Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Seeing Red

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 35: Pyramids can’t catch a break

Kara walked around her new bedroom, boxes still unpacked as she tried to determine many things in this one room. The first, where her bed should be. Though she had a plan in her head before she ever built the house, seeing it in person had her changing her mind constantly.

Kara’s mind was constantly churning. She had worn an ankle wrap with a red crystal around her leg in the past week since her press conference. That red crystal did not stop the energy flowing through her veins and arteries, making her desperate for some target to unleash her rage on. She tried to sleep at night but the ring whispered to her it seemed. When she was able to doze off, her sleep was broken, either by scenes she did not recognize, planets, wars between Corps, battles fought and enemies burned. Other times she slept peacefully until the face of Doomsday roared at her from nowhere, waking her up immediately, power bleeding from her ring. Had she still had a heart that beat, Kara believed it would have burst out of her chest.

Since her statement, Kara had not watched the news. Jeremiah and Eliza were proud of her, at least they said they were, but she wondered. Alex hugged her when she returned, saying that she couldn’t believe Kara gave credit to other aliens but none to her and not mentioning the rest.

It was Clark’s reaction that surprised her the most. She had worried afterward about tarnishing the symbol he planned to wear someday. Instead of disappointment, he told her that she was a hero and he was proud of her, making her a bit emotional though she controlled it.

Barry had met her in the Fortress and asked why she didn’t tell him.

Her answer that it was something she needed to do and didn’t want to discuss it with anyone, didn’t please him. She couldn’t help it. Kara knew he wanted to know everything, and as her boyfriend she probably should have told him but the blonde knew she was lacking in the girlfriend department. She was not the type to open completely up to many people. Only three to be honest. Even with her friends from the DEO, J’onn, Bruce, the only ones she truly opened to after all this time were the three in her family and only recently Clark. Despite that she had kept secrets from those four for years. She didn’t tell them and it never occurred to her to tell Barry. Kara did not answer to anyone in the past few years except her parents and Alex and she lied to them constantly.

She supposed she would have to work on this. Maybe. Honestly Kara was not positive she wanted Barry to stay around and debated several ways to push him away. For the moment, she made clear that he needed to get back to his job and assured him she wouldn’t be going anywhere besides meetings.

Because of the ankle bracelet, Kara did not hear Eliza walk into the room, standing for who knew how long, watching her from the doorway.

“Planning on moving the bed again?” her mother asked with some amusement, startling Kara.

“Hey! Hi, uh… yeah. Maybe. I don’t know. Nothing I do feels right.”

“Maybe you aren’t ready. I realize, despite her denials, that Alex can’t wait to get out of the house and in here, but maybe you should give it a week. There is no rush to sleep here.”

Kara shook her head. She wasn’t in a rush, but it felt like putting this move off would be a step back for her. She had too many of those already.

“No. I am doing this. You told me not to let this latest set back get in my way of living, so I’m not. I am going to do this.” Kara told her, hoping to convince herself.

Eliza walked into the room from her perch at the doorway and looked closely at Kara. Kara would not meet her eyes, hating the way Eliza seemed to look into her soul at times.

“You have been sad, Kara.”

The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Am I not supposed to be?”

The woman shook her head. “Of course, I can understand why you are. But you can’t let it beat you. You have worked so hard to get where you are…”

“Where I was.” Kara cut in. “Everything as changed. Leslie told me to keep my routines but why? I may be able to dim my powers but running doesn’t exactly get my blood flowing since I don’t technically have blood or a heart for that matter. I can’t calm down for any type of meditation. This damn ring is begging me to use it. It talks to me. At night, when I try and sleep, it keeps me up. I am going to have to talk to Gardner. I have questions but I don’t know if its safe for me to see him. If he tries to assert some dominance or leadership over me I will kill him. I know I will, I don’t want to but I wouldn’t be able to help it.”

Eliza shook her head. “He wouldn’t. He has been very helpful.”

“But nothing has helped, has it?” Kara asked, already knowing the answer.

“Alex is close to figuring out something to help you sleep. As far as everything else, we are going to figure out a way to get that ring off you and return you to your normal state. I won’t rest…”

“Maybe you should.” Kara interrupted her. “Maybe everyone should go back to work. You said it yourself, with my powers dimmed all this ring will do is give me different gifts. I can still lead somewhat of a normal life. You said that. Just let it go. I’ll keep a crystal on me and learn to deal with the ring.”

Eliza shook her head. “You wouldn’t be happy. I want you happy. We were getting there, Kara. We aren’t stopping now. I do have some good news. I am 100 percent certain you can have sex without hurting Barry.”

“Mom!” Kara shouted, her red tint now having nothing to do with the ring. “What the hell?”

“Like you weren’t wondering.” Eliza told her with a grin and walked around the room, taking it all in. She stopped at a box and began unpacking it, taking clothes towards the dresser. “I forget, do you like your underclothes with the brightest, or lightest colors on top?”

Kara shook her head and smiled. Eliza did have a way of making her smile, usually.

