She had done it again.

Another Cadmus facility was taken down by Alex and again the DEO was nowhere in finding her.

But what concerned them was that Alex may have found what she was looking for.

Maggie had returned to Alex's apartment after a debriefing at the DEO and she sat on the couch drinking a beer thinking about how this had all gone south so quickly. All she could think of was what if Alex had come into her hospital room that day – would it have changed things? Would Alex see that Maggie still loved her? Would it have been enough to stop Alex from doing what she was doing now?

The Cadmus facility was in Metropolis this time and Alex had gone there – they believed purposely when it was reported that Superman was helping after a typhoon had hit southern Asia.

Like before, she hadn't majorly hurt anyone which was perhaps their only saving grace in all of this. Yes, she had employed violence, but she hadn't crossed the line into killing.

Again, she went after some computer files and when she walked out of the building shortly before it blew up from the charges she set, the Cadmus employees who were outside said she was smiling – that she seemed happy.

They could only guess that it was because she succeeded in whatever this mission was that she was on.

Maggie didn't know what to make of any of it. She felt disconnected from Alex in a way she had never felt before. Even when they first met, she felt this connection between them and it only grew stronger while they were together. She felt like it was all slipping away and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

After all, if Kara couldn't find her sister – no one could.

She took another drink of beer and then sat forward on the couch, putting the beer down. Kara couldn't find her Maggie thought, why did that seem so familiar?

If she thought this had been itching her brain before now it felt ten times more powerful. She was missing something – she was sure of it. She stood up and began to pace thinking back.

After a while of pacing, she sat back down only to reach for her beer but pause. A moment later she was on her feet and headed to the door – she knew where Alex was hiding.

…

Maggie parked her car and got out carefully, scanning the area around her. The old train cars were scattered along the seemingly empty rail yard. She had no real idea what kind of car she was looking for only that it would be rare. She recalled the conversation finally that she had all those months ago with Alex – back when they were together and happy.

They had been lying on the couch and Maggie was trying to get Alex to talk more about her life in Midvale after her father's disappearance. She knew there were some repressed emotions there that Alex didn't want to talk about, but she wanted to be that outlet for Alex to talk about it if she needed to.

"I know I should probably have had more sympathy for Kara and all she was going through," Alex said. "But there were times I just resented even being around her. I felt like I was stuck with her and that the responsibility for her was all on me."

"What did you do in those times?"

"Usually, I just sucked it up and shoved aside whatever I was feeling and realized none of this was Kara's fault. She was more lost than I was."

"You said usually…"

"Well, there was a couple of times I just said to hell with it and went off on my own, but Kara always found me. I mean you try to hide from someone who can see through almost anything and who also has the ability to tune into your heartbeat. Although it did teach me a few things about how to avoid her now if I needed to."

"Oh really?"

Alex sat up suddenly, forcing Maggie to do the same. She almost seemed excited.

"I don't know why but I started to think of ways that would work to avoid Kara ever finding me. One of these days I might even propose to make a game out of it with her. It could be kind of fun to see if I could do it."

"How would you?"

"Well, first I would need to mask my heartbeat. That wouldn't be too hard, just a few electronic parts to build an amplifier and miXerxes that would make my heart sound like it was beating to a different rhythm and sound than she is used to. Then comes the hard part someplace to hide. The problem there is why yes there are lead products out there even lead doors you don't exactly have buildings of lead around that you could hide in. And hiding in Midvale would probably be impossible unless I gave it more thought but there is one perfect hiding place here in National City – the old rail yards on the west side."

"Why is that perfect?"

"Two reasons. One Kara isn't a fan of trains. When she first came to Earth and her super hearing kicked in, well we had railroad tracks that ran through town and every time a train rolled through she hated how loud it was. It was almost like a physical pain to her to have something that loud and sustained. While it doesn't bother her anymore, psychologically she still doesn't like them. Two, the rail yard here for whatever reason has a lead-lined car. I found this out totally by accident, some story on the local news about an effort to clean up the rail yard and how one of the concerns was a lead-lined car that came here from Arizona I think. Anyway, rail cars that were lead-lined were used to transport nuclear materials back in the day. This one was never used but ended up here."

