Chapter 12 : Hostile Takeover - Part 2
March 2016 — DEO Desert Facility — Rooftop
The night was cold.
I sat on the edge of the building, legs dangling over a hundred-foot drop, watching the stars. My ribs were wrapped. My head still throbbed. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the conversation I knew was coming.
Footsteps behind me. A familiar presence settling down at my side.
"So." Kara's voice was carefully neutral. "Experimental armor."
"Yeah. About that."
"Show me."
No point in delaying. I picked up a loose chunk of concrete from the roof, tossed it into the air, and caught it with vector manipulation. The stone hung suspended, rotating slowly, before I let it drift back into my palm.
Kara watched without expression.
I continued. Extended my hand toward a nearby antenna array, felt the electricity thrumming through its cables, drew a small current into my fingers. Blue-white sparks danced across my knuckles.
"How long?"
"Since October. Maybe earlier—I'm not sure exactly when it started."
"Five months." Her voice cracked slightly. "You've had superpowers for five months and you didn't tell me."
"I wanted to."
"Then why didn't you?" Now the anger surfaced. "I told you everything, Winn. Everything. About Krypton, about my powers, about every fear and doubt I've ever had. And this whole time you were hiding—"
"I was protecting you."
"From what?"
"From me." I turned to face her fully. "Kara, when these abilities first manifested, I had no idea what I was becoming. I could feel electricity in the walls. I could redirect force with my thoughts. And every time I used those powers, I bled from the nose and my head felt like it was splitting open."
She went quiet.
"You were just becoming Supergirl," I continued. "Learning to be a hero, dealing with the DEO, managing Cat and work and everything else. The last thing you needed was worrying about whether your best friend was turning into something dangerous."
"That wasn't your call to make."
"I know. And I'm sorry." I held her gaze, letting her see the truth. "I should have trusted you. I should have told you months ago. I was scared, and I was stupid, and I hurt you. That's on me."
The silence stretched between us. Wind whipped across the rooftop, cold and biting.
Then Kara punched my arm.
Hard enough to leave a bruise. Soft enough to mean I forgive you.
"You're an idiot," she said.
"I've been told."
"We're partners. Partners. That means no more secrets. Not about powers, not about anything." She grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to meet her eyes. "If you're developing abilities that could hurt you, I want to know. If you're training with Alex and J'onn, I want to be there. No more protecting me from the truth."
"Okay."
"Say it like you mean it."
"No more secrets. I promise."
She nodded, some of the tension bleeding from her posture. Then—
"Show me again. The vector thing."
I picked up another chunk of concrete. Tossed it. Caught it. Let it orbit my hand in lazy circles.
"Can you do that with bigger objects?"
"Up to about two hundred pounds, reliably. More if I push, but that's when the nosebleeds get bad."
"What about incoming attacks?"
"That's where it gets useful." I let the concrete fall, caught it an inch from the ground, and launched it sideways into the night. "I can redirect momentum. Steal kinetic energy. Use someone's own force against them."
"Like you did with the Kryptonian."
"He hit me with everything he had. I just... pointed it somewhere else." I flexed my fingers, remembering the impact. "It wasn't enough to beat him, obviously. But it kept me alive long enough for you to arrive."
Kara was quiet for a moment. Processing.
"Tomorrow," she said finally. "Training room. You and me. I want to see what you can really do."
"Are you going to throw things at me?"
"So many things." A hint of a smile. "And you're going to deflect every single one."
DEO Training Facility — The Next Morning
The first object hit my chest before I was ready.
"Ow!"
"Focus." Kara retrieved the tennis ball and threw it again. This time I caught it mid-flight, redirecting its momentum into a gentle loop that deposited it in my waiting palm.
"Better. Again."
We trained for three hours.
Kara threw everything she could find—balls, weights, chunks of concrete that would have shattered bones if they'd connected. I deflected, redirected, absorbed. My nose bled twice. The headaches came and went in waves.
But I was faster than before. More precise. The calculations that had once required conscious effort were becoming automatic, running in parallel threads the way J'onn had taught me.
"Heat vision," I said during a water break. "I want to try redirecting heat vision."
"That seems dangerous."
"Controlled. Low intensity. If I can handle thermal vectors, it opens up new tactical options."
Kara considered this. Then she raised her hand, eyes glowing faint red.
"Catch."
The beam was thin, barely warm. I reached for it with vector manipulation, feeling the light and heat as physical forces—directions that could be changed.
The beam curved.
Not much. A few degrees. But it curved, bending away from my chest and scorching a line across the training room floor.
"Holy..." Kara killed the beam, staring at me. "Did you just—"
"Light has momentum. Photons have mass. If I can affect vectors..." I trailed off, mind racing through implications. "This changes things."
"Damn right it does."
We looked at each other. Partners. Equals. Both of us something more than human, both of us learning to be heroes.
From the observation window, I caught Alex and J'onn watching. Alex looked proud. J'onn looked like a mentor seeing his student succeed.
"No more solo missions," Kara said, breaking the moment. "From now on, we do this together."
I took her hand. "Together."
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