“Lightest on top, starting with blues, followed by pinks, yellows, purples and reds.”

“No green?” the woman asked.

“I burned everything green I had.” Kara told her quickly. Even the color made her want to attack who she considered cowards.

“Kara, you can’t blame an entire color on the actions of a few people.” Eliza chided her teasingly. She had no love for the Greens either but at least they had enough sense to stay away now. She wanted Kara to go through the rest of her life without killing again but she knew what would happen if a green power ring showed up.

Kara called Barry before lights out. She was not surprised that he sounded tired. The man had to be exhausted. Alex was exhausted but she wouldn’t leave the Fortress. Kara had to go in tonight and pull her away from some crystal project with Kelex. The blonde knew the answers weren’t there. Krypton had no record of Oa or the Lanterns, probably because they were best at making themselves scarce when trouble arrived.

Kara sat by her window, watching the moonlight shine down across the ocean. Even with the ankle bracelet on, that was beginning to itch, it was so quiet, she had no problem hearing the change in Alex’s breathing and her mumbling. It was 1 AM and Alex had only been asleep for an hour. Kara didn’t bother trying.

Walking into Alex’s new bedroom, she sat down next to her sister’s head and ran her fingers through her short hair.

“It’s Doomsday. We can’t beat it. Run, Kara. Damn it, run! I’m hit, run, get away!” Alex began screaming, sitting up and reaching for a gun that wasn’t there. Kara wrapped her in her arms and whispered to her.

“Hey, I got you. Alex, calm down. Its me. I got you.”

Alex calmed quickly, recognizing the feel of her sister’s arms.

“He’s alive.” she whispered.

“No, he is dead. We did it.” Kara told her quietly.

Alex shook her head and touched Kara’s cheek. “You are really here? You aren’t dead?”

“I’m really here. You were just having a nightmare. Its over. Lay down and I’ll stay with you. I promise.”

Alex clutched at Kara’s collar and pulled her down, holding her tight. It took her thirty minutes to get back to sleep again. She mumbled twice more but never woke from a nightmare. Not for the first time, Kara wondered how long it would be until Jessica had Shay give Alex a sedative and anxiety meds. Supergirl was not the only one who had seen horrible things. Alex had been with her through many of them. She had seen the Joker’s victims, she had seen the results of genocide and civil war, seen the path of destruction rogue aliens had left behind. She had been in brutal fights against aliens, with the DEO and Supergirl.

She now had Doomsday’s memory haunting her sleep. She probably had dreams of Ysmault. She did spend five days on that hellscape.

The next day, Kara did not leave the house, except to sit on the porch and listen to the waves crashing into the cliff her house sat atop. The ring was still humming and she was very, very tired but sleep would not come. She managed to eat pasta but it tasted horrible. Everything tasted horrible.

This was her life now.

She hated it. She had her dream home but of course the rest of her life crashed down onto her finger.

Barry had called and asked to see her that night, but Kara lied and told him she was tired and had been managing to get some sleep and needed more.

She wasn’t sure he believed her.

It wasn’t that the blonde didn’t want to see him, but she had many decisions to make and Barry always confused her. Just like when they first met, she knew she should stay away but when he was near her, what she knew she should do, usually took a backseat to what she wanted to do. Instead she decided to keep her distance until she figured out exactly what it was that needed to happen.

The next night, after Alex had gone to sleep once again, this time with the help of a sleeping pill Jess had given her, Barry entered the Fortress and asked to see her there.

Kara moved to her basement and activated the transport, entering the giant crystal structure. It had been a couple days but the holograms still showed the red ring, the databanks were dedicated to classifying the energy running through her veins and Alex’s work station had her brain mapped out in a hologram. It was like a living light museum dedicated to her brain and physiology.

“It’s ten. I thought as tired as you have been, you may be getting much needed rest.” she told him. He did look like hell and probably hadn’t shaved in at least a week.

“I sleep better with you. I thought since you don’t like Central City and I am not allowed in your house, even though I know you aren’t sleeping, we might meet in a middle ground and bunk here.”

“No. Go home and get some sleep. You don’t need me keeping you up.”

Barry nodded his head and approached her, stepping closely and looking her in the eyes.

“You ever considered letting me decide what I need? Or are you always going to make decisions about what I need? I can make my own decisions and I decided that I want to be near you tonight. You are my girlfriend so I’m thinking I’m not totally off base with that desire. I realize it might interfere with you avoiding me all week…”

“What do you want? What do you really want?” Kara interrupted.

Barry shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t I just tell you?”

“What do you want out of life, I mean? Those transporters are there so people I love can get to the Fortress in a hurry. How do you picture us, Barry? We going to split residences? Spend the night at my house and you just transport back to work in the morning? Everybody tells me to stay out of this hero business but I’m in a relationship with the Flash. How is that going to work out long term? Do you ever want kids? Even far down the road? Because I got news for you, even if I could have kids, I don’t want any, ever. Are you ever going to leave Central City? You think you could give up Central City to live in some small coastal town with less than ten thousand people in it? Where do you think this is going?”

