After all the heroes went back to their own cities, I informed Kara of the whole Lex thing. She was just as uneasy as I was. We were going for coffee when a commercial came on one of the store TVs.

Kara and I stopped to listen in, "We live in a world on the cutting edge. And as mankind advances, so too does the danger it faces. For years, we protected America in secret. But now, we want you to know you're in good hands."

Then Kara flew into the commercial with a smile. I looked at my Kara whose frown was bigger than I thought she could manage. I started to laugh as the commercial ended. When the screen went black, Kara walked away and I had to use my vamtronian speed just to catch up with her angry walking. I got in pace with her just as she gagged, "I don't care what world we're on, I can't ever see a version of myself agreeing to do that commercial."

"Well, on this planet, you and Lex are best friends." I said with a mocking smile.

She turned to look at me with a shaking head, "No, stop! This is literally a nightmare. I don't think I could imagine anything worse than Lex and I being "friends." Ugh, just saying it brings a bad taste to my mouth."

"Yeah, I can imagine. Knowing everyone thinks Lex is a hero rubs me entirely the wrong way. I wish J'onn could return everyone's memories..." I said, shoving my hands into my pockets, "But, according to him, restoring the world's memories would cause a change on such a massive scale that everyone's minds would explode. Literally, explode."

"Ugh, gross."

"Yeah, 100% disgusting, but is CatCo any better? Has it changed for the worse?" I asked

"Still a tabloid. But everyone's on the Lex Luthor train, including Andrea." Kara sighed, throwing her coffee in the nearest garbage can, "He's getting some Man of Tomorrow award, and she sent me and William to cover it. I can't believe, even William, is drinking the Lex Kool-Aid."

"Well, you gotta give him a little break. The only people that know the truth are the ones whose memories have been restored and the heroes that were actually there. He doesn't know any different." I said

"Yeah, including you know who. It just makes my blood boil that he maneuvered this crisis to his own means. He took this tragedy and molded it so he would be on top. I just wish the world could see how much of a rat he truly is." Kara ranted

"Well, the Luthors are an interesting bunch."

"Yeah, speaking of which, I have to talk to Lena." Kara blurted out.

I stepped in front of Kara, causing her to stop walking. "Look, on this Earth, Lena and Supergirl are friends. She doesn't hate you and as far as I'm concerned, she isn't trying to control the planet. Plus, she doesn't remember what she put me through and the hatred there. Maybe, Lena not having her memories is a good thing."

"No, no. As much as I would love to have a clean slate with Lena, I owe it to her to tell the truth. I made that mistake once, I'm not going to do it again." Kara insisted

"Fine, then I'm coming with you." I said as she began to object, "Kara, if you are going to help her remember, I need to be there. Last time I saw Lena she gave me away to a maniac who wanted to kill me. I think I deserve to have a word with her."

Kara wasn't happy about it, but I got her to cave. She picked me up bridal style and we were off. It was nice to feel the wind through my hair while looking up at Kara's determined face. It was an adorable face and when she caught me staring, her cheeks turned a tomato red.

When we arrived we went into formal postures. As far as Lena knew we were only friends and coworkers, nothing more. We arrived on the balcony just as Lena was closing her laptop.

"I've been looking for you." Kara said as I followed her into the office, "There's something I have to tell you. I know you think Lex is a good man, that he's your partner…"

"Save it. I already know." Lena interrupted

"What exactly do you know?" Kara questioned

Lena got up from her desk with crossed arms, "The Crisis, what Lex did, what you did. What did you think would happen when you came here? That you'd tell me everything in a fit of selflessness, even if it meant that I knew how you betrayed me, and then I'd just forgive you."

"Lena, I hurt you. I know I hurt you. And I'm never ever going to do it again. And I know how much good you want to do in the world. Just think of what we could do together to help people." Kara begged

"Funny. Lex gave me the same speech." Lena said with a sneer.

"He asked you to help him? You're not seriously considering it, are you?" Kara asked with concern. Lena's reaction seemed like she was seriously considering it so Kara warned her, "Please, just be careful."

Kara knew I wanted to talk to Lena alone so she flew off the balcony. She would stay within in hearing distance in case something happened, but wouldn't intrude unless necessary. When I knew Kara was gone I looked toward Lena, "I have to ask you something. Can you please answer truthfully?"

"I have no reason to lie."

I sighed and bit my lip, "When you did all those horrible things to me, were you doing it because you believed there was no other way or did you do it just to hurt Kara?"

"I needed a lab rat and you were the perfect candidate." Lena explained without a single emotion on her face, "You knew too much and your biological makeup meant the tests wouldn't kill you. If I tested on anyone else they would die and I am trying to stop death. Hurting Kara...well that was just an added bonus."

