17. Chapter 17(2)
“Lena,” she hisses. Before Lena can tease her further, the teacher is gathering everyone’s attention again, leading everyone through a series of basic punches and kicks that most students put a lackluster effort into. Kara seems to take it in stride, even though she looks around self-consciously every few moments.
“Now, let’s work this out with a partner!” the teacher says. She demonstrates how to block a punch and then urges everyone to mime it with their partner - one blocking and one punching. Kara doesn’t bother looking particularly alarmed when Lena tosses a few punches her way, but looks a little more nervous to direct slow motion ones towards Lena.
“It’s okay,” Lena whispers, the sound inaudible to anyone but Kara. “I trust you.”
It becomes something of a dance, as the teacher moves them through the blocks and reactions, something soft. Kara’s eyes are blue and frightened, like a deer caught in headlights, but she moves her closed fist towards Lena slowly. Lena catches it softly, knocking it to the side, and then uses it as leverage to swing forward and fake a knee to Kara’s groin. The teacher makes them all repeat it a few times, and Kara’s expression has relaxed by the end of it, a small smile on her face as she lets Lena trail a hand up to her bicep and drift perhaps a little too close to count as a retaliation to an attack.
The last thing they learn is how to break out of a hold. Kara volunteers to go first, shrugging and letting Lena pull her hands together behind her back. It’s amusing, in some ways, to have Kara act as though she could actually be restrained at all by Lena. The teacher demonstrates how to hit the attacker on their instep and then break the hold to reach back and elbow them in the solar plexus. When Kara attempts it, Lena can’t help but be endeared when she stops herself from bumping Lena at all.
It’s too fun to tease Kara, and Lena knows it will probably help to relax the lingering restraint Kara’s exhibiting so she leans in a little closer than appropriate during the next try and Kara’s body jolts in Lena’s hold.
“Lena,” Kara chastises in a soft hiss, pouting when she turns a little glare over her shoulder.
With practiced innocence, Lena shrugs, but she can’t stop the laugh that comes when Kara easily breaks out of the hold this time and fakes a punch to her chest.
“Don’t be mean,” Kara warns, but Lena’s not deterred by the stern expression on Kara’s face. Not when Kara looks so cute in her cut off sweatpants and oversized sweater, cheeks pink and eyes narrowed.
“What are you going to do about it?” Lena challenges, but she realizes her mistake the second Kara’s glare turns mischievous and before she can blink, Kara is behind her, gripping her wrists in one strong hand and holding them together.
The sudden switch of power makes Lena’s head swim as does Kara’s free hand coming to rest on Lena’s hip, a little too low to be friendly.
Kara’s pressed in as close as Lena was, heat radiating against Lena’s back and she feel the ghost of Kara’s breath against the back of her neck where her hair is pulled up on her head. It makes Lena shiver and it certainly doesn’t help that when she tests the hold Kara has on her wrists, she can’t move an inch.
The teacher starts to walk through the set of moves again, but Lena’s too distracted by the shift in energy between her and Kara. It seems Kara’s hesitance has gone out the window, replaced by something a touch darker and much more confident. She wonders if Kara has picked up on the way her heartbeat has started to quicken or sensed the changes in attitude the way Lena has.
From the shuddery breath Kara releases towards Lena’s shoulder, she’s fairly sure she has.
The rest of the room starts to go through the series of moves they’re learning, but Kara forgets to release her hold on Lena for a few more seconds. Enough that Lena has to whisper her name and tug harder as a reminder.
Lena thinks to be embarrassed by the way her breathing has deepened or the thick liquid feeling in her throat, but from the look on Kara’s face when Lena finally twists in her hold, thoughts of embarrassment flood away.
When the class is finished, Kara nearly flies them home, they move so fast, and Lena’s laugh is swallowed up by Kara’s lips and her hands pressing Lena tightly against her dorm room door.
--
Appropriately dressed - according to Alex - the two of them head towards the warehouse. Lena fills Alex in on what she knows about the property while Alex does the same of the information she’s gathered herself. She’s able to pull up a small copy of the blueprints on her phone and Alex looks them over on the way.
