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writeintrees · 5 years ago

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Pain in a Superpowered Society

Blurb: In a world where superpowers are highly regulated, Sarah has the misfortune of having chronic pain and the ability to swap bodies. What will happen when the authorities catch up to her and try to utilize her power?

Words: 5332

Warning: pain, institutionalization, superpowers, vomiting, military, dissociation, losing consciousness, panic attack

“Don’t touch me!” I yelp at the woman crouched beside me. She pulls back her hand at the way my hoarse voice catches at the corners. It’s the voice of someone scared and desperate and she is smart enough to know that’s a dangerous combination. She stands and exits the room. My shoulders ache against the coarse concrete of the wall I am pressed up against. My hands shake against the ripped fabric of my pants. The room is faintly lit by sunlight filtering through holes in the sheet metal above. The roof is peeled back at the corner like the lid to a can of tuna. I scan for a foothold. The wall is cracked in the middle, like someone had started to take a sledgehammer to it only to decide it was not worth the trouble. Moss has collected in the fissures so I guess that person gave up a long time ago. Voices approach the door. I push myself up to standing. A wave of nausea hits and I steady myself as stars spatter across my eyes. A large man appears in the doorway, and I see a dark green uniform in my speckled vision. I do not wait. I make a run for it, whipping across the room and catching my foot in the sledgehammer indent to gain purchase on the top of the wall. I am ready to use the momentum to heft my body upward through the small opening when I feel a strong arm loop around my legs. His knuckle makes contact with my exposed knee and next thing I know we are both on the floor.

My breathing is fast and shallow. I gasp for air and feel like I am dying. I scramble to my feet and away from the large body rolling on the gravel. His roars are drowned behind my own panicked thoughts. Fuck not again. Shit shit shit I’m dying. I know, logically that I’m not, but my mind screams it just the same. I hear the footsteps of people in heavy gear, feel a sting in my right arm, then everything buzzes into blackness.

I jolt awake in a dimly lit room. I lie on a twin sized bed, still in my filthy street clothes. A thick glass wall bisects the room, dividing the space between myself and the woman who had crouched before me earlier today. Or has it been longer than that? How long have I been out?

She sits typing on a laptop, the blue glow of the screen illuminating her dark braided hair. I begin to stir and feel a prickle in my left arm. There an IV connects to a bag full of yellow fluid. I feel like a caged animal here. Do I even have any rights with my powers? What the fuck is going on?

“You made quite a mess out there.” The woman speaks without looking up from her computer. The voice crackles through a set of speakers by the -- what I now gather to be soundproof -- glass. A twinge shoots between my ribs when I try to take a deep breath. I lie back and press the heels of my hands into my eyes. Come on, keep it together. You are safe. Wherever you are, they are not hurting you. It helps slightly, but not enough. The prickling feeling in my left arm intensifies. I rub at it absentmindedly, trying to focus on my breathing.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Her voice sounds more direct. She is probably looking at me now. I keep my eyes closed and keep trying to quiet my body.

“Not really?” My voice sounds more strained than I meant for it to. The feeling of bugs crawling up my arm and under my skin increases.

“Alright. I am legally required to read you your rights. You are under quarantine until you are given clearance and then you will be free to move within the building and interact with the other powered individuals housed here.” She launches into the whole spiel. “This is a government sanctioned mandatory four week training and assessment program, and the evaluations during this period will determine your designation at the completion of the program. The three options are that you will join the security force, be put in confinement indefinitely, or released to live a relatively normal life, under close watch of course.” Her tone is bored as she recites these words she has no doubt she’s said a hundred times before. I take my fingernails to the film holding the IV in and start picking at it as she talks.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The nurse said you were severely dehydrated and low on electrolytes when you came in.” Too late. I already have it halfway out. My throat tightens as the plastic tube slides out of my vein and drips yellow fluid across my arm. I turn the small plastic valve to the closed position. I rub at my arm and feel the crawling sensation subside.

An awful thought hits me and I finally make eye contact with the woman, “Did anyone touch me when I was out?” My voice is panicked. She eyes me closely.

“Not after what happened to the first guard. We handled you with hazmat suits after that. That’s one heck of a power you’ve got there. Is it only through touch or can you do it through the air as well.” There is a hint of curiosity in her gaze, like she doesn’t know what to make of me. Fair enough.

“It’s only through touch. Well- at least I think it is.”

“Alright, good to know.” She makes a quick note then closes her laptop and slips it into her bag. “I’ll be back tomorrow to talk again. Hit the buzzer if you need anything.” She gestures to a com on the door on this side of the glass. I stare at the door for a few minutes after she exits. Where the fuck am I? What do they want from me? I swing my legs to the edge of the bed and test some of my weight on my legs. It feels like my knees are splintering as I push myself upright. I take slow steps to the window at the foot of my bed to see the top of a lamp-post and a building across what looks like a courtyard, but no people walking around.

I glance around the room. There are two cameras, one by each door. Twin doorways out of the room which is mirrored on either side of the barrier. The glass is solid and thick. Everything is likely vacuum sealed for people who’s powers carry through air. Not like I could use my power to break out of here anyways. I walk over to the door with the buzzer. My steps are a little more solid. Movement always helps. Yep, I was right. There is a rubber rim around the door. There is a window through the door at eye level, revealing a small room on the other side with the lights off. I take a shaky breath and press the red button. At first there is no sound or sign it worked. Maybe I didn’t press hard enough? I look up at the camera. There is a buzz and a voice comes from the speaker, “yes?”

I am flustered. “Um, hi, I’m not sure who to ask or if you even can help but, um, is there any way I could get an ice pack? Or some frozen peas or something? -- Please?” There’s a pause before they respond. Stupid. They don’t care about a silly ice pack. You’re here who knows where and you want ice? Whatever there’s no harm in asking. And it would let you think more clearly.

“Yeah I think I can manage that. Would you like some food as well?”

“Yes please. Thank you so much.”

The com buzzes again as it turns off. I smile in the little victory. I don’t want to have to make this trek again, so I sink against the wall beside the door. Maybe ten minutes later I am startled again by the buzz of the com.

“I know you’re there. It’s no use trying to jump me.” I stand up and see that there is a man inside the small room.

“I’m not… I mean I wasn’t-” I trail off. It’s too hard to explain. The man smiles at me from the other side of the glass. He slides a plate of food and an ice pack into a compartment in the door.

“Here you go. My name’s Jonah if you need anything else.” When he slides his door shut, a small green light blinks on my side. I pull the things out my side.

“Thank you. I’m Sarah.”

“Pleased to meet you Sarah.” He smiles before he leaves. The door opens into a hall. I see a number plate on the door opposite mine, 113. I sit on the bed and rest the ice pack on my knees. I begin eating the sandwich Jonah brought. 113. How many are holding cells? Are there more floors?

----------------------------------------------

“Good morning Sarah! How are you feeling?” The cheery voice cuts like knives and the lights blare through my eyelids. All I can manage is a groan and I pull the sheets over my head.

“Oh no you don’t, you’ve had enough sleep. It’s time for your medical assessment.” I peek out and see the yellow rubber of a hazmat suit before she pulls back the sheets.

“I’m Doctor Santini. Could you please stand up for me?” I groan again in protest then roll to my side and push myself shakily to sitting. Behind the face shield of the hazmat suit, a shock of red hair curls around the doctor’s face. She is bright and cheery while I can practically feel the dark circles under my eyes. My bones ache with fatigue and stiffness. On the other side of the glass partition is that woman in the suit and dark braid. Her arms are behind her back in a casual but intimidating gesture. This time she is not alone but has an assistant who is taking notes at a standing desk.

I stand and do what the doctor asks. She has me walk in a straight line, hold my arms in front of me, all standard stuff for assessing physical fitness. I am able to do everything she asks and hope she doesn’t catch the scrunching of my brow or sharp inhales. I go to lie down again as she taps something on her tablet.

“Now is there any pain or discomfort anywhere?”

I let out a sharp breath of amusement, “why?”

“I need to make sure nothing’s broken or infected.”

“Ok I can tell you I’m fine there.” She looks skeptical. I roll my eyes and push myself up to seated again. “I don’t have a fever and I’d be in more pain if something were broken. I promise you. I’d notice.”

She insists on a more thorough physical examination. I can tell she is suspicious of my vague and unusual answers. I do not want to have to explain, I just want to get out of here as soon as possible. I am already exhausted and it is still the early morning, at least it feels like it. I have been having to sleep almost until noon lately for the fatigue to ease. Why did they have to wake me up so fucking early? The doctor pulls a curtain across the glass and has me change out of my filthy clothing and into grey cotton pajamas. After examining and palpating my bruises, she seems finally satisfied. I curl back up on my side facing the wall. I hear the metal clangs of curtain rings sliding along the rod and the door latching behind her.

“How long have you had your power?” The woman in the suit asks. I had forgotten she was there.

Can’t you people just leave me the fuck alone? I didn’t ask to be here.

“Sarah, I am a busy woman so let’s make this quick and painless.”

I smile weakly. Alright suit lady. Let’s get this over with, but it will be by no means painless. “Okay. Can I stay on my back though?”

“I don’t see why not.”

I roll onto my back, knees up and I speak into the open air. “I’m not sure how long it’s been. Um… It started about the time when Carlson was elected.”

“Six years. That’s impressive. Longest someone’s kept off our radar is ten but most are found within the first few months. What did you do all that time?”

The assistant is typing a mile a minute. The tapping makes it hard to think. I give the briefest recap possible. Honestly it has been a huge blur. I feel the lady’s eyes burrowing into my skin. I try to keep my gaze softly focused on the ceiling and take a deep breath. My hips and back ache. All of my muscles feel twisted and constricting. Breathing is hard. Staying still is hard. Moving hurts. I need some fucking distraction or I'm going to go and do something reckless in here.

“What is your power exactly?” The assistant keeps tapping away. What is she even writing? No one is speaking right now. The cinched ankles of the clothes they gave me cut into the backs of my calves. My hips ache. I roll again with my back to the woman again.

“It’s hard to explain.”

There is a long pause that I am too tired to feel the tension in. She seems to realize I am not planning on elaborating. “Suit yourself. Adam will come by later. He’s one of our trainers here for our more uncooperative guests. He’ll find out what you’re hiding.”

“Pfft. Guests.” I whisper at the padded wall. Reminds me of a mental hospital. I curl into a ball and try to adjust the waistband and ankles of the pants. One hand lifts to rub at my temples.

I must have fallen asleep because next thing I know I hear the buzz of the com, “Ready or not it’s training time!”

I don’t move to look at the door. The rubber of the hazmat suit creaks and sticks to the hard floor. The sound gets louder as he approaches. Can’t I get just a moment to think? Fuck this shit.

“Hey, you awake?” The voice is clear and not muffled by a suit hood. I turn to see what I had thought was the yellow rubber of the suit was instead the squeaking of worn in sneakers.

“Wha- wait you aren’t wearing a suit!”

His laugh is deep, one of those belly laughs that are always genuine. “Yeah, I always find it works better to get to know someone if they aren’t being treated like some feral animal.”

He sits down casually on the end of the bed. I jerk my legs up and away. My heart is racing. Don’t get too close. You’ll get hurt. It’s alright. I’m alright. I take a deep breath to remind myself I am alive. Again a small stabbing comes with the expansion of my rib cage. The trainer, -- Adam was his name right? -- well whatever his name is he is looking straight at me just like everyone else does. Trying to figure out what breed of freak I am. This is where all the disappeared people go then? Do the people here find out your powers then how to weaponize them? I’m afraid they will have little luck with me. Mine are useless.

“Now I’m here because you refuse to explain what your powers are. I talked to the guard who tried to nab you back where they found you. Sounds like you put him in a world of hurt.” He flashes me a smile. I hear the screams of the guard in the back of my mind and squeeze my eyes shut. Fuck. I’m so sorry. Shit, that poor guy.

“I’m sorry Sarah but I can’t leave without finding out what your power is.”

“I- I hurt people. Please stay away. I don’t want to hurt you too.”

“I’m a big boy. I can take it. Believe me whatever you are packin, I’ve felt worse.”

“No, you don’t understand, I-” I didn’t even see his hand coming. Suddenly my chest feels like it is constricting. Panic shoots through me. He’s fast. But now he is throwing up on the floor, propped on his hands and knees. Everything is muted. I can’t feel. Fuck I’m dying. Shit shit shit shit-

I dig my fingers into my scalp, hanging onto my hair for dear life. Everything is spinning and splotchy and dull. I just have to ride it out. I try to remind myself that this won’t last long, that I had contact not so long ago so this one will be brief, but my body screams out that this is the end of the world. It feels like forever.

“You alright?” A woman’s voice comes from the speaker. The world is starting to return to normal. The pangs in my body shift back to their normal spots. I let out a shaky breath of relief.

Andy stands up and gives a big thumbs up with a grin. “Whoa that was a trip. Wowie. Kendra did you get that?” He yells over to the door. In the window a girl with a long blonde ponytail rolls her eyes and nods.

“No kidding that’s a whopper of a power you’ve got there.” He seems to notice that I am still curled up in the fetal position and seems confused at this. He waves me up, “come on, let’s look at the footage.”

The blonde opens the door and he goes inside the small room. Jonah is there as well, looking much more kindly at me than Kendra is. I stand hesitantly outside the threshold.

“Come on in. I don’t think you are going to try to get the jump on us. And if you do, just know there is no way you can get through the second door.” I glance in and see sure enough that the door into the hallway is just like the one into the room, minus the window.

“Kendra, let’s see what we got.”

Kendra keeps as much distance between us as possible. I try to stand back to respect this. I definitely would not want to be near me either. Adam’s trust is very misguided. I watch curiously as the scene we just lived plays out from an aerial view. Each of us curling into ourselves. It only takes a minute and twenty seconds for Adam to stand back up and give a thumbs up. The video pauses. It felt like hours. Every second ached for something missing and felt like a milenia. I bend to clutch my knees and take a deep breath.

“Here,” I look up to see Adam pointing at a close-up of me during the transfer, “what is going on here?”

Fuck. “Um, what do you mean?”

“I mean with most powers I’ve encountered with skin-to-skin contact, those only affect the other person. But it looks like you are going through the same thing I am.” Ha. Not exactly.

“Yeah. You get kinda used to the pain over time though.” I leave it vague so I’m not lying but he will misinterpret what I am saying.

“Well shit. That’s no fun is it? That fucking sucked.” This time I am the one smiling.

“Yeah, it really does. Welcome to my world.”

--------------------

I know they won’t give me scissors or anything else to cut my clothing. I wait until it is dark and start working at it with my teeth and fingernails. I am able to rip out the tag and work the elastic bands until they snap with minimal pain. My jaw is left a little sore but I can finally sleep better tonight without those things cutting into my skin.

-----------------

Four armed guards in hazmat suits enter my room and lead me to the training room. After a long visit with a psychologist and the talk with the trainer, I got moved out of the isolation chamber and into a more regular room. No glass partition this time. After assessing my security risk they let me pass on to the next stage of training.

Adam is not alone this time. He is with a guy about 5’ 6” with short black hair.

“Time for combat training Sarah. Now step up on the mat and put these on.” He holds out a pair of padded gloves that reach up to the elbow.

“Shouldn’t I be more covered?”

“Nope, today we are working on controlled movements and body awareness. This should help you prevent unnecessary skin-to-skin contact in your every day. Also it counts as combat training for the books. Don’t worry, we’ll start off nice and easy.”

I don’t know about this. We start with footwork, then simple punches and blocks. The boy working with me says he made a bet with the others that he wouldn’t throw up like Andy did. I don’t want to know how he heard about that. I think of a large room full of other powered individuals all laughing and analyzing that image Andy showed me. My stomach turns at the thought that they would figure it all out. My breathing is starting to catch on my throat as we keep moving around the mat. Everything is fuzzy, like my eyes and brain are full of cotton. My arms feel red and swollen and my leg muscles ache. I mention this and Andy says that’s good, that it's a sign of a good workout. It takes everything I have to not glare at him or spit choice words. He takes over on the next part of block sequences, starting to go a little faster. Sweat beads on our foreheads and catches the lights. I feel hot and pummeled and I take a quick glance for somewhere I could go to throw up. In that moment my reaction time slows enough that I take a blow to the shoulder that knocks me onto my back.

Andy kneels down, “you gotta keep your eyes on the target!” I curl my knees up and clench my belly. “You alright? Are you hurt?”

“What the fuck do you think?” I spit at him. My weight shifts so I roll onto my side, but I had not noticed that my loose pants had ridden up my calf and the exposed area makes contact with his ankle. For a moment it feels amazing for the aching to die down. I sit back up without pain in comparison to before. I feel half dead again. “Shit, I’m so sorry coach. I didn’t mean to. I swear.” I am able to focus on him. I look to the kid -- who is looking like he is about to piss himself and with eyes as wide as saucers -- and yell at him to get some ice. I get Coach Andy onto his back with ice and talk him through breathing and relaxing his muscles. It helps and his movement quiets down. It lasts maybe 5 minutes, enough for me to get used to the lack of pain before it hits me again like a truck. He and I gasp for opposite reasons as the transfer reverts.

“That time was different? Why?”

Because my body flips out at the training for no fucking reason., that’s why. I look up at him with a pang of remorse. This is my burden to bear. He motions for the guards to come back in and escort me away.

“No more training until we figure this out.”

I am led back to that first partitioned room. Helping him through it actually made the world feel more real. Less faded. I exist between two extremes, both unbearable for their own reasons. At least I know a goal and keeping moving can help. It made me feel a little less dead.

Shortly after I return to my room, Kendra wheels a cart just through the threshold and quickly retreats back into the small room. Andy enters on the opposite side of the glass. His face is hardened and he looks much older. More drained, somehow.

“You are uncooperative during sessions. Not only with me but with the rest of the team as well. The higher ups wanted me to do this sooner but I believed in you and thought I could get through to you.” His stiff demeanor shows how much I disappointed him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” He waves his hand in dismissal.

“Just put on the equipment by the door as I instruct you to.” He talks me through attaching leads to my chest and stomach. I put a cap on my head and gloves over my hands. He instructs me to sit upright and answer his questions to the best of my ability. I don’t interrupt to say I cannot sit upright comfortably on the bed. Let’s just get this over with.

“Does your ability cause pain in others?”

“Yes.”

“Do you also have pain inflicted upon yourself by your ability?”

“Kind of?”

“Please answer yes or no. Does your ability cause you physical pain the same as it does to other people?”

I think for a moment. Panic attacks and emotional pain yes, but physical pain… “no.”

Adam scowls as he types into his tablet. “So you lied to me.”

My heart jumps. “Yes.”

“Why do you ask for ice and heat packs?”

Tears begin to well up in my eyes, “because I wouldn’t be able to bear it otherwise.” I chew at the inside of my cheek and feel the pain blossom out of my jaw into my ear and up to my temple. A hot tear splashes onto my arm.

“Your ability doesn’t just cause pain in others, does it?”

“No.”

“Are you in physical pain right now?”

“Yes.”

“Is that what the ice packs are for? Reducing your pain?”

“Yes.”

“So what I was feeling whenever we made contact. When we were in the training area. That is how you feel all the time?”

“Not all the time.”

“Not when you make contact?”

“No.”

“So what do you feel when you make contact? You seem like you are affected as well.”

“I feel numb, like I’m dying.”

“So the pain goes away?”

“My pain goes away but if the other person is in pain then I get their pain.”

“So you feel each other’s physical sensations?”

“Not exactly, more like the way our bodies are geared swap. Like if you are depressed I feel depressed or if my body is stupid and interprets the feeling of clothing on it as pain then you feel that with your own clothing.” I see him glance at the chewed through and loose ankles of my pants.

“You really feel like that all the time?” He says, hushed. His voice has softened again and so have his eyes. There’s this gooey pity look that I get every time someone finds out about my pain that makes me want to disappear, to melt into the bed.

“It’s not so bad...” What felt like something strong in my head comes out as even more pitiful. I can’t bear to look at him again. I instead direct my gaze at my feet and slowly rub them against each other.

-------------------------

“What? You scared to hit a disabled girl?”

We’re three weeks into the program and Adam seems to trust me again. He moved a freezer into the training room and I get to take breaks whenever I need them. The stern lady came in and threatened that if I tried anything, my privileges would be immediately revoked and I might just have to live the rest of my life in a cell. I am free to go to the dining hall and lounge with the rest of the people in the program. The facility is large, but not as large as I sometimes imagined. There are about a hundred people in the program right now. People are constantly cycling through. The first day I was given privileges, I walked into the lounge and was met with a lot of looks in my direction and whispers. The boy who I had fought my first combat training day ran up to me and yelled: “this is the girl I was telling you about!” Everyone swarmed me with questions after that. Some wanted to touch me to prove who was the toughest. I was taken aback at first. The boy, Suman was his name I later found out, pulled me aside and said they are just curious and mean no harm. Turns out a bit of a legend had cropped up around me. Only half of it was true, but I am not telling them which half just yet. I started getting an audience during my training. Not that that was odd. On the contrary, it seems that watching each other train is a common pastime here.

The blocks have gotten easier over time. Andy has me hitting a bag that he painted green and yellow and wants me to hit skin on green and glove on yellow. I have more padding on my arms and that reduces the pain of it. My limbs still buzz for about an hour after each session, but I am sleeping better with the exercise.

I finish the training and head back to the lounge with an ice pack to recuperate. Jonah is there playing cards with Suman and a girl who is able to compress light into matter. Really cool stuff. Others start to trickle in as the afternoon continues. Luke tells a story about a guy they brought in yesterday who could coat himself in ice like armor. In just three days Luke will finish the program. He is hoping to be offered an assignment in the guard. A kid comes up to me and pats me on the sleeve saying I did good today. The attention turns to me and one of the boys with a tough persona bets his buddy that he wouldn’t even be phased if he touched me. Despite all the talk, none of them have ever transferred with me. His friend bets he would end up on the ground. I have been working with a medical professional every other day and transferring with the doctor and having her figure out what body mechanics and nervous system calming techniques would be most helpful for my case. Central sensitization they are calling it. I had no idea there was a word for it. I half thought it was all in my head. Turns out my central nervous system just freaks out over every little thing and it causes a whole slew of problems.

“Alright. Come and give it a shot. I bet ten bucks that you’re gonna puke.”

The boy looks up at me with wide eyes. I smirk back. He doesn’t want to show that he was making a big talk with no follow through, so he approaches me.

“It should last only about 30 seconds at this point. You ready?” I hold out my hand for him to touch if he likes. It’s not too late to back out now. His friends start cheering and laughing and he touches my hand. The dimming hits less hard now. I breathe through the momentary panic like the psychologist taught me. He said it’s common to feel like you’re dying when something so overwhelming and constant over so much time goes away. The boy already has his head in the trash can. I help him lie down on the couch.

“I can’t believe you guys actually are signing up for this.”

“Who wants a turn next?” Jonah yells. A few hands shoot up.

A/N: I found this in a free write I did in 2018. It resonated with me, so I hope it finds someone else who needs it. I really like the idea of body swaps or mind reading, since pain is such an internal experience.

As always, any comments are critiques are welcome!

#milo's stories #chronic pain #fibromyalgia #central sensitization #fibro #chronic illness #actually chronically ill #chronic fatigue #superhero

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alixxxxcat21 · 5 years ago

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Ⱥէ Ͳհҽ Ɛղժ φąɾէ 2

I woke up, not in a room I recognized. I didn’t know what time it was. There was something off about my body. I couldn’t move. I then lifted my head and realized my body was in a hospital gown, not only that but I was strapped to the hospital bed.

I hear the beeping of the monitor that was next to me. There was a bag of liquid hanging and administering a drip through a tube that no doubt led to my arm. Considering that this all generally freaked me out and my heart rate jumped.

I heard the hiss of an automatic door. Not something I would have thought I would be hearing considering the state of the world.

“You’re awake,” said a familiar male voice.

“And strapped to a bed. Any ideas as to why?” I asked.

He was silent and his normal perfect jaw was clenched, and a vein was popping in his neck. That didn’t fill me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. However, the silence meant something happened. Something he didn’t want to tell me.

I heard the door open again and man in a lab coat walked in.

“Our sleeping beauty is awake,” he said.

Wesker turned slightly. I followed his head to see the clear double-sided window. I almost died when I saw what it was, he didn’t want to tell me.

For one, my once dark brown eyes were blue, and cat-like. I couldn’t tell why I was strapped to the bed, but I noticed when I tried to shift, something on my lower back made itself known. It felt like there was a tube or something attached at the base of my spine.

“Can someone PLEASE tell me what the bloody hell is going on?” I snapped.

The monitor went a little haywire and the lab coat backed up a little.

Wesker, his usually silent self, walked to the bed and started unbuckling the straps. Both myself and the lab coat looked at him questioningly but for different reasons. When the straps were off the immediate need to use my legs was overwhelming. When I sat up the tube or whatever it was came free. Only it wasn’t tube. It was a tail and not a normal one. It matched my chocolate skin. It also was about two to three inches thick with a very sharp stinger-looking end.

