Hey Supergang!

Sorry you had to wait a little longer for this chapter...usually my job here is just to write down everything I see in my head, and I can't stop until I get it all out, and for a while I was sustaining a pretty intense pace because I just kept seeing the next scene, and the next scene...and then after the last chap, I saw only the first scene of this next one, no idea what was gonna happen next. So I just kind of had to wait. I alternated between thinking about it and not thinking about it. And then boom, last night on the bus I saw the WHOLE THING all at once. And luckily I had the day off work today, so I wrote this whole chapter in one day. Yes. You're welcome! :)

…...

I'd Carry a Plane for You

Part 11: I Spy

…...

"Higher!" Alex called out, laughing as she yelled in Kara's ear through the rushing winds. "I wanna go above the cloud line!" Kara didn't answer, but Alex could feel her girlfriend's smile. A second later, they were shooting up through the clouds, soaring above a landscape of floating white puffballs, nothing around them but dazzling blue sky and the bright yellow sun.

"Put your arms out!" Kara yelled, and Alex obeyed unquestioningly, letting go of the tandem harness that kept her strapped to Kara's back which Winn had so thoughtfully designed for them. Now they could fly together without having to hold onto each other, leaving both their hands free; this was their first test-run. They'd tried to pretend this was a practical concern, that they'd use it for work purposes; and they would, no question. But they both knew that wasn't what Kara was thinking about when she asked Winn to design it. The real reason was this, right now. Alex had been there for Kara when the blonde girl was going through something she'd never experienced before, something completely wretched and debilitating; and if Alex hadn't been there, Kara was pretty sure she would've just been hiding under a blanket crying for the entire 24 hour period when she was sick. And she probably would've been sick a lot longer, too, if Alex almost getting shot in the head hadn't triggered her adrenalin-rush reset button that she never knew she had. Now, she wanted to give Alex something she'd never experienced before: the ability to fly without holding onto anything, without holding onto Kara, without having to think. Just soaring, like a bird. Free.

As the dark-haired girl held out her arms at her sides, Kara raised hers, too, pointing slightly more forward, and they rocketed into a wide, upward spiral, riding the air currants at just enough of an angle that the wind became like a tunnel around them, and they were just riding the current, letting it rush them along, higher and higher, twisting up towards the sun. They were both laughing hysterically off the intense adrenalin high of flying together like this, no mission, no bad guys. Just Kara and Alex and the bright blue sky.

"Kar?" Alex panted when they finally came out of the spiral, cruising at a slower, more relaxed pace through the infinite blue above the cloud cover.

"Yeah?" Kara asked, wishing she could unbuckle the harness just for a moment, so she could flip Alex around and kiss her. The blonde superhero could feel her girlfriend's heart pounding fast against her back, feel her blood rushing through her body; they were so connected like this, up here all alone in the blue.

"When you're out here flying like this...do you ever get...kind of turned on?" Alex asked a little shyly, reaching her arms forward to slide over Kara's, their fingers intertwining in the rushing air.

"Usually, no..." Kara smiled, her x-ray eyes scanning through the cloud cover in search of a certain, private landing spot that she may have visited earlier in the day. "I usually just get lots of adrenalin, or I get all peaceful and zen out. But usually, I'm not up in the sky with you..." Beaming at the sound of Alex's giggles, Kara pointed her nose down slightly toward a spot in the clouds, and rocketed them down to earth, where a secluded oceanside cliff awaited. There, Alex saw, a soft picnic blanket was laid out with a basket of snacks and drinks beside it, miles away from anyone but the birds. When they touched down, all they had to do to release themselves from the dual harness was unhook a heavy metal snap on each side, and suddenly they were facing each other again, kissing and sighing and holding each other by their hair.

"How do I take this thing off?" Kara asked breathlessly, struggling with the parachute-style harness that was still strapped to her body. Alex quickly undid the buckles, having, obviously, a lot more experience with military parachutes than her flying girlfriend. Kara smiled, kicked off her boots and peeled off her Supergirl suit, dropping it in the grass next to her and leaving her in nothing but a pair of red cotton panties.

"Kara..." Alex sighed blissfully, pulling her sweet alien in by the small of her back and kissing her, slowly, teasingly. "You're so beautiful, it breaks my heart..."

"Straps off. Straps off," Kara begged impatiently, pulling gently at the harness still strapped to Alex's body. The blonde girl could rip the thing to shreds in an instant, of course; but she didn't want to wreck it. Flying with Alex this way was too much fun.

Alex followed her girlfriend's command, undoing her own flying harness as fast as she could and then pulling off her tight black DEO uniform, allowing Kara to push her back onto the soft blanket and kiss her like it was the end of the world, like this was the last kiss they'd ever get. Kara undid the front clasp of Alex's black lace bra, pushing it back off her shoulders as they moved against each other on the grassy cliffside, miles from the nearest road or human being, lost completely in each other, skin to skin.

That was when Kara's bluetooth earring went off. Only the DEO and Alex had the ability to contact her this way; it wasn't as if she could just let it go to voicemail. With an animalistic growl of frustration, Kara sat up on top of Alex, panting slightly as she tapped her earring. "This had better be a fucking emergency, or I am melting someone's face," the blonde girl snarled.

