Alternatively titled, "Winn Schott's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week" or "If no one else is going to whump Winn during Whumptober, I guess I'm going to have to do it myself".

Hope you guys enjoy!

Quick note: this fic is set ambiguously during the end of Season Two. Maggie exists, Lyra does not. M'gann has returned to Mars, but there's no Daxamite drama. Clear as mud, right?

Prologue

It was late Sunday night when, in a small suburb of National City named Gemstone Valley, a dark-haired man was jolted from a dead sleep. He shot upright, one hand clutching at his chest, which was heaving at almost an Olympic rate, the other grabbing at his sheets to ground himself, as he watched the gavel from his nightmare bang down over and over again, each hit irreparably changing the course of his life.

"Oh, dad," the man mumbled, once he had the breath to do so. "What did you do?"

Chapter One

Around the same time, Winn walked into the building which housed the DEO and promptly yawned so aggressively his jaw cracked. He was running on less than two hours of sleep, after being out late Guardianing with James and having been paged to come in about an hour ago.

He nodded to Berta, the nighttime security guard, then slipped up next to Alex, who was standing at the elevator bank, trying and failing to slide a credit card through the ID scanner instead of her badge. Without a word, Winn pulled her badge away from the retractable clip on her hip and slid it through the scanner instead.

"Long night?" he asked as he followed Alex's ID with his own. The scanner beeped happily both times, then the elevator began rumbling down toward them.

Alex looked down at her credit card for a long moment before her gaze drifted back up to Winn. It took a moment for recognition to set in. "The couple next to me just had a kid, and that thing has not yet learned that nighttime hours are for sleeping."

"Good times." Winn gently pushed Alex through the now open elevator doors, waiting until she had a grip on the inner rail before turning his back on her and punching the button for their floor.

"They make IVs of caffeine, right?" Alex mumbled as the elevator ground back into motion.

"Coffee is probably safer." Especially in your current state, Winn thought, but didn't dare to say that last part aloud.

Before Alex could reply, the elevator doors opened on the DEO, and Winn led Alex straight to the coffee cart. She seemed to perk up at the smell and even more so after only a few sips of her extra-strength brew.

Then, she sniffed the air suspiciously, her gaze eventually narrowing in on Winn, who was still doctoring his coffee to taste.

"You smell like smoke," she stated.

"Aw, man." Winn put down his coffee and pulled his sleeve away from his arm to sniff it, grimacing immediately. "I showered, like, three times this morning already. I just can't get that smell out."

He looked back over at Alex who was staring expectantly at him over the brim of her coffee cup.

"I stayed in the van like a good little computer nerd," Winn said, in response to the unasked question.

Alex's eyebrows lifted in challenge.

"Fine, I got out of the van to comfort some kids while Guardian went in again, okay? But I stayed far away from the actual fire. I'm not an idiot; I let those with actual protective gear do the heavy lifting."

"I never said you were."

Winn stuck his tongue out at her, then slugged down most of his coffee before turning to refill it. "How bad is it?"

"You should grab some cologne from the locker room before going in."

Winn scowled, but nodded. "Cover for me with J'onn?"

"Yup."

As Winn headed off for the locker room, Alex strode into the command center and stopped next to J'onn, who was standing at the center console, staring at the array of screens on the far wall.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Bank robbery downtown." J'onn made a motion with his hand and one of the third-shift analysts slid footage from their tablet onto the center four screens. Alex quickly scanned them, noting what looked like lobby footage from just after closing in the bottom right corner, and office footage on the other diagonal.

"Upper right," J'onn said, pointing to corresponding screen, which was playing what looked like footage from the empty vault. In the next second, a man dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans and wearing a ski mask appeared out of thin air. He walked up to the camera, keeping his head averted, then spray painted over the lens.

"How much did he get?"

"Uncertain. The bank is trying to get a hold of the owners of the safety deposit boxes to see what exactly was missing."

"Have we checked the footage for tampering?" Winn asked, knocking Alex's elbow with his own as he made his way to his workstation, dropped into a chair and pulled down a copy of the feed.

"According to the timestamps on the vault's electronic logs, it automatically locked at 6 PM and wasn't opened until the manager was called to investigate. It took both him and a high ranking official at the security company to override the time lock and let the police in."

"Did they check to see if the footage was disrupted remotely?"

"They're investigating, but it's on a closed system, so they don't suspect so."

"Why so long to get us involved?" Alex asked.

