A/N: just briefly going to recap parts of the episode so we can move past it and onto the story.
He pulls up in front of his building on his motorcycle, but there is a Town Car parked across the entrance to the parking garage. Parking the bike on the street, he climbs off and walks over to it. He knocks on the driver's window, but it is one of the passenger windows that lowers.
Annoyed, he moves to the opening window. "Hey, you are blocking the garage entrance," he grumbles.
"Let me guess, you have resigned from CATCO because you have been cast in the next Mission Impossible movie?" Cat quips shaking her head at the sight of the CEO of CATCO dressed in full motorcycle regalia.
"Ms Grant?" James' squeaks in surprise.
"We need to talk," she says firmly. "Get in, unless you want to do this standing in the street."
"Just give me a minute to put up my bike," he says settling down from the initial shock of seeing her.
"We'll circle the block. You have five minutes," Cat states before sitting back and closing the window.
James swallows hard as he watches the black car move out of his way. Good thing that he stores his other bike and Guardian gear elsewhere, he thinks as he heads back to his bike.
"Steven, take the 101 towards Ventura, the usual route that we take when I need time," Cat says leaning forward to give the driver directions, before rolling up the window between them and turning back to her guest.
"I would ask if you're having a midlife crisis but you are much to young for that, so what the hell is going on Mr Olsen?"
"As I stated in my resignation email, I appreciate the opportunity Ms Grant, but running CATCO is not what I want any longer," he says practically repeating the email word for word.
"I read the email Olsen, now tell me what is really going on," Cat snaps angrily. "You are a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, you've won multiple awards in Journalism and Print Media, do you honestly expect me to believe that you are walking away from all that plus the opportunity to run my empire?"
"My priorities have changed," James states simply.
"Well that is obvious," Cat quips crossing her arms angrily.
"Okay, so we just need to ask each other personal questions," Winn exclaims as they all stand around the center console at the DEO Control center. Hands in view and all weapons put away.
"They can read minds Agent Schott," J'onn reminds him.
"What are you looking at?" Agent Demos asks loudly staring at Agent Vasquez.
"What?" Vasquez retorts and glances from side to side.
He takes a step back and pulls his weapon and points it at her.
Vasquez pulls her own weapon, "I wasn't looking at him!" She exclaims.
Alex pulls her own weapon in response and yells, "Agents! Stand down!"
"She's the white martian," Demos retorts still pointing his gun, he turns slightly towards Alex.
Supergirl slides in front of her sister, "You really need to put that away," she says calmly.
For a tense moment, they each glare at each other trying to figure out who isn't themselves and who is a white martian.
"J'onn, you can read minds. Can't you scan us and find the white martian?" Kara asks.
J'onn looks around the group and concentrates for a moment.
"No, I can't there is some sort of psychic interference," he grumbles.
"Look, he's after me. I'll just turn myself in," M'gann suggests.
"Great idea," Winn blurts out.
"NO" J'onn retorts.
"That is not how we do things," Supergirl interjects.
"But you don't understand, this isn't just any white martian. It's Armek, he was my mate," M'gann explains.
"Mate? You mean your husband," Alex clarifies.
"Yes, but it's not the same for martians, we were bonded. It was an arrangement." M'gann adds.
"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we figure out who it is and we end this," J'onn bellows.
"Okay, well first things first," Alex states moving towards Demos and Vasquez. "I am going to collect everyone's weapons."
"Are you crazy?" Vasquez blurts out swinging around to aim her weapon at the senior agent.
Around the table everyone overreacts and begins yelling at each other.
Supergirl tries to reign them in by talking calmly.
"Alright! That's enough!" J'onn yells louder than anyone and they all stop talking.
"I know how to find the martian," he states in his normal voice. "Follow me," J'onn adds glaring at them all until they walk towards him.
They stand around the lab table and watch J'onn light the bunsen burner and turn it up until the flame flickers fully.
"During the war with the white martians, my people were forced to hide in caves and tunnels. At the entrance to each, we set torches and before anyone could gain entry, they were forced to put their hand up to the flame," J'onn explains.
"Why? What did the fire do?" Supergirl questions, moving to stand directly opposite the flame.
"This," M'gann says stepping up to the flame and holding her hand near it. The outer layer of skin disappears and everyone can see that she is a white martian underneath.
"Okay, so who's first?" Winn asks.
"Vasquez should be first, since she was so quick to say that she's not the white martian," Agent Demos suggests.
"Because I'm not, you moron," Vasquez quips, but she steps up to the flame and holds her hand to it, flinching at the heat.
Supergirl nods and the agent steps away.
