A/N: Sorry it's taking so long between chapters, but I should have Ch 10 posted by Thursday.


"Wait, are you saying that your Aunt Astra, whom I met on Krypton, sent Vartox to kill you?" Alex repeats what Kara's told her because it makes no sense. The Astra that she met on Krypton was protective of Kara and took forever to warm up to Alex.

"Vartox says that Fort Rozz landed here on earth, which makes no sense. Fort Rozz is on Krypton and my mother wouldn't have sent it to the phantom zone. I have to talk to Kal-El," Kara says pushing up to get off the exam table.

"Kara, hold on. How do you know he's telling the truth? And we need to clean your wound and figure out what kind of material that ax is made of since it was able to pierce your skin," Alex says grabbing her to keep her in place.

Kara sighs, then sits back down, so that Alex can look at the wound more clearly.

A commotion in the hallway causes them both to look up as Eliza enters the room frowning. "Kara! How did this happen?" She asks practically pushing the other technician aside and stepping in beside Alex.

"I was fighting and the guy threw an ax at me," Kara begins to explain.

"We have yet to find a metal that can pierce your skin," Eliza replies as she pushes and prods at the cut a moment, before picking up the forceps and pulling out a sliver of metal and hands it to Alex. "This should help you identify the compound," she snaps.

Kara looks at Eliza gratefully as they both watch the wound heal before their eyes.

"Now, who the hell were you fighting and why did he have an ax that could hurt you?" Eliza asks crossing her arms and staring both women down.

"Dr Danvers, you're not cleared for this," Hank says from across the room.

"Then I suggest you clear me for it," she protests. "I am the most knowledgeable person in this room when it comes to Kara's biology." Eliza adds challenging Alex to dispute it.


"This is all of the footage?" Cat asks disappointedly.

"Yes," James answers. "Cat this wasn't training, they were using live rounds. We couldn't get close enough to see what was going on," he explains.

"But this, this barely looks human," she says pointing at the shape of what they think is the fleeing alien.

"The helicopter followed him shooting, but he got away," James points out.

"Well there's only one person capable of fighting something like that," Cat gestures to the fleeing image that appears to be bounding 20 feet in the air as he dodges the rounds from the helicopter.

"But then the chopper returned to the power plant and landed, so obviously someone was still there," he points out. "But like I said, we couldn't get that close and the buildings blocked our view. Except I did get shots of this," he says scrolling quickly through the file and stopping to show her the damaged wall.

"Well, that is impressive," Cat remarks awestruck at the sight of a person size hole in the concrete wall. "These aliens are like gods on earth, this looks like a scene from the action movies that my sons watch," she exclaims.

"Yeah, it really does," James admits staring at the photo.


"Let's go again," Kara says jumping back up to her feet. Throwing herself into training seemed like the best way to distract herself from thinking about her mother's actions when she couldn't reach Kal-El.

"No, you've had enough," Alex says intervening. "Kara, it was your first real fight. You'll do better next time," she adds.

"Kara, it's partly my fault. I've held back in our fight sessions," Hank admits.

"You can't do that Hank. I have to be ready for this," Kara points out.

"You are ready Kara, just remember that when you're fighting an opponent of equal or greater skill, you can use their power against them," Alex says decisively, moving into the ring with her.

"Alex, I'm not going to..." Kara begins to say, but stops talking to defend herself from Alex's punches.

"Come on Kara, come at me," Alex says confidently. "What? Are you afraid of a little human?" She taunts, faking a punch and sweeping her leg to knock the alien on her back.

Annoyed, Kara pops back up and rushes at her, but Alex easily uses Kara's power to flip her over and into the wall.

"How did you do that?" Kara stammers surprised by the maneuver. "Again," she demands scrambling to her feet to rush at the brunette again.

After the third time, Kara manages to avoid the flip and instead takes Alex down to the mat practically crushing her.

"Kara!" Alex gasps banging her hands on her shoulders.

"Oh Rao, I'm so sorry Alex," Kara says rolling off of her.

