Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Seeing Red

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 10: Dr Snow takes charge

J’onn Jonzz knelt by the blonde’s bed, forty hours into her detox. She had a seizure an hour ago that lasted four minutes. A larger dose of anti convulsants had been delivered but Veritas and Caitlin were becoming concerned. Kara’s shaking had somehow even worsened and her eyes were open but not focusing on anything in the room. She seemed unaware of Alex’s voice, despite being held tight by the older sister who was whispering Kryptonese in her ear.

The Martian grabbed the blonde’s right hand and leaned into her ear, speaking his native tongue. Alex did not understand the Martian language at all. She had always considered it a rough language based more on sharp sounds than smooth flowing words like Kryptonese.

J’onn continued chanting until to Alex’s surprise, Kara began chanting with him, the same words and same cadence. Kara’s eyes were closed and her body still shook but she seemed to relax somewhat.

Alex held tight, watching J’onn hold onto the blonde’s hand, his eyes closed as the two continued chanting. After ten minutes, Kara relaxed and seemed to fall into a restless sleep.

“What did you do?” Alex whispered. “I thought you couldn’t control her mind?”

“I can’t.” he confirmed. “That was a prayer of my people. Every year on the date of my family’s death, I spend the day praying for them. She found out and learned the prayers four years ago She spends the day with me every year. We say the prayers all day in a meditative state. She knows those prayers and they calm us both. They always have. Apparently they are in her subconscious now. Are you sure you do not need a rest? She is sleeping now. Perhaps you can sleep as well. Your back has to be in pain.”

Alex smiled. “I stopped feeling my back four hours ago. My legs went away two hours before that. I have this.”

Caitlin Snow and Shay Veritas watched from the window, both concerned. Caitlin was the one to finally speak up.

“This isn’t going to work. She is barely keeping the IV in and we need to monitor her heart rate. If those drugs she was snorting did any damage to her heart like the alcohol damaged her liver, she could slip into cardiac arrest.” Caitlin told her colleague. “We have to get an EKG on her. She has to be in a treatment bed. Her sister cannot hold her down for days.”

Veritas sighed, knowing she was right. Bruce Wayne had entered two hours ago with a package of orange powder that he warned the women not to touch with their bare skin and three bottles of alcohol. Caitlin nearly passed out when she smelt one.

“I understand that but they will not…”

“Screw this.” Cailtin cut off the woman and marched into the room. She pointed at Alex.

“I need to speak to you and your family, alone. Its important. Please let… J’onn? Yes, J’onn, please let J’onn keep her company for a bit.”

“I’m not…”

“Now.” Caitlin ordered, surprising the girl. Barry Allen would not have been surprised. He had heard that tone from Caitlin many times. It was the one that signaled that soft spoken, easy going Caitlin had left and Dr. Snow was in the room.

Alex frowned but did move out from under her sister’s head on her lap and allowed J’onn to cradle her to the pillow. Alex tried to stand and then fell on her face.

“Ow.”

“Are you…”

“Just getting feeling back in my legs, J’onn. Should be any minute. Any time now. Okay, it may take a few minutes.”

Alex rolled on her back and began massaging her legs until some feeling came back. Sitting up, finally she used the mattress to help her stand and walked stiffly out of the room. Caitlin was with her parents in the large living room with the circular couch. Alex sat next to them, Caitlin standing in the middle.

“This has gone on long enough. You all know what has to happen here. Alex, you cannot hold her with an EKG and multiple lines running into her veins. She could have more damage when she has a seizure by holding her, both of you could be damaged. I realize you don’t want her to feel like she is a prisoner but right now, she isn’t even sure where she is. Stay by her side, keep touching her, whispering to her but she needs to be in a treatment bed and her forearms need to be secure with very soft pads.”

“Absolutely not…” Eliza began.

“I was brought here to treat her. The drug she was snorting, I have no idea what effect it had on alien physiology but it must have done something for her if she kept going back for more. According to Bruce, whoever was giving this stuff to her only did so once a month. That may have meant she only used it rarely or it may mean that she was going to different dealers across the nation, maybe the world to get what she needed and didn’t want one dealer to know she was a regular user. Her heart rate is going to become abnormal. It may already be.” Caitlin pointed out.

“But I cannot determine that because I can’t get an EKG hooked up to her. If whatever this is has done damage to her heart, I need to know. I realize she is supposed to be indestructible but the alcohol eventually wore her body down, correct? She lost weight and we have found liver damage. We have no idea what the drugs could have done. From my first findings I think it operates the same as Crystal Meth. She may have been using it to fight off the sluggishness that alcohol caused her to feel in battle.”

“She will panic.” Alex told her.

