In her secret heart, Lena craved that. She wanted Kara to give back everything Lena had thrown at her. Defeat her. Crush her. Cast her down and treat her like a villain. After all, why had Kara lied? Conspired? Tricked her and manipulated her? Why do all that if she wasn’t a villain?
In her quietest moments with Myriad in her hands or staring at the twisted visage of an alien murderer, a quiet voice from deep within her whispered the truth she could never let herself feel:
This is what you are. It’s in the blood.
If Kara would just treat her like a villain, it would all make sense. There would be no more nagging doubts, no more questions, no more hateful longing. Lena has done everything she could to carve it out of her chest, but it gave her no relief, only the raw throbbing pain of a ragged wound that wouldn’t close.
Then she had been at L-Corp when Jess ran into her office in a blind panic, shouting that she had to turn the television on now, that something terrible had happened.
Lena stared at her dumbly because she already knew. She could feel it somehow, a wash of graveyard chill that enveloped her from nowhere and froze the rotten lump where her heart had been. Her hand shook as she lifted the remote and turned on the screen.
The news chyron stuck her like a hammer blow to the chest and her pathetic excuse for a last meal -a cold half of a Big Belly burger she’d eaten the night before- leapt into her throat, trying to escape.
Supergirl Dead?
They hadn’t called her, and why would they? Why seek her help after all she’d done?
Lena pushed to her feet, almost tumbling to the floor in the process. The news was repeating a ten-second clip, showing a red-white beam slicing through the midday air, so bright that it distorted the image as it struck a tiny blue and red blur and knocked her out of the sky as if a giant hand had swatted her to the ground.
She was moving before she realized she’d taken a step.
“Cancel all my meetings,” Lena snapped.
“But the Japanese investors,” Jess said, lamely.
“Fuck the Japanese investors, cancel all my meetings!”
She pushed past Jess and stormed to her private elevator, twisting the key so hard it nearly snapped. She paced the full two minutes it took to to descend to the garage. There would be no summoning a driver. She ran barefoot across the parking garage floor to the Bugatti and threw herself inside.
When she arrived at the DEO, there was chaos. It took a moment before anyone noticed a barefoot, red-eyed Lena Luthor running into the lobby in a blind panic. When they did notice, she was immediately tackled by two of their goons and handcuffs slammed on her wrists.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded. “I’m here to help!”
“Shut up,” the agent growled.
They sent jolts of pain up her arms as they took her in. She thought they were going to take the handcuffs off, but instead they cuffed one hand to a chain locked to a ring in the middle of a concrete table in an interrogation room.
“What the hell?” Lena screamed. “I’m here to help her!”
The door slammed heavily shit and Lena raged, yanking at the handcuffs in a futile gesture that only left her wrist raw. She thought about trying to pick them, but at this rate they might shoot her if she looked to escape. Her stomach sank and she began to spiral.
She’s dead. She’s dead and they’re going to blame me.
Hot tears burned in her eyes and she willed them not to fall, holding them back with all her might, but it was inevitable.
Finally, after what felt like half a day, Alex walked in. Lena knew at once that something terrible had happened. Kara’s sister looked like hell, with dark circles under her eyes and a pained look. She regarded Lena as if she were some ugly thing that crawled out of a crack in the foundations.
“What are you doing here?” said Alex.
“I told your thugs, I’m here to help. You’re wasting time, I need to see her now.”
“Why,” Alex said, “why on God’s green earth would I let you anywhere near her?”
Lena blinked. “At least tell me what’s wrong. I might be able to…”
“You locked her in a kryptonite cage. You talked her into breaching her morals to carry out your sick schemes. You aimed a kryptonite cannon at her face.”
“I…”
“You what? You didn’t mean it?”
“Alex,” Lena began.
“Shut up. You had me fooled, Luthor. Kara always believed in you. I didn’t. I tried to convince her to be as afraid of her as I was. I just want to know, why now? She left you alone like you wanted. You’ve been quiet. Kara insisted we give you a chance and let you be, a choice I now deeply regret. So why now? What did she do to deserve this?”
The cold fury radiating from Alex choked Lena up for a moment. Her mouth worked silently.
“You think I did this?”
“Why not? You’ve hurt her twice already.”
“I didn’t. I would never. I didn’t want her to die. I just wanted to…”
“To what?”
Lena swallowed hard, speaking before thinking.
“I wanted her to feel what I was feeling.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed and her expression went dark and hard, something vicious twisting her lips. Her hand twitched towards the bulky alien gun on her hip.
With her other hand, she pulled out a phone and turned it to Lena.
Lena’s stomach flipped when she saw Lex’s grinning face.
“I hope you enjoy your new present,” he said into the camera. “A Kryptonite particle beam enhanced with a high-powered laser tuned to a wavelength that will instantly negate her powers.”
Lex’s grin widened.
“Lena sends her regards.”
Lena blinked a few times. She wanted to thrash, yank her chain, accuse, scream.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why, because you wouldn’t?”
“I killed him,” Lena breathed.
“What?”
“Lex. Lex is dead. I killed him. I killed him!” she was almost hysterical. “I put two shots in his chest and one in his head like he taught me himself. After he escaped last time I killed him.”
Alex’s expression faltered.
“You think I’ll believe that?” she said, but sounded unsure.
“When I was twelve and Lex was away at school, Lillian got drunk and threatened me. I was scared to death she meant it. Lex gave me our father’s gun and taught me to shoot.” A brief, weak smile cursed her lips. “I didn’t realize until a lot later how fucked up that is, but it’s one of my favorite memories of him.”
