At the DEO Fortress, Kara and Brainiac 5 looked over a large computer screen to try to find the exact location of the totems. "Have you found them yet? I'm bored," Kara asked impatiently.

"They have so far alluded me," Brainiac 5 admitted.

Lena awkwardly entered the facility. "Lena, I forgot to ask. How was Newfoundland?" Kara asked as she greeted her.

"Uhmm...cold, wet, and quiet," Lena noted.

"You find anything else about your mom?" Kara asked slightly interested.

"Well, she was a witch and a bitch, apparently," Lena frowned.

"Speaking of moms that could fit that description," Kara said as she activated the Alura hologram program.

"What knowledge do you seek?" Alura asked.

"All information on fifth-dimensional magical All-stone totems," Kara ordered.

"Is magic the right term for it?" Lena questioned.

Kara gave her an odd look. "Why so defensive, Lena?"

"It's just energy. There must be a scientific explanation for it," Lena said.

"Or perhaps you've tapped into a magical power you want to keep for yourself," Kara figured.

"I'd advise you to stay away from these totems," Alura lectured.

"And just like that, I want to know even more where to find them," Kara grinned.

"Seeking them led to many Kryptonian demises," Alura warned.

"Yeah, well, I'm not interested in warnings. Where do I find them?" Kara asked.

"If you seek the totems, there are a few rules you must know. There is a prescribed order to the totems, the courage totem is first. They have been concealed as artifacts hidden over time. You must activate the totems before you can wield them," Alura said.

"Well...no shit," Kara said obviously.

"To do so, you must speak the word 'Cgyrzyx'," Alura added.

"That means 'shit' in Kryptonian," Kara told Lena.

"It does not," Lena doubted. "Is it?"

"To fully control the totem, you must submit yourself to a test of character. This trial will not be pleasant. It will not be over quickly," Alura warned.

"We don't want to control the totems. We just want to protect them," Lena said to her.

"Speak for yourself," Kara said to Lena "Where do we find these totems? What do they look like?" Kara asked Alura.

"They could be disguised as anything. The totems are formidable. My daughter, do not begin this quest. It will only bring you pain and death. It has always been my wish that you...," Alura beseeched her.

"Okay, enough of that," Kara shut down the program and wiped away a tear.

At their shared apartment, Alex gave Kelly a resentful look. "How did you sleep?" Alex asked her.

"Good," Kelly smiled.

"Better than the last few nights?" Alex pressed.

"Yeah. I know I've been processing everything these last few days. I just didn't realize how much I needed to process," she said disappointedly.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Alex said hoping to shield herself from being burned.

"I am starting to see things more clearly," Kelly frowned at Alex. "And defining the difference between an ally...and an enemy," she said narrowing her eyes at her. "But thank you for staying in your place...and the coffee."

"Yes, coffee is good...especially when it's black," Alex said full of cringe. Alex then eyed a text message from Kara. "It's Kara. She has a lead on the totem Nyxly is after. Do you want to come along?"

"I can't. I have my own mission today. City Hall has doubled down on gentrification even with the Ormfell building gone. It's going to take a lot of fighting the city and a lot of trust in the neighborhood. I promised Orlando and Joey that I would be there to see this through," Kelly declined. "Besides, this totem thing...it sounds like a white man problem."

"Well...they're very lucky to have you," Alex said awkwardly.

"I know," Kelly nodded.

"Do you need any help because I can come?" Alex volunteered.

"No, I got this handled. The last thing we need is an ignorant white savior mucking things up. You go to the Tower," Kelly said.

"Okay," Alex said and then kissed Kelly goodbye.

At the Tower, Kara, Brainiac 5, Hank, Alex, and Lena were present. "I did a search on every artifact that has something to do with courage. The list so far is 64,447 objects in various locations on the planet," Brainiac 5 said.

"And the thing can morph into anything," Kara said frustrated.

"Even at Supergirl's speed, how long would it take," Alex asked.