“Stay behind me no matter what,” Alex is instructing her as they make their way towards the back entrance she’d decided on as the most direct route inside.
“I’m good, Alex,” Lena says, holding the stun gun out in front of her a bit at the ready. Alex observes her for a long moment.
“Do you even have weapons training?” Alex asks.
“I don’t have my certifications on me at the moment,” Lena hisses back, and Alex glares heavily. “Yes, Alex. People have tried to kill me enough times to warrant a few self-defense classes. I know how to point and shoot.”
Alex stares at her for a moment longer before she sighs.
“Kara’s going to kill me,” she mutters, shaking her head.
“If she doesn’t kill me first. Just - focus,” Lena says, voice lowered.
Alex is nothing if not efficient and it’s almost mesmerizing to watch her work. There are two guards posted outside the back entrance, patrolling back and forth and the way Alex creeps forward and knocks them out with quick effective moves makes it all look easy. Even though Lena knows it’s not.
When they get inside the building, Alex pulls her bag forward and rummages inside, pulling out what Lena realizes quickly are a collection of small mines. “Okay,” Alex says in a whisper as they crouch behind a wall just inside the door. “I’ll clear the path. You spread these around.”
Lena nods, adrenaline mixing with purpose at the back of her throat. She takes the devices from Alex’s hands and notes how small they are, wonders how big of an explosion they’d create.
Alex must read her mind. “It won’t take the place down, but it will do as a distraction. Enough for us to get out if we need to.”
That makes Lena react just enough for Alex to seem appeased. “This button here to activate them,” Alex instructs, pointing towards a small notch on the side of the mine.
“Got it,” Lena replies with as much confidence as she can find inside herself and then they’re off.
With little delay, Alex takes the corner confidently, striding forward and grabbing the neck of the first guard she sees. In seconds, the guard is slumping in Alex’s hold and she’s sliding him to the ground.
“Let’s go,” Alex says and Lena takes the opportunity to place one of the mines on a nearby column, pressing the button to activate it.
It’s an easy rhythm after that as they move swiftly around the perimeter of the warehouse. Not long after they’d gotten there, they’ve got all ten of their mines planted and activated.
As she’s setting the last one up, Lena glances to Alex, her heart pounding with the tension of it all.
“What now?” she asks and a grim look appears on Alex’s face.
“Now we get caught,” Alex says simply and before Lena can protest at the absurdity of that suggestion, Alex is striding out into the open towards the group of three guards and Lena can’t do anything but follow.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Alex raises her gun and shoots the first guard to her right. It spooks the group and they rush her.
In a series of throws and kicks, Alex is able to disarm the second guard and even the third, but Lena hears footsteps behind them and when she levels her gun that direction a group of guards in full tactical gear come running towards her, rifles raised.
“Alex,” Lena calls over her shoulder, hearing the sounds of Alex still engaged in a fight.
Lena’s not sure what to do other than keep her gun raised. Not that it would do much good against the five rifles pointed her direction.
Suddenly, Alex is at her back, hands in the air. “Put your gun down,” she murmurs to Lena, barely audible. “Before they shoot you.”
But before Lena can obey the directive another voice is joining the fray. “Don’t shoot! They’re with me.”
It’s Jeremiah. Who walks through the group of guards and frowns at his daughter and Lena.
“Alex,” he says with a frown that only deepens when he looks at Lena. “You shouldn’t have come.”
Hands in the air – a posture Lena mimics, the gun in her hand hanging on a finger – Alex keeps her face still as she addresses her father. “Dad,” she starts, but he cuts her off with a quick glare.
Holding his hand out, he waits with an expectant look for Alex to hand over the bag on her back and the gun she’s still holding in one hand. He does the same to Lena, plucking her handgun from her grasp and stowing it behind his back.
With an aggrieved sigh, he turns to the group of guards. “I’ll take care of them,” he says before gesturing behind them towards a raised platform with an array of monitors and consoles.
From the platform, a massive hulking shadow is settled on the grounds outside the warehouse, and a line of figures are being funneled into it.
“What is that?” Lena asks, the question bursting out of her before she can stop it. Wide eyes take in the schematics displayed on one of the monitors as she tries to make sense of it.
