Hi hello Way! I’m a few days early but I was curious if you had any headcanons for Valentine’s Day? Have a great day.
Hi Cinnis! Happy Valentines day to you 💜
So apparently in addition to being the patron saint of lovers, St Valentine is also patron saint of plague, epilepsy, and beekeepers. I can imagine Brainy's research uncovering these things while trying to figure out the most appropriate way to make Valentines day special for Nia, and coming to the conclusion that his offerings should relate to ALL of them.
Thus on Valentines day he presents Nia with:
A poem he wrote himself on the subject of lovers (whether it is actually romantic or not I will leave for you to decide)
A face mask made with 31st century technology that is remarkably comfortable to breath in and yet 100% effective against the transmission of all known airborne viruses in either direction (nothing says romance like preventing the spread of plague, after all)
A cure for epilepsy. Which. Frankly Nia thinks he probably could have mentioned he had earlier (same with the face mask, honestly). But hey, it's still a pretty remarkable leap forwards in medicine and something that Brainy usually wouldn't do because of Protecting The Timeline, so she's not gonna complain, she'll just hand it over to Lena to figure out how to replicate it and actually get it out there to the people who need it.
Tickets to a beekeeper experience/honey tasting. Nia is perhaps not wildly enthusiastic about a date that involves getting up close and personal with hundreds of insects on a grim February day (and she honestly thinks honey is Just Okay), but the honey cake and mead they're served afterwards is pretty good, and they get given a jar of pink honey to take home (pink in honour of the day, naturally), which is a bit gimmicky maybe but still a sweet touch.
💜💜💜💜
I think Lena is generally inclined to work through Valentines day (as she does with most holidays), but at least once during the Jack Era she'd come into the lab to find him wearing a pink lab coat, rose tinted goggles (impractical but they are part of the whole look he's got going here, so worth it), heart shaped stickers on his nails (likewise), and a massive goofy grin that says he knows he's being ridiculous. Then when Lena looks into her microscope she finds a slide with a minuscule, deeply heartfelt valentine note all set up ready for her to read while Jack pretends to be busy doing something else (thus tactfully giving her time to Have Feelings about it/decide whether to make something of it or go back to teasing him for the pink hair mascara he may or may not have added to his beard as a finishing touch to his ensemble).
The exception to the 'work through Valentines' thing would be during the reigncorp era, when Lena would perhaps get more into the whole thing for Ruby's sake (particularly if this era happens pre-National City when Ruby is still quite little), and the two of them bake heartshaped cookies with silly-sweet messages on them to cheer Ruby up (and surprise Sam) after Sam had to go into work unexpectedly on what was supposed to be a shared day off (... whether they then have to throw them out and put in a bakery order instead because it turns out they are terrible at baking I will again leave to your discretion).
💜💜💜💜
Alex as of course we know secretly adores Valentines day, so I'm sure she and Kelly would do all the traditional romantic things, but when they're both single (or when their partners are otherwise engaged on that evening for whatever reason) I think Kara and Alex could get quite into doing a sisters' Valentines extravaganza - decorating the apartment, watching their favourite romantic movies (though some of Alex's choices may or may not be 'romantic' in the traditional sense, and Kara's lean towards musicals), eating ALL the heart shaped snacks, and swapping gossip/horror stories of their coworkers more dubious Valentines plans (including the wide-eyed horror looks on the faces of those who had clearly forgotten, followed by their last minute lunch break dash to the card shop where they compete with the other similarly forgetful partners for the biggest valentines card in the store to make up for their misstep) so that they can be smug about all the things they're NOT doing that night (including, yes, attending a workshop on beekeeping. Sorry Brainy).
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Hi hello! Can I have your thoughts on any of the Corp ships? Super, reign, Rojas, guardian, or spheer if any spark joy?
Oh my god @cinnis I definitely remember you sending this months ago and then I never responded I’m so sorry!!! I would love to share my thoughts on a corp ship.