“You’re telling me you killed him,” said Alex. “After you went behind our backs and used the Hardin-El to heal his ‘cancer.’”
“He was my brother.”
“And you say you killed him.”
Lena looked down, away from her. Tears fell on the table with a soft patter and she choked back a hitching sob.
“She became his new fixation. He was never going to stop. I did what I had to do.”
Alex went silent. Her hand hung by her hip and part of Lena hoped she’d make it fast, the same part that flinched when Alex moved.
The key twisted in the lock and the cuffs ratcheted open. Alex gave her arm a sharp tug. “Get up.”
Lena wobbled to her feet.
“What are you doing?”
“Shut up and walk.”
Alex led her to the elevator, and down a corridor. Kara’s frail form lay behind a layer of plastic curtains, bathed in brilliant light from sunlamps.
“If she comes around,” Alex said, her voice flat. “You can never tell her. She’ll blame herself.”
Alex parted the curtains and led Lena inside. Kara lay n a stretcher with a layer of bandages wound around her bare torso, looking pale and drawn. Her skin shone with a cold sweat and there were dark circles around her eyes. She lay in a nest of wires and was on oxygen.
“My God,” Lena whispered.
“It was like he said. Some kind of particle beam combined with the laser. It’s like she was impaled through the chest with superheated Kryptonite. If Jon hadn’t caught her, the impact would have been fatal.”
Alex rattled it all off with a cold, medical detachment, except for the tension creaking in around the edges of her voice and the way her shoulder hitched.
“You’ve hurt her so much,” Alex whispered. “I don’t think I’m ever going to fully trust you again. But for the love of God, if you can fix her then fix her.”
“I will,” Lena said, the CEO creeping back into her voice. “I’ll need materials from my lab. I’ll give a Brainy a list. I’m not leaving her.”
Lena did not sleep for another thirty-six hours. She worked tirelessly alongside Brainy, who regarded her curiously as she hunched over lab benches and uploaded instructions to nanites.
Finally she said, “what? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He turned back to his own task without answering her.
An hour later, Alex stormed in.
“She’s getting worse. Whatever you’re doing, you have to hurry.”
Brainy turned from his lab bench and took Alex’s arm. He led her into the hall and they had a clipped, quiet conversation that Lena could not hear, except for Alex’s startled cry of “WHAT?”
It didn’t matter, she was finished. She took the devil in her hands and rushed through the door.
“Let’s go, we can’t waste anymore time.”
Alex openly gaped at her, then looked at Brainy. The expression of utter shock on her face arrested Lena in her tracks.
“What?”
“I,” Alex began, but Brainy grabbed her arm and squeezed hard.
“Let’s go,” said Alex.
Lena swept into the lab carrying the module in her hands as if it were made of precious gold.
“Turn off the sunlamps,” Lena ordered the technicians. “If the poisoning progresses, they’ll kill her faster than they heal her.”
Once they were off, Lena placed the device on Kara’s chest and stepped back.
Its sensors detected the Kryptonite and the system deployed. The pod unfolded like a delicate composite flower, and a wave of nanobots poured over Kara’s skin, instantly devouring and reprogramming the nanites in the wreckage of her suit while consuming the linens and bandages to grant the system more mass.
The entire process unfolded in seconds. It ensconced her in a protective layer and expanded, rapidly building an entire protective pod around her body. Dozens of tiny needles inserted dozens of cannulas into her arms and legs and began pumping her full of nanites, sending them storming through her bloodstream.
Lena bit her lip: there was nothing to do now except watch as the system’s AI administered rapid pulses of red and yellow light to balance the speed of her healing as the nanites in her bloodstream identified irradiated particles and consumed them, using them to make more of themselves.
She sat down. She knew this would take hours.
It ended up taking three days.
Lena slept in the side chair by the bed until someone brought her an uncomfortable recliner. Alex came in and out, as did Brainy and Nia, all of them looking at her oddly.
Finally the pod made a pleasant tone and unfolded. Kara lay on her side within, the nanites having formed a new suit top around her to preserve her modesty. She still wasn’t awake, but she was breathing normally and looked for all the world like her usual beautiful self. Lena was alone with her when it happened, and was glad of it. No one saw her brush the loose strands of gold from her face, and no one saw her rest her palm on Kara’s warm cheek.
They all piled on eventually.
Kara did not wake up.
“Why isn’t she coming around?” Alex demanded. “Why doesn’t she wake up?”
“She’s in a Kryptonian healing trance,” said Brainy. “It’s part of the healing process. She will wake when she is ready.”
“When the hell will that be?”
“We should give Lena the room.”
“What? Why?”
“Trust me,” Brainy said firmly.
Lean was as bewildered as Alex. What was she supposed to do?
When they were gone, she caught herself reflected in the monitors around the bed. She looked like shit, with barely one day’s sleep in four. As haggard as she looked, she didn’t care.
What the hell? It couldn’t hurt.
Lena bent over the bed, leaning on one hand, and took Kara’s in the other.
“I don’t know if you’re in there, but if you can hear me, it’s safe now. You can wake up. We’re all here for you. I’m here.”
It might have been the exhaustion, or the desperation, or the sorrow that filled her to bursting like a molten pain, but something happened and Lena let slip something that she’d held so tight she was sure her heart had long since crushed it.
