664Do not own CW or DC characters
Chapter 1 Old Friends and First Loves.
Kara slipped out of bed, put on her robe and left the man sleeping. She quietly unscrewed the red lightbulb and slipped into the front area of her loft. It still seemed strange, the quiet on most nights, not hearing Alex's heartbeat in their room. At times she still woke up in a panic at the absence of the sound she had become attuned to after eleven years of sharing a room, first in Midvale and then here.
Alex was living her life. It had taken Kara months to convince her to move in with Cameron Chase. She listened to every argument against work place relationships, taking their on again off again relationship to the next level, etc. What it came down to was after all this time, since first finding her and Clark from that rocky hole in the ground, Alex was still not convinced Kara could take care of herself.
Her concern was legitimate. Despite being the greatest hero and champion of the world to millions and the Anti Christ and devil to some, depending on who was asked, Kara's demons had not gone away. She had not had any suicidal thoughts in a couple years and only one real attempt two years before. Unfortunately, that attempt was nearly successful leading her adopted parents to place her under protection in the med bay at the DEO for weeks on suicide watch while her therapist Jessica spoke to her for hours everyday. Eliza and Jeremiah finally gave in and tried anti depressants they had designed for her. They had made her immune to Kryptonite when she was 18 and hoped they could finally relieve her crippling depression. Nothing worked, but the misplaced guilt over the tragedy that drove her to the suicide attempt did least Kara convinced them that it had. She was eventually released on the condition she moved in with her adopted parents and Clark for three months and refrained from flying off and saving anyone or fighting any villains.
Kara knew she was screwed up and probably always had been. Her problems, her demons had not gone away when she killed Astra and Non, just taken different forms. The blonde opened a cabinet and pulled out the Thanagarian Whiskey she kept in the very back, when she wasn't hiding it from inspections by her loved ones. Pouring a very large glass, Kara walked to the large window of her loft and gazed at the National City downtown area, the skyscrapers, the monuments, the hotels. Being 2 AM, the city was quiet.
Kara protected this city.
She also protected Metropolis, nearly the entire United States, many European countries, wherever she was needed. She no longer became involved in every crime that she heard in the city. If police arrived she stayed away unless it appeared to need her intervention and only then when she was invited. Of course the police always involved her, knowing what Cat Grant would do to them in print if they refused her offer of assistance and the worst happened because she wasn't allowed to help. Only metahumans, aliens, natural disasters or lives being threatened in fires or car accidents brought her for certain.
Unfortunately the Fort Rozz escapees she had not captured or killed, occasionally showed up on the East or West Coast, finally working up courage over the years to take a shot at the champion of Earth. Some she captured and handed over to the DEO. Most of them, she took to the desert and beat to death. The Kryptonian never used her heat vision in her battles in the middle of nowhere. Every fool who challenged her was an opportunity to release the rage she still kept in her heart. Kara knew many styles of fighting as Astra and Non had learned and did not need heat vision to kill.
Taking a long drink from her tall glass, she relaxed a bit as the liquid warmed her inside. It helped on nights she could not sleep or nights when she did not want to sleep, like tonight. Kara did not enjoy sleeping with him in her bed. She either had to deal with the red sunlight tint or turn it off and risk breaking her long time partner if she had a nightmare and woke up swinging.
Partner.
That was what he was, all he had ever been. He showed up and she used him then sent him away. Living on the other side of the country, she had hoped he would lose interest, become tired of her constant reminding that what they had would never come to anything. Of course he never did. Eventually Kara would have to tell him to stay away and find some other guy to stave off the loneliness but she couldn't seem to quit him yet. She liked him, always had. He was her first and only so far, after all. He and Bruce had fought by her and Alex's side in the battle of the Myriad base, had been her partner in many investigations and battles against humans she could not let loose on. Though her and Bruce worked together much more and much better, than she did with him, unlike Alex and Bruce he never preached restraint. He never preached anything.
Taking another drink she laughed quietly when Streaky jumped on her, clawing her cotton robe and scaling up to her shoulder where she loved to stay. Something about Kara's hair had always been an addiction to the alley cat that had found her and refused to go away.
"Can't sleep either? I know you don't like him but he is a good guy. Don't worry, he will be gone in the morning and it will be the two of us again, I promise. Then you can reclaim your sleep spot."
The two continued to stare out the window, Kara continuing to drink and Streaky purring until the cat hissed and jumped off her shoulder. With a red sun light, Kara would not have heard him but without it, no one could sneak up on her, no matter how quiet. A heart beat could only be quieted one way, one the blonde was very familiar with.
An arm slipped around her from behind and a chest pressed to her back.
"Do you think that cat is ever going to like me?" Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing, asked the blonde.
"Maybe she is trying to tell you something." Kara told him. "Why did you come tonight, Grayson?"
"Last name? I haven't spent enough time here to make you angry. I think you know why I came tonight. I missed you."
"You missed me? How in the hell can you miss me? I treat you horribly. What does it take to get you to move on? I would imagine you can have your pick of women. There has to be one or two attractive females in Bludhaven, even if it is worse than the Narrows."
