"Kara?" Nia's voice snapped the hero out of her thoughts and back to the present moment.

"Yes?" she replied, shaking her head. The cub reporter was standing at Kara's desk in CatCo, holding a stack of papers and looking mildly frazzled.

"I just had a dream flash," she said, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "I think that it's related to the lab that you raided with the DEO."

"What did you see?" Kara asked, sitting up in her chair.

"Not much, it was pretty choppy. But I did get an address: 138 Cypress Street West."

"I'll tell Alex," she replied, opening her phone and dialing her sister's number.

"What's up?" she asked directly after picking up.

"Can you get Brainy to find where 138 Cypress Street West is?" the hero asked. "Nia saw something about it in a dream, and she thinks that it's related to Selah and the lab we got her from."

"I am on it." Brainy's voice came distantly from the background, and after a moment there was a shuffling sound. Alex made an indignant noise as Kara assumed that he took her phone out of her hand. "It is in the warehouse district, two blocks away from where Selah was first located."

"I'm setting up a strike team," Alex said, taking her phone back from Brainy. "Meet us there in fifteen minutes?"

"I'll be there."

"Was it any good?" Nia asked anxiously as Kara hung up the phone call.

"We're going to go over there to check it out. Do you want to come along?"

"Andrea wants me to rewrite some articles and I'm already pushing to make her deadline. Let me know if anything interesting happens, though."

"Will do."

Ten minutes later, Alex's strike team arrived at 138 Cypress Street West. The dilapidated warehouse was nearly identical to the first building that they found Selah in; two stories, painted black, and studded with broken windows. Kara soared in and landed next to her sister as she finished organizing the strike team into position.

"On my mark," she said quietly, signaling to the other agents. "Move in." Kara kicked in the door, and the agents poured into the room, weapons up. The building was pitch black inside, and uncomfortably warm. Alex squinted, trying to make out shapes in the darkness.

"Kara, can you see anything?" she asked, as her sister came to her side.

"Um," she replied, turning her head to scan the room. "I see..." she trailed off. "Oh Rao."

"What is it?" Alex pressed. She had barely finished speaking before the fluorescent overhead lights kicked on, momentarily blinding her. As the spots cleared from her vision, she looked around the room. Nothing seemed out of place upon first glance. Then she noticed the bodies on the floor.

There were fifteen of them, neatly lying face up in rows of five, and staring emptily up at the ceiling, each with a bullet hole directly in the center of their forehead. Alex's whole body went cold, despite the heat in the building.

"Are they-" she began, already fearing the answer. Kara nodded stiffly.

"They're all dead," she whispered. The agents stood still for a second, absorbing the gravity of the situation.

"Check the whole building for anyone else, dead or alive," the director ordered. The agents all began moving out through the building, and she crossed to the nearest body- a woman who she recognized from the dashboard camera footage they found weeks ago. "Who did this to you?" she murmured. Nova offered no response.

"Ma'am?" Vasquez asked. Alex turned to see the agent, who was holding a note in a gloved hand. "We found this taped up on the far wall in front of the bodies." She held it out for Alex to see. On it, in swooping red letters was written:

A gift for you,

From The Agenda.

"Bag it up." she ordered. Vasquez turned away, and the director looked to her sister, who was still standing by the entrance.

"They're still warm," she said quietly. "Whoever did this must have just left."

"Do you think that there's a chance that they're still in the building?" Kara shook her head slowly.

"I scanned it already. No one else is here besides our agents." Alex took a deep breath, thinking as her team began to regroup together, having finished the search.

"Brainy?" She asked, activating her comm.

"Present," he replied.

"Send out a recon team to this location to have them scour it for any DNA. Tell them that when they are done they should call the police and get them to process the bodies."

"Right away," he said.

"Move out," Alex said to her team. She waited for the other agents to file out of the building ahead of her before she too left hastily, needing a break from the stifling heat and the blank stares of the corpses.

.

"So the only survivors of our original list were these three?" Alex asked, looking at the list of names and faces in front of her. She, Brainy, and Kara were cross identifying the bodies from the warehouse with the images of the agents that Selah had given them. Of all of them, only one doctor and Director Beta had not been found dead in the warehouse.

