Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Reborn

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 09:

“You didn’t seriously think I would let you see her, did you?” Leslie asked as her way of greeting the occupants of the Danvers living room as she strode in, glaring at the intruders.

She took in the room, Bruce and Alfred sitting next to a black, silver-haired Navy Admiral she supposed was the Martian. She guessed this was the form he used when he first met Kara. She had seen Bruce casually dressed before, but to see Alfred dressed in his spring casual threw her for a bit of a loop. The man just somehow seemed too dignified to have on the white Polo shirt and khaki slacks he currently donned. Bruce was dressed in the same manner, only his shirt a light blue. Across from them in the love seat, Jeremiah and Eliza sat side-by-side, while a very tall Kelex stood behind them with his arms crossed. Leslie swore if he had a mouth, it would be frowning. At least the robot had some sense.

“As soon as we were told Alex was on her way to you with Kara, I knew there was little to no chance you would let us see her, Leslie.” Bruce assured her.

Noting his placating tone, the frown on Leslie’s face began to match the imagined one on Kelex. “If you knew, why are you here?”

“Because I was hoping… well, we were hoping to see Kara, but considering our arrival sent Eliza and Jeremiah into a full-blown panic, I felt it wasn’t in the girls’ best interest to surprise them too, so I sent the jet as a way to let you know we were here.” Bruce explained, before continuing. “I’m guessing you sent the girls to the Fortress, so the only thing that is a complete shock to me is you actually using the transporter.”

“Kara threw me in.” she told them shortly. “Since you are dancing around, not answering my question, let me rephrase it… If you knew, why are you still here?”

Bruce shrugged his shoulders and bent forward, elbows on knees. “Just talking to Jeremiah and Eliza. Since the Mansion has been cut off from the Fortress by my metal friend, we thought we would make a house visit. I needed answers and this was the only place I could get them.”

Leslie rolled her eyes, long used to the man she considered the spoiled brat Alfred had raised. “And you always get your answers, right? You need to leave. I’m sure the parents would like to be reunited with their daughters. Before you even think about arguing with me, know this… she dreamed about him, Bruce. The first nightmare she had since she came back from her extreme sunbathing session and it was about the one monster she was never allowed to kill… because of you. Now tell me, what was it she did when she found out from Gordon that the Joker was the one who bombed that Children’s Hospital and you refused to kill him? Do you need me to remind you?”

Bruce let out a defeated breath. “She threw the Batmobile across the cave… at me. Kara said she knew I would get out of the way. I like to think that’s true. We just came to talk to Jeremiah and Eliza, to find out about her state.”

“Do you mean her mental state?” Leslie asked. “Or are you concerned the Worldkiller is still inside her, or if she had a red ring on?”

“Everything.” J’onn answered. “We thought she was dead for a year. Do you blame us for wanting to know if she is okay? Is she? Did she seem fine to you?”

Leslie shook her head disgruntled. “She can’t remember three quarters of her life and barely any of the time she spent on Krypton. Despite that, she is… I’ve never seen her like this. She is… happy. And in true Kara Danvers fashion, she wants to make sure it goes away by getting her memories back. But that’s between me and her.”

Leslie looked back at Bruce, knowing he was behind what she was most interested in learning. “What I want to know is how you found out she was alive? I know they didn’t tell you.” She nodded towards the parents.

“I opened a solar observatory last year to study the core of the sun.” Bruce explained. “It is the only of its kind dedicated solely to the core. Because of that, the scientists picked up strange readings over the weekend and Lucius showed them to me this morning. I tracked them, recognized Kelex’s work and saw the crater. That data has been wiped, the scientists think it is a technical glitch and Lucius has no idea, or at least didn’t ask any questions.”

Leslie’s face turned grim. Alex had neglected to mention a crater. True, Bruce had skills and equipment the government didn’t have, but it took him less than an hour to discover the impact site of the blonde meteor. Other agencies would not be far behind. “Why did you have an observatory built? I thought we were all in agreement. We thought she was dead.”

Bruce looked at Jeremiah and Eliza. “I did believe she was dead. I was certain of it. I built the observatory… but I guess if there is one thing Alex and Kara have taught me, is there is no harm in hoping. So yes, I did think she was dead, but I hoped. We all hoped, even if none of us believed it. Maybe I should learn to listen more often to Alex.”

