Chapter Text
500 Miles Northeast of National City.
Nevada Desert
“That’s not an option Kara. Once you’re in space there is no atmosphere, there’s no gravity, you wouldn’t be able to generate thrust, you wouldn’t be able to breathe, you wouldn’t be able to get back.”
Alex’s words echoed in Supergirl’s mind as she steeled herself for what she was about to do. What she had always been destined to do. Protect Earth and all that she loved. Kara Danvers wanted very much to see her sister and friends again but Kara Zor-El, last daughter of Krypton, knew that in order to stop Myriad there would be a price. Everyone on Earth was depending on her, and she would not fail them.
Beneath the merciless desert sun, Fort Rozz... Krypton’s long derelict maximum security prison… pulsed with deadly infection. It's damaged synthetic brain, once dedicated to the purpose of guarding the universe from some of the worst criminals and terrorists that planet had ever produced, was now perverted to serve the ends of the very monsters it was designed to contain. It hummed with Myriad, whatever rudimentary artificial consciousness remained becoming only Myriad, and it was hungry. Hungry to grow, hungry to spread like cancer cells in the grid where it could dominate whatever sentient mind it touched. Submit, the program murmured. Submit and all will be well. Submit and all will be right.
Had Fort Rozz’s rightful A.I. not been subverted by the Myriad infection, which was now using all of it’s meagre remaining energies to send its mind control signal though National City’s extensive digital networks (and from there directly into the brain of anyone within range) it would have immediately detected the geological anomaly occurring directly beneath it. Instead, the localised seismic activity went disregarded as fingers strong enough to crush Kryptonian composite metal armor like paper pierced their way into its dusty hull with the kinetic force of striking meteors.
The Nevada desert, previously quiet as death itself, rumbled with a sound like angry tectonic plates crashing together, making jackrabbits, insects and buzzards flee in terror for several kilometres around. Slowly, the once dormant structure began to twist and writhe out from where it had lain, like a great mythical beast awakening from an ageless slumber. Muscles capable of channeling the nuclear energy of a burning star tensed and heaved, and the metal behemoth sluggishly unearthed itself. Unsteadily, Supergirl’s feet began to rise from the sand. The desert rumbled in protest as Fort Rozz was torn free from the crater in which it had rested for over a decade. Soil and debris pelted the floor of the desert like hail as it started its long climb back towards the heavens.
The corpse of the station pirouetted slowly as it rose through the clouds. To any onlooker its ascent to the stars would have resembled a graceful dance, a ballet both majestic and effortless. To the lone blue and red clad figure barely visible under the structure’s metallic frame, the feat was anything but effortless.
The nearly impossible effort it took to lift millions of tons of synthetic alien metal while trying to reach escape velocity was beginning to take its toll on the Girl of Steel. Kara’s lungs and muscles were on fire. She screamed out loud as her body approached the threshold of her abilities. Never before had she ever pushed herself this far, with no real way to accurately test the limits of her Kryptonian strength she couldn't even be certain she was up to the task at hand, but Alex’s life depended on her and failure was not an option. Kara would do whatever it took to keep her sister safe. Resolute on what had to be done, Supergirl mustered every last bit of power she could and pushed even harder. All around her the sound of screeching metal reached a fever pitch. It almost sounded to Kara as if Fort Rozz itself was screaming in rage as Earth’s gravity tried it’s best to reclaim the gigantic structure; regardless, Kara and the prison continued to rise gaining more and more momentum.
Had she reached the thermosphere yet? Supergirl had no idea. In her mind it seemed as if it had taken an eternity to get to that altitude, but she knew it could only have been a matter of mere minutes. She did know that she had to be approaching Earth’s outermost region of atmosphere, and the faster and further up she climbed, the more the lack of oxygen in her body began to affect her.
She’d flown this high before and been able to last longer than this, but those times had never required her to push a giant alien prison into space at twelve kilometers per second.
An unusual mellow began to creep over Kara’s mood. She found it odd because she was taking in breaths of air; it wasn’t like feeling out of breath at all. Kara was, in fact, not having trouble breathing but thinking.
