Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Since moving to National City, Lena was used to strange things happening. That didn’t mean they didn’t surprise her; still they were less likely to rattle her quite so much.

So, when she walked into her office to find a blue-skinned individual slightly less tall than her waist waiting patiently for her, it only took a couple of seconds for her to collect herself, and inform Jess that she might have to delay her meetings that afternoon.

It was unlikely that anyone waiting for her in her office was going to be a threat. Dangerous people and aliens tended to be markedly less patient.

While she didn’t have the best experience with aliens, most only knowing her through her family, she tried to give them a chance.

“Miss Luthor,” they said, remarkably amiably, turning as she came in. “May we talk?”

Lena paused. She regarded them, taking in what looked more like a red uniform than a fashion choice. An envoy, perhaps?

“What about, Mr-” Lena began, approaching her chair. “Or Miss?”

She slowed. She’d chosen ‘Mr’ because the alien had a deeper voice, masculine by human reckoning, though that was unlikely to be completely accurate.

“Neither, I’m afraid,” the alien said.

“Do you have a name?” Lena said.

“Still no,” they said, and paused. “If you must think of me by a name, Kontross would suffice.”

Lena hesitated.

“I’d like to ask your help,” Kontross said. “I’m here on behalf of the Green Lantern Corps. This isn’t how we normally do things, but it’s rare that there’s a situation like this.”

“What do you need help with?” Lena said. That much, at least, she could handle.

“Complicated,” Kontross said. “if you’re unfamiliar with the Green Lanterns, you could think of them as a kind of police force, peacekeepers, spanning worlds and galaxies. There are a number of… threats that require their intervention.”

“And?” Lena said.

“An interstellar criminal has established themselves on Earth,” Kontross said. “There’s some doubt that the Lantern pursuing will be able to cope, and it was decided a human with more knowledge of this world would be beneficial.”

“Why me?”

“You have the ability to overcome great fear,” Kontross said. “You have lived through adversity, and pulled through, unbroken. Willpower is the defining characteristic of Green Lanterns. You have great will, and so you are a candidate.”  

Kontross opened one hand, reaching up to place a green ring on Lena’s desk.

She paused, watching, not quite what to make of it. It should have just been a ring, green metal with an odd design etched into the top.

When she moved to touch it, it shone slightly. Lena withdrew quickly.

Lena Luthor of Earth, you have been chosen.

The voice echoed in her head. Lena tensed, instinctively knowing that the ring had, somehow-

“What is this?” Lena said.

“A power ring,” Kontross said. “if you choose to wear it, you will be welcomed to the Green Lantern Corps. It offers a number of abilities; protection, construct creation, flight, the ability to travel between worlds… You’ll discover much of that yourself.”

Lena hesitated again, regarding the ring.

She wouldn’t necessarily call herself power-hungry, but the idea did appeal. She wanted to be a force for good, to remove the stigma of her name; if she could gain the ability to serve as a hero…

For as long as she could remember, she’d thought about helping people. True, she’d expected to do so with L-Corp, or with her inventions, but what was the difference?

Lena shifted, moving forwards. She touched one finger to the ring, breath leaving her as she felt a sudden spark of energy.

“If you will help us catch the aforementioned criminal that has come to this world, the ring is yours,” Kontross said.

“What have they done?” Lena said.

“Broken a law,” Kontross said.

“I’ll need more than that,” Lena said. “I don’t know about your value system, your laws…”

“It is not mine alone,” Kontross said. “The prohibition was proposed by the Guardians, of which I am a member, and agreed upon by the affected race. There were… incidents. Over the past fifty years, the species in question developed commonplace, advanced space travel. They travelled from world to world, system to system, creating stations in the vastness of space.”

“And the crime?”

“They had power unthinkable to the inhabitants of the worlds they met,” Kontross said. “Many may have been benevolent, but there need only be one to do unspeakable harm. Thirty years ago, they agreed with us to return to their homeworld, and remain there, where there was no risk to the rest of the universe.”

Lena frowned. Kontross hurried on.

“They were not isolated from the rest of the universe,” Kontross said. “Many of the races they met still travelled to their planet. Their interplanetary relations were truly something to behold, creating all kinds of wonders. Their legal system in particular was renowned. The prohibition was something they themselves agreed upon. In an analogue you might understand, if a private citizen fashioned themselves a nuclear weapon, even if they swore to not use it, would you trust it to remain in their possession?”

“No,” Lena said, slowly. “Some things should be limited. They were that powerful?”

“Undoubtedly,” Kontross said. “They were all but gods on many of the worlds they set foot on. It could not be permitted to continue, and graciously they each returned to their homeworld.”

“And there’s one on Earth?” Lena said.

“Only one that is a concern,” Kontross said.

“What does that mean?” Lena said.

“There is a second,” Kontross said, “But he was judged to be innocent. He left his world as an infant, unable to make a decision. We watch him, but we would not punish him for a crime that was not his. The other left their world when they were old enough to know full well what they were doing.”

“So, how many am I after?” Lena said.

“Just the one,” Kontross said.

“And they’re dangerous?” Lena said.

“The power they have could level cities, with little effort,” Kontross said.

Lena had always wanted to help. She barely needed a word more before she picked up the ring, and slipped it on her finger.

She was vaguely aware of the Lanterns. Lex had mumbled something, cursing their name, years ago; it sounded as though they were very much a force for good. If they wanted her help to protect Earth, she’d be glad.

The moment the ring fit around her finger, she felt the power. The world flashed green, and light flooded through her, her cells and veins sparking with a new kind of energy.

She felt the light wrap itself around her, cocoon her in something indescribable, something comforting. If she looked down, she could see her clothes being overwritten, replaced by constructs formed of emerald green light.

She lifted one arm, peering at the unearthly material. Her gaze travelled up her limb, taking in each visible contour, before she reached her hand.

The green ring remained there, emanating a soft green glow that seemed to bathe her skin.

It was long seconds before she regained her breath, and sat down again.

“Ok,” Lena said. She took a moment. “Kontross. What do you need?”

“Find and apprehend the criminal,” Kontross said. “There are other Lanterns on this world. They’ll be grateful of any assistance you can offer. You appear particularly suited for this target.”

“How can I find them?” Lena said.

“We leave that to you,” Kontross said.

They paused, briefly.

“To summarize,” the Guardian said. “There is a race forbidden from leaving their world, for fear of the danger they could pose. One member of this species is on Earth; I ask you to take up the mantle of a Green Lantern, and bring them in.”

“I understand,” Lena said. “How can I find them?”

“Their name is Kara Zor-El, of Krypton,” they said. “On this world, I believe they go by Kara Danvers.”

Chapter Text

Kara was at Noonan’s. She gulped down her coffee, trying to look at least partly affected by the scalding liquid.

It was good to have a few seconds in the day when she could relax and just enjoy herself.

She put her cup down-

Green light wrapped itself around her wrist. She jerked, surprised; then wary as the light itself felt as tangible as rope. More tangible, even; she could tear normal rope easily.

“Kara Zor-El of Krypton,” a man with short, red hair sat himself down next to her.

“Who are you?” Kara said.

“Guy,” he said. “Nothing personal, kid. I know your cousin, but I’ve got to bring you in.”

Kara stiffened. She glanced around the coffee shop, glad no one seemed to have noticed anything amiss. She didn’t know who Guy was or how he knew what he knew, only that she couldn’t afford to get into a superpowered fight right here.

“What do you want?” Kara said. “’Bring me in,’ why?”

“Law’s the law,” he said. “Guardians specifically asked for it. Not looking for trouble.”

“Says the guy who won’t let go of my wrist,” Kara said.

“Never said I was opposed to a fight.”

She lifted her arm slightly, concealing the glowing green manacle from the rest of Noonan’s. She felt it tug her arm back down.

It was attached by a thin, emerald thread to a ring Guy wore on one hand. Kara paused, thinking quickly.

“Can’t risk you leaving,” Guy said. “Now stand up, come with me. Keep close.”

He stood up, yanking her arm along with him. She was fairly sure she could have resisted, but she chose not to, not then at least.

“Told them I could do it,” Guy muttered to himself. “Don’t know why they were so worried about-”

As soon as they were standing, Kara ducked down, pulling her arm and the tether connecting herself to his ring with her. Guy yelped, instinctively disconnecting himself from her to avoid being pulled further. He muttered a curse.

Immediately Kara set off at a sprint, calling on just the barest fraction of her enhanced speed to make it out the doorway-

Another rope of light wrapped itself around her ankles.

Kara glanced back, seeing Guy still lying on the floor. The more casual human clothes he’d been wearing to blend in had gone, now replaced by a uniform that didn’t look quite real.

He levitated, wreathed in an aura of green, pulling Kara closer.

Kara thought quickly; there were advantages to a kryptonian brain. If she fought back as Supergirl she was fairly confident she could win, but everyone in Noonan’s would know just who Kara Danvers was.

This as it was, ok it was suspicious, but aliens and meta-humans attacked people on a worryingly regular basis.

So if she fought as Kara Danvers-

She stopped resisting the pull of the light-rope, letting herself rocket towards him and flying just a little to deliver a two-footed kick to his chest, giving the impression Guy had pulled a bit too hard.

At the moment of impact, the distraction once again broke the tether.

“Help!” Kara shouted, channelling her confusion to appear afraid, running again.

That time she made it to the doorway, the crowd at Noonan’s helping her flee. A number of them were already through the door, not wanting to be in the middle of a fight.

Without a clear line of sight, she guessed the man wouldn’t be able to target her.

Kara ran as far as was necessary, ducked into an empty alley, and changed. When Supergirl returned to the coffee shop, however, it was filled only by staff cleaning up the mess.

“I heard something happened,” Kara said. “The man responsible, where did he go?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Supergirl,” said a barista. “As soon as Kara – one of our regulars - escaped, he was out the door and flying away.”

Thanking her for her help, Kara departed. At least Guy only seemed to be interested in going after her.

She couldn’t say that she knew what was going on, but she was sure she’d be able to figure it out,. Guy had mentioned Guardians, and the ring he’d used couldn’t be commonplace.

If there was some organization after her, she ought to be able to use the DEO’s resources to work out what was happening.

Something in the back of her mind was prickling, though; some twinge of memory. She could of sworn she’d heard of something like them, back on Krypton. It was so long ago, though.

Lena had cleared her schedule.

She held the power ring between two fingers, starring into the hole. She twirled it over and over in her hand, eyes catching on the stylized depiction of a lantern every time it came into view.

In exchange for the ring and the power and potential it promised, she would have to arrest a so-called criminal; a person who was not allowed to even be on Earth. If she did that, she could be a hero. She could permanently shift the perception of her name from fear, to hope.

The cost would be a krytonian’s freedom; Supergirl’s freedom. Supergirl never returning to Earth, left a prisoner far, far away.

And it wasn’t as though Lena couldn’t see the point of the law Kontross had mentioned. Kryptonians were dangerous under yellow Suns; they were weapons, and as such should be controlled.

But even so, it didn’t sit well with her. Fighting a Super was her brother’s occupation.

Was that why the Guardians had chosen her?

But even if she could ignore all that, if she could accept Supergirl was a criminal, and decide that she could use the ring to do all the heroics Supergirl would do if she were free-

Kara Danvers was Supergirl. Her one and only friend in the whole city.

It wasn’t as though Lena hadn’t considered it. Kara had made enough small slip-ups that Lena had wondered. But that was just speculation; idle fun. She didn’t expect Supergirl to be in her social circle, it was just too absurd.

And to have it confirmed so bluntly-

Kara Danvers was Supergirl.

Supergirl was wanted.

Lena turned the ring over, unable to tear her eyes from it. It was strange how quickly everything had changed.

Steeling herself, Lena slipped the ring onto her finger. Instantly she felt the tingle, the warmth of the light enveloping her utterly.

Kontross had said the ring would give her power. Construct creation-

She focused, and with an effort of willpower that was almost painful watched green light form, taking on the shape of a simple cube.  

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Releasing her focus, she watched as the shape dissipated.

The ring seemed almost to want to help her; to guide her in channelling her will. She balled her hand into a fist, more aware of what to do.

Lena took a moment to survey her office. With her eyes on her chair she focused again, this time with a distinct goal in mind.

It took the same effort, far from easy but somehow flowing more this time, light cascading from her ring and forming an echo of her chair just in front of her.

Carefully, Lena approached. Part of her mind was focused on maintaining it, but the rest could appreciate her success. She touched it with one hand; felt the solidity of the arm. After a moment, she sat down in it.

She didn’t stay in it for more than a few seconds, not sure how long it would last, but she had to smile.

She was sitting on nothing more than her own willpower. It was an impressive thought.

Lena glanced at her hand again; the ring shone proudly. Maybe she could get used to being a Lantern.

But then, the part of her mind that refused to let her be happy reminded her, there was Kara.

Green Lanterns.

The alien databases that the DEO had access to were clear, on this topic at least. Rings that created solid objects out of green light, Guardians of the Universe… It all pointed to one thing.

Kara had heard stories about them, back on Krypton. They were a peace-keeping force, heroes by almost all accounts.

She’d gotten that impression. The reason she’d hurried back to Noonan’s was fear that Guy would start hurting others; that hadn’t been the case. She’d been the only target.

What to make of that, she didn’t know.

At a knock at the door, Kara quickly put on clothes over her Supergirl outfit. She whirled around at superspeed, in seconds being both presentable and at the door. She squinted to look through the door, then smiled as she opened it.

