Supergirl - Kara Authentic - Volume 2 - Obsession

Chapter 10 - Obsession Unleashed

Kara is rattled to her core. She thought she had made peace with that horrific episode in her past a long time ago, but hearing J'onn utter those two words... "Red Kryptonite"... unlocked a flood of emotions... panic, guilt, humiliation, and shame. Lena guides her to a chair and helps her sit down. The look on Kara's face frightens Lena in a way she wasn't aware was even possible. Her love sits, frozen in shock at those words and she cannot even begin to comprehend the magnitude of her pain.

"Kara!" Lena kneels in front of her and strokes her hair as Kara's eyes remain transfixed. Lena turns to look at Alex and J'onn. "What is wrong with her? What the hell is Red Kryptonite?"

Alex clears her throat. "Several years ago... before crisis... before you even came into our lives... when Kara was first finding her way as Supergirl... her Aunt Astra and her husband, Non, tried to use myriad to subjugate the populace."

Lena nods. "I know the story... Kara's told me about Astra and Alura's history and what the Fort Rozz Kryptonians tried to do here."

"Well," Alex continues, "there is a bit more to the story that Kara keeps buried because of a deep seeded sense of guilt and shame."

A look of confusion fills Lena's face. "What are you talking about?"

J'onn interjects, "Astra and her followers waged a slow, drawn out campaign against National City and the DEO building up to unleashing myriad. At the time, Luthor Corp was in disarray after Lex's 'Red Sun' plot backfired and Maxwell Lord of Lord Technologies stepped in to fill the void."

"Max Lord?", Lena says. "I know him by reputation. Lex and Lillian were not fans."

Alex comments, "I'm not surprised. Max Lord is an arrogant pain in the ass, but he never displayed the clear, unadulterated disdain for aliens that Lex and Lillian did. At any rate, Astra, Non, and their followers staged an attack on Lord Tech to steal something they needed for their myriad plot. As a result of that attack, Max decided to fund a secret experiment to try and create synthetic Kryptonite."

Lena's eyes bulge in shock. "Did he succeed? I thought I was the first and only person to ever successfully make Kryptonite."

J'onn nods with a look of guilt in his eyes. "You are... the only person to make Green Kryptonite. Max Lord's experiment failed to yield the results he intended, but the abomination he did create was something much worse."

"Lena," Kara utters faintly.

Lena turns her eyes back to Kara, she gently caresses the right side of her face, looks into her eyes, and says, ":Zhao i... please tell me."

With a sorrowful look on her face, Kara begins, "Ironically, it all started when I rescued a firefighter trapped under a collapsed beam on the roof of a structure fire. I had no idea it was there, but I sensed something unusual just before I left the scene. Gradually, over the course of the next several hours and days, my personality began to change. Every angry, frustrated, jealous, despicable thought I ever had bubbled to the surface. I was combative, cruel, arrogant... I became the absolute worst version of myself... and I had no control over it... my humanity melted away... my inhibitions crumbled... I was cold, heartless, selfish...". She closes her eyes, draws a deep breath, and begins to sob uncontrollably.

Lena's eyes begin to water and a look of deep pain and compassion fills her face. She lifts Kara from the chair and engulfs her in a tight embrace. "Oh... Kara... I...".

Kara mumbles through her tears, "I pushed Cat off her balcony at CatCo, let a dangerous alien criminal escape because I didn't care, I attacked civilian areas, I attacked DEO forces, I forced J'onn to reveal his true nature to the world to stop me, I said horrible things to Alex... and I broke her arm!" Kara collapses into Lena's arms and buries her face into her shoulder, hiding her shame.