A/N: Thank you for the comments.

Guest - Thanks- I'll happily add it to the list, but it sounds like it will be more of an epic than I will have time to write in the near future.


"Hey J'onn." Maggie greeted.

"Detective Sawyer."

"How's Kara and Eliza?"

"Eliza is back in Midvale and Kara is keeping to herself."

"She's still in National City?" Maggie asked.

"She said she wanted to focus on work." J'onn explained.

"And you believed her?"

"No. But here I can keep an I on her." He said as he sat down and asked. "What have you got?"

"I don't know if you are aware of this, but National City is becoming a refuge for aliens. I guess having a Kryptonian and a Martian defending the city made it an attractive prospect."

"What does this have to do with Cadmus?" J'onn asked not seeing the link.

"Normally the aliens come from all over, but occasionally you get groupings from one place. Most of the aliens keep to themselves so it is hard to get much intel from them. But you can normally find out where they came from, if not why they left. Turns out that Cadmus rocking up somewhere causes an exodus of aliens. Six groupings in the last year correspond to places where we, well you, later found a Cadmus base."

"Nice work." J'onn said. "If NCPD can spare you I'd like you to work with Brainy to figure out where their current operations are."

"Brainy?" Maggie asked.

"He's….you'll figure it out."

-00-

"You okay?" James asked Lena as he stepped on to the balcony and saw Lena looking out over the city.

"No. I feel so helpless."

"Kara?" He guessed.

"Yeah."

"I thought you had made progress?"

"So did I, but when I returned with some fresh food she had locked me out."

"Perhaps she went out." James said.

"No. I could hear her inside. She was in there."

"Do you want me to call J'onn? He can go in."

"I don't know. I mean she shouldn't be alone but if we force it, is she going to shut herself off completely? But then again maybe it's just me she doesn't want to be around. I mean my mother has taken her foster father and Alex from her."

"Kara doesn't hold you responsible." James said.

"Maybe she should. How many times have I stood next to my mother and not managed to stop her?"

"She's still your mother." James reminded her.

-00-

"Detective Sawyer was correct, there is a correlation between large numbers of new alien arrivals from areas we have found Cadmus bases. Of course it is not always the case and if you assumed it was there would be a large number of false positives. However, I have designed a model to minimise those false positives. Unfortunately we can't verify the hypothesis remotely as the bases tend to be hidden underground and based on your previous experience they have a very low e.m. profile so they are hard to detect."

"So we need to send in some task forces?" J'onn asked.

"Yes. But I would caution sending them to every site as that may give Cadmus an indication that we can track them."

"So what do you recommend?" Maggie asked.

"I have identified two sites, which I believe to be the most like location of Cadmus bases. Focus just on those two." Brainy said as J'onn's phone rang. Glancing at the caller I.D. he said. "I need to take this." With that he backed away and answered the call.

"Can you figure out what they are doing at the bases based on supplies or traffic that are being shipped towards the locations?" Maggie asked.

"An impressively insightful question." Brainy commented. "I will examine the data available."

"Problem?" Maggie said as J'onn returned wearing a frown.

"Kara has shut herself off from everyone. She's even locked herself in her apartment. I need to go round there."

"We've got this." Maggie said. "Worry about Kara."

-00-

As J'onn waited outside Kara's apartment he wasn't surprised when she didn't answer. Knocking once more he called. "I'm coming in in twenty seconds." He then waited for any type of response. Getting none he used his Martian powers to phase shift through the door. As he entered he saw Kara sitting on the couch hugging a cushion.

"Kara." He called gently as he approached her. Not getting any response he sat down next to her and silently pulled her into him. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have left you."

"You're not responsible for me." Kara said.

"I promised Eliza that you'd be okay." J'onn said. "We both thought you were doing better. What happened?"

"I thought I could go back and save her."

"What do you mean?" J'onn asked.

"Mon-El gave me a ring. I thought I could save her, just like I saved everyone during the fight with Reign."

"That's why you were so desperate to get your powers back?" J'onn guessed.

"Yes. But it doesn't matter now. Brainy stole my ring."

"He will have had good reasons." J'onn said whilst wondering what they were."You told Eliza you were going to start work."

"I lied. I didn't want her to worry. She deserves better than that."

"I hate to break it to you, but I am pretty certain that Eliza knows you are lying." J'onn pointed out."Why don't you move in with me? That way I can look after you, but I'll be out during the day so you can have time to yourself."

"I need to process and I need to be alone to do that. But no one seems to understand."

"That is because we care about you." J'onn said.

"I don't deserve that. I have cost you all so much." Kara said sadly. "I refuse to be a burden any longer."

"No one sees you as a burden except you." J'onn said. "You have sacrificed so much for us, this city and this planet. Let us repay some of that."

"I don't want to be repaid. I just want Alex back, but no one can give me that." Kara said. "And if I can't have that I need time alone to carry out the Kryptonian grieving rituals."

"What rituals?" J'onn asked.

"Rituals we carry out after death to help souls make their way to Rao's light. I can't do them with everyone interrupting all the time."

"I tell you what. If you promise to keep phoning Eliza and you make regular contact with me I won't push you. But you have to join me for a meal at least once a week." He suggested, despite believing Kara was lying.

-TBC...


A/N: Thanks, for reading and reviewing.