It took a long time to get this done. The mental strain that I am currently under is really getting to me. Nonetheless here is the update, I hope all of you are staying safe and healthy. We'll get through this. So here's a little distraction from the events of the world. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think and as always enjoy.

Chapter 19

Warden gripped the handles of her two battle axes in her hands. Both blades dripped with concentrated venom from the alien. It had been prepared for this exact scenario. It could easily injure Supergirl or Flare. She wasn't about to lose to them a second time, one of them would pay for making a mockery out of her. Donovan stood by her side with the kryptonite blade in hand. He had proven himself fair proficient with the weapon but only real combat would show how well he truly handled it.

She could see it in the way he twitched and how his muscles tensed, he was excited to fight. Warden had no idea if his excitement stemmed from the prospect of revenge or just years of pent of rage. She knew he was an angry man, and extremely violent. He had murdered his first wife (allegedly, and his second wife, well no one knew what happened to her). She didn't like men like him. Men who had no sense of when the violence needed to end, men like him were dangerous. Which was why Warden didn't understand why Thorul wanted him around, but now wasn't the time to question it.

"Your focus is on Agent Danvers and the cop," Warden said. "Leave Supergirl and Flare to me."

"Giving me my revenge?"

"Keeping you alive." She wasn't happy about it but she had no other choice. "I don't care what you do to them but if I call you, you come, understood."

"If it means killing the bitch who took my daughter, I'll do anything you say."

XXXXX

Kara had been expecting resistance when they arrived at the old Cadmus facility, but she was seeing way more than they had accounted for. Thorul didn't only have Warden and Donovan she had probably two dozen others, all armed and dangerous. She knew they could all handle it, they had a good plan, plenty of back-up. The issue was with Kelly, her job was in and out, basically a stealth mission, but with this many henchmen Kara was sure Kelly would meet resistance.

"Head's up Alex, it's not going to be as easy as we thought," she said.

"Copy that," Alex said with a bit of excitement in her voice. "Wouldn't be fun if there wasn't some kind of problem."

She wasn't sure if 'fun' was the word she would use to describe the situation but Alex always did find the weirdest situations fun. Kara could see Charlie team (Alex's team) moving in from the north, Delta was moving from the south lead by Maggie. They would be in position in a matter of minutes, to the east Kara could hear Kelly's heart beating rapidly, she was waiting for her signal to move in. She needed to have all of the henchmen distracted before she could plant any charges, her powers didn't lend too much in the way of stealth.

Kara was having trouble finding Warden, she stuck out from the others, her armor making her bulky but Kara couldn't get a read on her, almost like she was missing. She knew this wasn't the case, Warden would be there.

"Everyone in position," Kara asked.

Everyone responded with the affirmative. It was game time, the next hour would determine their fate. Kara was holding out hope that they would win, there was too much at stake for them to fail. She would not let an even more twisted version of Lillian hurt her family. Not again.

"Go for it Supergirl, we're right behind you," Kelly said.

With one last deep breath Kara rocketed towards the building. When she landed, with her typical superhero landing (which really did hurt her knees). She came face to face with Warden. She was surrounded by red light, it twisted around her hands like snakes to a branch. Her face was hidden behind her mask but Kara could see in her eyes that she was grinning.

"Supergirl," she said her voice rising with excitement. "I've been looking forward to this."

Warden threw one of her axes at Kara as a distraction. Kara side stepped the weapon grabbing it out of the air and launching it back at Warden. She followed it up with her heat vision taking slow steps to bear down on the woman. A strand of light whipped out wrapping around Kara's arm pulling her towards Warden, Kara twisted forcing Warden to her until they were on top of one another. Kara knew she had the upper hand, she was stronger than Warden, faster but there was something in Warden, something that was stronger than Kara had expected.

"Upgrade huh? Smart, but useless, I don't need my powers to kill you."

"You're making a mistake," Kara said her voice growing low. "Thorul doesn't care about you don't you see that?"

Kara managed to get her arm in between them, using her elbow to shove Warden off of her. Her adversary stumbled but didn't fall. Warden took the opportunity to retrieve her secondary axe, hitting the two together causing sparks.

"You don't talk about her, do you understand," she shouted, pointing one of the blades to Kara. "I have served her for years, you know nothing."

Kara dodged out of the way of Warden's next swing, but Warden shifted bringing the second axe around, slicing through Kara's suit. She felt the trickle of blood down her shoulder and an intense burning. Her arm felt numb and simultaneously on fire, it was like nothing she had ever felt before. She hit Warden with a strong right hook sending the woman into the concrete wall. It splintered behind her with the force of the impact.