I jumped up almost pulling the IV out of my arm. Wesker’s hand stopped me and removed the IV gently. He threw the IV line back on the bed. He stood off to the side. I took in the full view of the image of me in a hospital gown, with the tail that was about six to eight feet long.

I twirled around like an idiot trying to figure out how the hell it even got there. The lab coat coughed to get my attention. Wesker put his hand up towards him, in a way to tell him to wait.

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to know how the new appendage got there. The eyes were one thing. I turned back to the window and really looked at the shape and color. That’s when it hit me, like a ton of bricks.

“This! You did this!” I snapped whipping around.

The new tail had a mind of it own and it whipped out and almost stabbed Wesker in the chest. However, he was just as quick and caught it inches from his chest. Smiling slightly, he turned to the lab coat and nodded his head. I hadn’t a clue what that meant but the lab coat left the room.

Turning back to me, “This was not intentional.”

“What in the fuck else would it be?” I growled out.

I was trying, without success, to pull my tail out of his hand. He tightened his grip and yanked really hard. Pulling me into him. He let go my tail and wrapped his arms around me. Lowering one hand down to the base of my spine to grab the base of my tail slightly bending it inward. The pain that caused halted any further assaults on his person.

“You have to let me explain. Causing me pain doesn’t help, just puts you in more danger,” he whispered in my ear as he used his other hand to cradle my head into his shoulder.

I didn’t know what to do. I was at a crossroads between nuzzling against him and ripping him a new one. The weird part was I knew affection was not part of his skill set. That much I had been able to figure out.

A part of him called to something within me. I wasn’t sure what it was.

“What happened to me?” I asked softly.

His hand on my tail loosened and pulled me away from him slightly. His sunglasses hid his eyes. However, something told me I wasn’t about to get good news.

“Well, you remember our little one-night stand.” He started. “Well it seems that I wasn’t nearly as good at pulling out as I thought.”

I looked at him at as if he had lost his mind. I wasn’t entirely sure I understood what he was trying to tell me. The significance of what he said was lost on me, not because I didn’t understand. No, because I wasn’t sure how that tied into me growing a tail.

“Explain, please. There has to be more to this. I know I can get pregnant from that but that doesn’t explain the tail,” I said.

He let go of me and walked towards the counter. I didn’t follow. He picked up a tablet. I wanted to know but I hadn’t expected to see video proof of it.

“The following morning you didn’t wake up. You were sweating and breathing like your throat had closed up.” He handed me the tablet. “I quickly checked your body for signs of mutation. However, the mutation was going on inside.”

“You were hot to the touch and I had to dress you before I could bring you here. I had them sedate you. The tail started to snap and break the bones of your spine. Merging them together so your body was able to support the new weight. I knew the pain was something you wouldn’t be able to handle awake.”

“They strapped you to the bed more so to keep your tail from hurting you or anyone working on you. They took samples and ran tests. All confirming what I had already knew was happening. You’ve been infected. And it was my fault. I didn’t think seminal fluid would do this much damage.”

I hit the play icon of the tablet. The video started with me being brought in. Wesker was carrying me. He called for someone to get me a bed. Then when I was placed in the bed, I saw my body quake violently. I almost dropped the tablet.

It looked like something was ripping through every part of me. I saw my veins turn black under my skin and my skin was darkening. I could tell whatever was happening was more upsetting to Wesker at the time of the video. I actually heard his voice turn to a growl as he barked orders to save me. He seemed to almost lose control as they moved as quickly as they could to get IV line in and set things up to keep me alive.

Then I saw my body go still. I could see I was still breathing and had a heartbeat. However, my skin had started to returned to normal color. I could tell they hadn’t even put anything in my system yet. My veins returned to normal. I wasn’t sure what to make of this part of the video. Everyone stopped. Wesker whipped around to yell at them, but someone put their hand up to stop him.

They motioned to him to look at me. He edged close enough to see that I wasn’t dying. Then my body shifted. I lifted like a worm from the bed for a second. My heart rate went up again. There was a monitor I couldn’t see that someone was pointing to. Someone ordered me to be flipped onto my side. That’s when I saw what Wesker had mentioned earlier.

My spine was bending and breaking audibly. It made me wince watching my body act on its own. I watched as something was crawling through my skin into my spine. Like it was feeding something. My body was shaking again. Then the panic in the room went up when I flat lined, but I could see I was definitely still breathing.

Then everything went a little crazy. They all started doing things. They put my back on my back. They started the IV’s and the oxygen mask. One of them stated they couldn’t get my pulse. I knew that should mean I was dead. However, my heart jump started itself as they were about to use the defibrillator.

At this point I was more miffed than they were as to how any of this was possible. I should have turned into something by now. Yet, I was still human-looking. I was breathing. I was sweating. Wesker was off screen at this point in the video. I heard him yell for a full diagnostic on me.

Something else became apparent when I heard him say that. He had no clue what just happened it concerned him. I couldn’t tell if he could feel fear, but from the response of the lab coats in the room I could tell that something was very usual about what just occurred. They seemed to have never seen anything like this before. Not that that filled me with the warm and fuzzies about the whole situation.

The rest of the video was just them strapping me to the bed and occasional lab coats coming in to check on my condition. I wasn’t about to watch all of that. So, I pressed the screen and saw the time length at the bottom. I dragged it until I saw something poking out from the cloth that was covering me. The tail had taken almost 4 hours to break and reconstruct my spine to accommodate the new appendage.

That was when they also had come to check my vitals again. This time they opened my eyes and the person almost jumped out of his skin. He said for someone to call Wesker. It would seem that in the same time the tail was growing my eyes had shifted to the bright blue and my pupils changed shape. Wesker joined them as they walked back in. He raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes. He seemed calm. I couldn’t see if that was because I wasn’t dead or because now, he knew he hadn’t killed me with sex.

The video ended a few seconds later. I looked up at him and handed him the tablet back.

“It seems your DNA did something to the virus that wasn’t something we had encountered before,” he said taking the tablet and putting it back on the counter.

“Meaning what, exactly?” I asked.

“Meaning, that you’re very unique. We don’t know what exactly you are to honest. The tail was never something we have ever seen happen,” he said.

“You keep saying ‘we’. Who the bloody hell is ‘we’?” I asked.

“He would be talking about the Umbrella Corporation,” said a female voice.

I snapped around and saw a hologram of a little girl.

“Meet the Red Queen,” said Wesker, not the least bit surprised.

I wasn’t sure whether or not to slap him or freak out. The Red Queen then disappeared and reappeared next to Wesker. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to explore anything that involved a Corporation that seemed to responsible for the apocalypse. There had been rumors and now I knew that they were exactly what people had been too dumb to figure out.

I knew I needed to figure out what was going on. There was no way we were still in Washington anymore. Plus, there was a significant absence of the people I had seen before.

“What happened to the White House?” I asked.

There was a deliberate attempt to pretend he didn’t hear me. He turned towards the hologram girl and nodded. He picked up of the tablet. He started heading for the door.

“What happened in Washington?!” I snapped, my tail acting on my heightening aggression.

It whipped out and stabbed the floor a step from where Wesker would have been about to step. He stopped and turned back slightly, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“I am getting the hang of this,” I said more surprised that I aimed correctly.

I could tell he was debating whether or not to fight with me. A part of him called for it happen. I don’t know how I knew this, but I knew.

“What. Happened. In. Washington?” I asked again, pointedly.

He sighed and turned around to face me.

“The White House no longer exists,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what the hell that actually meant.

“What?” I asked.

He seemed really hesitant to answer the question fully.

“It was disposed of,” he said.

“You mean you blew it up?” I asked rather taken aback.

His silence only made me feel worse about what I had just asked. This wasn’t something I wanted to think about. The implication that he had killed everyone that I had just met. I would have yelled but I didn’t know what to say.

“Why didn’t you just leave me,” I asked, pulling my tail out of the floor.

He seemed rather surprised by the question and just stared at me for a moment.

“I wish I had an answer for that,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe I felt more responsible for you than I did the others. Their fate was already decided but you hadn’t been there for that.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I was spared only because I was ‘fresh meat’ essentially. That because I had slept with him, I was, in his mind, a little more important than the other people at that current moment.

I realized I had jumped from one life and death situation to a completely new one. Only now I didn’t have a choice in the matter of my own body. I wasn’t human anymore. I didn’t want to be a monster. However, I had no idea what the hell to do about it now.

I shifted back to the bed and curled in on myself. I just started crying. I felt utterly defeated and alone. Again. I couldn’t save anyone, and they had been taken from me before I could even get to know them. I heard him walk towards me. My tail whipped out protectively or out of anger and slashed him on the cheek. He stopped. I think even he knew that I wasn’t in any mood to be consoled by him, of all people, monsters, whatever.

His footsteps went to the door and exited. Once alone an overwhelming agony consumed me. It wasn’t exactly physical, but more emotional. I was sad, angry, and generally unstable. I don’t know when I stopped crying or when I got off the bed. However, when I finally stopped seeing red, I was in the middle of a very destroyed room. The double-sided window was the only thing untouched.

The bed, monitors, everything was completely destroyed. I was breathing like I’d run 5 triathlons. I dropped to the floor, very exhausted. Also, very hungry. Another thought that now mad itself known: I had no idea what this new body’s diet would consist of. Eating anything that wasn’t normal made my stomach lurch and my head spin. At this point I hear the door open.

I was more surprised that I left that intact during my rampage. The lab coat seemed terrified to be in there at all at that moment.

“I won’t hurt you,” I said, holding up my hands as a peaceful gesture.

He seemed more terrified by that. I look at my hands and realized I had grown talons. Very sharp, dangerous looking talons. I put them behind my back and found the strength to create a safe amount of distance from him while they unknowingly receded to my normal nails.

The feeling of being feared was not something I had ever experienced before. I didn’t like it and didn’t plan on getting used to it. Wesker was going to pay for this. I just had to figure out how.

Then the hologram girl showed up again, “Project Raven, we have new room set up for you. Please follow me.”

‘Project’, I thought, sighing.

I closed my eyes in frustration as I went the long way around the room to the door. I followed the Red Queen through maze of hallways to a simple furnished flat. There was a bed and other necessary items. Also, I saw a neatly folded pile of clothing.

“This will be your new home while you’re here. Feel free to make any request for room modifications you need,” said Red Queen before abruptly disappearing.

I went for the clothing first. I picked them up and headed to the shower unit that was along the adjacent wall to the bed. It was separated by a wall from the rest of the room. I assume they wanted me to get the illusion of privacy out of my head. I started the shower and set the clothes off to the side on the small side table. I tore off the hospital gown. The hot spray almost instantly made me feel better. My new muscles were sore and tired. The hot water was exactly what I needed. I quickly dried off and examined my new clothing.

They had chosen a deep blue long sleeve almost spandex-like crop top. The top accentuated the DD’s that I was graced with. I rolled my eyes. The entire middle section where my cleavage would be normally be covered was missing. The pants were even less appealing. They were similar in material, but black and had a small ‘v’ in the rear to accommodate my new appendage. They were like leggings. I sighed. I wasn’t about to complain about this. I was now their “property”.

I started to put the clothing on and heard the door open. I could sense exactly who it was. Wesker walked into the center of the room and stopped. Pretending to wait for me to finish dressing.

“I see you had some design input on my outfit,” I said walking back to the bed.

I seemed to missing shoes. I checked under the bed to find wedge-heel ankle boots. The heel was at least five to six inches. I put on the soft black socks that were inside them and slipped them on. Keeping my back turned to him on purpose. I could tell he was looking at my ass, but I made it look as if that was unintentional.

“I think I have some explaining to do,” he said as I stood.

“Loads,” I said, plopping on the bed and laying back.

I had a feeling he would try a seduction tactic. It could smell a scent, a hormonal one, coming off him. My tail flicked out and stopped inches from his face. I wasn’t not in the mood for that shit right now.

“Are you denying that you enjoyed it as much as I did? Or keeping me from trying it again?” he remarked.

“Both,” I said.

I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of reminding me of my first taste of extreme pleasure. Not after what he had known was going to happen to everyone else.

There was a table in the center of the room, and he sat down in one of the chairs. I sat up and decided to test my own mental and sexual patience. I walked over to the table and sat down across from him.

“The plan was my effort to kill Alice for the last time,” he said.

“Do I want to know why?” I asked.

“Probably not,” he answered.

“Alice doesn’t seem all that important. Plus, you had a whole organization working for you,” I said. “I don’t see why you still didn’t just leave me.”

He was silent for a moment before readjusting himself to lean forward with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.

“Alice, like you, bonded with the virus. She gained regenerative abilities, strength, and agility. She went against the corporation and was trying to expose us. However, by the time that was figured out things had gotten out of hand.” he said.

“Virus?” I asked.

“I should have backed up a bit. The Umbrella Corporation was experimenting with a virus that had bioweapon capability. Alice and another agent were in charge of security at the facility at Raccoon City. However, it was found that she was leaking information about the deadliness of the virus.”

“A team was sent to secure the facility, however none of them made it out. Alice and one other person, who had been a partner to the mole that Alice was in contact with, made it out. So, they infected her and the other person with virus after the first outbreak at the facility went into lockdown and she was caught as they were leaving the house above the facility. They had successfully kept the virus from reaching the public. However, a curious researcher made the mistake of reopening the facility and releasing the creatures that the virus had infected and lab experiments from the facility into the populace.”

“So, someone was dumb enough to open the the place back up,” I said.

I remember being in college years ago when this all just started. It was a conspiracy theorist dream when they saw the videos. It took a short amount of time to spread across the world. They were the cause of this apocalypse. Now I was a fortunate accident. Another person to poke at with the deadly virus coursing through them that was not technically dead. I was a living anomaly.

“That released the virus into the public space. It being adaptive. It spread very quickly,” he said.

“Fast forward to now. Alice probably didn’t appreciate the original idiots. Plus, her inside knowledge made her smart enough to be one of the few who could use the abilities they gave her to fight back,” I said. “And now they want her dead.”

He nodded. I sat back in my chair, then standing up and walking to the counter not far from the table. The fact that Alice was dead along with tons of others bothered me. I couldn’t wrap my head around the simple fact that I was spared because he wanted to keep me close to him. That actually reminded me of the small but large detail I forgot to mention about our little lovemaking session.

“Did you know about me when you kissed me that night?” I asked.

I knew he didn’t, but I didn’t want to admit it until I was forced to.

“Know what about you? What do you mean?” he asked generally confused.

“Interesting,” I said.

I heard him stand and come to a stop about three feet behind me.

“Is there something I needed to know about that night that you failed to mention?” he asked.

“Well, I figured guys had more of a radar for that stuff,” I said stupidly.

This was more embarrassing now that I wasn’t human and because he wasn’t a premium choice of male as far as mural compasses was concerned. He was silent for second. I could almost feel him thinking. He chuckled lightly. And reached for a strand of my black hair, twirling it around his finger.

“No wonder you exceptionally tight,” he remarked.

I knew he was smiling. I was not about to turn around and face him. I knew my poker face wasn’t that strong. I just stood there waiting to what his next move would. Why would my only lapse in judgement put me in the middle of this...shit storm?

I was now the property of a murderous company who plays with deadly viruses. A current strain of the virus that was now firmly attached to my genetic code. I felt Wesker close the gap between us. My tail moved instinctually into his view. I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue this ‘relationship’. I had known him for less than a day and then slept with him.

Now, however many days later, lots of people were dead by his hand and he wanted me. Why? It was a question that rang through my head like a huge cathedral bell. Why was I his vice?

“This isn’t what I want, Wesker,” I finally said after a few long moments of silence.

“And what exactly do you want?” he asked, still playing with my hair.

He found any excuse, one being my hair, to gently touch my exposed skin.

I turned around, moving my tail out of view.

“I want you to be honest with me,” I said. “And I am not going to be a plaything. Period.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what face I was wearing but he seemed to understand what I was referring to.

“You’re going to make me work for it, aren’t you?” he asked with a heavy sigh.

I could only nod before I used my tail to push him out of the way gently. The stinger on the end of it looked like it could do a lot of damage if I wasn’t extremely careful. I walked away from him to the bed. I don’t know why but I felt extremely tired again. I plopped down on it.

“If your trying to turn me into a good man, I’m not sure I can be that. However, stranger things have happened. So, I’ll adhere to your request, where I can,” he said as he exited my room.

I took off my shoes. I had intended to explore but sleep was winning the current battle for dominance in my body. I bundled myself under the blanket and went to sleep. My dreams weren’t calm. I dreamed about losing control of whatever was now a part of me. I saw the level of destruction that it caused and that made the madness within me spiral out of control.

To be continued...

Part 3

#albert wesker #fanfic #resident evil #part2

7 notes · View notes

cosmichoneyedblossoms · 5 years ago

Text

Borderline

— Dead In The Water —

Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader x Sehun

Genre: Syndicate!au | Angst

Word Count: 5K

Warnings: Smut, use of drugs, murder, swearing?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

The monotone dial tone rang deafeningly in his ear as he stared at you perched up on the window seat, your face slack while you zoned out on something outside. The abrupt stop of the ringing pulled Sehun back to his phone where he heard a familiar voice on the other end, “There better be a good reason to call me at three in the morning—”

“Sir… I need you to come to the house…” His eyes panned down to his feet, the bright red hair of the man on the hardwood floor almost blended in with the pooling blood under it, “There’s…” Glancing back up at you, he swallowed hard before continuing his sentence, “There’s been an accident…”

“An accident? With who?” He didn’t sound too particularly worried until Sehun spoke your name.

“She killed someone…” He caught the sight of your head dropping into the cross of your arms that rested over your knees, you didn’t seem upset or hurt, you actually seemed numb, no tears, no fear, not one bit of emotion finding its way to your face.

“Alright, I’m on my way…” Your father hung up the phone and Sehun slipped his phone into his pocket while stepping over the body to go around the bed and sit across from you on the window seat.

“He’s on his way.” You didn’t move at his words, he wasn’t surprised, when he had his first kill he threw up so you were taking it drastically better than he did, but he knew you hiding your emotions was something that was bound to explode, “Y/N… are you okay?” Stupid question, but it was the only thing that came to his mind.

“Am I okay?” You lifted your head for your eyes to connect with his, the blood splatter speckling your skin made his heart sink into his stomach, “I just murdered someone, Sehun… Why would you think that I could possibly ever be okay?” Like grains of salt being rubbed into a fresh wound, your voice stung as it cut so deeply that he could feel the ripping of flesh under it.

“I’m okay, aren’t I?” He had a point, everything starts to go back to normal after a while, but how could you just go back to your normal life after you murdered someone?

“That’s you…” You sighed, running your hands through your hair.

“Talk to me.” He scooted closer to you, “Tell me what you’re thinking.” He could see the flicker of anger in your eyes, the threads of it getting lost in something bigger, heavier than the anger you were harnessing.

“Why are you so calm right now?” You growled, furrowing your brow, “I literally murdered a man— in your bed nonetheless, and you’re here acting like I just accidentally broke a phone or spilled some damn water on your bed, like rip me already, that’s what Chanyeol would be doing right now.” You turned your head towards the bed, your gaze steady on the dark red stain on his white comforter. The hood of your hoodie covered them well when you were staring at him, but as soon as you turned your head he could see the red finger marks on your neck, they were sure to bruise probably by the morning. Without thinking, he reached out letting his cold fingertips caress the tender marks.

“You were scared, weren’t you? That’s why you’re so mad, you were scared that you were going to die by someone you didn’t even know, by the hands of human and not by the hands of time.” Sehun could see the tears begin to well up in your eyes while you tried to avoid his gaze, “I used to be like that too, scared, but after some time, it all became numb to me. You won’t feel like this forever, I promise.” Pulling his hand from your skin, you were quick to grab it with trembling fingers and finally met his gaze for the tears in your eyes to roll down your cheeks.

“Sehun… I don’t ever want to feel like this again…” You sniffled before wiping away your tears, the blood on your cheek smearing with the drag of your sleeve.

“Let’s get you in the shower, I’m sure you don’t want to see your dad covered in blood.” You glanced down at your sleeve to see the blood deepening in color from your tears. Quickly pulling it from your body, you threw it onto the ground, but what did that help with, you were still covered in his blood, “C’mon.” Sehun stood up and extended his hand out to you; you were hesitant, but you took his hand anyway, he was the safest thing that you knew. Leading you out of the bedroom, he tried to block out the body on the floor while ushering you out into the hall and then down to the bathroom, “Go ahead and get in, I’ll grab you some clean clothes.”

“Okay…” You disappeared behind the door and he sighed, exhaustion starting to pull at his mood; he was already frustrated with the events in the previous hours of the night and now he was furious with himself for not being here when you needed him to save you.

He felt weird stepping into yours and Chanyeol’s bedroom, it was a forbidden place seeing as this is the lion's den and he was just a lion who wished he could be king, but was only the reject of the pack. He made his way to the closet he knew was yours and approached the dresser, digging through your drawers, he pulled out sweatpants and a T-shirt. The fact that you needed underwear dawned on him and his hand froze as he pulled open your underwear drawer, seeing them isn’t new, but choosing them was different; he grabbed a random pair and closed the drawer to quickly retreat from your closet and bedroom.

He could hear the hiss of the shower through the crack in the door, “Y/N… I’m coming in…”

“Okay.” Steam rolled out into the hall as he pushed it open, the smell of your peppermint shampoo permeated the thick air, intoxicating him as soon as it filled his senses. He tried to avoid looking at the frosted glass of the shower door, it barely hiding your naked figure from his eyes—water cascaded down your every curve until it met its end at the shower floor, he could see your hands rub all over your exposed skin, fingers slipping over your breasts, disappearing between your thighs, the sight was more than exciting, but he knew he wasn’t going to see it first hand.

“Your clothes are on the counter…” You hummed a response and he reluctantly left with your wordless answer. As he walked down the hall, the thumping of feet traveling up the stairs put him on edge; he began to reach into the back of his pants where his gun sat nestled into the waistband of his pants when a familiar man walked into his line of sight, “Sir…”

“Where’s the body?” Quick and concise, not shocking since it was nearing four in the morning and nobody in the house wanted to be awake, and Sehun especially didn’t want your father in the house either.

“My bedroom, first door on the right.” He nodded his head and then made his way into Sehun’s bedroom with a few men carrying a familiar black bag following in suit. He left his spot in front of the bathroom to peer into his bedroom where he watched your father oversee his men doing their work—while one was laying out the bag, another was scanning his fingerprint into a tablet.

“How did this happen?” He asked and Sehun sighed a bit.

“I left the house after she fell asleep to get something to eat at the corner store. I wasn’t gone but 30 minutes and when I got back that’s when I heard the gunshot.” Your father nodded once more to his story before reaching his hand out to the man with the tablet; his dark eyes read through the information that was on the screen as his finger slid up the screen, “Any information of him in the database…?”

Silence. He stared at the screen wide-eyed while Sehun stared at him, “Sir…?” He snapped his head up to look at him when it finally hit him that he asked a question.

“Yuta Nakamoto of the Lee Clan. They’re known for their way of transporting illegal items, reconnaissance, and assassination. They’re pretty much the hitmen in our world…”

Hitmen…

“Why would they come after me…?” You asked, spooking everyone in the room. Sehun turned around to face you, your eyes were glued to the dead body on the floor, focusing on every detail of the man you killed.

“We don’t know that for sure, honey.” Your father tried to loosen the tension, but you weren’t phased.

“Hey…” Sehun appeared in front of you, blocking your vision, “Why don’t we sit out in the hall and wait until they’re done?” He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and guided you out into the hall and away from his bedroom. He watched as you slid down the wall, retreating to your closed-off position—knees to your chest and your arms wrapped around them, he took the space next to you; he didn’t know what else to do besides sit there with you, comforting you was something he was used to, but how could he help you with something this traumatic?

“Sehun…” Your voice was barely audible, if he had been any further from you, he would’ve missed it.

“Yeah?” He began to turn his head to look at you when he felt your head rest into the nook of his neck.

“I’m glad you’re the one here with me… I don’t know how I’d be if Chanyeol were here…” He noticed your weight leaning into him, caught onto the way that you relaxed around him when it was just the two of you; he hated that he began to notice the slight change in your behavior because he knew that even if you acted like this you were still Chanyeol’s.

“Anything for you…” He hummed, letting his hand caress the back of your head, your damp hair brushing up on his neck caused goosebumps to crawl over his skin, heightening all the nerves that you connected with. Within minutes, you were fast asleep against him, he was so focused on you that he didn’t notice that your father had stepped out of his room to stare at you two on the floor.

“Is she asleep?” He asked and Sehun nodded.

“Finally, but she probably won’t be asleep for too long.” Glancing down at you, he could see your chest rising and falling with every breath you took, you were still here with him.

“The mess is cleaned up, just make sure to wash the bedding really well… and make sure you keep her safe.” There was no room for confusion in his statement, Sehun nodded in response while your father and his men made their way down the stairs. The slam of the front door closing startled you from your slumber, you lifted your head from his shoulder, your eyes heavy with exhaustion, it surprised Sehun that you were still trying to stay awake.

“You should get some sleep—”

“I’m okay.” You stood from the floor to stretch your limbs, he stood up and began to make his way down the stairs when you grabbed onto his wrist, “Where are you going…?”

