Chapter 23
AN: Hi, as some people have (rather rudely) messaged me about, yes I do have a lot of people. But they all serve a purpose. That purpose could be comedic quips, but it is still a purpose. So stop being mean.
"What are you doing?" Ru whispered to Will.
"Totally not planning a prank with Becca," Will said, showing her the messages between the two.
"You're more of a child then Sammy," Ru rolled her eyes.
"Rude," Will muttered.
Kara Danvers
"This is ridiculous," Malcolm shook his head, watching as Maggie walked over.
"I know," Kara nodded.
"I've never seen an arsonist so excited to get caught," Maggie remarked.
"That's because it was a religious experience for him," Kara told her. "He set the fire to join a cult that worships me. The man who leads it, this guy named Coville, thinks that being saved by Supergirl anoints you, so he set the fire so I would save him."
"I don't want to be worshipped, especially not if it will make people put themselves in danger because of me," Kara said.
"What if you weren't here?" Maggie frowned.
"That's what's worrying me," Oliver said grimly.
"Coville is telling people to put themselves at risk," Kara told Maggie. "He needs to be arrested."
"Unless Coville specifically told that kid to harm himself and others, he's protected," Maggie shook his head. "It's freedom of speech."
"Yeah, if it can't be proven, he can't be arrested, even if he is doing it."
"But he holds sway over these people as their pastor!"
"People can worship whatever they want," Maggie shrugged. "It's called freedom of religion."
"There's gotta be something you can do before this escalates!"
"Until Coville breaks the law, my hands are tied," Maggie shook her head, stepping into her cruiser. "I'm sorry."
Kara sighed, watching Maggie drive off. "Come on," Oliver put a hand on Kara's shoulder. "Let's go."
"Cause you're glaring at the ground so hard there might be heat vision marks on it soon."
Samantha Arias
"OK, I just finished my homework," Ruby looked up from where she sat on the floor of Sam's office. "Can we practice my song now?"
"What about your extra credit project for French?" Sam asked, not looking up from her computer. Ruby responded in French, making Sam blink.
"Not that French class actually did anything. I don't speak a word of French," Ru said.
"That's true for every foreign language class though," Will said.
"True," Ru nodded.
"OK . . . I'm assuming that means you're done with that as well. I'm sorry, babe. I have this pile of work to do. Can you start your research paper?"
"But you said we'd practice my song!" Ruby complained.
"You're being a bit whiny there. Ow!" Will yelped as she elbowed him in annoyance.
"I know," Sam winced.
"Excuse me, Ms. Arias?" a man knocked on the door. "I just got a call from JQB. There's a problem with the merger."
"What kind of problem?" Sam knitted her eyebrows.
"Morgan Edge just lodged an anti-trust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission."
Everyone groaned as they heard Morgan Edge's name.
"Are we really gonna have to keep hearing about him?" James said.
"Until he's dealt with," Will nodded.
"He did what?" Sam scowled, taking the paper handed to her.
"Mom?" Ruby whispered.
"I'm sorry, babe, I have to deal with this," Sam apologized, standing up.
"Mom!"
"Ruby, this is really important," Sam insisted, following the man out. "OK, we start by getting the commissioner on the phone, so get me a number. I am not letting this merger fall apart."
Kara Danvers
"We'll be right here if you need us," Oliver told Kara, kissing her cheek as they stopped outside where the cult was held.
"Just call," Malcolm nodded.
"OK," Kara took a deep breath as Laurel gave her an encouraging smile.
Kara entered the building, letting Oliver, Malcolm, and Laurel stand in the doorway, then walked further in. Coville was inside, looking like he was setting up for another meeting. "Can I help you?" he asked, turning when he saw her.
"Hi," Kara walked up to him. "My name is Kara Danvers."
"Oh, yes," Coville nodded, shaking her hand. "I remember you from last night."
"He does?" Black Siren said in confusion. "That's odd."
"Yes, I'm a reporter at CatCo Magazine."
"CatCo," Coville smiled. "I love that Cat Grant."
"Yeah," Kara nodded. "I'm actually researching an article about your religion. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"
"Oh," Coville blinked, then smiled. "Always happy to talk about what we're up to."
"So," Kara cleared her throat. "One of your followers, he was in a fire last night. He almost died."
"I heard," Coville nodded. "He wanted to test his faith, and he was rewarded. Supergirl saved him."
"I really don't like him," Kara said, everyone in from the future nodding, agreeing with her.
"He burned the building down. Other people could've gotten hurt."
"But they didn't. As was Rao's way."
Kara stared at him blankly, then scoffed. "I . . . I think it's admirable that you want to help people. I mean, logically, Supergirl can't save everyone. There's only one of her."
