16

Chapter 16Notes:

Currently losing my mind at the discovery of the show Mary & George.

Chapter Text

Lucy hadn't been to a game night in years, let alone one with her recently ex-boyfriend and his friends. But she was oddly looking forward to it. Also hoping wine and a six-pack of beer was the right thing to bring. Adjusting her hold on the bag, she reached up and knocked on the door. And nearly laughed as it wasn't Kara who answered, of course not, "Johnson."

"I think you can call me Daisy, Lane?" She raised an amused brow as she waved her in.

And well, she could take that, "I'm not going to be the only one going by my last name."

"Lucy, come on, Kara's stirring, she's better at it than me." Daisy headed straight into the kitchen grabbed the spoon from Kara and swapped out with her at the oven.

Kara rolled her eyes, "She's lying, I was banished from chopping things."

"You almost chopped through the cutting board," Daisy pointed out while dumping the neatly cut cabbage into the stir fry.

Lucy raised a brow watching them, "Stir fry?

"Yeah, Kara got me a new cookbook, we weren't actually sure where to get half the ingredients or how to do like any of the complicated stuff, so we're just going with stir fry till I can get down to Chinatown and like kidnap a grandmother or something," Daisy explained from where she was stirring.

Kara excitedly took the bottle of wine and beer from Lucy, "Oh, Winn will love this, you got his favorite!"

"Am I the first one here?" Lucy had a feeling Daisy didn't arrive so much as just lived here. The laptop by the couch, the leather jacket that was thrown over a chair by the table, yeah, Daisy spent a lot of time here.

Kara nodded while putting the beer in the fridge, "Yup, you beat the boys."

"No surprise the Major is punctual," Daisy teased, and it was clearly teasing.

Lucy could feel herself relaxing, this was going to be fine. "So, what game are we playing tonight?"

"Since someone can see through cards," Daisy winked at a pouting Kara, "I understand our choices are Monopoly, Yahtzee, and Pictionary."

"I don't cheat," Kara was pouting, but oh, she definitely cheated.

Lucy couldn't help it, "Crinkle."

"Oh phewy!" Kara narrowed her eyes, "Alex told you?"

She leaned against the counter, and fuck, the food smelled good. "James might have mentioned it."

"Traitor," Kara bounced slightly, looking over her shoulder at Daisy, "You have to help me beat him for that."

"Uh, I haven't played a board game since I was a rookie. Pretty sure Lucy's a better co-conspirator for you." Daisy turned the heat off, neatly moving the pan off the burner.

Kara nudged Daisy while looking at Lucy, "Help me beat James?"

"Oh backstabbing already, I'm in." And Lucy knew the night was going to be a good one.

Lucy's sides hurt from laughing, a glass of wine in one hand, comfortably full from probably the healthiest hot meal she'd eaten in a week, as she watched Kara and Winn competing for the title of the best dancer at Just Dance. She looked at James, "It looks good on you."

"What does?" He looked at her from where he was sitting on the floor.

She glanced around them, "Being happy."

"What do you mean? Do you mean because we broke up?" James looked bewildered and confused at whether he should be feeling insulted or not.

She shook her hand, "National City is good for you."

"It could be good for you too," He offered, leaning back. Because he was James he genuinely meant it.

Lucy leaned her head against one hand, "Maybe."

"You're doing a good job at the DEO," James defended her because of course he did.

Daisy's attention turned to her, away from the dancing game Olympics, "He's not wrong."

She actually was surprised by that. "You barely know me?"

"I know your wildly perfectionist type. You couldn't do less than your best, and your best is competent," Daisy shrugged while gesturing to Kara. "And I think I like your priorities, Director."

James laughed, "She's got your number."

"Hey, learning to spot the competent officers you can follow the orders of without stressing about it is a skill," Daisy raised her beer to Lucy before taking a swig of it.

And that was a compliment, one that mattered. Lucy was hoping she wasn't being played by the woman. Prime CIA recruits and possible former assets were hard to gauge, you almost never knew what their actual agendas were.

