Kara had only just shaken off the embarrassment and humiliation of her confrontation with Jake by the time she reached her apartment. But almost immediately after she opened the door and stepped inside her ears rang with the furious screams of her older sister. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND KARA!" she screamed, materialising in front of the blonde girl who jumped out of her skin.

"What? What are you talking about?" she asked her, breaking out of her stunned daze to look around her apartment and find Brainy, J'onn and Eliza also waiting for her. "What are you all doing here?" she asked in confusion.

"Never mind that!" Alex interrupted, still furious at her. "What were you thinking going after Jake like that by yourself?" she screamed manically.

Kara's face paled as she stared at her sister. "How did you know about that" she asked awkwardly.

Brainy crossed his arms from across the room. "I told them, after I was informed about your attempted surveillance this morning" he explained bluntly. Kara looked at him narrowing her eyes until he answered "I've had Jake under surveillance ever since I was put in temporary charge of the DEO. Did you really think I wouldn't?"

"I just assumed…" she muttered, her embarrassment coming back as she realised it was a stupid assumption. Of course none of them was going to just let Jake walk away like he did. She looked around at Eliza and J'onn, neither of them impressed by her actions today. "I'm sorry" she said.

Alex stared at her. "You're sorry? That's not good enough! Why? Why would you do something so stupid?"

Kara spun back to Alex. "I didn't plan to…I don't know, I thought I should just keep an eye on him? Maybe he could've led me to something that would've helped expose him."

"You really think he would be stupid enough to lead you to his secret base?" Alex laughed humorously.

"Well at least I'm trying something to bring him to justice!" she snapped angrily.

"And we're not?" Alex blanched. "That's all we've been doing ever since he came back!" she told her. "Brainy is trying to find out who planted the secret camera for him. J'onn is looking for leads on the Blacksmith's operations. Olsen and Nia are out there re-interviewing everyone involved in Jake's schemes so far looking for evidence. Even Lena is building her case to take to the District Attorney's office. Nobody is doing nothing Kara! But none of this will matter if something happens to you in the meantime."

"I can take care of myself" Kara reminded her.

"Not if you keep doing stupid things like this!" Alex retorted. "Brainy's report told us what happened. He had you depowered, didn't he?" she asked. When Kara averted her eyes she took that as a yes. "If he can do that without his suit then he could've done anything to you."

"He wouldn't be a position to do anything if we had him locked up already" she snapped back.

Alex narrowed her eyes and stiffened. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

"It is your fault!" she screamed. "You want to talk about being stupid, if you hadn't acted like a pig-headed, overprotective moron he wouldn't be out there right now!"

"GIRLS! ENOUGH" their mother barked, silencing the bickering siblings instantly. They froze and looked at her, lowering their gazes shamefully but not losing their hostility. Eliza stepped between both of them disapprovingly. "I had you had both grown up enough to be able to have a civilised discussion, not resort to childish name calling" she said, looking at Kara. She alternated her glare equally between her daughters barking "nobody in this room can claim they've never made a mistake. What matters is how we work to resolve it. I understand this has been a stressful time…" she turned to Alex, "your sister has been going through a lot and needs our understanding, and she is old enough to make her own decisions and take responsibility for them." Alex opened her mouth but one look from her mom made her close it. Then she turned to Kara. "But on that note, what you did was irresponsible and reckless. You know how dangerous this man is and thus cannot put yourself in such risk when there are others depending on you. But you also cannot talk to your sister like that. She has and will take responsibility for her mistakes. What she needs from you is your support, not your misplaced outrage." Kara tried to argue but Eliza held up a finger, silencing the girl abruptly. She looked at the two of them disapprovingly. "Now is not the time to be at each other's throats, or lashing out at one another. You are sisters, you are family, and you need each other. And if you let this man divide you, then he has already won. And I know neither of you want that, agreed?"

Kara and Alex looked at each other, their eyes lowered as they shifted uncomfortably on their feet. "No" they both agreed simultaneously, feeling like they were teenagers again being reprimanded by their mother.

She looked at the both, hands on her hips, expectantly turning from one to the other. They both knew what she was waiting for. Alex was the first to look up at her sister. "I'm sorry" she said.

Kara looked back, her hostile expression softening. "I'm sorry too" she replied.

Eliza nodded in satisfaction, watching her children attempt to bury the hatchet and move on. After a minute of silence Alex couldn't help but mutter "you were still an idiot for talking to him alone."

