Notes: I absolutely love how they went about the "Alex killed Astra" revelation, but before that, I'd had a different scenario bouncing around in my head. It wouldn't leave me alone, so I wrote it down.

Don't Go

Of course Non had picked a place far from National City. A cliff overlooking a deep ravine, far out in the desert. Kara's jaw tightened as she silently wondered if all secret forces - both good and evil - chose the desert for their lairs and if so, why didn't they ever stumble upon one another. She put on another burst of speed as she saw figures and some sort of structure come into view.

She had only known of Alex's abduction for ten minutes, but they were ten eternal minutes to her, especially when she wasn't precisely sure when Alex had actually been taken. At first Hank hadn't even believed that she was missing, thinking that Alex had just gone off for a while by herself, as she did more often now, the guilt of killing Astra weighing heavily on her. One look at her apartment had changed his mind and he'd set the DEO on to tracking her. It was easy enough since all agents had been implanted with digital chips after his own kidnapping.

Kara had refused to wait for a team to be assembled and had flown off at Mach 2 towards the tiny blip she had seen on the tracking map. But now she didn't need the memory of that map. She knew where to find Alex by the sound of her screams.

She pushed herself ever faster, heart pounding within her chest for the first time while flying. She had to get there in time. She couldn't lose anyone else. She couldn't lose her sister.

She landed with less grace than usual, the force cracking the dry ground and sending a shockwave through the area. Instantly all of the Kryptonian soldiers were on alert and poised to attack. She glared at them all, her eyes settling finally upon Non. She didn't let herself look at Alex for more than a moment but she saw that her sister was attached to some sort of machine, legs and arms encircled in metal, with a wide metal belt around her waist.

Non held up a hand and the soldiers relaxed while Kara continued to stare him down.

"Well, well, dear niece."

"I am not your niece! You are no family to me!" Kara shouted at him.

"Just as you say," Non replied. "I use the term only to honor your aunt. She placed too much weight in the bonds of family."

He turned towards the structure holding Alex and Kara was forced to follow his gaze, taking in every scratch and bruise on the other woman's face, and the way she was breathing heavily, head lolling but eyes still defiant. She had obviously fought hard when she was taken and was still fighting now.

"Do you recognize this device?" He asked as he stroked the controls which led to the contraption currently holding Alex.

It was a large pedestal with an arch above it and a wide pole standing in the center. It was that pole which Alex was chained to, with streaking blue lights running along the edge of the arch and down the pole into the base.

"It's something out of the history books," he answered his own question. "A machine designed to carry out corporal punishment for the highest crimes on Krypton. Naturally it was done away with once the High Council deemed it to be too barbaric. It seems fitting to bring it back into use here on this primitive planet. These controls can do anything from sending her tremendous pain to completely stopping her heart. You may have heard her when I was testing some of the lower settings," he finished with a horribly smug tone and a hateful look on his face.

Kara was clenching and unclenching her hands, trying not to shake as she listened to Non and heard what had already caused Alex some unknown amount of pain. It had taken her ten minutes to arrive, but how long had Alex been there? How long had Non been "testing"? She couldn't bear to think about it.

"I didn't come here to talk, Non. I came here to take back my sister, and if I have to kill you to do that, I won't shed a tear."

"Your sister now, is she?" Non said, and the touch of glee in his voice sent a shiver down Kara's spine. His voice hardened and he spat out, "Your sister is a murderer who is here to serve her sentence!"

"Murderer? There was no murder committed, Non. You and Astra are the ones who said that lives lost in war are necessary, or don't you remember?"

Kara chanced a look at Alex and saw the pleading and fearful look on her face. At first she assumed it to be directed at Non, but then their eyes met and she realized that Alex was silently pleading with her.

"Kara, I'm sorry," she managed to say in a voice rough from overuse, but she could say nothing else because Non suddenly turned on the machine and the racing lights turned red and orange and yellow as power seemed to surge through the young woman's body, forcing her muscles into rigor and pulling a scream from her lungs.

"Stop! STOP IT!" Kara screamed, taking a step towards Non just as he cut the power, allowing Alex to sag against her bonds.

"She murdered my WIFE!" He shouted. "Eventually I will turn this up to the highest setting and watch her die, but at the moment I am enjoying her pain. And after her, it will be your turn, Kara Zor-El."

Kara wanted to rush at Non and throttle him, but he was too close to the controls and she was too afraid that he would be faster than her and turn the machine on to a deadly level. She clenched her fists repeatedly, trying to rein in her growing rage.

"You know I'm not going to let you do this," she said tightly, voice dangerously calm.

"And yet, there is nothing you can do about it," Non replied, equally calm as he turned the machine on again and Alex let out an inhuman shriek as her body tensed and then a sharp snapping sound was heard.

Kara was screaming along with her sister when Non shut the current off.

"Interesting," he commented. "Apparently human bones cannot withstand the forces of their own muscles being contracted. He looked directly at Kara. "How long, do you suppose, would it take for each of her major bones to break?"