Warden fell to her knees, struggling to catch her breath. She wouldn't be taken down like this. If Supergirl was going to play dirty she would too.

"Donovan, I think it's time you throw your hat in the ring."

Warden heard him chuckle over her earpiece. "I'll be right there. Save some fun for me."

XXXXX

Kelly set the backpack of charges neck to her on the ground. She had to place twenty of them without being seen. It wasn't that she couldn't do it, because she could, but it was going to be a very difficult task. Delta and Charlie teams were distracting Thorul's men while Kara was alone fighting Warden. Kelly could hear the fight happening but she couldn't tell for sure who was winning. She sighed, ultimately it wouldn't matter if she didn't get the charges set, the goal wasn't for Kara to beat Warden, it was to distract her long enough that they could smoke them out and take them down.

She reached into the bag, digging out the detonator. She would be waiting for the signal before blowing the place, but she wanted the detonator close at hand in case she had to act fast. With the detonator strapped firmly in her ammo pouch that she carried but had no use for she went to sling the bag over her arm only to not be able to lift it up. She only caught a glimpse of someone standing on the strap. Kelly reacted on pure instinct, whipping around and drawing her staff. The unknown figure raised their hands up, shielding themselves from her.

"Wait!"

"Lori? What the fuck are you doing here?"

Her cousin was wearing, what Kelly assumed to be, Kara's old suit, from way back in the day. She was standing there like there was nothing wrong, that this was just one of those days they practiced together. Only it wasn't, next to Kelly was a bag full of bombs, enough to take out a large Cadmus facility.

"I wanted to help."

"Are you insane," Kelly nearly shouted, barely managing to keep her voice down. "This isn't a game Lori, you could get hurt again. Or worse."

"So could you, and here you are," Lori shot at her. "I'm not asking you to let me fight, I'm asking you to let me help. It will take too much time for you to plant all the charges yourself, let me help."

Kelly cursed under her breath as she shut off her communication with Lena. If they were going to do this it was going to be without Lena screaming in her ear. She dug five of the charges out of her bag and handed them to Lori. Her cousin was right, she would take too much time by herself. If they could both plant the charges they would be out in half the time and Lori would have more time to get to safety.

"You get in and you get out," Kelly said firmly. "Do not engage with anyone, if you are seen, run. No heroics from you, once we are done you go back to the DEO and stay put is that understood?"

Lori gave a curt nod. "Loud and clear."

"Follow my lead."

Kelly held up three of her fingers to give them a count down. It would almost be a race with Lori having a huge advantage with only five charges. Her countdown reached one and she waved at the building, giving the signal to move. They took off together, Kelly leaving a trail of light in her wake. Five minutes in and out, no longer, they didn't have a choice.

XXXXX

None of them had accounted for how many men Thorul might have at her disposal. Alex was wishing that they had. Charlie and Delta teams were enough of a distraction to pull the heat off of Kara and Kelly but that was all they were, distractions. There was no way for them to offer any support, they were all but boxed in the only options they had was to continue the distraction or retreat. At this point, with the charges not yet set and Kara still trapped fighting Warden retreat wasn't an option.

"How are you holding up Mags?"

"Managing," there was a loud grunt from Maggie followed by a scream that Alex assumed came from one of the henchmen. "You?"

Alex ducked under the arm of one of the henchmen, a very large guy. She reached for her baton, extending it fully, knocking the back of his knee. He lost his footing falling back when Alex hit him in the chest, breaking his ribs.

"Same," Alex said. "Hopefully Kelly is getting those charges set."

Neither of them could afford to be distracted by one another. Alex couldn't help but worry about Maggie. She had lost two men already to Warden, she wouldn't lose any more to the psychopath.

Two more henchmen grabbed her attempting to drag her down. She struggle against them, unable to break free. One of them kicked her knee, bringing her to the ground. She heard one of them with a gun, then felt the cold steel against her neck. Her heart was pounding but she knew that they wouldn't be pulling the trigger. Her instincts were right, there was a separate gun shot and the henchman on her right collapsed, a bullet wound in his back. Alex punched the remaining henchman in the stomach, flipping him over her shoulder and knocking him unconscious with another blow to the head.

"Kelly how are those charges coming?"

There was no response over the comm. "Goddamnit Kelly what have I told you about keeping the channel open…" Her daughter had been notorious for turning off her comms, she never liked to hear Alex telling her how to handle a situation. Alex had hoped that this time would be different, that Kelly would understand that this was not any normal situation.

