of me to keep her identity hidden. I should have told you in advance instead of letting you find out when she walked through the door and for that I am sorry. Also, yes, (Y/L/N), is my last name.” You explained shamefully. You knew that not telling Lena was not a good idea, but you didn’t think that she would blame herself for your mistake.

“I don’t care who you are or who you are related to. Just like you never cared I was a Luthor. I just don’t think it’s fair that you could hide behind the fact I’m not well informed in French celebrity gossip while you knew everything about my family and me. How you think it felt for me to find out from your mother that you kept this hidden?” Well, you definitely screwed up. You went up to Lena and hugged her.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t have any intentions to hurt you. I shouldn’t have kept anything from you especially since you been so opened with me. I promise I won’t keep anything else from you. I’m truly sorry. Could you forgive me, my love?” You pulled away far enough so you can see Lena’s face. She wasn’t crying anymore but you can tell she is still upset.

“Well that depends, other than you being a part of one of the wealthiest family in the world, are you hiding anything else?” She looked at you with all seriousness and you knew that if you said no then you were dooming this relationship. So, you take a deep breath.

“My mom is also Wonder Woman and I got powers.” You look at her with all seriousness and the room is strangely still and the air feels thick suddenly. Lena just look at you for what seems like forever until finally she laughs.

“I was expecting you to say something so much worse than that. But the fact that you are a child of a superhero explains so much now. I have been trying to figure out how you’re so buff despite the fact you barely workout and you eat enough for a small army. Also, I always found it weird how you say Gods instead of God. I guess Zeus being your grandfather explains that.” Lena continues to laugh, and you just smile at her. This woman never ceases to amaze you.

“So, we’re good?” You ask.

“Oh, I am still mad at you, but I’ll get over it.” She smiles at you and you remind yourself to thank Aphrodite the next time you see her for bringing Lena in your life. Just before you could kiss Lena the doorbell rings.

“Look’s like my mom is here. Are you still nervous about meeting her?” You look at Lena and saw the confident businesswoman that you loved.

“We met already, remember?” She said. You smile and went to go open the door.

#lena luthor #lena luthor imagine #lena x reader #lena luthor x reader #lena luthor fic #Prince!reader #Wrong Royalty #one shot #supergirl imagines #dc imagines #Diana Prince

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mattzerella-sticks · 5 years

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#ShipWars by mattzerella-sticks (ao3)

Zatanna Zatara expected date night with Kara would be uneventful. Chat about their days, enjoy some delicious treats at Sweet Justice, and soak up as much love as she could from her girlfriend like Kara does with the sun. However all these expectations explode into glitter when they run into Oliver Queen and his boyfriend, Carter. The boys chose Sweet Justice as their destination for date night, too.

Can Zatanna and Oliver work through a simple ceasefire, or will their competitive natures overtake their dates?

Zatanna hooked her arm comfortably in the crook of Kara’s elbow, leaning into her as the chill winds of early winter breezed past. She felt a shiver roll through her all while her girlfriend chuckled.

“Y’know,” Kara said, “you’d be less cold if you wore an actual jacket.”

Scoffing, Zatanna cuddled further into Kara’s warmth. “Please,” she said, “it might not be functional but it’s the height of fashion! I should know, I’m great friends with the designer.” Zatanna ran a hand down her jacket, the purple fabric shimmering under the street lamps. “Besides,” she continued, “you love it when I use you as my personal heater.”

“I like it when you’re close to me,” Kara rolled her eyes, “don’t confuse the two.”

“You’re the one who absorbs sunlight like a solar panel, not me.”

Zatanna carried on, then, filling Kara in on her day. They’ve been too busy to meet up until now for their date. Schedules packed despite the tempting laziness a Saturday offered. Kara stuck helping her cousin as his bodyguard. Not to aid him in crises, instead relegated to distracting Hal Jordan long enough for Clark to make his escape.

“Why doesn’t he just tell Hal he’s not interested?” Zatanna asked when Kara finished explaining how Hal tried convincing Kara to put in a good word for him with tickets to Homecoming.

Kara smirked. “Because he loves the attention, even though he won’t admit it. If Hal cooled it a bit with the hero worship I think Clark would take him seriously… if he can survive Star Sapphire, that is.” They laughed, imagining Carol and her violet ring chasing Clark around the city.

Zatanna’s day wasn’t as irritating as Kara’s, thankfully. Except with her dad not trapped in meetings or rehearsal meant double the stress. John Zatara used his free day to push Zatanna past her magical limits that nearly broke her wand in the process. “If I didn’t notice the clock I wouldn’t have had time to get ready for tonight,” she sighed, “I’d be with him practicing palindromes until morning!”

“Palindromes?”

“Sentences that mean the same thing forwards and backwards,” Zatanna said, “he thinks that the better I am with them the quicker I can think on my feet in case something unexpected happens in an act. Or… in our case, fighting evil. Thankfully he understands how important my social life is…” She grinned, pecking Kara’s cheek. “He says hi, by the way, and expects me home by ten.”

Kara pulled Zatanna closer. “Well, there goes my plans to take you to the Lazarus Pit for a special midnight concert.”

“I know for a fact they’re closed tonight for renovations after someone moshed too hard in their pits.” Sheepishly rubbing her neck, Kara fought against the blush climbing across her face. Zatanna pressed another kiss to Kara’s cheek, smiling against the skin there.

“Not my fault the Black Canaries are awesome ,” she said, glancing down at Zatanna with an arched brow, “Why were you even checking in the first place?”

“Because I’m not taking any chances like last time.”

It was one of their first dates. They were fighting against robots from a recently ungrounded Lena Luthor, and Kara bet she could beat more of them. Winner chose where they went out on Friday. Zatanna wanted to win and finally show Kara how fantastic a spa could be. Except Kara won by snatching the controller from Lena’s hands and pressing the self-destruct button. She was played , and forced to attend a deafening performance from a Scottish screamer. While watching Kara in her element was delightful, Zatanna’s hearing suffered and she missed a handful of cues for her and her father’s act the following day. Now she checked the club’s social pages on date nights to ensure Kara wouldn’t try dragging her to another show.

“Fine,” Kara sighed, “I guess we’ll have to stick with Sweet Justice, then. Is that okay with you?”

“Sounds perfect .” The pink and yellow neon beckoned them closer, Zatanna vibrating with excitement. “Hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies is exactly what I was craving.” She reached out for the handle and wrapped her hand around the cold brass. Before she can pull, however, another hand covered hers.

“Why, Zatanna Zatara ... fancy running into you here, isn’t it?”

Another tremor wracked her body, the cause this time being the boy across from her in the brown leather jacket and ridiculous green ascot. A burning anger erupted in her stomach that spread to her head, flames caught on the grey matter when their eyes met.

She glared, “ Oliver . What are you doing here?”

“For the same reason as everyone else, I suppose,” he said, an imitation of a smile plastered on his face, “to enjoy some delightful treats safe from the frigid weather with my gorgeous boyfriend.” Oliver gestured to the other boy with him, Carter standing behind with a friendly gleam in his hard gaze. His hands were tucked deep in the pockets of his golden jacket and dark hair hidden under a similarly colored hat.

“What a coincidence,” Zatanna mirrored Oliver’s expression, “I had the same idea. Me and my stupendously beautiful girlfriend, Kara , thought that Sweet Justice would be a great place to be alone together .”

“I think the cold might be getting to you, dear,” Oliver huffed, “there were a lot of contradictions in that statement...”

Her smile fell in the same instant his did. They stood with their hands on the handle, neither willing to budge an inch in a sign of defeat.

Kara perked up beside Zatanna. “Hey Carter, how’s it hangin’?”

Carter shrugged, smirking. “Doin’ okay. Shoulder hurts though, think I landed on it wrong during flight training.”

“That sucks. Think you’ll be fine in case of an emergency?”

“Probably feel better in the morning, nothing serious-”

“And what’s not helping his shoulder injury,” Oliver cut in, dragging Carter closer to him, “is standing outside in the cold! He needs the warm comforts of baked goods!”

Zatanna grimaced, squinting at him. “Really? I heard of icing an injury but I don’t think they meant with frosting,” she said through clenched teeth, “Better Carter go home and rest, you two can come by any other night.”

“But it’s so perfect tonight,” Oliver insisted, squeezing her hand tighter, “as long as he doesn’t overexert himself he’ll be fine. Which is why I was going to feed him bites of his favorite cake to aid in his recovery!” He stepped closer, voice rising. Zatanna matched his bluff, making sure there was barely an inch of space between them. Then she racked her brain for a quick spell she could fire off to send Oliver crying home to his mansion.

“Woah, there,” Kara squeezed between them, prying them apart, “let’s cool it you two, I’d rather not get into a fight - which, coming from me, is saying a lot.”

Zatanna turned to face her girlfriend’s soft, pleading stare and found the burn churning within her slowly doused. She deflated for a moment only to straighten and addressed Oliver. “It’s a large space,” she said, “we can share.”

Oliver mulled it over. A tug at his wrist and a stern frown from Carter broke his resolve. “Agreed. We’ll sit at opposite ends if we have to.”

“Good.” She opened the door finally, gesturing to them. “Please, I insist you enter first. Age before beauty, as they say.”

“You’re lucky I’m going to let that slide,” he hissed, following Carter into Sweet Justice. Zatanna attempted to gloat, only for the smug expression to fall when Kara ushered her inside. They didn’t get far, though, Zatanna slamming into Oliver’s back.

“Hey,” she said, “why’d you stop?”

“There seems to be a… problem,” Oliver said, jerking a thumb behind him. Zatanna peeked behind him and understood what he meant.

Sweet Justice overflowed with customers, teens like them hanging out and enjoying the treats the store offered. She jumped from table to table, searching for an empty one. Even the bar had a person on every stool. There was a booth near the back, unfortunately Zatanna found it the only unoccupied part of the shop.

“Or actually,” Oliver continued, smirking, “a problem for you . Since Carter and I were here first - really, thank you for letting us in ahead of you - that booth rightfully belongs to… us .”

Zatanna growled, rounding on Oliver. “Oh no! Technically Kara and I were here first! My hand touched the door handle!”

Oliver tutted and crossed his arms over his chest, reminding Zatanna of every tutor she had growing up on tour with her father. It only served to stoke the fires of her anger more, resurging after the initial snuff. “That argument wouldn’t hold up in court much less here.”

“Oh yeah?” she said, “I’m willing to take this to court if you are!”

“I wouldn’t bother - my family’s lawyers could easily settle this with your family’s lawyers without ever needing a judge to get involved. Only to save your legal team the public embarrassment...”

“As if! Our lawyers were able to litigate against the Luthors when they stiffed us after a birthday party. Compared to the team we faced then, your retainer is like your facial hair - small and pathetic.”

Oliver gasped, petting his chin. “How dare you insult my goatee! It’s not pathetic, it’s stylish .”

Zatanna flipped her hair, smirking. “Please… you clearly don’t know anything about style. Otherwise you’d lose the ascot.”

He shrieked again, one hand moving from his goatee to his beloved ascot. “I will not allow you to ruin our date night,” Oliver said, stomping his foot, “Carter and I are going to order our desserts, and then we are going to sit in that booth. You and your girlfriend can do whatever you want as long as it’s not within this establishment.”

“Is that so?” she asked, tapping her foot rhythmically on the linoleum. Zatanna glanced over at the counter, an idea coming to mind. Grinning, she took a step away from Oliver. “Well… not if we get there first!”

She dashed towards the counter while ignoring the undignified huff behind her. Zatanna leapt into an open space and startled an already distracted Barry, cell phone perched between his ear and shoulder. “Two hot cocoas - extra whipped cream, extra cinnamon - and a half-dozen double chocolate chip cookies please!”

Oliver barged in after her, shoulder pressed hard against hers. “Two slices of cake - one red velvet, the other devil’s food - with generous helpings of whipped cream please, and tea with lemon! Please!”

“I ordered first Barry,” Zatanna growled, shoving at Oliver’s face, “serve me!”

“The bond of brotherhood, Barry,” he reminded the other boy, “deliver my order before hers !”

Barry’s eyes spun darting back and forth between them. As their voices grew and their behavior became more raucous, Zatanna felt a sense of shame building in the back of her mind. The whole building seemed to stare at them making fools of each other. She ignored all of this, though, and shoved her boot in Oliver’s stomach. However Zatanna couldn’t do the same for the force tugging her by her jacket cowl.

Kara held her tightly, a bored expression painted across her face. Carter did the same with Oliver, the smaller boy still kicking in his arms.

“Barry!” Oliver carried on, “if you bring us ours first I’ll tip you as handsomely as my boyfriend!”

“No!” Zatanna said, “I’m a better tipper!”

Barry’s face fell, darkening. He slammed his hands on the counter, “ Enough !” She and Oliver lost their voices - too stunned by the irritation laced within their normally cheerful friend. In the silence a tinny voice warbled. Sighing, Barry directed his attention to his phone. “No, Hal, not you. I’m a little busy can we - can we just pause for a sec? ...Okay.” Glancing between the couples he asked, “Why are you two acting like this… this time ?”

Zatanna answered. “Oliver was trying to steal our booth -”

“Your booth?” he gasped, “That booth rightfully belonged to Carter and I !”

“You’re fighting over a booth ?” Barry scoffed, pouting, “It’s a booth . Booths can fit four people… share .”

“Share?” Both Zatanna and Oliver cried, and then glared for the unexpected echo.

“It’s either that or no one gets the booth,” Barry told them, “I’m already busy enough as it is so answer quickly.” Then, to his phone, “Hal… this is the fourth time you’ve called me about Big Blue. You’re as obsessed with him as much as Carol is with you. ...No, I won’t take that back!”

Kara let go of Zatanna, frowning. “I’m not in the mood to find another spot for our date,” she told her, “so are you and Oliver gonna play nice or what?”

Zatanna huffed, crossing her arms. Unfortunately her girlfriend didn’t let up, and the guilt burned like her heat vision. Sighing, Zatanna faced an equally chewed out Oliver. “I guess we can share for tonight…”

“I agree,” he said, puffing his chest forward “a double date it shall be!”

She groaned, dragging her hand down her face. While spending an evening with an insufferable jerk like Oliver wasn’t exactly how she pictured tonight, it was better than if they were thrown from the establishment and Kara flew home in a bad mood. Zatanna could swallow her pride for an hour or two, no matter how large it may be.

“Barry,” Zatanna said, calmer now, “do you remember our orders?” He nodded, serving ice cream to a small child with their parent. “Good, we’ll be at the booth, then.”

They walked over and each couple slid into one of the vinyl booth cushions. Kara spread her legs comfortably, laying one arm against the back of the booth in invitation. Zatanna curled against her happily.

Oliver yawned, drawing her attention away from Kara. He relaxed into Carter, nuzzling against his chest. Peeking one eye open, Oliver raised a brow at Zatanna as a non-verbal raise. She squinted, tamping down the urge to meet his challenge.

