The all too familiar surroundings of her apartment faded to the background. She had a set-up of several notebooks and boards. The down-side of everything being so tidy was it took away the easiest form of procrastination. Forcing herself to think about the problem directly had gotten her nowhere slowly. Kal was telling the truth when he said there was little to go on regarding Metropolis' bout of power cuts. Apart from the dates, times and areas the power cuts hit, he had given her nothing. Too busy with other work and Ruby. She watched as many reports on the matter as she could find, since the beginning it involved a lot of uncomfortable spokespeople paraphrasing how they had no idea what was going on. The general consensus was that there did not seem to be anything wrong or any detectable abnormalities. Something was either being covered up or they genuinely did not know. Going through official means would just give her the same answers as the reports. She had put up a map with all the power cut locations marked down, hoping to find some sort of correlation.

The first noticeable instance had happened a few weeks ago. There would have been progress in the story if the regular avenues of investigation had revealed anything. Even just someone saying they had leads that they were pursuing. Faults in the grid itself would be better covered by the regulators and any industrial sabotage would leave a trace for the F.B.I. or police to follow. If there was someone to follow that would not be announced, there was no way to know for sure without calling in a favour or two. It was times like this she resented having to leave the D.E.O.

Before, a quick call to Alex or Winn would give her a wealth of extra information to work with. From what she had been told, the Green Lanterns were paying very close attention to any D.E.O. activity, it made even calling in favours a risky game. She huffed at her map, she had hoped for some sort of inspiration but all she got was a bunch of shapes and numbers. In her frustration the ring's hum was creeping back and her heart grew louder, the thumping in her chest made it hard to concentrate at times.

When she stared at the map, the hospital seemed to stare back. It had been an intense experience to say the least, she tried not to let it distract her. It would have saved a lot of time if there had been anything obvious from the information already available. The instinct that a single person was the root cause gnawed away at her as well, she wanted to ignore it. Choosing to forgo logic and reason based on a whim she had when enraged was a dangerous path. Sam was a testament to the consequences of letting the ring lead the way, quietly dismissing the fact that with it she had tracked her down easily from an entirely different planet. Finding herself more tempted by the ring gleaming at her, she decided to get out of the apartment. The map was growing tiresome and a fresh look later might reveal something she missed. Without a proper view on it and being the most recent area effected, she made her way back to Metropolis and the Hospital she had shielded. A perk she still had over most journalists was the ability to travel everywhere at speed and no expense.

She watched the crowds funnel in and out of the hospital. It appeared so much less daunting now, what had been a huge complex of architecture so recently looked like a regular building again. It was the difference that no burden made. The pain in her hand flared ever so slightly standing in the spot where it all happened. It was fully formed once more, though the skin was still severely peeled and rough. It was hard not to scratch at the numerous blisters that cropped up. Having to shield the hospital so heavily suggested whatever caused this was able to focus on this one area, despite having started at a different spot. She was not aware of any regular human technology capable of such feats. Alien technology or a meta-human was the most likely explanation. The lack of a motive and seemingly random nature of the power cuts had her dismiss the possibility of Livewire making a return. She was stuck again. She walked through the city, making sure to stay in the area that was affected in the hope she would spot or be reminded of something she was too distracted to notice at the time.

It was odd being at ground level, recently all her time was spent looking down at the bustling crowds from on high rather than being part of them. No fear, awe or curiosity was sent her way. The only looks she got were when there was surprising amount of resistance to anyone that bumped passed her. She had lost the art of weaving through a crowd, which seemed more necessary than ever in the square and grey streets of Metropolis. There was a warmth among beyond the mass of bodies she stepped within, an underlying anger that even the some of the most cheerful looking people contributed toward. She took deep breaths as she bathed in the feint aura it all formed. Her direction was largely aimless. Getting lost in the city's anger, it flooded her senses as she subconsciously walked for hours to soak it all in. Despite the number of people, any direct liveliness was lacking. It was strange as she could sense the emotion so strongly, like it was stroking her skin.

After some time, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened again, blinking several times to adjust to the light, her eyes were drawn upward to a power line. With nothing else to go on it seemed a good a plan as any to follow it along. She adjusted her glasses every now and then, tracking the line as it passed over buildings or went underground. She snaked through the city, not entirely sure what instinct she was following now. After a lot more walking she eventually ended up at site with several transformers. After a quick check on her phone's GPS and picture of the black out map, she found she was at the centre of one of the previous power cuts. There was CCTV around and a large, grated fence. It seemed unlikely someone would be able to mess with anything without being noticed. She eyed the entrance to the place, wondering whether to saunter in and start asking for things. She stroked her chin, thinking of the best way to approach the problem. She pondered for longer than she realised as a man from behind the fence got her attention.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" He said. He wore a high-vis and what looked like a generic security uniform. "You've been standing there a few minutes now." There was a suspicion to his tone.