She felt a little drunk, or at least that's what she suspected it would feel to be drunk. It was her first time. She stifled a giggle. This was not right, and somewhere in the deep recesses of her brain she knew that it had something to do with low pressure and oxygen diffusion. But as much as Kara tried, it was too hard to recall that information. She wished Alex was with her. Alex would know what’s happening. Alex was always so smart...so beautiful and so smart. Kara continued musing to herself as the feeling of euphoria washed over her, pulling her in deeper like a siren slowly drowning a sailor with a sweet lullaby.
Gradually, Kara’s eyes began to close and her speed began to falter. It was followed by a nearly imperceptible pause in the structures upward momentum. Gravity, ever ready to pounce, tried to reassert its claim. Then a familiar voice reverberated in Kara’s mind: “Kara, please wake up!”
Alex? Was that Alex’s voice? It roused the Girl of Steel from her stupor. It had only been for a microsecond, barely noticeable to human perception, but to someone who could keep pace with the scarlet speedster, the loss of time had a galvanizing effect. She had almost failed! Adrenaline shot through her system, staving off the effects of oxygen deprivation. Once more she dug deep, and began to fly faster. Fort Rozz rose higher yet.
Kara wondered if it had been real. Alex’s voice seemed so clear, but that was impossible, she realized. But she had heard it, hadn't she? She wondered if had been her mind playing tricks because of the lack of oxygen. Perhaps it was her subconscious urging her forward, taking on the voice of the person that would always encourage her. Whatever it was, she was thankful. The stars were clearly visible above her now. She was at the edge of the exosphere, there was just just had a little further more to go and she would be clear of the atmosphere. Then the massive structure above her could be set adrift into space along with Myriad’s deadly signal.
One more big push, she told herself and almost laughed...it kind of sounded as if she were giving birth. To an entire extraterrestrial prison. She couldn't wait to tell Clark that one… provided she survived the ordeal. Summoning whatever reserved strength she had left, supergirl heaved upwards one last time.
She felt it as soon as it happened. She’d cleared the last threshold and gravity’s greedy pull was considerably weakened, lightening the indescribable weight she’d taken upon her shoulders. Kara used this to her advantage. With her last bit of her energy, she hurled Fort Rozz into the great void. In doing so, she had effectively done what her mother, Alura Zor-El, had been forced to do back on Krypton: She had exiled the remainder of her people, sentencing them to an uncertain fate in the cold darkness of space. Kara understood her mother’s decision more clearly now, felt it as a tangible thing that was heavier than Fort Rozz itself.
But this was the only way to ensure that the people of the planet that had adopted her would remain safe from subjugation at the hands of the race that had birthed her. There was no other choice.
She’d succeeded.
Kara took a moment to savor the victory. Triumphant and happy, she allowed herself rest. Had she ever felt this tired before? No, not even after the fight with Red Tornado which had caused a temporary burn out of her powers. This was different...her muscles didn’t ache with fatigue as they had then.What she was feeling now was more like sinking deeper and deeper into the warmed depths of a vast, tranquil ocean. Her eyes were so...so heavy. It was beginning to be a chore just to keep them open. Why fight it? she thought. After all, she’d just saved Earth. As far as she was concerned she had earned a respite.
As she floated listlessly, there was an almost dream-like sensation of time having stopped. Kara knew what it probably meant. She was dying, but it didn’t alarm her. Instead she gazed at the beautiful blue orb she called home and smiled. How poetic that this was to be the last memory she’d take with her into Rao’s light. She had come full circle. After all… this is how her story had truly begun. Though it seemed an entire lifetime had passed since her fateful journey, this was the same image that had first greeted her upon emerging from the phantom zone. It had been breathtaking then too, but unlike today, she’d been too frightened of what was to come to appreciate it.
She was a little girl, too young to fend for herself in a hostile and alien place, suddenly facing the uncertainty of a future of being alone. Her parents were gone. Her entire world was gone. For all she’d known, she might have been the last of her once mighty people. There was no telling what may have happened to poor little Kal, if he had even survived the dangerous voyage in his pod.