“Lena,” she said, grinning. “What brings you… here?”

Her enthusiasm died off at the look in Lena’s eyes. It wasn’t angry, by any means, it was just missing that spark she was used to seeing.

“We need to talk,” Lena said, walking in.

Her voice was colder, more purposeful. Faltering, Kara pushed the door shut, and turned to face Lena.

“What is it, Lena?” Kara said.

Lena looked at her, expression suddenly unreadable.

“Can we be honest with each other?” Lena said.

“Always,” Kara said. “Has something happened, or-”

“No,” Lena said. She paused. “Well, yes, in a way, but not how you’re thinking.”

There were a few seconds of silence; Lena seemed uncertain of what to say.

Then she exhaled heavily, and lifted one hand. Kara jumped, eyes immediately darting to a distinct green ring.

Before she could say anything, the ring glowed. A line of green light extended, and a pair of scissors formed from the emerald. Swiftly and smoothly they approached, brushing Kara’s chin before descending.

They snipped three times, down over the buttons of Kara’s top. It fell open, and the scissors dissolved to nothing, exposing an S to the air.

Lena reacted only slightly; her jaw tensing at the confirmation.

Lena lowered her hand and her ring, and met Kara’s eyes. “Like I said, we need to talk.” 

Chapter Text

“You’re a… Lantern?” Kara said.

“Since this morning,” Lena said. “You’re Supergirl.”

“Since- a while,” Kara said.

There were a long few seconds of silence.

An emerald aura surrounded Lena; she barely seemed aware of it, even as her clothes were being overwritten by the uniform of the Corps.

Kara stared at it, and at the symbol emblazoned on her chest; a circle with parallel, horizontal lines above and below it. It was meant to look like a lantern, green on white.

In turn, Lena’s eyes were fixed on Kara’s chest, and the crest of the House of El.

“They were the ones that told you?” Kara said.

“Yes.”

“It’s- I wanted to tell you,” Kara said. “It’s just never that easy. If anyone had overheard, or if- I trust you to know, but I’m not the one that’s in danger if my name gets out, it’s the people closest to me. I didn’t want that for you, and I wanted my friends to trust you too before-”

“I understand,” Lena said. “I wouldn’t have expected you to tell me.”

Kara hesitated. There was something wary in Lena’s tone; not quite bitterness, but something on the verge.

If it wasn’t at discovering her secret-

“I met another Green Lantern earlier today,” Kara said. “He was… He had a problem with me.”

“They gave me the ring if I’d help them take down a criminal,” Lena said. For once her monotonic, brittle voice cracked. “They didn’t tell me until after it was you.”

“Criminal?” Kara blinked.

“Apparently,” Lena said, less than enthused, “Your race wasn’t supposed to have left Krypton.”

After a few seconds, Kara’s eyes widened.

“Oh,” Kara said.

“Did you know?” Lena said.

“I- I’d heard something about it,” Kara said. “It was so long ago- I visited so many other worlds when I was young, but then it stopped. And the destruction of Krypton killed every Kryptonian, no one was offworld except the ones in Fort Rozz, I remember hearing we were meant to stay on our world- But I was twelve, I always thought mom had found some way around it, or it wasn’t binding, or….”

Kara’s voice trailed off, faltering.

“What about Superman?” she said, suddenly.

“He came here as a baby, they said,” Lena said. “You came here when you were old enough to know what you were doing.”

Kara hesitated.

“So that’s why…” Kara said.

“Yes,” Lena said.

“And you-” Kara said.

“They want me to,” Lena said.

“Will you?” Kara said.

Lena faltered. The green light from her ring waned for an instant.

“If you were anyone else,” Lena said. “Yes. They’ve given me the chance to do some real good, and I want to take it. It’s not the same as trying to cure cancer in my garage, but it’s still making a difference. And if they were right about you- But at the cost of- The world needs Supergirl. And I need Kara Danvers.”

Kara hesitated, then breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled.

“Thank you,” Kara said.

“I wouldn’t betray you.”

“I know,” Kara said. “Still. Thank you.”

“It doesn’t help you,” Lena said. “The Guardians still want you. There’s another Lantern.”

Kara’s gaze drifted, soon focusing on the glowing green band on Lena’s finger.

“And you?” Kara said. “Will they let you keep the ring?”

Lena shrugged.

“If you want it, I don’t want to be responsible for you losing it,” Kara said.

“I don’t want to be responsible for locking away my only friend,” Lena said. “And I’m not my brother. I’m not going to leap at the chance to remove a Kryptonian.”

“Then do you want to do?” Kara said.

Lena fell silent.

Whether or not she was a target of the Green Lanterns, the city needed Supergirl. There was an alien attack downtown, and a robbery several streets away.

She was flying back from that when she next felt the bindings of green light. Suddenly she jerked to a stop, cape whipping in the air.

A line of green wrapped around her heels, a lasso leading back to the ring of the same red-haired man as before. Now he was surrounded by a green aura, uniform of the Green Lantern Corps on full display, and ring-wielding arm held high.

“Wondered where you’d gone,” he said. “You’re not running away this time.”

Kara tugged half-heartedly on the rope around her feet; it held. She paused, and focused on starting to fly.

It was just a matter of raw force. She’d slowed by instinct when she’d first felt him, but if she flew as hard as she could the light-rope would either snap, or he’d be dragged along with her.

As it turned out, it was the latter. Kara slowed as they crossed the border of the city, to see Guy holding onto his wrist with one hand, no further away from her. The construct still held her.

“Like I said, not running away,” Guy said.

“I wasn’t running,” Kara said.

“Flying, whatever.”

“I was getting us away from the city,” Kara said. “You’ve shown you want to fight me. I know why you’re after me, but I’m not leaving my home.”

“Boo hoo, you’d be amazed how many sob stories I’ve heard,” Guy said. “Everyone has a reason for breaking the law. You’re not special.”

“I know,” Kara said. “But you don’t know me. You don’t know why I-”

“If I took the time to get to know every criminal I went up against, I’d never get anything done,” Guy said. “Take it you’re not coming to Oa with me?”

“No,” Kara said.

“Then we’re doing it the hard way,” Guy said. He paused only briefly. “Meh, I’ll apologize to Supes after.”

There was a rush of light, and green chains stretched out from the empty air, heading straight for Kara. She ducked, straining on the rope around her ankles, tugging Guy around as she wove through the links.

After an instant she lunged at him, punching with a fraction of her full strength. Her fist collided with an unadorned plate of green.

“Can’t say I’ve had to deal with a kryptonian, but I fight people like you for a living,” Guy said. “There’s not a thing you could do to surprise me.”

“Just testing,” Kara said.

The worst thing about new opponents was gauging what would and wouldn’t seriously hurt them. She wanted to get away, not kill him, especially if he was a Lantern.

He gave a cocky smirk, and suddenly a construct-hammer knocked her through the air. The rope around her ankles turned elastic to let her be flung, only to grow taut and tug her inwards again.

Kara, on her back, lifted her head to shoot a burst of heat vision over the length of the green. Guy evaded rather than blocking; Kara shot again as she was pulled closer and closer-

Soon enough she overwhelmed him, forcing him to put up a shield. In the same instant she let herself rocket towards him-

She struck with almost all of her strength. The shield blocked his sight, and for that matter was meant only to resist her heat vision; it shattered to her fist. Quickly she reigned in most of the force of the blow, and it followed through to hit him with only a little more force than a human could muster.

If she hadn’t, one punch would likely have ended it.

Still, it was enough for him to whirl back; the rope around Kara’s ankles flickered out, before Guy righted himself, scowling.

“We don’t have to do this,” Kara said.

Guy rubbed his jaw, scowling. He didn’t respond.

Suddenly there was a construct surrounding Kara; an unadorned cube of green. She frowned, and lashed out against it; it had to take more energy to create a larger, thinner object like that, than the ropes. When she had time to build up speed-

The cube shattered, and in the same instant the green chains it had obscured from her vision wrapped around her.

Kara winced. She was used to reigning in her x-ray vision, to avoid seeing too much. It was hard to start using it properly in fights.

The chains tightened, taut, far ends going into the Earth.

“Everything I make comes from willpower,” Guy said, floating closer. “And I’m a Green Lantern, kid. Will’s unbreakable.”

It was harder, certainly. With chains this tight she was limited in how much force she could exert without much acceleration, and-

“We’ll see,” Kara said, straining and flexing and-

The chains shattered, and she immediately followed it up by flying at Guy. He barely evaded the first blow, and his hasty shield gave way to the second. Once again he was flung back.

Groaning, he hovered back up until he was level with Kara.

“Unconscious it is,” he said, lifting his arm.

Kara braced herself, expecting another kind of blow.

“Stop!” Lena’s voice shouted.

Kara turned, smiling across to her. Lena was in a Green Lantern uniform herself, her ring shining resplendently. She must have heard of Kara’s encounter in the city.

“Newbie, right,” Guy said. “Make yourself useful, keep her steady while I-”

Lena created a flyswatter, catching him by surprise and knocking him into the earth. Hastily she turned sideways, to face Kara.

“Run, Kara,” Lena said.

“Lena-”

“I’m not the one who’s in danger,” Lena said. “Go. I’ll stop him following.”

Kara hesitated. Then, as Guy began to pull himself up, nodded thankfully and took off. She soared off into the distance, heading right for the city.

Guy began to pursue, only to run into a green net. Lena pulled back.

“Watch it!” he shouted, irate. “I’m not the one who’s-”

“I won’t let you take her,” Lena said.

Guy looked from her, to the vanishing speck of Kara in the distance, and back to Lena, incredulous.

“Seriously?” he said. “I know the Guardians can be idiots, but this is just ridiculous.”

He whirled on the spot, cutting through the net with a construct of his own.

“Newbie. Greenhorn,” he paused for a moment, smirking at his own pun, “First lesson: don’t get in my way. She’s the criminal here. I don’t like fighting other Greens, but if you make me I will.”

He set off again; Lena easily kept up with him, creating another net.

Guy slowed, scowling.

“You asked for it,” he said.

He whirled, cutting the net to pieces, before throwing something at Lena. It moved too fast for her to identify it, sending her reeling.

Lena let herself focus. This was her first time really using the ring. She’d practised with it, seen how much it was capable of, but she hadn’t used it in combat.

Then again, she had a fair bit of hand-to-hand training from how she was trained. The basic principles couldn’t be too different in this kind of fight. She just had to imagine what she wanted, and-

Putting her engineering mind to work, she created a geometric shape behind her to slow her movement, and wove a spider web around Guy. As he tried to break it, she created new webs for each of his other constructs.

When he was bound tight, Lena hovered closer. She held her ring in front of her, its light shining just as bright as his, even though his arm was bound to his side.

“Ok, I admit it, you’re good,” Guy said. “Joke over.”

“Kara’s a good person,” Lena said.

“Oh brother,” Guy rolled his eyes. “Getting lucky your first time out doesn’t make you a good Lantern. If you really want the first thing you do to be whining at the Corps for who-knows-what kind of stupid reason, go right ahead, but-”

“I’ve learnt that it isn’t worth listening to some kinds of people,” Lena said. “And there’s no point in pretending that some things are right. There’s no reason to even entertain the notion. Kara stays here, and-”

The light from her ring flickered; Lena cut herself off, frowning.

There was a brief pause. Lena hesitated, before continuing.

“If the Guardians don’t want people to stand up for themselves, they shouldn’t have chosen people with willpower,” Lena said.

“Believe me, they regret it,” Guy snorted.

Lena was about to speak again when her ring once more flickered. That time her construct seemed to wane as well; concerned, she focused, trying to poke that vague awareness of her new capabilities-

Guy started laughing.

“What is it?” Lena said, accusatory.

“Rookie mistake,” Guy said. “Check your charge before heading into an engagement.”

“My what?” Lena said.

“Charge,” Guy said. “These rings? They only have so much power. If you don’t recharge them, they’ll run out at an awkward time and, well…”

Lena’s eyes widened, just as she felt the ring’s green aura around her fade.

Then suddenly she was falling, the bindings around Guy fading to nothing. She felt her ordinary clothes return, the Corps uniform vanishing with every other construct of the ring.

She landed on a giant green trampoline, leaving her only winded when she was at last left sprawled on the ground.

“Lesson two,” Guy said, hovering over her with his ring outstretched. His trampoline construct faded. He paused, and his voice softened just slightly. “Like I said, I don’t like fighting Greens. That’ll keep you in good shape, but you can walk back. Some of us have a kryptonian to catch.”

Chapter Text

A rather exhausted Lena made it back to her office. She took the elevator up, still aching a little from the fight, and her walk back to the city.

She rested her hand on the rail. The ring was dull around her finger, as grey as it had been green. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting herself fall apart, before putting herself back together and steeling herself.

Lena looked much less weary than she felt from the moment the elevator doors opened, walking at her usual pace to her office. She gave a cursory nod to Jess, pretending that there was a valid reason she’d vanished.

Grateful, she sat down. She was halfway to her phone, planning to call Kara, before she spotted a small alien on the far side of her desk. Lena paused.

“Kontross,” she said.

“Miss Luthor,” they said. “We received an alert that your ring had run out of power.”

“With good timing,” she said, too exhausted to pretend she wasn’t annoyed.

“We had intended for you to share the power battery of the other Green Lantern in this city,” Kontross said.

“That’s not going to happen,” Lena said.