Kara looked at her adoptive mother, who shot a glance at her daughter sharply. But she saw the same sentiment in her eyes when she looked back. Kara looked away and admitted "you're right, it was stupid." She walked over to the couch and sat down, releasing a long breath as she slumped into her seat.

The rest of her family and friends all took up seats around the living room, Eliza sitting beside Kara while Alex sat on the armrest. Brainy remained standing while J'onn leant against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. He hadn't said a word since she walked in, until right now; "why did you confront him?"

"I don't know" she confessed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. "I guess I thought…thought we needed to talk."

Alex shook her head, but she could understand that desire. Made her think of another conversation she had yet to force herself to make. "And?" she asked reluctantly, wondering how it went.

Kara shook her head. "It didn't go great."

"My surveillance teams were unable to gain an auditory record of your conversation" Brainy reported, looking at her more officially. "If I may ask, what did the suspect discuss with you?"

Kara looked up at him and sat up, clearing her throat. "We talked about us, how he basically only went out with me to get information, that none of it was real" she started. Eliza put her arm around her sensing how distraught that still mad her. "He mentioned how he was worried about your case he was, that he hadn't anticipated Lena finding out about the stolen formula. He gloated at how lucky he was when…" she stopped herself, looking at Alex who looked away ashamed. Brainy too lowered his eyes, keeping his thoughts to himself. Kara continued, changing the topic. "He did say he didn't have any plans to expose anyone, including Nia and James" she told him. "He won't tell anyone about you, not unless any of you get in his way."

"In the way of what?" J'onn asked.

"Me" she replied. "He's only interested in hurting me. Everything he's done has been about me, getting as much information about me as he can, learning how to hurt me. He gave the Blacksmith the formula to Kryptonite so he could sell it and flood the world with kryptonite."

"Of course he does" Alex muttered, rising to her feet pacing the room. "No wonder we couldn't find the stockpile, Lena's blueprints let them make as much as they want, whenever they want. And now the whole world probably knows how to make it."

"Actually, that's not what happened" Kara recalled. "Jake said he wanted the Blacksmith to sell it, but instead he kept it so he could make kryptonite weapons for his clients. He's the only one out there who knows how to make them."

Brainy tilted his head thoughtfully. "An intriguingly wise move, from a profitable standpoint. Which does limit the number of weapons out in the streets to affect Supergirl."

Alex shook her head. "I can't believe we have to thank capitalism for less weapons."

"This is good" J'onn agreed. "If the Blacksmith is keeping the formula to himself, then when we catch him we're also stopping the production of kryptonite."

"Unless Jake decides to sell the formula himself" Alex warned pessimistically.

"If he had the ability to do that, we wouldn't have turned to the Blacksmith" Eliza smiled. "I'm starting to think the only reason Jake is this dangerous is because of his association to that man."

Alex had her doubts. "He designed his own suit."

"But did he build it?" Brainy asked, following Eliza's train of thought. "TITAN Industries couldn't make it without Lex Luthor's schematics. Jake may have the knowledge and the talent but he must have his limits. Limits the Blacksmith surpasses."

"So we find the Blacksmith, not only can he give us Jake we remove a vital asset to his operations" J'onn deducted.

"In theory" Alex said. "Right now we're just guessing what he told Kara was the truth. And, no offence Kara, but he hasn't been the most trustworthy guy you've come across."

Kara didn't take offence. She was just relaying what he said. She couldn't be sure if he was lying or that she could tell if he was lying. For all they knew he could make these weapons just as easily and have sold the formula already just to make her life a living hell. Or maybe Eliza is right and he'd be just as lost without his ally as they think. "Whatever he's up to, he's working towards something big" she told them. "And he's willing to wait and keep us guessing until he's ready."

"Did he give you any clue to what his intentions are?" Eliza asked her.

Kara though hard but ultimately shook her head. "No. he just said it'll all be over when I understand how much pain he's in and how much he hates me for what happened to his fiancé."

Brainy narrowed his eyes and crouched down to ask her "is that what he said exactly?" she nodded. He pondered this. It was too vague to draw any conclusions at this time.

Alex wasn't as thrilled about the statement either. "What does that mean? Is he going to kills you? Torture you? Torment you for another five years?"