"Did you care that you were hurting me?"

I saw a flicker of emotion on her face before that wall came right back up, "Of course, I felt back for hurting you, but sometimes you have to do terrible things to make the world a better place. I couldn't let anyone find out what I was doing and that meant I couldn't just let you go. I had no other choice."

I scanned her face and listened to her heart. She meant every word she said. She truly believed what she was doing was justified. Deep down I knew she knew all of this was wrong, but it was so buried that it might not come to the surface until it was too late.

"Lena, listen to me. I understand you're in pain and want to make the world a better place. I get that. Who wouldn't want war and famine and pain to stop? Just please don't do anything rash. I know you feel lied to and broken, but it isn't worth risking the lives of everyone." I insisted

"You have no inkling of what I feel or why I am doing what I am doing!" Lena yelled

Kara appeared on the balcony just in case things got ugly. Lena and I had never been close and after everything that happened, I didn't want to be within a hundred feet of her. But since Crisis, when I lost so many of the people I cared about, I realized that some people are worth saving. I knew deep down she hated hurting others and I just had to hope she could beat her demons.

I began to walk toward the balcony, but I stopped just before the door to look back at Lena, "I know you know all of this is not going to solve anything. Fixing humanity is not possible and if you do accomplish it, you will be just as bad as a dictator. Please, Lena, don't do something you'll regret. Don't become Lex."

Lena was shocked I would speak to her in such a way, but I didn't give her a chance to retort. Kara picked me up and we were off. Kara didn't pry into why I did what I did because she trusted me. I could tell I had gotten to Lena, but I didn't know if it was enough.

When we got back to the Institute, there were five different Brainys. Well four now, as one of them died right before we arrived. Alex had rounded them all up and got them to the lab. I looked around and all of them looked the same, well aside from the Brainy who was a girl. She didn't have his face, but the personality was uncanny.

"DNA doesn't lie, they're all Brainiac-5." Alex said, holding up the results on her tablet, "There were five of them, but one of the Brainys collapsed with a warning about some sort of bottle and to not let "Him" open it. All we know so far is it seems he was killed by some sort of biosynthetic virus."

"Alright, so someone is after all of you, but before we figure that out we need to know how you guys got here." Kara said with her hands on her hips, "Any ideas?"

The Brainy that looked like he did art with his ponytail and black turtleneck stepped forward, "Well, since this is not our world it must mean we stumbled through some sort of dimensional wormhole. From our different universes."

"The only logical path forward is to find the nexus point of our arrival, if we're ever to ascertain how it is we came to be here. Why our deceased comrade warned us we're in grave danger? What that bottle was he urged us not to open? After which, we can all safely return to our respective Earths." Girl Brainy announced, taking the lead.

"Yes, except you can't return to your Earths because the multiverse is dead…" Brainy blurted out without thinking.

"What? The multiverse, it's dead?" Nervous Wreck Brainy asked

"Unless there's a vibrational frequency henceforth unknown to man…" Brainy began as he handed a tablet to the others, "Then our universe is the only one that's left."

"That's impossible..." I said as everyone turned to look at me, "A few days back when we were truly saying goodbye to Oliver, J'onn brought someone to see me. If the multiverse was gone, then how could I have met with Superman from Earth-96? He said he had to go back to his Earth, which means maybe a few of the Earths survived."

"Yet I cannot decipher where they are." Brainy admitted with honesty, "If other Earths did survive, we can't locate them. For now, I say we move forward with the thought that there is no other universe but our own."

"So what do we do now?" Artistic Brainy asked

"We'll go to Al's bar, that might lead us to some answers."

Kara, Brainy, Artistic Brainy, and I headed to the bar and what we found was mind boggling. The bar had doubled in size and so did its patrons. There were doubles of many in the bar, including Al himself. Both Als greeted us when we walked in and I was the first to blurt out my confusion, "Why are there two of you? Two of everyone?"

"Everybody just showed up out of the blue last night." One Al said as the other finished his sentence, "Business has never been better. I had to open up the back room."

"Everyone in this bar came from an Earth that was destroyed. They're all orphans." Kara said as she looked around at all the sad faces. Her heart ached for them, "That's terrible."

"No, Supergirl! The entire multiverse was destroyed. An accident of fate kept us and these people alive. This isn't a tragedy. It's a miracle." Artistic Brainy said with optimism in his voice.

That's when the search began. Kara went back to CatCo to deal with some reporter business as Brainy, Artistic Brainy, and I got to searching. We went into the back and found an entire room filled with bottles. Each of us took a crate and got to work checking each and every one. None of us knew what this "bottle" looked like or what it even was so we checked everything. From wine to beer to water, but we found nothing.