Barry had suspected this was coming when she began distancing herself since she returned. Maybe he shouldn’t have forced this conversation this late. It was too late to back out now.

“You want as normal as possible? Fine, I’ll quit being the Flash. I’ll leave Central City…”

“Why!?” Kara yelled, her ring glowing brighter.

“Because I don’t want to lose another person I love and everything else is not as important as you. You’re right, we do have to decide one day and I know you would never leave Midvale for Central City. I wouldn’t ask you to anymore than you would ask me to leave Central City. It’s my call and I want to be where you are. And bringing up kids? Really? That’s the best you got? Who the hell ever said anything about kids? I just want you to stop pushing me away. I never said I wanted kids either. You are making up whatever reason you can to justify being alone.”

“What about what I want? Have you ever considered that maybe I just don’t want anyone? That a relationship with a founding member of the Justice League isn’t what I want or need? You tell me to stop pushing you…”

“Tell me right now that you don’t love me. Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want me and mean it. If you do, you will never have to see me again, but this stops now. You either let me back in or shut me out completely but I won’t go away unless you really want me too.”

Kara braced herself, ready to tell him to go to hell. She felt energy pulsating in her. The ring was practically begging her to attack him. He had challenged her in her own Fortress. She would break him in the best way she knew how. She would tell him to go away for good. It worked with Dante years before and it would work now.

Instead of her mouth saying the words, the look in his eyes wouldn’t let her tell him what she should have said. Kara tried, she really tried but her mouth wouldn’t speak.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Barry told her.

Kara screamed and turned away from him, molten plasma and fire from her mouth flowing into the monitor behind her. The supposedly indestructible material burned to nothing, not even ashes remaining.

The girl shut her mouth and fell to her knees, shaking.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen.” she whispered.

“Feel better though?” Barry asked, not intimidated. “Are we sleeping in my bed or yours? Either way, I am tired and you have blown enough fire tonight so we need to hit a sack somewhere.”

Kara shook her head, stood up and beckoned for him to follow. The two entered the transport and exited the door in her basement.

“I should make you sleep down here.” she grumbled. “You can’t challenge me. I could have hurt you.”

“You aren’t fast enough to hurt me. If I don’t challenge you, who will?”

“Everybody else who lives in Midvale and my therapist apparently.” Kara told him and took his hand, leading to the bedroom.

She walked into the bathroom suite connected to her room and debated whether she should take her mother’s scientific discovery as fact. The sound of snoring cut off any further thoughts of whether he wanted to partake in those activities. The girl walked into her bedroom to find Barry under the covers on his typical side of the bed he usually slept on at his apartment or in the hotels they had stayed at.

Kara shook her head with a grin and slid under the covers, laying on her side with her back to his chest. Even in his slightly comatose like state, his arm slipped around her waist.

The girl relaxed, her mouth still tingling from the plasma she vomited and had no doubt would get her a talking to from her mother in the morning. Kara knew it was gone but the reaction had been instinctual. She was frustrated and being challenged and her body revolted.

Would it get better? Would it get worse?

Kara knew Alex could calm her and apparently Barry was safe for now, but for how long? Would she trip over his shoes one day and send him out the window with a blast of pure, incinerating energy? He wasn’t faster than the speed of light. Maybe he was. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was tonight at this moment she was beginning to feel better. She may not have done what she should have done, but he knew she loved him. She still had no idea why he loved her as much as he did. She had never done anything to deserve it.

Maybe she just got lucky and should shut up and not ask any questions.

Of course considering Barry’s luck, maybe she was just more of the same for him.

Would he quit being the Flash? Would he give up his job and the city he loved if she wanted?

Yes, he would, and that scared the hell out of her.

Regardless, she let herself enjoy his arms and for the first time since the red ring was placed on her finger, she slept till sunrise.

To her surprise, Alex had already left. A check in with Kelex confirmed that her older sister was in the Fortress, hard at work with her father. She had no doubt Eliza would be there as soon as Clark was up.

Kara entered the shower and on her way out, she smelt bacon, even from upstairs. Moving down quickly, too fast, even without her powers, she found her boyfriend frying bacon and eggs.

“I realize you are all about healthy breakfasts but Eliza isn’t here so I was thinking you could cheat today?” he asked, knowing he had her undivided attention and enjoying the longing on her face. Perhaps this food would be more edible than the whole grain pasta she had been consuming that tasted like paper.

It was slightly better. Her stomach held it down, despite being more cholesterol than she had consumed in months. With a kiss she sent him on his way to the revolving door known as the Fortress of Solitude that frequently became very crowded. Kara took a deep breath after he disappeared and considered what to do with her day.

Having absolutely no answer, she checked with Kelex who assured her Gardner was still at the Block, having his ring studied by astrophysicists and engineers. She decided to spend some time in the Fortress, going over some schematics she had drawn for upgrades to Kelex. The little guy had proven to be a hero time and time again and Kara thought maybe it was time for him to have a hero’s body. Plus now that her house was done, she desperately needed a project and playing with Kelex would pass the time.

