Chapter 49Notes:I appreciate you guys a lot!
Chapter TextJames had his camera ready as he walked near the protests outside L-corp. They'd gotten worse. The evening news had come with the news of what Quake had spent the day doing. Three Cadmus bases, sixty dead, and thirty-seven human experiment subjects rescued. And he'd give Quake that, she'd managed to get the media there in time to get the most damning footage possible.
So here he was, the tension in the air was heavy, like the air before a thunderstorm. He knew this city, and he knew his friend. So he was here, in front of L-corp, waiting for a lightning strike to capture to film. A photo that could say a hundred words.
The change came then, a rise of voices, and then they dropped to murmurs as everyone looked up as Supergirl floated down.
James raised the camera and started taking photos. The back of the heads of the crowd with their posters became the foreground of the shot, and there, the center of the frame was Supergirl with her cape billowing behind her, and framing everything, behind Supergirl, was L-corp. The giant black 'L' of its brand impossible to miss. A Super above the crowd looking every bit a god above mortals, standing between the mob and L-corp.
He kept clicking the shutter, taking frame, after frame, as Supergirl floated down to the ground. It never stopped being inspiring sometimes. James knew better than most that Kara, and Clark, they were just people. But they also weren't, because they would stand there, silently commanding the world to be better, unflinching in the face of darkness. Daring humanity to be better.
////
Daisy paused, looking up from her laptop at the sound of a knock on her door. That was weird, she hadn't been expecting anyone. Getting up she set the computer aside, her vibrations buzzing under her skin as she walked over and opened the door, only to soothe as she caught the eight-year-old lunging for her.
Laughing, Daisy caught Xal, hugging them tightly. "Hey kid, what are you doing here?"
"Uh, I was hoping we could talk?" Trel said awkwardly from behind Xal in the hall.
She looked at the barely out of their teen years being. The stress and anxiety weren't hard to see. Daisy hooked Xal's arm, helping the kid clamor up and onto her back, as she waved Trel in. "Of course, come on in."
Trel's shoulders were curled inward as they shuffled in, pulling the hood off of their head, their yellow scales showing as their eyes flicked around the apartment.
Daisy walked to the fridge. "You guys want some food?"
Xal happily hummed as they locked their limbs around her. "Do you still have the seed mix?"
"And a Tupperware of melon." She opened up the fridge and glanced at Trel, yeah she was feeding both of them. Trel looked exhausted and Xal was eight. "I still have too many carrots, and I think I've got some oranges too actually. Have some juice too."
"Do you still have pomegranate?" Xal eagerly peered over her shoulder.
"You can peel it if I do." Daisy spotted it sure enough on a back shelf and passed it to Xal before continuing to pull out every bit of fruit and veg in the fridge.
Xal happily hummed. "Missed you."
She smiled, "Missed you too kid. Heard you and Sarah have been spending a lot of time together?"
"Her parents are nice, and Mr. Morgan reads us stories and Mrs. Morgan makes these really nice seed cakes." Xal chattered happily as Daisy started cutting every veggie and piece of fruit onto plates. "We're reading the Hobbit. It's really great, and Mr. Morgan says Earth has lots of dragon books. And we read My Father's Dragon just like you said we should, and then Mrs. Morgan let us chew as much chewing gum as we could just like in the story! Sarah says you should get a symbol like Supergirl. But you probably shouldn't use House Kasius's crest, even if you are a Duke. Cause ya know, they're evil."
Daisy smiled, listening to the chatter, purposely not looking directly at the awkward early twenties Trel looking around. "Gotta say I agree, least favorite relatives. What do you two think I should use?"
"Well, Wally said you should just use a big 'Q', but that's silly." Xal was talking like they hadn't been texting her pretty frequently every day. It was just…sweet as they reminded her why she liked kids. "I think you should use a rictor scale thing. The squiggly earthquake line."
"I could see it, but where'd I put a symbol? I don't think a big crest on my chest is really my vibe." Daisy asked, she wondered if she was going to get conned by kiddo alien puppy eyes. Wally's were particularly lethally adorable.
"You could put it on your shoulder like a patch? Or are you waiting for Supergirl to propose a formal union so you can use her sigil? That's Fred's theory." Xal explained.
Daisy tapped Xal's arm to indicate they should climb down. Ignoring the feeling she felt at the idea of things with Kara ever…really lasting like that. "I think it's a bit early to be considering marriage there."
Xal dropped down and trotted over to the table where they started peeling the pomegranate with their little claws that were starting to grow back a bit. "But you killed the bad guy who was hurting her. That's what mates are supposed to do."
Daisy poured juice. "It's a bit more complicated than that with adults. And takes a lot more time."
"That's lame, you saved her." Xal stuck their tongue out slightly in concentration as they peeled the little bright red seeds out of the fruit.
Daisy laughed softly walking over and setting a plate in front of each of them. She met Trel's eyes, "Please, eat. We can talk about whatever you need to afterward." And she knew she made the right decision when she saw how fast Trel ate. She wanted to sigh, things weren't good money-wise then. A barely twenty-something suddenly having to raise an elementary schooler wasn't going well. Daisy purposely ignored the fact she was only a handful of years older than Trel likely was. Mid-twenties were young whether it felt like it or not.
Daisy waited till she was sure Xal was distracted by Mario Kart, with headphones over their ears, and a heating pad under them, before setting the mug of herbal tea in front of the Trel and sitting down across from them at the table. "So, what's going on?"
Trel ran their tongue against the back of their teeth. Their eyes flicked up from where they'd been staring into the tea mug. "You said if we needed help, for anything. I don't…I don't know who else to ask."
"I meant it." It was funny, this wasn't where Daisy ever would have seen herself, just being able to offer to help someone. It was clean. But it filled her with a calmness as she looked at the delicate yellow scales of Trel across from her.
"I was barely scraping by before you found Xal. I don't…The Morgans can't watch Xal all the time, Sarah's going back to school and I don't have an image inducer for Xal, just the one for myself. I can't just leave them in the apartment all day, and without an inducer, I can't send them to school or daycare or anything, even if I could afford it and I…I don't know what to do." Trel's face was tense, but determined. "Please."
Daisy nodded. "So employment you're not getting stiffed on pay because it's under the table, and an image inducer for Xal are the main problems then?"
Trel looked at her with desperation. Their hands shaking. "Yes."
