5

Chapter 5Chapter Text

Daisy felt lighter after last night. The therapist would probably be delighted she'd talked to someone about any of it. Also, it was fascinating to hear about different planets. She still had so many questions. But, she had work to do before figuring out how to make homemade meatballs for spaghetti, landlord Drew's mom was a doll. But she had a military base to infiltrate.

It was depressingly easy considering the face veil, pickpocketing skills, and idiots who wrote codes down and left that folded in their wallets. The fact it only took three hours to get in, have a drive plugged into the server, and be out after collecting a garment bag with her 'new' dress uniform. She'd broken into too many military bases for it to be hard, but this was stupidly easy.

Daisy clicked through the military servers on her phone. Hardwiring a backdoor in was effective. So much of hacking frankly was tricking people into giving you their login information or hard-wiring a connection. She'd need a few other hard-wired backdoors before she'd feel comfortable, but it was a good start. Complicated coding was only 50% of hacking, the other 50% was being smart at exploiting stupidity. Hence, written down passwords, inability to avoid being pickpocketed, fifteen minutes recon on the role of the victim of said pickpocketing, and confident bluffing being all that was needed to get into a military base.

Which left time for picking up some things, she had an apartment to fix up. Hadn't expected to have one this quickly, but covering for Kara's slip of the tongue wasn't a road bump she minded. The apartment complex was far nicer than she'd have gone for, but she'd talked the landlord into giving up the one closest to the stairwell on the bottom floor. She was technically two floors below Kara. But it was a good location to be able to keep an eye on anyone using the stairwell.

Daisy pulled the keys out of the Charger, she'd been careful to park it so that it had room to not get scratched. Self-healing it might be, but she didn't want to test that without Robbie there to actually be magic. Chances of the car not being magical at all without Robbie there were probably at 90%. So care had to be taken. He could get his demonic ass here if he wanted it back. She was paying for his brother's college, he'd live at her borrowing the car from storage.

Locking the door she walked towards the Home Depot. This was going to be an experience. Coulson had never sent her to do hardware store runs. Daisy pulled up the list Kara had made for her on her cellphone. She could totally do this. This was ridiculous, she was more stressed about buying paint and some new locks than she'd been about breaking into a military base.

Daisy grabbed a cart, she needed a cart. Paint…she could do paint. At least the plaid shirt meant she blended in. Though she was probably going to have to hunt down some poor minimum-wage person in an orange apron for help. She could find the paint section by herself though. It only took ten minutes to find it. Ten minutes of trying not to show how odd it smelled. The wood and metal and clean dust if that made sense? It probably didn't.

The half aisle of paint cards was horrifying, however. Right…she could pick a color. If Drew didn't like it she had swastika-imprinted gold bars to get rid of, paint couldn't be that expensive. She stared at the paint cards or swatches? How did you pick a color? Google. She could google it. Flipping to a new tab on her cell phone she pulled up the first result.

'Select three colors from an existing object in your home.'

'Don't choose paint first! Use an inspiration piece.'

'Understand undertones.'

'Choose three paint colors.'

'Choose a fourth color that can be used as an accent.'

'Use artwork to make connections between spaces.'

That was utterly unhelpful. Throw pillows and artwork to create color themes? She didn't have that. She had two duffle bags, a combat suit, a laptop, and a reasonable amount of weapons. She might be new to this, but even she knew matching colors to her sniper rifle was weird and dumb. It was ridiculous, she was an adult, she'd lived in over a dozen different people's homes, and it wasn't that important. Except…she wanted to like it. Not just grab some white paint and call it a day.

"Do you need some help?" A man in an orange apron asked.

Daisy's eyes flicked to him. The dad of a toddler was written on him, the dried cheerio he hadn't noticed on one cuff, the four days of unshaved scruff, and clothing that hadn't been folded in months were telling. Also, she was pretty sure he'd just run his fingers through his hair and called it good. But he was showered so hadn't given up in an exhausted haze. He wouldn't have been a threat when she'd been a teenager living in a van. But, yay, name tag. She shifted towards the man. "That obvious?"

"You haven't moved in ten minutes or looked up from your phone much." He said, and yeah, he was definitely exhausted.

She couldn't help a flicker of humor at the lack of customer service positivity. "Ouch, but yeah. I haven't painted an apartment before and have no idea where to start."

"Do you know what type of paint finish you need?" Jeff as his name-tag declared him asked.

Daisy really should have spent an entire afternoon researching paints, shouldn't she? "Type?"