Entering the Fortress, she noted her Dad and Alex were in a back corner, looking once again at what she believed was a hologram of her brain, next to DNA strands.

Then she noticed it on Alex’s work bench she usually preferred.

It was pretty, a half circle, a tiara in a way, but instead of diamonds it had several multi colored crystals directly over the solid clear crystal ring. She couldn’t help but be humored.

“Alex, are you planning on making me dress like a princess again for Halloween? I don’t think a crystal tiara is needed.”

Kara tried it on, not listening to Alex who was yelling at her not to put the tiara on her head.

The blonde woke from darkness, having no idea how long she had been out. She recognized she was lying on one of the exam tables in the Fortress and had no idea how she got there. Above her was the cellular scanner Jeremiah used to study the limits of her solar absorption rates three years ago.

“Did someone knock me out?” she asked, her mouth dry and definitely wondering how long she had been out now.”

Alex cleared her throat, deciding since she thought it was her fault and her project she would be the one to explain.

“I didn’t expect you because you haven’t exactly been here. I… uh… I left that out. I probably should have told you not to wear it sooner. How do you feel?”

“I feel… good. How long was I out?”

“8 hours.” Alex answered sheepishly.

“How?” Kara asked, sitting up slowly.

“It was an idea I had. Your brain can be manipulated, changed in a way. I get that you are immune to mental attacks but the Black Mercy changed your brainwaves severely. It modified your brain while attached to you. The crystals allowed us to match brainwaves so I could enter your head. We thought without medication because of your blood that we were pretty much screwed. Then I realized that blood is just a transportation system to get the drugs to your brain so it can begin, in essence, altering it. I should have figured it out sooner. I’ve been trying to find a way to skip the transportation system and directly affect your brain. I think I can replicate your meds by having you use the one I am working on twice a day for a few minutes and… I guess the sedative worked after a second. We were going to do more studies on it, artificial constructs, brain mapping… you kind of skipped over that part.”

Kara tried to keep up with what she was saying but truthfully, she was still a bit foggy, as she usually was after a long, dreamless sleep.

“You used a crystal headband to knock me out by changing my brain waves?”

“Not really! I mean, yeah, sort of, but its not your brainwaves as much as the physical nature of the brain. Sedatives work by increasing the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid. I basically modified these crystals so they would cause your brain to react to the same way it did to the Black Mercy. Only instead of putting you in a perfect dream state, I was able to affect your brain chemistry, stimulate it enough that GABAs would increase on their own. It happened a bit too fast, too much stimulation, but it did work. So, basically we get the effects of the drugs without the drug itself having to create GABAs.”

Kara smiled, thinking about the possibility of getting sleep on a regular basis. Perhaps she wouldn’t feel so run down and reliant on the ring for energy.

“So I can use this right away?” she asked excitedly. “Whenever I want sleep, I just slip it on?”

Jeremiah shook his head. “Not until we make a few more tests runs on 4D models. Alex and I have been double checking our work to make this safe.”

“And,” Alex added. “I think if this works I can also use another band to manipulate the neurotransmitters in your brain to block the reabsorption of serotonin, increasing the levels in your brain and helping with the depression and anxiety. I believe with multiple use of the bands we can recreate your anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds effects. It will have to be a slow build up so you are still going to have to wear those bands three times a day but I am confident it will work. Like the medications though, we may go through some side effects so you will be watched closely.”

Kara slipped off the slab she had lay on and wrapped Alex in her arms, holding her as tightly as possible. Even with a bracelet on, her ring still gave her quite a bit of strength and she had to be careful.

“You are amazing.” Kara whispered in her sister’s ear.

Alex nodded her head. “Yeah, I am. Now let me get back to work. I will fine tune the sedative band and I have a few more days of tests to run on the others. Just hold on a few more days and we will get there, okay? Mom, Dad, Shay, we are all trying to get this ring off you safely. I know you don’t think its possible but you thought you would never be able to take meds again. We found a way around it. Have some hope, okay?”

Kara promised she would and meant it. For the first time since she drug herself out of that blood lake on Ysmault, she felt anything could be possible. Instead of sitting on her front porch, she went to her work bench and began drawing schematics for Kelex and thinking of the materials she would need to make her robot look better.

Unfortunately her long sleep that day and the band not ready for further use for a few days meant another night of being awake. Barry had called grumpily, saying he was at a double homicide and wouldn’t make it over that night. Alex wasn’t mumbling, having taken an old fashioned sedative herself and probably wouldn’t need Kara that night.

Instead the girl sat on her front porch with Streaky and listened to the waves, lost in her thoughts. As usual her thoughts were on the ring and the damn thing was itching to be used once again. She thought of going to the edge of the cliff and spewing fire into the ocean, testing how far she could use this new weapon in the event she needed it.

