Update: This story has now been betaed by ifourmindbeso. Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.


Cat Grant was many things. Smart, attractive, rich, powerful, funny, moody, given to whimsy, more than a little vindictive, a borderline alcoholic, and suffering from a rather severe case of PTSD that rendered her incapable of making it through a day of work without having a panic attack unless she had her regular doses of Lexapro.

What she was not, and never had been, was dumb.

Oh, plenty of people had assumed she was. Some of them had gone to great pains to make their disdain for her, and her intellect, very clear. She had given them polite and insincere smiles as they walked all over her. She had also remembered. There were no small number of men who found their careers completely destroyed because of the things Cat Grant remembered and because Cat Grant wanted to make sure that women who followed in her footsteps had an easier time on the trail she had blazed.

That did not mean that she would coddle anyone. She had never been coddled when she fought her way to the top. If someone was doing something stupid, she told them. She also, contrary to what many thought, told them when they were doing something well. She rewarded success, and excellence doubly so. She mentored, she guided, and if she used the stick more than the carrot, it was because she hated wielding a tool with which she felt unskilled and when it came to kindness, Cat felt very unskilled indeed. The only people she ever felt a natural inclination towards kindness with were her sons. At least, until Sunny Danvers had walked into her office at 10:15 one September morning.

The girl had surprised her, right from the start. Her protestations that she was not special had caught Cat's attention, because it meant she had at least one skill that most of the applicants and most of Cat's former assistants had lacked. Kara Danvers knew how to listen. That, in and of itself would have gotten her the job, but she wasn't done. Oh, no. Not Kara "perfectly normal" Danvers. She'd given that stupid speech about wanting to help, wanting to be worthwhile. It had sparked something in Cat. A small, faint little fire of hope.

Cat knew she was aging. She was coming up on fifty, and she would be damned if she left her legacy in the hands of some walking personification of white male privilege. She took one look at Kara, and saw hope that she might have found the woman she'd been looking for since the day she bought the Tribune. A protégé, a successor. Everything she'd once hoped Leslie Willis might become, before Cat had made so many mistakes with her.

Cat had known from just a few moments into the interview that Kara was special, that she had potential to be something far more than an assistant. She had, at the very least, the makings of a stellar reporter. One to put Lois Lane and Vicki Vale to shame. The backbone the girl had demonstrated in the interview had come as a bit of a surprise. Not as much as the fact that the girl had produced an invitation to a notoriously hard to get into event. Oh, Cat would have hired her, even without that. Would have even taken her as a *potential* protégé without that. But she had expected to have to put some temper and some steel into the girl herself, instead of finding it already there.

The invitation, though- that had made Cat pay attention to Kara as something more than some long-term project, and over the last year, Kara and done that time and again. Kara kept finding ways to reach into places Cat herself couldn't, and the girl had become an enigma to her, a puzzle she was determined to solve. Everything from the fact that her lattes were actually hot, to the way she made suggestions that Cat would have expected from someone with years of experience in journalism, to the ease and comfort with which Kara wielded power, almost as if she'd been doing it for years. The girl was a leader, but more than that, she felt like a seasoned leader, not a gifted amateur. Cat had seen generals on the battlefield with less grace under pressure than Kara Danvers.

Which brought Cat back to the whole 'not dumb' thing.

Because she wasn't. She was not dumb enough to believe that a twenty-four-year-old girl would just call Diana Price out of the blue and end the call with an invitation to one of the most exclusive social events of the year. She was not dumb enough to believe the same girl just a year later just happened to have Diana Prince and Bruce Wayne on speed dial, or that she had somehow managed to get dozens of pictures of Supergirl, all in stunningly high quality. Even if she was, apparently, sleeping with a detective over at the NCPD.

She also wasn't dumb enough to look at those pictures of Supergirl, and sit across from her assistant at lunch as her assistant calmly but firmly shifted the entire power dynamic of their relationship, without seeing the resemblance, both in features and facial expressions.

She wasn't dumb enough not to notice that her assistant was at her desk less often the past few days, and that her disappearances always seemed to coincide with Supergirl showing up in the news or on social media. Nor did she miss the not-so-subtle exchanges between Kara and the handsome little cardigan-wearing hobbit who did a surprisingly good job of respecting Kara's sexuality despite the fact that he was hiding a crush the size of Cat's beach house.

She didn't have proof, but she wasn't sure she wanted it. There was a part of her that didn't trust herself with it. The only stories she could think of that would be bigger than Supergirls' Secret Identity would be Superman's or Batman's. Except, if what she suspected about Kara were true, she already knew Superman's identity, because it was one thing for Clark Kent and Superman to be tied to Lois Lane, but for Clark Kent and Superman to both be tied to Supergirl was a bridge too far.

"Here you go, Ms. Grant," Kara said, making Cat jump a little, as the sound of Kara's voice shocked her out of her thoughts. She looked up, to find Kara standing there, holding out a small glass dish with two Advil and her evening Lexapro in one hand, and a bottle of water in the other. "You've got that 'I feel a headache coming on' expression." Kara's smile and the concern in her eyes took any sting out of the words, and Cat just nodded.