“It’s a Hoshin Frigate,” Jeremiah answers and Alex narrows her eyes. “Lillian’s sending the aliens into space.”
“She what?!” Alex says and Lena looks towards the far side of the warehouse where the frigate in question is parked. It’s a massive thing – clearly built to house large quantities of cargo.
“As soon as it hits the atmosphere, it’s gonna jump to light speed and go to Takron-Galtos. They’ll find passage home from there.”
“You’re forcibly deporting them,” Lena says, fury creeping into her voice.
“Lillian can’t do that,” Alex adds and Jeremiah takes a deep breath.
“It was my idea to send them away,” he says and Lena watches a multitude of emotion flit across Alex’s face. “Lillian wanted to kill them all. At least this way they can have a life.”
“They have a life here,” Alex argues as Lena tries to swallow the bitter taste that always comes with the shattering reality of her mother’s evil. “Some of them have escaped famine and poverty and genocide,” Alex continues, a look of devastation on her face.
“Alex,” Jeremiah sighs, his face a plea for his daughter’s understanding. “At least they have a chance this way.”
Incredulous is the only way to describe Alex’s expression now and Lena’s not too far from that emotion herself.
“Imagine if it was Kara on that ship,” Lena spits, anger roiling through her at the thought. Jeremiah’s face barely changes in reaction. “You’d be sending her back to nothing.”
“It was all a lie,” Alex adds, accusing finger pointing at her father. “Everything you said in the woods about working for Cadmus for me.”
“It wasn’t,” Jeremiah says intently. “From the moment Cadmus took me prisoner they threatened to kill you and Kara if I didn’t comply. I made my choice. Protect my girls at all costs.”
There’s righteousness in Jeremiah’s face, resolve even and Lena’s reminded unerringly of Lex. Of the way he looked at trial, the things he said trying to convince Lena that what he was doing was the right thing, that it was for her.
In that moment, Lena thinks she and Alex Danvers probably have far more in common than either of them realize.
“How could you think that we would want you to hurt others to protect us?” Alex asks in a shaky whisper and Lena can hear an echo of her former self asking her brother a similar question.
Jeremiah shakes his head, a grim frown on his face just like Lex had. “There are just some things you’ll never understand until you’re in my shoes,” he says, walking away as if to end the conversation, but Alex isn’t done.
“Dad,” Alex says in a low intent whisper. “We can fix this. It’s not too late.”
Then, with a chill down Lena’s spine that nearly makes her flinch, the voice of her mother interrupts them. All ice and authority. “I’m afraid it is, Agent Danvers,” she says, striding forward and up to the terminal. Her eyes connect with Lena’s, but she calls out to the scurrying of Cadmus guards around her. “Get to your launch stations.”
“Lillian,” Jeremiah warns in a low, confused tone, but Lillian ignores him, focuses her gaze on Lena as she stalks forward.
“Not exactly how I pictured our reunion, Lena, but it will suit, I suppose.”
“Lillian, what are you doing?” Jeremiah asks as her mother continues her stride towards a console and starts to press a series of buttons. The screens near Lena light up and she realizes with some amount of fear that her mother’s launching the ship.
“Mom, stop,” Lena says hastily, an unbidden reaction. Lillian does little more than flick a glance her way before addressing Jeremiah.
“Your other daughter unleashed an article online linking Cadmus to the abductions. It’s time we cut our losses.” Lillian sends a sardonic look Lena’s direction. “If my daughter is here, it can’t be too long before her Kryptonian comes bursting in to spoil the party.”
There’s a scurry of Cadmus agents all around them as the telltale sounds of something powering up starts to resound through the warehouse. Lillian hunches over the console.
“We’ve got a few hundred of them already. It’s not what I envisioned,” Lillian acknowledges with a tilt of her head. “But it’s a start.”
“Turn it off,” Lena hears herself say, low and with considerable authority. Her fingers itch for the safety of the weapon she had earlier. “Now.”
A shocked expression takes hold of her mother’s face for no more than a second before it’s replaced with a heavy glare and she turns it straight on Lena. “I think you’re forgetting who has the upper hand here, dear,” Lillian says.
