"Alex, calm down." Kelly said as she placed a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, since it was clear to everyone in the base just how tense Alex was about the situation.
"How can I be calm when I was the one who killed Astra Kelly. She's bound to hate me." Alex said.
"You were both soldiers in opposing armies and you were protecting your commander. I'm sure she'll understand. Not to mention the fact that the one thing you and Astra do have in common is that you both adore Kara in a family matter. You as her sister and Astra as her aunt. I'm sure that Astra will be willing to play nice with you if only to prevent Kara from having to make the impossible choice between the two of you." Kelly said.
"I hope you're right." Alex said as she sat down on one of the couches and let Kelly console her while they, along with Nia, Winn and Lena waited for Kara, Mon-El and J'onn to arrive with Astra, which they did moments later.
After they'd arrived at the base, Astra's eyes immediately zeroed in on Alex, since while she did recognize the dark haired man by the computers due to his association with her niece, her eyes and attention were more focused on the woman who'd killed her.
"It's been a long time, Agent Danvers." Astra said to Alex, trying to be as neutral as she could.
"Yes it has. I want to know how sorry I am for what I did, but I didn't have any other choice. Kara was busy dealing with Non and it was clear that you wouldn't listen to my attempts to talk you down, so I had no other option but to kill you in order to save J'onn's life." Alex said and Astra nodded.
"I know. I am not angry at you about that, for were our roles reversed, I would've done the same thing. If anything, I should be thanking you, since you have been a much better family member to my niece than I have been in a long time." Astra said and they could all see Alex relax visibly at that.
"Okay, now that we're all friends, maybe we can discuss the plan?" Winn asked and Kara nodded.
"We know that the Master Jailer is rounding up escaped criminals from Fort Rozz and executing them. We're gonna give him his next target, only this time, he'll be the one who gets a surprise." Kara said.
"Kara, he did get the drop on you last time." Alex reminded her.
"Only because I wasn't expecting it and this time, I won't be alone in the field and I'll be fully trusting of everyone I'm working with, since I wasn't exactly on the best terms with some people at the time." Kara said, looking at J'onn apologetically.
"Don't Kara, I knew how you'd react to Astra's death, that's why I chose to take the fall for Alex. I felt that it would be better to have you hate than your sister, since I know how much Alex means to you." J'onn said.
"Maybe, but don't forget J'onn, you're family too and I was wrong to treat you the way I did." Kara said and J'onn smiled at her.
"Thank you for saying that Kara, it means more to me than you know." J'onn said, since everyone in that room, even Astra, knew that J'onn had come to think of Kara as his daughter, just as much as he had Alex and the thought of either of them being so angry at him did physically pain him.
"Okay well, why don't we get to the mission at hand." Winn said, getting them all back on target.
"Alex, J'onn, did either of you find anything else on him?" Kara asked.
"No, but luckily, our brains did." Alex said, turning to Winn and Lena, causing all other eyes to shift to them.
"Well, I remembered from the first time around that the Master Jailer's gear has a unique energy signature. It's actually similar to how we tracked down Reactron." Winn said and Lena picked it up from there.
"We developed an algorithm that will allow us to track the Master Jailer's energy signature. The only problem is that in order for it to work, we need an active sample of it, since we don't know how the changes in this universe could've affected the energy signature." Lena said.
"I also don't think that using me as bait is not as viable a plan as you thought it would be, since from what you told me about him, this vile guard only executes his prisoners by their id number and I highly doubt he'll be willing to skip ahead. In fact, considering that he's likely read the files on every Fort Rozz prisoner, he'd likely expect a trap the moment he saw me. We need another plan." Astra said and Kara nodded, since she hadn't thought of that.
"What about the cabin we caught him in last time?" Kara asked, but J'onn shook his head.
"I already investigated the entire area myself with a fine tooth comb. There's no trace of him there. Wherever he is, he's hiding out somewhere else." J'onn said.
"We'll find him. After all, there are only so many places he can hide." Mon-El said.