"Supergirl can circle the Earth 7.5 times per second at lightspeed so assuming the worst-case scenario that she ends up needing to circle the entire planet to find each individual object, it would take roughly 2.5 hours," Brainiac 5 calculated.

"You're fucking high if you think I'm doing all that work," Kara rejected.

"Too much for you to go lightspeed for that long?" Alex chided.

"I know what you're trying to do and fuck you," Kara told her off.

"We could hit the jackpot early," Brainiac 5 suggested.

"No, no, fuck no, no. I'm not going to check 64 thousand objects at light speed for that long only to have it be a total waste of time and effort," Kara refused.

The computer suddenly detected fifth-dimensional energy entering the Metropolis museum. "We got a hit," Hank said.

"What are the odds this totem just happened to be in Metropolis?" Kara asked Brainiac 5.

"You don't want to know," he said.

"There's an artifact there, the slingshot that David used to kill Goliath. That sounds pretty badass," Hank said.

"An obvious fake. Everyone knows the slingshot David used was two strings, a piece of cloth, and a rock that one swung repeatedly over their head before firing at the enemy," Kara said.

"Indeed, the slingshot commonly found in pop-culture wasn't conceived until the invention of vulcanized rubber by Charles Goodyear in 1838, wasn't commercially available until 1918, and wasn't mass-produced until 1948 by the Wham-O slingshot," Brainiac 5 confirmed.

"Okay, wise-guys, maybe the totem decided to disguise itself by being an obvious fake to avoid detection," Alex said.

"But why is it in a museum?" Kara wondered.

"Maybe Diana Prince put it there by mistake," Hank joked.

"Nice one," Kara said giving Hank a high-five.

(Seriously, CW, WTF. The writers on this show have the education and intelligence of elementary school kids.)

A black figure wearing the Guardian uniform entered the museum, bashed open the case, and stole the obvious fake. Security guards were immediately on her ass. Guardian evaded them only to be cornered by Kara, Hank, and Alex. "Hand over the fake or there will be trouble," Kara ordered.

"No. This one is mine," Guardian refused with a disguised voice.

"Can you see who it is?" Alex asked.

"Lined with lead just like the other one," Kara said.

Guardian turned away from Kara and was confronted by Brainiac 5 and Nia. "Cgyrzyx," Guardian said to the slingshot. It immediately began to glow. Kara fired on the slingshot slicing it in two and releasing a magical discharge on everyone in the room.

"What have you done?" Guardian asked stunned.

Kara sped towards her for her punch when she instantly disappeared. On the floor was the other part of the slingshot. Kara picked it up and noticed it was glowing red.

At the Tower, Kara placed the damaged slingshot on the table. "Incredible. It's radiating fifth-dimensional energy," Lena detected from her device. "That can't be good."

"You think?" Kara shook her head dismayed.

"I believe the Alura program has safeguards preventing us from knowing the entire truth. In order to break through them, I may have to install the program into this drone," Brainiac 5 said.

"Knock yourself out," Kara said unconcernedly.

Brainiac 5 briefly lowered his hologram, opened a port on his skull, and installed the crystal into his brain. Brainiac 5 then regained his hologram but merely stared into space. "Barney, are you okay?" Nia asked concerned.

"There is no need for concern, child. The drone is fine," Alura said through Brainiac 5.

"Mother, did you possess my drone?" Kara asked slightly surprised.

"Do not fret. Your drone will not be permanently damaged," Alura replied. She then touched her chest and noticed her male nipples. "Anatomically correct nipples? Why did he feel the need to include them?" she wondered.

"Okay, we need to get her out of him," Nia said.

"Right, well, mother, we accidentally broke the courage totem and now there's fifth-dimensional energy coming out of it," Kara said to her.

"That was not wise," she said condescendingly. "Breaking the totem releases its magic."

"Add it to the list of my fuck-ups," Kara said resentfully.

"Oh, I will," Alura assured her. "Anyone near the blast radius will receive a boost in courage."

