Kara's ears seemed to keep ringing all the while she was being interviewed, recounting the last hour to the patient young officer taking her statement. Policemen walk around her taking photos and speaking to the staff on site, stepping around the debris and structural damage left in the Samaritan's fight. They all gathered in the corridor outside Lena's office, the fire marshals taping the room off until the structural engineers can determine if it's unsafe. Lena stood by her assistant's desk speaking with Captain Sawyer, recounting the ordeal in great detail with her. Kara put her focus on her because she couldn't bring herself to look into the eyes of the officers zipping the security men into body bags, just as she couldn't meet the gaze of the paramedics who arrived to find Maxwell dead in his suit. She felt their questioning gaze on the back of her neck when she closed her eyes, all asking the same thing; How did this happen? How could she let this happen?
"Supergirl!" a familiar voice called out, pulling her attention to the trio of figures flashing their badges to get past the cordon. Kara felt great relief seeing her sister rushing towards her with Brainy and Nia following behind. They were all in casual wear as if they hadn't had time to change. She didn't imagine they would have, things happened so fast even for her. Alex ran straight for Kara, forcing herself to hold back a hug remembering they were in public. But her eyes were wide as she stood in front of the kryptonian, her expression on the verge of panic. "Are you okay?" she whispered, grasping her shoulders staring at the cut on her cheek. Kara held in the urge to wrap her arms around her, expressing it in her own eyes instead nodding. She couldn't speak, adrenaline and shock silencing her. The two sisters stared at each other, their bond communicating everything they needed. Kara wanted to say she was fine, but she wasn't sure at the moment. Alex could tell this, nodding along looking to the police captain speaking with Lena. "I'm just going to talk with Maggie" she said quietly, squeezing Kara's arm to show support. "I'll be right back." Kara nodded, watching her walk towards them knowing she'll want a full debrief and then to get Kara somewhere they could talk ASAP.
Nia, meanwhile, held no such professional decorum as she rushed forward and leapt into a hug. "We came as soon as we heard what happened" she whispered, hugging her tightly. Kara ignored the odd glances they received as she hugged her back, exhaling hollowly, the shock finally wearing off leaving her trembling. Brainy stood respectfully back, giving her a silent nod glad she was okay.
Kara smiled, gently prying Nia out of the hug to look at her. "Maxwell wasn't…it wasn't him" she whispered. Nia nodded, explain they'd already figured that out. She gave Kara the details of their investigation confirming his alibi, leaving her feeling even more shaken. "I couldn't stop him. I didn't realise he was there. I didn't…I couldn't hear him. There was a noise, a deafening sound like a ringing or a whistle. I thought it was just aftershocks from our fight with parasite, but…"
"A sound only you can hear?" Brainy deduced. Kara nodded. "I've been formulating some theories, correlating all the reports of your previous encounters. Whether directly or indirectly, that detail keeps occurring I've noticed. It is possible whomever we're searching for has been masking their appearances with a subsonic bandwidth unperceivable to human ears. An effective means of distraction" he remarked.
Kara felt the ringing in her eardrums again, stiffening with paranoia as she rubbed her ear. But as she glanced around she realised it was one of those phantom echoes, an after affect, her mind playing tricks on her. She saw Maxwell's face again, his mouth moving telling her something, asking for help maybe as he bleed out in front of her. "Kara!" Nia's voice cut through the image, snapping her back to the present to find her concern face next to her. "It wasn't your fault" she whispered, as if reading her mind.
"I couldn't save him" she whispered back, her voice quivering as she slumped against the wall. Nia and brainy glanced around at the officers surrounding them, moving to hide Supergirl's moment of vulnerability from them. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, willing the ringing to stop.
Alex returned moments later with Captain Sawyer beside her, Lena following behind the two women. "We appreciate your cooperation Supergirl" Maggie said once Kara straightened up in front of her. "I'll be honest, when the news broke of the allegations against Maxwell Davies… I was shock. His company got my uncle out of his wheelchair. And his Samaritan initiative, I know the commissioner had high hopes for it. But still, none of us every expected this" she said, turning to Lena. "My apologies we couldn't get here sooner."