Leslie saw a flash of guilt in the parent’s eyes. The doctor had kept up with the family since Kara’s death through Bruce. She knew the blonde dying and Alex believing she was still alive had caused a huge rift between Alex and her parents, not to mention the hunting trips Alex had refused to let Bruce help her with. Alex had singlehandedly wiped out a large anti-alien terrorist group in the past eight months and Leslie did not want to think of the body count the girl left behind.

Kara returning was not going to magically fix this family. Kara would be dealing with a life time of emotional and physical trauma returning to her in a fashion Leslie could only hope to control. Her alcohol and drug addictions were another issue they were going to have to address.

Jeremiah and Eliza now felt guilty for not believing Alex and wondering what Kara will think knowing they had done nothing to get her back. Clark was probably a mess, as he was caught between Alex and their parents.

And then there was Alex. She had gone to a very dark place and not just because of the systematic slaughter of those she considered a threat to her little brother. Without Kara in her life, Alex’s own darkness erupted. Alex learned to do something she never had before, something Kara was an expert at. Alex learned to truly hate with everything she had inside her.

In the brief amount of time before their sessions ended abruptly with Alex’s refusal to talk about Kara’s death, the two talked about other things, or more to the point, other people.

Leslie was not surprised to hear Alex talk about Luthor and Lane, nor was she surprised by her determination to end their beloved organization. She was surprised by the others Alex talked about.

Her feelings for Diana Prince, for example. While she had never mentioned Prince before, nor really seemed to have an opinion one way or the other about the woman, that changed. Alex had watched Kara’s final battle with Worldkiller 1 several times, looking for clues to help find her sister. In her observations, she noted that the Amazon was prepared to kill her sister while Kara fought an internal battle with the Symbiont inside her. Leslie knew Bruce and Diana disbanded the League because of this as he and J’onn would never trust her nor would Diana trust them to do what she felt needed to be done.

Alex saw her as a devil, calling her worthless, standing in the shadows doing nothing for years, while Supergirl fought the battles against the strongest enemies that threatened the world. She felt Diana let her little sister down, that the Amazon could have stopped the blonde’s path to madness if Kara had an older and wiser woman who understood what it was like to have powers. But worse than that in Alex’s eyes, Diana was ready to give up on Kara before her little sister had been given a chance to defeat the Worldkiller on her own.

Alex hated Barry Allen. Despite Leslie’s belief that he made the right call in not going back to change the timeline, what truly angered Alex was he did go back in time, only to see Kara once more and say goodbye, something she didn’t feel he had a right to do. Kara had broken up with him months before and yet he felt he had the right to see her one last time when her family could not.

Alex hated the Green Lanterns. She told Leslie that several times she had tracked down the remaining Lanterns on Earth, and though all four no longer had rings, she considered killing them. She even mentioned to Leslie casually that she had spoken to Lobo, asking him to find out if killing the Guardians was feasible.

For nearly fourteen years, Alex held off her own demons by helping Kara fight hers. With Kara gone, Alex’s demons came out in force.

Leslie suspected it would be up to Kara to bring Alex out of the darkness and had no idea if Kara would ever be able to do that. The parents would have to be strong for all three children and Thompkins wondered if they could be. They certainly did not look strong now.

“I’m going to the Fortress.” Eliza said suddenly as she stood and made her way to the basement door. “Jeremiah, Clark should be home from school soon. Bring him there when he arrives. We are going to stay under red sunlight as long as it takes for her powers to dim.”

The five were not alone long in the silence that followed her departure as, true to Eliza’s word, Clark arrived home an hour early, having skipped practice. He looked at the three men, hugged Alfred and waved slightly to the other two before hurrying to the basement. Jeremiah was swift on his son’s heels, giving a quick goodbye to the men and passing a look to Leslie nearly begging her to hurry up and come back to the Fortress. With the last of his family members retreating to the Fortress, Kelex followed, but not before giving Leslie a slight nod of acknowledgment.

In the silence following the Danvers departure, Leslie took a deep breath and leaned back in the recliner. “Who else knows?”

“No one.” Bruce told her quickly, Alfred nodding in agreement.

Leslie sighed and prepared to go to battle with Bruce Wayne. “No one else can ever know. No one.”