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad," Kara said.

"What if people now have the courage to commit crime and violence they otherwise would be too scared to do," Nia pointed out.

"Good point. How do we reverse this?" Kara asked Alura.

"You must gain control over your half of the totem. This will tack the other half," Alura said. "Once the two pieces are united, it will quell the magic."

"So, I have to pass the test before whoever the fuck passes hers," Kara figured.

"It will not be easy. You will pay an unbearable emotional price. And if you fail, all those near you when it broke will be permanently affected," Alura warned.

"Pain is an old friend," Kara said confidently. "How about we all touch the thing like when Starlord and his friends controlled the Power Stone," Kara brought up.

"No, it must be you alone," Alura corrected.

"Why one and why me?" Kara wondered.

"Because you broke it," Alura said obviously.

"So, if I break all the totems, only I can use them for all time? That sounds like bullshit," Kara doubted.

"Don't take that attitude with me, young lady," Alura rebuked.

Brainiac 5 then regained control of himself and removed the crystal from his skull. "Barney, you back?" Nia asked.

"I momentarily lost control over my CPU. I now have full access to the Alura program now, Brainiac 5 said.

"Good because I don't think Alura would have wanted to do what I have planned for you tonight," Nia smiled.

"I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that scenario," Kara said thoughtfully. "I'm going to kick ass on this totem...alone."

Kara entered the training room and found Alex. "I have to be alone when I do this. I assure you, it's not sexually related," Kara said to her.

"Sorry, I was just deep in thought," Alex said.

"Something on your mind?" Kara asked even as time was of the essence.

"Kelly's been shoving me aside because I'm white. For years, I've fought for progressive causes only to be cast aside for something I can't even help. So what if I don't understand everything that she's gone through. I still have the power to fix things. If I have privilege, let me use it for good," Alex said distressed. "I'm sorry, you're the last person that should have to hear this."

"When I first joined the DEO, I was ordered around by Hank, you, Gen. Lane, Lucy, and even random agents. No one trusted me to lead because I was an alien. I was just a super-weapon. I'm the girl with the SAW machine gun, the girl with the missile launcher, the girl with the sniper rifle but never the one leading the team. And it hurt because I'm smarter and better than all of you," Kara said.

Alex simply stared at her. "And so I fought to gain your respect and I've lasted longer than everyone else. Now, no one gives a fuck that I'm an alien. In the future, I had the same bullshit. People questioning me as to whether I could lead humanity even though I was an alien. But I knew my own value and talent. I knew I could lead this world. I wasn't going to be a supporting character simply because of what I was born as. And if a human like Winn ends up taking control of Argo, I'll support and congratulate him for it," Kara said.

"Not everyone believes in the Ubermensch," Alex pointed out. "Maybe we all have our place in the collective group and maybe me being in a supporting role creates harmony and cohesiveness in the movement. If I step up, kick-ass, and take names, I doubt many will follow me," Alex said.

"Because of your race? As a gay woman, you should have plenty of street cred on your side," Kara said confused.

"But there will always be those ahead of me, those who are minorities, foreign-born, trans, and non-binary. Face it, Kara. I'm still very much at the top when it comes to privilege," Alex said shaking her head. "And white liberals like me have often just made things worse. Perhaps, we just need to step aside for a couple of generations."

"Seriously, Alex...fuck that. I built my future society on merit and rank. If you're the best, you get rank, you get responsibility, you get power, you get a fucking condo on the top floor of a skyscraper. I don't give a fuck what race, gender, whatever, as long as you do a good job. You need to put Kelly back in her place where she respects and honors you as a partner," Kara said passionately.

"I think the person in the Guardian suit was her," Alex admitted.

"Well...yeah, probably," Kara agreed.

"We're wasting time. Do what you got to do," Alex said to her.

"You mean Metropolis gentrification?" Kara asked confused.

"No, bitch, the totem," Alex said pissed off.