"So, your plan is to get lead poisoning? Good plan."

"Smartass," Alex said playfully shoving her. "Do you have a better plan?"

"I would have to give it some thought now that you bring it up," Maggie said. "But I can see where your plan makes some logical sense."

Maggie thought about that moment and thought about the happiness she had back then. She wanted it back.

"Alex!" She yelled as she walked forward. "Alex."

She continued farther into the yard calling out Alex's name and hoping she was right about this. Then she heard the noise of metal on metal behind her. She turned and saw Alex exiting a rail car.

They stood there a moment not speaking. Alex was wearing a tank top that was stained with sweat. There was some sort of black device strapped just over her heart and Maggie could guess that is what she was using to disguise her heartbeat. She looked like a pale version of her normal self but there were two striking things about her – one was the gun she held in her hand and the other was a glowing red outlining the veins on one of her arms. The Kryptonite, Maggie thought, it was definitely in her system.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked even as she looked around, clearly scanning to see if anyone else was there.

"It's just me," Maggie said. "Not even Kara knows I'm here. I'm just here to talk, ok?"

"We have nothing to talk about."

"Alex," Maggie said taking a step toward her and she noticed the slight twitch in the hand that held the gun. She already knew she had to be cautious but now she honestly wondered if she could do this. "Everyone is worried about you – your mom, Kara, J'onn. They just want to know you are alright."

"I'm fine."

"No, you aren't," Maggie said. "Look at you, look at that red on your arm. You can't possibly think that is fine."

Alex looked at her arm, at the red tendrils that ran along it. "This is none of your concern. It isn't anybody's concern."

"That is because of the red Kryptonite," Maggie said. "We know it is in your bloodstream because a vial of your blood exploded back at the DEO. It exploded because of that stuff that is inside you right now. If you would just come back with me ..."

"No," Alex said. "If that is why you are here you are wasting your time and mine."

"I'm here because I'm worried about you. Come on, Alex, can you honestly stand there and tell me I shouldn't be concerned?"

"You lost the right to be concerned when you walked out on me," Alex said, and Maggie could swear the red in her arms glowed stronger.

"I never stopped caring about you," Maggie said. "I don't think I could ever stop."

Alex laughed a little. "Yeah, ride or die, right?"

Maggie knew going into this she was going to have to find some way to reach Alex, but now she wasn't so sure she could. She had no idea what the Kryptonite was doing to Alex and even without it, she didn't know if Alex would even be willing to listen to her. Perhaps she should have called Kara, she thought.

She took a step toward her, but Alex brought the gun up causing her to stop.

"What are you going to do, shoot me?" Maggie said, taking a step toward her. She refused to believe Alex would hurt her. Even with the Kryptonite in her blood, Maggie didn't believe Alex would use that gun on her.

"Just leave," Alex said, lowering the gun.

"No," Maggie said. "I'm not going to leave you like this. Talk to me, tell me what is going on, tell me about Xerxes."

Alex took a step back – caught off guard by the mention of that name. Again, she looked around as if to check if they were truly alone.

"That is none of your business," Alex said.

"You made it the DEO's business when you started raiding Cadmus sites."

"Oh, and do you work for the DEO now detective?"

"No," Maggie shook her head. "I'm just helping out in hopes that I could find you and help you to see reason. Your blood exploded Alex. Your mom says the Kryptonite is vibrating inside your blood and causing it to heat up. Look at you, you're sweating. I'm scared ok, I'm scared that if you don't come with me now that it's going to kill you. Please, Alex. Please."

Alex didn't respond, but a bead of sweat came down from her forehead and hit her eye. She wiped it away and Maggie took the distraction to take another step toward her. She didn't want to have to get into a physical confrontation with her if she didn't have to, but she was going to have to bring Alex in one way or another.

"My mom … it's not what she thinks," Alex said suddenly.

"Ok," Maggie said, taking another step. "If that isn't what is happening to you why don't you explain it to her then? She just wants to make sure you are ok. We all do. Just come back with me."

Alex raised the gun again. "Back away."

Maggie was close enough she could make a move on the gun, but she took a step back instead. "I was shot once this year, I think I hit my quota," Maggie said. "You know this. You came to see me in the hospital. Why didn't you stay? Why didn't you wait for me to wake?"