“I love you, Kara. You don’t have to love me back. You don’t even have to like me. But I need you in the world. I need you. I need you, not Supergirl. I need Kara. I need my Kara. Please, if you’re in there at all,”
Kara’s eyes fluttered open. “Lena?”
“I’m here.”
Kara blinked a few times, and her hand closed gently around Lena’s.
“I had a bad dream,” she said. “It hurt so much, it felt like my heart was ripped out and I was in a dark place, and then I heard your voice leading me home.”
Lena grinned in spite of herself, tears stinging her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Kara. For everything.”
“Hush,” Kara whispered, her angelic voice full of quiet wisdom. “We can do that later. You’re tired. Lay down.”
Lena hesitated for a bare moment and then kicked off her shoes before climbing on next to her. Once she was lying down, sleep came crashing down on her like an avalanche as Kara threw an arm over her and tucked in close.
As she drifted off, Lena heard Alex, somewhere in the hall, snap, “Brainy, you knew this entire time?!”
WHAT A FANTASTIC FINALE! HOLY SHIT! I TEARED UP SEVERAL TIMES AND MY GOD WAS THIS SUCH A GOOD FINAL EPISODE FOR SEASON 2!!!! This may be the last Easter Eggs post, episode wise, but we still have the other 4 issues of the comic so come back here each month for that and also at the end I'll give you some recommendations to keep you occupied til season 3 gets a premiere date.
My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!
My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here
My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here
My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here
Spoilers if you haven't seen the episode
Starting things off the episode title is My Adventures with Supergirl. An obvious nod to the show title, but also good way to acknowledge the journey we had with Kara whether its seeing her past, what she did under Brainiac's control, and what our trio will do to help Kara be free from Brainiac.
Makes sense that Henshaw is part of the Human Defense Corp (or Squadron in this case) and it looks like the fool dies so maybe Cyborg Superman in the future who know, but I talked about the Human Defense Corp here and Hank Henshaw here.
As Superman and Kara lie on the street thanks to the Metallos and Brainiac's control over them, we see them get saved by the Intergang and Livewire and Heatwave! I talked more about Intergang here and Livewire and Heatwave here and here respectively.
Later in the scene Roughhouse makes a subtle reference to Lobo, but "the Main Man" in this case is referring to General Sam Lane. But if Lobo shows up in a future season, I'll talk more about him, and god I want to see him show up so bad!
Over where Lois, Jimmy, and Steve are, the Metallos chase after them and are saved by Dr. John Henry Irons a.k.a. Steel! I talked more about him here. I'd love to see him wear the helmet like his comic counterpart and the red cape in a future episode.
Later in the episode Superman, Kara, Intergang, Livewire, Heatwave, and Steel attack Brainiac's station and were able to break though his defenses and as they enter Brainiac's chamber, Brainiac activates Kara's brainwashing saying "Eradicator Override"
If you know your Superman comics, the Eradicator was first mentioned in Action Comics Annual #2 (1989) [W: Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, P: Mike Mignola, I: George Perez, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley] where it was a weapon that was used to kill the Cleric on Krypton who was spreading his message about peace and the unethical uses of cloning on Krypton.
The weapon would later be found by Superman and it caused more problems for him until he threw it away in Antarctica where it created the Fortress of Solitude.
Later during the death of Superman, the Eradicator would emerge as an energy being who takes on the visage of Superman, take Clark's body back to the Fortress so he can heal, and would be one of the four Supermen who took over for Superman at that time. This version of the Eradicator first appeared in Action Comics #687 (1993) [W: Roger Stern, P: Jackson Guice, I: Denis Rodier, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley]
When we see Kara fight Superman under the control of Brainiac later, she has red eyes just like the Eradicator in the comics as shown here in the panel from Superman #82 (1993) [W&P: Dan Jurgens, I: Brett Breeding, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: John Costanza].
Later in the episode, Clark, Lois, and Jimmy try to calm Kara and help her fight against Brainiac's influence and they succeed (also had me tear up in that moment too) and shout out Kara's Canary Cry! Black Canary would be proud AF!
After pushing back on Brainiac's station Clark and Kara battle Brainiac in space and Brainiac monologues about Krypton's destruction and his excuse of existing. He activates the weapon that destroyed Krypton, the Black Zero Protocol.
The first and only known version of Black Zero that destroyed Krypton was in Superman #205 (1968) [W: Otto Binder, P&I: Al Plastino] where the saboteur was hired to destroy Krypton by accelerating the internal planetary stresses that caused the planet to explode. He was planning on doing the same to the Earth before Superman stopped him. Other iterations and uses of the Black Zero name include, a Kryptonian Terrorist Group that created a computer virus of the same name that infected the Fortress of Solitude, a clone of Conner Kent, and a Kryptonian military group.
After Kara took the hit and plunged into the sun, she and Clark are saved thanks to their Kryptonian physiology because they get their powers from the Sun. You notice their Kryptonite scarring/veins glow a gold color bringing to mind...
Superman Prime One Million from DC Million #4 (1998) [P: Val Semekis, I: Prentis Rollins, C: Pat Garrahy & Heroic Age] who is OG Superman after outliving all his family and friends traveled throughout the DC universe and absorbing the Sun's radiant energy for like hundreds of years where his powers are now near infinite levels giving him this gold look. This version of Superman according to Grant Morrison is the same as the one in All-Star Superman.
In a Kryptonian religious sense, you could argue that Rao, the sun god of the Kryptonians, saved his last two people from death and giving them power to fight against Brainiac.