"YES!!" Kara jumped slightly too high, nearly hitting the ceiling as she excitedly waved her arms. "Take that!"

Winn wheezed, slumping into the chair. "Don't know why I try."

"Good effort." James leaned over, handing Winn a beer. And it really was good for James to have a male friend who wasn't Clark.

Kara was shining in victory as she dropped onto the couch, nearly on top of Daisy, throwing her arms around her and hugging all excited victory. And it was hilarious, Daisy went stiff in surprise for a fraction of a second before softening into it without a second thought. It eased the paranoid part of Lucy that said something about Daisy wasn't what she presented. Lucy was risking a lot that Daisy was genuine in her bond with Kara.

Her watch beeped. Lucy looked down and sighed, her shoulders settling back into position. "I need to get going."

"DEO?" Kara looked over at her curiously.

She stood, genuinely reluctant to leave actually. "Upgrade went through this morning, taking half a night shift to make sure things stay quiet."

"If you need help just call," Kara was serious, more Supergirl than Kara.

Lucy gave a tip of her head, "Have fun."

Lucy still wasn't entirely comfortable in the blacks of the DEO, her army uniform might be stiff and unforgiving, but she missed the structure. She felt secure in it, a soft black undershirt ready for Kevlar to be pulled on over at the drop of a hat, black field pants, and boots. It was different. She'd adjust, it was her new uniform.

She was flipping through reports on the new security measure's she'd ordered put in place that morning. Nothing alarming, she was going to need to pick an Assistant Director soon. Lucy looked at the stack of resumes, well, that was a nightmare she wasn't ready for tonight. And then, a shiver ran down her spine and nothing mattered, and Lucy faded from being.

////

Kara set the Pictionary box down on the coffee table, "Girls against boys?"

"Oh, that's a terrible idea. Art is not a skill I have." Daisy raised her hands in surrender.

Winn's eyes lit up, "That sounds great Kara, let's get it set up!"

James was opening the box already, "No cheating."

"I don't cheat." It was unfair, she couldn't help seeing through things.

Daisy bumped their shoulders together. "Game night Queen here can't help winning."

Winn gave a nod of agreement that stilled halfway, his eyes going glassy.

"Winn?" Kara frowned before her attention snapped around as Daisy let out a hiss, her entire body going completely rigid, vibrations making the floor and walls shake before stopping suddenly. "Daisy!?" Kara grabbed Daisy's shoulder and the vibrations that shook through her hand and down her arm were almost violent in how tight and harsh they were.

"I'm good," Daisy was lying out right as she moved, tight, "Do you hear that?"

Kara couldn't hear anything unusual. She looked around and James' eyes were glazed as well, both of them standing up and walking towards the door like puppets, "James, Winn?" She was on her feet, what was going on?

"Fuck," Daisy shook her head like a dog with water in its ears, her face completely serious. "They're not in control. I think it's everyone, I can feel it."

Kara took a deep breath, alright, they were under attack. "We need to find who's doing this."

"I'll meet you on the roof of Catco," Daisy met her eyes. "Ten minutes."

She could do a flyover and see how widespread it was, find out where people were going and hopefully find out what was causing this. Kara was in her suit and out the window. She felt her stomach drop the more she saw, it wasn't just James and Winn, it was everyone. Daisy was right. And it was viscerally wrong.

Kara came to a stop on the roof of Catco, "It's the whole city, they're all on computers. I think this is Non."

"Your evil uncle?" Daisy gave a sharp nod. Her face, under her ridiculous mask that was smiling, was serious. Everything about her body language and tone was serious. "He's leading prisoners, he doesn't have the firepower to take a planet."

"The DEO," Kara breathed in realization. "The Fort Rozz prisoners and a lot of others are being held there. If he wants a larger army than he has he'll break them out."

Daisy didn't even bother replying to that, she just had her arm hooked around Kara's shoulders and was ready to get flown, and fast. Kara's arm wrapped around Daisy's waist to make sure she didn't fall off, and then Kara took off at speed for the DEO desert base. If there was a prison break in the process they didn't have time to talk it out.

