"And you have no idea why Astra isn't talking to me?"

The hologram of Alura stared back at Kara, as mockingly as ever. As if Kara hadn't been having a hard enough time watching Astra in the cell downstairs, now she had to watch her own mother, Astra's mirror image, do the exact same. She had to admit, whoever had made the hologram had done an incredible job of capturing her likeness, right down to her cocked eyebrow that had no business being the picture's default expression.

"I am not programmed to give you that information."

"Come on, is there anything you can tell me?"

"Try asking a specific question, that way I know how to answer," Alura said with a smile so condescending it was getting difficult for Kara to believe her real mother wasn't stood in a media room somewhere, just perpetually in front of a camera and ready to torment her at a moment's notice.

Before she could really start to get angry, the door behind her opened and Kara turned around to see Frankie hovering in the entrance.

"I need to talk to you."

Kara spun around so that she was fully facing Frankie and the hologram of her mother faded a little now that she wasn't paying attention to it. She was surprised to see Frankie here, especially since Alex hadn't texted her or anything which meant that she must have convinced the security guys to let her in on her own.

Something nagged in the back of her mind, she was forgetting something important. But Frankie was standing there expectantly, still waiting for Kara to invite her in even after coercing her way into a government-stronghold. Then, it hit her.

"Frankie, I promise I didn't forget, I didn't want to send it over text, but…" She trailed off, wanting to say that she was planning on going over to Frankie's but realising just in time that Frankie's wasn't a place she could go anymore.

"No, that's not-" Frankie shook her head vigorously, but she was still rooted to the spot, so Kara wasn't convinced she was alright with her lapse in memory. "That's not what I need to talk about."

Kara held out her hand and when Frankie took it, pulled her into a carefully controlled tight hug. Frankie was cold, colder than she would've expected even for a rainy March day, and she took extra care to wrap her up a little more than she normally would.

"Happy birthday, kid."

Frankie was silent for a few moments but eventually buried her head deep into Kara's shoulder. "I love you, Kara."

After a while, Kara pulled back, but held Frankie's shoulders fast, looking carefully into her eyes. She looked tired, but Kara wasn't shocked. With everything that she'd had to deal with, she was surprised Frankie had even come back at all.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

Dropping her hands to her sides, Kara took a step back, giving Frankie the space to talk without being suffocated.

"With Brad or in general?"

"I need to end things," Frankie said, so suddenly that she was almost interrupting Kara and so unexpectedly that Kara wasn't entirely sure which part of the question she was replying to. Something must have become apparent on her face because Frankie took another step back to put even more distance between them. "With Brad."

"Well, I think that's probably a good idea."

Frankie pulled her lips tight and rocked back on her heels. It was then that Kara noticed she was still wearing the same clothes she had been when she'd left Alex's apartment a few nights before.

"Have you spoken to Alex yet?" Frankie's lack of reply was all Kara needed to hear to know that Alex hadn't just been neglecting to mention any interactions. "You really should do that. She would love to see you."

"I don't know what to say to her, though," Frankie looked away from Kara, making eye contact with the concrete below them, and then with the hologram of Alura behind her. "Are you okay?"

Kara looked back at the hologram and, seeing it still smiling as deceptively as ever, turned back to Frankie without fuss. "Tell Alex exactly what you told me. And maybe pick up some of your clothes while you're there."

She wanted to keep talking, to ask Frankie questions about where she was staying, what she was doing, and if everything had gone well with Winn, but she could recognise that Frankie was getting distracted. Plus, the fact that they'd met up in the room the hologram was in didn't bode well for Alex's plan of hiding Astra she was still being made to stick to, even months after the argument had first come up.

It wasn't as though Kara was bad at keeping secrets, she just wanted to avoid having to actively lie to Frankie if she could help it.

"I guess I need to go back at some point, right?" Frankie asked, standing up straighter and looking like she was ready to run at a moment's notice. "Could you come with me?"

If she was being honest, Kara wanted nothing more than to go with Frankie, to get away from the DEO and Alura and Astra, but if she left in that moment, she was scared she'd never be able to bring herself to come back.