J'onn shrugged. "We only picked up their chatter when they mentioned teleportation."

"Do we think it's some sort of gadget, or an ability he has?" Winn asked. When no one responded, he waved his hands at shoulder height and said, "Okay, okay, you probably don't know either. That's why we're here, right?" He clapped his hands twice, then turned back to his workstation. "We'll run through the footage and see what we can find."

"Is Kara already at the scene?" Winn heard Alex ask from behind him.

"We didn't call her," J'onn replied and Winn turned slightly in his chair so he could watch the conversation play out in his peripheral vision.

Alex, predictably, went to protest but J'onn help up his hand. "Right now there's no need for her skillset. As far as we know, it's a simple B&E, and we're not certain of any alien involvement. When we have more information, and if we determine we need her, I will call her in. Until then, she deserves a night off."

"She's going to kill you," was all Alex said. And if Winn wasn't mistaken, she looked slightly amused at the thought.

J'onn shrugged. "It is what's best for her."

"Director J'onnz!" An agent whose name Winn didn't know ran up to J'onn, slightly out of breath. "Director J'onnz, NCPD is wrapping up the scene at the bank."

"Then we better get going. Agent Schott?"

Winn spun in his chair to fully face J'onn and Alex, who were on their way out of the command center. "A full list of alien species who have teleportation or related abilities by the time you get back. On it, boss man."

"Or proof that this is done via technology, and aliens aren't involved."

"Yes, sir."

As Winn refocused back in the command center, he found the third-shift analysts staring at him, as if waiting for orders. He wasn't in charge—in fact, as a relatively new agent, he was the furthest thing from it—but when they didn't show any sort of initiative to return to work on their own accord, Winn clapped his hands again and turned back to his workstation. "You heard the man. Let's get to it."

The dark-haired man rang the doorbell to a small house on the outskirts of National City in a prearranged sequence, then stepped away so he'd be visible in the peephole.

Right away, he heard approaching footsteps and not long after, the front door swung outward, revealing a middle-aged man backlit from a kitchen in the far corner of the house.

"Josh!" the man exclaimed, looking around in concern. He apparently found nothing, for he stepped back and motioned for Josh to enter. "What's wrong? What are you doing here?"

"I saw you," Josh said, turning to face his father in the entryway. "In my dream."

The middle-aged man's expression sobered. "What did you see?"

"You. Being sent to Van Krull."

"That's impossible."

"You know how it works, dad. That's what's going to happen unless we change something."

His dad leaned closer. "What exactly did you see?"

"You were on trial. They brought up your history, your past offenses. They brought up some witnesses from the FBI. An agent, an analyst. Their case is airtight. The judge sided with them and threw the book at you."

"What were their names?"

Josh shook his head. "No. You can't go near them. I'll handle this. You just… lay low, keep your head down. Go to work, come straight home. I'll call you when it's safe."

"Josh."

"Listen to me, dad! You told me you were done, and now look what happened." His brow furrowed as he looked over at his father. "I'll handle this. You lay low. I'll call you when it's safe."

Josh's dad reached out and grasped his elbow.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Josh mumbled as he shook off his father's grip and left the house.

"What do we have, agents?" J'onn asked as he and Alex walked back into the command center. The sun was beaming through the vaulted windows of the mezzanine, highlighting the ring of analysts who were hard at work.

"It's not tech," Winn said, pushing his hair out of his face and guzzling the rest of a can of Monster.

Alex made a face at the sight, which Winn quickly returned as he dropped the now empty can into the trash. Continuing the motion, he swept his hand across his desk, beaming the vault footage to the wall of screens, and dragged his fingers apart to zoom in. "There's no disruption in frequency, there's no mirages, no auras, no devices that we can see. And you guys said you scanned the vault and didn't find any static or electric remnants. Which means it was well and truly teleportation."

"How many species possess that ability?" J'onn asked.

"Three. Doxans, Pieranese, and Knoxtec."

"And how many of those are registered in National City?"

"Three within city limits, eight within a few hours' drive."

"Send me the na—"

"Already in your office, sir, and on your phone, Alex."

"Grab two teams, Agent Danvers," J'onn ordered, "and start working your way through the names."

"Yes, sir." As J'onn went to speak to another analyst, Alex leaned over Winn's shoulder. "Eat some real food soon, okay? Something besides Red Vines and pizza bagels."

Without mistyping a single letter, Winn reached back and brushed Alex away. "Just go find this alien. We can worry about my diet later."