"You might want to hold off on that once I tell you what we're tracking," Hank said through the earpiece, his voice all business. That took the wind out of Kara's sails slightly, even as her body protested the loss of skin-to-skin contact with Alex. "I'm sorry, Danvers, I know you're both on leave today, but I thought you'd want to know. General Lane just showed up again, and he's tracking your Aunt Astra. If he finds her before we do..." He didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't have to. They both knew what would happen. A massive military standoff with Astra's army that would cost countless innocent lives. The DEO had to get to Astra first, they just had to.

"I understand...thanks Chief," Kara sighed, lying back down on top of Alex and rolling onto one hip so she was sort of half on top of her girlfriend, and half on the blanket. "Let me know when...when there's something to know. Whoever finds her first, I'll be there. Whether it's you or General Lane." Alex went tense underneath her, arms wrapping protectively around her girlfriend's body at the mention of the General's name. Alex had been no fan of the man to begin with, but now, after what happened to Kara with Red Tornado...the young DEO agent was ready to rip the pompous egomaniac's balls off with her bare hands and shove them down his throat.

"Copy that, Danvers. I'll try not to bother you again today unless it's absolutely necessary. Tell Alex the DEO is watching your back, okay? Both your backs."

"Will do, Sir. We appreciate it." Kara tapped her earring, ending the call, and dropped her head down against Alex's shoulder with a groan.

"What the fuck is General Lane doing back in town?!" Alex growled, one hand holding Kara possessively around her hips.

"Same as us. Looking for Astra. Presumably, different plans for what to do after finding her," Kara sighed, nuzzling up to Alex's throat and tracing her fingers teasingly over her girlfriend's bellybutton. "But I don't want to worry about that right now..." She pushed herself up on one elbow, grinning devilishly as she looked down into Alex's dark eyes, her long blonde hair spilling down her arm like a curtain, brushing teasingly over Alex's skin. "Right now...I only want to be here with you, Lexie." They smiled at each other like kids in a candy store for a moment before Kara leaned down and kissed her girlfriend again, making Alex arch her back like a cat, raking her nails hard down Kara's skin with no fear of hurting her.

"I'm gonna make you scream so hard," Alex growled, her dark eyes shining.

"Why do you think I brought you all the way out here?" Kara asked happily, slightly breathless. There were very few situations that had the power to render Kara Zor-El Danvers breathless. This was one of them. The light ocean breeze cooled the sweat on their bare skin as the world around them completely fell away, and they got lost in a universe of only each other.

…...

After an uncountable numbers of orgasms (not that either one of them was trying to keep count), they both fell asleep for a little while, limp and blissed out in each other's arms. When they woke up, they dove straight into the picnic basket Kara had packed, not bothering to dress first since they were still completely alone with the ocean, the sky and the birds. Besides, after they re-fueled on donuts and chocolate milk and strawberries, they were probably just going to keep ravaging each other until they fell asleep again...as long as they still had food in the picnic basket, the two girls had no plans to move from their idyllic spot.

That is, until Kara sat up with a little squeak of surprise, staring straight up into the sky with a furiously indignant expression in her clear blue eyes. "What the fuck?" The blonde girl growled, zooming back into her clothes and throwing Alex's at her before the dark-haired girl even had a chance to fully raise her head and process what she was seeing: a small black object in the sky hovering over them, propelled by helicopter blades. A drone. Probably a military drone, sent by that pompous ass General Lane to spy on Kara since he had failed to kill her outright. Alex held her clothes protectively over her body so she was covered, even if she couldn't put them back on as fast as Kara could.

"Did you enjoy the free porn, asshole?!" Alex yelled up fiercely at the sky, as Kara shot off the ground and went after it. The drone was fast, faster than any the young Kryptonian had ever seen before; it darted from one direction to another with a level of maneuverability that seemed impossible for an inanimate object. It took Kara a while to chase it down, bringing her all the way back to the city before she finally shot it down with her laser eyes over a skyscraper roof. As soon as she touched down and picked up the smoldering remains of the drone, she knew she'd been wrong—it wasn't military. As much as she wanted to blame General Lane for everything right now, she couldn't ignore what was right in front of her. There were no military or government markings, no serial number, nothing. She had no idea where it had come from. But, she knew one person who could figure it out. With the wrecked drone in hand, she shot back into the sky to Alex. At least they'd gotten half a day's vacation...next time, Kara decided, she was going to fly them somewhere much, much further away. Maybe one of those tiny unmapped islands scattered around the Pacific Ocean.

…...

Hank was very surprised to see Kara and Alex marching into the DEO control room, thinking they were still enjoying their day off since he had promised to keep them informed if anything important came up. Without even saying hello, Kara dumped the destroyed drone onto the table in front of him.

"Someone's spying on me," She said simply, one hand on her hip, looking slightly agitated—though not nearly as agitated as Alex. "Find out who it is, so I can go punch them real hard."

"I know who it is, Kar, I already told you!" Alex exclaimed in frustration as she started pacing around the control room, too pissed off to stand still.

"You think you know," Kara replied stubbornly, like they'd had this conversation already on the way there, probably more than once. "A hunch is not the same as evidence. General Lane works that way, not us. I would like to actually know who's responsible before I go in all punchy and kicky." Alex growled in frustration, unable to think of a sound counter-argument, because there wasn't one.

