Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Call Me Kara

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 31:

“Kara, open the door.” Nyssa ordered, after sending Barry away from the front of the heroine’s personal room. The room someone thought was a good idea not to have an override access panel installed in.

Hearing nothing, Nyssa walked away and came back shortly with the tools that would get her inside. Unlike this fool Prometheus, Nyssa knew Kara’s weakness and how to exploit them to get what she wanted.

“Open the door. I have chocolate shakes and french fries. I will eat both orders while you watch me with your X ray vision. Then I will get more. Perhaps a pizza. I’m thinking meat lovers with mushrooms. I won’t sit on the floor like Romeo does, waiting for you to give up your pity party. I will have Cisco bring me a table and chair. I will enjoy every single bite. I know you will watch me. You will see the melted, hot, gooey cheese, I would venture a guess that you can smell the pizza even from inside your insulated retreat. But first the french fries. Delicious, horribly unhealthy, crispy…”

Kara threw open the door, a look of resignation on her face. “You really don’t play fair, do you?”

Nyssa smirked, handed her both shakes and walked inside with the bag of fries.

“You can have both. I am grateful I was not reduced to those pot stickers you love so much. Disgusting delicacies. So this is the famous room of solitude? Alex spent time at your cousin’s giant fortress and described it as resembling someone named Elsa’s castle. She didn’t make it sound flattering either. Rather homey here though, you even have a refrigerator and recliner now, to go with your sofa, and look, a very large television.”

“I like to watch Blu Rays in here sometimes.” Kara explained, reluctantly dipping fries into the first shake and trying not to moan when she bit. She felt horrible, horrible about her actions, horrible about what she had become, horrible about many things.

But french fries dipped in chocolate shakes were so good. Nyssa continued to walk around taking in the scenery. Kara’s paintings were beautiful, shaded in a light red, many exotic structures, Nyssa imagined were of Krypton. She saw the portrait Kara had painted of a woman she assumed to be her mother. Where the woman’s eyes had been, there were small holes, surrounded by scorch marks.

“You are your own worst art critic it seems.”

“I didn’t want to see her looking at me. I didn’t want to look at her.”

“How long ago did you do this?”

“About a month ago, and I burned her eyes out seconds after it was complete.” Kara admitted.

“And where is the necklace Sara was intent on getting for you?”

Kara reached to her neck and pulled the pendant out from under her dress.

“You hate your mother yet you wear the last thing that she gave you. You hold on to it like a talisman. Interesting. I loved my father. I had every reason not to but I loved him all the same, almost as much as I hated him. I asked when I was a very young girl about my mother and was told her identity was of no consequence and that she was dead. He was a bastard in every sense of the word. Unlike your mother who sent you off alone and decided to stay behind and die out of guilt, he never felt guilt. He never felt love. I’m not even sure he felt hate. I am not sure which is worse, a loving mother who let you down or an evil, emotionless man. What do you think?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders, not really caring at the moment.

“The man you tortured, Oliver, Alex and I traveled to the barn where you left him hanging. Oliver planned to kill him and hide the body and I would do so if Oliver was reticent to, as he has been known to be. A true enigma that one, a good man and a dark man, all in one soul. Poor Felicity likes to believe that she sees the good in Oliver and tries to make him a better person. She is lying to herself. She is as attracted to his darkness as much as his light. Oliver battled Malcolm Merlyn. Malcolm refused to yield and told Oliver he would have to kill him. Oliver looked at Felicity as he always does and we all saw it. She nodded her head slightly, indicating Oliver should kill the monster. Of course Oliver didn’t, but Miss Sunshine gave him permission. The lives we lead change us, don’t they? Even Felicity, the bubbliest person I have known, besides the person you show the world, can approve of killing.”

“Did Oliver kill him?” Kara asked, then took another fry.

“Oh no, that man was dead regardless. Prometheus had already found him, somehow got close enough to see your engagement ring, and killed the man. He was even kind enough to take the body and leave a note. Lives are expendable to someone like him.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Kara asked her.

“Whatever gave you the idea I was here to make you feel better? Barry could do so. He would tell you that you are a saint, that it wasn’t your fault, that you never would have given into the darkness inside you if not for the man with the ridiculous villainous name and the even more ridiculous actual name. Eliza would hug you, Alex would rock you to sleep, Caitlin would stay up with you all night to soothe any nightmares you may have. I simply came to congratulate you. We learned more about the man who is causing so much death and destruction, who was willing to kill a little girl with a drone simply to see if you could save her, because you used the darkness inside you in a focused and productive manner. We were listening to you on the roof. You said you pretend to be stupid, a mask to show the world so they shouldn’t fear you.

Kara, people like us are always feared. It does not require super powers. 90% of the world’s most dangerous assassins would run if they knew I was coming after them. Caitlin may trust that I will always have Alex’s best interests at heart and therefore yours, but make no mistake, she fears me. They are right to fear me. Cisco is somewhat of a relaxed fellow, always a smile and a joke on his tongue. Oliver Queen makes him very nervous. You see, other people know instinctively who is dangerous and who probably isn’t. You are dangerous but Caitlin is comfortable around you because she trusts you completely, as does Cisco.”

“Do you think they trust me now?” Kara asked.

“Absolutely. They may look at you with new eyes, but the eyes will still see a woman who will do what is necessary to protect the ones she loves. A dangerous woman? Yes you are. It is okay to be dangerous. Sara once told Oliver to fight the unthinkable you have to be prepared to do the unthinkable. She was right.”

“No she wasn’t. When I was… I fought my aunt once, I defeated her, or at least I thought I did. Turns out she let me. But I brought her into the DEO and handed her over. General Lane, the same man who carried out my attempted execution later, began torturing her. I screamed for him to stop and told him we were better than this. Do you know what he said? We are but they aren’t. I’m him now. That man had information I wanted and I took it. I was supposed to be in a rage, some unthinkable, unimaginable, anger driven haze but instead, I felt what I had always felt. The difference is I didn’t hold back. I had never done what I did to him. I used my heat vision, not as a weapon to battle bad guys but as a tool to purposely cause pain. I did other things, things I probably didn’t have to do but I kept thinking of Barry on that table with shrapnel in his legs and chest, Sara screaming after being poisoned, the 62 people who died in that apartment bombing, the twenty bodies on the street after the drone attack. I thought of the man who placed a gun to my head, the hate in his eyes as he prepared to finish me off for good. I thought of James Harper, that self righteous bastard, I thought of Lane’s arrogant face, I thought of Non threatening to kill me, taunting me, thinking he was stronger than me. When I was affected by Red Kryptonite I felt like… I guess every vile thought I ever had came flowing to the surface and I either couldn’t stop them or didn’t want to. I felt pride, lust, jealousy, the need to show all those around me that I was better. I felt spitefulness. But this time I felt none of those things. Instead I just felt anger and I liked it. I didn’t just do it Nyssa, I enjoyed it.”