Kara smiled pleased that Alex was out of her funk. Alex then left the room leaving Kara be. "Alright, how hard could this be?" Kara said as she held the broken slingshot. "Cgyrzyx,"

"Face the time when you lacked true courage," the slingshot said to her.

Season 1x01 Flashback

Kara and James were in a bar hanging out. "Breaking News: a 237 aircraft bound to Geneva is royally fucked," an anchorman said on a TV behind them.

"You going to do anything about that?" James asked.

"Err…no. That's what my cousin is good for. He'll save the plane for sure," Kara said.

"What if he doesn't?" James asked casually.

"Well, it's not like there's anyone on the plane I know," Kara said and then paused. "Oh shit!" she realized.

"What's up?" James wondered.

"My adopted sister is on that plane," Kara realized.

"Is she hot?" James asked drunkenly.

"You're drunk," Kara smiled accusingly.

"So are you," James pointed out.

"It's against the law to fly drunk," Kara reminded him.

"Fuck the law," James replied seriously.

Kara and James passionately kissed and then Kara tore out of the club.

Throwing her jacket aside, Kara launched herself into the air and flew towards the plane. Finding the engines that were on fire, Kara blew frost breath on them. The engine fire was immediately put out. "Yes!" Kara said excitedly.

The engines then cracked off and fell towards the city. "Oh, fuck," Kara realized as the engines fell towards populated areas.

Kara then went for a wing and tried to slow it down. The wing suddenly tore off sending the aircraft into a spin. "Really?" Kara asked herself.

The aircraft headed towards a heavily trafficked bridge. Kara flew towards the aircraft and attempted to pull it up. The aircraft's other wing sliced into the bridge tossing cars as it did. The wingless plane then descended towards the bay. Kara attempted to slow the aircraft down as it landed in the water.

Kara then ripped the door open and stared at the passengers inside. She saw her sister giving her a wide-eyed look of recognition. "Well, folks, statistically speaking..." Kara began panting from effort. She then forgot the rest of the quote.

"Well…fuck it," she finished and flew off.

"You have failed," the slingshot said to her.

End Flashback

(Editing James out of this flashback either because you couldn't cast him or didn't want to pay him royalties is fucked up, CW.)

Kara eyed the slingshot as it glowed blue. "What the fuck?" she wondered. Upon Kara's epic fail, all the people in the museum became suddenly ultra courageous with desires to kick ass.

In a coffee shop, Dr. Lahr aggressively went over to her colleague, Dr. Gale, to scold him for getting her funding cut. "Sup?" Dr. Gale asked upon seeing her.

"I want you to give me the plans for the plasma ionizer. I know you have them on your hard drive," she demanded.

"No, you're a crazy white bitch and it's too dangerous," Dr. Gale told her off. "In fact, I'm going to wipe the hard drive clean, and then no one can access the plans," he said touching his laptop bag for emphasis.

"Then, you leave me with no choice," Dr. Lahr glared as she caught his arm.

"Probably shouldn't have pointed out I had the laptop with the plans on me," Dr. Gale realized.

"No shit, Sherlock," Dr. Lahr said with glowing blue eyes.

Guardian took off her mask revealing herself as Kelly. She took the slingshot and activated it. "Cgyrzyx," she said.

Kelly found herself in her family home. James and her father, Marcus Olsen, were present. It was 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks. James was 21 while Kelly was 18. Marcus was busy preparing to report to duty in his army uniform. "How do I look?" he asked once he made the finishing touches.

"Very cool, dad," James complimented.

"You take good care of my camera," Marcus said super-serious as he handed it over to him. He then looked upon both his children. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Dad, there's something I have to tell you...," Kelly said uncomfortably.

"Sure, what is it?" Marcus asked.

"Not in front of James," Kelly said.

Marcus gestured for James to leave the room. "What's wrong, Kelly?" he asked concerned.

"Dad, I'm...," Kelly struggled to say. "I'm very proud of you."

"And I'm very proud of you, Kelly," Marcus said giving her a hug.

"You have failed," the slingshot said to her.