"Charges are planted and primed, waiting on your signal," Kelly's voice was suddenly in her ear. "Couldn't risk being heard, sorry about that."

Two more henchmen fell before Alex one with a broken nose the other with a broken shoulder. They were still coming in droves, her team was surrounded by another dozen, and she could only guess how many Maggie and Delta team were dealing with. Falling back would be the best course of action, once they were at a safe distance Kelly could detonate the charges and they could flush them out.

"Alright, everyone fall back," Alex shouted. "Kara it's time."

XXXXX

"You can still stop this Warden," Kara said through bloodied teeth. Even with the suit Warden had the advantage over her with frenzied attacks she had landed more blows on Kara than Kara had on her and it was starting to wear on the Kryptonian. "You don't have to be what Thorul has turned you into."

"Shut up," Warden growled hitting her again with the blunt side of her axe. "Do you think your hope speeches are going to save you now? Not everyone can be talked down Supergirl. Some of us just like to make people bleed."

Kara barely managed to catch Warden's hand as she swung her axe again. With her free hand she punched Warden in the chest, something cracked, maybe a rib, maybe something else. Warden stumbled back but kept a hold on her weapon, flipping it so the dull part of the blade rested against her forearm. Kara spotted Donovan slowly moving towards her. There was a blade in his hand, glowing green. She suspected it was forged with Kryptonite, which would be a problem they hadn't anticipated. If she could keep moving she wouldn't have to worry about Donovan until she had Warden subdued or Kelly blew the charges.

Warden lunged ducking under Kara's leg when she went to kick her. Her axe caught the edge of Kara's cape tearing the fabric. Donovan was circling around them, staying out of the way but close enough to strike given the chance. Kara used her heat vision hoping to put Warden off balance. She thought it was working until she realized it was barely effecting her, it was almost as if she was absorbing it.

"You think that can stop me?" Warden snarled. "I control light Supergirl and that's all your heat vision is. Try again."

They clashed again, Kara gaining the upper hand in strength but Warden was able to slip under her arms and get behind her twisting Kara's arm behind her back and using her free arm to put Kara in a chokehold. Kara struggled unable to break free of Warden's grasp for some reason.

"I've killed Kryptonian's before. You think you can beat me just because my powers don't work on you?" Warden laughed in her ear. "You're sadly mistaken."

Kara didn't even see him coming. One moment she was struggling to get free of Warden's grasp, the next she felt her body on fire as something plunged deep into her abdomen. She glanced down, her hand shaking only to see Donovan grinning up at her pressing his blade deeper into her. Warden let her go and Donovan moved aside allowing her to stumble forward. She felt blood trickle from her lips just as she collapsed, her hands around the hilt of the blade. Donovan was on top of her before her back even hit the ground, tearing the blade from her abdomen. It burned like a thousand suns, it hurt worse than when Reign had beaten her. He smiled down at her, lips peeling back from his teeth, something fitting death itself.

"All this started with you, you're the reason I lost my daughter," he said, kneeling over her running the blade against her throat. "You took my daughter and now I'll take your life."

He stabbed her again, this time in the chest. She felt the blade nick one of her ribs, causing part of the blade to snap off. More blood seeped from her mouth, she was finding it hard to breathe, or even to stay awake. She knew it was over, but she could get one last message out.

"Alex…" it was so hard to form words, but she knew she had too. "Run."

XXXXX

When she heard her sister's voice so weak in her ear Alex nearly fell to her knees. Kara was hurt, they were too late. She had to make a decision and she needed to make it fast. Her team had already fallen back, a full retreat would be easy to do, but she couldn't leave her sister and she knew Maggie wouldn't leave her. That left only one option in her mind.

"I want everyone to make a full retreat," she said over her comm, before switching it so only Maggie could hear her. "Kara is in trouble…I'm not leaving her and I know you're not leaving without me. So we do this together."

"I'm right behind you."

It was the response she was hoping for. It was likely neither one of them would make it out of the warehouse in one piece. If Kara had gone down with her upgraded suit they didn't stand a chance. At least it would give the others time to regroup and rethink their plans. Alex knew Kelly wouldn't understand, she knew her daughter would be angry, but she would listen. She had to listen. Their sacrifice would be for nothing if Kelly didn't listen. She opened a channel to her daughter, Maggie had agreed without any convincing, if only Kelly would be so easy.

"Kel, I need you to listen to me and listen carefully," Alex said. "Kara is down, both Charlie and Delta teams are in full retreat, I need you to take the detonator and go with them. Brainy can remote detonate from the DEO."