"Good job," Alex mutters as she sits up to catch her breath. "You are a really quick learner," she adds glancing over at Hank.

"Both of you should get out of here and rest up. We're going to train harder tomorrow," Hank says smiling slightly at the two of them and shaking his head. Only Alex would go up against an alien a hundred times stronger than she is and manage to get in a few good shots.


Alex is just staring at the message on her phone. She isn't really surprised, but she didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

"Alex, what is it?" Kara asks noting the distracted look on the brunette's face.

"Uh, well couple of things. Apparently Cat Grant has named you SuperGirl and she has decided to do a feature on you," Alex says picking up the tv remote and switching the channel to the story of the day. "She's put out an open invitation for you to meet with her on the front page of The Tribune," she adds.

"Wh-How did they get that footage?" Kara blurts out as she watches Vartox bounding away dodging the shots from the helicopter pursuing him.

"There was a news copter in the area, Vasquez sent out the warning telling them to stay clear, but obviously they had a long lens," Alex explains. "At least there's no shot of you," she adds.

"Me getting my ass kicked, you mean," Kara snaps.

"You'll do better next time," Alex reminds her. "Now you know what you're up against."

"I should go talk to her before someone gets hurt," Kara points out, frowning and concerned.

"No, we'll take care of it, Kara. We'll use our Homeland Security leverage to shut down the coverage before they make things worse," Alex explains.

"Worse than my aunt wanting to kill me?" Kara quips. "I should go talk to Cat, off the record. And relax, I won't tell her anything important, but I will ask her to back off and she'll be more likely to do it if I ask her to," Kara says spinning around into her supersuit.

"I hope that you're right, Kara. Because Hank is not going to like this, especially if it doesn't work," Alex warns as the hero opens the balcony door.


Cat is still at the office, she's not really working so much as she's trying to figure out who it is and what planet it's from by surfing the intergalactic net. She's found the Kryptowatch story from The Argo City Gazette and she's reading it when she sees something fluttering out her window. Removing her reading glasses, she goes to the patio door to see what it is and a small gasp escapes her mouth.

"Kara Zor-El," she marvels almost under her breath as she pushes the door open to greet her.

"Hi, Catherine. Or do you prefer to be called Cat?" Kara asks pointedly, hovering just off the balcony.

"Let me explain," Cat says gesturing to her office. "Come inside?"

"No, I'm fine out here," Kara says landing lightly on the balcony and crossing her arms.

Cat fidgets nervously, she's written a hundred emails to Kara trying to explain everything and now that the woman is right here in front of her, her mind is completely blank.

"So Cat Grant is your real name," Kara prompts.

"Catherine Foster is also my real name, or was," Cat admits frowning slightly. "Robert and I are getting a divorce," she adds. "Everything that I told you was true, Kara. I didn't lie to you, I just wasn't completely honest."

Kara nods considering it. She uncrosses her arms and sits down on the arm of a chair.

Encouraged Cat continues. "I hope that you know that CATCO wasn't behind the hack and we didn't steal those documents," Cat adds defensively, "But we were advised to leave before charges were brought."

"You were right to leave. And the hacker is in custody and you've all been cleared, I thought that you'd want to know," Kara replies.

"Thank you. So why are you here? In National City?" Cat questions.

"Uh, well I was accused of helping you and I fled before they could charge me with collusion and espionage," Kara snaps angrily.

Cat flinches, she isn't sure if Kara's anger is at her or the situation.

"Oh no, Kara. I had no idea," Cat exclaims shocked. "They detained you?" She asks.

"They questioned me, but couldn't hold me with the evidence that they had. When they released me I took my grandfather's pod and came to Earth," Kara explains. "But since, I came here without proper clearance, I had to meet with Homeland Security and they detained me briefly until Alex pointed out that I could help capture the rogue aliens."

"Kara, I am sorry. We had no idea. I had no idea, I never would have left if I had known my actions would jeopardise your standing on Krypton," Cat says apologizing profusely. "Is there anything that I can do to help you now?"

