Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Seeing Red

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 18: Secrets revealed

Kara woke up with fuzzy memories, broken scenes from the last few hours, or days, she wasn’t sure.

The blonde remembered screen being placed in front of her chin, preventing her from seeing the rest of her body. She saw her father with a surgical mask on, his head above the screen, and Alex standing by her side, running her fingers through Kara’s hair.

The girl felt the prick of a needle in her shoulder and remembered the warm feeling that flooded her upper body and then the strange feeling of paralysis, unable to feel her upper body on the right side.

Kara had spoken during this, but her words were unclear, slurred as if she had been drinking too much once again.

She remembered the feeling of an IV being placed in her left arm, just below the elbow and both her wrists strapped to the bed.

After that, nothing. Some part of her knew she had been awake but had no clear memory of what happened. Kara suspected she had been sedated as what she felt now was like what she felt when she first woke up in this place.

One other similarity was Alex sitting by her bed side, holding her hand. She recognized Clark holding her other.

“Kara? Do you know where you are?” her sister asked.

The girl nodded slightly. She once again had feeling in her upper body and felt a bit of pain and a strong desire to scratch something near her collarbone. The blonde tried to let go of Alex’s hand and move hers to the affected area, only to be stopped.

“Don’t scratch. You have stitches. The incision was small, but it will take a week or so before they can come out.” Alex told her.

Kara blinked, trying to understand. Why didn’t they just turn the red lights off? She had never had stitches.

Then she remembered.

The lights in the room were not red. She could feel the stitches. There was a pain near her shoulder where a bandage overlay stitches.

A small red crystal was under her collarbone. It was working. Kara could not feel the crystal, but knew it was there, under the bone, attached with surgical wire.

For all intents and purposes, except for DNA, she was human.

“How are you? Are you hurting?” A quiet male voice asked her, Clark. He was concerned. Kara remembered that hesitant voice in the past after she had a particularly rough fight because she hadn’t snorted an alien drug. It was the tone of voice he used when he worried about her but was afraid to ask, not wanting to anger her.

Kara turned her head towards Clark and saw her mother and father behind him. Her father was smiling, and her mother had tears in her eyes but did not seem upset.

“No, I’m not hurting. I mean a little, but… I feel groggy and hungover. The stitches itch.”

“You have been given a sedative. It sounds like the pain killer wore off. We are going to keep you in bed with an IV delivering the painkiller for the next 24 hours through an IV and tomorrow we will switch to pills.” Jeremiah explained.

Kara thought about this and knew what that could mean.

“They aren’t addictive, are they? I remember you saying they weren’t.”

“No, they aren’t addictive. I swear. Other than soreness and itchiness do you feel any other pain? Any nausea?”

Kara thought for a moment then shook her head. She hadn’t eaten for sixteen hours before the surgery and though her stomach ached a bit, she felt no nausea. Taking stock of her body, she realized she was sore all over.

“Was I awake? I remember being awake but not much else.”

Jeremiah shook his head.

“The pain reliever was strong and would have made you groggy, you were awake, but we couldn’t exactly understand what you were saying. It is very important for you to sleep so we will keep you sedated. It is also very important that you tell someone about any pain you might feel, no matter how small. I know you are tough, but you are going to have to put that aside for now, okay?”

Kara did her best to nod her head and looked at her mother.

“Are you okay?”

Eliza nodded quickly and laughed, though it sounded more like a sob. “You are quitting, you are going to get better. I know it. I believe it. I haven’t been this okay in a very long time.”

Kara smiled and closed her heavy eyelids. When she reopened them, the blonde was in a hospital room, like the one she stayed in when she was going through withdrawals. Alex was still here as well as… Barry Allen?

Barry had stayed. He told her he would she now remembered. Standing over her bed, he looked concerned but happy.

“Hey Sleepy, you doing okay?”

Kara nodded, and tried to speak, but noticed her mouth was very dry.