“You heard her,” Alex says, voice just as cutting as Lena’s had been. “Turn it off.”
Lillian just smiles, unconcerned. “Or what?”
Alex actually smirks. “You think we would walk into the lion’s den without a whip?” Lillian just arches a brow, but Alex pulls the detonator out of her jacket pocket and Lillian’s face flinches just slightly. “We planted ten Haldorr particle mines all over this facility. Stop. The. Launch.”
Lillian’s eyes flit to Lena, harden in their glare as she smiles – that viper kind of smile she always has when she thinks she’s winning something. “You’re lying.”
Alex shakes her head. “You wanna bet?” And with a press of her finger the first mine detonates. It rocks the little platform their standing on and the two guards that have been behind them raise their guns to Alex who turns with a hand in front of her. “The rest of the bombs are on a dead-man switch. I let this go and the entire place lights up.”
The thing Lena expects is for the guards to suddenly turn their weapons towards her. It’d be the logical move. They can’t shoot Alex, but they could use Lena as leverage.
But just as she sees the first guard look at her, a barely perceptible shake of her mother’s head stops him.
Lena has no idea what to make of it. Especially when she locks eyes with Lillian and her expression is no less hard than it was when directed at Alex.
“I’m not going to stop this,” Lillian says, turning back to Alex who is still holding the detonator up in the air.
“I don’t need you to,” Alex says and looking at Jeremiah. “Dad.”
A deep look of conflict settles on his face and Lena finds her chest twisting when she realizes the choice Alex is giving him – unsure of what he’ll choose. She certainly knows what Lillian would.
“Tamper with my launch, Jeremiah,” her mother says. “And I declare war on your whole family.”
“Dad,” Alex says emphatically, drawing his gaze back to her. “We protect each other. Always. Don’t listen to her.”
“She’s lying, Jeremiah,” Lena adds. “She wants Kara dead, and she’d kill any one of us to do it.”
“Jeremiah,” Lillian says, low and dangerous. The tug of war in the moment is palpable and Lena prays that Alex’s faith in her father isn’t misplaced. Had she known that was the crux of this plan she might have tried harder to talk Alex out of it.
“Come on, Dad,” Alex says, now in a whisper, soft and pleading. “Make this right.”
Lena’s chest goes tight, heart pounding – anticipation and fear mixing together. The conflict on Jeremiah’s face is almost tangible as he looks between Lillian and Alex and Lena wonders if this story is going to end differently for Alex than it did for Lena.
Only a second more and she gets her answer when Jeremiah gives Alex a barely perceptible nod and the two of them move simultaneously to disarm the two guards holding rifles on the platform.
Lena takes a step back as it happens, watches Alex flip one guard over her shoulder as Jeremiah nearly dislocates the arm of a second and then Jeremiah’s handing Alex her gun back with a look of clear solidarity.
Without intending to, Lena’s brain wanders to think of what it would be like if Lex had switched sides again like this, had chosen redemption over righteousness. But she shakes it off as quickly as the thought came, focuses on the scene in front of her.
Alex aims her gun straight at Lillian. “Stop the launch,” she orders, but her mother just crosses her arms, shrugs a shoulder.
“No.”
Jeremiah steps forward. “Give my daughter the override code.”
It’s obvious to Lena that Lillian has no plan to waver, doesn’t even feel threatened. And for a moment she wonders if she’s about to watch Alex Danvers shoot her mother.
“I can’t,” Lillian says, the hint of a smile on her lips that feels inappropriate considering her situation. “There isn’t one. The only way to stop the launch is to release that trigger.”
Lena turns to Alex and can tell in a heartbeat that Alex isn’t bluffing. The decision, no hesitation, is all over her face and sure enough a second later she’s smirking just the slightest and dropping the detonator to the ground.
The explosions shake all four of them forward. Her mother goes sprawling towards a console and Alex just barely stays on her feet, reaches out to steady Lena when she goes unbalanced.
Chaos breaks out in the hangar and Lena can see that the launch is yet to stop despite the mines detonating all around them.
“I’m going to see if I can stop that ship from the inside,” Alex says, then points at her father. “See if you can override it from here.”