"I don't want other women."
"And I don't want you. I don't want anybody." Kara told him, not for the first time or even the hundredth.
"And yet you still let me in. Have you ever considered that I am the only guy who can actually understand you? Maybe if you weren't so scared to admit feelings you…"
"You don't understand me. If you did, I would worry for your sanity."
"I spent my teen years with Bruce Wayne. My sanity left me long ago." he countered.
"No, it didn't. You have held on to your heart, to your mind. Despite what has happened to you, Dick Grayson, you are a good person. You aren't like me or Bruce and that is a good thing. Don't loose it. If I let you into my life, really let you in, it would destroy you. There isn't happiness to be found here. Not with me."
"Maybe not, but you are here. Thats good enough for me."
Kara shook her head and took another drink, this time draining the glass.
"I'm done. If you come back, I'm not letting you back in. Stay in Bludhaven."
"You say that every time and yet here we are."
"I'm serious this time, Dick" Kara practically yelled. "I can't keep doing this too you. I don't love you. This isn't me playing hard to get or being afraid to express my emotions. It is the way it is. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to or want to love a man. Please don't make me hurt you anymore."
Dick's argument was cut off by Darth Vader's theme music playing in the background. He knew that ringtone was reserved for only one man.
"Its 2 AM, you don't have to answer him every time he calls, you know? He can take care of himself. He likes to remind everyone of that."
Kara ignored him and answered.
"Whats wrong, Bruce?"
Kara knew he never called her this late unless something was wrong. A bomb that the so called Joker had planted, that he needed her vision and hearing to find, a homicidal monster pumped up on steroids named Bane who constantly escaped. Perhaps she would get to kill him this time without her friend preaching about justice. Kara knew justice. She didn't need the Batman giving her lessons on his version which involved branding and causing brain damage due to slamming bad guys heads into cement blocks.
"I figured out what that sharp energy spike in Central City was. I think my theory about alternate universes is true."
"I'll call you back in the air." Kara told him immediately.
One week ago a sharp spike in power, one not seen since a black hole opened up over Central City a year before, had occurred. Fearing another black hole and not counting on the red speedster to stop it this time, she had Clark, Jeremiah and Eliza sent to the Fortress, ready to leave this planet as soon as she and Alex determined the extent of the damage and could join them. Over the years, Kara had built a rather large ship, expanding her and Clark's orignal pod and had the flgiht plans to several habitable planets that her family could easily thrive on.
Fortunately the power spike picked up by Kelex disappeared without a particle accelerator explosion or black hole opening over S.T.A.R. Labs. Kara had been halfway to Central City with Alex and her jet behind her when Bruce told her the event seemed to have stopped. The blonde was hell bent on raiding S.T.A.R. Labs and finally putting an end to the seemingly endless Armageddon causing experiments they must have constantly conducted.
Bruce talked her out of it, asking for time to investigate before Kara scared the entire world by taking apart a large structure in the middle of a large city.
Now she had an answer, part of an answer at least.
Rushing into the bedroom, she came out in an alternate costume, one of many she never wore during the day, due to the hell Cat Grant raised about her public image and her adopted father raised about people trying to look up the short blue skirt. He wasn't a fan of the blue midriff exposing top either. Her argument that a woman needed options did not sway his mind.
Taking off out the window without a word, she left Dick Grayson standing there in boxers being hissed at by an incredibly annoying cat.
"Just you and me, Streaky. No matter what I do or where I go, Bruce will always have a way of ruining my nights. You know she loves me, right? She will come around. Six years we have been doing this. She tells me to stay away and lets me in when I show up. I'm thinking of moving to National City. Best we become friends, huh? I'm talking to the damn cat. Get it together, Grayson."
He heard the door being opened and turned quickly, not being able to guess who would enter Kara's home so late but imagining it couldn't be good. Moving quickly to the kitchen, he grabbed a butcher knife from the drawer and stood in the dark kitchen corner.
The light flicked on.
"Put whatever homemade weapon or knife you have on you down, Grayson. I saw your bike in the garage. I can't believe you rode cross country."
Dick straightened up, no longer in attack stance as Alex Danvers, DEO agent during the day and the vigilante known as Manhunter to some, and as Supergirl's partner to others, walked in. The two had fought side by side many times while Kara and Bruce were out playing, both in Gotham and National City. They even busted up a few weapons deals in Metropolis every now and then until the gun runners got the message.
"Alex? Kind of late for a visit." he mentioned, eyeing the bag in her hand.
"Yeah, this isn't a visit. I'm moving back in."
Grayson shook his head.
"Kara doesn't need you to watch out for her."
"Oh yeah? I can smell that foul alien alcohol from the hallway and the glass is empty. Besides, I'm not moving back in at 3 AM because I woke up and decided she was going to try and kill herself again, or maybe accidentally drink herself to death. My significant other doesn't think I am significant any longer. Cameron has decided to become the Deputy Director of the DEO's Metropolis office. Apparently she wants to go alone. Feels we need space. She is leaving in the morning and I sure as hell wasn't going to sleep there tonight and say goodbye."