End Flashback

At the coffee shop, not only was Dr. Lahr fighting with Dr. Gale but everyone else decided it was a good idea to fight, too. An alien iguana suddenly turned into a dragon and decided to kick ass.

Kara, Hank, Brainiac 5, and Alex dropped in. "Damn, how do these alien lizards get past intergalactic customs all the time?" Kara wondered.

"I got this," Alex said suddenly uber-confident in herself. She flung a lasso around the dragon's neck to control it.

"She's going to get barbequed at this rate," Kara said concernedly.

"Well, don't look at me. I don't like fire," Hank said.

"How about you psychically calm it down from a safe distance. Can you do that?" Kara asked condescendingly.

"I admire your concern for your sister. Have I ever told you how proud I am of both you, two, as strong women?" Hank said positively.

"You fucking with me, Hank?" Kara wondered.

"Hang in there, Alex," Hank said enthusiastically. While everyone else became super-aggressive, the opposite was true of Hank since it was his natural state to always to be an overly aggressive asshole.

The dragon flung Alex to the floor where she was caught by Kara. Meanwhile, Dr. Lahr stole Dr. Gale's computer. "Harnessing electrical energy from lightning is too dangerous," he said to her.

"Don't be a bitch," she said to him as she punched him to the face and took off.

Brainiac 5, for his part, casually blocked and punched down every aggressive human in the cafe. Hank, meanwhile, complimented everyone on their fighting styles and then realized the dragon was upon him. "Oh, shit," he realized.

Kara shielded him with her cape as he was blasted with fire. Turning to the dragon, she fired heat vision into its mouth where it exploded all over the cafe in blood and gore. "That's was really gross," Alex said covered in it.

Hank phased through the blood and gore to clean himself off completely and then went to the bar. "I'm going to get a cup of coffee."

Kara came by the Tower and met up with Lena. "All those people at the coffee shop must have been affected by the totem," she said.

"I got that," Kara said condescendingly. "It must have affected you two as well."

"Us? Fuck out of here," Hank doubted.

"Everyone around me was affected when I activated the totem. Probably should have done it when you weren't here and not in the middle of a city," Kara mused.

"So what if we're affected. How bad could it really be for us to be uber courageous?" Alex asked.

"It's a problem when you're dumb-as-fuck and get in the way of dragon fire," Kara chided.

"Alex, such a courageous hero," Hank said to her.

"I didn't think I'd ever say this but I prefer you better when you're an asshole, Hank," Kara said.

"You can call me J'onn," Hank said to her.

"And it got so much worse," Kara realized.

"I'm impressed by all of your initiative. You're an inspiration, each and every one of you," Hank complimented.

Brainiac 5 then entered the room. "I can't wake Nia. She's entered the dream world deeper than she has ever before," he reported.

"Wake her ass up, she has work to do," Kara ordered.

"Hey, go easy on her. She has the courage to dream while all this is going on," Alex defended her.

"The fuck did I just hear?" Kara wondered. "She ain't done shit until she reaches level 5 on the Inception program."

"What do you want to do with the aggressive individuals at the coffee shop?" Brainiac 5 asked.

"Find them and detain them at the DEO," Kara ordered.

"You have become such a wonderful leader," Hank said of Kara as he patted her on the shoulder.

"I know, right?" Kara smiled. "Wait, get the fuck off me," she said taking his hand off her.

"There's nothing to worry about. We got this," Alex smiled confidently.

Kara clapped her hands knocking them both out. "See to it that they don't leave the Tower," Kara ordered Brainiac 5.

In the training room, Kara fiddled with the totem. Lena entered the room disturbing her thoughts. "I don't know why I can't pass this test. Sure, I've had moments of fear but I'm generally a courageous person. It's my other faults that keep me down," Kara said reflectively.

"What did the totem show you?" Lena asked.

"It was a vision of Alex's plane going down. How does saving a plane full of people not count as courageous?" Kara wondered.