"This is something you need to do for yourself, Frankie."

Dejectedly, Frankie nodded. There was a moment where they both stood completely still and Kara was sure that if it weren't for the steady thumping of Frankie's heart that she could hear over the few feet between them, she'd assume there'd been some kind of glitch in their existences.

"I should get going then," Frankie said at last, stepping back towards the door. "I hope you sort out whatever's going on in here."

"Please text me later, I want to know how it goes."

Frankie smiled a little and Kara caught just a hint of excitement that was so well-hidden in apprehension that she might have even imagined it. "I will."

Without another word, she turned and pushed open the door, disappearing back into the DEO and leaving Kara alone. Alone with the hologram. When she looked back at it, Alura was still standing there, her expression unchanged.

She was lost. Frankie seemed to be doing better, but that didn't change the fact that it had been so long since Alex had made her promise to keep Astra a secret. Alex had told her that she could tell Frankie whenever she wanted, that no one was being forced to do anything, but it sure didn't feel like it and she knew that Alex was well aware of that fact.

The hologram smiled its ridiculous smile and gave her a look that taunted her to her very core. It was almost like somehow, Alura and her sister were on the same side, working together to keep her in the dark, to keep the DEO on its toes, but of course that was impossible.

Alura was dead. Her mother was dead and the hologram couldn't bring her back, as much as it might seem like it could. But then, as she watched Alura stare off into space, Kara realised what she needed to say.

A question she hadn't yet asked and a story she needed to remember.

"Why did you really send Astra to Fort Rozz?"

"Astra made a carefully planned attack on Krypton's infrastructure; it was a decision made in the interest of the planet's safety."

Kara had heard that answer before. She knew that. That was what Alura had told her when she was a child, still on Krypton.

Before it had blown up.

"Why did you send Astra to Fort Rozz?" Kara repeated, her tone more careful.

"Astra made a carefully planned attack on-"

"Why was Astra arrested?!" She yelled suddenly, feeling a white-hot burning behind her eyes that she needed to suppress before she burnt a hole in the wall behind Alura. "And I want the truth this time."

Alura seemed to pause to think, if that was even possible, and eventually, the condescending smile grew on her face once more. Kara, sure that she was about to be ignored again, turned to leave. When she was halfway back to the door, hand already reaching out to follow Frankie, Alura spoke from behind her.

"Astra attempted to conduct a mind-control system which she named 'Myriad.' Once activated, this system would compel every Kryptonian to undertake her bidding. She was arrested while attempting to put this plan into action and sentenced to life imprisonment on Fort Rozz."

Kara paused, her fingers still halfway to the door handle.

"I'm sorry?"

"What would you like to know, Kara?"

She whipped back around to face the hologram, stepping back towards it hurriedly. "What did you just say?"

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand your question."

Kara needed to go. She needed to find J'onn and tell him what she'd just heard before she forgot it. She needed to remember what she'd said to Alura to get her to talk, but it was already slipping from her mind faster than she could keep track of it all.

She pushed open the door and bolted from the room.

The TV fizzled with feedback as Alex rewound the VHS tape before replacing it in the player.

It'd taken her weeks to convince J'onn to let her take it home with her and even longer for him to allow her to borrow the damn machine that she'd almost needed to call Winn to install and since then, she'd watched it so many times that the tape itself was almost worn out.

Over and over again, she watched as Astra offered Winslow Schott Sr up to the police, disappearing the moment he had his back turned. She watched as Schott dropped to the ground, dead, blood pooling from seven bullet wounds across his torso and legs, grateful, not for the first time, that the footage hadn't aired on a news station anyone in the country could easily watch.

It'd come from a small station in some Slavic country Alex had never heard of and the DEO had immediately issued a cease and desist but only after confiscating their suspiciously large collection of tapes that contained recordings of obscure American political events that were thought to have been undocumented.

She found it odd that the DEO would only make copies of the original recording on a VHS tape and not a USB or even a CD or simply anything more convenient, but as long as she didn't have to pay for the machine to watch it on her TV at home, she wouldn't complain.

Every single time it played, Alex was, without fail, drawn to Astra's posture.

