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Lena would have never thought that she’d achieve what Lex and Lillian had failed to do since they started their own vendetta against aliens, particularly the Kryptionians, the Supers.
She was able to completely destroy Supergirl.
Now, anyone – especially her family – would tell you that she’d be lying, that Supergirl was very much alive. That she had not accomplished such feat. The Girl of Steel was still breathing. She was not dead at all.
Oh. But what they didn’t know, and only Lena had been witness of it, is that Supergirl was indeed dead. Maybe not a physical death that the Luthors so desired, but something more important was; her spirit, her soul, her mind, her hope. It was all gone. There was no spark in her eyes, no smile on her lips, no internal flame to keep her going, nothing at all. No desire for anything left. An empty body.
If anyone who knew her came across her, they’d see the drastic change. The thing was that, Supergirl didn’t appear anymore; and what’s worst, there weren’t any people left who knew her closely. Only Lena.
It all started that night at the Pulitzer ceremony, while she was getting ready to give her speech and give Kara, her best friend, the award she so deserved. But apparently, destiny had something else in motion. Kara had approached her and had revealed that she was in fact Supergirl. Lena was not shocked at the revelation. She’d known already, thanks to the bastard of his brother, who in his death bed showed her the truth about Supergirl. The bastard couldn’t die before taking something precious from her, as if the gratification would make his way to hell more pleasant.
Lena had been devastated that night. Her friend, no, friends, had been lying to her all the time. Keeping her in the dark, toying with her, just as any other damn person who got close to her. The curse of being a Luthor. You don’t get friends, you get acquaintances at best, minions with enough coercing, and enemies just by breathing.
She was so hurt by this secret, that her so despised Luthor side emerged with the force of a thousand suns. Her thirst for retaliation and retribution would totally please Lillian. She’d be acting like a Luthor at long last. Lillian always told her that feelings were a waste of time. For once, now she thought the woman might be right.
So, she planned. Lena would show Kara what happens when you mess with a Luthor. She’d taken all the footage Lex had shown her, and she’d hacked on the DEO database to take some files labeled as classified regarding Supergirl. She had prepared a video that would be broadcasted in all National City just after Kara received the award. She had already set an automatic broadcast coming from CatCo, and had used all her resources to hide her web print. No one would know she was the one releasing the information then. She didn’t want to give the lethal punch in one round. She wanted to tell Kara herself at another time, just to make her feel what she felt; to be kept in the shadows and be hurt by people she trusted and loved.
And so, when she had given her speech and Kara had taken the award from her hands, all lights went out, the TVs that were around turned on, as well as all mobile phones and anything with a screen, and the footage was broadcasted. Supergirl’s secret identity, Kara Danvers, was known by everyone in National City before midnight.
Chaos ensued. All media attending the ceremony tried to approach Kara at once, only for them to be blocked by Alex and other members of the DEO, as well Kara’s friends, and in no time, J’onn, in his true form as The Martian Manhunter flew in and took Kara away. Sadly, that was just the beginning of the end.
CatCo’s and the DEO’s phones rang non-stop. Not only the outlet media were trying to get an answer about this reveal; government corporations, companies, even normal citizens were calling to demand an explanation. Many were not polite about it, their comments full of vitriol were taxing on anyone who dared to pick up the phone. CatCo’s website, mail and social media completely overflowed and crashed due to the incoming messages. It was simply unmanageable, so they temporarily suspended their accounts.
Obviously, Kara couldn’t go back to her apartment. Paparazzi waited at the entrance of the building, people were flowing the adjoining buildings and streets. She couldn’t go to any of her friend’s places or Eliza’s either, as the situation was the same. Hordes of people wanted to ask about Supergirl, or simply yell at them for betraying mankind by hiding and adopting an alien. It was overwhelming for everyone. Kara didn’t have any other option but to go take refuge at the Fortress of Solitude, in the meantime, her friends would try to find a solution to this mess. Meanwhile, Lena watched everything unfold. She never stopped to consider the consequences of what she’d just done, at least not at the time.
Lena knew she messed up when she was preparing her final strike barely three days after the broadcasting. She was in hiding, which would be considered a wise choice to avoid the press, and that’s what she’d said to Kara when she left. But the truth is that she was in the final stage of her plan regarding her payback against Kara for deceiving her for so long. She’d use a robot with an image inducer to make it look as if she had been killed, to then, days later comeback and show Kara that she was fine and reveal the truth.
Unfortunately, despite all her preparation, it seemed that she forgot to include a variable in her planning. Kidnapping. She truly never took it into consideration. She never expected people to be so vindictive against Supergirl. For when she was waiting in a remote location, not too far away from National City, after getting the last piece of her plan ready at the place where she told Kara she was hiding at, and was just minutes away to draw her in and give the final blow, her devices caught a transmission made by a group composed of Lex’s old associates and goonies, some former members of Cadmus, and even some civilians who hated aliens. They had coordinated a massive kidnapping in different parts of the city and had taken hostage all of Kara’s friends and family, yes, even Eliza. They had given Supergirl a challenge, try to save as many of her friends and family as possible in the given amount of time. Although of course, it had been all a ruse, the group never had plans of letting them go.