“Since you’re not going to sleep, I thought some coffee would do you some good.” A weak smile spread over your lips before you slipped your hand into his, he was reluctant to melt from your touch, scared to lace his fingers with yours, worried about the shadow that hovered over him that kept him from running to you—he needed to push the bubbling feelings for you down, and keep it together.

“Lead the way.” Your fingers curled in between his own, your frigid finger pads sent tingles up through his palm that was melding to the shape of your hand. He led the way down the stairs, your grip still tight on his hand, as he led you out into the hall, the sound of the front door opening caught his ears. His heart fell into his stomach as Chanyeol entered the house, his eyes immediately falling to your intertwined fingers.

“Why does it not surprise me that you’re clinging to Sehun.” He let the door slam loudly behind him as he kicked off his shoes, “What is it about this picture that makes me want to kill both of you? Is it my best friend clinging to my whore of a girlfriend or is it my girlfriend acting like I don’t exist?” His words were harsh, coarser than usual, cutting deeper than usual, they were mostly aimed at you, but Sehun’s blood boiled under the fire he was putting you two under.

“You’re one to talk…” You hissed, “Where were you?” Your hand slipped from Sehun’s grip while you made your way towards him.

“Excuse me?” He growled and you were quick with a retort.

“You heard me. Where were you? What was so important that you couldn’t come home? Where were you while I was getting choked out and had to resort to killing a man?” You kept asking him the same question, but he wasn’t giving you any answers, Sehun knew exactly where he was, but he knew what Chanyeol was going to do—avoid the true answer, feed you a bullshit lie, and redirect your attention.

“I got too drunk to make it home, so I stayed at a hotel until I felt sober enough to come home, aside from that, what do you mean you killed a man tonight?” There it was, the avoided answer, the lie, and the redirect. Chanyeol reached for you and you held your hand up for his chest to meet your palm, your fingers slipped under the loose collar of his silky button-down, red and purple marks stained his skin, stains that you knew you didn’t leave on him.

“What the fuck Chanyeol?” You gripped both sides of his shirt and he pushed you away before you could rip them open, “Take off your shirt…”

“What? Are you crazy right now?” He turned the tables on you, attempting to make you feel like the crazy one when he’s the one who came home covered in love bites.

“Me? Crazy? I think you’re fucking mistaken because I’m not the one here who’s cheating! I think that’s you.” You shoved Chanyeol hard, hard enough to make him stumble, “You were out fucking around while I’m fucking waiting here for you to get home like an idiot!” You pushed him again and he pushed you back, him fighting back only annoyed you more; Sehun watched as you tightened your fist before he intervened.

“That’s enough.” He stood in between you and Chanyeol, his eyes trained to you. He could see the anger that dissipated a couple of hours ago rise back up in your eyes, you were pissed and you had every right to be.

“Get out, Chanyeol. I’m done with this game, you need to get out of here before I make you the second man I kill.” Like father like daughter, you left no room for arguments, you were officially done with him.

“You’re kicking me out?” He scoffed as he turned around and walked back to the door, “If you’re kicking me out then Sehun is coming with me.”

“No, I’m not.” He breathed without hesitation, it was his job to protect you and he wasn’t going to leave you.

“You’re staying for that whore? Y’know what, that doesn’t shock me.” He roughly slipped his feet into his shoes and ripped open the front door, “You two were made for each other, don’t let me find out you’ve been fucking my girl behind my back, or I’ll kill you.”

“I’m not yours, Chanyeol!” You screamed and tried to get past Sehun, but he kept you from getting anywhere near him.

“Whatever.” Chanyeol left the house with a slam of the door, soon after the echo faded, it was nothing but an uncomfortable silence.

“Y/N…?” Sehun whispered and you looked up at him, the anger he once saw manifested into something darker. You grabbed his hand and wordlessly dragged him up the stairs, “W-What are you doing?” He asked noticing that you’re leading him to the one forbidden room in the house.

“Whatever the hell I want.” You growled as you pushed your bedroom door open and tugged him inside. He could see where this was leading and he was more than excited, but this wasn’t right.

“Y/N, please…”

“I don’t need words right now.” You quickly shoved him back onto the bed and began tugging down his sweatpants and boxers. You glanced up at him when you noticed his cock wasn’t hard, “You’re really going to make me work for it, aren’t you?” He attempted to reply, but his words got caught in his throat as you swallowed around him. His body couldn’t lie, your skills were better than he could ever imagine—your plush lips wrapped around his girth had his breath hitching, every flick of your tongue over his sensitive tip made his hips jerk under your touch; he was hard in no time and by the time he came to his senses you were on top of him.

“Y/N… this isn’t right…” He sat up quickly, moving his length away from your heat, “You just broke up with Chanyeol—”

“Don’t say his name…”

“… you don’t need to take your revenge on him…” He reached for you, his fingertips brush over the flushed skin of your cheek; his gentle touch was enough to tear down the wall that kept your feelings hidden.

“Why is it always my fault…?” You choked out as he noticed your tears rolling down your cheek to meet the shape of his hand. Tugging you into his lap, he wrapped his arms around as your head found the bend of his neck.

“It’s never you.” He whispered, pressing tender kisses to your forehead, “It’s always him…” Sehun was always there to mend your broken heart when Chanyeol shattered it.

You slept until the sun began to slip under the pink sheets speckled with orange clouds and the crescent moon started to hover over the city skyline; after your long night, you deserved all the sleep you could get. On the other hand, Sehun couldn’t sleep, he kept remembering the events of the previous night which only fueled his drive to find information on the Lee Clan through the work database, but the only thing he was finding was faceless pictures with names he didn’t recognize.

“This is where you’re hiding.” Sehun looked up from the computer screen to see you standing in the doorway of the study.

“How’d you sleep?” He inquired while closing the laptop, keeping the information a complete secret to you.

“Pretty well considering.” You wandered next to him and plopped down into the couch cushions with a sigh.

“Are you okay…?” He could see the warmth drain from your face as the memories of the last few hours filled your head.

“No. If anything I’m just numb, numb to the breaking of the relationship, numb to the feeling of the remembrance of Yuta’s face… numb…” You turned your eyes onto him, their dullness caught the fading sunlight giving them a glow that made his heart flutter.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t think so…” Another smile started to appear on your lips as the sound of your growling stomach shook the room.

“Are you hungry?” He quirked an eyebrow, waiting for your response when your cheeks grew pink with another growl of your stomach, “Go get dressed.” Sehun put the laptop on the table and stood from the couch.

“Where are we going?” He caught your slightly confused gaze as he stretched his arms.

“To get you some food, goofball.” He dropped his arms, leaving you with a smile on your face.

The Bund at night became his favorite spot after a week in Shanghai, the bright vibrant colors on the buildings reflecting off the Huangpu River always calmed his anxiety, but his focus wasn’t on the river, it was on you. Your once murky eyes basked in the glow, the strands of your hair escaped their holdings of your bun to dance in the breeze—you in your rawest form melted him slowly, “How you feelin’?”

“Better. Much better.” The faint smile that tugged at your lips made his heart flutter. His eyes lingered on them longer than he planned, traced their shape more than he thought, he didn’t notice himself licking his lips.

“I’m glad.” He tore his gaze from your face and tightened his grip on the rail that separated him from the river, his mind trying hard to suppress the urge to take your lips as his own. A sudden warmth spread through his hoodie, it caused his heart to thunder in his ears.

“I love you, Sehun.” The words he begged to hear flooded his mind, your voice actually saying it was better than he ever imagined it would be.

“Is that so…?” He struggled to keep his voice calm, you leaned into him, resting your head against his shoulder and sliding the hand that was wrapped around his elbow down to his hand.

“You’re my best friend, of course I do.” There it was, the word he didn’t want to hear—friend. For ten years he was pining for you, fighting to stay in your life even if it meant swallowing his pride to pretend that he didn’t still have a crush on you after Chanyeol swept you off your feet.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you, too.” He patted your hand with his free one before closing his eyes and placing a chaste kiss to your crown. When he opened his eyes, they landed on two people clothed in black from head to toe with a black mask covering the lower half of their faces; he usually wouldn’t worry over it if they hadn’t been following them around all night, “You ready to go home?” He asked and you sighed reluctantly.

“I guess—” He quickly let go of the railing and started to lead you back to where his motorcycle was parked, “Why are you walking so fast, it’s not like we have anywhere to—”

“We’re being followed.” He glanced down at you to see your expression fall.

“What…?”

“Ever since we were eating, people have been following us.” You glanced back to see the same men Sehun had noticed a while back, the hair on the back of your neck stood at a point as you clung to him.

“What do we do…?” You whispered as you approached Sehun’s motorcycle.

“We run.” He swung his leg over the body and you followed in suit as the sound of the engine coming to life startled you, “Whatever you do, keep them off of us.” You watched as Sehun pulled the heavy handgun from the back of his pants and placed it into your hands. With a nod of your head, he quickly put on the gas and you took off leaving the men scrambling toward you; Sehun didn’t waste time trying to think of the best way away from them, he just needed to get you out of danger, he was so focused on trying to bob and weave through traffic that he didn’t even hear you screaming his name.

“S-Sehun! We’re in major trouble!” You screamed, but his mind was stuck on one thing. You glanced back to see multiple men, dressed the same way as the two that were following you, all on the back of motorcycles, closing in on you. Unwrapping your hands from Sehun’s waist, the gun that had been gripped in your fingers felt like a million pounds as you released the safety and pulled back the side, a bullet slid into the chamber with a chink—now all you needed to do was actually take care of your targets.

Sehun took a sharp right towards a long stretch of pavement, one that was void of moving bodies; he no longer felt your arms around him, it worried him, “Y/N?! How we doing back there?!”

“Now you want to talk?!” You hollered while trying to aim the gun at the lines of black that were coming in hot. He picked up his speed down the road when one of the motorcyclists caught up with you, Sehun swerved trying to keep you out of their reach and you pointed the gun at their head and took the shot—the body went limp causing the bike to spin out with them still on it.

“One more right?!” Sehun asked and you scoffed.

“Try like nine more!” You pulled the slide back once more aiming it at one of the bikes that were getting closer and shot off another round to just hit the pavement. You focused in on the bike once more and took another shot, clipping the side of the bike as well as the rider’s knee. Round after round, turn after turn, they weren’t letting you escape, “Sehun!”

“I know!” He growled looking around for another escape, his eyes flicked back and forth from the train station to another street trying to think of the best option. The sound of a bullet hitting the pavement in front of him caused him to look towards the next street, his glare focused onto the motorcyclists appearing from behind the building, making their way towards him, “Fuck… Hold on, Y/N!” Hearing his voice, you wrapped your arms around him just in time for him to make a sharp turn towards the station.

“What are you doing?! There’s people down here!” You screamed, ignoring the shaking and bouncing of the bike as it flew down the stairs.

“Do you want to live or not?!” He slid onto the tiled platform, scaring the people around him; the echoing of engines that didn’t belong to his bike increased his heart rate, he peeled it out of there, dodging everyone he could until he reached the outside once more. The air fell silent around him, no sounds of engines in an earshot; Sehun pulled off into an alleyway, cloaking you two in darkness. Turning off the engine, he got off the bike and attempted to walk off the adrenaline that was making his heart race, “Y/N, how are you holding up?” He turned around to face you, his face falling when the sight of your wide eyes entered his vision; he reached out to you to take the gun from your shaky grip, but you shook your head.

“No, I’ve got it.”

“Are you sure—”

“Of course she’s sure.” A voice that didn’t match Sehun’s bounced off the walls, filling the space around you. Sehun’s head snapped towards the voice and his eyes focused on the body that emerged under the street light at the end of the alley, “It’s in her blood.” His feet scuffed over the rough pavement and he made his way toward you, Sehun stood in front of you, blocking you from his view.

“What do you want?” He growled.

“You did a good job losing the goons, they’re a little overwhelming, aren’t they?” His voice sounded familiar to you, so familiar that you could feel it in your soul.

“Don’t avoid the question.” Sehun only pushed harder to get the answers he’s been needing since the first attack. The man in front of him pushed up his sleeves, revealing deeply inked skin, while sighing loudly.

“You see, our orders have been just to observe and lay low for the past three years, and now our orders are to take her into custody—I only want, Y/N.” The closer he got, the more it put Sehun on edge; he needed to get you out of here and quickly.

“Have fun trying to get to her, you have to go through me first...” Sehun lunged at the man, fists balled tightly as he threw punches at the masked man; you watched, helplessly, as Sehun put up a fight for you. The glint of metal caught your eye as the masked man reached into his pocket.

“Sehun! He’s got a knife!” He turned to look back at you and that’s when the man took his opening to attack. Sliced right up the cheek, a blood-curdling groan came from Sehun as he dropped to his knees, cupping his cheek; once you saw blood dripping down his hands, you knew you needed to do something.

“Ah, man Sehun, looks like it’s easier to get past you than you thought.” The man squatted down to Sehun’s face to hold the point of the knife against his Adam’s apple, “Just let me take the girl and you can leave here alive.”

“N-never…” The man scoffed and rolled his eyes before pushing the knife against his neck. The ear-shattering crack from Sehun’s side had him watching the man in front of him fall to the ground, he turned his head to you to see you aiming the gun towards the man in front of him. He grunted a sigh of relief as he stood from the pavement, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“You think I was just going to watch you die?” You asked lowering the gun as Sehun approached you.

“No, but now we have a real problem…” He looked back at the body, wondering if it was really dead or not, but you had your eyes on something else—two thick black tattooed bands around his wrist. They looked oddly familiar and then it hit you, Yuta had the same tattooed bands around his, “We need to talk to your father…”

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them-stony-boys · 6 years ago

Text

I was going to wait until I had 100 followers but 97 is close enough right? Thank you guys so much for that! Anyway I’ve been sitting on this for literal months so here ya go.

Another box is hefted onto his shoulders, the box was made heavy from the fruit crammed inside. He stutter steps forward, his muscles tired and worn. He walked the same path to the palace, where the others were waiting for him and everyone else carrying boxes of supplies. He stared at the ground as he trudged on, his brain replaying the events of earlier over and over again.

“Steve…?” And then he was gone.

Bucky is dead.

Tony is missing.

He could be dead too, could be nothing but dust. Could be bleeding to death in a ditch. And Steve wouldn't know. Steve would never get to hear his voice again. Never see the everpresent gleam in his eyes.

He would never get to apologize. Never get to tell him, to tell him that he….

He couldn't think about that now. He has to trudge on, help as many people as he can. It's his duty. He trudged up the hill though his legs protested, and made his way to the palace. Several men removed the box from him as he neared the entrance where Shuri stood and overlooked the effort. Her posture was rigid, but the shimmering in her eyes couldn't hide the fact she was hurting deeply from the loss of her brother. Steve couldn't blame her.

Suddenly the ground shook, sending everyone into a panic. Fear settled in the pit of his stomach as he slowly turned. He can't be back, not yet.

Before he could even get all the way around a sudden impact shook the ground more, sending several people sprawling on the ground, Steve was barely able to stay on his feet. The remaining avengers ran out of the palace, looking to Steve. He gives them a nod as the run out towards what caused the impact, Steve staying and helping people to their feet, leading them inside. He helps Shuri up as she stares out in the direction of the impact. Her eyes are wide, full of fear. She grips his forearms with surprising strength. Soft whispers of ‘no’ are the only thing that escape her.

“Hey it'll be alright, just get inside ok? It's gonna be fine, it's not what your thinking it is.”

He practically drags her inside as she shakes lightly. After depositing her right in the entrance she calls, throat seemingly thick with swallowed tears, “please be careful!”

He starts to jog over, picking up speed as he goes. It isn't long before he's standing behind Natasha and Thor, their weapons drawn. The door was down by the time he got there, and a blue woman was making her way over to them. Behind her was another form, hand gripping his side, head hung.

But Steve recognized that figure. His heart leapt into his throat as it pounded. He looked up. Though battered and bloodied, Steve knew that face. When they locked eyes Steve stopped breathing. Without diverting his gaze Tony hobbled toward him as fast as he could, passing the blue woman. Steve pushed through the two avengers and went to meet him halfway, Natasha lightly grabbing his wrist as if to stop him, but he pulled away. The jog over seemed to take ages, as of the universe wanted to keep them apart. However when he did get close he heard a soft “oh thank god” from Tony as he fell forward, flinging his arms around his neck. Tony collapsed, putting his full weight on Steve who took it easily and gladly. He encircled him with his strong arms, lightly squeezing him, careful in case he was injured. Steve buried his face in Tony's neck, tears springing to his eyes.

“You're ok, you're ok, you're ok.” He whispered into his neck as he clutched Tony's shaking form. He continued to chant it as if it could fix everything, and in a way it did. The universe ripped Bucky away from him, but it by some miracle spared Tony. He gently gave Tony a squeeze, but he jerked back. Steve leaned back, looking him in the face.

“Tony?” He placed a hand on either side of his face. A trail of blood runs down the corner of his mouth. Steve swiped at it with his thumb, but it didn't stop.

“Tony are you alright?” His eyes scan his whole body as Tony clutches his forearms with shaky hands. That's when Steve noticed the growing dark spot on his abdomen. His heart sank.

“Oh my god.” He moved to scoop him in his arms as he coughed blood, his hand moving to cover it. Natasha and Thor came up behind them, Steve turning his head to look at them.

“What is the matter? Is he alright?” Thor asks crouching down in front of them as Steve cradles him.

“He's been shot, or stabbed I-I don't know. We need to help him he, he needs medical.” Steve stood, holding Tony bridal style as Tony has his arms wrapped loosely around his neck, a grimace on his face, “we need to get him to Shuri.”

Nat looked at Tony in the face, pain flashing over her features. She tugs at Thor's cape as they walk. “Off. I need to use it.” Thor's face contorted into confusion for a split second before unclamping it and pulling it off, handing it to her. Steve stops as she attempts to tie the red cloth around Tony's abdomen, Tony crying out in pain, Steve nosing his hair and whispering as he did so. They continued their trek up to the palace, Tony quivering the entire way. Thor ran ahead of the group as he fetched Shuri, Steve talking to Tony, trying to keep him awake.

“Stay with me Tony, I can't lose you again, I won't lose you again. Come on Stark stay, awake.”

Tony squinted at him, eyes bleary and only half seeing, “since when did you grown a beard?”

Steve let out a shaky laugh as Shuri ran out to them. “I've had two years to grow it out.”

“We need to get him inside.” She said, looking Tony over. So he carried him inside and down to her lab, placing him on the table and stepping back. She quickly untied the red cloth, a large splotch of dark red staining the bright redness of Thor's cape. Shuri quickly got to work, screens being pulled up and Tony's jacket being ripped open to expose a long stab wound hidden behind a thick layer of blood coating his side. Steve swayed slightly on his feet. What the hell happened up there? Her equipment whirled around as she started cleaning his side, talking to him.

“Mr. Stark you need to stay with me ok? There's not much I can do if you die.”

All Tony did was give a curt nod.

Thor and Natasha turned to leave, but Steve lingered. Natasha stopped at the door, frowning. She walked up behind him, placing a hand in his shoulder.

“He's in good hands Steve. He'll be fine.”

But Steve stayed put, watching as she cleaned around his wound, injecting him with what Steve assumed to be painkillers.

Shuri looked over her shoulder, seeing Steve still standing as if rooted to that spot on the floor.

“I have healed a man with a bullet in his spine, I assure you he will be alright.”

“You need rest Steve.” She squeezed his shoulder, “and Shuri doesn't need you hovering over her shoulder. Let her do her thing.”

Steve gave one last reluctant look back at the operating table that Shuri was flitting around. He swallows looking back at Natasha. He looked her in the eye and gave a small nod. He let himself be dragged out.

--------------------------(Watch for the cut)--------------------------------

Tony woke up with a lot less pain than he thought he should have. He looks around, the space he was in had sharp lighting and screens everywhere. Tony sat up, his head swimming a bit as he swung his legs over the edge of the table. As soon as his bare feet hit the cold floor a door across the room swished open. A girl carrying herself in a regal manner and looking down at a clipboard walks towards him.

“How are you feeling Mr. Stark?”

She looked up at him, large brown eyes scanning him. He waited a moment before answering.

“...fine.”

She nodded and tapped at a tablet perched on the clipboard. He thought back, trying to remember how he got here. He remembers getting on a ship, a hunk of garbage with a blue cyborg woman, Nebula, he thinks her name is. The ride back is where everything started to go fuzzy, his vision had blurred horrendously by the time he stepped off the ship and sucked in fresh air and trying to hold as much blood in as possible. That however was the most clear his memory was after arriving back on earth. Maybe he hobbled down from the ship or maybe he fell, something about strong arms and the overwhelming feeling of safety, of just home. There was pain and blood and garbled voices. But no clear cut picture.

“-the avengers-”

“Hm? What about them?”

“They're in the throne room, if you wanted to see them. But you shouldn't stress yourself out with too much movement, you should be fine but I wouldn't want to risk anything.”

“Of course.” Tony said as he idly ran a hand over where a shit ton of stitches should be. But he was met with smooth cloth over smooth skin.

“Would you like me to guide you?”

“If you would, thank you.”

She jerked her head toward the door and he followed her out. Tony looked down at himself as he walked, clothed in white hospital-esch pajamas and he looked (and felt) clean. It was a relatively short walk to the throne room. His guide pushed the large doors open with ease, stepping in as the continued to open at a leisurely pace. As soon as Tony stepped in any conversation that was weaving its way through the room stopped. Bruce was the first to move.

“Tony! Oh my god you're ok.” He walked up to him, wrapping his arms around him. Tony returned the gesture.

“Good to see you Bruce.” Tony looked over his shoulder, noticing Rhodes walking towards them.

Oh thank god he thought as he released Bruce.

“Rhodey.” Was all he could say as the other man wrapped him in a tight hug.

“Jesus Tones you scared the shit out of me.”

“I try.” He says pulling back. He looks around the room. Natasha stood at the head of a table, her hair no longer the fiery red but bleach blonde. Thor buzzed his hair, there were guards lining the room, there was a...talking raccoon? People were missing. A lot of people were missing. He wanted to ask, where was Barnes? Wilson? Clint, Scott, Vision, Wanda, T'Challa? He thought better of asking however, a queasy feeling in his gut made him feel like they met the similar fate of Quill and Strange and...and the kid.

Steve. Where is he?

No, he brought him in. Right? That's who those arms belonged to right?

Maybe not.

Maybe he was dreaming...hoping.

He ventured to ask.

“Rogers? Where's Cap?”

They exchanged glances and Tony expected the worst as his heart rate started to rise.

“He's resting.” Rhodes said.

“Probably exploring by this point.” Natasha said crossing her arms, the faintest trace of a smile on her face.

There was a moment of silence while Tony built himself up enough to ask, “Can I, can I see him?”

Natasha exchanged a glance with Bruce. “I dunno if that would be best right now Tony-”

“Please.” He blurted. He didn't mean it to come out so pleading, well he didn't mean for it to come out at all. He chewed the inside of his cheek.

Shuri looked back at them once before stepping forward to him.

“How about I settle you in first? See him after your settled. We all need a while to...take in, what's happened.” She grabbed his elbow and led him out.

She led him to his room, it was large and clean and everything looked so soft but at the same time it looked like it could cut diamond on any of the edges.

Before she left she left him a slip with directions on it. Giving him a small smile before leaving him on his own, the last thing he wanted to be.

Alone.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The halls were dim, soft orange light emitted from lights lining the walls. Tony hugged his arms to his chest as he walked toward the door the little slip of paper led him to. He knows he shouldn't bother Steve at this hour, he's probably sleeping, and the last thing he'd want is to see him. But Tony has to see him. Has to see he's ok. That at least got out of this ok. Got out of that, civil war thing ok. He needs to know.

It wasn't long before he was standing outside the door, his hand clenching and unclenching as he fights himself and bring himself to just knock on the damn door. He raised his fist, and before he could talk himself out of it he brought his knuckle down on it several times in a hard succession.

He waited a few moments, leaning close to the door. He knocked again, softer this time.

“Rogers? Cap ya there?”

He knocks again.

“Steve?” His voice goes quiet.

On the other side of the door he hears movement, a shuffle of feet, a bang followed by a curse. Suddenly the door in front of him was thrown open, Tony almost falling forwards.

There was a moment of awkward silence as neither of them made a move to say anything, instead they just made fleeting eye contact. Tony's eyes ventured to his chest, the way it heaved under the thin shirt he'd been given. The beard was new, and he honestly wasn't sure what to make of it. He noticed the tiredness in his eyes, thinking that he must have been sleeping and that he'd woken him up. With that thought in mind he suddenly felt very uneasy and unwanted. He just wanted to make sure he was still here, still at least functioning.

“I-I'm sorry to wake you, I didn't mean to bother you. I'll just-” he started to turn, but Steve grabbed his elbow.

“You didn't wake me. I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.” There was a small smile on Steve's face then, a smile that seemed to pull Tony back towards him. He turned to face him fully again.

Tony ran his lip through his teeth. “I just wanted to make sure that you were, ya know.”