“Water?” she whispered. Alex had a drink for her in a second and helped her sit up slightly, avoiding her right side. Barry moved a pillow under her head as she sat up in the bed.

“So, I can beat you at arm wrestling now, right?” the man asked. Kara laughed quietly.

“I doubt it. I’m pretty strong on my own but any time you want to take up the challenge I am ready… in a month or so.”

Barry thought of laughing then looked at her arms. She had not lost the muscle tone she had as Supergirl. He also may have heard Alex talking to her parents about all the times Kara trained in combat skills without her powers. The man seriously began to rethink his challenge. It wasn’t long before Kara was yawning again, the IV keeping her comfortable, maybe a little too comfortable but he supposed that was Caitlin’s and whoever her partner was, decision.

“I am going to go, so you can spend some time with the family. Could I come back next weekend?”

Kara nodded and closed her eyes.

“Be careful, Flash.” the girl whispered. Barry leaned down and kissed her forehead but was fairly certain she was already asleep.

On his way out, he found Caitlin’s lab. Her and Jeremiah were perched over a microscope, studying something very intensely, most likely something to do with Kara.

“Hey, Caitlin?” he said to catch her attention. She must have been really focused because she seemed shocked at first then smiled and walked outside her lab.

“You are leaving?”

“Yeah… are you okay? That seemed serious. Your eyebrows…”

“It had nothing to do with Kara.” Caitlin quickly assured him. “It’s more of a personal project Jeremiah is assisting me with. No big deal, just some side research for fun.”

Barry felt he had known Caitlin long enough to know when she was lying. She was also horrible at lying.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Caitlin’s smile went away, and she looked away from Barry.

“Nothing to worry about. I promise. I’ll tell you all about it one day but for right now, it’s kind of personal.”

That wasn’t a surprise. Caitlin kept many things personal, the complete opposite of Cisco.

The run back from Kentucky to National City was too quick and he felt worse every mile he moved away from her. He knew she needed time with her family without worrying about entertaining him. Barry was just glad he got to spend the time with her that he did. Now he had another mission.

Get better, faster, stronger so she could enjoy the rest of her life without worrying about the world ending.

Once he arrived at Dante’s or he suppose his now, apartment, he received a text from Connolly with coordinates.

Arriving two minutes later, he found Webb and Connolly waiting for him outside a large warehouse between two very small dessert mountains.

“How is she?” Connolly asked immediately.

“It worked. She is okay.” was the best answer he could think of. The man knew the obstacles that were in front of her and had no idea if she would be okay mentally or emotionally but physically she had made it through the surgery with no pain. For the rest he just had to have faith. Faith was hard to come by after the last few years. He had faith in Caitlin and Cisco. He knew he could trust Iris.

He also knew from his event therapy sessions that there may be some unresolved issues with Joe not believing in his father’s innocence even after Supergirl and the proof of aliens on Earth had been confirmed. His father’s death most likely brought that back and it was something he would have to work through.

“Good, put this on.” Webb told him, tossing him a red suit. Barry looked at it closely.

“What is this?” he finally asked. It was a great suit, obviously made of the same material Kara and Alex wore. It was a bit heavier and had a thicker layer of padding. The mask still covered his entire head but there was a difference. The eyes were covered in some sort of very hard lenses. The material also covered his mouth.

“Uh…”

“You don’t have to wear it in the street. The glasses and mouth cover are important for the training you do today. As you can see it is made of the same material as Kara’s. The only difference is, like Alex’s suit, it has slim padding that will protect you somewhat from the force of being shot. It takes the for e and spreads it across the suit. You are going to feel it, but it won’t break any bones.”

Barry laughed and checked behind him quickly.

“What are you doing?” Connolly asked.

“Looking for crossbows.” the Flash mumbled, then quickly changed uniforms. He was happy and a bit surprised to find the lenses didn’t impeded his vision, but the covered mouth was very distracting.

