By the fifth day of the Superfriends investigation, Lena and Brainy had almost discovered a breakthrough in their research into the power dampeners and Selah's blood but it ended up being a false negative. Alex had found tire tracks in the alleyway that matched 80% of all of the rental vans in the city and absolutely no DNA anywhere. Kal-El was doing nightly sweeps of the city using his super senses but wasn't finding anything. Nia's dreams didn't have any consistent signs, and J'onn and Selah couldn't sense Kara's psychic energy at all. To say that they were all disappointed and frustrated was a major understatement.

"How can we not find them?" Nia asked that morning, as they all sat around the table trying to discuss how to move forward. "How do they just seem to disappear and reappear out of thin air whenever they want to be seen?"

"They're like chameleons," Kal said. "Hiding in plain sight. Blending in."

"We're positive that they're humans?" Alex asked. "They're not shape-shifting?"

"I deduced with a ninety-four percent certainty that they are indeed human based off of the images that Selah sent us," Brainy said.

"I spoke again with my mother about this, and she insists that she doesn't know anything about them," Lena added. "I could bring back the truth seeker, I suppose, but…" she shrugged. "I think that I believe her."

"They always used to stay in abandoned buildings, mostly underground," Selah said. "But then they also moved around sometimes. The building that you found me in was only one of countless places that they had kept me in."

"We've done sweeps of all of the abandoned factories and warehouses in the city," Alex said. "Did they ever take you outside of National City?"

"I don't know. I never knew where I was being taken. Some of the places were more rural, I was near a forest I think, or a river." The girl winced suddenly, inhaling sharply and bringing a hand to her temple.

"Are you okay?" Lena asked.

"Yeah," she replied absently.

"You look really pale," Alex interjected. "Have you been having seizures again?"

"I'm fine," the girl insisted. "Can we please stay focused on finding Kara?"

The conversation resumed, but Alex kept an eye on Selah as they talked, mentally keeping a count of all the times that she rubbed her forehead.

"I had a dream flash about some kind of salamanders," Nia said glumly. "I don't know what it means, but maybe it has something to do with a forest? I looked it up in my mother's dream symbols books but all that they said was that lizards are a symbol of regrowth and perseverance."

"My databases also indicate that it could be a phallic symbol, according to Freud," Brainy added.

"That's not helpful," Alex said, pointing at him. "I'm going to go over some data. I'll be in my lab if anyone needs me, okay? Brainy, I need you to keep trying to track Kara's comms, try to find out exactly where she was when they last were online."

"Affirmative," he said. She left and the group got back to work. No one seemed to notice Selah quietly excusing herself a few moments later, following Alex over to the lab.

"I want to see her," she said once she arrived, noticeably more restless than usual.

"What?" The agent asked.

"My mother. I know that she's here." She sighed and shut her laptop as the girl walked over and sat next to the desk that she was working at.

"I'm sorry. I was going to tell you, but then Kara was taken, and-" the girl shook her head, cutting her off.

"That doesn't matter anymore. I need to talk to her about the Agenda. I need to know if she knows anything about Kara."

"We've already tried talking to her," Alex told her. "She's not saying much."

"I know. But I have to try."

"Okay. I'm coming with you, though." Selah stiffened. "Look, the last time you saw your mother she beat you up. I'm not letting her hurt you again."

"Okay," she said quietly. The two stood up and made their way to the cell block where Lyla was being held, and the girl anxiously cracked her knuckles as they walked.

"I'm going to be beside you the whole time," Alex said as they opened the door. She nodded and walked into the hallway outside of her mother's cell. Lyla was standing directly in front of the glass, anticipating their arrival, and she smirked as her daughter entered.

"I was wondering when you would come to visit," she said. Selah stood opposite her mother, staring firmly back at the woman. "Most people would say that it's pretty rude to ignore your family."

"Yeah well, most people would also say that it's rude to sell your daughter so that you can go buy more alcohol," the girl replied, crossing her arms. "I know that you're still involved with the Agenda. Where are they?"

"We're getting straight to the point, hmm?" Lyla raised an eyebrow. "No beating around the bush here. Why do you care so much, do you miss them?"

"You must know that what they are doing is wrong."

"Don't preach your morals to me," the woman snapped.

"So you think that their actions are just? That conducting experiments on children is a virtuous cause?"

"I think they acted intelligently. They found a branch of science that was unexplored, and then they found the resources to expand on it. That is, after all, how new discoveries get made."

"I know that you don't truly believe that."

"You know nothing." Lyla scoffed. "You have all of these simplistic ideas of what is right and what is wrong, but you have no idea how the world actually works. In this life, there is no one definition of good and evil, there is simply chaos." She began examining her cuticles idly as she continued. "And how do we determine who gets to define what is right? Governments? Corporations? The people in power? It was a government on Andromeda that decided that all of their citizens who had minds that worked like mine deserved to be killed. Is that right? Your Martian friend will tell you that the Whites decided that it was noble and good to kill all of the Greens. Were they correct?" She laughed airily. "One day, my dear, perhaps you will learn that in order to get by in this world, you cannot allow yourself to get tangled up in the mess of virtue politics." Looking directly at Selah, she raised a finger to emphasize her point. "There is no right and wrong, there is only survival."

