there comes the inevitable moment in every heroes journey when there is nothing left to them but to trust that someone has their back. it has been thirteen days since kara saw the sun and longer since she has seen lena, so do understand, dear reader, when it is the voice of lena that she senses first and not the sight of her. she has, for the last few days, not even the strength to lift her head.
‘this is your kryptonian? is it the only one you have?’
‘don’t bother lying, halbrook. if you had a better specimen at hand you would’ve shown me it, but instead you bring me to…this.’ her voice is like steel frozen over with ice. kara has seen it before many times, ice breath frosting crystalline over the silver. it’s pretty. ‘it hasn’t been kept in very good condition, your…’ she hesitates over the word pet. to another, it might read as though she’s enjoying it. kara might not be able to pry open the bars of her cage, but she has long been attuned to the rhythm of lena’s heartbeat and she hears…she thinks she hears—no, she does, she does hear it—as that heartbeat, always strong and steady, stutters.
‘kryptonians aren’t like the others. they require special treatment. this one in particular hasn’t adjusted well.’
kara laughs. the sound croaks out of her throat and though it pains her, she lifts her head. she doesn’t look at lena. she looks at halbrook, alien killer, and smiles.
‘i see you couldn’t even break her,’ lena says.
halbrook’s voice fades out from kara’s ears. he’s obviously trying to bluster, to defend his work, but kara can’t—won’t—hear another word out of him. instead, she hears ringing out the click, click, click of heels like gunshots across the concrete and leaden chamber as lena approaches.
kara drags herself forward to the bars of her cage. drapes her arms through them and rests her head against cold metal.
‘you look tired, miss luthor.’
‘rather bold, coming from you,’ lena plucks a data pad from place. her fingers are shaking. ‘vital signs look like they’re holding, though obviously not at full capacity. contusions, blood loss, most correlating with the moment of capture.’ she continues to read from the device and kara continues to stare, unblinking. finally, lena sets it back into place and she comes to stand in front of kara.
‘i wouldn’t -‘ halbrook chokes out as lena reaches though the bars. he knows full well what happened to the last agent who tried that.
lena’s fingers brush the grimed, bloodied collar of her shirt. the suit is clearly visible through the tears but still she smoothes it down as if that does anything to neaten her up.
‘i had to see you,’ lena says so quietly even kara can barely hear it. ‘i had to make sure you were -‘ her throat closes around the word.
kara nods again. she’s pretty sure she isn’t lying.
lena looks about as sure as kara feels. she brushes her fingers over kara collar again, and kara starts, the sensation of skin against skin shocking and gentle and -
there is no yellow sun down here but kara can feel her cells screaming to regenerate, to draw power from anywhere they can, as adrenaline races through her. lena is here. lena is real.
‘miss luthor, i think you should step away from the kryptonian.’
‘i rather did wonder how long it would take for you to figure out who i was. very well.’ lena steps away.
her hand falls along with kara’s heart at the loss of the touch.
and then kara begins to feel a warmth. not akin to skin on skin, but the warmth of a fire or the distant flickering of a star on her register. she reaches up to her collar, feeling for the heat that burns against her collarbone, burning the bruises and the aches away.
‘artificial yellow sun. miniaturised, of course. doesn’t hold the same punch as sol, naturally, but it does in a pinch.’
lena steps back when the door cracks and shrieks as kara presses on it and it flattens and peels open beneath her strength.
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