Interrupting her school day, Lena is dragged off to a Checkmate mission where she meets two other pawns and finds her leadership tested. It's really the aftermath that shows things are headed to a boil. This fic is a prequel to the first book in the Next of Kin series. If you haven't read that yet please do not continue. This contains spoilers. If you've read NoK, well, here's the sixth of several short pieces of some backstory I plan to post. I hope it helps to flesh out some of these characters and fills in some questions for you all. The prequels should be read in this order: "Queen Takes Pawn", "Queen's Pawn to Queen Four", "Kiss of Death", "Swiss Gambit", and "Alligator Sp3rm".

This short piece takes place the morning after Next of Kin ends. Unlike the rest of the short pieces, it is not a prequel. This one is set in the current day and gives us a snippet of what's happening in modern times. #WattPride

On Christmas break from college, Lena goes to visit a four-year-old Lori and the Kinsinger family. We'll meet Mama Nina and briefly see TASIS, Lori's future school. This story mainly focuses on Lori's upbringing and the relationship with Lena and Nina. While there, Checkmate will learn of a development which will cause issues within its ranks.

Kalia gets called into work, and she's forced to take Lena with her putting the young Luthor into her first active Checkmate mission. This front seat view will show how Checkmate deals with rogue metahumans, bring Kalia and Lena closer together, and be a domino in a chain of events that will change Kalia forever.

This is a prequel to the first book in the Next of Kin series. If you have not read Next of Kin, do not read this. This includes spoilers for that series. This is meant to fill in some of the backstory for those who have already read the book.

This is a prequel to the first book in the Next of Kin series. It takes place after "Queen Takes Pawn" If you have not read Next of Kin and Queen Takes Pawn, do not read this. This includes spoilers for that series. This is meant to fill in some of the backstory for those who have already read the book.

Trailer for this fic done by the incredibly talented @Jeeeenifer30 : https://youtu.be/uzvbuJin7m8 When Kara and Lena go out to celebrate Kara's front page story all starts out well but tragedy ensues. This will send Kara into a tailspin of rage. She'll need her friends and family, question who matters to her in life, reveal some of Lena's secrets, and bring Kara and Lena closer than ever before. Just when things seem to turn around, another player in the game shows their hand. Will the group fracture or pull together in the face of this foe? This is my first piece of fanfiction, so all comments appreciated. I'm a novelist, so I tend toward the slow burn style. I build up instead of dropping off into the plot. This starts in Season 2 somewhere, as I'm just catching up on that. If folks are enjoying the direction of this, I'll keep adding chapters.