Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Reborn

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 02: Lost and Found

The core of the sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit with a pressure estimated at 3.84 trillion psi. It is comprised of hot dense plasma and generates 99% of the fusion power of the sun. Should a person be able to astral project their body into the core, they would see only light so bright it would become the universe to that person.

Today was different. If a human were able to see inside the core, that person would see something much brighter than the sun, the figure of a human female, shining out above the reactions circling her.

It would be impossible of course for a being to be in the core of the sun.

Kara Danvers had always been the embodiment of the impossible.

The girl had been there for one year, sleeping, allowing her body to rebuild itself one molecule at a time. Only her brain and spine had survived her initial entry, everything else that possessed her destroyed in the violent reactions of the star. Her red ring and the acidic blood were gone and the Worldkiller burned to nothing.

Now only Kara remained, dreaming as she often did, keeping her eyes closed to avoid the bright light.

The Kryptonian had forgotten much over the past year. Her mind focused on her body, on surviving, and as such began to fragment. She remembered her name, she knew where she was, but not how she came to be here. As far as Kara was concerned she had existed in this star for perhaps millions of years. Time meant nothing to her. The blonde knew she had a past, she had memories of another time, another life, but they were jumbled so she tried not to focus on it. When she dreamed, Kara was in a beautiful place, full of sand, birds overhead singing for her and a great ocean in front of her.

The process of rebuilding her body was a tedious one. At times it was painful and she felt as she was floating in some sort of hell so she escaped inside her mind.

But then she was able to make out her hand, feel it flexing, glowing brighter than the area around her. Eventually she regained feeling in her toes. Kara should have been burned from existence when she arrived. Instead she was stuck, barely able to move but at least able to feel something.

She had places to be, people to see. The girl knew that in her mind.

“Kara.” a familiar voice called to her.

“Turn around.” another but still familiar and similar voice softly told her.

The blonde did turn, seeing her mother and Aunt Astra now in front of her, the hellish landscape of Argo City behind them.

“You aren’t real. You can’t be here.” Kara whispered, though it felt very real. She could feel ground beneath her feet.

“Kara, it is time to wake up.” Astra told her.

“Are you real?” she asked the women.

“Only you know that.” Alura told her, stepping closer and caressing her cheek. “Why are you still here?”

The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Where else is there? I can’t escape. My whole world is light and it blinds me. I can feel but I can’t move very far. I feel pressure surrounding me. Is this hell?”

“No.” Astra told her. “This is not Hell, nor is this Heaven. It isn’t your time. They are hurting. They need you. She needs you. Kal El needs you.”

Kara shook her head. Kal El? They? She? What were they talking about? Her mother and aunt were dead. A part of her knew this.

“Open your eyes now.” Astra ordered.

Kara did so. On Krypton you did as you were told. She saw nothing but the light she had long become accustomed to.

“Look.” her mother whispered, no longer seen but still in her head. “Look at Earth.”

Kara strained, trying to see through the fire that surrounded her. To her surprise she was able. Far, far away, farther than any living being should possibly be able to see, she saw the blue Earth.

“You belong there.” Astra’s voice told. She remembered something about Earth. She and Kal El had to escape… Krypton? They were alone and then were found.

Alex. Her sister had found her. Alex had saved her.

“Listen.” her mother ordered. “What do you hear?”

Kara let herself relax and listened past the sounds of plasma erupting and protons colliding, opened her hearing and let the sounds rush in.

“What do you hear?” Astra whispered and Kara swore she could feel the woman’s breath on her ear.

Everything, Kara thought. I can hear everything. She heard planets farther away than Earth, some creatures moving on the red planet farther away from Earth, but it was the blue planet that had her attention.

“Find her. You know what to do.” Alura told her daughter.

Kara remembered this. Someone had taught her how to do this and she taught… Kal El. Separate the sounds, place them in order, put them in boxes in her mind until she found the sound she sought.

She found the heart beat she had spent so much time listening to.

Kara closed her eyes once again and a memory assaulted her. The girl was scared, having just woken up from a nightmare. She felt delicate arms around her.

“It’s okay. I got you.”

Kara turned slightly and saw the face of a young girl with dark hair, lying under her covers and holding her as tightly as possible for a human.

“I’m scared.” she told her.

“I know you are. Just listen to my heartbeat.” Alex replied. “Just focus on my heart and drown everything else out. Listen to me breathe. You are safe.”

A memory invaded her mind, one buried in the back of her head with many others she had a hard time getting to. The door always seemed locked.

“Kara, I don’t like you that high. Please don’t go higher. Just come down. Don’t fly into space. I need you. You are doing good, right?

“I’m coming down, Alex. Everything is alright. I won’t take myself from you, I swear .”

“ You wanted to. You tried.” her sister responded.

Kara had promised her then. She told her she would never try to take herself away from her again. She swore she wouldn’t leave her.