The MAwS crew really love their DBZ cuz the sun aura Clark and Kara give off is the same vibe as what Super Saiyans have when they power up.
We then see Kara and Clark glow a red and blue aura respectively which, I might be reading into it a lot, could be symbolic of Nightwing and Flamebird, the Kryptonian gods/heroes/dragons and the identities that Clark and Kara took up at one point in the comics with Clark taking up the Nightwing name and Kara taking up the Flamebird name. Also maybe its Superman Blue and Superman Red sorta deal who knows. It was cool though.
By the end of the episode we see people tuning to the aftermath of what happened and we see Channel 52 on display. I talked more about that here.
We then see Lex and Slade looking up on the LexCorp building. I talked more about LexCorp here but its first appearance in the comics is in The Man of Steel #2 (1986) [W&P: John Byrne, I: Dick Giordano, C: Tom Zuiko, L: John Costanza] as shown below:
Shout out to Clark still wearing the Stussy S/the cool S
and finally we close out the episode with Clark and Kara going to stop the fire at Perez Plaza, named after legendary artist George Perez.
George Perez is well known for his Wonder Woman run and being the co-creator of the Teen Titans in the 80s with Marv Wolfman. He helped design Lex Luthor's iconic battle suit (I really hope to see it in MAwS someday). Perez also had a run on the Superman comics too. He worked on Action Comics for a short while as penciler and did some breakdown work on the title. He also wrote and inked on the Adventure of Superman comics. Perez wrote, did the layouts, and drew the cover art for the 2011 Superman run. If you love the Teen Titans/Titans, like me, you gotta give thanks to this man.
DC in 2022 did a really awesome tribute to him by collaborating with other DC artists to show how much of an impact his career was on the DC universe give both images a look cuz its beautiful and you can see which artist did which character. Also check this video out and see George Perez work his art magic:
youtube
And with that our episodic look at the Easter Eggs and references come to an end, but we still have the other 4 issues of the My Adventures with Superman tie-in comic so come back here again in August for that.
In the mean time when we get a date for season 3 I highly recommend reading the My Adventures with Superman comics, read The Man of Steel (1986) limited series because a lot of pop culture's understanding of the Superman mythos and characters comes from that limited series, read the Death of Superman, A World Without Superman, and Reign of the Supermen because you will see how much of an impact Superman made defending Metropolis from Doomsday, his death affecting everyone he met, and his glorious return. Also give the DC Rebirth era of Superman comics a shot too because you get to see Lois and Clark raise a son. The DC Infinite Frontier Superman run that came after the Rebirth era is just as good that I highly recommend reading too. Out of continuity wise definitely check out Superman: Secret Identity, All-Star Superman, Kingdom Come, the current World's Finest run, and Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man.
In terms of watching highly recommend watching Superman the Animated Series because that series is equally good to MAwS and it helped build out the DCAU which I also highly recommend everyone to dive into. Shin Ultraman (and hell basically all of the Ultraman media) because like Superman its an alien who defends the Earth, hides amongst the population and actually thinks human beings can live up to their potential. Tsuburaya's Ultraman and Superman would be damn good friends. If you need some goofy fun, the Super Friends is a fun watch if you need light hearted cartoons.
My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!
My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here
My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here
My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here
My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here
I cannot even express how excited I am to share this story I wrote for the 2023 Supercorp Big Bang (@supercorpbb) -- plus the absolutely stunning artwork created by @darbypea and @noctilia, both of which are linked from the story (I'll reblog them here shortly).
Special thanks to chimonantus_signifies for beta-ing, @sneezewizard for emotional support and encouragement, and @wolfsong02 for cheerleading.
The story is an Epic of Gilgamesh AU that I've been wanting to write for ages (if you don't know anything about Gilgamesh, it won't matter, but if you do, you might find some fun parallels).
Summary: What if Kara had crash landed on a far younger Earth, only to be mistaken for a goddess? And what if Lena were ruler of a great Sumerian city-state on that Earth, chafing at the bonds of sovereignty? An Epic of Gilgamesh AU.
Rating: M
A little teaser:
Kara was now openly staring at Lena, her eyes wide and sparkling. "And what of me?"
"What of you?"
"Am I your captive? Or am I your guest?"
Lena did not respond right away, time pulling on her ribcage with the weight of the question. She could not hold the woman here without using the stone. Lena's stomach twisted at the memory of Kara's pain, her face veined with green and her cries filled with agony. The young warrior was looking at her now, face belying no traces of suffering, expression cautiously hopeful.
"You are free to go, if you wish." Lena gestured gracefully at her curtained door, her tone formal and serious. "I will not hold you here provided you neither threaten me nor Uruk again. However," she softened her gaze, willing Kara to recognize her sincerity, "perhaps you would like to stay for a few days at least, and I can show how my city prospers? We have many wonders here."
Something about the warrior's demeanor eased and then she smiled, an expression that transformed her face into the visage of someone much younger. "You are not what I expected," Kara admitted. "I apologize for my assumptions and my impunity, invading your city as if I had a right to it."
"You are not what I expected, either." Lena returned the warrior's smile, finding it came to her more easily than it had since she was a girl. "You are unlike any goddess I have ever met."
Kara laughed sharply, a pleased sound. "Have you met many goddesses?"