And I think I’m going to pick Spheercorp, actually! I have a real soft spot for Jack Spheer. First of all, Rahul Kohli gives a great performance in the ONE EPISODE (!!!) we see Jack in season 2. I fell in love with him in one single episode, and that’s quite a feat for me. He and Katie have really good chemistry together (proof that Guardiancorp also could have been better if they had bothered to write any sort of realistic lead up to their relationship, but I digress).
Jack really seems to have it all — he’s handsome, intelligent, apparently rich, but has a genuine and earnest demeanor that’s evident from the moment we see him onstage. I love the moment when he catches Lena’s eye during the presentation (as unrealistic as it probably is… have you ever tried to look at someone closely while stage lights blind you??) and falters, and he can’t seem to help but look back at Lena again after Kara asks her question. It’s super cute. These two have history and I understand why we only got what we got in S2 and then the flashbacks in S5, but I would’ve happily accepted more.
(As a side note, I decided to put on “Ace Reporter” while writing this and Kara’s awkward little smile when Lena talks about the “small explosions and good times” I am SCREAMING)
Anyway, what I think I love most about Spheercorp is that Jack and Lena just seem to play off each other so well intellectually. When he comes into Lena’s office (without an appointment!!) they immediately get into the light banter we love from Lena, but instead of Lena being paired with a more awkward and bumbling Kara Danvers, it’s someone who tries and very much succeeds to match her banter, so much so that she’s blushing by the end of it. Lena clearly likes him, a lot, and I truly, truly hate that he’s frequently typecast as either the gay best friend or the ex Lena had before she realized she was lesbian. I think we all love Lena, and it bums me out that people don’t give him more nuance and appreciation for being Lena’s first real love, at least as an adult (as far as we can tell).
Another moment I love: when Jack and Lena go back to Lena’s office after dinner and he asks, “Do you have fun here? You had fun with me.” He clearly knows Lena so well, well enough to see that Lena has been sacrificing a lot of herself to bring L-Corp back to doing good. And that’s what Jack cares about enough to ask. He knows that Lena is doing good with L-Corp, accomplishing way more than anyone ever expected her to. But he wants to know about her overall wellbeing, not just her company’s success. He wants to know if she’s enjoying herself.
I suppose his character could be read as being mind controlled and manipulated by Beth the entire time, but I really don’t see that being the case because he seems so genuine and truly didn’t know the horrible stuff he’d done when the nanobots took over. Lena is devastated by his death at the end of Ace Reporter, and it’s yet another thread that I wish had lasted into subsequent episodes. Even though all the little pieces of backstory we get for Lena were written at different times, when you put it all together, it’s no wonder Lena feels like everything she touches ends up hurting people. 💔
Anyway, very rambly Spheercorp thoughts but I do truly love them and would love to read more fics that dive into their relationship (romantic or otherwise!).
I couldn’t find your ficlet but I’m in love with the idea of Jack being alive because of crisis. I liked that Lena was FINALLY a true member of the super friends but primarily they will always be Kara’s I mean it’s in the name lol. Lena should have her own people, come on Andrea was right there, we could have seen something showing they were close again. At least we saw a little bit of Sam on the 100th ep with Lena’s luck she might not even be her friend anymore after crisis!
This is from a LONG time ago, but I believe this was the post I mentioned at the time. Seems likely. Enjoy!
In the months that follow, Lena makes a complete recovery, and resumes her rightful place at LuthorCorp. This time, the rebranding process is punctuated not by restless nights spent alone in her office, but curled up on the couch with Jack. He remains a stolid presence at her side, with Spheerical Industries among the first to partner with the newly branded L-Corp. Together, they help rebuild the city alongside its heroes.
Six months later Lena is honored by the city, with a charity gala thrown in her name to benefit an organization of her choice. Cameras flash when Jack helps Lena exit the limosine.