“You enjoyed having power over a man involved in multiple homicides? You are more human than you give yourself credit for.”

Nyssa walked to the framed costume on the wall, the one that had been cut off of Kara on her arrival to Earth 1.

“This is a very pretty costume. I especially like the skirt. It helped right? It was bright and optimistic and when you put it on you believed that you could help people and be above the darkness. You had to be the bastion of hope, of all that was right in the world. You wouldn’t get dirty, you would stay above it all, fight the good fight the way it is supposed to be done. But faced with a man who was minutes away from killing three billion souls you got dirty. You tasted the truth.”

“What truth is that?” Kara asked quietly, not wanting to look at the costume.

“They should have framed it as it was.” Nyssa told her, changing the subject. “Bloody, torn, ruined.”

“Why?”

“Because that was your baptism. You always had the darkness inside you from the moment your mother put you on that ship, rather than living with guilt and protecting you, she was too weak and chose to die. Instead she soothed herself with the idea that she had saved her child, ignoring the fact that she rocketed off a young girl into the unknown, defenseless. You had a chance to let your darkness loose on Non and it felt good. You saved the world but honestly Kara, how disappointed were you when you woke up alive so you wouldn’t have to deal with the feelings you had while killing him?”

Kara dropped her eyes to the ground.

“I thought so. Lets see your second costume. It is sewn together as well but the back which we cannot see is nearly burned out, correct? You took a dose of raw magic from that staff. Normally a wound in the back would be considered cowardly, but not you. You turned towards Felicity, wrapped her in your strong arms, made yourself vulnerable and took it, knowing it would hurt, knowing it could possibly kill you. Very nice. Honorable even, The actions of a true hero.”

“You never told me what truth I tasted.” Kara reminded her, wanting to change the subject.

“Why should I? You know. Barry knows. Oliver thinks he can keep you both from realizing it but while an amazing fighter and warrior he can be quite ignorant often. It is why he and Felicity are so perfect for each other. He needs a genius to balance out his lack of a brain.”

“I can’t escape the darkness.” Kara admitted.

“Exactly. I lied to your sister, not something I like doing, but it was necessary. I told her I was here to keep you from falling into the darkness. But we both know that isn’t true. You and Barry fell long ago. I am here to tell you how to control it. Kara, you do not don a costume, pledge to fight evil and expect not to be sullied. Barry would never admit it, but he is glad he killed Zoom. He wanted to kill that monster. That demon beat him, nearly killed him, paraded him around the city to show the citizens he was weak and Barry wanted revenge. Did he defeat Zoom to save all these multiverses? To protect his loved ones? Absolutely. But never think he didn’t get a thrill from the act. It is human or Kryptonian or any other species in this universe.”

“I’m not you Nyssa. I don’t know if I can just set it aside and get over it.”

“Do you like me Kara?”

“What? Why would you ask that?” Kara stuttered, confused by the change in topic.

“Its a simple question. I am in a committed relationship with your sister and I want to know if you like me.”

“Yes I like you! I love that she is with you. I have never seen her this happy. You are great for her.”

“But you know the things I have done are things you would never have approved of when you started out. When did your belief system change, that now you include vigilantes and assassins among your family?”

“I don’t know. I guess I don’t see them as those things or you. I just see you all as heroes.” Kara admitted.

“I will let you in on something that probably won’t shock you. If I had been in your place today, I would have cut and cut and kept cutting until he told me every single thing I wanted to know. I wouldn’t have needed a ridiculously named metahuman to encourage me either. Would that have changed how you feel about me?”

“No.”

“I know it wouldn’t. When doing something like that, understand it is sometimes necessary but is to be avoided if at all possible. Start worrying when something like torture no longer bothers you. That is when you have lost your soul. You did what you had to do and I will not tell you to forgive yourself because there is nothing to forgive. The time has come to stop acting like a child. You feel bad and that is fine, this will bother you and it should, but you are a hero. You have to make the call and you have to be strong enough to live with it. Being a hero isn’t always about saving cats from trees while wearing a skirt and cape, and you know this. Everyone, your family especially, looks to you for strength, even Alex. By moping around because you did something you consider bad might be what you feel you deserve, it is not what they deserve. No one out there blinked an eye when you told them what you had done. Oliver told them all that no one was to speak of it again and your mother, your true mother, the one who would have lived with guilt if it meant being there for you rather than sending you to another planet alone, was grateful when she realized he planned to kill the man and make him disappear. Eliza is a woman who has known darkness, known loss and knows that she would do whatever it takes to protect her daughters, even torturing someone herself if absolutely necessary. She would feel horrible about it but she would never let you know that. You are right, while I did not know Jeremiah before he was taken captive I recognize his eyes. Before he may have wanted the best for everyone, not only his family. He wished to make the world a better place. But going through what he did has changed him. He wants the best for you, Alex and Eliza and he would do whatever is necessary to make sure of that, to hell with the rest of the world. He is right to do so.”

“I know,” Kara admitted, sitting on her couch while Nyssa continued circling the room slowly.

If you want to be a hero, always try to find another way if possible but if not, do not believe you can fight darkness without some touching your soul.”

“So don’t feel sorry for myself? Act strong in front of others?”