Lena looks at her mother, who is watching them all with a deepening scowl and Lena wonders if she’s going to make a move. Her fist clenches without meaning to and she contemplates having to deck her mother if she does.
“Lena, you coming?” Alex asks, her hands gripping the back of Lena’s tactical vest, eyes wavering between Lena and her mother. There’s commotion everywhere.
A snarl finds its way to her mother’s lips as she hears Alex’s question and she levels a glare at Lena. “That girl, this foolish family - they aren’t yours. You’re a Luthor, Lena. You’re on the wrong side of this,” she says in that quiet but dangerous voice she always had when she was disappointed in something Lena had done.
But it doesn’t have the same effect it did when she was a child. It will always hurt, Lena thinks, but it’s just not the same anymore.
So she doesn’t hesitate. “No,” she says with a soft smile and a shake of her head as she starts towards where Alex is tugging her with a hurry the fuck up expression. “I’m not on the wrong side. But you are.”
And without waiting for a reply she’s jogging with Alex, picking up speed when she does and they both turn to head towards the frigate at the far side of the warehouse. Alex stops for half a second to liberate the stun gun she had given Lena from an unconscious guard, and then they’re off again.
“Let’s go!” Alex shouts and then she’s full on sprinting towards the ship and all Lena can think about is how maybe she should exercise more if they both survive this. Alex is considerably faster than her, but they both manage to get onto the ramp of the ship before it takes off.
A computerized voice rings through the air. T-minus sixty seconds to engine ignition.
“We need to find the cockpit,” Alex says, stalking forward.
A Cadmus guard comes around the corner suddenly. “Stop!” He shouts, but Alex just raises her gun and shoots him square in the chest.
They move quickly through the corridors until a noise catches in her ear and she turns down a hallway. “Alex,” she calls out, realizing what she’s looking at. It’s a row of cages. Filled with people.
Alex jogs back towards her, looks down the hallway and lets out a breath. “The missing aliens,” she says, before walking forward. “Come on, help me.”
At the first cell, Alex doesn’t even attempt to override the control panel, just shoots it. Lena thinks to tell her that might not open the door, but it ends up working, the gate of the cell sliding open.
Lena follows suit at the adjacent door and they work their way down the hallway. “Everyone get out!” Lena tells them and Alex shepherds them down the hallway towards the exit of the ship.
Another guard comes stalking towards them and this time, it’s Lena who doesn’t hesitate before lifting her gun and shooting him. He goes flying backwards into a wall before slumping to the ground.
Alex’s hand finds her elbow and pulls her the opposite direction. “We need to stop this launch,” she says.
It doesn’t take too long to find the main control room. The ship is fairly simple – apparently used primarily for cargo and with a straightforward layout. But they’re too late to stop the launch. The voice of the ship’s computer comes through loud and clear in the small room. Secondary engine ignition, it says. Main engine ignition.
The ship rocks forward and Lena has to grab onto the pilot’s chair the center of the room to stay upright, Alex gripping onto the side strap of the vest she’s wearing.
“Fuck,” Alex breathes out, staring down at the mess of controls on the panel in front of her. “I don’t suppose you know how to drive this thing.”
Lena blinks and then steps forward to look at the panel. “Remind me to pick up some new skills if we survive this,” she mutters, trying to make sense of what they’re looking at. The symbols aren’t at all familiar.
Alex actually laughs, but she’s got a hand at her forehead and it comes out sounding stressed more than anything.
It hits Lena then that they’re about to launch into space and in a few minutes they’ll be on the other side of the universe. Maybe this barely thought out plan to jump on a launching Hoshin Frigate wasn’t exactly the best call.
“We need to call someone at the DEO. Call Kara.”
Oh God. Kara. Kara is definitely going to be on another level of freaked out .
“I’ll just –“ Lena goes to flip open her watch, press a button that will bring Kara straight there, but Alex stops her.
“Call her. If Kara can’t stop this we need to know how to land it,” Alex says and so Lena pulls her phone out and presses Kara’s contact info while Alex looks around the cockpit for anything of use.