“This exercise starts now. Everyone is your enemy.” The man told him.

Barry heard the shot easily. A sniper, probably on one of the summits, no doubt from one of the hills. He turned and waited for the bullet to reach him, moving in slow motion as always. Of course, the feel of the shotgun pressed against his back became hard to ignore. The bullet was close, but there was literally no time. He felt the metal, he heard the boom. Several pellets hit him, before he could spin around, and he felt the sniper bullet hit his back.

Barry hit the ground in tremendous pain.

“Owwwww.”

Webb smirked at him and offered a hand, pulling a grunting Barry to his feet, reluctantly.

“You can catch bullets easily enough. But if you are focused on one thing all it takes is a barrel against your body. There is no room for you to back up and catch hundreds of small pellets. Even if you did take the time to back up and try to catch them all the sniper shot will hit you.”

Barry understood. “So, I can be shot if someone gets close enough to press a gun to my back.”

“Exactly.” Connolly told him with a smile. “But you could do something even in that situation to not get shot at all. What is it?”

The Flash blinked and said nothing, thinking perhaps not getting that close to enemies with shotguns would be the only answer.

Connolly saw he was not going to get it. Time to start speedster tactical training.

“You can phase your hand, cut metal, cut into chests or any other body parts, right?”

“Yeah… so cut someone’s arm off before they can shoot me?”

“What else can you do when you vibrate fast enough? You can phase through walls, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“Then why can’t you do it standing? When you phase your hand into a heart without breaking skin you are basically vibrating at extreme speeds while standing still. So, vibrate hard enough for the bullets to go through you. We have checked every video of every fight in public you had with Zoom and a few with this Thawne character. They are always vibrating, even when standing still. When you are in a fight, never stop moving, even when standing in one place. Stop wasting time talking to your enemy. While you are talking, he is preparing to kill you.”

“I… I don’t know if I can do that all the time, standing in one place.” he admitted. He had done it to Iris in his early superhero days to mask his features and vibrate his voice. But matching his vibrations enough to phase… of course he could have phased a hand into Zoom. He just chose not to.

“You better figure it out in the next 60 seconds. Go inside the warehouse and stand in the middle of the room.” Webb instructed.

Barry zipped in, prepared for anything. All he saw were tall blank walls.

Until 40 automatic weapons came out of one wall. He turned around the room and saw 40 guns on each wall, spaced to cover the entire room.

Then he heard Webb’s voice on an intercom.

“You can run away. You can leave this building. But what if you couldn’t? If I were you I would start vibrating.”

Without any other warning the automatic rifles fired, and Barry found himself surrounded by what must have been thousands of bullets, coming towards him. The more he focused on several, the faster the others came. Deciding this was going to hurt a lot of if he was struck, he began vibrating, matching his body with the surrounding air. Closing his eyes, he let himself go, never stopping movement but also waiting for the bullets to hit.

Instead he heard the bullets bouncing off the concrete floors. The Flash opened his eyes but did not stop vibrating, not wanting to be shot again.

The guns retreated into the walls.

Webb walked into the room. “You can stop vibrating now. Exercise is over, and we are not your enemies. When I say we are, start vibrating and stay incorporeal. We can’t hurt you if we can’t touch you, even if we are trying to. Never stop in a fight. Change your vibrations when you need to strike, when you are running, become solid, but while you are standing still, stay vibrating. Got it Deadpool?”

“Deadpool?”

Webb shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, the covered mouth, the red… forget it. Now, you did well but we are going to practice that a lot. You are fast, but you can make yourself untouchable. Now what about someone else?” he asked, pointing behind Barry. The Flash turned around and saw the floor open and a dummy rise. It was sturdy enough to stand on its feet.

“Exercise has now started. You are no longer trying to keep from being shot. Pretend that is Kara, Iris West, Caitlin Snow, even the long-haired slacker. Save the dummy. If it is shot, one of your friends just died.”

