Next of Kin - SuperCorp

Next of Kin Chapter 2 - Durable Power of Attorney

"I need a doctor! My friend's been shot!" Kara crashed through the doors to the emergency room, Lena's body once again in her arms, demanding attention. She got it. Doctors and nurses rushed into action, organized chaos at its finest. In less than a minute, Lena was on a stretcher, a medical professional holding pressure and vitals being taken. Even while they worked on Lena, Kara stood nearby worrying, terrified. She'd faced down some of the most fearsome things on this planet but never before had she felt so completely powerless.

"Okay, let's get her into surgery," a doctor said.

Grabbing the doctor's arm when the woman tried to walk away, Kara said, "Hey, her last name is Luthor. I bet you have a wing in this place named after that family. You keep her alive; I bet you'll have another one."

The doctor tried to pull away, but Kara's grip was quite literally like iron, so he just nodded until Kara let go.

Kara followed the stretcher with Lena on it until she reached a double door and a nurse barred her way.

"You have to stay out here," the nurse told Kara.

"But she's my friend."

"I know. She'll have the best nurses and doctors looking after her now. Let them do their job. Someone will come back and talk to you. We'll need some paperwork filled out. We'll need to get in touch with her next of kin. You can help with that. Just wait here."

As the nurse walked away, Kara thought about that. Who was Lena's next of kin? Was it her brother Lex the criminal? Was it her mother Lillian who had recently escaped from jail? Who did Lena have? Did she have anyone to make decisions for her? Was there anyone who was legally allowed to show up in this kind of situation? Sure there was a board of trustees for the business, but who was her person? Kara needed to find out.

Briefly, Kara looked for her purse before realizing she'd left it at the club. If Lena survived ... No! Lena would survive, so Kara had time to make this an in-person visit. She hurried out of the hospital and ducked into an alley, heading skyward.

Minutes later, Kara touched down in the middle of the DEO.  "Winn!"

"Hey, Kara, didn't expect to see you ... holy Carrie at the prom! What happened to you!?"

Kara looked down at herself. The center of her white dress was covered in blood, Lena's blood. Her hands were in the same state. Her hair which had been in a lovely up-do earlier in the night was now bedraggled, the occasional piece still hanging errantly from a bobby pin. As awful as she looked, she knew it was nothing.

"Lena's been shot," Kara said flatly.

"Come again?"

"Lena's been shot!" Kara said loudly, striding toward Winn. "She and I went out to celebrate my article, and someone shot her. I don't know why, but I can only imagine it had something to do with her mother. Any time Lena's life goes sideways, Lillian is at the center. I need you to do something for me."

"Yeah, sure anything," Winn said, nodding as he sat up. "What do you need?"

"I need to know who Lena's next of kin is."

"Oh, well I expect it's her ..." Winn considered his next words. "Damn. How bad is she?"

"I'm asking you who her next of kin is. How bad do you think she is?"

Winn nodded, his brows furrowed as he turned to his screen. "You know who it should be, but I imagine Lena was smart enough to change that. Does she have any other family?"

"Lex." Kara shrugged. "There have got to be people somewhere. They have money, so I'm sure they'll come crawling out of the woodwork."

"You mean if Lena doesn't ..." Winn stopped speaking, turning to look at Kara. It wasn't heat vision, but her glare nearly burned him. "She'll be fine."