"Paint has different finishes, high gloss, semi-gloss, satin, eggshell, and matte. Gloss finishes are more popular in kitchens while matte's are more common for bedrooms. The finish is going to determine-"

Did it take an hour and a half? Yes. Did she now have white paint, dark purple paint, and a light purple paint? Yes. Apparently, she was going with purple tones. It was nice, it wasn't bright and cheery like Kara would have chosen, but it wasn't greyscale so it was probably going to be homey…ish. She would be hopeful about it if the paint hadn't been the single easiest thing on the list. She looked at Jeff. "Please say you get commission?"

"I mean, a percentage of the sale on some items?" Jeff looked at her from where he was adding the last bucket of purple semi-gloss for the kitchen into the cart.

Daisy was going to have to reverse pickpocket some cash into the man's pockets. "Right, any chance countertops are one of those items?" She winced, "Also painting supplies and door handles?"

Daisy was exhausted and felt worse than she did coming out of most fights honestly, but she had chosen, paid for, and generally acquired everything she needed. The countertops would be delivered next Wednesday, but the rest was packed into the car. Leaning against the black side of the car she groaned. She was never doing this again. Kara better be prepared for them being neighbors for life because dear god. Who thought this was fun? Also, why were countertops a hundred dollars a square foot!? That was insane.

She squinted at the sporting goods store on the other side of the parking lot. Kara was totally going to drag her out heroing at some point or run into an asshole who could actually hurt her, and Daisy was absolutely not running around with her actual face out. Or glasses? Fake glasses were not happening for her. Or cardigans. Adorable on the blonde, she was not dressing in rich preschool teacher-inspired clothing. Which meant a mask. Sport masks had to be decent at sticking on the face during movement…but fuck she just wanted to lay out on a floor and not move for a few hours.

With a groan, she pushed off the car and started walking toward the sporting goods store. There had to be a sport that had masks that would work. Hell, she'd deal with a bandanna that wouldn't slip if she had to. But facial recognition software was not going to be why she got carted off to alien jail here.

The store smelled radically different than the hardware store had, also it was warmer. Probably warmer because there was carpet instead of straight concrete. And, thanks to foster siblings who'd done sports, she'd actually been in one of these before. It took her five minutes to spot the ski masks.

Stopping in front of the wrack her head tilted slightly as she looked at the huge upper face-covering ski and snowboarding goggles. Shiny, wouldn't show the human eyes behind the hard plastic lens, and would totally stay on. Daisy's eyes flicked to the lower face shields to protect from windburn. Her suit was black, if she wore those she'd look like a supervillain. She picked up the goggles with a golden-looking gleam to the lens. Well, the cheerful 'good' hero vibe wasn't going to work for her. But this? She could make this work.

////

Kara's smile faded as she realized Daisy wasn't in the apartment as she walked in. It was…the first time in a week there hadn't been the smell of something to eat and the quiet sounds of another person in her space. It was jarring. But…Daisy would have said something if she was leaving right? And that was Daisy's duffle bag neatly set on the chair in one corner. Kara shook off the feeling and raised her glasses, looking through the floor.

She smiled, before zipping down the stairs and knocking on Daisy's door.

Daisy's voice wouldn't have been loud enough if she'd been human, but it perfectly understandable for her. "Door's unlocked."

Kara breezed in and couldn't help giggling at the way Daisy was laid on a paint drop cloth on the floor. "Are you ok down there? Cause you look a bit like a noodle."

"A noodle?" Daisy cracked an eye open, looking up at her. "Rude."

She nodded biting her cheek to keep from giggling. "Very noodly."

Daisy rolled her eyes but did not move from the floor. "Why did I spend less time breaking into a military base this morning than I spent picking out paint?"

"Military base?" Kara squeaked, oh Rao, that'd be General Lane's base, wouldn't it?

Ignoring the panic at the possible treason, Daisy pointed at the kitchen. "And did you know there are different types of paint for different rooms? It matters apparently. Why is paint that complicated? It's sadistic, give me a gun any day."

"You broke into a military base?" Kara cut in, "Did anyone see you? Oh gosh, are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

Daisy huffed as she floated up to her feet, the display of power made something in Kara feel soothed. "Please, they don't know I was even there." She shot her an amused look while wiggling her fingers. "Spy, I'm good at it."

"Rao, ok, but why did you break into a military base?" Kara couldn't help how her voice squeaked a bit at the end.