"I'm new to National City." She waved to the still fairly empty apartment, even if she was kinda proud of how it was starting to turn out. "So I don't know every contact or way to help you the easiest way, but we can figure some stuff out, ok?" Daisy waited for Trel to breathe out. "First, though, even if it takes a while to fix everything for you, I'm not going to let you or your cousin starve or end up homeless."
Trel's shoulders shook, "I can't pay you back for that."
Daisy shook her head. "You don't need to. I promised to help. First things first, we'll get you a card with enough money on it for you two to be ok for a month or two while we get you set up better. After that, we can look into getting you better papers so you can find a better-paying job, and see if anyone in the local community is selling another image inducer. I'm going to get you in touch with some people who might be able to help. I've got…"
"Cadmus." Trel's tongue wet their lips. "I can't have them noticing us."
And she more than got that. "Look, we'll figure out what we can tonight. And I'll make sure you still have the detective's number, the one who helped find you. She knows more people in the community than me. Then we keep you and Xal away from me, at least till Cadmus is more dealt with."
Trel shook, and then burst into tears, the words, "Thank you, thank you, thank you," spilling out as they sobbed.
Daisy passed one of the burner phones she kept in the apartment over to Trel, it was nicer than their cell phone had been. "Ok, so you've got a PayPal account connected to your debit card set up on here. I transferred a few thousand in." Ten thousand, but Trel could find out the exact number later. She'd figure out what exactly they needed financially to be stable later. But with Cadmus, she didn't have time to establish an entire life for them fast enough. The money would keep them set till she could really root into the problem. "Your contacts are transferred over, but I put in Detective Sawyer's. Call her in the morning. I'll see what I can do about cleaning up your legal documents. Just remember, photograph them with the phone and text me what you have. It'll give me a place to start. The childcare…talk to Sawyer, if she doesn't know anyone who can help with that, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
Trel's voice had a wet warble to it as they clutched the phone, unicorn thrown blanket over their shoulders. "I can't pay this back."
"Well money was Lord's, so think not paying it back is a net positive for the world." Daisy grinned. "Now, anything else that you need right now? I can have Supergirl bring by some more pomegranate while you think about it." She was really hoping Kara's attempt at thank you brownies was going well upstairs. The lack of a fire alarm was mostly reassuring. Kara'd probably love the excuse for a break from attempts at baking.
"I…if it's not a bother?" Trel definitely had the same obsession with the fruit as Xal. Not that Daisy was positive it was a fruit and not a berry? Something else? Pomegranates were weird and she should probably google them.
////
Kara wrapped her arms around her mate's waist and buried her face into Daisy's neck. She sighed in contentment. "You're amazing."
"Thanks?" Daisy had laughter in her voice as she leaned back into her, fingers lifting from her keyboard.
She trilled softly while pulling Daisy flush against her. "I heard most of you with Trel, before you had me get groceries."
"Unauthorized surveillance?" Her tone was teasing. "Is Supergirl breaking the law the same day she was arrested? I think I might be a terrible influence. Bad girl shenanigans everywhere."
One of Kara's hands slipped under Daisy's shirt, her fingers gently running over the scars there. "Heard my name." She kissed Daisy's neck instead of arguing with her about how wonderful her mate was. Daisy'd just get more and more glib.
Daisy's breath caught slightly, but then she cocked her head slightly, offering more of her neck to Kara. "So avoid your name when talking about you. Noted."
She huffed against her and sucked, carefully. And Kara felt a rush of pleased daring as Daisy made a soft noise, her muscles loosening against her. It was maybe kind of like a lot, but maybe it wasn't? as she unbuttoned Daisy's jeans.
"Oh," Daisy reached back, her fingers tangling in Kara's hair, and gently guiding her head up a bit while she twisted enough to be able to kiss her. A buzzing hum in her throat as Kara slid her hand down Daisy's pants.
Kara's other hand was tracing the shape of the letter 'El' against Daisy's stomach. Because she hadn't meant to, but hearing Xal suggesting Daisy wear hercrest was something. Something really good. It was stuck in her head, the image of it. Her mate, with the name of El on her. Daisy who was kind, and wonderful. Who she couldn't get enough of.
The soft sounds from Daisy made Kara feel all floaty and warm like she was drunk but better as she focused on sliding her fingers through the wet heat. The solid warmth of Daisy's body in Kara's arms felt right. All of it was lovely.
Kara was grateful her mouth was pressed against Daisy's. Daisy starting to pant into her mouth. If she hadn't been kissing her she'd have said she loved her. Loved the feel of her, loved the sounds she made, loved the humming vibrations, loved the sound of her laugh, loved the furrow Daisy got when she was hacking, loved the bashful expression when she burned things, loved every time she came home and Daisy was there, loved her.
////
Daisy came to a stop as she walked into her kitchen. She blinked as she stared at the vase in the middle of the kitchen island. Blinking didn't change it though, that was a vase with flowers. She walked over, reaching out, her fingers brushing against the bright yellow petals. Daisies. It was a bunch of brightly colored daisies.
All yellows, pinks, whites, and oranges. The delicate fluttering sensation in her chest was…strange. She wasn't sure when she'd started smiling, but she had. Daisy just kinda stood there, staring at the flowers, until she felt the faint gust of Kara swooping in through the window.
"Morning!" Kara breezed in, sliding a Noonan's coffee cup into her hand.
Daisy glanced at the to-go cup and then got kinda stalled out at just how radiant Kara looked.
Kara was not stalled out, and lightly pecked her lips, smiling too much for anything else. "Are the flowers ok? I just saw them and thought of you."
"They're good." Daisy set the coffee down, and plucked a pink daisy out of the vase, and neatly slid it behind one of Kara's ears. "Thank you."
Kara beamed, throwing her arms around Daisy's shoulders, and leaned forward and carefully brushed their noses together. "Oh good, I was worried you'd want different ones."
The warm bubble in her chest was precious. "They're beautiful." She hadn't actually gotten flowers before. It was funny, it was such a little thing, but it was exactly the kind of thing Kara Danvers would do for a girl. She kissed her girlfriend. She wasn't going to lose a second of this while it lasted.
////
Lena's head was pounding with the reminder of just how much scotch she'd had last night. The lack of protestors this morning had been…Supergirl had protected her. Was giving her every bit of the second chance she'd asked for. Supergirl, Quake, Kara…everyone willing to give her a chance was an alien. Wasn't that ironic?
Humans on the other hand? It was hard. And it was going to get worse. The news that morning had been worse than the hangover. The police at the thirdCadmus base Quake had cleared out had started digging up bodies.