“Don’t act! Be strong for others, for yourself, for your family, for your friends, for your husband and for your baby. You cannot be weak any longer. Your powers may weaken more often, very soon. Do you plan to hope they work when you need them or will you start working with me, learning how to use a knife, a sword, a star, a staff, a bow, or even a gun when you are too big to move? Are you prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect your child, your love and your family? Are you prepared to shoot a man who tries to take your life and killing your unborn child, if necessary?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Let the people call you a hero, let your family call you a guardian and a symbol of hope for the world if they wish, but above all be strong, no matter what, for all of them. Call yourself whatever you wish, Supergirl, Superwoman, Kara Danvers, Kara Zor El, Kara Allen, it doesn’t matter, but do not make the mistake of thinking you do the things you do because you want to be loved by all. If that were the case you would not have made it this far. I told your sister when I first met her that she had to figure out for herself what she was fighting for. Without that knowledge how could a fight be won? But you? I have watched you long enough Kara Zor El. You don’t fight to protect others, you do not fight to save lives. You do both and you do them both very well because you are a good person, but it is not at the core of your reason, not where your fire was born. You have the heart of a hero but the strength comes from somewhere else, somewhere more primal. Maybe it was when your mother put you on that ship, maybe it was the first time you were picked on in school and had to take it because you couldn’t risk injuring a child by fighting back. Maybe you are constantly fighting for the home that has already been lost or the one you wish to have. Maybe you know, maybe you don’t, but you must figure this out and accept it, embrace it and become it.”

“I know. I mean, I don’t know if I know. I think I know. I think I fight…”

“Don’t tell me. That is yours. That is what you hold on to. We each have our own and it is to be protected, because when that reason is gone, so is the part of you that makes you a hero.”

Kara nodded and looked back at her hands folded in her lap, not even being bothered by Nyssa’s constant exploration of the small room.

“When you donned that skirt you gave up the luxury of always relying on others to make you feel better. You have to be the one who comforts them now. When you need comfort, that is when you open up to your closest, to your sister, to Barry, to Cailtin, in private, away from everyone else who relies on you for strength. Understand?”

Kara steadied her face and nodded. Nyssa was right. The darkness was there and brooding over it only brought others down. She had to be strong enough to carry it inside. Whatever she was, hero, vigilante, mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, she was someone who would do whatever was necessary to protect her loved ones. She had to be.

“One other thing before you walk out of this room, no longer brooding, no longer depressed, no longer weak. There is nothing wrong with hating your mother. Stop hating yourself for it. Paint a picture of her and leave the eyes whole. Wear your necklace and look at that portrait and remember all the good she did and relive it. Remember all the bad she did and promise yourself to not repeat it now that you are going to be a mother yourself. But never try to forget the fires you were forged in. You are strong Kara Zor El. You have been baptized in blood and fire and came out a not only a warrior but a legend. I am proud to call you my sister.”

Nyssa turned and walked out, leaving Kara alone for a moment. She wiped her eyes, that she had just realized were wet.

Taking a deep breath she walked over to a hidden compartment in the wall and pulled out a pair of jeans, her favorite sneakers and a red Superwoman long sleeve tee shirt. She was hungry, the fries were cold, the milk shakes had melted and Nyssa had made her hungry for pizza. Then she planned to take Barry to her bed, for nothing else other than sleeping and making sure both their nightmares stayed away. Somewhere Demetri’s body was burned or buried in an unmarked grave and Bivolo was in a morgue and she felt bad about both. They were all pawns today, pieces on a board, set by a mad man whose only goal was a strange need to harm those who did good. Her family and friends would not suffer. She planted a smile on her face and walked out of her room. Barry was of course waiting on her, leaned against the wall, grin on his face.

“I’m starving, how about you? Chinese?” he asked.

“Four meat lovers with mushroom pizzas. And we are going to eat it in bed… hey, thanks, for trusting me. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you tried to cuff me but you will never know how much it means to me to know you didn’t believe you had too.”

Barry threw his arms around Kara and pulled her tightly into a hug. He knew what she was feeling and tonight she may cry in her sleep while he held her but that was okay. It was why together they were stronger. Crying with someone always beat crying alone.

Earth 3

Bruce Wayne sat at his work bench in the Bat Cave, doing his best to solve the riddle in front of him. He often sat here talking with Lucius on the work being done on Watchtower, sharing information with his fellow teammates, both new and old about possible situations that may require intervention or new dangers lurking that could be dealt with before they became out of hand. Clark Kent had foregone a return to Metropolis but still visited from time to time, electing to stay in National City instead. That left most of the eastern seashore for the Batman, and some of his new friends.

Today however was different. The past week had been different. He had finally replicated the chip that Felicity had given the specs for, the one he hoped could help Barbara walk again. She had restrained hope, optimistic but not expecting much. It was a natural defense mechanism, one he used quite often himself. Now he had a prototype of the chip but powering it was a different story. How was he supposed to develop a power source that would last decades and be small enough to fit into a chip not even an inch long and few centimeters thick?

Before he became frustrated and crushed his monitor, the already dim lights of the Bat Cave dimmed more and the air became electric, static making his arm hairs stand on end. He knew intellectually what this was but still walked over to the weaponry closet and grabbed two exploding boomerangs in preparation should an enemy walk through. The portal opened and he relaxed slightly when he saw a young man, short but muscular with a flat top hairstyle step out of it. Oliver Queen had spoken to Bruce about this before he left. As soon as he was out, the breach closed.

“Roy Harper?”

“Uh… sometimes. I kind of use quite a few names. Roy Harper isn’t wanted here, is he? I would really hate to hide from the police in two universes.”

Bruce chuckled a bit at the dry humor. He was exactly as Oliver described him.

“Welcome to Earth 1, Mr. Harper.”

“I thought this was Earth 3?”

“That’s Oliver’s hubris talking. It is good to have you here. I understand in addition to other skills that might aid us in our pursuit of justice you are also a mechanic?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty good with cars. I’ve been a car thief, valet, and mechanic. You already got a job lined up for me? Or you need a car stolen? Cause I don’t really do that anymore.”

“You think you can work on that?” Bruce motioned with his head behind him to the Batmobile.

“Holy… yeah. Yeah I think I could… wow. What the hell is that thing?”

“It’s what I drive when I’m not on my Ducati or in my Lamborghini. Let me show you upstairs. I have been waiting for you for a while.”

“Hold on. First I got some things in my bag to give you. This is really important.” Roy explained, opening the bag and handing over the black small cushioned case. Bruce opened it with uncharacteristically shaky hands and looked at the chip, complete with power source, already energized.