"I don't know" Kara replied. She was as worried about his end goal as Alex was. She has had villains want her dead before, but this was different. He didn't want to just kill her, he made that perfectly clear. He wanted to hurt her, make her suffer. But how was a mystery. Sometimes she wished she was dealing with another Hank Henshaw or Lex Luthor. At least then she knew their motivations and knew all she had to do was punch them or arrest them. Jake was becoming nebulas, like Ben Lockwood. Stopping him wouldn't be enough.

Eliza opted to play the optimist as she told the room "whatever that young man has planned, it won't work. Not as long as we all pull together to stop him. But that means no more arguing" she told her daughters. "And no more reckless decisions" she iterated to both of them. "We need to stay strong together, like a family, like a team. Agreed?"

Kara and Alex both nodded, looking at each other sharing the same thought. They would not let Jake win.

"I think it's clear what our next course of action needs to be" Brainy stated, standing tall in the apartment. "We must find and shut down the Blacksmith."

"Agreed" Alex echoed, endorsing the decision. She turned to Brainy and awkwardly said "I know I'm not in charge any more…"

"Any suggestions you can offer will be welcome" he told her with a warm smile.

She smiled back, glad to hear hadn't be tossed aside just yet. "If you can keep the surveillance on Jake, even if he doesn't lead us to his associates I think we'll all sleep better knowing we have eyes on him."

"If he noticed I was following him, there's a chance he knows he's under surveillance" Kara said.

Alex, however, took on a cunning smirk. "That might not be a bad idea. If he knows he's being followed he won't risk drawing attention to his partner."

"Which would separate them both negating any potential colluding or plotting" Brainy nodded. It was strategically sound and very cunning. "I'll make sure my team keeps him in sight at all times, and to be wary of evasion tactics."

"In the meantime, we need to bring together everything we know about the Blacksmith to figure out how we might find him" Alex nodded.

Kara suddenly looked at Brainy, recalling something she overlooked when Alex was shouting at her. "Wait, did you say something about take have someone else planting the camera at the DEO?"

Alex, blinked, almost forgetting that herself. "Yes, the livestream that caught…you know, me…it was planted before Jake was brought into the building."

Kara took on a confused expression. "But that would mean…"

"I'm looking into it" Brainy nodded, refusing to discuss such a sensitive matter further.

With the game plan set out the group steadily began making plans. Kara finally answered her phone and talked to Olsen and Nia discussing their investigation. While the plans were unfolding J'onn took Alex by the elbow silently suggesting "we should talk." Alex briefly looked at her mom and sister, an expression of trepidation on her face as she followed him into Kara's bedroom for a private conversation.

J'onn was silent as he stepped into the room, rubbing his chin with his palm as he slowly turned around to face the young woman. Before he could say anything Alex nervously intercepted him. "I know what you're going to say" she explained, putting her hands behind her back standing more respectfully. "You were right. I did act recklessly and foolishly and irresponsibly. It was wrong to abuse my authority the way I did. I was lucky to be suspended. I deserve to lose my rank for what I did. It was inexcusable." She looked up at him holding back tears of shame. "But the worst part of it is that I disappointed you. You put your faith in me when you put me in command of the DEO, and I let you down. You trained me better than how I acted, and for that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I betrayed your trust, and those under my command. I'm sorry."

J'onn looked down at her as she stood tall, maintaining her posture even as she began to tremble, waiting for him to speak. He stepped forward, his gaze on her seeing her remorse and shame. To her surprise, however, he put his hand on her shoulder and said to her "it's I who owe you and apology." She looked up at him in confusion as he sighed, quietly explaining "I was disappointed in you for what you did. And for a while, all I could think about was the shame it brought me. I thought I had failed you, that I hadn't trained you better, taught you enough. But your mother's words just now reminded me we are not responsible for the actions of others. You made a mistake, which is true. Am I disappointed? Yes, I am" he said. Alex lowered her gaze, a tear falling down her face. But J'onn cupped her chin and lifted it back up, telling her "I am also very, very proud of you for accepting responsibility with honour and dignity. I shouldn't have been so hard on you, and for that I'm sorry. And I hope you take this lesson and learn from it, learn to be better, whatever happens."

Alex felt a wave of emotion overcome her as she nodded. "I will, I promise" she said, falling forward to hug the tall man gratefully. He hugged her back, sharing her relief and gratified their relationship hadn't broken under the weight of what had happened. Alex vowed to make it up to him, and he promised to stand by her no matter what.

It was like Eliza Danvers had said; they need each other now more than ever, for they were, for better or worse, family.