“She can die if we don’t treat her correctly.” Caitlin countered. “I realize this is difficult for you all but you all made this choice because you felt she couldn’t make it for herself. You committed yourselves to this. She has gone through hell and it is too late to back out now. She is hallucinating and probably has no idea where she is right now. We put her in a treatment bed, continue administering sedatives and anti convulsants, and hook her up to a twelve lead so we know if the dosage is effecting her heart in a negative manner. I need to know her blood pressure, I need to know her body temperature, I need all this. Shay and I both do but apparently everyone in here is scared to do what needs to be done. If this were anyone other than your daughter would either of you have her in a twin bed, being held from behind, or would you be gathering all the information you could get in a proper medical facility?”

Eliza and Jeremiah looked at each other, knowing what she said was true.

“If she feels…” the father tried.

“Keep touching her. Stay by her side and talk to her.” Caitlin suggested. “If she freaks out because of the straps we can take them off but until then or until the tremors and seizures stop she needs to be held down. She needs to be in a hospital gown, not pajamas. You know this, all of you do. I am going to get nurses to help me move and change her. Are any of you going to attack me? If so do it now because I have a patient to treat.”

None of the three said anything. Eliza finally cleared her throat.

“Alex and I will help you dress her. It will be easier in the bed she is in. Jeremiah can carry her. He has a lot of experience. She always liked him carrying her when she was s girl. Even after she got over her panic attacks, during storms she would curl up next to him and he would run his fingers through her hair. She needs that now.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “She doesn’t want me in there. She called for Alex, not us.”

“I know.” Eliza agreed. “And she can hate us later but right now she needs us so we are going to be there. Lets do this.”

Alex stood up and followed her mother into Kara’s room. Her eyes were closed still but she was speaking.

“Run Alex. I will get them out, just run, please.” she whispered. Alex knew she was reliving the day Henshaw found them.

Once the two women had changed her into the gown, Jeremiah lifted her while J’onn followed bring the IV pole.

Alex shook her head, trying to think straight.

“Stay with her. I need to call Clark, I promised I would text Barry just to let him know she is okay, not where she is. I also want a look at that drug she has been taking.”

Eliza let out a breath then closed her eyes to stop from crying.

“How did we not know she was using drugs. Alex?”

“Because she stayed constantly drunk. Its not your fault or mine. She could have come to any one of us. Kara has always been like this. She has always lied about hurting herself, she lied about what had happened the night before she tried to kill herself. She has lied to Jess in therapy for years. Kara lies, Mom. I love her, you know that but lets be honest, she is a liar. I would guess a lot of addicts can be but this started before the alcohol. I think she does it as a defense mechanism because she doesn’t want to be seen as weak or broken. This isn’t on us. It really isn’t on her. Okay, most of it is on her, but… its on the House of El. They let her down. They did this. Who is at fault doesn’t really matter now though. We just need to get her better, through this detox so she can think straight and then we are going to all talk about these lies and secrets and her getting help. She has to. This has to stop.”

Eliza nodded her head, agreeing with this for the most part but still wondering how she had never thought of drugs.

“And if she hates us and refuses to get help?”

“Then I am bringing Clark here and she is going to tell him to his face that she won’t get help and will keep killing herself with drugs and alcohol. If she can say that to him, I guess she is lost. But she won’t. She just won’t do that. Have some faith, okay? We have gotten through bad times and always come out ahead.”

Eliza smiled, as she often did at Alex’s optimism. The truth was Eliza had no idea what would happen when Kara came through this. She had been worried about her youngest daughter hating her and whether they would find anymore problems the alcohol had caused. Now to find out about drugs had her shaken. Kara’s powers of recovery were very strong. When she at full strength she could be indestructible. The idea that she had drunk so much of such powerful intoxicants to the point she lost weight and shook blew her mind. The liver damage Dr. Veritas had discovered when they first brought her in was something Eliza never would have believed. She wanted Kara to get help on psychological level but hearing she was damaged on a physical level was… she didn’t have the words to convey her emotions.

Alex was right though. At this point nothing mattered besides getting her through this alive. The back up plan was to turn the red sunlight off and let her healing powers do the work if she was in danger of immediate death but Veritas did not believe this would help her physical need for alcohol. And there was always the risk that Kara would go on a rampage and fly through and out of the building. If that were the case none of them had any doubt she would go to the nearest bar or now possibly a dealer.

Eliza stood up and followed Alex. She would do what she always had done. Be there for Kara, whether she liked it or not.

Project Cadmus Bunker, underground Metropolis

The table was full, all five seats taken. Present were General Samuel Lane, General Wade Eiling, Amanda Waller, head of A.R.G.U.S. and the second and third richest men in the world, Lex Luthor and Maxwell Lord.

The bunker had been operational and completely off the books, hidden for years, five years to be exact. No cell phones or electronics were allowed in. The reason was obvious. The group figured out long ago that Supergirl had access to every electronic device on the planet, even those the NSA swore were unbreakable. She was an alien and somehow, somewhere she had a ship or headquarters, somewhere that alien code could monitor the world. The girl had rescued a Russian submarine three years ago that had sunk because of a reactor explosion. She pulled the rods out herself and lifted the sub in the air, holding it until two rescue ships could gather a tow line and floats to drag the vessel back to Russia.