"Fine. Have the tech team meet me in my lab, and then we'll tear this thing apart until I can prove to you that Max Lord is spying on you, and then you can have a clear conscience before we go kick his ass," Alex huffed, sweeping her hair back off her face impatiently. "Let's just hope our little sex tape doesn't get posted on YouTube first, huh?" Hank groaned a very fatherly groan, recoiling with one hand over his eyes.

"Dammit, Grey. I can't un-hear that," he complained.

"Neither will the rest of America, Sir," Alex said unrepentantly, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. "Whoever was on the other end of that drone camera, they saw me and Kara...together. If they can figure out who I am then they'll know that Supergirl is Kara Danvers in about two seconds. So if we're not gonna violate any civil liberties today, let's get this thing in the lab and figure out where it came from. Now." Hank just nodded and got on his comm, paging the tech team to Alex's lab.

"What can I do?" Kara asked anxiously, feeling useless and worried. She wasn't any good with the tech stuff, that was Alex's department. But she had to do something.

"Go to work, I guess," Alex sighed, squeezing Kara's hand reassuringly. "I know you can't just go home and watch Netflix while you wait for us to figure this out, but there's really nothing you can do here. Go surprise Ms. Grant, be the employee who gets the day off and then only uses half of it. You know that'll impress the shit out of her," the dark-haired girl grinned, trying to be encouraging. Kara nodded unhappily.

"Okay, I guess...you'll call me the second you know?" the blonde alien girl asked in resignation.

"The very same second," Alex promised, with a little half-smile as she pulled Kara in by her hand, so she could speak softly right into her girlfriend's ear. "And then...maybe we can find another secluded little spot to have some more of that super-loud sex? Because we are really, really good at that," the dark-haired girl purred, making Kara blush as a goofy smile lit up her face. Hank turned away and closed his eyes—even without the use of his telepathy, it was more than obvious what the two young women were talking about in low murmurs across the room.

"We really really are," the blonde girl agreed happily, her fingers twining together with Alex's for a brief moment. "Okay. I'm going. Call me." And just like that, Kara was gone, zipping out of the DEO so fast she didn't even stop to give Alex a goodbye kiss; because she knew that in her current state, she'd be unable to stop once she started. "Stupid insatiable alien libido," she grumbled to herself as she flew across the skyline of National City towards CatCo. "You had sex all morning, can you please chill? We have work to do now."

…...

When Kara walked through the doors of CatCo, there was a palpable sensation of disaster in the air. Everyone was running around frantically, and the many TVs mounted all around the lobby and inner office had headlines like Cat Grant Hacked and CatCo in Ruins? CEO Shamed splashed across their screens. "Oh, Rao," the blonde girl murmured to herself as she looked from one screen to another.

"Winn, what happened?" she asked in a low voice as she approached her friend's desk, stooping down low to speak to him, as if worried that someone else in the office might have super-hearing. After being spied on by an anonymous drone while naked with her girlfriend, she was definitely feeling a little jumpy in the privacy department.

"Kara, what are you doing here? Go back to your day off!" Winn squealed in a harsh whisper, his eyes wide with frayed nerves, looking at her like—well, like she was from another planet. "Of all the days to get out of this place..."

"Kira! In my office, now!" Ms. Grant's shrill voice cut across the office, sounding furious, which made absolutely no sense since Kara wasn't even supposed to be in the office today. How could she possibly be in trouble?

"I waaaarned you," Winn sang softly, averting his gaze back to his own computer screen as Kara looked over uneasily at her harassed looking boss, sitting at her large desk in her glass office with a whiskey tumbler full of M&Ms in front of her.

"Oh, crap," Kara murmured, her mind taken off her own privacy exploitation as she looked at her boss, whose entire digital life had, apparently, just been made public. Ms. Grant may not realize it, but right now no one knew how she felt more than her assistant.

After rounding up Winn and James and printing out thousands of pages' worth of Ms. Grant's emails, Kara spent the rest of the afternoon using her super-speed to read almost every email her boss had ever written, compiling a list of potential points of embarrassment if the media were to dig any deeper. They didn't find anything so terrible or scandalous, as far as Kara was concerned; except for the bank transfers Ms. Grant was apparently making monthly to an Adam Foster in Opal City, who Kara knew was a real person because she remembered A. Foster, Opal City from the stack of Christmas Cards she'd addressed for Ms. Grant over the holidays. The boys seemed to think Ms. Grant was keeping this anonymous 24-year-old surfer boy on the side, like a sugar mama. Kara knew that couldn't be it; but she couldn't think of any other explanation, and she knew that whatever the truth was, the media would certainly assume what James and Winn had.

Kara stood nervously in the lobby by the board room at the end of the day, waiting for the emergency CatCo board meeting to end so she could report her findings to her boss, as unpleasant a prospect as it was. When the doors finally opened, Ms. Grant hung back chatting politely with several board members while the rest of them streamed out towards the elevators, understandably eager to get back to their own lives after the marathon board meeting. Kara stood patiently at Ms. Grant's shoulder, waiting for her boss in polite silence. Keep an eye on Dirk Armstrong, Cat was saying to the last two board members lingering to speak with her, presumably the ones she actually trusted. He's as two faced as they come. Their eyes all flicked toward the middle aged man with greying blonde hair and stylish glasses, about to get on the elevator on the opposite end of the large lobby, which was separated from them by not one, but two glass partitions. Kara's eyes followed her boss's to observe Dirk Armstrong, CatCo Board Chairman; and without even thinking about it, Kara used her super-hearing to zoom in on the conversation between the Chairman, his Vice-chair and Executive Secretary.