Artistic Brainy got to work in another room as Brainy and I stayed in a different one. I could tell he was getting frustrated and I completely understood. I was getting just as irritated. He was the first to air his annoyance, "Seven hundred and sixty-two bottles of beer on the wall. And they're all completely lacking in clues."

"Sometimes this sort of thing takes time." I said, noticing his down in the dumps look, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Brainy muttered, grabbing another crate from the top shelf.

"Brainy, I'm not an idiot." I said as he set the crate on the cement floor, "I can tell you're distressed. You can talk to me, if you'd like. I have had my fair share of problems, I think I can understand, if you let me."

Brainy looked at me and sighed loudly. He took a seat on the crate he just pulled down and ran a hand through his hair. He was about to speak when he shot straight up. A look of fear plastered on every feature, "Nia.."

Before I could ask him what was wrong he ran out the door. I watched him leave the bar as Artistic Brainy appeared beside me with just as much confusion. I decided I was gonna go after him, so Artistic Brainy stayed at the bar and I ran after my Brainy. Luckily, my vamtronian speed allowed me to keep up with him.

Both of us arrived at the DEO to hear loud rattling noises coming from the storage room. We looked at each other and ran to the open doorway, Nervous breakdown Brainy or so we thought, had attacked Nia. He had a bottle in one hand and a giant saber in the other. Brainy yelled and caught the other Brainy's attention.

I used this distraction to appear in front of him and struggled with him to get the saber. Brainy ran to Nia to check on her condition as I continued to fight the other Brainy. It was a fair match until he headbutted me and I fell on my ass. He lifted the blade into the air and was prepared to lower it onto my head when Kara appeared in the doorway.

She used her laser vision to cause the blade to explode. The other Brainy ran for the door and just as our Brainy was going to go after him, Nia cried out his name. He turned back to Nia and the other Brainy got away.

Brainy carried Nia to the infirmary while Kara and I followed suit. Alex got her cleaned up as Girl Brainy came into the room and figured out how the other Brainy found the saber, "He was piggy backing off Brainy Prime's personality inhibitors to confuse the big brain and disguise his true intentions."

"What were his intentions?" Nia asked weakly

"He shrunk his entire Earth. He bottled it. The shrinking and collection of worlds is distinctly Coluan. It's a terribly common practice among our ancestors." Girl Brainy explained

"But this Brainy bottled his world to protect it?" I asked

"Yeah, but if he releases his Earth, both Earths will be destroyed. All bottles are sealed beneath the quantum level to prevent escape. Bottles can only be opened using a device that harnesses Argonium 44. He must have known the Argonium Saber would be held here at the DEO." Girl Brainy explained

"And I destroyed it so that bought us some time." Kara stated

Brainy holding back tears, stormed out of the room. Nia called after Brainy, but she didn't have the strength to follow him. I decided that I was going to be the one to talk to him. The others figured out our next move while I ran after Brainy.

Meanwhile, Lena was confused and undecided. She wanted to have Non Nocere work, but she couldn't do it alone. Lex was as untrustworthy as a rattlesnake in the desert and Kara was a backstabbing liar. Who could she turn to?

While she was deep in thought Lex came into her office with a drink in hand. He approached her, placing the drink on the table in front of her. She looked at the drink suspiciously, "Poisoning me already, Lex?"

"I'm not poisoning you." Lex said, bringing his drink to his lips, "It's a peace offering."

"Aren't you supposed to be at a ceremony or something?" Lena asked, reluctantly taking the drink.

"Success isn't worth much if you don't have anyone to share it with. I always wanted to share my victories with you, sis. Even last year, with the Kasnians, I brought you in. Doesn't that count for anything?" Lex asked

"One moment of thoughtfulness to make up for years of betrayal?" Lena said as her fake smile faded into a frown, "No."

"I know you have plenty of reasons to distrust me, but you don't know what it's like to die. The sickening desperation when you see it coming for you. It made me want to hurt you." Lex admitted

"Like I hurt you…"

"Killed me." Lex finished with no change in tone, "Death truly has changed me. The old me would be dreaming of the countless ways I could exact my revenge on you, but the new me can see how pathetically stupid that is. I'm finally ready to be your partner, Lena."

"How am I supposed to believe you? You were a sociopath, a liar, a murderer!" Lena exclaimed

"What you need is the truth." Lex said as he grabbed a container from the counter and placed it on the coffee table in front of Lena. He opened the container and a squid-like creature attached itself to his arm, "The Truth Seeker will prevent me from lying. So, sis, what do you want to know?"

"Can you help me achieve Non Nocere?"