Dick was not surprised. Cameron Chase and Alex Danvers had been an item since Alex was 19 and Chase was 24. The relationship had good times in the beginning from what he understood but Alex preferred to spend her nights riding the town, looking for trouble, conducting research into threats Kelex had found, or taking on metahumans and aliens with Kara.
Chase saw the DEO as a career for her to climb to the top of and Alex saw the DEO and being a vigilante at night as her passion and what she was meant for in life. It would never have worked out in the long term. They both wanted different things and the different things were far apart. The lives they led, all of them, he wondered, not for the first time, if it was worth the sacrifice. Alex and him had zero personal lives and Kara and Bruce had too many demons to count for either to consider being in a relationship. Kara was convinced she was incapable of loving someone romantically and the only action Bruce had gotten in years was from a cat burglar in very tight vinyl.
"Kara just went to meet my competition for her time. Besides you I mean. Bruce called, probably with someone to fight so she is in the air to wherever he is. Its no wonder TMZ is always spreading the rumor that the Gotham City Bat and Supergirl are having an affair. I'll take the couch, you can have the bed."
Alex laughed at that idea. "Absolutely not. Judging by the fact that you are here and half naked, it is obvious what has gone on in that bed tonight. I'll drop my bag in there and take the couch. I'm not in the mood for sleep anyway. You know she already subleased the place? Said she knew I would move back in with Kara. She was right I guess. I wouldn't stay in that apartment another second. We moved in together because she thought it would pull us closer, solve some of our problems. That was a great idea obviously."
Grayson walked into the bedroom and came back out a minute later, dressed in jeans and a white tee shirt. Walking to the fridge he pulled the bottle of human safe Jack Daniels that Kara kept for nights she wore her bracelet and wanted to sober up quickly if someone were coming over. He poured his sometimes crime fighting partner a glass as well as his.
Alex sipped hers, not really in the mood to have a drink. She had too much on her mind and Kara drank enough for both of them.
"I'm done with her this time. If she asks me to go to Metropolis in a few months, I am still done. I told her that tonight. Apparently I am obsessive about everything but her."
"Maybe you should give up the late night crime fighting." Dick suggested. "It isn't like the cops are incompetent in this city."
"Dick, I found a couple orphans in a cave once and have taken care of them ever since. I made that decision and I have never regretted it. I still don't and she still needs help. No matter what she has accomplished in a lot of ways she is still that scared girl in the cave with a baby, in over her head. You are right, the cops can take care of some things but the metas and aliens? Kara does great, unless she is drunk."
"The public has never seen her drunk." he argued.
"Yeah, they have, they just don't realize it. If you ever see her take a punch and fall back, she is drunk. Nothing on this Earth is as strong or as fast as she is. Nobody has as much rage as she does. No one and nothing can beat her in a fight, especially when she is angry. I get it, I have been with her through everything and if you don't think she needs protection from herself you then you are an idiot."
"Kara has been living on her own for four months…"
'And has been drinking every night. She used to cut herself, break her bones, burn herself with her heat vision. She tried to commit suicide when she was 14 and then when she was 22 using a straight razor and one of those damn red lights. If Mom hadn't found her when she did, Kara would have died on the bathroom floor. She used to harm herself to forget for a little while, but then the guilt would come. Now she is using alcohol and you instead of pain. You need to stop sleeping with her, Dick. She is using you and if she hurts you it will be just another thing she will feel guilty about. You don't deserve it either."
"I'm a big boy. I can handle hurt. Trust me, Alex, she tells me all the time to leave her alone. She won't need to feel any guilt, because I am stupid enough to keep coming back. What am I supposed to do? I love her."
Alex passed her still full glass to Grayson who had drained his.
"I don't know, Dick. I really don't. Bruce can keep her from going over the edge tonight. I am going to lay on the couch and try to sleep, for a few hours anyway. Kara can help move my stuff tomorrow night."
Dick smiled, recognizing the look in her eyes.
"I brought my suit. We could go for a ride, maybe by the docks? I am sure there is something that needs our attention. Alfred is up and I am betting Brother Eye is fired up. Want to have a little fun?"
Alex thought about it, then unzipped her bag, pulling out the copper and silver armored suit, expandable compressed light baton that could break concrete and her two favorite guns.
"Hell yes, Nightwing. I really need to hit something or someone tonight. Preferably an evil blonde named Cameron who is bent on world domination."
While the Manhunter and Nightwing prepared to have their version of fun in National City, Kara was flying towards Central City passing Mach 2 and climbing.
"Talk to me Bruce. What have you found out?"
"There was some sort of large machine, a vertical circle and it appears the Flash and this Zoom character were racing. Then there were two Flashes…"
"Two? How in the hell were their two? You told me to stay out of Central City business and let this Flash guy handle it. Now there are two of them? Could it be a time remnant? Tell me this guy can't time travel, Bruce."
