Chapter Text
“I’ll be right there,” Kara spoke into the phone, in a brusque voice, before disconnecting the device. The fact is, no other words need to be said. Kara was already gearing up for the fight that she knew was coming. Without thinking, Kara dropped her phone into her bag and tugged at the fabric of her shirt, ripping it open in order to reveal the red and gold crest of her Supersuit that was underneath. The doors of the elevator slowly sealed themselves shut with a loud clank, giving Kara some much needed privacy. However, before Kara could do anything else, she felt reality alter before her very eyes. She let out a gasp, as she felt Psi attempt to force her way into Kara’s mind. For a moment, time stopped altogether, as Kara was left reeling. Kara was suddenly as helpless as she was in the bank vault. She could feel the walls of the elevator closing in around her. Part of her didn't want to admit what it really was. After all, Kara couldn't be having a panic attack. She hadn't had one of those since - well, let's just say it had been a really really long time. And so Kara leapt to the only other plausible conclusion.
Kara let out a sound of fear and desperation as she felt the space of the elevator grow exponentially smaller. Air seemed to bend before her very eyes. Light refracted, and Kara felt her stomach drop. She suddenly couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was seeing. In fact, she no longer knew which way was up and which was down. Kara stumbled against the wall, pressing into it with one hand, as her other clutched feebly at the handles of her bag. Kara let out a sharp breath, as the handle slipped from her fingers, and her bag hit the floor with a deafening thud. Her breaths came quickly - far too quickly, to be sure, and she felt her heart begin to race. It began to pound relentlessly, thundering in her temples. Kara could suddenly feel its beat in every vessel in her body, from her temples to the very tips of her toes. Her fingers seemed to be throbbing in time to the beat of Kara's heart, and she didn't know how to make it stop. The muscles in Kara's arms began to shake, as her hands curled into involuntary fists. She tried to fight off the feelings of fear and panic, but she wasn't getting anywhere.
Sweat began collecting on Kara’s face, and she took a staggering step over towards the buttons of the elevator, slamming them repeatedly and frantically with her fingers. She had one thought, and one thought only - she had to get out of there. She slammed the buttons harder, sending a prayer to Rao as she did so. She felt the plastic buttons crack beneath the force of her fingers. The buttons flickered as they shorted out. The elevator was moving so slowly -too slowly for her liking, and Kara began to panic.
Come on. Please, she silently begged, Please let me get out of here. She began repeating those words as a mantra.
What had happened just a few minutes ago, didn't help matters. Kara was an emotional wreck. She’d just treated Lena horribly, and she was truly afraid that she was about to lose the one person she had left – the one person she cared about more than anything. She had gotten Mon-El killed. Kara knew that now. And she feared it was only a matter of time until she lost Lena, too. She couldn't get the look on Lena's face out of her head. The brunette had been cold to her, distant and detached, but Kara knew that stemmed from her disappointment more than anything else. Kara's right arm reached toward the wall, attempting to steady her body as she felt her knees give under shaking limbs. Kara let out another sharp breath, as her knees gave out and she slid down onto the floor, her back sliding against the metal at her back. She could feel the friction and its counteractive power slowing her descent to the floor. Finally, she stopped as she hit the floor had enough to shake the whole elevator. Braced against the wall, Kara continued to gasp for breath, as her chest heaved up and down. Her breaths seemed in vain. Her chest was moving – heaving for breath, but there no oxygen was moving in her lungs. All of the air movement was essentially taking place in dead space. The oxygen wasn’t getting where it counted, to the alveoli of her lungs and the capillaries that surrounded them. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath - no matter what she did. Kara could feel the palpitations of her heart in her chest, with each painful clench of the muscle. She felt her vision begin to blur and narrow. Black spots gradually grew larger and larger in her vision, until they threatened to swallow everything. It was happening again, and she couldn’t stop it. She was going to pass out.