The incident had been kept quiet by the Russian Government for obvious reasons but Supergirl had been there twenty minutes after the explosion. It was apparent at that point that the world could keep no secrets from her. This was the primary concern, more important that she walked into a nuclear reactor room and didn’t die from the massive radiation exposure than the enormous strength it took to lift a submarine from 300 feet of water. She had been down for over ten minutes and was not winded, meaning she likely did not need to breathe and verifying the suspicions that she did indeed fly in space.

“So lets start.” Lex suggested. He usually led the meetings. Though Max hated the Government and Lex Luthor and the Government hated both men, everyone in this room recognized that they needed each other to combat what they considered the greatest threat humanity had ever faced.

“Amanda, have you succeeded in getting any information from the DEO?” Luthor asked. Waller rolled her eyes.

“Of course not. We have tried to have three possible agents with impeccable false backgrounds who would be perfect for the DEO and they have not been hired. The agents we have tried to bribe either won’t talk or are unable.”

“Unable?” Eiling asked.

“Yes.” Waller confirmed. “We ask a series of questions, why does Supergirl visit the DEO, why does Henshaw let her have free access, who is she visiting? When they open their mouths to answer they are unable to speak. Some desperately wanted the money being offered but seemed to be literally unable to speak. Almost as if they had some sort of mental block preventing them from speaking about her.”

“Great.” Lane mumbled. “She can control minds. Sounds like you have been chasing the wrong Gorilla Eiling. Maybe she can make you look like a fool as well.”

Eiling didn’t respond to the baiting. He felt he at least had the guts to go after metahumans and aliens. Lane hid behind the pretty bars on his jacket.

“It could be another alien.” Lord suggested. “She kills most of them she fights but we have seen her working with others. The large one that looks like a demon biker is a big concern. The strong green one who can fly is also a concern.”

“That may explain why Henshaw defends her and convinces the President that she is an asset of the DEO even though she refuses to reveal her identity. She could be controlling his mind.” Waller guessed.

Lane laughed.

“Not likely. Henshaw has been soft on aliens before he she showed up on the scene. The President can’t do anything because she knows Cat Grant will turn public opinion against her and technically Supergirl is not a US citizen, she is a world citizen thanks to the damn UN. If the US declares war on her we are basically declaring war on the rest of the United Nations and the rest of the world loves her. Hell, this country loves her. Only a handful of intelligent people recognize the danger she is to not only national but world security. Besides, the President lets Henshaw do whatever he wants. She always has as did her predecessor.”

“So where does that leave us?” Luthor asked. “I still refuse to accept that we are at her mercy. She has to be stopped and it has to be in a manner that cannot be blamed on us. The President won’t support us, so we have to do this on our own.”

“My project is the best…” Max started.

“Don’t be an idiot. You can’t turn a brain dead girl into a copy of her.” Amanda told him, not for the first time.

“I have her DNA. She was cut in a fight in the desert and her blood was on a rock. It is simple genetic manipulation…”

“No human body can hold the power she possesses!” Waller shouted, frustrated with the man. If she didn’t need his money she would have had him assassinated long ago. “You are an idiot! Even if you duplicate her DNA and introduce it to a human body or clone one for that matter, you cannot replicate her cells. She stores power on a cellular level, more powerful than any human could handle. Their body would break down.”

Lane watched the two go at it and glanced at Luthor who seemed amused.

“She is right Maxwell.” Luthor told him, enjoying the fact that Lord’s plan was so ridiculous it didn’t warrant discussion. “Besides you cannot do something like that and not have it traced to you. Can you remember that she controls the technology of this world? I used to think Bruce Wayne was funding Batman but it is obvious she is giving that freak alien tech, just like her thin partner. She not only runs the world herself, she has followers, traitors to the human race and aliens. We have to meet in a hole in the ground, just to avoid her listening in. She uses cell phones as microphones and listening devices. Maybe she uses her own hearing. She is God after all, according to many cults. General Lane, I understand you have something in the works while General Eiling is chasing monkies?”

“Yes, we call it Red Tornado. It is the strongest android ever developed.I feel confident it can challenge her. Not only is it strong, it also is equipped to use extremely strong vortexes to battle her on the ground or air. I think these may disrupt her ability to…”

Lane stopped speaking, annoyed by the laughter Waller was unable to control. Once the woman had stopped she smiled at Lane.

“You do realize six years ago she stood inside of an F 5 tornado and literally changed the air temperature to collapse the storm? She didn’t even chip a nail. You think some robot is going to do any damage to her?”

“It will damage her and if nothing else we can get a reading on her strength. We have yet to know its limits. Her lifting strength is obvious but we don’t know how hard she strikes. This so called robot is being developed as an anti insurgent weapon. Nothing about it should be noticed by her as a threat until we unleash it. Unless someone has a better idea?”

Hearing nothing, the General smiled.

“Good. It will be battle ready in six months, possibly four if I put pressure on its engineer. We have spent over a billion dollars on this will damage her. Despite what the world thinks, she is not a god.”