While she wanted to give Kara an enjoyable night the habit of overshadowing Oliver bubbled within like a horribly shaken can of soda.

It was awful when they were competing to prove who was the most talented performer and only became worse when they entered into relationships. Now it wasn’t satisfying in confirming their talent but also showing off their significant others so everyone knew who had snagged the best catch.

Thinking back Zatanna would say this contest began in the library during a free period. She and Kara were studying for an exam they would have later on in the day, Zatanna quizzing her girlfriend on different chemicals and their attributes. After spouting off all she knew about Krypton - along with some extra tidbits - Zatanna threw her notebook in the air and kissed her cheek. “You’re going to do so well on this quiz Kara!” she whispered, “and when you get an A I can parade you around school so everyone knows how much of a genius you are!”

If they were anywhere else Zatanna might not have heard the scoff. But due to the reigning quiet in the library it stood out easily. Her smile fell and she whipped around to see who made the offensive sound.

Oliver tipped his chair as far as it could go, resting his feet on the table next to them. Carter sat to his right focused on his book.

“You have something to say, Oliver?” she asked.

“Why yes I do,” Oliver said, “I find it funny is all... that you would try and celebrate your girlfriend for that when everyone already knows how smart my boyfriend is.” Carter glanced up from his book with a blush. “On the Honor Roll, exemplary tutor, President of the Archaeology club and the Oliver Queen fan club-”

“I’d say that last one would count as a mark against his intelligence,” Zatanna smirked, “and his taste .”

He nearly upended from his seat. Righting himself, Oliver glared at Zatanna and she matched his fury.

“My boyfriend is the best!”

“No,” Zatanna huffed, “my girlfriend is! She’s like the sun, so radiant, brings joy wherever she shines, and hot - she makes everything better!”

“Well Carter’s better than the sun! He is like - like - like the moon ! Mysterious, magnificent, and beautiful !”

“Ha! We all know the moon’s just a sad reflection of the sun! ”

Oliver gasped, slamming his hands on the table. “You take that back! Carter is the best person in the entire world!”

“No!” Zatanna argued, voice rising to Oliver’s level, “Kara’s the best person in this galaxy !”

“Carter’s had past lives better than the one Kara lives now!”

“Sorry to trash his past lives, but she only needs to do well in the one !”

A heavy book slammed, disrupting them. The librarian scowled their way, tapping her sharp nails on the cover of the dropped book. Without speaking she pointed towards the door. All four of them shuffled out of the library, Zatanna and Oliver still simmering and their feud far from over.

They went above and beyond in further installments of their competition. Once when Oliver bought Carter a book, Zatanna gifted Kara a guitar and it ended with both of them getting their credit cards revoked for a month after an incredible shopping spree. And another memorable moment was during lunch one afternoon when Zatanna posted a cute picture of her and Kara that accrued over one hundred likes. Only Oliver posted one of him and Carter that garnered more than theirs. Unacceptable . This led to her and Oliver taking different pictures with their partners in a variety of places and, ultimately, being sent to detention for sneaking into the principal’s office because at one in the afternoon the light from the window was perfect.

Every time they fell into one of their stubborn, competitive streaks both she and Oliver rode a short high and suffered in the long run.

But then Barry dropped off their orders. He placed the plates and mugs on their table all the while chatting with Hal. “If you’re only going to cry if I tell you Superman doesn’t think you’re handsome than how can you trust my answer is really genuine? No, no - don’t!” Barry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Frowning, he looked at the group. “If you need anything else just wave, I’ll spot you.” Walking away they heard him mutter, “I was talking to customers… Because it’s my job and I’m at work , Hal!”

Oliver reached for his fork. Instead of spearing a bite from the devil’s food cake in front of him, he took from the red velvet and guided it towards Carter’s mouth. “You sit tight Carter,” he told him, “I’ll take care of this for you.”

Between bites, while Carter’s eyes were closed, Oliver glanced over at her and winked. Zatanna crushed one of the cookies in her hand. Letting the crumbs fall, she grabbed another and held it out to Kara. “Darling, you have to try these cookies. They are fantastic! ”

Kara, cheeks stuffed already with a cookie of her own, tried pushing Zatanna’s offering away. “It’s okay,” she said, crumbs spraying, “I’ve got my own -”

“There!” Zatanna stuffed it into her mouth, grinning at Oliver, “All the hard work you’ve done today, you deserve as many cookies as you can get!” She used her hand to help her chew, then, relishing the sound of it until Kara swallowed.

Oliver nearly bent the fork with his shaking grip. Setting it down, he used his free hand to wave. Barry sped over.

“I think we’ll be needing more desserts,” he said, not breaking eye contact with Zatanna, “can you prepare a sundae?”

“Kara and I could use a couple of milkshakes as well,” Zatanna added, lips curling maliciously from cheek to cheek.

“Three dozen macarons.”

“Cake with fresh strawberries on it.”

“We’ll take the whole of the red velvet off your hands, Barry.”

“I think I saw some brownies, can we get two trays of them?”

“And some rice pudding!” Oliver slammed his fist on the table, “Because my boyfriend deserves it!”

“Kara deserves chocolate-covered cherries!”

Barry gaped at the order, head bobbing between them. “Uh,” he started, “are you sure -”

“Give it to us!” both Zatanna and Oliver yelled, startling the other boy into action. He zipped over to the counter and into the kitchen, gathering what they asked. In the meantime they helped Carter and Kara finish the treats already given to them.

“Don’t you - gnnk - think that - brrsh,” Kara choked out, “we should slow down and savor - nggh - this ?”

Zatanna paused, staring at Kara with a golden fire burning in her purple eyes. “We can savor the fact that you’re about to be treated to a buffet of delectable delicacies by your loving and appreciative girlfriend!”

Kara groaned, “But all I wanted was - gah!” She shoved another cookie in Kara’s mouth and poured the hot chocolate down there to melt it.

Barry dropped more plates off, clearing the table when Zatanna and Oliver finished stuffing the contents into their partners’ mouths. They didn’t wait for Barry’s grip to loosen on the dessert before taking it and force-feeding their respective dates. Oliver dumped a tray of macarons down Carter’s mouth and Zatanna held Kara’s face to the straw of her milkshake and wouldn’t let up until it was gone.

When Barry dropped a single donut on the table, Zatanna and Oliver went for it at the same time. Their hands brushed and instantly recoiled.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Zatanna asked, “That’s Kara’s donut!”

“I think you mean Carter’s ,” he growled, “and if you know what’s good for you you’ll let us have it.”

“Know what’s good?” she scoffed, smirking, “Talking big for a man without his bow . And his weapon .”

Oliver squinted, his teeth bared. “You’d be surprised how resourceful I can be when something as important as my boyfriend’s happiness is on the line.”

“I would say the entire dictionary backwards if it meant Kara would never have to frown again!”

“Uh… guys?”

“ What ?” They turned manically towards their intruder, Barry yelping and hiding behind a chocolate-smeared plate. Shaking, he holds out a small, black leather booklet.

Zatanna arched a brow at him, “What’s this supposed to be?”

“Your-your check …”

“Check?” Oliver asked, “But we haven’t finished ordering!”

“Finished?” Barry gasped, emerging from his ineffective shield. He shifted from fear to irritation with lightning speed, gesturing towards his barren workstation. “You two ordered everything we had left ! There’s no more food to order!”

“There… isn’t?”

Zatanna’s vision zoomed out from the tunnel it was trapped and finally noticed her girlfriend. Kara collapsed against the window, raspberry filling at the corner of her lips. One hand was curled protectively around her protruding stomach while the other hovered by her mouth in case she needed to vomit. Carter didn’t fare any better. He laid face down on the table and moaned every few seconds.

She looked to Oliver, heat steadily creeping up her neck. His face burned with shared embarrassment as they realized the consequences of their actions.

Barry’s cell phone rang, interrupting the awkward tension. He checked it and rolled his eyes. “Come find me when you decide who’s paying,” he said, hitting the answer button, “Hal… if this is about Superman again I swear on every science textbook I own…” Barry dropped the check on the table and walked away.

Neither Zatanna nor Oliver wanted to speak first. However, knowing how bad it would look if their silence stretched any farther, Zatanna decided to go first. “This might have gotten… a little out of hand.”

“For once,” Oliver said, “I agree. Maybe we don’t have to compete over who has the better relationship.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, “Because, if we think about it, I have the best girlfriend -”

“And I have the best boyfriend,” he finished for her, smiling naturally for the first time tonight. Her cheeks ached with the natural stretch of her own grin. “Excellent thinking Zatanna! And to celebrate and cement this declaration, allow me to foot the bill.”

“Oh no, no, no,” Zatanna said, laying her hand over Oliver’s, “ I’ll cover this one.”

Oliver’s expression shrunk and became something more familiar to Zatanna. “But I was the one who started this whole feeding frenzy to begin with.”

Zatanna didn’t budge. “I think this began when I dashed to the counter, if memory serves me right.”

A beat of silence drifted between them like a dusty tumbleweed. “I’m paying for this Zatanna, it’d be barely a blip on my parent’s bills.”

“My father’s bought artwork that cost ten times what this check says.”

Peace shattered as quickly as they forged it, Oliver and Zatanna played tug-o-war with the check. They argued well into the night while their dates groaned from the sidelines, too worn from eating to intervene. Zatanna would apologize to Kara later, learn her lesson tomorrow - tonight she fought Oliver with all her might to slip her credit card into the booklet.

#DC Super Hero Girls #DCSHG #DCSHG19 #DC Superhero Girls #Zatanna Zatara #Supergirl #Kara Zor-El #Supertanna #Oliver Queen #Green Arrow #Carter Hall #Hawkman #Hawk Arrow #DC Comics #DCU #DCTV

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years

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TV Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Spoilers)

Part One: Supergirl

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the episode airs in the U.S. so if you have not yet seen the first part of the crossover or are waiting for the entire crossover to become available then don’t read on until you have.

Overview:

We have SO MUCH to discuss! So much so that my Easter-Egg section which is usually more or less a minor tag-on at the end of these reviews is possibly going to be the same size as a lot of these other sections we are going through because, as promised by Marc Guggenheim, Easter has come early and we were treated to quite a few very tasty Easter-Eggs, one of which had me cheering at the screen.

But with Part One of this 5-episode crossover already giving us so much action, drama and emotion, it’s not only a question on how the Multiverse survives, but how the rest of the crossover does as well.

In the Beginning:

I love a good theory of evolution story, and we have heard in Arrow over the past season that The Monitor has been around for eons so it stands to reason he was around at the start of creation itself.

I just the sentiment of “In the beginning there was one singularity that soon spawned a multiverse”. It’s a lot like Doctor Who’s first rock theory from “The Runaway Bride”. I don’t know enough about the beginning of all life to actually determine what created the universe, I am more inclined to believe evolution than creationism, but I do like this idea of one reality spawning many.

I wasn’t so crazy about the visuals of this, especially considering in the past whenever we have viewed the Multiverse it’s always been within the Speed Force so we’re used to that blue energy rather than this red darker energy but it seems to be in-keeping with the theme of the crossover so I’m going with it.

Also LaMonica Garrett, who deserves some sort of award recognition not only for appearing as a series regular in both Arrow and The Flash this season but also wearing what I’m sure is the heaviest outfit created, but selling it very well, even the cheesy prophet of doom voice he has down rather well.

Multiverse Annihilation:

Alright so this was obviously to be expected that we would see some if not a lot of Earths be destroyed during this crossover, but my god they don’t pull punches in starting by letting you know “Yeah we’re killing off a lot”.

Now the Earths we see erased during the opening of this episode are Earth-9, Earth-66, Earth-89 and Earth-X. Of those four, we have only ever seen Earth-X which was the Nazi-ruled Earth from two crossovers ago.

Now while there was a great and uncredited cameo here from it and we’ll discuss that further down, would anyone really be sad if a reality where the Nazis won and ruled was wiped out? I know there are inhabitants on that world and for the most part they are innocent and good people, but you would think just maybe find a way to evacuate them like they do on Earth-38 later and then if it goes extinct then fine because it’s not exactly a good reality.

Both Earth-66 and Earth-89 also has great Easter-Eggs just in the name and we’ll discuss that also further down but it is interesting that both Earths-66 and 89 only focused on Gotham City whereas this was the Supergirl episode of the crossover.

Rallying the Team:

Okay so Harbinger, who either was Lyla Michaels but is now an emissary of the Anti-Monitor or simply likes using her Task Force X codename, appears to all the major heroes just as we saw her do in last week’s episode of Arrow and summons them all to Earth-38 aka Supergirl’s Earth.

I have to say as well, I know they’re on a TV budget and can’t really afford to have as many characters in one scene as say Avengers: Endgame did, but the fact they cheapened out and only gave us two Legends (Sara and Ray), rather then also showing Nate, Constantine, Mick and Charlie as well does seem a tad unfair especially considering they’ve been absent from screens the longest, some may say for the better considering the way their show is going.

Also, I will probably talk about this more with the Batwoman episode tomorrow, but they need to clarify the timeline of her show. When we first met her in Elseworlds last year she was Batwoman, but the start of her season saw her become Batwoman, and now she’s still hunting for Alice? How long has it been?

Also, as expected, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman and his Lois Lane join the party after Argo City is destroyed and they send of their newborn son in a pod to safety. Argo City’s destruction also sees the death of Kara’s mother Alura played by Erica Durance but because I know who’s coming in tonight’s episode and the possibly jokes they’ll make about it I am okay with that as a Smallville fan.

I do always like it in these crossovers when the heroes either first meet or reunite, this time Oliver’s daughter but from the future Mia Smoak and Batwoman are officially introduced as Batwoman reveals herself as Kate Kane, to Oliver’s bemusement.

I do wish also that there was more time spent on character interaction because that is usually what I enjoy most about these crossovers, we had a little bit of that with Brainy and Ray, but Elseworlds I felt established a great repour for Batwoman and the Trinity yet that wasn’t really seen here.

My biggest complaint in this Supergirl episode though is that both Brainy and J’onn were never seen in their natural forms. I know it’s costly and timely to have them look like Brainiac 5 and the Martian Manhunter, but when they just look like Jesse Rath and David Harewood, no matter how great these guys are it’s a comic book crossover event and I would love to see more comic-booky character looks.

Alright so, Harbinger sits down the newly formed or reformed or updated team because they’ve come together now four times to help save a world or multiple worlds or now reality itself and just need to be called the Justice League and get it over with, but anyway I digress.

She instructs the team that the tower that randomly appears was one of many placed by the Monitor on Earths he thought were at risk...why he didn’t just place them on every god damn Earth if he could see the future is beyond me but that’s what we’re getting.

I did like a couple of interactions before going into action where Oliver seamlessly interacted with Barry, Sara and Mia without making it seem forced.

