"Perhaps you could take a better, or at least more restrained, approach and not take away their human, well alien, rights." Maggie suggested as they walked away from the cell where Alex had just locked away an alien.
"The second they try to kill people, or aliens, they lose those rights." Alex countered
"The Fort Rozz prisoners I get as you could argue that they were tried and convicted in a law court. Although not ours. But the others? There is no process. Aren't you worried that you are abusing their rights?"
"Not if they're guilty."
"And when they're not?" Maggie asked.
"Then they wouldn't be killing people and destroying buildings." Alex countered.
"And what if it is mistaken identity?"
"We're not amateurs." Alex said.
"I didn't say you were. But mistakes happen. Shouldn't there be checks and balances?"
"Sure, if we get a bigger budget and more staff. But right now we are doing everything we can to keep the Earth safe with the limited resources we have." Alex said.
"What happens if you kill an innocent alien?" Maggie pressed. "Just because you can work outside the law doesn't mean you should."
"This is the real world. Things aren't black and white. Take the Cranglex, he may not have had bad intentions, but his actions nearly cost me everything. We exist because we aren't afraid to make the decisions we need to make to keep the Earth safe. Unlike some departments we don't have a safety net that allows screw ups."
"I know you are missing Kara, so I am going to let that one slide. But doesn't she prove my point? The DEO under the original Henshaw would have locked her away, no questions asked." Maggie pressed.
"I don't need you to lecture me on the old DEO. The old DEO and the original Henshaw took my father away from me." Alex reminded Maggie. "But the DEO now is different to what it was and J'onn isn't Henshaw."
"His successor could be worse." Maggie countered.
"We wouldn't let that happen."
"They tried to send you and J'onn to Cadmus." Maggie reminded her as they entered the command room.
"Everything okay?" J'onn asked not needing to be a telepath to pick up on the discontent.
"Just discussing ethics." Alex shrugged.
"Or lack of." Maggie corrected.
"The Halligent is all locked away." Alex reported not seeing the need to discuss ethics any more.
"Good" J'onn said as Alex optimistically asked.
"Any news from Kara."
"Nothing. The fact you are asking I assume means you haven't heard anything either?"
"No." Alex said, concern and sadness obvious in her eyes. "I now she said she wanted a break, but she did strongly imply she would only be with Barry for a week. We are over that now."
"About that, I'm a little worried." Winn said eavesdropping.
"And why is that Mr Schott?" J'onn asked.
"Well I went to her apartment last night to water her plants."
"And?" J'onn pressed.
"I was worried because um, well I've been watching the news."
"Which I don't remember being in your job description." J'onn pointed out.
"It's intelligence gathering?" Winn suggested sounding and looking unsure. "But my point is all the Metropolis feeds are reporting on all of Superman's heroics. There isn't any mention of Supergirl. Which is fine because we all assumed that Kara was on Barry's world."
"You think she isn't?" Alex asked frowning.
"I wasn't snooping, but I did look around, and I found this." He said holding out the device to open portals. "So last night I scoured the internet and found no mention of Supergirl at all. None. Anywhere in the world."
"She is meant to be on vacation." J'onn reminded him.
"Yeah, except when I say no mention, there is literally no mention. Not even a single tweet. It is like she left the planet."
"Which we assumed she did." J'onn said. "And from what I understand there is no need to take the device to the other world."
"That's true, but once the portal has been opened you only have a finite time to go through. So why would she put the device back in it's box and then hide it in her kitchen cupboard."
"Not that you were snooping." Maggie said as J'onn reminded him.
"She does have superspeed. And hiding the device seems sensible."
"I know. But I'm worried. So I tried calling her and her phone is off. And yes I tried turning it back on remotely. But I can't. It is like it has been destroyed or at least had the battery removed."
"Couldn't it be with her on Barry's world?" Alex asked trying to suppress her worry.
"Yeah except I traced where it had been going back a couple of weeks. And the day she left from here for her vacation it went dead. Literally just after she left just three blocks from here. If she had used the portal that last location should have been her apartment."
"Mr Schott with me. We will go to Barry's world and see if she went there." J'onn said. "Alex, call Clark, see if she went to see him."
TBC...
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.