"None save you." Lena began to reach out, seeking further contact with the other woman, before restraining herself and allowing her hand to fall to her side. She twisted her fingers in the tufts of wool decorating her skirt. "And yet somehow," she continued, backing towards the door, "You continue to surprise me in our brief acquaintance."
still can't stop thinking about kara accidentally referring to hal as "dad", even in a more low-key context and how something that could usually be played for comedy is nothing sort of devastating.
maybe kara's having a bad day - the sort where her chest is tight with frustration, every little minor convenience makes her fingers twitch, the sort where the schoolwork and reminders of the ordinary life she has alongside her life as supergirl is smothering her, all the missed phone calls from the friends who only know her as linda danvers. she's snapped at people throughout the day, blurting out a tired little, "i'm sorry" when they frown or look at her in shock. every little reminder of when her ill temper leaks through the cracks is like a stab to the side. i should be doing better, she thinks to herself, everyone says it's okay, that i'm still only a kid. but i don't want to be just a kid. i turn sixteen in september.
she runs into hal and waits for him to say or do something - anything - that will make that horrid little knot of agitations that's formed in her chest tighten further. but he sees the sting of bitterness to her dark blue eyes, the way she's trying so hard to twitch her lips into a solemn but neutral expression. hal must know and keeps himself at arm's distance; they've both had their fair share of bad days aplenty. he only walks away after giving her a slight nod through the green of the mask he wears, leaving her be.
hal comes back a few minutes later with a small cardboard box of juice and hands it to her. apple juice - her favorite, no pineapple or fruit punch on the label to be found. just plain apple juice. she tears the straw off the back and pushes it through, taking a a sip. the rush of sugar is a balm, even if only a small one. the barest hint of a proper smile stirs upon her visage for the first time in a while today. after a few engrossed sips:
"thanks, dad."
her smile vanishes.
they both stare at each other with the depth of something fathomless - horror, maybe, or some sort of flooding, viscous mess of all sorts of feelings. she remembers for a moment the way her father back on krypton would wordlessly give her comfort on bad days - drape a blanket over her shoulders as she stared out at the openness of dark red sky before departing, ensure she had a small snack even as she sulked alone in her room. and hal...
well, kara remembers he only told her a little bit about his father. but that is enough for her to know.
she takes a deep breath, the smile on her face not quite so genuine this time - moreso some sort of crumpled, uncomfortable mimicry of the real expression. "sorry about that. it just sort of slipped out."
"it's fine. sometimes things like this happen."
"still..." the words coat her mouth, fuzzy under the apple juice she'd been drinking. "thank you for doing that. i've been having kind of a crappy day today, and it helped."
the sting from earlier still persists, hal's face settles into a fixed, solemn look. "no problem," he says. "i'm glad i could help, even just a little."
Voici ma participation pour le Tropetember 2022. J’espère que ça vous plaira.
Résumé : Lena entra dans son laboratoire. Elle n'avait pas beaucoup dormi durant la nuit et elle était exténuée. Cela faisait deux semaines que ça durait. Elle passait ses nuits à faire des rêves étranges. Mais plus le temps passait, plus elle avait fini par comprendre que se n'était pas de simples rêves, mais des souvenirs.
Disclaimer : Merlin appartient à Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Johnny Capps et Julian Murphy et Supergirl appartient à Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti et Andrew Kreisberg.
@tropetember
AO3 / FF.NET
Lena entra dans son laboratoire. Elle n'avait pas beaucoup dormi durant la nuit et elle était exténuée. Cela faisait deux semaines que ça durait. Elle passait ses nuits à faire des rêves étranges. Mais plus le temps passait, plus elle avait fini par comprendre que se n'était pas de simples rêves, mais des souvenirs.
Des souvenirs d'une vie passée dans un monde moyenâgeux, rempli de magie. Des noms et des visages revenaient tout le temps dans ses rêves. Arthur, Merlin, Guenièvre, Morgause, Uther et celui qu'elle portait, Morgane. Ils étaient des personnages de légendes qui pourtant ont fait partis d'une de ses anciennes vies. Elle se voyait enfant, jouant dans les jardins du château de Camelot avec Arthur. Elle se voyait se lier d'amitié avec Guenièvre qui était sa servante. Elle se voyait cacher sa magie à Uther, elle ressentait encore la peur qu'elle avait d'être découverte entrain de pratiquer la magie et subir les châtiments qui étaient réservés aux sorciers. Elle voyait sa rencontre avec Morgause et l'influence qu'elle avait eu sur elle et sur sa magie. La magie avait été une partie d'elle, comme elle l'était encore aujourd'hui.
Il y a encore quelques semaine, Lena aurait ri de tout ça. La magie, les vies antérieurs, tout ceci n'était pas réelle. La science était réelle et concrète. Elle avait toujours cru en la science. Pourtant, elle était bien obligé de croire que l'impossible était désormais possible.
Elle repensa à sa vie passée. Elle aurait très bien pu refaire les mêmes erreurs que Morgane. Comme elle, elle avait perdu sa mère très jeune. Uther et Lillian n'étaient pas les parents idéaux et Morgause avait eu une forte influence sur Morgane, comme Lex en avait eu sur elle. Lena aurait pu devenir Morgane. Elle avait touché les ténèbres et aurait pu y plonger comme elle. Mais Lena avait quelque chose que Morgane n'avait pas. Elle avait…
« Lena ? »
Lena sortit de ses pensées. Kara lui souriait. Elle portait son costume de Supergirl. Elle venait de sauver les passagers de deux trains qui étaient entrés en collision.
« Est-ce que tout va bien ? »
Lena acquiesça et sourit.
« J'étais juste perdue dans mes pensées. Tu as besoin de quelque chose ?