"Just… thinking," she said.

"Well you can go and think somewhere else," he said. She looked around at all the bright yellow warning and high voltage signs.

"It'd be very dangerous for someone who didn't know what they're doing to break in here, wouldn't it?" She said. The man looked concerned at the statement.

"It very much would, I hope you're not getting any stupid ideas," he said. She folded her arms, still looking pas him at the machinery and wiring.

"I'm a reporter. CatCo. Looking into the recent power cuts," she said. The man's stern expression remained.

"There are plenty of people to talk too about that, loitering outside this facility won't get you anywhere," he said. She ignored his tone and reached for a notepad.

"You haven't had any break-ins or unusual activity recently," she said.

"I wouldn't allow any break-ins. Now get lost, I'm not here to talk to journalists," he said. She promptly put away the notebook.

"Off the record then," she said. The guard's patience seemed to be wearing thin. "Unusual activity, anyone in particular acting strangely around a week ago?"

"I'd call people like you and unexplained power cuts unusual enough, and..." It seemed like he was about to say more but stopped himself.

"Get a move on, find someone who gets paid to answer questions like that," he said.

"What were you about to say?" She said.

"Nothing, make sure you're gone by the time I get back," he said. Whatever he had thought of had him flustered. She would have kept pushing if he had not already walked away. A quick use of X-ray vision let her see there was a security station. She had got a quick glance at his I.D. badge before he disappeared. Robert Booker, he knew more than he was letting on. He seemed normal enough and even though she had done her best to ignore it, the ring's lack of interest in him suggested it was not something he had done that had him so cagey. Having worked in what was the central location for one of the, albeit, smaller power cuts and working on security meant he may have seen something he did not want to talk about.

CCTV or employee records were off the table, she had no official credentials and had hardly ingratiated herself with security. She flicked the fence lightly, it rattled back at her. Getting her hands on physical evidence or searching further into what was a relatively small facility seemed risky. It would involve calling the D.E.O. or breaking into the place herself. Instead, she kept her hearing tuned into the facility. Picking out Robert's voice from the ambient noise and other voices would be tricky, she would have to concentrate hard and even that was not guaranteed. She looked around for a café or coffee shop she could set herself up in. She glanced back several times as she moved, Robert was on a little patrol route. If he had anything to say it would likely be with whoever else was manning the security station, knowing this, she accelerated to a jog to make sure she could be in place in time. The first cafe that would work for her was further away than she would have liked, it also seemed grungy and she was convinced the hygiene rating it boasted had been generous. She ordered a coffee to ignore so she could plant herself on a table outside. She shut herself off to the world, focusing entirely on tracking the movement of Robert. She watched him meander about the place. Whenever it looked like he was finally going back to the security station he veered off to another part of the facility, her jog was a wasted effort at this point. Getting a proper read on his face was difficult from such a distance, but his movement seemed jumpy and uneasy. After a few more minutes he made his way back. She closed her eyes so she could focus entirely on listening in.

"What was all that about?" another voice chimed up.

"What? Oh nothing." It was Robert's voice.

"I ask you to check on the crazy lady and you wander about for five minutes, I've been watching you on the cameras," the other man said.

"Forget it, alright," Robert said. There was a silence between them, Kara willed on for the other man to follow it up, there had to be something more.

"Whatever man, I know this job gets boring but going walkabouts for no reason might get management on our case." There was only a half-acknowledgement. She was getting a headache from having to concentrate her hearing so specifically. She persisted, wishing for a little bit of luck to come her way.

"It's just… she was a reporter," Robert said.

"So what? We've had police and god knows who else poking around."

"Yeah but they have to explore everything. Why would a reporter specifically stare this place down and then ask me about people acting strangely?" he said.

"You're worrying too much, mate. They've had nothing new on this story for weeks so are just sniffing around wherever they can."

"I dunno, this place is so insignificant. You don't think Jo's unscheduled visit…"

"Rob, Jo saved our arses by fixing whatever the hell happened. I'm getting you a beer after this shift, you really need to relax."

Her eyes burst open and her ears rung as she returned her senses to normal. She had a lead, an unscheduled visit significant enough to spook someone. Who apparently fixed the issue. It was not much to go on, a male or female by the name Jo with technical expertise that was at that site when the power went down. She took a sip of the coffee as a reward for herself and hoped it would soothe her overloaded senses. She grimaced, even the taste of blood failed to drown out how disgusting it was.