"How are you feeling?" Eliza asked as she entered Alex's bedroom in the morning.
"I think you were right." Alex said.
"About what?"
"I was surviving on adrenaline last night."
"I take it you don't feel so good today?"
"I feel awful." Alex confessed.
"These may help." Eliza said handing Alex some pain meds. "But not as much as sleep."
"No time I have to get to the DEO. We're so close."
"Alex, the children need you here right now. Let Kara worry about the DEO."
"You don't understand-" Alex started only for her bedroom door to open.
"Mom? You're back?" MJ said from the doorway looking both tired and confused. But once he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, he rushed to the bed and hugged her before asking. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Does a doctor agree?" He asked, his doubt evident.
"I just need some rest. How are you doing?"
"I'm okay."
"I'm so proud of you." Alex said kissing his head.
"Does Kara know you are back?" He asked.
"I saw her when I got back. Why?"
"She felt really guilty about leaving you."
"I know. But like I told her, it was the right thing to do."
-00-
"How's Alex?" Vasquez asked as Supergirl strode towards her.
"Ticked." Supergirl said. "She won't be coming into today. But she said you are to take the Sloane Syndicate down. She said it was okay to brief Aptil, but make sure you watch him."
"I know. She has already sent me an email." Vasquez said.
"She did? But she's meant to be resting."
"It's fine I ordered Ruby to confiscate her computer."
"What has Ruby done to upset you?" Kara asked.
"It's training. If she can deal with that she can deal with any homicidal alien that comes her way."
"Still harsh." Kara said before changing subjects and asking. "Did you find anything at the warehouse?"
"No. Everyone had gone by the time we got there." Vasquez said.
"What about the prisoners?"
"They haven't said anything. And because we don't know what happened to Rashid, we can't risk using a telepath."
"I could fly one of them somewhere." Supergirl offered.
"Right now we are being watched very closely." Vasquez said.
"So that's a no?" Supergirl asked.
"You aren't allowed near any of the prisoners." Vasquez said. "We have to follow the rules on this one."
"What about the aliens?" Kara asked.
"Why?"
"I want to do something useful."
"Well Aptil will be here soon, if you want to be involved." Vasquez offered.
-00-
As Alex went into the bathroom she turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm up. But as she did so the sound and sight of the water caused to think back to the night before. Shaking away the memories she painfully peeled away her clothes before stepping into the shower. But as the water hit her face she once again found herself back in the prison of the previous night, before those memories intermittently switched with those of over two decades ago when she nearly drowned in the tank. Sliding to the floor she brought her knees to her chest and lost herself in her memories.
Suddenly she heard her mother's voice, from the other side of the door, calling.
"Alex sweetie."
"Mom?" She croaked.
"You okay in there."
"Yes." Alex lied, grateful to find her mind in the present.
"You sure?"
"I'll be right out." She said painfully standing and turning off the water.
Not hearing a reply form her mother Alex carefully dried herself off, finally noticing the bruising down the top half of her body. Pulling a face she reached over and slowly put on her pyjamas before leaving the bathroom, only to find her mother sitting on the bed waiting.
"Are you okay?" Eliza asked.
"Yeah, it just takes a lot longer to move." Alex said as Eliza moved to her side and helped her to the bed.
"And the truth?" Eliza pressed.
"I just need some time." Alex said.
"You don't have to go through this alone."
"I know, but I would prefer that everyone focuses on the kids." Alex said before noticing her laptop had gone. "Where's my computer?"
"Confiscated." Eliza said. "DEO orders."
"Ruby took it? Can you send her up?"
"No. She is focussing on the kids. Now get some rest."
-00-
"How is the Director?" Aptil asked.
"Homicidal." Supergirl answered.
"I can imagine. But is her family okay?"
"They will be." Vasquez said.
"So why am I here? I mean I know technically you should be handing over the prisoners you arrested last night, but something tells me you want to keep them here."
"Actually we have some intel to hand you." Vasquez said passing him a tablet with several documents open revealing the Kai locations and the potential link to Sloane Syndicate.