We've planted the seeds, the smug man was saying to his colleagues as he buttoned his blazer, a moment before the elevator doors closed. Now we just have to wait for the media to reap the fruit. Cat Grant will be ousted by the end of the week. Kara was so shocked she gasped involuntarily, making Ms. Grant jump beside her and look at her quizzically, in obvious irritation.

"Oh! Um...I just realized...I forgot your latte," Kara stammered lamely, straightening her glasses unnecessarily. "I'll just...go get it now?"

"No, no, we've wasted too much time already," Ms. Grant sighed, waving her hand dismissively. "Chop chop, Kira. Time to debrief." Kara followed anxiously after her boss, bursting to tell Ms. Grant what she'd just overhead with her alien ears; but she couldn't, for obvious reasons, so she shoved the information to the back of her mind for the moment, and focused on giving Ms. Grant what solid information they did have about her public affairs. Most of the list were things the older woman just rolled her eyes at, as Kara knew she would; but when she brought up Adam Foster, there was a palpable shift in her boss's demeanor. She became...still. As if the thing in front of her were too big to go over, under, or around. It was just there.

"Ms. Grant...I know what the media will make of this if they get hold of it," Kara said quietly, while Cat deliberately avoided eye contact. "A powerful woman CEO paying a monthly allowance to some 24-year-old surfer boy...and I know that's not the truth. But if I don't know what is the truth, I don't know how to help. Ms. Grant...who is Adam Foster?" Kara asked gently. Ms. Grant sighed, took off her glasses, and looked at Kara in silence for a long moment.

"Adam Foster is my son," she said calmly. The story of Cat Grant's firstborn child came out so slowly, so hesitantly, Kara felt fairly certain her boss had never told anyone about this, the baby she had given up when she was barely older than Kara was now. The fact that Ms. Grant's son was the same age as Kara herself made the young alien girl feel even more connected, more invested in helping them both. She ached to tell her boss what she'd overhead Dirk Armstrong say in the elevator; but she couldn't, she couldn't just sacrifice her own secrets to save Ms. Grant's. But that was all right; she could tell James and Winn, and they could help her expose Dirk Armstrong, and then the media would have no more reason to go after Cat Grant or Adam Foster.

Kara barely had a chance to fill the boys in on what she'd overheard and set them the task of finding a way to expose Dirk Armstrong's conspiracy plot, when her tiny Supergirl phone went off and she tapped her earring to answer, anxious to hear what Alex had learned about their own recent privacy invasion. "So who's watching our sex tape?" She asked, choosing to skip past the traditional hello. The boys both made odd choking sounds and turned away.

"You know who it is, Kar," Alex sighed, sounding very dejected and annoyed for someone who had just been proven right. "And the fun just keeps coming—Astra and her army just attacked Lord Tech. We gotta saddle up, babe."

"Are you freaking kidding me right now, Alex?" Kara demanded, pacing across the abandoned, half-painted office that she, Winn and James used to talk Supergirl business in private. "You want us to go defend the asshole who's spying on us with some super-drone? Let Astra blow the place up!"

"You know you don't mean that, Kara," Alex said gently, even as Kara was already thinking the same thing herself. "We don't get to choose who we protect. We protect everyone. We save the world. And if we can take Astra down, maybe we'll have a shot at finding out what this Myriad thing is before it's too late to do something about it."

"How'd you get so smart, baby?" Kara sighed, still pacing, but at a much slower speed now.

"By listening to you," Alex smiled, and Kara smiled back on the other end of the line. "Now get your cute little caped crusader ass over to Lord Tech pronto. I'm already en route with alpha team, but you'll probably still get there before us. Get to Astra, and we'll evacuate the building."

"Can do. See you in five. Stay safe, Lexie," Kara murmured, tapping her earring to end the call as she looked back up at the boys with the pained sigh of a superhero with too many places to be. "So...that was Alex, my aunt is attacking Lord Tech, I gotta go," she said regretfully.

"Can we go back to the part with the sex tape?" Winn asked in hopeful bewilderment.

"No," Kara said simply, smacking him very gently on the back side of his head. "Listen, I'm sorry guys, but I need you to take point on the Dirk Armstrong situation. Find the proof. If we don't take him down by 8am tomorrow, Ms. Grant is going to call a press conference and step down from CatCo."

"What kind of proof?" James asked dubiously. "We don't know anything about corporate law, Kara. And we're not gonna learn in one night."

"You're right...we don't know anything about the legal system," Kara agreed slowly, a delightfully sly smile spreading across her face. "But we do know someone who does...don't we, James?"

"You want me to call Lucy?" the art director complained indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Kara, I moved across the country after we broke up for a reason."