The whole encounter, from the second the camera first focused on her to the exact frame she disappeared, she held herself so loosely and with so little tension that to Alex, it looked as though she'd accounted for every living being on the street, from the movements of every NCPD officer all the way down to the ants scurrying between the cracks in the sidewalk. Every step was expected, every gun attended to, every death justified.

It was embarrassingly clear that being captured by the DEO was part of the plan that she'd constructed so elaborately, and that realisation was one that had come only days after she was first thrown into a cell. As much as it felt like they were abiding by her wishes, falling into some trap that was still months away from coming to fruition, it was better than having her out of their control, running amuck in the city.

The tape came to an end once more, Schott's body strewn across the street and screaming from the few civilians who'd managed to evade the police barriers or were watching from their balconies echoing across the windows of the skyscrapers that closed off the square. Before Alex could get up to rewind it again, fully intending to watch it until she physically couldn't anymore, someone started to knock at her door.

Only half-paying attention, Alex changed course and wandered over to the door, pulling it open. Frankie stood in the doorway, her coat halfway down her shoulders, one hand in the pocket of her pants, the other still raised up to where the door had been.

"Ces," Alex breathed out, relief flooding her as a fear she didn't even know she'd been feeling was quashed. "I'm so glad you're here."

"Can I come in?"

If anything, Frankie looked a little awkward, as though she wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to say, as though she hadn't expected Alex to answer the door. Without saying anything, worried she scare would Frankie off, Alex took a step back, opening the door wider and wordlessly inviting her into the apartment.

When they made it to the couch, Frankie seemed to sit almost against her better judgement, subconsciously drawing her coat tight around her shoulders. Alex followed her after a moment of hesitation.

"Did you get my text this morning?"

Frankie frowned. "I did, yeah. I appreciated it."

"Because I wasn't quite sure if Kara had said anything or if you'd want a party or anything, so I was thinking we could-"

"It was a nice message," Frankie said decisively, her voice steady.

Alex paused only momentarily, her heart sinking. "Are you okay?" She asked, catching a hint of regret on Frankie's face before she turned away.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you got somewhere to stay? I'm happy to move some stuff around here and you could-"

"Actually…" Frankie began hesitantly, keeping her eyes lowered to the floor, almost like she was afraid of looking up and seeing something in Alex's face that she didn't want to. "I'm moving in with Winn."

Alex felt her stomach clench, but she sat up straighter, hoping that would fix it before Frankie could notice. What was it Kara had said? It didn't matter that Winn had been the one Frankie had gone to when she needed someone to talk to… but now she was moving in with him?

She thought back to the day that Frankie told them all that she and Brad had started dating, the months after as she'd slowly started cutting them off, Winn seemingly the last to go, and the conversations they'd shared afterwards. He really had cared about her, more than Alex thought Kara realised, or even Frankie.

"With Winn?"

"Yeah," Frankie muttered, chancing a look in Alex's direction. Alex tried to make her expression as neutral as possible. "He offered me his spare room when I was there the other day, that's actually why I came by. I just need to pick up my things."

Alex was almost certain that the day he'd been given DEO clearance had been one of the best days of his life. She'd had terrible timing, only really seeing his potential in the organisation when they'd had to inform him of his father's death, but after a tour of the weapons cache and the server rooms from J'onn, he'd almost made it seem like none of it mattered, a broad smiled plastered on his face. Alex and Kara had both known better, though, and despite Kara's insistence that he was perfect for the job, they were both incredibly weary of exposing him to too much, too soon.

He'd almost drawn his own line when they'd told him the things he learned about Kara's aunt, about the exact circumstances of his father's death, were not to be told to Frankie, but by that point, it was already too late. Reluctantly, he'd accepted, acknowledging that she didn't seem to be in a place where worrying about it would be healthy.

After the way he'd apparently handled the smoking remains of their argument the previous night, there was nothing more he could do in Alex's eyes to earn any more respect than she was already giving him. Any jealousy, any reluctance or contempt toward him seemed to only melt as she watched Frankie's hesitation mount. That wasn't what she needed out of Alex at that moment.

