13531/The Burden of Leadership

The Burden of Leadership
Date of Scene:	21 June 2021
Location:	Infirmary, Titans Tower
Synopsis:	Kara stays with Lar as he recovers from lead poisoning and a Brood infection.
Cast of Characters:	Mon-El, Supergirl
Tinyplot:	Brood Invasion

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Mon-El has posed:
    After a rather harrowing and chaotic adventure in deep space, Kara and presumably everyone who had come out with her on the Javelin return to Titans Tower on Earth with Lar in tow. And, perhaps surprisingly, Peter actually -didn't- wreck the JLA starship. Perhaps he's a good pilot after all.

    It may come as somewhat of a relief as over the course of the trip back, Mon-El does seem to start coming back to his senses more. It seems the Shi'ar had been right, he was on the way to a recovery, if a bit of a long one. Well longer than usual, anyway.

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl had watched over Lar during the trip back, and while there was no yellow sun out in deep space, as they neared earth, she was relieved as she felt her strength returning once more. Hopefully the sun would do good for Lar as well. She had carried him to the infirmary right away, setting up a little solar lamp on the table next to his bed,and also brought him some food to keep his strength up. While imprisonned, he probably wasn't fed. Much.

Once all that's done, Kara clumps down in the chair next to him, yawning a bit. What an adventure. She can't help but wonder still, if they should have stayed out there to help the Guardians..But putting Lar in more trouble was out of the question, in his current situation.

What's worse, is that her own mysterious symptoms were coming back, her arms and legs feeling suddenly painfully stiff, although she did her best to hide it, trying to absorb some heat from the solar lamp. Surely that would help her too?

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar had been drifting in and out of consciousness for most of the trip, but his vitals do seem to be stabilizing and more or less going back to nominal levels. The color is even starting to return to his face. A little bit, anyway. As Kara sets herself down by the solar lamp, he comes to again. Her presence immediately puts him at ease, and he takes in the rest of his surroundings calmly before sitting up against the wall the bed is positioned along.

    He does notice her wincing, even if it's ever so slight. He frowns. "Hey, you okay?" he asks.

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl hugs her arms, trying to will them to move on their own. She seems rather stiff, and a troubled, almost frightened look crosses her face for a moment or two. But as Lar wakes up, she blinks slowly, relaxing. "Lar? You awake now? Uh...It's okay, it's nothing. Guess I'm just..Tired?" she smiles faintly, not wanting to worry him. He should focus on his own healing afterall. "Um..We're back on earth now. We're safe now.."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar doesn't like the way she looked so insecure just now. Kara was usually confident, strong...if something was actually eating at her then it had to be -bad-. He reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder, massaging it a little bit. But if she doesn't want to talk about it right now, he won't push her.

    "Thank you," he says softly. "For putting yourself out there for me. You and..." he pauses, suddenly realizing he wasn't even sure who all had to been there besides her and Peter. "...Peter and uh, whoever else came."

    "I guess I'll just have to put up with him calling me 'Prince Charming' after all." he says with a slight smirk.

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl draws a shaky great, but relaxes a bit more at his touch. Eventually her limbs move on her own and she seems..Relieved. And also distracted. Right, gotta ficus in his own well being, she can worry about this later. "The guardians. Star-Lord, Rocket, oh, some giant blue guy named Gigas. Black Canary and Boomer also helped to rescue you. We nearly got attacked by brood ships after breaking you out of one, but then a Shi'ar cruiser found us and gave us safe passage. They also extracted the brood embryo from your body."

She smiles, "Any time. It's not like I could have left my best friend out in space to get infected and tortured by Brood, right?" the Prince Charming reference does cause her to chuckle. "Hmm, wonder why he'd call you that.." indeed.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Because he's kind of a jerk?" Lar replies, chuckling because he is joking. Mostly. "But only kind of. He's a good man though, deep down. Even if I don't always agree with him."

    He starts helping himself to the food she brought, but then he frowns as something occurs to him. "Everyone made it back, right? I mean, no one was hurt or anything?" Then his thoughts go to the overall threat of the Brood. "I...should probably be helping them repel the invasion. Brood coming out of their territory like this is not good news."

