"You ready for this?" Supergirl asked Barry.
"Always." He smiled as he looked at the plans again. "I'll take care of these guys and then I'll join you as soon as I can."
"So a minute?" Supergirl asked.
"I was thinking more like forty seven."
"No chance." Supergirl replied.
"I have not slowed with age." Barry said. "If I do it in less than fifty you buy the ice cream."
"Okay." Kara said as Alex approached them.
"You two ready?" The elder Danvers sister asked.
"Yes." Kara said.
"Please remember it could be a trap." Alex pleaded.
"I'll be careful." Supergirl promised her sister. "And I've decided to wear the full suit."
"You have?" Alex asked surprised.
"It's safer and the last thing Alex needs is me getting exposed again. I can cope with being enclosed for a couple of hours."
"Hopefully it will just be ten minutes." Alex said.
"What happens if you need to use your freeze breath?" Barry asked. "I mean you can't if you are in the full suit right?"
"By then we should know if there is Red-K there." Kara said.
"Okay, just be careful. And remember there may be more traps." Alex said. "Everyone is in position."
"We'll go there now." Barry said as he and Kara disappeared in a blur.
-00-
Having heard the command to move both Kara and Barry set off with superspeed as the device was activate to turn off the contact lenses. While Barry concentrated on taking out the bad guys Kara ferried the doctors into the large room where the teenagers were being held.
As Supergirl went between the room to the outside to collect the doctors Alex warned.
"You are in and out of that room too quickly for the suit to get a reading on Red-K."
"Don't have much choice." Supergirl said bringing the final doctor to the room with the teenagers who were standing looking dazed or lying on the floor seemingly unconscious.
"Supergirl. Over here." A doctor waved. As she reached him she saw a child seizing by his feet. "You need to freeze her or she will die."
"We still don't know if it is safe for you in there." Alex warned over the radio.
"Again, there's no choice." Supergirl said deactivating the helmet and using the freeze breath on the kid moments before Barry scooped them up and took them to the DEO.
"Supergirl!" Another doctor called causing her to move to the other side of the room where she was once again required to freeze a child.
As Supergirl worked with the doctors, Alex nervously watched the data being streamed from her sister's suit. After what felt like an eternity the computer bleeped and Alex reached for the radio.
"No Red K has been detected, but keep you guard up."
"Understood." Supergirl said as another doctor waved her over.
-00-
"How are they?" Supergirl asked as Alex came out of the infirmary an hour later.
"Alive, thanks to you."
"Not all of them." Kara said bitterly.
"We saved a lot more than we thought we would." Alex said. "And that is thanks to you and Barry."
"But they are not out of the woods yet?" Kara guessed. "I mean the ones I froze, are they even awake yet?"
"No. And you are right, until they wake up we won't know if there is long term damage. But the thirty six who showed no symptoms after being disconnected are still fine." Alex said before looking at her sister. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine." Kara said but as Alex kept looking at her she asked. "What's going to happen to them?"
"Once they are up to it social services will try to find their families. But some of them will have runaway for good reason." Alex said. "They may not have family to go back to and even if they do they may not want to."
"That sucks." Kara said.
"Yes it does." Alex agreed. "You've done all you can. Go home and be with Alex."
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Barry asked approaching them.
"Sure, what is it?" Alex asked.
"Did you notice anything strange about the raid, well the people involved."
"Apart from being turned into zombies?" Kara asked.
"Yeah. Thinking about it I wouldn't necessarily think you'd notice as it is probably like how it was before you disappeared." Barry said to Kara before looking at Alex. "But you, you didn't notice?"
"Didn't notice what?" Alex asked.
"Everyone we found was, for lack of a better word, normal. There were no metas." Barry said. "But assuming National City is like every other city, the majority of teenage runaways are metas. And there were enough kids in that room that you'd expect at least a few of them to display powers out of panic if nothing else, but they didn't. And the ones that have recovered don't seem to be metas. So where are they?"
"Stagg." Alex said suddenly walking off.
"Who?" Barry asked looking at Kara.
"No idea." She said equally confused.
"Wait does she mean Simon Stagg?" Barry asked.
"You know him?"
"I did. Pre-Crisis I had some run ins with him, and then he died. But after Crisis he ended up alive in this universe. To be honest I kept my distance, but we still dug in to him. He is like the version I knew, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was exploiting Metas. Let me make a call." He said walking off.
-00-
"Where does Stagg get the metas?" Alex asked walking into Aptil's office.
"Excuse me?" He asked looking up.
"You said you were investigating him for Meta trafficking. Where does he get the metas?"
"From what we can tell the homeless, run aways and loners. To be honest a lot of metas are afraid of the authorities so tend to live off grid. That makes it easier to take them without people noticing." He said. "Why?"
"There were no metas. Statistically speaking we should have found several amongst the kids."
"Maybe the lenses don't work on them?" He suggested.
"Maybe. But then the guards should have contained them as well. So far no one in the Kai gang has been a meta."
"So you are thinking what? Stagg is behind Sloane Syndicate and uses it to take in children. He then traffics the metas and turns the normal kids into soldiers"
"You have to admit it is possible."
"Possible yes, but it feels like a stretch." He argued.
"Can I see the files you have on Stagg?"
"Um sure. Take a seat and I'll get them." He said.
-00-
"I don't know if it helps but Iris has just sent you everything we have on Stagg." Barry said approaching Kara.
"Thanks." Kara said taking out her phone and looking at the email.
"I need to head back." Barry said.
"Thank you for coming." Kara said.
"Of course." Barry smiled. "And it kinda felt good saving all those kids."
"Not all of them." Kara said bitterly.
"Even though you are the most powerful, although not the fastest, hero on the planet, you still can't save everyone." Barry said. "But everyone who did make it is because of you."
"Us." Kara said.
"Anyway, I should go."
"Wait, you owe me ice cream." Kara said.
"What?"
"Fifty two seconds."
"It was not."
"It was too. We have camera evidence."
"Alex could have faked it." Barry said. "But next time you are in my part of the country I will buy you ice cream." He said hugging her goodbye.
-00-
"Found anything?" Aptil said bring Alex another coffee.
"Not yet. But I know there is something here." She said. "Plus Kara has just sent me a whole bunch of files on Stagg from his Central City days." She said as Aptil's phone rang.
"Excuse me." He said going to his desk and picking up the phone."
"Aptil." He answered. "Yes… you have … is that enough …. when? …. yes … thank you." He said before hanging up.
"Problem?" Alex asked.
"More like the opposite. We have them." He said.