"Don't make me sic Kara on you," Alex threatened lightheartedly, but then her expression fell and she sucked in a quick breath. "Kara. She is going to kill us."

At that, Winn stopped typing and spun around in his seat. "Well, the good news is, it's an alien, so now you can pull her in?" he suggested, lifting one shoulder in a lopsided shrug.

"Somehow I don't think she'll see it that way."

"You can always blame it on J'onn."

"We'll see." Then Alex's phone chirped and she pulled it out her pocket to check the screen. "There's the list. Thanks," she said to Winn, who shot her a lazy salute then spun back to face his monitor.

As Alex slid her phone back into her pocket, a thought struck her. "I don't suppose you'd tell Kara?"

"Not in a million years."

To say that Kara hadn't taken it well was the understatement of the century. However, once J'onn explained that there wasn't originally a guaranteed alien involvement, and that even his best agents sat out occasional missions, she'd grudgingly accepted her delayed involvement.

"I'm going to check out Al's," she said. She had come straight from CatCo and was still wearing her street clothes as she consulted with J'onn and Alex around the center console of the command center. "See if anyone heard anything."

"Bring back some mozzarella sticks," Winn called without looking away from his screen.

And ribs, Alex mouthed, to which Kara rolled her eyes good-naturedly and nodded.

"You should have told me," she said as she and Alex walked out of the command center.

"J'onn was right. You've had a lot of 'on' days of late. And we weren't sure."

"But you suspected."

"I called you as soon as we knew."

Kara exhaled slowly. "I still don't agree, but I guess I understand the sentiment." Then she looked over at Alex. "Speaking of food, when was the last time you ate?"

"I had lunch," Alex was quick to protest.

"More than a roll of lunchmeat and some spready cheese?"

Alex stared at her in disbelief. "How do you do that?"

"No superpowers needed. I know you." Kara punched the button for the elevator. "I'll bring back a double order."

"I'd rather have a cheeseburger."

Kara smiled. "One cheeseburger coming right up."

Later that night, Winn stood in the hallway outside his apartment, one hand scrubbing at his aching eyes while the other struggled to insert his key into the three separate deadbolts he'd had installed shortly after moving in. Finally, he unlocked the last one and swung open the door.

The very next second, he knew, inexplicably, that something wasn't right.

He immediately grabbed the desk light sitting on his entryway table and hoisted it over his shoulder as he took another cautious step into his apartment. His alarm system blared in the background while he quickly scanned the room. Everything seemed to be in order, but he couldn't shake the suspicion that his space had been disturbed.

"Hello?" he called out, as he stepped to his left and punched in his six-digit code without looking away from the rest of the room. Then, he stepped through his living room toward the back of his apartment. "I am armed!" he called, his voice a tad squeakier than he could have liked. There was no reply.

Still carrying the lamp, Winn carefully cleared every room of his apartment, then walked back into the living room, where he dropped it onto his couch. He spun in a circle immediately after, as if the mystery attacker would choose that moment to… well, attack. But no one was there.

Feeling slightly foolish, Winn sat down at his desk, logged into his security system and reviewed the logs. Since he'd armed it early this morning, at exactly 2:16 AM, there were no entries besides him just disarming it a few minutes ago.

In that brief moment, Winn wished he had security cameras, but the feeling was fleeting. Despite all the digital security measures that could be put in place these days, Winn was far too familiar with just how easily tech like that could be hacked to actually install cameras in his apartment. For that reason too, his security system could only be accessed via Ethernet or within the bounds of his Wi-Fi network, and the disarm code, which was changed monthly, had to be manually entered upon entry and exit—no alarm system apps for him.

He checked the logs again just to be sure, and when he found no additional entries or exits for the day, he breathed a little bit easier.

Then, he noticed a slightly unfamiliar smell wafting through the air. It was faint enough to hide until now, but strong enough to suddenly be noticeable. Winn was on alert in the next second, scrambling away from his desk and reaching for the lamp, which he again held high over his shoulder. He scanned the room furiously, but saw no one.

Winn took another pass through his apartment, finding nothing and no one, and by the time he reentered his living room, the smell was gone.

God, he needed sleep.

There was no way someone had been in his apartment. He had the security logs to prove it, and nothing seemed to be missing.

Just to be sure, Winn took one more lap around his apartment, this time looking for anything out of place. Finding everything where he expected it to be, he sank back into the couch, unable to fully shake the feeling that his initial instincts were right.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you thought!