"Catherine..." Kara sighs. "You were right to leave when you did. The hacker framed CATCO, if he hadn't of tried to use me to leak the documents to the public, he might have gotten away with it," she remarks instead.

"So you knew him?" Cat questions.

"He is Mala's cousin, they, uh, they were in on it together," she adds sadly. "She tried to get me to publish the documents, but I wouldn't even look at them, once I realized what they were," Kara explains. "It wasn't until later that I was told about CATCO's connection to the documents."

Cat stares at her a moment, completely perplexed on how to respond. Kara looks angry and lost. Cat's instinct is to comfort her, but she isn't sure how Kara would respond.

"Why were you on Krypton?" Kara blurts out.

The petite woman sighs softly, before sitting down on the edge of a chair. "James was there to make an offer on The Gazette, he is building an intergalactic division of CATCO. I went because CATCO is my company and it gave me an opportunity to investigate the prison ship story. I promised James that I wouldn't interfere with his acquisition, but I did insist on seeing The Gazette for myself. I thought that I could just play the part of tourist and talk to some of your staff at the coffee shop across the street, but then I met you and ..." Cat's voice trails off, she's not sure exactly how to explain the rest of her actions.

Kara smiles slightly relieved that the whole thing wasn't part of an elaborate corporate takeover plan. She is about to respond when her phone buzzes in her boot. Putting up a finger as a signal for Cat to wait a moment, Kara taps the earpiece.

"Alex, I'm fine. I'll be back soon," Kara says immediately. "I know, I know."

Grimacing, Kara reaches back up and taps the earpiece to end the call.

"Sorry, I need to get back," she says standing up slowly.

"You have a phone, may I have the number?" Cat asks softly.

Ignoring her request, Kara instead replies, "Alex just reminded me that I was supposed to tell you that this whole conversation is off the record."

Annoyed, even though she had assumed that it was. Cat still attempts to negotiate, "Fine, but there has to be something you can give me on the record, in exchange" she replies. "I was just reading your expose`on KryptoWatch, does that have anything to do with the group of aliens that you're helping capture?"

"Cat, the people from KryptoWatch are dangerous," Kara remarks. "If they are here, then anything that you print about them, will put you and your staff in danger," she adds.

"Hmm," Cat considers that a moment, but not being one to back down, she asks, "Were you fighting that alien today? I saw the damage to the power plant. Can you at least confirm that?"

"Cat, you have to let this go. I can't tell you anything more. Please don't identify me and you have to stop calling me SuperGirl," Kara pleads. "I'm not a hero," she adds.

"Kara, putting yourself in danger to save others makes you a hero," Cat replies. "And if the government didn't want you marketed as a hero, they wouldn't have put you in that suit and cape," she points out.

"The suit is just to differentiate me from the other aliens. Rao! I should have listened to Alex. She tried to warn me that this would happen," Kara says frowning to herself. "Look I should go, please don't send any more reporters out to cover this, I can't be responsible for them," she adds.

"STOP!" Cat yells after her, "You didn't give me your number!"


"Care to explain this?" Hank asks tossing a copy of The Tribune down on the desk in front of Kara and Alex.

"SuperGirl Arrives to Protect National City from Hostile Aliens"

"Uh, sir I can explain," Alex begins.

"Hank, it was my idea to talk to Cat Grant," Kara interjects.

"I should have stopped her," Alex adds.

"As if Alex could actually stop me," Kara points out. "Hank, Cat is sort of my friend, I just thought it would help if I talked to her."

"Well, this doesn't help. No more talking to the media without clearance. How did she get all of this information?" He asks.

"I don't know, I didn't give it to her," Kara replies frowning in concern, mentally going back over the conversation.

"There was media at the police station when we went to confiscate the dashcam footage of Kara turning the boy over to the police," Alex points out. "We have government tags and we flashed our Homeland Security badges to get the footage."