Barry panicked, not knowing exactly what to do. He began vibrating, but as soon as Webb left the room, the guns fired again.

Standing in front of the dummy, he began circling it, doing his best to catch all the bullets he could. Unfortunately, he was vibrating and couldn’t grab any of them. The dummy was torn to shreds.

“You failed. Kara is dead.” Connolly’s voice told him over the intercom. “Do it again, use your head.”

“I can’t stop all the bullets. I can’t catch that many and if I am vibrating then how am I supposed to catch them?” he asked, annoyed, at his failure and being put in a position of thousands of rounds of ammo flying at him and now a dummy he was supposed to protect.

“Figure it out. You are a smart guy.”

“Can I run the dummy out?”

“No, you can’t. She could be stuck, chained, you can’t run this time, Barry. Running isn’t the answer to everything.”

The Flash was becoming very angry.

“This is a no win situation!”

“Then quit! Stay the hell away from Kara. She stayed away from you to protect you. Now she is vulnerable like you were then. Now you have enemies that can use her against you. She decided to stay away for your sake. Either stay away for hers or learn how to protect her. There is no such thing as a no win situation. Do it again or leave!”

Barry looked around the room, deciding on a tactic. Could he take out all the guns before they fired? While he was running, some bullets would fire. He was surrounded. No, they were surrounded and the only way to make himself safe was to… vibrate.

Barry rushed towards the new dummy, wrapped his arms around it and began vibrating, matching his cells to the object and blurring them both. When the gunfire ended, he let up.

The dummy was whole, no bullet wounds.

He heard clapping from behind and saw the two men in black BDUs walk out.

“You used your head.” Webb told him approvingly. “Connolly thought it would take you ten tries before you figured it out. I won $20. We are going to practice that every day. We are going to practice making larger objects incorporeal. Now let’s go into the next room.”

A doorway opened that Barry had not even seen. The walls appeared seamless yet there were machine gun nests and doors. He zipped in and nearly fell.

“Speed dampening technology. A.R.G.U.S. developed it and we stole the technology so you can figure out how to beat it.” Webb explained. “But for now, we are going to use it. You must go faster. If you can match Zoom’s speed without a tachyon device we might get somewhere, break the code to unlocking your true potential. But you also need muscle. You are too damn skinny. Kara may think it is attractive, but you need mass, at least some. You will lift weights in here. Your buddy in the bat ears has developed something using Dr. Snow’s recipe for calorie bars and drinks to add protein and a lot more carbs to the mix. You remember Mr. Hawk, of course.”

Dan Hawk walked into the room with a large smile on his face.

“I’m your new trainer, Stick. We are going to have fun. You can’t use momentum to bench press. It will only get you so far.” the giant told him. “If you try hard I won’t tell you how much Kara can bench without her powers.”

“And I am going to teach you how to really fight.” Connolly added. “In here your speed won’t matter. You are going to learn to be very deadly. Speedster fights annoy the hell out of me. Everyone I have seen involves a couple lightning bolts speeding through the city until one of you crashes into the other. Who the hell is chasing who? Why are you running anyway? Both of you running away? Stand and fight. If he runs off, let him. He will be back. Zoom, Thawne, they had more mass and speed, but you could have better technique. I have taught and seen Alex take out men twice her size. I’ve seen Kara incapacitate five trained agents without her powers. You can do the same but this running up walls, tripping each other and throwing wild punches has to stop. You lift weights three days a week, heavy and hard, slowly. Keep chugging the drinks even when you want to puke. Every day, first thing in the morning you start to learn to really fight.”

“You mean kill?” Barry asked.

Connolly stepped up to him.

“You don’t want to kill, I got no problem with it unless your moral high ground gets an innocent or one of my girls dead. But you need to know how to fight and more importantly end fights quickly and permanently. Kara and Alex know the exact spot to hit a person, to cause internal bleeding. That incapacitates them. They know the spot on the spine to hit or in Alex’s case, shoot, to paralyze an enemy from the waist down or worse. They know every weak point and pressure point on the human body and quite a few alien bodies. Do you? Do you really know the first thing about fighting besides running around the city and throwing wild punches?”