"Its not possible for me to save everyone, and I don't want people to get hurt because they believe I'm a god," Kara muttered.
Coville looked at her, then tilted his head. "Is this a test?" he asked.
Kara paused, blinking. "Excuse me?"
"Did you come here to test my faith?" Coville asked. "Supergirl?"
"How did he know?" Kara said in shock
Kara's heart skipped a beat, and she rapidly shook her head. "I'm not – I'm not!"
"I looked into your eyes from my seat on that plane," Coville walked up to her. "When you look into the eyes of God, you do not forget."
"That's kind of creepy," Iris said, Caitlin nodding.
Kara swallowed hard and turned to leave. "Guys!" she called, her voice cracking. "Guys!"
"Wait!" Coville cried, and she froze in place, even when she heard running footsteps approach. "Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me!"
"He knows?" Oliver asked sharply as he rounded the corner, Malcolm and Laurel behind him.
"As Rao says, 'Let my God walk amongst you and shelter Her,'" Coville continued, not seeming to notice the three newcomers.
"I'm not god," Kara said.
"I am not God," Kara hissed, storming up to him. "Rao is!"
Kara was seething, and Agent Danvers had to get up and lead Kara out of the room before Kara started yelling at the screen.
"Rao says even his Gods can lose their way," Coville told her. "If you're lost, I can help you."
Kara and Agent Danvers walked back in.
"I am not lost," Kara muttered.
He walked away to retrieve something, and Malcolm frowned, seeing a prism-like device he retrieved. "What is that?"
"A data crystal," Kara said.
"Better question, where did you get that?" Kara asked.
"I found every artifact of Krypton there was to find," Coville answered, walking over. "This contains Rao's words. This can remind you of what Rao says."
"I remember what he says," Kara growled.
"I know what Rao says!" Kara spat, yanking the device from his hands. "You are perverting it!" She took a deep breath, then took off her glasses. "You're going to stop having these meetings," she said. "You're going to stop telling people to put themselves in danger. If I am a God, you need to do as I say. You need to trust me."
"I trust you," Coville nodded.
Kara swallowed, then nodded jerkily, turning and heading for the door. Oliver, Malcolm, and Laurel were right behind her.
"He didn't say he would stop holding the meetings," Harry pointed out.
"Do you really want to make her even madder right now?" Ollie said, gesturing to Kara, who was angry.
Samantha Arias
"Baby?" Sam said as she opened the door to her office. "I'm finally, finally – "
She cut off, seeing Ruby fast asleep on the couch in the office. She sighed and pulled off her jacket, placing it over Ruby. She heard the door open again, and looked up as Lena entered quietly. "Love that couch," Lena smiled. "So many stress naps happened there."
"So many," Lena nodded.
Sam smiled and nodded. "The update," she said, heading to her desk. "Morgan Edge tried to get the FTC to quash the merger, but I got the complaint dismissed. The merger is finally done."
"Congratulations," Lena smiled. "You saved the deal and a lot of jobs this week. Really good work, Sam." Sam nodded, but she didn't look happy. "Sam?" Lena blinked, concerned.
"I'm sorry," Sam choked out, rubbing her face as she blinked away tears. "Oh, this is so unprofessional!"
"Sam, you are my friend. Never feel bad about showing emotion. Sometimes we all need to show some emotion," Lena said to her.
"What's the matter?" Lena asked, sitting down across from Sam.
"I'm just screwing up!" Sam groaned, her voice choked as she sat down. "Not with work, with Ruby. All she wanted to do was practice her song with me, and I kept saying 'no, later, later,' and . . . " She sighed. "I mean, look at her! I just feel like the worst mother." Sam frowned, seeing Lena's lips were curved upwards.
"You are not the worst mother," Ruby said.
"Remember... above all else, you could not be worse than my mother," Lena said, making Sam smile.
"Why are you smiling?" she sniffed, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Because I actually had the worst mother, objectively speaking," Lena answered. "So I find your self appraisal a little funny."
"Exactly," Lena nodded.
"I let my kid fall asleep on my couch in the office," Sam reminded her. "It's not great."
"That might've happened anyway. I was really tired," Ru said.
"She fell asleep watching her mom work hard," Lena reminded her. "She may not understand the ins and outs, but she knows what's important, and you're the only one who can fix it. That's how you raise a girl to be a badass."
"And she is a badass," Will nodded.
"Aw, flatterer," Ru said to him.
"Yeah," Sam smirked. "She already is a badass."
"Yeah, 'cause she's loved," Lena smiled. "And she knows it."
