Chapter Text
"Krypto!"
The Kent home was a flurry of activity, a stark contrast to the peaceful image of the property itself, which was a vibrant blend of oranges and yellows, glowing across the vast fields as the sun slowly descended in the distance. It was quiet, peaceful, a calm bubble of existence on the outskirts of Smallville.
Martha cooked, keeping her hands busy, creating all her of old favourites, something she had not been able to do in ages. It had been many years since the old Kent homestead had kept so many visitors.
Although the guests were unexpected and they had shown up randomly over the last few weeks, Martha was grateful for the help, the support, the company while she grieved the loss of her only son. Clark's father was gone and now so was Clark, yet the house buzzed constantly, she had only to look around the corner for another person, a familiar, smiling person.
"Krypto! Come here, boy!" Lois searched for the dog, tapping a fork against the metal dog bowl she carried. "Dinner time!" The porch creaked beneath her feet as she walked back and forth.
Kara set the table, delicately putting down the plates and forks and spoons, making them neater than necessary. "James! I need another salt shaker!"
"On it!" James rushed out of the kitchen with a shaker in one hand and a bowl of salad in the other, he placed them on the table, and then Kara rearranged the layout anyway.
"Krypto!"
Barry sat in the common room, watching the news channels on an old cube-shaped television. "It's me! I'm on TV!" Barry bounced on the sofa as a news crew attempted to create a name for the mysterious red blur that had recently become a presence in Metropolis City. "The Racer? That doesn't even make sense. The Blur? That's worse. Oh, come on!"
"Barry, turn that off. It's dinner time," called Martha as she walked into the dining room with her hands full of hot dishes.
Kara was the biggest surprise, she had arrived first, the day after everything had happened, and she went straight to work on the farm. Krypto, Clark's dog, followed the Kryptonian around as she sped about the farm, clearing the fields and fixing fences. The cows watch with raised ears as the new blur rushed about there home, clearing their muck and bringing out fresh haybales.
The change happened seamlessly, Kara slipped into jeans, plaid shirts and boots, leaving her city costumes in the city. Kara didn't need to use the glasses often, and her hair was always up and off of her face and neck. It was comfortable, familiar, and Martha liked it very much that Kara Danvers had made it a point to let her know that she still had a family. Martha was never left to feel alone.
Martha herself spent most of her time resting, reading or cooking to keep her son's cousin well-fed and energised. Martha liked feeding Kara, it reminded Martha of moments long gone, when Clark and Johnathon would come inside after a long, hard day's work and eat a feast for five men. The boys would joke and laugh about menial things, Martha missed the moments made up of nothing, asking John to take out the trash or Clark insisting on carrying in the weekly groceries from the truck.
Lois had arrived second, she'd retreated back to the farm after the funeral and just never left. Martha fussed over her the most since she was carrying Clark's unborn son, her grandson. The birth was due in three months, and everyone was clinging to the knowledge that there would be another Kent very soon, another Kryptonian. This drove Kara especially, it helped her to push the despair to the back of her mind. Instead, she set up the baby's room, built things, painted over other things and moved heavy furniture around the place. Lois though, hated being fussed over, she preferred to do things herself, despite how tired or sore she was in the moment.
"Krypto! Come on, boy!" Lois whistled loudly, and a blur of fur rushed onto the porch, wagging his tail. Lois smiled and affectionately scratched behind the dog's ears. Krypto was the only one she would talk to, really. He would sit at her feet and listen to the hard words that Lois couldn't share with Kara or Martha, not yet anyway.
James arrived shortly after the funeral, and then Barry who regularly travelled back and forth between worlds when he had some free moments. Iris had visited a few times with the young Speedster, and she helped Martha with random domestic duties.
"Lois! Dinner!"
Lois looked over her shoulder through the flywire door and shouted back at her mother-in-law. "Coming!" A cool breeze blew her hair off her neck. Lois smiled out at the landscape, content, despite the circumstances. Clark and Lois's son would be loved, protected and fussed over by many uniquely beautiful people.
Kara ignored an incoming phone call from Alex and sat at the table with everyone. "This looks amazing, Martha."