Together they make a striking couple, he in a dapper brocade tux and she in a dress that hangs long and fluid against her skin. She still bears the scars of her fight with Lex, both visible and not, but all anyone can see-- all Kara can see-- is her radiant happiness as she smiles and greets the crowd.
When Supergirl drops in to make an appearance, Lena's smile somehow broadens. She sweeps Kara into a hug, eschewing any professional boundaries they'd previously maintained in the public eye.
"Congratulations," Kara murmurs. She pulls back to look Lena in the eye. "You deserve this."
"I couldn't have done it-- any of it-- without you," Lena counters. Her hands grasp Kara's gently. "You believed in me from the very beginning."
Kara nods. It's taken a long time to heal from the fallout of her secret, and longer still for Lena to believe that their friendship until then hadn't been a ruse. But they've come back together, both publicly and privately, and Kara knows she'll never take their friendship for granted again.
"Always," she promises. She looks to Jack, meeting his gaze with a solemn nod. "Both of you."
"You still on for dinner on Friday?" Jack asks. "I've got a new recipe I've been keeping in reserve I think you'll like."
The fact Jack could cook had come as a surprise. Kara had assumed he would be as preoccupied as Lena, too busy to do anything more than order take out from the swanky restaurants around the city. But having already experienced the spoils of his labor, Kara beams with anticipation.
"Wouldn't miss it," she promises. "And game night next week?"
"We'll be there," Jack confirms.
They'd both seamlessly integrated into the Superfriends game nights. Jack proved to be personable with everyone he met, and it wasn't long before he and Brainy had struck an unlikely bond. And Lena... Lena should have been included long ago, Kara now realizes. She belonged with them, in every way that matters.
"Have a good time tonight," Kara told them both. She looks to Lena. "Save me a dance?"
"Sorry, Supergirl, I'm afraid my dance card is already quite full," Jack quips with a grin, earning a light smack on the arm from Lena.
"Don't be a stranger, Supergirl," she says warmly. "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."
"Tonight is your night," Kara reminds her. "Embrace it."
Lena smiles, leaning into Jack with a happy, exasperated sigh. Jack wraps an arm around her shoulders.
"Congratulations, Lena. I mean it."
Lena's smile softens. "Thank you," she says quietly.
When Supergirl launches back into the air, her heart is full. She has her friend, her family. Lena has Jack in her life, a continuous source of love and adoration. For all that they had been through, all it had taken to get them to here...
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Lena's kamikaze descent to earth results in several broken bones, but it's the stab wound that causes the doctors the most concern. They admit her for several days, and in that time Jack never once leaves the building. Kara comes and goes as Supergirl is needed, but Jack remains, waiting patiently through Lena's surgery before finally being allowed to join her in a private room.
Kara is grateful for his presence, glad that Lena has someone who cares so deeply for her. And he does-- Kara can see it in the lines of his face, and in his eyes when he gazes at Lena while she sleeps off the sedation.
She never got the chance to know Jack Spheer before he died, and she finds herself grateful for the chance to truly meet the man Lena had cared so much for.
"Lena said you'd left National City," Kara says one afternoon when she comes to visit.
Jack nods. "That was the plan. But as soon as I got to the airport I knew it was the wrong decision. I couldn't leave her."
Kara's response stills on her lips when Lena stirs, rousing from her nap. She instead leans forward, reaching for Lena's hand. "Hey..."
Lena focused on her, then smiles. "Hey. You okay?"
"Says the woman in the hospital bed," Jack quips, already in possession of Lena's other hand. Lena turns her head to face him, and her smiles softens.
"Hey," Lena whispers. Her eyes warm, crinkling at the corners. "You're here."
"Yeah," Jack echoes, his voice cracking. "Not even wild, megalomaniacal horses could keep me away."
Lena huffs a laugh, her eyes closing for a long moment before turning to Kara. "You--"
"Time for a dressing change!" chirps the nurse as she enters, wheeling a cart in behind her. "You both know the drill."
