Entry tags:

!gamewideplot

who the danvers!
what carol comforts kara
when during the villain plot/barry's hospitalization
warnings angst, sad kara
status complete! I just took forever to post it SORRY ♥

The whole series of events was still a blur. One minute, they’d been tackling a handful of blasts from their mutual pasts, the next Barry was on the ground and in a terrible amount of pain. It had taken an immense amount of her strength to batter Red Daughter away and half-freeze Savitar just to get Barry out of there. By that time, she’d heard a second shot that just narrowly missed her and hit Red Daughter instead. That would buy them time while her replica recovered.

Leaving Barry in medical had been difficult, especially when she was shooed out so they could operate on him. She stood back, head bowed and a hand on the wall as though trying to brace the very weight of the burden. She had to let his friends know what happened, but even Kara needed a moment to process. First, she cried quietly, curled up in a ball on a chair to compose herself until she could let everyone know on the network.

By then, she was able to see him. He would be paralyzed, they said. No visitors. She had insisted she was family, which was as true in her heart when it came to Barry as it did someone like J’onn J’onzz. It would be a day or so before he was up for visitors, so she promised to keep people out while still assuring them that he would recover in time.

Eventually ushered back out so he could rest, Kara took to pacing a veritable hole in the ground. Her hands rested in frustrated balls at her hips as she walked the same line, back and forth, mind racing for options. Lex was still out there, and he had Savitar, Red Daughter, and Neron to unwittingly help. Could things possibly get any worse?

That thought alone caused her to halt, shoulders sagging almost in defeat. Things could always get worse, but she had to be strong for everyone--especially Barry. Too bad it wasn’t enough to silence the tiny voice in her head telling her this was her fault.

---

Trying to keep tabs on everything was exhausting.

Carol had made a good effort at the start, coordinating with people she felt could tackle the issues presented, but as time went on it was just one disaster after another, so many of these villains showing up and taking them out one at a time. Trying to organise anything was nearly impossible with the number of them here and everyone wearing themselves down at a constant rate.

And while it took a lot for Carol to exhaust herself, the energy she absorbed fuelling her like sleep would anyone else, she did still need to eat and hydrate.

It was on her way to hydrate that she came across Kara, standing and looking so… “Hey, sunshine.” A little effort to perk her up, because someone like that, Carol really just felt like Kara shouldn’t have something so hard weighing her down. “You okay there?” Being so far removed from the people she was the closest, all those people being a version who didn’t know her and the things they’d gone through together, it was hard. And Carol was starting to get to the point where she was being pulled into other people’s orbits.

Worrying about Kara wasn’t difficult either.

---

Caught up in her thoughts, Kara didn’t register the footsteps that were headed her way. She nearly jumped at the sound of Carol’s voice, but placated herself quickly with an uneasy and nervous smile. She was troubled, shaken up even. Years of practice as Supergirl had nearly perfected the ability to hide her nerves, though nothing could really prepare her for something as catastrophic as all these villains in one place hurting the people she loved.

Even if those people, by and large, didn’t know her.

Grateful to have Brainy and Barry nonetheless, times like these made it difficult to cope without Alex there to ground her. Seeing Carol looking upon her with a friendly concern, Kara’s smile collapsed into pursed lips and barely restrained tears. She was so far from okay that she super-sped over to her and latched on, hugging Carol tightly. For once, she didn’t have to spare someone by holding back her strength, too, which in itself brought some comfort to Kara’s quivering frame.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should’ve asked first. Umm…” Pulling back as she dried some tears with the back of her hand, Kara exhaled a bit of the despair she’d been hanging on to with a vice like grip. “No? Sort of. Physically, I’m okay. I’m just worried… about… Where do I even start?”

---

Although it was sudden, and a little unexpected, Carol had been around enough younger superheroes to know that the pressures were sometimes a little too much all at once, and sometimes, you just needed a hug. So there was very little hesitance in Carol’s arms wrapping around Kara to hug her back, offering whatever comfort that could in the moment.

“Don’t apologise for needing a little comfort, you never need to ask, okay?” Although Carol had seen how capable Kara was, when she had her strength, there was still a youthful innocence to the girl that Carol desperately hoped she could hold onto. In their line, it was hard to keep that. Placing a hand on Kara’s shoulder, still there for steadying support, Carol directed them towards the sofas in the lobby.

“Take your time, start where you want.” It wasn’t like she needed to guess, this was all a total clusterfuck of invasion proportions, and no one was prepared for it. A week of constant high alert would do it to anyone.

---

Curling her legs beneath her as she sat down, Kara leaned her head on Carol’s shoulder. She could never replace Alex with someone else, but her sister would chastise Kara if she didn’t try to lean on others. After losing Mon-El and then Winn, both in similar ways, she had to glue herself back together and carry on. She could do that because she wasn’t alone, but the past year had been so hard on her emotionally. For months she had to hide who she was from Alex to protect her sister and others at the DEO from falling under government scrutiny.

Everything was so complicated in her head, Kara genuinely didn’t know where to begin. The bottom line existed at Barry getting shot. While she had felt like she had let everyone down by falling victim to Lex’s bullet, seeing him on the ground and bleeding was that much worse. She should have heard it, should have been faster, should have done so many other things differently.

“Barry’s already been through so much,” she sniffed, picking at the fabric of her red skirt. “I had it worked out in my head that we could handle them, these… bad guys from our pasts, but I forgot about Lex. He’s this… insane megalomaniac that constantly tried to kill my cousin and now me… I just… It should be me in there again and it’s not. People are going to be sad and it’s my fault.”