"Hang on," Kelly said already in a defensive mode. "What about you?"

"I'm not leaving my sister, and Maggie isn't leaving me," Alex said, matter-of-fact. "In case we don't come out of there they're going to need you."

She could hear Kelly starting to pace. It didn't take much to get Kelly frustrated and this was a blow. They had a plan, a good plan, and it had all fallen to pieces in twenty minutes. Alex hadn't expected to fail. Kara was strong and smarter than Warden. The DEO was more organized than Thorul and her men, and yet they were the ones losing. They had missed something or had just been too confident and they were paying for it.

"I can help," Kelly said. "You're going to need me. I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry Kelly…" Alex said doing her best to keep the pain from her voice. "The DEO is going to need someone to lead it in the case I don't make it out. They need you more."

"Don't talk like that."

"I'm being rational kiddo," Alex said. "They can't beat Warden without you, today proves that. I don't want it to be this way but if Maggie and I don't make it out the DEO and this mission are in your hands."

"Fuck that nonsense," Kelly was shouting now. "You are the Director of the DEO and you're talking like we've already lost."

"We have Kelly, you need to understand that."

Alex paused long enough to bring Brainy in on the conversation. She knew he had already calculated this outcome, it had probably been the most probable one he just hadn't said anything. Alex knew she didn't have to say it but she needed Kelly to hear. Maybe it would make things easier.

"Brainy in case I don't make it out I want Kelly to be named acting Director, I know with your help she'll be fine."

"Of course Director."

Kelly's voice was only getting louder the more desperate she became. She was realizing there was no talking her mom out of this. Her mind had been set. Alex knew she would understand one day and she wasn't going down without a fight.

"No matter what happens Kel, your mother and I love you," Alex said before ripping the earpiece from her ear.

Maggie had joined her at this point. She was bruised and bleeding but she still had some fight left in her. No words were spoken between the two of them as they started towards the building. The majority of Thorul's men had either been taken out or had retreated. It would be easy to get in but Alex suspected getting out would be next to impossible. They both knew the risk but neither of them were willing to leave Kara behind, no matter how futile their rescue was.

XXXXX

Kelly tore off her helmet, throwing it to the ground. She was dripping in sweat, unable to calm herself down. Part of her wanted to scream. To rush inside the building and tear everyone apart before blowing the place sky high. If she did that she would be disobeying her mother, the woman who was currently sacrificing herself so everyone else could escape. Why did Alex have to be so selfless? So stupid?

"Goddamit," she growled running her hands through her damp hair. She needed to make a decision and quick.

On the one hand her mom was right, the DEO needed her to take down Warden, once she was in prison Kelly could step down, hand the DEO back to J'onn. On the other, her mom wasn't going to abandon her sister so why should Kelly abandon them? But was it really abandoning them if Alex was telling her to go? To her the answer was no, it wasn't abandoning them, but it was running away and a Danvers doesn't run away.

Lori was still standing behind her, watching with baited breath. Maybe Lori could help. Kelly was already formulating a plan in her head. Warden would escape, there was no avoiding that now, but maybe together the two of them could get the others out. Maybe they could save them. She was still pacing when she turned to Lori.

"Ok…ok." She held out the detonator for Lori to take. "You take this, I'm going in. I need you to detonate this when I give the signal once the charges go off you get inside and get Kara and Alex out of there."

"Wait what about you?"

"Don't worry about me, just do what I tell you. You get them out and get to safety do you understand?"

Lori shook her head, she wasn't about to leave her cousin. Kelly wasn't having it, the light around her flared. She grabbed Lori, forcing her cousin to meet her eyes. Lori gasped, her cousin's eyes, normally hazel in color were now glowing almost golden, like the light around her.

"I'm not asking Lori, once you get them get out of there. I'll get Maggie out," Kelly shouted. "Just do as I say."

Kelly picked up her helmet brushing off the dirt that had gotten on the visor. She would hate to lose a fight because she couldn't see. Before she pulled it back on she activated her comms, connecting with Lena back at the DEO. "Lena, Supergirl and my parents have gone dark, I'm going in. Have medical on standby."

"Be careful," was all Lena could muster.

XXXXX

Alex and Maggie both fired the second they hit the end of the hallway. Alex almost missed Warden shoving Donovan out of the way shielding him with a barrier of light. She saw Kara on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Maggie broke left while Alex went right trying to circle around Warden and get a shot on Donovan. Alex could tell Donovan had blood on his hands, he had been the one who stabbed her sister. She wasn't keen on leaving Maggie to deal with Warden on her own but she wasn't going to let Donovan get away either.

