Chapter 13 : Blood Bonds - Part 1
March 2016 — DEO Desert Facility — Command Center
The video feed showed J'onn in chains.
Kryptonian alloy, glowing faintly with some kind of dampening field. He knelt on stone floor, blood—green, not red—running from a cut above his eye. Behind him stood Astra, regal and cold, with Non's hulking form visible in the shadows.
"You have twelve hours, niece." Astra's voice dripped false sweetness through the speakers. "Surrender yourself, or the Martian dies. Choose wisely."
The feed cut to static.
The command center erupted. Agents shouted overlapping status reports. Alex slammed her palm against a console, demanding satellite repositioning. Director protocols activated, chains of command reassembling around the void J'onn's capture had created.
I stood in the chaos, staring at the blank screen where my mentor's face had been.
Twelve hours.
"We need to discuss options." Colonel Harper—J'onn's second-in-command, a gray-haired man who'd never liked Supergirl's presence—took position at the central display. "The Martian's capture creates operational vulnerabilities. If Astra has extracted intelligence—"
"His name is J'onn." My voice cut through the noise. Heads turned. "And we're not discussing options. We're getting him back."
Harper's expression soured. "Mr. Schott, this is a military operation. The tactical realities—"
"The tactical realities are that J'onn J'onzz has saved this facility and everyone in it multiple times. He's not a chess piece to sacrifice." I stepped toward the display, pulling up my own data feeds. "He's family. We don't abandon family."
Silence.
Alex moved to stand beside me. Kara flanked my other side. Three of us against the room.
"The IT consultant doesn't get a vote," Harper said finally.
"No." Kara's voice was steel. "But Supergirl does. And I vote we rescue him."
Two Hours Later — Briefing Room
The holographic map floated above the table, showing National City and its surrounding terrain.
"Astra's fortress is here." I manipulated the display, zooming in on a mountain range forty miles northeast of the city. "Underground complex, probably converted from an old mining operation. Heavy shielding, which is why our satellites can't get clear imagery."
"How did you find it?" Alex leaned forward, studying the topography.
"Electromagnetic trace." I pulled up a second overlay—a web of signal patterns spreading across the region. "J'onn's psychic abilities generate a distinctive EM signature. I've been tracking it since his meditation sessions. When Astra's broadcast came through, I caught residual markers in the transmission source."
"You can track psychic energy?"
"Not exactly. It's more like..." I searched for words. "Background noise. The brain produces electrical signals. J'onn's Martian physiology amplifies those signals significantly. I followed the amplification back to its source."
Kara was staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just... you've gotten really good at this."
"I had good teachers."
The rescue plan took another hour to finalize. Alex would lead a ground team through the facility's service tunnels—old mining infrastructure that Astra's people had likely overlooked. Kara would provide aerial distraction, engaging whatever forces came to intercept. And I would coordinate from a mobile position, using my electromagnetic sense to guide the team through whatever traps waited inside.
If necessary, I go in myself.
I didn't say that part out loud. Alex and Kara would have objected. But J'onn had been there when I needed guidance. He'd taught me to use my abilities without losing myself. He'd looked at me like a son.
I wasn't leaving him in that fortress.
Winn's Apartment — That Night
The training log sat open on my desk.
Phase 2 complete, I wrote. Vector processing: 5-7 simultaneous objects. Deflection range: twelve inches. Vector Punch reliable. Lightning Logic: can interface with Kryptonian tech communications. Durability enhanced—unknown upper limit.
I set down the pen and flexed my hands.
The stress had pushed me further than any training session. When J'onn's capture became real, when the weight of the situation settled into my bones, something had clicked. The calculations that used to require conscious effort now ran automatically. The headaches were still there, but manageable. Controlled.
Ready or not, this is who I am now.
My phone buzzed. Kara.
Can't sleep. You?
I typed back: Same. Tomorrow's going to be rough.
We'll get him back.
I know. It's not that.
Then what?
I stared at the screen for a long moment. How to explain? The fear wasn't about the mission. It was about what came after. What happened when we succeeded—or failed—and I had to face whatever version of myself emerged from that fortress.
Just thinking about the future, I finally sent.
The future can wait. Focus on tomorrow.
Thanks, Kara.
Get some sleep, partner.
I set down the phone and looked at my hands. The hands that could redirect Kryptonian punches. The hands that had absorbed Livewire's attack. The hands that belonged to a dead man given a second chance.
Tomorrow, I thought. Tomorrow we bring him home.
DEO Mobile Command — Dawn
The team assembled in the gray pre-sunrise light.
Twelve agents, handpicked by Alex. Kara in her suit, cape rippling in the morning wind. And me, wearing tactical gear that felt wrong on my body, earpiece firmly in place.
"Final check." Alex's voice was crisp, professional. "Comms?"
"Online," I confirmed. "I'm patched into satellite feeds and Kryptonian signal traffic. If they send reinforcements, I'll know before they arrive."
"Entry points?"
"Service tunnel access is here." I transferred the map to everyone's tablets. "There's a secondary entrance here, probably collapsed, but Supergirl can clear it if we need an alternate route."
"Extraction?"
"Kara carries J'onn out. Everyone else falls back through the tunnels. I'll guide you."
Alex nodded. "Let's move."
The drive took forty minutes. I spent it monitoring signals, tracking the faint pulse of J'onn's presence deep inside the mountain. He was alive. Weak, but alive.
Hold on. We're coming.
The tunnel entrance was exactly where I'd predicted—an old mine shaft, hidden behind decades of overgrowth. Alex's team secured the perimeter while Kara hovered overhead, scanning for threats.
"Clear," she reported. "No external guards. Either Astra's confident in her defenses, or this is a trap."
"Probably both." I checked my tablet one last time. "Ground team, you're go. I'll be right behind you."
Alex shot me a look. "You're supposed to stay with command."
"And miss all the fun?"
"Winn—"
"He's my mentor, Alex. I'm not sitting this one out."
She held my gaze for a long moment. Then nodded once.
"Stay behind me. If things go bad, you run. Understood?"
"Understood."
We entered the darkness together.
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