One More Chance

Chapter 4 - Should I Have Hope?

Alex watched her sister walk away once more, having failed to dissuade her from the crazy idea of ending Lex's life. The fear of losing Kara was so great that it occupied all of Alex's thoughts all day. Kara had disappeared, hiding somewhere Alex didn't know Where. Even in Fortress J'onn had gone looking for her. Alex heard the doorman at Kara's building say that he hadn't seen her in weeks, even asked if something had happened to her. Alex felt helpless in trying to access her little sister, felt as if she had slipped out of her grasp. Kara was distant, cold, unreachable... or at least she didn't respond, because Alex was sure Kara would never turn off the communicator. Kara might be different and distant, but she was absolutely sure in her heart that Kara would never walk away completely, that she was always taking care of the ones she loved. If Alex really needed to, she knew she could count on her sister.

After that sad afternoon, when she said goodbye to her friend, Alex went to her apartment feeling lonely and empty without Kara around. She opened a bottle of wine, sat in front of the TV without even paying attention to what was on. Her head was boiling at the thought of losing Kara, she even had migraines. If Kara found Lex and killed him, she would lose the purity of her heart, the purity that made her who she was. If she really succumbed to that idea, she would never be the same again. But Alex's biggest fear was that in the attempt to kill Lex, it would be Kara who would lose her life. She would be blind with hate, reckless, an easy target for a cunning and cold man, who only did harm and only aimed to make her suffer and end her life.

Her head ached, she didn't know if from thinking about the same thing for so long or from the bottle of wine that had dried up overnight. She decided to lie down, hoping that maybe a night's sleep would clear her head and help her think clearly about what to do. If only she could have foreseen that tragedy, if only she could change something... and then, as if in a snap, she sat up quickly on the bed, eyes wide. It was late at night, but she took out her phone and called Brainy.

"Brainy, sorry for calling so late, but I really need to talk to you. It's very, very important! Can we meet now? I can't wait until morning."

Brainy went to meet Alex and she then explained the idea she had, desperately hoping that Brainy would help her... and that it was possible.

"Kara is obsessed with this crazy idea of killing Lex Luthor, you know. And I know my sister well enough to know that she won't give up until she makes it. But in this scenario, there are only two possibilities. One: Kara finds Lex, kills him, and takes away the purity inside her, because she would live forever carrying the bitterness and nefarious weight of taking the life of a human being, even a despicable one like Lex. Or two: Kara finds him and, blinded by hatred, cannot see things clearly and dies trying to kill him. One certainty is that, whatever the scenario, we lost the Kara we knew forever... to apathy and bitterness or to death."

"And what do you intend to do?"

"If my idea works, and if it's really possible, we can save her... and save Lena."

"Lena? But Lena is... you know..."

"That's why I called you here. Brainy... is it possible that we can go back in time and avoid all this?"

Brainy's eyes widened at the idea of Alex, he really thought it might be a good idea.

"It's risky, but yes, it's a viable idea. Knowing when Lex captured Lena, we can avoid all this and we can still arrest him!"

"I just don't know how to get him inside Lena's office without him doing anything to try to escape when he sees us... we can't go wrong."

"I have an idea. I can program one of my bottles to capture just him, as soon as he shows up in the room. He won't even have time to think to figure out what's going on."