Barry cleared his throat and stepped back, then turned away. He walked around the room, saw the weight benches, the training dummies sort of like the ones he had seen in Oliver’s lair. He saw a lot of things he had no idea how to use. When it came to fighting, Barry was all about speed but sometimes when someone was faster, speed wasn’t enough.

“No, I guess I don’t.” he finally admitted.

Webb looked at Connolly and nodded.

“Then I guess we have some work to do. You’re willing though. That is what matters. Its early in the day. Start with Hawk on weight training. This afternoon we want to see this supersonic punch and give the info to Kelex, let him figure out a way to make it stronger without turning your body to dust. Nothing goes to the DEO and they know nothing of this. All data will be examined by the Fortress. Every day we work on something, controlling vibrations, vibrating solid objects through walls and floors if you know there is a floor below. We are going to test the limits of your hands, see what they can really cut through and then add to it. You are going to figure out how to throw lightning bolts quicker and we are going to find some other talents you haven’t even realized you have yet. I told you when we were done with you, then you would be the best. We are going to make you faster, stronger and deadlier. A couple of skinny teenage girls went through this, asked for it, worked at it constantly and never once complained. They became warriors and you and your friends are still alive because of them. Can you do the same?”

“Yes, I can.” Barry told him, no doubt in his voice but the memory of his father in being held by Zoom, while he begged Zoom not to kill the man was in front of his mind. Supergirl was gone, so was Alex for that matter as far as the world was concerned. It was up to him now to keep the world and the girl he hoped would love him one day safe. He needed to take care of the threats, so she wouldn’t feel as if she had to.

He never wanted to see the pity in her eyes he saw when she realized he was the Flash and told him she was sorry for not taking out Zoom.

“Good.” Director Webb said, satisfied. “After weight training we have lunch. We are going to go over what you know about Vril Drox. Hawk, he is all yours.”

Barry gulped when a large hand was placed on his shoulder from behind.

“This is going to fun, Stick.”

The Block

Kara sat across from her nemesis or new therapist as everyone else called her. The woman did not look amused, but she hardly ever did.

“Nice sling.” Thompkins started.

“I have to wear it, so I don’t hurt my collarbone worse. I should be good in a couple weeks. I can start training again, at least in combat. I have fought without my powers before. I don’t plan to give up now.”

“Uh huh. So, in the last two days you met with a substance abuse counselor and a counselor that specialized in PTSD. How did that go?”

Kara looked away, then met the woman’s eyes again, remembering her rule about looking away.

“You don’t know?”

“I know what they said, and it alarmed me. The substance abuse counselor said you shrugged your shoulders a lot, rolled your eyes a few times and agreed with everything she said when you did express an opinion. She told me she thought you were an annoying teenage robot. Some reason you don’t want to participate with her?”

“I don’t like to talk about drinking and drugs and… anything else. All it does is remind me of what I can’t have and what I still want.” Kara admitted.

“Well, I suppose that makes sense. When you get out of here, are you going to ignore seeing liquor stores, bars? Because you will see them. You are going to be at restaurants and see people drinking. You will watch TV shows and see people drinking. It sucks. Everybody can but you. Yeah, your family won’t but the rest of the world doesn’t give a damn about your problems. Avoidance is not an acceptable technique. Deal with it. When she asks you a question, answer it, do not say what she wants to hear. The PTSD counselor. What the hell was wrong with him?”

Kara was surprised by that question. Nothing had been wrong with him as far as she knew. She may not have had the best reaction, but the man was a professional. She had no doubt he had worse clients than her. Jessica had dealt with worse sessions.

“I have no idea what you are talking about. He was fine, a nice guy.”