"This just makes everything more complicated. Kara already was a target because of her family, this Supergirl business is going to antagonize them," he counters.

"I know that, Hank. But since I couldn't tell her what was going on, I just tried to warn her that it was dangerous and to to keep her people away," Kara explains.

"Well, you realize that now it looks like you're helping them," Hank remarks.

"Helping them? They already broke the story on the prison ship before I got here," Kara reminds him.

"Actually, no one knows that they broke that story. They turned over the documents to us and we translated them, then sent out a press release, which they used to write that story," Hank explains. "We wanted these aliens to know that we knew who they were."

"Sir, madams, you're going to want to see this," Vasquez says interrupting them.

"It's Vartox again," Kara blurts out when she sees the footage of the stolen tanker.

"Kara, you don't know that," Alex replies turning around to see no one there. "Hank!" she says gesturing to where Kara was standing a second ago.

"Kara, return to base. We need to put a plan together," Hank booms into the coms link.

"We have a plan, tell him Alex," Kara replies.

"Sir, it's not exactly a plan," Alex begins, "But okay, here's what she has to do. That sliver of metal that we have from the ax, well, it indicates that the weapon is a nuclear powered device. All Kara has to do is get close enough to it and then she can do her thing," she adds.

"She better win," Hank snaps. "And what exactly is her thing?" He asks warily.

"I've got them. She's engaging him now," Vasquez remarks, as the satellite moves into position providing grainy footage from the scene.

"Can you clean that image up?" Alex asks.

"No, I think the nuclear device is interfering with the relay," Vasquez explains.

"Okay, Kara can you hear me?" Alex asks and on screen she watches her nod slowly before advancing towards Vartox, who rushes at her. But Kara is ready for him and she flips him over her shoulder sending him careening away from her and slamming into the tanker.

Kara advances on him again, leaping up to the cab of the truck. "What's the matter Vartox, you don't like fighting a girl?" She taunts.

"I prefer to fight a man, there's not much honor in killing a woman," he snaps angrily, rushing at her again.

Again, Kara steps off to the side and using his momentum, she easily flips him over her shoulder. Then she jumps down eagerly to engage with him again, but he surprises her by pulling the ax over his shoulder and striking at her with it.

She narrowly avoids it, before he's on her again, backing up she takes off but he grabs her ankle and pulls her back down, slamming her onto the hood of the truck so hard that she leaves an imprint in the metal. Then he's bringing the ax down towards her and she grips it with both hands.

"Do it now!" Alex yells into the coms and on the screen they watch as Kara's eyes lock onto the ax with her heat vision. Vartox isn't sure what she's doing so he tries to pull the ax away, but Kara's grip is strong and now she's pulling the ax towards her while he's trying to pull it away. The metal heats up and Vartox screams in pain, but he refuses to let go of it now.

"It's not working Alex," Kara shouts out, barely able to keep hold of the ax and maintain the laser vision.

"It is working, stay with it," Alex replies hoping to encourage her.

Kara grunts and groans with the effort and a moment later the ax explodes sending Vartox backwards to the ground below.

Shaking her head as her vision begins to clear, Kara scrambles to her feet to find the alien.

Taking a deep breath, she yells down to him. "It's over."

He sits up, clearly blinded from the explosion, he looks in the direction of her voice. "You have no idea what you've started," he shouts catching his breath. "It's just begun," he adds before taking shrapnel from the ax and stabbing himself in the heart.

At the command center, everyone erupts in cheers. Relieved that Kara survived the brutal fight.

Kara looks down on him, too shocked to speak. Hearing the cheering, she reaches up to turn off the coms when Alex's voice comes through.

"Kara, come back to base. We have a team enroute to take care of the scene," Alex says firmly, hoping that the sound of her voice will help bring Kara back from the shock.

On screen, Kara glances around a bit stunned by the debris from the fight, then she nods and takes flight.

"Well, she did follow your orders," Alex remarks turning around to face Hank. "She won."

"She got lucky," Hank replies before stalking off to his office.