Chapter Text
“KAL!” Kara’s voice echoed across the high Kryptonian walls of the Fortress of Solitude. However, these days, there wasn’t very much solitude to be found there. Their family had grown considerably in the years since she landed on Earth. What used to be just her, Kal, and Krypto had grown into a new House of El.
“Do you need something, Kara?” Kon was leaning against Jor-El’s statue.
“I need Kal. He was supposed to meet me at the training terminal an hour ago,” Kara huffed, crossing her arms.
Kon let out a short, dry laugh. “He’s been busy with the rest of the League on the Watchtower. He’s probably forgotten what day of the week it is.”
“Then I’ll fly up there and grab him by his cape and drag him down here.”
“I could train with you, I’ll even go easy.” He smirked.
Kara rolled her eyes. Kon wouldn’t be able to beat her in a fair fight. “It’s not that, Kon. We haven’t talked in ages.”
“Good ol’ Clark doesn’t have time for his little cousin?” Kon made a pouty face, mocking her. He had to love this. Calling her his ‘little cousin’, when she was the oldest out of all of them! Well, not exactly. But she had more pressing matters than dwelling on the oldest.
Kara took a deep breath, steadying herself against Kon’s vexing nature. “I guess not. I mean, I get everything he has to do, but he’s-”
“Superman! Faster than a speeding bullet, can leap tall buildings in a single bound!” Kon struck a dramatic pose, setting his hands on his hips with his chin held high.
“I just miss him…” Kara choked out. Tears started welling up, and she forced them back down. Crying in front of Kon would be a sure way to make her day much worse.
He sauntered over, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll be back later. My offer’s still up for training, though.”
Kara shook her head, "I'll just wait for Kal.”
“Suit yourself.”
Now what was she to do? Kal would get an earful from her later. Or she could barge into the Watchtower.
Maybe she needed fresh air. For all the grandiosity the fortress had, it could be claustrophobic at the best of times.
“I’m heading out, Kon.”
The clone gave her a small salute before she lifted off the ground. Cool arctic wind greeted her as she flew through the icy halls.
Golden light reflected off the fresh morning snow. Kara rose into the clouds, stretching out her arms. Fluffy clouds graced her fingertips as she entered the upper atmosphere. The air thinned until she reached the vacuum of space.
The Watchtower would most likely be on the other side of the world at this time. Kara flew along its regular flight path until it came into view.
Hovering over Earth was the floating base of the Justice League. Metal beams wrapped around windows positioned to view the planet below. Lights blinked at the airlock, signaling to any outsiders to ‘LAND HERE.’ And so she did.
After getting past the security checks, she made it further into the satellite. “KAL!”
He would hear her voice from wherever she was. He couldn't hide away from her any longer now that she was there. And she would take him back to the fortress and make him fulfill his promises.
“Now is not the time,” He whispered on the viewing deck.
“Oh, really? You could have at least had the decency to tell me you couldn't make it.”
“Sorry, Kara. There's just been-”
“Believe it or not, I'm quite capable of helping. If there's been a problem, you know I can.” Kara traveled up the elevator, tapping her foot on the reinforced steel flooring. “You could have asked for anything, and I'd be there.”
“I know. But you really don't need to worry about this.”
She absolutely did. Whatever it was had kept Kal tucked away with the Justice League for at least two days. And he hadn't come back to the fortress yet. Which meant something was going down. And she wanted in.
“Yes, I do.”
“Kara…”
Nuh uh. He was not getting out of this. She stepped out of the elevator to find the League crowded around a hologram. Its blue light shone on those staring at it. The hologram depicted a galaxy. The Milky Way. There were coordinates on one of the spiral arms.
“What’s that?”
Kal's lips parted to speak, but Bruce interrupted, “A message. We were contacted a few days ago anonymously.” Batman's deep voice echoed in the large metal room. “Victor decoded it recently.”
“I'm still thinking it's a distress signal,” Green Lantern said, pointing out a glowing dot.
“We should investigate regardless,” Diana said, gesturing for Kara to come over to the table.
“Agreed,” Kal said, pulling Kara into a side hug. An apology for forgetting her. Maybe.
She understood the importance of everything that happened up here, but that didn't mean he couldn't, at the very least, tell her why he couldn't be around.
“We’ll fly out together,” Kara said, crossing her arms. She would not be dissuaded. Even if Kal didn't want her to get involved. “Waiting around is a waste of time.”
Kal sighed, “Kara and I will scout the location.”
“Very well, the rest of the League will follow after we receive your report,” Diana gave Kara a small smile. The Amazon knew she needed this. Kara nodded back, grateful.
Darkness clouded her vision. Kara reached out to feel something, anything. The strain of reaching out sent an ache through her. A seeping, bloody, broken mess of tissue and flesh. It oozed ichor onto the frayed edges of her suit. She should have been dead.
Maybe she was.
The Sun's light was so far away, leaving her in this injured state. It was already almost impossible for most things to harm her. Yet the gash in her side remained.
What happened?
Kal!
Where was he?
Kara grunted, trying to gauge her injury. It was a gaping open hole. If she weren't dead, she would be. But Kal…
The others!
The rest of the Justice League!
She wasn't there. She needed to be there!
Wound be damned, she would find her way out of the dark.
Though her eyelids were so heavy. They could handle it for a few moments while she rested…
NO! Not now, the dark couldn't have her yet. Diana, Bruce, Kal, and the others needed her.
Why?
A hulking creature, monster, bone and flesh, blood. PAIN.
What were they fighting?
Did they win? Was it over, and this was what was left of her?
Something saved her. From the dark, by taking her from the light. What idiot would have taken her from the Sun to leave her here? Where she couldn't heal. Beyond the light of stars. She needed to get back to them.
The dark tore open, sucking her deeper and further. Kara tried to move. All her limbs refused to budge.
Just great.
Screaming shook her bones. Not hers. Not human. It wasn't human. Now she remembered.
They were coming back for her.
It screamed again.
Kara rushed to cover her ears to block out the awful screeching. It was in her mind; nothing she did managed to block it out.
The lanky creature appeared, breaching the cracks in between reality, arriving from nowhere. Only one? A straggler from the group, thinking to end her while she was separated from the League.
One of these lumbering skeletal creeps would not stop her. Kara braced herself, trying to ignore the stinging in her side.
Screaming once more, it held out its gangly arms, flying towards her.
“Try me! Let's see if you can take another chunk out of me.” Kara shouted. But fighting an incorporeal monster seemed to be the only path forward.
It rushed her, screeching so loud it would have made anyone else go deaf. Not Supergirl. She didn't have such problems.
Kara yelled back at the creature, unsure whether or not it could hear her as she did it. Oh well…
She tried dodging its claw as it was about to make contact. Something from the darkness grabbed her cape, pulling her from the creature's grasp.
It tried following, but whatever had her was faster. Kara sank further and further until the dark became opaque and splitting. A world opened up beneath her, and she fell into a pit of red. Kara gasped for air.
Where was it? The creature? The screaming was gone.
Pain blossomed. She could have definitely broken something on the way down. The oozing tissue was all she could feel, so she wouldn't know.
It was so bright. Kara squinted, momentarily blinded from being back in an environment she could touch. Mountains and sand under red lights shining from the sky.
Red suns.