“Ray Palmer says it is an early Christmas present for Oracle and hopes your company can produce it here. There is also a list of instructions he said you needed to give a doctor, probably one you sneak in on the sly since this isn’t exactly board approved.”

“Thank you very much, Roy. I i wish I could thank Mr. Palmer himself.”

“You can. Thats the other thing I got for you.” Roy handed Bruce a sheet of paper, a list of names written on it.

“Thats a guest list. A portal is going to open here in three weeks. If you could ask those people if they want to come, then they are welcome. Superwoman and the Flash are getting married. Oliver says he needs everyone you can spare for security. Some super terrorist is after them all, knows their identities and seems one step ahead. Any help you can bring would be appreciated. He really doesn’t want the day to be ruined for Kara and Barry.”

Bruce immediately tensed. “Does he need assistance taking care of this terrorist?”

“Nah, he just said he needs security for the wedding that is a stronger than a typical security guard can provide.”

“I understand. Anything else?”

“Yeah, Superwoman? She asked me if I could fire an exploding arrow at her cousin. She said you knew the guy?”

“Yes.” Bruce laughed. “an interesting practical joke Kara asked you to play.”

“No joke. She told me to make sure it blinded him at least and to let him know she is pregnant and he is an idiot.”

“Oh… that’s not going to go over well. Maybe you should hold back on the arrow. I’ll break the news to him.” Bruce suggested. “So you go by Arsenal?”

“Yeah, I used to anyway. I got a new suit Cisco made for me but haven’t exactly tried it on yet. Oliver told me under no circumstances should I let you try to get me to wear orange and green. I’m not sure what that is all about but he said if you even suggest it, I should kill you. I won’t… kill you I mean, or wear orange and green. Red is more my color.”

“I can see that Arsenal. Lets go upstairs, and I can show you a place to hang your bow.”

Bruce turned around to lead him towards the elevator when Barbara’s voice stopped him from the other end of the cave.

“Is that?”

“Yes it is. Overwatch has come through for us. I’m going to look it over and contact Dr. Mcgee. She is game if you are. Are you still?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Let me get Roy settled and this put in a safe. We can contact and meet her together. I have a good feeling about this. Oh, also Roy says Kara and Barry are getting married and Oliver would like as much security as possible. I’m sure Kal El and J’onn will be there but… please call Diana and ask her if she would agree to be my date for the wedding. Also please contact Victor and see if he is available for a couple of days. If we are going to be security we may as well do it right.”

Earth 1

“ I have got to start getting some sleep at night, Cisco.” Winn complained, having stayed awake all night, missing Caitlin, who had gone home at a reasonable hour, playing video games on the giant screen at S.T.A.R. “If we are going to stay up shouldn’t we do something useful like tracking down whoever this guy is thats doing all these horrible things?”

“Prometheus? Not much we can do right now.” Cisco told him then realized what he said.

“You have a name? How did you find out a name… oh wait, is this one of those things where you give villains names? Because Prometheus doesn’t seem strong enough for this guy. We could call him Captain Non since he is apparently a man bent on genocide.”

“We… Oliver has a source that told him a man who calls himself Prometheus is behind all this. He is hitting the streets, doing whatever it is he does when he isn’t shooting arrows into people, trying to find out more info. Everything is good so until we have a bigger lead, nothing to do but play until you go to work… in an hour. Hope you got a lot of Red Bull, man.”

“I have got to stop hanging out with you.” Winn whined. He would crash the minute he got back to the apartment he and Cisco shared after work. Despite being a millionaire now, Cisco still insisted on living like a pig in his own personal slop heap. Caitlin had talked him out of buying a Porsche but other than that, he hadn’t spent much. Winn had a feeling he was building up the excitement of a spending spree or had just been too distracted lately. Both heard the beeping sound coming from the main control screen but only Cisco realized what it was about. Barry was up at 6 AM speeding, running fast enough to break the dimensional barrier. Cisco ran to the station and checked his vibrations and the electricity around him and was pleased to see he was not in danger of skipping universes that he knew of. Time travel was a different story.

“Good morning Barry.” Cisco said cautiously into the com.

“Morning Cisco. Can’t really talk right now.”

“Is a disaster about to happen that you need to time travel back… nope, forget I asked.”

“I’m not time traveling. I am practicing. I have to be able to control these vibrations to stop accidentally skipping dimensions or time traveling unintentionally. I know what I am doing, trust me.”

“Okay but why are you wearing the Tachyon device?”

“I’m not.” Barry answered.

Barry was running everywhere, he had made it to Star City and back in fifteen minutes, moving faster than he ever had ran without the device, perhaps with the device. He had to figure this out, he couldn’t afford any mistakes, accidents that could take him from Kara’s side. The feel of the electricity in the air was a drug to him, the feel of the wind giving way to his power, the lightness he felt, almost as if were flying his feet barely touching the ground before moving again.

“Barry you are setting a record man. Your speed is…”

“I know, I can feel it. Let me work Cisco.”

Cisco frowned not used to hearing Barry so serious when running. This sounded less like practice and more like a mission. Then Cisco saw where Barry was heading.

“Hey brother, I know you made the bridge jump chasing Trajectory but you have never made the cavern jump. I don’t have drones out there to catch you this time.”

“I don’t need drones. I need to run Mach 3.3 and I passed that a long time ago, Cisco.”

“Yeah but that place has always been kind of a mental block for you. Shouldn’t you try a broken bridge again? Maybe one not so high?”

“Mental blocks are gone. I have a reason to beat it now.”

Barry continued to move, passing Mach 4 with ease, the trees blowing by some being knocked over by the sonic boom he was creating. He had reached Mach 6 when the cliff came into view and jumped at the last second, soaring through the air. The Flash knew he could make this jump now, no question, even without the Tachyon device. He didn’t need it and wouldn’t rely on hardware that could fail at any moment. Jumping the cavern wasn’t his ultimate goal this morning though.

Barry landed on the other side and never stopped moving, weaving in and out of trees then stopping on a dime and heading back to the cavern without the momentum he had from his huge lead up. In less than a half mile, he had reached escape velocity again and jumped, landing a second later on the other side and continued moving.

