As soon as Alex entered her apartment, she grabbed her gun. A strange smell entered her nose, mint mixed with oranges. Her memory told her that she had neither in her apartment. So she slowly turned around, her gun out in front of her, finger on the trigger.
Her heart was pounding in her throat when a huge Valeronian, an alien species she had learnt about recently, reached out with one hand. He proceeded to crush her gun, and let the pieces fall on her clean carpet. Well, that's just rude, Alex thought. She quickly racked her brain for all the information she had memorised on Valeronians. They came from Valeron. They can fly, have superhuman strength, telekinesis, telepathy, and energy projection. Alex swore under her breath, realising she was going to have a hard time surviving, let alone winning, this fight. So she did the rational thing.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my apartment?" She asked, firmly planting her feet on the ground as she slowly twisted around her ring. It was silver, and her zodiac sign, Aries, was used for the design. But it was definitely more than that, much more. If she twisted each ruby stone clockwise once, her boss, Hank Henshaw would know she was in trouble, and know where to find her.

"I've been watching you, human. You stand in contact with the Kryptonian who thinks she's hiding her identity well." Oh god. Kara.

"Contact her, make her come here." The Valeronian grumbled in his deep voice.

"Why do you need my- Kara" Alex quickly corrected herself, not giving the alien any hint to how Kara and her are connected. "That is none of your concern, human. I have a bone to pick with Allura's daughter. And if you want to live," he took a step forward, grabbing Alex by her throat. "You will contact her. Now."

If Alex had the ability to roll her eyes at that moment, she would have. All of those dumb-ass aliens, thinking that people only care about themselves. She understood, sure. Just look at the upper class, letting homeless people freeze to death as they sleep outside in the winter. The way we fight our wars. It sure seems that way. But that is not how it is.

"No. You might be cutting off the blood supply to my brain right now, but I am not that stupid." She croaked out, using both of her hands to keep herself from passing out. The Valeronian started squeezing her throat, so she used all of her oxygen supply to swing her legs up. Her feet made contact with the alien's elbow, a satisfying crack echoing through her living room. Alex knew she hadn't broken it, but she definitely did some damage. He dropped her in surprise and pain, his other hand grabbing his elbow as he shouted in pain.

Alex knew she couldn't flee, this was her apartment. If she left him there, he would surely figure out how to get in touch with Kara. That, or Kara would drop by. So Alex did the only thing she could do. Stall him until Hank and the team got here. He would always come find her within five minutes, unless she was in a different city. According to the clock ticking on the wall behind her, three of those five minutes had passed.

Using her coffee table as a step up, Alex jumped on the alien's neck, pulling off his hat to expose the odd shapes on his skull. Yup, her educated guess was right. That was a Valeronian. She pulled her scarf off, tightened her thighs around his waist and locked her feet in front of his stomach. She wrapped the scarf around his neck and started pulling. He reached over his shoulders, attempting to tug her off his back as he breathed heavily. After twenty seconds of this odd tug of war, Alex realised that she was choking the Valeronian with Maggie's scarf. And she was bound to remember that she had given it to Alex, turn around, and head back. If Maggie saw this situation... Alex had no clue what would happen. And she hated not knowing things.

With newfound strength, Alex twisted the scarf around her wrists, and pulled it tighter. ninety more seconds, and Hank would save her. She was not the type to look for a rescue, but this was above her pay grade. Which doesn't say a lot, coming from a student, but still. The Valeronian suddenly growled in anger, turning around and walking backwards at an alarming rate. He's going to crush me, Alex realised a split second before her back hit her white apartment door. All the air was pushed out of her lungs as she felt the pressure increase. Then, she heard two people chatting outside her apartment door.

"Alex, I think I forgot to take back my scarf, could I have it back please? It's a bit of a walk back, and- Oh. What are you doing here in riot gear? And what kind of gun is that?" Maggie was outside her door.

"Hello, I'm Hank Henshaw. I work for the secret service, so needless to say that the answers to those questions are above your security clearance. I'm afraid I have to kindly ask you to leave and come back later." The loud cracking of Alex's ribs interrupted their conversation.

"Alex, are you okay?!" Maggie sounded worried, which would've flattered Alex if she was not being crushed to death at that moment.

"Ma'am, please leave." Hank tried again.

"Show me your badge and I will leave." Maggie retaliated. With a loud sigh, Hank pulled out his ID, pressing the button so it would change from a DEO to an FBI badge.

"There. Now I insist you leave." Alex heard footsteps away from her apartment, as the Valeronian suddenly took a step forward. She fell to the ground, breathing painfully. She'd broken some ribs for sure, but before the alien could grab her again, she rolled away from the door. Thank god for Hank, his spare key, and his stun gun.

Within five minutes, the unconscious alien had been detained and locked in one of the black vans. Hank would not let Alex go to the regular hospital, instead driving her to the nearest DEO office, to treat her there. As agent Vasquez took care of Alex's wounds, Alex reported what had happened to director Henshaw.

"To conclude, this Valeronian recognised your sister? And he attempted to get you to give her away?" He checked. Alex nodded. He kept quiet for a few seconds.

"If one of them knows, more of them will know. We need to be more careful." In his eyes, it seemed like he was preparing for a storm.