“No,” Kara whimpered, as she struggled. She couldn’t even move. “No, please.” Kara let out a sob. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Lena."
Kara lifted her palms to her eyes and pressed down as hard as she could, focusing on the resultant pain. Kara screamed, a gut-wrenching and desperate sound tore itself from the back of her throat. She was in pain - actual physical pain. And yet Kara welcomed it, because it separated imagination from reality. She knew the pain was real. It had a definitive cause. Kara felt tears burn hotly in her eyes, as she struggled to breathe. She let her hands fall away. With a small thud, she let her head fall back against the cool metal of the wall behind her. She silently begged for mercy from this sudden onslaught. If she could only just make it through this, then everything would be okay. But the fear in her body and her mind was too much. It was overtaking every other thought in her mind, threatening to drown them out in pain and sorrow. The pain she carried with her was becoming too much. It was overwhelming. Seeing Krypton explode – reliving all of those months she'd spent in that pod, isolated and alone, had destroyed her all over again. Kara’s heart continued to race. She breathed in once, twice, three times, then felt her vision start to go altogether. She blinked over and over. Her eyelids fluttered fast and low over her eyes, as she fought the overwhelming fatigue with everything she had. She tried to push herself up. If she could only just get to her feet, then she could fly out of this box – this prison she found herself in. She made it several inches off of the floor. Her muscles strained with the exertion, as she fought for every centimeter. Kara let out a groan as her muscles gave out on her again, and she dropped back to the floor. It was too late; Kara let out one final heaving breath and slumped sideways, falling to the floor just as her eyelids fluttered shut one final time. Her battle for consciousness had been lost.
Lena wasn't faring much better than Kara. Minutes after their argument, Lena was still trying frantically to pull herself together - to somehow escape the stifling and suffocating anguish that seemed to be making her chest feet tight and constricted. She wished that she wasn't so affected by Kara's hostility, her coldness, but the truth was that Lena felt it. She felt it in ways she hadn't felt pain in a long time. She knew that Kara hadn't meant to hurt her, but it didn't seem to matter. Kara's words, and her attitude tore into Lena in ways that left her feeling cold and empty inside. All she'd wanted was to be able to help. She wanted to make it better. She wished that somehow she could take away Kara's pain. After all, it killed her that Kara was hurting so much, over something that she'd done (whether it was unintentional or not). It killed her that Kara was so unwilling to talk to her about it.
"Ma'am?" one of the board members spoke up, after Lena stopped in the middle of one of her powerpoint slides and failed to finish. She actually stopped talking in the middle of a sentence, making her slip-up even more apparent. "Miss Luthor? Are you alright?"
Lena stared off into space for several moments, as she tried to gather her thoughts. There were so many thoughts and emotions to sort through, that Lena honestly felt overwhelmed. "Hmm?" Lena faltered, before she managed to shake herself out of her thoughts. "Oh, yes! I'm sorry, everyone. I'm afraid I'm a little distracted at the moment. I apologize," Lena cleared her throat. "Let's continue, shall we?" She received nods from around the table, and started anew, as if she'd never really stopped. Still, thoughts of Kara lingered in the back of her mind. The blonde's empty chair seemed to taunt her with the reporter's absence. And as much as she tried not to look at it, she found that her eyes kept drifting there, as if they were drawn to it.
Lena was towards the end of her presentation, when the head of security burst into the room.
“Ma’am,” Joel, the head of security spoke as he approached her at a near run, “I’m very sorry to interrupt, but I really need you to come with me. We’ve got a bit of a situation, and I could use your assistance. We've called an ambulance, but we’re not exactly sure what to do.” Lena met James’s concerned gaze.
“Excuse me,” Lena spoke to the others in the room. “The crazy life of a CEO, am I right?” she joked, as she rushed out the door with James on her heels. When the the head of security closed the door behind him, in order to grant them some privacy, Lena knew something was up.