To her overwhelming surprise he had, in fact. Kal had been the first person to greet her after crash landing on this strange anachronistic world. Even more shocking was that her cousin was no longer a baby who needed protection. He had become Earth’s mightiest protector. To his eternal consternation, the people he championed had taken to calling him “Superman”, a sobriquet coined by a misanthropic philosopher who’d envisioned the coming of a being so advanced and unfettered that he could redefine morality and rule over those less powerful than himself. In a twist of cosmic irony, Kal…Clark...had single-mindedly devoted his entire life to doing battle with adversaries who were motivated by that very agenda. “You just have to try to find the humor in it” he’d later tell Kara after they'd had some time to grow accustomed to one another, to think of each other as family. “The ability to find humor in our burdens may not be a superpower, but I promise, it's at least as useful as heat vision.”
As a result of Clark’s never ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way, the image of Superman was almost universally recognized among citizens of Earth as a symbol of hope, a beacon letting them know that as terrible as things might be, there was something standing between them and the forces of darkness. Something powerful, immovable, never-tiring. What possible good could a young girl do a being such as this? Certainly, he did not need her protection.
Time had passed Kara by while she'd been in the phantom zone, leaving her behind. She had failed to keep her promise to her mother. She felt lost, set adrift with no tether and no hope of ever finding her way home again. Adding to her agony, Kal did not take her with him instead. Instead, he brought her to the home of his human companions, the Danvers. Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers were scientists who had worked alongside Superman, aiding in the never ending battle to keep his adopted planet safe.
She had been angry at him at first, and rightfully so. Kara had been willing to devote herself to her infant cousin’s protection, even sacrifice her own life for it. But Kal-El the man was about to fly off (unaided by a pod no less, he could literally just fly) leaving her alone with a couple of alien strangers. She felt unwanted and abandoned. Kal’s reassurances that the Danvers could provide her with safety and stability, things he could not, as well as a new home did little to ease her pain.
But he had been right of course. He was Superman, after all.
The Danvers had saved Kara from the desolation and despair of being a refugee orphan all alone in a new and alien world. Jeremiah and Eliza had been great surrogate parents. They’d not only given her a home but had also kept her secret safe. As scientists they’d mentored her, guiding her in the difficult period when she’d come into her power. She loved them and couldn't be more grateful. But in truth Kara knew it was Alex, the couple’s radiant young daughter, who had really rescued her from the fear and loneliness that threatened to consume her in those early years. Alex had taken the role of Kara’s older sister, becoming a balm to her wounded heart. Alex was her confidant and stalwart protector. In essence, she was the most important person in Kara’s heart and the bond between them had only grown stronger after Jeremiah’s death.
Over the years as Kara grew older, assimilating more and more into the prevailing culture that surrounded her, their relationship evolved. Alex had grown into a strong, beautiful and capable woman. She was now much more to Kara than the familial title she’d originally been assigned implied. After all, it had only been when Alex’s life was in jeopardy that Kara finally revealed herself to the world, effectively risking the many years she’d spent blending in. For Alex’s sake the world had borne witness to Kara’s true power, consequences be damned.
Not surprisingly, revealing herself as Supergirl did not change how Alex acted towards her. She was still Kara’s protector, her personal champion. A smile spread across the young Kryptonian’s lips as she continued thinking about what Alex meant to her. “My safe haven, my home, my love.” Then quickly following in a moment of strange uncertainty, “Wait, that isn’t right.”
Something bad is happening.
Her eyes opened at the sudden revelation. She tried to breath but couldn’t. There was no air. She was startled. The confusion that had been gradually creeping through her oxygen deprived brain had worsened and now her thoughts were increasingly jumbled and difficult to track.
What was I thinking just then? She asked herself. She was sure it had been important. She tried to muddle through the blur of incoherent thoughts that were spinning around in her head until… Alex. That was it. She had been thinking of Alex. The image of her foster sister filled her with happiness. Happiness, she continued to muse. Alex was safe and would finally get a chance at happiness. Kara had made sure of that. She smiled contentedly at the idea of Alex living a long and fulfilled life. Tired beyond words, but now also peaceful, Kara Zor-El, Supergirl, closed her eyes for the last time.