But she tried. What had happened? Is that why she was here now? No… something else happened. Damn it, why couldn’t she remember?

“Have you found her heartbeat?” Alura whispered when the blonde opened her eyes once again to escape the confusing memory.

I hear everything, Kara thought, unable to speak but knowing her mother would hear her regardless. Why was she here? Why was Astra? They were dead. Kara knew they were dead. Alura died with Krypton. Astra died… she didn’t know. It must have been on Krypton.

Focusing once again, she sorted through a billion sounds it seemed. At some point the girl stopped hearing the twin sisters’ voices.

Am I a god? Kara wondered. She heard everything, no matter how far away. Could she hear the entire universe?

Then she found what she was looking for. The familiar rhythm of a heart and breathing… but Alex was crying. Why was she crying?

Kara looked once again out of the sun, focusing only on the Earth and the sound she heard.

Alex. She was in a house, a house by a cliff. The girl was sitting by a window, looking out over the ocean with a cat on her shoulder and her arms curled around her knees. She was crying still but Kara could make out the words in between sobs.

“Come back to me. Please, come back.” Alex said, not knowing Kara was listening from far away.

I can’t, the blonde thought. I can’t move. I am not strong enough.

“It’s quite easy. All you have to do is think about it.” someone had said to her once. She thought hard, a vision of a tall green… he wasn’t human. What was he?

He was her friend. She knew he was her friend.

Just think about it? Kara had told Kal… Clark once to close his eyes and imagine the Earth falling away.

She had to get home. Kara promised Alex… she broke that promise before, she knew it. But that was not why she was here. The blonde knew she had come here for something and that task was accomplished. She needed to heal, to rebuild but now It was time to go home.

Kara raised her arms over her head, opened her mouth and attempted to scream. Light invaded her body, giving her greater strength than before. The girl knew she could do this. No matter the pressure, no matter what, she would force her way home, fight through this hell. Her muscles flexed and she flew, escaping the surrounding pressure even as it tried to pull her back. It wasn’t long until she felt herself moving out of the sun. With a final burst of energy, the girl launched herself, solar storms erupting behind her as she absorbed each of them, using their power to push her ever forward, even faster.

Kara had no real sense of time, only knowing the faster she moved, the faster she thought she could move, the closer the blue planet came.

It was only with seconds to spare that she thought of slowing down when she encountered the atmosphere.

Kara saw the green, beautiful nature, the animals, the water… then she landed head first, the ground giving way, the Earth exploding around her.

The blonde rolled over on her back, seeing nothing but a large dust cloud, then fire, different than the sun. The dust cloud began to settle and a large number of trees that had been thrown into the air fell on her.

Kara did to bother to move them. She only wanted to rest. The girl grinned and closed her eyes to sleep. She had made it home and now she could rest. There was no reason to go anywhere.

Alex would find her. She always did.

Midvale

Jeremiah followed the smell of bacon into the kitchen. Walking in, he was not surprised to see Eliza staring at the frying pan on the stove top, unmoving, lost in her own world, while the bacon blackened and smoke rose.

He quietly walked behind her, took the pan and placed it aside, then turned the stove off.

“Eliza?”

The woman shook her head and blinked, seemingly coming back to reality.

“Jeremiah? What are you… oh.” she finished, seeing the bacon was no longer in front of her.

“Maybe we can go with cereal this morning?” he suggested. The man didn’t think anyone was of sound mind to handle flammable tasks this day.

His wife nodded. “I’m… I’m not hungry. Would you get Clark? He needs to eat. Please try to talk him out of wearing one of his… he needs… sunshine. I don’t want him getting sick. Bribe him with sugar if you have to. I think we have a box of that chocolate cereal he loves.”

The man agreed, knowing it would do no good. Clark would not take a band off whether it was a wrist or an ankle band. He knew his son wouldn’t be hungry today either.

He and Eliza had talked about how to handle this day. None of them had recovered from the past year. None of them were the same.

Jeremiah felt he let Kara down as always. From the day she came into his life he swore to protect her. Despite doing his best, the man felt like he had failed, failed to protect her from her enemies and failed to protect her from her inner demons.

Now he worried every day that he would fail his remaining daughter and son. Who would be taken from him next?

He knew at times Alex would space out and was most likely having flashbacks to some terrible battle she had been part of. He noticed when she was the least bit surprised at work or in public, her hand moved directly to her right thigh where she used to carry a handgun, her constant companion.

What would the man do if he could turn back time? It was something that had been on Jeremiah’s mind since Alex’s unsuccessful attempt to manipulate Barry Allen into doing that very thing. Would he go back to when the girls were younger, barely teenagers, and stop them from learning to fight? What would have happened?

Humanity would have died, but more importantly to him, his family would have died, Clark likely included. Kara would have ended her life, whether by her own hand or a vengeful suicide mission against an army full of convicts.