My favourite was the interaction with daughter Mia when he effectively passes on the mantle of Green Arrow to her despite the fact she’s not ready to lose him. I don’t know whether or not the spin-off series focusing on Mia as New Green Arrow has been confirmed yet but we know she will become Green Arrow in the near future.

So Oliver, Mia, Ray and Kate go off and battle the Shadow Demon army that are swarming the tower trying to destroy it for the Anti-Monitor, while Barry, Kara and Clark are off trying to save the people.

I will admit Ray didn’t annoy me quite as much as he has done in recent seasons of Legends during this episode. I did love his interactions with Kate about her suit getting an upgrade and then her asking him to upgrade her batarangs, when Brandon Routh is good he is good and he is pulling double duty in this crossover so let’s hope he’s very good.

Also at this time Lois, because she needs something to do, has gone to Earth-16 with Brainy and Sara to retrieve baby Jonathan who wound up going through a wormhole and ending up on a parallel world...in the future...2046 to be exact.

This was, I feel, there for two reasons. 1) Another Easter-Egg appearance but this time in-house as it references Legends Season 1, but also 2) To still keep the events of “Star City 2046) canon despite the fact that in that episode Connor Hawke was actually John Diggle Jr. and in present day they are not only two separate people but also adoptive brothers...and also we know Oliver is supposed to die so how is he alive in 2046? Well it’s an alternate reality version who apparently can’t remember meeting Earth-1 Sara before.

Our two other teams rallying really only serve to give the rest of the Supergirl cast something to do as Alex enlists Lena to help either build or activate portals to get the inhabitants of Earth-38 to safety while Dreamer and Kelly help get those inhabitants onto ships including the Legion Cruiser that J’onn is piloting because apparently Brainy was given it by the Legion before they left with Winn despite the fact they left in the Legion Cruiser. It doesn’t really make sense but I enjoy seeing that ship again so I am letting it slide.

Saving the Multiverse, Take 1:

This may be quite cynical for me to say but this is what the remainder of the episode was, the first attempt at saving the multiverse because Earth-38 is where The Monitor wanted the heroes to make their stand against the Anti-Monitor.

The Anti-Monitor does not appear in this episode and his army of Shadow Demons are 1) Poorly rendered compared to the likes of the Time Wraiths and 2) Quite easy to defeat when you consider Darkseid has Parademons and even Thanos with his legion of horribles.

In any case while the Supers are trying to fix the tower to make the sky not red which works margingly well before they exhaust themselves, the other heroes are on the ground battling the Shadow Demons. I would have maybe liked if Ray had to cover the Supers while they were doing what they do because it seemed slightly daft that the Shadow Demons wouldn’t try and stop them but that’s what we got.

It was a very small-scale battle and I know we’re only in part 1 and usually it’s the final episode we get the big battle but this was still small scale considering what is at stake here.

The biggest surprise of the battle was Kelly Olsen, who I haven’t really liked all season as she seems pointless other than just being Alex’s girlfriend who always needs saving, apparently has the Guardian armour left to her by James who retired from vigilantism to take over a newspaper in his old hometown and that’s why he left despite never actually being part of these crossovers, his dopplegangers were.

This was also a very low-powered battle. Think about it, the Supers, Flash and Atom all have CGI powers or tech yet we didn’t really see much of it, aside from the Supers trying to fix the tower. Maybe they’re saving the budget for later episodes but it better pay off.

The Monitor comes in as the prophet of doom to basically tell them that they’ve lost this battle but the war still rages, so transports everyone aside from Oliver to Earth-1 Star City.

Oliver refuses to leave and makes one of the most poignent comments I have ever heard him say when The Monitor says “It’s time” and Oliver asks “Has everyone been evacuated” The Monitor responds with “No” so Oliver responds “Then it’s not yet time”. From the trailer I thought this to mean it was time for his death, but actually this was something The Monitor was trying to prevent as he did not see him dying this way, but he does.

Stephen Amell delivers both this line and scene very well. I have never been the biggest Stephen Amell fan and do feel as if he goes to the corny side a little too much but here, given the interactions he had with Barry, Mia and Sara in the episode, and knowing that Arrow is ending and he is supposed to die, it was minorly emotional which is the most emotion he’s ever got out of me.

Fallen Arrow:

The Monitor returns a battered and bleeding Oliver to the Arrowcave in Star City Earth-1 where the rest of the heroes have returned to. Along with the news that they were somewhat successful at evacuating Earth-38 before it was destroyed, it seems that Oliver does actually die in this episode.

First of all, the fact that Supergirl is disheartened to know they didn’t save everyone is stupid because they only worked to evacuate one city compared to the entire planet. Secondly, we know that the episode of Arrow after this crossover will not include Stephen Amell...but to lose him on part one of the crossover does seem like a red herring.

Also I do not think he would die on any other show but his own and that part isn’t until January 14, so I don’t think this is the last of Oliver we’ve seen.

However, out of nowhere, Pariah appears. Pariah is Harrison “Nash” Wells who is the latest Harrison Wells to appear on The Flash and was the main focus of the Crisis teaser at the end of every Arrowverse show over the last two weeks.

I have to say 1) His suit makes him look like Doctor Doom and 2) I haven’t had the time to be as invested with this Wells as I was with Harry Wells or H.R. Wells or even Sherloque Wells to supposedly feel bad for him that he has become Pariah as his penance for freeing the Anti-Monitor.

He is however another harbinger which sounds stupid to say as there is a character literally called Harbinger but not only is Lyla one but so is the Monitor and now Pariah. I’ll be curious to see where this leaves him after the crossover because, unlike almost every crossover before, this is the one that promises ramifications across the multiverse.

Easter-Eggs:

Alright here we go, as I said in the opening Multiverse Annihilation alone, there were multiple Easter-Eggs that not only connect the Arrowverse to various other DC properties but also just have some very cool cameos.

I do have mixed feelings on what they’re doing, as it does look like they are actually trying to combine every DC TV property and possibly movie into the same multiverse which is crazy but it could possibly work.

Titans:

This is the one I cheered at my screen for in a similar way to when they played the Smallville theme while showing their version of the Kent Farm in Elseworlds last year.

As mentioned before, one of the Earths wiped out by Antimatter is Earth-9. On this Earth we focus on San Francisco and two costumed heroes as Antimatter obliterates everything, Hawk and Jason Todd’s Robin. These characters are portrayed by Alan Ritchson and Curran Walters who are the actors portraying these characters in these suits in Titans over on DC Universe.

It was rumoured some time back that Titans would appear in this crossover but never confirmed, I know because for my job I’ve reported on everything to do with Crisis.

Now clearly there’s nothing to say these are the same characters from Titans, particularly as the end of Titans Season 2 saw Jason Todd leave the Titans and we don’t see Nightwing, Dove, Starfire, Raven or Gar, but considering Black Lightning is joining the Multiverse it stands to reason that Titans can as well.

This does also mean that Titans is now on Earth-9, while Arrow, The Flash, Batwoman and Legends are primarily on Earth-1 and Supergirl is on Earth-38.

Batman ‘66

Speaking of other Earths, we have two others that are wiped out in the opening and both focus on Gotham City, why? Well we have Earth-66 which features an elderly gentleman in red walking his dog and seeing the red skies exclaims “Holy Crimson Skies of Death!”.

This gentleman is portrayed by Robin veteran Burt Ward and the character is confirmed to be Dick Grayson of the Batman 1960s series.

This is wrapped up very nicely and honoured in the fact that the Earth is numbered 66 to pay homage to the fact that 1966 is the year the Batman series begun.

Batman ‘89

Similarly, the other Earth we see obliterated is Earth-89. Here we see another Gotham City with a man reading an edition of the Gotham City Gazette that shows a distorted image of Batman with the headline “Batman Captures Joker”.

The man reading the paper is revealed to be Alexander Knox portrayed by Robert Wuhl, reprising his role from the 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight and Jack Nicholson as The Joker.

It has also been rumoured before that Michael Keaton would reprise his role as Batman in this crossover, while I still choose to debunk these rumours, it’s official that the 1989 Batman is now canon within the Arrowverse. This takes the Arrowverse from simply being the DC TV Universe to an actual Multiverse spanning TV and Film, something the MCU hasn’t properly managed to do yet.

Star City 2046:

So as mentioned before, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s first season had an episode titled “Star City 2046″ where the Legends arrived in a dystopian Star City where Deathstroke’s son Grant Wilson was the new Deathstroke and Connor Hawke was the new Green Arrow and revealed as John Diggle Jr, Diggle’s son which at the time was crazy because Diggle had a daughter Sara before Barry created Flashpoint and replaced Sara with John Diggle Jr...keeping up?

So in the future of this Post-Flashpoint timeline that this universe is now in, we see that Connor Hawke and John Diggle Jr. are two separate people with Connor being the biological son of Ben Turner aka Bronze Tiger and John Diggle Jr now being the leader of the Deathstroke Gang.

This of course caused conflict with that episode of Legends, but because Legends never really follows the rules anyway I think everyone simply let it slide but now we have a loophole way of explaining things.

It turns out that when the Legends travelled to Star City in the year 2046, they also travelled to a parallel Earth, Earth-16. Now this is still in the future so I don’t think they’re saying it’s set, but what they are saying is it still happened and they didn’t overwrite their own lore basically.

We do only see Oliver here, who still has a cybernetic arm from before which Sara remembers and uses to her advantage, but Oliver doesn’t seem to remember that this Sara is not his Sara despite them having a rather candid conversation in that episode.

Also Joseph David-Jones portrayed Connor Hawke of that Earth in “Star City 2046″ so of course it makes sense for him to return as the Connor Hawke of Earth-1 in the future, but why didn’t he appear in this episode if he is already part of the cast of Arrow this season?

The Ray:

Briefest of cameos and unfairly uncredited in my opinion but we see a brief glimpse of Ray Terrill aka The Ray portrayed by Russell Tovey flying through the skies of Earth-X before being obliterated. Tovey first portrayed The Ray in “Crisis on Earth-X” two years ago and was part of the first openly gay male relationship in comic-book history with Wentworth Miller’s Leo Snart.

He then went on to voice the character in his own short-lived animated web series Freedom Fighters, but to see him return in live-action even for a brief uncredited cameo shows how much Tovey respects both the character and this universe and I love him even more for that.

Jonathan Kent:

Alright so I’ve mentioned baby Jonathan a couple of times because we knew Lois was pregnant at the end of Elseworlds last years however now seeing Jonathan Kent Jr. I am excited for what this could mean going forward.

In the comics, Jonathan is the son of Superman and Lois Lane given the full name Jonathan Samuel Kent to honour both his grandfathers and is a Kryptonian-Human hybrid who becomes the new Superboy and teams up with Damian Wayne, the Teen Titans and the Legion of Superheroes.

So when Brainy mentioned him going through a wormhole and time-travelling I thought they may be setting up that he’ll be taken in by the Legion, Mon-El may return with a grown-up version of him later in the season or something, but no he’s safe and Lois has him back.

The one thing I will say about him is I hope the writers don’t relegate Tyler Hoechlin’s already minimal Super-Antics into simply being Super-Dad. The odd dad line is funny but I hope that’s not all he is.

I am going to wait until Part 5 to rank the entire crossover but if they keep the momentum that Part 1 managed to accelerate then this could be the greatest TV accomplishment ever and could even rival Avengers: Endgame in how they literally bring worlds together.

So that’s my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

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team-science-mega-nerds · 5 years

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AgentCorp - Lena has been trying to kiss Alex for the first time for weeks, but Kara keeps interrupting. Lena has to get creative to get that first kiss.

Frustrated would be the understatement of the century. It isn’t just that Lena has been spending a lot of time with Alex over the past few months, but it’s also that in that time, Alex has somehow gone from a bundle of angst - dealing with her breakup - to this confident - lowkey cocky - woman. Truly, all of it would be just fine with Lena because Lena loves seeing her friends grow into their own. She wants Alex to be happy. She wants her to get promoted and continue saving the world. Lena just isn’t sure when all of those strictly platonic feelings had shifted so dramatically to Lena simply wanting Alex.

Perhaps, it’s the haircut. She first saw it at game night. Everyone had screamed and joyously surrounded Alex, poking and prodding at her. Lena had tried to keep a respectable distance but Alex had found her in the crowd and said do you like it? Lena didn’t even know that Alex was aware of her existence, let alone concerned about whether or not Lena liked her new haircut. Lena had responded with an embarrassingly breathy yes and the smirk that Alex gave her seared its way into Lena’s brain. Though the haircut was obviously a factor, that alone couldn’t cause this kind of sheer panic that Lena seemed to feel every time she was in Alex’s presence.

Last week, Alex showed up at the bar to pick up Kara because Kara was wasted. She’d looked good. All leather jacket and tight jeans, even her slight annoyance at being pulled from her comfortable bed at two in the morning, slowly disappeared into a smile as she watched Kara attempt to tip every bartender in sight because I like their little aprons. James stood up like he was going to help Alex take Kara to her motorcycle, but Alex waved him off before - literally - lifting Kara up in a fireman’s carry. Lena had actually exclaimed good Lord like some kind of fair maiden watching her valiant knight battle a dragon and instead of being embarrassed Lena found herself pulled deeper into this maze of emotions when Alex winked at her on the way out.

For a Luthor, Lena is actually rather good at handling her emotions. Unlike her mother and brother, she doesn’t jump right into Big Bad territory every time something goes wrong. Instead, Lena turns to her journal and tries her best to write out what she’s feeling. Unfortunately, writing I want to get railed by Alex Danvers isn’t exactly doing her journal any good and it’s certainly not helping her actually accomplish that goal.

Not that it is a real goal. Because that would be bad. Lena certainly can’t go around thirsting after Alex because something will go wrong. Terribly wrong. And things will get awkward and strained and Lena really might go all Big Bad if she has to live with this undeniable ache for much longer.

Which brings her here. Now. To this bar on this night because she knows that Alex and her DEO crowd usually hang out here on Wednesdays after work. Lena expects to be walking into an oddball mix of military personnel, cops, and hipsters, but she does not expect to see Kara sitting next to Alex and screaming something about this really cute dog she saw today. “Pictures, little Danvers. Show me some pictures!” Lucy says holding up her hands and urging Kara to hurry up. Alex is laughing along with another agent. She has her jacket draped behind her on the chair and all Lena can think about is how nice Alex’s arms look. Alex grabs her beer bottle and takes a pull and now all Lena can think about are Alex’s hands. Fingers mostly. That’s her main focus.

Thankfully, Alex notices Lena before she blacks out from overthinking things, and Alex waves her over with a smile. “Hey! You meeting anyone?” Alex asks, already shoving Agent Vasquez over to another seat, leaving a vacant spot next to Alex. “Join us.” Lena does, completely abandoning whatever half-assed plan she’d come up with and settling into the chair next to Alex. “What brings you to this dive?”