"Thank you, Kara." Martha smiled and folded a napkin across her lap. "Everyone dig in!"
James smiled and grabbed the bowl filled with mashed potato. "It smells great."
Barry nodded in agreement. "So good."
Martha observed the group, a family of unexpected friends and family brought together by tragedy. Martha missed her son, she missed him fiercely but somehow, she felt calm, surrounded by good people, heroes, just like Clark. Clark was gone, but he had left something behind, a legacy, a gang of heroes who represented everything he'd fought for in the end.
Kara's phone vibrated on the table, she ignored it while everyone one else noticed and glanced around at each other. Supergirl had been actively ignoring her city, ignoring the Danvers family, ignoring everyone and everything in National City. Kara Danvers' life had been put on hold, indefinitely.
The Kent farm had become a place of hiding for Supergirl, a place to merely exist while the world existed without Superman.
James had tried to talk to Kara in those first few days, and shockingly, he had been quickly shut down, Kara had spun into a vicious rage, and the hero spat angry words at her friend. No one approached Kara after the outburst, knowing that she'd break eventually and that she would be surrounded by her family when she finally did collapse.
Lois rubbed her protruding belly. "How about Kyle?"
Martha tilted her head to the side. "I like it."
"Firstborn sons take their father's name. Sort of. It sounds the same. Jor-El. Kal-El. Your son would have one syllable, like, Tor-El or Val-El. Kara explained while absent-mindedly pushing around the vegetables on her plate.
Everyone looked around at each other, feeling equally awkward and curious, James cleared his throat like he was going to speak, but then he ducked his head and just kept eating.
Lois picked up her glass and swallowed some water. "I also like Michael."
Kara looked up, giving Lois an annoyed expression.
Kara Zor-El had wanted the child to be raised Kryptonian, to be a continuation of her dead race. Clark's child was the last piece of Krypton she had left.
Lois wanted the child to be raised a human, away from the life that ultimately brought about his father's death.
The pair had been at odds since they began living under the same roof. Kara would smash the moon out of the sky for Lois and her unborn cousin if need be, but that didn't mean that she could accept Lois's fears of history repeating itself. Kryptonian blood was not a death sentence, yet Lois recently began treating it as such, distancing herself from Kara and the politics of alien refugees, blocking out those social justice thoughts, it affected her work and her relationships, especially with Kara, one of her last connections with Clark Kent.
Lena Luthor couldn't escape the words, they were printed everywhere, flashing across the television, spoken by her employees, whispered and sneered behind her back.
"Superman is dead."
The house of El crest was made black and hung upon flags and banners across the world. It seemed that Superman's fanatics had grown an angry kind of silent as the funeral was arranged and the media covered the government's official investigation. No specific details about his death were released. Everyone was left to imagine a gruesome demise or a heroic sacrifice.
National City, despite the trouble arising in other parts of the world, slowed to a crawl, the streets were grey and dull with the absence of its hero. Supergirl was missing, she'd disappeared shortly after the news of her kin broke and spread across the planet like a violent wave. The news story hit the people and reality faded for a long moment, it exhaled slowly and now the city was waiting, quietly, tensely.
At L-Corp, high above the streets, Lena sat at her desk waiting for judgement. A Luthor was to blame for the death of Superman, albeit inadvertently. An unexpected enemy procured some kryptonite, that was stored in one of Lex's vaults. The kryptonite had killed Superman. Though the specifics were unknown.
The weeks following Superman's death had been chaotic, the people panicked, new villains arose, long lost enemies came out of hiding, darkness spread across the world in the wake of his demise and the human race cried out for a saviour that was gone and buried.
The CEO ignored the security alerts that popped up on her screen, likely regarding the mob of angry citizens downstairs, picketing at her building's front door.
It was easy to hate a name, to make the last remaining Luthor into a villain, into a symbol of everything wrong and evil in the world. It didn't matter how much change and good L-Corp had done in recent years, now Superman was dead, and the people needed to hate someone, to make someone suffer, to make them feel afraid.
