Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Survivors

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 26: the Inferno

“Kara?”

Alex was not sure where she was. She knew it was a hallway of some sort, nearly blacked out with only a very small pinpoint of light at the far end. She heard her footsteps, water dripping from a pipe overhead. She felt the gun in her hand, the one her father had given her for her 17th birthday, the one she had practiced with Connolly daily, firing round after round until it became a part of her. She normally kept the Glock 40 in a safe lock box at the top of her closet, hidden from Clark’s curious hands. Now it was in her hand, in front of her as she walked down a corridor towards her sister. Why Kara was here, where they were or how she knew her sister was in trouble, Alex had no idea.

As the brunette moved closer the pinpoint of light grew. It was a keyhole, a door and on the other side Alex knew she would find nothing good. Her heart was racing, she was sweating and despite everything she had learned, she had a death grip on her weapon. Reaching out with her free hand to the knob, she slowly turned, gun at the ready. Once the mechanism clicked, Alex took a deep breath and yanked the door open, stepping inside, gun in front.

Astra.

“Kara!”

Kara lay at Astra’s feet in a pool of blood so large Alex had hoped it might have been her cape. Her blonde hair was stained dark crimson and her bright blue eyes were lifeless and dull, staring at the ceiling above her.

Astra shook her head.

“So you are her. You are the one my niece gave up the life she should have had, to be with you.”

Alex raised her gun with both hands and fired, knowing the shots would do no good. She needed some release, something to take her focus from her sister’s dead body. The gun finally ran dry.

“Why? Why did you kill her? She never wanted you dead! Non, but she never said you!”

“I didn’t kill her. She killed herself. The soldier didn’t want her, her blood cousin rejects her, she isolated herself for years. How long did you think you alone could keep her? You should have brought her to me. I would not have rejected her. I would have loved her enough. Kara did this to herself.”

“You are evil! You did this! Kara would not… she wouldn’t! You are a liar and a… a… a murderer!”

“Look at her hand. You know I am right.”

Alex did, her eyes traveling from Kara’s face, down her shoulder and there it was, in her left hand she held a bloody Kryptonite knife. Her body was so pale, she wasn’t breathing and that may be why when Kara sat up and told Alex she was sorry, Alex screamed.

The brunette no longer felt cold, she was no longer in the room with her sister’s dead body. Alex was in her bed and her scream was being muffled by her sister’s chest. Kara was in her bed, holding her tightly and rubbing her back.

“It’s okay. I got you. It will be okay.” Kara whispered to her big sister. She had woken five minutes before and listened to Alex call for her, then cry in her sleep. She slid in bed beside her and had her arms already in place when Alex woke up.

“Kara?”

“Yeah, its me. You are safe.”

Alex pushed away from her and Kara let her. The older girl jumped for her bedside lamp and once it was on, she was inspecting the blonde for any blood. Kara didn’t move, didn’t say a word while Alex pushed up her pajama sleeves, checked her ankles, ran her fingers over Kara’s neck to make sure no blood was there. It had happened before, usually after very bad nightmares where she dreamed Kara had hurt herself and Kara knew the routine. Alex wouldn’t go to sleep until she knew that Kara was physically okay.

Once the inspection was over, Alex grabbed her again.

“I must have performed a number on myself this time. What new feats of villainy did I reach in this nightmare?” she asked, trying to make Alex smile, snort, anything. The thin girl was shaking like a leaf.

“Nothing… I mean… I don’t want to talk about it. Please? You are okay, right?”

“Yeah Alex, I’m great. Relax.” Kara whispered, pushing a strand of chestnut hair from Alex’s face, behind her ear.

“What time it is?” Alex asked.

“Time to get back to sleep. It’s only 1. We have 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep remaining and an hour of snooze buttons. Want me to stay with you?”

“Please?”

“You never have to ask.”

That day dragged on, neither girl being able to get much more interrupted sleep that night and feeling like the day would never end. They considered going home sick a few times but if Kara came home from school for no reason Eliza would institute what she considered a subtle suicide watch, or at least a severe depression watch. If both girls came home because they were tired the overprotectiveness would go into overdrive.

That night the two decided for this week their therapy session would be together to get it out of the way.

“Congratulations girls.” Jess started.

“We didn’t do it.” they both said, not sure what they were being congratulated for but knowing it couldn’t be good.

“Really?” Jess reached into her bag and pulled out a copy of the Raleigh Gazette. “Gang crime on rise, Newlywed couple saved from mugging by unknown Good Samaritans.”

“That has nothing to do with us.” Kara told her quickly.

“You have that crinkle…”

“I will throw you into space if you mention that again, Jessica Ryan. Who have you shown that to?”

“No one. I’m surprised your mother and father didn’t see it last week. So according to the lovely new bride a motorcycle pulled up into the alley and the men no longer had weapons. The guy in front of her had a gun and then it wasn’t there. Then two people in black, wearing black helmets fought the guys, knocked all five out and left without a word.”

“I took out the weapons and Alex and I had fun. So what? It had been a crappy night and we needed entertainment.”

“Entertainment?”

“You would rather us drive by and let those people be hurt or killed? Call the police and watch for ten minutes until they respond? Of course when those guys heard the sirens if they weren’t done they would be, probably kill them and take off. What would you have done?” Kara challenged.

“Kicked the hell out of all of them. Actually I’m not that great at martial arts so I would have had to rely on guns and a shoot out and it probably would not have ended well for anybody. But like I said, congratulations.”