By the time she'd left for work, they'd already found thirteen sets of remains. She knew it would be more. Far, far more. Apparently, her mother hadn't just had a few skeletons in her closet, she had mass graves. At this rate, Lillian was going to prove to have been better than her golden boy at being a monster. It'd be impressive if it wasn't so awful.
She opened up the folder of the report from PR. It was grim as she looked at it. Their stock numbers were dropping. This year was going to be a loss as well. Without a shiny invention to sell to the board, if they kept bleeding financially she gave the company another year, tops before it was unsalvageable.
Jess's voice came through the com. -"Ms. Luthor, Ms. Danvers is asking to see you?"-
That was, she'd been half expecting a resignation letter. She hit the button. "Send her in."
The ten seconds Lena had before Kara came bursting in were not enough to prepare her for the radiating joy from the woman.
Kara was smiling as she entered, even had an honest to god pink flower in her hair. "Hi Lena! I brought you brownies." She walked straight to her desk setting down a plate with plastic wrap over it and a bow on top. "Thank you, for the lawyers, and for getting me out of custody yesterday."
"You saved my life, possibly everyone in that lobby's lives. It was the least I could do." Lena stood up from behind her desk. "It was nothing."
"It wasn't nothing, it was important." Kara's smile softened.
It struck Lena that what Kara was looking at her with was pride. She paused, then brushed it aside into a box to be dealt with later. "Well thank you for the brownies."
Kara pushed her glasses up her nose. "I made them last night, it took a few batches, but I think I got them right this time. Extra chocolatey, chocolate is one of the best things about Earth."
Lena couldn't help it, she raised a brow, amused and charmed despite herself. "You'll have to eat them with me then."
"Oh, I couldn't." But Kara was grinning, and clearly excited about it. "If you insist though!"
She watched the woman and…she had to say it. "How can you believe me, after what my mother did to your family?"
Kara paused, her face was still gentle, still kind, but it was more serious then. "You're not your family." She met Lena's eyes, unafraid. "Our family raises us, puts burdens and expectations on our shoulders, but it's who we are inside that determines who we become. Besides, Supergirl and Quake both agree with me or they wouldn't be protecting you." She grinned slightly at the end in victory.
Lena was on her third brownie as she watched in some horror as Kara swallowed her twelfth. "I'm going to have to eat salad for a week."
"That's terrible," Kara's nose wrinkled. "Have you been to the Chinese buffet on 34th and Adams?"
The image of the calories this alien had to eat was baffling. "Do you eat vegetables, at all?"
Kara grinned like a schoolgirl sharing a secret. "Not very many, they don't taste as good as ice cream. And I know you humans agree with me. Ms. Grant likes burgers on top of her salad."
Lena laughed, and god, when was the last time she'd laughed? She brushed her fingers off. "I'll remember that for the next charity gala with her, I end up in. Thank you, for this."
"Oh right, I should get back to work. Sorry, I can stay late to make up the time?" Kara adjusted her glasses.
"No, you don't need to do that. I thought your supervisor called and offered you the week off, with pay?" Lena frowned slightly, it was company policy in cases of traumatizing events.
Kara made an 'oh shucks' sound. "Dr. Xie called and explained it, and the HR lady, who was very nice by the way. But I don't need time off." She paused looking at her. "You know, my friends and I do game nights on Fridays, you'd be welcome."
Lena was never going to stop being surprised by this woman. "I'm your boss…"
"You're my boss's, boss's, boss's, boss." Kara smiled that bright victory grin. "And everyone could always use more friends."
"I didn't come here to make friends, I came here to make a difference, to redeem the Luthor name, not that that seems possible with Lillian destroying it, again." Lena had bent too much, letting Kara feed her brownies. She couldn't take more ultimatums, more betrayal. And Kara didn't deserve to be painted with the Luthor brush, more than she already was.
Kara watched her, the awkwardness of boundaries that shouldn't have been crossed being reinforced not seeming to bother her at all. Just quiet concern on her face. "I understand you not wanting to be friends. But I've been the new girl in town, on the planet, and I put my guard up too, but I was miserable. And if I hadn't let someone in, my sister, I think I would have drowned in it. So if you change your mind, you're always welcome, and I happen to know all the best coffee shops and places to eat in the city. And I'm ready to eat, just, all the time." She smiled, "I'll leave you to your work though, Lena. Thank you again, for the very scary lawyer, I think Ms. Lance scared them as much as Alex did."
If she'd been a child, before Lillian had beat the habit out of her, Lena would have bit her lip in indecision, a desperate longing rising up against common sense. The words nearly burst out of her. "Wait!" Well, if she was going to break her own rules, she was going to do it completely. "I need something without sugar in it after the brownies. Coffee and you can tell me if your sister really arrested Detective Adams? Since you shouldn't be in the labs after yesterday, and the mob isn't braying for my blood today?"
"I won't let any angry mob hurt you, even if they aren't at the doors today." Kara beamed. "Have you been to Noonan's yet?"
Lena's expression felt more genuine as she accepted she was going to let this woman into her life. As more than an oddity of a hire for a lab she rarely if ever stepped foot in. And well, Kara had literally saved her life yesterday. At least if betrayal came it wouldn't be murder. "I take it Noonan's is a coffee shop we're headed to?" She was sure her security would appreciate the coffee. She should probably buy them pastries as well if she was making them escort her somewhere in public.
"Noonan's is only the best." Kara happily insisted. "Even Daisy agrees!"
Chapter 50Notes:TW: For Daisy's usual barely not suicidal mindset. Just heads up for that.
Final four chapters to go!
Chapter TextAlex dropped the two six packs of beer on the kitchen table, eying the laid-out maps and folders of papers. "You found something?"
"I think I've located every Cadmus base left." Daisy picked up one of the beers and popped the cap off with her bare hand. "I got weird looks printing this many maps." She pulled out a sheet, that was a map of the country, with twelve red highlighted spots, which would explain the twelve paperclipped folders. "And since we don't need them growing any more heads, we need them all gone by the end of next week."
Alex eyed the locations, she also didn't miss the marked spots where she knew bases Daisy had already wiped out were. "I haven't taken a vacation day in years and Lucy has me on desk duty because of the Lillian arrest."
Daisy shot her a wry look, "Are you surprised? Superiors don't like their agents going off the reservation."
"We got the head of Cadmus." Alex wasn't particularly upset about it, she didn't regret it. "I assume I can borrow a sidearm?"
"I've re-stocked from the raids, so how much firepower do you want?" Daisy looked at her clearly waiting for her order.