"Why did you do it? Really?" Lena asked.

"I did it to save Alex," Kara recalled.

"And if Alex hadn't been on that plane, would you have acted?" Lena asked.

"No," Kara said softly.

"You fear to lose Alex. The totem wants you to prioritize saving people than your fear of losing her," Lena said.

"If I change how I feel about that moment, I may fail," Kara said.

"If you don't overcome this, Nyxly will win," Lena reminded her. "We're all counting on you."

"You should leave before the totem hits you," Kara said to her.

Once Lena was gone, Kara tried again. This time she thought really really hard about saving the people on the plane and not about Alex. As before, she heard a voice. "You have failed," the totem said.

"What the shit?" Kara said dismayed.

Kara went back to the top floor and looked out the window as she witnessed a violent storm. "The lightning surges are more pronounced than usual according to my weather report," Brainiac 5 said.

"The weather? Really?" Kara shook her head.

"The totem may have something to do with the lightning storm. It could knock out power to the electrical grid," Brainiac 5 said. "Dr. Lahr intends to harness lightning as an energy source. The device could trigger a mega-storm," Brainiac 5 said.

"Shut it down," Kara said simply.

"Dr. Lahr and her machine are off the grid. We'll have to shut them down manually," Brainiac 5 said.

"They'll need to go outside to get a good strike. When they do, we'll take care of them," Kara said.

Flashback

Kelly replayed the scene with her father. "By the way, Kelly's gay," James outed her.

"What the fuck?" Marcus asked surprised.

"I trusted you," Kelly glared at James. "And you betrayed me. You were my older brother. There's nothing I wouldn't have done for you. I was your little sister. I was your most loyal friend," she said sobbingly.

"And this is how you repay me? By outing me in front of our father?" Kelly asked tearfully. "I would never have betrayed you. I would never have revealed how much of a man-whore you are."

"I think you're making too big a deal out of this," James rolled his eyes.

"You destroyed me. You destroyed everything!" Kelly said outraged.

"Is it true?" Marcus asked with a disappointed face.

"I...," Kelly stuttered.

"I don't have time for this bullshit. I have to report to my unit," he said about to take off.

"Dad...it's true," Kelly said sobbingly. "Please don't hate me."

"You have passed admirably," the totem said to her.

End Flashback

The red crystal from the fake-ass slingshot molded itself into a gem and placed itself on Kelly's Gauntlet.

Kara noticed the red crystal in the totem glowing and floating towards Kelly's location. Kara grabbed the red crystal to keep it from going anywhere. "Do we have something to contain this?" she asked annoyed by it.

"I got this box," Lena said helpfully.

Kara placed the red crystal in the box and contained it. "I found Dr. Lahr's location," Brainiac 5 said from his computer.

"Come with me," Kara requested of Brainiac 5.

The two flew off towards Dr. Lahr. From the air, Kara fired on the lightning machine ending its effect on the weather. "You just ruined my life's work!" Dr. Lahr shouted at her.

"That is something I do a lot," Kara admitted as she landed on the van hosting the machine.

Brainiac 5 accessed the computer and downloaded all of its information. "It needs some refinement," he said to Kara.

"For risking all of these people's lives to prove your invention works, I would kill your ass...but you're under the influence of magic so I'll give you a pass," Kara said to Dr. Lahr.

"Wait...what?" Dr. Lahr said confused.

Brainiac 5 stunned her ass with his pistol to avoid being distracted by her. "I'm going to blow this storm out of the area," Kara said to Brainiac 5 and then flew off. In the sky, Kara blew the storm away with her super-breath sending the lightning storm out to sea. As she finished, the red glowing crystal in Lena's box escaped as it ripped through it. The crystal combined with the other stone on Kelly's gauntlet. Kara then passed out as she was affected by the fifth-dimensional energy and hit the ground with a thud.

