34 days. 34 days since the Daxamite attack on National City. The attack which ended in a genocide of an entire race. One that ended with the first real partner Kara had ever had being forced to flee Earth for good. Her first real connection, and love for someone other than her friends and family. They were making a life together.

Not anymore.

She was at Noonan's, just like every morning. Except now, she stopped there only for her own coffee, instead of Ms. Grant's. It seems like a lifetime ago, not merely 2 years. Her life was weird...but a lot more simple. Nobody knew about her powers. She slaved over Ms. Grant's barking orders all day, and hung out with her sister at night. Now, everything is in such disarray. So different. But yet...the same. The same deep pit in her soul, forced all the way down, where no one could see. The loss, the sacrifice, the pain. The wondering 'Why her?'. She was born to be a scientist, not a hero. She was thrust into this life at 13 years old. Since then, all she ever thought about was how she was a failure before she even got a chance to prove herself, and to honor her mother and father's last request of her. To protect Kal. He was grown when she got here. She had no purpose any longer. She had failed in her mission, in her sacred duty. Her life's meaning dashed from before her, in what she perceived as a moment. Kal had 35 years to process this. She had been her for some time now, but it would never compare to the bond he'd been able to form with humanity. Kara was a true Kryptonian. The only other ones left had attack her world, and were killed.

The only shining light she had was her sister, and her friends. Her purpose now was to protect them, and to protect their home. That was what Kal-El had decided. Kara understood why. The humans capacity for love, and self-sacrifice was greater than anything she'd known on Krypton. Their passion, emotion, and loyalty were to be unmatched. On Krypton, loyalty was how you were bred. One was literally born with a genetic code ensuring loyalty to ones House. Kal had been born of love. A live birth in the House of El. The first in thousands of years. But Kara, it was in her genetic makeup. Kal was her blood kin. She was coded to protect and provide for him at all cost. He didn't need her though. Not any longer.

Kara transferred all of that energy, all of that loyalty over to her family. To Alex. In return, Alex showed her the unfathomable love, and connection humans had with their families. Kara loved her blood kin in Krypton, of course she did. This was different. On Krypton, it was all she'd ever known. She was Kara Zor-El, of the prestigious House of El. She was a young girl, and under constant supervision from her parents and Aunt Astra. Largely limited to schooling, and her art, Kara had few friends outside of her House. She didn't know what it was to love from her whole heart. Love from a place that wasn't out of breeding and a sheltered existence. Not out of a place of necessity or duty, but out of pure soul.

Alex was her responsibility now. Kal didn't need protection, he was invincible like her. But Alex, Kara's friends...they were human. Vulnerable. All of the humans. She had great abilities that could be used to help them. To protect them. She loved them, all of them.

So, when a large van came crashing through the front door of the packed Noonan's during morning rush hour, it was her instinct to protect her fellow citizens and friends. The driver had not hit the brakes or attempted to stop, or Kara would have heard the brakes and commotion. It was purposeful, of the she was sure. She shielded those around her that she could, but at least 9 were hit and injured.

Kara didn't have time to think about the ramifications of her being in her street clothes. The driver, a Caucasian man who seemed to be around her age jumped out, screaming. She super-sped over to him with the intention of subduing him. As she and him fell to the ground, she saw the fear in his eyes.

"It's you..." he said soft and trembling when he felt the strength and weight of her pinning him to the ground. "They were right...get OUT! GO! IT'S A TR..." Then everything went bright, and the explosion rocked the entire block.

The next she remembers, an instant later, her super ears were ringing like crazy. Kara was on the ground somewhere behind what used to be the Noonan's front counter. There was an injured barista to her right, looking dazed, and a couple to her right, one girl helping her girlfriend get lift part of the rubble off of her leg. Kara went to stand to help, but she was moving slower than her normal self. She felt light-headed, and noticed that there was pain. Her adrenaline kicked in when she looked down and saw too many small shards of Kryptonite to count scattered in her skin. Embedded in her entire front and right sides. Having not yet gotten changed into her Supergirl outfit for the day, she was in casual clothes. Her hours as Journalist were vastly different than her hours as Assistant.

Kara saw the humans in the shop get up fairly quickly. It looked like the explosion wasn't really that damaging, most of them seemed to be having ear issues, and bruises from being thrown to the ground by the shock wave. Other than that, the injuries were mostly from the impact of the van. She finally got her wits enough to remember the bomber's words. 'It's you..' 'Get out..' she thinks he heard something about a trap, but the bomb went off.

The bomber! She slowly got up the best she could. It was excruciating, like hundreds of pieces of glass stabbing her whole body. Using the counter to get to her feet, Kara checked over the scene. The van was fine, but spattered with blood from the bomber. There were tiny, sharp pieces of Kryptonite at the side of the van, and partially in the ceiling above the explosion. There were no burns on any of the injured, so the explosion wasn't incendiary. Just a soft green glow, and a fine reddish pink powder settling over the entire area. She looked down at her own hands and arms, coated with the dust.

As her adrenaline start to wear off, so did her hearing loss. The sharp buzz in her ears was replaced by the shrill sound of alarms and sirens. She felt ill, and dizzy. The Kryptonite for sure. Her racing heart had been staving off some of the effects, but now they were coming on quickly. Kara reached out for the counter to steady herself, but was met with a patron grabbing her hand and arm to help her stand. When she was finally able to focus enough to pick out the shrill alarms from the voices, Kara was startled at what a few of the people were saying.

"Supergirl, sit down..." "Here, take it easy..." "Supergirl, don't try move, we'll help..."