Kara and Alex looked at each other, waiting for the hammer to fall.

“Thats it? Just congratulations?”

Jessica shrugged her shoulders. “You acted like heroes, you didn’t light the place up with heat vision, or fly, or throw cars. You both acted human, managed to save two people in an outstanding fashion, kept your identities hidden and didn’t do enough damage that the police are even interested in finding you to get a statement.”

“Thanks.” Kara told her gratefully.

“Now how are you going to handle it when someone dies the next time? I need to start planning for these things.”

“Nobody got hurt.” Alex told her. She knew Jessica’s praise was too good to be true.

“I know. I stand by what I said. Good job. But understand when you do this, there is always the possibility somebody can die. It could be a victim before you can stop the bad guy. It could be a bad guy who sees you and panics, shoots himself or a friend. It could be the victim has a heart attack or stroke from the excitement. You may think you had it under control Kara, but things like that are never in complete control. You took out the weapons, right?”

“Yep, before Alex became involved I emptied all their hands and pockets, guns, knives, one steel bar. They didn’t even know I had done it until it was over.”

“Did you check the male victim?”

“What?” she asked, surprised.

“The male? The female for that matter. Do you know if either of them had a gun? What if one had? What if he saw an opportunity to save his love and reached for his own weapon, began firing into the crowd of bad guys? It didn’t happen but it could have. How would you have felt?”

“I… I…”

“She couldn’t, we couldn’t… So what, just do nothing or Kara has to frisk everyone now?!”

“Number one, how many times have you girls done this?”

“Less than five!” Kara told her, causing Alex to drop her head.

“Okay, so four exactly. I am not criticizing, I am asking you to think about this from all angles. Especially since one of you isn’t bulletproof and one of you feels responsible every time a bird falls off a power line in the world. If you are going to do this you both need to come to grips with some things. Namely, what are you willing to do to save someone. Kara are you willing to let Alex risk her life?”

Kara said nothing. Alex stared at her sister, growing angry.

“Number one, she doesn’t let me do anything. I can handle myself as well as she can out there.”

Kara remained silent, her hands squeezed together and fidgeting. Both women knew it was a matter of time before her nails started digging into her palms.

“Kara?” Alex asked again, quietly this time.

“I can’t let you go into a fight against armed people Alex. I had to disarm them first. If it is a choice between them dying or you being in danger then they are on their own. I’m sorry.”

“Kara, I have trained for the past four years to fight by your side.”

“You have trained to protect yourself and our family. Alex… how can I fight if I am worried about you being hurt? I have to have you. If you, Mom, Dad, Clark, if you aren’t safe how can I concentrate on doing what needs to be done?”

“We concentrate! I am not going to try to take a Kryptonian on in hand to hand combat but I can watch your back.”

“And do what?! You refuse to carry Kryptonite! All that training means nothing if you won’t learn to use the weapons that can save both our lives one day!”

“They will find something besides Kryptonite!”

“They are not looking! They have what they need. But you won’t carry it. If Astra attacked us now, I could fight her but how would you fight Non? With bullets? It is ridiculous that there is no Kryptonite here! Mom and Dad are being stubborn and you are backing them!”

“I had a nightmare last night that you used a Kryptonite knife to kill yourself! You slit your throat and wrist! Do you blame us for not wanting that around here?! We love you and you just saying you won’t hurt yourself doesn’t always work out, does it?!”

Both girls stopped talking, now standing inches from each other, in shock at what Alex had just said.

“Kara…”

“I haven’t done that in a long time, Alex.”

“I know. I am sorry…”

“Then why did you say it? Nobody believes in me, but you. You don’t believe in me now either? Clark is scared of me, Mom and Dad still watch me all the time, check that stupid book I wish I could burn. I am never alone for more than ten minutes and I still wear short sleeve shirts or white pajamas… but I thought you would have more faith in me.”

“Don’t…” Alex started.

“I think I am done tonight, Jessica.”

Kara didn’t make it two steps before Alex stopped her with three words.

“Under your fingernails.”

Kara looked at the floor, not moving. She sniffed to fight back tears. She would not cry. Her days of crying were over she told herself.

“When you came back from the bathroom yesterday at school, you did a good job at cleaning your arm or wherever you cut yourself but you didn’t get the dried blood from under your fingernails. Right hand, Ring and Index fingers. If I have a Kryptonite crystal, knife, shard, rock, silly putty even, you would figure out some way to hurt yourself. I love you Kara more than anyone and you know I am right.”

Kara did not turn around. She took a deep breath instead.

“Like I said, I am done today, Jessica. Maybe you and Alex can talk about why she still refuses to come out even though she knows Mom and Dad won’t be upset. Don’t bother calling a family meeting. I had an itch. I am not a machine. I scratched a bit too hard. I am not having any meeting, we are not going over any damn plan and I am not going to be followed, watched, or anything else.”

Kara walked out or ran, she was a blur so neither woman was sure but the door did slam, nearly hard enough to take it off the hinges.

“So that could have gone better but at least you two are expressing emotions that are true instead of worrying about hurting the other.”

Alex looked at Jessica and shook her head. “I have to go after her.”

“Because that won’t make her angrier. How angry has she been? Not all the time. I understand she has perkiness and adorkableness down to an art. She even worked a snort into the laugh? But when she gets angry, how angry? Is it getting better or worse?”

Alex sat on her bed and laid back, staring at the ceiling.