"It is possible he recruited a Flash from an alternate dimension or if time travel is a technique he has learned, it very well could have been a time remnant. The second Flash continued to run and burned up from the speed but did destroy the machine. The other Flash, the one I believe is the actual Flash, took Zoom on in combat and readings Brother Eye were picking up were unheard of. I do believe that tachyons were being used and the machine was a possible merger of universes. It appears to have belonged to this Zoom. From what I could see after the Flash defeated him, Zoom was torn…"
"The Flash defeated Zoom? Because the last time I saw Zoom on television he was carrying the Flash through the streets. I go to the other side of the world to help with recovery efforts from the Tsunami and a hoard of metas attacked Central City. I should have dealt with this when I got back. Why the hell did you insist I stay out of Central City business, again? I could have taken this Zoom guy's head off in seconds. A dose of freeze breath at absolute zero and a strike to shatter his skull and it would have been over."
"The Flash has been getting better and Central City is still safe. He dealt with the metas. Now I am wondering if they were from sort of alternate universe. If you had gotten involved he never would have felt confident. You can't police the world, Kara, no matter how hard you try. He is doing well and the city is safe."
"You think Central City is safe? I had my family minutes away from being rocketed to another solar system to avoid a black hole over S.T.A.R. labs. First Harrison Wells and the particle accelerator explosion, then the anomaly over S.T.A.R. and now some machine that almost merged theoretical alternate universes. I want answers. I'm not staying out of it any longer."
"We are there to investigate and talk. Stay calm."
"I am as calm as the situation calls for." Kara told him.
"There is something else you should know. I hesitate to tell you this but it is important that you do not lose control if you see him. Brother Eye has picked up something else. I have had it searching Central City going back as far as six months to try and pinpoint this Zoom character's identity. Kara…Harrison Wells is not dead. He has been working out of S.T.A.R."
Kara's anger intensified. Since she was 18, she had stayed out of Barry Allen's life for his own protection. After hearing Lex Luthor threaten his life to manipulate Kara, she realized any sort of relationship they could have had, never could have happened. She had cut off contact and purposely avoided visiting Central City.
But she did read the news.
First, Barry had been struck by lighting caused by a dark matter cloud from the particle accelerator explosion then two years later, Harrison Wells, the same Harrison Wells who had supposedly been sucked into a black hole admitted on video to killing Barry's mother. Kara wanted to kill him.
But he was already dead.
And now he wasn't.
"He is a dead man legally. I plan to make it a reality. By the time you arrive, I will already have taken care of it. I may even fly him to the moon. I haven't made a trip there in a while. Go back to Gotham."
"I'm actually five minutes from S.T.A.R. I started before I called you. You cannot kill, Kara. The world watches everything you do. This is a very public place in a large city."
"Then why the hell did you call me at all?!" Kara shouted.
"I believe I have a way of stopping the Flash if I need to, in the event he is working with or protecting Wells. If it doesn't work, I may need you…"
"To treat him like Zoom treated him?" Kara guessed. "You don't want me to kill Wells? Fine, I will put him in a coma. That hit man working for Falcone that you took out last week, is in a coma. Remember that? You slammed his head through a concrete wall. Why do you give me crap about killing bad guys while you have no problem putting them in permanent comas?"
"I may have gone too far." the Batman admitted. "He was armed as were his friends. I did not have time to play nice."
"Whatever Bruce. Once again, your methods are fine, mine aren't. You can use a brand but if I burn someone with heat vision its wrong."
"Because you are who you are, Kara!" Bruce told her, again, over and over through the years. "You are who the world looks to for the best. The world does not expect that of me. If I brand someone, I am a criminal, nothing new. My job is to scare criminals to the point that they do not want to be on the streets any longer. You are the symbol this world needs when people feel threatened. Like it or not, you have to be seen in public behaving differently than I do. How many damn times do I have to tell you this?"
"About 422 by my count in the last six years and I still think it is hypocritical. We can argue later while I am improving your toys. I'm three minutes away. Go in and I will stay above. If I see Wells, I am coming inside in a dramatic fashion, superhero landing, one knee, hair flip and the slow motion rise. I may even let the eyes glow so he knows how screwed he is."
Batman took a deep breath, thinking he should probably have taken his chances with the Flash on his own. "The public is not surprised by my tactics. Yours will always be scrutinized. Some of those cults that worship you may find another savior if you are seen blowing up labs with your heat vision. Also keep in mind that we do not know what other experiments are inside and if you hit one with heat vision it could cause a chain reaction..."
"Bruce?' Supergirl interupted. "Shut up and do what you do and I will do what I do. One way or another, I am not staying out of Central City business any longer. I am sick of the end of the world scenarios."
"I stayed out of Star City and your hooded friend dropping more bodies than the men he was after at your request and you stayed out of Central City. That was the deal. The Flash is young, new, but he has saved the city and by extension the world and shows a lot of potential. He could be a valuable ally for us, Kara. He stopped the anomaly, he stopped whatever machine this was. Give S.T.A.R. a chance to explain. If Harrison Wells is alive I will take him in."