“So we gathered,” Kontross said.

The Guardian regarded her, not speaking for several seconds.

“How much do you see?” Lena said.

“We are aware of certain behaviour,” Kontross said. “Your assigned partner is not the easiest to work with, we have heard, but he is not a villain to fight.”

“He was trying to hurt Kara.”

“That is your role here,” Kontross said.

“You said Lanterns were meant to stop criminals,” Lena said. “Kara isn’t hurting anyone.”

Kontross paused. After a moment, they exhaled, and shifted in their chair, sitting up straighter.

“You disagree with our ruling,” Kontross said.

“In her case, yes,” Lena said.

“Why?” Kontross said.

Lena paused.

“You’ll listen?” Lena said.

“We Guardians are the oldest living race in the universe,” Kontross said. “We see it as our role to protect those younger, and we have been doing so since before your race first drew breath. Our decisions are informed, but we have come to realize there is benefit in sharing our reasoning. Lanterns are invariably poor at simply following orders.”

Kontross almost seemed tired, it was hard to tell. Usually their voice was barely more than a monotone, thoroughly unemotional.

Lena found herself slightly unnerved. Still, she put that aside, speaking confidently.

“Kara was twelve when she left her world,” Lena said. “She was a child.”

“Still capable of thought,” Kontross said.

“But not with the same say as an adult,” Lena said. “I spoke with her. She thought her parents had found an exception.”

“Did she ever seek to confirm that?” Kontross said. “Kal-El has left your world many times, and worked with Lanterns on multiple occasions. A word to him, and she could have approached us. This is not the mis-step of a child, this is the persistent and wilful disregard of an adult.”

“What would you have done if she had?” Lena said.

“We would have been lenient,” Kontross said. “It is irrelevant. She did not.”

“And what would you rather she do instead?” Lena said. “Should she have stayed on her world and died there?”

“The other denizens of Krypton found it an acceptable decision.”

Lena stared at the alien, incredulous. They continued, patiently.

“Krypton is a world with space travel,” Kontross said, “A world that maintains a prison in the Phantom Zone, and sends envoys to its sister-world. It had the means for countless inhabitants to leave. They were not limited to the surface of their world. As it quaked and broke apart, they chose to stay.”

“Because of you,” Lena said.

“They did not ask us for help,” Kontross said. “Had they, we would have gladly evacuated their population. Tomar-Re, the Green Lantern of Krypton’s sector of space, made such an offer, and indeed tried to stabilise their world. They refused his help, at first believing there was no real danger. I could not tell you what they thought at the end of their world, but I can tell you that plainly none chose to use the vessels they possessed.”

Lena hesitated, not sure what to make of that. It sounded inexplicable, but then she could hardly expect an alien culture to behave the same was as humans.

She knew Supergirl, and she knew Kara. There was no question she’d be willing to put down her life for the greater good, she’d demonstrated that countless times.

How representative was Kara of her world? If most were like her, Lena could see it happening. If, by whatever reasoning had been used to convince them it was better for aliens to visit them than for them to visit aliens, they thought staying was the right thing to do…

Perhaps Kara was trying to live by the culture of her world, at least partially, while on Earth. She could keep the dead world alive.

“The sister-world of Krypton was called Daxam,” Kontross said. “They had far less advance warning of their impending doom, with less prominent scientists or constant quakes, only learning of the problem when the remains of Krypton fell from the sky. Many members of their civilisation chose to survive on a ship.”

“So it’s ok for the people of Daxam to leave their world?” Lena said.

“Daxamites don’t have the same raw power as a Kryptonian,” Kontross said. “They were never asked to be careful.”

“The way you’re talking, it sounds as though you’d have been fine if all of Krypton had left their world and survived,” Lena said.

“We would have re-evaluated,” Kontross said.

“Then why do you have a problem with Kara?” Lena said. “She’s not abusing her power, she’s helping people.”

“In secret,” Kontross said. “As I said, if she had approached us, we would have reconsidered. She did not. What should we make of the fact she chose to hide?”

“She didn’t know,” Lena said. “I told you.”

“She knew, and chose not to confirm what she’d been told,” Kontross said.

“And she’s spent her time on Earth helping people.”

“Would you suggest charitable individuals be above the law?” Kontross said. “No matter her intentions and actions, she had knowingly defied a prohibition placed by mutual consent upon her people. She did not seek exemption, choosing instead to live in breach, and in secrecy.”

There wouldn’t be any changing this. Lena was more than familiar with the sensation of talking to people who were convinced they knew best; Kontross’ tone was like a more monotonic version of her mother’s.

Lena paused, trying to think of what to do. Her ring was cold around her finger; a reminder that she might as well no longer be a Lantern, after what she’d done.

“So is this it?” Lena said. “I’m not a Lantern any more, because I won’t help you take in a hero.”

“A criminal,” Kontross said.

Lena shifted in her chair, regarding the Guardian over her desk.

“What would you do to her?” Lena said. “Give her a fair trial?”

“One has been held,” Kontross said.

“When?”

“Before you were selected,” Kontross said.

“Without giving her a chance to speak for herself?” Lena said.

“We know all pertinent facts,” Kontross said. “She is knowingly guilty. She had the means and time to bring herself to our attention: she did not. The details are only relevant to her sentencing.”

“Sentencing?” Lena echoed. “What would you do to her?”

“There are prisons on Oa, capable of holding her even were she at full strength,” Kontross said. “There are many other possibilities, but that seems most fitting. A span of five to ten years would suffice.”

They seemed to think it was reasonable; something about Kontross’ indifferent demeanour irritated Lena beyond words.

Ten years without Supergirl; Ten years without Kara. Both might just be recent additions to both her life and the city itself, but it was hard to imagine doing without now.

“Why would I help you do something like that?” Lena said, her voice cold.

Their eyes went to Lena’s hand. “I could give you the means to charge your ring.”

“Not in exchange for Kara,” Lena said.

She tried to not feel the loss. She’d been so hopeful, when it had begun. Making a difference, being a hero-

Kontross stood up.

“Then we have nothing more to talk about,” they said. “When a suitable successor is chosen, your ring will leave you, recharge, and move on. I do not expect it to take any more than a week.”

The Guardian turned, and walked away.

When they were gone, Lena leaned back in her chair. After a moment, she took off the ring, and dropped it onto her desk.

Then she stared blankly for long moments. She’d wanted it, more than she’d thought. Making a difference, adding a little good to the world-

She reached for her phone, dialling quickly.

“Kara?” she said, her voice scratchier than she expected.

It was barely a second before Kara replied, and her voice was so full of light and relief and hope that Lena felt her heart lighten just at a syllable.

“You’re ok!” Kara said. “I couldn’t find you. I’ve been waiting for-”

“I’m here,” Lena said. “Are you-”

“I’m staying at the DEO,” Kara said. “He hasn’t turned up here, but he was sighted in the city after you- What happened?”

Lena hesitated.

“Apparently power rings come with a battery life,” Lena said. “It’s out of charge, and I don’t know how to recharge it.”

“Oh,” Kara said. “When you became a Lantern, they didn’t say…”

“I was meant to work with the one that attacked you,” Lena said. “I don’t think he’s going to want to help now.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara said.

“It’s better I found out sooner,” Lena said, not convinced. “It was too high a price to pay.”

There were a few seconds of quiet.

“Come over,” Kara said.

“What?”

“I can’t go to you, but you can come here,” Kara said. “It sounds like you need to be with someone.”

Lena hesitated.

“It feels amazing, doesn’t it?” Kara said, softly. “Flying over the city, and knowing you have the power to help people. To make a difference.”

“I- It did.”

“I know how it feels to lose that,” Kara said. “It’s ok, Lena.”

Lena had never been one to break down. She’d lost that habit quickly, growing up. Even in the instants she might want to, she’d learnt to simply push it aside and keep going.

It was strange to have someone that wanted her to express herself. Stranger still to have someone who wasn’t worried if she expressed pain.

“I don’t know where you are,” Lena said, quickly changing the topic.

“Right!” Kara said. “I’ll text you the address. The DEO building isn’t that hard to find.”

“But, I imagine, much harder to get into,” Lena said.

There was a moment of silence.

“One second,” Kara said. There was a crackle, Kara lowering the phone; Lena heard an echo of her shouting. “J’onn! Do you know who the Green Lanterns are? I ran into one, is it ok if I invite her here? No, she fought Guy, she didn’t help him.”

Lena blinked. Well, she supposed that was one way to get past peoples’ usual wariness at her name.

“Ok,” Kara said, more distantly, before returning to the phone. “Just show your ring and they’ll let you in. It doesn’t matter if it lights up.”

“Thank you, Kara,” Lena said.

“Any time,” Kara said. “See you soon.”

Lena’s gaze drifted to the unlit band resting on her desk. Kontross had said it would move on at some point; apparently it still contained enough power to propel itself, even if not create any constructs.

Then again, Kontross had also said she’d have up to a week. That probably meant she could use it for a couple of days.

“I’ll be there,” Lena said.

It wasn’t like L-Corp couldn’t survive without her for a bit. She’d delayed a number of appointments as soon as she became a Lantern.

And, reaching out, she picked up the power ring once again, and slipped it onto her finger.

Chapter Text

The DEO didn’t look the way she imagined it. The building was brightly lit, in the middle of the city and disguised more by the fact no one would expect the base of a shadowy agency to be there, than any real subtlety.

Lena knew a little about the DEO. It was hard not to hear mentions of the organisation in the circles her family had moved in; being invited inside wasn’t something she’d ever expected to happen.

Even dulled, her ring allowed her entry. She showed it, and the distinctive symbol on the top, and she was welcomed through the door. She kept in on her finger in case anyone else stopped her.

Assuming she wasn’t meant to go through any locked doors, Lena just climbed a stairway and walked down the corridor. It would have to end somewhere, and-

“Lena!” A rather enthusiastic kryptonian was suddenly next to her, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

“K-Kara,” she said, stumbling back and extricating herself.

There were several sets of eyes on them. Lena had learnt too well that it was never good when people were staring at her.

It was a pity. She’d rather enjoyed that closeness with Kara.

“They won’t let me out of here,” Kara said, pouting slightly. “Thank you for visiting.”

“Always, Kara,” Lena said.

“I’m sorry about-”

“I know,” Lena said.

Kara took her hand, squeezing, and leading them out of the hallway. They were most of the way to a presumably private room when a man with a rather intimidating stare approached.

His pace quickened, rather suddenly. Lena barely reacted; she could have guessed something like this would happen.

“What are you doing here?” he said.

“J’onn,” Kara said. “This is-”

“I know who Lena Luthor is,” the man, J’onn apparently, said. “There is such a thing as security clearance, Kara, not everyone can-”

“You said I could!” Kara said.

“I’m sure I’d remembering granting permission to invite a Luthor into our-”

Kara glanced sideways to Lena, silently urging her to do something. Lena lifted her hand, still in Kara’s, the dulled ring laying over the back of Kara’s hand.

J’onn slowed, and paused briefly.

“I did wonder why you wouldn’t say the Lantern’s name,” J’onn said. He paused again. “You become a Lantern at the same time another’s hunting Kara. And how did you run out of charge?”

“Protecting Kara from the other Green Lantern,” Lena said.

J’onn hesitated; Kara nodded, rather keenly.

His gaze turned to Lena, his eyes meeting hers with sudden, piercing clarity. She felt something in the back of her mind prickle.

“I understand,” he said, a little grudgingly. “You are aware this is a secret organization?”

“I know,” Lena said. “I won’t tell anyone, about it, or about Kara.”

He stared at her for a moment or two more before nodding, relenting, and moving off.

Kara seemed rather pleased by how it had turned out. Together, they finished their journey, making it into an out of the way room.

It looked more like a slightly better furnished private cell than anything. Then again, an organization like this probably wouldn’t have much in the way of hotel rooms.

“How are you doing?” Kara said, softly. “I know, I asked on the phone, but it’s just not the same.”

Lena’s gaze dropped. It kept returning to the ring, and the stylized etching of a lantern in the top. It just didn’t look right, darkened.

“It was the best choice,” Lena said.

“But?” Kara said. “It sounds like you wanted to say…”

“I don’t know whether or not I regret it,” Lena said. “It’s stupid.”

“Nothing you feel is stupid,” Kara said. “You can tell me anything, you know that.”

Maybe someday that wouldn’t feel strange.

“I was barely a Green Lantern for a day,” Lena said. “That’s nothing, and I spent years never even knowing they existed. It shouldn’t bother me, that I’m not any more.”

“But it does,” Kara said, gently.

“I had a door opened to me,” Lena said. “It was a chance I’d hoped for, a change I wanted to make. And they closed the door in my face. I should be used to that, but-”

“You can’t forget how it feels,” Kara said.

Her tone was wistful. Lena turned, slowly.

“I know what it’s like,” Kara said. “I felt it too, the first time I took flight as Supergirl. Just flying is impressive, but knowing you can help people as well... I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose that.”

Lena nodded, silent.

“I never liked flying,” Lena said. “Not normally, at least, but there was something different about the ring. I couldn’t be scared of anything in its light. I could just appreciate the rush of the wind, and how the land and city looked.”

“Mm,” Kara said, thoughtfully. “I could take you, if you wanted.”

“What?”

“Flying,” Kara said. “You don’t need a ring to fly over the city. I won’t drop you.”