Alex grinned, so maybe her sister's girlfriend wasn't terrible. "How much firepower do you have? Because I saw what was in Kara's apartment."
Daisy reached for a tablet and started scrolling before clicking into something and passing it over. "Highlight what you want, we can grab it from the storage locker I stashed it in later."
"No one is taking anything that can blow up a tank." Kara cut in as she set down the pizza boxes. She was shooting them both a chastising glare. Only then she was smiling at both of them.
Alex cast a look at Daisy, getting the same look back. "So, how do we take out twelve bases at once?"
Daisy glanced between the two of them. "We pick two likely locations for keeping Jerimiah, feed the rest to Lane."
"How much intel do you have on these?" Alex frowned flipping up a folder, her eyes scanning the neatly typed-out report with relevant documents printed out. It was blatantly apparent she'd written intelligence reports for the government, or specifically the military before. But then, Alex already had known that about the woman.
"It's sketchy, Cadmus worked very hard to not have central servers, very compartmentalized operation. And they're not large. But following the money, and stealing all the intel I could from servers, it's something. Depends on the base. Some I have everything down to blueprints, others it's more guesswork." Daisy flipped open the top box, and pulled a piece of pizza out.
Alex frowned slightly. "Didn't you dating my sister mean less take out around? You have a grocery shopping app."
Daisy's face flushed slightly. "I tried to make a duck thing from the cookbook Kara got me. My apartment is airing out, not touching duck again for a while."
"It's the first inedible attempt in over a week." Kara bumped her shoulder into Daisy's. "And now we have an excuse for Chinese and Pizza."
"Winn's on his way with the Chinese?" Daisy checked, but there was a softness as she looked at Kara, as was only right. And expected of anyone who spent time around Kara.
"He should be here soon." Kara frowned looking at the map. "He'll need to run the backend?"
Alex hummed, she could see what Daisy was planning. "We'll need someone to run communication while the rest of us are boots on the ground."
Alex took a swig of her third beer, nothing harder since she needed a clear head for this. "So we can rule out the four bases with less than six regular personnel." She looked at Daisy for her to agree. It wasn't Winn or Kara who were military.
"Yeah, Jerimiah would have to be someplace big enough to maintain control for over a decade, or if brainwashing or something worked and he drank the Kool-Aid, he's too smart to be wasted someplace minor." Daisy frowned, tapping the table. "We can probably cross off the two big ones too, the risk of those being found by a Super is too high. Nothing highly damning would be kept there unless they wanted it found."
Winn pulled the folders being crossed out and added them to the DEO pile.
Kara frowned at the stack. "That still leaves us with six bases to where Jerimiah might be." She grabbed the black marker crossing off the bases they'd ruled out. "Does location matter?"
And that was…interesting. "Keeping him within plausible hearing distance of a Kryptonian who knew him would be a mistake." She took the black marker from Kara and crossed off two bases concerningly close to National City, and one near Metropolis.
"So three." Winn looked around them. "Why can't we take all three of these?"
Alex shoved the box of eggrolls toward him. "Once they realize we know about these places, they could go to ground."
Daisy hummed in agreement. "Every survivor is a risk of rebirthing Cadmus in a new form. Have to burn the fuckers out."
"You're talking like it's a hydra," Winn grumbled.
"Well, they like their Greek mythology and monsters. So let's burn the fuckers." Daisy probably didn't just mean that metaphorically. "Look at any monstrous organization, they don't just vanish when you 'win' against them. It's about hobbling whatever comes out afterward as much as possible."
Winn stabbed an eggroll with his chopsticks. "That is…depressing." He frowned. "How do we ensure when we raid, that the DEO is doing their raids?"
Alex looked at Daisy, and then back at the map, every piece she knew about the DEO resources. "Lucy will hit them fast and hard and as close to simultaneously as possible." It was the military option, and with how chaotic things were turning politically…it was the only way Lucy would be sure the President wouldn't try and stop her. She looked at Winn. "The day she picks, we move on our targets."
"Which leaves us back to which two." Kara frowned at the stack. "Lillian is mean. Just to be mean, not because it's smart." She bit her lip. "The one in Oregon. It's close, the right size, and she'd want Jeremiah near enough for it to hurt us, hurt him."
Alex swallowed. "The Oregon and Nevada bases then."
Daisy picked up the folder of the one in Louisiana and dropped it in the DEO pile. "Right, let's see what we can do to plan how we do this."
And she felt it, the burning determination that wasn't useless. They were going to really do it. Progress, and something like hope. She looked at her sister and reached out wrapping her fingers over Kara's hand.
////
Kara sighed as she flew through her apartment window, exhausted. But she paused at the sight of Daisy sitting on the couch, legs pulled up with her arms around her knees. She shot a look at the clock, it was four am. Kara's foot set down on the floor. "Daisy?"
Daisy looked up, and the expression on her face was painful. "Hey, sorry for just coming up here while you were gone."
"You're always welcome here, you know that." Kara unclipped her cape as she walked over, eyes never leaving her mate. "Nightmares?"
Daisy huffed, her expression wry. "Obvious, huh?"
Kara hesitated but then threw her cape over Daisy's shoulders before sitting on the opposite end of the couch, she didn't think that Daisy wanted to be touched. There was a tension in Daisy's shoulders.
Daisy's fingers touched the cape, she sniffed slightly, her eyes casting to Kara. "Ocean?"
"Shipwreck off the coast off of Alaska, fishing troller. Winn called when it hit his alerts at the DEO." Kara smiled. "Everyone survived, the fisherman even tried to give me a fish. Which kind of gross, and I'm not sure what I'd have done with it. I used heat vision to heat up hot chocolate for everyone."
Daisy made a slow, slight nod, something like warmth on her face as she pulled the cape around her slightly more securely, but her expression was dark. "That's good, sounds great really."
She didn't reach out, no matter how much she wanted to. Kara pulled off her boots so she could curl up on the couch, watching Daisy. "Do you want to talk about it?"
There wasn't a reply, not for a long time. Daisy's eyes not really focused, but looking at the fabric of the couch. But she did speak, finally. "I have a sister." Daisy's voice was soft, like it hurt her to say. "Her name is Kora."
Kara sucked in a startled breath. Because…what? But also, everything about Daisy was silently screamingwith turmoil. So she was careful, "Kora?"
Daisy's fingers pinched, rolling the red fabric between them. "Time travel, so she died before I was born, but now she's seventeen. I've only been in the same room as her…a dozen times?" Daisy shook her head. "Ten, I've been in the same room as her ten times."