Lena accepted her fate, quietly in her office as she sipped her father's favourite scotch. Still, something bothered her, something scratched loudly in the back of her head. The vaults were supposed to be sealed, yet clearly, at least one had been opened.
The CEO was distracted when one of her security team walked into her office and stood before her desk.
"Yes, Jackson?"
"When I was seventeen, my mother and sister were in a car crash. A pileup. It was awful." His voice wobbled, and he clamped his teeth together, trying to breathe in deeply through his nose.
Lena closed her laptop and sat back, she had known this young man for almost five years. "What's wrong Jackson?" He was a rookie guard when he had joined her security team, she had chosen him personally, she liked his intensity. It looked like his only purpose was to protect people, he'd said that it was all he'd ever wanted to do and Lena respected that commitment greatly.
"Superman saved my sister." Jackson let out a wet laugh. "He was my hero."
Lena closed her eyes. She knew where this story was heading, she had heard many tales like this one in recent weeks. "Jackson..."
"Her spine..." He shook his head, shaking away the bad memory, letting it fall out of his head. "He still saved her. He saved two out of the seven involved, and one of them was my sister. Karen is still alive today, and she is happy...was happy."
"There is nothing I can say." Lena looked up at him, her eyes ached with warm tears, but she refused to cry amid his pain. This was his story, and she would let him tell it.
"No. I guess not." Jackson withdrew his firearm and flipped the safety switch. "I am truly sorry Miss Luthor."
"Jackson..."
He turned the gun on himself and fired.
Lena jolted in her chair and watched wide-eyed as his body fell limp before her desk. After a long moment, the sound of heavy footsteps made her blink. Then her security team burst in, weapons raised, ready to act, and then they merely froze, and their expressions dropped, shocked with the scene before them.
Jackson was dead.
"Kira!"
Nia jumped out of her chair, simultaneously snatching up her notepad and knocking over her coffee cup. "Oh, shoot! Gosh, darn it!" The liquid immediately stained her cream-coloured blouse. "Crap-tastic."
"Elegant as always Kiera." Miss Grant strolled by with her head high, directly into her old office and dumped her handbag onto James' desk.
Cat Grant had retaken her throne, at Lena's pleading request, after James Olsen had departed from the media ranks during the biggest story of the decade. She slipped back into the roll smoothly, as if she had never left, and strangely she never asked about James or Kara, or when they would be returning.
Nia rushed into the office tailing after the media legend. "Miss Grant!"
"Your acting very strange Kirah."
"My name is Nia. I've told you this before."
Cat turned to face the girl with a blank expression. "Very well. Nina."
CatCo was expected to have answers, for the higher powers and for the panicking city below. It was the concrete building that had given Supergirl her name and her image. Cat Grant had made Supergirl into what she was in the people's eyes, a hero. Any articles mentioning the Super's had been sparse and vague, Cat couldn't risk the city thinking that her creation had abandoned them, in their time of woe.
Nia however, was left floundering. James and Kara had left abruptly, yet understandably, after everything. Still, frustratingly so, no one had any new information, everyone was silent and absent, leaving Nia to walk around blind and lost. It was a new job in the ultimate time of panic and crisis.
"Do we have anything new or interesting?"
Nia's shoulders sagged. "No. We don't. I haven't heard anything. No one has heard anything. No signs of Supergirl. James is still on leave, so..."
Cat sat behind her desk and rested her chin in her palm. "Well, just because Supergirl is neglecting her duties doesn't mean we shall."
"Miss Grant-"
"That'll be all, Nina."
Nia nodded and left the office, dejected and hopeless.
Cat thought about Kara, the bright and happy ray of sunshine, burdened with things that Cat Grant laid upon her, responsibilities such a young soul did not deserve to carry.
The roof of the barn was both peaceful and uncomfortable to lay upon. Kara rested her hands behind her head and watched the star glisten and sparkle, there weren't as many visible in Nation City. The fresh air brushed past her jeans and face, it was relaxing, uncomplicated. Kara could hear the chatter from below, in the house, if she focused. Barry and James were watching television, James was laughing at the latest new clipped of The Blur. Lois and Matha were doing the dishes, they chatted about Krypto, whether or not he needed to be microchipped and if even that was possible.