“It depends. She doesn’t get mad often, but when she does… it is always at herself. I don’t know. I don’t even know if I can tell the difference anymore. She has gotten better about being happier, enjoying life, even if she insists on staying out of it. The water park was a blast this summer and she went without glasses for three days. I think that Clark being scared of her and the thing with D…”

“The thing with what? Please don’t tell me you are keeping something huge from me again.”

“No! Maybe! I don’t know! But no, no way in hell will I tell you that. It wasn’t some dead uncle destroying her belief system and making her curse her parents into hell. This was really personal and there is no way in hell I would ever tell you. Look, she is fine, I will keep her cool, I always do. Just relax, you are doing good. She really has been getting better, especially from where she was a few years ago. I need to find her.”

“Don’t apologize to her.” Ryan told Alex.

“What? But I…”

“Told her the truth. Don’t apologize to her for telling her the truth. Never for that. You guys always support each other. Always. So that means you two are the only ones who can call each other on your bullshit. Its probably time you both started doing that, instead of babying each other.”

Alex left without another word, moving past the living room where Jeremiah and Clark watched her walk by quickly and out the front.

“So were her and Kara doing the same thing and Kara was just way faster? Because they just…”

“Yeah, I think Kara got the jump on mad this time and Alex is probably playing catch up.”

“Girls are weird.” Clark wisely observed.

“Big time.”

“We gonna have to put another door on Kara and Alex’s room?”

“Probably.” the Dad admitted.

Clark shook his head. “They probably need some help. You should tell Mom to go help them… hey the games back on!”

Jeremiah looked off into the yard the girls had raced towards and patted Clark on the back.

“I love you son.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

“Just make sure you always tell Kara you love her, okay? Sometimes people sacrifice a lot for the ones they love. They live with things, they carry things so others don’t have to. She… she loves you a lot.”

“I know Daddy. What do you mean? Is Kara carrying something for me? Can I help?”

Jeremiah shook his head and smiled down at his curly dark haired companion. “I would carry it for both of you if I could. Lets see who is up to bat. I think we are at the top of the order. Remember what the top of the order is?”

Alex finally tracked down Kara, but not in any of her usual haunts. Since the blonde had left without her phone and the beach was empty Alex checked the cave. The boulder in front of the entrance had not been moved though, as Alex had the indention marks memorized, in the event Kara ever hid here and wouldn’t say anything.

She finally hiked a half mile behind Connolly’s house, making her way through the overgrown fields. Even trough the approaching darkness and cover of leaves, the blonde mane could be made out at the height of one of the tallest trees, sitting on a branch Kara had long ago claimed as her break room during flight practice.

“Come down or bring me up.” Alex ordered. Kara said and did nothing.

“I’m not screwing around. If I have to climb that tree I am going to be pissed off even more. Come down or bring me…”

Alex’s speech and most of her stomach it felt, was left on the ground as she suddenly found herself on a large branch sixty feet off the ground, sitting next to her sister.

“I’m going to puke. I hate it when you do that so fast! You know it screws with me!”

“I hate it when you tell me to do something or you won’t go away, whether I like it or not. I wanted to be alone.”

“I know. You have been alone. I checked the beach and the cave first. You have had an hour.”

“I should have all the time that I want.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t. I just didn’t want to be alone. If you want, gently put me back on the ground and I will go home. Stay up here all you want.”

Kara finally met her eyes and let out a breath.

“You can stay since I went to the trouble of bringing you up here. If you want to talk about what was said in there…”

“Nope. Just wanted to be with you.”

“Make sure I won’t start a wildfire trying to burn my arm off? Don’t worry Alex. I won’t burn or break any appendages. I need them all in top working order soon.”

Alex did not like the ominous tone Kara was using.

“Soon? What happened to getting the fortress set up, getting a plan together, weapons, finding someone outside of Viv to handle tech so we won’t have any connection with the DEO? All the things we were going to do when we went to college?”

Kara shook her head. “I’ve been so stupid. I wanted… I am going to get you killed. I am. You are so damn hard headed, I… after graduation Alex, no more games. You are going to college and I am going to end this.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.” Alex told her, shocking Kara. Kara was used to being told what todo by Alex.

“You wish I wouldn’t?”

The older sister shrugged her shoulders.

“I know I can’t stop you, Kara. I’ve never been able to stop you from doing things I didn’t like. I try and sometimes I think if I can just be bossy enough you will back down, but I know in my heart I can’t stop you. I want to be with you when you go after them. I know I might be a liability but I don’t think I will be.”

“Shooting them with regular bullets…”

“I know. When the time comes I will be armed appropriately. I know I could distract you but I need you to trust me.”

“I will always trust you Alex.” Kara told her quickly.

“You aren’t trusting me now. Not if you want to run off…”

“Alex I won’t. If you don’t… you know I can never turn you down when you ask me for something. You are the only reason Kal and I aren’t living like cavemen in the wild. I couldn’t have kept him alive without you. I would have lost my mind long ago, what mind I have left…”

“Stop. Don’t say you will do what I want because you owe me. You owe me nothing. Tell me you want me there because you want my help and mean it. If you really don’t want me there, not because you think I will die but because you don’t think I can help, then tell me. I will stay back. But you are not going to tell me it is okay for you to risk your life and it isn’t okay for me to risk mine.”

Kara nodded her head. “I do want you there. I always want you with me. I am so scared Alex. I am not scared of dying. I’m scared of living and everyone else dying. I cant take that anymore. I can lose anymore while I am left behind to pick up the pieces.”