“What’s going on?” she asked Joel in a hushed voice as soon as they were out in the hallway. "You said you'd called an ambulance? Is there some sort of a medical emergency?"
At least, she was 90% sure that was his name. She’d tried to familiarize herself with all of Catco’s employee files, but trying to memorize hundreds of names and their personal details was no easy feat.
"I'm afraid so, Ma'am," he replied, "and unfortunately the situation is a bit unique."
"How so?" Lena questioned.
“Well, it's... It’s Supergirl,” Joel told her in a calm voice. “She’s currently unconscious in the elevator, and we haven't been able to rouse her.”
“Oh my god,” James took off like a shot as soon as Joel's words sunk in, leaving Lena to chase after him. Lena wrenched her heels from her feet and followed, chasing him towards the elevator where she’d seen Kara vanish only minutes before, after their argument. When she happened upon him again, James was shoving his way past a couple of security officers and into the metal box where a lifeless Supergirl was slumped over on the floor.
“Oh god,” this was a sight that Lena could never be prepared to see. It was Kara. Kara was unconscious on the floor. Her shirt was torn open, revealing the blue Supersuit underneath. All of Lena's earlier suspicions of Supergirl’s true identity were suddenly being confirmed, but for some reason Lena couldn't bring herself to care about it. Over the last several months, Lena had given a lot of thought to how she might feel if she found out that her best friend had, in fact, been lying to her this last year. A part of Lena feared that she wouldn't be able to forgive Kara for her lies, and that she wouldn't be able to move past it. However, what shocked Lena the most, is that she didn't feel betrayed. She wasn't even angry. She was just scared. She was terrified beyond belief. And she couldn't bring herself to care about anything other than Kara's safety and well-being. Lena felt a spike of panic and fear surge through her, as she realized that Kara was sick, or possibly hurt. She couldn’t tell if the blonde’s chest was moving, but she prayed that it was.
“Kara,” James spoke as he gently turned Kara over onto her back, and began feeling for a pulse. Kara's arm flopped onto the ground beside her body. That's when it hit her. Kara was completely lifeless. She had no muscle tone, and was completely unresponsive. That scared the hell out of Lena. Hell, even James looked petrified. "Come on, Kara, wake up. You've got to open your eyes now. Please, Kara."
“Who else knows about this?” Lena asked the head of security.
“Just us, Ma’am,” he answered in a voice that was all business.
“I need to see the feed from the camera in that elevator,” Lena told him in authoritative voice. “In fact, I needed to see it five minutes ago. Also, I’m going to need you and your men to forget everything you’ve seen today. Are we clear?”
“Very, Ms. Luthor,” He nodded, before swallowing roughly over the sudden lump in his throat. “I - I’ll get right on that. I should have that footage for you in a few minutes.”
“Go,” Lena urged him. He gave her one final nod, and rushed into the elevator, pushing the button for the main floor. She had a feeling he wasn’t going to be a problem. It was the other two gentlemen she was worried about. Kara couldn’t afford for her secret to get out. Lena could feel her own heart racing. She felt responsible for this somehow. She’d been hard on Kara just a few minutes ago, perhaps too hard on her. She'd just disliked that the blonde was shutting her out. She’d hated how Kara was sneaking around and lying to her. And now – now Lena knew why. Kara was Supergirl for Christ sake. She'd probably been leaving Catco periodically in order to take care of official Supergirl business, and Lena had practically ripped into her for it. Still, Kara needed her now. She needed Lena's help. So Lena tried to shove all of the other stuff out of her mind. She could deal with all of the emotions and their repercussions later.
Lena pushed her way into the elevator, just as James gently moved Kara into the recovery position so that the blonde could breathe a little easier.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Lena asked him accusingly. "You knew exactly where she was sneaking off to earlier."
“Of course I knew," James replied, as he met her eyes.