"Yeah, and the reason is that you're stupid," Kara smirked, smacking him gently upside the head the same way she had done to Winn a minute ago. "I met her last week when I fought Red Tornado, you know. She's smart and hot and she smells awesome. And even though her dad's an ass who maybe tried to have me killed, I honestly don't think she knew anything about that. She looked genuinely shocked when everything was going down. She's one of the good guys, James."

"I know she's one of the good guys! I don't need you telling me about my ex!" James huffed. Kara could see him blushing, but as much fun as it was to get a rise off her friend, she really did have to go save Maxwell freaking Lord now.

"Then call her. Let her help. I'll talk to you guys soon, okay?" And without waiting for an answer, Kara was out the window and gone, her work clothes landing in a puddle at their feet.

…...

When Kara arrived at the bedlam of chaos and violence at Lord Tech, the only person she wanted to find was her aunt. She was the general; she was the only one who could make her troops stand down, all of them. She was also, Kara knew in her heart, the only one who could be reasoned with. If she really, truly tried. She could get through to her aunt, bring her back to the light. She flew above the tall glass bridge connecting the two halves of the large research facility, searching for her aunt's familiar face; but it was Astra's husband, Non, who collided with her in midair, sending them both crashing to the ground and crushing a hundred yards of asphalt under Kara's back as they fought each other viciously.

"You know who I am, little girl?" The older man teased, a cruel smile lighting up his face. Astra may believe she was acting to save the planet, but this man had no noble goals; Kara could see it in his eyes. He was just sadistic and power-hungry.

"You're Non. Astra's husband!" Kara snarled back, flipping herself backwards into the air so she landed on top of him, punching him into submission. "YOU are the REASON my aunt turned her back on her family and became a murderer!"

"You'd like to think that," Non chuckled, only slightly winded as he broke out of Kara's chokehold and punched her so hard, she flew through the air and crashed into one side of the top story of Lord Tech, and out the other. She landed so hard, all the breath was knocked out of her and the world became fuzzy and far away, her senses dulled momentarily by oxygen deprivation. It was mere seconds before Non landed smugly beside her, drawing the kryptonite blade from a lead-lined sheath at his belt. It was the same one both Kara and Astra had been stabbed with.

"Astra doesn't know I took this," he said conversationally as he waved the blade over her body, slamming her with nausea and dizziness just from the radiation it was giving off, which he was shielded from by his suit. She remembered the pain of having her arm sliced open with that blade, and her heart started to pound, making it even harder to get her breath back. "She gave orders for you to remain unharmed. But once you are gone, and Myriad lives, she will forgive. She will see that no one life can stand in the way of this planet's future." He was still grinning sadistically, standing over Kara with the glowing green blade, trying to decide where to slit her open. But before he decided, a half-dozen tiny darts—glowing bright green—shot into the side of his neck, one of the only places where his skin wasn't shielded by his kryptonite-resistant suit. Immediately, he went rigid, the blade falling limply from his hand as he toppled over. Kara panted, limp with relief and still breathless from the fight and the closeness of the glowing green blade. She rolled over onto her stomach, pushing herself up on one elbow to see who had just saved her. Even though she already knew.

"Showoff," the blonde girl smiled, allowing Alex to help her to her feet. The dark-haired girl holstered her kryptonite gun while three other agents swarmed past them to secure Non in a set of heavy kryptonite handcuffs. "Thanks, Lexie." Kara wanted to kiss her girlfriend, her hero; but she couldn't, not dressed as Supergirl, non in public. This was the very thing they were fighting to protect, if Max Lord hadn't already posted his drone video online and blown their cover while they were saving his damn lab from alien terrorists.

"Anytime," Alex smiled back, squeezing Kara's hand. Before they'd even had a chance to regroup, a blast close by knocked them all flat on their backs, as Astra and her troops swooped in to rescue Non. A dozen of the black-clad Kryptonians took out the three DEO agents securing Non, and shot away with him. Astra and her remaining troops stayed behind to keep Kara and the DEO team occupied so they couldn't follow.

"Astra, listen to me, it's not too late to stop this," Kara begged, while Alex and the rest of alpha squad fought for their lives against the Kryptonian terrorists. "If Myriad is so terrible that you can't tell me what it is, doesn't that mean something? We can save this planet, we will, but not like this. Our powers, Astra...they don't give us the right to be fascist dictators. Just be a person. Please..."

"You are as naïve as your mother was, little one," the older woman said sadly. "I told you, Myriad cannot be stopped. I told you not to confuse my mercy for weakness." She zoomed over to the kryptonite blade lying on the ground where Kara and Non had just fought, and picked it up; but before she could attack, Alex's laser sights were glowing red on her throat, her kryptonite gun aimed at the same spot where she had shot Non.

"Drop it," Alex commanded, her voice stone-cold with authority. Astra smiled a little sadly.

"Brave one," she nodded to Alex in recognition.

"My name is Alex," the young agent snarled, her gun sights still set on the older woman's throat.

"Call yourself whatever you like. You are a child with a toy dart gun," Astra laughed, sounding, Alex thought, genuinely amused. "You cannot hurt me."