Kara and Jack both rise from their seats, preparing to give them the room. They wait outside as the nurse gets to work, and it's not long before Jack catches Kara staring at him from the corner of her eye.
"Sorry," she says, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It's just--"
"Lena told me, about what happened," Jack returns. "The multiverse, Beth Breen, everything. Must be pretty strange, seeing me back from the dead."
Kara nods. "A little," she says sheepishly. "In a good way, though?"
Jack grins good naturedly, and Kara can't help but think that Lena was right-- he really was a charmer.
"What are you going to do next?" Kara asks. Having a new lease on life could be exciting for someone like Jack, with the money and incentive to do whatever he wants.
But Jack's gaze turns thoughtful as he tucks his hands in his pockets. His shoulders lift in a small shrug.
"From what Lena's told me, the first time around I didn't follow her when she first moved to National City." Jack scoffs incredulously at himself. "I can scarcely fathom it, but... that's the life Lena knows."
Kara's heart lurches in her chest. With Lena's memories in tact, she didn't remember anything that happened in this new reality Lex created. Would Jack miss the Lena he knew and loved? Would he mourn her when he looked at who Lena is now?
"I think..." Jack continues thoughtfully, "I think I'd like to show her a world where someone did choose her, over everything else."
Tears lift to Kara's eyes, partially out of guilt, partially from sudden gratitude. She nods, swallowing thickly.
Lena doesn't wake for three days. Kara stays with her, watching for any sign of life beyond the steady beep of the heart monitor. She's almost when she hears a rustle against the sheets, and bolts upright when she opens her eyes to see Lena's head turning towards her against the pillow.
"Lena? Can you hear me?"
"Kara..."
Lena's gaze is blurry, struggling to focus on Kara. Kara takes her hand, doing her best to ignore the straps still buckled around it.
"It's okay, Lena, I'm here."
Blinking, Lena's eyes clear a little, and Kara's heart soars when she sees confusion rather than the cold, cruel regard she'd last seen. It had worked. She knows it in her bones.
Kara fumbles to unfasten the buckle on the strap, only to jump when Lena stiffens and pulls away.
"Don't," Lena says, her voice suddenly sharp. Kara looks up, only to find fear looking back. "I don't want to hurt you."
Reaching for Lena's hand again, Kara doesn't let her pull away. "It's okay. The device is inert. It can't control you anymore."
Lena's breath hitches in her chest, her eyes filling with tears. "I hurt you..."
"I'm okay," Kara promises.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Lena begins to cry.
Kara leans down, pressing her forehead to Lena's in comfort. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault. There's nothing to apologize for."
What Kara doesn't give voice to are her own apologies. For not telling her the truth sooner, for letting Lex rewrite the universe, for not pressing harder when Lena banished her from LuthorCorp. She should have tried harder. She shouldn't have let Lena go through this alone.
When Lena's tears finally subside, Kara pulls back to begin unfastening the restraints. Lena lets her this time, taking a moment to look around the unfamiliar room. "Where-- where's Jack?"
Panic jabs suddenly through Kara's chest. "You-- you said he was gone," she stammers. "He left..."
Lena pauses, then slumps in relief. "He did. He left-- that was true. It was the only way I could confront Lex."
Kara breaths a quiet sigh. At least Jack was safe.
"We'll stop him," Kara tells her. "We're going to stop Lex, I promise."
Lena looks at her, unable to keep the hopelessnes from her features. Kara takes her hand again.
"We'll stop him together."
Finally, Lena nods.
"Together."
---
When the confrontation with Lex finally happens, Kara and the rest of the Superfriends face him alone, buying Lena time to finish a lexosuit of her own. Only Kara can go head to head with him-- the rest of them handle the goons on the ground.
