Supercorptober 2021

Day 16: Fire.

It was late in the evening when it happened. Lena was working in her basement lab way later than any sane human would, but she was really struggling to find a solution to the flaw in Kara's kryptonite proof suit. It protected her from Kryptonite, and even had a yellow sun feature to help keep her strong. But it was weak. She and Alex had gone over schematics for a new suit but all of their efforts had proven fruitless.

"We need to find a way to make the suit as strong as she is, without hindering her mobility."

"Right," said Alex, listening to Lena through her ear piece. She was at the tower training with Kelly, but she still made a point to listen to Lena ramble. Multi-Tasking was one of her strongest traits. "We need to make sure it can handle any situation. Fire, impact, it would be nice if it could keep her safe under water as well."

"Exactly. We need to make sure it is perfect before we send her out in it again. Kryptonian or not, she isn't..."

Before Lena could finish her sentence she was cut off by a massive explosion, the sound echoing into Alex's comms device so loudly it made her wince.

"Lena?" Screamed Alex, a concerned Kelly placing a hand on her wife's arm. "Lena? Lena, answer me damn it!"

When no answer came, Alex used the Arm of the Soldier and summoned a flight suit allowing herself to fly to the building where Lena was working, an old LuthorCorp building that had been left to her after Lex and Lillian were killed in their fight with Nxyly. The closer she got, the more worried she became. Not only was the building completely engulfed in flames - with Lena trapped in the basement - but the smoke was glowing a sickeningly familiar shade of green.

"Kryptonite."

No sooner did the realization hit her did Kara appear by her side. They were far enough from the building that the Kryptonite wasn't effecting her. When it hit Kara that Lena might be inside, she instantly took off, but was stopped short by the weakening effects of the Kryptonite.

"Kara, you can't go in there. The firefighters are on their way, you have to sit this one out."

"I have to save her!"

"Kara, you need to calm down and let the firefighters do their job this time!"

"But..."

"NO, Kara! No buts! You can't do anything for her! With the Kryptonite in the air, you'll be killed!"

Helpless to do anything, Kara floated in the air and watched with bated breath as the firefighters struggled to contain and extinguish the fire. She could only hope that by some miracle, Lena survived.

Inside, Lena was slowly regaining consciousness on the floor surrounded by flames, a sharp burning sensation covering half of her face. Putting her hand to her cheek, she felt the blistering burns on her skin, and cried out in pain. She pulled herself close into a tight ball trying to stay away from the flames, screaming for Kara or anyone that might be listening to come save her, and cursing herself from becoming too careless with her experiments. Only she couldn't for the life of her remember what she could have done to cause a fire. She searched the room for any sign of the cause but found only a room filled with flames that grew closer to her by the second. It was only then did she notice the faint green glow in the room.

Kryptonite!

Suddenly it all made sense. She'd been creating synthetic kryptonite at the same time she'd been testing the Flame resistance of the suit. In its completed state, Kryptonite didn't react to fire, but in the creation stage, many of the compounds were not only flammable, but explosive. The realization came with the recognition that not only had she caused the fire, but she'd done so in such a way that prevented her best friend from saving her without endangering herself in the process.

Lena had all but given up hope when she saw a flashing green light just a few feet from her. It was the ring that held the prototype suit that they'd been testing was flashing green, a sign that kryptonite was within 500 feet. Obviously she knew this, given the green haze that filled the room. But what she didn't know was if any of the other features worked as well. Staying low to the ground, Lena crawled to the ring and put it on her finger, with the squeeze of her hand, it activated completely encapsulating her in the suit. The prototype was a design that she and Alex had designed together, and while it was not perfect by any means, Lena hoped that at least the oxygen generating and fire/explosion proof worked. As soon as the helmet materialized on her head, her lungs filled with clean oxygen instead of smoke and chemicals.

Air quality, check.

Needing to know if the suit would withstand the flames, Lena cautiously drew closer to the fire but felt no heat. Even as she reached into the flames, she felt no warmth from the fire, only the cool synthetic fibers of the SuperSuit. Satisfied that she was - at least for the moment - safe, Lena made her way to the corner of the room furthest from where the explosion. She sat down once more, pulling her legs to her chest and resting her face on her knees. The suit was capable of filtering the air from outside into clean breathable air, but Lena had no way of knowing if it would work for long periods of time as the suit still hadn't been properly tested. And while it also had an onboard oxygen supply, she was unable to know just how long she would be trapped. So she took care to keep her breathing steady, closing her eyes and attempting to relax as much as possible given the circumstances. She must have dozed off, because when she opened her eyes she was in the tower med-bay, a very concerned looking Kara by her side holding her hand.

"K-Kara?"

"LENA! Thank Rao you're ok!"

"H-How did i get here?"

"J'onn. He was able to phase through the flames and found you. I...I couldn't get to you."

Lena could see the guilt on Kara's face. She knew that it must have destroyed her to not be able to help put out the fire and save her the way she always had. Judging by the soot stans and burned fibers on her clothing, it wasn't for lack of trying.

"Kara, you would have died trying! There was Kryptonite! And that was MY fault! You would have died and that would have been my fault!"

A tear fell down Lena's cheek burning the injured skin, causing her to wince in pain.

"At least now i'll look like the monster they always feared I was," said Lena, bringing her hand to her face.

"You're no monster, Lena" promised Kara, gently placing a hand on either side of Lena's face, careful not to touch her bandaged wound. "And you are every bit as beautiful now as you ever were."

Carefully and tenderly, Kara kissed Lena's cheak. Once. Then Twice, then yet again a third time, each time making her way closer to the lips she'd longed to kiss for longer than she cared to admit. Lena felt something stir within her as Kara pressed their lips together, the kiss saying wordlessly what neither of them had been able to say out loud.

"You're awake," yelled Nia excitedly before realizing that she was interrupting a passionate - albeit gentle moment between the two women. Neither woman even realized she came into the room, too lost in the love that was swelling inside their hearts at the feel of their lips pressed together. "Aaannndddd you're kissing....I'm just gonna...yeah."

Nia turned to leave the room and bumped into the rest of the superfriends who had come to check on their injured friend.

"Y'all might want to give them a minute. I think this was the catalyst they needed to finally get their heads out of their asses."

"Wait you mean..." questioned Kelly.

"Yep."

"Freaking finally," laughed Alex as they all turned to leave, giving Kara and Lena the privacy they needed to bask in the new realizations that came with a brush with death and a tender kiss.