Kara had flown to where Alex was to help her first. Alex had been gravely injured and needed medical assistance soon. Just as Kara was freeing her, she realized that Alex binds were fused with kryptonite, which weakened her and made them almost impossible to break, just when she broke the binds, an explosion followed. It threw them several meters away, the collision and the debris injuring Alex further, mortally. Kara was also injured due to being in contact with the kryptonite; her wounds weren’t life threatening though. When Kara was able to get on her feet, she ran to Alex. Alex asked Kara to hold her, as she felt she was in her final moments, but before she left this world, she had something important to tell Kara. With the help of Brainy, she’d found who had released her secret identity to the world. As Kara held Alex in her arms while trying to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks, Alex revealed that it had been Lena. That Lena was the one who had revealed Kara’s secret. And with final words of ‘I love you, sis.’ Alex Danvers left this world. Kara screamed and sobbed while holding Alex’s body, her head nestled over Alex’s chest, as if waiting to hear a heartbeat, but nothing happened.
Kara carried Alex’s body in her arms and took it back to Alex’s apartment as fast as she could, leaving it there, resting on the couch, as if sleeping. She still had her other friends and family to save. But it was all futile. Just as she was reaching the place where Eliza was being held, she heard multiple explosions in different parts of city, all of them going off at once. Dread filled Kara’s whole being. When she made it to where Eliza was, she realized she didn’t make it in time. Eliza wasn’t alive anymore. Turning back, she flew to where Nia was, just to find the same. She’d been mortally wounded when she was captured, and couldn’t escape the explosion. Kara flew to every location where each of her friends were being held, just to find the same result. None of them were alive. That just left Lena, who had been hiding, or that’s what Kara last knew of her whereabouts.
Lena had hacked some cameras in the city just after hearing the transmission and had seen all the destruction caused by the group and how they had used Kara’s friends to hurt her. She never wanted that to happen! She never wanted innocent people to be murdered just to get at Kara! They had been her friends too. And she knew that Kara was going in that moment to her last disclosed location to find her, just as she had planned. If Kara found ‘her other self’ now, Lena knew that Kara wouldn’t be able to recover from this, not mattering that she was alive somewhere else. Oh, how correct she was.
Kara had flown to the last place Lena had told her she was hiding at. It had been an old warehouse property of L-Corp and that Lena used as an emergency lab. Kara was trying so hard to find Lena’s heartbeat, but when she couldn’t hear none, she became anxious. Tearing the doors apart, she made it underground to where Lena’s lab was located. What she found, was just the final straw that broke Kara. Just as Lena had planned, there was a too realistic robot with an image inducer that was now posing as Lena showing multiple gunshots in her body. At the sight, Kara fell apart. All her world died in that moment, once again. In less than twenty-four hours, everyone she had ever loved was gone, all because of her and her stupid powers. As in trance, with tears flowing down her cheeks, Kara came closer to “Lena’s body” and wept like she’d never wept before, not even when she was a girl and saw her home planet explode, losing everything.
If she’d been her usual self, then maybe she’d noticed that the body was not really Lena. However, in her shattered state, logic was of no importance, her senses were not attuned, her body was now a void. Nothing, absolutely nothing mattered now. In her arms was the person she’d loved the most in this world but hadn’t been able to voice those feelings out of fear of losing her forever. The only one who saw her as just KARA. Not Supergirl, or Kara Danvers, or Kara Zor-El. The only one she could truly be herself was gone, and as usual this was her fault. She couldn’t confirm with her what Alex had told her before; even if it was true, she was sure they could talk about it, fix it, forgive and move on. She didn’t know Lena’s reasons, and if she knew about them, she was sure she’d eventually forgive her, because she loved her so much. Although, it seemed that the universe was against her, that her destiny was to be alone and lose everything she held dear to her heart. Happiness, hope, love; those were just words void of any deep meaning now for her.
Lena arrived to the warehouse lab hours after Kara arrived. She saw the torn doors at the entrance but paid them no mind. She made it further to the underground lab, calling Kara’s name in a low voice, as if afraid to startle her. She didn’t receive a response back, although it wasn’t needed, when she reached her desired location, she found her there. Kara was sitting on the floor, leaning back against a table while holding “Lena’s body”, rocking back and forth. Her usual lively blue eyes were now empty and unfocused, her head tilted to the side, her pink cheeks showed the path where her tear had flowed and that now were dry. This Kara didn’t look as the Paragon of Hope she was known to be. This Kara was now an empty vessel. Alive physically, but dead inside. And Lena had done all of this.
Lena approached Kara and called her her usual words of endearment, but they did nothing to pull Kara from her daze. Nothing made Kara react. Not the hand cupping her cheeks, not the gentle touch petting her hair, not the crushing hug, not the breaking voice full of emotion and begging forgiveness.