Only Kara can keep up with Lex, but the modifications to her suit to protect her from his kryptonite only lasts so long before the device ultimately fails. The Kryptonite saps her strength, making her sluggish even as she struggles to fight through the pain.
When Lex finally grabs her by cape and flings her to the roof of LuthorCorp, Kara struggles to rise again. She can't. Lex steps on her back, pushing her to the cracked rooftop.
"You and your cousin are too late," he says. "Earth already has its hero-- me."
Kara hears his weapon charge, but when the whine terminates in an explosion of sound, the weight suddenly disappears from Kara's back. She looks up to see that Lena has finally joined the fray, hovering in her own mechasuit.
Lena sets down and helps Kara to her feet, her helmet retracting to reveal features dark with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Kara pants, staggering slightly. Lena helps to steady her. They turn to face Lex as he too rises, wiping blood from his chin. He glares at his sister.
"So you did survive," he remarks. "I had wondered what they did with you."
"You failed, Lex," Lena returns, her voice steady. "And you'll fail now."
Lex's features twist into a scowl. "We'll just see about that."
He fires a burst of kryptonite from his blasters, forcing them to duck and cover as he flies off. Lena takes the blast on her shield, but grounds Kara with a hand on her shoulder before the hero to soar after him.
"The others need help," Lena says. "Go."
Kara catches her armored wrist. "Lena..."
"Go." Lena offers a reassuring smile. "I've got this."
Kara wants to protest. She wants to gather Lena up and ferry her down to street level as well. She wants to be the one to take Lex down-- Lena shouldn't have to do it a second time.
But Kara feels her weakness keenly, and knows shes on the verge of a solar flare. She doesn't have the strength to succeed where she knows Lena will.
She nods.
"Be careful."
Lena's faceplate descends with a clank, shielding her face from view before she launches into the air and goes after Lex. Kara returns to her friends, determined to help as many as she can, even as her heart weighs heavy.
Lena is on her own.
---
Lena pulls up her hud, tracing Lex's energy signature through the city. She's so focused that she doesn't notice the trail curling back on itself until something collides with her from behind. Sensors wailing, Lena tumbles out of control, spinning dizzingly for long moments before her reserve thrusters engage to course correct.
Lex doesn't wait for the world to stop spinning. He blasts her with another burst of kryptonite, then fires a rocket that explodes against her shoulder. The armor holds up but Lena's control of the suit slips as she spins out to collide with a building. Punching through the glass windows, the collision proves to be the reprieve she needs.
When Lex comes looking for her, Lena explodes out of the building, wrapping her arms around Lex bodily. He has better control, having piloted the suit multiple times before, but Lena's got the edge in structural integrity. His attempts to grapple his way out of her grip scrapes off her hull-- she returns each blow by searching for the weaknesses in his suit, tugging at punctures and joints even as they climb higher and higher.
Finally, Lena's armored fingers close on something important. When she yanks, Lex's boot thrusters sputter out. In her moment of victory, Lex elbows her in the side of the head. Her grip slips, and he slides out of her grasp.
She expects him to flee-- to retreat to a safe distance and fire another rocket. Instead, he cocks his fist back and lunges towards her. There's a squeal of metal shearing, and then all Lena can feel is a sharp burning in her abdomen.
Lex tugs his arm free with another squeal of metal, withdrawing the blade that's just pierced through Lena's armor. The blade pulses green with kryptonite, but Lena's greatee concern is the oxygen leaking from her suit in the high atmo, and the blood swiftly soaking through her gambeson.
"I always win, Lena," Lex calls, his voice tinny over the comms channel. "You might as well accept it."
"Not this time," Lena grunts out. Her vision threatens to start spinning again, though her readouts confirm she's hovering steadily. She knows she doesn't have long.
"Then you'll die," Lex snarls.
He jets towards her using the pulse thrusters in the palms of his gauntlets. Lena dodges the thrust of his blade, again hooking her arms around his waist. Without hesitation, she engages every rocket she has and aims towards the ground.