Lena looked away. She didn’t know quite what to make of that offer; usually the idea of flight filled her with trepidation. The ring hadn’t, but it had been different.

To be over the city with nothing but a pair of arms supporting her made her nervous. Then again, the thought of being held in Kara’s arms was a pleasant one.

“I know, it’s not the same,” Kara said. “But if you miss it, if you miss anything that I can help you with…”

“You’re so nice to me,” Lena said.

“You deserve it,” Kara said. “And more.”

It was a few moments before Lena spoken again. She looked around the windowless room, choosing to not answer Kara’s question.

“You can’t leave here?” Lena said.

Kara drew back, expression twisting to something a bit regretful.

“It’s for safety,” Kara said. “As soon as Supergirl does something heroic, Guy can find me, and he probably knows I’m Kara Danvers too so Catco isn’t safe.”

“Sorry I couldn’t help more.”

“It’s not your fault,” Kara said, ever-friendly. “Maggie’s talking to a few of her alien friends, seeing if she can get us in contact with the Guardians.”

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Lena said.

Kara frowned.

“I talked to one,” Lena said. “They didn’t give the impression that they were open to changing their minds.”

“You spoke to a Guardians?” Kara said. “According to the files we have, they don’t leave their homeworld much.”

“They said my recruitment wasn’t typical,” Lena said. “I expect it was because they wanted me to do something for them immediately. I don’t imagine Guy would be much of an emissary.”

Lena still remembered how glad she’d been when she’d first donned the ring; how it felt to have all that light flowing through her.

“If that doesn’t work, Alex and J’onn are researching,” Kara said. “J’onn with databases, Alex going after a few less friendly aliens, to see if there’s anything we can use to stop Guy. A weakness, or something. The Green Lantern Corps aren’t open about it, if they have one.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Lena said. “But I evidently wasn’t told a lot of the details. I expect it’s in the information pack, just under how to charge my ring.”

Kara gave a wan smile. She rested a hand on Lena’s.

“Is it ok if I stay?” Lena said.

“What?” Kara said. She blinked; “Of course, Lena. I was about to ask if you wanted to- You deserve some company.”

“So do you,” Lena said. She looked around the cell. “You don’t deserve to be locked up here.”

“I’m not locked up,” Kara said. “I can leave. I just- shouldn’t. Not until something changes.”

After a couple of seconds, Lena stood up. She crossed the short distance to sit beside Kara on the only real furniture in the cell. It was somewhere between a couch and a bed.

The chair she’d been sitting on wouldn’t have allowed for the closeness she found herself craving.

“It’s… strange, to not be Supergirl,” Kara said. “I could be out there, helping people, but instead…”

“You couldn’t do much, if he caught you,” Lena said.

“I know,” Kara said. “I’m just not very good at doing nothing.”

“I’ve noticed,” Lena said. A smile played at her lips. “It’s one of my favourite things about you.”

Kara looked up, suddenly. She seemed to forget what she was going to say as soon as she looked at Lena’s eyes.

“You’re always fighting,” Lena said. “Not just as Supergirl. As a reporter, as a friend… When you believe in something, you stand by it. It’s… inspiring.”

“So are you,” Kara said. “Always helping. Always…”

“You made a Luthor want to be a hero,” Lena said.

“You would have, without me,” Kara said.

Lena hesitated.

“The first time I looked into your eyes,” Kara said. “I trusted you. You talked about making a force for good, and I knew you’d manage. You were always a hero.”

“You were my hero,” Lena said.

Kara’s eyes widened, just slightly; then she smiled, shifting and moving closer to Lena.

There was a silence, dragging on more than either expected. Kara tried to focus on the sounds of Lena’s body, her breath and her heartbeat, the hypnotic rhythm drowning out the city she couldn’t go out to.

Part of Lena’s mind, meanwhile, was always working. There was a lot to be done at L-Corp, but nothing that required her. There was no need for her to leave any time soon.

Lena shifted. Kara instinctively reached out, wrapping her arm around her.

“Don’t go,” Kara said.

Lena smile, softly, and reached her arm out in turn, looping it around Kara. “Never,” she said.

Chapter Text

It was visible through the window at the DEO building, projected onto the clouds from a street; a vast green crest of the House of El, an emerald S.

“Guy?” Kara said.

“It’s got to be,” Alex said.

Kara had been called out the moment it had been spotted. She’d spent a night at the DEO, drifting off to sleep somewhere along the line. She hadn’t expected to be able to.

Then there had been a knock on her door, and she’d had to extricate herself from Lena’s arms to hurry out. Being Supergirl always had to be a priority.

“He’s trying to call me,” Kara said.

“Looks that way,” Alex said. “No signs of him doing any damage, or hurting anyone, though. Just the light show.”

“Green Lanterns usually follow the law,” J’onn said. His gaze drifted to Kara; “Ever if they’re mistaken this time.”

Still slightly sleepy, Lena wandered out to join the group. Her otherwise formal clothing was a little crumpled; Alex’s eyebrows rose as she saw her.

“I should go,” Kara said.

“No!” Alex and Lena said at once.

They looked at one another, a little awkwardly. It was Alex that continued.

“We all know what he’s after,” Alex said. “And it’s not hurting anyone to just make him wait.”

“It’s hurting all the people Supergirl can’t save,” Kara said.

“It’ll hurt them more if he takes you away,” Alex said. “Wait a bit more. Maggie and I have a lead, something about an impurity in the central power source of Lantern rings.”

“A weakness?” J’onn said.

“Maybe,” Alex said. “Whatever it is, the Lanterns don’t want it to be public knowledge, but if we ask the right people…”

“How long will that take?” Lena said.

“Not more than a day,” Alex said. “If we’re lucky.”

“And if you’re not?” Kara said. “I can’t stay in here forever. I might as well go to him; get this over with, sooner rather than later.”

Lena stood behind Kara. She glanced down at her ring; it was still on her finger, for now at least. Her successor hadn’t yet been chosen.

Then, she looked up, and met Alex’s eyes. She nodded across, silently, before turning to leave.

“Kara, wait,” Alex said.

“For what?” Kara said. “When’s the time you’d find it acceptable for me to leave? I can’t not be Supergirl, even if there’s a risk.”

“Just give us a chance,” Alex said.

Kara hesitated for a few seconds. Then her gaze returned to the window, and the sight beyond. She looked back to Alex, and shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” Kara said. “But I can’t keep hiding. If I can’t have a life as Kara or as Supergirl, then I’m not achieving anything.”

“You still deserve to be on Earth,” Alex said. “You’re my sister; this is your home. Don’t give him the chance to take you away, just because…”

“But the entire city can see that light,” Kara said. “What are they going to think if Supergirl doesn’t show up? I’ve got to be a symbol; I’ve got to do things like this. People have to know I’m here.”

“They’ll recover, your reputation will recover,” Alex said. “But if he takes you-”

It was a moment before Kara breathed out.

“I’m sorry,” she said, again, and took flight.

Kara landed on a rooftop, knees bending, before straightening. Guy was lying down, apparently half-asleep, his ring only giving off a faint light.

At the rush of air that marked her arrival, however, he jerked up. The S in the sky faded.

“Finally,” he said.

“Can we at least leave the city, like last time?” Kara said.

“You’re that eager to duke it out?” Guy said.

“Isn’t that why you called?” Kara said. “Or have you changed your mind?”

There was a moment’s pause; then Guy punched his own open palm, light from his ring flaring.

“A fight it is then,” Guy said. “Things are still the same, unless you’re planning to surrender?”

“This is my home,” Kara said.

“No, then,” he said. “And that’s a no to both, I feel like staying right here.”

“Aren’t Green Lanterns meant to protect innocents?” Kara said. “There are people in the city.”

“I’m good at what I do,” Guy said, and shrugged. “I’m not planning to hurt any of them. I just feel like staying between the buildings, stop you doing any of that fancy bobbing and weaving.”

Kara tensed, ready to fly away.

She could try to lure him out, but it wouldn’t work. He could just let go and choose to stay where he was; put up the light again and sap the city’s confidence in Supergirl every moment she didn’t appear.

She’d just have to trust he was serious. She took a quick glance through the buildings around them, trying to gauge roughly where all the people were.

“Really going to make me do this, huh?” Guy said.

“I’m not going to let you take me from my home,” Kara said.

Guy cracked his knuckles. “Ok then,” he said.

He levitated, bringing himself down on the street. It emptied rather quickly, especially as Kara lowered herself as well.

“So, what, want to turn around, count off ten paces?” he said.

Kara fired her heat vision; Guy barely moved, creating a construct that resembled armour over most of his body. It was topped, rather incongruously, by a cowboy hat. The blast didn’t seem to leave a mark.

“I’ll take that as a no,” he said.

He gestured, and a truck formed in front of him; Kara braced herself against the ground. It hit her, and she let the shock dissipate down through her, to the earth.

After a moment the truck vanished-

And a boot appeared behind her, knocking her forwards. Kara made herself fly, quickly taking the chance to right herself.

Suddenly a hammer was swinging down towards her. She swung her feet up. It struck, and the street cracked around her, but she had an instant in which to kick off. Finally able to pick up some momentum, she flew, able to evade the golf club that was next in the cavalcade of constructs.

Firing her heat vision towards Guy’s face, she flew towards him. While his helmet would protect him from the attack, he wouldn’t be able to see through the blast to know she was heading for him-

He swung blindly with less distinct green creations, only to end up knocked back as she reached him. With one hand she tried to grab for his ring, only to find it wreathed in a freshly-formed green gauntlet.

They rolled on the ground, brawling more than anything. Kara held onto him, not letting any distance be put between them for him to create a construct.

Then the construct-armour around his arms suddenly became loose, and he kicked away, leaving Kara holding rapidly-fading vambraces.

The worst part in any fight was adjusting her speed. Flying was always tricky; once she got off the ground she had no friction, no surfaces to push herself off of. She hadn’t quite gotten it to an instinctive level.

To turn around she had to slow down her existing velocity, before starting off again, working slower than she theoretically could move so as to not miscalculate how she drifted.

“I’m not going to pretend to get the details,” Guy said, “Guardians are terrible at explaining, I’m worse at listening, but I hear you did something you shouldn’t have, and you hid. Which means, congratulations, you get hunted down by us Lanterns.”

Kara moved back, managing to keep her distance enough to circle him. She shifted angle to avoid the buildings, keeping a careful eye out for any constructs.

She tensed, preparing to lunge. If she was lucky, she could get him by surprise. She just had to pull off the ring…

“I survived the death of my world,” Kara said. “That’s all.”

“You hid,” Guy said.

“I was thirteen!” Kara said.

In that moment she altered her angle, and flew directly for Guy. Even with the ring, his reactions didn’t seem to be much better than a typical human’s; her fist hit his chin, sending him spiralling back.

That time she didn’t hold back nearly so much. He fell to the street damaging the road a little.

Before she could get close however, a green dome encased him. In the time it took her to break it, he was sitting up again.

“One punch,” he groaned, rubbing his jaw.

Kara paused for an instant; and out of nowhere chains reached out of the ground beneath her. They wrapped around her, and squeezed taut, tugging her to the Earth and catching her by surprise.

There were at least ten times as many as many as there had been in their last confrontation. The links were thick, looping over each of her limbs individually, and all at once, criss-crossing and overlaying until even her eyes were barely visible beneath the mass of green.

She glimpsed Guy. He seemed to be slightly weary; apparently it wasn’t easy to create this many constructs at once, much less maintain them.

Kara strained, focusing. There was a little give; not much, but something. If she could build up more force, direct it correctly…

There was a click.

“Let her go.”

Lena’s voice. Kara tried to shift; Guy was still standing above her, but now a woman was standing behind him. It looked like Lena was holding a gun.

“Note the armour,” Guy said. “Unless you’re storing a cruise missile in that thing, you’re just going to hurt your hand.”

“I was a Lantern,” Lena said. “Do you think the Guardian didn’t warn me about our weakness?”

Her voice didn’t tremble in the slightest; there wasn’t even the faintest indication that she was bluffing.

Guy stiffened. Then, rather suddenly, he started to laugh.

It rippled through him, making him suddenly convulse, mop of red hair flicking up as his armour dissipated. Slowly he tried to make a pacifying gesture, waving one hand, and the chains around Kara were gone.

“Yeah, this just isn’t going to be worth it is it?” Guy said.

Kara got up, quickly brushing herself off. Lena stayed where she was, a gun with bullets unable to penetrate the green aura around Guy pressed to the back of his head.

“I’m out,” he said, shrugging. “Relax, kid.”

There was a pause.

“What?” Kara said, uncertain.

“I’m out,” Guy said again. His tone was noticeably lighter. “Really don’t see the point in constantly going through this. And not sure I’d want to, anyhow. You can put the gun down.”

Lena pressed it slightly harder against him. Guy breathed out, then slowly moved his hands; he pulled the ring off his finger.

“I missed the briefing, don’t judge me,” he said.

The uniform he wore seemed to undo itself, drawing inwards and leaving behind a much more casual set of clothes. He dropped the ring on the cracked street.

After a moment, Lena lowered her gun.

“Why?” Lena said.

“She broke out of the chains last time,” Guy said. “And she was giving it a fair go this time around. Ring’s the most powerful weapon in the universe; if it goes wrong, that’s the sign to do a bit of thinking. Best I can figure, my heart’s just not in this. If it were, well, the ring’s fuelled by willpower, this’ll have been over way sooner.”

