#zorane

“She- she’s been through- I don’t even know what.” Mary drags a hand through her hair, then her breath catches and she brings both hands up to her face. “And after what happened with Bruce and Hush, I-...” Her voice trails off and she takes a breath. “It’s her. It’s her, it’s her- I know it’s her-”

Kara hears the tremor in her voice, reaches out and puts a hand on Mary’s shoulder. Kate is back and of course she is, because she’s Kate, yet it’s hard to believe, too. She can’t shake the sense that the world was spinning one way, then it thrust into reverse, only to suddenly be righted again; it’s hard to get her footing.

Mary lowers her hands and her eyes meet Kara’s. “She- she’s not the same.”

Something in Kara’s heart constricts just a little.

“Not just her face.” Mary whispers. “Whatever happened to her, they-...”

Something red hot twists inside Kara, angry- furious- for what Kate has been through. She sucks in a breath through her nose and tries to cool the sensation. Her fingers loosen slowly where they’ve curled into fists. The lift stops, and she follows Mary out.

Luke looks to them, approaches. “Supergirl.”

She reaches out, touches his shoulder briefly as they share a look, then her eyes fall upon the first face she doesn’t know.

Batwoman hesitates a moment, then takes off her cowl. “I’m Ryan.” She pauses, seems to be deciding what to make of Kara. Slowly, a little tentatively, she offers her hand. Kara musters as much of a smile as she can given the circumstances and shakes it.

“I’m really glad to meet you, Ryan.” She looks into the other woman’s eyes and hopes she knows she means it. “I’m Kara.”

“The Paragon of Hope.”

There is a pang in Kara’s heart as she looks past Ryan... The woman who stands there watching her has an unfamiliar face; she has an unfamiliar voice, too. There is a haunted sort of air about her, and an undercurrent of tension in the way she moves, ready for an attack even among friends. Kate Kane is different in every way but one, it seems... for all that is changed, Kara knows the heartbeat of the Paragon of Courage.

“Kate,” She breathes, then rushes forward and hugs her. Kate stiffens a moment, then slowly hugs back. “Thanks be to Rao,” Kara murmurs in her first language, finding comfort in the thrum of Kate’s pulse. More than questions, more than any words could, it is proof that Kate’s alive; she is here, and Kara is reluctant to let go. “Next time, I’m flying you.” She tries to quell the quaver in her own voice.

“It’s good to see you, too, Kara.” She wears what is barely the shadow of a smile, but for now it’s enough.

“Paragon of Hope?” Ryan is watching them curiously.

“Long story.” Kate sighs, maybe wishing it was the only thing she had to explain.

“We’ll fill you in on everything,” Mary puts a hand on Ryan’s shoulder and Kara can feel the weight of what she’s balancing: then and now, what was and what is, and all that’s happened in between.

"One story at a time.” Ryan smiles thinly, and Kara knows she feels it too: she does not share the history they have, but she is carving out history of her own.

“Right.” Kate looks down as everyone’s gazes return to her. “Right.”

“What happened?” Mary asks softly.

Luke is watching Kate like she might slip through the grated floor and vanish into the darkness. “Who did this? Were they waiting for you on the plane?”

“Maybe.” Kate answers.

Kara is heartsick. She can hear Luke let out a soft huff of air; wonders if he’s trying to evaluate where he could have done something different, just like she is.

“If I’d-”

“If you’d what? Put a tracker in me?” Kate cuts him off a little harshly, then seems to catch herself, shakes her head. “Don’t- don’t... dwell.”

“It’s a little late for that.” Luke’s shoulders sag, his lips curve upwards ruefully, but his eyes hold no mirth.

“They're called The False Face Society.” Kate avoids looking at any of their faces.

Ryan has gone very still, her lips pressed together.

“I have had about enough of false faces.” Mary’s jaw notches.

Kara’s heard about the things Alice does with skin. The fact that it seems to be a growing practice in Gotham makes her stomach churn. It isn’t just her: Luke looks somewhere between furious and sick, too.

“We’ll take them down.” Ryan looks to Mary and Luke, then to Kate. “We can take them down.”

“If I can do anything,” Kara offers. Anything to bring the people who did this to Kate to justice. There is a pit in her stomach though, because she knows she’s already too late. She might save others, but Kate... Kara wants to hug her again, but she’s not sure it would be welcomed just now.

Batwoman is still talking too quiet for Lena to hear, but she can imagine what sort of nonsensical comforts she must be uttering, white lies, no less, to ease the heaviness off Kara's shoulders.

That used to be me, comes the thought, unbidden, and Lena is surprised by her own bitterness. It's not even true, in any case, Lena has never been the one comforting Kara, it has always been the other way around. Somehow, she still resents the intimacy, the closeness of the two.

"What is she doing here again?" 

The voice is hers, Lena knows, noticing her own question in a detached sort of way. She hadn't meant to say any of that out loud.

What is done is done, nevertheless, and Kara startles badly as if she had, indeed, forgotten they had not been alone in the room. Batwoman, on the other hand, only turns to look coolly at Lena without backing off, one arm still around Kara's shoulder, no signs of ever having forgotten Lena.

She does look like the kind of person who never loses track of a threat.

"We talked about this," Kara clears her throat, and Lena doesn't miss the way she leans closer to the other woman, "with Leviathan, is all hands on deck. That includes, uh, Batwoman. You agreed to this before."

Right. The meeting two days earlier filled with so much tension and thinly-veiled threats it's a wonder they had agreed on something. Lena had not known then what all hands on deck had meant.