“I know, Kara. We are just going to have to fight and see what happens. I’ve believed in destiny since I met you. Maybe ours is good and maybe it isn’t but it won’t be boring, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. You are sure you want this? Alex you have so much to offer this world. You have…”

“A sister who is going up against some pretty tough enemies one day and I will be right there with her. Then we are both becoming circus clowns. I still think you would be adorable with a big red nose.”

“Sure, as soon as you wear a pink wig and blue ribbons. Lets go home I guess. I want to see how Clark is coming along with his studies.”

“He is learning to color in the lines. I’m pretty sure he is keeping up with the Kindergarten curriculum.”

“I know, I just… need him tonight.”

“Great… hey listen, about what I said…”

“Its fine Alex. You were upset…”

“I meant every word. I love you, Kara. We both know that you are doing a lot better on some things but there is no reason to tempt you. There isn’t and you know it.”

Kara gritted her teeth but said nothing for a moment while she forced her temper down.

“Anything else?” she whispered.

“I think we all need to talk about it. That was the agreement. We have all, always followed the agreement.”

“It wasn’t a big deal. Jake was saying something about my jeans being tight and I guess he noticed and was talking to other guys about what I probably looked like without clothes on, something about being the quiet freak in bed… you know I hate being talked about, especially by those pigs, like I am some piece of meat. I started wondering who else was watching and I needed to… I was starting to panic and just wanted to leave but I couldn’t…”

“If someone talks about your ass you come to me and I will deal with it. Me! Nobody talks about you like that.”

“Guys talk about girls like that all the time Alex. You can’t beat up the whole school.”

“You still should have told me. I could have talked to you. You wouldn’t have had to go to the bathroom…”

“It was just a small scratch on my rib. Not a big deal. Just a pinch really. I took some deep breaths…”

“It is always a big deal! You do not get to hurt yourself, ever. You talk to me, we hug, I beat somebody up, we tell Dad and watch him beat somebody up but you do not scratch yourself, cut yourself or anything else. Understand?”

“Yeah, I got it. I guess we get to have family meeting time after Clark goes to bed. Thanks Alex. See you back at the house.”

Alex saw Kara move and stopped her.

“Uh, aren’t you going to get me down?”

“Why? I’m not an elevator. You wanted up here, you can get down. I have to go update a journal and write the words I nearly had a panic attack because a guy liked my ass and wondered if I was a nerd who was a freak in bed. Can’t wait for Dad to read that one.”

“I am not climbing down. I like these jeans. Get me down.” the brunette ordered.

“No.”

The two stared at each other and this time Kara did not blink. Instead Alex smirked.

“You are right, I can get myself down. Later sis.”

Alex fell backward with a smile, free falling towards the ground.

She was gently placed on the surface on her feet by a furious Kara a second later.

“That was stupid!”

“I knew you would catch me. I do believe in you. Always will. Now walk with me. It’s a beautiful night. We should enjoy it.”

Kara did enjoy the walk. Her mind was in a million different places as always but for a few moments she just enjoyed the night sky. She would be home soon, color with Clark, read him a bed time story with Eliza, she would check the search programs that were constantly running on her laptop to flag any news alerts that met specific otherworldly terms or conditions and then paint before bed. Tonight painting would take a back seat while she sat with her parents and sister and explained what happened a few days before.

The following Saturday, Kara finally received a text from Dante, telling her the suspected base was a dead end and asking how she was doing. Kara could have answered fine, probably should have answered fine. Instead she ignored the message and sat next to Eliza, watching Jeremiah and Alex coach Clark’s first ever soccer match.

The results were less than successful. The team fought valiantly but lost 6 to 5. The greater tragedy in Clark’s eyes was that he had not scored a goal. No amount of encouragement from Alex could get the boy through his second slice of pizza or to smile for the team photo afterward.

“Clark, there are six more games. You are going to have plenty of chances to score goals. You did great stopping the other team.” Kara encouraged him once she had him alone. He agreed a walk to the beach might make him feel better.

“Alex always scores goals.” he countered. The two were on the beach alone, sitting on the wet sand. The temperature was 62 and the beach deserted.

“Not always. I have seen games where she didn’t. She didn’t score in her first two games as a matter of fact. Mom had to hold me back. A player from the other team ran into her hard her first game and almost hurt her. I was about to attack her.”

“Why? Did she try to hurt Alex on purpose?”

Kara shrugged. “I’m not great at controlling my temper when the people I love are being hurt.”

“I don’t like it when you get mad.”

“I know.” she told him, adjusting her glasses and putting on her brightest smile. “I’m going to do better. But I don’t like you being sad. You did great today and you should be happy.”

“I stunk. Maybe thats why Alex always calls me stinky.”

Kara let out a genuine laugh.

“No sweetie, Alex has called you that since the day she met… one time Alex saw me trying to change your diaper. I wasn’t very good at it I guess. I didn’t have anything to keep you… clean, on me. She told me you still stunk and pinched her was really funny. I had been having a bad day and she made me laugh. Sometimes something like that can change a life, you know? Anyway, whenever you had a dirty diaper she would point to me and say I had to take care of Stinky. I guess I got pretty good at changing your diaper. The name stuck though. She also calls you squirt and munchkin.”

“Those aren’t better.”

Kara ruffled his hair. “Sorry buddy. I don’t think Alex is going to give up her nicknames for you. She still calls me Blondie. What can I do to make you feel better?”

