"I am Director Danvers." Alex said entering the cell. "I assume you know Supergirl."
"You are in charge?" He asked.
"Yes." Alex confirmed.
When the alien didn't say anything Alex asked. "What do you want?"
"Nothing."
"Okay. Then I will show you out."
"No." He said. "You should detain me. I killed your slave."
"My slave? Reid wasn't my slave." Alex said. "He was a colleague and a friend. But seeing you are admitting killing him, why come here?"
"Your justice system is appealing."
"Which I take to mean that you think it is safer in here than out there." Alex said. "And to be clear, you aren't staying here unless you make it worth my while. And your fellow followers of Mongul have already been cooperative. So far we have been offered gems, portals, money. Looking at you I can't see you matching any of those offers. And seeing you killed one of my people you owe us a lot just to get to the starting line." She paused and asked. "Why are you here?"
"Revolt." He said.
"Who is revolting?"
"My slaves."
"Your slaves?" Supergirl asked.
"Yes."
"Having slaves is probably your first problem." Supergirl said.
"We knew if anything happened Mongul's children would come. All we had to do was wait. But my slaves grew impatient. They were corrupted by what they saw here. They overpowered me, took the gemstone and then beat me and left me for dead."
"I imagine your former slaves would like us to hand you back." Alex said. "After what you did to Reid that seems like a good plan."
"I have studied your ways. You would not do that."
"Supergirl wouldn't do that." Alex said. "I would. Right now no one officially knows you are here. If I give you to your former slaves no one would know. If you don't want me to do that come up with a very good reason."
"I can trade."
"Like I said so far we have been offered gems, portals, money, so think big." Alex said. When the alien said nothing Alex stood. "I don't have time for this." She then looked at Supergirl and said. "I'm going to send a broadcast to his former slaves, let's see what they will offer."
"Wait." He said. Before pausing again. Eventually he said. "Mongul rules by fear. Fear only works when you believe there in no better option. Every victory must be absolute. There was no room for contingency plans as that implies weakness. But Mongul is clever so he made those plans. He just didn't share them. Even with those he trusted with gems. But we knew those plans existed, just not what they were. When Mongul was defeated we tried to get back to the ships. When that failed we tried to figure out what the escape plan was."
"The fact you are still here suggests you didn't get very far." Supergirl said.
"If the invasion failed, that would mean the fleet failed. So the plan had to involve a different way to send an army to Earth. We figured out he had a portal. We were trying to find it."
"Who is the we you refer to?" Alex asked.
"There were six of us." He said before adding, almost as an after thought. "And our slaves. We all took different areas, based on what we had heard when we near Mongul."
"Where are the other five?" Alex asked.
When he didn't answer, Alex got to her feet again. "Enjoy you reunion with your former slaves." She said.
"Wait." He said once more. "Give me a map, I can show you where they were looking. Without my gemstone though I can't contact them."
"But with it you could?" Alex asked.
"Of course. Are you testing me?" The alien asked confused.
"Maybe." Alex said. "You see I don't trust you and pointing at a map isn't exactly worth my while."
"He has family. A son who seeks power for himself. And a daughter who wants to prove herself. They will come here seeking revenge. I can tell you about them."
-00-
"Why can't aliens hand themselves in and tell us good news?" Alex complained.
"If they did you would never believe it." Kara pointed out.
"True."
"Speaking of believing, do you believe him?"
"I don't know. It's plausible. Especially after we found the other dead alien. What we need is to find some of the rebelling foot soldiers, something tells me they will give us better overview of the situation." Alex said as her phone buzzed. Seeing her sister pull a face Kara asked.
"What's wrong?"
"It's James. He wants to go for dinner."
"You should."
"I don't have time."
"There is always time for family. Besides Kara will follow your lead."
"Fine." Alex said sending back a reply. "Happy?"
"Yes."
"You just want free food."
"I'm not going."
"What? Why not?"
"I need to teach Alex tact before her next meeting with James." Kara said before noticing J'onn walking towards them.
"J'onn, you're back." Kara smiled before hugging him.
"Kara." He said into the hug before pulling away and looking at Alex. "We need to talk."
"You found something." Alex guessed.
"Yes." J'onn confirmed. "Let's talk in private."
Nodding, Alex silently led him to her office, as she felt the dread build.
When they were all sitting down J'onn started.
"In the last five years there have been forty seven unusual accidents involving smart cars. All of them involved a single car, apparently crashing for no reason. The cars were different makes and models, so on the face of it don't seem connected. However, a little further digging found that although the chips that were blamed were made by different companies, those companies are ultimately owned by an umbrella company called Sloane Syndicate." He said before seeing Alex's and Kara's expressions. "You've heard of them?"
"We think they are making weapons for Kai." Alex said before asking. "What about Kelly's accident?"
"Your car also had chips made by companies owned by Sloane Syndicate." J'onn confirmed. "But it could still be a coincidence."
"I need some air." Alex said walking out of the office.
"J'onn's right, it may till be a coincidence." Kara said rushing after Alex who headed for a balcony.
"And if it is not?" Alex asked reaching the balcony as she tried to take some deep, calming breaths.
"We bring them to justice." Kara said. "For now we need to dig into Conway. Let's figure out if that accident was an accident. If someone did something there will be evidence."