Luthor shook his head. Brute force would not work. At least the amount of brute force they planned.

“Amanda, ideas?” Lex asked.

“I have an asset in India. He has a contact who meets him in person. The man is in the nuclear command department. It will cost us but it will be simple for him to arrange an accidental launch of a nuclear missile towards the States, giving her plenty of time to respond. The security India has over their nuclear weapons is a joke. He plants a detonator on the missile. She will no doubt take it into space and once she is out of atmosphere we detonate. No one and nothing can survive being at ground zero of a nuclear explosion. It can be done without her electronic spying discovering the plan.”

“Excellent. Someone using their brain.” Lex told the others happily. “There is hope for the Government. She has to be positioned perfectly. We have to be ready to move at a moments notice. Once she is seen flying over Europe or Africa, perhaps a large scale disaster that could be staged, we can initiate operations. In the mean time one of my many grants to an oceanography expedition in the Marinas Trench has discovered something. It was brought to my immediate attention due to standing rules that should the researcher find anything alien it is to be brought to my attention in person with no written record. Something has been found. It appears to be a coffin of some sort, a very large coffin with alien writing carved into it. We are bringing it up and it will be transported to my lab. I am not certain if it could be any use but any information we can find on aliens would help. Perhaps it could be something that could actually contain her. I will keep you all informed. General Lane, have fun with your robot, Amanda, please make contact with your asset and begin setting up a scenario off the books of course and lets continue to look for ways to save the world. Oh and Max? Stop experimenting on brain dead girls. If you are caught performing a foolish project involving the deaths of several young girls, no one in this room can save you. Not from the police and not from her. We all know what she does to her enemies when the public is not looking.”

National City

After a subdued breakfast, Barry gave into Clark’s request for a video game opponent. The boy didn’t tire of beating him for two hours, at which time, Connolly offered to take the kid swimming, obviously a distraction for Barry to speak to Jessica. Once the two were gone, Jessica motioned him into the kitchen then to his surprise she walked through a door that led to a basement. At the bottom of the stairs was a very heavy door, that opened with a palm print.

“Sound proof safe room. His hearing is getting better every day and he likes to has difficulty listening in here. He hasn’t gotten Kara’s full range of powers yet. He broke a glass last week and cut himself when he picked up the pieces. Of course he healed a minute later. It used to take longer. The older he gets the more powerful he becomes.”

Barry nodded his head and took a seat in the spacious room. A monitor on the wall showed security cameras covering the outside of the house completely, cameras he hadn’t even noticed. It looked liked there were cameras covering the outside of the Danvers house as well.

“This is a safe room. We built them in both houses in the event that Kryptonians had ever found us or the Danvers. I can’t, I won’t tell you where she is. I know you care about her but honestly even if you went to her, she wouldn’t want you to see her like she probably is.” Ryan told the man, taking a seat across from him.

“I didn’t come to find out where Kara is. You look tired.” he noted.

Jess smiled but there was no humor in it.

“I wasn’t a therapist. I worked in the Behavioral Science Department of the FBI. I was good too. But I had to turn myself into a therapist. The problem is, it is difficult after so many years to stay detached, clinical with the same patient. I failed. I guess you could say I am not taking it well.”

Taking a closer look at her, Barry noticed how red her eyes were and wondered if she had slept in days.

“Alex said you were a great therapist.”

“Alex is kind. I understand Kara told you some things about herself Friday night. Do you think I am a great therapist? I was always out of my league but… once you have been with someone so long, the person kind of becomes a part of you. You stop looking at them objectively. You see them as family and it is hard to provide therapy for someone you see as family. I have to keep trying. She is going to need someone and she will never open up to anyone else. But I also have to make myself become a therapist again. I was as much as an enabler as her family was. Like I said, I failed and I don’t know if I can succeed. You didn’t come here to make me feel better and I am sure you know you won’t get her location from me. Why are you here, Barry?”

Barry took a deep breath, wondering the same thing. He wasn’t sure what he needed exactly. Maybe some way to process his parents death? Maybe someone he could talk to that didn’t know him, someone he could say things he would never say to his friends and loved ones.

“I need therapy and Alex said you were good. You already know I am the Flash and I have had a lot of stuff happen lately. I… I’ve never done this thing before. I can run up here…”

“Wait.” Jessica stopped him. “After everything you have heard this weekend haven’t you figured out that I am a horrible therapist?”

Barry shrugged his shoulders. “Alex said she would have lost her mind without you. She doesn’t seem like the kind of person who says that lightly. I can’t really go to anyone else. If you don’t want to I understand.”

Jessica shook her head. “I’ve never worked with anyone besides the Danvers.”

“And I’ve never been to therapy. But if you can’t I understand. I probably wouldn’t be good at it. Thanks for breakfast. Tell Clark I said bye and had fun. So, how do I get out of here? Do I need to use a code or should I just phase through?”