-J'onn m'a demandé de réunir l'équipe.
-Très bien. Je range ces dossiers et j'arrive. »
Kara sourit. Oui, Lena avait eu de la chance parce qu'elle avait Kara. Elle était sa lumière et son espoir. Sans elle, elle aurait pris le même chemin que Morgane.
Morgane avait eu droit à une seconde chance en devenant Lena. C'était grâce à cette seconde chance que Kara était dans sa vie.
The second half of the film is better. It might even be good, but it's hard to tell when it's coming fresh off the heels of the first half which might just be the worst hour and a half of cinema DC has ever put out.
Supergirl was a little underbaked but at least not fucking awful and basically every Bruce/Batman that wasn't the one the film started with was pretty ok but only because they were allowed to be at least a little ridiculous, which was probably meant to be unsettling or jarring but just came through as some of the most authentic moments of the film despite being so off the wall.
The montage or different supermen were either fully CGI or airbrushed beyond having believable human visages, either way their uncanny valley vibes kinda broke my immersion during The Big Showy Moment of the movie, but it was almost interesting.
Long story short, if you must consume this movie in some way find GIFs of supergirl and memes of the different Bruce variations.
you lose your way, just take my hand
you're lost at sea, then i'll command your boat to me again
don't look too far, right where you are, that's where i am
Over the following days, Lena first tries to force herself to speak. But when her most successful attempt results in little more than a wheeze, she shifts her focus elsewhere.
After asking for an internet-connected tablet and a pair of headphones, Lena throws herself into research american sign language. Within a day, she can fingerspell with clunky but consistent accuracy. Within a week, she has a first grader's understanding of basic signs.
Kara understands Lena's need to keep occupied, as well as the need to communicate, so she too takes time to learn the language. It's beautiful, once she gets the rhythm and cadence down. It takes her less time than Lena-- or any other human-- to become fluent, and though Lena acts disdainful of having been left in the dust, Kara glimpses the glint of gratitude in her eyes as they practice together.
Kara splits her time between Lena and rebuilding National City. Even when Lena is released from the DEO to return home, Kara alights on her balcony every night to talk. And sometimes in the morning too. And for lunch.
Which makes her acutely aware of the sudden change one day when Kara touches down and knocks on Lena's balcony door, only to be confronted with the visage of sadness that is Lena Luthor.
"What's wrong?" Kara says aloud, while signing with her hands. She follows Lena to the sofa, and sits on one end as Lena curls up on the other.
Lena's lips screw to one side, and one shoulder lifts. "Silly," Lena signs, wiggling her thumb and pinky at the side of her mouth.
"It's not silly if it's making you sad," Kara continues. She's careful to keep her finger movements to a legible speed.
Lena hesitates, then taps her chin once witha single finger, before mimicking the motion of placing eyeglasses on her face with the same hand.
Kara pauses. Then, she repeats Lena's signs. "You miss... your glasses?"
Lena huffs a short chuckle, then fingerspells a name before repeating the sign for glasses.
K-A-R-A
Kara.
"Oh."
Suddenly, Kara realizes that she's spent so much time with Lena as Supergirl, she's almost forgotten to be Kara Danvers at all.
She's only put in enough face time at CatCo to keep her job, relying on James' understanding that she's busy rebuilding. But for Lena... she's lost sight of the fact that Supergirl isn't Kara.
"I'm sure she's busy," Kara signs. She's acutely aware now of the sleeves that cover her wrists, the color catching her eye with every sign.
Lena's features fall into uncertainty. With both hands curled into claws, she carves them up her chest in the sign for anger.
Kara immediately sputters to correct her. "What? No! Of course she's not angry! Why would she be angry with you?"
Long fingers spell again.
Mon-el.
Add another thing Kara had forgotten to worry about. She assumes Mon-el was still on the stateship when it left orbit without a queen, no doubt perched to become the next King of Daxam. He hasn't tried to contact her, and part of Kara is quietly glad for it.
Lena has needed her more, and any word from Mon-el would have simply been a distraction.
"No," Kara says firmly. "She doesn't blame you for any of that. In fact, I saw Kara Danvers yesterday, and she mentioned she was looking forward to seeing you again. I wouldn't be surprised if she came to visit soon..."
Lena gives her a look that communicates her disbelief better than any sign possibly could.
Kara swallows thickly.
Then she changes the subject.
"Do you... have a sign for me?" she asks timidly.
Finally, Lena cracks into a small smile. She nods. Kara grins back.
"Can I see it?"
Fisting her hand into the sign for the letter S, Lena draws up and toward her opposite shoulder, combining it with the sign for flying.
A flying S.
Kara beams.
"I love it."
Lena's cheeks and the tips of her ears turn pink. She waves away the sentiment, but Kara persists.
"I mean it. I do." Kara reaches over and clasps Lena's hand in one of hers. With the other, she brings a flat hand to her chin and pushes it out a short distance, towards Lena.
Fun little head canon that will absolutely end up in my fic:
Brainy had no idea about Kara and Lena when he first travelled back to the 21st century; the records always had them as close friends, but history lost a lot of the rest. Then, when Lena took a dark turn, he began to worry he’d somehow dismantled the timeline and undone the incredible good the two would have done together.
After the two finally reconcile, it’s Nia who points it out to him first.
“Not possible,” he retorts, citing the deep repertoire of 31st century historical texts on Supergirl (that he’s read his whole life). “We certainly would have known about something like that.” Nia smirks, holding up her hands and smugly mutters something about “Sappho and her ‘friend.’” Brainy sputters for a moment, begins to realize something may be missing.