"Maybe I can give it a try," Hank rumbled, surprising Astra from behind as he circled around with beta team at his back, kryptonite darts flying in all directions. With Astra's troops suddenly outnumbered, they quickly began to fall back. Kara and Alex were fighting back to back, ensuring that no one could sneak up behind them; Kara wasn't quite at a hundred percent, with the kryptonite knife still nearby, and all the tiny glowing green darts whizzing around. It wasn't enough to cause her any lasting damage; but it sapped her strength as she fought. Frightened, she extended her super-hearing in hopes of assessing everything that was going on around them, finding a way to end the stand-off.

"You don't fight like a human," she heard Astra say to Hank, fighting up against a wall about a hundred feet away from them.

"That's because I'm not," Hank replied, in a voice that was slightly deeper and more resonant than Kara had heard before. She didn't know what to make of that. But before she had a chance to even think about it, Astra had her long blade at Hank's throat, arms pinned behind his back, and blasted into the center of the fighting group of soldiers, human and alien.

"Surrender or your leader dies," she called out to the DEO team in a calm, clear voice. She was looking straight at Kara. It was her surrender the general wanted, not the humans. Astra was going to greater and greater lengths to avoid killing her niece. She was so focused on Kara, she didn't notice when Alex circled behind her with the kryptonite gun, held downward to avoid showing the laser sights until the last second. "How much blood would you have on your hands, little one? When you claim to despise violence so passionately?" Then her eyes went wide in pain and shock as ten kryptonite darts sank into the back of her neck. She went rigid and toppled over like a sack of potatoes, just as Non had. With their general on the ground, being put in handcuffs, the few remaining Kryptonian troops fled, presumably on Astra's orders in the event of her own capture, to save themselves to fight another day, to keep their cause alive at all costs.

"Thanks for the assist, Grey," Hank nodded at Alex, rubbing the spot on his throat where Astra's long, jagged blade had been pressed.

"Second that," Kara sighed, straightening up a little woozily. "Can we, maybe, walk away from all these kryptonite darts?" She asked weakly, gesturing to the tiny, glowing green darts lying on the ground from the battle. When they were inside the guns, they were incased in lead, and Kara wasn't affected by them; but right now they were everywhere, and she was feeling a little green, herself. "I don't know what throwing up feels like, but there's a definite possibility it's about to happen."

"Yeah, of course, c'mon baby," Alex smiled, taking Kara by the hand and leading her away from the battlefield, back towards the DEO Humvees parked in front of Lord Tech's entrance. As the radiation from the kryptonite faded away, Kara began to feel better. Still exhausted, but not dizzy or nauseous. Holding Alex's hand helped, too, feeling her girlfriend's familiar pulse through her skin, the steady rhythm calming Kara's own heartbeat. As soon as Max Lord walked out the front door, though, they both dropped each other's hands immediately. As if he didn't already know all he needed to know.

"Oh look, it's our favorite peeping tom," Alex said sarcastically, folding her arms as she stood protectively in front of Kara. "You're welcome for saving your lab, by the way. Maybe you should think about who'll be left to save your ass if you keep sending spy drones after us."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Max Lord replied calmly, as smug and smooth as a billionaire tech mogul who hadn't just had his lab half-wrecked by an alien terrorist invasion. "I'm afraid I have to ask you and your government lackeys to leave, Agent Grey. This is private property."

"Max, don't be an idiot. This is an active crime scene, we need to secure the area," Alex shook her head, unwilling to believe anyone so smart could be this dumb. "At least tell us what they were looking for, or what they took? We may not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I'm pretty sure we're both against terrorism!"

"I have my own security, thank you," Max Lord said, still smug, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you want to know what those maniacs were after, why don't you ask your pet alien? From what I've seen, she's been very...cooperative with you." He raised an eyebrow, and Alex and Kara's faces both flushed red in fury and embarrassment at his subtle jab, reminding them that he had been the one to send the drone, and he had watched the footage, and they had absolutely no way to prove it.

"You sick fuck..." Alex snarled, her hands balling up into fists as she took a step closer to the cocky, smug tech genius. But Kara put herself in between them, both hands pushing gently against Alex's collarbone.

"Lexie, don't. He's not worth it," Kara begged, looking beseechingly into her girlfriend's dark, furious eyes. Alex sighed unhappily, and her hands unclenched.

"Thank you, Ms. Danvers," Max Lord said quietly, looking long and hard at Kara, then Alex. He was looking at them like a gorilla on the nature channel, establishing dominance with eye contact. He was letting them know that he knew who Supergirl really was. He was letting them know who held the most power, flight and laser vision and advanced weaponry all aside. "Now get your jackboots off my property."

…...

Back at the DEO, Alex was pacing and babbling like a crazy person across the sunroom floor, while Kara laid on her back under the solar panels listening patiently. It wasn't as if she could go anywhere while the artificial sunlight rid her body of the low-level kryptonite poisoning she'd sustained during the fight. It wasn't enough to do her any real damage, and she'd recharge on her own, naturally, in a day or so; but with Astra as their prisoner, Kara was all the more worried about an attack from her aunt's troops, and she was scared to walk out of the DEO at anything less than a hundred percent.

"Egotistical asshat...doesn't even thank us for saving his sorry ass...thinks he can put a leash on us with a fucking spy drone..." Alex might have kept rambling a lot longer if Hank hadn't eventually walked in. "Chief! Tell me we can lock Max Lord up for something. The fucker as good as admitted he was the one who sent the spy drone," the young agent glowered. "What about blackmail? Can we arrest him for blackmail?"