With a bit if struggle, Lena was able to take the fake Lena’s body from Kara’s arms and helped her to stand up. Lena noticed the wounds covering Kara’s body due to the kryptonite exposure and the explosions. They were not life threatening, and hopefully with sunlight, Kara would heal in no time. Lena threw one of Kara’s arms around her neck and shoulder, supporting much of her weight and led Kara outside. She needed to take Kara away, some place safe, where no one would find her. She knew about the Fortress of Solitude, but she wasn’t sure she could make it there without triggering some auto-defense mechanism, it would be dangerous, so Lena decided to take Kara to one of her own safe houses, where she could work from to try to fix this mess she had created. Which, now that she considered it, looked impossible.
Thanks to her transmatter watch and by some miracle, Lena had managed to avoid the people who had targeted the Superfriends. Maybe they were too focused celebrating their victory over Supergirl. Whatever reason, Lena was grateful for small miracles. After she’d taken Kara to the safe house, she’d taken it as her personal mission to give a proper burial to all her friends and Kara’s family. She’d gone to some places personally; with trusted people she’d hand-picked and collected their bodies. In some locations, people from the community that supported Supergirl, had taken the bodies to keep them safe, out of respect to them and as Supergirl’s comrades. The gesture made Lena’s eyes become teary. She knew she had no right at shedding tears for them, since this, indirectly had been all her doing in the end, so she kept them at bay, nonetheless, she was touched at their gesture and was thankful to these people.
As Lena worked to find a solution, she also took care of Kara. The Girl of Steel was now a mere shadow of who she was before. Since Lena found her, she’d been basically unresponsive. It broke Lena’s heart, much more than the lies. Lena hated herself and her damned Luthor blood more than ever before, what she’d done to her friend was just unforgivable. She couldn’t deny that the rage and hurt had made her blind, and her instinct was always to counter attack, but she only did it because the heartache had been too much. She loved Kara, and Kara broke her heart with years of lies and deceit, but she truly never wanted to hurt her like this, never on this level. Lena laughed at herself at these thoughts. Oh, how twisted of her to do this to someone she claimed she loved, even in secret, even if she thought her feelings were being unrequited. Which, surprise, surprise! Were not. From what Lena had seen on the footage – which she had been able to stomach just once – Kara had melted down the moment she saw Lena’s body. She had been the last thread that could have kept Kara going, but with her ‘gone’, Kara was too.
After weeks of trying to fix this problem, she realized that this time it was simply useless. There was no solution, at least not on 'this time'. She knew Supergirl had other metahuman friends who could help her, so Lena decided to reach for them to ask for answers regarding the consequences of going back and changing time. She just wanted to mend this, not make a bigger mess after all. So, with some of the DEO’s information she was able to contact Barry Allen, who explained some of the consequences of altering time, as he, in his world had done so, but he was the only aware of it. She also was able to reach Ava Sharpe through Sara Lance, who had known both Kara and Alex. Talking with Sara hadn’t been easy, the woman had been just inches away – literally – from killing Lena had it not been for the intervention of the time bureau agent. After a lot of pleading, Ava had agreed to give Lena the schematics to create a time courier, only with the promise to destroy everything after she finished her mission, and also with the promise of Lena helping Sara if she ever needed it by giving technology that Lena had in her possession, like transmatter portals, among others.
Lena agreed without hesitation. Soon, she began with the construction of her time courier, luckily, some of its components weren’t so different from the transmatter portal watch Lex had created previously. And if she needed something, she had lots of money to spare to get the components she needed. Nothing would stop her from bringing her sunny Kara back.
Weeks passed, but at long last, the time courier was completed. However, hers didn’t have unlimited time jumps like its official time bureau counterpart. It didn’t matter, she really only needed three. One to go back and repair this mess she created, one to return to this time, and one for emergency purposes.
Lena was wary of leaving Kara alone, but if everything went according to plan, this future would cease to exist, and this Kara will be somewhere else, alive. Just like everyone else. Once she returned, she’d apologize to Kara profusely and tell her the truth on how hurt she had been of the lies that she had planned to reveal her identity; on how wrong she was on trying to hurt her back because she broke her heart; on how much the betrayal hurt because she loved her immeasurably. She didn’t know what the outcomes to all these revelations would be, if Kara would forgive her or not, if Kara would still want to be her friend of not, if Kara still believed in her or not. All of that didn’t matter, she was ready for any consequences, as long as she had her beloved, hopeful and kind Kara back.
Going to the room where Kara was sitting, unmoving and unresponsive as she had been all these weeks, she petted her blonde hair and kissed her forehead before whispering “I won’t take long, Kara. Please, forgive me for all the pain I’ve caused you. I promise you I’ll correct my mistakes and atone for my sins. I love you, Kara, with all my heart.”
With those last words, Lena pressed a button on her time courier watch which opened the time portal. She stared right at it with determination, she couldn’t fail, and she wouldn’t. This she swore.
With her back towards Kara, Lena walked through it to go back in time, and soon she was gone.
After the portal closed, Kara’s lips moved faintly, it was almost imperceptible, but you could distinguish the words she had intended to mutter. “I love you too, Lena.”