"As far as a teammate we do fine on our own." Kara told him one again, a discussion they had multiple times over the years. "If there is something J'onn, Alex and Dick aren't enough to handle I can send a message to Lobo. All you ever talk about is this damn team you want to form. You are starting to give me an inferiority complex. I see the building…and I see you. You go in, but if I hear anything I don't like, I will light that place up."
"Understood." the Batman agreed, figuring this was as much as he would get from her. He knew she didn't stay out of Central City due to his request. A boy, from what he understood, the first boy she ever went on a date with, probably the only, her first kiss…and the guy she gave up after hearing Lex Luthor threaten to kill him to manipulate her into thinking the DEO did it. The closer she was, the more tempted she was to contact him, even after six years.
"And I can't believe you just mentioned calling that psycho for help if we need it. I am certain I would rather let the world end than ask that genocidal monster who is obsessed with you for help."
"Thats too bad. He really likes you." the blonde told him but at least she sounded humored now instead of enraged.
Bruce did not respond to that comment. He couldn't stand Kara's intergalactic bounty hunter friend and she knew it.
"Okay, I am hovering over the roof on the West Side and going in. Have you been drink…"
"Don't go there, Bruce." Kara told him quickly.
"Fine, I will take that as a yes. I'm going to enter through the roof. No one should be there at this time of night. I will check the place out, examine the experiments and…"
"And if you find Harrison Wells sleeping in there or I see him from above it's going to be a race to see which of us can get to him first."
"Stay above cloud cover at daylight and please let me handle it. The Flash is a good guy. We may need him one day. I will call your name if I can't get answers, but you know I always do."
"I'll be here. I need to circle the area and X ray this accelerator pipeline anyway, figure out where I can cave it in to ensure it never works again, accidentally or otherwise."
As the clock turned to 8 AM, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow walked into S.T.A.R. labs to begin the work day. It had been slow, Cisco working on improvements to weapons Central City PD used against Metas and Caitlin working on minor projects putsourced from Mercury Labs. The lab felt deserted since Harry and Jessie had returned to Earth 2, Wally had returned to school and Barry was still grieving the death of his father. The man had been devastated and defeating Zoom had not helped. Iris had been comforting him as much as possible, but Henry Allen being murdered in front of Barry was something they all knew would scar him for life just as his mother's murder did.
As they walked into the main control area of the lab, the lights cut off.
"Forget to pay the light bill, Caitlin?" Cisco asked nervously. S.T.A.R. had back up power that was instantaneous so no power was ever lost to the meta cells.
"No. fairly certain I paid it. I hope the city hasn't puled our permits again." she muttered, feeling nervous as well. S.T.A.R. under Caitlin and Cisco had improved its reputation, especially in regards to helping the police. Therefore if the power was out, they could be under attack by a meta.
As it turned out, the threat was worse than a meta.
"Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow. We need to talk." a deep voice growled from the corner. The two turned around and could barely make out the figure, but the eyes and mask were enough to know who this was. He had been seen often, even assisted the Gotham City PD though they denied this, and the world at large considered him a hero…of a sort. He fought crime and was tight with Supergirl. HIs relationship with the greatest Superhero in the world was enough to sway public opinion in his favor. The public looked over his brutal methods for the most part.
This did not change the other things Caitlin and Cisco had heard. Supposedly he wasn't human. He was bulletproof, could fly, had an arsenal of heavy weaponry, jets, tanks, machines that could be both. It was said he once cleared out a warehouse of fifteen armed men and walked out without a scratch, leaving them all broken and unconscious with bat symbols branded onto their foreheads. Some said he was an alien like Supergirl or using alien weapons she gave him. Whatever he was, it was agreed by everyone that he was not someone you wanted to find in a dark room waiting on you.
Now he was here. Whatever they had done to garner his attention could not have been good.
"You are … him." Cisco squeaked out.
"I am aware of that. We have some issues to discuss. It would be best to talk to me. I have a friend floating high above listening to everything and if I don't get answers to her questions, then she will ask them herself."
"Supergirl?" Caitlin asked, hoping it was true.
Barry was always hesitant to talk about her. Caitlin had suggested several times that he contact her for help against Zoom but Barry seemed worried. As if he thought Supergirl could be harmed by Zoom. It made no sense to her. But if the girl was here, perhaps they didn't need to deal with the fear this man was generating inside them.
"Yeah, Supergirl." Cisco guessed. "Supergirl help, please? Take your very scary and possibly psychotic friend out of our home." the man finished loudly, wondering not for the first time how far she could actually hear.
"Sit down. You may not believe this, but I am the good cop in this scenario. First question. Where is Harrison Wells? I either take him restrained to the police station or my friend takes him to the morgue in a body bag. I am the best chance he has of surviving. That man hurt an old friend of hers once and I promise you she wants to destroy him. She lacks my restraint."
"Harry? Harry went back to…I mean…Dr. Wells is dead, or was dead, but the Harry we know, see the first Dr. Wells wasn't Dr. Wells. The real Dr. Wells died and another Wells took over but we didn't know, then …this is going to be hard to buy but the Harry who was just here was a Harry from another…Earth. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. If you give me a chance to explain…"
"I know about alternate universes or at least had a theory that they were possible and your event last week proved it to me. I am concerned that over the past few years, S.T.A.R. has a habit of being involved in possible world ending events. "
"I just sent a text to the Flash." Caitlin whispered.