Alex woke up in the Tower and noticed Hank and Lena discussing the crystal that had just escaped the box. "Come to me, Alex," Kelly's voice said in her head. Alex discreetly left the Tower and made her way into the sewer system. With the device Hank had given her, she lit her way through the tunnels until she found Kelly in her Guardian suit and the gauntlet on her hand.

Alex went for her pistol only for Kelly to telekinetically snatch it from her hand into hers. "Give me back my gun, Nyxly," Alex demanded having figured it out.

"You won't be needing it," Nylxy said as she disassembled it in the air.

"Leave Kelly alone. You don't need her any longer," Alex said.

"I'm sorry I can't do that, Alex. As Kelly's mind becomes weaker, I grow stronger. Yes, Alex, it was her favorite book, the 'Fragility of the White Mind' that became my Horcrux. At first, she wasn't aware of how the book was making her more radical and distant towards her friends, distant towards you. At one point, she even tried to throw it away. But it was too late," Nyxly explained.

"Why Kelly?" Alex asked.

"I knew Supergirl wouldn't give a fuck if Kelly died. But you, I was so anxious to meet you. You are Supergirl's greatest weakness," Nyxly said bluntly.

"Supergirl killed your ass," Alex taunted.

"Only one manifestation of me. I put a piece of my soul into that book so that one day I would become strong enough to take over the body of whoever reads it. Kelly's mind resisted me for quite some time but I doubt your white fragile mind could last a minute," Nyxly mocked.

"I suppose my white privilege will have to sustain me," Alex said as she activated her wrist device turning it into a sword.

Nyxly aimed her gauntlet at Alex and fired an energy beam at her causing an explosion around her. Through the smoke and fire, Nyxly engaged Kelly with her shield. Alex defended herself but Nyxly sliced her across the chest with her shield. Nyxly went for a kick which Alex dodged. The two clashed with their sword and shield, Alex went for a kick that Nyxly dodged, and went for a strike. Alex blocked the strike and slashed Nyxly across the chest damaging her body armor. Nyxly retaliated with a strike of her getting a good hit on Alex's chest.

Alex fell to the floor hurt and dumbfounded. She morphed her wristband into an energy pistol and fired on Nyxly. The beams were deflected off the Guardian shield and came right back towards Alex. Nyxly aggressively charged Alex with a kick to the chin and then another kick to the face. She placed her shield on Alex's chest and then ripped it down.

"And now, your mind will submit to me," Nyxly said to Alex as she took out the book.

Alex morphed her wristband into a sword and threw it at Nyxly. The sword sliced into the book and remained stuck in Nyxly's body armor. Nyxly cried out in pain as she was being destroyed. The book began to burn to ash. At the last moment, Nyxly took off her gauntlet and teleported it away as she lost control over Kelly's body. The spirit of Nyxly in Kelly's body then disappeared. Alex and Kelly both fell to the floor in a heap.

Hank phased through the street into the sewer while Kara sped down the tunnel. "Holy shit," Kara gasped as she saw their injuries. Alex crawled her way over to Kelly to touch her hand.

"We have to leave now," Hank said urgently.

"Take them both and don't let them be separated," Kara said to him.

"Right," Hank agreed and then phased them both out of the sewer as he flew off.

Kara then eyed the ruined book on the floor and noticed the cover.

At their apartment, Alex and Kelly were mostly healed from their injuries. "You may have a scar," Kelly remarked of Alex's arm.

"It's not the first. It won't be the last," Alex said dismissively.

"I am so sorry for what I did, what I said," Kelly said apologetically.

"It's my fault for getting you caught up in my extracurriculars," Alex replied. "You should do your thing, and I should do what I do."

"I want us to be partners on both fronts. Alex, I love you. Your life is just as important to me as my life is to yours. You are a part of my world and a part of my team," Kelly said sincerely.

"Like in the background?" Alex wondered.

"Front and center always," Kelly clarified.

Kara eyed Alex and Kelly from her old apartment feeling assured of them for the moment. As she looked out into the storm, she could feel Nyxly's rage. She felt her forehead as if she had a burning invisible scar.