James Olsen
James walked past CatCo's balcony, only to pause when he saw Kara out on it, fiddling with something in her hands. Frowning, he walked out to join her. "Hey, you OK?"
Kara looked up at him, then sighed. "Our religion was so important on Krypton," she said. "Not just spiritually, but it was our community."
"It was... important to us. We would spend the religious holiday's dancing in the streets in honor of him. We were not just a scientific community. We loved the arts," Kara said.
"It sounds like it was wonderful," Oliver said.
"Yeah," James nodded. "That's how I felt every Sunday at my church."
"I didn't realize how much I missed it until I heard those prayers again," Kara confessed. "But Coville's teachings are so misguided. I tried to tell him, but he only hears what he wants to hear. I mean, how do I tell him that my sister was on a crashing plane and he just got lucky?" She sighed, then took the device and headed back inside. "He knows I'm Supergirl."
"Whoa, how?" James balked, hurrying after. "Wait, what? That's not good!"
"I can fight so many things, but I don't know how to fight someone's belief!" Kara huffed, plopping down on the couch inside James's office. "He's blinded by faith."
James sighed, sitting across from her. "Let me ask you . . . what makes somebody blind just because they believe? You know how I met Superman?"
"At the Daily Planet," Kara said in a "duh" voice.
"Not Clark. Superman."
"No, that's your cousin, Clark," James shook his head. "So one day, I climbed up this bridge spire to get this angle on this tanker fire. It was beautiful. It was great. There was a lot of smoke in the air. I got light-headed, and I lost my footing, and I fell, and I knew for sure that I was going to die. So I just prayed. I prayed to anything, to anyone who was listening, to save me. And then out of this smoke came this hand and grasped mine, and that was the first time Superman saved me, same way you did Coville."
"My biology absorbs solar radiation at a different rate than humans," Kara frowned. "What about that is miraculous?"
"Everything. You are a miracle."
"In this life, prayer normally doesn't work," James shook his head. "Nobody shows up. But Clark did, and you do." Kara frowned, leaning back. "Kara, you're something that we can see, something that we can touch. How are you not a miracle?"
"I've never thought of it that way," Kara said thoughtfully.
Kara didn't say anything, and James shrugged, reaching for her device. "And at least you got a part of your culture back. I mean, that's . . . that's something – "
"I guess that is something," Kara nodded.
He cut off when he held the device a certain way, and a holographic image of a man appeared. "Greetings, new friends," the figure said, and slowly, James placed the device down on the table. "If you're watching me, you've received a collection of works and history from Krypton."
"What is that?" James asked.
"I think I need to get back to the D.E.O.," Kara swallowed, grabbing the device and hurrying off.
Winn Schott
"Winn?"
"Mmm?" Winn looked up from his work.
"I need you to run a scan on a Betahedron signature," Kara answered.
"What's that?" he frowned. "A Beta-what?"
"Energy source from Krypton," Kara said.
"It's like the Omegahedron that powered Fort Rozz, only smaller."
"Oh, that makes sense," Winn nodded, picking up his tablet.
"So, on Krypton, we used Betahedrons to power probes that scientists would send out into space that can contain Kryptonian artifacts like this one, embedded with information like our history, religion, so other worlds would learn our culture," Kara held up the artifact.
"How many were sent out?" Winn wondered.
"I don't know. It was a long time ago," Kara said.
"Oh, yeah," Winn nodded. "On Earth, we had that, too. The Voyager probe."
"Well, the Kryptonian probe must've landed on Earth, and this obelisk was in it, and Coville had it."
"OK, so you're saying that Coville has an unlimited power supply, with absolutely no idea what it's capable of?"
"Crap."
"Ditto."
"Yeah."
"Right, OK . . . oh, hey, I found it!" He flicked the image onto the screens and blanched. "Whoa. Guys, this is bad!" he shouted, drawing Alex, Oliver, Malcolm, and Laurel over. "It's degrading."
"If someone doesn't stabilize that, that's gonna breach," Alex frowned.
"He knows what it's capable of," Kara whispered. "He was willing to burn down a building for one recruit. Imagine how many recruits he'd get with a bomb. I'm going to the Community Center to find him."
"Kara," Winn turned to her. "The Betahedron's not there."
"Then where is it?" Kara frowned.
Winn swallowed, then pulled up the location, making even Oliver's jaw drop. "You're kidding."
"Where is it?" Kara said concerned.
"Suit up," Malcolm told Laurel, backing up.
"Yeah," Laurel nodded hastily, running off with Malcolm.
Kara flew off in another direction, Oliver and Alex running to find their own way out.
Laurel didn't say anything, turning on the next video.
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