“Long day at work. Just thought I’d grab a drink.” It isn’t all a lie. Lena did have a long day at work but she’d gone completely out of her way to show up here. She suspects that Kara knows this because she cocks her head to the side but Lucy is still badgering Kara about dog pictures so Lena is in the clear. For now.

“What are you having?” Alex waves over one of the waitresses.

“Bourbon,” Lena responds. One of the other agents hoots and Alex gives her a smile. Alex looks slightly mischievous and it’s giving Lena all kinds of thoughts. “What?”

“Nothing. Just happy someone around here has good tastes.” Alex looks pointedly at Lucy who has some fruity drink sitting in front of her. “Two more,” Alex tells the waitress.

“You don’t have to pay for those,” Lena assures Alex.

“My treat.” Alex leans over and says out of the earshot of everyone at the table, “Happy you’re here to class this place up.”

“Is that what I’m doing?” Lena questions.

“Providing great eye candy at least.” Alex, apparently, has no shame. Lena tries not to smile, but really, she feels like a nerd getting attention from the most popular girl in school. Their drinks arrive and Alex makes a big show of leaning back and twirling the stirrer around her drink. Lena has a distinct feeling that she’s being watched and when she looks over Alex is looking back.

There are ten people sitting at the table with them but everyone else seems focused on some TV show drama that Alex and Lena have very little interest in. “I’ve noticed a huge change in you.”

“Have you? How so?” Alex wraps her arm around the back of Lena’s chair. Lena’s wearing a sleeveless dress so she can absolutely feel Alex’s fingers grazing her arm ever so slightly.

“You clearly think you can get anything you want,” Lena asserts.

“Can I?”

“Can you what?” Alex pulls Lena closer to her. Lena feels almost weightless, clearly not knowing just how enticing it is to get manhandled until Alex is the one doing it to her.

“Can I get anything I want?” Lena thinks she might pass out. Truly. She feels lightheaded and warm. And the only thing she can grab for balance is Alex’s thigh, and here they are. Touching more than they ever have. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Alex says suddenly. She stands and heads to the back of the bar, looking over her shoulder at Lena. The offer is clear. Follow me if you want to.

Lena doesn’t have to think about it. Not even for a second. But on her way to meet Alex she starts to get butterflies in her stomach. What if Lena isn’t a good kisser. What if she isn’t good at anything? Lena was a billionaire, all of her partners had probably just complimented her and worshipped her just because of who she is. Alex doesn’t do that kind of thing. She’s proved time and time again that she doesn’t really care about any of that.

Lena considers turning around. Maybe she should. But she catches a glimpse of Alex leaning against the wall down the dark corridor and if Lena could run in heels she would. Alex grabs hold of Lena’s hips and her eyes trail up and down Lena’s body for a long moment. “Shit, you’re gorgeous.” Lena leans forward and just as she’s about to finally do what she’s wanted to do for months-

“Is there a line?” Kara is standing there bouncing from toe to toe, apparently oblivious to the fact that she’s just interrupted a moment.

“Uh…no, go ahead.” Kara rushes into the bathroom, leaving Alex and Lena in some kind of sexually repressed limbo. Alex grins, seeming completely unfazed by the entire situation. She actually seems to be having the time of her life. “You look lovely all flustered like this.” Alex tucks a strand of hair behind Lena’s ear.

“Well, I’m happy you’re having fun.”

“Don’t you worry.” Alex reverses their position so that Lena now has her back pressed against the wall. “I promise to make it up to you.”

“Alex, will you take a Lyft with us back to my apartment? Lucy doesn’t want to go all the way back to her place, and you’re the only one who can control the chaos.” Alex looks like she wants to roll her eyes but instead, she nods. And it’s somehow even more attractive knowing how sweet Alex can be. “Lena you can come with!”

“Sure,” Lena says because she absolutely cannot fathom a reason why she would choose to be anywhere except where Alex is. When they say their goodbyes and make it outside, Lucy and Kara are singing some early 2000s pop song, while Lena and Alex trade glances.

“I wasn’t too forward back there?”

“Absolutely not,” Lena says as their car pulls up. Alex helps Lena into the back of the SUV and Lena doesn’t even care that Alex seems to mostly be focused on checking out Lena’s ass on the way in. While Kara and Lucy are busy chatting with the driver, Alex is trying to get handsy in the backseat.

“Do you want to go back to my place after we drop them off?” Alex asks. “I promise not to disappoint.”

“I can believe it.” Alex’s hand has found its way under Lena’s dress and pressed against her thigh. “Easy tiger.” Alex just smiles again, and toys with Lena the entire way to Kara’s apartment. Lena doesn’t even consider going up to Kara’s apartment. She wants to get to Alex’s place as soon as possible.

“I’ll get my blowup mattress. Lena, you don’t mind sharing with Alex do you?” Kara asks.

“Sure doesn’t seem like she minds,” Lucy quips. They head inside and as Lucy and Kara drunkenly stumble into the elevator, Alex grabs Lena’s arm and holds her back.

“We’ll meet you up there,” Alex yells. Kara protests but Lena can’t even hear her because here they are again, nose to nose. Lena thinks, as she’s gazing into Alex’s eyes, that Alex is very beautiful. If she wasn’t so desperate and - well, horny obviously - she’d definitely take the time to kiss Alex’s nose and jaw and cheeks.

But, Lena dives in. She’s afraid that Kara will somehow find a way to interrupt them again and she’ll have to wait another few months until she gets the courage again. Thank God for walls, because the way that Alex kisses Lena back makes Lena feel unsteady. Thank God for Alex’s strong arms and hands that are pressed against her hip and the back of her thigh, lifting slowly, slowly until-

“Do you guys want a knitted blanket or those soft ones I got at Walmart?” Kara asks from the stairs which she apparently ran down in order to ask this extremely unimportant question.

“Kara, get out!” Alex and Lena say as they continue their makeout session in the middle of the lobby, all tongues and teeth and exploring hands. Lena is going to get thoroughly fucked in public - or at least in the middle of an apartment lobby at two in the morning - and she doesn’t even care.

This is going to make an amazing entry in her journal.

Buy me a coffee?

#agentcorp #alex danvers #lena luthor #supergirl #classic making this much longer than i meant to #also i might put all my one shots up on AO3 #i legit could use a coffee cause i've been up since like 4 am?#send more if ya want more

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spaceman-earthgirl · 6 years

Note

Supercorp 109 fluff

Prompts from this post. Thanks for the prompt!

“Fuck you!”

—-

“Fuck you!” Kara shouts, a hand flying immediately to her mouth as the words pass her lips. She grabs the remote and mutes the TV, she doesn’t need to hear what else the news anchor has to say, and neither doesLena.

“Kara Danvers, did you just swear?”

Her cheeks go red as she glances at Lena beside her. “No.”

Lena laughs. “And at the TV, no less?”

“It’s not my fault!” Kara says, gesturing to the TV, Lena’s face still on the screen. She hits the power button this time instead. “He wasn’t being very nice.”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“Are you okay?” Kara asks. She doesn’t know how Lena deals with it, deals with people saying things like that about her.

“I just heard you swear, I’m great.”

Kara gives her a look.

Lena sighs. “You know what he said isn’t true, and I know it wasn’t true, and that’s enough for me. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me, only you.”

Kara takes her hand, gives it a squeeze. “Well then, I think you’re kind, you’re funny, you’re really smart, you’re gorgeous, you’re-“

Lena laughs. “Okay, I get it.”

Kara lifts her free hand, dusts her fingers over Lena’s cheek. “I also think you’re cute when you blush.”

Lena rolls her eyes, even as her blush deepens. “But thank you,” she says, turning more serious. “I like the fact that you’re willing to stand up for me.”

“Always,” Kara promises. “No one is allowed to hurt my girlfriend. In fact, I think maybe Supergirl should pay him a little visit.”

Lena uses their joined hands to hold Kara in place. The strength behind the hold isn’t enough to keep there, but the action itself is.

“Kara,” Lena laughs. “It’s fine, he’s not the first person to say something about me or my family, and he won’t be the last.”

In the past she would’ve been more upset by this, but now she has someone on her side, who knows the truth, and that makes facing the world seem so much easier.

“Maybe Supergirl should pay a visit to a few people them,” Kara mumbles. She hates how people treat Lena sometimes. Lena is one of the best people she knows, she just wishes others could see that too.

“Maybe Supergirl should kiss her girlfriend instead?” Kara’s attention is on her immediately, just like Lena knew it would be. “Because I heard her swear earlier and frankly, it was kind of hot.”

Lena bites her lip as Kara’s eyes drop.

“Oh yeah?”

“Definitely.”

Lena tilts forward, let’s her lips find Kara’s and Kara immediately sinks into the contact.

Kara doesn’t swear again that night, but she does make Lena swear. A lot.

#supergirl #supercorp #ask #anon #supercorp fanfic #supercorp prompt #writing tag

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lena-in-a-red-dress · 6 years

Text

Season 3 Finale Reaction, Pt 1 - Wrapping Up

One of the challenges finales face is tying up all the bits and pieces of stories that are still incomplete at the end of the season. In the case of Supergirl, I have to give them credit where credit is due: the finale worked really hard to touch base with everything they hadn't brought to a close, and I feel that they largely succeeded.

Whether or not we agree with the way the plots were addressed, they wrapped up everything I felt they really needed to. And there was a lot-- nearly every character still had unfinished business going into the finale. It's actually a shame I wasted my Frankenstein reference on the mock up I did to rework the season, because this episode is actually a fairly well-constructed monster. Sure, it's a hodge-podge of poorly acquired pieces-- but the stitch job is top notch.

From M’yrnn’s sacrifice, to Alex’s decision, to Patricia helping Sam, and Sam being the one to end Reign, even saying goodbye to the Legion... everything came together in a fast-paced finale that maintained enough suspense to keep me on the edge of my seat for the duration. It was good entertainment!

The only place they seemed to miss the mark was our favorite scene stealer: Miss Lena Luthor.

As one half of a major conflict still unresolved, I expected to see much more of her in the finale. In their last big scene together, Lena declared that she and Supergirl are not friends, and that they are only working together in order to save Sam-- and then the next time they come face to face, Kara is asking Lena to manufactured black kryptonite to help Argo.

And ho boy, do I have a lot to say about Kara’s request-- which will be addressed in another post. But for my purposes here, I'm disappointed that a) we never saw any gratitude from Kara to Lena for the favor, and b) the fact absolutely no one acknowledges the fact that Lena is doing the right thing despite the way Kara treated her.

Lena did not have to make more Harun-El for Argo. She could have refused, or at the very least gotten snarky about how of “oh, so it’s fine as long as it benefits you, huh?” But Lena acquiesced without hesitation, and I think that's a character choice that deserved to be explored more closely.

In fact, Lena seemed largely absent from the finale. Her here and there appearances onscreen don’t even pass the sexy lamp test-- she doesn’t influence the outcome of the finale at all. Given who Lena is, how smart she is, and how involved she's become with the DEO this season, it feels both anti-climatic and a disservice to her as a character.

It also gives us no indication of where she and Supergirl stand going into Season 4. I’m sure this is deliberate in a "ooooh, eeeeeevillllll lena" way, but as much as they like to threaten the looming Luthor evil, Lena has yet to anything objectively bad, let alone villainous. As a result, the contrived threat they pose her into just feels cheap and manufactured.

But even with this major gripe, I'm still really impressed with the fact they touched on almost everything else. And considering how many moving (and/or colliding) parts we saw this season, and how much was left unfinished in this final push, it's quite a feat that I enjoyed it as much as I did.

#supergirl #spoilers #rant #3x23 #battles lost and won #kara danvers #lena luthor #season three #wrapping up #the rift deepens #i've got another reaction post centered on lena #but this one is about what's happened #rather than what may yet happen #again #these are kind of all over the place

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jedifighterpilot2727 · 6 years

Note

Prompt: Here be angst: Lena and Lexi react to Kara's fight with Reign and its aftermath

I actually go several prompts similar to this, and all I can say is - y'all asked for it!

Read it on AO3

Reign

“I just don’t see why you can’t take the day off.”

Kara’s voice draws her from the ensuite bathroom, and she enters the bedroom to find her wife flopped back on top of the made bed, still dressed in sweatpants and a soft t-shirt.

“I told you darling, there’s a merger meeting today with Forward Transportation. It wouldn’t look right for the CEO to play hooky.”

“It just feels like there’s always an important meeting lately.” She can hear the pout, and she distracts herself by searching through her jewelry box for earrings.

“Well, that’s what happens when you run the lead technology company in the entire United States.”

“And the major communications company since CatCo bought out the Daily Planet.” Kara grouches but Lena tries to keep it light.

“See, I’m glad you understand. Besides, why are you free today? Don’t you have an online magazine to run, Mrs. Editor-In-Cheif?”

Kara sits up, and the pout on her face is only eclipsed by the crinkle in her forehead.

“No, because I’m trying to delegate more because I thought my wife was supposed to be cutting back. But ever since Lexi went off to college, you’ve been spending more and more time at work.” Kara moves from the bed to stand behind Lena, strong arms wrapping around her waist.

Lena can only hope she doesn’t notice that she’s a bit thinner than usual.

She doesn’t need that lecture again.

“Because L-Corp needs me.”

“I need you.” Kara pouts, her chin nestling in Lena’s shoulder as their eyes meet in the mirror. “I thought that’s what Sam was supposed to be doing, taking over more so you don’t have to.”

“Kara, we’ve discussed this. I have things I need to get done. Precautions that need to be taken so that L-Corp continues to be a force for good long after I’m gone.”

“We could fly to Paris? Kiss under the Eiffel Tower like on her honeymoon?”

As tempting as that sounds, she really does need to go in today. This meeting could make or break the merger.

She runs through a mental checklist for the day, trying to make sure she has everything she needs.

Her pill.

She forgot to take it this morning.

Extracting herself from Kara’s grip, she reaches for the pill bottle stashed away in her night stand. There’s a rush of air, and when she turns around, Kara is there, holding out a glass of water.

“Thank you.” She says softly, but Kara doesn’t respond, instead glaring at the pill in Lena’s hand.

She swallows it, chasing it with the water before heading to the door.

“Is it working?” Kara’s voice stops her.

“I can’t be certain.” She doesn’t turn around. “Alex said it would take a while to know for sure.”

There’s a pause and she moves forward again before a question freezes her in her tracks.

“Are you bored with me?”

“Kara … “ It’s impossible not to let some of the exasperation seep into her voice and she feels immediately guilty. Her phone alarming in her purse cuts off the rest of her response.

“I know, I know, you have a meeting.” another gust of air and Kara is standing in front of her, bending to press warm lips to her cheeks without meeting her eyes. “I’ll bring you lunch.”

She blinks and Kara is gone. After a second she hears the shower cut on in the master bath and she sighs.