"Let's start by running facial recognition using a combination of the DEO's satellites and National City's surveillance cameras. If we need to, we can widen the search from there." Kara said and they all nodded as they continued to plan.
Meanwhile, Carl Draper was sitting in his bunker, growing anxious and impatient, he was getting tired of staying cooped up in this place. He was feeling like the very prisoners he was trying to stop.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard someone enter his bunker and quickly activated one of the arms of his suit and turned around, only to find General Sam Lane standing there, his hands up in a surrender position and a bag in his hands.
"You should've knocked first and given me a little more warning. I nearly killed you." Draper said as he lowered his arm and retracted his suit.
"My bad. Sorry about that, but we have to be careful. This operation is a secret and you brought a lot of unwanted attention to it when you set that building on fire." Sam said.
"I didn't set it on fire. The fugitive did in an attempt to escape me. Being a pyro is one of his crimes after all." Draper said.
"Regardless, you seem to be forgetting that I am the reason that you're not locked up like the rest of those aliens are when we found you. The higher ups, they wanted you locked up. I talked them down. Convinced them that you could be an asset to us, not an enemy, since you're clearly willing to cross lines that Superman is not. You've been one of our most trusted assets, keeping this country and this planet safe from the alien menaces and unlike our friend in blue, you don't go looking for recognition for it." Sam said.
"And I don't understand why you're keeping me confined like this. I can't do my job locked up in this bunker." Draper said.
"We have to be careful. This is a completely off the books operation and if it's discovered, then it's both our asses on the line. There are people looking into that fire, which means that there is a chance that they can connect it back to you and if they do, we're all done. So for now, you need to wait here and hold tight until things cool down and it blows over. Once it does, you can get back to work." Sam said.
"That better not take much longer. You know how I get when I'm impatient." Draper said.
"I know. And I like you like that. You're most effective when you're motivated by anger. I'm just asking you to wait a little longer, especially since I already know who your next target will be." Sam said.
"You found the next prisoner?" Draper asked.
"Not yet, but I have a more important target that I'll need you to eliminate. One who threatens our entire operation." Sam said as he handed Draper a picture and Draper was shocked to see that it was a picture of Supergirl.
"I'm sorry, but no. Absolutely not." Draper said.
"Excuse me?" Sam asked, shocked.
"I will not kill the daughter of the great house of El. Her mother is the reason I wear that suit. Not to mention that unlike you apparently, I have no desire to go to war with Superman, who would no doubt attack me in a heartbeat should I harm his cousin. You want her dead General, I suggest you do it yourself." Draper said.
"I see. Well, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Draper. But then again, who says that you have a choice in the manner." Sam said with a grin.
"What are you talking about?" Draper asked, right as soldiers entered the room.
"What is the meaning of this?" Draper asked as he attempted to activate his armor, only to find that it wasn't working.
"You seem to be forgetting that I was the one who had your armor upgraded. Did you really think I wouldn't have fail safes put in it?" Sam said as Draper was electrocuted by his own gear, knocking him out.
"Take him to Cadmus. I'm sure the Doctor will be able to make him more compliant." Lane said and his troops nodded, none of them aware that they'd been overheard.
"Looks like you were right about your dad." James Olsen said to his partner as they looked over the footage they'd gotten from the bug that had been planted on the good general.
"I'm just glad that dad hasn't picked up on the bug I planted on him." Lucy Lane said.
"We need to get to National City now and warn Kara about this. If your dad is working with thugs like the Master Jailer, then Clark was even dumber to reveal his identity to him then I thought." James said.
"On that we agree." Lucy said, since she'd put together Clark's identity for herself not that long after Kara had revealed her identity to her and she and Lois had made reparations since.
"We better get moving. The sooner we warn Kara, the sooner we can put your dad behind bars where he belongs. No offense." James said.
"None taken, you're right. Let's get moving." Lucy agreed as the two headed out.
What do you think of that twist. Not what you expected is it?