“How in the hell did you do that? That was awesome man! That is the fastest zero to holy crap that I have ever seen!” Cisco yelled in joy. Barry did not have time to enjoy the moment. This was not about playing, not this morning. He wanted to be back before Kara was up, eat breakfast with her and make sure she made it to work before he made it to his. He continued running until he reached a certain abandoned farm that he knew had been the one Kara brought Demetri too. It should have been him. She shouldn’t have had to do what she did. While Barry knew some of it had to do with Bivolo, a lot of it was her doing what needed to be done. He had asked Oliver what was wrong with him once, after witnessing the Arrow torturing a guy. But he sort of understood now and it scared the hell out of him. What would Barry have done to save lives, protect the ones he loved, his team, his wife, his child? The answer was simple. He would have done whatever it took.

Stopping in front of the barn, he vibrated his body quickly, never moving from his spot and in less than a second had what he was looking for, a lightning bolt. Grabbing it in his hand that was nearly incorporable, he felt at one with the electricity and tossed it into the barn, the equivalent of a lightning strike, knocking down a wall and catching the barn on fire immediately.

He stood and watched the fire, and somehow caught a glimpse of the rusty chain lying on the floor.

“Uh Barry, did you just make and toss a lightning bolt in less than a second? It usually takes you a few circles to do that.” Cisco reminded him, back at the lab and watching the barn burn.

“Running in circles takes too long. Harry and I figured out how fast I have to vibrate to cause enough static in the air and make lightning. I got the idea from Zoom when he grabbed a lightning bolt I tossed at him and sent it back at me. So long as my hand can meet the same electrical pulse as the lightning I can toss it like a spear. It took me a second and a half last week. A half a second is better. I won’t always have time to run in circles around an enemy Cisco.”

“Okay then…” Cisco mumbled and then saw Barry throw another lightning bolt at the barn. After a few minutes Barry caused a vortex and extinguished the fire, then took off, once again running faster than he ever had.

“Why is Barry wearing the Tachyon device?” Caitlin asked, setting her cup of coffee down and looking at Winn with a look of disapproval for playing games all night instead of sleeping. Then she focused on the screen. “Please tell me he isn’t dimension hopping.”

“Nope, he isn’t wearing the Tachyon device. He also just threw two lightning bolts without having to run in circles to generate speed. Caitlin these numbers are amazing. Look at his readings. We haven’t seen vibrations like that since…”

“Thawne. Barry became as fast as Zoom but was never at Zoom’s destructive force because he couldn’t generate as much energy as Zoom could due to his mass. Thawne did though. He wasn’t as fast as Zoom but had a better grape of the frequency of the surrounding air. But Barry is exceeding it now, exceeding both. I suppose this makes sense.” she finished and placed her purse next to the console.

“How does this make sense? Is he getting faster the older he gets? You think its an age thing? Because at this rate he could circle the globe in a minute when he is 35. He hasn’t gained any mass. He isn’t eating differently.” Cisco pointed out.

“He’s never had a wife and child to protect Cisco.” Caitlin reminded him. Cisco realized she was right, her reasoning making perfect sense. The longer they were together, the larger their family grew, the more they had to lose.

“I wonder what he has against that barn?” Winn asked jokingly. Cisco and Caitlin looked at each other but neither said a word.

Barry prepared to run back to Kara but stopped and returned to the farm. Something struck him as he looked around the area. Trees circled the old barren crop land.

“Cisco?”

“Yeah Rocky? Want me to put some Eye of the Tiger on?”

“No, I want you to look at any satellite readings you can find that would notice strange, small electrical fields in the air yesterday between 8 AM and 11 PM. The electrical wires leading to the old house are cut. There is no electricity out here. If there were any, it could tell us if a drone was in the area. If a drone wasn’t in the area, that means he had to have followed her here somehow. Text me if you find any evidence of a drone. Considering she was driving it wouldn’t have been impossible to follow her. If that is the case I plan to search every potential vantage point for any clues. Everybody leaves something behind.”

While Caitlin did not bother to come up with a lie but instead told Winn to trust her because he did not want to know, Barry took off, heading to Caitlin and Kara’s apartment, changed in an alley and was up the stairs, just as Kara was sitting up in bed.

“Hey you. I woke up earlier and you weren’t here.” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“I went for a run. Trying to stay healthy and all. How are you this morning?”

“Still not made of glass and about to shatter.” she told him pulling him in for a kiss. Kara moved quickly to the shower, ran out in a towel and began to dress when her powers left her. She nearly fell, Barry catching her quickly. Of course her towel came loose.

“There is a sight I have missed.” he grinned. Contrary to a month ago, Kara didn’t blush.

“I can’t wait for the wedding. And the wedding afternoon.”

“Afternoon? Don’t you mean night?”

“I’m not waiting that long. Sorry you had to catch me. I tripped trying to put on my… anyway you get the idea.”

“Yeah, I’m not really sorry I had to catch you but maybe you should do things at a slightly more normal pace so you don’t fall down? We could take some of the extra solar lamps and place them down in Ray’s clubhouse. Maybe throughout the day you could take ten minutes here and there to sunbathe.”

“Not a bad idea. Running in the morning makes you pretty sharp. I have to get to work today and pray that no metahumans or immortal mad men attack. I really, really need a normal week, even a day at this point.”

“Sounds good. Breakfast?”

“Duh. Let me get dressed as soon as my powers…” Kara levitated a bit… “there they are. Kid Flash and me haven’t worked out a warning system yet.” Kara was back in a minute, dressed impeccably in a navy blue dress, high heels and her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders. Barry remembered how she dressed for work as Kara Danvers and though the reason for the style she had then was apparent, without a reason now, she always looked amazing. Kara wasn’t afraid to let her beauty show and she hardly ever touched the bridge of her nose anymore, trying to adjust non existent glasses.

After a quick breakfast, he walked her into the building and up to her office, where he was glad to see Kendra sitting at her desk, in front of Kara’s office. He introduced the two and left Kara safely tucked away. When he entered the elevator, Carter was walking out and caught his eye. Carter didn’t smile but did wink at Barry and offered his hand.

“I got this. You protected my love once. I’m not going to let anything happen to yours.”

“Thank you Carter. You have my cell?”