Jessica took a look at the man. He wasn’t much older than Kara, probably the same age as

Alex. He seemed kind of shy the other night, polite, easy going. He also looked at Kara like Jess always hoped someone would. The surprise was Kara looked at him the same way.

“Wait Barry. I’m… I’ll be honest, my confidence is kind of shot right now and I don’t know if I will be good at this. I’m not sure if I have ever been good. But I suppose we can try. I don’t have the answers you are looking for but I can listen, maybe we can figure this out together. You really want to do this with me? I could find someone who can keep quiet that you can talk to.”

Barry shook his head.

“I want you. Alex said you were good. Thats good enough for me.”

“Why do you want to do this? For Kara? Because you can’t do it for her. It won’t work.”

“No.” he told her. “My mother was murdered when I was ten by a man… its complicated. My father was killed weeks ago by another speedster, right in front of me. I… I don’t want this to haunt me forever. Yeah. I want to be alright for Kara but I know I need this. I don’t want to…”

“Become her?” Jessica guessed. “Because I let it happen. I couldn’t stop it.”

“I’m willing to try if you are.”

Jessica was looking at him but her mind was racing in several different directions. She wasn’t lying, she did feel like a failure. Connolly had stayed with her, listening to her cry all night when Alex had sent a message that a sedated Kara had arrived at the facility. She knew she would have to go back to her, once other therapists were brought in, people who specialized in other areas, mainly substance abuse and anger management, along with grief therapy, PTSD and a host of other issues Jess had tried to deal with over the years. Hopefully the anti depressants and other medication that had been developed and were being developed would work, something she wished she had when she first met the girl. There were so many things she wished she had done differently. Honestly if she had been human, Kara would have probably been hospitalized several times growing up, most notably when she attempted to rip her arm open. Of course if she were human she would not have as many problems as she did.

Ryan had made progress with her several times only to see Kara backslide into old habits as soon as she saw something that bothered her, a dead person, homes destroyed, mass casualties and the worst, car wrecks. Kara never did get that first mother and baby out of her head.

It was only after Kara told Dante to never speak to her again after her second suicide attempt did Jess begin to realize how much Kara had been drinking. She knew the girl drank but what Dante told her about that night made it obvious that the girl’s whole character had changed. Despite the falling out, she still had Dante first on the chain of command if the Danvers were taken or unable to take command for some reason. Kara never did change that. She also never tried to contact Dante again. The two had what Jess thought was an inseparable bond but in Kara’s mind it was shattered that night. Dante did as she wished, left the DEO, left National City and had never come back.

Kara never truly opened up to Jessica again and never gave her version of that night. The girl learned how to work around her, tell her what she wanted to hear but never really opened up and Jess was too relieved she hadn’t attempted suicide again to even notice until it was almost too late.

Could she do this again? She did well with Eliza, Jeremiah and Alex but Kara was a mountain she never could climb. She never had the tools or skill level for that job. She held on at times, made some headway but always slipped back down.

Would she screw up with Barry if she tried?

“Let’s try. If you are really open to this we will see if it works. If not I can find someone else for you, okay? How about we start every Friday night? I can fly to Central City from where Kara will be. Right now I am the last person she needs to see but she might be ready for me to try again soon. I hope so. But for now, Friday nights? I can stop by Central City and then fly to National City.”

Barry was surprised.

“Thats a lot of flights.”

‘Not when you work for a black ops government agency that has its own helicopters. Seven O’Clock?”

“Yep. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. Like I said, I kind of suck, but I will try. Besides the DEO is paying the bill so its not like you will need any money back. Can I ask you a question? Its personal but I suppose we should get used to that.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Did you love your parents?”

Barry almost got upset but she seemed genuinely curious. He supposed not everyone did love their parents, considering what Kara had told him about her family destroying a planet.

“Yeah, I loved them very much.”

Jess let out a breath and nodded her head. “Thats good. I will see you next Friday.”

Barry smiled and ran out, phasing through the wall, into the shed with his suit and then ran out over the water, circling Clark and waving bye while the boy treaded water, wide eyed. Halfway to Central City his phone chimed. He saw he had a text message from Kelex that Kara was okay.

Deciding that was all he would get right now and wondering if it was true, his phone actually rang. Seeing it was Cisco he decided he had better answer, considering how he had left Central City for three days now.

“Whats up? I will be in Central City in twenty minutes, maybe fifteen.”

“Yeah, that would be great. We got some things going on here that are freaking me out.”

“A meta?” he asked, prepared to make it ten minutes.

“Nah, worse. I got this mysterious message from Caitlin saying she had been hired for a top secret project and would be gone for a few months. A few months! When the hell does Caitlin ever make a quick decision to be gone for a few months? So I have been trying to track her and have had no luck. She left her phone in her apartment!”

“Oh… okay, that is weird.”

