The power outage happened over the weekend. It was brief, only a few minutes. But Kara was going out of her mind, trying to figure out the whys of it. Not having anything she could do about it made it worse. Cat rolled her eyes, mustered up her innate ability to be glib and told Kara it would be fine. Just go fly around the city if it makes you feel better. You're not doing anything sitting here with me, worrying. She almost believed it, but it wouldn't do to panic when nothing huge had happened yet.

The official line was 'accidental blowout', and the National City Department of Corrections were unmovable, refusing to claim it had been any fault of theirs. Bullshit, of course. But Kara ranting about them being "mean liars" was not conducive to Cat's sense of calm.

"It will be fine," she tried to enunciate every word as it they made up separate sentences.

"But…"

"Kara, go. Do something, anything. I think you need it," she gave a dismissive wave. "I'm sure the Martian will call."

"I'd rather you were at the DEO."

"Oh, I'm sure," Cat said musically. "Not gonna happen."

Kara frowned, the worry on her face was too much for Cat to deal with. But once she was gone, all Cat could do was worry.

It had just been a flicker in the electrical grid. A small gap between that outage and the surge of the backup system. It was a blink. That was all it took for Leslie to reach out and disappear out of her cell into a spark. Of course it was entirely suspicious. The DEO were rightfully on high alert. And shortly after she'd sent Kara off, Hank made his predictable daily call. They'd gotten friendlier over time, but Cat sensed this one would be a little on the tense side.

"We are doing everything in our power to capture her," he said. "But I'd be more comfortable if Kara convinced you to come here."

"And do what? Hide in a little blue cell?"

"That's no longer necessary."

"Thank you for you concerns, Agent Henshaw."

"Hank, Cat."

"Hank," she sighed. "But I'm not afraid. I refuse to be afraid of Leslie Willis."

"She isn't Leslie Willis anymore," he said. "She hasn't been for some time."

"She will always be Leslie," Cat snapped. "I don't know what it is with you superhero types and your split personalities. She can be a mass-murderer with electricity spewing out of every orifice and she will still be that annoyingly smug shit that I promoted to radio."

She could hear Agent Henshaw taking a breath, probably out of annoyance.

"Just try and lie low until we catch her,' he said. "She has already made it clear that she is looking for you."

"I can't very well lie any lower," Cat said. "I watched a daytime soap this morning. The lens looked like it had been smeared with LA's entire supply of Vaseline. This time off is interminable."

He signed off after that, and she dropped the phone on the couch. She almost wanted to scream in boredom, but she'd only get in the way if she were at the DEO. Or with Kara, wherever she was. Cat had no illusions of jumping in the save the day. No sense that she could do anything but bide time, and wait for this latest danger to pass.

It was only an hour later, when the sun had started to set, that she felt the electricity in the air. It made all the hairs on her body stand on end. She swallowed. But the feeling didn't go away, it simply grew sharper and sharper until she couldn't ignore what it meant. No, just no. Kara was the one who should be doing this, Kara was out there, risking her life and limb every day. Risking it now. But Cat could hear the hum in the air that the electricity made, and knew what was coming. Oh God, she couldn't do this. She didn't want this. She had to do this.
All the glass in the windows shattered, the bright string of electricity dancing about, followed by Leslie making her grand entrance. Cat closed her eyes, swallowed.

"Well, well. Look what the Cat dragged in."

Cat felt the flame of something rise in her then.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times how much I hate—"

Leslie sauntered forward, her body suspended in the air. It was different, this time. Because Cat could taste the power coming off her, could hear each spark hum.

"I don't care what you think," Leslie grinned. "I can't believe you made it so easy to find you. You really need to stop taking such advantage of your assistants."

"Kara isn't my assistant anymore."

"That's right, she's your little playmate."

Cat narrowed her eyes, marching forward.

"Watch it."

"Or what?" Leslie laughed. "I honestly thought this was going to be more fun, but you really aren't as interesting as your hype suggests."

Cat saw the sparks intensify, felt the power surge that was about to come. Instead of ducking and running, she powered forwards, hands out, sending Leslie flying backwards against the wall with a hard slam before she was able to do anything.

Leslie blinked, and smiled wider, and this time Cat couldn't get out of the way. The pain was blinding, the jolt making her shudder and fall.

"My my my, did you trade one of your nine lives for some borrowed powers?"

Cat gritted her teeth, feeling the energy beneath her skin thrum.

"I swear to God, Leslie. I'm not even joking about how annoying—"

But Leslie simply sneered and held up her hands. Cat felt every cell in her body burn as she was flung against the furniture, chairs breaking, everything inside of her hot with the pain. She blinked up to see Leslie standing over her, brightly lit from the power. Too bright. She squinted. But Leslie looked annoyed.

"It is taking far too long to stop your heart." She looked about, a smirk on her face. "Real nice place you got here. No room in it to swing a cat,"

Cat may have groaned, managing to stand so they met eye to eye. She let out a breath that felt like a shudder.