Then her phone vibrated in her pocket. Kara considered throwing the device across the paddock but froze when she saw the callers identification. After a second of hesitation, she answered. "Lena."
Lena exhaled. "Kara. I didn't expect you to answer."
"I can hang up if you want, " Kara smirked against the phone.
"No. Please, don't. I have been worried...about you."
"I'm okay." Kara refocused on the sky above, splitting her attention.
"Are you?"
"I should have called sooner. I have heard some things. About you. L-Corp."
Lena hummed an acknowledgement. "Every story needs a villain."
"Supergirl will make a public appearance, saying how you are a friend, and you never knew anything about the plot against Superman."
"She will?"
"Yeah, as soon as she is finished. She's... She's not ready to come home yet." Kara took a breath, there was a whole world that she ignored, and Lena was part of that.
There was a brief pause. "I know James was close with Superman and that you had to go with him to...wherever. I guess... I just miss you. The city feels empty."
"I'll come back. Soon."
"You take all the time you need."
"Are you okay? I know people have been saying some nasty things."
"Nothing for you to worry about."
The casual brushoff caused drops of irrational anger to brew in Kara's chest. "Lena. Tell me." Kara knew that the people could be bitter, resentful, angry towards the most natural target.
"You have enough to worry about. Everything here is...manageable."
"I see." Kara nodded, imagining all of the drama that could be manifesting for Lena back in National City.
"You know what I see? Orion."
"What?"
"I'm on my balcony. I can see Orion...just."
"I'm...outside actually. I'm looking at him right now." Kara smiled, and the anger slowly faded away.
They talked about nothing, stars, meetings, memories, movies, and when her phone beeped, telling Kara that she was low on charge, she reluctantly bid Lena goodnight and resumed her stargazing alone, comforted slightly knowing that Lena was doing the exact same thing, just far away.
"Supergirl!"
Kara struggled to push herself onto her knees, let alone stand completely. The ground was cracked and shattered, it vibrated with the thudding of monstrous footsteps. "Flash..."
"Supergirl! You need to move! Now!"
"I can't."
"Get up! Supergirl, get up!"
"I can't!"
The constructions sites already fragile frame shook and struggled to hold and pieces of the building crumbled around the weakened Super. Kara's shoulders slumped, and she let her body lower back onto the cool, concrete ground.
Everything felt too heavy, and it was so easy to just stop. "I'm sorry..."
"Kara, please, we still need you."
The creature roared. Kara slowly looked up, jaw clenched, eyes alight with determination and with her last bit of strength, she pushed up and into the air.
"What was that, Kara?"
Kara looked up from her spot on the porch swing. "What, James?"
James shook his head. "You know what I'm talking about. What happened today?" He sat down next to his friend and his eyes drifted across her bruised cheek and split lip. After each new altercation, it seemed Supergirl came away with new injuries before she had healed from her previous ones.
Kara looked out toward the setting sun, hoping to absorb as much of its light as she could before sunset. "It was a rough day. Bavet Beasts are ferocious."
"You have fought much worse. You have been exhausting yourself. It became evident today when you nearly got squashed."
Kara shrugged. "Barry was with me."
"Barry was running circles around three Bavet's of his own. One knocked you down."
"Way to rub it in."
"Come one, you know what I mean. You haven't stopped since you got here..."
"James."
"...You need to take a break. Clark wouldn't want you following him to an early grave."
"Enough! I can take care of myself. Back off."
James waited, but Kara continued to appear disinterested. "Okay. Fine." He stood and took a few steps towards the door before turning back around. "Call your sister, by the way. She's about to send a team out here to collect you."
Kara wasn't sure if he was serious.
Days passed, and Kara continued to work herself deeper into exhaustion. Martha cooked even more food, Barry stayed longer, James watched and waited for the breaking point. The only one who didn't seem concerned with Kara's behaviour was Lois. Clark's widow was her usual sarcastic, confident, loud self and when someone tried to tell Kara to slow down, Lois would step in and something like, "Let the girl work" or "Everyone deals with death differently."