“Yeah and it gets weirder. Since she isn’t here the city called wanting the electric bill paid and I had to deal with it. I was going to come up with some excuse to keep the lights on and when I checked the account to see what we could pay, I found $20 million. Apparently we have received an open ended grant from Wayne Enterprises that we didn’t even apply for. I called some guy in the finance department at Wayne Enterprises corporate headquarters and got transferred to their CEO Lucius Fox. Bruce Wayne is financing us now and doesn’t want anything. No patents, no research, just open ended funding, whatever we need! What the hell is going on Barry? This… this is weird. We have seen a lot of weird, bad weird and even though this is good weird I am still afraid of any weird.”

Barry thought about it but not for long. Caitlin gone, Bruce Wayne… Batman… the one guy who could figure out how to take Kara and place her somewhere she couldn’t get out was now funding S.T.A.R. no strings attached. He had a feeling if they looked into Caitlin’s bank account she would be very rich in her own right.

“Its fine, Cisco. I will explain some things I think are happening but you cannot say anything to anyone. Don’t mention the money, not to Joe, Iris, Wally, anyone. Tell them Caitlin went to an overseas conference. I’ll be there soon. Don’t worry about Caitlin. I have a pretty good idea what she is working on and she isn’t in any danger. We are going to have to get used to life without her for a while.”

Life without both of them, Barry thought but didn’t say. He had just found Kara again and lost her.

Maybe he could find her again after all was said and done.

The Block Research Facility, Kentucky

“Get them off!” Kara screamed, shocking Eliza and Alex who were on either side of her hospital bed. Kara’s eyes were closed and though her shaking had lessened after the last medication her mumblings had not stopped. This was the first time she had screamed anything coherent and one of the few times her eyes were wide open.

“Kara, talk to me. What do you think is on you?” Eliza asked, running her hand through the blonde’s stringy, wet hair.

“S.s.s.. snakes! I can feel them all over me. Get them off of me! Why are you doing this? Get these snakes off of me, now!”

“There are no snakes,” Alex assured her. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

The older sister always knew Kara was afraid of snakes even though she never admitted to it. Ten hours ago she had sworn thousands of spiders were biting her and wanted her powers back. Now the blonde was struggling in her bonds, trying to get snakes off of her that weren’t there.

“Get me off this bed! I want off now! You can’t… who are you?”

The mother and older sister looked at each other, concerned. Kara’s eyes were wide open and she stopped squirming. She was staring wide eyed at the wall, seeing something that did not frighten her. Instead she seemed surprised? Curious? Whatever it was, had stopped her belief that snakes were slithering over her body.

Kara however, was not curious but very cautious. She had seen several people since she began hallucinating. She had seen Astra, her mother, her father and Non of course. That bastard would always haunt her it seemed. He laughed at her, told her how weak she was, how she had destroyed herself because she was too weak to handle life on her own. She had seen Clark crying, asking her why, a young Alex, telling her it would be okay then a bullet hole in her head, Hank Henshaw appearing behind her.

This was different. She had never seen this man, or thing. She didn’t recognize the species and was certain she would remember. He was tall, almost as tall as Lobo and as muscular. His skin was grey and his eyes as red as blood. He had what seemed to her to be hundreds of razor sharp teeth. He was also covered in red and black armor with some strange symbol on his chest. The most interesting feature of him was the red glowing ring on his right middle finger. It seemed to be bleeding some type of energy.

The creature stepped closer to her bed.

“They cannot see me.” he told her in a very deep baritone voice that somehow was frightening and soothing at the same time. “They think you are hallucinating but you are not. I am not on Earth but something is, something that is allowing me to contact you.”

“What?” she asked.

“You are not ready for it, but you will be.”

The large alien showed her the ring on his right hand, motioning it towards her.

“When you need it most, it will be there. Make no mistake, you will need it. They will tell you to kill your rage, to make peace with it, let it go. What they do not understand is that your rage is the thing that will one day save them all. You are the one who the prophet of Oa has foreseen. The two of us have a great destiny. You belong to us. You know it and when the time is right, you will know what to do. Until then Kara Zor El do what needs to be done, make yourself strong, protect the ones you love. The seed is already there. You know it. Tell me. Tell me what is in your heart.”

Kara did know. She had no idea what the creature was talking about or even who he was. She didn’t understand his words and had never seen the ring before. But somehow she was whispering what was in her heart regardless. She knew the words but had no idea how or why.

“With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead, together with our hellish hate, we will burn you all, that is your fate.”

The creature smiled and was gone, his parting words telling her it would be soon. What would be soon? Where had those words come from?

The words and even the man were quickly forgotten as the feel of cold snakes sliding over her body once more began and she screamed.

Alex and Eliza were looking at each other very confused. They had been close enough to hear Kara and the words out of her mouth were disturbing. Neither had noted that Caitlin Snow was also behind Eliza and heard as well.

“Probably time we started her on the antipsychotic drug.” Dr. Snow suggested. Alex tried to calm Kara down but caught that.

“You cannot give her so many new drugs at once.”