“Or I was just strong enough,” Kara said.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Guy said. There was a familiar glimpse of smugness in his eyes, after the uncharacteristically gentle tone he’d used before. “But I was never exactly happy about this assignment. The more I heard-”

He shook his head.

“Besides,” he turned, “You gave the finger to the Guardians. No way I’m going to fight a Lantern who does that. Bunch of pompous little- well, put it there.”

He suddenly extended his hand. Lena raised her eyebrows, regarding him with the same degree of incredulity as Kara.

Guy sighed.

“I’m not a villain, seriously,” he said. “Blame the Guardians. Their- whatever they’ve got in place of hearts, it’s in the right place, but they can make a mess of things. Info’s usually good, but when it’s not, well, no way to tell at first glance.”

“You’ll leave?” Lena said.

“Sure,” he said. “No promises they won’t just send another.”

He paused, eyes catching on Lena’s hand. He grinned, suddenly.

“How about a favour?” he said. “You can owe me a date.”

“Not happening,” Kara interrupted.

He glanced back, initially dismissive, before taking in her expression. Mildly cowed, he turned back to Lena, idly rubbing his jaw again.

“Fine,” he said, “For free then. You still carry your ring.”

He gestured; Lena lifted her hand.

“It’s useless,” Lena said.

“Guardian never gave you a power battery, huh?” Guy said.

“A what?” Lena said.

He raised his hand, and in a flash of light something rather large appeared hanging from it. It resembled an old-fashioned lantern, with a round, thin handle in Guy’s hand.

Beneath it was the chamber itself; a spherical, opaque body with a circular window on either side that lead to a green light so bright it was almost blinding.

He offered it to Lena. After a wary moment, she took it.

“What does it do?” Lena said.

“Spends most of its time in a pocket dimension,” Guy said. “But any time you run low on charge, just hold your ring up to it, and recite the Oath. Instant recharge.”

“The Guardian’s going to take the ring,” Lena said.

“Not going to happen if you’ve got charge,” Guy said. “It’s a safety feature; not meant to be able to recall a ring if it’s worn, and has charge. If the wielder’s in space that could kill them. Either the wielder’s dead, which often happens when they’re out of charge, or it just doesn’t have the energy to channel willpower. Then it uses a last spark of power to move on. But keep it topped up, and you’re fine.”

“Won’t they care you’re doing this?” Kara said.

“Probably,” Guy shrugged. “If they were going to fire me, they’d have done it a while ago. Believe me, they’ve had plenty of reasons.”

Lena regarded the so-called power battery in her hand. Her ring felt warm just being near it; if she let the two grow close her ring began to glow. Still, it didn’t gain any power.

Guy turned his attention back to her.

“Don’t tell me, they never told you the Oath either?” he said.

“What Oath?” Lena said.

“Green Lantern’s Oath,” Guy said. “Just basic ‘don’t be evil’ stuff, look, repeat after me.”

He moved closer, sighing. Lena touched her ring to the glass of the battery-lantern.

“In brightest day, in blackest night,” Guy said.

“In brightest day, in blackest night,” Lena recited.

“No evil shall escape my sight.”

“No evil shall escape my sight.”

“Let those who worship evil’s might.”

Lena paused, raising her eyebrows to glance back at Guy.

“Just say it,” he said.

“Let those who worship evil’s might,” Lena said, less than convinced.

“Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light,” Guy finished.

Lena hesitated.

“Beware my power,” she said, and felt an answering thrum run through her hand. With more conviction: “Green Lantern’s Light!”

Her voice raised almost to a shout, and the light from her ring reached a crescendo in turn. The moment the Oath was finished, threads of light sprouted out from the ring, criss-crossing over her hand and up her arm, recreating the Lantern uniform she’d thought was lost.

Now aware that the ring had some kind of battery life, she focused on it. Before, it had seemed to be able to almost converse with her-

Power level: 100%

Lena breathed a sigh of relief, and lowered her ring-arm. She gripped the power battery a little tighter, turning back to Guy.

“Keep it,” he said. “I’ll pick up a spare on Oa. I’ve got enough charge left to get there, easy.”

“It can’t be easy to get to another world,” Kara said.

“There’s a wormhole,” Guy said. “Leads straight there. Actually, that’s another trick you might want.”

He turned to Lena; Lena just took a couple of seconds, tilting her head contemplatively.

“I see,” she said. “I didn’t consider that approach. If the ring can create whatever I imagine, then I’d just need to know the definition of a suitable form of exotic matter, some amount of negative mass, to make a wormhole that was traversable rather than just a singularity.”

Guy blinked.

“I’m a scientist,” Lena said. “I know how wormholes work.”

“R-right,” he said, “I think that made sense. Probably. Yeah, you’re welcome to it, I’m definitely out.”

He knelt to pick up his ring; Lena tensed, but didn’t need to respond as he simply levitated up. It was less than a minute before he soared far enough away that he’d vanished.

Relieved, Lena turned her attention back to Kara.

“Are you ok?” she said.

“More than ok,” Kara beamed at her. She looked Lena up and down; “That uniform suits you.”

Chapter Text

Supergirl did her usual circuit of the city, and this time she wasn’t alone. Flying alongside the streak of red and blue was a shining green light, never too far away.

Attempted bank robberies were met with two heroes, one to defend the people inside, and another who reached through the doors with a giant green hand to pull each of the attempted thieves out, and place them inside impromptu emerald cells.

An armoured car heist ended with the vehicle protected by a new layer of light, impenetrable, making it easy for Supergirl to pick up the ones that attempted to break in.

A fire stood no chance, between the strength and capacity of Supergirl’s lungs, and striking green fire blankets that could be thrown out at a thought.

Two exhausting, thrilling days passed, and a slightly weary Lena returned with Kara to Kara’s apartment.

Kara dashed into her room, emerging dressed in more human clothes and glasses in just seconds. Lena just had to focus, and her Lantern uniform was replaced with the clothes she’d worn at her office.

“Why don’t you wear a mask?” Kara said, as they moved to sit on the sofa.

“You don’t either,” Lena said.

“I have another disguise,” Kara said.

“By which you mean glasses,” Lena said, flatly.

Kara hesitated.

“I don’t need to hide,” Lena said. “People hate me as I am. I’m not going to be more of a target just because I help people.”

Instinctively, Kara shuffled closer to Lena. Lena couldn’t help but smile.

“You don’t have to comfort me,” Lena said. “I’m used to it. And this way people will have something else to associate me with, rather than just my family.”

“I suppose,” Kara said.

“Things are different,” Lena said. “I couldn’t do nearly as much good in a mask. You’re a symbol; a do-gooder, and nothing else, as Supergirl. Supergirl’s not allowed to be a person.”

“It can feel that way,” Kara said. She shifted. “That’s why I need to be Kara sometimes, too.”

“But as Supergirl, you can become a sign of hope,” Lena said. “I don’t want to compete.”

“We’re not competing,” Kara said.

“Because we’re different,” Lena said. “If I started being another secret identity superhero, people would keep comparing us. But I’m Lena Luthor first, in everyone’s minds. There might be some comparison, but we won’t be at odds quite so much.”

“I think I prefer that,” Kara said. She leaned closer. “We’re a good team.”

“Mm,” Lena smiled.

Kara’s head tilted sideways, resting on Lena’s shoulder. Lena’s eyes nearly drifted closed.

“What about L-Corp?” Kara said. “Do you want help finding the time to run it? I know a shapeshifter-”

“I’ll manage,” Lena said. “I was always one of those people that crammed something into every minute of the day. It’ll be nice to get back to that.”

“Just keep some free time,” Kara said. “You promised there was a place that served edible kale.”

“I’ll always have time for you,” Lena said.

Kara smiled fondly, suddenly aware of how close she was.

“I don’t have the DEO behind me,” Lena said. “People can find me through L-Corp instead. That could be beneficial.”

“You’re welcome at the DEO,” Kara said.

“By you,” Lena said. “I don’t know how many of the others feel the same way.”

Hopefully that would change too, Kara reflected; she was still a bit annoyed by how long it took for the DEO’s opinion to shift.

What would Lena have to do to earn their respect?

“At least I have you,” Lena said.

“Always,” Kara said. She paused. “I didn’t think I’d have much of a chance to do anything like this.”

“Like what?”

“Saving people, with someone,” Kara said. “Kal’s in Metropolis, J’onn can’t really go out, and unenhanced humans have to stay back. I thought I’d be doing this alone.”

“Do you mind?” Lena said.

“Definitely not,” Kara said. She looked up, to beam. “I prefer working with a team, especially if it’s someone I trust. It doesn’t matter where, or what- just having someone there…”

Kara shuffled closer again; Lena began to speak, then cut herself off, distracted by the heat emanating from Kara’s body. It was a moment before she managed to speak, forgetting what she’d wanted to say.

“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Lena said. The words felt silly.

Kara glanced up. She shrugged, shoulder jostling Lena.

“El mayarah,” Kara said.

“That’s kryptonian, right?” Lena said, frowning.

“You know it?”

“Lex had a database of everything remotely kryptonian,” Lena said. “I recognize the phonemes. I don’t know what it means, just that it isn’t English.”

“It means ‘stronger together,’” Kara said. “It was the motto of the House of El. Everyone on Earth always makes a big deal out of standing alone, but that’s not strength; that’s pride. I’ve never understood it. We can do more together than we can apart, and that’s something to be proud of.”

It was also the antithesis of everything Lena had learnt from the Luthors. Somehow that made her prefer it.

“I like the sound of that,” Lena said.

“Being stronger?”

“Being together,” Lena said.

Kara gave a slightly drowsy smile. It was a couple of seconds before she jerked upright; Lena pulled her chin back to avoid being headbutted.

“Oh! I almost forgot,” Kara said, “Remember Guy?”

“I’d rather move on,” Lena said. “Why?”

“He looked human,” Kara said.

“So do you,” Lena said.

“But we think he was,” Kara said. “He acted it, and the DEO checked up his name, there is a record of a Guy Gardner that vanished from Baltimore. Judging by the police reports he had a fairly bad relationship with his family, that he withstood; willpower. That Guy was a potential Lantern.”

“So?” Lena said.

“The Guardians have been to Earth before, or at least the rings have” Kara said. “Green Lanterns usually seem to spend their time offworld, which I guess is why he was the only one that was sent here, there’s a lot of space to patrol, but I don’t think you were the first.”

Lena hesitated.

“There’s no confirmed sighting,” Kara said. “Just grainy footage, and green lights, but there are potential Lanterns in Detroit, Dearborn, Los Angeles, and Coast City. If you wanted to find others…”

“Why would I want to meet others?” Lena said. “I know how they see you.”

“if you want to hear how the ring works,” Kara said.

“I’ll work it out,” Lena said. “I have time now.”

“You said you liked working together,” Kara said. “If you want to find others…”

“Together,” Lena said. “With you.”

Kara blinked. She faltered for a few, quiet moments, Lena meeting her eyes.

It wasn’t like she’d never looked at Lena before. She had, a lot of times; she’d stared into Lena’s eyes before as well. An awful lot of times, come to think of it-

But the point was, it wasn’t as though this was anything new. There was no reason for her to be suddenly finding it harder to breathe, no reason for her heart to suddenly feel louder.

“I- uh, um-” Kara stumbled over her words. She paused, and breathed in. “Are you, um, flirting? If so, please say, I’m not very good at spotting-”

Lena kissed her.

It seemed to have been done in just a moment of bravery, but Kara made sure to prolong it. Well, it was an answer. And a good one.

“Have you really only just noticed?” Lena said.

There was an odd smile dancing around her lips. Kara stared at it for a few moments, captivated by it, and the feel of Lena’s breath.

“Kinda,” Kara said.

“Is it ok?” Lena said.

“Very.”

“Good,” Lena said. She smiled. “Let me make it clearer.”

“Miss Luthor?”

Alana, Lena’s secretary, walked up to the desk. She carried several documents and photos, hastily arranged into a suitable order.

“What is it?”

Lillian looked up from her desk. Slightly warily, Alana put the papers down; the top photo was of Lena, dressed in striking green, her ring held aloft.

Lillian frowned, reaching down. She shifted the first photo aside, to display another, and another. All were Lena, in an outfit that didn’t look quite natural. It was unmistakably a uniform.

“They went after my daughter,” Lillian said, her voice low.

Cadmus’ entire reason for being was to keep track of alien incursions on Earth. Green Lanterns were among them, and the most worrisome, save for the Supers. She’d learnt all she could about them.

That lantern symbol was something she hated almost as much as the cliché S.

“You can’t want to be a part of them, Lena,” Lillian said. She looked up. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

“There’s more,” Alana said.

“Do tell.”

“Lena’s had odd meetings,” Alana said. “I haven’t been allowed in, but the thing I did see in there, it wasn’t human.”

Only a slight crease in Lillian’s brow gave any indication that she’d heard, and that she was thinking.

“It’s happened twice now,” Alana said.

“An alien and my daughter,” Lillian said. She looked at the photos, shifting one to get a better view of another depicting Lena alongside Supergirl. “Again.”

Lillian pulled out her phone, glancing at it, and hitting a few keys.

“The moment it happens again, call me,” Lillian said. “It’s past time I put a stop to this.”

“Yes, Miss Luthor,” Alana said.

Lillian Luthor smiled, and sat back. From what she’d learnt about Green Lanterns, that small alien was likely an Oan. They called themselves Guardians; the term amused her.

She was the one that guarded Earth.