“Of course, she needs time, the whole family does.” Bruce agreed quickly, obviously not grasping what Leslie meant.

“No one. Ever. Do you understand me? If you three hadn’t found out, I would have strongly suggested that the Danvers never tell you either.” Leslie stated emphatically and waited for the blow up she suspected was coming. She was not disappointed.

Bruce yelled, she wasn’t sure about what, because she zoned him out. He began pacing, so she crossed her hands behind her head and closed her eyes, realizing how tiring, emotionally and physically, this day had been. What she would have to do to truly help Kara scared the hell out of her and Leslie was not afraid of much. But if Kara had any chance of staying sane and sober after the onslaught of memories coming her way, she saw no other option.

She had nearly dozed off in the comfortable recliner when she realized there was silence in the room.

Thompkins opened her eyes slightly and saw an irate, but quiet Bruce Wayne, sitting back on the couch, Alfred’s arm around him.

“You done?” the Doctor asked.

Bruce barely held in a growl. The damn woman was good at what she did and infuriating. He had just said words he wouldn’t dare say in front of Clark and Leslie had nearly fallen asleep.

“I’ve sat through Kara Danvers temper tantrums. Alex Danvers threatened to kill me once and I’ve dealt with the worst psychos in Arkham Asylum. You don’t frighten me, and you don’t want to screw with me, Batman. No. One. Knows.… Ever .”

“Do you have any idea what hell some people have gone through since she died, or went into the sun? She came as close to death as any being could get and it is a miracle that she is here. That miracle can help a lot of people and Kara would want that.” Bruce told her, fighting to keep his voice calm and reasonable and doing a poor job.

“What people?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“Dante Youngblood for one. He walked into the jungle after she disappeared and has never been back. He walked away from civilization because he felt he let her down.”

“He’s a big boy. He made his own damn decision. If he wanted to disappear because he felt some misguided guilt, that’s on him. I noticed you never went to look for him, did you Bruce? He worked for you, watching Metropolis like you paid him to do and then he slipped off to Central City, found love and somehow missed the giant alien monster Luthor was keeping in a downtown underground lab. Why are you concerned about him now? You haven’t been for the past year. Maybe there is a little anger there you aren’t admitting to yourself? Regardless, as far as he and everyone else is concerned she is dead, and it will stay that way.”

“Barry Allen stopped being the Flash…” Bruce began before Leslie interrupted him.

“Again, that was his choice. He made the decision to walk away from that life. He and Kara weren’t together anymore, but he could have honored her memory by fighting on or something, changed his suit blue, whatever. Instead he walked away because he chose to. He isn’t Kara’s problem and Kara isn’t his, no matter how much he might have wanted her to be. In fact, she only remembered him as the first guy she kissed, not as the Flash. That tell you something?”

She held up her hand preempting any further arguments from Bruce. “Wait, don’t tell me whose next. How about Dick Grayson? Jason Connolly, Jack Webb, your former Justice League? Diana Prince maybe? Let’s bring the Green Lanterns along for the ride. What about her old bestie, the head of the League of Assassins, Nyssa Al Ghul right? Maybe we can get Lois Lane and Cat Grant here as well and have a big welcome back from the sun party.

“As far as everyone is concerned Supergirl is dead. It stays that way. How they deal with it is the same way people deal with grief every day. My concern is for this family. I don’t give a damn about the rest of the world and considering you are here, this family is more important to you three than other people feeling better about themselves, am I right?”

J’onn, still in the freaky form of the Naval officer shook his head.

“It won’t work. Supergirl may be dead, but Kara Danvers just returned from her year abroad. Kara Danvers is still alive to the world and when someone starts looking they will find her.”

Leslie shrugged her shoulders, having given some thought to this.

“Who is going to be looking? Who pays attention to Midvale or the Danvers besides you three? Is anyone actively running searches on her, looking for bank transactions or facial recognition? If they are, I have no doubt the big robot is all over it. She will go back to her life as Kara Danvers and that is all she will be. It’s all she ever wanted. She is going to have to deal with her past, but she will move on from it.

“She will probably be an addict all her life, emotionally if not physically, and she will have to deal with that as well. We were getting there before the Red Ring business and we will get there again. Those girls’ lives are going to be as normal as possible. I think, given everything they’ve sacrificed for this world, they deserve that, don’t you?”