Time to finish this.
---
Kara hears the roar of imminent collision mere seconds before it hits. When she looks up, she sees a glimpse of two armored suits interlocked mere moments before both slam into the ground. The earth shakes with the impact, and a cloud of dust rises thick and heavy from the cratered earth of the impact site.
"LENA!"
Kara charges towards the crater, moving against the flow of fleeing citizens. Her strength all but gone, she coughs heavily, pausing at the rim of the crater to peer through the dust. All she can see is a deep shadow at the center of the crater, and she pelts towards it without a second thought.
"Lena!"
The shadow she sees resolves itself to be a mess of fractured pavement. Struggling to move them aside, she catches sight of Lena's armor.
"Lena!"
Sparks fly as Kara desperately heaves the heavy exosuit into her arms, levering Lena out of the pit and onto a slab of broken pavement. The mangled mess of Lex's own lexosuit remains where it is, unmoving.
"Lena, Lena please..." Kara's fingers scrabble under the chin the of the face plate, searching for the release. When she finds it, she presses it twice, prompting the entire suit to disengage. As each panel separates, Kara pulls them apart, flinging them aside until Lena is fully exposed.
Through the dust, Kara sees the stain of blood on Lena's side. Her blood runs cold.
"No..."
"Lena!" A new voice shouts from behind them. Kara hears the scrape of shoes against the rubble as someone climbs down to join them. She doesn't realize it's Jack Spheer until he falls to his knees beside Lena. "Lena!"
"Jack..." Kara blinks at him, stunned to see him. Lena had said he'd left, but the sweat and blood and grime on his face told a different story. He was here, in National City.
"Is she breathing?" Jack asks. Kara is too slow to respond. "Is she breathing!"
"I-I don't know."
Jack leans in close, listening for any sounds of life. When he presses his ear to Lena's chest, he pulls away in relief. "Her heart is beating. She's alive-- Lena! Lena, sweetheart, can you hear me?"
He cups Lena's cheeks with both hands, not quite daring to move her. Beneath Kara's hands, Lena twitches.
"Jack...?" comes the faint murmur. Jack gasps a shuddering sob.
"I'm here," he says, kissing her forehead in blatant relief. "Lena, I'm here..."
"S'posed... t'go away..."
"I couldn't--"
"How touching."
The rubble shifts at the bottom of the crater. Lex staggers into view, eyes bloodshot and glinting with deranged menace.
Kara stands to face him, stepping between him and the others. "It's over, Lex. Even if you win here today, your reputation is ruined. Everyone knows who and what you truly are. Surrender yourself, and I promise you'll get a fair trial."
"It's not over until I say it is!" Lex bellows. His armor is broken and mangled, yet somehow functional enough that he's able to prime his plasma cannon. "If I'm going down, then I'm taking you with--"
Before he can finish, a pulse of bright hot energy sears past Kara's sense to detonate against Lex's chest plate. The explosion that follows blasts Lex off his feet, throwing him back a dozen yards before he skids to a stop with a singed, smoking hole in his chest.
Kara doesn't need to listen for a heartbeat to know that he's dead.
She turns, and finds Lena with her own plasma cannon outstretched, her aim guided by Jack's hands. When the cannon retracts, Jack rips the guantlet off, tangling his fingers with Lena's.
"Nice shot," Kara tells them both. Jack barely glances at her. Kara looks at Lena, meeting her bleary, exhausted gaze. "It's over."
Lena nods. Her eyes close, her relief plain to see. Kara takes her free hand, offering a gentle squeeze. Lena squeezes back.
By the time the others return from the desert to report an absolute bust, Lena is secured in the infirmary and Kara has hastily wrapped her injuries in messy piles of gauze.
Alex takes one look and immediately shifts into medic mode. "What happened?"