During the few weeks after William’s funeral (before the wedding), Brainy spends his time in the 31st century reviewing the books he’s read since he was a child: “The Legend of Kara Zor-El”, “The Supergirl”, “Hope of Steel,” even “Early Superheroes and Vigilantes of Earth.” As he goes over them, he finds more and more inconsistencies, things that jar with what he saw with his own eyes. The chapters about Lena Luthor never cover the lingering looks, the soft words, the endless hours the two would have snuck of to some corner of the Tower where Brainy would have to ferret them out for a mission briefing.
“Oh sprock,” he mutters as he realizes, “I’ve been a truly abominable wingman.”
Suddenly, he realizes: this is what makes a hero truly powerful - love. That having that powerful connection makes anything worth fighting for, even dying for.
Something he is about to let go of forever.
In a flash, Brainy dons his finest dress wear. He swiftly tidies up his books and looks at the cover of “The Legend of Kara Zor-El” again, paying it a bit more attention. The Kryptonian’s visage stands boldly at the front of a group, filled with faces Brainy now recognizes extremely well, including his own. Specifically, he sees, a sharply dressed human woman with flowing dark hair stands directly at Kara’s side, and tucked away almost out of view by their side are their hands.
Fingers perfectly intertwined.
“Kara Zor-El,” he chuckles softly, “you’ve saved me yet again.” A flick of his wrist flies the books back to their place on the shelf as he calls Winn over his communicator.
“Hold the ship, Mr. Schott. You’ve another passenger to take.”
Lena isn’t avoiding Kara, okay? She’s just very busy. That’s all. What with being the CEO of her own company, running her own experiments, and this new little passion project she has a lot going on. Her absence in Kara’s life these past few days has absolutely nothing to do with the black eye she’s currently sporting. Don’t be ridiculous.
Though, in hindsight, she really should’ve known she’d only be able to bail on lunch with Kara so many times before she came knocking.
Lena’s knee deep in some complex coding, trying to figure out what went wrong with this last test and fix it, when she gets the call. She barely even looks at her phone screen before answering. Not that she needs to.
“Kara, hi,” she says warmly.
“Are you avoiding me?”
Well, shit. “What? No. Of course not.”
“Are you sick? You know if you’re sick you can just tell me, right?”
“Yes, I-- no, Kara. I’m not sick.”
Lena can practically see the pinch in her brow. The confusion painted all over her face as she tries to puzzle out what’s going on with Lena.
“Okay, well you skipped lunch three times this week. Is everything alright?” Kara asks.
“Yes, everything’s perfectly fine. I’ve just been busy,” Lena assures her.
“So you’re not avoiding me?”
Lena breathes out a sigh that borders on a laugh. “No.”
“Alright, then can you come let me in?”
Before Lena can even ask where she is or what she means (as if she doesn’t already know), there’s a knocking at the door. Not the front door, of course. No, that would be far too mundane. It’s at the back door. The balcony door. The one that Lena always leaves unlocked, but Kara refuses to open without being welcomed in.
Her immediate reaction is to get up and open the door for Kara. But then Kara would see the black eye that much sooner. And if she can stall for even a few seconds longer, she will. So instead, she simply turns over her shoulder (careful to keep her left eye obscured) and calls out to Kara.
“It’s open.”
Still wearing the Supergirl suit and wielding a takeout bag, Kara strides into Lena’s apartment with a little spring in her step. Because as far as she’s concerned, Lena hasn’t been avoiding her. Lena isn’t hiding a few secrets from her and has nothing out of the ordinary going on. She’s just a little extra busy with that passion project she has outright refused to share any information about with anyone. There is absolutely nothing for her - or Lena, for that matter - to worry about.
“I figured you didn’t eat anything since you skipped lunch, again,” Kara drawls, the barest hint of disappointment in her words. “So I brought you dinner.” She walks around to get in front of Lena, finally, and plops the greasy bag of Big Belly Burger down on the counter. “Voila!”
There’s a five second gap after the delectable diabetic nightmare is presented before Lena. Five charged seconds where Lena simply waits for Kara to finally notice. At first, she’s a little too proud of herself. A grin so broad and brilliant and downright beautiful it could be considered blinding spread across her face. But then those blue eyes of hers track a little to the left and they go wide. Her mouth falls open. Her brow pinches. And several emotions flicker over her visage all at once.
Her lips work around a few words, spluttering on air briefly, before she finally settles on “Lena!”
And Lena can’t help herself. “Kara?”
Kara blinks. “What-- When-- Who did this to you?”
Lena exhales deeply and leans back in her chair. “No one did this to me.”
Kara’s around on Lena’s side of the counter in the space of a heartbeat. Her hands cradling Lena’s face like it’ll break under the slightest amount of pressure as she examines her.
“What happened?” She demands.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” Lena insists.
It’s almost believable, too. But then Kara’s thumb chances a little too close to her left eye. With a hiss of pain, Lena flinches from her hand. Kara’s brow furrows further and her frown deepens.
“Lena--”
“I’m fine, Kara. Really,” Lena says. She takes both of Kara’s hands in her own and pulls them down from her face. “It was just an experiment gone wrong.”
“What sort of experiment gives people black eyes?”
Lena breathes out an indignant little huff of air. “It’ll be easier to just show you.”
Kara’s gaze narrows. “Alright.”