---

Her arm settled around Kara’s back, her head resting atop Kara’s, “Hey now, it’s not your fault at all,” these things were never easy, and they never got easy. Seeing friends in trouble, standing by while they hurt and bled. Sometimes, being largely invulnerable wasn’t a good thing. “The blame doesn’t lie in here, with any of us, it’s out there with the people who shot Barry.” It was just easier to doubt themselves than hate, something Carol took a while to work out.

“If anyone stood a good chance against them, if was both of you, because you’ve defeated them before,” but experience told Carol that wasn’t always the case, because yes, Barry and Kara had fought those enemies before and won, but that meant the enemies got better, got smarter, cheated. “But sometimes, bad things happen to the wrong people, and we just need to be there for them.” Anyone who got angry or upset with Kara, well they were idiots to start with, but Carol had a feeling that Barry would set them straight before he could even properly string a sentence together.

“Is it Barry’s fault that you got shot? That you were hurt before and your friends were worried?”

---

Logically, she knew the answers to all those things. Kara didn’t want to sit there and blame herself, eyes full of tears and a heart full of guilt. She wanted to be super, not just invincible, but absolutely infallible. Her head shook faintly against Carol’s shoulder, unwilling to budge from the position as she tried to let the words sink in and correct the pitfalls of darkness that threatened to swallow her optimism whole.

Lately it had been so much easier to blame herself for all the things that went wrong in National City, because lately it had been her--so to speak. Red Daughter had taken her identity, ruined her reputation, and nearly killed Kara in the process. Seeing her again, so full of ire for Kara again when she had, in the end, died to protect Kara brought all those feelings back to the surface.

“No… It’s Lex’s fault,” she responded stubbornly, agreeing with the sentiment Carol offered. “Look at me, I shouldn’t be this big of a mess, I’m better than this.”

With a huff, Kara sat up carefully, wedging the heels of her palms against her eyes to dry them again in an attempt to collect herself. She knew it wasn’t bothering Carol, but it was selfish to sit there wallowing without returning the favor. “What about you, Carol? Are you doing okay with all this?”

---

At least Kara could push through to understand that much, that the only person to blame in any of this was Lex, whatever his reasons, he was the one to blame in it all. “Your friend is hurt, it’s okay to be a mess.” Carol knew that there wasn’t any way to not feel those feelings of inferiority when someone got hurt, not when you knew you should’ve been able to protect them.

As Kara tugged herself together, wiping her face, Carol gave her a little bit of space. “Tired, and worried a lot, about everyone.” The kids in particular, but all of them were going out there and trying, and that was something to see, knowing that the Villa was pulling together, that they were protecting each other the best way they could.

But she was ready for this to be over, for these villains to go back to where they came from. Even if she hadn’t been able to figure out where this villainous entity came from. “I’m just grateful none of my biggest foes have showed up.” She knew Ultron had been around, but Ultron had never really been something Carol feared. She could smash every single one of his bodies and not worry. It was getting him neutralised that mattered.

No, Carol worried about Yon Rogg, Galactus and her own brain.

---

Those were all valid things. Bumping Carol’s shoulder, Kara’s sad smile turned slightly more optimistic. It was easier to think positive for other people, a skill she hoped to never lose. “We’re gonna get through this… It’s just hard right now. On everyone.” Hard to know when to stop and breathe, even for a super or cosmically-charged heroine.

Trying to make sense of the chaos surrounding thing wasn’t easy. Most days, it felt like they were simply under siege, barely treading water in a maelstrom. Maybe the first mistaken Kara had made was letting confidence rule her, something she’d only regained recently. When faced with unknowns, she needed people like Alex and J’onn to pull her in for intel. Not everything could be categorized as “punch first” when found harming someone.

“Oh! Knock on wood!” She hastily turned to lightly tap against the nearest wooden object, laughing faintly. “It’s… silly, but hey. Every little bit helps? I don’t want you to see any unwanted familiar faces any time soon.” Carol had been nothing but nice to Kara since they’d met, she wanted only the best for her.

---

They would get through it, not only because they were strong enough to do that, but because there wasn’t any other option. Carol knew the Avengers didn’t stay down, they might get knocked down from time to time, but no one stayed down for long. And she guessed it was the same for Kara and her hero friends. A breather was good, but they always shook it off and got right back into the fray.

That’s what heroes did after all. “We will, and soon we’ll be resting as much as we can and wondering what the hell is going on here all over again.” At least this place never seemed to be just as constantly under threat like home. Carol actually got some time to rest.

Hearing Kara laugh a little helped, and made Carol feel like even now she’d accomplished something. Not everything needs punching, Danvers Jessica’s voice was loud in her head, spurring a small smile on Carol’s face to match Kara. “Me either, so thanks for the back up there.” Since America left, Carol had floundered a little. Kitty kept her a little sane, they knew of the same people, Angela and Maya were from the same place, but Carol couldn’t say she was overly friendly with either of them. It made her miss Jess and Monica and James, hell, she even missed her version of Tony and his wise cracks.

“You just gotta keep your chin up Kara, thing’s will be okay. Barry’ll be back on his feet in no time, and he’ll not like to hear you blaming yourself.” Carol didn’t need to know the speedster well to know that.

---

That would have to be enough--more than enough--for now. Kara wasn’t one to linger in despair for too long, not since she had succumbed to it when Mon-El had to leave. The bottom line was that Carol was right and Kara would do her very best to commit the woman’s words to memory. She didn’t even know her that well yet, but already wanted to remedy that once this catastrophe was finished.

It was like having Alex back in her life, and Kara needed that more than she could admi aloud. Resting her head back on Carol’s shoulder, she exhaled some of that weight on her shoulders. Eventually, her gratitude would be expressed, too, along with another hug.

Until then, she’d wait for Barry to get well.