Everything inside of her screams at her to call off the meeting and march right into that shower and show Kara just how not bored she is with her.

Her phone alarms again.

Just a few more weeks and they’ll spend so much time together that Kara will be sick of her.

They can talk at lunch.

* - - - - - - -

Kara takes it upon herself to find distraction from the thoughts swirling in her head.

It’s relatively easy, all things considered.

She’s National City’s resident super hero, after all; not to mention the Editor-In-Cheif of CatCo’s online magazine. It’s not like she doesn’t have a list of things requiring her attention. She was just trying to put it all aside in order to be there for Lena. In case her wife needed her. Lena is the strongest person she knows, but it can still be a bit of a shock - all the experiments and treatments …

She punches a little bit harder than necessary and the bank robber in front of her winces.

“Sorry.” She apologizes half heartedly before dropping to criminal off at Maggie’s precinct, not waiting around for a statement or a chat. Her sister-in-law would only have questions, and she doesn’t have answers.

Her office at CatCo is quiet, reporters and photographers too caught up in their tasks to pay their boss much attention. Normally she doesn’t mind - she likes to see her magazine running smoothly and efficiently Snapper would be proud she thinks; but today she’s itching for something … anything. Her mind wanders to the mysterious deaths and marks around the city, and she’s struck with an idea.

“Mrs. Luthor-Danvers?” Haley sounds almost scared and Kara frowns, turning to her assistant.

“I’ve told you a hundred times, it’s Kara.”

“Right, umm, Kara.” Haley coughs awkwardly. “Is there something wrong? You seem … pensive.”

“Nothing’s wrong. Just … “ Well, she can’t exactly explain her problems to her assistant. “I’m going out in the field to do some investigative work. Field my calls, please.”

And then she’s gone, before Haley can ask more questions.

She flies absent minded loops around the city, her favorite way to work through what’s bothering her, all the while keeping one eye out for trouble.

She thinks back through this morning, poring over ever detail.

Lena had seemed a little stressed, but that was understandable, considering the merger that was supposed to take place in just a few days. Her wife looks better than she has in years, but it was impossible not to notice the way her hip bones jutted through her skirt this morning.

Maybe that means it’s working.

Still, Lena needs to eat, and if Kara knows anything about her wife, it’s she won’t break for lunch unless Kara forces her.

Zooming in on the clock at town hall, she realizes it’s even later than she thought, just enough time to fly to Italy for Lena’s favorite lunch and be back right after her last meeting.

By the time she makes it back over the border, her phone is ringing and she groans, hoping it isn’t the DEO or CatCo demanding her attention.

“Hello?” she barks into her comm.

“Hey, Yeyu.” Lexi’s voice immediately clams her, and she can’t help but slow to a leisurely pace so she can hear her daughter without the buffeting of the wind.

“Hello, Little one! How’s are you? How’s school?”

“I’m fine, school is … Dean Richards is still an ass.”

“Lexington!” She tries to hold back her laugh. “Language!”

“Sorry, but he is.”

“I suppose that’s my fault.”

“Nah, he deserved all the stuff you wrote about him. How’s home?”

“Busy.” She hears another voice talking with Lexi. “Is that Taylor?”

“Yes, she’s just picking me up for class.”

“Tell her I said hello!”

Lexi laughs and Kara can hear her turn to Taylor.

“Mom says hello!”

“Hi Lexi’s mom!” Taylor shouts.

“She’s treating you right?”

“Yes, mom.”

“I don’t need to fly out there?”

“No, mom.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Thank you though.”

“You know I love you, right?”

“I know, I love you too.”

“You better go, before you’re late for class.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow? And I’ll be home after finals for Hanukkah?”

“Of course, anytime.”

“Bye, mom.”

“Bye, Little one.”

There’s a click as the call ends, and Kara redirects her thoughts to city, frowning as she picks up on a disturbance a few blocks down.

“Dang it.” She mutters to herself, shifting the takeout bags in her hands.

Making a split second decision, she hugs the bags tight, speeding off towards the DEO. She’s slipped the bags into the refrigerator in Alex’s office before her sister even realizes she’s there.

“That’s for Lena! Do NOT eat it! Bank robbery on Oak St. I’ll be RIGHT BACK! Don’t eat it!” She admonishes one more time before shooting out the skylight.

“Damn it, Kara! This is why Maggie thinks I need blood pressure medicine!” She hears Alex shout after her and she grins, kicking it into high gear as the sound of the bank alarm grows louder.

* - - - - - - - - -

Lena feels the sort of sour weight in her stomach that always comes when she and Kara have a fight.

Well, they weren’t having a fight per say, but there was definitely a disconnect. She hadn’t meant for it to happen, but with Lexi spending most of her time campus and all of her homicidal family members locked securely away - not to mention the fact that her companies basically run themselves at this point …

She feels lost, and purposeless.

Her mind wanders to the pill she took this morning, and the hours that she and Alex spent developing it. There lies a gold mine of ideas and projects, but she can’t work on anything until she knows the prototype works. Just like she can’t focus on space travel until the merger with Forward Transportation goes through.

So that’s what she forces herself to focus on for the first half of the day, putting together charts and graphs for potential growth and meeting with company leaders. It’s a good distraction.

Too good, in fact.

By the time she looks at the clock it’s almost 5pm. A year ago, that would stir a fire in her, a desire to get everything she has pending done before six so she can make it home to her girls. Now it just brings an empty sort of longing.

At the thought of dinner though, her stomach growls and she realizes she didn’t eat lunch.

Kara was supposed bring her lunch.

Kara always brings her lunch.

Or at least texts or calls to make sure she’s eating.

Groaning, she wonders how upset Kara must be to have not even called.

She doesn’t want that, she doesn’t want a fight, she just wants …

Well, she doesn’t know what she wants, but this is certainly not it.

Groaning again, she selects Kara’s contact on her phone and stares at her wife’s smiling face for a moment before she holds it to her ear. It rings for a handful of times before it goes to voicemail.

“You’ve reached Kara Luthor-Danvers, for professional inquiries or to send a press packet, please contact my office at -“

She sighs and ends the call, even when she and Kara are at odds, she always answers her phone. She tries Kara’s office instead, but unfortunately, Kara’s new assistant answers.

“Catco Worldwide Media, this is Haley speaking, how may I assist you?”

“Haley, it’s Lena, is Kara there?”

“She’s … out of the office.”

“Out of the office?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Oh.” that gives Lena pause. “Did she say what for?”

“She said something about investigative reporting? But she was very vague.”

That sounds exactly like Kara before she heads out on Supergirl business. Her heart rate accelerates.

“Right, well, thank you, Haley.”

“Of course, Mrs. Luthor-Danvers. Should I give her a message when she returns?”

“Please, Haley, it’s Lena; and no, it’s fine I’m sure I’ll see her soon.”

She ends the call with a shake of her head.

Kara’s not answering her phone, and she’s given her assistant a shoddy excuse for her disappearance - there’s only one option.

“Alex.” She breathes when her sister-in-law answers. “Have you seen Kara lately?”

“Not since she stashed your lunch in my refrigerator. Which -“ There’s a pause, and she can hear Alex rustling around. “Is still here. That’s weird. She called a few hours ago about a mysterious symbol around National City, but I didn’t think anything of it. When was the last time you saw her?”

Lena can’t hold back a sigh.

“This morning. We didn’t part on good terms, and I was worried she might still be mad at me. I tried to raise her on her cell, but she didn’t answer.”

“That might be my fault, I’ve been trying different jammers and cloaking devices for the new comm system. I’ll try to call her.” There’s a moment of silence before she hears Kara’s voice and breathes a sigh of relief.

“Alex?”

“And Lena. You okay out there, Supergirl? Your tracker has been all over the place.”

“You know the mysterious attacks with the weird symbols?”

“The ones popping up all over National City?”

“I think I found a way to take care of them.”

“What do you mean? You’re not making any -“

Every television station in National City switches to a live news feed from a helicopter. The House of El symbol clearly emblazoned on CatCo’s roof.

“Kara …” Lena knows the Kara can hear her and uses it to her advantage. “What are you doing?”

“I went to stop a bank robbery today and you know what I found?”

“Kara-“

“The bank robbers were dead, Lee, I have to stop this.

“Kara, please just -“

“Something’s coming, I have to go. I love you.”

“I love you too, but please-“

The line clicks, and Alex’s long sigh relays all of Lena’s feelings.

“Where did she go?!”

“Look at the feed.”

Lena’s eyes fix on the screen in the corner of her office, and she watches in horror as a dark figure lands on top of CatCo, followed quickly by a blur of red and blue.

She would sell her soul for audio coverage of that rooftop, but alas, all she has is silence as she watches the two shapes march towards each other.

“Alex?”

“I’m getting a team out there, just - where are you?”

“L-Corp, my office.”

“Just stay where you’re at, ok? Please? I’ll call you when I have something.”

The line clicks again and Lena is left alone with her thoughts and the news feed.

Her heart jumps in her throat as she watches Kara and the mystery villain circle around each other, hoping that Alex’s team will get there soon. It’s not that she doesn’t think Kara can win, it’s just that Kara has a tendency to rush in head first, and this is an unknown threat.

She cradles her head in her hands, watching through her fingers as Kara speaks to the dark figure, wishing she had a glass of red to calm her nerves.

Only then the dark figure is flying at Kara and she gasps, watching in horror as they hurdle through a nearby office building. The helicopter loses visual, and she watches with bated breath as the spotlight tracks over the skyscraper, looking for any sign of the battle occurring within. Finally, a blur shoots out the other side, and Lena can quickly tell that Kara is at least evenly matched.

Usually by this point in the battle, Supergirl at least has the upper hand, but this looks like a tough fight. The news feed follows the action, although Lena drowns out the useless commentary from the anchors, choosing instead to focus on the battle, looking for any sign that Kara is about to come out on top.

Only there is no sign, as Kara continually gets beaten into the concrete. Horror wells inside her as she notices the blood dripping from Supergirl’s lip.

Kara isn’t supposed to bleed.

The news feed loses sight of the battle again, and Lena makes a split second decision, grabbing a small, gun-like object out of her biometric safe and pulling on her coat. The elevator is mercifully fast, and Lena is eternally grateful for the upgrades she made the year before. When she makes it to the ground floor, she rushes out into the city, nearly knocking over James in her haste.

“Sorry!” She stutters, strong hands steadying her.

“Have you seen the news?”

“What is that thing?”

“I have no idea,” He looks as grim as Lena has ever seen him. “Let’s go find out.”

They run for half a block before they see signs of the fight, but then it’s complete and utter carnage- buildings with gaping holes in them, cars overturned and on fire.

“Oh my god.” Lena breathes, and James arm wraps protectively around her shoulders.

“I’m sure she’s okay.”

A sonic boom fills the air as the sound barrier is broken by Kara’s body slamming into one the vehicles on fire.

Lena’s breath catches and James stiffens beside her.

She watches on in horror as Kara pushes herself to her elbows scanning the crowd with unfocused eyes. They pause at Lena before continuing on, only to jerk back a second later.

Lena feels her legs give out as they lock eyes. She’s never seen those bright blue eyes so filled with terror.

James must catch her, because she never hits the ground, and she can vaguely feel him holding her up through the fogged over part of her brain that should be focused on staying upright, staying alive. But instead it’s focused on Kara. She wants to scream, wants to shout something, anything-

I love you.

I’m sorry.

- but she can’t, can’t make her muscles work.

Then her line of sight is broken by a well meaning NCPD officer trying to hold back the crowd and the spell is broken.

Once again, she can feel the rain- cold against her skin and hear the sirens echoing down the streets.

There’s a moment’s pause before the masked villain is back. Kara looks almost like she’s drunk, stumbling to her feet to face her adversary as the crowd around her watches on in horror. Kara meets the figure blow for blow, so well that Lena is sure only a handful of people can see how injured she really is.

But she knows.

She knows all too well, and her whole body trembles, wishing she could do something, anything to help. Her thoughts go to the device in her pocket, but then Kara is flipping into the air before being tossed even farther by laser vision and a lead weight sinks into Lena’s stomach as she realizes that the opponent might be Kryptonian, the one species immune to her invention.

Cursing herself, she watches as Kara is tossed onto a rooftop, out of sight as the rain begins to fall in earnest.

* - - - - - - - -

“So, did you really think the movie was that bad?” Taylor laughs, tugging Lexi into the university center.

“I didn’t think it was bad, but it didn’t portray Wonder Woman as nearly as badass as she is, and it didn’t even have Supergirl in it at all! What’s the purpose of a super hero movie without Supergirl?!” Lexi is practically pouting at this point, and Taylor laughs again.

“Your obsession with Supergirl is cute.”

“What? She’s literally the most awesome superhero of all time! I bet money she could kick Superman’s ass!”

“Oh, I believe you, I just think it’s cute!”

They round the corner into the late night cafeteria and Lexi stops so fast that Taylor almost runs into her - eyes glued on the television screen mounted about the tables in the dining room.

“Once again, if you’re just tuning in, Supergirl is locked in a fight, high above National City, government officials seemingly unable or unwilling to aid assistance. Multiple deaths have been associated with the masked crusader, and National City has been waiting for their resident hero to take action. We have live footage of the fight, and this broadcast is not recommended for young viewers. If you’re in National City, we recommend that you stay indoors, as mayhem reigns outside.”

The camera switches to what must be a helicopter view because spotlights are swirling around two figures, trying to keep up with the action.

Lexi’s grip on her hand tightens almost uncomfortably as the hero and her nemesis come into view, the masked villain stalking towards a prone Supergirl.

There’s a dramatic pause as Supergirl rises to her knees and then time seems to slow as the girl of steel is raised up by the collar to dangle over National City.

And then she’s falling and Lexi is frozen, practically vibrating with nervous energy.

“No.”

It’s so quiet that Taylor almost doesn’t hear her, watching in horror as Supergirl hits the ground.

“No, no, no.”

She looks to Lexi, whose hand still clutching Taylor’s as she stares unblinking at the screen.

“Get up. Get up, you gotta get up.”

When Taylor looks back up to the newscast, the scene is unmoving, locked on the image of the hero - surrounded by rubble- and she can’t help but think that it looks like some sort of macabre painting hanging in a museum. .

The Death of Supergirl.

* - - - - -

The entire world stops as Lena watches Kara fall from the sky.

As soon as Supergirl hits the ground, she lurches forward, only to be stopped by James’ arms around her waist.

The rational part of her brain knows that he’s probably made some harebrained promise to Kara to keep her safe in instances just like this; but right now she doesn’t care. Right now, all she cares about is getting to Kara, and she struggles against him until she breaks free,

“Lena! Lena, wait!” James calls after her, but she pays him no mind, almost losing her balance as she navigates the rubble.

Despite her struggle, she’s the first one to Kara’s side, and she drops to her knees, hands coming up to frame Kara’s face.

“Kara, please. Please come back to me.”