“...whole?”

Tony's eyes moved to Steve's shoulder instead of his face. “Yeah something like that.”

Tony could feel his mind wander back to Titan, back to Peter in his arms. He could feel the sting of those fresh memories prick behind his eyes. He looked back up at Steve and could see his eyes too were reddening, most likely from from recalling the earlier events.

“Do you uh, do you want to come in?” Steve said, stepping to the side making room in the doorway.

Without responding Tony stepped in, using the dim light from the hallway to get to the bed before Steve closed the door, submerging them into darkness. Tony sat on the edge of it, his heart seeming to beat just a little faster.

Suddenly the bed dipped next to him. Tony could feel the heat radiating off of him, and Tony found comfort in it.

“I'm sorry.” Steve blurted before Tony could say a word.

Tony turned to look at him, but could only make out his outline in the dark. “What?”

“I'm sorry for before, for pushing you away and, and for not working with you. I'm sorry for being a stubborn dick. I just, I wanted to-”

“Steve, listen I should be apologizing to you. The Accords were a bust and I never called and-”

“You shouldn't have! I wouldn't have called me!”

“If I wasn't such a stubborn ass and called none of this wouldn't have happened-”

“You can't possibly know that.”

“This is all my fault...god if I'd just have…” Tony started to fold into himself, hot tears finally making their way down his face. His breath was ragged and his hands clenched and unclenched in his lap, unsure of what to do with them.

Something gripped at his sleeve, dragging him over to Steve. He was practically pulled into his lap as those strong arms wrapped around him once more, enveloping him in warmth.

“Don't say that. Don't ever say that. We all did the best we could've. God Tony stop taking the entire weight of the world on your shoulders. Share the burden you selfish ass.”

Tony knows he doesn't mean anything malicious, he's just trying to get a point across. Tony slowly worked his arms around Steve's body, curling up under his arms. He buried his face in his shoulder, a repressed sob making its way through his gritted teeth.

Steve squeezed him. “I've got you. It's ok just, let go.”

“The kid Steve, I lost Pete and he, he was scared to die. He was begging me for…”

Tony didn't finish the thought, just held onto Steve tighter, hoping he could take all of it away. He could feel his strong heart beat against his own chest, the sensation grounding him there, in Steve's arms, both of them alive. He just wanted to stay here and never leave, to just be held, to know that he's alive. He wanted to commit this to memory. The way Steve's breath occasionally catches, the way his rough hands were gentle against the back of his head. How he smelled clean, but with a hint of something smokey.

Steve kisses the top of his head, leaving his nose buried in his hair. “I'm so sorry Tony.”

They sat in silence for several moments, Tony moving to place his chin on Steve's shoulder. He swallowed before,

“I heard about Barnes.” He shifts so he's sitting higher up, making himself to just about equal height to Steve. He places one hand on the back of his head, carding his hands through his hair. He could feel Steve slump against him, could feel the strength drain out of him. He places his forehead on Tony's shoulder, his shoulder shaking. Tony gently rocks them as he runs his other hand up and down his broad back.

“We’ll get him back. We'll get them all back.” Tony says as more tears fall, his voice betraying him and ruining any burst of strength he wanted to display. Steve sits up, looking Tony in the face. In the faint moonlight spilling in through the windows showed the shimmering tracks running down the Captain’s cheeks. Steve then carefully bumped his forehead against Tony's, bumping his nose with his.

“This is some kind of sick coping mechanism. You cry I cry back and forth it's exhausting.”

Steve let out a rough chuckle. “Whatever helps.”

“Mm.” Tony said, eyes open as he brings his hands to gently cup Steve's face, dragging his thumbs over his skin. Steve's eyes were closed, his breathing taking on a calmer pace.

“The beard looks good on you.”

“Mmmm but facial hair is more your thing.”

“I won't fight you there. Still sexy on you though.”

“‘Sexy’ huh?”

“Shh it's late and I don't think properly late at night.” Tony ran his hands down Steve's arms.

“Of course.” Steve said fighting back a shudder.

Tony nuzzled closer to him, trying to absorb as much heat as he can. Steve huffed a laugh.

“You should go to bed.”

“Don’ wanna leave.”

Steve rubbed his cheek against Tony's. “Then don't.”

Tony pulled back, looking Steve in the face. And for a heart pounding moment Steve thought he overstepped his bounds.

Tony's breath escaped him for a moment. “Yeah ok.”

So together they shifted, pulling back the covers and slipping under. There was an awkward moment of not knowing where to go, where the other wanted them to be. But they were quick to sort themselves out. Steve had turned Tony around and pressed himself against his back, legs tangling with his. He buried his face against the back of Tony's neck as Tony relaxed into his chest, the broadness of it, the comfort of having another person behind him, of having a teammate who suffered like he has behind him. Of having Steve behind him.

Something about it felt odd, like it was something he shouldn't be doing. But it just felt so right, and good. Even after having the universe split down the middle they came out on the same side. Like they were meant to be.

Tony felt safe wrapped in his arms.

He felt at home.

#stony #stevetony #steve/tony #steve x tony #iw #iw stony #iw spoilers #iw reunion #stony reunion #a fix it fic of sorts #I wrote this immediately upon returning from infinity war

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theviewfromthebooth · 5 years ago

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Unbearable

Hey everyone. I've not written anything in a while, or had much motivation to, but everything is all over the shop right now, and a couple of weeks ago, something just came out of me. Back in those quaint times when we all still hoped this wouldn't be as bad as it is now (roughly three weeks ago), I made a joke in The Anfield Wrap office about making a disaster movie involving the Coronavirus and Liverpool's title party - the two biggest things in all of our worlds at the time.

Well, I did it. It's a short story, but I've dreamt it as a movie, and hopefully the words will turn into images for you too. It was meant to be funny, but halfway through I realised that it isn't. It's also a bit too niche for most football or literary fiction sites (apparently), so I'm putting it up here. In the absence of any kind of appetite for the usual April Fools shenanigans, this is a good time to drop it.

It became a way for my mind to deal with everything – by laying out the worst case scenario, our situation becomes more bearable by comparison. Also worth noting that this was written before the government backed away (publicly at least) from herd immunity....

Dedicated to my two biggest creative inspirations – Matt Groening & John Gibbons.

-x-

UNBEARABLE:

A short story from the brain of a trying-not-to-panic Liverpool fan "For years Evertonians have been saying that the world will end if Liverpool ever win the league again......what if they were right?”

Ronnie has been planning his title party for years. In the pub, in bed, at work, on the toilet. While his beloved Liverpool drifted nearer, then further from their holy grail, he has never wavered from what he calls his life's work. Torture is what Jan calls it. He still doesn't know how close she came to leaving after the open top bus fiasco in 2014, but he knows he never wants to see that look in her eyes again. She'll come around once she sees it, and feels it.

That day in 1990, when he was the same age as little Dirk is now.....the street party. The last time he remembers his parents happy. All he wants is that same unlimited joy for Dirk... and to keep him in Red. Kev was a stubborn little so-and-so, but that won't happen again.

Back then he only had Roy Evans and his sporadically brilliant Spice Boys as ammo – now he's got Jurgen Klopp and his mentality monsters. Even Jan is changing her tune. Ronnie couldn't believe his luck when she agreed to let him dress Dirk up as the Premier League trophy, complete with silver paint & ribbons. They won't need a bus – Adam down the road will bring his flat-bed truck. What better memory for the lad than to be paraded through the streets of Anfield, held aloft by thousands of jubilant Kopites? Just 2 wins away. He can almost taste it. Nothing can stop them now....

“It has been confirmed....all football in Britain is suspended until at least April 30th, as a result of the coronavirus. BBC Sport understands FA chairman Greg Clarke expressed his fear at Friday's emergency meeting that the season may have to be abandoned....”

The blood drains from Ronnie's face as he stares through the TV screen. The phone buzzing in his pocket snaps him back to reality, as news reaches the Whatsapp group:

Within the walls of Whitehall, Clarke almost slips as he gets up from his chair. His head is so scrambled he offers Hancock his sweaty hand, before quickly whipping it away much to the amusement of Hancock and Johnson, and eventually Scudamore. Their laughter sends a chill through his bones. They think they've cracked it, but he KNOWS football fans. Closed doors aren't enough to keep away fans who've been waiting 30 years. And Liverpool have a LOT of fans.

As the chauffeur moves away, he takes out his phone to Google 'Herd immunity'.........

Ronnie's phone is red hot. Plans are moving at pace. Everton have been squashed and Operation Palace is full steam ahead. Dirk is bouncing off the walls in excitement and it's not even 10 am. Luckily a cuddle from cousin Danny always calms him down. Danny's dad is no such help. Kev has always been the bitterest of Blues, but claiming Dirk's life is at risk feels pretty low, even for him.

Ronnie plants a kiss just above the paint line, before pulling the woolly crown tight over the boy's ears, and hoisting him onto his shoulders. Dirk's laughter vibrates through his back as he shouts “You better get in that bunker of yours if you're that worried”, turning his snarl to a smile. Jan takes a picture of her glassy eyed husband with the Premier league trophy, which goes down a treat in the Whatsapp group, followed by the obligatory joke about 'going viral'.

Only this time it's no joke. By the time they get to Adam's garage the streets are packed. Half of Liverpool have descended onto the estate. And they've all come to lift the trophy.

Johnson's brow furrows ever deeper as his aide lays out the situation - hiding his eyes from the mess he's created. Liverpool Council can't control the crowds. Reports suggesting as many as 3 million people are on the streets. Budget cuts sanctioned by his hand have left emergency services at breaking point, even before the 600% increase in population. Suspending public transport has caused queues of 10 miles and counting in every direction. Vaccines are running out fast, with nowhere near enough immune patients to protect the vulnerable.

His hands tighten on each other, as if the answer can be wrung from them. With the pleading eyes of his aide boring through his thinning scalp, the spell is broken. A menacing silence hangs between them. He knows the whole country hangs on what he says next.

He knows he needs a miracle.

As the clock hits 90 minutes, so do Crystal Palace. Liverpool have roared back from an early setback to lead by 4 goals to 1. From the swaying throng in the garden of Hotel TIA, Ronnie can feel himself let go of 30 year's worth of tension. 30 years of balls hitting posts and staying out. 30 years of penalties not given. 30 years of “should've saved that”. 30 years of “should've been us”. All gone.

The final whistle is met with a guttural roar. A roar 3 million strong, a roar so full of electricity that it creates a mushroom cloud over Anfield skies. Dirk reaches for his father, who doesn't miss a beat with his mock trophy lift, complete with the Henderson stutter step. Silver tears stain his face as he watches his son surfing the sea of hands.

A moment like no other.

It's only the thought of sharing the moment with Jan that causes Ronnie to reach for his phone. 34 missed calls. 55 unread on Whatsapp. “The Reds are still massive!” he thinks to himself as he opens Jan's most recent message:

“It's too late. I'm sorry. Good luck. I love you both.”

“With their country now stabilised, this new Chinese study into the Coronavirus will become the template for the rest of the world to follow. There has been some surprise at the results. It appears children under 8 are the biggest carriers, while the fatal age threshold is only 40 years old, and could be even lower for those with a higher than normal blood alcohol level. The bad news for us here in Britain is the government's controversial 'Herd Immunity' strategy has been completely discredited”.

“FOR GOD'S SAKE TURN IT OFF!”

Anxious limbs fumble at the remote for what feels like hours, before finally, silence. Three pairs of eyes dart from George Alagaih's worried face to that of the Prime Minister. Hancock musters the courage to meet his glare.

“At the current rate of infection, Liverpool will be at 90% by 7pm this evening. Considering what we now know about their vaccine levels, and....alcohol consumption....”

“HOW ON EARTH HAVE YOU FUCKED THIS UP? YOU TOLD ME THE SCIENCE WAS WATERTIGHT!”

“It was as watertight as could be in such an unprecedented scenario. The goalposts kept moving...” “I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING GOALPOSTS! ALL I NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU IS HOW WE STOP IT SPREADING!”

“W-we do have a plan”.

Hancock hands over the proposal, and takes three deliberate steps back. He allows himself to exhale once he sees Johnson's eyebrows rise, and then settle, from behind the folder.

“I've run the numbers, with Sunny & Wallace. It's tight, but we can afford it.”

The Chancellor nods slowly as Johnson looks in his direction. A nervous head appears through the crack in the door, like a tortoise unsure of Spring.

“We need a decision, sir.”

Ronnie pants hard, darting for space like Mo Salah in a forest of defenders. He can't bring himself to believe it. Not yet. Not like this. No time. Just keep running. Half a mile from home. She'll come around once she sees us.

Dirk lets out a yelp as they're brought to an abrupt halt by Breck road traffic. Ronnie looks deeper into the faces around him. What was once drunken ecstasy is now something very different. All he sees is agony, smudged with silver. Doors have been bolted, windows shut. Songs are now screams. Visible waves of panic ripple through the crowds, as infection and information sow their seeds in real time. It takes him a while to recognize the hard thudding against his spine isn't his own heartbeat – it's his son coughing. He whips Dirk off his back and holds him in front of his face.

“Don't cry mate, it's gonna be okay” he croaks, barely able to say it let alone believe it. Suddenly a cheer rises up ahead. Ronnie instinctively moves towards the sound. That sound he thought he would feast on forever. Before he can pinpoint it, a larger sound fills the space. Less a sound than a NOISE. A long, buzzing noise, that prickles the neck and causes everyone to look up.

Bright white foam boxes with big red crosses fall from the sky. More and more. Hundreds. Thousands. Cheers break out all over as boxes are ripped open, and the hugging of strangers resumes. Ronnie releases Dirk's hand as he catches the box thrown at him, and pulls off the top. He takes out the tablets and the bottle of water, and rubs his boy's back as he swallows them down. Overcome with relief he takes the trophy for one last spin, before placing him back on his shoulders. Home time.

“We shall not, we shall not be moved! We shall not we shall not be moved! Just like the team, that won, the football league...”

“WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!”

Dirk waves to the little planes in the sky that saved the day. He continues waving at the much bigger planes looming, and the giant glass bowl they're carrying.

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buckygirl-fanfiction · 8 years ago

Text

Sparks Chapter 20

Pairing: Bucky(POV) X Reader(POV) ft. other characters from the avengers team

Word Count: 1.7K

Summary: Sad stuff happens.

A/N: This is a story about two people building a great friendship and then slowly falling in love. y/n is a strong, independent, and smart scientist. She meets Bucky when she wakes him up from cryo sleep and they become friends. This is going to have all the angst / best friends falling in love / fluff / drama / & eventual smut ;) that I can possibly fit in it. This fic is going to be looong! So far my document is like 67,000 words. So editing is hard If you catch any grammatical or formatting errors let me know

March 23, 2016

y/n’s POV

“You cut your hair!” I hear Bucky yell from across the lab. The sudden noise rips me from my computer screen and I turn to look at the source of the sound. I spot a couple startled interns turning their heads back to whatever they were doing and for a second i’m startled as well. I’ve been so focused on work I can’t remember the last time I looked up from the screen in front of me. During the time it takes for me to gather myself Bucky is already across the lab floor and by the little desk i’m working at. He picks at my hair and I lean back away from his noisy fingers.

“Yes,” I say casually. I cut it a couple days ago, I think… I Can’t really remember days now. But I was bored and walking home and passed a hair salon and for no good reason I found myself going in. An hour later I was left with short hair just resting past my chest and a pang in my heart, as least I felt something. I missed my rapunzel hair it was apart of me. But oh well, it took too long to take care of anyways.

“Why!” Bucky says back to picking at my now shorter strands.

“I don’t know…” I say a little annoyed at the intrusion. I have to admit I have been consciously avoiding him since St. Patrick's day, again for no good reason. “Why are you here?”

“I haven’t seen much of you lately,” he says trailing off.

“I know busy, busy. Can’t talk.” I say trying to shoo him away.

“Alright… well are you okay?” He asks his expression sinking for a second.

“Yeah, i’m fine. You gotta go. You’re distracting me.” I say and turn back to my screen.

“Umm, sorry. I’ll see you around? Maybe Dinner later?” he asks genuinely.

“Yeah sure maybe…” I say trying to get rid of him. I hear his footsteps fade away as he resigns himself and I do feel bad. I really do. But I don’t FEEL it. I know I should and for a second I think I do, but not really. Whatever…

March 25, 2016

2am

y/n’s POV

“Are you crazy!” he yells at me from the other side of the conference table. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

I roll my eyes and that’s my only response.

“Alright, let’s all calm down,” Wanda says.

“She could have fucking died,” Bucky continues to yell. “Who let her past the checkpoint?”

“I did,” I say narrowing my eyes at him. “I disabled it didn’t I?”

“y/n when there’s a fucking bomb with your name on it you don’t fucking go near it!” he continues to yell.

“Well I didn’t see anyone else disarming it…”

“The plan was to clear everyone then send in the techs! Not you!”

“Your plan was stupid…”

“You’re the one that’s acting stupid! Do you have any regard for personal safety!” The thing was I didn’t… Well not at the moment at least. I saw a way to save a lot of lives and I took a calculated risk.

“Can I go now?” I say turning towards Tony who has his face buried in his tablet.

He looks up when he realises the question is directed too him and says, “Sure, the disarmed bomb is in your lab. The sooner you get started on it the…” Tony’s words are cut off by Bucky’s firm voice.

“She’s going home. To get some fucking sleep,” God I didn’t know he cursed this much.

“For a second I almost thought you were my boss,” I say laughing. I make my way towards the glass door and pull it open. For a moment I expect him to follow me out and drag me back to my apartment. But he doesn’t.

I’m at the lab photographing and noting everything before I begin to take this latest monstrosity apart. Scrolled across the front are the words: ‘For Dr. y/l/n’ in red spray paint. What a theatrical touch I think to myself. Whoever made this clearly has the flare for the dramatic. Come on picking a hospital… That’s a low blow even for terrorists. I yawn and put the camera down. I should be able to deconstruct this in a couple hours.

…

The sound of my phone ringing tears me from my precious sleep. I squint my eyes picking up my head from my desk. I must've dozed off. I look at my clock and it reads 3.46pm. The last thing I remember was Cho bringing me breakfast, which is still lying in its box on my desk. My phone continues to ring and I snap myself awake and look at the screen. It’s Olivia. I yawn and say hello in a scratchy voice.

On the other end I hear cars and sirens? “y/n” I hear Olivia say in a shaky voice.

“Whats up?” I ask.

“Dr. y/l/n can you stop this one in time?” I hear her say struggling to push out the words. For a fraction of a second nothing seems to compute. Then it clicks.

Bucky’s POV

“Let me go!” she screams, “I have to go.” But the grip I have on her is stronger than even she is. She puts up a good fight but I have to do this. Even if I have to save her from herself.

I see Steve run towards Olivia. The short women looks even smaller from a distance. She’s clutching her baby to her chest and sitting on a chair in the middle of Time Square. The area has been cleared and sealed. Not even a overzealous cop or noisy reporter could get in. “She’s on a pressure pad.” Steve’s voice comes in through my earpiece. “I can’t take the child, the change in weight might trigger it.” y/n continues to struggle against my hold cursing my very existence.

“I’m sending the tech in now,” Tony’s voice comes in through my com. Before I can respond I feel a sharp pain in my shin and for a second I loose my grip on y/n. Just a second. That’s all it ever takes doesn’t it. She slips from my grip and runs towards her friend. This is a message and it was meant for her. There’s a bright flash of orange and red and black. I see Steve’s body fly back. Then I hear a scream. A gut wrenching scream that tears at my heart.

…

Bucky’s POV

y/n has been quiet. The last thing I heard come out of her was that god awful agonizing scream. We’re back at the tower. I don’t want to leave her, but I want to check on Steve. He’s probably fine I know. But, the combined worry of everything is taking a toll on me. He’s only a couple doors down in one of the other rooms in the med bay but I can’t leave y/n. We’re waiting for Olivia’s husband and son. A team was sent to escort them here and a plan has been put into action for their extraction and exit. They are being flown out today to somewhere safe. “It’s just until this is over, okay?” I say trying to reassure her. I’m met with more silence. Not the calm silence one hears during the moments after a trauma but the eerie silence that envelops people when they’ve been truly broken.

After what feels like eternity I finally get the green light. Olivia’s husband, Mark, and Ben finally arrive at the tower. They’re escorted up to the med bay and I see Ben through the glass doors. He’s carefree and smiling running circles around his father as he walks towards the room lead by Carter. I step forward and open the door. They don’t know. They haven’t been told and y/n isn’t in any state to do it. That leaves me doesn’t it? It leaves me to break a family’s heart.

y/n’s POV

Not a lot registers. I remember Cho shining a light in my eye and asking how I felt. I didn’t reply. Then flashes of a car ride. Even when Ben runs up to say hi, I don’t register it. It’s not until he leans against my knees that I realize he’s there and as soon as I do, as soon as I feel him, I push off my chair onto my knees and pull him into my embrace almost crushing him. I vaguely hear Bucky talking and another man’s voice but nothing else registers.

I miss her with all my heart, with all my soul, and if I had anything more to miss her with I would. The pain I feel now is searing and not even my hold on Ben is enough to keep me from losing myself to it.

A moment later I feel him torn from me by a pair of strong hands i’m too weak to fight. “Let go of my son.” Those are the first words I really register since the explosion. “This is your fault!”

“No please,” is all I can manage to push out. Even that I don’t say consciously, it just involuntarily slips out of my mouth. “Ben!”

“You’ll never see him again!” I’m having a hard time seeing reality but I know Mark is gone now and I think the shock finally hits me.

I keep thinking, no you’re stronger than this. But my breathing is ragged and i’m hyperventilating and I feel Bucky’s hands grasp my shoulders. He is saying something that I can’t quite hear past the rush of blood pumping through my ears. “Sed… Seda… Sedate me! Get Cho!” I scream past the fog that is suddenly becoming my new reality. I hear, more than see, Bucky leave the room. But that’s going to take too long. I push myself off the floor and stumble over to the cabinets. I pull a drawer open and find a syringe full of what i’m looking for. I stick myself in the arm and push the plunger down not caring about the dose i’ve just injected myself with. I just want to sleep.

Bucky’s POV

I run outside the room, leaving y/n for no more than a second, to get Cho. But that’s all it ever takes isn’t it? A second. When we come back in she’s on the floor and I feel a piece of myself shatter.

#bucky smut #bucky fluff #bucky x reader #bucky fic #bucky fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader

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lost-your-memory · 7 years ago

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Here is part two of Funeral Blue Many thanks to @cat-danvers for being my beta (it’s 16k+ words ...) I will put this on AO3 soon, since it’s so long. Be aware that I am purposely playing with the DC timelines and universes here, so there is very little canon events (especially regarding Wonder Woman). For reasons that will become evident through the read, I am not putty Barry in this universes. Also, you should imagine Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel and Christian Bale as Batman, because that’s how I imagined it.

FIVE YEARS LATER

“Mom, I’m home!”

Cat smiled and looked up to see Carter enter the living room and drop his bags next to one of the couches.

Casually dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a large gray sweater completed by some fancy black and gray sneakers, he was the walking cliché of a college student. The unruly dark blond curls of his hair were almost falling in front of his baby blue eyes and he had a clear stubble framing his lower face, making him look a little older than he actually was. He was tanned like a sailor, a golden hale darkening his usually pale features and giving him a more than healthy glow, a happy one.

“Hello sweetheart!” Cat greeted him warmly, getting up from behind her desk to walk up to him. He was much taller than her now, especially since she was barefoot but it didn’t stop her from engulfing her son in a tight hug, an embrace he happily returned. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

He laughed a little as they finally let go of each other. “Mom, I was here barely three weeks ago.” He pointed out, already making his way towards the kitchen. She followed him there and watched as he studied the content of the fridge, no doubt planning dinner already.

“I saw Supergirl speed away above the cab, I’m guessing she’s out on duty?” Carter inquired, pulling out some vegetables from the fridge and gathering everything on the counter island.

“Yes, something about a bank robbery, criminals never learn. You know you don’t have to cook, there are some perfectly fine leftovers in the freezer.” She arched an amused brow at the way he dismissed her suggestion, with a flourish of the hand she was more than familiar with.

“Nonsense. I’ve been trying to master the risotto recipe since last time and I think I finally did it. You guys are going to be my jury tonight.” He replied with a smirk while picking up a box of special rice in a cupboard.

Cat simply nodded and sat down on one of the stools in front of the counter island.

“How was the south of France?” She asked curiously. She smiled when his face lit up with joy and excitement and she waited for him to gather his thoughts. He was all grown up now but here and then, he still found himself struggling with words and social interactions.

“Amazing. I totally get why you went over there for your honeymoon, it’s so beautiful and rich, the smells, the food, the landscapes and the sea ... I think I’ll go back next year. I’ve taken so many pictures, I practically filled two memory cards and they were big ones. I’ll show you guys after dinner, if you want to. Oh, I bought you a few bottles of that wine you liked so much, the one you had at your wedding.” Carter said with a smile, moving around the kitchen with the ease of someone who had grown up in it.