"And found all of this this morning?" Aptil asked suspiciously.
"Not exactly. But following the attack last night, we believe there is now enough evidence for you to act on it." Vasquez said. "We didn't want to bother you with mere speculation."
"Or you didn't trust me and kept me out of your investigation." He guessed.
"Can you blame us?" Vasquez asked.
"No. But I promise you I am not dirty and I am not working with Kai."
"Now is the chance to prove it." Supergirl said.
"Actually successful raids will prove nothing. As you gave the evidence to me so late and have kept this under wraps, if I was dirty I would still be forced to make the raids successful to keep my cover." Aptil said.
"How quickly can you set up the raids?" Vasquez asked.
"On this many locations, it will take awhile. But we need to do it as quickly as possible to ensure there aren't any leaks. Give me five hours."
"We can assist." Vasquez said.
"You can't take part." Aptil said.
"Why?" Supergirl asked.
"We would like successful convictions. The DEO is not associated with public trials or convictions." Aptil said.
"What about me?" Supergirl asked.
"Again, we want successful convictions. However, if we find any portals we will call you in." With that he turned and left.
"I so don't trust him." Supergirl said to Vasquez.
"Don't worry, a mutual acquaintance may have assumed the identity of someone on the task force. They'll let us know if there are issues." Vasquez said.
-00-
"How are the kids?" Alex asked when Eliza brought her some lunch.
"Still in shock. But they are talking about what happened to Alex and Ruby and Ruby is pointing out there are worse things that could happen."
"Is one of them working for me having stolen my laptop?" Alex asked.
"I wasn't listening." Eliza said. "How about you? Want to talk about earlier? "
"I'm okay." Alex said.
"You can say it as much as you want, but it doesn't make it true." Eliza pointed out.
"I know. I'll be okay. Right now I am worried about Kara and MJ."
"So you understand why I am worrying about you." Eliza said.
"I'll be okay." Alex repeated. "And I'll be a lot better when I know that the people who did this are no longer a threat." She added before asking. "How's James doing?"
"Feeling guilty." Eliza said. "He wants to see you and the kids, but said he'll stay away until you're ready."
"I'll call him later." Alex replied.
-00-
"How's Alex?" Lena asked as she entered a DEO briefing room.
"She'll be okay." Supergirl said. "Thanks for looking after everyone last night."
"Anytime." Lena smiled. "For a change I may have come with good news."
"What?" Supergirl asked.
"Firstly, new phones for Kara and MJ." She said sliding a box over to Kara.
"I'm sure they'll appreciate it, but I assuming there is more than that?" Vasquez said.
"Yes. After what you told me about the gemstones being used for comms and tracking I realised we hadn't run some obvious tests."
"Like what?" Supergirl asked.
"How much do you know about crystal oscillators?" Lena asked.
"A property of crystals is an electrical charge can produce a mechanical force by changing the shape of the crystal and likewise a mechanical force applied to the crystal produces an electrical charge. They are used for comms." Supergirl said. Seeing the surprised on Lena's face Kara explained. "What? We used crystals all the time for communications on Krypton. The Earth method is more basic, but it is kind of the same thing. I mean you call it the, I can't remember, we called it the Larthic effect."
"Right, we call it the Piezo-electric Effect. The point is you need to apply a charge. The tests we ran deliberately didn't do that in a methodical way. I mean we powered it to power the suits, but we never optimised the charging process. But if we apply the right charge and warm it up, it is possible we could use it to communicate with the other gemstones. My guess is, their suits, which the gems were embedded in, provided that charge."
"So you want one of the suits and a gemstone?" Vasquez asked.
"Yes."
"They are in secure lab five. I'll take you down there." Vasquez said.
"Wait." Supergirl said. "If we do that, won't the other Lieutenants be able to track us?"
"They probably already know where we are, but to be safe, let's do the test in the desert." Vasquez said.
"I'll go as well." Supergirl said. "Just in case."
"Remember the raid happens in an hour, we'll need you on stand by for that."
"Well why don't I get things set up today and we'll test tomorrow?" Lena asked.