Leslie took their silence and reluctance to meet her eyes as agreement.

“How are you going to do it?” Alfred asked quietly. “Hypnosis, or wait for her memories to filter back through her dreams? That could take years.”

Leslie snorted. “Yeah, years and disjointed fragments. No, we are going to have to do this right. I am going to have to be with her as her memories return. I mean that literally.”

The three looked at each other and J’onn realized how she planned to do this.

“Alex asked you to?” he asked quietly.

“She will. I know it’s on her mind. If anyone can make it happen, she can. She manipulated Kara’s brainwaves while she had the red ring. Kelex knows how also. He was the first to do it, right J’onn?”

The Martian shook his head sadly. “Do you have any idea how dangerous this could be for you? Alex went into her head while she was under an illusion. What you will be seeing will be real. If you link your minds, you can be caught up in hers. Every emotion, every fear she has ever had, it could drive you insane.”

Leslie sat up in the recliner and met the Martian’s eyes. “You think I don’t know that? I have to help her control it. I have to be there while she literally watches her life unfold. I have to convince her that a lot of it wasn’t her fault. She has to have mercy on the little girl she was, the one who couldn’t save that woman and her baby, the one who couldn’t stop Henshaw from finding them, the one who believes she brought Fort Rozz to Earth and unleashed her Aunt and Uncle onto this planet. She has to forgive herself for the things that were never her fault before she can move forward. And I have to be there with her to walk her through, to help her see and make sure that she understands. Is it dangerous? Hell yes, it is. Am I scared? Of course, I am. But you three aren’t the only heroes in this world. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure we get it right this time and she can find peace with herself.”

J’onn looked at her for a moment and nodded his head.

Seeing their reluctant agreement, she added, “That said, if I do go bat shit crazy, no offense Bruce, I would appreciate if someone could just put me out of my misery, bury me and then find her a new therapist.”

Bruce laughed a bit and shook his head. “You have no idea what you are getting into, do you? She has more darkness than I do, than J’onn does.”

“I know exactly what I am getting into. I know her life, I know I will see everything she saw when she was under the Blood Lake, I know I will see the histories of the Red Lanterns, their rage that is still locked away somewhere inside her, I know I will see her in her perfect world and being ripped away from it. I’m going to feel what she felt when she snapped her Aunt’s neck. It scares the hell out of me, but I am going to do it. Now, if you gentleman would let yourselves out, I have patients I need to get to.”

As she made her way to the basement, Leslie stopped suddenly and turned back to the men as they stood. “Bruce, there is one thing that you can do for this family. It involves a cover-up, something you three should be good at by now. You might even enjoy it.”

Bruce nodded, an earnest look on his face. “You know I’ll do whatever I can… or at least whatever you will allow me to do.”

Pleased with his response, Leslie said, “Then drop a big space rock in that hole Kara left in the Amazon. I don’t want to run the risk of anyone else discovering what you did.”

“Consider it done.” Bruce replied as the three made their way out the door, leaving Leslie shaking her head as she made her way back to the Fortress.

Metropolis

As a man who lived on the streets, shelters and abandoned buildings for the better part of ten years, Gary thought he’d seen it all. He was proven wrong.

Finding an old industrial storage shed with no one inside had been a bit of luck, a place he could sleep without fear of being attacked by others like him, where he could stay out of the spring rain for a night, perhaps even enjoy quiet as he slept instead of the sometimes insane ramblings of others.

His bit of luck had been destroyed before nightfall.

In the middle of the abandoned shed, a bright ball of light appeared, scaring the hell out of him. The light was swirling, changing colors and eventually settling on a bright blue storm of energy.

Once the storm died, a large metal sphere sat on the floor, legs coming out of the bottom and stabilizing it.

Then the door opened, and three men walked out. One of the men had short, neatly combed blonde hair, another a mane of unruly dark hair and the third was hiding long shaggy brown hair beneath a ballcap.

Despite their casual dress, jeans and t-shirts, Gary knew these weren’t just men.

Aliens. Had to be aliens.

And Supergirl wasn’t going to be flying in to beat them up. Maybe the Martian would show up if he yelled loud enough, but from what he understood, the Martian didn’t have the ears Supergirl did.