“Oh, thank you, that’s very thoughtful of you! Those fancy French people are so very protective with their wine, I never succeeded in having them send me a few bottles.” Cat stated with a discontempt edge in her voice. It made Carter smile but he didn’t add anything.

When it was evident they wouldn’t talk more for a while, Carter grabbed his phone and connected it to the sound system, filling the kitchen with French songs as he cooked the italian dish.

About an hour later, Kara flew into the living room and Carter’s eyes sparkled with a hint of relief at the sight of Supergirl, safe and sound in the middle of the penthouse. A blur later, he was wrapped into the too tight embrace of Kara’s arms.

“Uh. Kara. Too. Tight. Too tight!” He squeaked, almost choking under the strength of the hug.

“Oh, sorry! I just, missed you!” She released him and offered a sheepish smile, her arms already falling back to her side. He returned her smile and moved to hug her gently, before scrunching up his nose. She smelled like wind, earth and salt and something acrid he recognized as gunpowder.

“Alright, you need a shower. You smell like … bullets.” He stated and Kara heard the uneasy edge in his voice. She nodded and moved around the counter island to kiss Cat, softly and briefly, before disappearing towards the master bedroom.

He watched his mom relax a little after the kiss, knowing it was Kara’s way to let Cat know she was alright. It had been years since the day they buried an empty coffin but the traumatism was still lingering in her mother’s eyes sometimes, he could see it.

“Are you guys okay?” Carter softly asked as he poured more broth over the rice in the pan. He looked over his shoulder to meet his mother’s eyes and she smiled.

“We are. Sometimes, it’s hard and we fight but she’s doing her best, she’s trying.” Cat whispered, sounding a little tired but there was no hint of sadness or disappointment in her tone.

“That’s something, I guess.” Carter acknowledged. He was still having nightmares sometimes, dreaming of Kara’s body in the casket they had put into the ground or seeing Supergirl’s lifeless body fall from a green sky and crash into the sea, sinking into the darkness of the abyss. It’s been a long time but the scars were somehow still a little raw.

“Alright, I’m scrubbed clean!” Kara’s voice echoed through the room before she made her entrance, barefoot but wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a bright red t-shirt that exposed her left shoulder. Her hair was still a bit damp and cascading around her face and Carter noticed she wasn’t wearing her glasses.

“What’s for dinner, Chef?” Kara asked while settling down behind Cat, gently putting her arms around the other woman’s waist and resting her chin atop Cat’s right shoulder.

“Champagne and mushrooms risotto, with green peas because mom loves seeing green in her plate.” Carter replied with a smirk. Kara chuckled and Cat narrowed her eyes at him but he simply smiled sweetly, before focusing back on the cooking.

A phone rang in the living room and Kara arched a surprised brow. She moved away from Cat to go pick it up and the first words made Carter and Cat whirl around to look at her, anxiety clear on both their faces.

“Clark? What’s wrong?” Kara asked, her voice calm and sure, steeled.

She was Supergirl now, with her posture straight, her shoulders squared and her features hard as marble. Her baby blues eyes were dark and sparkling, loss and duty swirling together to form a complex and intricate galaxy in itself.

She listened to her cousin and with each passing second, her eyes became darker and darker.

“Alright, I’ll alert the DEO and we’ll wait for you to come in, so you can brief us.” She finally hung up and in a blur of superspeed, she changed into her suit.

“Duty calls, I’m sorry for dinner.” She was trying to sound soft but the somber expression on her face was a stark and nonreassuring contrast.

Carter swallowed thickly, hating the feeling of impending doom that cloaked the scene.

He knew Superman never called unless it was something he couldn’t handle and there were very few things the last son of Krypton couldn’t deal with. Over the years, he had learned to like the man of steel for his heroism and for his nice personality but he had also heard a lot about the circumstances surrounding Kara’s arrival on Earth. The fact Superman had all but abandoned a little girl behind him to live with a human family instead of staying with her as the last vestige of a world that had been swallowed by the universe had made Clark Kent entirely less sympathetic to his eyes.

“Come back to us, okay?” Carter managed to ask, groaning inwardly at the panicked edge in his voice. He knew it was audible, for the superhero and for his mother as well.

Cat had gone still and her pale features betrayed her terror but she finally nodded and simply asked the same thing. “We’ll wait for you, for as long as you need us to, but please come back to us.”

Kara took three steps and captured Cat in a tight, tight embrace, so strong Carter almost heard his mother’s bones crack but she didn’t say anything. She instead reveled in the hug, needing the strength of Kara’s entire body pressing against her, surrounding her, swallowing her whole. She needed to smell the wind and the earth, that strange but grounding and familiar scent that clung to the superhero’s suit and wafted through the air with every movement of her hair.

When Kara kissed her, soundly, furiously and passionately, Cat all but moaned into the kiss, a mixture of relief and panic that quickly mutated into a strangled sob as she clenched her fingers into Kara’s cape, not yet ready to let go of her wife. The urgency of the situation was raw and blunt and unhealed scars were forced open again, because everyone in the room remembered all too well the last time it had been that serious.

Kara broke the kiss and gently nuzzled Cat’s nose, softly and tenderly, so sweetly it made Carter’s heart ache for them, for that incredible love he was witnessing.

“I’ll be back.” Kara whispered, before pressing a last lingering kiss on Cat’s lips. Then, without any warning or last goodbye, she was gone through the window and the flutter of her cape slapping in the wind echoed in the living room.

---

“Alright Superman, what are we dealing with this time?”

Director Henshaw was camped in the middle of the DEO’s headquarters, surrounded by Alex Danvers on his right and Lucy Lane on his left. Bouncing between the desks and typing away at differents keyboards at a time, Winn Schott was sending the information in live to the wall of screens. Lena Luthor was helping him, standing next to the main desk with a tablet in her hands and a bluetooth device hooked in her ear. Next to Lucy, James Olsen and Susan Vasquez were standing with their arms crossed over their chests, seriousness etched on their faces.

The hour was grave and all eyes, aside from Lena’s and Winn’s, were braked on the two kryptonians standing in front of the director.

“The Dominators are back but this time, they had help. As you all know by now, the Dominators are able to travel through time and space and they somehow got back to when Lex Luthor was still … reasonable.” Clark tried, throwing a sorry look towards Lena. She only shrugged and then returned back to her work, letting Superman continue.

”Now, I don’t know exactly how it went nor I know what exactly occurred between the aliens and Lex but I do know that today, they are all equipped with kryptonite devices that prevent me and Kara from getting to them. What’s worst is that the devices they have, they are far more evolved than anything I’ve seen before, making the suits we got from Astra & Non useless, and even Kalex doesn’t know about it, the Fortress of Solitude doesn’t have any shred of useful information regarding that new treat.” He finished, his frustration clear in his voice.

Kara sighed softly, causing Alex to arch a brow. The sisters exchanged a look but they didn’t say anything. J’onn took over, turning towards the wall of screens to look at the images Clark had managed to snap.

“So, we have an army of alien invaders ready to take over the planet and they are all wearing some kind of … Kryptonite harness, that prevent the two most powerful superheroes to take action.” The director bowed his head slightly, observing the blurry photograph of a Dominator, wrapped in some kind of vest made of a bright green fabric. It was a static picture but they could all imagine the glow of the radioactive substance.

“I know they are the enemy but I have to give that to them, they are smart. They found your only weakness and they are now exploiting it. Where does that leave us now? Agent Danvers.” J’onn turned to look at Alex, who bit her lower lip in concentration.

It took a few seconds, barely a minute, before she sprung into action.

“Alright so, as far as we know, they are heading towards National City as we speak because for some reasons, Metropolis doesn’t seem as interesting to them. Which leads us to think there is something here they want, or need even. We can’t know for sure but my bet is that it has something to do with the technology they are wearing, it’s been made by a Luthor and the other ones are here.” Alex gestured towards Lena with an apologetic look.

“Right, there’s me and my mother, still in prison to answer her crimes and to pay for the Cadmus debacle.” Lena added without missing a beat, her eyes glued to the tablet in her hands.

“Exactly so, maybe the kryptonite device needs some work and they can’t get it done themselves or maybe my theory is wrong but in any case, they are on their way and we need to come up with a solution to, at the very least, contain them while we are working to create a neutralizer for the the kryptonite.” Alex took a breath and studied the images again, hands on her hips as she stood in front of the screens. “There are too many of them, we can’t just go with an electromagnetic gun or any kind of individual device. Winn, Lena, you’re in charge of the research, Doctor Danvers should get here within a few hours to help.”

They both nodded and finished their tasks in the main room before heading towards the lab.

“In the meantime, we need all the help we can get to fight the Dominators. Kara, can you reach out to your superhero teams on the other earths?” Alex asked and Kara nodded.

“I can try yes. Last time I talked to Barry, things were pretty calm over there. I can’t speak for Oliver though, the man seems to always find himself in the middle of some crisis.” Kara explained before pulling out Cisco’s device from her left boot.

“I may have some people I can reach after, too.” Clark interrupted and Kara arched a brow at him, imitated by Lucy, Alex and James.

“You mean, your league? I thought you liked to work alone?” Kara asked, a little confused and with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Yes well. Sometimes, I don’t exactly have a choice …” Clark simply answered and Lucy stepped in before Kara could press for more.

“We are not bringing any people we don’t know into the DEO and into this fight. Who are the ones you speak of?” The general asked, suspicious but trying to sound neutral.

“Batman, Aquaman, Cyborg and there’s a woman as well but I don’t know if she will join us. She’s … special.” Clark trailed off and Kara snickered. She shrugged and walked away.

“You can invite Bruce, Arthur and Victor, I know them.” She dropped before disappearing on the balcony, leaving a dumbfounded Clark behind her and a smirking team of DEO agents.

---

“Bruce, a pleasure as always.” Kara greeted the billionaire as he exited the DEO elevator. He was flanked with Arthur Curry on his left and Victor Stone on his right, all three of them showing serious faces.

“Supergirl, I knew we’d be working together someday.” Bruce answered with a small smirk, nodding at the other agents lined up behind the girl of steel. Acknowledging Superman, he simply gave him a short nod. “Clark, long time no see. Will our mutual friend join us for the fight?”

Clark sighed and then shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t answer my calls and you know how much she despises wars … aliens or not.”

Kara was about to ask who was the woman they were all speaking about when Susan came in running. “Supergirl, the Dominators landed on the outskirt of National City and are making their way towards the downtown!”

Kara instantly went into hero mode. “How many?”

“At least five hundred but we think it’s only the first squadron, more are probably on the way.” Susan dutifully answered.

Kara nodded and took a second to think before speaking again. “Alright it’s show time. Tell Agent Danvers to send every DEO force available to form a barrage between the outskirts and downtown, they are to protect the civilians at any cost. More superheros are on the way as well and as soon as they arrive, send them in my direction.”

Susan nodded and then took off towards the main operation room while Kara turned to face the others heroes.

“Long story short, the Dominators are wearing Kryptonite devices that makes it impossible for Clark and I to get close to them. You are it. The Green Arrow and some friends of him are on the way but in the meantime … Clark and I will help the DEO to protect the civilians, while you will be trying to contain the progression of the Dominators. Our research team is trying to come up with a weapon to neutralize the Kryptonite but until they do, we are forced to help from afar. Any question?” Kara finished, hands on her hips, looking into the eyes of each of the men standing in front of them. They all shook their heads no.

“Alright then. Suit up, it’s show time. Make sure you have a communication device to be connected to our team all the time, they will send you the coordinates of the fight. Clark and I are going now, meet us there.”

After one last look, Kara sped through the windows and took off to the sky, closely followed by Clark.

---

They were losing.

The suburbs was almost entirely destroyed, there were thrown cars shattered on the side of cracked open road, crumbled buildings of which the ruins were used as projectiles in the fight and a heavy, lasting cloud of hot dust was making it harder to see clearly.

The Dominators weren’t that hard to defeat but for one killed, three more were coming down from the numerous spaceships hovering above the desert, just underneath the few clouds that were starting to darken the perfectly blue summer sky.

The air smelled like blood, sweat, sand and salt, like dust and the characteristic metallic scent that announced a storm.

They had been at it for hours now but the outcome was getting more and more compromised, with each passing minute.

Batman was fighting on the left flank of the raging war, Aquaman using the sea on the right end and Cyborg, helped by J’onn J’onzz, the Green Arrow, the white Canary, the black Canary and a bunch of what seemed to be street fighters, were taking care of the middle. When a few Dominators managed to get past the line of defense, Clark and Kara used their heat vision or freezing breath to kill them from afar but the Dominators were relentless.

“Susan, are Felicity, Winn and Lena getting any closer to a solution for the Kryptonite? We’re losing here, the Dominators are outnumbering us and it’s starting to show …” Kara asked in her communicating device, while surveying a building to see if it was entirely evacuated before flying to another, making sure the suburb was now deserted, just in case the army of invaders managed to get through.

She waved to Lucy, down on the streets with all her regiments in stand by, ready to intervene should it be needed. The general waved her back.

“None, Supergirl. Agent Danvers just came back with Doctor Danvers, hopefully they will be able to come up with something.” Susan’s voice sounded as neutral as ever but Kara heard the tiny shard of skepticism in it.

“Supergirl, I have Cat Grant online, she wants to speak to you.” Susan suddenly said and Kara felt her heart squeeze in her chest. She knew Cat was probably worried sick as she watched the news unfold on her TV. She could hear CatCo choppers from where she was hovering, they were flying at a reasonably safe distance from the fight.

“Alright, cut the other channels and transfer her to me please, thank you Susan.” Kara asked before slowly flying back to Clark, who was surveying the fight from afar with a frustrated look on his face. She understood what he was feeling, she was boiling with anger and helplessness as well.

“Cat.” She greeted when she heard the ragged breathing of her lover.

“Kara. How … How are you?” Cat asked, barely calming down at the sound of the girl of steel’s voice.

“I’m fine. I’m … I can’t exactly get close, so I am safe.” Kara managed to say without sounding too bitter. She assumed Cat was extremely relieved with the situation, since she couldn’t get to the heart of the fight.

“I know. I’m sorry, Kara.” Cat whispered and Kara sighed. It was a recurring theme since the traumatism that had occurred almost six years ago now. Kara knew and understood why Cat was so scared every time she donned the Supergirl suit but she was also tired of having to argue with Cat that it was who she was.

“How’s Carter?” Kara changed of subject to avoid getting into a new argument, not when everyone around her was fighting for the survival of the whole world.

“He’s watching.” Kara heard the young man talk on the other side of the line and she chuckled at his words.

“Tell him I’ll do my best to get him Arthur’s autograph.” She answered, knowing it was Carter’s way to de-dramatize the situation. Cat let out a skeptical sound but she relayed the information.

“I have to go, Cat. I need to make sure this part of the city is deserted, just in case the Dominators get past us.” Kara gently explained and she winced when she heard Cat’s breath hitch, knowing exactly what image had flooded the woman’s mind.

“I’ll be alright, I promise. Alex, Eliza, Felicity and Winn, helped by Lena, are working on a way to neutralize the Kryptonite device and I asked them to also come up with something to blow the spaceships up. Once the research team comes through, we will win this war.” She elaborated with as much details as she could, in the hope it would calm Cat’s fears a little.

“I know. Alex called, to let me know. She … does that, now, since … since last time.” Cat said and Kara felt grateful for Alex’s thoughtfulness.

“I love you, Cat. I’ll come back to you. I always do.” Kara blurted and she practically heard the smile that graced Cat’s lips at those words.

“You better. I love you too. Please, be careful.” Cat said and she ended the call. Kara smiled and reached to her ear to find Susan’s channel again.

“Alright, any idea to cause a breakthrough into this war? The team need some rest, they’re going to fall if we don’t do anything.” Kara asked while looking at Batman, who just took a blow from two Dominators and was now flying backward through the air. He crashed down into the ground a few miles away, sliding into the burning asphalt before managing to get back to his feet. He stumbled a little but he valiantly got back to the fight.

“Actually, Lena Luthor is here and she wants to talk to you, I’m transferring her.” Susan explained and the next voice Kara heard was Lena’s.

“Kara, I have an idea but it’s only temporary. It should buys us a few hours top …” The CEO trailed off and Supergirl groaned slightly. She was used to the way Lena’s mind was working but now wasn’t the time for this.

“Lena, we don’t have time for this. What’s the idea?” Kara urged her friend and the Luthor instantly got back to her explanation.

“I noticed that each time one of your team killed a Dominators, more were coming down from the spaceships. I managed to have Winn hack, sort of, into one of the ships to understand how it works and from what I’ve gathered, we can stop the influx of Dominators for a time.” Lena stated and Kara heard the sound of fingers typing away at a keyboard. “I had Lucy deliver me a military EMP and I modified it to enhance its abilities so, if you or one of your team manage to make it explode under the spaceships, it should break their systems for five hours. Now, it won’t kill the spaceships because they are way too advanced for me to understand the basics just yet but …”

“Lena, Lena. No ramblings, get to the point. This EMP, it has to detonate under the spaceships and then they can’t … generate, more Dominators, for a span of five hours, right?” Kara cut in, gesturing for Clark to come closer. Superman gently flew to her while keeping an eye on the fight.

“Exactly. Alex is on her way with the EMP, I programmed it with a remote so, once it’s in place, you just have to press a button to detonate it. It’s incredibly powerful so, it will definitely blow up the power in National City but every major building has a backup generator so it should be safe.” Lena finished.

Kara observed Clark without seeing him for a few seconds before speaking again. “Alright Lena, before I detonate the device, have Cat order the anchors in her channels to let the people know what will happen. She doesn’t need to provide them with details, she simply needs to let the people of National City know they will be without power for a while, that way they can organize a minimum. I’m going to break it to the team, have Susan let me know when Alex is around.” Kara said and she hung up, instantly connecting with the rest of the team to explain the plan.

---

Alex arrived half an hour later with the EMP securely fastened in the back of her truck. It was a huge cylindrical machine with a lots of colorful wires and a few buttons and switches.

“Here’s the remote. The trick is to bring it under the spaceships. Throwing a car full speed won’t work because the Dominators will have plenty of time to stop it beforehand. Flying here is impossible, the ships are individually protected by an electromagnetic field lined with Kryptonite, it would weaken Clark and you and you wouldn’t be able to make it back.” Alex explained, exiting her car next to Lucy as Kara and Clark landed nearby.

Kara reached to her ear and reached out to Batman.

“Bruce, any chance you have a batplane or something ready that could bring the EMP right where we need it?” She asked. She sighed at the answer and then thanked Bruce before cutting the line.

“Nothing that will work, the EMP needs to be handled properly and dropping it from above will only damage it.” Kara sighed again in frustration. She was tired of watching everyone else fight but her and the feeling of helplessness surrounding her was driving her crazy.

“None of the heroes can manage to get it there, they are barely holding the lines. Clark and I can’t get any closer than here and you guys won’t stand a chance in the middle of their army.” Kara added and she gritted her teeth, trying to come up with a plan.

“How about a distraction?” Lucy suddenly chimed in and the smug smile on her face was almost comical, given the situation.

“Go on?” Kara invited her to state her plan, knowing she could trust the General to come up with something good.

“So far, we didn’t use the army but I have a bunch of choppers and military planes in stand by, I can launch them onto the spaceships to try to bug them. Enough to create a distraction that should give you an opportunity to go there …” Kara was about to remind her she couldn’t go near Kryptonite but Lucy waved her off. “I know, I know but look, last time you …” Everyone threw Lucy a dark look at what she was evoking.

“Last time, you managed to throw yourself at a being full of radioactive Kryptonite to launch the both of you into the sky. I’m guessing this time is closer, in circumstances. Clark can propulse you towards the location while you hold the EMP and then you just, put it there and detonate it. It won’t harm you, it will just cut any communication. You will have to find a way to extract yourself from under the spaceships but since the EMP will shut down any magnetic field, you won’t be bothered by the Kryptonite. Not from the ships anyway … Only with the devices they are wearing. You can get to the back of the battlefield and escape.”

Kara thought about the plan for a few seconds, letting Clark and Alex protest that it was too dangerous and that it should be another way.

“There isn’t another way. I’ll do it. Did Cat broadcast the news already?” Kara asked and Lucy nodded, checking on her phone before looking back up. Alex was glaring at her girlfriend but Lucy stood her ground.

“Clark, you’re going to throw me as soon as the choppers are distracting the ships. I’ll get the EMP in place and detonate it. Then the team will have to get rid of the remaining Dominators before we retreat to the DEO to figure something more … definitive. We’ll leave the army to keep an eye on the ships, if that’s okay with you Luce?” Lucy nodded and Kara turned to Clark to see if he was going to get along.

“Why can’t it be me, who places the EMP?” Superman protested, arms crossed over his chest in his usual posture. Kara didn’t miss a beat. “You’re not fast enough.”

He was about to protest again but Kara threw him a warning look and he kept his mouth shut.

“Alright, Lucy call your teams and I’ll put mine up to date. Alex, I need you to go back to the DEO to help find a way to neutralize the Kryptonite devices they are wearing. We need all the help we can get …” Kara implored, knowing Alex was about to refuse to leave her side. It took a little more pushing but the older Danvers finally relented and borrowed one of Lucy’s army cars to return to the headquarters.

Lucy went away to give orders and Kara sighed once more, before opening the multi-channels line to inform the heroes of the plan.

---

“You can’t possibly agree to that plan!” Cat hissed in the phone as she paced the space in between her two couches, closely followed by Carter’s gaze. The line stayed silent for a few seconds before Alex’s voice came through again, echoing in the living room. Cat had put her phone on speaker the moment Alex had called, not wanting to keep her son in the dark.

“I don’t exactly have a choice. It’s the only one we have and she is hell-bent on executing it. You, better than anyone else including me, know how hard it is to make her bulge when she has an idea in mind.” Alex grumbled and the sound of an engine racing drowned her voice for a few seconds.

“Oh, we know Alex, don’t worry, we know. You say it’s a relatively safe plan, can you detail it one more time for us, please? Also, do you need help to neutralize the Kryptonite device? I can totally swing by the DEO and lean a hand …” Carter jumped in before his mother could yell some more. She was so tense he could see the muscle of her jaw work every time she gritted her teeth a little harder.

“Alright so, Clark is going to throw Kara, who will be holding the EMP, right under the spaceships where she will detonate it. It will shut down any electromagnetic activity so she won’t be bothered by the shields around the spaceships. Once she has detonated the EMP, she only has to escape by the back of the battlefield to avoid any kind of contact with Kryptonite and she’ll join us at the DEO right after.” Alex explained and Carter scrunched his face when he heard the stretching of tires on the road.

“Don’t get into any accident, it wouldn’t do any good to the team.” Carter warned and Alex must have sensed he was serious because she mumbled something like a curse before slowing down.

“Actually Carter, if your mother’s up for it, we could indeed use your help to come up with something, to neutralize the Kryptonite harnesses.” Alex finally said, hesitancy clear in her voice. Carter looked up to meet his mother’s eyes and she sighed before nodding.

“I want to be there too. I know I can’t help but I want to stay with Carter,” Cat said and Alex chuckled lightly.

“Of course you would. I already cleared it with Director Henshaw, you’re both awaited at the DEO. I’ll meet you there.” The older Danvers hung up and Carter simply went to retrieve his phone and a tablet from one of the bags before stating he was ready.

The ride to the DEO was silent and tense, Cat trying her best to stay composed and Carter already checking his DEO tablet for the properties of the Kryptonite, to see if there was something exploitable in it.

He’d been working with the DEO on several occasions ever since he entered MIT, at the tender age of seventeen. Like Alex, he had taken an interest on bioengineering but he was also tempted by a career as a photographer and he was already doing some side work for some big travel magazines and National Geographic as well, during his holidays and his free time.

It took barely a full second for them to realize something was wrong, when they exited the elevator in the main room of the DEO.

---

The blast of the detonation shook the whole world and it made the spaceships above her head sway, dangerously so. Still weak from all the Kryptonite she’d been thrown through, Kara managed to stand up and to take a few steps towards the back of the battlefield, longing for the desert and it safety.

Suddenly, thunder echoed across the sky and rolled on for a few noticeable seconds before the heavy clouds that had gathered around during the fight broke free, causing a heavy and diluvian rain to drench the world.

That’s when Kara realized she wasn’t going to make it out alive.

She was a sun powered alien and to her, the dark thick sky meant death. Especially when she was still reeling from all the Kryptonite radiations her body just went through.

“Crap.” Kara cursed, feeling her bones crack and tremble, the weight of her own body catching up with her wary muscles and making it harder to even walk. She had counted on her superspeed to be able to get away from the battlefield, at last, but it was now out of question.

“Shit,” She cussed again, noticing a squadron of Dominators heading her way.

The Kryptonite halo was glowing green in the apocalyptical scene, not even diminished by the curtain of rain. Kara tried her best to walk away but the Dominators were faster and she was weakening with every passing second. She knew she only needed to buy herself some time until one of the heroes could find her but by the look of it all, she wasn’t going to stay alive long enough for that to happen.

She started feeling dizzy and when she swallowed a mouthful of rain, she almost choked on it. Coughing and then wheezing, she fell to her knees into the wet sand and thought about the words she had last said to Cat.