The blonde was near the edge when a red glow dropped from above. Kara jumped back, her clothes turning into the suit she had worn before, this time a black bodysuit with a blood red cape and thigh high boots. Her ring glowed brightly and she prepared for battle.

The girl relaxed when a figure slowly landed in front of her. Kara thought she recognized her as one of the Reds who were with Gardner when they fought Doomsday. The memories of that battle were still jumbled but she was certain she had seen this woman before.

“Who are you?”

The woman touched the ground and Kara took a good look at her. It was dark but she believed her skin was blue and bones protruded from her back in the shape of what used to be wings. She wore what amounted to a one piece bathing suit with long sleeves, like an outfit Kara had made long ago that her Dad would kill her if he saw her in it. The suit was a dark red, in contrast to her blue skin but her black tall boots completed the shadowy look. She also wore some sort of black mask over her eyes and skull but a bit of dark hair, wrapped in a ponytail, hung from the back.

“I’m Bleez. I am one of us. Relax and listen to your ring. It knows I am no threat to your power. Take off that ankle bracelet.”

Kara looked down at her leg. The bracelet was under whatever boot she had conjured up.

“Why?”

“Because you are 25. I get that you want to age but your level of power is too much for a human body. You have so much more power than us, you will eventually start to break down. You need to replenish your strength, or you won’t make it past thirty. Take it off a few times a day for a few minutes. For now, just take it off and leave it here. We have a lot to do tonight.”

Kara looked at her suspiciously, wondering if the woman was telling her the truth. Of course why would she lie? If she was up to no good, she would want Kara weakened, not stronger.

“I’m not sure how to take this boot…”

Before she could finish the sentence, the red ankle bracelet was on the ground.

“You have so much to learn. Gardner thinks he can figure out a way to get the ring off. Over one hundred Reds are searching the universe for a blue. Even the Greens are helping, wanting that ring off you as quickly as possible. Did you know there has been a mass exodus of aliens from Earth in the last week? News travels fast, all over the Universe.”

“I’m getting rid of this thing, and I am going to live.” Kara told her, trying to sound confident.

“Hope is good.” Bleez agreed. “It was the emotion that drove Blue Lanterns. But hope without willpower is weak and Jordan failed. They are dead. The ring needs to be used. Learn to use it, let it loose, or it will constantly hound you. You have to release the power, or it will eventually release itself.”

Kara thought of this, wondering if using the power really would stop the whispering, the urge to use it constantly.

“How long have you been on Earth? How do you speak English so well?” she asked instead, hoping to change the subject.

Bleez laughed. It was a beautiful sound, not like the evil cackle Kara would have suspected.

“As I said, you have so much to learn. I am not speaking English. Neither are you. You are speaking Kryptonese and I am speaking Havenese. The rings allow us to understand each other. So what about it? Want to have a little fun tonight? I promised myself I would help you. This is me helping you the best way I know how.”

Kara thought about it for a moment. Looking back at the house, she used her vision and hearing to find Alex sleeping soundly.

“I have to be back before my sister wakes.”

“Of course.” Bleez agreed. “Just a bit of fun. Where would you like to go?”

That question threw Kara off guard.

“I thought I was following you?”

Bleez shook her head. “The first thing you need to learn is how to get around the universe. Think of where you want to go and let the ring guide you. It will open a portal, send you where you desire to go. So what about it? Where do you want to go? I am sure you could use a good fight. The frustration of fighting the thing you called Doomsday must be weighing on your mind. You don’t remember beating him, you only remember losing. Aren’t you in the mood to pick a fight? I know I am.”

Some part of Kara knew this was wrong, but the more this woman talked, the better the ring felt. It was almost as if she was feeling peace for the first time, not at odds with it.

“I have no idea where to go. War World?”

Bleez shrugged her shoulders.

“I suppose. That may get us one fight but most of those so called gladiators will run when they see us. What about a race that is too stupid to run? I happen to know that right now, the White Martians are celebrating a holiday. They are celebrating the day they rose up and began the massacre of the Greens. They are all gathered together, thousands of them, commemorating the destruction of an entire race. You are friends with the last Green Martian, right? They slaughtered his family, his daughters, his race and now are having a party.”

Celebrating? Celebrating wiping out a race, including children, herding them into concentration camps?

“How do I get there?” Kara asked, righteous indignation flaring inside her.

Bleez smiled approvingly. “I knew you would be fun. Think about Mars, let your ring do what is natural. Its as easy as you make it.”

Kara did so, raising her fist, energy pouring out, making a breach of red swirling energy. She flew through it with no hesitation and arrived over the red planet, Bleez by her side.

“With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead.” Bleez whispered, her face grim but with a hint of excitement in her eyes.

“Together with out hellish hate, we will burn you all, that is your fate.” Kara finished, smiling for the first time that night.

“Let’s show them the true power of the Red Lanterns.” the blue skinned alien told her and flew towards the planet’s surface.

On the surface there were indeed thousands of White Martians surrounding a great pyramid, chanting their prayers to their god. The high priest of the White Martians stood atop the structure, speaking of the great victory against the Greens over 300 years before.