"Did she tell you?" Lena asked. A part of her wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer to that question, but another larger part of her needed to know. She needed to know if she was the odd one out. She didn't want to be angry with Kara for keeping the secret, but she couldn't help but feel hurt. James knew. He'd known this whole time, and Lena had no flipping clue.
"No," James shook his head. "Look, Lena, I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. Kara didn't tell me. The truth is, I knew about Kara's biggest secret before I met her for the first time. I know that it seems a little unfair, but that's just the way it worked out. I’m best friends with Superman,” James explained. “He told me all about Kara, before I ever even got to National City. And as his friend, I - I promised him that I would keep an eye on Kara – that I would protect her."
"Is that why you've always been so cold to me?" Lena asked him. "Because you thought she needed protection from me?"
"I used to think that, yeah," James confirmed. "But you have to understand. I saw firsthand what happened to Cl- Superman. He trusted Lex, he put his faith in him, and then Lex betrayed that trust. I care about Kara, Lena. I care about her a lot, and I needed to make sure that -"
"That I wouldn't hurt her," Lena nodded, "Look, I...I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I get it. The truth is, I really do understand, James. But I lo- I care about her, and there is literally nothing that I wouldn't give to protect her. She's my best friend in the whole world."
"They were best friends too, once," James breathed. "Before Lex turned on him. Before Lex tried to kill him."
"I won't ever turn on Kara. Ever." Lena spoke adamantly. "I swear it, on my life."
"And how do you know that?" James challenged. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because, I - I," Lena appeared flustered for a moment, she stuttered over words for a moment before she managed an, "I just am, okay!?"
"Really?" James laughed, "Come on, Lena. You're going to have to do better than that. I need a real answer from you."
"James," Lena nearly growled in frustration.
"Lena," he said with a challenge to his voice.
"You really have to ask?" Lena laughed. "Come on, James, I know you're not blind. So you tell me. How can I possibly be so sure?"
"Oh," he looked nothing short of shocked as the light-bulb finally came on. "Holy shit. You - You're in love with her," he stuttered, as the realization settled between them.
"I am," Lena confirmed. "And I promise you that I will never let any harm come to her." James nodded wordlessly, before turning his eyes back to Kara's motionless form. Silence built between them for a long moment. They both let them feel the weight of their own feelings.
"This is my fault. I should’ve been there.” He let out a sharp breath. "She was scared and alone - and I should have been there."
“No,” Lena shook her head. “It’s mine. I – I did this. This is my fault.”
“Lena,” James spoke gently, as he turned to meet her quickly misting eyes.
“We argued,” Lena revealed. “Right before this. I said some things to her - things I wish I hadn't said. She was shutting me out, and I was hurt, so I lashed out at her. I said that she was behaving unacceptably. I thought she was blowing off work because of Mon-El, and it made me angry that she wouldn't talk to me about how she was feeling, so I pushed back. I didn’t realize – I didn’t realize she was out trying to save the city.”
“This isn’t your fault,” James told her simply. "Lena, you couldn't have known." He let out a sigh. "One thing that I've come to know about Kara is that she plays it really close to the vest. In fact, it can be really hard to get her to open up to you, even when you know all about who she is and what she does. I'm telling you, this is not your fault. Whatever you said to her - whatever you're worried she won't forgive you for? I promise you that she already has." His fingers darted back down to Kara’s neck, feeling for her pulse.
“Any change?” Lena asked, as she dropped onto her knees.
“No, she’s out,” he told her in a tremulous voice. “She won’t come to. I – I’ve never seen this happen before. Alex mentioned that Kara has been fighting this villain who has been robbing banks in the city. She’s attacking people with psychic energy. We originally thought that Kara would be immune to her effects, because Kara's physiology is different than a human’s, but we were wrong. The villain has been messing with Kara’s head, making her see things that aren’t there. I can't help but wonder if that isn't what happened, especially because there was no one else in the elevator with her."