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl smirks, "Orr maybe because you really do think you're Prince Charming.." she chuckles, "And I'll never forget it." She yawns and stretches a bit, pondering. "Hmm, well there were probably minor wounds obtained, though we all came out of it okay..Star-Lord may have a chip on his shoulder, and he's a bit reckless, but he's good at his job. He got us in, and got us out in one piece. Guess we were lucky to get picked up by a Shi'ar cruiser that Star-Lord already had business with.."

As for assisting them, Supergirl sighs and bit, leaning back in her chair. "I was thinking the same thing, but..You were in bad shape, and none of us had substantial interstellar experience. We'd probably just get in the way..However, once you're recovered, I'll check in on them, see if they need back up.."

But she still seems worried. "I just hope I made the right decision..All this leadership stuff is new to me."

Mon-El has posed:
    "Don't worry about it, this sort of thing is more my turf than yours." Lar says, shaking his head slightly as he finishes off the small meal and puts the tray aside. "Of course, if you still want to help, that would definitely be a welcomee thing I'm sure."

    "I...I should be well enough to head out tomorrow." It doesn't really look that way right now, but of course he hates sitting here doing nothing while the Brood are pummeling planets and destroying ships full of potential innocents.

    There's a pause, as he fixes his gaze on her. He's actually scanning her internals, trying to see if there is anything foreign in there, or anything that doesn't look right. Daxam is fairly well known for its advanced medicine, and having been to the future does help. "You're sure you're all right, Kara?" he asks, even as he searches for anomalies.

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl blinks in surprise, "Wait, you wanna leave as soon as tomorrow? Isn't that a bit soon? You should..Rest up a bit more, take it easy.." honestly, she should take her own advice. And when Lar examines her internal organs, he may notice a weird concentration of some sort of tiny metallic particles gathered around her spinal cord primarily.

She just shrugs, drawing a deep breath. "Umm, well..I'm not actually sure. A few weeks ago, I got attacked by that purple and green armoured being again, and he shot me with..Something, some sort of syringe with a kryptonite needle that injected something in me. I got checked out in the infirmary and they're not exactly sure what it is. Some sort of metallic particles, though they don't know what they'd do, if anything. They said it might clear up in a few weeks and I should check in for further tests but.."

Kara smiles faintly, "I'm sure it's nothing. Been feeling a bit stiff at times but.."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar frowns even more deeply at this news, and the sight of the particles. That doesn't sound good at all. "Kara, it's not nothing. Whatever this is, it's affecting your nervous system, and that's bad news. It could lead to paraylsis, or even..." he pauses slightly, shaking his head. "...total loss of control. Trust me, I've been there--it's -not- a place you want to go. Not with how strong people like us are." he turns away, staring at the wall a moment as he recalls some of the harrowing things that happened to him recently. As bad as the Brood infection was, that had definitely been worse.

    "Sometimes I question whether I should even be allowing myself to be around Terrans or anyone who can't take a punch or a laser beam at least once at all. Because what if something happens, and I lose control? I could never live with myself if..." he shakes his head again. "I'm sorry. You--you didn't need that."

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl sighs and shakes her head, "I know, I know..I should take it easy, but..There's just so much stuff going on lately. First this armoured guy, then the black hoodie guy, and then you get captured by brood..Being a leader is hard work, and I didn't exactly ask for this job, but if I don't keep the Titans together , then who will?"

His talk of losing control just makes her eyes widen in worry, blinking a couple of times. "Then, that's more reason for you to stick around..Just for a little bit? I mean, you're always out and about somewhere. At least if things go wrong, I know you can stop me if you stay close by?"

Mon-El has posed:
    "Tell me about it." Lar sighs, looking back to her. "I don't exactly look forward to fixing the messes my parents made, and are still making...when I do have to take their place as leader of the Daxamite people. But like you said--if I don't, then who will?"

    She does bring up a good point, he frowns a bit pensively. "That is a fair point. I'll check in with them. If they're really in a bind, maybe we can both go--that way if you do lose it, at least there's a good chance you'll be somewhere away from innocent humans and closer to people who can get the situation under control. Especially if Star-Lord has an alliance with the Imperium."

Supergirl has posed:
Supergirl hmms, "What are you so worried about? They removed the brood embryo so there's nothing to worry about, right?" she shrugs, "Hm, I think we should just stay out for a little longer? Besides The Guardians have our contact info if they need to get ahold of us again."