"What I want to know is what happened, why did it happen, how did Zoom and the other metas get here and how do I make sure it never happens again?" Bruce asked calmly. "It has to stop. I can't stop her. One more accident and she will finish what whichever Harrison Wells started and tear this place to the ground. She isn't as subtle as I am."
"We are talking about Supergirl, right? Wears a skirt, bright blonde hair, beautiful, perfect white teeth, always smiling, talking to children in the streets. That Supergirl?" Caitlin hoped.
Batman stared at her for a moment, deciding it was best to not answer that. If he could find answers Caitlin Snow, would never find out how wrong she was about who Supergirl really was.
"I suppose I will wait to speak to the Flash. Before he arrives shortly, I must insist if you know where Harrison Wells is, tell me now. She won't care for explanations about alternate Earths. I am his best chance of surviving."
"The man you think is the Harrison Wells of this Earth is no longer here. He went back to where he came from. I will explain everything if you will just turn the lights back on." Cisco pleaded.
Batman said nothing, standing in place and making no move to turn the lights on. The man had two syringes, one attached to the top of each of his hands. The Flash would stand in front of him, hesistate. It was a weakness with him. He gave his opponenets time to guess his move because he wasn't even sure what his move was. The Flash would not phase a hand into Batman's chest. He would come close and be injected with two very heavy, fast acting sedatives he had developed. Enough to drop him without killing him. With the lights on, the needles could be seen.
Barry had just arrived at work when he got the text from Caitlin. It was simple. Help, under attack from Batman.
He was not sure what that meant exactly, not imagining the Gotham City vigilante having any reason to be in Central City. He left a word with Joe to follow and took off as soon as he was out of sight.
Arriving at S.T.A.R. moments later, he first noted the lights were off and the usually well lit hallways were eerily dark. If he had any doubts that the Batman or someone dressed like Batman was actually here, they were gone. Moving into the dark control room, he stood in front of Cisco and Caitlin, vibrating slightly.
It was true. The man was here. Barry had no idea how to approach this. Some said the man was a hero. Others called him a psychopath. He was obviously tight with Supergirl so Barry always assumed he had to be good but right now he looked more demonic than human. For the first time, the Flash wondered if Batman was an alien like Supergirl.
"Why are you here?" his vibrating voice asked, form a blur and ready for anything. This man was notorious for weapons and traps. If he was in S.T.A.R. when Caitlin and Cisco arrived who knew how long he had been here the night before and what he could have done to the place.
"I am here for Harrison Wells. I am also here to determine how I can assist you in preventing end of the world scenarios before a friend of mine loses her very tenuous grip on her temper and takes matters into her own hands."
"Wells? Wells is…"
"Not dead. At least as of last week. I pulled up footage of your fight with Zoom. I know he was there. Your friend was about to explain the intricacies of the multiverse but perhaps I can hear it from you?"
"Maybe you could have made an appointment instead of breaking in." Barry told him. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you out right now."
The Flash secretly hoped he gave him a good reason because this man's appearance was setting off every warning bell in Barry's head.
"Am I a good enough reason?" Supergirl asked, walking inside.
Bruce was relieved to see she hadn't crashed in from the roof. Perhaps she would remain calm.
"Touch him and I tear you limb from limb. You have been protecting a man who hurt a friend of mine twice. One who was nearly killed by the particle accelerator explosion. He is going to get answers or I will and you won't like my methods, Flash."
Perhaps not, Bruce thought.
Barry stopped vibrating, standing perfectly still, laying eyes on her in person for the first time in six years, the night he was her first dance and her first kiss. The one night that made him forget about his belief that Iris would have always been his true love. Even after Eddie died the two had talked about being together but he never could get her out of his head. Kara Danvers, the girl who taught him to love speed. He had even given serious consideration to transferring to NCU to be near her, to give them a legitimate chance. A chance that she ended abruptly two weeks before she became known to the world as Supergirl. He knew she did it to protect him probably, but he never got her out of his mind.
The stop in vibrations gave Kara her first look at the man. She took in his lean frame, not surprised that the Zoom monster had made him seem small on television in comparison. His suit seemed to be an interesting type of fabric, almost turnout gear but slimmed down.
Then her eyes met his and she lost her breath. Reaching unconsciously into her top and pulling out the necklace that had been given to her at Christmas by a boy she knew she could have loved, before her life changed forever. Her thumb rubbed the golden lightning bolt at the end of the chain. She knew those eyes. They were the eyes of the first man she ever kissed.
"Barry?" Kara whispered.
The Flash pulled back his mask.
"Hey Kara. Its been a while, I guess."
No one said a word, Batman's mind racing, remembering that Barry Allen was the name Kara had told him once. The guy she forced herself to stay out of Central City for. The one who had been hit by lightning and his mother murdered by Harrison Wells.
He was the Flash.