Clark raised his eyebrows, knowing he had his big sister where he wanted her.

“I want to run with you.”

Kara’s eyes widened comically and she placed her hand over her mouth but didn’t hide the smile behind it.

“Clark! You know Mom and Dad don’t like it when we do that.”

Clark grinned and looked back towards the cliff and the house that sat on top.

“It can be our secret. You and Alex have secrets. We can have a secret right?”

Kara looked at the house and saw everyone was lounging about, Alex listening to music and Eliza and Jeremiah staring into a microscope, probably studying Clark’s cells to determine if any changes were occurring that could lead to powers. They did a saliva sample every week and a blood sample every month. Luckily Clark was not scared of needles.

“Lets go!” Kara whispered, picking up her cousin and walking quickly, slowly for her towards the path to the house. Once past the house she continued on for four minutes, entering a path to the side of the street that led off into the woods. Soon she was behind her training grounds and used her vision to take a good look around. It was only 5 but there was no air traffic and no group traffic on the hiking path. Nothing Kara wouldn’t be able to avoid.

“Hold on.”

Clark twisted in her arms and wrapped his arms around her neck but kept his eyes forward. He wrapped his legs around her waist and waited. He didn’t wait long. The world sped up, the wind rushed past his face, and Kara held him in her strong arms. He had no idea how fast they were moving, he just knew it was fast. Kara would approach a creek and jump but it was more like gliding. Despite the speed, it was never rough running with her. He always felt steady as if he was flying himself.

Zipping in and out of trees, jumping over long distances and huge fallen trees, most of which had been knocked down by Kara at some point, the two finally stopped, giving Clark a sense of disorientation.

“You okay, Buddy? Can you walk or do I need to hold you a bit more?”

“Just hold on to me for a bit. That was so awesome! I love running with you!”

“I love running with you too.”

“How old was I when you first ran with me?”

“What?” Kara asked, caught off guard. “You only ran with me one other time and that was this summer, remember? Mom wanted to put an inner tube around you in case I ran into a tree.”

“Really? Cause when we did I remembered… I couldn’t remember good or nothing but I remember running with you. You holding me and talking to me while we were running. I thought I must have been a baby or something. Do you think it was a dream?”

Kara nodded her head. “A nightmare probably. Lets go back. I’ll carry you.”

“No, I can walk. But since this is our secret and Mommy and Daddy are going to want to know where we were, we should probably get some ice cream. That way you can say you bought me ice cream to cheer me up and it won’t be a lie.”

Kara laughed and put the brat on the ground. “You are getting really good.”

“Thanks! I want chocolate. Buy one for yourself too.”

Clark was in a much better mood when the two returned home. It was nearly dark and Kara expected Alex to be at the door waiting or Eliza to be complaining about her ruining Clark’s appetite with ice cream. Jeremiah had spent the night before being talked out of assaulting teenage boys when Eliza and Kara convinced him there was no way they could prove Kara heard what she heard. The boys had been too far away. So with the potentially tense situations present, Kara was surprised to hear nothing but the news on. Walking into the living room she was immediately alert. Jeremiah, Alex and Eliza were on the couch watching the news intently.

“Please tell me that it…”

Jeremiah shook his head, realizing she had walked in. “Hey sweetie. No, nothing to do with… them. Its Gotham.”

“What did the bat guy do this time? Finally kill someone?”

“No, its the Children’s Hospital. There were explosions. The place is on fire, some children are trapped inside, the firefighters who went in… another explosion occurred. There are a lot of people trapped. They are saying its terrorism.” Alex finished.

“Clark, lets get you a bath. You can watch cartoons in your room…” Eliza started, not wanting Clark to see this. The death toll would be huge, so many children. She saw he had chocolate ice cream around his mouth and Kara was not there any longer for her to complain to.

“Where did Kara go?” she asked herself but Alex and Jeremiah also looked. Clark shrugged his little shoulders.

“She went, zoooooom, whoosh, and then another whoosh out the back.”

“Oh no.” Jeremiah whispered.

“May as well sit down Dad. Its too late to stop her.” Alex told him, sitting down herself. Her mind was worrying already, would Kara be smart and hold her breath, not breathe too much smoke, not have a panic attack in a burning building, not be discovered, and not see too many dead and burning bodies of adults and children. The effect that sight could have on her was to frightening to think of.

“If she sees those bodies…” Jeremiah started. He had already thought of this as well.

“Alex, if you call her…” Eliza tried, before Alex shook her head.

“Nothing on Earth is keeping her from that hospital. I am betting she has her phone on her but she is just using it for GPS. She has told me before about trails she had mapped out that she could run with one of us to Metropolis, Gotham, Washington, Opal City, Pittsburgh in the event she needed to hide us quickly. She can make it to Gotham City in thirty minutes.”

“So we sit here and pray.” Eliza decided, her stomach in knots. “I’m going to get ice cream off a certain little boy’s face. Blackmailed your sister into getting you ice cream, didn’t you?”

“Yes Mommy.”

“Lets get you in a bath.”

“Is Kara in trouble? Is that why she left so fast? She didn’t mean to, I told her I wanted ice cream to…”

Jeremiah shook his head. “No, she isn’t in trouble. It’s who she is. Its who all my kids are. Go with Mommy. Me and big sis are going to pray we don’t see Kara on TV.”