The wind whistled in Kara's ears as she focused entirely on what was ahead, she could hear it before they reached the DEO, the computer in the control center repeating 'Warning, Containment Override'.

Kara shot them straight to the control room, releasing Daisy as vibrations pushed her away from her. As Kara came to a stop, she blasted enough freeze breath to send Lucy and the DEO agents harmlessly back from the alien in front of them. "Early parole is canceled." She didn't look behind her to know that Daisy had rolled to her feet. "The computers, I have this."

"Got it," Daisy replied without hesitation, her voice changer on.

Kara shot forward, her arm swinging for the woman she recognized from her cousin's fights as Maxima. The weight of Maxima's hits as they slugged at each other hurt. Maxima was strong in that awful way that ached as it hit.

She stumbled slightly as Maxima slammed a knee into her gut, before tossing her straight up into the ceiling.

Kara and the ceiling she'd bodily cracked came crashing down onto the floor. She barely moved out of the way before her head could be crushed under Maxima's booted foot. Using the momentum of rising up she slammed down, fist first into the other woman's face. Grabbing her, she flipped Maxima over and through a control table.

"That tickled," Maxima goaded as she kicked Kara straight in the face.

The force of it stunned Kara enough that her back hit the ground. And then a hand was on her throat, pinning her down as Maxima loomed over her.

"We could have been family, Kara Zor-El. I once sought to make your cousin my mate." She spat with all the venom of her being.

Kara couldn't help it. The idea of Kal with crazy criminal eyes siding with Non was disgusting, oh Rao she'd have had to have family meals with the woman if that'd happened. "Ew, gross!" She rocked and slammed her fist into Maxima's side, sending her stumbling off of her.

Flying to her feet, she braced and then punched Maxima in the dead center of her chest, hard.

Maxima slammed into a metal support wall hard enough to bend the metal, her body limply hitting the floor.

Panting slightly, Kara turned to the sound of footsteps that changed to gunfire before she was facing them. A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips as the burning sensation of metal sunk into her arm. She looked up sharply at Lucy and Vasquez coming straight for her with guns up, and kryptonite clips in.

Kara didn't even manage to start to run before both women were sent flying away from her, their guns falling to pieces in mid-air. She looked to the computer control station, to see Daisy standing there, arm raised.

"What the fuck? They have Kryptonite bullets?" Daisy marched straight to the two women she'd just sent flying and had them handcuffed to the wall before either of them was really conscious.

Kara's shoulders slumped in relief, she hissed looking at her bicep, the awful sick glow of kryptonite coming from the wound. The pain made her injured arm shake, and she could feel the awful razorblade scraping feel of the kryptonite burning outward from the bullet. Gritting her teeth she reached through the hole in her suit and pulled the bullet out. It was awful. It hurt, she felt like she was going to puke. But shaking, weak, and sweaty she pulled it free with an awful squelch.

Tossing the bullet aside she looked around. What was this?

"Hey, hey it's ok." Daisy was suddenly there, one gloved hand on the side of her face the other touching her bicep near where she'd been shot. "The DEO is secure, I locked their systems. It'll take hours for their techies to get in. We've got time to figure this out. Ok?"

Kara leaned into the touch. "We need to know what Myriad is. I heard them talking about it before we got here. It was Astra's plot, it was from Krypton."

"Ok, we need something with records from Krypton. Does that exist?" Daisy's hand on her bicep hummed, her posture softening as she clearly realized the bullet wound was healing rapidly.

She leaned forward pressing her forehead against the stupid plastic on Daisy's forehead. She ran through the options. She needed her cousin. Kal would know where more resources were. The crystal here in the DEO didn't have anything on Myriad, Kara's mother hadn't given her access to that. But Jor might have given Kal that information. It wasn't his crime he was hiding after all. "The Fortress might have records about it."

"Awesome, want me to come with or stay and hold the fort down?" Daisy asked, pulling back a half step, her hands falling back to her sides.