"I am already looking." J'onn said joining them on the balcony. "Conway's sister, is being very cooperative. She doesn't believe it was an accident and is upset over the fact they thought she was involved. She even hired a PI to look into it and she has shared everything they found. She also gave me access to an email account her brother used. She doesn't think the FBI knew about it."
"Why would he hide it?" Kara asked.
"She said he was paranoid because of what he saw gangs do. Of course it could be because he was dirty." J'onn said. "I'll figure it out."
"Had she heard of Kai or Sloane Syndicate?" Alex asked.
"No. And if he was being blackmailed she doesn't know."
-00-
"Where are we with the ice cream trucks?" Alex asked an hour later as she returned to the control room, her temper shorter than normal.
"We have tracked its movements for the last couple of weeks and it does a distinct lack if ice cream selling. It goes from the depots where the power plant trucks go to the city. Every time it is a different city location. None of them are places you would expect kids to be lined up buying ice cream. After a few hours it heads back to the depot. But it does have a licence and permit and files tax returns."
"Who is the driver?" Alex asked.
"Stan Sparkes. Based on the records he went into the ice cream business ten years ago. Based on the tax returns, the last year has not been good. Probably due to not selling ice cream."
"Are we sure it is Sparkes still driving?"
"Based on the photo we got of him at a toll station, yes."
"Does he have any family?"
"A teenage son."
"Wife?"
"Divorced him five years ago, remarried shortly afterwards."
"Okay, we need a team looking into Sparkes. There is a chance he is being blackmailed and his son could be in danger. Another team needs to starting looking at those city locations. They could be Kai hideouts." Alex said. "I am going to go and talk to the CEO of Sloane Syndicate. Tell them that one of Mongul's men said they have been using this building as a hide out. Let's see how they react."
"Is that wise?" Supergirl asked. "Maybe I should go with you?"
"I'll be fine." Alex said.
"I'm not so sure."
"I said I'll be fine." Alex snapped. Hearing the complete lack of sound from the control room Alex said. "You have your assignments. Do them." With that she stormed out of the room.
"You aren't going by yourself." Supergirl said catching up with Alex. "You have form. You smashed Maxwell Lord's head into a desk."
"Well I have matured since then." Alex said.
"But you are still angry and right now you are upset. If you storm in there you could blow the investigation. So I am going to come with you."
-00-
"I am Director Danvers with the DEO." Alex introduced. "And this is Supergirl."
"Of course." The young looking CEO smiled. "I'm Matt Joiner. What can I do for you?"
"You have several geothermal plants. We believe that the remnants of the recent invasion attempt may be using them." Alex explained.
"Using them?"
"They need power." Alex said.
"For what?"
"That's classified."
"We aren't a traditional business." Joiner said. "We provide financing opportunities. But every business that we help, although it falls under our umbrella remains a separate legal entity. They are run independently. We chose not to interfere. We leave each company to do its own thing."
"Be that as it may, if they are being used it could still damage you reputation and your bottom line." Alex pointed out.
"Yes it could. So we will investigate. But I would like to think that the plant management would notice if an army of aliens were walking round."
"These aliens are very good at blending in as well as hiding in the shadows." Supergirl said.
"I will personally contact the managers of the plants and ask if anything unusual has happened. If it has I will contact you."
"I think it would be safer for my team to look." Alex said. "If there are aliens they may attack your people."
"I appreciate your concern. However, we have several clean rooms there that we need to ensure aren't contaminated. You being there could cost those plants a lot of money and damage our bottom line. So we will investigate and contact you if needed. Unless you have a warrant?"
"Perhaps you could have the security teams at each of the plants contact me, we could advise on what to look for?" Alex suggested.
"That sounds perfectly sensible. Do you have a card?" He asked.
"Call that number and they will help." Alex said passing him a card.
-00-
"That was a waste of time." Alex complained as she drove Kara home.
"I don't know." Kara said. "He had a bad CEO vibe about him. Definitely worth looking into."
"We were doing that anyway." Alex said.
"How are you doing?"
"Well I didn't slam his head into anything so I clearly doing okay." Alex said. "Except I really don't need this dinner with James." Alex said. "I mean what am I meant to say to him about the accident?"
"Nothing. Let's wait until there is proof one way or the other." Kara said. "For now just meet James and try to forget about everything."
"Easier said than done." Alex said.
"I know. But while you are out rebuilding your relationship with James I will dig into Joiner."
"Or I could send the kids to be with James and I will help with the investigation."
"If you don't go, Kara won't go. And if she did go, James will need you to run interference." Kara said. "Besides, you are too close to this."
-00-
"Hey guys." James smiled as Alex and her kids approached him in his hotel lobby.
"James." Alex replied.
"Everything okay?" He asked, noticing how stressed Alex was looking.
"It's fine. Just work."
"Well, thanks for coming tonight." He said leading them to the elevator.
As the group took the elevator down to the parking garage Alex noticed a hissing sound before she started to feel tired.
Looking round she saw both kids were struggling to key their eyes open.
"Gas." She said as she reached for her phone, only the gas affected her coordination and she couldn't grab it. Moments later everyone in the elevator fell to the floor unconscious.