It should not matter.

Her feelings– whatever they might be at any given time– towards Kara or whoever she chooses to associate with, they cannot be taken into account, not when dealing with this.

Leviathan is too big a threat for that.

And yet, Lena finds herself disliking Batwoman anyway.

"Of course," she replies smoothly, "I just wonder because while you say all hands on deck, I can't help noticing she is the only one here."

Batwoman is holding herself very still, no doubt deferring to Kara in this situation– which means they talked about this, about Lena, gossiping like schoolgirls, giggling– and Kara frowns, her expression falling. "Oh, well," Lena sees the moment Kara's hand is covered by Batwoman's, a silent show of support that allows Kara to rally again, find her footing. Against Lena. "Flash, Vibe, and Frost are dealing with a situation in Central City, but they'll join us as soon as they can. Same with the Legends– something about souls being freed from Hell?" It's a half-question met with a shrug from Batwoman, and Kara shakes her head a little, "anyway. Black Lightning and Elongated Man are out following leads along with Black Canary."

Now, finally, Batwoman speaks. The turn of her lips gives off the impression of a proud smirk, "so, not just me, then."

Her voice has a metallic robotic sound to it. A modulator, most likely. Lena purses her lips. "I see," she hates the feeling of defeat that burns on her cheeks, cowering her into glancing away, down at the tablet in her hands, "you're not that special, then."

She hears a dry chuckle even as Kara sputters, probably gearing up to defend her friend's honor. "It's okay," Batwoman says, "I'm not here to make friends, I have my priorities straight."

Ignoring the remark, Lena keeps her gaze low, pretending to read some files and pointedly not raising to the bait. It had been a bad idea to bring this up, unsurprisingly. She half-expects Kara to start some can't we all just get along? spiel.

Instead, she hears the tail end of a conversation not meant for her. Batwoman is talking lowly, "I'm here because you called, Kara," so that answers a few questions, "and I rather the world didn't end, again."

"She'll come around, I'm sorry, you know how things are right now," Kara whispers back, and how inconspicuous do they think they are, whispering about like little children?

A bitter, mocking voice nags at the back of her mind, saying it's the honeymoon phase, they just can't get their hands off each other.

Lena ignores it, hating the sudden hollowness settling in.

Louder, she hears. "Anyway. We're going to get lunch."

No invitation. Obviously. It would have been turned down viciously if it had been asked, in any case.

"I'll have someone call you if we find anything," she dismisses them with a careless wave.

Footsteps. The door opening and closing. Finally, Lena is alone.

Closing her eyes and echoing shakily, she allows herself a brief moment of weakness. She breathes in, exhales.

Leave it to Kara to break the silence first after such a tense moment. Tense barely even described it, really- they were leaving Wayne Manor, Bruce’s house, after seeing Kate’s cousin die.

After Kate had killed him, no less.

(Was she, in her own time and dimension, killing his reputation? Would her performance as Batwoman reflect badly on him? If he were to return, whether because of her or not, would Gotham really miss her?)

She considered those things as she and Kara left, trying not to look too guilty as Luke tentatively said goodbye to them.

(and she had to make sure Kara’s staring at Luke wasn’t delaying them from returning. Because seriously, for a guy he was kind of cute. She wasn’t blind to that. But did Kara have to say it?)

“What is it, Kara?”

“You know; I was thinking about what the Monitor said. And… he never really told us that this Bruce was the Paragon of Courage, did he?”

“…Damn, you’re right.” Kate answered, after considering it. “Certainly doesn’t seem too courageous. Especially not after killing all those rogues of his.”

And killing your cousin, she thought, hand on the Kryptonite she’d secured from Bruce just in case. But judging by Kara’s face when Bruce had talked about that, and how she’d described seeing her cousin’s glasses in the trophy case, clouded over with dust and cracked… thinking about how he might’ve been taken out not while he was Superman, how Bruce considered Clark’s secret identity enemy-worthy… it was a sore subject for Kara, and Kate knew better than to mention it right then, when Kara had also just lost her family and her Earth.

(Kate thought of Beth, then- and Jacob, her own Luke, Mary, Sophie… how were they handling this Crisis? What was going to happen to them, once there were no other Earths to destroy but Earth-1?

What would they think of her, for leaving them right then of all times?)

“Yeah, that’s it.” Kara said. “And, if Bruce had been the Paragon, the Monitor probably would’ve shown up telling us that, all disappointed, telling us we doomed the Earths and all.”

Kate stifled a laugh, imagining the Monitor in position of her father, wearing a Crows uniform and ordering everyone around.

“You’re right. So, who do you think the real Paragon is?” Kate asked.

Kara gave her a gentle smile, and activated the interdimensional extrapolator, as they stepped in- just as the Earth-99 skies started to turn red.

And once they were back on the Waverider, she told her.

“It’s you, Kate.” She said. “You are the one you’ve been waiting for.”

“I am?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Kara answered. “Both now, and with your being Batwoman- the people of Gotham needed a symbol, and you stepped up and answered the call. You were what they waited for, those years Batman was gone, and you’re the Paragon everyone was waiting for now. You stood up to your cousin, demonstrated how much of a hero you are, and… I’m proud to call you my friend.”

“I’m happy to even be in your shadow, Paragon of Hope.” Kate said, lightly punching Kara’s arm. “Come on. Let’s tell everyone else the good news.”

“Gladly.” Kara said. “And then we’ll save the multiverse.”