They now sounded terribly empty as they echoed in mind.

---

“It’s raining. There’s no sun over there, she’s not going to make it!” Winn was frantically repeating those words, panicking over the loss of communication.

Alex elbowed him hard in the ribs when she noticed Cat approaching the circle of desks, flanked by Carter. “Shut up, they’re here.” She mumbled through gritted teeth, trying to school her features into a neutral expression.

From Cat’s arched brow and Carter’s pointed look, she must have failed.

“Hum, we’re encountering some … unexpected issues with the plan.” Alex stammered, trying to find a way to broach the news without causing the Grants to panic like Winn.

“Do not, sugarcoat it.” Cat warned, her voice colder than ice itself. Her green eyes were sparkling with a mixture of fear and anger and Alex couldn’t help the feeling of déjà-vu that snuck into the back of her head.

It started to rain, right after she detonated the EMP. She has no power and the field of Kryptonite she’s been thrown across probably left her feeling very weak. We don’t know how she’s going to make it out alive.” Alex finally said, her voice becoming a whisper towards the end.

“God damnit.” Carter cursed and when his mother didn’t even scold him for his language, he knew it was even worst than expected. Cat’s face had gone white and she was pursing her lips into a thin, very thin line.

“I can’t believe she’s doing it again.” She finally whispered, her tone devoid of all emotion but lined with a bitter edge. Carter winced, knowing that calm was ten times worse than an angry fit but he stayed silent.

“We are hoping she can buy herself enough time for the team to reach her, since we know the EMP served its purpose. They can’t send more Dominators down on Earth but the ones that are already here need to be defeated …” Alex explained before turning to Winn to give him some orders to follow.

“She better come back to us.” Cat whispered and Carter let out a subtle relieved sigh when he saw the sparkle of hope shine in his mother’s eyes.

---

The world around her was blurred and swaying under her unsteady feet.

The rain falling hard on her trembling limbs was rolling down her face and some drops were relentlessly getting into her eyes, scrambling her vision in addition to the Kryptonite radiations she could feel approaching her heavy body.

The wet sand under her hands was fleeing in between her fingers and the weight of her exhausted silhouette, drenched in sweat and rain, was causing the ground to dip and fall, threatening to swallow her whole. She knew the Dominators were too close now, she knew everything was lost but all she could feel was a crushing guilt. She had already gone beyond the angry phase, now she was just sad and guilty of putting Cat and Carter through this again. The unpleasant feeling was making her stomach churn and squeeze inside of her chest, even more so than the green radioactive substance getting closer with every new step of the Dominators.

They were barely ten feet away now, at least two dozen if the strength of the Kryptonite glow was anything to go by.

She was too weak to even protect herself. She closed her eyes and tried to gather the remains of what was left of her strength but she only managed to stand on her knees, her soiled fingers closing into trembling fists by her sides.

She could feel her veins burn with the radiations, coursing through her whole face, chasing the blood away and she knew that, more than ever, she looked like an alien, emerald cracks breaking the marble of her features.

She saw the silhouettes of the Dominators getting more defined, under the curtain of rain, blurred and sickeningly green but determinate. They were marching towards her, not even running, they knew they had her. The thunder above her head rolled again, strong and loud, making the world shake a little and she smiled, despite her oncoming death. She always loved the rain.

She closed her eyes and waited for the first blow but it never came.

---

She heard the sounds of a fight, blunt and brutal, fists breaking bones and punching through alien flesh, alien goo splashing over the sand despite the noise of the heavy rain and then, the voice of a woman echoed in her ears, familiar but distant like the soft echo of a long forgotten dream.

The Kryptonite was still cloaking the air, heavy and paralyzing, preventing her to really move but she managed to raise her head to look up.

She barely discerned the silhouette of a woman wearing a sparkling armor made of metal and steel, bright and fierce. She noticed drenched brown curls that somehow still flew with every kick and punch and a golden band was slightly glowing on her forehead. She was too weak to make out any kind of features but something in the back of her head told her she knew her, whoever the woman was.

Minutes passed, one by one but slowly, the glowing radiations of the Kryptonite diminished and she felt the sickness leave her limbs. She wasn’t healing because it was still raining and the lack of sun was getting in the way of her powers but at least, she was regaining mobility.

It took another handful of minutes that seemed like a small eternity to her, to finally be able to stand up. She swayed dangerously, still unsteady and the wet sand giving up a little under her weight but she stood her ground, fighting for it.

Eventually, the Dominators were all dead and the Kryptonite harnesses out of service.

“You always end up in the most critical situations, Kara … Is that your brand or something? It’s not very wise if it is.” The voice echoed behind her.

She turned, not too fast because she still felt a bit nauseous but then she was met with a pair of brown eyes that sparkled with something like amusement and joy, the kind of joy that could be found in the eyes of a kid on Christmas Eve, pure and simple.

“Diana!” Kara all but squealed, happiness flooding her body as she threw herself at the woman’s neck, hugging her as tightly as her weak state allowed her.

“Diana? I thought …” Bruce’s voice chimed in and Kara released her friend to watch the team approach.

They looked exhausted, all of them. The green arrow and his friends were all showing various kind of wounds and J’onn was holding his right arm in a way that suggested it was seriously injured, broken maybe. Bruce and Arthur were covered in rain, blood and sand and they were both holding an unconscious Cyborg, whose arms and legs were in dire need of some repairs, from the sparkles that buzzed in the air near the limbs. Only Superman looked in shape as he landed near Batman but his expression told her how much he despised having to stay back.

“Diana. Glad you could join us.” Clark greeted, a coldness in his tone Kara wasn’t familiar with. She threw him a weird look but he purposely didn’t meet her eyes.

“I despise wars but I couldn’t let the people I’ve come to consider as a part of my family fight without me so … I came.” Diana turned to answer the billionaire, ignoring Superman and causing a thin smirk to grace Bruce’s lips.

“I’m glad you came. I take it you already know Supergirl …” He noticed, arching a brow at the younger Danvers and Kara sighed.

“Long story, I’ll explain later. For now, let’s go back to the DEO, we need some rest and a medical team is ready to treat any kind of injury that might need care. I need to regain my powers as well, so … let’s go. Lucy’s army is going to watch over the spaceships for us.” Kara explained, feeling the exhaustion settle in her bones for good, making her sway again. Diana gently reached to hold her by the elbow and Kara threw her a grateful look.

“Alright. Let’s meet there. Diana, are you coming too?” Bruce asked with a hint of hope in his voice, causing the rest of the team to look at him with surprise. It wasn’t often the Batman sounded anything else than grim or moody.

“I am, yes. I’ll take Kara there, she can’t fly.” Diana simply answered, already moving to carry her friend.

Before Kara could protest, Diana jumped into the rainy sky and towards National City.

---

Cat was used to be informed of everything in real time and sometimes, even before everyone else. Knowledge was power and she lived by those words, since she literally made a living of being informed and informing others.

The absence of information was driving her mad and crazy Cat Grant was even more snappish and sarcastic than normal Cat. Carter knew that better than anyone and when he saw Alex pinch the bridge of her nose and take a deep breath after Cat asked for the thousandth time if they had any news, making a pointed comment about incompetence and laziness, he jumped in.

“Mom. Come on. Be nice, they are doing their best. Winn is literally soaked through with sweat and he’s still trying to find a way to communicate with Supergirl and the team, even though the EMP that detonated makes it literally impossible. Don’t be mean, they don’t need it right now.” He said with a gentle smile but a firm tone, not wanting his mother to think she was entitled to her impossible behavior. It might be the case in CatCo’s offices but here at the DEO, she was a guest and by the flames burning in Alex’s eyes, she was about to be thrown off the building.

Everyone’s limits were stretching thin.

Cat glared at him but stayed silent, realizing he was right. She didn’t apologize but she gave Alex an apologetic look. They all knew it was all they would get, Cat being both too tense and too proud to offer more.

“We really are doing our best, Cat.” Alex simply added before walking away to talk to Winn.

“Where is Guardian?” Cat asked, causing the older Danvers to stop and to whirl around to face Cat.

“He’s helping evacuating more civilians, working hand in hand with Lucy’s regiments. Why?” Alex asked with a warning edge in her tone.

“Business.” Cat simply answered and Carter inwardly groaned. There it was, Cat’s defiant attitude that was about to push Alex beyond what was tolerable.

The older Danvers was clearly about to snap back at the CEO when the sound of a hard landing made them turn around.

All eyes widened at the sight of Kara being protectively held by a tall woman in armor, a sword attached on one side and a folded lasso on the other, with large metallic handcuffs protecting her wrists and wearing a pair of heavy boots that had caused the concrete to crack under their strength.

There was no doubt the woman was not human, despite her look.

She was beauty itself, with her perfectly chiseled features, her proud and royal posture, with her raised chin and the thousand worlds showing in her deep brown eyes as drenched curls were freely framing her face.

“Hello.” She said as if she was simply greeting a gathering of people that was expecting her.

“You can let go of me, now, you know?” Kara mumbled, a slight pout on her face as she tried to walk towards her sister. The woman gently curled her fingers around Supergirl’s forearms and helped her down the few steps that separated the superhero and her people.

“You’re too weak, let me help you.” The woman insisted with a softness in her voice that reminded Alex of Alura’s voice, the one she had heard so many time while working on the hologram.

“Hm, excuse me but, who the hell are you?” Alex all but growled, a nasty sting of jealousy lining her voice as she glared at the woman. She didn’t like the way the intruder was so close with her sister and she felt oddly threatened.

A single glance towards Cat told her she wasn’t alone.

“Everyone, meet Diana of Themyscira.” Kara simply said with a bright smile as she leant on her friend’s touch.

Carter arched a surprised brow before taking a few cautious steps towards the stranger, who looked curiously at him.

“Diana, this is Carter Grant.” Kara introduced them as Carter hesitantly snuck out a hand to be polite. He was dying to ask questions but he could also feel the burning heat of her mother’s look bore a hole in the back of his neck and he knew it wasn’t reasonable, that he had to tread lightly here.

“Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you. Thank you, for saving Kara’s life, all those years ago.” Carter simply said with a smile. The smile Diana returned to him was blinding and she engulfed him into a tight hug that reminded him of Kara’s ones.

“Ooof, I see you have super strength too … too tight, too tight!” He squeaked, silently wondering how much pressure his bones could take before they finally broke.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I haven’t been in the real world for that long, I’m still struggling a little with calculating the right amount of force … And to understand the customs and the social rules. I hope I didn’t offend you, I am sorry if I did, I have to remember not everyone likes to be touched …” She startled rambling a little and it made him laugh. He could totally see the resemblance between her and Kara, their behaviors weren’t that different after all.

“It’s perfectly alright, Miss …” He stopped, unsure of how to call the woman standing in front of him.

“Oh please, call me Diana! Anything for Kara’s friends!” She supplied with another bright smile. He marveled for a second at how beautiful she was before coughing a little and shaking his head to get back in track.

“I’m used to Kara’s hugs now, she’s a hugger too. Are you an alien, also?” He wondered out loud, admiring the armor and the way the gold and silver of the metals were glowing slightly.

“Not exactly. I am a demi-goddess, born out of the love between an Amazon and a God.” Diana explained without getting into the details but Carter gaped at her, totally in awe now.

“Ahem. Not to break this lovely little scene but there’s a war raging outside and the team has just gotten here, they are riding the elevator as we speak …” Alex chimed, her tone barely a little warmer than when she had asked Diana to introduce herself.

“Alex, don’t be rude.” Kara warned her before escaping Diana’s grasp to stumble towards Cat, who had stayed silent for the whole exchange.

She hesitantly reached to put her arms around the CEO and Cat, for all the jealousy boiling in her veins and the mixed feelings she was experiencing for the intruder, closed the distance and sagged against her wife’s body..

They stayed silent for a moment, the whole world fading away around them as they breathed into each other’s scent. Kara was reeking of blood, sand and that characteristic scent that followed the summer rain everywhere but she was alive and relatively safe. Cat chose to focus on the feeling of her wife’s arms around her and the solid chest in which she buried her face.

When they came back to the real world, after a short but desperate kiss, the team was already heading towards the medical bay, lead by Alex. Carter was hanging back near his mother, protective despite his obvious curiosity. Diana was still there as well, studying the main operation room with great interest.

“What is this place?” She asked to no one in particular but it made Carter jump a little, as if she had troubled the course of his thoughts.

“Hm, it’s called the DEO, it stands for Department of Extranormal Operations and it’s a branch of the government that deal with every kind of aliens matters … Director Henshaw is in charge, he’s … it’s the human form of the Green Martian you saw, the one with the broken arm.” Carter studied Diana’s features to see if she was following. When she nodded, he nodded too and continued.

“It was first created when Superman landed on Earth, years ago but now Supergirl is working with them, she’s more peaceful and she actually stands for the alien rights.” Carter proudly stated, a soft smile on his lips.

Cat heard him and she smiled too, followed by Kara.

“Why thank you, Carter. Would you like to follow us to the medical bay? I need to rest under the sun powered bed to regain my powers but you can stay around.” Kara explained with a smile, looking at Diana.

The woman nodded and fell in step with the little group, still looking everywhere with the eagerness of a child written all over her face.

---

“How comes you’re not in Themyscira anymore?” Kara asked from under the sun lamps overlooking her whole body.

“After you left, I realized the world wasn’t exactly as my mother let me think it was. I had lived a protected life, on the island and I wanted to … do something. So I left.” Diana answered and the heavy edge in her tone let Kara know there was more to the story.

“I never heard of you until now, but Superman and Batman seem to know you …” Kara turned her head to watch as a look of anger flashed through Diana’s eyes.

“I’ve run into them before. I more or less joined their secret team, they call themselve the Justice League …” Diana slowly explained and Kara nodded, Clark having mentioned it once or twice in passing, without elaborating. They didn’t talk as much anymore.

“Wait, yes, you’re the one they call Wonder Woman, right?” Carter chimed in from his seat next to Kara’s bed. Kara arched a brow and Diana sighed.

“Yes, they gave me that name but I usually go by Diana Prince. It’s easier than to explain my lineage and the fact Zeus is my father. From what I’ve gathered, humans are not kind to people they don’t understand.”Diana replied with a grim look on her face.

Two audible gasps made Kara and Diana turn their faces towards the Grants, who were both gasping at Diana.

“Zeus … Zeus is your … father?” Carter stammered, struggling to make sense of the words he had just heard and Diana rolled her eyes slightly. A soft but amused smile graced her lips as she replied “Yes, Zeus is my father. See, Supergirl is an alien from outer space but somehow, believing I’m the daughter of a God sounds even crazier to you.”

“I … Yes.” Carter gave up on trying to argue about it, still figuring how to wrap his mind around the fact he was standing next to Zeus’s daughter.

“I’m sorry, it’s a lot to take in … What does that make you, though? I mean, surely, you have some kind of title, with such a … divine, lineage?” Cat asked, curiosity taking over the surprise as her journalistic instincts kicked in. It made Kara smile broadly.

“I am technically a princess, yes, hence the choice of last name in this human world … There are some pieces of me I still can’t let go of.” Diana softly answered, the nostalgia clear in her voice.

“How long have you been in the … human world?” Cat asked next, leaning forward in the chair she had placed next to Carter, closer to Kara’s bed.

“About two years now. I do try to keep a low profile, for I am still getting used to how to navigate … people.” Diana replied, amused by Cat’s interest. “I believe we haven’t been properly introduced, however. I know you are Carter’s mother and Kara’s sweetheart but none of that explains your interest for my person …” Diana tilted her head to the side in a gesture that was so similar to Kara, Cat felt a little dizzy at all the ressemblances piling up between the two extraordinary women.

“Cat Grant, CEO of CatCo worldwide Media, journalist at heart.” Cat simply offered, still a little weary of the woman in front of her.

“Grant … I think Lois, Superman’s sweetheart, said something about you once …” Diana frowned and Cat smirked while Carter and Kara groaned out loud.

“I would certainly hope so, yes. Lois and I have some kind of … old feud, going on. We started at the same place, years ago, but our paths eventually diverged and now, you could say we are the best rivals ever.” Cat explained, the smug smile never leaving her face.

“Yet it sounds like you care about her, deeply.” Diana softly stated and Carter’s eyes widened comically. Kara coughed loudly enough to try to divert the women’s attention but neither of them budged.

“Oh really. How could you possibly know about that?” Cat asked with narrowed eyes, not smiling anymore.

“Call it empathy … Or simply the fact Lois said you were one of her closest friends.” Diana smirked and it left Cat speechless, which was something to witness in itself.

Kara was about to talk to try to make a diversion when Alex barged into the room, holding a medical chart in one hand and a coffee in the other, a pen tucked between her ear and half a cereal bar in her mouth.

She put the chart on a table beside the sun powered bed and ate the rest of her bar before narrowing her eyes at Diana, still not entirely warmed up at the idea of a demi-goddess walking around her baby sister.

“Alright. The team is patched up as much as possible, they are resting a little. I gave them a full hour and then we have a meeting in the main operation room, to elaborate a plan. You rest too.” Alex ordered her sister before turning to Carter.

“Carter, we are going to focus back on a device to neutralize the Kryptonite, I need your help. Felicity, Winn, Lena and my mother are still working on it as we speak but we need all hands on the deck.” She explained with a glance towards Cat to make sure it was okay. Cat nodded and Carter instantly stood up to follow Alex out of the medical bay.

“I think she doesn’t like me very much.” Diana said, her voice sounding a little small but without her features betraying any of her feelings.

“She’s very protective of Kara. It took her years to get used to me as … Kara’s sweetheart, as you so eloquently put it.” Cat snorted. Diana threw her a curious look but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned towards Kara.

“I can understand the wariness and the protectiveness but jealousy?” Diana gently shook her head, reprobating so.

“Look Diana, the human world isn’t always pretty.” Kara started, not letting Cat the time to answer. ”There are what I call ugly emotions and behaviors, like pettiness, jealousy, cruelty … People aren’t always nice and kind, they don’t alway show goodness of heart. It’s what makes them beautiful, you know? Flaws. Humanity is flawed but most of the people ... They try to do good, they fail, they try again. You have some rotten souls going around, irredeemable ones but for the most part, they are good people.” Kara gently explained, seriousness echoing in her voice with a heavy edge that came from having witnessed the destruction of her whole world.

“My people, Kryptonians I mean, were also flawed, pride being the most dangerous flaw of them all and it lead to the destruction of my whole world. Here, humans are sometimes trying to get in the way, to gain more power, to hurt others but those are a minority. I have faith in them, you know. As long as they keep trying, I will always believe in them.” Kara finished with a soft, so very soft, smile, despite the sadness sparkling in her deep blue eyes.

For a moment, no one talked and then Diana smiled, softly.

“Thank you. Now you rest, we’ll be here when you wake up.” She gently ordered, stroking Kara’s face with the tip of her fingers. There was something so gentle and tender in the way she touched Supergirl, Cat didn’t even think to protest. She could see it wasn’t threatening, edging more towards a maternal kind of love than a romantic one.

Kara smiled lazily and then turned her eyes to look at Cat, on the other side of the bed. Exhaustion was clearly taking over but she still managed to reach a hand to cup her wife’s chin to bring her closer, claiming a soft but fierce kiss.

Minutes later, Kara was sound asleep and Cat was still smiling from the kiss.

---

“Thank you, for saving Kara again today.” Cat broke the silence half an hour later, muffling a yawn behind her free hand. The other one was closed around Kara’s fingers and she wasn’t letting go of them, needing the contact to ground her, to remind her her wife was alright and here.

“I should have gotten here sooner.” Diana replied with a hard edge in her words.

“Why weren’t you? Here sooner, I mean.” Cat bluntly asked, curious but not aggressive.

“I … It is a little ironic actually. I come from an island of warriors, the Amazons. My whole life, I’ve been training for war but the place was actually the most peaceful one you could think of. The women live in harmony there, training to be warriors because it’s our legacy, our lineage and our purpose but we never had to actually fight a war, not in a long time. The last one was when the Gods were fighting their siblings and it was centuries ago ...” Diana explained, her voice echoing with the mythical inflexion her emotions gave to the story.

“Centuries? How old are you, exactly?” Cat frowned, wondering not for the first time where the similarities between Kara and the strange goddess would stop.

“It’s impossible to count, in human quantity at least. I’m older than time itself and yet, in this world, I might as well be a newborn. I even had to learn babies weren’t made out of clay, like I had been ...” Diana couldn’t help the little amused smile at the way Cat gasped at her last words.

“Yes it made for an awkward conversation but I am getting used to them, with everything I have to learn and discover …” She enchained with something like melancholy lining her voice.

“I would imagine so, yes.” Cat nodded, regaining her composure but openly staring at the other woman.

“Kara explained her arrival to me and in some way … I am a little like her now, learning every day about how the human world is … The difference is, my world isn’t as flawed as her was, as this one is.” Diana gestured around in an attempt to seize the meaning of her world.

“Humanity is a never ending mystery, yes.” Cat simply stated, understanding it could be overwhelming for someone who had been living forever in a place where the raw ugliness of the world was a foreign concept.

“I think you found the less flawed person on Earth and she’s an alien. It says a lot …” Diana whispered, looking at Kara with something close to adoration.

“Is that why she is so precious to you?” Cat asked, curious to understand the strange bond between the extraordinary women.

“She reminds me of home.” Diana simply responded, her voice barely above a breath but Cat heard the words loud and clear. The tone, lined with love, admiration and a profound sadness, was of someone who had lost something.

She knew it for having noticed the same inflexion in Kara’s voice whenever she talked about her planet.

They didn’t talk after that, both waiting in silence for Kara to wake up.

---

“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.” Supergirl sighed as Winn brought another glass board, covered in formulas and scientific writings she was too tired to focus on, into the main operation room.

“So, Felicity came up with an idea to shut down the ships for good. Since the EMP worked so well for the magnetic impulses, we figured out we could use something similar to efficiently kill their engine and everything inside, including the ability to generate more Dominators.” Winn started, literally jumping from one board to another and scribbling down new formulas and specific numbers everywhere.

Standing near one of the glass boards, Lena was holding her tablet and typing away at it frantically, barely looking up to follow the explanation. Eliza was here as well, helping Winn by handing him more markers as he was using them too fast. Felicity and Carter were working on a computer to send schematics and blueprints on the wall of screens for everyone to see. Alex, for her part, was clutching a cup of coffee in both her hands while trying to translate Winn’s scribblings into proper English for the rest of the team.

“It’s basically a bomb. We are using a few devices we had in stock in the armory and enhancing them to transform them into bombs. It will be powerful enough to blow up ships but the thing is, as long as the mother ship is still functioning, it’s useless to try to take down the fleet hovering on the outskirts of National City.” Alex explained while struggling to keep up with the files showing up on the screens.

“Lucy managed to have another EMP sent here and it’s coming up as we speak. Felicity and Lena will work on it to make a bomb out of it, a big one, that will have to be put inside of the mothership” Alex kept going but as she pronounced the last word, she turned to face Kara. Her face was twisted in hesitation and reluctance but she finally sighed.

“It’s stationed right above the fleet but, in space. You will have to go there to put the bomb in the engine room. When Winn managed to hack into one of the ship, he downloaded an approximate plan of it and we are assuming every ship is built on the same model. Knowing that, we are now certain that all the bombs need to be close to the engine of the ships to effectively destroy them and there’s more to it, the bombs need to be detonated at the same time as the mothership’s.” Alex turned again towards the wall of screens and took a few steps to the biggest one on the left.

She moved a hand away from her coffee to designate something. “Here is the outline Winn retrieved of a ship. The engine room is, oddly enough, located on the upper part of it. You can’t throw the bombs on them, it won’t work. Here is the area where you can put the device, we’ll manage to have a button you can press to have it stick or whatever.”

Everyone was listening with rapt attention but when Alex had explained Kara was going to have to fly up into space, Cat had moved closer to her wife to seek contact. Instinctively, the younger Danvers had placed her wife in front of her and thrown her arms around her waist, keeping her close but still listening to Alex.

“It’s going to be a messy business. Oliver, you and your team will have to work hand in hand with Bruce’s team to hold the line and prevent the Dominators to reach National City. Lucy already said that this time, she’ll send the military air force to help.” Alex stopped talking and turned to Winn, who instantly took over.

“Right, right. We realized we couldn’t find anything to neutralize Kryptonite, especially not with how they modified Lex’s technology. I mean, the DEO has been working with the Kryptonians for years now and they have never managed to find anything, it’s not in a handful of hours we’ll manage it. Instead, we chose to focus our energy to the actual matter at hand. We need to kill the Dominators for good, it will eradicate our kryptonite problem. For now, at least.” He explained while throwing an empty marker behind his shoulder, grabbing the one Eliza was handing him to continue his formula.

“It means Kara and I still can’t get any closer …” Superman interjected, a deep frown etched in between his eyes. Winn nodded but didn’t reply to him. Instead, he turned toward Carter.

“Buddy, wanna continue this?”

Carter left the computer he had been working on for the past few minutes to come stand next to Winn. He was so serious, despite the college outfit and the youngness of his features.