"Now him," Vasquez says nodding over to Demos to go next.
Demos steps up and he too passes the test.
"J'onn, you okay?" M'gann questions.
"He's not doing it," Demos states alarmed.
M'gann speaks calmly to him in their language and he takes a breath and steps up. It takes another moment before he can do it, but when he does, it proves that he is himself, a green martian.
Relief spreads around the table. Until all eyes land on Alex and Winn.
"Winn, you're up," Supergirl prompts her friend.
"Kara, it's me," he replies.
"Everyone has to do it," the hero states clearly nodding towards the flame.
"Okay," Winn says stepping up to it. His hand immediately morphs into a white martian hand and he grabs the burner. "You got me," he says flashing an evil grin before shoving over the lab table knocking everyone down and attacking J'onn, waving the flame in his face.
Supergirl blows freeze breath at the burner, freezing the martian's hand and putting out the flame.
J'onn takes advantage and fights back, Supergirl scrambles to help but the martian, still disguised as Winn, is strong. He shoves her away again and escapes.
"Home now, Steven." Cat says in disgust as she watches James cross the street and enter his building without looking back.
Pulling her phone out of her purse, she checks her messages. She thought Kara would have realized what tomorrow is and cancelled their dinner plans by now. Cat sighs, thinking about her conversation with Kara this morning and makes a decision. If they are going to have dinner together on the other woman's birthday, then Cat is going to at least acknowledge it. She sends a message to her private caterer asking her to put together a simple dinner for two complete with a small birthday cake.
Vasquez and Demos return from the armory with bigger weapons. They join the others as they work out a plan to find the alien. Their discussion is cut short when an alarm sounds. Vasquez steps up to her console and quickly figures out that the reactor that powers the building has been corrupted.
"What does that mean?" Supergirl asks.
"It means this whole building could blow, taking ten city blocks with it," J'onn remarks.
"Then we better find that martian,"Supergirl points out.
"We'll go search for him. You stay here with them," J'onn says laying a hand on the hero's shoulder.
Unsaid, but understood between them is the fact that if M'gann and J'onn aren't successful. If they can't stop the white martian, it will be up to Supergirl to save everyone from the explosion.
As they make their way through the reactor area looking for the martian disguised as Agent Schott, they find the actual Winn tucked away in a web. "We found the real Agent Schott and he's okay," J'onn states into his coms.
In the control room everyone looks around relieved.
"Have you found the martian?" Supergirl asks.
"No," J'onn says. "Supergirl there are two white martians," he blurts out. "And Alex is the other one."
In the control room, Supergirl spins around to face her sister. Mentally, reminding herself that it's not Alex.
"You guys are so dumb," the martian disguised as Alex exclaims. "And what a relief to not have to pretend to care about your feelings any more!" The Alien adds.
Supergirl grimaces and then flies into her, knocking her across the room. They struggle and fight.
Downstairs, M'gann and J'onn have rescued the real Winn and Alex. J'onn explains the situation to Winn, while M'gann checks on Alex.
"We've got to go. Schott is the only one who can stop that reactor from exploding," J'onn explains to M'gann.
"I'll stay with her, go ahead." She says nodding over to the agent still recovering from the exposure to the martian secretions.
In the reactor room, Winn can barely concentrate on stabilizing the core with J'onn and Supergirl fighting the white martians in the same room.
"This stuff never happened at CATCO," Winn grumbles as he goes back and forth between the two different control panels in the reactor room, dodging the fighting aliens at each turn.
The white martian, now transformed back into his own skin, launches himself at Supergirl again, sending the caped hero flying across the room from the impact and causing Winn to glance up worriedly.
"Come on, come on," he mutters as the system counts down to two minutes. Across the room Supergirl is back up and on the attack. Winn exhales loudly, ignoring the alarm warning that he has less than two minutes to stabilize the reactor's core.
M'gann transforms into a green martian to help J'onn fight Armek, and even though it's two against one, the white martian still has the upperhand. Until finally, M'gann is able to grab a piece of debris and impale him with it as he stands over J'onn about to kill him.
Across the room, Supergirl appears to have finally beat the other martian. She rushes over to Winn, just as the system announces that the core is now stable. Twelve seconds remain on the screen.
"That was close," the hero exclaims.
"Nah, we had a full twelve seconds left," Winn quips with a smile, holding up his hand for a high five.
Their celebration is cut short when the white martian that Supergirl knocked out, rises up to his feet.
A burst of blue light shoots out and the martian falls back down.
"Have I mentioned lately, how much I love my new gun?" Alex asks sarcastically from the doorway.