It takes a few more rings than it normally does for Kara to answer, but she eventually does. “Lena, I have to call you back. We’re kind of in the middle of something here. That location you gave us just pinged an unidentified launch –"
“Kara,” Lena interrupts, hoping the urgency of her voice will resonate down the line. “Alex and I are on the ship. We’re the launch.”
A beat of silence. “I’m sorry. I thought you just said you and Alex were on the spaceship about to launch into space. But that would be crazy because I’m pretty sure I dropped you off at Alex’s apartment with explicit instructions not to do anything insane!”
Kara’s voice raises considerably in pitch by the end of her sentence and Lena winces.
“There’s not really time to explain it right now,” she says, but Alex grabs the phone from Lena, pushes a button to switch it to speaker.
“Kara, get Winn to tell us how to land this thing,” Alex says and they both watch out the front as the ship seems to slowly pick up speed.
It’s Winn’s voice that comes through next. “Uh, Kara’s left. Just me now. Give me a second, I’m finding the schematics.”
“Winn,” Lena says, watching the earth move through the front view panel. “Hurry.”
“Okay, okay,” Winn is saying in a harried voice. “Try toggling the switch next to the control yoke and that should put you back in manual control.”
Lena looks around and finds what Winn’s talking about. She presses the switch, but nothing happens apart from an unsatisfying beep. She presses it again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
Alex pushes her fingers away and tries herself with the same result.
“Nothing’s happening,” Lena says, anxiety clawing at her throat.
“We have to slow this ship down,” Alex replies, lifting her gun and aiming it at the console like that might help. Lena’s fairly confident that the main controls to the frigate don’t work the same as a prison lock and she puts a hand out to stop Alex.
“You don’t know what that will do.”
“We’re out of options, Lena,” Alex says, but just then a familiar form appears in front of the ship in blaze of red and blue.
“Supergirl’s going to try to slow you guys down,” Mon-El is telling them through Lena’s phone.
Alex lets her gun fall, rushing forward to get a look at Kara and Lena can feel just a bit of the tension ebb away from the cockpit – as if Kara’s mere presence has saved the day already.
But then the screens go bright red and a tracking program appears on the view screen as alarms ring out.
“What’s going on?” Alex asks, straightening up and Lena realizes it with dread sinking in her stomach.
“The ship is recognizing Kara as a threat, it’s trying to target lock.”
“Lena’s right,” Winn says. “I’m trying to override it.”
“Keep moving,” Lena whispers, watching Kara’s form outside the window.
A bright burst of energy comes shooting out of the ship and Kara just dodges it in time, but when a second shot fires it hits Kara in the chest and throws her backwards into the air.
Lena and Alex both jump forward with simultaneous shouts of, “Kara!”
It’s punctuated by Winn and Mon-El through the tinny connection of Lena’s phone and then J’onn’s more even voice comes through. “It’s alright, she’s fine. She just lost her comms. Alex, you’re our eyes.”
They watch as Kara recovers, and the grip of fear on Lena’s heart eases. With a quick breath of frost, Kara manages to disable the weapons on the ship and she flies forward, both of her hands landing with a thud on the front of the ship.
Kara looks at them both then and Lena can sense the fear, the uncertainty in Kara’s expression as she tries to push the ship back with all her strength.
“Come on Kara,” Alex says under her breath. “Come on.”
The ship keeps moving, doesn’t lose speed and Winn’s voice comes back on the line. “Guys, in twenty seconds that ship is going to be on the other side of the universe.”
“We know that,” Alex bites out in frustration and with a dart of her finger she hangs the call up and turns back to her sister.
A look of pure devastation is on Kara’s face, her eyes darting between Alex and Lena. She shakes her head, looking lost and terrified.
“It’s okay,” Lena says, strong and loud, knowing Kara can hear her. “Just focus. Listen.”
Kara looks at her, the seconds seeming to tick by ominously, before she blinks her eyes shut for a moment. When they open again it’s with a look of sheer determination. Alex jumps forward, puts her hand up on the glass and hits it once before keeping her palm there.
“You can do this, Kara. Come on,” Alex says with a kind of confidence that pulls Kara’s eyes sharply in her direction. The look of purpose on Kara’s face only deepens. “You’re strong enough. You can do this.”