“Your’s, Oliver’s, Ray’s, Jax’s, Martin’s, an Alex Zorel I don’t know, a woman who I was told I only needed to call Nyssa and I didn’t want to know why I didn’t want to know her last name, a Joe West, Cisco, Caitlin, some guy Cisco called Dick Wells? Also Felicity,Thea,and John Diggle and… yep thats it. No wait, an Eliza Zorel?”

“Her adopted mother. Call me first, then Alex. I will always answer and be here in seconds. Carter, she is strong, fast, can break the sound barrier in the air and on the ground and nearly tripped putting on her clothes this morning because she had a power outage.”

“Barry, I swear to you, I will be dead before anything happens to her. Since she killed Savage I am feeling pretty good about my chances of staying alive. Relax and trust me, trust Kendra and trust Ray as a very last resort. We got this.”

Barry clapped the man on his shoulder and headed to the station. Once inside he saw Alex grumbling about paperwork. Barry slid up to her, not seeing Joe around.

“Want to come with me? I need your eyes.”

“For what?” Alex asked, excited to get away from a desk and paperwork.

“If this guy knew Kara was wearing a ring he either had to see her from the air or a scope in the surrounding trees. Cisco is checking for electrical disturbances in the air but I doubt even in the state Kara was in, that she wouldn’t have noticed a drone. I think he was on the ground, followed her from the Palmer tech building after he saw her get into Demitri’s car and watched her from a distance. We need to determine where the most likely places he could have watched her from would be and see if he left any trace evidence behind.”

“And we can’t take Joe because he doesn’t know that Kara was out there.” Alex realized.

“Yep. He can entertain himself or a while. I’ll get the Captain to come up with some excuse.”

Alex stood up then hesitated. “Barry, I know you and Joe are close. Does it bother you to keep this from him?”

Barry didn’t think long.

“No it doesn’t. I love Joe and I don’t like to keep things from him but this is about Kara. He knows enough to know we will never catch Bivolo’s killer. The circumstances surrounding this killer’s disappearance won’t change that Alex. I won’t lie to Kara but I will lie to anyone else to protect her.”

“You really think he would care, since he knows what Bivolo can do?”

“He probably wouldn’t care but if he knows then he has to keep it a secret from everyone else, namely his coworkers. It’s our secret to hold. Joe knows there is a madman on the loose. I’m going to tell him Oliver had a source in the Russian Mob who gave us the info Kara got but that is as far as goes. Its just not his business. My loyalty and yours lies with her. No one knows about it outside of the people in the lab yesterday and that is the way it stays.”

“Great, let me grab my…”

“Detective Zorel! There is my new rookie detective with a background in black ops agencies. You have a minute?” Captain Singh asked. Alex groaned. “Allen, don’t you have work to do?”

“Alex, Captain knows the truth about me and Kara but doesn’t want Joe to know that he knows because Joe lying keeps him entertained. Captain if you want honesty, I usually finish a week’s worth of work while I am having my first cup of coffee in the morning. I spend the next 39 hours and 55 minutes of the work week, working on special projects I find interesting or following up on evidence sent to outside labs.”

“Uh huh. I guess thats why you are never behind while you are gone most of the time. Fair enough. Detective Zorel…”

“Please call me Alex.”

“Call you Alex? Fine Alex, where the hell did you learn to write reports?”

“Uh… is something wrong with the after action briefing I gave you?” she asked innocently.

“After action briefing… that is probably the start of the problem. I asked for a police report, a case report, a shots fired I get this.

Detective West and I contacted the subject Quentin Lance at residence. Nine hostiles entered the residence, eight armed with fully automatic assault rifles of multiple calibers. Detective West and I engaged hostiles and neutralized them without firing a service weapon (No shots fired report needed). One hostile attempted to use a weapon that emitted a poisonous gas and was taken into custody to be transported to police unit. Due to manpower issues the other eight hostiles were left behind for containment at a later date. On arrival in parking garage while en route to police unit, Detective West, the hostile in custody, the subject, the subject’s girlfriend and I were fired upon by four additional hostiles. Hostiles were neutralized when they appeared to have all suffered from spontaneous loss of blood, cause unknown, but likely due to a pre existing medical condition each of the four hostiles likely had.”

“Yep, pretty much what happened.” Alex tried.

“We haven’t gotten to my favorite part. While en route to police station so hostile could be contained, I took my fifteen minute break, mandated by the Central City Police Department employee handbook, and was left at a donut shop. When Detective West returned, I was informed the eight hostiles who had been neutralized in the former combat area, as well as the four hostiles in the parking garage who died of apparent natural causes were no longer on scene.”

Singh looked at a smiling Alex.

“Pretty good huh? For a first police report, I mean.”

“Did you look at Joe’s report? His is twelve pages long and doesn’t sound like a BS after action report of a Navy Seal Team raiding a terrorist compound in Libya. It also doesn’t try to cover up strange disappearances by using a fifteen minute donut break as an excuse. His report says the two of you were together the whole time.”

“Oh… I guess…”

“Spontaneous loss of blood, hostiles, neutralized, mysterious disappearances written off as fifteen minute breaks at a donut shop? Let me ask you one question. If there was a giant guy in front of the police department right now who was made out of living tar, what would you do?”

“Go to Barry’s lab and hope I can find enough ingredients to make a nitrous grenade possibly two, depending on how large he is, throw the grenades at him and hope they work, cooling him so quickly that like normal asphalt he would crack and hopefully fall apart under his own weight. If I didn’t have the ingredients and chemicals needed for a grenade the second best option to buy time would be to soak him in massive amounts of water, There are four hydrants within this square block that should work. I could maneuver him, preferably not using my gun since I don’t want to fill out one of those reports, and trick him into destroying the fire hydrant himself or better, call the Fire Department and have him hosed down.”

“Uh huh. Okay thats why you get to stay even though somehow, you are a worse liar than Barry and your sister. Allen, start writing her reports for her.”

“What?! But…”

“It will take you like ten seconds and you have enough history with Joe to know how to corroborate his BS reports. So what is on the agenda for today since Alex doing paperwork is a hopeless waste of tax payer money?”

Barry looked at Alex and spoke quietly to the captain.

“I think I have a possible location where the man who has been coordinating these attacks might have been yesterday. I want to examine the area, see if he left any clues. I also don’t want Joe to know I know about this place because I would rather him not find out how the information was obtained.”

Captain Singh looked at Alex.