Blue eyes flutter, and Lena can feel the tears tracing down her cheeks.

“Please don’t leave me.”

She can see the lights flashing around she can hear the clamor of the emergency crews as they work the scene; but she pays them now mind, all of her attention focused on Kara.

“Lena, let them work.” Alex’s voice is at her shoulder, and she’s passed off to James once again as Alex takes control of the medical team.

She holds her breath as Alex kneels over Kara’s body, one hand on the Superhero’s wrist and the other on her chest, head bent as if to listen for Kara’s whisper.

“She’s alive.” Alex finally declares, rocking back on her heels. “Pulse is weak, but there, Jackson, get on the ambu bag! She’s barely breathing!“

The team snaps into action like a well oiled machine, although they aren’t used to dealing with a super hero so badly injured.

“C-collar!” Alex shouts, and the item is placed in her hand within seconds and then snapped around Kara’s neck.

“We’re going to roll onto the stretcher, Cardon, get the legs. 3 … 2 … 1!”

There’s a blur of movement and Kara is being strapped to the stretcher, and the team of agents is rolling her to a waiting black van. When Lena blinks, she realizes the blur comes from looking through sheen of tears, and she allows herself to be lead to the van and lifted in after Kara.

“I’ll meet you at the DEO later,” James promises Alex. “But first I’m going to help the police with stabilization.”

“James!” Alex calls after him and he turns.

“Desert base.” She says quietly, and Lena fills a chill settle in her bones at the gravity of the situation, even as James nods grimly and rushes off to his motorcycle.

They’re going into hiding.

Whatever terror just defeated Kara is still on the loose, and they have no way of fighting it. No way of even knowing what it is.

It takes every bit of resolve she has not to break down into sobs as she looks at Kara’s bruised and battered body in front of her.

She has to find a way to fix this.

Failure isn’t even an option.

* - - - - - - -

What looks to be a civilian rushes the across the rubble, and any other time Taylor would be impressed at the woman’s skill at running in 6 inch stilettos, but considering the situation, it’s barely a passing thought. The woman drops to her knees over Supergirl’s still form, and she wonders briefly if the super hero has friends, family, people who care about her on a more personal level than just the usual hero worship. If this woman is one of those people. She can’t imagine how hard it must be for them - to watch a practically indestructible being fall from the sky.

She looks back to Lexi, her girlfriend shaking like a leaf as the government agents swarm the scene.

“Hey, are you okay?” She reaches a hand to Lexi’s shoulder, and the other girl trembles under her touch.

“She’s not getting up.”

Taylor doesn’t know what to say to that, because this feels like more than just ‘my favorite super hero had a bad fight’, but she can’t quite connect the dots. Instead, she pulls Lexi into a tight hug, as tight as she can without hurting her, rubbing soothing circles along her back.

“She’s not getting up.” Lexi repeats, and Taylor still doesn’t know what to say, so she squeezes tighter, absorbing the energy from Lexi’s shaking body into her own. She can feel Lexi struggling for breath, can hear the panicked tempo of her inhaling and exhaling as the scene continues to unfold. Finally, the video feed must switch back to the newsroom, because Lexi collapses against her, hands clenching at her back and sobs clawing at her throat.

“Hey, hey, I’m right here, I’m right here.” She repeats the words in a soothing mantra, clutching Lexi against her with everything she has, sorry for once that her girlfriend is made of tightly wound muscle.

Minutes pass before Lexi’s breathing returns to normal and her hands loosen their hold.

“I have to … to” Lexi fumbles in her pocket before bringing out her phone. “I have to call…”

Taylor is impressed that she’s able to dial the number with the way her hands are shaking, but somehow she manages.

“Mom, is she -“

She can’t hear the other end of the conversation, and it’s not that she’s being nosy, but, dang.

“No, no, no.”

…

“Who was that?”

…

“They don’t know?”

…

“Does Aunt Alex-“

…

“No, no, I’m on my way, I’m leaving now. I love you, okay?”

Lexi hangs up, and Taylor pretends she wasn’t listening.

“I have to go to National City..”

“I’ll drive you.” She declares, because it feels like the only concrete thing she can do to help, and she so desperately wants to help, especially considering that Lexi looks to be in no condition to drive.

“No, Tay, you don’t have to, I know you have a final tomorrow-“

“It’s literally Art Theory, Professor Reynolds will understand, and if she doesn’t I have a B anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Do you need a bag or are we leaving now?”

* - - - - - - - -

When they get to the DEO, things happen very quickly.

Kara is wheeled to the med bay, leaving Lena dazed an confused, out of place in a building that should feel like a third home after all the time she’s spent there over the years.

Winn must be the next person designated to watch over her, and part of her is offended - that they would think she needs supervision, but the other part is grateful for the warm blanket that he drapes over her shoulders and the hot cup of coffee he presses into her hands.

She’s freezing, she realizes suddenly, and the rational part of her brain isn’t sure if it’s from the cold rain or because she’s going into shock.

“Why don’t you help me double check the perimeter security? It’s a modern version of the trip wire system, but I think it will be effective against this new threat. She seems to have all of the powers Kara has, and I think going old school is our best bet. “

Lena nods, grateful for the distraction, and lets herself be led away to the control room.

She quickly loses herself, in algorithms and code, purposefully avoiding any thoughts of the back room surgical suite, where she knows Alex is fighting tooth and nail to save Kara.

Hours pass.

They don’t register in her brain, but they must pass, because Winn calls out -

“There’s a car approaching, it looks like Lexi’s. “

“Oh, she said she was on her way, I didn’t think she’d get here this fast.”

Winn nods solemnly and lifts the shields, purposefully neglecting to mention that it’s been almost four hours since they made it back to the base.

It doesn’t take long for Lexi to make it past security, and Lena soon sees her daughter running across the cavernous room, followed closely by Taylor. Her heart warms at the sight, because at least Lexi hasn’t been alone these last few hours.

“Where is she?” Lexi asks breathlessly, just before colliding with the top of Lena’s sternum - almost knocking the wind out of her, and narrowly missing her chin; but really, she should be used to it after all these years.

“She’s in surgery with Alex.”

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t know know, ma chroi, we’ll just have to see.”

“I’ve never seen her like that.” Lexi chokes out in a sob and Lena presses a soft kiss to her hair.

“Neither have I, but if anyone can fix it, Alex can.”

Winn’s hand on her shoulder startles her, and she pulls back to see Alex following behind a team of medical staff wheeling Kara on a stretcher towards the sunroom. Her sister-in-law peels off towards them, and Lena steels herself for the bad news- turning Lexi around so that they’re facing the same direction, Lexi’s hand reaching for Taylor’s as Lena pulls her close.

Alex looks tired and broken as she delivers the news.

“She isn’t awake, but she’s breathing on her own; there was a lot of internal bleeding, and her right wrist was fractured in three different places. But I think she’s patched up , at least for now. We’ll watch her over night and see how she does. Hopefully the sun lamps will help expedite the recovery, although I’m honestly not sure how long it will take. It’s just a waiting game at this point. I’ve asked Eliza to come in, hopefully she’ll have some idea, but I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“What was that … thing.” Lexi shudders. “That fought her.”

Alex’s expression turns even more grim, something Lena didn’t know was possible.

“We don’t know; but they seem to have gone radio silent for now. Let’s hope it lasts until we can figure out a way to defeat them. J’onn is on Mars - I’ve reached out to him, but even if he gets the message right away it’ll take him days to get back.”

“Superman?”

Alex shakes her head.

“Apparently Metropolis is having some holiday troubles as well.“

Lena debates her next words carefully, wondering if she should bring it up in front of Lexi or wait until she can get Alex alone. The rational part of her brain wins out, because Lexi knows more about Krypton than anyone on earth - save for Kara, but she isn’t an option. If anyone can figure out a way to stop this … evil, it’s Lexi; and as much as Lena wants to protect her from this whole mess, she knows she only has one choice in the end.

“I think they’re Kryptonian.”

“That’s impossible, Kara and Kal are the last.” Alex argues.

“I know that’s what we thought, but everything lines up - the powers were exactly the same.”

“How would that -“ Alex’s voice drops off as she catches sight of Lexi. “You alright there kiddo? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think Ma’s right.”

“How so?”

“Grandma, she’s talked about this … project - experiment, I guess, that grandpa was working on right before the destruction. It was this advanced genetically modified Kryptonian, The Worldkiller. Well, there were five of them, all different species, but one was Kryptonian. Reign. But she was just a baby when Krypton imploded. I just assumed she died with it.”

“Can you bring it up on the hologram?” Lena tries to keep her voice steady, Kryptonian would have been bad enough, but this, this sounds ten times worse.

“I should be able to access the files.” Lexi nods before leading the group across the base. “Maybe there’s some sort of advice on how to destroy her, I never paid much attention to it before.”

Lena glances toward the medbay where Kara is.

“You all go ahead, I’ll be along in a few minutes.”

Alex gives her a knowing look and nod before herding everyone towards the archive room.

There’s a hand on her shoulder, and she looks to see Winn with a worried frown.

“You okay?”

“No.” She answers honestly. “But if Kara makes it, I will be.”

“Well, I’m going to go with them, the more minds on this thing, the better. But comm me if you need me, okay?”

She raises her hand to grasp the one on her shoulder, taking comfort in the warmth and familiarity.

“Thanks, Winn.”

He nods one more time and gives her shoulder another tight squeeze before he’s gone, jogging after the girls.

Steeling herself, she pulls the blanket tight around herself- partly shocked that it’s still there; before walking solemnly through the bustle of agents, all working to find a way to bring peace back to National City.

Her heels had been discarded hours ago, kicked off somewhere under Winn’s desk, and her bare feet are silent, no clicking heels to bring her comfort.

The med bay is deserted, save for the one agent tasked with watching over Supergirl, and his eyes are locked on vitals monitor - no doubt threatened within an inch of his life by Alex if he doesn’t inform her the moment something changes.

“Hello, Agent Jeffries.”

“Ma’am.” his gaze barely flickers in her direction as he gives her a quick but respectful nod before returning his task, his posture straightening.

“I’ll watch her for a moment, if you don’t mind.”

He looks momentarily like he wants to argue, but if there’s one thing DEO agents are more scared of than Alex, it’s Lena.

“I’ll let you know if anything changes, and I’ll let you know before I leave. Go get a cup of coffee, I’m sure you could use it.”

“Yes ma’am.” he nods again, and then he’s gone, leaving Lena alone with the fallen superhero.

She takes a moment to scan the vitals screen, noting some slight abnormalities, but nothing too worrisome.

What is worrisome is the way Kara looks - small under the solar blanket and . . . wounded. The bruise around her eye is an ugly black and purple, and her other cheek is red and swollen with line of suture strips sealing up the cut there. There are slight traces of blood still lingering around her mouth - it’s obvious they tried to clean her up, but aesthetics were understandably low on their priority list.

Frowning, Lena scavenges in the cabinets for a cloth and wets it in the sink before moving to her wife.

“You know, if you were awake, I’d have to have a talk with you about getting yourself hurt like this, but since you aren’t I’ll spare you the lecture.”

She traces the cloth over Kara’s lips, scrubbing off the last of blood before moving on to the grease at her hairline.

“I’m sorry, about earlier, I just - I don’t know. We should probably have a long talk when you wake up. I never wanted you to think that I was bored or that you’re not enough, or …” She draws in a shuddering breath and perches on the edge of the bedside chair, digging under the blanket for Kara’s hand, the one that isn’t encased in a cast. She pulls it out, fingers tracing over the tan line on her ring finger before lacing together.

“I love you, Kar. I love you so much, and I just-“ A sob wracks her body and tears fall, staining a dark spot on the sheets.

“Lexi’s here,” she sniffles. “And I know your so excited to give her her last Hanukkah present. Plus you have to be better for the holiday dinner, because honestly I don’t know who else is going to eat three giant hams.” she half chuckles, but it falls flat, a fresh wave of tears spilling over.

She isn’t sure how long she sits like that, staring at Kara’s face, mentally tracing over every line and crease. It’s long enough that the cold of the cave floor has seeped into her feet until they feel like blocks of ice, and the tear tracks have dried streaks in her make up.

“Ma’am.” Jeffries’ voice draws her from her reverie and she looks to see him standing in the doorway with a small duffel bag and cup of coffee.

“I thought you might appreciate a change of clothes and a cup of joe.” he offers with a kind smile that she can’t help but return before dropping Kara’s hand and tucking it back under the covers.

She rises from her seat, leaning over Kara to place a gentle kiss on her forehead and smooth the tangles of blonde hair splayed across the pillow.

“I love you.” she whispers in Kryptonian, and some irrational part of her brain watches for Kara’s eyes to flutter or her lip to twitch or … anything, any sign that she’s going to be okay.

But none comes and she turns to the door, gratefully accepting the articles.

“Thank you, Jeffries.”

He inclines his head, gesturing to the bed.

“I’ll keep a good watch on her, I promise.”

“Thank you.” She whispers again, turning down the hall before the tears can fall from her eyes.

* - - - - - - - -

By four AM, Lexi’s stamina is flagging, and she’s scanned over the same data sheet three times - the information contained in the words escaping her tired brain.

“Lex,” Taylors whispers beside her. “Maybe you should get some rest, you’re falling asleep.”

“I’m fine.”

“Lex.”

She forces herself to blink, wincing at how dry her eyes are.

“I feel like I’m so close to a break through.” she protests, but it sounds weak, even to her.

“Come on, what did you tell me about how the brain doesn’t function as well when it’s tired? I’m sure it’ll be easier for you to figure this out once you’ve had some sleep.”

“It’s not a bad idea.“ Alex says, stretching in her seat. “We can all get some shut-eye and reconvene in a few hours.”

Lena yawns.

“I’ll sleep in the med bay, I haven’t checked on Kara in a while.”

Lexi worries her bottom lip.

“I know I need to see her, I just - I don’t know if I can.”

“It’s okay, love, she knows your here.” Lena promises, tugging her close to place a kiss on her hair. “Get some rest.”

“There’s still some training clothes in the big locker, and you know where the cots are in the storage closet.”

“Thanks, Aunt Alex. Are you coming up?”

“Nah, kiddo I think I’ll crash in my office, see if I can’t call Maggie and find out how the NCPD is dealing with the aftermath.”

“Uncle Winn?” She turns to see him passed out in his chair, a line of drool hanging from his lips.

“I’ll get him.” James laughs.

He had come in sometime after midnight, having done all he could do as Guardian for the night. Now, he scoops Winn up in a bridal style, the shorter man startling as he notices he’s six feet in the air.

“Holy geez!”

“I’ve got you, babe. Go back to sleep.”

“Is it daytime? ‘Cause it feels like daytime, but I’m so tired.” his head rolls back on James’ shoulder and the gang chuckles as they split their separate ways.

“This place is huge!” Taylor whisper shouts as they make their way through a series of twists and turns on their way to the locker room. “How do you not get lost?”