Kara is right on Lena’s heels as they walk to the spare room. The room Lena has taken to calling the nursery, where Baymax is lying in wait. At this stage in his development, he’s pretty infantile at best. He knows a few key phrases and can identify a person as long as they’re standing in front of him. But he can’t hold a conversation and his object permanence is severely lacking. So, yeah. Lena’s gonna call his room a nursery.
Baymax is in his charging pod where she’d left him a few days ago (when their most recent test run failed spectacularly, leaving Lena with a shiner). There isn’t anything else in the room, though. Lena had removed a lot of it to make space for his assembly. Once that was done, she decided to keep the room empty after he broke her last laptop after a particularly nasty glitch. So the only thing in here, as far as Kara’s concerned, is some weird red luggage tucked against the back wall.
“What am I looking at?” Kara asks, the worry from before replaced with confusion and curiosity.
“Hopefully something that’ll help a lot of people,” Lena says.
It’s cryptic, she’ll admit. But it’s hard to explain exactly what Baymax is at this point. Because he’s not simply a robot anymore. He’s taken on so much more personality and life in just the few weeks since his first test run. He’s learning. Growing. Like a person.
So instead of explaining, Lena crosses the length of the room, kneels down in front of the charging pod, and activates the robot.
Later, Kara would say that Lena leapt away from the charging station as it booted up. Like she’d gotten zapped or something. Lena, however, would vehemently insist that she simply hurried away in case something went wrong. Either way, she now stands alongside Kara, watching with bated breath as Baymax comes back to life.
She counts the seconds it takes him to inflate. 23. They need to get that down. He needs to be faster. If someone is really hurt, he has to be able to help. It takes another 4 seconds for Baymax to fully boot up. His eyes blink to signify that he’s fully functional and ready to assist. A total of 27 seconds. They can do better.
Not that Kara notices. She’s staring open mouthed and wide eyed as Baymax awkwardly stumbles out of his charging pod. His steps are heavy, almost as if he thinks the floor is further down (just another thing to iron out). He stops moving about two feet away from them both. Lifts his hand limply into the air (the fingers not fully inflated or opposable yet).
“Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.”
And then he freezes. Standing right there. Unmoving and, to be frank, a little terrifying.
“Wow,” Kara breathes.
“Yeah,” Lena agrees. “He’s still got a lot of bugs to work out. Hence the black eye.” She gestures at her left eye vaguely. “But when he’s finished, he’s going to help a lot of people.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Kara asks.
Lena turns to her now. Her brow arched and a playful little smirk on her lips. “What? Is being Supergirl not enough for you?”
“Don't get me wrong. I love being Supergirl, but this.” She points at Baymax’s frozen form. “This will be able to do something I never could.”
Lena’s smirk falls into something softer. Something kinder. Kara finally looks at her now.
“Now, I’m not great with coding and all that… stuff. But I can help you test him out. No matter how hard he tries, he’s not going to be able to give me a black eye.”
Well, when she puts it like that…
“Do I… do I start now?” Kara asks hesitantly. She fidgets uncomfortably with the sign Lena handed her, then adjusts her glasses.
Lena smiles at her from behind her computer. “You can start whenever you like. But I do want to be done by dinner, darling.”
“Right.” Kara nods.
She looks away from Lena, her eyes landing on Baymax. And then she grins. That unfairly perfect grin. The one that is so infectious it’s a wonder the CDC aren’t investigating it yet.
“This is Kara Danvers,” She says, carefully enunciating each word. “And this is the first test of mine and Lena Luthor’s Baymax Project.”
She reaches forward, just like Lena showed her, and turns Baymax on. She grins again, up at the robot, and waits. Watches as he blinks, tilts his head down, and lifts his hand.
“Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion.”
“Hello, Baymax!” She answers cheerily. “Would you please scan me?”
“Beginning scan now,” Baymax announces.
But that’s not what happens. No, it would be too simple if that’s what happens next. Instead, the entire system glitches. And both his arms start vibrating rapidly.
Kara’s face pales. “Uh, Lena,” she calls, not daring to look away from another rogue robot. “Is he supposed to be doing that?”
“No,” Lena says quickly. She looks between the two screens in front of her, trying to search for the error in his code to stop this from happening next time. “You gotta shut him down, Kara.”
“Uh-oh!” Kara exclaims.
Lena’s head snaps up. “Uh-oh?”
“Sorry about your laptop,” Kara says, as if it’s her fault Baymax broke yet another computer. Lena really needs to stick to her no-computers-in-the-nursery rule.
“It’s alright.” Lena waves her off, dutifully working away at the code from her tablet. “I’ll just get another one.”
“Next time I’ll stand between the two of you. That way I can better stop his renegade flying arms.”
Lena's gaze snaps to where Kara sits, finishing off the last of their fries (Lena’s fries, really. But they always share). “Next time? You still want to help after that disaster?”
“Of course,” Kara says earnestly. Then her face screws up. “But do you think we could make him look a little friendlier? A bit rounder? You know. Friend-shaped?”
Lena snickers. “Friend-shaped?”
“Yeah. Friend-shaped.”
Lena laughs lightly, and start typing again. “I think I can make that work.”
Wow. That got away from me
So this is how Kara ends up being the one to test Baymax. It's also part of what Baymax shows to Lena after telling her "Kara is here."
This scene (as in the video, not the ficlet) would serve as an emotional low point, if you couldn't tell. And it would be the moment where Lena decides she's going to let the Superfriends use Baymax to save Kara (instead of his actual purpose which is, you know, healthcare)