“Anyone have anymore spontaneous bleeding caused by a pre existing medical condition?”

“Not that I am aware of sir. At least not that we were, not that Barry and I, were involved in. I’m afraid Barry would have to write another report for me if you want to know more than that.”

Singh shook his head. “Fine, I’ll keep Joe busy this afternoon, you two go do whatever it is you do that I don’t want to know about. Oh, and Allen? I need Alex’s paperwork before the end of the day.”

“How is that remotely fair?” Barry asked.

“She figured out how to beat Monteleone in ten seconds and it took you a couple days. Plus she has ways of being around when bad guys die from sudden blood loss of a natural sort. I want to keep her and if the Chief ever reads one of her reports we will both be out of a job. I’ll tell Joe you two are following up on an anonymous tip in regard to hostile enemy combatants. Get to work.”

“I can’t believe this. I have to do your paperwork?” Barry asked Alex who shrugged her shoulders.

“It will make me look good which will win you points with my sister.” she pointed out, grabbing her coat.

“I don’t need points with your sister.” he reminded Alex. Once they reached the parking garage, Barry followed her to an unfamiliar car, seeing he would have to hold his bag rather than putting it in the back seat.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“What?”

“What is this?”

“Uh, my car. Nyssa tossed me the keys today and told me to stop stealing her Mercedes. I guess she had this lying around.”

“She bought you a silver 2016 Porsche 911 Carrera S because she didn’t want you to use her car anymore?”

“Actually its a 2017. Nyssa knows people who know people apparently. You should buy Kara one. She might be able to handle a convertible without vomiting and she will need to drive the baby around.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to hold onto our money, maybe buy a minivan. Considering how much our child could possibly eat, I may be broke before Kid Flash is in high school. I didn’t figure you would be the type to let Nyssa buy something like this for you. Not that I’m judging!”

“I wouldn’t have in the past but screw it right? Nobody let’s Nyssa do anything. It would be a sin to let a car like this waste away because I was too proud to use it. At least that is what I am going with.”

Once the two were on the road, at a very impressive speed, Barry admitted, Alex asked the question she had wanted to ask all morning.

“How is she?”

“Safe. I got her to her office surrounded by metahuman bodyguards and Ray as a very last resort.”

“I mean how is she?”

Barry sighed and thought before he answered.

“I think the talk with Nyssa may have helped. She didn’t seem devastated like I thought she might have. She didn’t really want to talk about it, just said whats done is done and we needed to move on. I’m not sure if she really believes it or just wants me to believe it but I think I know her pretty well and she seems to be okay, calm, accepting. I honestly was afraid she would be depressed for months but she isn’t. Either she isn’t or she has gotten a lot better at hiding her feelings from me and I don’t think thats the case.”

“No… she is… not growing up. Kara has never been as naive as she wanted people to think she was. About some things? Yes Kara was very naive and still can be but others… I wanted her to hold on to that innocence as long as possible but when she put on that symbol I knew this day would happen. It happened for you already as well, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Barry admitted. “That loss of innocence that comes with every hard decision, every loss, every mistake and every betrayal.”

“She is being strong because she feels like she has to be now. She can’t hide anymore behind glasses real or not. She has a kid to protect and I think she finally came to realize what she would have to do sometimes to accomplish that. What we all have to do. But she is still Kara. She is still my loving, goofball little sister and its up to us to not let her forget it. She needs balance. We all do.”

The two arrived at the abandoned farm, Alex a bit shocked at the state of the barn. She raised an eyebrow at Barry.

“Have a little healthy venting this morning?”

“I worked out. I have to be better and that barn seemed like a good place to practice throwing lightning.”

“At least we will have a clear view of the surrounding area. The Demetri guy said this Prometheus wore a helmet. He may not have needed a scope. I am sure if he as smart as we assume, he must have toys like infrared, and telescopic sight.” The brunette pointed out.

“It wouldn’t matter. For him to notice a diamond on her hand he would have been either in front of her which doesn’t make sense because she had the man hanging with a wall behind him. She was facing him. Sure she may have turned around for a second. He was hanging, facing the door, right Alex?”

“Yep.”

Both turned and looked behind them, seeing nothing but trees and a thousand places he could have hid if Kara was not using her X Ray vision. Considering how angry and focused she was it would doubtful she would have had a reason to. Barry walked over to the driveway next to the old house.

“Tire tracks, both yours and Kara’s. You practically parked on top of one another thankfully.”

“Thankfully?”

“Yep, because these treads here must have belonged to the retrieval team. Looks like a van, full size, long wheelbase, if these are factory Goodyears, the vehicle is a Ford E Series, most likely gutted and modified to move assault teams or carry off dead bodies. I’m thinking Prometheus has already had the Mercedes Kara drove back into the city taken or it would have been discovered by now.” Barry noted, talking to himself as he often does “I’m betting the van hasvery dark windows and is white or silver in color to blend in.”

“You think it had windows?” Alex asked, wondering how he could tell all this and then reminding herself that Barry Allen was also a very good forensic scientist.

“Had to. If you see a van on the highway that does not have windows it draws suspicion. If you see a van with tinted windows, even those you can’t see inside, you are not near as likely to notice it.” Barry began crawling over the ground, while Alex stood and waited, wishing she could record this for Kara then thinking that might not be a good idea considering what happened here.

“Yeah, the footsteps have been sort of dusted away but there are still some feint impressions in the grassy areas, looks like at least two men, judging by the different shoe they are, going into… yep, here they are dragging the body out.” he called out, rolling over three feet to his right, eye level with the soil.

“I put the fire out before the floor of the barn could be burned. The heat surrounding the structure should have just enough charring to preserve the blood. You have a knife right?”

‘A knife?”

“Yeah, I need to cut a section of the floor up. His blood soaked into the wood below him. It would have been corroded but the heat from my run on the pyromaniac side this morning should have been just enough to prevent any other bacteria from being contaminated. I would rather have that than the trace blood on the ground that has been exposed to elements over night. We can use that though if you don’t have a knife.”

Alex handed him her pocket knife doubtfully.

‘There is no way you are going to be able to use that to saw…” she stopped when Barry began vibrating his hand and the knife it was holding. Using the small newly turned buzz saw he cut a six by three inch piece of plywood, covered in dry blood.