Supergirl was a tricky target, at the best of times. Oans, though, had little more resilience than a human. In addition, they had more immediate access to incredible levels of technology.

All the data Cadmus had acquired on the Lanterns referred to power rings as the strongest weapon in the universe. She couldn’t help but smile at the prospect of Cadmus getting its hands on something like that.

Chapter Text

In Kara Danvers’ apartment, a green hand stretched out through the doorway, linked to its source by a thin tether. There was a click as it boiled the kettle, and a few uncomfortably loud clunks as it slowly pulled out mugs.

A minute later and a there were two hands, each carrying a mug of coffee back to the adjacent room.

It was easier to use her awkward perspective through the door, than it was to willingly leave Kara’s arms. Even a Green Lantern’s will had its limits.

Kara mumbled something indistinct as the mug landed on a table on her side of the bed.

Her arms stayed wrapped around Lena’s midriff. Apparently there wasn’t any way to give a kryptonian pins and needles; she could hold her for hours.

Lena rested her hands on Kara’s. She never needed to take off the ring, it was usually unobtrusive, so it wasn’t as though she had to reach out for anything.

She could stay where she was. It was perfect, all around.

Now the mug was closer, she could lift it without any risk of spilling, able to focus more clearly on where she wanted her construct to be. There was a chance she’d spilled a little on the worktop, but that was a problem for another time.

She drew it closer in a green hand, sipping the drink. Kara made another indistinct noise behind her. Smiling, Lena carried the other mug over to where she assumed Kara’s lips were.

Kara shifted, head pulling away from Lena briefly to try to bring her lips to the mug. After a moment she made a noise of satisfaction, and Lena let the mug move away. Kara’s forehead returned to the back of Lena’s head.

“This is nice,” Kara murmured.

“Mm,” Lena said.

Kara started to shift, reluctantly beginning to move her arms away from being around Lena; Lena gripped them tighter.

Her strength wasn’t much compared to Kara’s, but it still stopped Kara.

“Don’t you have work?” Kara said.

“I own the company, they can’t fire me,” Lena said. “I’m planning to stay here forever.”

“Really?” Kara said. She gave a soft chuckle, muffled by Lena’s hair.

“I can’t think why I’d ever leave,” Lena said.

“Me neither,” Kara said.

She shifted, snuggling closer.

“We probably should though,” Kara said, eventually. “The city needs us. Or it usually does. I can’t reach my phone to be sure.”

Another green hand reached out, soon finding Kara’s phone. It threw it across the room.

“Something could be happening,” Kara said, with a mild, token effort of protestation.

“If it didn’t wake us up, it can’t be major,” Lena said.

Kara chuckled. Then, slowly, the aura of a Lantern started to swell, surrounding Lena. It waited a moment, before extending to surround Kara as well.

Kara breathed out softly as the light enveloped her, and she felt its warmth; saw the world through the slight emerald tint.

Slowly, the two of them began to levitate. Even as they were moved to be vertical, it felt almost the same, as though they were still lying on the bed.

“See? We don’t have to stop,” Lena said.

“This is what you apply your inventiveness to?” Kara said.

“It’s the most important thing,” Lena said.

Kara chuckled, shifting to press the side of her head to Lena, to talk more clearly. She looked around the room, still pressed to Lena’s back, cuddling and beaming.

“I want to spend every second I can in your arms,” Lena said.

“So do I,” Kara said, softly.

“Then it’s a good thing we can fly,” Lena said. “I wouldn’t want to try walking like this.”

“Could be fun to try,” Kara said.

“Says the one who won’t be hurt if we fall over,” Lena said.

Kara chuckled, moving a little, and suddenly they were twirling. Both chose to let the motion continue, and they kept spinning softly, slowly getting closer to the door.

“This is my favourite part of the day,” Kara said. “I know the day’s only just started. But it is.”

“It’s my favourite part of the week,” Lena said. She shifted slightly. “With one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t see you like this,” Lena said.

Kara chuckled, the sound like a melody, and she pulled back a little. The green aura parted around her, but she kept flying, circling until she was in front of Lena.

Then she drifted nearer again, closing the gap of just a few centimetres, and the emerald reached out to surround her once more.  

“Better?” Kara whispered.

Lena leaned closer to kiss her.

“Much,” Lena said.

“Good,” Kara said. She smiled, and leant to kiss Lena back. “Though it is harder to leave now.”

“I still don’t see the problem,” Lena said.

They hovered for a few seconds more, foreheads touching. Lena couldn’t help but smile to feel Kara’s breath.

“We really should be leaving,” Kara said.

“You don’t seem to be trying,” Lena said.

“You’re the one with Green Lantern willpower,” Kara said. “You first.”

“You’re the one with super-snuggling,” Lena said. “I have my limits.”

There was a pause.

“Super-snuggling?” Kara said.

“Mm-hmm.”

“That’s not a power,” Kara said.

“I remain unconvinced,” Lena said. “It feels like it is.”

She squeezed Kara a little tighter; Kara chuckled, and hugged back.

Lena still wasn’t entirely sure what had possessed her to stop cuddling her - was girlfriend the word now? – and come to work. Eventually, though, she had.

Her phone buzzed. She picked it up, glancing at the text: miss you -Kara adorned with an emoji with hearts for eyes.

Lena couldn’t help but smile, something that was almost a giggle escaping her lips. She caught herself, straightening, trying to compose herself.

Then when she looked back at the text she started grinning anew. She managed to type a reply, sharing the sentiment, and ending up using more emojis than she had in the past year. (Well, two).

So much for a productive day, Lena thought, sighing without a faintest hint of regret. She put her phone down on her desk, looking forward to when Kara found the time to text again.

Then she tried to concentrate on work. There were a number of blueprints to look over, departments to prioritize, recommendations to look through… Especially after the days she’d spent as the Green Lantern.

Right, and PR wanted to talk to her about that. Of course. She replied to that email, setting up a time for a meeting.

“Lena Luthor of Earth.”

She recognized that voice. Lena bit back a groan, looking up to see Kontross sat on the far side of the desk. She didn’t even want to know how they’d gotten there.

And she’d been having such a good day.

“You have not surrendered your ring,” Kontross said.

“You gave it to me,” Lena said. “I don’t see why I’d give it up, when I can help.”

The ring pulsed, softly. Kontross’ gaze focused on it.

“You’ve been given a power battery,” they said, unemotionally. They paused. “Gardner. He shouldn’t have done that.”

“Have I done something wrong?” Lena said. “As far as I’m aware I’ve just been saving people. I didn’t know that was a problem for you.”

“It is not,” Kontross said. “The problem is in your inconsistency. The law means nothing if it is not applied to everyone.”

“Kara’s done nothing wrong,” Lena said. “I’m not targeting her just because of a prohibition you made up, and would rather see her die than defy.”

“You know well that is not how it is,” Kontross said. “She knowingly defied the law, and kept her breach secret, seeking no pardon and requesting no exception. Are you even aware of how much power she possesses?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lena said.

“If you will not serve the Corps, you should not wear that ring,” Kontross said.

“Is that a threat?” Lena said.

Kontross paused.

“I don’t think it could be,” Lena said. “Green Lanterns are chosen for their willpower. None of them will serve you mindlessly. None of us. If you send someone to take the ring back, they’ll listen to me, and make up their own mind. You don’t seem particularly confident in which they’d choose.”

“Some understand our judgements,” the Guardian said.

“Do you really think you know best?” Lena said.

“We are the oldest,” Kontross said. “I travelled the stars before your species had taken its first step. We are the Guardians of the universe; we know what we are doing.”

“From where I’m sitting, it seems like you’re just targeting a hero for ignoring you,” Lena said.

“There is no point in discussing this again,” Kontross said. “I am simply here to inform you that the ring is not yours. If you will not give it up, it will be taken. You have been informed; any contrary action will be wilful defiance.”

“At what point have I given the impression I’m not happy to defy you?” Lena said.

“So be it,” Kontross said.

They paused, almost reluctantly. They shifted where they sat, resting one shrivelled, blue hand on the other.

On the top hand was a green ring, not unlike Lena’s own, though in place of a lantern there was a diamond. It shone, slightly.

“I should inform you-” they began.

The door to Lena’s office exploded. Both Lena and the Guardian jumped, each suddenly turning-

Something shot out of the smoke, and Kontross slumped forwards. Lena focused, enveloping herself in a green aura just as something else struck her, and clattered off the shield.

She watched it land on her desk; a tranquilizer of some description, though no doubt hers had a different composition to the one used on Kontross.

A trio burst through the door. Judging by their equipment, focus and preparation, she assumed they were Cadmus goons. All held a weapon aloft, and all were outfitted with helmets and armour, all a striking and rather ugly shade of yellow.

Lena lifted herself up, letting the Lantern uniform form around her.

“Did my mother send you?” she said.

One fired again. It embedded itself in her shield; suddenly unnerved, Lena started moving. It should have just bounced off; she plucked it out, frowning to see it also was yellow. Paint had come off it in chips from when it had been fired.

Maybe the yellow was some kind of chemical composition? Uncertain, she lashed out, fashioning a Newton’s cradle from her ring, and watching as a titanic steel ball swung at the intruders-

The construct faded as it hit them, achieving nothing. Hastily, Lena pulled back.

So, the ring didn’t affect them. What on earth-

She darted at Kontross. As little as she liked them, she doubted anyone wanted Cadmus to get hold of a Guardian. Before she could get to them, though, a goon fired again.

That time she felt something penetrate her shield, just. Another tranquilizer.

Her mother wanted her, then. No doubt she expected it was all for Lena’s good, talk her out of helping an alien organization, serving as a hero alongside another alien…

She didn’t want that. The needle had only barely scratched her skin, but it seemed to be enough. She could feel drowsiness closing in-

She lashed out with indistinct, shapeless masses of green. One dissipated uselessly against the armour of the Cadmus goons; the other shattered the window to her office.

With her last conscious thought she just about created a rocket under her feet; it launched, sending her through the cascading broken glass. Thankfully the shards, at least, couldn’t get through her aura.

“Supergirl!” she shouted, as loud as she could.

Lena tried to fly, keeping herself aloft for every second she could keep up the focus. She turned, slowly, to see the Cadmus trio roughly lifting up Kontross.

And then darkness came, and she fell. She liked to think her last sight was a glimpse of a blur of blue and red.

Chapter Text

Lena came to in the DEO. It took a few seconds for her to recognize the view, before she pulled herself upright. Her head ached, slightly.

The doctor nearby suddenly jerked back, and said something that was presumably meant to be placating, before hurrying off. Lena couldn’t make it out; it was a little longer before everything came into focus.

It felt like the drug’s effect had almost completely worn off when Kara and Alex came into the room. Lena breathed a sigh of relief.

“I knew you’d catch me,” Lena said.

“Always,” Kara said. She hesitated. “What happened? I went back to your office as soon as you were safe, but…”

“The Guardian visited me,” Lena said.

“Did they-” Kara began.

“No, not them,” Lena said. “They were taken. It seemed like Cadmus; they had on armour, and my ring didn’t affect them. I had to get out, before they- They weren’t trying to kill either of us. Just abduct us.”

“They’ve got the Guardian?” Alex said.

Lena nodded. “And they’ve worked out some way to resist the ring.”

Alex hesitated.

“From what we’ve heard, the assailants were dressed in yellow,” Alex said.

“So?” Lena said.

“According to our research, your ring works by charging from a power battery, and that in turn draws power from a central power battery,” Alex said. “There’s a yellow-coloured impurity in that source. There are a few records mentioning some kind of entity imprisoned inside it, but no details. It’s not something the Green Lantern Corps publicize.”

Lena blinked.

“You’re saying,” she said, slowly, “I’m weak to yellow?”

“It would make sense,” Alex said.

“The colour yellow,” Lena said again, flatly.

“Either that or wood, the sources are unclear,” Alex said.

“Yellow.”

“You have a magic ring,” Alex said. “It makes as much sense as that.”

Lena hesitated, looking down at her ring with a more unreadable expression. It was a second or two before she shook it off.

“They took Kontross,” Lena said. “From what I saw, they had a ring on, like mine.”

“Cadmus has a Lantern ring?” Kara said, suddenly.

“That can’t be good,” Alex said.

“If they can figure it out,” Lena said. “Do you have any idea where we can find them?”

“No leads, yet,” Alex said.

Lena shifted, getting up and kicking her feet over the side of the bed. She balled her hand into a fist, a green pulse of light emanating from it.

By the time she was standing, she wore the Corps uniform. She tried to direct a thought to her ring, trying to get in the habit of doing so.

Power level: 17%

Not good, but not terrible. She made a mental note to recharge.

“Are you ok?” Kara said. “If you need to rest more-”

“They just knocked me out. Doesn’t feel like there are any aftereffects,” Lena said. “Besides, this is what being a hero’s like, isn’t it?”

“It can be,” Kara said. She gave a wan smile.

“I’ll let J’onn know,” Alex said, “See if we can track Cadmus down.”

Rather hastily, taking in the look Kara and Lena were sharing, she backed out of the room.

The first thing Kontross saw when they awoke was a face regarding them without the slightest shred of compassion.

They didn’t react. Lillian drew back, checking to make sure the small blue alien was tightly restrained. Cadmus’ machines hadn’t been able to detect any capabilities able to help the Guardian escape, beyond the ring they’d removed.

“So, you’re the one that started this,” Lillian said.