Kara looked through the stupid plastic mask, with its smiling LED lights, and at Daisy's expression underneath that was concerned but waiting for her to make the call. "No, you might know to ask questions I won't. I'll fly us."

"Sweet, remind me next time that the evil uncle who has pledged to fight you is a higher priority than fascist government fuckers. That was my bad." Daisy easily stepped to her side, throwing her arm over Kara's shoulders. "Also flight, I need to get better at that shit."

Kara shot a look at the glassy eyes of Lucy and Vasquez, and then her eyes cutting through the walls. It was secure here. She looked back to Daisy, "I'll try to remember it." And then she flew them out.

Kara's feet had barely hit the floor of the Fortress before she was calling out. "Kelex!"

"An ice palace?" Daisy was hissing as she yanked off her mask. "You have an ice palace just sitting around in the Artic!?!"

"Kelex, are you here?" She looked around desperate for help, for answers.

"How may I assist you, Lady Kara?" The familiar robotic voice of Kelex came.

She turned, relieved at the nostalgic shape of a Kelex personal assistant robot. "Where is Kal-El? He didn't respond to his beacon."

"Kal-El is attending to a matter off-world." Kelex's arm moved with a programmed gesture of pacification.

Daisy's voice was quiet behind her. "You have a robot in your secret lair? That is so cool."

Kara ignored Daisy, she'd normally be very excited to share this, but they didn't have time, not with everyone in National City under mind control. "Kelex, I need you to tell me about Myriad."

"Warning. This construct is not authorized to discuss Myriad." Kelex's metal limbs approximated anxiety.

And Kara, Kara was sick of her people's, her family's secrets being denied to her like she was a child. "You were designed to obey the members of the honorable House of El, and to preserve the memory of Krypton wherever it went. If you don't override your orders, Myriad will destroy the House of El, and the memory of Krypton will be lost forever." Her voice took on a weight she so rarely used, her anger burning through. "You will have failed in your prime directive."

Kelex's robotic form bent, and then turned, hovering off, away from her.

"Please," Kara was not above begging. They needed this information, they had needed it months ago, but now she couldn't afford to not have it.

"Hello Kara," A voice said that Kara would know anywhere.

She spun on her heel, her voice half exhale, "Mom."

It wasn't Alura in truth, just a projection. But the image still cut. "Myriad was developed on Krypton by your aunt. It was created to prevent the planet's imminent destruction." Her voice was her mother's, the tone robotic and without life. "We had strangled the planet's resources beyond recovery."

Kara ached as she stepped closer to the projection.

"The politicians argued, but could not agree on what to do. Thus, according to high records, Astra implemented her own solution. Myriad. Technology designed to force everyone to her way of thinking."

Kara already knew that in part, the words she and Daisy had already used for what was happening still fell from her lips, "Mind Control."

"When they were caught attempting to use the Myriad technology against the people of Argo City, Astra and Non were arrested."

Kara stood, the familiar pain of it bracing. "And sentenced to Fort Rozz." She could still remember her aunt's pleas for them to work together, to save the planet together. "That's what they've been trying to do all along. They've been trying to use Myriad on Earth. To save the planet." Her head shook slightly. "But I don't understand. Why is everyone so afraid to talk about it?" Why had she been denied this information? "Why wouldn't you even speak of it?"

"Myriad could be used to enslave whole worlds at the push of a button. The High Council determined that if knowledge of such technology were to get out, it would upset the delicate balance of power of the galaxy."

"Mom, please." She looked at her mother's illusion of a face, desperate for compassion from a program that lacked that personhood. "You have to tell me how to stop this."

"I am sorry, my dear Kara. Once started, Myriad cannot be stopped."

Kara nodded in defeat, because of course. All of this, for nothing. She nearly cried at the feel of Daisy's hand on her shoulder.

Daisy just tightened her hold. "We'll find a way to stop it."

"And if we can't?" Kara looked at Daisy, and she knew Daisy's answer before she said it. She still listened though.

Daisy's head just tilted slightly, "Giving up isn't in the cards."