Kara wet her lips. "What happened?"
"What didn't?" Daisy scoffed before her shoulders curled inward. "In the original timeline, she committed suicide. In a field of daisies. She couldn't control her powers, so she killed herself. The loss is why Jiaying left Afterlife and met my dad a few years later. But time travel, and suddenly Kora was alive, and it was all…complicated."
Kara stayed quiet, listening.
There was a pause as Daisy seemed to gather her words. Her fingers traced through the fabric where the massive Y-shaped scar down her front was. "It was my fault our mom died in my timeline, and in the one where Kora lived it was hers. Dead mom, the genocide of our people, and I was given a choice. I could go and save Kora, who I'd met once, or I could go save Jemma, my best friend, the closest thing to a sister I'd ever had. I chose Jemma."
"Did you save Jemma?" Kara knew nothing made any of this less awful. But if Daisy managed to save Jemma, that was something. And Daisy'd mentioned Jemma before, never as if she was dead. And Kara hoped desperately she was right.
"I did." Daisy blew out a long breath. "I was trying to leave SHIELD, had been trying to leave for over a year by then. But it never stopped, there was always something that they needed me for. I knew…it shouldn't have hurt, when she and Fitz asked me to die for them. Again."
"Daisy…" Kara reached out then, her hand laying down over Daisy's knee, the sharp stab of pain. The gaping horror at the idea she might not have ever met Daisy. "You died?"
Daisy's eyes closed. "When you lifted Myriad up, you described it as cold." Her eyes opened, her eyes meeting Kara's for the first time. "Because space is cold, so's death. For humans, the change in pressure…your blood feels like it boils as you die. And it was awful, but it was…I wanted it. To die. It felt like…it wasn't how I wanted to leave, but it felt inevitable, I could finally stop." Her voice cracked, reaching up wiping roughly at her eyes, refusing to cry. "But then Kora brought me back."
Kara wanted to cry for Daisy, she didn't think enough people had.
"I've died twice now and been brought back." Daisy swallowed thickly, her gaze not leaving Kara's face. "I've never been allowed to die, Kara. I don't want to die, I like it here, this is…fuck, it's probably the happiest I've just been in…I don't know. Ever? But if I die, don't bring me back. I don't want to be brought back."
And it wasn't a question, no matter how much she wanted to shrink away from the very idea of it, Kara knew grief, and she hadn't been allowed to shrink from it since she was a child. "I promise, I won't let anyone try."
Daisy's hand dropped on Kara's hand. "Thank you, and still do CPR though."
Kara's smile was sad, but she still smiled, shifting her hand and threading her fingers with Daisy's. "Still do CPR, got it."
"Thank you, and I'm sorry for…asking." Daisy squeezed Kara's hand.
She shook her head, "Don't be." Kara knew her brow had a crinkle in it. "Kora's still in your world?"
Daisy let out a long breath. "Yeah, she wanted to be a hero, to be the SHIELD agent. And I couldn't stay, even for her. She didn't want to hear anything I had to say that wasn't what she wanted me to say. I offered to take her with me, here. But I couldn't stay for her. I'd been trying too hard to get out."
Kara understood, or not entirely. But she understood the pain of how things with family…could be all twisted up. How what your family wanted from you could be all wrong. She wasn't sure if she was pushing at something that shouldn't be pushed at or not. "Do you think you'll ever see her again?"
"I don't know." Daisy's voice was rough. "She knows how to follow if she wants. But she's as stubborn as I am and hates me." She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face. "She wanted me to be perfect, and I'm not. And I couldn't…if I'd stayed for her, been what she wanted I'd have been SHIELD still. Maybe it's wrong I didn't stay."
"No, you didn't do the wrong thing." Kara stopped holding herself back, very awkward position Daisy was in notwithstanding. She pulled Daisy into her arms. And Daisy let her, even if she didn't unfold from the ball she'd curled herself into. Kara just hugged her mate. "You can say no. That's never wrong."
The air around Daisy hummed, briefly, a buzzing feel traveling through Kara's arms from where she was holding her. And no doubt she was biting back examples of when saying 'no' was wrong. Purposely completely missing the point. But she didn't say any of the contrary things that no doubt were on her tongue. Because Daisy was buzzing with discomfort. Instead, the buzzing faded, and Daisy tilted into her ever so slightly. "Thanks."
Kara pressed a kiss against the top of Daisy's head, before settling her cheek against Daisy's hair, and just holding her. It took a moment to realize Daisy was crying. And it hurt, like swallowing kryptonite, that Daisy cried silently. Because she knew why she did. And it cracked her heart to know it wasn't because Daisy had hidden it from people who cared, but more likely because no one had cared.
Kara's fingers traced Kryptonian glyphs on Daisy's back. The fabric of the cotton t-shirt was soft against the pads of Kara's fingers, the early morning sounds of the city outside the apartment felt faded and distant. It felt trance-like, the in-between being asleep and awake. Laying here where she'd managed to stretch out on the couch with Daisy on top of her; her in her supersuit still while Daisy was in pajamas, the cape the only blanket over them. It didn't feel quite real, and kinda completely real.
The soft light of the sun rising pulled Kara's attention. She could see it, in the softening of the darkness. And she knew…she didn't want the sun to finish rising and to just go off to work, leaving Daisy to RadioShack and Cadmus. It'd be wrong. So she risked possibly waking Daisy, not that she thought she was asleep. "We should go camping."
There was a rumbling grumble from Daisy. "Camping?"
Kara was just pleased at the response, even if it didn't sound particularly happy. "Yes, like a vacation. It'll be fun."
"Have you even been camping?" Daisy asked disbelief in her tone, clearly dubious about the whole thing.
"It's nature and hiking, you could really see the stars!" Kara smiled as Daisy picked her head up from her shoulder, looking at her with so much doubt it was kind of hilarious.
Daisy stared at her. "You're serious. You want to go camping?"
Kara nodded, "Yes. You wanted to retire, and instead, you're fighting a war for me. I think if I leave you anywhere that has wifi access you'll find a way to be a hero."
Daisy's whole face went soft. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against Kara's. "You're not allowed to be this nice."
"Nope, you can't stop me." Kara's fingers still absently tracing against Daisy's back muscles as she sighed happily.
Daisy pulled back, "Does it have to be camping?"
"What's wrong with camping?" Kara giggled slightly.