Supergirl? She wasn't in her Supergirl gear? How did they know?!

Kara started to go from dazed and weak, to a panic. How do they know her identity.

A man older than her, maybe in his 40s, came into her vision. It was him holding her arm, keeping her from collapsing all together.

"Can you hear me? I need you to focus...Supergirl! Look at me!" He said in a hushed, but stern tone.

Kara nodded to acknowledge she understood. Bad decision. Her vision swam again with dizziness from the Kryptonite. He had someone else help her to the floor, as he framed her face with his hands, trying to avoid the embedded shards.

"Hey, listen to me, we saw you take down the guy who did this, and your glasses have been blown off. Your hair is a mess. We all saw, you don't have to worry about us. You saved us. We all thank you. But you have to get out of here! The ambulances are almost here, and they'll figure it out. It's one thing for a few of us to have seen, but none of us, especially you, don't want this information going public. Right!?"

She comprehended most of what he'd said. Kara nodded at him. The man, and a college age girl, who had helping keep Kara upright, half walked and half carried her out through the back. The employees helped quickly guide the way to their back exit, away from the scene. One of the baristas led them to her car, and opened the back door. The man deposited her in the back, and the girl got in with Kara. He closed the door, stating he'd stay on scene and make sure everybody was on the same page about protecting Supergirl's identity. Kara just gave him what could pass for a weak smile as a thank you, before wincing again from the increasing pain and nausea.

"Where to?!" the Barista driver asked the college girl.

"I have no idea? My dorm is way too crowded, I don't want to invade her privacy more by asking where she lives..." She stated, frazzled.

The young woman took a deep breath to settle her nerves. "Just start driving, we'll figure it out on the way. Hey Supergirl, can you hear me? My name is Liz. Can you tell us where you want us to take you?" she shushed Kara try to make her as comfortable as possible. It didn't really help with all of the pain and queeziness.

"It's ok, take your time, and focus. Do you have a safe place we can take you?" Liz asked again.

For Kara, everything was happening so fast. It felt like her brain was moving in slow motion, and everything else was so muddled. Safe places...she had to think...She couldn't call the DEO, she was already exposed, she didn't need Alex and the team getting exposed as well. She couldn't go to L Corp. She doesn't think Lena would say anything, but she hasn't known her for long. On top of that, she didn't know anyone in the building, and couldn't risk it. She did have one option, it was a risk, but she didn't have another choice.

"Catco..." Kara slurred out, breathlessly. She was trying to take slow, deep breaths to keep calm. Kara had resigned herself to her position. She didn't have a choice. She didn't think Ms. Grant would say anything. Not with their history. On top of that, she'd have the resources to get any video of the incident, and get the contact information of all of the people that may expose Kara's identity.

"Catco? Like THE Catco building?" Liz asked, flabbergasted.

Kara groaned as another pulsing wave of pain hit her. She was definitely starting to become more aware of her surroundings and of her body.

"Catco! Ahh...I need a phone." Kara gritted there her teeth.

The college girl looked at the barista, and shook her head negative. Her phone must have been lost in the blast. The barista frantically searched her smock and jeans.

"Yesss, here!" The driver said excitedly as she tossed her phone back to Liz.

"OK Supergirl, just read me off the number, I'll dial for you."

Kat listed off Cat Grant's direct line, and Liz dialed quickly, putting it on speaker.

"Who is this, and why do you have my direct line? I also have an automatic screening system for unknown callers to this line, and rest assured, if you have wasted my time I swear to..." Cat's rant was interrupted by Kara shutting her up...for the first time ever. She used as much of her energy as she could to sound commanding.

"Ms. Grant! Listen for once! I need your help!" Kara spoke up. It was followed by an inward grunt of pain.

"Keira, what is going on, where are you calling from. I think your taking my advice a little too seriously...when I said stand up for yourself, I meant..."

"Ms. Grant! Oh my God, is this what you're like every day? This is Liz, I'm a random college student at NCU, and I have Supergirl bleeding and in terrible condition right now! Can you shut up and tell us how to get her to you...Please?" Liz realized she'd just mouthed of to the creator of an empire, but kind of didn't care at the moment.

"Supergirl!? What do you mean? What happened?"

"There was an attack at Noonan's. She helped all of us, but she's out of uniform! She's exposed Ms. Grant! She asked us to call you, can you please help us?! Where do we go?!"

"Head to Catco, pull into the parking garage off of 13th. Second space on the left. It says Private Parking. Park there. Stay put." Cat hung up the phone on Liz.

"She hung up on me?" Liz said stunned.

"yeah..." Kara whispered, closing her eyes to rest a minute. Closing her eyes helped a little with the dizziness, but not with the pain. She let out a whimper, she was feeling worse the longer she had the Kryptonite was being pumped into her system. There was also a different tingly feeling at the Kryptonite open wounds. She couldn't place it, but it felt different from any Kryptonite exposure she'd previously experienced. She didn't have the wherewithal to worry about it right now.

As the barista parked in the garage as directed, a huge security guard walked up to the back door and opened it.

"Supergirl, you have to open your eyes now. We need to get you up and out to a safe place. Come on..." Liz encouraged.

Kara just winced in pain as Liz tried to get her up. Liz felt bad, but they needed to move her. The security guard shooed her out of the way, picking up Kara swiftly, but surprisingly gently.

"Ms. Danvers?Wow, Ok ladies, follow me." He ordered succinctly. Both Liz and the barista accompanied the guard to Ms. Grant's private elevator. As the doors closed, none of them could help thinking how their lives had all been turned upside down in the matter of minutes,,,