“You screamed at him that he didn’t know the first thing about loss and how many people you had killed. Also, you said something about him being added to the list if he didn’t shut up about your Kryptonian family and Astra? That ring any bells? The guy quit, probably after he changed his pants. Bruce Wayne was paying him an obscene amount of money and he quit anyway. Your Martian friend had to fly down and wipe his mind. It was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. I doubt he wants that memory.”

Kara grinned at the irony. “Yeah, well you want me to be open with the substance abuse counselor but when I am open with this guy it’s my fault he can’t take it?”

Thompkins sat back and crossed her arms behind her head.

“Let’s get something straight, Danvers. You don’t scare me. You may scare other people, even without your powers that are gone forever. I understand you are quite good with a knife and you were taught by a special forces soldier how to fight and kill. You are beautiful… maybe cute would be better. You can be beautiful, and you can also turn into a beast in a split second and you know it. You can intimidate anyone you want. It’s that crazy look in your eyes. Enough damn games. You don’t want to play with them, you can have me all to yourself. Let’s talk about your twelfth birthday. Those joyous events on Krypton, that were pretty much ignored. I guess Kryptonians had evolved past celebrations?”

“I am so tired of taking about my life there.” Kara complained.

“You would rather talk about your thirteenth birthday where you attempted the most gruesome suicide I have ever heard of?”

Kara took a deep breath. “So, on my twelfth birthday, nothing happened, nothing different than any other birthday, except I was with Clark. He had his first tooth popping up and the two of us discovered the joy of frozen hard polymer on the gums. That was it. We had fun. Kelex went into a more relaxed mode and played games with us, we watched some holos about other planets, planets I hadn’t been to before. Mom came by and hugged me, we had lunch, nothing unusual. I saw my Dad after I lay Clark down for the night before I went to bed myself.”

“Did it hurt? Did you want more? The day off from Clark, maybe. Spend the day with your parents without being injured or sick?” Thompkins pressed.

“Clark was my only friend… damn it!” Kara cursed, reaching up to rub the bandage on her shoulder and the stitches underneath. “These damn things itch!”

Thompkins snorted. “Wait till you get diarrhea or chicken pox. You are going to love being human. So back to the subject at hand, why did you care about your birthday?”

“What?”

“Why did you care? I know you did. I can hear the bitterness. No other Kryptonians celebrated birthdays. They were supposedly more evolved than that. Why did you want more? Why did you love art, when you shouldn’t have loved anything but science and law? Why after everything I have read, and you have told me about Krypton, does it seem like you were the only human on the damn planet?”

Kara stopped rubbing her shoulders and stared blankly at the woman. She had never understood it herself. The girl always felt as if she were broken, as if something had gone wrong.

“Maybe the population council screwed up. Maybe my DNA wasn’t modified correctly.” she tried.

“Or maybe it was.” Thompkins said and stood up. “Follow me. I want answers and you are going to get them for me.”

Thompkins moved, leaving behind Kara who stumbled up using one arm to push up and tried to follow quickly without falling. She followed her therapist into Shay’s lab.

“I’m borrowing your computer.” Leslie told the woman bluntly. “Kara get one of your magic talking earbuds and contact your robot butler.”

Kara walked to Alex’s room and pulled hers from the desk where Alex had hidden it unsuccessfully. Moving as quickly as she could and finding it annoyingly slow, she then saw her mother and father had entered the lab as well.

“Call your robot friend.” Leslie ordered.

“Kelex, Give Dr. Thompkins what she asks for.”

“I am unable to do so.” a voice came from the monitor speaker. “Alex is in control of the Fortress and only she has permission to allow a new person to access any data.”

“Then give it to me.”

“I am unable to do so until Alex informs me that you are physically, mentally and emotionally prepared to take back control.”

“Alex!” Kara yelled.

The older sister walked in a minute later, having her workout down the hall interrupted, sweaty and annoyed, still dressed in her workout clothes.