“Yeah, I spent a lot of time here as a kid.” Lexi offers, suddenly realizing that they haven’t exactly had the whole ‘Oh yeah, by the way, my mom is a superhero’ talk yet.

But if Taylor thinks it’s odd that a kid spent a lot of time in a secret government base, she doesn’t mention it.

She’s halfway through pulling on a slightly too large, non-descript t-shirt when Taylor brings it up.

“So, were you going to tell me that your mom is Supergirl? Or was I just supposed to figure that out?”

Lexi stays frozen for a few seconds, her arms still over her head, the shirt still not all the way on.

Eventually, she shakes herself, tugging the shirt down and turning to face her girlfriend.

She expects Taylor to look mad, or upset; but instead there’s a half smile on her face as she studies Lexi carefully.

“Right. Well.” She supposes there isn’t really any plausible deniability with this one, and even if there was, she isn’t sure wants to outright lie about it, not to Taylor.

So instead, she sits on the cot, pulling Taylor over to her.

“It’s just something I’ve kept a secret for so long. I mean I’ve known since I was five, and I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone. It’s just … a part of me, ya know? When you get so used to hiding something, it almost doesn’t feel like a secret.”

“You’ve never told anyone? That’s pretty impressive.”

Taking a deep breath, Lexi turns so that they’re half facing on the cot, one hand reaching up to brush the hair back that’s fallen in Taylor’s face.

“Tay?”

“Yeah?”

“My mom is Supergirl. And I call her YeYu, because that’s Kryptonian for mother, and I actually speak Kryptoninan. My aunt and uncle that work for the FBI don’t actually work for the FBI, they work for the Department of Extra-normal Operations AKA, this place.” She gestures to the cavern walls around them. “And one of my grandmas is the face of a hologram that is one of the last surviving pieces of tech from Krypton.”

“Wow… Wow. That… that explains a lot, actually.”

“Yeah?”

Taylor nods, squeezing her hand.

“Thanks for telling me your secret.”

Lexi can’t help but smile, stretching up to place a soft kiss on Taylor’s lips.

“Thanks for talking me into sleep, I think I was about to end up like Uncle Winn down there.”

“Well come on, let’s sleep then.” Taylor readjusts them so they’re laying on the cot, blanket wrapped snuggly around them. “Fresh start tomorrow.”

* - - - - - - - - - - -

The extra bed in the sunroom is comfortable, at least. Lena had seen to that years ago. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help her sleep any, and she’s up every half hour or so to stare at the vitals scrolling across the screen.

By eight, she’s given up and moved back to the chair, scrolling through documents she had downloaded about the worldkiller with one hand and clutching Kara’s with other. Every so often, her thumb will drift toward Kara’s wrist, determined to feel physical proof of the heartbeat tracing on the screen.

Her stomach growls angrily since she hasn’t eaten since breakfast the day before, and in a show of perfect timing, Lexi is walking in with a tray of coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Lena responds automatically, thankfully accepting the coffee and food handed her way.

“Any change?”

“No, nothing of any importance. Her blood pressure leveled off, so that’s good, but not really indicative of her waking up anytime soon. Any early morning revelations?”

“Mmm, Taylor woke up all excited about ancient Sumerian runes? The connection wasn’t entirely clear to me, but she and Winn are in the control room doing some google work.”

“How’s she taking all this?”

Lexi shrugs and reaches for her glasses.

“She just … took it all in stride. Like it’s perfectly normal to find out your girlfriend’s mom is Supergirl.”

“Well, I know it’s early, but she seems like a keeper.”

“Ma!”

Lena can’t resist quirking an eyebrow.

“What? I’m just saying, she gets my stamp of approval.”

“Thanks.” Lexi says dryly. “I really appreciate the input.”

Lena finally breaks the act, chuckling as she presses a kiss to Lexi’s forehead. When she pulls back, Lexi seems lost in thought, staring at Kara’s motionless body.

“You should talk to her.” Lena presses another kiss to her hair before squeezing her shoulder and nudging her towards the bed. “I’ll be in the control room if you need me.”

Lexi nods and gives her hand a squeeze before making her way to Kara.

Lena gives one last look to her daughter and wife, her resolve strengthening.

They have to find a way out of this.

She doesn’t think her heart could take it any other way.

* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lexi watches her fingers trace slowly along Kara’s cast, delaying looking at her face for as long as possible.

She’s used to the med bay, used to the sunlamps and the monitors.

But this, this is on a whole other level.

She’d seen the fight, had replayed it in her mind a thousand times on the drive over. She’d never seen a fight go down like that.

Supergirl hadn’t stood a chance.

When she finally reaches Kara’s face, she can’t hold back a gasp. Pressing a fist to her mouth, she takes in the damage. Her mother is almost unrecognizable, her face swollen and bruised.

She feels tears prick her eyes.

“Hey, YeYu.” She lets herself fall into the chair, playing with the sleeves of her DEO pullover. “I’m sorry I didn’t come visit you yesterday. It’s just hard to process …” Her hand flitters around the room. She wants to say more, but the words don’t come.

For a few long minutes the only sound is the beeping of the monitors.

Slowly, a memory comes to her mind.

Rao’s prayer of blessing for the sick.

Her grandmother had taught it to her, years ago, and she hadn’t much of a chance to use it since, but it feels fitting now.

Her voice shakes as she recites the words before falling into a steady cadence. A sense of peace washes over her as she finishes, and she would almost swear the room feels warmer.

“I love you, YeYu.” She whispers after the last verse in finished. “I’m going to fix this.”

With a final glance at her mother’s resting form, she’s gone.

* - - - - - - - -

Lexi’s missing something, she knows she is, she can feel it tingling at the edge of her subconscious like the prayer. She just needs a jolt, something to break it free.

She has to stop herself from running to the archive room, her mind set on finding the truth she knows is buried in the database.

“Hello, little one.” Alura greets her as she enters, but she takes no time for the ritual Kryptonian greetings.

“I need your help.”

“And I am here to assist you.” The hologram is maddeningly calm, and Lexi can feel her frustration rising.

“I need you to tell me how to fix this!”

“What are you trying to fix?”

Alura’s almost robotic voice has always been a comfort, but now it only grates.

“YeYu is practically dead!” She screams at the hologram. “And there’s a worldkiller on the loose just waiting for an opportunity to finish her off! I need to know how to fix it!”

Sobs wrack her body as she falls to floor in front of her grandmother’s form.

“Kara Zor-El is dead?”

Lexi thinks of her mother laid out in the med bay like she’s waiting on her own funeral.

“She will be if I don’t do something.”

“Initiating protocol 4778.” The hologram flickers off.

“What?! No! Come back! I don’t know any other way! You have to-“

The hologram flickers again and what appears this time knocks Lexi to the floor.

“YeYu?”

“Hello, little one.”

Now, instead of Alura on the dais, it’s Kara - dressed in formal Kryptonian robes of the Noble house of El.

“How?”

“If you’re seeing me, then either I am no longer of this world, or you’ve managed to bypass the overrides.” Kara’s hologram smiles. “My bet is on the latter, but if not then I am so sorry. I did not mean to leave you alone in this world, and I am sorry you have to feel the pain of loss. It is my greatest hope that you are an old woman now, and that I did not leave you too soon. I’m sure that if you are, your mother and I have already given you the conditioning pills and what I am about to tell you will not be a surprise.

“On the chance that my death was untimely, and you are in great peril, I will hurry to explain to you what is about to happen. Your mother and your Aunt Alex developed a serum, one derived from my blood and Kryptonian compounds that in small doses should prolong the life and well-being of its users. In large doses, it is highly possible that the user will develop a Kryptonian like constitution. I warn you that this serum has not been tested, and it is unclear how it will affect you. Your mother doesn’t know that I have stored this here, and I hope she never has to find out. Please, my daughter, use this with caution, and only as a last resort.

I know that we aren’t biologically related, but I don’t ever want you to think for a second that you aren’t my daughter. With or without the serum, you’re a Kryptonian, through and through.

“If you do choose to inject this serum, I can only hope that it will help you achieve the victory you seek. May Rao’s light shine upon you. El Mayarah, Little One.”

A small compartment slides open, revealing a glowing purple syringe and Lexi reaches out with shaking hands to take it.

She stares at it for a long moment.

Kryptonian constitution.

Surely that didn’t mean …

She shakes her head and turns her attention to the dais where Kara’s blue, glowing form is waiting patiently.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“The decision is yours, only you can decide if it’s worth the risk.”

* - - - - - - - - - -

“So explain this to me one more time.” Lena says, leaning her elbows on the desk.

“It was believed that ancient runes could bring about divine authority, in some cultures it was even believed that carving them into object could give them power.” Taylor explains.

“Okay, so what does that have to do with Reign?”

“Ah!” Winn interjects, "That’s when things get interesting! According to the database, Jor-El and company carved Kryptonian runes onto the DNA of worldkillers in hopes that it would lend them more power.”

“And-“ Taylor interrupts, “Since Reign is presumably Kryptonian, she should be equally matched with Supergirl. Only after what we saw last night, that doesn’t appear to be the case.”

“So-“ Winn holds up his hand. “That can only lead us to believe that Reign underwent some sort of genetic modification.”

“Yeah I’m not really well versed in gene modification, but the whole rune thing checks out.” Taylor shrugs.

“Theoretically then, rewriting her DNA could get rid of the genetic mutations and return her to a normal Kryptonian state.” Alex muses.

“L-Corp has an research lab at MIT that’s actually been working on re-writing genetic code. If we could capture this Reign character then I think we might actually have a chance to cure her. Of course that’s banking on the fact that she’s not strictly evil - that the runes are what’s making her corrupt.”

“So the hard part is capturing her.”

Winn looks in horror between them.

“I hate that you two literally just discussed re-writing DNA and the capture is going to be the hard part.”

A rumble shakes the cave.

“What was that?” Alex is instantly on her feet, hand on the gun on her thigh.

“Thunder?” Winn supplies. “Weather app says it’s raining cats and dogs out there.”

“No, we’re too far under ground for thunder.”

The next rumble brings them all to their feet, and Lena is grateful for the tactical wear that Jeffries brought her - the combat boots providing extra traction on the slick floor of the cave.

Rubble crashes to ground, and the agents around them begin to take notice, pointing their weapons towards the ceiling.

“Everybody on your toes!” Alex shouts. “Winn, get me eyes outside, I need to know what’s going on!”

“The cameras haven’t picked up anything unusual, but it’s really coming down out there! I can’t see anything!”

“What about the security system? Why hasn’t it went off?”

Winn groans, tapping frantically on his keyboard.

“The power grid is down in sector 7! For some reason the generator back up didn’t kick on!”

The rumbling continues, bringing with it an avalanche of rocks, and it isn’t long before the dust is so thick that Lena can barely make out the space in front of her.

The one saving grace of the rain is that it stifles the dust, driving it down until the dark figure that’s descended through the gaping hole in the ceiling is visible.

“Where is Supergirl?!”

* - - - - - - - - -

Clutching the syringe, Lexi makes her way towards the control room, dodging the debri as it falls. The commotion had interrupted her talk with Kara’s hologram and sent her seeking the rest of family. She’s been running for what feels like forever, and for the first time she curses the cave’s winding corridors. Gasping for breath, she skids around the corner and takes in the sight in front of her, the dread seeping into her bones, second only to the terror clutching her throat.

Reign is there, floating above a crowd of DEO agents, rain and rubble falling around her.

Taylor, Lena, and Winn are huddled behind on of desk stations, and Alex is standing in front of Reign, her favorite gun trained on the villain.

The fear that Lexi felt at first slowly builds into a white hot rage.

This- this - science experiment will NOT take everything from her, she won’t let it.

With one last look at Kara through the med bay windows, she rolls up her sleeve and uncaps the needle on the syringe before pushing it into her arm.

It burns like a fire along her veins, dancing it’s way to her heart. She feels it, when it hits, and she barely has time to make sure the last of it is in before it sends her to her knees.

She wonders briefly if she’s having a heart attack before red spots singe at the edge of her vision.

It hurts in the white static tingling of a limb that’s been asleep too long.

Her blood feels like lava, pounding in her head. She cradles it in her hands, resisting the urge to cry out.

Her nerve endings are alight with too many sensations and she reaches out for something, anything to ground her. Her hand collides with the wall, and it crumbles the solid stone. Her eyes widen, distracted from the pain by this new revelation. She pushes off the ground, further surprised when her fingers leave dents in the concrete.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure if the serum would work, much less that it would work this fast, so on her wish list of outcomes, this is pretty much at the top.

It takes her a moment to steady herself, but she’s spurred on by the sight in front of her. Her vision is blurry, and with a start she realizes that the problem is her glasses. She tosses them to the side, and starts forward, calling on every bit of poise and swagger she has, as she saunters over the wreckage. She picks up one of the heavier looking rocks, tossing it effortlessly from hand to hand.

“Reign! Or do you prefer Worldkiller?”

Every pair of eyes in the room turns towards her, and she can feel the weight of their stares.

“And who are you?” Reign mocks, her word thrown across the room like arrows.

“The last daughter of Krypton … bitch.”

* - - - - - - - - - - -

Lena watches in confused horror as Lexi hurls the rock at her nemesis, and then the horror turns to shock when it hits Reign in the chest and sends her sprawling. Lena’s elation is short lived however, when Rein rises, brushing herself off and stalking towards Lexi.

She’s even more confused when Lexi flies at the other woman colliding in mid-air before spiraling out of the make shift skylight.

It doesn’t make sense, none of this makes sense.

Lexi can’t fly, or toss boulders.

Unless…

She turns to Alex.

“We have to hurry and come up with something, I don’t know how long the serum is going to last.”

* - - - - - - -

It turns out that being a super hero is a lot harder than it looks.

It’s nice, because she can fly, but’s also kind of hard to steer, and she definitely understands why her Uncle Winn goes on so much about the aerodynamic importance of capes.

Fighting in the air is also supremely different than fighting on land, and if this is going to be a thing then she is really going to need some lessons in sky fighting.

Also super speed is cool and all, but her brain has not caught up to the concept, and every time she punches it’s like it happens in slow motion.

She thinks she’s at least decent at this, landing more blows than she takes. She doesn’t have as much experience as her opponent though, and she doesn’t have to be a battle tactician to know that this probably isn’t going to end well.

But she has to try, has to at least give the others time to figure out a way to stop this thing.

* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Why do you have Kryponite, exactly?” Lena asks as she jogs after Alex into the depths of the DEO. “I thought Kal took it all.”

“He took … Almost all of it.” Alex hedges.

“But …”

Alex cuts a sharp corner and Lena has to skid stop to avoid slamming into her.

“Kara wanted me to keep some.”

“Kara? Why would Kara want you to keep Kryptonite?”