"What would I do without you, Keira?" she asked.

"Fire a lot of assistants," Kara relied, a faint twinkle in her eye.

Cat couldn't help but smile. "True," she said. She took the dish with the pills and dumped them into her mouth, handing the dish back to Kara, then taking the bottle of water to wash them down.

"I'm about to head out for the evening, Ms. Grant," she said. "Do you need anything else before I go?"

Cat looked at Kara, and despite all the reasons she didn't want to know, she wouldn't be Cat Grant if she didn't follow the story. "I need someone from research who's good, loyal, and above all, discreet."

"Bunny Watson," Kara said, without a moment's hesitation. "She's the best we've got. Smart, fast, can find just about anything you need. Gifted with computers. Give her a good bottle of Champagne and she'll take your secrets to the grave."

"Champagne?" Cat asked.

"Give that woman a bottle of Cristal, and she would march into hell to find out if the devil wore boxers or briefs," Kara said.

"Send her up before you go."

"Yes, Ms. Grant."


Kara sat on the hill overlooking National City, her feet dangling over the side of the cliff. In the original timeline, she'd had her first interview with Cat on this particular hill, but tonight, she was up here alone, waiting. She was supposed to be up early the next morning for missile drills at the DEO. A test of her strength and endurance. She knew how the day went. The dock fire. Both would be a lot easier this time. It was the next night that really worried her. The Hellgrammite would hit the chemical storage facility. This time she'd be there to save the security guards and capture him. This time, he wouldn't stab Alex and force Alex to kill him. This time…

"Hello, Little One."

Kara looked up, to fight Astra floating above her. She smiled, as she held up the light spy beacon. "I wasn't sure you'd come," she said.

"I received your message," Astra said.

"Good," Kara said. "That's good." She patted the ground beside her. "I don't want to fight, Aunt Astra. I just want to talk."

Astra slowly drifted down, landing, and then sitting beside her. Kara watched as she pulled the spy beacon from her pocket, and smiled as they touched them together. The lights vanished as the two connected.

"I do not wish to fight with you, either," Astra said. "When I first heard you were alive, I was afraid it would come to that. I think, if I had not heard your message…"

"My sister was on that plane," Kara said.

Astra stopped, her jaw literally dropping in shock. "Sister? Alura had another child?"

Kara shook her head. "No, Aunt Astra. My human sister." Kara reached out, taking Astra's hand in her own, squeezing it gently. "There were supposed to be six pods, one for each of us, but only two of them were ready. Jor-El wasn't done fitting the hypersleep systems on the others, and the end came faster than they expected. They put Kal-El in one pod, and me in another. His launched first and he cleared the planet. Mine launched a few moments later, but I got caught in the shockwave and knocked into the Phantom Zone." She looked over at Astra, and saw the horror on her face. Horror she could understand. She'd experienced the Phantom Zone while awake, and it was nightmarish, at best.

"I slept for most of my time there, but I was there for twenty-four years, right up until I drifted within sensor range of Fort Rozz. Indigo hadn't managed to completely bypass the security on Fort Rozz, but she had enough control to slave Fort Rozz's drive system to my pod. Then she just rebooted my pod's navigational computer and it followed the beacon Kal's pod was still transmitting."

"That's what happened?" Astra said. "I'd always wondered how the guards lost control of the ship. But we never found Indigo."

"She's hiding from you," Kara said.

"She's wise to do so," Astra said.

"When I landed, Kal-El had aged twenty-four years. He'd become Superman. He had enemies, and no way to care for me, so he found me a family."

"Did they treat you well?" Astra asked, and Kara felt a knot of grief settle into her stomach, because this was a conversation they never got to have in the other timeline.

"They were amazing," she said, "and I had the best sister. Oh, we didn't get along at first, and we fight the way all sisters do, but it was like Rao saw the hole Krypton had left in my heart and gave me the one thing in the Universe that could possibly fill it. Sister, mother, she became a little bit of both, and she means everything to me."

"Six nights ago, one of your people tried to kill her."

"That's why you interfered?" Astra said, and Kara could almost hear the relief in her voice. "Little One, I swear to you I did not know. We attacked the plane because there were humans on it who work for an agency which resists us."

"Yes," Kara said, "I know. The DEO. My sister is one of their agents. You tried to murder her." She felt Astra pull her hand away, watched her scoot back a little.

"You do not understand what is at stake," Astra said.

"You're wrong. I understand what's at stake better than you do. I know about Myriad."

"Your mother told you?" Astra asked.

"No. I found out long after she was dead. I found out not long after I learned that you were alive."

"How?"

Kara sighed and shook her head. "That's a long story, one I'm not ready to tell you yet. Before you get any ideas, I've already told the DEO about Myriad."

Astra just looked at her. "It does not matter. Myriad cannot be stopped."