“What? I need a shower.” she complained.

“You are in control of the Fortress?” Kara asked, already knowing the answer. Alex took a deep breath.

“Yeah, during your withdrawals I activated the override protocol.”

Kara looked closely at her sister, trying to read her.

“That is only to be used if I am dead or…”

“Completely physically and mentally incapacitated. You were. I planned on ending the protocol when we got your meds sorted out. If you want control now you can have it.” she told her, resigned and not wanting to fight.

Now everyone was looking from Alex to Kara as if it was some sort of tennis match. Kara wanted to take back control immediately. Control was everything to her, when things went crazy, as they often did in her life. Control over her secrets, control over Dick Grayson, controlling information she allowed government agencies to have, watching her enemies closely. Paranoia taught her to not leave anything to chance.

And yesterday when the PTSD counselor mentioned Astra, she threatened to kill him.

“Kelex, the Fortress is Alex’s until she says differently.” Kara told the robot in her ear.

“Why… why were you trying to talk to Kelex? I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t ask about…”

“I asked to talk to it. Tell the thing to answer my questions or I will go to Antarctica myself and turn it into a toaster.” Leslie ordered.

“Kelex, you heard her.” Alex said, resigned, knowing whatever Leslie wanted to know couldn’t be good. “Tell her what she wants to know.”

Everyone began to move out, but Leslie stopped them. “You are all family or medical professionals, and this might impact what you are working on. I am playing a hunch here. Kelex, pull up Kara’s DNA on this monitor.”

The strands pulled up immediately.

“I’ve gone over these hundreds of times, trying to figure out what kind of immunity boosters…”

“Quiet Jeremiah.” Leslie ordered. “Show me the DNA markers, the ones that were modified for predispositions.”

The strands she was seeking appeared immediately.

“Which ones mark her genetic predispositions for hair growth, height, weight, things of a physical nature?”

Every strand lit up.

Jeremiah began to correct the robot, but Leslie put a hand on his chest.

“I said all. Where are the ones that disposed her inclinations towards science and law? The ones that made her more accepting of Kryptonian standards, the ones that deadened her emotions when confronted with protocol? I know Kryptonians had them. There was a council that controlled the mindset of the population using a sun god. Show them to me.”

Nothing was heard for a moment, everyone, especially Kara, seemingly confused.

“I cannot do so.” the robot finally said. “Kara’s DNA was only modified for physical traits. No mental traits were modified.”

No one said anything, Leslie confirming her suspicion about why Kara felt the way she did about the almost hive mind that Kryptonians seemed to have, one that kept the populace from warring with itself.

“Why… why didn’t you tell me this before, Kelex?” Kara asked, very quietly.

“When you activated the Fortress, you forbid me from speaking of the House of El unless you asked about them directly. You never asked so I was unable to give you this information.” the robot explained, his reasonable explanation making Kara want to break something.

Instead she calmed down and looked to Alex who cleared her throat.

“Kelex, could you tell me why this was? What happened?” the older sister asked.

The robot began, the usual casualness out of his voice. He sounded more robot than human now, as if reciting a story from databanks.

“Alura knew her daughter would be coming to Earth. She knew Kara would be indestructible. Therefore, she allowed her DNA to be modified for physical traits due to some issues involving the impossibility of cutting hair for example.” he started.

“Alura was concerned about her daughter’s safety. She knew it would be natural for a Kryptonian to attempt to contact the dominant species on a new planet and establish a rapport. Alura felt this would not go well due to her understanding of humanity’s more violent traits. She wished for Kara to use her natural instincts for survival. To this end, she blackmailed a member of the modification department to falsify records pertaining to Kara’s modification. If he did not do as requested, he would be sent to prison for a crime of theft. As such, Kara’s DNA was never modified despite records indicating it was. Apart from the physical traits, she was to be a clean slate, one who would trust her instincts over protocol.”