"I'm a city girl, Kara. Cities, concrete, wifi. Do you know how awful SERE training is? May dumped me in that because she didn't have time to 'teach me the basics'." Her gaze was dry. "I ate bugs, Kara. Nature sucks."
Kara's nose wrinkled at the bugs part, but she was genuinely smiling. The relief to see Daisy so much more settled. That she'd helped her. Even if she hadn't been sure she was doing the right thing at all. "But it'd be us, no superhero stuff, no bad guys, just stars."
"Bugs that will only try and eat me." Daisy's brow was raised, but her eyes were soft, and there was a lilt to her mouth that said she was content.
"We can bring bug spray. Or those candles, the ones that keep the bugs away. Because that spray smells terrible." Kara was warm straight through like this, being here in this moment.
Daisy huffed, dropping her head back against Kara's shoulder. Her voice a mumble. "You're lucky you're cute, Zrhueiao."
Kara's face flushed, which was ridiculous, it was just a term of endearment. But then…Kara's heart thudded in her chest as her eyes widened as they snapped to the top of Daisy's head. "You said Zrhueiao?" Her mouth was suddenly incredibly dry. She could just see the tip of Daisy's nose scrunch slightly.
"Was the pronunciation terrible?" Daisy's tone was half apologizing.
"How…that's Kryptonian." And Kara's arm had wrapped around Daisy, her heart cracking again but in such a sharply wonderful way she couldn't have described it.
Daisy hummed, "I haven't learned much, yet. Was it that bad?"
"You're learning Kryptonian." Kara tightened her arms around Daisy. Her eyes squeezed shut as she pressed her nose into Daisy's hair. She was never letting her mate go anywhere.
////
Daisy was sipping from a travel mug as she reached her workstation. Red polo shirt and khaki pants on. Even if the caffeine was mostly a placebo effect since the serum, she needed it after last night. She paused as she saw Drew heading for her. Looking up, both hands curling around the mug, she watched him approach.
"Johnson!" Drew was holding a printed-out sheet. "Did you tell a customer to grow a brain!?"
"He brought his laptop in, six times in a week and a half for the same problem." Daisy ignored where Fred had just choked. She wasn't intimidated by Drew of mediocrity and power tripping because of a manager promotion.
Drew puffed up like a gopher. "You are in customer service!"
Daisy sipped from her coffee. "It was that or tell him to stop downloading octopus videos off questionable websites and to just get a membership at the aquarium." She actually had no idea what the guy's thing with octopus videos was. Because it wasn't weird porn, it was just…octopus's. He just kept torrenting like foreign aquarium tank streams and giving himself the worst viruses.
"You also told him to do that!" Drew raised his hand jabbing his finger at her. "Stop insulting the customers or you'll be looking for a new job!" He turned on his heel, marching off.
She rocked back on her heels. "Think he'll actually fire me?"
"There's three of us for tech support, and you're part-timer." Fred snorted. "It's his funeral if he fires you."
Daisy shrugged, it wasn't like she was that attached to the job. She turned only to pause at the sigh of the small vase with daisies on her desk. "When did…"
"Your girlfriend dropped them off about twenty minutes ago." Fred said from where he was unscrewing the casing of a laptop that looked like it'd been run over by a truck. "Just a friend, huh?"
She couldn't help smiling to herself as she took her seat and pulled up her tickets for the day. "I may have missed the obvious there."
He snorted, "The Karen's computer build is all yours."
"Thanks, it's like you want me to get fired." Daisy wasn't worried, it was like the problem customers could sense they weren't going to get anywhere with her. She wasn't above admitting she found joy in watching their dreams of harassing their way to victory die.
"Just think, if she leaves a bad review, Drew will be back." Fred was enjoying this too much.
Daisy hit print on the ticket. "Maybe I'll charm her."
"Johnson, white picket fence people are allergic to you."
She glanced at the clock. "You take octopus guy when he comes back if I can charm our Karen of the day?"
"Deal." Fred agreed instantly.
Daisy smiled as she waved at their terrorist, Maggie, who was happily walking out of the building. The pulling of her hair up into a high school varsity soccer girl ponytail, change of make-up to strictly traditional, buttoned-up polo, and sticking some shiny stickers to her name tag had worked like a charm. Also the perky valley girl voice. She turned, popping a gum bubble as she looked at Drew and Fred. Her voice was still obnoxiously perky. "Well look at that boys, I'm a charming young lady."
"What the fuck." Fred was gaping. "How…how are you doing that?"
Daisy reached up taking out the ponytail, shaking her back down. "I'm everyone's type. Have fun getting Russian spam off Octopus Guy's computer."
Chapter 51Notes:Yo! We're getting close!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextKara set her prized box down on the table as she sat with Katie and Felix, who were kind of work friends! She was excited she was making friends now! Even if they weren't in her department. "Hey guys!"
"Kara," Felix greeted as he added dressing to his lunch salad. "You're looking perkier than usual today."
"I got cupcakes, do you want one?" She opened up the box of a dozen cupcakes, each with icing petals like flowers on them.
Katie whistled. "Those are gorgeous, did you pick them up at your first break?"
Kara's smile felt silly, but she felt all warm and bubbly. "Daisy sent them."
"This is better than flowers to you, isn't it?" Katie took the offer, picking up a purple rose one. She looked at Felix. "You're splitting this with me."
He sighed. "You're going to ruin my diet." But he didn't sound upset about it.
"So much better than flowers." Kara lifted one neatly from the box. "And she's making this Hunan Beef dish, lots of spices!" She paused before taking a bite of the pastel pink cupcake she'd pulled out. "How are your days going?"
Katie smiled while neatly cutting the purple cupcake in half. "Well, since Supergirl got the mob to go terrorize government buildings instead of us, the front desk hasn't been too bad. Triple security, but they're more comforting than anything else."
Felix made a hum of agreement, "Working on a patent request for the new window sealant. Not sure I want to know what it was originally made for." He stabbed at his salad. "Ms. Lance is on a warpath about something above my paygrade though." He leaned forward. "Personally, I think her boyfriend forgot an anniversary or something."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Katie said while picking up her wrap. "What was it last time, her birthday?"
"Hmm, I don't know why she puts up with him." Felix tilted his head. "He's hot, but there's got to be limits."
Kate shot a look at Kara. "He says this, but his last boyfriend was a DJ."
Kara popped the lid off her container of leftovers from takeout the night before. "What's wrong with a DJ?"
"So many things…but not his abs." Felix sighed. "But at least I didn't date Victor."