"Elodiah, please" the girl said intently, using the Andromedan word for mother. "I know that you made choices that you regret in the name of survival. I know that your guilt eats you up inside. I know that you are held captive by it. You're getting a second chance here. We can help you to make a different choice this time, one that you can feel proud of." Lyla looked away and for a brief moment, Selah thought that her mother was going to actually listen. But then, the woman's face grew hard.

"You are no daughter of mine," she said, switching over to Andromedan. "You are nothing more than a coward." She slowly lifted her head and looked at the girl with a cold fury, and an intensity that made her shiver. "I sold you to those doctors so that I could finally be free, and I had the understanding that they were going to kill you." She leaned forward, bringing her face close to the glass that separated her and Selah, and she whispered, "I wish that they had."

The girl stared evenly at her mother, waiting for the woman's decision to become final. She searched Lyla's grey eyes for any sign of regret, but when none came, she turned to Alex.

"I'm done here," she said, striding out of the room and biting back the angry tears that pricked at the back of her eyes.

"What did she say?" Alex asked, following the girl as she strode back to the atrium.

"Nothing useful." Selah turned abruptly, facing the agent. "Is it alright if I take a break for a few minutes? I just am feeling a little overwhelmed." She nodded.

"Of course. Call me if anything's wrong."

"I will." She watched as Selah walked out onto the balcony and sat on the railing, her feet dangling over the city, and her back to the DEO.

She sat there for a few minutes, her eyes shut, feeling the wind gently moving her hair as she listened to the noise around her. She heard one person's thoughts approaching, getting louder and louder until they were standing behind her in the doorway.

"Hey," she said finally, without opening her eyes. Kal smiled ruefully as he walked over to his daughter, sitting next to her on the railing.

"I guess it's pretty hard to sneak up on a telepath," he said, looking down at the street that was far below them. Selah glanced over at him, smiling slightly.

"I'm sorry for getting kind of overwhelmed the last time we talked," she said after a moment.

"I get it."

"The whole 'surprise, it's a father' thing was kind of a lot. I should have reached out to you again, though."

"It's fine, Selah. I wasn't exactly expecting to discover my secret daughter, either." He rubbed his chin, snorting. "I'm still not used to saying that. It's been an adjustment for both of us. I'm glad that I know you now, though. If you ever want to come down to meet Lois and my boys, you're more than welcome. Our door is always open if you need anything." Selah looked over at him, examining his face while he looked out at the buildings around them, feeling his earnestness.

"Okay." They sat in silence, side by side. "I'm sorry about Kara," she said eventually. He nodded, his eyes kind.

"We'll get her back." They stayed there for a while longer, high above the city, both of them listening for any signs of Kara. "I'm going to go do another lap," he said finally, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay." She watched as he took off and began flying over the city, and then she winced again as the noise around her rose in volume once more.

.

Alex was studying Lena's report that she had written on the results from Selah's blood, frowning at the numbers that she was reading when a woman burst into the room followed by two agents- both of whom had their weapons raised.

"We don't know who she is, ma'am," one of them said. "She ran straight into here and she wouldn't stop."

"Are you Director Danvers?" the woman asked, seemingly unbothered by all of the guns that were pointed at her.

"Who's asking?" Alex replied.

"My name is Lea Lerrol,' she replied, pushing a lock of red hair off of her forehead. "I'm Selah's aunt."

"You two are dismissed," the director said to the agents, both of whom lowered their guns and left the room.

"Is she still here?" Lea asked, wringing her hands. She was still wearing her Noonan's apron and nametag, and her brow was creased with worry. "I can't find her psychically."

"Yeah, she was on the balcony with Clark a minute ago," Alex told her. "Why do you ask?"

"I think that she might be in danger. About an hour ago, the Agenda began broadcasting a telepathic message across the city, saying that they would send Supergirl back if Selah went to them. It would be a trade. I immediately reached out to her and told her that she was not to do anything, and she told me that she would not. Ten minutes ago, she stopped answering me, right as soon as the Agenda's message began to be sent again. I have tried finding her telepathically, but I cannot. The last place that I could sense her was here." Upon hearing this, Alex stood up and the two women began walking to the atrium.

"Why didn't J'onn hear the message?" she asked.

"Martians cannot pick up on Andromedan psychic waves." They entered the atrium and saw that the balcony was empty. Lea began quietly crying. Going over to the main desk, Alex started pulling up the surveillance footage from that area. "There," the woman said, pointing to the screen as the girl appeared on the balcony. The tiny image of Selah on the monitor watched her father fly off, and then her hand went back up to her temple, as Alex assumed she began hearing the second message from the Agenda. She stayed on the railing for a few moments before jumping down and beginning to pace back and forth anxiously. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket, and she removed the battery, setting it beside the door. Then, with a quick glance over her shoulder, she leaped off of the balcony, and she was gone.

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