"If you make one more fucking pun…"

She used all her strength, and the room began to shake. The wall behind Leslie cracked, and Cat used that moment of distraction to propel herself towards her. But they tumbled, tripped, and smashed out of the window together. Down and down. Cat felt something inside her flare out, and she pushed herself upwards, just as Leslie was righting herself in the air with a surge of electricity. Cat wasn't falling. She was flying. Oh God, she was flying. She tried not to panic, tried not to suddenly drop out of the sky. Leslie widened her eyes, but quickly regained her air of confidence. She landed on top of a roof, a parking garage. Cat landed soon after.

"You've been keeping secrets from me," Leslie said. "You look like the Cat that ate the canary."

"Oh honestly, Leslie," Cat sighed. "I can't believe you ever had a job in creative media." Her heart was thudding a mile a minute. But so was Leslie's: her breathing was erratic and Cat could smell the sweat on her, the fear. Cat reached for the closest parked car, and took some pleasure in the horror on Leslie's face as she levitated it in the air and threw it right at her.

It connected, but Leslie sparked up again, smiling in warning.

"I do like a more even playing field."

"We both know that's bullshit,' Cat said, another car, missed. Another, Leslie began to stumble. "What? Run out of cat puns?"

She was marching, Leslie retreating, and with each step the feeling beneath her skin seemed to intensify. She felt it surge with something bright, and she flew at Leslie again, kicking at her with her feet. They entered the dark part of the garage, the undercover part. And Cat knew, then, that she was going to live through this. Even if she had to damage a lot of property to do it. She sent her power outward as hard as she could. The building began to shake, the walls to crack. Concrete began to break off and fall around them. Leslie hesitated, bringing her hands up to make a bright ball of energy, but even as she did Cat could sense her panic, saw her eyes dart at the building on the brink of collapsing.

"Cat, please."

"I'm not going to kill you, you idiot," Cat snapped.

That was when the sprinklers came on, set off by the movement of the building. Leslie screamed, and stumbled, electrocuting herself. Falling prone, as the air around her sizzled and hissed

The building stilled, but the air was filled with car alarms, sirens. Dust, which seemed to settle on everything. Cat stood over Leslie's unconscious form, ears ringing. And then everything hit her at once, the adrenaline, the terror. She needed to get out of here. Oh God, she needed to be gone. She didn't even hear Kara land a little ways behind her. The hand on her shoulder made her jump.

"Cat."

Supergirl, staring at her in awe, or was it fear? Cat couldn't tell, because she didn't seem to be capable of words. But Kara pulled her into hug, and Cat let out a sob, feeling boneless.

"It's ok. You were amazing, I can't believe…." Kara brushed the hair out of Cat's face. "Are you able to fly back?"

Cat gawped

"Am I…"

Kara lifted her into her arms then, and before Cat knew it she was back in the air under Kara's power, listening to her direct the DEO to the building Leslie was lying in, unconscious.

Kara seemed to be a little taken aback by the state of her apartment, the partially crumbling wall in the living room, the glass strewn everywhere.

"I'm sorry," Cat was starting to babble, "I think I broke it, I…"

Kara wrapped her up in her arms again.

"Shhhh, you're in shock. It's alright. I don't care how many walls you cracked in two. You're alive."

Cat sighed, pressing her face into Kara's neck.

"She started with the cat puns," she muttered, not knowing why she did. Kara laughed.

"I would have loved to see the shock on her face."

Cat was feeling dizzy. She was feeling strange. Kara carried her to the bedroom, placing her down almost reverently. Pressing a hand against her forehead.

"You need to get some food in you."

Cat shook her head.

"I'm not…" she felt out of breath. She closed her eyes.

"Yeah, you just flew for the first time and battled Livewire, you gotta feel drained," Kara smiled. "Stay, deep breaths. You're ok now."

"Leslie…"

"Alex and Hank have that covered," Kara said warmly, unable to resist brushing the hair out of Cat's face again. "Getting food in your superhero body is the priority."

Cat laughed, leaning back into the cushions. Eyes closed, she heard Kara walk off towards the kitchen. Thought she heard glass being cleaned, but then she seemed to drift off.

She woke up to the smell of pasta, of pizza, some something cheesy and full of carbohydrates. Kara put them on the bedside table.

"Carbs…no…"

"Eat," Kara said, her tone brokering no argument. Cat accepted the bowl of pasta, and was surprised by how hungry she suddenly felt, and how fast she ate it. When she was done, Kara handed her a few slices of pizza, and Cat didn't bother arguing. She just ate, and ate some more, and slowly the dizziness subsided.

"Better?" Kara asked.

Cat nodded.

"Sleep. We can talk when you're up and about again."

Cat didn't have the energy to put up any more of a fight, she relaxed her body back under the covers of Kara's bed, and was out like a light within minutes. She didn't even dream.