Katie tipped her head. "Victor was perfect until he started talking. And then he wouldn't stop talking about his thoughts on feminism."
It was new, but she liked these two. And she had super hearing, she knew the other employees were avoiding both of them for spending time with her. She could probably get them to eat a second cupcake, they were really good. "I haven't dated someone like Daisy before."
"As in her vibe or the dating part?" Felix asked, dumping the chicken on his salad before taking a bite.
Kara was never quite sure how these conversations should go with humans, but she was pretty sure she was doing it right. "Both?"
Kara was through her sixth cupcake when her phone buzzed. She opened it up, expecting a Winn alert to go do something Super. It was a message from James. She swallowed. "Oh, um…that text alert for if a Luthor is a supervillain? It's about to go off for Lex."
Katie and Felix both went completely rigid. Katie's voice was tense. "What did he do?"
"The Tribune is about to release an article on their website and on the tv subsidiaries before the full expose in the paper tomorrow." Kara looked up at them. "One of the reporters, Amira Ahmed, found financial ties between him and every guard at the prison he's in." And she knew Daisy'd found more. It wasn't even a bet who'd dropped the bait there for the reporters to pick up.
"Fuck."
////
Lucy stepped into the armory, the door closing behind her. She looked to the unlocked door into the room they stored the kryptonite in. "I'm impressed you waited this long."
"Been busy, and Superman was dragging his feet." Daisy pushed off the wall she was leaning against.
"I presume the kryptonite is dust then?" Lucy found it interesting to see Daisy dressed as Quake, but at the same time, no mask, and just herself as well. The in-between of Daisy Johnson and Quake.
"Yup, also, wasn't expecting the Lex story to drop today, Amira followed the intel I passed to her like a bloodhound. Was expecting her to take another week." Daisy tossed her a USB drive.
Lucy slid the drive into a pocket, it wasn't like the cameras were on. They'd all been looping when she'd walked down here, and Daisy had no reason to turn on her. "I assume Lex won't be an issue much longer?"
"No." Daisy's head cocked. "Does that bother you?"
She considered this odd alliance she'd made in a gutted apartment weeks ago. "You're making powerful enemies. And we both know Supergirl will flinch from the violence you're enacting, it's shocking she hasn't already."
Daisy blew out a breath. "I don't like killing." She met Lucy's eyes. "But if I do this now, right now, hundreds won't die later. We both know if Cadmus gets roots set down they'll inspire a level of violence and hate that will take decades to remove if it's even possible. And while you're right to think Supergirl's a far better person than me, why does everyone think she's against killing? She works with you."
Lucy felt her eyes narrow. But then…how many aliens and humans did the DEO kill in a year? It wasn't like Kara could possibly be unaware. That detail had never been a thread she'd pulled before. But Kara knew the condition of their cells. The violence they enacted. Her mother had been a high judge on her planet, her aunt a General. That was…an alarming thing to consider.
And more alarming…Kara had killed, hadn't she? Not even just in the choice not to save people that she had made before putting on the cape. Non's body, with his eyes burned out from his head. How many aliens had been on Ft. Rozz when Kara threw it into space? Had anyone even spoken to her about it? Fuck, had they even filled out paperwork recording that? They had to have.
Lucy changed the topic. "When is my father's domino going to fall?"
"I gave the information to your sister, what she does with it is her business. If she hasn't dropped anything on him by Monday I'll give it to someone else."
Lucy shook her head. "Don't do that, you're dumping too much at once."
Daisy's hands fell on her hips. "Legal opinion?"
"Opinion knowing you're about to murder Lex Luthor." Lucy replied dryly. "They can't take more than two monsters in a week."
"Ok, I can contact Lois, if you don't want to." Because she was a decent person, for as terrifyingly deadly as the woman was.
Lucy's shoulders set more firmly. "No, if we're going to set back the anti-alien movement twenty years, I need to be capable of speaking to my sister."
Daisy nodded. "Fair. The information on that drive, Wednesday afternoon."
"You and time limits." Lucy looked at her watch and then back at the woman. "Speaking of which, security sweep will be here in five minutes."
"Only need two." Daisy pulled the goggles and lower face mask on. She didn't turn it on though, just adjusting it on her face.
Lucy would despair for DEO security if she didn't know Daisy was a hacker, black-ops, and alien abilities. "Good luck."
"You too." Daisy clicked her mask on, the mask lighting up. The unnerving face, unblinking as it faced her.
Shaking her head Lucy turned and left the room. She had things to think about, work to do, a meeting with the President to arrange. And ensuring the paperwork didn't say Supergirl had murdered her uncle.
////
Cat Grant walked into Amira's office and shut the door. "Ah, good, you're still here."
"Ms. Grant?" Her reporter straightened in her seat, reading glasses perched on her nose.
"Close your laptop." She waited for the click of the closed laptop before setting a bottle of the most expensive ginger ale the assistant of the week had managed to procure on the desk. "I would have brought an aged whiskey but you're Muslim. HR would have sent an email, it would have been wasted on you, a pointless mess."
Amira picked up the glass bottle of specialty ginger ale. "I'm needed at the studio in an hour?"
"To discuss your findings about Lex Luthor, yes, I approved pulling you for it." Well, it was nice to know she'd beat the news in getting to the woman. "There's something you need to know. I'm amazing at a lot of things, but a soft touch is not a thing I am often complimented on. So band-aid off quickly then." Telling a person they'd gotten a man killed wasn't a typical problem to be dealt with. "Lex Luthor is dead."
Amira's eyes widened slightly. "How?"
This part would not be comforting. "Brain liquified, hole through the room of his cell. She hasn't claimed responsibility."
"That was faster than I expected." Amira leaned back tapping her fingers on the surface of the desk, her brow furrowing. "She's in endgame then."
Well wasn't that interesting. "You knew you were setting up Lex Luthor to be murdered?"
"He's a mass murdering serial killer who got life in prison because he was rich and his intended victim was an alien." Amira's gaze was cutting. "He's been capable of leaving his prison since his third month there. It was a matter of time before we had another massacre. Of course, Quake was going to remove him from the board."
Cat took the seat across from her. "I find myself surprised, a rare thing." She had been overlooking the newer talent at the Tribune.
////
Daisy landed on Lena's balcony and clicked off the mask as she slid open the door. She took in Lena sitting on her couch, bent over, a bottle of scotch on the table in front of her, the lights off. The news had gotten here faster than she'd made it. She walked over before coming to a halt. What was there to say?
"It's real then?" Lena looked up, her eyes red.
"Yes."