Kara was running the trail she had mapped out a year ago, her own personal escape plan she had. It wasn’t perfect but she knew how to carry one or two people from the house into another major city within an hour, should an exit from Midvale ever be needed quickly. Now she was actually putting her route to Gotham City in use. Her phone’s GPS could not keep up but did give her a general direction and her vision and hearing did the rest. Once in the city, Kara knew that moving at break neck speed was impossible. She would have to find normal transportation to the scene of a tragedy that was most likely blocked off for miles around or take to the rooftops.

The blonde stopped in a rest spot next to the bridge into Gotham City and ran into the woods next to it, far from highway eyes. Dropping her backpack, she tossed her jacket off and stuffed it inside along with her glasses and phone. She didn’t need GPS. She could see the fire from here. Kara had the presence of mind to change into dark jeans, black Nikes and a dark red top before leaving but it was not exactly fire fighting gear.

The bridge was backed up but the moon was not out. The bay below was black and the expanse wasn’t long. Taking a deep breath and a last look around, Kara jumped into the bay below, out of sight of those on the highway. She leveled out a few feet above the water and skimmed across in two seconds, moving up the embankment and entering Gotham City. Using her vision she found a nearby fire station and moved quickly. One truck was coming back for resupplying from the fire and another prepared to leave. Slipping under the truck, Kara held onto the frame and caught a ride to the emergency zone.

Waiting until the crew had exited, she stayed under, checking the fire fighters, EMS and police officers around. There were evacuees but she did not want to get directed into a medical evac area and have to make a break for it. One section had been set up for fireman who were overheated and receiving IVs. One dropped his turn out gear and the second the man’s back was turned, the gear was off the ground and around a corner of an ambulance where a skinny blonde was dressing out, mask and oxygen tank as well. To her relief it was fairly still full of air.

Kara took a good look at the hospital and what she saw horrified her.

The building was massive, fifteen stories. The top four were gone but the eleven below were twisted unstable piles of mangled metal. She saw people trapped under beams, under furniture, she saw obviously dead people, she saw bodies moving, bodies trapped behind doors.

She also heard explosions of a smaller scale occurring every moment it seemed. The metal was groaning, the wood cracking…. she shook her head and focused.

“Face your fear Kara. You can do this.” she whispered to herself and ran into the building. The heroine heard another fireman call to her from across the parking lot to not go inside. Looking at the fire she was moving through, they would have no way to follow. Kara was very thankful for the fire fighting gear because her blouse was already smoking from the extreme heat and her sneakers would not have last two minutes.

Thanks to her scuba diving expertise, Kara had a good idea how the oxygen tank worked. She turned the tank off and pulled her mask off for a moment, using her last deep breath and blowing, a powerful freeze blast, extinguishing the hallway in front of her. She continued to move as long as the breath lasted. Once it was over, she placed her mask back on and began clearing the stairwell. A column had fallen in front of the stairway exit, blocking off a major evacuation route.

It was on the second floor that she found the first victims who had not escaped yet. Four children were being held by firemen trying to get into the other stairwell exit. One fireman was under a support strut from the ceiling that had fallen on him. His legs were broken and the strut was too heavy for the other firemen to lift.

Kara knew at this point that being incognito was out the window. There was only one option. Don’t look anyone in the face, do the impossible and evacuate everyone. With luck she will become a legend told around dinner tables at Firehouses and that would be it. If she did enough of the impossible, it would be passed off as overworked and over stressed firemen seeing things. At least that is what she was banking on.

If all else failed she could just say she was Batman. The guy could use some good press.

Moving over to the officer next to the escape stairwell she turned him around. The man was surprised to see a very short fireman in oversized turnout gear he did not recognize.

“Use the other escape route! It is clear!” Kara yelled. The heat was unbearable and she knew the children in the firemen’s arms were running out of time just like they were.

“It is blocked! Debris everywhere. We have to try and clear this one!”

“I cleared it. The debris is clear and the flames put out but I can’t guarantee how long the structure above will be stable.”

The officer shook his head. Who the hell was this and how had she made it from the ground floor?

“Its clear! We don’t have much time! Get the kids out of here!”

“You lead them out. Bring a hydro jack back up. Jim is damaged and I can’t…”

The Lieutenant stopped speaking when Kara moved quickly over to the downed fireman and lifted the strut over his legs up, easily. The surprised men moved, pulling him free and moving towards the cleared escape route. Kara stopped the officer before he descended.

“If you have radio contact with any of your men, tell them to use this stairwell, no matter what. I will keep it clear, understand?”

“Who are you?”

“Nobody.” The blonde pushed the officer after his men and moved up as they moved down. Despite the heat, she was forced to pull her mask off and use her heat vision to cut through a couple steel braces and her freeze breath to clear a path through flames.

She stopped on the fourth seeing movement on the floor. The door opened easily enough but the movement she had spied was a fireman rolling on the ground, alone. Kara moved quickly through the flames he lay in but realized when she turned him over, it was too late. His body was reacting on instinct but the man was gone. She stood and swept through the room, finding overturned beds in the hallways, rooms all on fire. Kara moved quickly through the halls, past the destroyed nurses stations, the food prep rooms and the patients rooms, looking for any signs of life.

Instead she saw burnt remains everywhere. The explosion had been devastating on this floor in comparison to the second. Kara tried to not focus on the burnt bodies, large and small. She opened her hearing, trying to find voices and ignore the nightmarish sounds of the raging inferno.