Jeremiah sat in a chair, trying to come to grips with this. All the times he had studied Kara’s DNA, he never could isolate the physical modifications from the mental modifications. Now he knew why.

“I was nearly perfect in my exams. How is that possible? The things I learned, I did well.”

“You were subjected to immersive education like all Kryptonians. You are also very intelligent naturally. Emotionally, you were more loving and free spirited, thought for yourself, expressed yourself through art. This distressed your father. Your mother did not allow your father to report this.”

“She didn’t allow?” Kara asked.

“She threatened to murder him and frame Jor El for the crime. Because she had proof of the planet’s forthcoming destruction and could easily bend the high council to her will and bring disgrace and criminal charges against the House, including herself, he had no choice but to submit. It was impossible for him to report her threat without her reporting him for his crimes. Your survival was the only thing that mattered to her. There was no act, including breaking several laws, that would prevent her from protecting you and ensuring you lived.”

“Then why didn’t she tell me what was going to happen?!” the blonde screamed, setting everyone in the room on edge. Alex moved closer to her, placing a hand on her left shoulder, both for support and to control her if she became violent towards herself.

“She did not want your childhood burdened by the knowledge of the impending death of Krypton.”

Kara had large tears streaming down her face and began to sob. Alex pulled her closer, whispering in her ear, gentle sounds that used to calm her little sister in storms.

“Why… why didn’t she send food for me? Clothes?” the blonde finally asked.

“Alura had prepared bags for you including food, clothes and an electronic translator for communication with various dialects of humans. It was agreed between the brothers to not pack supplies into the ship until the last minute, to ensure they did not ruin before stasis. Alura had the bags packed for you in her quarters. When the last quake struck, the closet and part of her bedroom collapsed, and the bag was lost. She had no time to pack another one. Jor El reached the ship with Clark’s supplies and the crystals. She could only bring you or risk your death if you stayed any longer.”

No one knew what to say at that point, not even Leslie, whose mind was trying to process this new information and Shay who had been working with DNA mapping by Jeremiah and Eliza’s side for nearly a month now, trying to customize drugs to affect Kara’s physiology.

“Jor… Jor El said she thought I could handle it on my own, find food on my own. That I was resourceful.” Kara finally said.

“Jor El was a liar. He wanted you submissive to him, so he attempted to lower your self-esteem, a common tactic for manipulating someone.” Kelex told her firmly. “Your mother wished for a daughter. She wanted you and she did everything to ensure you had the best chance at life, even fighting her natural predisposition for law. She went against every instinct in her mind, in every cell of her body, threatened murder, blackmail, all so you could survive.”

“Why?!”

“Because she loved you. You were the only thing that mattered to her in life, not the council, not the House of El, only you. I heard her tell your father this several times.”

Kara walked out quickly, head down and sobbing, her shoulders shaking, unable to catch her breath but needing to get away. She threw the com on the ground and never stopped, turning the corner to the residence hall.

Leslie nodded her head.

“Now we can get some work done. Alex, find out if he has any other secrets that may be useful. Parents go to her. Shay, you know the genetic markers, now make the drugs work. She is going to have a lot to process tonight. I will be back tomorrow afternoon and we are going to finally get to the bottom of things.” Thompkins ordered, and it was obvious that she was excited.

“Do you really think this was the best way for her to find this information out?” Eliza asked, annoyed at the woman, shocked by the revelations, and still a bit stunned.

Leslie shrugged her shoulders. “Look, I know you love her and you all, Jessica included, have done the best you can. But she is a violent, emotionally unstable addict and a junkie. Since your way hasn’t exactly worked in the past, let’s try it my way. No more secrets, no more hiding things for her own protection, no more babying her. Every single time we make progress it could be thrown away by something new she learns, and I would like to get everything on the table. Am I excited? You have no damn idea how excited I am. We have a chance now. Go to her, comfort her. She is going to be confused and probably not want to talk about it. Don’t force her. I will handle it tomorrow.”