Caitlin sat back taking all this in. Barry had known? Kara? He knew her name? All this time, Barry had known who Supergirl really was, something the media and Governments of the world could not discover and he never said a word.
Cisco fought to keep his mouth shut, finding it difficult not to comment on how hot she was in person, how her bare abs were amazing and her legs…only the thought of being burnt to nothing by heat vision kept his mouth closed. He hadn't processed the fact that his best friend was having a conversation with Supergirl, that they knew each other and he missed the longing and desperation in the blonde's eyes as she stared at Barry.
"You still wear the necklace." Barry noticed.
"Every time I put on a skirt and cape." the girl admitted. "Actually, I only take it off for bed. I don't want it to snag in my hair and break." she told him, still in disbelief that he was in front of her.
"You think we could talk somewhere? Alone?"
"Yeah…I think that would be best."
"Follow me." A streak of red followed by a streak of blue left the room, leaving the two scientists alone with the masked vigilante.
"So seriously, can you turn the lights back on?" Cisco asked.
Deciding this turn of events could lead to a prolonged stay, Bruce thought this would be best. Whatever was going on, Harrison Wells was not here.
"Kelex, turn the lights back on."
The lights remained off.
"Kelex?"
"Unless Kara, Alex, Both Dr. Danvers, J'onn Jonzz and Jason Connolly are incapacitated you are not in control of the Fortress. Only Alex has been given override order permission in the event Kara is still ambulatory but has suffered an extreme mental or emotional breakdown."
"I get it!" the man growled, wondering how many years it would be before he moved up the chain of command in regards to her toys. She stole his Lamborghini last month and he hadn't said a word. Now her robot servant wouldn't even turn the power back on.
"I have it, sir." Alfred told him, having listened to the feed as always.
The lights were back on and in the brightly lit room, he tended to stand out.
"They may be a while. Please take me on tour in the light of this place and tell me everything that has gone on since Harrison Wells began building this accelerator."
"Yeah, I can definitely do that. Uh…did you know they were friends? Because we didn't know." Cisco asked.
"I have never looked into the identity of the Flash. I have kept her from getting involved and she stayed out of Central City for her own reasons. Reasons I won't discuss. A tour, please?"
"Right this way." Cailtin offered, walking out quickly, leaving Cisco scrambling behind her.
Despite the unease he still felt, lessened from the fear a moment ago before Barry had arrived, Cisco could not help himself.
"Could I ask you some questions about your suit?"
"No."
Inside the speedster room, the alien and metahuman took each other in. Neither was quite sure where to start, so Kara decided she would make the first move.
"So its you. All those times I saw you hurt, the times I agreed to stay out of Central City, to let you handle things, and it was you. I pushed you away so you could be safe and now…this happened."
Barry shrugged his shoulders.
"I know I could have called you but…I needed to do this on my own. You have been saving the world, helping save thousands all over the place. You had more important…"
"Nothing would have been more important, Barry. Nothing. Are you okay? I know that Zoom broke your…"
Kara could not finish the sentence.
"I healed. It wasn't your fight, it was mine."
"What happened?" she asked, sure she wasn't going to like any of this.
Barry took a deep breath and told her, neither of them moving, standing in one place, only a few feet apart. The more Kara, heard the farther apart from him she felt.
"Your father…Barry, I don't know…I should have been here. I never should…I didn't want to know more about you. It hurt when I looked in on you so I stopped. I thought you were happy, living life, being safe. I…damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Kara shouted. She had given him up so he could be safe, live life the way it was supposed to be lived.
"Why didn't you just call me? You knew how to find me. You knew who I was. I would have been here, done anything. Didn't you know? I could have killed…I could have killed Zoom in seconds. I had a plan in place in the event the Flash could not handle it. It would have been so easy. I should have protected you! I left you, wanted you to be safe and this…Damn it!"
"Kara, it wasn't your fault. I know I could have called you. I didn't want anymore people I cared about being hurt. Bringing you in, I get it, okay? I have seen the aliens and metahumans you have taken on but this guy…he was a demon. He could have killed you. He could have phased a hand…"
"One dose of freeze breath at absolute zero and I shatter his skull. Thats it! I never should have let him talk me out of becoming involved …I wasn't strong enough. I agreed because it was difficult, being in Central City and not finding you. I didn't want to spy on you. I knew you had recovered from the lightning strike and I let it go. Then Wells admitted to killing your mother, I saw the news, realized he must have been a meta. I had no idea about time travel of course. Batman and I talked about the possibilities but didn't think it was feasible. I should have found you after the black hole opened up but I was focused on…damn it! All this hurt you suffered…I should have been there. You weren't safe at all, were you?"
"I was doing what I had to do, what I needed to do. I could have found you. I guess I am one of the few people outside your family that know who you really are, right?"
Kara nodded her head.
"I wear glasses still but they are able to cast an illusion over my hair to darken it and change the color of my eyes. It has worked pretty well. I guess I never got to tell you the glasses I had, I wore to protect me from facial recognition. The ones I wear still do. But yeah, I live in the same place. Still have the same cat. Still ride the same bike."