They never had a choice, any of them, not even Kara.

Now today, the anniversary of the day Kara had to give up everything to protect this world, had finally arrived. Her last months of life had not been pleasant, searching for ways to remove the ring, deal with her depression and anger without medication, having her brain waves constantly manipulated, and then the entire planet being targeted because Zor El’s own creation wanted his daughter’s body.

So how to handle it? He and his wife considered taking their children on a trip, somewhere remote so they would not have to deal with the world. They considered having a private memorial service since Alex never allowed one before. After giving it some consideration over weeks, the two decided the family just needed to be together, at home, supporting each other by their presence. Whatever someone wished to talk about, it would be discussed. If no one said anything, it would be left alone. It wasn’t an ideal solution but neither parent had a better idea.

Reaching the top of the stairs, he heard a muffled quiet explosion behind Clark’s closed door. It was obvious he had his television on and for once he hoped the boy was playing a video game that involved gunfire and explosions.

Opening the door with a feeling of dread, he discovered his worst fears were confirmed. One thing the family had all agreed upon was to not watch the News today.

Clark had broken that rule already. Instead of chastising him, he walked behind his son who was on the floor at the foot of his bed, wondering a bit what was going on. Had a world war erupted?

He knew Clark noticed his presence but the boy didn’t take his eyes off the television.

“Son?”

“These people in Germany, they were having a parade. They had Kara on… on a cross.” Clark told him. “Then a bomb went off. The reporters there are running but the cameramen… gunshots are being fired. It’s not just there. All those other places those stupid cults are having rallies are being attacked.”

Jeremiah saw the television was indeed covering a blood bath live. Bodies were on the street, bystanders and gawkers were stampeding each other, fleeing for their lives.

The man grabbed Clark’s remote and turned the TV off immediately.

“We agreed none of us would watch this today. I knew something like this would happen.” he told the boy.

Clark shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve been watching for two hours. They are going to have moments of silence in Star City, National City and Metropolis but there are bomb threats from anti alien groups. Some Congressman is holding a press conference asking for all memorials to stop and he blamed the invasion on Kara. He said it was her fault they came in the first place. Everything she did to help people and the day she died is filled with hate and murder. People calling her the devil and some people worshipping her like a god. Everybody knew she didn’t like that. How many of those so called churches did she go to and tell them to stop?”

Jeremiah said nothing, knowing, like Eliza, Clark was in a world of his own, not really talking to his father but himself.

“Munich has her on a crucifix. In Tehran they are burning her in effigy. What is wrong with this world, Dad? Why are we here? Why do we stay? Earth is disgusting. We can all leave, the four of us. There are other planets we can live on. Humanity isn’t worth saving. I wish Kara would have understood that.”

Jeremiah sat down on the floor next to his son.

“That’s not true, Clark. There are a lot of good people in the world. It’s just… I don’t know. Humans have always…”

“Been horrible.” the boy finished. “I know what Kara thought. When she would help me with my history homework, we would talk about things. She told me about World War 2 and how she felt when she learned about the Holocaust. Slavery, murder in the name of religion or patriotism, chemical warfare, illegal experiments on people by their own kind, countries threatening each other with nuclear bombs and biological weapons. Krypton wasn’t perfect but at least the people lived as one. Most planets do. Earth knows it isn’t alone but instead of unifying, trying to be a part of something bigger, they still want to fight with themselves.”

Jeremiah said nothing for a moment. He couldn’t think of anything to say really. How did he defend a world that had taken so much from his family?

“Kara showed them a better way. Maybe one day, they will remember that. Look at all the people who are gathering for these ceremonies in cities like Metropolis. Those people are peaceful, thankful, inspired.”

Clark shook his head slightly. “Somebody will probably set a bomb off there too. Why did they get involved? Alex almost died, Kara did die. What did she die for? These people? They aren’t worth it.” he told his father quietly with conviction.

“Because despite all the bad it did on Krypton, those girls believed in the symbol Kara wore on her chest. It stood for hope on Krypton long before Jor El and Zor El were born and because of your sisters, it gave people hope here as well.” Jeremiah told him. “They fought for us, for the millions of innocents, they fought hoping this world would survive and one day become better for everyone.”

Clark laughed quietly. “Now the symbol is gone. I guess hope is gone too, huh? I’m not hungry. Is it okay if I stay up here this morning? I just want to hang out for a while and play some games. I’ll be down later, I promise.”

Jeremiah did not want the boy alone but sensed he needed some space, probably to cry without his father watching.

“I’m going to go downstairs and check on your mother. Then I will be right back up and we can play some games together. Promise me you won’t turn on the news again while I am gone, okay? We can’t control what people in the world do. Just let it go. Kara wouldn’t want you watching this.”

He patted the boy on top of his messy head and walked out. He hadn’t made it to the stairs when he heard the television turn back on.

