A/N: A shout out to Jennifer Baratta! Glad you liked the last chapter. This one is a bit of a doozy... ;) Thanks!
Chapter 37
"There's nothing here," J'onn reported from the location he went to. He had been hoping that finding William would be something he could do for Kara. While he knew that since Mon-El, she had closed herself off to a relationship, of that type, he also knew that the Kryptonian had a soft spot for her CatCo. coworker.
"I've got nothing at mine either," M'gann radioed in over the comms. That left three locations. Kara was heading to one, Nia another, and the last one was being visited by Kate and Alex.
"I'll head to help Batwoman and Sentinel," J'onn announced.
"I'll help Dreamer," M'gann told him. Kate and Alex were checking out the site they'd been assigned and were glad to hear that at least two of the sites had been cleared.
"Hey…" Kate pointed to her ear, which Alex took to mean, turn off her comms. The redhead did as her friend indicated and the brunette followed suit. They continued to move along the perimeter of the warehouse, looking to see if any of the doors had been broken into or the easiest way in. So far, they hadn't found a way in without breaking a few windows, meaning that this was probably not the spot where William was.
"What?" Alex asked.
"You're her sister and I know this goes without saying but…" Kate started.
"You want me to keep an eye on her," Alex gave her a look.
"Seems like a weird thing to say given she is who she is, but she has this need to…" Kate got cut off again.
"To make sure everyone else is happy and not herself," Alex said.
"Bingo," Kate nodded.
"What about you? Are you happy?" The redhead asked.
"My life is a bit of a shitshow. I'll be happy just to have it calm down, if that's even a thing. My sister is a psychopath and in jail. My dad isn't exactly keen on my night job and our relationship is strained. Tatiana was out to kill me, again. Honestly, I'd settle for a quiet night and a tub of ice cream at this point – even though that wouldn't even scratch the surface of making things ok," Kate heaved a sigh and then noticed something close to a nearby door. She quickly pointed to her ear and the two turned their comms back on.
"We might have something. ETA Manhunter?" Kate wanted to know.
"Right here," J'onn dropped in next to them, almost making the two jump out of their skin.
"Jumpy?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Come on Papa Bear. Might be time to scare the pants off of someone else," Kate pointed to the items that were haphazardly piled near the door. Inside that pile, and poorly hidden, was a crowbar. Alex smirked at the nickname while J'onn went and checked on the crowbar.
"Why would a Fifth Dimensional Imp need a crowbar?" He asked.
"She wouldn't. Tatiana would. My guess is that our captured Imp did the kidnapping and Tatiana did the stashing. That way if we happened to catch Nyxlygsptlnz, she couldn't spill the beans about William's location because she wouldn't know it. It's a common tactic used by our assassin," Kate explained. J'onn nodded and tried the door only to find the knob easily opened. The three entered the building and began searching, spreading out to cover ground more quickly.
Five minutes later, both Alex and J'onn heard an expletive from Kate before she called to them for help. She'd found the world-famous reporter and he'd been beaten within an inch of his life and tied to a chair. After untying him, Kate noticed that not only did William not respond when spoken to, he was barely breathing. A few moments later, he stopped breathing altogether. Kate pulled him from the chair, placed him on the ground, and began CPR. Alex quickly stepped into help. J'onn knew that they needed to get him breathing before he could rush the man to the hospital. He felt helpless but did what he needed to do and called out to the others who'd been searching.
"He's back but I can't say for how long," Kate announced. J'onn scooped him William up and headed for the closest hospital.
To Be Continued…