"It can," Kara said. "We have a way to block its effects. Right now, we can shield individuals. In a few days, we'll have a shield up over all of National City. In two weeks, every city in the United States over a hundred thousand people will have an anti-Myriad shield."

Kara reached under her cape, for the small pouch she'd clipped to her belt. She'd been unsure about this part at first, but after going round and round with Konex and Kelex for months regarding the theoretical basis of Myriad, she was sure there was no way to alter Myriad enough to get around the ion blockers Maxwell Lord had developed. At least, no way without the rest of the Anti-Life Equation.

"Here," Kara said, placing the pouch in Astra's hand. "Take this. Study it. It will prove I'm right." She watched the emotions playing behind Astra's eyes, the fear, the confusion, the anger. Astra looked down at the pouch, them back up at Kara.

"Why?" Astra demanded. "If you know what's at stake, why would you do that?"

"Because I need you to listen to me," Kara said. "And you were never going to do that, not as long as Myriad was an option." She reached out, gripping Astra's shoulders as she looked her in the eyes. "Go back to your base. Examine the device. See if it does what I say. When you're convinced… Activate the Spy Beacon, and I'll meet you here. Then we can talk." She stretched up onto her toes, and kissed Astra lightly on the forehead. "/ .ukiem w rrip , eh ,astruh, .,roa, sokao:divilodh w rraotiv giehrehd zrhig osh/"

Kara leaned over, letting her weight tip her over the side of the cliff before she kicked off, and shot out into the night sky.


J'onn was waiting for her when she landed in her apartment, and, she noted with some amusement, helping himself to Choco's and milk.

"Hey," she said as she walked over to the fridge. She took a half gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream out of the freezer, then grabbed a spoon and sat down on a stool.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"About as well as could be expected," Kara said as she ripped the top off the ice cream. "I laid on the biggest guilt trip I could, gave her solid proof that we can defeat Myriad before it's even deployed and now we just hope she comes to her senses and actually talks to me."

"You know I hate this plan, right?"

Kara nodded. "I do," she said, as she shoved a huge spoon full of ice cream and cookie dough into her mouth. "I need to ask you something."

"Will it make my hair fall out?"

"You're a Martian," she said, "you don't actually have hair."

"I'm thinking of growing some, just so it can fall out every time I talk to you," J'onn replied.

Kara laughed, before giving him a serious look. "We need to get Winn, Maggie, and as much as I'm reluctant to include him, James up to speed on the DEO sooner, rather than later. I was thinking maybe this weekend, we could bring them in, get the Non-Disclosures signed, and get them swipe cards and Consultant ID's."

"You're still determined to do that?" he asked.

"I am. Also, I have a tip on another alien," she said.

"Oh?" J'onn asked.

"Yeah. Hellgrammite. Chlorine-based life form. Check the records. You'll find six robberies at chemical storage facilities around the country in the last year. He's stealing DDT for food. I think he's going to hit the storage yard up in Capital Fields Monday night."

"You're sure?" J'onn asked.

"No," Kara said. "Not really. My information is old and too many pieces are in motion on the board. Taking down Vartox the way I did, flying around playing Superhero the way I have been, or talking to Astra tonight could have shifted things. He might be attacking tonight, he might not attack for another week, but the last timetable I had put it as Monday night, and I don't *think* anything we've done will have changed that."

"Why didn't you tell me about this thing sooner?"

"This one isn't like the others. I've been careful about only feeding you locations of aliens Astra has lost track of or doesn't care about. This one is tied to Astra's faction. I'm not sure of the nature of the connection, just that there is one."

"So, we should expect Kryptonians?"

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to have some gear to deal with them, just in case," Kara said. "Which reminds me…" She walked over and grabbed a gray pelican case that had been sitting in the corner, and carried it over to the table. She popped the latches and flipped open the lid. "These are for your teams."

She watched as J'onn walked over to examine the contents while she went back to eating her ice cream.

"We already have uniforms and tac vests," he said.

"Not ones made from Kryptonian fabrics," Kara replied. "Those uniforms will stop a 20mm rifle, as long as the slug isn't depleted uranium. Combine them with a helmet, and they're better than a standard bomb disposal outfit in terms of dealing with heat and kinetic impact. Whiplash is still an issue, but these will make the DEO field teams a lot safer."

"Thank you, Ms. Danvers."

"There's more where that came from," Kara said. "If you will give me a dedicated data line, I can get you set up so you can order anything you need. We'd just need to pick up a secure location for drop off and pick up."

"Why not deliver them directly to the DEO?"

"General Lane," Kara said. "I don't trust him not to try to grab Konex."

"Who's Konex?" J'onn asked.

Kara smiled. "Let me introduce you."


Translated from the Kryptonian:

ukiem w rrip , eh ,astruh,

I love you, Astra

,roa, sokao:divilodh w rraotiv giehrehd zrhig osh

Literal: Rao, please light your path of wisdom

Semantic: May Rao light your way