Daisy laughed while walking to the counterless kitchen and swiping her cell phone up. "To get a hardline into their servers for ensuring the paperwork for my cover is all in place. Also, because you implied Cadmus has connections to the military. If I ever need to hunt Cadmus down, I'd rather already have the access to get to hunting fast. Do you have Greek food? I think if I order us Chinese again our arteries are going to explode out of protest even if they can't get clogged."

"Hunt Cadmus?!" Kara definitely squeaked.

Daisy looked up at her. "You haven't said a lot about them, but alien chop shop, why your sister is on the run, they're an active threat. And government agencies like that don't stop just because you ask nicely. Or because you point out how they're in the objective wrong. When they come for you, or if they come for me I'd prefer to be prepared. Anyways, Greek? Or we could try Thai maybe? Something with actual vegetables mixed in but not a salad."

"There's a Thai place down the block, wait, you're preparing to hunt a government agency?" Kara felt something that might be a cold sweat on a human. Cadmus was dangerous. Horrifyingly so. They weren't something you just…went after.

Daisy set her phone down. "What's wrong?"

"Cadmus is dangerous," Kara said slowly.

"So am I." Daisy looked at her for a long moment. "Do you want me to back off of them? If me touching them is going to risk something I don't know about I can leave it alone."

She hated the fear she felt. "I-"

Daisy stepped forward grabbing Kara's hands, her touch warm, a pleasant roughness from callouses. "Whoa, ok, hey. We can talk about it later, it can wait. We can just order food, you can tell me I got way too much purple paint, I won't go hunting down your evil government bad guys without talking to you about it, ok?"

Kara nodded, squeezing Daisy's hands, Daisy squeezing back, harder than a human could. It was…she could really feel her. Not as strong as her or Kal, but she could really feel it. "Thai sounds nice."

"Then Thai it is." Daisy smiled, "I'm going to order enough for even us to have leftovers." She gave a final squeeze before pulling back and going for her phone again. "And unless I find an easy way to sell the evil gold without ending up on a watch list, I'm going to have to pick up some hacking gigs. Between takeout and the horrifying price of modern home improvement shit, I'm draining my funds fast."

Kara wiped at her face. "I can pay for takeout?"

"You're a personal assistant," Daisy raised a brow, a slight smug smirk on her face. "I'm more of the Robin Hood code of ethics. Replacing funds for me is a whole lot less work. Hacking can be lucrative, even when you've got morals about it."

She pouted, she was going to have to pre-emptively order food before Daisy managed next time. And…it helped, listening to Daisy. "So you got the paint and counters then?"

"And a new door handle with a separate extra safety lock. But seriously, the counters were wild. I got these kinda white quartz countertops for the majority of the kitchen, and yes, I showed them the measurements and photos you insisted I have. Here I'll show you, they called it something ridiculous like Rococo, why the patterns all had weird names I don't know. But for the island, I actually got what is called butcher block? Which is just wood but apparently is great for cooking prep, ended up getting the birch for the butcher block sections. I think it'll look nice? But trusting me to pick out colors was-"

Kara let the words wash over her, it was safe, it felt safe. Her tension drained from her shoulders as she smiled. This was good, it was nice…really nice.

Kara was comfortably full and poking at the box of Drunk Noodles, listening to Daisy talk about primer and wondering if her powers would be able to help dry things faster, the warm bubble in her chest growing, and suddenly she couldn't not tell her. "The alien prisoners from Fort Rozz, the ones who keep attacking, they were being led by my Aunt Astra."

Daisy's words died, her face soft and quiet. "Were?"

"She died." Kara looked at Daisy and the words started pouring out. How Astra had wanted to save Krypton, might have been able to do it, but her mother had used her to capture Astra. Finding out her aunt was alive, to find out she was alive but hurting people. About General Lane torturing Astra when she'd been in custody, how she'd thought Astra might come around. About Non, about just all of it. "Astra was attacking them, and Alex killed her. I know she was defending herself, but she lied, they told me J'onn killed her and I was just…so angry."

"She was your family, disagreeing doesn't mean you loved her any less." Daisy didn't seem repulsed or upset about Astra. But then oh, she'd said her mother intended genocide last night, hadn't she? It felt a bit like a punch in the gut, the understanding.

Kara's shoulders shook slightly, her eyes going down to the white drop cloth they were sitting on. "I was so angry, but it was J'onn and then Alex. So when the red kryptonite was in my brain…it made all of the worst parts of me come out, I couldn't stop it and I attacked them. For hurting me, for hurting Astra, I ruined everything."