“It’s going to be okay Kara. You are going to be okay. Focus on the voices.” she encouraged herself. The girl did not focus on the burnt bodies, the cries outside of the survivors, the sirens, the hoses. She focused on her own heartbeat, ignored the trembling her body seemed to be subjecting itself too. The oxygen was nearly out and she would not have a chance to leave, refill and come back.

Kara continued to move quickly, taking in everything, every room looking for signs of life before going to the stairwell, blowing out the flames, shifting and smashing debris and moving to the next floor. On the seventh, as her oxygen was nearly depleted, she found what she was looking for. A surgical suite in the back, cut off from the main inferno, where four firemen were holding with eight children and a nurse. The rooms around them were on fire and if they opened the door, there was no way to run through thirty foot of fiery ground to make it to the stairwell. On top of that, the debris that Kara had cleared was beginning to shift back, new flames replacing the ones she had stopped. The escape route was closing.

Standing in the middle of a waiting room, flames licking her fireproof boots, she took a look around. If she opened the door protecting the surgical suite from the rest of the inferno on the floor, the influx of oxygen would increase the fire, making it impossible to get to the stairwell in time. They would run out of oxygen soon, the fire would find a way into the safe area, something, something, something, it was always something.

Kara made a decision, running to a window and punching the glass. Leaning out, she began waving towards the ground, yelling to gain anyones attention. A spot light hit her and she motioned for help. Hoping she wouldn’t have to fly the people out of the room, she was relieved when a ladder truck began moving towards her location and the ladder extended high.

The heroine moved towards the solid steel fire door protecting the surgery suite. Deciding to make the move sooner than later, she took a deep death of pure oxygen, emptying her tank. Ripping her mask and tank off she sent her fist into the solid steel door, breaking free into the other side and feeling the oxygen leaving the room and feeding the room she was in. Standing in front of the hole, she blew into the room, fighting the exploding atmosphere.

On the other side of the door, a very scared group of ten children, one nurse with a broken arm and four firemen, listened inside the safety of the suite, not wanting to admit that the end was near. The children were frightened obviously but gamely holding it together. The oldest of the group couldn’t have been more than 6 and the youngest 3. They had all been in the sealed wing due to the need for sterile surroundings following surgeries and while none of the surgeries had been major, they were all injured in some way.

“We got about ten minutes worth of oxygen, Captain.” Maggert whispered to his commanding officer. They had broken into the area, but a second explosion had triggered the blast doors to slam shut behind them. While they were in the one part of the hospital that was not on fire, the air was hot and oxygen was being consumed. If they forced the doors open, the remaining oxygen would ignite a back flash engulfing them all. Unfortunately the hospital would break up around them or they would suffocate before fire ever became an issue.

“If the building makes it that long. I’m out of ideas. Its gotta be nothing but fire on the ground. We would be dead from heat before the flames… I am out of ideas Maggs.” he whispered.

Everyone jumped when a small fist blasted through the steel door. The firemen didn’t know what had breached the door but felt the air rushing out. Huddling the children to the ground, and waiting for the wall of flame to burst into the room, they were greeted by moaning metal. Everyone looked up and saw the doors being pried apart by two tiny hands.

The door finally forced open completely the occupants took in the young girl, 5’8 maybe who had just bent two solid steel blast doors opened. Her hair as midnight black, as was her face. Only her eyes were an obvious blue, the rest of her concealed by ash and oversized turn out gear

“I had to vent this room.” Kara told them. “The back flash is over and the room is extinguished for the moment. I have a ladder truck moving towards here. The routes are blocked again. We have to move now or its over.”

The adults shook themselves out of their surprise first, grabbing the children in their arms. Kara grabbed a small girl, blonde, pale and shaking, too warm and not sweating, and gave her a slight smile. To her relief the girl smiled back.

The firemen walked out first, taking in the impossible sight. The room looked as if all fire had been put out long ago. It was even cool compared to what it should have felt like.

“Who are you? How did you do this?” the Captain finally asked.

“The ladder is there, we need to move.” Kara pointed and moved. Looking out the window she was glad to see a ladder and a bucket truck had also joined, so water would be available if the flames tried to reignite. Oxygen was very scarce even near the window so it was important to move.

Looking above at the higher floors it was obvious anyone or thing still up there was utterly destroyed. It also sounded as if the building was not long to stand.

Kara watched the firemen evacuate the nurse and children, a firemen going with each group until it was only the Captain and Kara remaining.

“You are next, fireman.” the Captain ordered, still trying to figure out who this kid was and how she had done the things she had done. She had obviously punched a hole through steel, pried open emergency airtight doors with her hands and in his mind she had singlehandedly fought the fire on this floor with no equipment or hoses.

“You first Captain.”

“Who the hell are you, girl…”

The Captains demand for an explanation was cut short when the ceiling began to buckle. Kara flew up and grabbed the support beam, pushing it back up.

“The roof is going to collapse. The longer we are here the less likely you make it down. Go now! Get the kids away from the building! I’ll hold it as long as I can.”

The longtime fire veteran looked at her in disbelief, floating near the ceiling pushing a steel beam up, actually bending it.

“I can’t…”

“I can find my own way down! Get the kids free and go! Now!”

The fireman moved towards the ladder and looked one last time at the dirty blonde in scorched turnout gear.

“Thank you.”

“You want to thank me, get those kids to safety and make up a story about what happened. Never tell anyone about me. Now go!”

Kara watched the man reluctantly leave. She held her breath as much as possible but the fresh air from the window was beginning to loose its effect. The floors above her were groaning and shifting. The blonde moved from one anchor point into another, trying everything to shore up a building and give those outside as much time as possible to get away.

