Are You Still There?

12. Kara

Summary: The Superfriends confront Lena's weird behaviour.

When Kara flies into the DEO, Alex and J'onn are already waiting for her at the table.

"Kara." J'onn nods in her direction.

"Hey, guys." Kara sighs.

"So what happened?" Alex places a hand on Kara's shoulder.

"It's Lena. Something's wrong. It's not adding up. Or making sense. She isn't herself. She-" Kara rambles, not able to get any words out. She flails her hands around to accentuate the mess in her head.

"Ok, Kara? Breathe." Alex looks into her eyes. "Slow down."

Kara takes a deep breath and collects her thoughts. "I spent the whole day with her. I took her to Noonan's, the spa, the mall street. But now and again she would say something weird. Like, she didn't know things that she knew the other day. She seems forgetful or something or..." Her eyes grow wide and she turns to Alex. "Could she have dementia?"

That catches Alex off guard. "I doubt Lena has dementia, Kara." She half jokes.

Kara's concerned expression doesn't change. "Well she just keeps being weird. Like she made jokes about Supergirl visiting all day. It's just... weird."

"She's probably still just processing, right?" Alex turns to J'onn.

"Well..." He looks at Kara. "She said she was fine, right?"

"She did when she got back." Kara nods slowly.

J'onn hums in agreement. "I think this is past 'processing'."

Just then, an alarm goes off.

"J'onn! We've picked up a strange chemical signature in the atmosphere." Brainy hurries into the main room and puts his tablet on the table.

"Let me see."

Brainy projects an image of green smoke starting to spread over National City.

"Scan it for any anomalies." J'onn orders Vasquez, who is sitting nearby.

"Yes, sir." She starts typing away on her computer.

"Where is it coming from?" J'onn turns back to Brainy.

"We're still trying to figure that out."

"Sir? I think I've found something." Vasquez hands J'onn her tablet. "The substance has a unique chemical binding. It's like someone tried to make kryptonite but didn't get the measurements right."

"Kryptonite?" Kara's head shoots up.

"Yes, ma'am." Vasquez nods.

"We only know one person, who can make kryptonite..." Alex slowly turns to Kara.

"Lena..." She says in a shaky voice.

"What is so strange about the chemical binding?" J'onn asks Vasquez.

"Well..." She projects the image onto the main screen.

"Brainy?" J'onn turns to him.

"Already on it." Brainy is standing with his eyes closed and his hands together.

The image on screen is being scrambled, recoloured and moved around like a puzzle.

"There." Brainy's eyes open again, when the screen is a painful shade of blue. The kryptonite is a blazing orange in comparison.

Kara's hands start to shake as she reads the bright orange message on screen: Help, Bungalow 52, Downtown - Lena

"Lena?"

"But I thought you said Lena was at home..." Alex slowly turns to Kara. "Then who-"

"I don't know but I'm going to find out." Kara turns to leave, when J'onn stops her.

"Supergirl! We need to think this through. If Lena is sending us a message from downtown, whilst also being at your apartment, we need to figure out which one is actually her. Follow me."

J'onn leads Kara and Alex into the armoury. He picks up a handheld scanner and hands it to Kara. "This will tell us who is in your apartment. We'll go from there."

Kara takes it and nods. With that, she flies off, back to her loft.

***

She quietly lands back in the living room. It's late. She looks around and finds Lena asleep on the couch. She creeps toward her and turns the scanner on. It hums softly. She holds it up to the sleeping figure and presses the button on the handle. A dim red beam scans over her. Kara looks at the screen and sees an image of Lena lying on the couch. She looks closer and sees a faint blue silhouette around her. Is that normal? That's when the screen lights up with a notification: Decode yes or no? Confused, Kara presses 'yes'. The image slowly starts to disintegrate and pixelate.

When it reconstructs itself, Kara's eyes widen. She whispers through her earpiece. "Guys? I'm going to need your help."

***

J'onn, Alex and Brainy are standing in the loft, shortly after. J'onn draws his gun and points it at the person on the couch. Alex and Brainy stand behind him. J'onn nods at Kara and she gently shakes the person awake.

"Kara?" 'Lena' mumbles, as she stirs.

Kara shakes her again.

She opens her eyes. Alarmed, she sits up. "Supergirl?"

"Who are you and where is Lena Luthor?" J'onn attracts her attention.

'Lena' is left confused and speechless. "What's happening? Is this some kind of joke?"

"It would be in your best interest to answer truthfully." Brainy pipes up.

"Who's this?" 'Lena' points at him.

"Who are you?" Kara raises her voice, starting to get mad.

"Let's take her." J'onn nods towards Alex.

Alex nods back and pulls out a pair of power-dampening cuffs.

***

Back at the DEO, J'onn is sitting in an integration room with 'Lena'. Nothing he says seems to be working on her.

That's when Alex comes in, wheeling a small tank behind her. She parks it next to J'onn and sits in the chair next to her.

"What's that?" 'Lena' asks, pointing at the tank.

J'onn moves to open the lid. "This is a baby truthseeker. And we need the truth."

As soon as he opens the lid, the small blue creature crawls out, across the table and latches itself onto 'Lena's' wrist.

"Who are you?" Alex asks, straight forward.

'Lena' sighs. "Eve Tessmacher."