Rather than scolding him, he decided to follow through with his plan of checking on Eliza.

First, he stopped at the girls’ old room. Their furniture and beds were still there at least, even if the art work had been taken down when they moved.

Jeremiah picked up a framed photo of the two girls Eliza had left on the dresser they shared. He remembered that day well. Kara was 16, Alex 17, the two hanging out on the beach. The family had a picnic together and stayed into the night, roasting marshmallows while Jeremiah told ghost stories that weren’t too frightening for Kara.

The picture was taken at 10 AM. He remembered because he took it. Kara had been doing well. From her Junior year to the time she left for college, the blonde had all but stopped harming herself. This had been a four week mark from the last time she had and though no one said it aloud, they were celebrating this. She was getting better and would be okay. On this day she even felt comfortable in front of a camera with her glasses off.

In the photo the girls had their arms around each other and were smiling widely. The thing that caught his eye about this photo were the smiles on their faces. They were genuine. The girls were happy. For that moment Fort Rozz, Non and Astra didn’t exist in any of their minds.

If only that moment could have lasted forever.

“I miss you so much, baby girl. I am so sorry.”

Jeremiah placed the frame back on the dresser and went in search of his wife.

She was sitting on the porch swing, a newspaper on her lap that she was paying no mind to, instead staring at the ocean, the cliff and the beach beyond. When Kara was learning to swim, he would catch Eliza watching the two girls through binoculars in the ocean. Now she stared vacantly, looking for her blonde daughter that would never come out of the surf again.

The man sat down beside her.

“You know how stupid I was?” she asked. “I actually thought we could win. Non, Astra, Myriad, Doomsday, White Martians, I really thought we could pull this off as well. I thought the worst that could happen was Kara had to use the ring and Alex would bring her back again. I worried about their safety so much, but deep down, I never thought we could lose. I should have fought. I should have told them no. Alex’s plan was so dangerous but I never said a word. That’s my daughter I thought. No one else could pull something like that off but she could. It would work out. Kara would beat Reign on her own. She didn’t need that ring. She would just be smarter, more skilled than her enemy. She always had been. I knew what she was going up against. She fought a smarter Doomsday. I should have known that she would use the ring, yet I never really believed it. Our girls always won, right?”

Jeremiah took her hand, noting that it was cold. She clenched his tightly.

“I thought we would win too. I could have stopped it. I didn’t.” he told her, knowing it wouldn’t matter. He would always blame himself, just as Eliza would always blame herself. It was what they did.

“Did Clark come down for cereal?”

Jeremiah shook his head. “He isn’t hungry. He was watching the News in his room. The whole world is going to hell. I guess it would be too much for people to just let her rest.”

Eliza shrugged her shoulders. “Earth has a way of getting what it deserves. It is only a matter of time. She is gone and some other planet will invade. They will all wish she were still alive. No one is going to be here to save them, not Alex and not Clark. The next time this Earth is threatened, we are getting the hell off this planet. I swear I will never lose another child to humanity.” she promised.

Jeremiah made no comment, deciding that silence was the best course of action. The father wondered if Alex had gotten out of bed yet or if she had slept at all.

After a few minutes he walked back upstairs to check on his son and prayed the boy had gotten tired of the news and was playing a video game instead. At the moment he didn’t care if the video game was one of the violent ones he knew Clark downloaded and hid on his system.

Of course the boy was still watching the news but now was on his bed, leaned up against the headboard.

The father sat next to him, stretched out and watched silently. There would be no stopping him so he decided it was best to get it out in the open.

Clark flipped channels and stopped at the Metropolis event. Thousands were there, even the Metropolis Police Honor Guard and they were all there for Kara. A city was united in support and he wondered if a bomb or some other terrorist act would occur.

“Some guys tried to plant a bomb in downtown Gotham. Batman stopped them.” Clark mentioned quietly. “I bet J’onn is in Metropolis somewhere. Maybe it will be okay there.”

A reporter at the Metropolis event pulled aside someone and began an interview. Jeremiah didn’t recognize his face but the bottom line identified him as Andrew Schultz, a Senator from New Jersey. The man expressed support, thankful for what Kara had done for the city over the years.

Of course it couldn’t last. He talked about the threats she had fought and wondered how many were because of her existence, pointing out Luthor had Doomsday in the first place for the purpose of killing her. The invaders most likely came for her. The aliens that called her out over the years did so in a violent fashion resulting in the injury and deaths of citizens. He also called out other heroes, pointing out that mass murderers like the Joker never appeared to the world until Batman did. The interviewer asked about the details in Lois Lane’s book, the ones addressing how close Myriad came to destroy the human race and how Supergirl had saved them all. He countered, saying they were aliens as well and she only stopped the danger her people caused in the first place.