Instead of fleeing for his life, he stood in fear, not sure if it was worth even bothering to run. Aliens were fast, everybody knew that. Maybe not as fast as Supergirl had been, but some had been pretty damn close.

“Good evening.” The blonde said as he stepped towards Gary and reached out his hand.

Gary did not take it. Instead he stared at the man’s face, taking in his details, praying he was wrong and these were just humans with a new type of helicopter.

But the three dots on the man’s forehead in an upside-down triangular formation told him this wasn’t true. Though they appeared to be under his skin, they were pulsing with a faint light. This guy was an alien, so his friends must be as well.

“I assure you, we are not here to harm you. Is this Metropolis?” the blonde asked.

Gary nodded his head slightly.

“Is the year 2033?” The blonde continued his strange questions.

Gary shook his head slightly. “2… 2018.” The man whispered.

“That’s not good.” The blonde muttered. “Are you certain?”

The face that had been stoic despite the pulsating lights under the skin now seemed upset and that broke Gary’s trance. The man screamed and ran out.

Garth Ranzz took the ballcap from his head and stuck it on top of the blonde.

“Lights are showing Brainy. Why don’t you just turn the image inducer off and go green.” Garth said sarcastically. “This is the wrong year, so let’s do this again and get it right this time.”

Lar Gand and Garth began walking towards the time sphere.

“It’s not that simple, my friends. We don’t have enough power for a return trip back to our time.” Brainy told them.

The two stared at their teammate. “What the… Brainy… we came to find Superman and convince him to come back with us. Why the hell did we come if we don’t have a power source that can get us home?!” Lar asked loudly.

“Superman had access to Omegahedrons, or at worst case, he could ask the Bounty Hunter, Lobo, for a power source.”

Garth shook his head and let out a breath. “Fine, we cloak the sphere, find Superman, tell him what’s going on, then we get out of there. All we have to do is fly around the Daily Planet building and he will find us, right Brainy? Tell me you got that part of the plan right, genius.”

Brainy turned towards his teammate, not amused by his doubt.

“It was a risky operation. We had to take a chance. By my calculations, there is no Superman at this point in the timeline as Kal El is barely 14 years old. We can only ask him to return with us after he has defeated Darkseid… in thirteen years. Without his presence, the Justice League would not be enough to battle the New Gods and they cannot defeat Darkseid. Only Superman can. Without Superman there is no Justice League. If we take him any year before 2033, the Earth falls to Darkseid and the world we return to will be desolate.”

Lar groaned. “Great, so we got Superboy instead of Superman and we can’t use him to help because if Brainiac 13 kills him in our time, he doesn’t make it back here to stop Darkseid and his invasion force. Wait… is Supergirl still alive? Does she have the Red Ring? If we can talk her into coming back she could burn Brainiac 13 to dust and still be back in time to kill Reign…”

“And herself.” Brainy finished. He knew everything there was to know about Supergirl. Records from this era stood the test of time and even 965 years in the future there were still monuments to both Supergirl and Superman. One of each of them stood outside Legion Headquarters. Despite the numerous superpowered heroes through history, Supergirl was the first. She had defeated Astra and Non, she defeated Doomsday and the Diasporan invasion as well as saving thousands of lives. Later, her little brother had grown up and become Superman, taking on one of the Universe’s most feared and deadly warlords, Darkseid, when he tried to invade the Earth. They were legends the Universe would never forget.

“She is dead. I am not sure of today’s date, but approximately one year ago, she flew into the sun killing World Killer 1. Superman… or boy, cannot come out of hiding to find us. Earth is not ready to learn of his existence. We cannot cause any changes to the timeline.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Garth asked, feeling worse about this. If Brainy was concerned they were truly screwed. “No Superman, no Supergirl, no power source. Are we supposed to wait until Superman defeats Darkseid in thirteen years and then hope we can convince him? And if you are so concerned about the timeline why even bother? He fought evil way past 2033 So if he dies in our time, all those battles he would have won would also screw up the timeline.”

“Those battles aren’t as important and are worth the risk. He must defeat Darkseid. That is one moment of history that cannot change. As far as waiting… there is another option, perhaps.