"Correct. As well as the third director who we do not have a visual for as of yet," Brainy replied.

"Ma'am?" An agent asked, going up to Alex. "The recon team was unable to find any evidence at the scene, DNA or otherwise."

"Nothing?" she repeated, her voice frustrated. "Not a single strand of hair, or a fingerprint? In the whole building?"

"I'm sorry," he replied. "However, they were able to determine from gunshot residue and body temperatures that all of the victims were shot simultaneously, and that we arrived on the scene roughly five to ten minutes after they were killed. We also believe that the bodies were not shot where we found them, but were placed there after the shooting, as there was no blood found anywhere on the first floor."

"So they were killed somewhere else?" she asked.

"Yes. Likely on the second floor, there was still no blood, but we found gunpowder residue there."

"So whoever did this had to have shot fifteen people simultaneously, moved all the bodies, mopped the floors, and then left within ten minutes?" Kara asked in disbelief.

"That's what our evidence suggests," he said.

She angrily pushed her hair up off of her forehead and turned away from the desk as Brainy and Alex continued to question the agent, going over the images with him. She tipped her head upwards and stared at the ceiling, trying to tune out the voices around her. No matter how hard they worked and how much they did, this group -The Agenda- always seemed to be a few steps ahead of them, just beyond their reach. It reminded her of CADMUS, with all the violence and mystery. They had already checked up on Lillian to make sure that she had nothing to do with this, but she was still safely in prison, and a truth seeker had verified that she had no involvement with them.

Taking a deep breath, Kara lowered her head back down, and she noticed Selah standing quietly on the balcony. She left the atrium and walked over to join the girl. They had already told her about the raid and what they had found, they sat down with her as soon as they returned, but she was as unreadable as ever, showing no external reaction to the news. Kara didn't know what she expected from her as a response to the situation, whether she'd be angry or scared or relieved, or some combination of them all, but she was certain that the girl's mind was still reeling with the news.

"I want to see my aunt," Selah said, her back still to Kara as she approached.

"Okay," she replied, leaning on the balcony railing as the girl continued to speak.

"She deserves to know what's going on. The directors are still out there, and they're clearly not afraid to hurt or kill people." Her face was serious as she turned to look at the hero, and her voice was quiet. "I don't want her to get hurt because of me."

"We can go over to Noonan's tomorrow." Kara put a hand on her shoulder and added, "we won't let anything happen to her, I promise." Selah scowled out at the city.

"I appreciate that, Kara," she hesitated. "But you can't know for sure if you'll be able to keep that promise."

.

The next morning, Kara kept her word, going to Noonan's with Selah. The girl was not nearly as lively as the last time they had left the DEO, but she still felt a zap of energy jolt into her as they walked out the door.

"Sorry," she said, smiling ruefully as the hero shivered.

"You have got to learn to get a handle on that," she admonished, smiling back despite herself.

"I'm just keeping you on your toes."

"How are you feeling?" Kara asked gently, glancing over at Selah as they began walking to the cafe. "You seemed pretty shaken up the last time you saw your aunt."

"I'm okay, I think," she answered, scrunching up her face. "I think that I was just caught off guard before. Now that I know I'm going to see her, I'm alright with it." She was quiet for a few moments before adding, "I missed her."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She kicked a pebble into the street. "My mom was an alcoholic when I was a kid, so even when she was around, she was never very consistent. Living with my aunt was the first time that anything was really stable in my life."

"I'm sorry," Kara said.

"Don't be. I'm done with apologizing for my mother's bad choices." The girl was silent for the next few blocks, and the closer they got to Noonan's, the more fidgety she became.

"Hey," the hero said, as they walked up to the door, and the girl began cracking her knuckles for the fourth time. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I can tell her for you, or Alex can."

"No," she replied. "I want to do it." Kara opened the door, and Selah entered the cafe. It was still pretty early, the shop had only been open for about half an hour, so there were no other customers in the store. Selah's aunt was behind the counter as they walked in. She was a tall woman, with dark red hair, broad shoulders, and the same greyish-green eyes as Selah.