Lena gave the faintest of nods. "Well then. Did he suffer?"
"No."
Lena reached out and poured a slightly concerning amount of scotch into the partially filled tumbler in front of her. "Well, you might as well have a drink then, Quake."
"You want to have a drink…with me?" Daisy glanced around the office, and Lena had sent her office staff home. She couldn't feel a heartbeat for several rooms. She edged slightly closer, before awkwardly perching on the edge of the coffee table. "How much have you had already?"
"Does it matter? Drinking this whole bottle won't change the fact my brother was a life-ruining monster." And 'ah'. Lena was drunk.
Daisy picked up the bottle of scotch and unhooked the lower face mask, letting it drop around her neck. She took a tiny sip. If there was poison, her system could probably tank it. But she was going to wait to be sure before she risked another sip.
Lena took a generous swig from her tumbler. Huh, heterochromia, one of her eyes was green, the other a greenish blue. And she looked gutted. "You know Lex was the one person who made me proud to be a Luthor. Made me feel loved."
"What was he like, as a kid?" Daisy asked. She didn't flinch from the sharpness from Lena then. "Like as a kid. I'm assuming it wasn't torturing small animals and cackling like a cartoon villain."
"No, he'd have seen that as gauche." Lena hesitated. "Why would you want to know any of that? He's dead."
It was a gamble. But she knew it was the moment to make it. She raised the bottle of scotch to her lips and swallowed more than a mouthful, before setting it on the table, out of Lena's reach. Woman was drunk enough already. And then, Daisy didn't need to lie in the least. "I know what it means for the people you love to become monsters, or maybe to have always been monsters but you never saw it." She shrugged. "And who else are you going to tell? A therapist you have too many trust issues to see?"
"It's not paranoia if they are really out to get you." Lena knocked back her own scotch.
"You're not wrong." It wasn't like Daisy'd have spoken to a therapist without direct orders to do it. "They put me in anger management therapy as a kid. Like talking to someone would make over thirty foster homes by the time I was sixteen better."
Lena seemed to realize the scotch was out of reach if she didn't want to physically stand up. "You're in my office."
Daisy weighed her options. But she tipped her head and picked up the bottle, pouring two fingers into Lena's tumbler. Woman was going to need a puke bucket by her bed if she had much more. "So tiny Lex, piano and chess?"
"I was better than him at chess, he hated losing." Lena looked away from her, not that she was seeing anything in the room. "He protected me from Lillian, Lionel, the press. He was my hero. I should have known better, he tried to have me killed." She raised her tumbler toward her. "I appreciate being alive from that."
"Your parents sucked."
Lena half choked, half laughed. "Elegantly put."
She grinned slightly. "You ever let Lex win at chess?"
"Never," Her lips curled. "He'd have never forgiven me for letting him win. It'd have been worse than losing to his little sister. I should have, just to see the look on his face."
"See, I never graduated high school, nobody ever doubts they've won fair and square if I let them have a win." Daisy had never minded letting various foster siblings, foster parents, even the team sometimes, have an easy win. People liked you more when they were happy, winning made them happy.
Lena's brow furrowed, even if there was a glazed quality to her eyes as she looked at her. "You're a hacker, a phenomenal one. I'd hire you if you weren't." Lena waved to all of her. "You're clearly intelligent."
"No fancy college degree, no high school diploma, even when they should know better, everyone underestimates street trash." She took another drink from the scotch decanter. "Are you saying your brother wouldn't have thrown a fit to know it was someone like me, an uneducated, fucked up science experiment, who was the one to find his little prison palace scheme and bring it all crashing down?"
"He'd never have believed it." Lena scoffed. "It'd be worse than the tantrum he threw when he lost the National Science Fair when he was eight. The only year he ever lost."
Daisy hummed. "Lost it huh? What did an eight-year-old Lex Luthor's tantrum look like?"
Daisy sighed, looking up at the familiar sound of a cape. "You came."
"Of course I did." Kara's nose scrunched. "Is Lena drunk?"
"She was drunk when I found her, I'm not sure how much of this she's going to remember when she wakes up." Daisy sighed. "We're not leaving her for her security to get home."
Kara pulled up, "Of course not, the media is camped out there too."
"And you can actually fly a drunk person out of their skyscraper office to their skyscraper apartment." Daisy pointed at herself. "And if a photographer gets a shot of 'Quake' carrying off Lena Luthor?"
"It would be really bad." Kara easily scooped up the passed-out Lena into her arms from the couch. "Um…where am I taking her?"
"Her apartment, it's the penthouse at Jackson and Pine." Daisy put the scotch decanter on the sideboard. "I'll meet you there? I'm going to have to hit the roof and go straight up to avoid anyone realizing I was ever here."
"Do you have a key for her apartment?" Kara asked, her hold of Lena protective.
Daisy smiled under her mask, Kara'd been right about Lena, at least so far. "Her purse is on the desk."
Daisy found the bottle of ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet. She pulled it out, "You find a puke bucket?"
"Trashcan, I double-bagged it." Kara called from the bedroom.
"Smart." Daisy walked out of the bathroom with the bottle. "Come on, let's get her shoes off and get her pinned on her side so she can't aspirate." She set the bottle down on the nightstand. "And you already did the shoe thing." She caught the decorative couch pillow that Kara'd tossed at her.
"Super speed." Kara teased, as she very gently adjusted the unconscious Lena on her side, cramming pillows behind her to prevent rolling onto her back.
Daisy huffed in amusement as she added to the pillow wall to keep Lena safely secure. "Which is very unfair."
"Should we put dinner in her fridge?" Kara asked, her gaze sweeping the perfectly put-together but empty-looking penthouse.
"Yeah, if you drop it by? Someone should probably check on her later anyway and I don't trust her security team further than I could chuck them." Daisy paused, she could throw people into space. "Further than Lena can chuck them."
Notes:And just a quick note on why Lena is less angry about Lex here than in canon. A. From her point of view, he's just tried to murder her, like a couple weeks ago. B. There was never a post-turning the sun red interaction for them. So like he didn't get hooks into her again post pissing her off enough for her to throw him under the legal bus. C. There's no level of perceived betrayal in his death for her to deal with. Quake was quite honest from the beginning about the realities of her position on Luthor shit. D. She did not kill him herself so she's not trying to desperately avoid that reality because she can't deal with it. E. Cadmus and all that horror is kinda top of mind for her and the realities of what Lex&Lillian have been doing is kind of a non-stop horror show she can't look away from or deny.