“Actually, Kara, I worked on something for you. It won’t neutralize the effect of the Kryptonite, alas, but it should allow you to be able to fly up to the mothership and to come back once you’ve put the bomb in place.” Carter moved towards one of the glass board and searched into the mess of writings before grabbing a marker and modifying something.

“The Dominators gave me an idea. The harness they use, I asked Arthur, I mean sorry, Aquaman …” Carter blushed furiously and the sea king smirked.

“You can call me Arthur, young man. Keep going.”

Carter almost melted on the spot, making heart eyes at the man he was such a huge admirator of.

“Hm, buddy, we’re waiting for you here.” Kara gently reminded him, smirking too. Even Cat was amused by her son’s behavior.

“Right! Sorry. So, Arthur brought me back a harness and I studied it, in the room entirely lined with lead you know. It’s great tech, really, too good to be neutralized but I basically used the model to make you a sun powered vest.” Carter explained, moving towards the back of the room to retrieve a vest that looked a lot like a bulletproof vest but glowing yellow.

“For the design, you’ll have to check with Winn, I only focused on the practical aspect. It will allow you to maintain your powers long enough to go up and to come back and should you use your abilities too much, it will regenerate them but not fully. The amount of sun power needed is too important so, the vest won’t last forever. Eliza helped and then I checked all the calculations, Winn and Lena did too and you have, in best case scenario, three hours. Worst case scenario … Barely one.” Carter explained, handing the vest to Kara who moved away from Cat to try to pull it on.

“Hm, yes, no, Winn will have to work on this because it doesn’t fit with my cape and I need my cape to fly ....” Supergirl said, handing the vest over to her friend.

“Don’t worry, it will be ready in half an hour.” Winn said and he scurried away, followed by Eliza.

“It still doesn’t solve the problem.” Superman chimed in again, crossing his arms over his chest. Kara groaned, loudly enough for Cat to arch a brow at her.

“You’re going to work with the teams to protect the civilians, Clark.” Carter stated, his tone cold and firm as he glared at the man of steel, annoyance written all over his face.

“I will place the bombs on the ships.” Diana suddenly joined the conversation, stepping in from where she had been standing, next to Kara. “I am not affected by Kryptonite and I am faster than any of the men gathered around.”

Oliver grumbled something but Felicity elbowed him hard enough to make him shut up. Arthur snickered and Bruce only smirked, while Superman frowned.

“Perfect. We’ll explain to you how it works once we have finished building the bombs. You don’t have to put one on every ship but if you can, try to draw a circle in the disposition, for the blast to reach them all.” Alex elaborated by showing the layout of the fleet on the screens and Diana watched with attention.

While Alex and Diana studied the plan of action together, Lena walked closer to Kara, finally looking up from her tablet.

“I have to say Kara, you have the strangest friends.” The Luthor casually said, glancing towards the demi-goddess and then towards the teams of men discussing battle strategy together.

“Tell me about it.” Cat answered with a smirk. Lena returned the amused gesture before walking away, heading to the lab.

Kara silently moved to hold Cat again, pressing a kiss on her wife’s forehead.

“I suppose there is no point in saying I don’t like this plan?” Cat whispered, returning the embrace and tangling her fingers into Supergirl’s cape.

“There isn’t, no. You know we will execute it anyway.” Kara smiled and then sighed. “I think the only missing person in this little scene is Lois. She would be over the moon to see so many heroes gathered together …”

“Ah yes but you see, lesser Lane is too busy carrying a child. We can’t have it all.” Cat replied with a smirk despite the soft gleam in her eyes.

“I remember someone saying we actually can have it all. Just, not at first and not at the same time.” Kara teased and Cat made an appreciative sound.

“Hm, I did say that, didn’t I?” She nodded, looking up to meet Kara’s eyes. Something sparkled between them and then, Kara bent over to kiss her wife, soundly. It didn’t last long but Cat felt a little better afterward. She pressed her cheek against Kara’s chest and sighed.

Clinging to the superhero in a way that clearly betrayed her inner terror, she finally whispered “Don’t die.”

---

“I like your sister.” Diana said as she entered the room where Kara was trying on the vest Winn had modified for her.

“I take it she’s not giving you the protective slash jealous undertones anymore.” Kara replied with a smile as she stood still, arms reached out to allow her friend to make all the adjustments.

“She put me through something your Cat called a … shovel talk?” Diana said, tilting her head and throwing Kara a questioning look, sounding unsure about the last two words.

Kara bursted into a fit of laugher and Winn giggled.

“It’s, why are you calling her my Cat, it makes it sound like the actual animal.” Kara managed to say before chuckling again.

“Do not say that in front of her, ever, she’s never going to forgive you.” Winn warned Diana and the woman frowned, confusion clear on her mythical features.

“As for Alex, yes probably she told you that if you hurt me, she’ll make you pay for it or something along those lines. She does that with all the people close to me.” Kara nodded, a fond smile gracing her lips at the thought of her big sister.

“I like her.” Diana said again, before leaning against the wall to watch Winn work his magic.

---

When Lucy called to say there was movement around the alien fleet, they were all ready to go.

“Alright everyone. You have your orders. Coms will be restored as soon as the EMP stop working and you need to stay connected because as soon as all the bombs are in place, Winn here will activate them. Diana, here’s your device.” Alex handed a bluetooth device to the warrior and helped her with it.

“Show time.” She finally said and everyone moved. Superman took off from the DEO balcony while the rest of the teams headed towards the lift to reach the parking lot.

Supergirl stayed back for a while, looking into Cat’s eyes with something like hesitancy. She wanted to say so many things but somehow, the words all sounded empty in the face of the fate of the world. Carter hugged her tightly and she returned the hug as strong as she could without hurting him but then, he wandered off to go help Felicity and Lena to keep an eye on the bombs activity.

“Don’t die.” Cat whispered again and Kara only nodded, before moving closer to kiss her wife.

The kiss tasted like the end of the world and Kara felt salt on her tongue. She realized Cat was silently crying and she wrapped her into a soft but fierce embrace, unable to speak but desperate to reassure her wife.

“I’ll be back.” She finally murmured, not wanting to make any promise but knowing she couldn’t leave without at least saying something.

“I love you.” She added with a last, lingering kiss, before speeding towards the balcony to take off into the sky.

Up, up, up and away, no time to lose.

---

“Alex, who’s the lady with a sword, a shield and a … lasso?”

Winn chuckled and Alex rolled her eyes before punching the speaker button off on her phone, putting the device to her ear to answer her girlfriend.

“It’s … It’s Diana, of Themyscira.” Alex sighed, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to start with a name.

“The woman who saved Kara, when we thought …” Alex instantly winced and cut Lucy off. “Yes, that one. Turns out she’s a demi-goddess, the daughter of an Amazon and … a god.”

“A god. Really.” The skepticism that dripped from Lucy’s tone made Alex smirks.

“Yes, Zeus is her father.” She casually dropped, amused by the conversation despite the war that was about to start again, pretty soon.

There was silence on the line but then Lucy spoke again. “I can’t even tell if you’re messing with me or if you’re actually serious, Danvers.”

This time, Alex all but laughed before answering. “A bit of both, I guess. I mean I had trouble believing it too but you know, she did point out that Kara was an alien from outer space and that we were not even blinking at that, why would Diana being the daughter of Zeus be any less believable?”

It took the general a whole minute to reply. “She has a point but … She’s the daughter of Zeus how is no one reacting to this?”

“Oh, believe me. There were plenty of reactions, I think Carter has a new crush now.” Alex explained and she smiled sweetly when her nephew threw her a glare. Cat, standing near her son, only smiled with amusement.

“I totally get why, she’s gorgeous.” Lucy replied and Alex couldn’t even feel jealous because she had seen Diana and anyone with eyes would find her beautiful. It was hard, to not like her.

“I know. How are things going on, over there? Kara’s halfway up to the mothership, is Diana getting close to the fleet?”

“Close? I don’t think she can get any closer, she’s putting the bombs atop the ships already, jumping from one to another and from what I see, the pattern is a circle …” Lucy explained and Alex heard the faint echo of admirative whispers around her lover’s voice.

“Are your soldiers drooling over the woman?” Alex asked with a smirk.

“We all are, yes. She’s incredible. The teams are holding the lines since the Dominators are at it again but so far, nothing to declare. Superman doesn’t look so happy though, hovering above us in his grumpy posture …” Lucy pointed out and Alex had no trouble imagine Clark Kent, brooding like a Oliver Queen as he was forced to stay away from the war.

“He’s acting like a stubborn kid, don’t mind him. Alright I have to go babe, Kara will get to the mothership soon and I need to be connected with everyone. Be safe and see you soon.” Alex said before hanging up, after Lucy had the time to tell her the same thing.

“Alright everyone, it’s show time.” Alex said, joining Carter and Winn next to Felicity and Lena, to keep an eye on the bomb in order to be ready for the detonation.

---

She realized her sun powered vest wasn’t powerful enough when she noticed the weight of the bomb in her arms. She had safely arrived near the mother ship, oddly noticing its ressemblance with a fictional ship she’d seen in the TV show Battlestar Galactica, the one Winn and Alex forced her to watch for months and she was now wandering around a floor she knew was located right under the engineering room.

The fact the ship wasn’t crawling with Dominators was unsettling but she wasn’t one to complain, especially not know that she was aware her vest probably didn’t have enough energy to go back to Earth.

It was getting old, the near death situation in which she constantly found herself.

She finally found what seemed to be a lift and her knowledge of intergalactical languages helped her figure out how to use it. She punched a screen and entered a few symbols and she assumed the whooshing sound meant she was now moving. It took a handful of seconds before she could exit the small alien elevator.

The engineering room was disproportionate, even for a ship of that size. It was taking the whole upper part of the ship and the roaring of the machine was deafening. So much for the perks of alien technology, she thought as she made her way towards some suspended stairs that led downward.

“Well, that’s unfortunate.” She muttered before putting down the bomb on the floor as she contemplated the full row of what seemed to be motors. Ranks and ranks of motors coursing down the floor in organized aisles.

“Winn,” she said as she reached for her ear. “There are like, four dozens of motors, where am I supposed to place the bomb? They are disposed like … like servers, you know what I mean?”

She heard the parasites announcing Winn was having trouble to find her frequency.

“I heard … you should … in the middle …” Winn’s voice came through, partially. She grumbled something in Kryptonian before bending over to holst the bomb in her arms.

“Alright, I’m going to try to find the middle of the motors room, let’s hope the blast will be enough.” Kara said before slipping through the second row of machines. She stopped around the middle of the alley and put down the explosive.

“All good, I’ll contact you when I’m out of here so you can detonate the whole circuit. Did Diana do her part?” Kara tried, quickly walking away to climb up the stairs and reach the strange elevator.

“She … in place … Fine … waiting … signal … hurry …” The communication biped loudly and Kara ripped it away from her ear, wincing in pain.

When she put it back, she noticed the signal was gone.

“Shit.”

---

“We lost contact with Kara!” Winn yelled across the main operation room, frantically trying to fix the connection.

“What do you mean we lost contact? Winn, she’s supposed to tell us when to detonate the bombs!”

“Yes yes yes I know don’t yell at me! We lost her frequency and the signal of her device is off!” Winn replied before rolling his chair towards another computer, typing away at the keyboard while studying the information scrolling on the screen.

“Communication between Earth and Space would do that.” Felicity sarcastically chimed in. When Alex all but glared daggers at her, she retreated and moved back to her desk to try to help Winn.

“Lena, can you figure out a way to hack into the mothership? Maybe we can get a signal over there, telling Kara to get out of there within five minutes? Diana placed all the bombs and she’s helping the teams but the Dominators must have sensed something because they are regenerating faster and they are more violent, more ruthless.” Alex turned to face the Luthor, who was already trying to break the protections around the mothership using the most powerful computer available.

“I think I can do that but we will have no way to find out if it worked, Alex …” Lena replied, progressing as fast as she could on the firewall surrounding the alien technology. “Here, you talk, hopefully it will blast your voice across the whole ship but like I said …”

“I know. We have to try. Thank you.” Alex said before bending over the microphone.

“Kara, this is Alex, we are detonating the bombs in five minutes. Get out of the ship!” The computer crashed down the moment she finished her message and panic surged in her stomach.

“This is good!” Lena said with a relieved smile. Alex blinked at her, not understanding what she meant.

“The computer crashed because the Dominators tried to shut us out, which means it worked, the message went up to Kara. Now, she just needs to escape …” Lena whispered with a frown, her smile gone.

“Let’s hope she has enough power in her vest …” Alex whispered too, glancing towards Cat who had alarmingly blanched the moment Winn had announced they lost Supergirl. Carter was with his mother, trying to sooth her, to reassure her.

When the older Danvers met Cat’s eyes, they shared a look that conveyed all their fears and the raw, terrifying sense of déjà-vu.

---

“Shit.” Kara cursed again as her fist collided with a Dominator’s stomach. Or at least, where a stomach would be if her opponent had been humanoide. The alien backed off a few steps and she took the opportunity to jump in and run, as fast as she could, towards the nearest exit.

Her general sense of the ship was helping but the lack of power and the tiredness that started to cloak her muscles prevented her of using super speed and, in addition to this already critical state, the Dominators had finally showed up and it was slowing her down. She refused to use her powers, figuring it was best to keep them for the journey back but it meant she needed to run and escape the squadrons of aliens bursting out at every corner.

Her mental clock ticked three minutes and she swore again, in Kryptonian this time. She needed to get out within one minute otherwise, the blast of the explosion would kill her.

Thinking of Cat, Carter, Alex and every one of her loved ones, she sighed and punched again, determined to make it out of alive.

---

The explosion shook the entire planet and everyone looked up to the sky to see the orange nuclear mushroom grow and then fade, slowly.

---

The fleet was gone in ashes and smoke but the heroes were all looking up at the sky, waiting for their friend, the last daughter of Krypton, to show up.

---

At the DEO, everyone was gathered on the balcony, eyes full of hope but hearts squeezed in fear as they all searched for the familiar blue and red blur.

---

Minutes ticked, one by one, until Carter shouted “HERE!” as he pointed up towards something.

Falling from the clouds, along the heavy rain, a silhouette headed towards the ground at an alarming speed. It quickly became evident Kara wasn’t flying as much as she was crashing and it seemed like the whole city had come to the same realization. A collective gasp distinctly echoed through National City as they all witnessed the ineluctable fate of their most beloved girl of steel.

---

“Oh good, you’re awake!”

Kara blinked once but the bright light above her eyes forced her to close them again. She let out a loud groan and slowly moved a hand to reach out to her head in a futile attempt to ease the pounding that echoed inside.

“Oh God. Did I hit Superman or something?” She mumbled and her own voice sounded weird to her ears, heavy and thick, slow.

“Easy, Supergirl. You’re not fully regenerated yet.” Kara recognized the voice as belonging to Alex. Instantly, she felt more at ease and allowed her body to relax.

“I can tell, yeah. What happened?” Kara asked before trying to open her eyes again. It took four more attempts but she finally managed it. The world around her was blurry and unsteady at first but then, Cat’s face came into focus and she lazily smiled.

“Hi, babe.” She greeted and she felt fingers slip under hers. Instinctively, she gave them a gentle squeeze and she was rewarded by a thumb caressing the back of her hand.

“Hello Darling.” Cat’s voice sounded thick but with emotions, a mixture of relief, fatigue and anger.

“Uh oh. What happened?” Kara asked again, realizing something must have gone wrong. Cat’s tone was the same one she had heard for weeks after the whole kryptonite alien bomb debacle and she figured this time, it has something to do with the fact she was in the medical bay at the DEO when her last memory was of flying off the Dominator mothership as fast as she could.

“Your vest stopped working somewhere along your journey back and you lost consciousness … which led to you falling through the sky to a certain death.” Alex casually replied.

“Alex.” Lucy warned and Kara turned her head to see the General put a hand on the older Danvers’s forehead, gently, tenderly.

“Sorry. I’m just … I’m tired of having to deal with your near-death experiences.” Alex bluntly stated and Lucy rolled her eyes.

“She’s been worried sick, like pretty much everyone around here, and she doesn’t really handle it well.” Lucy explained with another roll of her eyes. “Don’t worry about it just now, how are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve actually hit the ground?” Kara half-replied, half-asked, feeling like a whole fanfare was playing in her head.

“That would be Diana’s doing. She jumped to catch you mid-fall and she … miscalculated her strength. Since you didn’t have any powers … You felt the whole shook of being rescued by a demi-goddess. She broke your ribs and gave you an actual, honest to God, concussion.” Alex smirked and Kara could tell her sister thought it was a small price to pay for the fright she gave her.

“Tell me about it, I have an army of drums playing in a never ending loop in my head …” Kara groaned.

“Oh hi Kara, you’re awake!” Carter happily greeted, entering the room with a tablet in his hands and a huge smile on his face.

“Hi buddy, please don’t yell.” Kara mumbled before smiling widely at him, holding her free hand out for him to get closer. She managed to hug him with one arm, not removing her other hand from under Cat’s.

“Well done, by the way! The Dominators are nothing but a bad memory now.” Carter explained once Kara released him, launching himself into the full explanation of what had occurred after she had taken off to space.

Kara didn’t even stop him, all too happy to listen to his contagious enthusiasm.

---

“Kara! You’re up!” Winn cheered before running towards his friend, sliding the last few feet on the marble before hugging Kara.

“Hi Winn. Thank you, for your help, you know …” Kara hugged him back and then released him.

“Easy peasy!” Winn waved off before going back to his desk to talk with Felicity about creating a whole new kind of communicating device that would allow multi-earths discussions.

“Kara, glad to see you’re up and about. You have to stop making a habit out of falling from the sky, you know.” Diana came next, reaching out to hug the Kryptonian as gently as she could.

“I know, it’s becoming a theme with me, apparently. Thank you, for saving my life. Again.” Kara chuckled before hugging Diana back, tightly. She liked the fact she didn’t have to hold back while squeezing the demi-goddess, it was refreshing.

“Yes well. Your Cat isn’t happy about it and she’s right. Stop getting yourself into those situations.” Diana arched a brow to drive her point home but Kara only smiled.

“I’m Supergirl. I don’t fly away from danger. However, I can safely say that next time I encounter such a desperate situation, I will reach out to you first.” Kara offered and it seemed good enough for Diana, who nodded.

“Good enough for me.” The daughter of Zeus sealed with a smile, a gesture that showed a single dimple on the side of her mouth.

“What are you going to do now?” Kara asked, starting to walk towards the balcony and waiting for Diana to join her.

“I don’t know. I think I’m going to travel the world, discover its history, its cultures, its landscapes … I’ve seen and heard a lot of nice things about Asia and your friend Lena offered to drop me off in Tokyo next week, since she’s going on a business trip …” Diana replied, leaning over the railing of the balcony and looking up to the stars.

Night had fallen over National City and Kara smiled as she heard bits and bouts of excited conversations about the woman that saved the girl of steel.

“You’re becoming popular already, here.” Kara noticed and Diana gave her a fond smile.

“I quite like this city as well. Maybe in a few months, I’ll come back to learn more about it.” The daughter of Zeus teased, causing Kara to smile enthusiastically.

“I would love that! Oh, it reminds me. Cat wants to know if you would like to join us for dinner tomorrow night, at our house? We are hosting some sort of celebrating party, with everyone. Lois is on her way as well, she mentioned she was looking forward to see you again. Carter would be over the moon and I would also love to see you one more time before you leave …” Kara asked and she couldn’t help the hope that slipped through her voice.

Diana stayed silent for a few minutes, simply watching the night sky above them and Kara didn’t break the moment. She welcomed it, relishing how comfortable she felt around Diana, how at peace with herself she was.

“I would love to, Kara.” Diana finally replied, a soft but melancholic smile gracing her lips.

Kara hesitated a moment before putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“I know what it feels, to not be able to go back home. Sometimes, it’s crushing me so hard I can barely breathe but … Here on Earth, I made myself a new home.” Kara whispered without meeting Diana’s eyes. “You are part of my home now, Diana.”

She squeezed her friend’s shoulder and then walked away, knowing her words were not meant to be answered.

---

“I can’t believe this. Why did you all wait for me to be pregnant to have all the fun happen?” Lois Lane was green with jealousy despite the mocking smile etched across her lips.

“Well, lesser Lane, you can’t have it all.” Cat smugly replied before patting the knee of her very pregnant and very annoyed rival.

The two journalists were settled down on one of the couches of the living room, with Clark hovering on the arm of the sofa by Lois’s side.

Kara and Diana were facing the little group, sat in two matching armchairs and they were talking about myths and religions, sometimes joined by Alex and Lucy, who shared another armchair nearby. James, Winn and J’onn were standing in a little group a few feet away and the two humans were quizzing the martian on pop culture.

Carter, for his part, was scribbling notes on a notepad while listening to Bruce and Arthur talk about the importance of bioengineering to protect the oceans. The young man was suggesting ideas and improvement and Bruce had already made a joke about recruiting the heir of the Grant empire.

“No offense, Mister Wayne, but I’d rather go work for L-Corp before founding my own company.” Carter had very seriously replied, making his mother soar with pride and Kara chuckle with amusement at Bruce’s face.

Since that moment, Lena had joined the bioengineering conversation, her smug smile still firmly in place.

“I’m sorry your other friends couldn’t make it.” Diana tilted her head to the side, watching as Carter valiantly tried to stop a verbal joust between Bruce and Lena. Alex and Lucy had wandered off towards the kitchen a few minutes ago.

“They needed to go back to their earths, it’s better that way. Felicity said she was sorry to miss the party, she was looking forward to talking to you about your armor and your weapons … I think your lasso intrigued her greatly.” Kara chuckled.

“Ah, yes. Well, maybe another time.” Diana replied with a smirk before listening to Cat and Lois’s banter.

“It is hard to believe they are actually friend.” She said after having tried to keep up with the semi-subtles insults.

“I know, I know. They are, though. I don’t exactly know how it works but they are, friends. Maybe even best friends but I wouldn’t say that to them, they would direct their sass and wits at us.” Kara whispered while smiling at Cat, who was narrowing her eyes at her wife.

“Will you be alright, with your Cat?” Diana then asked, sounding a little worried.

“We will be, yes. She … last time was very hard on her, on everyone. I think I will have to work on rebuilding our relationship again but it’s worth it. I will do it every single time, you know. They are everything to me.” Kara smiled softly, a fond look in her eyes as she watched her family.

Diana stayed silent but the sparkles on her eyes were as bright as the stars shattered all across the sky.

---

Later that night, when everyone had gone home, Cat came to sit on Kara’s lap, on the balcony of their bedroom.

“Where does that leave us?” Cat softly asked, nuzzling the side of her wife’s neck before applying a soft kiss above the pulse point.

“Wherever you want us to start again.” Kara whispered back, closing her arms around Cat’s waist. She knew it was going to take time but she meant every word she had said to Diana earlier in the evening. It was worth it.

“How about we start where we left? Tomorrow morning, Carter is going to cook us breakfast and then, he’s finally going to show us the pictures he took in Southern France. It won’t be like nothing ever happened, you and I both know we will need to talk but we did it once … We can do it again.” Cat offered, with another kiss under her wife’s chin.

“I can’t believe you agreed to marry me.” Kara blurted, blushing a little when Cat laughed.

“It was the easiest decision I ever had to make, Kara.” Cat countered before moving to capture her wife’s lips into a fiery kiss, a passionate one where anxiety melted away in favor of a building, burning desire.

“If we weren’t already married, I would propose again.” Kara whispered against Cat’s lips when they parted, panting but already wanting more.

“I would say yes again,” Cat murmured before seeking another kiss. “And again.” She kissed Kara once more. “And again …” This time, Kara was the one to claim her wife’s lips, whimpering from impatience.

She stood up, catching Cat in her arms bridal style and took them inside, leaving National City to peacefully fall asleep.

THE END

#Supercat #Wonder Woman and Supergirl #Super Wonder friendship #Supercat fanfic #Supergirl fanfic #Supercat fic #Kara x Cat #Diana Prince #Wonder Woman #Wonder Woman saves the day #DC fan universe #Batman #Man of Steel #Wonder Woman/Supergirl crossover

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clevernewdimension · 8 years ago

Text

Exaulted Part Two

Parts: Prologue, One, Two, Three (Coming soon!)

Genre: Drama, Romance, Violence, drug use, plus more!

Pairing: None yet! (There will be bits with most of them tbh)

Word Count: 5K

Soundtrack for this part: Glass Animals - Hazey [Listen here!]

A/N: warnings for alcohol use, drug use, things like that! Please enjoy!

The next morning I woke early, going to the dock and getting all the fresh seafood. It smelled awful, I had to plug my nose the entire time. I was allergic to seafood, so thankfully, the people at the docks loaded it all in. The docks were quite busy at the early morning hours, the sun still yet to rise. People rushing trying to get the best seafood for their fancy restaurants. It took a few minutes to drive away after all the food was loaded. People kept walking in the road no matter if the crosswalk told them it was safe or not. With an annoyed sigh, I stop for a coffee, getting another before I drove back to the palace. The card worked, opening the gate without a sound. I did everything I could to be quiet, even turning off my headlights to not shine them in the windows once it was light enough. I was so thankful that Mrs. Hana got someone to help me. One man coming out to help me unload the fish. I wore thick gloves to not touch it, trying not to feel ill from the smell. Part of me was thankful I was allergic to seafood, because the smell alone was enough to make me feel ill. I don’t understand how people could get it close to their nose, much less eat this.