They come to a stop in front of low chest in Alex’s office, and Alex digs out a key from the chain on her neck. Lena’s eyes widen when the chest opens to reveal an array of Kryptonite bullets.

“She wanted me to make sure i had a way to stop her, in case she ever … turned evil.”

“Why wouldn’t she-”

Alex stops her with a hand on her arm.

“She didn’t want you to have to make that decision.”

There’s an unspoken promise in Alex’s brown eyes, but Lena doesn’t dwell on it, and then moment is passed and Alex is pulling down a sniper rifle off the wall.

“Come on, let’s go.”

- - -

If there’s one thing her small stature has taught her, it’s how to dodge, and she uses it to her advantage, ducking and evading like a belt winning prize fighter.

It turns out that laser vision is a lot harder to shoot straight than she thought, and she’s pretty sure that there a few thousand dollars in damage to the DEOs satellite system that wasn’t there before.

She groans. Papa J'onn is going to kill her.

If Reign doesn’t finish the job first.

Her next dodge isn’t quite far enough to the left and the wordkiller’s fist decks her in the chin and sending her spiralling into a backflip.

A part of her brain screams that that should hurt, but her new Kryptonian physiology is resilient enough that her jaw barely stings.

Unfortunately, her distraction is enough that Reign is able to lock on to her location; and by the time Lexi looks up, the dark cloaked figure is bearing down.

“Fuck.”- - - - -

Alex doesn’t trust anyone else to take the shot.

It’s not that she wants the responsibility of hitting only one of two moving targets that are fighting at super speed eighty feet in the air; it’s just …

She doesn’t have a choice.

She’s the best shot on her team, the most experienced with Kryptonite bullets, she’s the acting director of the DEO … Still doesn’t make her feel any better as she pulls the trigger.

- - - - - -

Lexi barely registers the sound of the bullet before it hits.

Reign takes a gasping breath, lines of green rippling in her skin.

The screech that follows has Lexi clamping her hands over her ears as she watches Reign tear at the mask on her face.

When Reing turns to face her, and a familiar face is in the villain’s stead.

“Aunt Sam?!”

“Lexi? I don’t know what’s happening! I -“ her body shudders, and Lexi frowns in concern.

‘Aunt Sam?”

Sam’s eyes glint orange.

* - - - - - - - -

“Ma’am?”

“What is it Jeffries?” Alex barks, never looking away from her scope.

“Supergirl’s vitals are off the charts. I think you should-“

A blue-red blur whizzes past them, almost knocking Jeffries to the ground.

Winn spins around in his desk chair.

“Was that?”

“Kara?” Lena wonders, turning to look at the now empty bed bay.

“Guys, we’ve got an incoming.” Alex gives a low warning, and every pair of eyes in the vicinity snaps to the skies.

* - - - - - - -

The next few events happen in slow motion.

The first of them is the unearthly rage that overtakes Sam, as she rushes towards Lexi, laser vision vaporizing the air between them.

The second is Lexi falling from the sky, dropping with astonishing speed, knocked out cold from the impact.

The third is Supergirl breaking the sound barrier as she tackles Reign to the ground.

* - - - - - - - -

Lena’s heart is in her throat, lungs burning for air as her boot splash in the rain soaked ground.

Alex and her agents have taken off towards the dueling supers, but Lena is running for Lexi, her still form lying face first on of the may puddles littering the ground.

It’s some sort of horrible twist of fate, she thinks; the ups and downs that her life has taken these past few days.

She falls to her knees, tugging at Lexi’s shoulders until she on her side, face ashen and grey, raindrops beading against her cheek.

“Lexi! Lexi!”

Her voice breaks as a sob threatens, but she pushes it down.

“Lexinngton Olivia Luthor-Danvers, don’t you dare die on me!”

* - - - - - - - - - -

Lexi blinks her eyes against the sunlight streaming in through the window. It’s soft in her bed, and the red sun is warm against the sheets.

Red sun.

She blinks again, pushing back the blankets as she sits up. Glancing around the room, she catches sight of the view out the window directly across from her.

It takes her breath away.

She seen holograms, as heard her mother describe it, but nothing could live up to the beauty of Argo city person.

“Good morning, Little one.” a voice greets her in Kryptonian, and she turns see Alura standing in the door way.

“Grandmother?”

“I was afraid you’d sleep the morning away.”

“Where am I?”

“Krypton.” Alura responds like it’s the most natural response in the world.

“But isn’t Krypton …” She trails off, unsure exactly of what to say next.

“Dead?” Alura supplies for her and she nods. “Yes, it is.”

Lexi takes a deep breath before her next words, hesitant to know the answer.

“Am I?”

Her grandmother smiles softly.

“That’s up to you.”

“I wasn’t aware that that’s how this worked.”

“It doesn’t, not always, but occasionally Rao grants us a chance to go back to those we love.”

“There’s a dinner tonight, for you to meet everyone Zor, Astra, Lara, and Jor - they’re all excited to meet you. If you choose to stay that is. Or just say the word and you can go back.”

Lexi takes a long look over the city. She knows without asking that this is her mother’s old room and she spends a moment taking it all in.

As beautiful as it is, she knows what her decision has to be.

She rushes to her grandmother, revels in the warm hug she receives in return.

“I want to go back.”

* - - - - - - - - - -

Lexi coughs; a painful sounding, wracking cough that doubles her over so much that she’s sitting up, rainwater gurgling out.

It’s music to Lena’s ears, and she leans over, offering soothing words of comfort as she brushes through rain soaked hair.

“Did we get her? Did we get Reign?” Lexi croaks out, hoarse voice barely audible over the rainfall.

“We did, although we’re going to have a long talk when all of this over, you’re getting grounded for at least a week.”

“Ma, you haven’t grounded me in like two years.”

“Well, don’t think I won’t start.”

Lexi laughs, before breaking down in a coughing fit

“You scared me.” Lena says abruptly.

“I’m sorry, it was the only way I saw out, I had to do something.”

She’s so earnest that Lena can’t help but smile.

“How are your powers now?”

“Actually, do you think you could help me find my glasses? I think I need them again.”

* - - - - - - - -

Kara arrives shortly after, and much to Lexi’s protest, she insists on the medical agents carrying the youngest Luthor- Danvers inside.

“YeYu, I’m fine, really, they can put me down.”

“Are you sure you’re fine? Because your mom says you almost died; and besides, you aren’t wearing your glasses! Do you remember what happened last time we let you run around without your glasses on?”

“I was ten!”

“Doesn’t matter, you still ran into a wall, and you were very traumatized.”

Luckily, it doesn’t take long for Alex to give both Kara and Lexi the green light - although she’s been given a long list of symptoms to look out for, and strict orders to let Alex know if she experiences any of them.

She wonders how freaked out they would be if they knew what had really happened to her; but she decides to keep that little detail to herself.

It feels mercifully good to shower and change into dry clothes, and even better when Taylor sinks into her arms.

“That was kinda cool when you became all super powered.”

“Yeah?”

“But I dunno, I kinda like this Lexi better.” She pulls back to tweak Lexi’s freshly returned glasses.

“Yeah?”

“Mm, the glasses are hot.”

“I’ll remember that, if I ever do the super hero gig full time, I’ll make sure that glasses are part of the ensemble.”

“I can live with that.”

* - - - - - - - - -

Since both Kara and Lexi have been quarantined to the DEO for overnight observation, they decide to make an affair of it, and at least one dish from every takeout restaurant in National City covers the table in the break room. It feels so nice to finally be able to relax, the past 24 hours wearing on them like wet denim.

It’s not long after they finish eating before Kara pulls Lexi out to the balcony.

“We should probably have a long talk, about the serum and the hologram you saw. Plus the fact that you had superpowers there for a little bit”

“I suppose we probably should.” Lexi nods. “Can it wait until tomorrow? I think it would probably be good to have a night to process things, before we lay it all out.”

“You’re probably right, we could all use a good night’s sleep.” Kara can’t hold back a grin. “And pancakes in the morning.”

“Banana pancakes?”

“Banana pancakes.” Kara confirms, smiling again as Lexi raises on her tiptoes to press a kiss against her cheek.

“Thanks YeYu.” Lexi turns to go inside, but there’s a falter in her step and Kara isn’t surprised when she stops.

“You know how when I was a kid, and you said I could tell you anything, and you’d always listen?”

“Of course, Little One. I hope you know it’s still true.”

Lexi fiddles with her glasses for a moment before turning back, tears welling in her eyes.

“I saw Argo City. It was even more beautiful than you described.”

Kara feels her heart stop in her chest, and she pulls Lexi into a bone crushing hug.

“Did you see the red sun glinting off the spires?”

“You believe me?”

Kara pulls back, brushing back the hair that’s fallen from Lexi’s braid.

“You weren’t the only one with choices to make, Little One.”

The hug Lexi gives her is strong enough to make her wonder if the serum has completely worn off.

“Let’s not tell Ma?” she hears Lexi mumble into her shoulder. “I don’t want her to worry.”

“Deal, it can be our little secret.”

“Are you two conspiring against me? I feel conspired against.” Lena asks from the doorway.

Kara doesn’t trust herself to speak, so she opens up her arms in a silent invitation, one Lena takes readily as she maneuvers into the group hug.

“I’m going to go save Taylor from Uncle Winn, I’m sure he’s talking her ear off about computers and comm systems.” Lexi says after a moment. “I think she’s probably had enough tech talk these past few days. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” She turns with a smile and Kara can’t help but think that everything is going to be alright.

“She’s a good kid.” Kara sighs as they watch Lexi walk out.

“Mm, she takes after her mom.” Lena leans over bumping their shoulders together and Kara instinctively reaches an arm around her to pull her close. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got the crap beat out of me.”

Lena turns, fingers caressing the yellowish bruise still lingering around Kara’s eye.

“Well you scared the shit out of me.”

Kara pulls Lena’s hand tighter, turning to press a kiss to her palm.

“Sorry about that.”

Green eyes search hers, and Kara can feel the weight of the moment.

“I’m sorry for being distant.” Lena finally says. “Ever since Lexi moved away, I’ve just felt lost. Everything is changing and so I just buried myself in work. I’ve been a CEO for half my life, it just feels comfortable and … time consuming. If I’m buried in paperwork, I don’t have to worry about how different things are. I didn’t mean for that to equate shutting you out.”

Kara shrugs.

“I’m not so good with change either. I feel kind of … lost. And now Supergirl has even failed.“

“Kara … “

“This whole roles changing thing sucks.” She can’t hold back a sniffle, and Lena’s thumb traces up to catch the tear that falls.

"I think we need a vacation.”

“But the merger -“

“Jess can handle the merger. And Alex says that they’ve almost figured out a treatment for Sam. James still runs most of CatCo. I can leave for a month or two.”

"What about Lexi?”

“She’ll be fine, besides, it’s not like we can’t drop by to visit at a moment’s notice. Especially now that Taylor knows about your secret identity.”

Kara winces.

“Right, how did she take that, anyway?”

“About as well as can be expected when you find out your girlfriend’s mom is a suer hero?” Lena shrugs. “She was there a lot for Lexi these past few days.”

“How is Lexi? She seems fine, but -“

“She’s stronger than she looks, stronger than me. I was on edge the whole time, but Lexi … She’s a good a kid.” Lena repeats, letting her weight sink into Kara as they look out over the city.

“Well, she takes after her mom.” Kara grins, repeating Lena’s earlier sentiment.

“Do I need to worry about two super heroes in the family?” The signature eyebrow raise is there, but Kara knows her wife well enough to see the immense amount of worry she’s trying to hide.

“We’re going to have a long talk tomorrow, but I don’t think you have anything to worry, not for a while, at least.”

“Good, I don’t think my nerves could take it. Besides, I thought we were going to wait a while before we gave her the serum?”

“To be fair, I set it up so she would only get it if I died. I didn’t know it was going to get triggered on accident.”

Lena shivers.

“Let’s not talk about the dying part.”

They’re silent for a moment, Kara’s arm squeezing her shoulders as the sinking sun twinkles off of the National City skyline.

“How are the pills?”

“Working. Alex ran some tests, and my cell aging has slowed considerably. Although I’m starving 90% of the time.”

“Good, after twenty years it’s about time you were the one with the appetite for a change.”

“Ha. I’m still sure you could beat me in a potsticker eating competition.”

“You know, I’m sure if you ever decided to market it, anti-aging pills could make you a fortune.”

“Even better, the science behind it could be used for a multitude of other cures. Cancer, joint degeneration … It could change the face of modern medicine.”

Kara’s heart swells, because this is the Lena she loves - always planning, always thinking of ways to change the world.

Conniving, in her own Luthor way.

“Then you could retire?”

“Mmm, I’ll retire when you retire, Supergirl!”

Kara chuckles.

“Fair enough.“

She can feel Lena’s eyes staring up at her but she stares forward as she asks.

“What are you staring at me for?”

“I love you, you know.”

Kara does turn then and she can’t stop her hand when it moves to Lena’s cheek, brushing soft skin before tangling in the little tufts of hair that have fallen from her messy bun. Green eyes drift close at the touch, hiding the tears that had been welling in their corners. The sunset is reflecting in her glasses, and Kara is reminded how much softer Lena look like this - without the sharp swoop of eyeliner or the jarring red of her lipstick.

She looks relaxed … happy, her combat clothes traded for a sweatpants and sweater.

Looking at her you would never think she was the CEO of two - or is it three now? - major corporations; or that she’s been dealing with the stress of being married to a superhero for twenty years.

“I love you more.”

Lena’s eyes open slowly, blinking against the setting sun, and her hands settle on Kara’s shoulders for balance as she raises on her tiptoes. Kara lets her other hand fall to Lena’s waist, pulling their bodies flush. Even after all this time, the contact makes Kara’s heart stutter, and she can hear the feeling echoed in Lena’s chest.

“You look beautiful.” She continues, tracing a soft lip with her thumb.

Lena rolls her eyes.

“I look a mess.”

“I beg to differ, Mrs. Zor-El.” That draws a smile, and Kara bends to capture it with her lips, sighing when they finally make contact.

It’s a soft dance, the ebb and flow of practiced ease as Lena’s tongue flickers along hers, the hands on her shoulders clenching and they meld even closer together, as if trying to defy the laws of the universe and become one being.

When Lena finally breaks the kiss, Kara takes pride in the slightly heavy breathing, and the way her heart thunders in her chest, jumping when Lena finally looks down to see the lights of National City swirling below them.

“I love it when you do that.” Lena breathes in wonder, wrapping her arms around Kara’s neck and Kara lets herself gaze down at the view. It’s her favorite time of day, when city is bathed in an orange red glow that reminds her of Krypton; but she knows without a doubt that the only home she needs is right here in her arms.

I'mma be real, this chapter was hard! so please let me know what you think!

#supercorp #supergirl #reign #kara danvers #lena luthor #Lexington Luthor-Danvers #Taylor the Girlfriend

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