“During the battle of Darkseid, the invasion force was repelled by powerful weapons originating from different points on the planet. One of these blasts was able to destroy a single star cruiser. The governments of the Earth were split at the time and all denied having these weapons. It is believed by some historians in our time that Superman may have had a secret lair somewhere, capable of harnessing these weapons. I believe they were controlled by a person from this lair, perhaps several persons. My personal theory is it was the Angel. She was also known as Manhunter when Supergirl was asked to identify her. She is most likely the same woman who killed the Worldkiller ‘Flower of Heaven’. It has been theorized she died during the invasion, but this has never been proven, nor has she ever been identified. All that is really known about her is she was a human with alien tech, most likely Kryptonian, who fought along with Supergirl and Batman while Supergirl was still alive. If she is alive, she could be the one who has access to this lair. We could explain the situation and perhaps she would provide us with a power source.”

“If she is alive.” Lar pointed out. “I know my history too, Brainy. I may not be a Supergirl groupie like you, but I have heard of this woman. She did a high altitude jump onto a Worldkiller that would have killed a human. Lobo was never heard to mention her again. I learned enough about Lobo that I don’t want to find him, much less force him to talk. Are you sure this is your best plan? Or is this some plan of yours to dig more into Supergirl?”

Brainy scowled at the Daxamite, greatly offended. “This is our only plan. Your powers may be similar to Superman, but you are not strong enough to break through Brainiac’s shield and enter his ship, much less fight him. Only a Kryptonian would possess such strength. This is the only shot we have. If this lair holds Kryptonian technology, we can perhaps discover a weapon that could destroy Brainiac 13 without needing a Kryptonian.”

“Great.” Garth added. “I doubt the name “House of El” is in the phone book or whatever they use in this time. Since no one knows the human identities of Kara Zor El and Kal El, it’s going to be a bit difficult to find Supergirl’s secret partner. No one has ever found any lair like you are talking about in the past thousand years. This has no shot of working.”

Brainy ignored him, running through his internal databanks, scouring through terabytes of data in nanoseconds, looking for an obscure reference he remembered from his extensive research into the ‘ Era of The Supergirl’ . Finding the information he was searching for, he looked up at his companions, feeling rather smug considering their doubt in his abilities.

“According to records, there was an anti-alien terrorist group at the time of Supergirl’s death. They were wiped out, every last member killed. Alien weapons were used but no alien ever took credit for it. Human weapons were also used. That could have been the work of the human who worked with Supergirl. This… crusade if you will, occurred after Supergirl’s death, almost immediately afterward, so there is a high probability she survived. We may not have had the means in the future to discover her identity but having direct access to present day archives gives us an opportunity. We must discover the female’s identity and if we do, I suspect we will also discover the human identities of Supergirl and Superman.”

Garth looked at Lar and both shook their heads. They were on a mission to recruit Superman to battle Brainiac 13 in the future, so of course Brainy would want to turn this into a research trip, unlocking mysteries that had never been solved.

“Where to first?” Garth asked throwing up his hands, giving into the inevitable. They really had no choice since Brainy was their only shot to get back home.

“Where all humans get their information in this time period. I need a computer and access to Google.”

The Fortress of Solitude

Leslie forced herself through the door of light in the Danvers basement and admitted to herself that it wasn’t so awful this time. It only took her five minutes to work up the courage, but she finally closed her eyes and ran through screaming.

Her screaming stopped a second later and she opened her eyes carefully, to see the Danvers waiting for her with smiles on their faces. Even Alex had her hand to her mouth, holding back laughter.

Leslie wished she could capture this moment. They family of five were smiling, near each other, seeming to be at peace for once.

She wasn’t fooled. Duplicating the happiness, the closeness the family was experiencing now, into an ongoing occurrence would take hard work. Work she was willing to put in. If the Danvers could save the world a couple times, the good doctor felt helping make more moments like this a reality was the least she could do.

“You get used to it.” Clark told her, grinning with his arms around Kara and his mother’s arms around him. Jeremiah had an arm around Kara’s shoulder and his other around Alex’s.

This family unit was the key to everything. Alex and Kara’s darkness, Clark’s bitterness, the parents worry and guilt, the strain in the family in general. The relief that Kara was back was evident, but it appeared as if they could not take an eye or a hand off her, afraid they may wake up and discover this was just a dream. For one to heal, all would have to heal.

“I suppose I don’t have a choice. It’s this or a very long flight, chopper ride and hike in darkness. So, how long are these red lights going to need to take effect?”