"Supergirl, you still with us?" She could see her sister was still conscious but she had no idea how bad she really was.

Kara struggled to raise her hand, whether in response or as a warning. Neither of them had any way of knowing. All they could really tell was that Kara needed medical attention and fast. The longer she was exposed to Kryptonite the more likely she would die of Kryptonite poisoning.

"Now's your time Donovan," Warden said holding up her hand for tendrils of light to slowly creep towards Alex and Maggie. "I'll leave them to you."

Alex didn't even see the tendril before it ripped the gun from her hands. Warden watched her and Maggie, both disarmed, but made no move to intercept them. True to her word she was leaving them to Donovan. Alex doubted her could take them on together. She had years of training as an agent, all hand to hand combat. Maggie, who had considerably less training, was just as skilled as Alex. Donovan had no training that either of them knew off. Sure he had been in scuffled during his time in prison, but he was nowhere as good as them.

"You can have her Warden," Donovan said nodding towards Maggie. "She had nothing to do with my daughter."

Donovan slowly advanced on Alex, a broken Kryptonite blade in his hand. Alex had no other weapons but her baton. It wasn't ideal but she could cause a lot of damage with it. She risked a glance at Maggie. Her wife was standing bare fisted with no other weapons. She didn't normally carry a baton, she let her fist do the talking when she had too.

Warden had turned her absolute attention to Maggie. She wasn't moving but the light around her was alive like a pit of snakes, ready to strike at any moment. Maggie couldn't take her eyes off of the tendrils even to look at Warden. She knew the meta-human would never strike on her own. She was being used as a distraction to give Donovan the time her needed to deal with Alex.

There was nothing Alex could do besides fight Donovan. She had no doubt that Warden would step in if Donovan appeared to be losing. Her death would be slow and painful, but it would mean something. It would mean her daughter lived to fight another day. Her sister-in-law would fight to ensure justice was served and her niece would know what heroes had to sacrifice. Maybe it would save Lori from ever becoming a superhero. Maybe Kelly would rethink being a vigilante and would lead the DEO into a new age. Alex would never know. It broke her heart but she knew it was the only option, she and Maggie and Kara would die so the rest would live.

Donovan threw the knife trying to hit Alex with the blade. In any other case it would have hit her but it was broken and unbalanced, making it easy for Alex to step out of its path. Alex could have gone after it, used it against him but she thought better of it. If she went for the knife Warden would stop her and she would get nowhere. She had her own weapon, and she could bludgeon pretty hard.

"I have been waiting seventeen years for this," Donovan said his voice dangerous. "Seventeen Goddamned years I have waited to make you pay for taking my daughter away."

Alex was past threatening, she had done enough of that in court during his sentencing. All the combat training she had ever gone through disappeared. Her only focus was Donovan and making sure he never hurt anyone in her family again. She could easily keep up with him, blocking his punches and returning them. He didn't seem fazed when she managed to hit him with the baton. She began to wonder if he could even feel pain, he had laughed her off when Alex had broken his nose.

She raised her arm prepared to bring her baton down to break his shoulder. Donovan grinned at her. He grabbed her arm twisting it to the point she thought it might snap. The baton fell out of her hand clanging against the floor. He kept ahold of her hand as he kicked her foot out from underneath her. Alex fell feeling a bone in her arm snap. Donovan never let go as he snatched the baton from the floor. He hit her arm with such force she felt something else break before he let go. She heard Maggie shout her name but she couldn't focus. She felt sick. Alex knew her body was going into shock. She couldn't understand how Donovan always managed to get the upper hand over them, he was always beating them.

Maggie tried to run to Alex but Warden cut her off, easily lifting her off the ground. She struggled, trying to pull Warden's hands off her, kicking out trying to get any type of traction. Warden looked her up and down as she struggled to breathe.

"Warden?" It was Thorul's voice in her ear.

"Yes?"

"The girl is on her way in," Thorul said. "You and Donovan are going to need to focus on her."

"Copy that," Warden said throwing Maggie aside. "Donovan, she's here."

Kelly stood in the door way her staff fully extended by her side. She was scanning the room, formulating a plan, a course of action. Warden retrieved both her axes, infusing the blades with light to make the blade larger. Donovan scurried away from Alex's limp body suddenly afraid of the repercussions he was going to face.

"What do you say Warden?" Kelly said, the light around her growing in intensity. "Ready to finish our fight?"