The feed cut to a Senatorial candidate in a studio in Metropolis, calling his political opponent an ungrateful bigot. The world for the most part still supported Supergirl, even if they were sick of the cults. An anti-alien Senator in an upcoming election would be facing off against a pro alien contender and the battle was becoming messy.

The Senatorial candidate blasted Lex Luthor and blasted the Senator for blaming a heroic young woman who gave everything to humanity while ignoring the sins of the human race. He retraced Kara’s history loudly, starting with the plane caught in National City and the natural and man-made disasters she had saved thousands from.

An argument broke out between the two, the reporter not interrupting but letting it turn into a screaming match on air.

Even peaceful protests were turning into political battlefields now.

“He’s afraid of aliens?” Clark mumbled. “I could make him very afraid if I wanted to. He has no idea how lucky he is, does he?”

A chill swept through the father’s body. “Don’t talk like that Clark. You aren’t going to make anyone scared of anything. That’s not who you are.”

“I know.” the boy mumbled and shrugged his shoulders. Jeremiah wanted to chalk it up to Clark’s annoyance at the situation but the attitude had been festering over the past year. He had friends, even a girlfriend to Eliza’s dismay, but like Kara, seemed to be withdrawing from humanity a small bit at a time.

“Can you please turn this off?”

“Why?” Clark asked. “If I turn it off will it stop happening?”

Jeremiah sighed. “Would you do it for me?”

“Would you admit humanity isn’t worth saving?” the boy countered. He saw his father’s face and wished he hadn’t asked that aloud.

“I shouldn’t have asked that.” Clark told him, visibly deflating. “Yeah, I have seen enough. I’m sure all the death totals will be on the net tonight. I need a shower. I suppose Mom is going to bug me until I take the bracelet off, isn’t she?”

The man nodded. “She is worried you will get sick.”

“I can take it off if that happens.” he reasoned. “Does she ever think that maybe I get tired of holding everything like it’s made of paper that could crumble with the slightest amount of pressure?”

“She thinks that with it off you are safe and she really needs you to be safe, especially today. Please, just for a few hours, can you do that for her?”

Clark managed not to roll his eyes, instead pulling up his sweat pant leg and unstrapping the red glowing band. He handed it to his father and walked to the bathroom.

Thinking Eliza would be at least happy with this win, Jeremiah moved back downstairs, hoping Alex would arrive soon but also worried about her state of mind.

The man heard Eliza’s voice in the kitchen and hoped Alex had arrived. Alex had changed more than any of them, trying to remain positive for Clark but he knew his daughter. He knew her worsening anxiety, her deep depression and the bottled intense anger.

He guessed the PTSD she had been silently dealing with over the years was getting worse, along with violent, frightening flashbacks. Despite this, Alex refused therapy after having booted Leslie out of her life shortly after Kara’s death.

Alex believed Kara was alive. Jeremiah suspected and worried that this belief was the only thing that kept her going. She would have to truly deal with her sister being gone one day and dreaded the day that happened.

Instead of a conversation with Alex in person, he found Eliza holding her phone to her ear.

“I need you here. We need you here! I don’t give a damn what emergency you are needed for. Get over here now!”

Jeremiah cringed, suspecting he would have to go to Kara and Alex’s… to Alex’s house and drag her from it. He couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation and it didn’t matter since Eliza was making her feelings loudly known.

“There is nothing more important! Do not tell me you will be back tonight and tell me what is going on! Get over… are you at the Fortress? I can hear the ceiling opening up. You aren’t planning on flying that thing, are you? You have never flown it. Kelex had it remote flown when you brought it to the Fortress! You brother needs you and you plan to go flying? I’m coming over. I don’t give a damn what you want. Don’t you go anywhere!”

Eliza closed the call and headed to the basement quickly. He knew this had the potential to turn ugly quickly.

“Let’s relax and I will go talk to Alex…”

Eliza turned to the man and practically growled at him.

“Make sure Clark isn’t watching the news! I will handle this! I don’t need you to talk to my daughter for me!”

At the Fortress, Alex groaned. Her mother would be here in seconds.

“Why do you not tell her what you know?” Kelex asked, while Alex resumed putting on her black, slightly bulkier flight suit.

“Not until I have Kara back here. If I have to listen to one more rant about how I should accept that she is gone from Mom, it might turn violent. I am sick of it Kelex. Are we ready for launch?”

“The omegahedron is powered and a systems check is being performed. Ready for launch in five minutes.”

“Screw that! The systems can be checked in the air. I’m going now!”

Before Alex could make a step towards the vehicle, her mother walked through the Rann transporter. By the look on her face, Alex could tell she did not want a quick, calm conversation. She had no time for this.

“Not now Mom. I will be back tonight, hopefully sooner.”

Eliza grabbed Alex by the shoulder as she turned away. Alex turned back to her quickly, brushing her hand away so fast Eliza stepped back. Her surprise at Alex’s aggressive move did not lessen her anger.