Eliza opened her mouth, hesitated, then looked towards Alex who promptly answered.

“Due to her extreme exposure to yellow sun light, the energy stored in her cells is exponentially high. That said, her cellular levels have been going down at a slow, but acceptable rate. I have a few theories we plan to put in play, hopefully help speed up the process.” Alex told her. “When I brought her in a few days ago, she had twelve times the amount of cellular energy stored compared to her last levels before the Red Ring incident.”

Damn, was Leslie’s first thought. The girl was unbelievably strong when she was just an average, everyday Kryptonian lifting submarines out of the water.

And yet, as unbelievably strong as she was now, she wasn’t destroying glass bottles, doorknobs or breaking the bones of the family members she held.

Her muscle memory was perfect even at the highly increased level. Everything that was in Kara Danvers before was still there subconsciously.

Her memories would return soon, and it would be a train wreck when they hit her. Leslie didn’t have the time she wanted. She needed to discuss the theories Alex mentioned as soon as possible.

“So,” Kara started, “how do we do this? Are you going to try and hypnotize me, or do I try and dream and we talk about stuff or…”?

“I have an idea about that, actually.” Alex spoke up as Leslie suspected she would.

“I’m going to match my brain waves to Kara’s, just like we did during the Black Mercy incident.” Alex said to the group before turning to address her sister directly. “I’ll go into your mind with you and we will unlock the deepest parts we can find and face them together.”

Leslie stiffened for a second. That would be disastrous. The Danvers sisters reliving trauma perhaps accidentally from each other’s points of view.

“You can’t do that, Alex.” Leslie told her.

“Of course, I can.” Alex replied. “I went into an alien, demon-possessed ring with her, I’ve been in her mind before. I can handle it. I need you here to talk to her when we come out. We will only work an hour at a time. Kelex can pull us safely back.”

“No. You two have too many of the same experiences. You can’t be an impartial observer and guide. I have to be the one going in, Alex.” Leslie said.

Alex shook her head, eyes intense. “I won’t ask you to do that. I just need your help when…”

“You’re not asking. This isn’t up for debate. I came here and we play by my rules, understand?” The battle of wills between the two women had only one possible outcome which Alex begrudgingly acknowledged with a slow nod of acceptance.

The Danvers also nodded their heads, except for Clark who couldn’t help thinking that Leslie was a lot different than Jess. He had always suspected she would be nicer in sessions, now he wasn’t so sure.

“First of all, I am getting food and sleep tonight, preferably somewhere that isn’t bathed in red light. You five are going to spend time together tonight. I want you all to talk about the good times. Only the good times. Kara do not ask any questions about your past. If she does, do not answer them. Everybody with me?”

A chorus of yes along with one “yes sir” from Clark and Leslie moved on.

“No one else is to know she is alive. No one. Eliza I realize you are still close to Jessica Ryan, but don’t say a word. It will remain that way until I say differently, and I am not sure I ever will. Kara. I am sure as your memories come back there will be those you want to speak to. You won’t. If we have any chance at you having a somewhat normal life, you stay low. Kelex should be able to stop people from snooping on you. So long as no one comes to Midvale for a vacation and you are gone if Ryan stops by for a visit we should be good. This won’t be solved in one day, it’s going to be a slow process with many ups and downs. You all have a lot of problems, not just Kara. I left my beach house for this, so we are going to follow my rules and get it right, understand?”

“But…”

“They are called rules for a reason, Kara. Some rules are fun and meaningless, mine are the kind you don’t break, understand?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Kara whispered and rolled her eyes towards Alex who stifled a laugh at her sister’s goofy face.

“We’ll work from here, there’s no need to go to the Block, it won’t hold her anyway and I don’t want any more people finding out she’s back.

“Alex, I need you to take that sedative band you made for her when she had the Ring and match it with her brainwaves now. If she gets a bit… excited, I want a way to knock her out quickly.”

“Excuse me?” Kara asked, not liking the sound of that.

“It’s for your own protection, as well as everyone else’s. The memories you are blocking will disturb you. You don’t want to take a chance of hurting your family and your Summer home, right?”

Kara nodded, admitting to herself the woman had a point.

“Okay, give me another tour of this place, then you people will enjoy the night together while I sleep. Kara, Alex, I’m taking your guest room. Now, let’s get to work people.”