Forgotten

Chapter 5: Never Go Back

The snowstorm was over and the roads were open again. It didn't take long for the boiler to finally get fixed afterward, and for things to go back to normal at Cadmus. But for Kara and some others, it was far from the normal they had grown accustomed to. Even if Kara's life appeared just as before the storms that had interrupted her treatment, the absence of the friends she cared about had turned everything intolerable.

Not a day went by without Kara thinking of a way to save Mike and Eve. Every awake, coherent moment was spent with them in mind, reflecting on their sacrifice and what it meant to her. Every night, as she lay in bed, drooping from the drugs, Kara reached automatically for the small box hidden between the wall and the frame of her bed. She read his short, nonetheless, meaningful words over and over to herself, praying that he was somehow okay, and longing for the day she could see him again in a place other than her dreams. The day she could hold him.

An entire month went by in this agony, and even though Kara was subjected to Hydrotherapy four more times during this time, her physical pain paled in what went through her mind, imagining her friends' suffering in the Criminals Ward. No matter the new medication, therapy method, or questioning sessions that were no short of interrogations by Lena Luthor, Kara didn't waver, didn't utter a word and was determined to stay focused on her friends' precarious livelihood. She owed them that much, and she wasn't about to give up on finding a way - no matter how impossible it seemed - to save them. She had hope.

The cool early spring breeze wafted through the hallways. The sun shone more often and for much longer, but the days had never felt hollower.

As Kara sat in the common room, playing chess with Winn, neither paid much attention to their moves while discussing a possible plan to infiltrate the Criminals Ward.

"We've already been over this, Kara. You can't blend in. They have actual police officers down there. With guns," Winn argued with a frustrated huff as he discarded one of Kara's white Pawns, removing it from the board absentmindedly and replacing it with his Rook. "And before you say it- I mean write it, we have no idea if they even allow ordinary nurses down there. Besides, you wouldn't be able to exactly talk yourself in there, no offense," He hurriedly added. Kara rolled her eyes, but didn't really mind him saying that. He had a valid point. Kara withdrew her white Knight to a safe distance from Winn's dangerous black Rook that had been taking out her pieces without a break.

The biggest hole in their non-plan was the lack of any accurate information about the subterranean ward, beyond knowing the obvious facts, that it was guarded with authorities, weapons and many more bars and locks. Kara had wondered if they could reach the place the same way Mike had ventured to the basement. But infiltrating the criminal ward required an entirely different level of planning and resources they didn't possess. And the infuriating flaw throughout all their brainstormings, was ignoring what was to happen after saving their friends. They both knew well that they couldn't stay at the asylum anymore. In other words, what they were trying to plan was a prison break.

"Look, Kara," Winn's exasperated voice drew her out of the disappointing thoughts. "I know you can't stop thinking about them, I can't either, but you've got to stop this at some point. We can't break them out like this, just the two of us without any help," Winn said, taking out the same Knight Kara had just saved with her Queen. "The only possible way is if they somehow transferred them out of that place, and then we had outside help, and a car or something so they could flee with, and even then, there is no telling if everything would go as planned," he finished his thought as he ignored Kara's laughable attempt of taking out one his Pawns and glided his Rook all the way to her defenseless corner. "Check," he stated.

Kara contemplated his words, saw the truth in them, yet didn't want to accept defeat. She moved back her own Queen to shield her King. Winn chased her and took out the mighty piece, but Kara took out his Rook with her second, still-intact White Knight.