Disclaimer: "Supergirl" and all its characters belong to DC, the developers of the show – Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg, and The CW.

This is a fanfiction, for the mere purpose of SuperCorp shippers entertainment. Copyright infringement is not intended.

BE YOUR OWN HERO

by chasingthewilddream

1 – A hero's solitude

"Be your own hero."

Supergirl's words were echoing in her head as Lena Luthor stood on the balcony of her office at the L-Corp tower, her arms wrapped around herself to keep what little warmth was left in her body.

Tears were glistening in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

A hero.

Yes, she had done something that could be considered heroic today.

She had saved the alien population of National City from getting killed by Cadmus, from getting killed by her mother, who was the devil incarnate after all.

How had she not seen it earlier? How had she not made the connection?

Was her mother the reason Lex had turned into this monster, into this alien murdering psychopath?

She had so many questions and Lena was aware that she would most likely never get answers.

Her mother would never talk to her again, that much was certain.

If she hadn't hated her before, she surely would now.

She had tricked her mother to do the right thing, to "be a hero", but what for?

She had lost the last remaining member of her family. No matter how horrible her relationship with her mother was, always had been – Lillian had been everything she had left.

And now she was alone.

Kara, her one and only friend in all of National City, had basically used their friendship to get information about her mother.

While Lena understood that Kara had done it for the greater good it still hurt that Kara hadn't trusted her enough to tell her what was going on. No, she had let her walk into all of this unprepared, leaving the ugly part for Supergirl to deal with.

Supergirl.

The true hero of National City. The loved and respected hero.

Supergirl, who had told her that she was nothing like her mother, that she was too good and too smart to do wrong, had lost her faith in her the first chance she had gotten.

Supergirl had fully expeced all aliens would die when she had turned that key, when she had launched that rocket, her words that Lena was good, that she could be a hero, long forgotten.

She had saved everyone and yet no one had bothered to say thanks or at least to check if she was alright.

But of course not.

She was a Luthor after all.

And neither aliens, nor humans would let her forget that. Ever.

When Supergirl had turned to her alien friend in wonder, not even bothering to look at her for a moment, she had realised that she had no one.

She might be a bit of a hero now, but she was alone.

She was on her own as she had always been.

Lena had thought that being good, doing the right thing, would make people see that she was more than just her name.

She had hoped that ultimately it would get her friends, maybe even love, but at least a chance.

That it would end her misery and lonliness.

Now that she was standing on her balcony, more alone than ever, she had to face the truth though.

She was a Luthor.

And that only meant one thing – a life of neverending solitude.

Supergirl was standing at the massive windows of the DEO, lost in thought.

Her conversation with Mon-El had left her confused to say the least.

"Are you okay?" Alex appeared next to her, looking slightly worried.

She didn't know what to tell her sister, because she wasn't even sure there was something to tell to begin with.

Mon-El had kissed her, but he didn't remember. No big deal. She didn't even know if she wanted him to remember. She didn't even want to think about it right now.

"I'm just glad that everyone is okay. Things could have easily ended badly for a lot of us today", Kara said absentmindely.

Alex put her arm around her shoulder, squeezing it encouragingly, "I know. Thank God you were able to chase that missile...how did you manage to..."

"I didn't", Kara admitted, "It was Lena. She made the virus inert by switching the isotope."

"Lena Luthor?!" Alex wasn't sure she had heard right, but Kara nodded in confirmation, "The one and only."

Lena.

She had saved them all.

When she had watched her turn the key she had thought she had been wrong about her friend when she had been so sure that Lena would do the right thing all this time.

She should have known better, especially after the speech she had given Lena earlier that day.

How had she went from believing in her to doubting her so quickly?

She had said it herself. She was a pretty good judge of character and she knew, she simply knew, that Lena was not like the rest of her family.

She was a Luthor and at the same time she was anything, but.

Lena had saved them, she had chosen to do the right and honorable thing, losing the last bit of family she had left in the process and Kara didn't know why she hadn't even thought about checking on her friend until now.

When she had turned away from J'onn to watch Lillian Luthor, handcuffed and arrested, being driven away in a police car, she had realised that Lena was gone.

Why she hadn't went straight after her she didn't know, but it dawned on her that she should have.

It would have been the right thing to do.

"I gotta go", Kara said and took off before Alex could have so much as objected.

Lena was sitting at her desk, taking notes in an unnamed folder.

She was smart enough to collect her thoughts the old fashioned way as computers had a tendency to get hacked and she didn't want anyone to find out what she was up to.

She needed to get her hands on her mother's files and research, on everything she had done for Cadmus.

While the organisation had suffered a huge loss by the arrest of her mother, Lena was sure that the days of Cadmus were far from over.

Knowing her mother there was a Plan B, probably even a Plan C, so she really needed to find out what they were up to – to predict their next move.

She might be a Luthor, but she would not follow their dark and murderous path. She had worked too hard to become her own person and to turn things around for L-Corp.

And who was to say that they wouldn't blame her for any future activity of Cadmus?

People would rather think she had sent her mother to jail to run Cadmus herself than that she did it to save them.

It came with the name that ulitmately was a curse.

As she had asked Supergirl earlier – how long until she would go after her?
If she wouldn't be able to stop Cadmus it wouldn't be long.

She would be her own hero after all. She needed to be. Because there was no one else who would save her.

A knock on the window front behind her made Lena jump in her seat a few minutes later and she closed the folder quickly, knowing that the only person capable of being on her balcony was Supergirl.

She got up and let her in, albeit not sure why, because truth be told, she wanted to be alone and Supergirl was about the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Supergirl."

Lena's voice was cold and distant and Kara knew right away that things were even worse than she had thought.

Maybe she should have shown up as Kara, not Supergirl. She had thought about it, but had decided against it, because Kara hadn't been there, at least not officially, to witness the events of the night, but Supergirl had been.

Seems like she had misjugded the situation, but it was too late. She had to deal with it now.

"You disappeared earlier...before I had a chance to talk to you, to thank you", Supergirl said, trying to remember the little speech she had come up with on her flight over to L-Corp, but Lena gestured for her to stop talking, "Supergirl...please save us both the embarrassment and stop pretending that you care. I'm a Luthor, so I'll always be the enemy. I see that now. Stop telling me how good a person you think I am as your faith in me lasted all of two seconds", Lena's face was void of any emotion, but the pain in her eyes gave her away.

Supergirl knew better than to comment on it though. She knew Lena was hurting, how could she not?

She should have handled this whole situation differently.

"You may go now. It's late", Lena stated dryly and looked at the window.

"I'm sorry", Supergirl tried again, but Lena didn't want to hear any of it, "Good night, Supergirl."

She sighed and took of, vowing to herself that she would make sure that the residents of National City would hear the truth. That they would see Lena Luthor for the hero she was.

Supergirl had let her down tonight, but Kara Danvers would make it right tomorrow.