The heartbeat before Alex started to seize, J'onn had known something was wrong. It was almost odd, a buzzing in his head, to have his telepathy back. It had been taken away from him for so long. And now...he found himself in the sudden and grave realization that he might lose Alex…

His thoughts just a minute before that had been to seek out Jeremiah, no matter his form. Now, though, his priority had shifted. With all of the cells open and he assumed all of the emitter disabled, he just hoped that Jeremiah would find his way out with all of the others. Right now, though, they had to get Alex out of there...get her somewhere where she could get help.

"J'onn?" Lucy questioned a second time.

"Lead the way," J'onn finally said and motioned in the direction that they'd all been heading in. He could feel the nervousness and anxiety from his agents. He took the first steps so that they knew that he was serious. He wanted to carry Alex himself, but he knew he wasn't strong enough. In all honesty, J'onn wasn't even sure how he'd do when they got into a hand to hand situation let alone if the need for him to fly came into play.

Their exit went smoothly enough, Benanti had been waiting for them not far from the exit and had been surrounded by unconscious and bound guards. It didn't take them long to get to the vehicle that was hidden outside of the Cadmus compound and somehow...they made it out there before backup arrived.

"You know what I did the entire time that you all were running around?" Benanti asked somewhat excitedly.

"Watching our asses to make sure we didn't get killed?" Adler shot back dryly.

Benanti sighed. "That was like only ten percent of processing ability...tops. I was also checking in with Vasquez...making sure that people were doing what they were supposed to be doing...watching videos on doing hair that looks fabulous but really takes fairly little effort." Lara seemed especially pleased with herself. "Charlie's going to be going to school with a rather spectacular heart accent braid tomorrow...don't worry, Davis...I got you covered, too."

"You know, that's not what you were exactly supposed to be doing."

Even though he was worried about Alex and her condition, she was unconscious but was no longer seizing. Her vitals seemed well enough and for now, the worry within the group was abated. Adler and Benanti were a good distraction if nothing else...and he realized during that drive exactly how much he'd missed them all.

Benanti shrugged in response. "Everyone's alive. We're on our way home. We completed both of our missions...and I also might have done something else," she said as she held up a thin wallet sized drive.

"That wasn't the mission," Lucy pointed out. "What's on it?"

"I didn't have the time to go through it all, but I figured...just in case we didn't get everything for Danvers, then at least we'll have all the notes."

"Good thinking."

That brought him some hope that whatever had been done to Alex could be undone...he had seen the bag that Adler had put together from the lab, which it was nice to know that their bases were covered with what Benanti had downloaded.

Returning to the base meant going in a different way, it felt wrong even though he knew the reasoning why. General Lane was watching what they were doing from the outside. He was just glad that there were stealthy ways to enter the base. Alex needed to be there, she needed the medical help. It couldn't wait.

"You okay?" Kara asked.

He watched as everyone else headed into the base ahead of them, Alex in tow (she was their priority and that was how it should be). J'onn hadn't expected Kara to be concerned about him when Alex should be the one that her attention should be on. He looked at her. "I am now that we're all home again."

A small smile spread across Kara's face. "We are," she whispered as she reached out and touched his arm. It was quiet between them for a minute before she spoke again, everyone out of sight now. "Are you going to be okay...in the base...as J'onn J'onzz?"

J'onn realized what she meant all of the sudden. It hadn't really occurred to him until that moment, he was still in his natural form. Once he'd been released from his bonds and his body had felt that it was finally allowed to transform...to heal itself...for his powers to be restored...it had been automated response at that point. None of his team had flinched and he hadn't sensed any fear or hate from any of them, so he'd merely forgotten the form he had been in. His concern had been for the agents and for Alex. Him being able to be in his true form, being true to who he was...that had been something that Kara and Alex had wanted for him… Right now, though, he didn't want to be a distraction to anyone and he didn't want to stand out, so he morphed into the familiar form of Hank Henshaw. Now just wasn't the time to appear as J'onn J'onzz.

"For right now, I think I'll stick to being a familiar face," he told her calmly. He motioned for them to head in the same direction as the others. "That's what I think we all need…"

Alex was being examined and tests run, but the doctors and scientists just seemed to be going too slow...at least for J'onn. He could sense that nothing seemed to be bringing them any closer to what was going on or what was wrong. It was frustrating and J'onn felt just as powerless as he'd felt in that cell in Cadmus.

"They're doing everything they can."

Lucy's statement was true. They were doing everything possible in as timely a manner as they could muster. "I know," he whispered. It didn't make it easier. "They need help."

"Do you have a suggestion?"

He looked over at her, arms crossed as she stood a few feet away from him. "I do," he said. "But General Lane will have an eye on her…"

"On who?"

"Eliza Danvers."

He watched as Lucy blinked in confusion. She didn't understand. "Why? I mean, I know Kara's said that Alex's mother has been worried and asking questions, but-"

"She's a bioengineer, just like Alex. In fact, so was Jeremiah…" He sighed. "The reason that Henshaw originally wanted to recruit Jeremiah was because of his knowledge of Superman-"

"Are you saying that maybe Eliza Danvers might be able to help us tackle what they're thinking is alien?" Lucy questioned.