“Think you can get DNA off this?” He asked Alex, grinning. She smiled and nodded her head, admitting to herself that he had some skill.

“Okay Sherlock Holmes, you know the vehicle, you know two men got out and you have DNA evidence that I suppose we could use to track associated cases in Russia and see if his involvement in crimes centers around one man or a trail we can follow. I am guessing that hacking into Russian law enforcement systems won’t be an issue. Now where was he watching my little sister from?”

“Who is Sherlock Holmes?” Barry asked, confused at the name.

“Oh… uh, he is this English guy, he is kinda of, no not a cop, he has this funny hat and long coat and smokes this pipe, anyway he solves crimes, by guessing things? No, observations! He was really good at seeing things people would miss. Yeah, honestly Kara and I were just getting into watching this new series about him when the world went to hell…” she stopped rambling noticing the grin on Barry’s face.

“You know who Sherlock Holmes is, jerk.”

“Sorry, It’s a game we play with all the newbies to our Earth. I couldn’t resist. Now you are the super soldier. If you were spying on my soon to be wife and your itty bitty baby sister and didn’t want to take a risk of being seen, but watch the whole show, where would you have been, keeping in mind this guy must have followed by car since he had no way of scouting out the area beforehand?

Alex took a look around. The land was flat for a couple hundred yards in all directions but surrounded by a tree line of Oak trees. He could have hid behind or in anyone of them.

But he must know Kara had exceptional eyesight. Maybe he wasn’t completely in the know about X Ray vision but she had scanned that building with the drone remote on top and he had to have figured out what she was doing. He would stay low, avoid the tree tops, knowing the leaves would offer him no protection. Behind a tree trunk, directly behind her a few hundred yards back, most likely using a scope or his helmet to see her up close.

“She was here when? 10 AM?”

“About, yeah.” Barry agreed.

“The sun would have been behind her. It would have given him a great viewpoint and kept him from being seen. If he had even been on either side a bit of light could have reflected off his scope or helmet enough to give him away. He would have stayed low, probably next to one of those tree trunks. He would also have seen the big shiny diamond on her hand easily.”

“Good point.” Barry lifted Alex up, ran straight back from the barn and sat her on the ground a second later at the tree line.

Alex swayed a little. “Kara actually likes it when you do that?” she asked, shaking her head.

“Are you kidding? That was our first date. Isn’t that how couples usually meet? One falls out a window and the other runs up the side of a building, catches her then brings her to the middle of nowhere for introductions. Pretty standard stuff.”

“You two are so weird. Okay, so do your thing Sherlock. Crawl on the ground and find trace evidence that will lead us back to his evil lair.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Barry walked slowly, watching his step, studying the ground, looking for anything from unusual soil residue to indentations in the Earth. Alex copied him, walking softly around tree trunks. She turned by one and looked back to check the vantage point Kara would have been seen at. Not quite making it, she took one more step closer to the trunk when she heard it.

A distinct metallic click. Barry heard it as well and froze.

“Barry?”

“Yep?”

“I shouldn’t move, should I? I can’t believe this guy left a land mine. He has watched way too many James Bond movies.”

“Who is James Bond?” Barry asked, keeping an eye on Alex’s foot.

“Really?!”

“Sorry, just don’t move… of course you figured that part out. Okay there are two ways we can do this. Oliver saved Felicity from one of these once. He swung through the air like Tarzan, lifted her up and covered her with his body when they landed. Fair warning though, he will probably take his shirt off.”

“The second way? Whatever it is, I want the second way.” Alex groaned.

“Alex, look at me. I’m going to toss you my jacket. Catch it and then we are going to count to three. On three cover your face with the jacket so nothing blinds you and I am going to move you. Don’t fight it, just stand there and before you can blink we will be very clear of the area.”

“You are serious? The second I release any pressure, this thing is going to blow.”

“Not true. It will probably be about 1.2 seconds. Shirtless Oliver or trust me?”

“I’m trusting you.” she told him quickly.

“Don’t tense up okay? Here, catch.”

Barry tossed his jacket towards Alex. She reached out to catch it, felt a rush of wind and heard an explosion behind her.

“What the hell?!” Alex saw the explosion had occurred approximately forty feet away. “You said three! I was going to catch your jacket, protect my face and we would count to three!”

“Yep and while all that was going on you would have been nervous, even more nervous than you already were. Couldn’t take the chance of you tensing up and giving the mine a head start on me.”

Alex let out a breath. “Yeah, thanks. I guess I should watch where I step.”

“Looks like we all should. I hadn’t even planned to come out here last night. This guy had the presence of mind to set a trap on the off chance that we would come out here and that we would actually find where he was watching from.”

“It’s why he wanted us to know he saw Kara’s ring.” Alex realized.

“We have DNA of the shooter, but if he was smart enough to leave us a parting gift, he won’t have left anything we can use of himself. Let me run through the trees to set off any other land mines so Bambi doesn’t step on one and we can get out of here.”

“Whose Bambi?” Alex asked.

Barry started to answer then thought better of it. “You know who Bambi is.”

Alex watched the yellow streak light up the trees back and forth, so quickly she had to stop watching. Barry was back in front of her in seconds and no further explosions had occurred.

“Should we walk back or you want me to carry you?”

“We can walk…”

“Here we go.” Barry offered, opening up her car door before she could process what happened.

“… back. I guess we run. Okay, lets go back to the station. We can run the DNA at S.T.A.R. and I can give Joe our excuse, blame it on wedding stuff and then take off early. Don’t forget to have my reports done and double check for spelling. I am a perfectionist when it comes to paperwork.”

“Yeah, I bet you are.” Barry told her, mentally preparing himself to having to spend five minutes making up bogus police reports that correspond with Joe’s bogus place reports. He didn’t feel much better. Prometheus had led them to a trap once again, baiting them with the note and letting themselves walk right into it. He doubted the DNA would lead anywhere or Prometheus would have gotten rid of the blood as well. Still it was worth following because the man was not God. He could make mistakes like everyone. If he made the smallest mistake, Barry and Alex would have him.

Barry took a quick look around before he got into the car. It was unreasonable but Prometheus was beginning to make him think he was always being watched. Barry was behind him every step so far and that had to change. Like every other race in the past two years this was one he could not lose.