Kara was thankful, in her own abrasive way.
Barry gestured to the messy barn wall, which was decorated with CCTV images, maps, sketches, news article and bits of string connecting one thing to another. "What we know so far."
James sighed. "Not a lot."
Lois sat on a partially dismembered hale bale. "The Valkyrie. Female. I'm guessing. Probably hated Superman. Evil. Powers. And she knew about Kryptonite."
Kara folded her arms and leant against a wooden support bean, mildly disinterested until she had something tangible to punch.
James nodded his agreement with Lois. "You're right. But maybe the Kryptonite is symbolic. Maybe someone who was affected by the meteor shower?"
Barry pointed at James. "Maybe someone who had been given an ability from the Kryptonite."
"Yeah, there's a lot of those types in this town." Lois sighed. "It's still a lot of suspects."
"Stabbing Clark seven times in the chest with a hunting knife dipped and sealed in Kryptonite feels a little personal," said Kara, shocking everyone a little bit with the bluntness of the statement.
Barry nodded again. "Right. She's right. Totally."
Lois stretched her arms above her head before speaking. "My money is on revenge. The meteor shower killed her parents, sister, brother, aunt, uncle and pet bunny at her nordic-themed, birthday party. Seventh birthday - hence seven stab wounds - and this gave her some super skills, letting her get close enough to Superman to kill him."
Kara laughed and covered her face as she dissolved further into heavy, almost uncontrollable laughter. "That's good. I like it."
James and Barry shared a concerned looked.
Lois smile at Kara, unaffected. "I could look through old articles. See if anything matches."
"Why now? Why not a year ago? It all seems...almost random." James asked out loud, not really expecting a response.
Kara looked at James, still smiling. "I'm sure there's a perfectly insane, evil reason. I'll ask her when I find her."
The Smallville docks smelt and tasted like salt, large metal ships creaked and swayed with the winds, chains rattled and clanked against one another, the place appeared empty, forgotten. Superman was found thanks to his tracker, stabbed to death with a note pinned to his chest. Kara hovered above, nervous to touch the ground stained with Clark's blood. No one knew why he was even there in the first place, the mystery stuck with Kara, it kept her tense and angry.
A hooded figure stepped into view on the upper deck of one of the older, abandoned ships and leaned against the rusted rails. "Supergirl. Have you come to see where Kal-El took his last breath?" There was a voice distortion device clipped to the strangers hood, and it made her speech deeper, almost demonic.
Kara lept from the dock, up onto the deck of the ship and the whole vessel shook and rocked at the impact. Kara watched the woman lean on her elbows, casually, adorning a military outfit not unlike the DEO's attire, although with a hood and a sleek black mask across her eyes. "Are you Valkyrie?"
The woman grinned. "I am."
"Good." Kara sped up to the second level, eager to bash this particular villain into the steel ground until she felt her heart stop beneath her fingers.
"Nice try," Valkyrie called up from the deck below.
Kara spun around to see that they had swapped locations. "Are you a Speedster?"
"I am many things, much faster than you being one." The Valkyrie folded her arms. "I was faster than Clark too."
"How do you know us?" Kara was furious, her voice was unrecognisable to her own ears. It belonged to someone dark, pained, angry.
"That is a complicated question."
"What do you want? Was it just to kill Superman? Do you want me dead too?"
The Valkyrie laughed. "No. I don't want you dead. You're kind of important."
Supergirl floated down to stand before her cousin's murderer, she moved slowly, lest Valkyrie speed away before Supergirl could get any answers. Her feet touched the metal floor delicately, and Kara could see a wisp of blonde hair peeking out from behind the mask. "Do I know you?"
The Valkyrie smiled but didn't answer.
"Were you affected by Kryptonite during the meteor shower? Did you hate Superman? Did your whole family die in some alien catastrophy?" Kara sounded slightly sarcastic and still very angry. "What is it!? Why did you do this!?"
"I want to destroy you, Supergirl, and I know how to - I know about your family and friends and your precious city. I'm going to take everything from you. You will lose everything!"