"Hey, I don't entirely know what happened with the red kryptonite? But that's what made you lose it, yeah?" Daisy waited for her to nod. "Whatever you did while it was making you like that wasn't your fault. And you didn't kill them, Alex and J'onn are still alive right?"

Kara wiped at her face, frustrated she was crying. "But everyone found out that J'onn was a Martian, that Alex and I knew he was. It's why Cadmus was able to take them, and they're on the run. I can't even talk to them, or know if they're safe, I can't do anything to help. And J'onn saw it in one of the Cadmus soldiers' heads, they have Jerimiah, we thought he was dead but they have him!"

"Who's Jerimiah?" Daisy asked gently.

Her eyes burned from tears she couldn't keep back. "My foster father, Alex's dad. They took him when I was fourteen because they caught me flying. The DEO came for me, and he traded himself so I could be safe. But then he died on a mission but he didn't, Cadmus took him. We didn't know, I didn't know."

"That's super fucked up." Daisy moved over till she was sitting next to her, cautiously wrapping her arm around Kara's shoulders.

Kara couldn't help turning and burying her face in Daisy's shoulder and crying. It was horrible, wet ugly sobs she'd be mortified about later. But Daisy just was there, solid and quietly understanding. Which made the sobbing worse, somehow.

However much time passed, and Kara wasn't sure before her sobs died down. She didn't pull away, mostly because then she'd have to actually face Daisy. It was funny, she could feel it like this, the way a faint fluttery vibration that affected even her seemed to fill Daisy. A silent reminder that Kara didn't have to hide what she was, who she was.

"I have a suggestion if you want to hear it." Daisy's thumb rubbed comfortingly against Kara's shoulder where her hand was resting.

Kara pulled back, and wiped her face, before looking at her friend. "Suggestion?"

"Look, I'm not from your world, and I'm a spy. It means I'm going to prioritize gathering information. But I think you've been doing a lot of flying around without really knowing the stakes of what's going on around you. You're fighting people without knowing why they are attacking you, without knowing what resources they have. And sometimes that's how you have to fight. But right now, maybe you don't?"

Kara's fingers poked at her tan slacks. "You mean research Cadmus?"

"Yes, but also the DEO probably. I know you trust them, at least to a degree. But as someone who worked for an organization with a lot of similarities? I really don't. Not just them though, someone has to know something about what your dick of an uncle is up to. Even if they don't, it's worth looking into. You can't help your sister if you don't know how to." Daisy shifted ever so slightly. "I get it, if you don't want or trust me anywhere near that information, but you need to be finding information, even if it's on your own."

She shook off the shiver of unease at the mention of not trusting the DEO. Kara loved Lucy, J'onn, her sister, but she wasn't sure she disagreed as much as she should. She poked Daisy's shoulder. "I trust you."

"Uh…you really shouldn't." Daisy shook her head, face fond though. "But ridiculous decision to just trust me or not, the suggestion stands."

Kara held Daisy's eyes. "Where would we even start?"

"First, by knowing who, where, and how." Daisy brushed some of her brown hair behind one ear. "I'm a hacker, my first step would be getting access to the systems of anyone with any link to Cadmus and following the money and who is giving orders. You know this country, especially this city. So, who are the movers and shakers? And where do they not want you to look?"

Kara bit at her lower lip, Daisy wasn't wrong, she did know that, or could find out. "You make it sound so easy."

"It's not, it's a lot of very boring looking into things and going over utterly pointless stuff. But information is powerful." She picked up her laptop, opened it, and pulled up a google page. She ignored Kara's curious look, just entering in a search for 'top twenty richest people in National City'. Daisy grinned, looking at her. "Think it's a reasonable place to start?"

She pulled out her planner. "I have contact information for all of those people's secretaries."

Daisy whistled, "See, totally doable." She pointed at Kara. "Please remember people live and die to protect information. Being cautious and slow is good, even if it's frustrating."

Kara did roll her eyes at that, she knew that. "Why do the richest people in National City help us find Cadmus though?"

"They might, they might not. But most anyone who can afford to threaten 'Supergirl', is going to have money and power. That or be deep in some illegal stuff."

Kara's face darkened. "Maxwell Lord, he hates aliens and is willing to do whatever he can to stop me." She swallowed, "And he knows who I am."

"What do we know about him?" Daisy asked, and there was a faint feeling in the air, a hum of her powers. It felt like a threat, but not to Kara.

And Kara…Kara could never forget the feeling of Bizzaro's hand under her's, trapped in a coma she would probably never wake from. "He's the CEO of-"