Kontross said nothing. They inspected their surroundings; though they rarely left Oa, such assaults were far from unheard of. And even on Oa, there had been countless difficulties.

“This is not your world,” Lillian said. “You are not wanted here, yet you interfere regardless.”

“We have no especial interest in this world,” Kontross said. “It is one of many in Space Sector 2814. There is just something here that requires our attention.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Lillian said.

“The one called Supergirl,” Kontross said. “She should never have been allowed to this world without permission.”

Lillian withdrew, slowly.

“We’re agreed on that, at least,” she said. “I might even have helped you, if not for one thing.”

She leaned closer, her eyes burning.

“You chose my daughter,” Lillian said. “Out of everyone on this world, you brought her into your alien organization, subjected her to your ways, and she wears your symbol. That makes this personal.”

She never had to raise her voice. She made sure to look into Kontross’ unblinking eyes, intent on making sure they understood the depth of their mistake.

They said nothing. There was much Kontross could have brought up, but they felt little need to. Nothing would have an effect on such rage.

“You have a ring,” Lillian said. “You’re going to tell us how it works, so we can use it to force the rest of those you’ve branded with your mark from the Earth.”

“You cannot,” Kontross said.

“Humans are more intelligent than you believe,” Lillian said. “We’ll find a way, you telling us is simply the easiest path. You could be made to talk, if need be.”

Kontross raised a bushy, white eyebrow.

“Torture is an inefficient means of getting accurate information,” Lillian said. “From a human, at least. But you’re not human.”

“You can’t frighten me,” Kontross said. It wasn’t a boast. “I’m not capable of feeling that. Guardians are impartial; our emotions have long been removed.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Lillian said. “Unfeeling, unwelcome invaders. You are precisely the type of monster Cadmus exists to fight.”

Kontross said nothing. Lillian moved back, regarding a wide array of rather vicious looking tools that rested on a tray to Kontross’ side.

Some might have been scientific. Gauge what passed for the Guardian’s pulse, locate life signs… Others had a much less intellectual purpose.

Lillian lifted the ring she’d taken from Kontross, holding it between two fingers.

“Willpower, isn’t it?” she said.

“That is not a Green Lantern ring,” Kontross said. “Those would be useless in our hands. It is powered by the internal strength of the wielder. I doubt a human, distracted as you are, would survive any attempt to use it.”

“As I said, you underestimate us,” Lillian said. She regarded the ring, thoughtful. “You’re going to tell us everything you know about how it works, and how it is made, and how we might fashion another.”

“Absolutely not,” Kontross said. “I guard, I do not put weapons of destruction in the hands of those ill-equipped to wield them.”

Lillian shifted, again. She moved back, passing the ring to a technician and gesturing for them to take it away. They’d examine it; work out what they could from analysis.

There was no question they’d get some use from that ring.

Meanwhile, they had one source of information remaining. Lillian picked up one of the tools.

“You won’t change your mind?” Lillian said.

Kontross stayed silent. Lillian moved nearer.

“Then I am going to take a great deal of pleasure in doing this to the one that corrupted my daughter.”

Flying always gave an impressive view of the city, but one of the things Kara liked about the DEO was the view she got from just the balcony.

Even with her feet on the ground, National City could look wonderful.

Someone came up behind her; she heard the footsteps, but still laughed as she felt arms wrap around her.

“Nothing yet?” Kara said.

“No,” Lena said.

Kara closed her eyes, letting her head loll back. As if by instinct, Lena kissed her offered cheek.

Kara didn’t like Kontross, she’d admit that. She’d never met the Guardian, but everything she’d heard from Lena, and for that matter that Alex had said she’d uncovered in her research on the Guardians, they sounded unpleasant.

Well-meaning, perhaps, but arrogant. Closed-minded. Even so, Kara reasoned, Kontross deserved her protection, no matter what they wanted to do to her.

“Let me come with you,” Lena said. “When we find Cadmus.”

“You’re sure?” Kara said.

“I have to be a hero,” Lena said.

“I know,” Kara said. “But I don’t do everything, either. If kryptonite’s involved, sometimes J’onn goes in. If Cadmus is prepared-”

“I can think of a few work-arounds,” Lena said. “They caught me off-guard, first time. Now I know what to expect, I can work out what to do.”

“And your mother?” Kara said.

“I should get used to facing off against her,” Lena said. “I get the feeling it’s going to happen a lot, while I’m by your side.”

“Still,” Kara said. “Fighting family isn’t easy, no matter what they’ve done. I know.”

Lena hesitated.

“I’m ready,” Lena said. She paused, again. “But if my work-arounds don’t work-”

“I’ll be there to help,” Kara said. “And if things go badly for me-”

“I’ll always be there for you, Kara,” Lena said.

Kara smiled, shuffling back into Lena. She just about managed to keep her feet on the ground.

“I love this view,” Kara said, softly.

“I prefer my perspective,” Lena said, with a cheesiness that surprised herself. She touched a kiss to Kara’s cheek, again.

Kara wriggled, laughing gently. It was a few moments before she continued.

“Really,” Kara said. “I love how the city looks from up here.”

“You must get a lot more high views,” Lena said.

“Yeah,” Kara said. “But this view isn’t just mine. This kind of sight, from the DEO, or Catco, or L-Corp… A lot of people see it. There’s nothing special about it. It’s… ordinary, and just as beautiful as anything I could fly to see.”

A silence lingered, briefly.

“I didn’t think about it that way,” Lena said.

“When you use superpowers for a while, you realize how similar the world is for everyone,” Kara said. “How the world looks. How special it all is… None of that changes, not really.”

Lena didn’t say anything, not sure how to respond. Instead, she turned her gaze from the city, to the woman in her arms.

“Just as beautiful, whether or not you’re a hero,” Lena said.

“Exactly,” Kara said.

It took a second before she glanced sideways, and saw Lena staring at her. She flushed slightly, still smiling.

They stood there for a minute more, basking in each other’s company. Kara lifted her hands to rest them on Lena’s, a smile on her face.

Then Lena jerked back.

Alert. It wasn’t a voice exactly, just something akin to thoughts intruding in her head, catching her by surprise.

Calling all local Green Lanterns. A Guardian’s ring is being tampered with. Follow this message to the site. Alert. Calling all local Green Lanterns…

It wasn’t painful, so much as unwelcome. Lena tensed, recognizing the ‘voice’ of the ring, and doing what she could to block the noise out.

After a second or two, it faded, dismissed.

“Lena?” Kara said.

“Cadmus has the Guardian’s ring,” Lena said.

“What?”

“It sent some kind of alert,” Lena said. Reluctantly, she moved back, lifting her ring. “Calling all nearby Lanterns, which I suppose is just me if Guy’s gone, and he was all they had.”

“Oh,” Kara said. Her eyes widened; “Oh! Do you know where they are?”

“I think so,” Lena said.

She’d had to teach herself how the ring worked, but a lot could easily be intuited. When she thought something, it did its utmost to make it happen.

If she thought about tracing the alert, one direction just seemed more appealing.

“Then-” Kara said.

“Get J’onn,” Lena said. “We need to go. I just have to do something first.”

She lifted her ring.

There was a brief flare of light, and her power battery appeared in her hand. She’d figured out how to create a pocket dimension, like Guy had used to store it.

Power level: 16%

That wasn’t nearly enough to face her mother with. Lena turned, nodding at Kara, before looking back.

“In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight,” Lena recited.

She paused, and inhaled, steadying herself for the roar of energy she felt building inside the power battery.

“Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power; Green Lantern’s Light!”

Chapter Text

The roof of the Cadmus facility exploded.

Cadmus was able to use a number of labs, in various areas all over the city. Most went unoccupied, unable to be traced back to them; others were stolen.

This one had been built by Lex Luthor, years ago, and kept off any books. Lillian and Hank Henshaw had expected at least an hour more before they had company.

Still, that didn’t mean they weren’t prepared. Lillian stood, moving away from Kontross, and keeping Hank by her side.

Three silhouettes descended from above. In the centre was Supergirl; at her right hand was Lillian’s daughter in that hateful Lantern uniform. To Kara’s right was a green man, whose presence made Hank tense.

“Martian,” Hank growled.

Time seemed to slow for a few moments. Yellow-suited Cadmus soldiers, reacting to the incursion, hurriedly gathered.

“I expect you want the alien,” Lillian said.

“Release them,” Kara said, firm.

Dismissively, Lillian turned her back, and began to walk away. That marked an end to the pleasantries. As the Cadmus goons lined up, Supergirl leapt forwards-

Suddenly Hank was in front of her, knocking her back into J’onn. Lena balled her ring-hand into a fist, green flaring as she started to hover.

There was no question that Hank was outmatched. He could hold his own against any one of them, but when faced with all three the most he could hope to do was delay. That, however, seemed to be his goal.

A jet of light shot from his mechanical eye, striking a green shield centimetres from Lena’s face. She retaliated with what looked like a huge book, slamming into him from the side.

Then there was a suddenly whistling sound. Lena felt another needle embed itself in the green aura that shield her body.

More tranquilizers. Lillian didn’t want her dead, at least. She plucked the yellow-painted dart out, relieved that some paint inevitably chipped off when they were fired. Even so, it was just luck whether or not one would make it through.

“Kara!” Lena shouted.

Kara glanced at her, from under a lunging Hank, and caught sight of the Cadmus soldiers readying to fire again. Lena couldn’t help but be relieved tranquilizer guns weren’t as easy to use or load as regular firearms. She nodded, and was suddenly flying-

Trusting Kara to keep her safe from the soldiers, Lena returned her focus to the cyborg Hank. With Kara more distant, Hank took over and swung at J’onn; his blow was caught, and Hank pushed back.

Lena prepared to fly nearer-

An emerald claw gripped her suddenly, turning her around. Bathed in a paler green light, Lillian’s feet touched the ground. She held one arm aloft, wearing the ring stolen from Kontross, and another metal band near it; apparently Cadmus had designed something to help her use it.

“Enough of this,” Lillian said.

Out of the corner of Lena’s eye, she saw Hank phase through J’onn, and then J’onn grab him, leaping and flying off into the distance.

“Mother,” Lena said.

She drew her ring closer to her heart, creating an expanding bubble around herself to shatter her mother’s construct.

Power level: 93%. Plenty.

“You’d fight to save this thing?” Lillian said.

“Without a second thought,” Lena said.

“You’d wear that symbol?” Lillian said. “Tarnish our name by association with alien soldiers?”

“Peacekeepers,” Lena said. “Lanterns fight for good, or at least they’re meant to. I will. It seems an association our name desperately needs.”

Behind Lillian, Lena watched Kara fly to Kontross’ side. Now the few remaining guards seemed distracted by Lillian’s arrival; it was a good opportunity to free the Guardian.

Lillian scowled. With more resignation than anger she raised her arm further. Beneath it a construct of a gun rapidly formed, halfway between a Gatling gun and an alien weapon.

Well, Cadmus had never been shy about adapting alien technology. If she’d resorted to using the ring…

Lena braced herself, constructing a brick wall in front of herself to take the brunt of the fire. When that wall shattered she surrounded herself in a cube, and another cube; nested blocks in one another, giving her a few moments to think.

Lillian was new to using the ring. Lena didn’t know what differences there were between an Oan ring and a Lantern power ring, but they seemed similar. Lena’s experience ought to give her an edge.

She focused, letting the walls at the back of the cube-nest phase through her, and she flung the whole construct at Lillian-

Kara melted one set of restraints with her heat vision, while she tugged on the other. As the metal shattered, she caught Kontross as they slumped, visibly weakened.

“No-” they said, voice an echo of what it once was.

“You’re safe,” Kara said. “Save the disagreement until we’re out of here.”

“My ring,” Kontross said.

“Lena’s handling it.”

“She can’t,” Kontross said. “It is the ring of a Guardian.”

“So?”

“No Lantern is permitted to hurt us,” Kontross said. “When her ring senses its target-”

Kara’s eyes widened, just taking the time to put Kontross down before flying back-

Lena yelped as her ring seemed to shock her, her constructs failing for a brief second. Her uniform flickered out, the aura around her vanishing, letting her fall the short distance to the ground.

She barely had time to notice the projectiles still heading for her. She doubted her mother was planning to kill her, just exhaust her, but she wouldn’t have time to react-

And suddenly Kara was in front of her, shrugging off the bullets.

“Get to Kontross,” Kara said.

Lena nodded. She hesitated, focusing on her ring-

Do you acknowledge the warning? Y/N

Lena hesitated, guessing to say yes. She directed the thought at the ring, already standing up and beginning to run for Kontross.

A second offense will be permanent.

And suddenly she was wreathed again in green light, the uniform reforming over her as she ran. Guessing it wouldn’t be wise to turn around and face her mother again, she instead kept heading for the Guardian-

The four still-conscious Cadmus guards suddenly ran in front of her, weapons raised. Each wore yellow. Lena tensed, briefly.

Well, she’d thought of a few solutions. Just because her constructs dissolved rather than affect yellow didn’t mean she couldn’t do something.

In one fluid motion she extended her arm out to her left, creating something that looked more like a spade that anything. She jammed it down, shattering the stone of the ground, and flinging one rock up into the air-

And in the same motion she transfigured the spade to a tennis racket, swinging her arm as though she were holding it, and sending the rock through the air.

It didn’t take much course correction, from tiny green wisps, for it to hit one of the guards in the middle of their head. They stumbled back, falling over.