"Just a moment please, I'll be right with you," she said, not looking up. Her voice was soft, and had a slight lilt, similar to a French accent. Selah cleared her throat, rubbing her hands together nervously, and the woman finally looked up, slightly irritated.

"I said-" she began, but her voice trailed off in shock as her eyes settled onto the girl.

"Hi, Aunt Lea," she said quietly.

"Heather," Selah's aunt said, turning to another waitress. "I am taking my break, can you cover the till?" The other woman opened her mouth to protest, but Lea was already taking off her apron and moving out from behind the counter to go to her niece. She put a hand on the girl's cheek in disbelief, and smiled sadly.

"I thought that you were dead," she said quietly. "I looked for you everywhere I could when you were first gone, and I begged your mother to tell me everything that she knew but she would not. By the time she told me what had happened, it was too late. Still, I kept trying for years and years to get you back." She dropped her hand down to her side. "I am so sorry that I did not do more for you, my dear Selah."

"I'm going to go for a walk," Kara said, excusing herself. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," the girl replied. Her aunt led her to a table, and they sat down across from each other.

"Last week, I thought that I sensed an Andromedan here but I convinced myself that I was mistaken. It was you?"

"Yes."

"You did not come inside," she said, a twinge of sadness in her voice. "I cannot say that I blame you."

"I wasn't expecting that I would see you. I was overwhelmed, I suppose."

"Why have you come now?"

"I have something to tell you." Lea tilted her head, her eyes concerned. "The people who took me, they call themselves The Agenda. They're still out there, and I'm afraid that they're going to try to get me back. I don't want you to get hurt because they want me."

"If they come for me, I will not tell them where you are," she replied, her voice heavy.

"I know." Selah bit her lip, and looked down at the table, studying the wood grain. "My mother?" she asked.

"She is... around. She comes by my apartment sometimes. Never sober. She hasn't been the same since we lost you." She hesitated before asking, "Do you?"

"No." she replied evenly. "I don't want to see her." She looked up to meet her aunt's eyes. "Don't tell her that you saw me, please."

"Of course." Lea scanned her niece's face, still in disbelief. "You have grown up so much in these years. Thank you for coming to see me."

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. Every day." Angry tears welled up in the woman's eyes. "I should have never let her take you from me, I should have protected you-"

"It wasn't your fault."

"Lea," The other waitress called pointedly from the till. "The morning rush will be coming soon, we have to finish our prep work." Lea sighed heavily.

"I will be right there," she said sharply. Pulling out her notepad, she ripped off the top piece of paper and scribbled something down on it. "This is where I live," she said, handing it to Selah. "You are welcome whenever you need. I wasn't there for you when you needed me to be. I will be there now."

"Thank you," the girl replied, taking the paper and slipping it into her back pocket.

"I am sorry, I have to go now. Come back, please. Any time, I will give you free sticky buns and all the coffee that you can drink, whenever you want it."

"Okay." Lea put a hand on the girl's cheek again, before nodding and going back over to the counter.

"Thank you," she repeated, putting her apron back on.

"Of course," Selah replied. "I'll come back."

"Good." Her aunt smiled apologetically, and she turned to leave, following the trail of Kara's thoughts until she caught back up with the woman, who was sitting on a park bench with a hot chocolate.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as she saw the girl approaching. "How did everything go?"

"Um," she replied. "She said that I can have free sticky buns for life."

"So amazingly? That's the best possible outcome imaginable."

"It... it was good."

"Good."

"Kara, I need to tell you some things about my mother," the girl began, but Kara's phone rang before she could finish her thought.

"Hang on, sorry," Kara said apologetically, answering the phone. "Alex, what's up?" she paused. "Okay, We'll be back in five. Love you." She hung up and turned back to Selah.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine. A superhero's work is just never done."

"Okay. I don't suppose that we have time to get me one of those hot chocolates before we go back?"

"Sorry, kiddo."

"I'm not going to ever give you any of my free sticky buns." Selah grinned as the hero gasped in fake horror.

"Sorry, what were you saying before Alex called?" she asked, after she was done clutching at her chest melodramatically.

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't important."

.

.

.