Kara puts her hand on the glass, right where Alex’s is, stares into her sister’s eyes and starts to nod. The fear has left her face entirely, now replaced by something much more certain and sure – focus and strength echoing back at them from blue eyes.
It pulls Lena forward and she places her right hand next to Alex’s on the screen, looks Kara in the eye and repeats the sentiment. “You can do it,” she says too as Kara brings her hand up to place it over Lena’s. “Focus.”
With a last look at both of them and a sharp nod, Kara takes a deep breath and repositions her hands on the ship. With a strangled kind of cry, she starts to push harder, the muscles in her neck tensing beyond belief and her eyes shutting against the strain.
Lena pumps every ounce of strength she has and channels it to Kara. And then a hand is gripping hers and she glances over to see that Alex has grabbed her free hand, connecting them all together.
And seconds later she can feel it working. Barely detectable, but the ship begins to slow. Lena sees it happen on the screen tracking their trajectory in the cockpit. A noise resonates through the ship that Lena recognizes – the sounds of the engines powering down just enough.
“She did it,” Alex breathes out, a look of wonderment on her face before she looks out at Kara again. “You did it!”
Kara collapses against the ship, her forehead pressing into the glass and her breathing clearly coming uncharacteristically hard.
There are tears in Alex’s eyes – and Lena feels something similar in her own – as Alex leans forward and slaps the glass a few times, drawing Kara’s gaze to her.
The sisters smile at each other, Alex even lets out a little relieved laugh, and their hands rest side by side, the glass the only thing between them.
Lena joins them, puts her palm on the glass near Kara’s face and leans into Alex’s shoulder.
--
With Winn’s guidance and Kara’s help, they manage to get the frigate down to Earth. They land it in a wide open field outside the city and Alex calls a team to the site.
As soon as the prisoners have all been released from the ship and the remaining guards – most of them unconscious from Alex’s original warpath through the ship – are rounded up, Kara comes bounding towards Lena and Alex.
Without breaking stride, she wraps her arms around her sister, pulling her into a tight hug and then over her shoulder she spots Lena and reaches out to pull her in too until the three of them are tight together.
“You are both idiots and I hate you,” Kara says, sounding like she might cry.
“Sorry,” Alex says through a watery laugh, her fingers gripping in Kara’s cape.
When they break apart, Lena runs her fingers down Kara’s arm until their hands are together. “It was Alex’s idea,” she tells her and Kara turns a glare to her sister.
“Lena threatened me,” Alex points out indignantly. “It wasn’t my idea to bring her along.”
“Lena threatened you,” Kara repeats in a deadpan that conveys how much she believes that accusation.
Alex makes an offended face. “Yeah, why is that so hard to believe?”
“It’s Lena,” Kara says like that’s an answer and Lena should probably be offended that Kara’s implying she’s not capable of effectively threatening her sister, but instead she finds herself charmed by the way Alex rolls her eyes through a smile.
“Regardless,” Kara says, amusement fading away into something more chastising and serious. “Neither of you should have been on that ship. Especially without backup.”
“I tried to tell her that,” Lena says. Alex looks affronted at having been thrown under the bus, but J’onn arrives then and steps forward – his Martian form sizzling back into that of Hank Henshaw as he lands.
There’s a moment of hesitation as he approaches. He nods at both of them, a look of clear relief washing over his face. “Glad to see you’re both okay,” he says in a gruff voice and Alex looks at him a long moment before reaching her hand out.
He takes it, seems to hold onto it tightly as he and Alex smile at each other.
--
They head straight to the DEO after that. Winn and Mon-El crowd around them when they land on the balcony. Lena finds herself lifted into Mon-El’s hug while Winn bursts into actual tears upon getting his arms around Alex.
The roller coaster of emotions are exhausting, but there’s still the matter of dealing with the remains of the Cadmus warehouse and the whereabouts of Lillian and Jeremiah. Alex asks after her father almost immediately after J’onn and Kara do a quick sweep of the scene and return to the base.
“Any sign of him?”
J’onn shakes his head, somber. “No,” he answers and then with a glance to Lena adds, “Nor of Lillian Luthor.”