"No need to apologies Captain" Lena sighed. "I expected some form of blowback for exposing him, but not even I predicted this."
"But we should've" Maggie said. "We got a call not ten minutes before your call about him breaking into his office at TITAN Industries. He left three men dead on his way out when they tried to subdue him. I guess having super suits in the city wasn't such a good idea after all."
"Rest assured I'll be dismantling every one of them at my earliest convenience" she growled.
"What about the suit he was wearing?" Kara inquired.
"It's in evidence, but non-functional" Maggie told her. "When we're done with it it'll go back to its rightful owners. Which if I heard correcting is L-Corp, though I've got the DOD circling already" she warned.
Lena rolled her eyes. "My lawyers will be in touch about taking possession of the suit" she said, determined not to let the government get hold of such dangerous technology.
"As for Maxwell Davies, the DEO was able to confirm most of the allegations" Alex said. "We found the lab wear they were holding the remains of parasite, and the corresponding shipping orders and investment forms linking him to Kronos Limited and manufacturing Metallo."
"Too bad we can't convict a dead man" Maggie muttered. Kara looked down in shame until the captain asked her "if there anything more you can tell me about the person who killed him?"
She shook her head. "They know how to fight, how to kill, and seemed to have the tech to do it. They were using an experimental design from TITAN, an early blueprint."
"I'll supply you with everything we uncovered about that suit" Lena offered.
Maggie thanked her, shaking the woman's hand and then Supergirl's. "Thank you for all your help. We'll let you know if we need anything. Goodnight." They bid her goodnight as she returned to converse with her officers, allowing the group to speak privately.
Before anyone said anything, Alex shot a wary glance between Nia and Lena and Kara before suggesting to the younger reporter "I think I saw a drinks fountain at the end of the hall. Maybe Lena and Supergirl you use some water?"
Nia narrowed her eyebrows at her before noting her expression, her eyes darting at the group remembering she wasn't in costume and thus wasn't meant to know who everyone was or how they knew each other. "Oh right, yes, I can do that" she nodded, though she remained reluctant to leave.
Kara put a hand on her shoulder, thanking her out loud and using her eyes to express her gratitude while insisting she'll be find. "I'll assist you" Brainy followed, escorting Nia down the corridor giving the three woman a moment to talk.
Once Alex was sure they wouldn't give away Dreamer's secret identity or be overheard by police officers she jabbed Kara instinctively in the arm. "You should've called me! I nearly had a heart attack!" she hissed to her sister.
"Ow?" Kara whispered, rubbing her arm though she barely felt a thing. "How was I supposed to know the guy would show up?"
"You didn't even think to tell me you were investigating Maxwell Davies as the…what did you call him?" she asked Lena?
"He called himself the Reckoning" she replied. "And in our defence, we had solid grounds to suspect him."
"I get that. What I don't get is why you didn't tell me?" she said, glaring at Kara and Lena in equal measure. "I'm the director of the DEO. I could've helped. Instead I had to find out from Nia, who also told me about the break in at one of his factories where you found his lair?"
"We had it under control" Kara assured her.
"You weren't even in costume" she argued. She paused in her rant when one of the officers drifted close, so they moved their conversation into the taped off office. The holes in the floor and walls made it look structurally unsound so they kept to the doorway, though Kara scanned with her x-ray vision and determined the room wouldn't fall apart around them. "Kara, this guy has the ability to shut off your powers and nearly killed you twice. If Lena hadn't hijacked Maxwell's suit they might have killed you then." Kara turned her head to stare at Lena, who averted her face sheepishly. "Yeah, you told me about that that. Better yet, she showed me" Alex explained, pulling out the tablet Lena had on hand replaying the footage of the fight for the blonde.
Kara watched the view from Maxwell's helmet as the Reckoning effortlessly defeated her until Lena's intervention sent him into the bushes, grimacing at how incompetent he made her look. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you" she said sincerely. "I thought if we could find evidence before bringing it to you you've be in a better position to stop him. If we were wrong it would've been…"
"A PR nightmare" Alex agreed, interrupting Kara explaining "and that will be my responsibility. Just like it's my responsibility to make sure my little sister doesn't get herself killed." Kara blinked in surprise. Alex doesn't refer to her as her little sister often. It showed how worried this guy was making her. "I'm not used to feeling this scare about you, so do me a favour and…just keep me in the loop. Please?"