"I miss that bike. One of my biggest regrets is we didn't have more time. Your face was kind of studied in detail after you made your appearance in that baseball stadium. Anyone who knew you well had to know. I guess Lena knows?"
"No. The reason, one of the reasons I broke off contact with you, Lex always knew who I was. He planted information I believed…it doesn't matter. I overheard him telling my friends you met, that he planned to have you killed and frame them for it so I would no longer trust them. He wanted me to himself, reliant on him. Lena did know who I was after that day in the stadium. I have a friend who can erase memories, plant false ones. I knew I didn't need to deal with Lex. I had too many other enemies to fight, so my friend erased all knowledge and memories of me from Lex and Lena. I haven't seen or spoken to her since."
"She was your only friend." Barry remembered.
"It was for the best. If she knew, she would tell Lex whether he remembered me or not. I couldn't erase his memories and leave hers alone."
"But you didn't have your friend do the same to me." Barry pointed out.
Kara shook her head and looked at the floor. "It was selfish but I knew you wouldn't out me and I couldn't stand the thought of you not remembering me. I couldn't handle that. I knew you would move on but I wanted to live in your memory, even if it was a small part."
"I am glad. I would have hated to lose the memory of that weekend, of our talks, of your voice. You were never a small part. Not a day has passed I haven't thought of you, Kara. I thought maybe if I told you who I was we could…I don't know. Then everything happened and the alternate dimensions and time travel…I didn't want you caught up in the mess."
Neither said anything, Kara kicking herself inside for not being there and Barry wishing he would have asked for her help. He had no problem asking Oliver for help but he never could bring himself to ask her.
Supergirl cleared her throat. "So…I guess I…I mean we should go…oh no."
Kara moved quickly out the door and Barry followed her. They moved into the pipeline and found Joe West on his knees, Alex and Dick suited up and behind him and Batman in front. Alex had the man's gun aimed at him.
"What is going on?! What are you two doing here?" Kara asked, slightly panicked.
" We flew here when Kelex told me where you were heading and who you were after. I wanted to make sure you didn't tear down S.T.A.R. Labs. This man decided to point a gun at Batman,"
"He broke into this lab!" West complained.
"You were party to an illegal metahuman prison for over a year, Detective West. I won't tell on you, if you don't tell on me." Batman suggested.
"Al…Manhun..just put down the gun! Let the man up." Kara nearly shouted.
"Okay." Alex agreed, feeling a bit of humor at the situation. Detective West had no idea how lucky he was that she had arrived. Batman did not react well to guns being aimed at him. Usually someone found themselves put through a wall or bones broken. She was also pleasantly surprised Kara was not beating the Flash.
"You are Nightwing and Manhunter." Cisco whispered, thinking this was either one of the coolest or scariest mornings of his life.
Joe stood up and Alex handed him his gun.
"What do you know about a supposed illegal…" Joe started before Kara interrupted.
"He is Batman, he knows. When he walked around last night he found the cells. I imagine he has video of this place and all the activities for the past year, right Batman?"
"She knows me well. I think it would be best if we just chalk this all up to an unfortunate misunderstanding."
"Yeah, fine." Joe told him, feeling a bit of fear that this man had knowledge of the one big criminal act that their team had been a part of before Iron Heights was able to hold metahumans. "I think you should all leave …you are Supergirl. I haven't seen you in that outfit before."
"If Dad sees her in it…" Alex stopped talking, for the first time noting the Flash did not have his mask on.
"Barry Allen?" the girl whispered.
"Hey Alex. Nice suit."
Alex looked at Kara, searching her face to see what her reaction had been or was right now. This could be good or bad. With Kara it could be either and random.
"Yeah, I will explain everything later. We should go. I guess Kelex has your jet…"
"She has her own jet?!" Cisco asked.
"Yeah, its parked next to Batman's at a hangar S.T.A.R. owns. Kelex, bring it over, land it in the parking lot." Alex ordered.
"You have someone who can control it?!"
"Cisco, now isn't the time." Barry told him. "You have to go now?" he asked Kara.
"I…I should. Yeah, I have to get to…work! Yes, I have a job and am an hour late already. I am sure I will get an angry phone call any minute. Yeah, I should get out of here. Nightwing, I suppose you can catch a ride with Batman?"
Dick hadn't taken his eyes off Barry Allen. He had been told about him one night, when he and Alex had been talking. He knew who the man was. He was the guy Alex swore Kara could have loved if she didn't have to give him up to be Supergirl. Now he was the Flash.
And Kara was shaken. Kara was never shaken. This guy's presence was affecting her, had her thrown. She wouldn't take her eyes off Barry Allen.
Dick thought of the necklace, the lightning bolt, she only took off …when he was over.
"Actually I need to go back to your place. We kind of rushed off this morning to help you. My clothes are still there."
Kara turned and stared, open mouthed at Dick Grayson. Bruce and Alex dropped their heads. Both had an idea who would be the next target of Kara's wrath and this would most likely turn into a very bad day for Nightwing.