“Not surprising,” Kara says with a sigh and a sympathetic look for Lena as she paces forward. Lena feels far too exhausted by the truth of that comment and declines replying in favor of sagging heavily against Kara’s body.
Despite her mother getting away, the day still feels like a victory – hundreds of aliens were saved and her mother’s diabolical plans foiled. Lena draws whatever satisfaction she can from that as she leans into Kara’s embrace and listens as the group debriefs the rest of the situation.
By the time they’re done, it’s nearly two in the morning. Exhaustion has long ago settled over Lena’s shoulders and it’s a wonder she can even keep her eyes open at this point.
While Kara finishes up talking to J’onn, Lena sits in one of the chairs on the main platform. The room is sparse – a thin night crew the only people around. She lets her head fall back and slumps a bit, but doesn’t dare close her eyes.
Instead, she focuses on watching some monitoring program that’s running on a nearby monitor. Her eyes feel achy and dry, but it’s something to do.
A quiet, “Hey,” pulls her gaze to the side to see Alex standing there looking as tired as Lena feels.
“Hey,” Lena says, sitting up a little and affecting a soft smile.
Alex’s hands go into the pocket of her leather jacket, her eyes darting around for a moment. “I just wanted to say thank you.”
Lena quirks a brow. “For what?”
With a little laugh, Alex shrugs a shoulder. “For not letting me go alone,” she says, looking straight on at Lena and nodding a little as if to herself. “You did good back there.”
Pleased, Lena smiles. “Thanks,” she says, her brain too tired to think of anything better to say.
Alex observes her for a moment longer before taking a deep breath and turning to leave.
Standing, Lena stops her with a quiet call of her name and Alex turns with an inquiring look. “I’m glad you were right about your father,” she says and Alex’s face manages to go soft and tight at the same time. “I hope we find him.”
“Me too.”
Kara interrupts them then, bouncing up the platform towards where they’re standing and looks even more exhausted than either of them. Lena’s not sure how that’s even possible, but a need to get Kara home and in bed rushes through her anyway.
Hands on her hips as she approaches, Kara sends both Lena and Alex little glares. It’s clear she’s still not over the spaceship incident and confirms as much when she tells them, “No more getting on random spacecraft without me.”
Alex laughs a little, her eyes red rimmed and glossy when they look at her sister. “Deal.”
Deflating as she looks at Alex’s face, Kara shakes her head, but pulls Alex into a hug. They embrace tightly, Alex’s fingers clinging into the red of Kara’s cape and Lena thinks she hears Alex let out a low breath.
Gone is the tension she’d observed between them in the last few days and back is the solid strength she’d always sensed around the two sisters.
--
They take a DEO van back to Lena’s apartment. Even though Kara sat under the sunlamps for nearly an hour after they’d gotten back she still looks far too drained to be allowed to fly. Lena’s half-sure Kara would fall asleep midflight and drop them both to the ground as a result.
There’s no discussion about going home together. Just a silent understanding between both of them that they don’t want to be apart. Lena’s partly surprised Kara didn’t insist Alex join them, but Alex heads to her own apartment after an emotional goodbye for the each of them, claiming Maggie is waiting for her.
When they’re finally back, Lena considers just flopping down on her couch and passing out, but she forces herself to change and at least wash her face.
Envious, she watches as Kara superspeeds her way through the process and is already pulling the sheets back on the bed before Lena can so much as make it to the bathroom.
“For the record,” Kara murmurs when Lena’s finally sliding down onto the mattress and letting Kara pull her closer. “I’m still mad at you for nearly getting launched into space.”
Sighing at the feeling of finally being able to lie down, Lena just scoots closer to Kara and cards her fingers though blonde hair. Kara’s eyes flutter and Lena feels like her body is so heavy it could sink through the mattress. “You can yell at me in the morning.”
“I don’t want to yell,” Kara says, but her eyes are barely open. “I just want you to make better choices.”
Seconds from falling asleep and being lulled further by the warmth of Kara’s body and her hand shifting over Lena’s hip, Lena doesn’t want to argue. “Okay,” she says softly and she feels Kara’s lips ghost over her forehead before she finally succumbs to slumber, warm and safe in Kara’s arms.