"Lena, she-- she tried to kill me," Kara murmurs. Her gaze shifts to her friend, still unconscious where she's strapped to a gurney. Despite what happened, all she feels in concern.
"She almost succeeded," Alex tells her, prodding the stab wound in her side. Kara groans. "Good news is, you're already starting to heal."
She sets Kara on a stool and wheels over a sunlamp. When she clicks it on, Kara sags under the relief it provides.
"It wasn't her fault," Kara tells Alex. Alex shoots her a look, but Kara insists. "It wasn't! She-- she tried to warn me. And then--"
"You're right," J'onn says, pressing two fingers to his temple. "Her mind has been corrupted."
"How?" Alex asks.
Kara scans Lena with her xray vision, and her blood runs cold when she locates two inorganic devices: one in her neck, the other at the base of her brain stem.
"Brainy--"
Kara describes the devices to the best of her ability. Brainy's eyes alight with understanding.
"It would seem Lex has covered all his bases," Brainy explains. "The first appears to be a small capacitor, capable of delivering an electric current. The other is an inhibitor of some kind, grafted onto her central nervous system. There would be no way for Lena to fight whatever mandate Lex installed."
"Can we remove them?" Nia asks.
Brainy considers that for a moment. "The first would be quite simple to remove. However the inhibitor is a different story. Even assuming Lex has not rigged the device with a failsafe, attempting to remove it could render Miss Luthor comatose, or dead."
Kara releases a shaky breath. "Then what can we do?"
"If we could deactivate the device, I could reverse whatever mandate Lex installed," J'onn offers. "Her mind would be her own again."
"How do we deactivate it if we can't remove it?"
Brainy perks up. "An EMP could render the device inert. There is a chance the device could be reactivated, but doing so would require physical adjustment."
"And I'm not going to let Lex get anywhere close to her again," Kara declares.
J'onn nods. He looks to Brainy. "How soon can you have a device ready to deliver the EMP."
"A few hours at most. I shall begin immediately."
Brainy goes off, and Kara turns to Alex. "Can we keep Lena sedated until it's ready?"
Alex eyes her. "You sure?"
Swallowing, Kara nods. Though partially driven to spare Lena the discovery of being strapped to the bed, more fervent is the need to never see the hate in Lena's eyes again.
"Yeah."
Alex nods. "Okay."
---
The hours pass slowly. Kara spends them under the sunlamp, refusing to leave Lena's side. Alex uses the time to fish the capacitor from Lena's shoulder, and Kara fights the urge to vomit when the small device clinks to the bottom of a sterile basin.
Seeing her distress, Alex offers her a steadying smile. "She's going to be okay."
Kara gazes at Lena, unable to banish the apprehension coiling in her gut. "Yeah."
When Brainy finally returns, they clear the infirmary of anything electrical. At Kara's nod, Brainy activates the device. The wait as it beeps once, twice, three times, then falls silent.
Awkwardly, they wait for something to happen, but nothing does.
"Brainy?"
"The EMP has been delivered."
Lena doesn't stir. Kara looks at her sister in concern. "Alex..."
"The sedatives should wear off any minute."
The wait in anxious silence until Lena finally begins to stir. Kara steps forward, taking Lena's hand in hers. "Lena?"
Lena's eyes open, rolling slightly before squinting against the overhead lights. She groans, then pries her eyes open to look at Kara.
"Kara..."
Lena breathes her name, smiling at the sight of her, her features soft and relieved. Kara studies her, and feels her heart fall.
Alex moves to unfasten Lena's other hand.
"It didn't work," Kara snaps, freezing Alex in place.
"The EMP was delivered--"
Kara pegs him with a sharp glare. "It didn't work!"
On the bed, Lena's grin deepens to something menacing, and a giggle pours out of her. Her grip on Kara's hand tightens, fingernails digging into Kara's skin like claws until Kara jerkily pries herself free.