"Better and faster than anybody else." Lex responded quickly

"Will you truly be on your best behavior? No homicides?"

Lex thought about his answer for a moment, "No unnecessary homicides. If someone gets too close, my hand may slip."

"This is about doing no harm." Lena said with a sigh, "When will you turn on me?"

"As soon as this partnership inconveniences me. Just like you'll use Non Nocere on me as soon as you get the chance." Lex said truthfully

"Good. As long as we're clear." Lena commented, her last question came to mind, "You don't need me. Why do you really want to work with me, Lex?"

"Truthfully, I don't want to be alone."

I ran into the storage room to find Brainy beginning to clean up the mess. I moved closer and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked toward me with teary eyes, moving away from my touch. He continued to clean when I verbally told him, "Brainy, stop. You don't have to…"

Brainy looked at me and the words stopped at my tongue. He exhaled loudly and began telling me a story, "When I was eight years old, my family went on what humans might call a vacation. This was the first time I had seen snow."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked

Brainy ignored my question and continued his story. "My mother noticed how much I loved the snow and how much I wanted to stay. So...she bottled it. A planet just for me." Brainy explained with gritted teeth, "My father was horrified at what she had done. He freed the planet. He took My Planet and I was furious; this anger scared him. He was afraid I would turn out like my mother and so he installed three personality inhibitors on me. The same ones I wear to this very day."

"Your three dots."

Tears rolled down Brainy's cheek as he continued, "When I wear them, I'm not fully calibrated with the Coluan network of minds, the big brain. If I hadn't been wearing them, that bad Brainy wouldn't have been able to fool us. Yet I am afraid to take them off. So terrified I might be worse. What if I hurt...Nia?"

"Brainy, you will never be your mother and I know you would never lay a hand on Nia." I insisted

"How could you be sure?" Brainy questioned

"Because you're loved. And the people that love you will always fight for you." I said with an honest smile, "I understand you feel a darkness in you. I have a similar darkness and I can tell you, they will not give up on you, I won't give up on you. If taking the inhibitors off goes bad, I will be there to bring you back."

"Thank you, Carly." Brainy smiled, wiping away his tears, "Kara, was right to switch places with you in crisis. Your ability to instill hope in others is just as magical as hers."

"Magic..." I said aloud as the realization hit me like a brick wall, "Earlier at the bar I saw the doubles of the witches that made Reign. The witches can open the bottle."

"He's going to Al's."

Nia, Kara, Brainy, and I headed over to the bar. When we arrived the three witches were casting a spell on the bottle while the other Brainy watched with a smile. None of them noticed us until Kara's voice rang through the room, "Opening that bottle isn't worth the risk. You could kill everyone."

"Why should this Earth live, when every other died?" Other Brainy asked

"'Cause it's the only one we've got left!" I yelled with conviction, "We can't undo the past, Brainiac. Please don't do something you'll regret."

"I'm not going to regret anything!"

That's when the fight ensued. Our Brainy went for the other Brainy as Nia, Kara, and I went for the witches. The fight was fairly matched until Kara was thrown into one of the walls. Just at that moment other Brainy threw our Brainy over the bar. Nia ran from her witch to check on him and all this made me lose concentration on my opponent.

My witch whispered something and suddenly I couldn't breathe. I began to gasp as I collapsed onto my knees. Kara got up from the floor and tried to come for me, but one of the other witches held up a forcefield she couldn't get through. I clutched at my chest as my heartbeat became loud in my ears. Each time I tried to take a breath my lungs wouldn't expand and I knew I was going to pass out soon.

Just then I looked over to see my Brainy approaching, except he looked different. The inhibitors were gone, his skin was green, and he had blonde hair. He approached the force field and walked through it with ease. This motion caught the witches' attention as all three pointed their hands at him.

My ability to breathe returned and I began to cough loudly. Kara and Nia approached the group with Kara helping me to stand back up. Brainy approached the other Brainy who looked so broken I could feel his grief in the air. Brainy stood beside him, but Kara was the first to speak, "I know you lost your whole world, your friends, your home. I miss what I had, too. I know what you're going through. How responsible you must feel…"

"I lost everything!" He cried

"My friends and I, we're pretty smart. Together, we can find a safe place to open your bottle without hurting anyone. You just have to trust us." I said rubbing at my throat.

The witches looked at one another and the leader of the three stepped forward, "If we give these people a chance, they may find a way of returning us home one day. All we can do is wait for that day. But you don't have to wait alone, we can wait with you."

Brainy reached his hand out and reluctantly the other Brainy gave him the bottle. He opened it and the four from that Earth were sucked inside, the lid sealing automatically. The problem was solved for now.