“She is talking about blood from a freshly dead corpse.” Caitlin pointed out. “Like I said, time for the antipsychotics to begin. Trust me. Her heart rate is normal if obviously exhilarated. I can’t give her another sedative for a minimum of two hours. She is going to have to ride this out.”

“Okay.” Eliza agreed. “We will get her through this.”

Jeremiah had walked in and began running his fingers through her hair while Eliza and Alex continued to whisper in her ear that there were no snakes on her body.

Eventually the snakes gave way to screams of pain as Kara felt bites all over her body.

“How much longer can this go on, Jeremiah?” Eliza asked.

The man shook his head. “She is in stage three and the anti convulsants seem to be working. The sedatives are helping her get some sleep. If the seizures stop, the imaginary pain can’t be far behind. For the next week she will be incoherent at times, hallucinations may stay but won’t be as intense or often. We are about to start the downhill slide… anytime between tonight or three days would be my is tough. We just have to hang on. The drug use is adding another dimension and Shay is working to determine if the effects of whatever that orange crap is will cause unexpected reactions in the other medications but so far it looks fine.”

“They are going to use the one they designed that resembles Clozapine with an anti depressant added in.” he continued. “If it works, it will help her calm now and her dose can be upped when she has her powers. Lobo was helpful, getting those flowers from Avalon. I can’t believe I said that but its true. If we can determine the side effects without her powers we can figure out the best treatment combination and then test it on her with her powers.”

“Assuming she takes them.” Alex reminded them. “We can only get her so far. She is going to have to make the effort and really commit. If she doesn’t… I don’t know what we can do anymore.”

“She will.” Jeremiah assured her. “If I have to bring Clark here, I will. Caitlin won’t tell Barry where she is at, will she?”

“No.” Alex told him quickly. “Caitlin understands and I know Barry would want to be here but Kara was already embarrassed by how she left things. If we let him see her in this state she may hide in the Fortress for the rest of her life. Lets just get her through this. Then, maybe talking to him, if she would agree, maybe she can see some good things in her life instead of always being consumed by the bad things she sees.”

Eliza nodded her head. “Surprisingly, he does tend to cut through her defenses, doesn’t he? Remember how surprised we were when you told us she was on a date? She never talked to anyone without you or your father and I present, much less a guy. But there he was, they meet and are sharing ice cream twenty minutes later. It would be good for her to see him.”

“Just not right now.” Alex told them. “Kara wouldn’t want him or Clark to see her like this. If nothing else when it is through, if she refuses to talk to us, she will talk to those two.”

“You should have let me die.” Kara mumbled.”

“Don’t say that Kara.” Alex told her softly, stroking her cheek.

“You had no right to bring me to life if you knew the planet would die. You had no right. It wasn’t fair. You wanted a daughter, knowing what this would be like? Don’t! Don’t explain yourself! Don’t! Murderer!”

Kara began straining against her bonds once more, trying to break free but too weak to be much of a threat. Her eyes were glazed and when Alex touched her forehead, the blond tried to bite her hand.

Caitlin came in quickly and administered an anti convulsant. The girl continued to shake for another minute then relaxed.

The three looked at Dr. Snow and noted she was sweating. Caitlin did not want them to know that while she felt her work was correct, every time she administered a medication, she feared she would be wrong. She may have to work through this doubts in order to act, but that didn’t mean the fear wasn’t there.

“I guess I better get back to work on fine-tuning the anti… yeah. We are almost through the worst. I will be back in another hour for her next sedative. Hopefully she is exhausted enough from today that she may sleep for more than a few hours. Like Alex said, too many drugs at once aren’t good so we are having to space them out. I am hoping I have adjusted the sedative just enough that it may suppress dreams. Has she had a history of nightmares before this?”

Alex barked out a humorless laugh.

“She has never had a history of not having nightmares.”

Caitlin shook her head. “She is going to need a lot of help, isn’t she?”

“She has needed it for a while. She has a therapist but this calls for…”

“I know, Alex.” Caitlin told her. “This is going to call for a few specialists. How long do you plan on keeping her here?”

The three looked at each other, not knowing that answer. Alex finally told her what she knew to be true.

“Until she is clean and can make a rational decision on whether she will be willing to get help. If she does, she will stay here long enough to determine the side effect of the drugs with and without her powers, make sure the anti depressants don’t make her suicidal, that sort of thing. If she doesn’t agree, then… I guess we have to let her go. I can talk her into it. I have to.”

“I have no doubt,” Caitlin agreed. “but if you can’t talk her into it, then I will tell her she has to. Barry Allen listens to me. I won’t give her a choice either. After I give her the sedative you all need to rest. You are no good to her when she is awake if you aren’t sleeping. I will sit with her.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “You need rest so you can keep staring into a microscope.”

“I’ll be fine. I have nightmares too and sleep isn’t exactly a friend of mine. Rest.”

An hour and a half later, Kara was asleep and the three were ushered out by Caitlin with assurance that she would call them if Kara woke up. Jeremiah and Eliza practically passed out the second they lay on a mattress. Alex was not having as much luck.

Tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable, she gave up after thirty minutes and walked the different floors of the complex.

Bruce had this place built and completed within a year and made recruiting Veritas his first priority. His reasoning was simple. They had enemies all over the world and since everyone knew Kara couldn’t be hurt on a physical level, if their enemies ever did strike it would most likely be on a biological level. Veritas’s job would be to use information from Brother Eye on biological warfare plans anywhere in the world, assess their threat and combat them, specifically anything that could harm Kara. He had planned to introduce Kara to the woman in a more professional manner but this had occurred.

Alex found the owner of this place sitting in level ten, the lowest level of course, in his personal office. Surprisingly he wasn’t watching video feed from all over the world. Instead he was staring at a monitor, showing a very old photo.

“How is she?” he asked, sounding very tired. “Looked like she had a rough time an hour ago.”

The woman nodded her head, not surprised that Bruce would be watching.

“I’ve been looking in on her but thought if she saw me it might agitate her more.” he explained. “She may never speak to me again, but we made the right call, Alex. Don’t second guess yourself. She was on her way to another huge meltdown and I was afraid it would be one she couldn’t have survived. There is a situation going on. Nothing for you to concern yourself with. Nyssa called through Kelex to inform me that Damian Darhk has been seen in Star City. She thinks there is the possibility that he has acquired some sort of dark magic, absorbing life forms with a touch, telekinesis, things like that. She is dropping Streaky off at the mansion and then the League will make their presence known to Darhk. They are going after him.”

“Really? Because that doesn’t sound safe. I get that she has an army but she has no idea how strong he is.”

Bruce shrugged his shoulders. “She knows that. The woman doesn’t back down from a fight and Talia won’t pick it up unless Nyssa goes down. She is also concerned because she believes Kara may be susceptible to magic. She wants this done before Kara gets better and can leave.”

“You need to go, don’t you?” Alex guessed.

Bruce shook his head.

“Every year on the anniversary of my parents murders, I go to the spot they were killed and leave flowers in that damn alley. Kara goes with me every year. She hasn’t left my side and I won’t leave hers when she needs me the most, even if she decides to hate me. From what I can tell, Oliver Queen is tracking this man down with his team. I don’t know if they will be enough, so I sent back up for Nyssa and Oliver.”

“Barry Allen?” Alex hoped.

Bruce snorted.

“I would like that but no. He has Central City to worry about. I made a deal with Lobo. He gets to use my yacht for a week and he finds Damian Darhk and tries to take him in. If he decides he can’t take Darhk, he will keep tabs on him and I will handle it. Darhk is wanted by nearly every police agency in the world. I also sent Dick. Between the mass murderer, Nightwing, the League of Assassins and Oliver Queen and his friends I would hope they are enough.”

“And if they aren’t?”

“Then when Kara is better and the withdrawals have passed I will handle it myself. I have dealt with magic before. Darhk isn’t the only one with a talisman.”

“I probably don’t want to know that story.” the woman admitted. “So whats with the picture? You know Diana Prince?”

Bruce looked away from the monitor and met Alex’s eyes.

“Did Kelex send you this photo? Its from around the early nineteen hundreds. Lex Luthor came across it in his metahuman research. This photo was taken in Belgium in 1918. Facial recognition has been found all over Paris. She looks exactly the same. I haven’t seen any displays of power besides being much better than me at aging. How do you know her?

Alex couldn’t answer for a second, taken back by what she had just heard. Diana Prince was immortal?

“She… she was a guest lecturer from the Louvre one semester, teaching a class on ancient statues or something. Kara took it has part of her art degree. I had no idea what is was about but she seemed to take a big interest in Kara, always asking her for coffee, going to different museums, things like that. I tagged along because both asked me to and honestly she was the hottest woman I had ever seen. Honestly she is my top three still today. She never acted strange, other than the friendly relationship she had with Kara, even outside of class.”

Bruce could see where this was going. “Looks like we aren’t the only ones good at figuring out secret identities. She saw through Kara’s disguise and placed herself in a position to get to know her. The question is why?”

Alex shrugged her shoulders, seeming nonchalant but she had the same question in her mind.

“The Louve you said?” he confirmed. “Looks like I will be taking a trip after Kara is better if Darhk is dealt with by then. I want to know what she is after. No contact with you or Kara since college?”

Alex shook her head.

“Nope, but it wasn’t a coincidence. I don’t believe in those. Maybe she was just curious. Just because she is apparently immortal doesn’t mean she has any powers or is a threat to us.”

“Thats true, but she could be a threat for us. Kara always has hated the idea of an organized team but without her for the foreseeable future, one may be needed now more than ever. Go get some sleep, Alex. You look almost as bad as Kara.”

“Yeah.” Alex agreed. Her mind definitely needed to calm down. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Alex moved back up to Kara’s level and walked into her room. Sure enough, Dr. Snow was by her bed. Alex took a recliner in the corner and kicked her feet up. She may sleep but she always slept better when Kara was nearby. Tonight would be no different.