The Whites watched a red circle open in the sky over the pyramid. Seconds later a beam of red light incinerated their high priest and continued to flow into the pyramid. They listened to the rumble, felt the ground shake and then were blown far back or knocked straight to the ground as the shattered structure sent ancient blocks into the bodies.

The White Martians slowly stood up and looked at the ruins where their most sacred temple had stood.

In the middle were two female Red Lanterns.

The blonde one was recognized by all. Kara Zor El and J’onn Jonzz were the number one targets of any Whites traveling to Earth. None had succeeded, all had died, so the high council stopped sending assassins.

Now she was here.

And a Red Lantern.

Kara smiled, enjoying the absolute stillness of the Martians and practically smelling their fear.

Bleez was right, they were too stupid to run.

“Good evening boys. Sorry about crashing your party but I missed you.” Kara told them. “Now who wants to have some fun?”

Central City

Barry had been examining the burnt limo and the remains inside for hours, looking for any accelerant, any fragment of a bomb, anything that could explain how a limo exploded. The problem was the bodies. The bodies were in one piece, not blown apart like one would suspect in an explosion. Usually something was torn off even if it was as small as a finger. The driver and the lone passenger, a Congressman no less, had been traveling down the highway circling Central City and according to witnesses the entire vehicle burst into flames, as if the outside and inside were covered in kerosene and someone dropped a match.

“So, what do you think? Car bomb? Mechanical failure?” Joe asked, standing next to Barry.

The man shook his head.

“A mechanical failure would have started in one place and spread. The driver would have had time to pull over. According to the witnesses the entire car went up in flames like it was paper. A bomb would have caught everyone’s notice but the cars driving beside this one were not affected, no shattered windows, no loud pops, nothing until the car hit the side of the road and then the gas tank exploded. The burn patterns are all wrong. Cars don’t burn like this. Nothing metal does.”

“Rory?” Joe asked hesitantly. He and Snart had agreed to stay out of Central City and hadn’t been heard from in months.

“Killing a Congressman? This isn’t his style and not even his gun could do this.” Barry told him, having already thought of this.

Joe shook his head. He had almost been hoping it was Mick Rory.

“So… metahuman.” the man said with a sigh of frustration. It had been quiet on the metahuman front in Central City. He supposed it was too good to last.

Barry shrugged his shoulders. “Could be a meta, or it could be an alien. From what I have read, the only ones who can manipulate fire like this are a race called the Infernians. If one of them is here, he or she could send a fireball into the car and manipulate it easily to engulf the outside and inside at once. From what I understand since word has gotten out about Kara, aliens are getting off Earth in record numbers, but a few are still around. Infernians look human, so finding one by appearance is out. My money would be on one of those, instead of a meta but either is a possibility. One thing that isn’t possible is this happening because of a bomb or mechanical defect.”

Joe shook his head, suspecting this case had just became a bigger nightmare. A high profile Congressman had died in mysterious, gruesome circumstances and now an alien could possibly be involved.

“Why would an alien want to kill a Congressman?”

“I don’t know, Joe. You are the detective so go detect. When you figure it out let me know and I can take it down.”

Barry walked away frustrated, Joe following in his wake.

“Hey, what’s wrong? I get that you are upset about what happened to Kara, but you have been strange today. Didn’t you stay with her last night?”

Barry continued walking until he was away from the scene and others. Once he was certain they were alone, he talked to Joe. He needed to talk to someone and Jess just didn’t seem like the right person. She was hesitant to talk about his relationship with Kara, knowing so much about her.

“Yeah, I saw her last night. We feel asleep and had breakfast in the morning, then I came back to work.” he told him, sounding testy.

“Okay, continue. I know you Barry. Is it because of the announcement she made last week? That statement she gave did a lot for people. Rehab facilities and mental health clinics are seeing more new patients than ever, according to Iris. Are you angry she didn’t tell you first?”

Barry thought for a moment. Was that what had been bothering him?

No, it wasn’t.

“Things are just a mess, Joe. She has this ring stuck on her that has her on edge. She already had temper problems but was doing a lot better. The last few months she had been so happy. Now… I get it. She can’t help it I guess. It still bothers me. Last week, she got upset about something and snapped at Alex. Alex got into her face and told her to calm down. No surprise, Kara did calm down. Her damn ring even stopped glowing. Alex can always get through to her. Last night, she tried to push me away again. When I refused she became so frustrated she blew fire from her mouth. She had turned away, she didn’t mean to but it still bothers me. Why can her sister get into her face and tell her to calm down and Kara obeys? If her parents tell her to calm down, she does. Me? She spits fire.”

Joe looked at him with wide eyes. “I… I thought she blew… ice out of her mouth?”

“She can probably do that too.” Barry guessed. “It isn’t that she blows fire when she is angry at me. Its that those three tell her to do something and she does it. If they tell her to calm down, then she does. Her first reaction when something is wrong is to run to them, especially Alex. Her first reaction to me is to push me away. Its getting old. I know she loves me, so why is she constantly trying to distance herself from me when she doesn’t do it to them?”