"Okay" she nodded, pulling her sister into that hug they both desperately needed. Lena stood back awkwardly as they had their moment, waiting until they finished before clearing her throat. Kara turned to her and sighed, stepping over and pulling her into a hug next. "Thank you for saving me" she whispered.
"Thank you for saving me" she replied, tears leaking from her eyes as the shock wore away from both of them. Neither of them realised how turbulent the last hour or so had been. She stepped away to wipe her cheeks, taking a deep breath locking eyes with her noting "you were a few seconds late though."
"No I wasn't" Kara insisted, suddenly feeling the blush rise to her cheeks. Lena cocked her eyebrow but decided not to push her on it tonight. Kara turned to Alex asking "so what happens now?"
"Now? Now you two tell me everything" she said, putting her hands on her hips just like Jon used to when he ran the DEO. "I want every note, every hard drive and every scrap of paper from your investigation to compare to ours. If Maxwell was connected to the Reckoning we need to figure out how."
"We know the suit was developed at his company" Lena reported. "We know he knew the man who designed it."
"But we don't know who he was" Kara said. "And we don't know where he got it. He swore to me the suit doesn't exist, that it never got built."
"They didn't have the technology to make it work" Lena nodded. "That's why he needed L-Corp's help. It why he stole Lex's suit schematics in the first place."
"Well someone built the suit and found the technology for it somewhere" Alex said. "It's got enough bells and whistles to fight superman."
"And take our powers" Kara nodded.
"Oh, on that note" Lena said perking up, hopping over to the nearby cabinet where she stashed the wrist gauntlet after the fight. She brought it out and tapped across the computer screen, bringing up the image of the Reckoning during his fight with Supergirl. Alex and Kara gathered around her to watch as she explained "after he escaped I went back over the recording and had the computer analyse everything the suit picked up. Even in its depowered state the sensors were more or less functioning just not as well. But they did pick up a spike in ultraviolet radiation when Kara went to attack the killer."
"That's when my powers disappeared" she muttered.
"I looked at the UV levels and they remained consistent until…well until I diverted power to the suits energy cannon to shoot at him" she confessed.
"Ultraviolet? As in solar energy?" Alex asked. Lena nodded, bringing more confusion. "That doesn't make sense. Kryptonians get their powers from absorbing sunlight."
"Their powers develop from absorbing yellow sunlight into their cells" Lena corrected, looking at Kara as she continued. "I thought I recognised the radiation so I checked with our own files. This level of UV radiation is consistent with the solar energy from a red giant or similar composition."
"Red sunlight?" Kara gasped. Suddenly her power loss made sense. Her cells could convert yellow sunlight to develop her powers, hence why she was sent to Earth. But under a red sun, like krypton's, she would return to normal. "But I've never seen a red solar lamp work so quickly."
"Forgive me, but I don't see a lamp at all" Alex concurred, scanning the image. Her eyes fell onto the belt glowing bright red. "What about that?" she asked pointing at it.
Kara recalled seeing it but shook her head. "There's no way that could generate enough red sunlight to strip my powers."
"I don't think it's a lamp" Lena mused. "It could be some form of field generator, generating a field of red solar radiation."
"Possible" Alex admitted. "But I've never seen anyone build something that small before."
"Neither have I" Lena agreed. But she was already formulating ideas for how it could be done, which meant it was possible someone had already done it. "Whomever we are dealing with, they are incredibly intelligent."
"And skilled" Kara added.
"And dangerous" Alex finished, casting a look out into the city. "Worst of all, he's still out there and we have no idea what he is planning."
Kara felt that clench in her gut as she stood beside Alex, releasing a shaky breath stating "we'll find him. We have to."
Alex nodded, turning to face Kara clutching her shoulders. "But from now on, we have to do this together. Understood?" she nodded, promising to not leave Alex in the dark again. Lean came up to join them and they all swore to be in this together. "Us, Brainy, and Dreamer" Alex clarified.
"Agreed" Kara chuckled.