"We don't know that for sure," Lena corrected him. "For all we know there was someone else in there with her. But we should have more answers shortly, just as soon as Joel gets back with that camera footage."
"I – I have to call Alex," James informed her in a breathless voice, as he immediately started thinking about what to do next, "We need to get Kara to the DEO, in order to get her checked out.”
“The DEO?”
“Oh, that’s a whole conversation for another day,” James laughed. “I'm afraid that it would take me too long to explain everything. Right now, I’ve gotta call Alex. Stay with Kara.” James got up and rushed out of the elevator, pulling out his phone as he did so, in order to send a mayday to Kara’s sister.
“Kara?” Lena felt tears spring to her eyes as she brushed a sweat-dampened strand of hair from the blonde’s face. “Kara, hey, it’s me,” Lena couldn’t keep her own voice from shaking as she touched Kara with certain gentleness. “I’m here. Listen, it’s - It's going to be okay. We’re going to take care of you.” Kara looked undeniably pale. Her face felt clammy under Lena's touch, as the sweat on her body cooled. “I’m so sorry, Kara,” Lena told her. “I didn’t know. If I had - I swear that I never would have said those things to you.” Lena started buttoning up the rest of Kara’s shirt, trying to hide what was underneath. She couldn’t risk anyone else finding out. "I just - I wish you had told me what was going on," Lena's voice sounded passionate as she spoke her next words, "You could have told me. I would have understood. You know I would have. I promise, you can trust me with this."
Lena looked up as James made a reappearance. This time, he brought someone else with him, a paramedic from the looks of it. The paramedic dropped onto his knees and unzipped his jump bag, pulling out an oxygen mask and oxygen tank. He quickly ripped open the sterile bag around the oxygen mask, before he quickly hooked it up and started the oxygen flow to the non-rebreathing mask. He plugged the one-way valve until the bag filled with oxygen, and then quickly affixed it to Kara’s face.
He reached for Kara’s shirt, but Lena stopped him.
“You’re going to need to leave that buttoned,” Lena told him, as she intercepted his hands.
“I need to get her on the monitor,” he explained. "We don't know what sort of issue we're dealing with, here. I need to check her heart."
“We’ve got other people coming for her,” Lena said. “So no EKG.”
“With all due respect, Ma’am,” he said in frustration, “You need to let me do my job.”
“Pulse-Oximetry, or nothing,” Lena offered him with a low growl. “Unless you want to deal with a lawsuit.”
“Fine,” he barked, as he pulled out the pulse oximeter and clamped it onto Kara’s finger. It started giving readout after about five seconds. “She’s extremely tachycardic,” he announced as they both saw the numbers, “She could be having a cardiac event. You really need to let me do that EKG.”
It was then that Lena hesitated. What if Kara were actually having some sort of a cardiac event, and she wasn't getting the help she needed because Lena was too afraid of someone else finding out her identity. The paramedic was right. She needed to let him do his job.
"Is there an alternative to doing a 12 lead?"
"Yes," he nodded as he whipped out a package of aluminum foil and quickly tore it open. In a flourish of efficient movements, he attached the leads to the wires, and placed them on the underside of Kara's wrists, and on the inside of Kara's ankles. "Miss?" he said as he looked at Lena.
"Hmm?" Lena looked a little bit like a deer in headlights as she made eye contact with him.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to let go of her," he told her. And Lena reluctantly pulled away.
She watched as he switched on the monitor. For a while, Lena could only see a jumbled mess of lines moving across the screen, but then those began to give way to peaks and valleys, that looked faintly like a heartbeat. However, Lena had never seen anything like it before. It certainly wasn't like a human's heartbeat. When she looked at the paramedic, he looked nothing short of alarmed.
"What?" Lena asked in panic. "What's wrong?"
"That's..." he swallowed. "I've never seen a cardiac rhythm like that before. Seriously, what in the hell is going on-" He reached towards Kara, and Lena placed herself in-between him and Kara. “What in the hell is going on here? What is it you don’t want me to see?” he questioned as he met her intense green gaze.