Barry crossed his arms and looked at the sky. He used to enjoy looking at the stars but tonight they just reminded him of how complicated everyone is.

“Cameron Chase, Alex’s ex, I met her one time. She was kind of a bitch but I think what she said was true. She told me I would always be second to Alex.”

Joe shook his head, half of him wishing Barry had never met Kara Danvers, but the other half knowing that Barry would never be with anyone but her. He had only met her once at S.T.A.R and his house later that evening, but she seemed so cheerful, almost like sunshine on a cloudy day. He had also learned or pieced enough from Barry to know that she was not okay, that some of it, if not most of it had been an act. Her announcement last week confirmed to him that Kara Danvers had many, many problems and from he understood about this red ring, they had only gotten worse.

“Maybe its not about being second or first. You can’t quantify love that way, Barry. You have been with her through some tough times but Alex and her parents have been with her since she landed here. From what little Iris and you have told me, the way she talked about them over dinner, its kind of obvious she has a hero worship thing for them. When that ring attached to her you told me despite everything she was protecting Alex. Despite everything though, you are the one she recognized, remembered your name and talked to. That was you, not the Flash. It wasn’t because of some rank you had in her affections. She obviously loves you.”

“Then why is she constantly pushing me away?!”

“Probably because she loves you and thinks she is doing what is best for you. Maybe you should give her space, make her realize how much she needs you. She can come to you on her own terms.”

Barry laughed, imagining what would happen if he gave her space. “She wouldn’t come to me. She stayed away from me for six years thinking she was protecting me. I don’t know what it is, Joe. She can be moody, angry, short fused, sarcastic, but I still love her. When things are going well, before this happened, I got to see the real her, the one I met in National City six years ago. But whenever something sets her back, she falls right back to the person she thinks she is.”

Joe took in the frustrated, very fatigued face of his son. He felt for the boy. Barry’s struggles reminded him of his own relationship with his ex-wife.

“I’m not suggesting that you stop speaking to her. I’m just saying that you might be pushing too hard and if she realized how much she needs you around, and she does need you around, then she might come to you with less frustration. Just give it some thought. You will figure it out.”

Barry slightly agreed and understood where he was coming from but wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. Perhaps it was the right thing to do but there was also a risk that she would shut him out completely.

“So you going to call your Justice League buddies in to help track down this alien?” Joe asked.

Barry thought for a moment and shook his head. “No. We only do that in dire emergencies. I’m going to work with Wally and the gang to stop this. You are going to need to prepare a fire proof cell or at least test the meta cells. I’m also wearing my old suit.”

That caught Joe by surprise.

“Why would you do that? Isn’t the one you have fire proof?”

Barry shrugged his shoulders. “Because she can’t have it both ways. She can’t push me away and then watch every move I make. I need to get Cisco and Caitlin up. Who knows who this alien could be targeting next. When you have an idea, let us know. I need to work with Wally on funnels and Cisco can start working on finding this Infernian or meta, checking for hot spots around the city. If she is too strong we are going to have to see if Caitlin is ready for a field test.”

Mars

Guy Gardner had woken up from a restless sleep, his ring humming as it had not done in a very long time. The man groggily stepped outside, wondering where the danger was, who would be coming after him, what sort of energy spike could he possibly be picking up. Closing his eyes, he searched, let his mind sync up with the ring more so than normal.

It was red energy.

Rage.

A lot of it.

His first thought drifted to Kara Zor El once again rampaging on Earth.

It was Kara but she was not on Earth and she was not alone.

In seconds, Gardner was suited up and let his ring open a portal to where she was.

He landed in what appeared to be hell but recognized as Mars. The red dirt of the planet was littered with debris and hundreds of body parts that use to belong to White Martians. He heard screaming and his blood ran cold.

Thousands of White Martians were attacking two females from all directions.

Thousands were falling, burning to ash, by the fire of Kara Zor El, her heat vision, her fire breath and the ring on her finger. She was back to back with Bleez and the two women were wiping out whoever approached them, burning them without remorse or restraint.

Bleez and Kara broke, Kara wading into the oncoming army with a gleeful smile on her face, ripping through Martians with her hands, exploding her energy field, killing multiple enemies at once.

Bleez had taken to the sky and was raining hell down on the white creatures below, but Kara stayed on the ground, enjoying the feel of taking the lives of these genocidal monsters and in the back of her mind, knowing she could do this to the entire planet, wipe the ones who killed J’onns family out of existence completely.

Gardner hit a White Martian who had been flying towards Bleez from behind her. Bleez noticed and smiled brightly.

“Guy! I was wondering when you would join the party. Look at her. She is magnificent.”

Guy admitted he was in awe of her. White Martians were some of the toughest creatures in the Universe and they practically exploded just by being near her. Kara was taking her time, toying with them, until they finally got the message and began running.