"It was a mistake. I shouldn't have bothered."

"No, it wasn't. You should have stayed. I would have liked to have woken up to see you there," Maggie said. "Before I was shot, there was this moment- the barest of seconds before the shot and I thought about you. I think about you a lot. When my cousin told me that you had been there while I was sleeping, I was happy and sad at the same time. Happy that you came, but sad that you wouldn't wait around to speak with me."

"Your cousin?" Alex asked, again lowering the gun.

"Yeah, Angela. She was the one you spoke to," Maggie said. "Wait. You didn't think that Angela was … I haven't been with anyone since you and I."

"Since you walked out on me you mean," Alex said.

"I didn't want to," Maggie said. "I didn't want things to end, but Alex, I was losing you. I did lose you to Cadmus. Now, I'm trying to keep from losing you for good. Please Alex, please just come back with me."

Maggie again stepped forward, this time getting closer, but again Alex raised the gun. This time it was pointing right at Maggie's face.

"Back away."

"No," Maggie said. "This time I'm not. You aren't going to shoot me."

"I shot and killed my father with this gun, do you think killing my ex-fiancée will faze me?"

For the first time, Maggie took notice of the gun. It wasn't Alex's and it wasn't a DEO-issued firearm. How would she have gotten it, Maggie wondered, but then she remembered, before leaving the DEO Alex had gone into the evidence room. Only J'onn knew what she took from there. Maggie realized now that it must have been the gun.

"I still don't believe you will shoot me," Maggie said. She knew this was a risk, knew that they had no idea of what kind of mental state Alex was in, but it didn't matter – she had to believe that Alex wasn't too far gone.

Alex took the step this time – a half a step forward and lowered the gun just a bit in order to jab it at Maggie's shoulder – right where she had been shot, causing Maggie to wince a little.

"Back up," Alex said through gritted teeth and Maggie saw the barest glimpse of red flash in her eyes. The Kryptonite – was it spreading?

"Not going to happen," Maggie said, staring her down. "You want me to move you are going to have to shoot."

This time Alex backed off, lowering the gun to her side for a moment, but then she raised it again. "I'm tired of people giving me ultimatums."

This time her eyes went completely red and Maggie knew she had to do something, so she hit Alex's hand, causing the gun to topple from it. Not hesitating, she rammed her body into Alex's hoping to take her down quickly, but Alex recovered quickly and Maggie was already off-balance which allowed Alex to get the upper hand, pushing Maggie down. Alex turned toward the gun, getting a few steps toward it when Maggie scrambled to her feet to tackle her from behind. Alex thrust her elbow back, catching Maggie right below the eye.

Alex changed focus to the gun, which was in reach, but Maggie kept a hold of her, pulling back on her. But Alex turned quickly, the gun in her hand, again pointed at Maggie.

"Off," Alex said, her eyes still glowing red.

Maggie knew that if she didn't, Alex would shoot her, so she backed off, raising her hands above her head as she stood. Alex also got to her feet, the gun still outstretched and pointing at Maggie. She looked like she was about to say something, but then her body flinched forward slightly. She lowered the gun and turned from Maggie, which allowed Maggie to see the projectile sticking out of Alex's back.

Alex turned back to Maggie, who lowered her arms. "I might have lied about that being alone part."

Her eyes closed a moment and then Alex opened them and Maggie could see they were clear once more. She staggered forward, dropping the gun and Maggie grabbed ahold of her. The sedative in the tranquilizer dart should have knocked her unconscious almost immediately but Alex was trying to fight it. Maggie lowered her to the ground, but she was still holding onto consciousness.

"Maggie," Alex breathed out. "Don't … don't remove it."

"What?"

"Let it happen."

"Shh," Maggie said. "Close your eyes. I got you."

Alex was unconscious by the time Lucy got there with the car.

"Thank you," Maggie said.

Lucy walked over and looked down at Alex. "Do you think she would have shot you?"

"Yeah, I think she would have, so thank you for your excellent timing and shot," Maggie said. "Whatever that Kryptonite is doing to her, she wasn't herself. Come on, we need to get her back to the DEO."