"The DEO has no protocols for detaining human prisoners, Alex. You know that. We're a secret underground facility for a reason. If we come across human criminals in the course of our work, we turf them to local law enforcement."

"But we can't do that because if we do he'll just tell the whole world that Kara is Supergirl, and it won't matter if he goes to jail!" Alex moaned, stomping her foot. She was pissed off and she'd had a very long day.

"Hank, do you have any snacks?" Kara asked from the sunbed, one panel open so she could look at them. "Alex needs sugar before her head explodes." The director smiled and shook his head, reassured by their banter. The fight had been intense; but they were all okay. He took a small package of chocolate chip cookies out of his large jacket pocket. Alex didn't even try to argue.

"Thanks," she mumbled, devouring the cookies.

"Danvers, how are you doing?" Hank asked.

"Totally fine. Just recharging my batteries," Kara assured him, propping herself up on one elbow so she could really look at him directly. "So, here's a question—remember back at Lord Tech when you were fighting my aunt, and she said you don't fight like a human, and you told her you're not?"

"What?" Alex croaked, nearly choking on a cookie.

"I tried to tell you like three times since we got back, but you were in the rambly zone over Max Lord having our sex tape," Kara shrugged. "I got tired."

"Dear God, can we please talk about literally anything else?" Hank demanded, momentarily unable to look either one of them in the eye as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Sure," Kara said, with a calm but curious smile. "What are you?" The DEO director sighed.

"I am three hundred and seventeen years old," he said quietly, averting his eyes as Kara and Alex both gaped silently in shock. They had both had their fleeting suspicions in the past...but suddenly it was real. "I am the last of my people...I came to this planet as a refugee, living peacefully, alone, in the jungles of Peru. The real Hank Henshaw hunted me down like a criminal...he couldn't believe an extra-terrestrial could be peaceful, could be allowed to have freedom. I didn't kill him, but...he died...trying to kill me. I assumed his identity and have been living his life for the past ten years," The man who they'd thought was called Hank said to them slowly, but smoothly, as if he'd rehearsed it in his head, as if he'd imagined telling them this a hundred times.

"You...assumed his identity?" Kara asked blankly.

"He's a shapeshifter," Alex said with dawning comprehension, as she gazed at the man she'd worked under for the last two years. She may not know his true name, or his true origins...but she did know his heart. She knew he was a good man, alien or not.

"Yes," he nodded.

"So if you're not Hank Henshaw...who are you?" Alex asked gently, putting her hand reassuringly over his. He smiled a little, warmed by Alex's display of loyalty.

"I am the last son of Mars," he said quietly, removing his hand from Alex's as he began to transform into his true shape, his body growing larger, taller, his dark skin going green. "My name is J'onn J'onzz."

…...

The shock of finding out their DEO chief was a Martian was countered by the exhaustion of the stand-off with Astra's army, and Kara and Alex both slept deeply and dreamlessly that night, too tired for an existential crisis. Their boss was an alien; Astra needed to be questioned; General Lane might find out they had her in custody; Max Lord might release Supergirl's true identity as Kara Danvers at any moment. That last one, at least, they knew they had some time to figure out; Max would want to hold onto his leverage for as long as possible. As long as he held their secrets over their heads, he had power over them. For better or worse.

After a good night's sleep plus the time she'd put in under the solar panels, Kara woke up bright and early the next morning, thrilled when she checked in with Winn and James and found that they'd managed to obtain proof in print of Dirk Armstrong's conspiracy to oust his CEO from her office. The four of them—Kara, Winn, James, and Lucy (who Kara was very happy to see that James had actually called)—just barely managed to rush into Ms. Grant's office with the documents and stop her from making her public resignation statement on camera. Ms. Grant was so stunned with relief that she hired Lucy to join her legal council on the spot, which was perfect, since the younger Lane sister had just quit her military council position under her father. She'd seen the bigotry he'd shown Supergirl, even while the alien girl was saving their lives; and she didn't want her work going toward his divisive goals anymore.

"But the person you should really be thanking is Kara, you know," James added, wanting to give credit where it was due. "She's the one who had us investigate Dirk in the first place."

"She did, did she?" Ms. Grant turned to Kara, her eyebrow going up in the approving way Kara had been seeing more and more often lately. "What made you think to do that, Kira?"

"Well it was something I overheard him say after the board meeting..." Winn gave a loud, fake cough, glaring at Kara to stop talking. Because she hadn't just overheard the chairman of the board; she had super-heard him with her alien ears, through two panes of glass at opposite ends of the executive floor. Kara quickly shifted gears. "I meant, it was something you said, Ms. Grant. About him being two-faced."

"I see," Ms. Grant nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I'm forever in your debts, all four of you. Now, Kira, go set a meeting with that walking personification of white male privilege, right now. Goodness gracious, I am going to enjoy this."

After the spectacle of seeing the pompous board chairman lead from the CatCo office in handcuffs, Ms. Grant's mood was the closest Kara had ever seen to jubilant. The blonde girl walked out onto her boss's balcony with a stack of paperwork for her to sign, and Ms. Grant actually smiled at her, a wide, unguarded smile.