“Here,” I say to the kitchen aid who helped me. “As a token of my gratitude.” I hand him the extra coffee I bought. “There’s no sugar or creamer in it, though.”

His hair was in a mess as he looked grateful. We wore all white, a chef’s hat on his head as he looks over at all the food. The man smiles, “Thanks. Going to be a long day for me.”

“I hope it goes well,” I say with a smile as I turn,walking to the van. “Sorry I can’t stay longer. I have to get to the student store and get some things I need before there’s a line. Hope you can have a restful night after a long day!”

“Thanks again,” He says, waving his hand as he goes back into the kitchen.

I get to the van, unlocking it and set off as quick as I could, though still obeying the speed limit.

The student store I dreaded usually. Mostly because if you can’t pay for it now, they have a tab system. Most of the people here put it on a tab and their parents pay for it all, even though they have cards and could pay with it themselves. I was good about not using it, having no money on my tab, but now I need a digital drawing tablet. Since my job seemed like a lock, I went for the one with the screen that doesn’t have to be connected to a computer. I had just enough money left if I budget correctly and eat sparsely for a few days. I always wanted the 22 inch one that does connect to a computer because it’s nice to see and dray fine details, but it’s not mobile and costs about half a week's pay, so I’ll have to wait until I have enough money for that and a computer than can run it.

I smile at the girl running the store as she rings me up. I turn to slide my card to pay, only to have someone else already doing that for me. Glancing at the person, I see Lina with a smug look on her face, nodding at the girl over the counter as she get’s the bag and hands it to me.

“Lina,” I groan, frowning.

“Nope,” She says, linking her arm with mine. “It’s a congratulatory present. Just make me something awesome to put on my social media accounts!”

I sigh, knowing that there was literally no one in the world more stubborn than Lina. “Fire.”

“Also,” She says with a grin. “A little birdie told me you got to meet the princes yesterday!”

“I get the feeling that ‘little birdie’ is six feet tall and has hair that looks like mine.”

“I was sworn to secrecy,” She says with a smile. “I’m surprised no one in their group noticed you before now. You’re hot as hell even though you do everything you can to go by unnoticed.”

“Lina, I thought we’ve been over this,” I groaned, “I’m not going to even entertain the possibility of doing anything that could harm my studies.”

“You’re so hardworking, that probably wouldn’t be able to even touch your GPA,” She mutters, as we walk towards the library. Today she wore a cute magenta dress. She looked so put together with her hair elegantly out of her face. Today the only class I have is my studio art one in two hours, so we normally go to the library. I study, she talks with friends or takes a guy to make out in between some book cases no one ever looks at. “They wanted me to ask you to the party they’re having this Friday night.”

“I’m surprised the whole campus isn’t talking about it,” I says, opening the door for the two of us. The library was quiet, barely anyone in here. It was large, three stories full of books. To the back left of the third floor is where Lina usually sneaks off to since no one ever uses those books. It was huge and grand, the staircases looking like something from a fairy tale.

“It’s because they only invite friends,” She says as we climb the steps to the second floor. “I told them you’d come.”

“Why would you lie, though,” I ask, giving her a weird expression, pulling out a chair as I get a sketchbook from my backpack. I wanted to work on an outline of my final painting project, even if it wasn’t due for another two and a half months, even if finals for the rest of my classes are in a week. Art, theater, dance and classes like that get a while longer, though I don’t know why.

“Because I’m here willing to beg you,” She says, sitting across from me. “Just think of it like all my Birthday and Christmas gifts for the next ten years.”

“More like twenty,” I say with a chuckle. “The people who go to those things are like you. Rich, amazing fashion sense, thrill seekers… all the things I’m not at all.”

“You have great fashion,” She says, gesturing to my body.

I look at myself, seeing a black tank top with some faded neon colored flowers with a black zip up hoodie. I wore shorts that had bits of lace sewn in at the bottoms that I got for five bucks at a thrift shop. My shoes were high top sneakers that were dark purple, one sock had colorful dots on it and the other had little cheeseburgers because I can’t stand to match my socks. My hair was in a ponytail, my angled bangs up and out of my face with a flat clip. I looked like a child who’s mother let dress themselves for the first time, though I oddly like it. However, I know my style is disgusting to them. “You really shouldn’t make a habit of lying,” I scold, getting the pencil in my hand.

“I’m not, you’re, like, lazy hipster chic. Sometimes you make it look cute, sometimes you make it hot! If I tried it I just look lazy,” She says with a smile.

“Probably because you are lazy,” a voice behind me says.

Lina smiles, “Jongdae, Chanyeol, Jongin! Hey!”

Jongdae takes the set beside me, sitting down while setting his backpack down with a thud. Jongin takes the seat at the head of the table while Chanyeol sits beside Lina. “What are you both up to?”

“Trying to convince Y/N to go to the party you all are going to have on Friday,” She says, pouting at me.

“Oddly enough, you pouting makes me not want to go even more,” I say with a sigh, closing my sketchbook. Something told me I wouldn’t be sketching anytime soon.

“Why not,” Chanyeol asks with a smile, “We’re not scary. We won’t bite!”

“Unless you ask, of course,” Jongdae says, hitting his shoulder into mine. “I’d be happy to fulfill any fantasies you have!” He was dressed in jeans and a tee, but looked effortlessly amazing. He bites his lip, looking over me before giving me a wink. He was a huge flirt, but meaningless words like that didn’t bother me at all.

“Not into cannibalism, thanks,” I say with a fake smile. Lina held back a giggle while the three men erupted into laughter, making the librarian below us shush us, glaring up towards our table. I wave, mouthing an apology to her.

Jongin smiles, “Sehun is right, you really are sassy.” He was in sweatpants and a loose fitting tank top, looking like he was going to go work out soon. He was a bit shyer in comparison to the rest of them, but once he knows someone he apparently is a pretty smooth talker.

“Brave too,” Lina says, “Anytime I say anything like that to Sehun, he practically rips me to shreds with words.”

“Same,” Chanyeol says, nodding as he leaned back in the chair. Jeans, bright tee shirt and red hair. He had headphones around his neck, music thumbing softly from them.

“But please Y/N,” Lina says, clasping her hands together. “I’ll make sure you look good! If you’re worried about your clothes all having paint stains or whatever, you can borrow some of mine!”

“Lina do you really think it’s the clothes that I’m worried about?”

“Point taken,” She nods, “One party won’t tank your grades!”

“I need to have the best grades I can or I lose my scholarship,” I say with a huff. “I don’t have someone paying for my school so I can go just to get mediocre grades, if I want to get anywhere, I need to have good scores.”

“But you want to be an artist,” She says lifting an eyebrow at me.

“That doesn’t make money unless you’re already famous,” I explain. “Which is why I’m taking Literature so I could get a job either writing for a newspaper or editing.”

“That’s true,” Jongin says, leaning against one arm. His brown hair was long, styled back but still going into his face.

I nod, “Exactly!”

“Please,” Lina begs, “Just this one time! I’ll get you that cake you like from that bakery down the street!”

I pause, looking up at her. With a small sigh, I roll my eyes. My one weakness, she’s exploiting my one weakness… my sweet tooth. The cake she’s talking about it a lovely caramel cake that she had for some get together. Then she brought me a slice that I feel in love with. It was caramel cake with a nice caramel between the layers with vanilla bean icing. It was amazing.

She could see my hesitation, so she continued. “You won’t even have to share it,” She says, “It would be all for you! I’ll even get some of those chocolate you like from the chocolate place next door! Please come!”

“If I do,” I say, pointing at her, making them all watch me carefully. “Then YOU are not getting drunk. Or high. I’m not dealing with drunk you. You get annoying and sloppy. Once I go home, you can then, but not before that.”

“Done,” She says, nodding, holding out her hand for me to shake.

“And,” I add, before shaking her hand, “Next time your parents are coming for a visit, you ask someone else to help clean your apartment.”

She pouts, “But you’re literally the only friend I have who would help!”

“Someone. Else.”

“Fine,” She says, giving in.

I grab her hand with mine, shaking it twice. “I expect the cake tomorrow.”

“Nope,” She says with a wicked grin. “You’ll get it AFTER.”

“After all that arguing, you give in because of cake,” Jongdae asks with a laugh.

“Her sweet tooth is her only weakness,” Lina says with a grin, standing. “I think we should give her some time to think and work, since that’s why she was here anyways. She’s too nice to outright tell us to fuck off even though she very clearly wants to.”

“Alright,” Jongin says, standing. “It’s was nice meeting you, Y/N.”

“Can’t wait to see you Friday,” Chanyeol says, “I’ll make sure we have a lot of desserts and candies!”

“Or anything else you might find sweet,” Jongdae adds with a wink.

“Silence is pretty sweet,” I reply before I could stop myself.

Jongdae grabs at his chest as moves with them, walking backwards. “Brutal. Right through the heart with that one.”

I look at the progress I’ve made so far after two days of deliberating. It was a huge canvas, 36”x48”. It was done in oil paint, or it will be, once I get started. So far it was just a rough sketch. I love doing cityscape or just really weird and abstract things, but my professor told me to try something new for my final, preferably a landscape. With that in mind, I decided on a forest with a lake. I kept getting frustrated, because ‘bright and lively’ isn’t what I’m use to, but I’m enjoying the challenge.

I decided to call it a day, looking at the clock. It’s four PM. I was suppose to go meet Lina since it was Friday. I groaned, pouting the entire drive there. I wanted to just go home and get some sleep since I had to wake up early and run some errands for my job. I’ve been awake since four AM.

“Better have some good food at this party,” I mutter to myself as I knock on her apartment door while trying to ignore my growling stomach. The door flies open, she was grinning as she pulled me in. She had rollers in her hair to make it ‘slightly wavey’ as she called it. Her mouth starts going a mile a minute, picking some paint from my face I didn’t know was there.

“So, I picked two outfits for you, but then I remembered you’d say no to the dress, so I picked some killer skinny jeans. They’re dark blue, few rips, totally in style right now,” She explains, pushing me to her huge makeup and closet room. Yes. Room. Her apartment is a penthouse overlooking the city. It was grand, the walls a nice mellow blue. The floors were a rich hardwood, nice furniture. It was all grand. It even had an outdoor garden and a pool. She lived here alone, her parents live on the other side of town.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I mutter, pouting as she pulled me into her room. She quickly threw close at me, making me change quickly as she worked more on her hair. After putting it on, I glare at her, making her stop before smiling.

“Damn, you look so hot,” She says, glancing over me. It was the skinny jeans, a purple low cut crop top with a black flowy lace overshirt.

I put a hand over my stomach, frowning. “Don’t you think it’s… revealing?” I look down, seeing my breasts on display. Granted they looked good, but it was still mildly uncomfortable.

“Compared to what I’ve seen others swear? To what I’ve worn? Hell no.” She pulls me to sit in front of her as I look at what she’s wearing. She too wore jeans, though they were black with a dark blue top. It hung low, showing off her cleavage as tied at the back and neck, showing off her back as well. Compared to her I wasn’t showing a lot, but I still felt uncomfortable.

“Can I at least have my hoodie,” I ask as she gets out some makeup to do my face.

“No,” She says, “If you get cold, ask a guy for his jacket. He wouldn’t tell you no!”

I frown as she continues on, taking my hair down before putting it up into a high ponytail, leaving my bangs down. “I won’t put a lot on. Just eye makeup and lipstick.” After she was done, I look at myself. Black eyeliner making my eyes stand out and my lips a dark berry color. I glance over at her she she added the last finishing touches as she places a pair of purple flats in front of me. I slip them on, sighing before letting myself get dragged out of the apartment by Lina.

“So since it’s a party with only their closest friends, it’s at the place they usually hang out,” She explains as we drive there. “You know those storage facilities? With those huge locker things that people put things they don’t have room for? Well, they bought one of those buildings and did some adjustments, making it into a two story party and hangout place. They’re the only ones with keys. The first floor is completely open, a few columns still scattered about. Though, most of the second story are just… well, still in separate rooms for private matters.”

“That’s unsanitary,” I mutter, popping a chocolate she got me into my mouth as my stomach continues to roar.

“They hire people to clean it, obviously!” She says with a smile as her fingers tap against the wheel in excitement. “Who knows, you might even get lucky tonight!”

“Do you mean get lucky as in I find a lamp with a genie that gives me three wishes or lucky as in have sex? If you mean the second one, no thanks.”

“Come on, Y/N! It isn’t like you haven’t done it before,” She says, turning and driving away from the city.

“Yes, with someone I was dating who dumped me and left town,” I reply, a small pout on my lips. “That was half a year ago. Not exactly over it.”

“I’m telling you, if you get with one of them, they will make it worth your while.” She says, a smirk on her face.

“What, have you screwed them all,” I ask, biting into another chocolate.

“Did you not eat,” She asks as my stomach growls and I shake my head no. She frowns as she’s looking over before glancing back at the road. “Most of them, yes. The only two I haven’t are Junmyeon and Sehun. Sehun is more like an annoying brother and I’m not into incest. A hot, annoying brother but the idea of banging him just makes me feel weird. Junmyeon flirts with me, but he doesn’t let himself get as wild as the others. Which sucks, because his nice and thoughtful exterior is soft and sweet but the man is ripped and fine as hell! I’ve heard rumors and they say the quiet ones are usually the freakiest!”

“Congratulations.”

She sends me a side eyed glare,“Do I hear you judging me?”

“Honestly? No,” I say, leaning back in the seat and resting my head against the window. “I don’t care if you literally sleep with everyone in the school. I don’t care if anyone else does it, either. What you and everyone else does with someone else and it’s consensual is not my business. I just want you to do so safely… and I just don’t want them to hurt you. You’re wonderful and kind and you deserve someone who treats you like the amazing person you are. But you’re more fragile than the front you put off, you know that.”

I see her worried face turn into a smile. “You always worry about me. I’m fine. I promise. And I know I deserve to be treated like a goddess and until I find someone I want to be my bae, I’m going to be treated like a goddess in bed.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that as she continues to grin, her eyes watching the road.

“But, back to the previous conversation. Seriously, though, I’d suggest someone like Yixing or Jongdae if you want something sweet, granted they have their dark sides too that are just so sinfully hot. Especially Yixing, I didn’t know he could be so rough and dirty! If you want it super dirty, Minseok is surprisingly filthy!”

“I‘m not going to have sex tonight,” I say with a pout, “I’m here to eat all their food, complain to you all night, and then go home.”

“Come on, Y/N, everyone has to let loose and have someone just fuck them silly once in awhile.” She says, looking over a time quickly. “They don’t tell anyone about it, if that’s what you’re worried about. Get to know them better and give it a go, life is too short!”

“I’ll think about it,” I mutter, since it has been a long time since I’ve had that kind of fun. Or any, really. She smiles at me as I said that. “But it definitely wouldn’t be happening tonight!”

It didn’t take long for us to get there. The music could be heard outside, though it was pretty chill and mellow. The building on the outside was in the middle of nowhere. The walls were cement bricks, some graffiti on the outside. Lina opened the door, letting me in as the music became clear. As I followed Lina, I wave my hand, trying to get smoke away from my face.

“Holy shit, you got her to come,” Jongdae says from his spot in the couch. A girl was in his lap, their lips were swollen from the intense making out they were just doing. The whole lower floor was renovated to be one giant room within all the storage lockers. Rugs and couches were everywhere, one was converted into a small kitchen where people were grabbing drinks in plastic cups. There were string lights and a radio as I watched someone pass around a bong, people smoking from them and some of them taking small, colorful pills.

I decided in that moment that Lina owed me another cake.

Jongin, who was in the kitchen, came back with drinks that he handed to us. I immediately poured it all into Lina’s cup before tossing the cup into the trash to my left. That made Junmyeon laugh, who was handing a bottle of water to Chanyeol and another girl who looked as high as kites right now.

“Not in the partying mood,” He asked, looking so good in jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was out of his face which made him look extremely handsome.

“It is me we’re talking about,” I say, turning to Lina, “TWO cakes.”

She smiles, grinning as a boy and a girl I didn’t recognise go off to find the stairs.

“If you make a mess, shut the damn door,” Sehun calls out from his place on a couch. He was also in jeans and a tee, but his jeans were tight and hugged his legs. “No one wants to find it later!”

A smile came from another boy who I didn’t recognise as he hands me a empty cup, pouring water out of his bottle for me. I nod, “Thank you. Where’s the food?”

“Did you just come here for the food,” a man asks from the kitchen. He leans against one of the many pillars, a smirk on his face. His hair was like this dark purple meets silver color, which is surprising since I know he’s from the south. They don’t like things like that. Their part of the country is bland, very white, black and grey from what I’ve heard. I watch him look me over, biting his lip before looking me in the eyes, giving me a wink. Kim Minseok, son of the Southern duke, eldest one of their little group. He was dressed differently, in dress pants and shirt, the tie he had on was lose, a deep purple color. The sleeves of his shirt was pulled up, making him look oddly casual in his fine clothes.

“Yes,” I answer honestly, before making my way over, making the girl on Jongdae’s lap giggle. Jongdae smirks at her, standing as he takes them both upstairs. Yixing was on a couch, his eyes closed as he naps. He looked peaceful in all this noise. Junmyeon was being a mother hen, though sipping from a glass of alcohol as well. Sehun was watching me as a girl was trying to chat him up. I see Jongin take Lina’s hand, pulling her to him as she giggles, giving him a pack on the lips. Kyungsoo was currently smiling as he was following Jongdae’s lead, taking a girl upstairs as well, both of them looking pretty hammered. Baekhyun was in the middle of taking a hit with Chanyeol as they both were smiling and laughing their asses off with another girl who shared my math class. Minseok’s eyes followed me as I got to the kitchen, getting a slice of pizza and starting to eat it.

“Most women go for the salad,” He comments, just watching as he picks up a strawberry, biting into it.

“Most women care about their looks,” I comments, taking a huge bite of pizza. I stop, taking a sip from my water, “Besides, I haven’t eaten all day.”

“Too busy,” He asks, sitting across from me. He was handsome, sure, but being from the South, they’re very manipulative people. They could convince you your eyes were not working right and that the sky actually way green if they wanted to. They’re known for literally talking you into anything before you even realized you’ve changed your mind. His eyes were red too, pupils wide as he smiled. Seemed like he was on something, but not weed.

“You high,” I ask, glancing up at his face. He, like all of them, was extremely handsome. His face had a childlike look to it, even though he was the eldest.

“Ecstasy,” He admits, with a smile. “I don’t take it often. Only my second time ever, actually. I just needed something to take the edge off of the pressure. Finals coming up soon and all. That and you’d be surprised how fucking awful it is living in the South and then coming here, experiencing freedom for the first time knowing you’ll have to give it all up.” He admits with a smile. “Nothing could bother me right now. I feel like everything is happy and right with the world. But, back to you. Are you too busy to eat? Because it’s not healthy to skip meals.”

“Worked on a final project all day,” I say, quickly finishing off a piece of pizza. A girl who was skinny comes in, getting another drink. She glances over, seeing me at the party for the first time. Her hair was black, cut into a bob. Her eyes were light blue as they narrow at me. “What are you doing here,” she asks, as I could see the metal of her tongue piercing when she spoke.

This made Minseok’s eyes narrow, “She’s Lina’s best friend, Jihae.”

She shrugs, as if that answer didn’t explain anything. She glares at me as I pick up another piece of pizza, “How are you not worried of getting fatter?”

I could feel myself get annoyed. ‘Fatter’? Meaning she already thought I was fat. I roll my eyes, “Because I actually exercise instead of just run my mouth all the time. How are you worried about not getting bitchier? Is it because you’re at your peak?” I take a bite of pizza, smiling at her glaring at me. Minseok bites his lip to keep from laughing at the comment, which made me smile. The man she was with takes my cup of water, giving me more as the cup was mostly as I smile “Thank you.”

“No problem,” He says with a grin, before leaving the room, glancing at Jihae.

The girl, Jihae glares at him before turning. “You might want to exercise more then, honey.”

“I will, the second you stop being a waste of oxygen,” I call with a sarcastically sweet voice back as Lina, Jongin and Sehun all enter the room.

“Damn,” Minseok says, with an impressed face. “Normally Jihae pretty much runs most new people off in the first two seconds of meeting her.”

“Jihae needs to stop acting like a bitch,” Lina says loudly, calling over her shoulder to make a point of being heard. She then smiles at me, “She’s kind of use to it. A lot of people act school treat her that way.”

Jongin frowns, reaching for some pizza. “Why is that,” He asks, hoping to sit on the counter.

“Most rich people look down onto people who aren’t rich,” I explain, drinking some more of my water.

Sehun’s eyes followed Jihae as she walked away, “Which is hypocritical given that her father’s company just filed for bankruptcy…”

I frown, “That’s sad.”

“She was just a huge bitch to you, how is that sad,” Sehun asks, looking back at me. He was giving me a look of confusion.

“Well, if something doesn’t change a lot of people who work there are going to lose their jobs,” I explain. “Do you all not really think of that? Or do you focus only on the rich heads of the companies?”

“Guilty,” Jongin says, raising a hand as Lina reached over, pulling my hand away from me before leaning over and taking a bite of my pizza slice. She does this when she doesn’t want to eat a whole slice, but wants just a little bit.

I shrug, continuing to eat as I watch some people return from upstairs. Hair disheveled, clothes being straightened, smiles being shared. The music was still loud as Baekhyun and Chanyeol stroll in, taking one of the boxes of pizza to themselves.

“Munchies,” Lina asks with a grin.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Baekhyun says, grinning as his eyes were a bit bloodshot. Chanyeol stumbled a bit, making Junmyeon come over, holding him steady. The heir to the throne muttered at them both to be careful, looking at them with watchful eyes as they continue on their way it sit down with their food.

While they are, well, degenerates, it’s oddly nice seeing how much they take care of one another.

“Is this your third piece of pizza,” Lina asks, looking at me.

“Yes,” I explain nodding, “I haven’t eaten at all today. I’m starving.”

“That’s why you shouldn’t get lost in your own world at the studio,” She says, leaning against the counter.

“Studio,” Minseok asks, looking at me.

“Studio art,” I say, “My passion.”

“Literally a ‘starving artist’,” Sehun says, sitting down next to Minseok.

“I’m already a ‘starving university student’ so I’m already prepared really,” I joke, though I notice Lina give me a look. I swallow down some water, finishing my cup. The air in here was getting warm.

Soon, Yixing stumbled in, his eyes heavy with sleep. “Hungry,” He says, reaching over Sehun and getting some pizza.

Sehun smiles genuinely at his older brother. “Every time you smoke you always end up sleepy. You still high?”

“Nope,” Yixing says, “Been asleep for a few hours, yeah?” He looks up, seeing me. He blinks, squinting a bit. “Or maybe I am…”

Lina laughs, “Y/N is actually here. I bribed her.”

“With money,” Sehun asks, looking at me. There was a judgmental air about him after he said that. It made me frown, upset that someone would think that way about me.

“With cake,” Lina says with a laugh, “Y/N has one ultimate weakness, and it’s her love of all things sweet.”

“I can be pretty sweet,” Minseok says with a sly grin.

“I’m suddenly diabetic,” I exclaim, making Jongin, Lina and Yixing laugh out, and a smirk appear on Sehun’s face.

Minseok smiles, “I like you. And not just in the ‘I want to fuck you’ way, though,” He says, glancing at me again “that is also factual. You’re funny, but kind. You remind me of Junmyeon a bit, actually.” I liked that Minseok didn’t beat around the bush and just spoke what he thinks immediately. That is the complete opposite of people normally from the South.

“Really,” I ask, reaching over and grabbing a bottle of water. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I suddenly felt very hot, my hands getting clammy.

“Sometimes we call him Mom,” Jongin says, finishing up the pizza he had. “It started as a joke but then kind of stuck.”

The conversation kept going for a few more minutes. It was actually fairly enjoyable. As time went on, I felt odd and really warm, telling everyone I was going outside to cool off. I was thankful no one followed me as I leaned against the wall, becoming dizzy. I don’t remember feeling this way from hunger before, something was wrong.

I turn, looking as the door opened and out comes the man that was with Jihae. He smirks, “You know, I don’t appreciate when someone talks to my girlfriend like that.”

“I don’t appreciate when people are asshole either, but that doesn’t stop anything,” I reply, turning trying to walk away, leaning against the wall for support. The world was spinning and I could feel my heart rate pick up.

“Such an idiot,” the man says, grinning. His hair was brown, and the eyes that were a kind golden color now seemed mean. “You’re not suppose to take drinks from strangers, little girl. You never know what they put in it.”

Those words and the feeling of horror chilled my bones as I could feel him place his hands on my shoulders. His mean gaze was the last thing I remembered before everything went dark.

#exo fanfiction #exo scenarios #exo imagine #exo fanfic

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