"At the very least, Eliza could be useful when it comes to combing through all the research that Benanti was able to download...maybe sense of everything...if not just organize...what Adler brought back from the lab that has a connection with Alex." He was quiet for a moment. "Eliza is already well aware of the DEO because of Jeremiah being recruited by Henshaw over a decade ago...that said, from what I understand...she might not be the most calm individual when she steps foot onto the base." Of course he understood why and he knew that it would only be made worse once she saw Alex.

"I'll talk to Kara about getting Eliza here ASAP," Lucy told him before stepping away.

He wanted to think that Eliza there would make all the difference. He couldn't be sure, but he wanted to have hope. At the very least, having her mother there might bring comfort to Alex...and it would likely bring some small comfort to Eliza as well.

"Is she in pain?"

"No."

He looked over at Kara. They'd all been waiting for Alex to wake up, but she hadn't since they'd arrived back at the DEO. Eliza Danvers was already there and in Alex's lab, she hadn't wanted to look in on Alex just yet for fear she wouldn't want to leave her daughter's side. Even though he couldn't read Kara's mind, he could read her face...and Kara was a person who wore her feelings for the world to see (at least most times). This was one of those times. She was crushed and she felt just as helpless as he did. The Danvers sisters had always had a bond, but it had strengthened since Kara had become Supergirl and they'd all been working together.

"She should have woken up by now, Doctor Hernandez and Doctor Hamilton don't understand why she hasn't," Kara whispered. "J'onn, I can't lose her…"

He couldn't either.

"Go and talk to her," he encouraged.

"I don't want to be in the way and there's no way I can help," Kara said, her voice breaking and tears springing to life. "And Eliza...she won't even leave the lab…"

"I heard."

Adler and Benanti were easily the only eyes and ears he ever needed on the base sometimes, but he was glad that he had them. They were both keeping a close eye on the situation while he stayed back. He knew that he could morph into his true form as J'onn J'onzz, but he still didn't want to be a distraction...at the same time now with Eliza Danvers on the base...he looked like the man she hated, the one that she blamed for Jeremiah's death and rightfully so.

He pulled Kara into his arms and held her there, letting her cry, squeezing her like only someone with their level of strength could. There was comfort in that kind of tight hug and he knew that it was likely something that Kara hadn't experienced in such a long time. Normally he tried not to show physical signs of affection for anyone, especially not on base...but Kara needed this...she really needed it.

"Go and talk to your sister, Kara," he whispered gently. "She needs you."

"She needs you too."

J'onn sucked in a breath and pulled back, holding Kara at arm's length as he stared at her. "I'm going to go through the data that Benanti brought back...maybe there's something in there."

J'onn lingered outside of Alex's lab for a long moment before knocking on the glass door. He'd been looking for Benanti and when he'd finally sensed where she was (he hadn't wanted to use his power to search the others' minds). Lara Benanti was in Alex's lab with Eliza Danvers. They were working together, going through the files...matching up what Adler had recovered and brought back from the lab. Sucking in a deep breath, he tapped on the glass door and then pulled it open a moment later. The women turned and looked over at him and he just stood there. He wasn't sure what Eliza's reaction would be, but he watched as Lara touched the older woman's arm and then moved towards him.

He moved aside so that she could leave the lab and he moved inside of it. What he felt in the room was a little surprising. He'd been ready to be at the abrupt harsh end of Eliza's wrath, but instead...he felt something very different from her and he realized in that moment that Kara must have explained who he was to her adoptive mother. "I came to help...if you could use it, that is…" J'onn didn't want to push an interaction with Eliza, all he wanted to do was to help Alex.

"I think that Lara and I have figured out what was brought back from Cadmus that was labeled for Alex, at least as far as matching the medical coding to the file coding," Eliza told him and motioned for him to come closer. "Lara just copied the files that only pertained to Alex to the computer here. I know your doctors are trying to understand what was done with her and what they were dosing her with-"

"I am honestly more concerned with why she's not waking up," J'onn explained. He moved to Eliza's side, his eyes looking over what had been brought back.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Eliza told him. "But with all of these things that were brought back...and that were labeled for Alex-"

J'onn stopped when he realized that she had some idea. "What is it?"

He could sense the questions in her, but that didn't stop her from answering his question. "Cryogenics transport container, apparently your Agent Adler was smart enough to store this properly." Eliza sighed. "I'm not a medical doctor, but from what I've been told...what I can assume they conduct in Cadmus, I think that this is genetic material...genetic material possibly for splicing or…" And he knew what she was going to say before she said it.

"You're worried that Alex…" he breathed. He was in shock. It made him worry all the more about Alex. "Doctor Hamilton would have...she would have caught that, right? They ran tests on her before they went to Cadmus and they've run tests since then…"

J'onn's head spun with thoughts. He felt dizzy and sick. Alex was lying unconscious in medical and they didn't know what was wrong with her or how to wake her up. They didn't know anything at this point.

"What would Cadmus want with a child?" J'onn asked.

Of course, they didn't know anything more than that they likely extracted the genetic material from Alex. They'd have to go through the files, see what they'd actually done to Alex. Each of those files, he was certain, would cause pain...for all of them. Once they knew what had been done to Alex, what they had been giving her...then it would be easier (or so he hoped) to make sure that Alex was properly tested and examined. What they'd done to her in Cadmus hadn't been fringe science (which was the best term J'onn could think of in that moment that actually made it sound like medical science rather than experimentation...it was harder to think of the reality that it was the latter).

"Do you really think that they would engineer a human child?"

TBC…