“Clark won’t stop watching the news. The world is going to hell!”

“I know.” Alex told her. “I saw.”

“Then you know he needs you there! With him, not taking off on some joy ride!”

Alex took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. “That isn’t what I am doing. This is important. Trust me, okay? I wouldn’t leave if…”

“There is nothing more important than your brother.” Eliza told her.

“This is.” Alex told her shortly and began walking towards Scarlett 2. Bruce and Lucius Fox had rebuilt her original in the Batcave at her request in case of an emergency. This counted as an emergency in Alex’s mind.

Eliza of course followed her.

“That’s it? Fine, I will tell Clark you had something more important to do. As much as you avoid home and stay at work he won’t have a hard time believing it.”

Alex stopped, feeling a deep anger rising in her.

“Me!? Ignore Clark!?” She turned to face her mother, her fists clenched. “I am always there for him! Always! This is important and I need you to shut up and go home! I will tell you when I get back and…”

“You need to tell me…”

“I found her!” Alex shouted. “I found Kara. I am going to get her. I am bringing her home. Now go back and don’t say a word to anyone. Time is short.”

Eliza’s anger subsided a bit. Of course she found Kara. It wasn’t the first time Alex had said this.

“You have been watching the sun for the past year. First it was the unusual solar storms six months ago, then a meteor that hit in Arizona three months ago that turned out to be a basketball size piece of iron and ice. You have been obsessed and I understand this but it has to end one day. You are going to have to…”

“What?” Alex cut in. “Give up? Accept it like you? Put some damn stone near the cliff with her name on it so you can have a place to grieve? She isn’t dead. This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you. This is no mistake. We found her. Now I am going to bring her home.”

“You know what Veritas said…”

“She is a damn idiot!” Alex yelled. “You gave up so easily! You all did! When I get her back I will keep her away from you and you can put up all the gravestones you want. I have to go now so go back to the house and take care of your son since I am apparently neglecting him!”

Eliza shook her head, her anger returning. “Fine then. When you find another chunk of iron come over and I will try to pick up the pieces of what’s left of you.”

Alex turned around and punched the side of her jet.

“Kelex picked up an impact site, the exact place Kara disappeared a year ago! He traced her path from the sun! This isn’t some small meteor! It traveled from the sun to the Earth in three and a half hours and struck ten minutes ago causing a huge explosion! This is why I didn’t tell you! I don’t have time for your crap! Get the hell out of the way. I am launching whether you are in the danger zone or not!”

Alex climbed into the cockpit, seething with anger. She had hoped to find Kara and then let them know. She knew they would have this reaction! No one believed her. She could never accept Kara being dead. Veritas’s theory about the sun was just that… a theory.

A quick glance to the side showed her Eliza had backed away from the craft. Alex took the controls and guided the craft quickly up until she was clear of the Fortress and took off, reaching Mach 2 a minute later.

In the Fortress, Eliza stared at the spot Alex had risen and exited from the Fortress. Not knowing if she should feel incredibly sad or angry at her daughter, she took it out on Kelex.

“What did you do? What is it you tracked this time? Are you going to comfort her when she gets back…”?

“Look at the screen,” Kelex told her, cutting off her questions.

Eliza turned from him to face the giant column of monitors that was centered in the Fortress. Kara’s toy that could watch the world for any dangers, terrestrial or other, had lain silent since her death. Alex had it always focused on the sun, looking for hope wherever she could find it. Now there was a giant column of smoke in the air.

“Alex was right. My calculations are correct. An object came directly from the sun, slowed when it hit the atmosphere, but still struck hard enough to destroy forty miles of the Amazon Rainforest. I am estimating the point of impact is near the site Kara threw herself into the breach last year. Because of the smoke, the debris and the depth of the crater, I cannot get visual confirmation, however the coincidences are too great. I believe Kara just struck the Earth and is there. Seismologists have detected the impact as far as five hundred miles away. I have scrambled their sensors so they cannot determine the source of the tremors. As of right now, this is the only satellite near the area and I have control of it. The feed is going nowhere other than the Fortress. I have sent our two remaining drones but it is likely Alex will arrive first.”

Eliza gazed at the screen, the debris cloud, the trees that were flattened and the trees that were on fire. It was obvious a major event had taken place, a huge explosion on the scale of a hydrogen bomb being set off.

“How hot is the area?”

“The temperature outside the zone is over 150 degree Fahrenheit but cooling. Inside the zone and near the point of impact, the temperature is over two hundred degrees Fahrenheit and cooling. If the current temperature drop is consistent, when Alex reaches the point of impact, it should be at just over a hundred degrees, not more than 120. I can control the temperature of her body using the suit and her helmet. A portable oxygen tank and mask are on board should they be needed.”