With an almost fierce grin, Lena turned to focus on the other three.

All fired at once, an instant after Lena propelled other shards of rocks at their hands. The guns were knocked askew, and the tranquilizer darts shot off into random directions.

Lena kept walking. Three flicks of her wrist later, and the ground was even more shattered, and the rest of the guards were unconscious. Once the way was clear, she let herself fly the rest of the way to Kontross, pausing only to pick up one of the guns.

She helped the Guardian up, fashioning a chair from emerald light. She’d never seen them look so weak.

“She cannot be allowed to keep that ring,” Kontross said, their voice as insistent as it was strained. “Power rings do not belong to anyone we cannot trust.”

“Like me?” Lena said.

Kontross paused. They regarded Lena, and the light emanating from her ring. They seemed almost reluctant to continue.

“I may have been hasty,” Kontross said. “I sought to avoid another insubordinate Lantern… But it is true you will do what is required, even if you would not follow orders.”

Kontross breathed heavily as they were helped onto their feet. Despite their diminutive stature they’d always seemed a little intimidating before; it just didn’t feel that way now, though.

“Give me a moment,” Lena said.

She turned away, lifting the gun she’d stolen. If they were designed to fire yellow tranquilizers, and penetrate Lantern shields… She took careful aim at Lillian.

Though she was fighting Supergirl, she wasn’t moving all that much. Lantern constructs did most of the fighting for her.

“It will not work,” Kontross said.

“They broke through my shield,” Lena said. “And the darts got you-”

“I did not have my shield raised,” Kontross said. “It is tiring to keep it up constantly. My ring is not of the same type as yours; I am a Guardian, not a Lantern.”

Lena hesitated.

“So?” Lena said.

Kontross paused.

“This isn’t the time to keep secrets,” Lena said. “If you want our help getting the ring off my mother’s finger, tell us.”

Kontross exhaled, heavily.

“We Guardians made ourselves separate,” Kontross said. “Above all things. We do not feel anger, or greed, or fear. We do not hope, we do not love, we do not feel resolve: do not have will. It makes a ring like yours useless. Instead, we fashioned rings with similar abilities, powered by the wielder’s own strength.”

“And?” Lena said.

“It does not draw its power from the central power battery,” Kontross said. “The yellow impurity doesn’t affect us, or our rings.”

“You mean the Lanterns don’t have to be vulnerable?” Lena said.

“It is complicated,” Kontross said.

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Lena said.

They were interrupted by a sudden crash; Lillian span on the spot, something that looked like a bear trap on a chain extending from her ring. Kara was flung into a wall, turning stone to dust.

Kontross stared. They might not have been capable of fear, but they seemed to be as close as they could get.

“Give me your ring,” Kontross said.

“Excuse me?” Lena said.

“Let me touch it,” they said. “I can alter what your ring is permitted to do. There have been Guardians known to be corrupted; if need be Lanterns would be sent to face them. I can give you the ability to fight back.”

Lena paused, briefly, before lifting her hand in front of Kontross. The small alien touched a shrivelled hand to her ring, making it shine softly.

They were done in seconds. With some degree of wariness, they moved back.

“I am trusting you, Lena Luthor of Earth,” Kontross said.

Lena nodded, before standing up straighter, and turning back around.

Kara was holding her own, but seemed Lillian’s inventiveness gave her a slight edge. The way things were going, it looked like neither would win, at least not any time soon.

Lena threw a construct-rock at her mother, as much testing to see if the prohibition on harming her really had been lifted. She was gratified to feel no diminishing of the aura around her as the stone struck Lillian.

Ablaze with emerald light, Lena flew closer.

Lillian turned to face her, distracted from Kara; Lena gripped her in a huge construct-hand, fully expecting its grip to be broken. Lillian scowled at the need-

Kara took the opportunity to fly in, knocking Lillian down.

“Get the ring!” Lena shouted.

She flew closer, staying above her mother, and directed the light from her ring down. A thick band appeared over Lillian, pinning her in place, edges cracking the stone underneath it.

Lillian struggled against it, with both her body and her ring. Still, Lena had the chance to focus, gritting her teeth.

Being a Green Lantern was about willpower. The stronger her will, the stronger her constructs.

And she absolutely had the will to keep her mother in place.

Kara grabbed for her wrist, keeping that in place for long enough to pull the ring from Lillian’s hand. Lillian gave a last shout, before being knocked out.

It wasn’t just Lena; it would always be her and Kara. Neither of them could be afraid of Lillian, like that.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kara drifted up, beside Lena.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I’ll always be there for you,” Lena said. “Like I promised.”

“I know,” Kara said, “And I’ll thank you every time. You deserve it.”

Together, they lowered themselves back to the ground, each slightly giddy, One of them alone might have taken the better part of an hour to face Lillian Luthor with the power of a Lantern; together it had been over in seconds.

“We make a good team,” Lena said.

“Never doubted it,” Kara said.

They had to return the ring to Kontross, and find J’onn. Lena knew that; still, her heart was singing.

Lena’s ring shone softly all the while.

Chapter Text

Alex glared from the moment Kontross was taken into the DEO. They were still weak from Cadmus’ treatment; though the DEO hadn’t treated a Guardian before it did have plenty of doctors used to figuring out alien physiology.

Even with the ring for support, Kontross was injured. But, no matter how injured they were, they were still the one that wanted to remove Kara from the Earth.

Otherwise, though, it counted as a good day. J’onn was recovering from his confrontation with Hank, but beyond that there didn’t seem to be much of Cadmus left. Lillian, along with Hank, had been taken in.

“Kara?” Alex said.

“We’re fine,” Kara said, Lena by her side. “It went well.”

“I heard,” Alex said. She tilted her head. “You’re just smiling. More than usual.”

She sounded vaguely amused. Kara seemed a little surprised by the news, but it didn’t lessen her enthusiasm.

“Lena’s a Lantern!” Kara said, squeezing Lena’s hand.

“Hasn’t she been for a while?” Alex said.

“No- well, yes, but,” Kara said. “Kontross said she proved herself; she’s keeping the ring. It’s amazing, right?”

Alex raised her eyebrows. For a moment she surveyed Lena, who looked a little self-conscious, even if giddy from Kara’s infectious grinning.

“That’s…. good,” Alex said, cautiously.

“We can be heroes together,” Kara said, still beaming. She turned towards Lena; “If that’s what you want?”

“To be beside you? Always,” Lena said.

They met each others’ eyes, and were silent for several seconds. Alex suppressed the urge to throw her hands up in the air.

Still, Lena had come a long way, she’d admit. There were instances of dangerous Green Lanterns dotted throughout the records, though most were more abrasive than evil, and typically the worst tended to leave the Corps.

Maybe it was a sign Lena could be trusted. Alex wanted to believe that, though she’d never be completely trusting of people who wanted to get close to Kara; she’d had to be protective growing up, and it was a hard habit to break.

“Thanks for the assist,” Alex said, to Lena.

Lena manage to tear her eyes away from Kara. She nodded.

“DEO cleaned up after you got the ring off of Lillian,” Alex said.

“I saw,” Lena said.

“Really?” Alex said. “You seemed to mostly be paying attention to Supergirl.”

Lena flushed, slightly.

Kontross wants to talk with you. Kara wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She’d felt a little guilty about leaving Lena alone with Alex’s shovel talk, but by the sound of it Kontross wasn’t conscious all that often, while they were healing.

She’d had to hurry away, reluctantly, when the opportunity presented itself. That and, well, she’d admit she’d never exactly had a good impression of the Guardian.

Slowly, Kara walked into the medical room. Kontross was sitting up, despite occupying very little of the bed.

“Kara Zor-El,” they said.

Their voice was still scratchy, but stronger than it had been.

“Did you want to talk to me?” Kara said.

“Yes,” Kontross said. They paused. “I believe I owe you my thanks. You, and Lena Luthor. I expect some would call that irony.”

Kara paused. She didn’t want to respond with anger, not while they were healing, but there wasn’t much positive she could say.

“You understand I do not feel gratitude,” Kontross said. “I cannot. That impartiality is what allows me to serve as a Guardian. I will never be bribed or swayed; your actions will speak for themselves, and cannot be undone or ignored.”

“I don’t help people to be thanked,” Kara said.

Kontross bowed their head, slightly.

“I understand,” Kontross said. “Nevertheless, custom is that they be offered. So I give you my thanks.”

They paused, again.

“I hope you understand, also, that you are still guilty,” Kontross said. “The law restricting kryptonians to red-sun worlds was put in place for a reason. Child or no, you broke that law with full knowledge of it, and at no point even upon reaching maturity did you bring this fact to anyone’s attention.”

“I know,” Kara said. “And I know how it looks, but I’m not going to apologize for surviving, or regret any time I’ve spent on Earth.”

“Becoming a symbol of hope,” Kontross said. “It is a good purpose. Willpower is only strengthened by hope. If you intend to stay by the side of the Green Lantern of this city, I can foresee only good things.”

“I’ll always be by her side,” Kara said. “I’m not leaving. Sorry, but this is my home.”

Kontross inclined their head.

“Is that why you wanted to talk?” Kara said. “To see if I’d give in, yet?”

“After a fashion,” they said. “You understand you cannot simply be pardoned. There is no question the crime took place. However, we have some leeway as to the form justice will take.”

Kara shifted, uncertain. She waited for Kontross to regain their breath.

“I understand, on this would, there is the tradition of community service?” Kontross said.

“Um, yes,” Kara said, slowly.

“Then, if you agree to surrender yourself to the Green Lantern Corps, that will be your punishment,” Kontross said. “Six years, doing good by serving the Corps or, more specifically, the Green Lantern Lena Luthor. Using your powers to help the people of this world and, potentially, beyond. Is that acceptable?”

“What?” Kara’s eyes widened. “Really? You didn’t seem like you wanted much debate.”

“I do not,” they said. “But you have demonstrated a capacity for doing good. It would be foolish to deny this world that, for the purpose of punishment. That, and whatever your flaws, self-interest is not one of them. Your life might have been easier had you let them take me.”

“That’s not who I am,” Kara said.

“A fact I have become aware of,” Kontross said. They paused. “So, is that option acceptable?”

It was dark by the time Kara made it to Lena’s office. Lena was still hard at work; she’d missed a lot of things over the past few days, and though a lot could be put off she did still have to run a company.

There was a rush of air as Kara landed on the balcony. Smiling, Lena turned away from her desk.

Well, she could put it off a little longer.

Lena went out, Kara’s feet barely on the ground for more than a second before Lena’s lips touched hers.

When Lena pulled back, they stayed close. Neither needed to speak particularly loudly, even with the wind at their altitude.

“Sorted things out with the Guardians?” Lena said.

“They won’t be coming after either of us,” Kara said. “So long as I keep being a hero.”

“I doubt that’ll ever change,” Lena said.

“So, you’re officially a Green Lantern,” Kara said. “How’s it feel?”

“Not as good as it did at first,” Lena said. “But I suppose there should be more people willing to call out the Guardians when they make a mistake.”

“They’re well-intentioned,” Kara said.

“Everyone’s well-intentioned,” Lena said. “I’ve lost patience with people who insist they know best though. But, anyway, how does it feel being a free woman?”

“Good,” Kara grinned. “Though I think technically you’re my parole officer.”

A smirk played at Lena’s lips. She shifted, moving closer.

“I suppose I’ll have to keep an eye on you then,” Lena said.

“Mm-hmm,” Kara said. “It’s your job.”

“Well if it’s my job,” Lena said.

Kara bit back a chuckle, and kissed Lena.

“I thought you liked your job,” Kara said.

“I do,” Lena said.

Still smiling, she kissed Kara again.

“So, you’re happy?” Kara said.

“About what?” Lena said, her voice still low and playful. “Having an inhumanly adorable girlfriend? Not making an enemy of an organization of tiny blue people? Being the only member of my family who’s not in jail?”

“Being the Green Lantern,” Kara said.

“Very,” Lena said. “I’ve wanted to help people my entire life. This isn’t necessarily how I pictured it, but it’s still the same thing.”

“And everyone knowing you’re a hero,” Kara said. She smiled. “They get to see you like I see you.”

Lena faltered, slightly, at the look in Kara’s eyes. Still beaming, Kara closed the distance between their lips again.

“It’s very hard to stop kissing you,” Kara said.

“All part of my evil plan,” Lena said.

“You have an evil plan?”

“Absolutely,” Lena said, and kissed Kara again. “I am a Luthor after all.”

“Mm,” Kara said. She kissed back. “It’s a good evil plan.”

“Thank you.”

Lena tried to kiss Kara, only to be prevented by a sudden fit of giggles. It was a few seconds before Kara steadied herself.

Then, gratefully, Kara accepted the kiss. That one lasted several seconds longer than any of the others.

It broke only when Kara stiffened. With some reluctance she moved back; Lena recognized the look in her eyes.

“Someone’s in trouble?” Lena said.

“A few people,” Kara said. “Bomb threat to the north, bank robbery to the south. I think they wanted to distract me.”

“Good thing there’s two of us,” Lena said. “I’ll take the north, you take the south?”

“Sounds good,” Kara said.

Lena squeezed her hand into a fist, and shining emerald light emanated out from it, running up her arm, and over her body. Soon the Green Lantern stood there.

“See you back here, after?” Lena said.

“Of course,” Kara said. Still smiling, she look Lena’s hands, flying up with her. “Up, up and away.”