“Why I do believe that that would be none of your business,” a voice piped up from behind him, causing the paramedic to turn. Lena looked up in order to meet the eyes of a man she’d seen before. “Agent Henshaw, of the FBI,” he said in a voice that was all business, “Thank you for all of your help. We’ll take it from here.”
“She needs medical attention!” he cried out in exasperation.
“I said that we’ll take it from here,” J’onn told him in a forceful voice that left no room for arguement. The paramedic grabbed for his medical equipment, but J’onn stopped him. “We’ll be needing that! I believe this will cover anything you need to replace.” He spoke as he handed over a card.
“My bosses will be hearing about this,” he said as he got to his feet, fixed Henshaw with a withering glare, and then departed.
“Have fun with that!” J’onn called out after him, as he watched him leave.
“You!” Lena breathed as she pushed herself up to her feet.
“Ms. Luthor,” J’onn greeted her, “I wish I could say that I was surprised that you're wrapped up in this somehow, but you have a knack for finding trouble.”
“I would argue that trouble has a way of finding me,” Lena told him defensively, as she crossed her arms over her chest, “I was just trying to help.”
“She was,” James stuck up for her.
“I’m sure you were,” J’onn said as he stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the doors.
As they started closing she heard James call out, “I’ll take care of things here, Lena. I know you’ll want to be with Kara.”
“Thank you, James,” Lena called out gratefully, just in the nick of time - right before the doors sealed themselves shut with a loud clank.
J’onn subsequently hit the button for the roof, earning a confused look from Lena.
“Sir, what are you doing?” Lena asked him. “Shouldn't we be going down, and not up?!”
“I’m taking Kara to the DEO,” J’onn told Lena simply, as he lifted a lifeless Kara into his arms with little effort. “But I can’t risk taking her through the lobby, not with her like this. Her cover has already been blown, and we need to minimize the damage. I can’t risk her secret getting out to anyone else. It’s life or death, you understand?”
“I do,” Lena nodded and swallowed, her words hitching over her words, “There are a lot of people out there who would try to hurt Kara if they knew... People like Lex or my mother.”
“But you’re not going to be a problem, are you?” J’onn asked.
“I really want to pretend that you didn’t just ask me that,” Lena hissed. “Because that pretty much just pisses me off. Of course I’m not going to be a fucking problem! I love her! I would protect her with my life! I'm not going to spill her secret.”
“Good answer,” J’onn nodded. “But I’m still going to need you to come into the DEO and sign a NDA, forthwith.”
“Fine. Just give me the address, and I’ll head there straight away,” Lena shot back.
J’onn let out a booming laugh. “I can see why Kara likes you,” he said honestly. He pulled out an access card, while balancing Kara against his own body with his other, and handed it to her. “This has a self-destruct chip in it, so it can only be used once. Consider it your one-time all access pass to the DEO, Ms. Luthor.”
“Are you going to fly her there? In a chopper?” Lena asked as the elevator dinged open. They quickly walked out, before walking across the hall and pushing open the doors. The sun felt warm on Lena's face as they stepped out onto the roof.
“Oh, I’m going to fly her there,” J’onn said with a knowing smile, “I’m just not going to do it with a chopper.
“Then how –“ Lena trailed off as she watched J'onn transform before her very eyes. She let out a sharp gasp, and took a step back, giving him some room. She recognized him even more now. This is the man who had come with Supergirl in order to stop her from releasing the Medusa Virus. He’d also been there when they’d rescued Lena from Lex’s lair, after she was kidnapped by her mother. “I’ll see you soon, Lena,” he announced as he shot into the air. Lena’s squinted against the bright sunlight as her eyes followed him for as long as possible. She kept watching, until he and Kara became a minuscule dot in the sky. Then she turned, in order to go back into the building. After all, she had places to be. Kara needed her.