Chapter 31 : For the Girl Who Has Everything - Part 1
July 2016 — Kara's Apartment — 7:42 AM
She wasn't answering her phone.
Three calls. Two texts. Complete silence. Kara Danvers—the woman who once flew across the city to bring me coffee because I mentioned being tired—had missed our morning patrol for the first time since we'd become partners.
Something was wrong.
I took the stairs to her apartment three at a time, Lightning Logic already scanning the building's electrical systems for anomalies. The readings came back strange—a low-frequency hum I'd never encountered before, pulsing from somewhere above.
Her door was unlocked.
The apartment looked normal at first glance. Sunlight streaming through windows. Coffee maker still warm from automatic brewing. TV playing morning news on mute.
Then I reached the bedroom.
Kara lay motionless on her bed, eyes open but unseeing. A strange growth covered her chest—organic, pulsing, its tendrils wrapped around her torso like a lover's embrace. The thing was beautiful in a horrible way, its surface shimmering with colors that didn't exist in human visual spectrum.
My electromagnetic sense recoiled from it. Alien bio-signatures, complex beyond anything I'd encountered. Not technology. Not exactly life. Something in between.
"Kara?" I moved toward her cautiously. "Kara, can you hear me?"
No response. Her breathing was shallow, rhythmic. Peaceful, even. Whatever this thing was doing to her, she wasn't fighting it.
I reached for the growth—
Don't touch it.
The thought came from outside my head. J'onn's telepathic voice, urgent and commanding.
That's a Black Mercy. Touching it will only make things worse. We're en route.
I pulled my hand back. Stared at the woman I loved, trapped in something I couldn't fight.
"I'm here," I told her. "I'm not leaving."
She didn't hear me.
DEO Desert Facility — Medical Bay — Two Hours Later
"Black Mercy." Alex's voice was flat, professional, hiding the terror underneath. "Parasitic organism from the planet Mongul. It attaches to its host and creates a perfect fantasy world—everything they've ever wanted, everything they've ever lost. The victim experiences pure happiness while their body slowly dies."
The medical monitors surrounding Kara's bed painted a grim picture. Elevated neural activity. Depressed autonomic function. Cellular degradation beginning at 0.3% per hour.
"How do we remove it?" I asked.
"We can't. Not physically." J'onn stood at the foot of the bed, his expression grave. "Forcibly detaching a Black Mercy causes psychic shock. The host dies from the trauma."
"Then how—"
"Someone has to enter her mind. Convince her that the fantasy isn't real." He met Alex's eyes. "The victim must reject the dream of their own free will."
Alex stepped forward immediately. "I'll do it."
"Alex—"
"She's my sister." Her jaw set in that stubborn way that reminded me of Kara. "I'm the only one who can reach her. I know her better than anyone."
She knows Kara better than you, I thought. She's known her for years. You've only had months.
The acknowledgment stung, but it was true. Whatever Kara and I were becoming, Alex had been there first. Had protected her first. Loved her first.
"What do you need?" I asked.
J'onn produced a neural interface—Martian technology, sleek and organic-looking. "This will allow Alex to enter Kara's mindscape through me. I'll serve as the bridge between their consciousnesses."
"And me?"
"You coordinate defenses." J'onn's expression darkened. "Non sent the Black Mercy. He'll attack while Supergirl is incapacitated. The DEO needs someone who can think like a tactician."
I looked at Kara. At the thing slowly killing her while she dreamed of happiness.
"I'll hold them off. However long it takes."
DEO Medical Bay — Thirty Minutes Later
Alex lay on a bed beside her sister, the neural interface attached to her temple. J'onn sat between them, eyes closed, his telepathic powers bridging the gap between minds.
I stayed at Kara's bedside, monitoring equipment, watching vital signs, feeling utterly useless.
"Her neural activity is spiking," I reported. "Alex must have made contact."
No response from J'onn. He was too deep in the connection to hear me.
I reached out and took Kara's hand. Cold. Too cold for a Kryptonian whose body burned with solar energy.
"You have to wake up." The words came out rough. "I know whatever you're seeing feels real. I know it feels perfect. But it's not. It's killing you."
Her fingers didn't move. Her eyes remained fixed on something only she could see.
"We have so much left to do. So many battles to fight, so many people to save. You promised we'd do it together." I squeezed her hand tighter. "Don't leave me doing this alone."
Silence. The monitors beeped steadily. The Black Mercy pulsed with stolen vitality.
"I never told you—" I stopped. Started again. "That night on the rooftop, when you said you weren't ready. I said I could wait. And I meant it. I'll wait forever if I have to." My voice cracked. "But you have to be alive to make me wait. You have to wake up."
The alarms chose that moment to scream.
DEO Command Center — Moments Later
"Multiple hostiles approaching from the northwest." Agent Vasquez worked the tactical displays with grim efficiency. "Kryptonian heat signatures. At least twelve—no, fifteen contacts."
I was already moving, pulling up perimeter defenses on my tablet. "ETA?"
"Four minutes."
Four minutes. Alex and J'onn were locked in Kara's mind, unable to fight. Our heaviest hitter was comatose on a medical bed. And Non's army was coming.
This is what you trained for. This is who you became.
"Lock down the medical wing," I ordered. "Triple guards on Supergirl's location. Nobody gets through those doors."
"The perimeter defenses won't hold against Kryptonians—"
"They don't need to hold. They need to slow them down." I ran calculations in my head—approach vectors, probable tactics, resource allocation. "Evacuate non-essential personnel through the eastern tunnels. Combat teams to fallback position alpha."
Vasquez hesitated. "That puts you on the front line."
"I know." I grabbed my tactical vest from the ready station, checking the charge on the EMP devices Alex had designed specifically for scenarios like this. "Contact me when they breach. I'll be at the perimeter."
"Sir—Vector—you can't fight Kryptonians alone."
"I'm not planning to fight them." I headed for the door. "I'm planning to make them fight me."
Behind me, in the medical bay, Kara dreamed of happiness while her sister fought to bring her home.
I stepped outside to meet the enemy.
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