"Ahh, Kira. Another week, another crisis averted...thanks to you." The older woman took the papers, glancing them over quickly before signing. "My secret weapon. My guardian angel."

"Oh, it was nothing," Kara smiled shyly with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"No, no...it was something. It was something extraordinary," Ms. Grant persisted, still smiling at her assistant inscrutably. Then she turned away and started to slowly pace the balcony. "You know I was thinking...about how you overheard Dirk after the board meeting," the older woman remarked, almost musingly. "I was standing right next to you, and there was no way that he was within earshot."

"I didn't mean him, I meant you," Kara protested, shaking her head. "I overheard you say something about him. Obviously, I couldn't have overheard him." She gave a very awkward, fake laugh. She had a terrible fake laugh. Alex had told her so a hundred times. Ms. Grant stopped pacing and just looked at her, silent and sharp-eyed. Kara gulped uncomfortably.

"And then I was thinking about the day of the earthquake, and how you got sick for the first time since I've known you," the older woman continued as if Kara hadn't just spoken, resuming her pacing. "And then the quake hit, and Supergirl went mysteriously M...I...A. Then she showed up again, and the next day you were back at work like nothing ever happened, not a single sniffle. I heard your voice that morning, Kira, I heard your cough. I am a mother, for God's sake, I know what sick sounds like. No one bounces back from that in one day." She stopped pacing again and stared at Kara, hands on her hips. Kara just shrugged awkwardly, hoping her rising panic didn't show in her eyes.

"That's...just a coincidence," she said lamely, shaking her head.

"And then I was thinking about something Carter said after the attack on the Supertrain," Ms. Grant continued, talking and pacing in tandem. "He said he felt bad that he got to meet Supergirl and you didn't...because you were conveniently separated from him and Alex just before Supergirl arrived to save the train, and they couldn't find you again until after she'd gone. Another coincidence?"

"Ms. Grant...I don't know what to tell you..." Kara laughed nervously, her feet rooted to the spot in panic.

"And let's not forget how incensed you were when I named her Supergirl. You took it personally." Ms. Grant stopped right in front of Kara, one eyebrow raised expectantly. Kara could barely make her mouth form words.

"Well...sure...for... for political reasons..."

"Do me a favor and take off your glasses," Ms. Grant said calmly, and Kara stuttered wordlessly again for a moment.

"My...my glasses?" she gave another pathetically nervous laugh. "I, I can't! I'd be blind without them!"

"I doubt that," Ms. Grant said quietly, her gaze as calm and steady as her voice. Kara was unravelling. "If you're not who I think you are, what does it matter?" the older woman sighed impatiently. Kara still eyed her with the same nervous expression.

"I...I..."

"Glasses or I take it as a confirmation," Ms. Grant said flatly. Kara sighed, looking down at the ground for a moment, as if she were summoning all her courage. Then she took her glasses off, and looked back up at Ms. Grant, who was smiling at her in a way she never had before. "Well...let me begin by saying thank you, for all the help you've given me. Supergirl." Ms. Grant waltzed past Kara back inside the office, leaving her assistant on the verge of a heart attack on the balcony.

"Okay, well, that was a funny joke, huh?" Kara asked shrilly when she came back inside a moment later, still trying desperately to deny the truth to her sharp-witted boss. "So...so should we get back to reporting the real news now?"

"Oh, Kira. Don't misunderstand my meaning here. I have no intention of revealing your secret identity to anyone, you can rest assured of that. Why would I voluntarily give up media control over my very own superhero? No, this is perfect for both of us. You can keep dashing off to save the world as needed...don't think I haven't watched those two stooges falling all over themselves to cover for you every other day," she added, rolling her eyes. "In exchange, we will have an understanding that you will talk to no other press but me. If there's a story about Supergirl in the public eye, it will be told by CatCo alone. By me. And you. I'm giving you a chance to tell your own story here, Kira. Don't be defined by the speculation of others. Isn't that something you've wanted from the beginning?" They stared at each other in charged silence for a long moment.

"You forgot to put your glasses back on," Ms. Grant nodded to the glasses still in Kara's hand, which she had taken off outside on the balcony, and which she was supposed to be practically blind without.

"Are you...are you saying I can be a reporter?" Kara asked tentatively, laying her glasses down on the coffee table. Ms. Grant smiled approvingly.

"That's an ambitious request. Let's take it one step at a time."

"What does that mean?" Kara asked, still hesitant to say it, to say the truth, even though her gut told her she could trust her boss with her life.

"It means...stop pretending you're not Supergirl, and we can talk through all your media coverage together. You can start by giving me notes, and helping me frame and structure the stories we want to tell...and then, yes, if all goes well you could begin drafting your own bylines in a few months." Ms. Grant sat down on her immaculate white couch and crossed her legs, looking up at Kara expectantly.

"Okay," Kara said simply. Ms. Grant was so surprised, she stood up again.

"Really?"

"Really," Kara nodded.

"Well then...Supergirl...what story do you want to tell?" Ms. Grant beamed. Kara smiled back at her in nervous excitement. She hoped Alex wasn't going to be too mad at her...because she had a really good idea. It was time to elevate the public conversation about anti-alien bigotry in National City.