The final breaking point had passed though. Kara could hold up an anchor point indefinitely but she could not hold up a dozen at once.

Despite being prepared for it, Kara screamed when the building broke, deflating almost and began sliding down around her. She held her ground, or air as the case was, not being pushed down but the building sliding past her instead.

She tried to keep her eyes open, look into the falling remains but what she saw was too much. She could see everything, the remains of victims from the top floors, rooms, personal effects, beds, furniture, so much fabric and wood, all turned to ash.

The debris cluttered her eyesight and she let herself go, holding her breath, despite the massive headache she had and hit the floor, then continued to roll, drop, caught in a tornado of fire and ear crushing sounds.

When Kara finally stopped moving she was on the edge of what was left of the building, under thirty feet of flaming debris. No human would have been in one piece, much less alive in this situation but she was and fortunately she was also hidden from the thousands surrounding the area. Kara looked around, her head moving debris as she shifted. She knew that she had helped the firemen on two escape and the children and firemen on the last floor. She had cleared an evacuation route and sent others out.

But how many didn’t make it? How many were trapped as she was, only not alien and very dead?

The girl coughed, tried to breathe air in that was not completely foul. Her head ached, she felt dehydrated and knew she would be blowing ashes out of her nose for months. Considering she should be dead if she were human, Kara was in better shape than she had a right to be.

Deciding she probably shouldn’t wait to be discovered, Kara stood up and shot to the top, debris sliding out of her way. Once she made it to the surface, to her regret and relief there was no free air to breathe. The building, the entire hospital had collapsed and a black cloud enveloped the area. Kara rubbed her eyes though it did no good. She finally brought her heat vision, just to the front, incinerating the dirt and goo covering her eyes. Vision cleared, she could see that the evac line had been pulled back and the two trucks that had helped rescue the children on the seventh had made it back. There was a barrier a half mile out. The cloud was still rolling towards the onlookers so Kara took her chance and moved quickly, moving out of the smoke into a thinned out area of rescue workers. As she suspected, by blending in with the cloud and darkness, she slipped easily through and continued walking into the shadows away from the red and blue emergency lights in other areas.

Once free, Kara found a backstreet and moved, running as fast as possible, only stopping twenty blocks away by a dumpster. She took the turnout gear off and threw it into a dumpster. Her shirt was nearly ash, the heat having nearly incinerated the fabric but it would hold on for another moment. Her jeans were safe enough, only a bit blackened and her sneakers were ruined, the rubber soles melted but would survive a run back home.

Kara took a few moments, sucking in huge gulps of clean air. Her dizziness became a bit better and she decided to move again. The girl at this point wanted to go home, find out how many decades she would be grounded for and stay in bed for a week, maybe longer.

The teenager ran, not bothering to catch rides under cars this time. She would avoid main highways, stay in the dark, avoid cameras and people as much as possible but she really, really wanted out of Gotham City. She continued to work for the next fifteen minutes, finally making her way back to the hiding spot of her backpack. She checked her phone and saw only one text from Jeremiah, begging her to be careful and to call when she was done. The girl smiled and dialed his number, briefly noting that it was 1 AM.

“Kara? Are you okay?”

“Hey Dad. I’m…”

“Kara?”

Kara tried to talk, to tell him she was alright but the shaking would not let her speak. She felt a pressure in her chest, her world began to spin.

The blonde tried to look for something, anything to focus on, to focus her eyes on. Instead she saw thousands of images, burnt bodies, broken bones, tears, terrified people…

In the back of her mind, Kara heard Jeremiah yelling for her. She knew she had dropped her phone and she knew she was on the ground. Kara tried to count backwards, tried to repeat formulas, flexed her muscles… nothing. As a last ditch effort, Kara grabbed her left arm with her right hand and prepared to dig her nails but lost consciousness before skin could be broken.

Kara lay on the ground, a couple hundred feet from a major highway, hidden, alone and completely unaware of her surroundings. The sound of a helicopter landing a mile away in the dark wilderness didn’t give her warning that Dante was back.

The man found her, on her back, completely black, with a phone near her hand. At first sight he was afraid she had been horribly burned but realized the black covering every inch of her skin was the result of hanging out in an inferno for a couple hours.

He checked her pulse and breathing, then satisfied with both took the phone near her hand and hit call back.

“Kara?”

“I have her Jeremiah. She is unconscious, I think she had a panic attack. Physically she is fine, except for being overheated and filthy. I am not sure what she must have breathed or how much smoke or other chemicals.”

“The news isn’t saying much except that a lot of people were saved because of emergency escape stairways were somehow miraculously cleared, and some stories of an angel fireman performing some pretty amazing things… I think she was in the building when it went down. She is probably the reason those last kids had the chance to get away. Rumors of the angel fireman are being talked about already according to some of the reports from firemen. She was probably in it when the whole thing came down.”

“Yeah, looking at her she was. I need to get her back to the chopper, get her cleaned up and put a jacket on her. Her damn clothes are smoking and they aren’t even burned. I’ll have her at the hangar in an hour. Connolly and Hawk are getting the equipment you are going to need from your lab now and taking it there.”

“We will be waiting. Dante, tell her if she wakes up… tell her we love her.”

“Se knows Jeremiah.”

“And tell her… tell her not to worry. I… we… are really proud of her.”

“You can tell her yourself in 90 minutes Dad. Let me get her home to you.”