“This is helping her control the ring?!” Gardner yelled at his second in command.

“She had to use it or it would eat her up. You should have told her this. Would you rather she rampages on what few alien criminals left on Earth, or have fun here?”

Gardner shook his head, feeling himself losing his own temper and being drawn to the battle himself. His ring desperately wanted to join in.

“She used it. You couldn’t have taken her to the moon to blast rocks or something? We have to end this before she wipes out the whole race and scours the planet.”

Bleez shrugged her shoulders. “Or we could help her. You know what kind of scum these creatures are. The universe would be better off without them.”

Gardner shook his head. Yeah, the universe would be better without the Whites but Kara Zor El wouldn’t be better, after she calmed down and realized she wiped them all out. It looked like she had killed close to a thousand or so already, though he had no doubt some bodies were just burned to nothing beyond a body count.

“Bleez, we are going to have a serious talk when we get back to Earth. The last damn thing anyone needs is another Lantern Civil War.”

The leader of the Red Lanterns flew into the red storm that was ripping through and now chasing the retreating White Martians. He knew this could possibly really hurt, or even get him killed but he had to try, or Kara could be here for months, tracking them under the planet’s surface where they would no doubt hide.

He landed in front of her, barely ducking to avoid her final blast. The White, seeing a Red in the air and Kara and Guy Gardner on the ground, took advantage of the break in destructive power and ran faster.

“Get out of here, Gardner?” Kara hissed. “They have to go. All of them.”

Gardner raised his hands. This was not the first time he had to deal with a Red caught up in rage and bloodlust. He was usually strong enough to stop them physically. This time he had to use his brain, not a strong point but he knew what made Kara tick.

“Not here to stop you. Just have some information I thought you might want.”

That caught Kara’s attention. She dropped her hand and her eyes changed from red to blue.

“What is it? There are millions more on this planet, celebrating the destruction of the Green Martians as we speak.”

“I know, but its almost dawn in Midvale. Doesn’t your sister usually wake at sunrise? You want to be there when she gets out of bed, right? If she sees you are gone, she is going to be upset. This race isn’t going anywhere. We can talk about what to do with them later but right now, don’t you need to take care of Alex?”

Kara shook her head, trying to calm down. The ring dimmed somewhat and she felt better. Then she looked at the destruction around her.

“What did I do? I mean, I know what I did but… why…”

Bleez landed next to her. “You did what Red Lanterns do. We wipe the universe of scum. The ring will be sated for a while. It must be used occasionally.”

Gardner cleared his throat to shut Bleez up. “And the next time we can sit together and figure out a target that is… something. I don’t know but let’s go back to Earth and remain calm, right Kara? Alex is about to be up. She will tell your parents you aren’t home and they will worry. You don’t want that, do you?”

Kara shook her head and opened a portal, flying through it quickly, leaving Gardner and Bleez behind. The leader of the Reds looked at his lieutenant, annoyed, bordering on angry but not wanting anymore fights today.

“Really, Bleez?”

“She needs to unleash the ring or her rage will drive her insane. You know this! It is your duty to help her learn to control it and you are neglecting that duty! I said I would help her and I did. I will continue to do so.”

“Helping her is unleashing hell on thousands of White Martians?”

Bleez shrugged her shoulders. “What species would you prefer? Did you think moon rocks would suffice?”

“Next time we talk about this!”

‘At least you acknowledge there will be a next time.” Bleez mumbled and opened her own portal, leaving Gardner alone.

A White Martian stood up, weak after just regenerating, and growled. Gardner rolled his eyes and blew the creature apart before heading to Earth and wondering how he would explain this to the Danvers.

Midvale

Alex woke to find Kara in the kitchen making breakfast. This was good, perhaps her appetite is returning, Alex thought.

Kara sat across from her, concentrating on her food.

Concentrating a bit too hard, considering she was hardly eating any.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“Everything, nothing, the same as usual.” Kara responded, still not looking at her but passing a small piece of toast to Streaky who was on the table to Alex’s irritation.

“Something happened. Don’t lie to me. Do you feel worse than usual this morning? I know you didn’t sleep last night considering how much you slept yesterday. Did something happen overnight? Is the ring burning you, or talking again, or…”?

“I went to Mars with another Red after you went to sleep last night and killed over a thousand White Martians.” Kara blurted out. “Maybe more. I wasn’t really counting.”

Alex put her head in her hands and clenched her teeth to stop the scream of frustration she wanted to let loose.

“Anything else you want to tell me?” the older sister asked, not sure if she wanted a truthful answer.

“I uh… I kind of destroyed a Pyramid.” Kara sheepishly admitted.

Alex took a deep breath and stood.

“Don’t wear a bracelet today. We are starting studies on the anxiety and anti-depressant crystal bands and its time to work on the antipsychotic. Once I have your brain used to working at a supercharged level we can see how it affects you without your powers. Seriously Kara? A thousand?”

The girl shrugged her shoulders.

“I needed to blow off some steam?”