"Stop this!" Kara was shouting again and staring only at Non, though she could still hear Alex's labored breathing and small sounds of pain as if she was holding her in her arms.

"I will give you a choice, Kara Zor-El. You may leave now. I realize that isn't exactly the honorable thing to do, but it you would not have to see this human's suffering and you might even make it far enough that you survive for another day before I kill you."

"Kara... Go..." Alex whispered her plea and Kara spun to look at her with incredulity. As if she could possibly leave her sister just to avoid pain or even death.

"I'm not going anywhere, Non," she answered firmly. "And I am not letting you do this."

Non moved then, with a burst of speed which Kara wasn't expecting, and he was almost instantly behind her, with a blade pressed between her lower ribs.

"Do you know what this is, dear niece? A Kryptonian blade. Not exactly the sword which this disgusting human used to kill my wife, but deadly just the same. I was going to make you watch her die, but now I am beginning to think that I would rather torture her further by letting her see the life draining from your eyes."

"Please, Kara..." Alex was imploring her with her words and glassy eyes, begging her to break free and escape.

But Kara could not lose her sister. Not today. Not ever.

If Non had moved quickly, Kara was merely a blur of kinetic energy as she forced her body back into his, pushing the blade into herself as she did so, but throwing him off balance in a way she knew she couldn't have accomplished with the kryptonite already weakening her just by its proximity.

He shouted in rage at the same time Alex screamed her name, but Kara barely heard either of them. She tore herself from Non's grasp and then reached behind, with a last burst of super speed and strength, and ripped the knife from her flesh, spinning sharply on her heel and plunging it directly into Non's throat.

The shocked and outraged expression on his face was quickly suffused by pain and then nothing as his breath came in short gurgling spurts and he slumped to the ground.

Almost instantly, his troops had moved in, but the DEO had also arrived at last, and the threat of more kryptonite weapons and dozens of black-clad operatives, together with the death of their leader, was enough to make them scatter to the sky. Kara was breathing heavily, back throbbing with pain and vision growing spotty, but she moved to Alex's side, near frantic when she saw that the other woman was no longer conscious. A button at the back of the pole caused the restraints to release and she caught her sister as she slumped to the ground herself.

"Alex? Alex!" Kara shouted as she shifted herself around so that her sister's head was resting on her lap. "C'mon... You're the tough one, Alex," she continued, pleading for the other woman to open her eyes.

The slight twitch would not have been felt by a human, but Kara felt it, and patted Alex's cheek again, willing her to open her eyes.

"Kara?" The name was little more than a groan, spoken while Alex's eyes were still shut.

"I'm here, Alex. I'm right here and Non isn't going to hurt you or anyone else."

"Kara?" Brown eyes finally opened, but they were fogged with pain and confusion.

"I'm here," Kara was crying now, unsure what to do to fix her sister. "Please don't leave me alone here."

"Forgive me?" was all that Alex said as she met Kara's gaze and held it. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to..."

Kara shook her head vehemently. "Alex, shhhhh. Stop. I forgave you the night that it happened. Don't think about that. Please, just stay calm and stay with me."

"But you've been so mad at J'onn, and you never said anything..." Alex was clearly struggling to remain awake but seemed desperate for absolution.

"I was mad because you both lied to me. C'mon, Alex," she tried to joke even as she brushed aside tears that wouldn't stop falling. "I may be naive, but I'm not totally oblivious. The only one carrying a sword that night was you. J'onn didn't even have any weapons on him when I got there."

Alex nodded her head in understanding, but she still looked bereft. "I'm still... sorry..." she told her. "I should have..."

"Shhhh. Enough. Please, don't think about that anymore. Don't think about any of that. Think about our last vacation to the beach. Or curling up to watch Homeland. Or game night with the guys. Please... please just keep looking at me. Stay with me."

It was clear that Alex's breathing was labored and her eyes had turned glassy and Kara wasn't sure if she could even see her.

"I'll... I'll try," Alex said, and she lifted her her hand to Kara's cheek. "Don't cry, sis. It'll be okay."

She tried to sound strong, but the words were whispered and then her hand was falling limply back to the ground and her eyes were sliding shut. Less than two minutes later, that was where J'onn found them, with Kara leaning against the pole, eyes heavy lidded, but hand still stroking through Alex's hair and along her unresponsive face.

"She won't wake up," she said, sounding almost exactly like a forlorn little girl.

J'onn took in the situation at a glance and quickly put a comforting hand on Kara's shoulder.

"She'll be okay, Supergirl. We'll get her back to base and into the medical bay, while you get recharged."

Kara shook her head. "I don't want to leave her."

"You won't be any use to her bleeding out all over the med bay and distracting the doctors, to say nothing of what she'd say to you AND me if she saw you hovering over her barely conscious yourself."

The blonde did not look convinced, but she looked up when she heard the sound of approaching tires and then nodded weakly at J'onn when she saw one of the DEO medics spring from the back of the van, shouting orders and calling for two stretchers.

"One hour," she told him. "I'll rest for one hour, but then you'll have to pry me away with a kryptonite crowbar."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I'll take what I can get."