"Nice try, Supergirl," Lena taunts. "But you can't change the truth: you're a menace--"
Alex silences her with a sharp jab of a syringe, administering another dose of sedative. In moments Lena is out like a light.
Thrusting the sunlamp away from her, Kara stalks to the side of the room, then paced to the other in furious agitation.
"Why didn't it work?"
Brainy thinks for a long moment. "It's possible the device is in fact biomechanic in nature. The nervous system is effectively one large conductor, carrying electrical impulses from the brain to the rest of the body--"
"The device could be powering itself using those impulses," Alex jumps in, catching on quickly.
Brainy nods. "It would be impossible to power it down completely so long as though impulses are present."
"So there's no way to save her?" Kara asks.
Brainy tilts his head, catching Alex's gaze. "There is a way..."
"But it would be risky," Alex finishes.
Kara stops pacing and looks at her. "How risky?"
"If we're right, and the device is powered in part by Lena's own electrical impulses, then we would have to suppress those impulses long enough for the device to run out of juice, then hit it with the EMP."
"And by suppress her electrical impulses, you mean--"
"All electrical impulses. Zero brain activity."
Kara's mouth goes dry. "You mean kill her."
"Only temporarily," Brainy points out. "As soon as the EMP is delivered, we would be able to revive her, and she will be herself again."
Sensing Kara's distress, J'onn places a hand on her shoulder. "It's risky, but it may be Lena's best chance."
Kara takes a deep breath, her mind racing. Losing Lena this way terrifies her, but in her heart she knows the decision Lena would make if she could. She wouldn't want to live like this-- she wouldn't want to be Lex's puppet.
She nods.
"Let's do it."
----
It takes almost an hour to prepare. Alex preps the drugs she'll need to slow Lena's heart, and the drugs she'll need to restart it. She collects a crash cart as well, just in case. In lieu of more advanced technology, which they don't have in the tower, J'onn will monitor Lena's brain waves to determine when it's safe to administer the EMP.
Kara can only watch it all with a lump in her throat, praying to Rao that she hasn't made the wrong decision.
"Ready?" Alex finally asks.
Kara nods. She steps up to Lena's bedside, taking Lena's hand in both of hers. She watches as Alex administers the first syringe, listening as Lena's heartbeat begins to slow. She prays silently as the thumps comes farther and fewer between, then cease entirely. Looking at J'onn, she waits with tears in her eyes as the seconds tick by.
"J'onn..."
"Not yet..."
Dread pours through Kara, filling her swiftly and completely. She shakes her head. "It's been too long. Alex..."
"Kara, wait--"
"Alex!"
"Now!" J'onn shouts. Brainy activates his device. The thing beeps slowly-- once, twice, three times.
Then
"The EMP has been delivered."
Alex surges into action. With sure, swift movements she uncaps the second syringe and plunges it into Lena's chest. Without waiting, she vaults onto the gurney, straddling Lena to begin delivering chest compressions.
"Alex..."
"We just have to keep her blood moving until the drugs kick in," Alex pants. Counting softly, she shoots a look to Nia. "Nia, rescue breaths, now."
Nia obeys without hesitation. Kara's tears spill over as she watches them work on Lena, unable to do anything more than stand idly by. As the minutes pass, Kara feels her hope dwindle.
"Brainy, the crash cart," Alex barks finally. She climbs off the stretcher while Nia breathes air into Lena's lungs. Brainy wheels the crash cart closer.
"Kara, let go."
"Alex--"
"Let go!"
Kara steps back, and Alex presses the paddles against Lena's torso. "Clear!"
Lena's body spasms as the current courses through her, only to fall limp when it stops. Alex presses two fingers to Lena's neck, seaeching for a pulse. Delivering another round of compressions, she then waits for Nia to perform the rescue breathing before shocking Lena again.
"Clear!"
Lena spasms again, and Kara has to turn away, covering her sobs with one hand. For a long moment, there's nothing but heavy silence before Alex calls out.