"Why?" Kara's hands shook, she made them into fists to keep herself steady.
Valkyrie took a deep breath and exhaled, dropping her arms at her side. "You'll understand. Soon. I'm doing you a favour, really."
"A favour? You killed the only other Kryptonian I had left!"
Valkyrie shook head. "Now that's not true. What about Lois? You have a cute little cousin on the way."
Kara shot hot beams from her eyes, pushing everything she had into the attack but when she blinked, Valkyrie was gone. Quickly, Kara gathered herself, all of the raw pieces scattered on the deck of the ship and she turned and raced back to the farm.
Later, Lois didn't even flinch when Kara sped through the kitchen door and collapsed at her feet, sobbing uncontrollably into the material over her large belly. Instead, stroked Kara's head and made gentle shushing noises until the Kryptonian calm down enough to sit back on her heels.
They made cups of tea and sat in the common room like nothing had happened. Even later, when James and Barry had returned from their patrols, Lois deflected questions meant for Kara and kept the attention on herself as she talked about her lower back pain and swollen feet.
Eventually, while everyone was sat around the dining room table, Kara talked about her encounter with Valkyrie. Martha did the dishes and ignored the prospect of losing another family member to this monster. James asked questions, and Lois changed the subject. The only one not speaking out was Barry, who sat quietly, staring at his hands, brow furrowed, deep in thought.
"Cat Grant," Cat answered her phone, partially annoyed at the interruption.
"Run the story."
Cat closed her laptop. "Supergirl, are you sure? You know what this story will do...this is a war cry." Cat's eyes flicked to her door, making sure that this conversation was private.
"I know. It's time."
"As long as your sure."
"Valkyrie...she's stronger than me, faster than me, she knows all of my weaknesses..."
Cat's voice was loud and comforting, like warm, unbreakable, steel. "We're with you, Supergirl."
There was always a warmth that passed through Kara when she spoke to her former mentor, this time was no different. Cat Grant showed the Kryptonian that humans could surprise and astound her still. "Thank you, Miss Grant."
"I feel cold." The voice was so weak that Lena almost missed it, disregarded it as the passing winds, until she looked up, towards her balcony.
"Supergirl..." Lena regained her senses, she stood and slowly approached the damaged hero slumped at her balcony entrance. "What happened?"
Supergirl had bruises and cuts splattered across her body, more beneath her suit. "Blew out my powers, more or less. I'll be fine tomorrow."
"I don't think that you will." Lena couched next to the woman who protected the city so valiantly. It was jarring to see such an unstoppable warrior limp and deflated at her door, complaining about the temperature. The fearless lioness, cut and shaking, resting by the human, seeking shelter in the human abode.
Lena watched as the untouchable goddess trembled. "I can't stop her..."
"Valkyrie," Lena affirmed, she had seen the news, Cat Grant's article, a call to arms for the citizens of National City. It was a plea for the individuals of planet earth to not give into the powerful monster under the bed, despite the times, it was a call for people to stand and refuse to be afraid.
"She's better than me. She has all of my strengths and none of my weaknesses."
Lena gripped Supergirl's forearm, squeezing it hard. "That's not true. She doesn't have a city full of people, ready to fight."
Supergirl thought of all the people that had fallen, in the name of honour, heroics, country, pride. "Humans. Weak, tiny humans."
Lena scoffed. "Excuse you, I am not weak."
Supergirl smiled then, for the first time that night. "No. You, Lena, are the strongest human I know."
Lena Luthor chose to push aside her racing mind, and the delicate balancing act of emotions she had when it came to the caped crusader. "You need rest."
"I don't want to go back, yet. I can't face them. They think I'm going to win."
"Okay. Then...stay."
Supergirl slept on Lena Luthor's couch, in her office, she let Lena unclip her cape and removed her boots. Lena retrieved a blanket from a random draw, explaining that she slept here often before draping it over Supergirl's frail form.
The city slept, the hero slept, Lena watched and waited as the night faded into day, fearful that the next battle would be the end, the ultimate ending to Supergirl.