Eliza felt a multitude of emotions. Yes, the coincidences were astounding, but… if she let herself believe and it wasn’t Kara… she wouldn’t recover. Neither would Alex.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this right away?”

“Alex is in control of the Fortress. As protocol demands I informed her first. She ordered me not to tell anyone else.”

“Why?” the mother asked.

“She had a theory that you may not react well to the information and did not feel she had the time to convince you. Her theory has been proven correct. I would recommend not mentioning this to anyone else until we have physical contact with Kara. We have no way of knowing what her state of mind will be. I suspect she could easily fly off, making it difficult to track her. Despite our technology, with every minute that is lost, the greater the chance of her fleeing blindly or of discovery by others.”

Eliza crossed her arms and began to cry. When had she and Alex gotten so out of sync with each other that Alex would keep this from her to avoid a fight? When had things between them deteriorated so badly that she verbally attacked her daughter before even waiting for an explanation?

“Please tell me… put me into her com.”

Kelex placed a metal hand on her shoulder. “I would recommend, as your friend, to let Alex… cool off. Go home, be with Clark and Jeremiah and have your phone on you. I will inform you of all progress. If you truly wish to speak to her now, I will make contact if she accepts.”

Eliza walked to the door to her home. “I will be here. I will give her time… keep the feed on my phone. I won’t say anything to Clark, but… Jeremiah has to know. He won’t leave Clark and Clark isn’t wearing a band. He will hear… keep the satellite feed on my phone and I will have him slip in here. He will probably… I don’t know. Just keep me updated and when Alex is ready to talk to me… tell her I am sorry.”

“I will Eliza.” the robot assured her.

While her mother came to terms with what she had learned, Alex was in the air, moving quickly towards her sister.

“Kelex, why can’t I get the jump drive to work? I need to open a portal.”

“The Rann Transporter is not installed.” he told her.

“Why the hell not? Bruce’s big carrier has one, Lobo’s bike has one but Scarlett doesn’t?”

“We have not tested the capabilities in a live situation so have no way of knowing if there are glitches. Opening a portal near the impact site would not be advisable regardless. Until we fly closer I have no idea what sort of radiation is present. There could be significant amounts of solar radiation that would affect the stability…”

“Time is of the essence! Do you have any idea how long it will take me to get there now?”

“At current speed, I would guess five hours. We have also not tested the hull strength and I am hesitant to allow you to fly past Mach 3. If there is a deviation from Kara’s original design it could be catastrophic and then you would be of no help to anyone. I can take control and you can try to calm yourself. I have explained the situation to your mother and she is regretful of her words…”

“Shut it Kelex.” Alex ordered. “I’m staying in control and pushing it to the limit. It will hold. Going to 5 kilometers altitude and hitting Mach 5. If the X 15 could do it so can we.”

Alex raised the altitude and speed, keeping an eye on the temperature of the shield outside and took a deep breath. Flipping a switch, an oxygen mask dropped down and she placed it over her face in the event the hull began to compress and she would have difficulty handling the G forces her body could be subjected to.

Once the course was set and she attained a speed of Mach 5.2, the woman relaxed a bit. The temperature of the hull was incredibly high, the air in front putting tremendous pressure on the craft yet no alarms had sounded indicating the jet was in danger.

She turned her head and looked around the cockpit, surprised how similar this was to her first jet.

Not just similar, but identical.

The last time she had flown in this type of craft had been against Doomsday.

She could see it as if were happening at that moment. She still had nightmares of that morning.

Not only was she watching Kara be beaten to death, she also had a difficult time controlling her fighter. She never had difficulty before but this was a different situation. She was flying low, in between the skyscrapers of Metropolis, nearly ramming many of them. The ship felt out of control at times and when she emerged into the battle zone and swooped up for a bombing run, Alex knew it would be useless. She had thrown every weapon at her disposal at the monster and it did nothing to him. Only Kara had the ability to cause any sort of damage but she wasn’t thinking, wasn’t moving, just trading blows with the much larger creature.

The idea of hovering behind it and attacking did not seem like a good idea. If she did catch its attention, it would be a simple matter for it to turn and disintegrate her. That would do her little sister no good.

So she continued, full of adrenaline, weaving in and out of the tall buildings that remained standing until her last loop.

Kara was done for. It was easy for Alex to see that. The blonde’s face was unrecognizable. Even moving in the air at high speed, she could tell her little sister was broken. She wouldn’t be getting up.

Alex made one more effort, one more shot to take its attention away from Kara.

It worked. He briefly turned towards her and the sky was lit up by his intense heat vision. She felt the back of her ship struck, slamming her forward and spinning her. She lost her equilibrium, not knowing up from down. She didn’t hear the ejection of the main part of the aircraft from the ruined wings that had been circling it.

She did see the ground coming very quickly and screamed trying to level the now much smaller craft out.

Alex felt a jolt in the craft and realized she had been lost…

“Kelex, what’s going on?”

“I have taken control of the craft.”

“I said I would fly!”

“You dropped 2 kilometers in 92 seconds and had weapons hot. You were about to attack the ocean. I suspect you were having another flashback perhaps? I will remain in control. Place your mask on and monitor the impact site. If any flying objects leave the site it will be important that we identify and redirect our heading if it is Kara.”

Alex shook her head, frustrated at herself. She had lost it again. Kelex knew of the flashbacks she had. They felt so real it disoriented her when she was brought back.

“Thank you Kelex.” Alex mumbled. He was right, it would do Kara no good if Alex didn’t arrive in one piece.

It was silent for a half hour until Kelex spoke again.

“Your mother wishes to speak to you Alex. Would you mind?”

Did she?

“Put her through.”

“Alex? Are you there?” Eliza asked. Alex could tell she had been crying, possibly still was.

“Where else would I be?” she answered shortly.

The woman cleared her throat. “I’m… I’m sorry. I wish you had just told me.”

“And I wish you would have trusted me. The next time I say I have something important to do, I mean it. I wasted time with our discussion. I suppose you have seen the evidence?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I didn’t have time to prove a case to you.”

“This is a difficult day…”

“You think I don’t know that?! Maybe if you hadn’t been so quick to give up on her I wouldn’t have felt the need to make a case. ‘Hey Mom, Kara is back, I’m going to pick her up and bring her home.’ That would have gone over well.” Alex sighed. ” I suppose you told Dad?”

“We are taking turns, one of us in the Fortress and one of us with Clark. He doesn’t know.”

Alex closed her eyes. She wanted to stay mad, wanted anything to take her mind off this incredibly long trip. The hurt in her mother’s voice made that impossible though.

“Look, maybe I should have taken five minutes to tell you or told you to ask Kelex after I was in the air. I am just in a hurry. She could fly away, she could be injured… she did just hit the Earth at an incredible rate of speed. She could have landed head first, her neck could be compromised… so many things could go wrong. We haven’t picked up any movement from the crater. I know in my heart she is there but I don’t know her condition. We also can’t keep a huge crater secret forever, no matter how remote the area is. Go home, be with Dad and we will let you know what we find. I think we are three hours out.”

Alex heard nothing for a moment.

“I love you, Alex.”

The girl’s tension left her body at that simple statement.

“I love you too, Mom.”

“Bring her home.”

Alex cut the com and continued watching the feed from the impact site. The temperature had dropped dramatically but was still over one hundred degrees. Coupled with the humidity it would be hellish on the ground.

The next hours were the longest of Alex’s life, worse than the trip to Ysmault had been.

Finally she reached her destination. The bottom of the cockpit opened and Alex attached a rope to her belt, rappelling to the ground.

The area was littered with large boulders and fallen trees. As she suspected the temperature and humidity were horrible. Judging by the cooling of her body, Kelex was obviously monitoring her, but her head was exposed.

“No harmful radiation found but if you don’t put on your helmet you are going to have quite the sunburn from too much exposure.” the robot told her.

“We won’t be here long.”

Alex made her way over the debris, trying to find what she suspected to be the center of the hole. It was deep and the trip down was treacherous but quick.

“Sonar?” Alex asked, wishing she would have worn her helmet now.

“I have a heartbeat twenty feet in front of you.” Kelex told her.

Alex steadied herself. She could feel it. Kara was so close.

“Bring Scarlett over. There are two large tree trunks over the spot. I need chains.”

Alex worked quickly, having the trunks moved in under five minutes. All she found underneath them were woodchips, loose soil and gravel.

The girl dropped to her hands and knees and began digging. Thankfully she did not have to dig far. A foot down, she had brushed enough away to uncover a knee and continued up, moving debris with her hands until she uncovered her sister.

Alex cried out, her chest tightening and breath hard to find.

Kara was unclothed and filthy, but Alex could see no scars on her body and no obvious broken bones. Alex didn’t see a red ring either. Placing her ear on Kara’s chest, Alex heard her heart beating strong. Kara’s heart was beating! There was blood running through her veins!

She gently touched her sister’s face, wiping away dirt from the blonde’s eyes as she called to her.

“Kara? Kara, please wake up. Please! Open your eyes honey. Listen to me. Open your eyes so you can see me.”

Kara’s eyes fluttered open and her chest began to rise as she began taking deeper breaths in the debris free air.

She looked confused for a moment, but Alex could tell when her sister finally focused as her blue eyes cleared and settled on her. The voice Alex yearned to hear for so long, whispered softly, cracking slightly from obvious disuse.

“Alex?”

“Hey sweetie.” Alex told her, fighting back sobs.

Kara smiled. Slowly, she reached up to touch Alex’s cheek, rubbing her thumb lightly under her eye and catching her sister’s tears before they fell.

“I knew you would find me.”