Her phone rang out with one long, overlapping buzz and from the coffee table in front of where they were sitting, the screen lit up. She leaned over to see what it was and saw several new texts from Kara and a missed call, all sent within a few seconds of each other. A strange feeling made itself known in Alex's chest and she almost picked the phone up out of instinct, but Frankie was watching her carefully and she thought better of it.

"We really need to talk about this…" She said instead, turning her phone upside-down.

Frankie swallowed, her eyes ducking away from Alex's again for a brief moment before she sat up and rearranged herself on the couch so that one leg was tucked up under the other, the top half of her body facing Alex and her back to the door.

"Do you want the truth?" Something in Frankie's voice worried Alex, her heart sinking slightly, but Frankie either didn't notice or didn't think she didn't think it was important enough to stop. "I'm always going to need you. There is never going to come a time in my life when I don't need you. But what I don't need is for you to be protecting me all the time. I don't need someone whose goal is to make sure I'm safe. I've been looking after myself for a long time, I don't need someone to do it for me."

"I just thought, with all the time I spent looking after Kara and all, I felt like-"

"Like you owed it to me? Look, I get that, I really do, but you've got to understand that I'm an adult now and what I need the most right now is for you to stop being scared that I'm going to leave you behind-"

"Frankie…"

She was right. Of course, she was right. Alex was scared and selfish and every part of her that had thought she was doing the right thing was being thrown to the ground and stomped on by the very look on Frankie's face, the one that said I don't blame you, I'm not angry anymore.

She should've been furious, should never have spoken to her again, because who was Alex to try and turn this on herself?

"Alex, you're my sister. You're always going to be a part of my life whether I like it or not."

And for all Alex had tried to intervene in the past, had tried to pry her way back into Frankie's life, now, she was lost. Eating at her like moths to cotton panties was the guilt that stopped her from doing just that; guilt because she had tried too hard, guilt because she hadn't tried enough and had landed Frankie here, in a place she should never have had to see.

Guilt because she had never respected Frankie's very clear and deliberate wishes to be left well alone.

But there was another question that had been choking Alex for months, iron grip wrapped tight around her chest like a monstrous hand.

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing, he didn't…" Frankie broke off when she noticed the hardness Alex had infused into her jaw. She didn't want Frankie to feel any pressure, not like when she'd tried to initiate this same conversation only a few days earlier, but they were further than they'd been able to get in months and she wasn't about to waste an opportunity to get an answer to the question she'd been trying to ask since she first realised something was wrong.

Frankie took a second to think and her eyes slipped closed. After a moment of deliberate and strained silence, she spoke with a voice so low Alex almost missed it. "He didn't do anything, Alex."

She wanted to bite back, to refuse it, to tell Frankie she was lying, but everything she knew how to say could only end in another argument. So, instead, she extended her hand.

"Pinky promise?"

Frankie eyed her suspiciously, a grin growing on her face before she linked her own finger with Alex's outstretched one and shook it.

"Pinky promise."

As she made her way up to his apartment, Frankie couldn't miss how eerily quiet Brad's building had become since she'd last been inside. Alex had insisted on tagging along and they'd come straight from her apartment. Frankie had wanted to be angry, but she found that, like the night Alex had snatched her from this very corridor, something about being by her side felt empowering.

Alex trailed a few feet behind, looking in awe at the architecture and ridiculously expensive art on the walls of the hallway that Frankie had started to take for granted but once upon a time hadn't been able to get enough of.

"Jesus, I knew he was rich, but this place is incredible," Alex said, her voice echoing off the walls and high ceilings.

"You've been here before, what are you surprised about?"

"I didn't have the chance to admire it, I was usually pretty busy."

Frankie stopped outside Brad's apartment door. Eventually, Alex came to stand next to her and together, they watched it as though staring at it could solve everything that they were there to fix.

Unfortunately, Frankie found, that wasn't how it worked.

"Are you going to knock?" Alex asked pointedly, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Or are we just going to stand here?"

Frankie didn't reply, knowing that Alex understood why she hadn't moved and that she didn't need to explain herself, but couldn't bring herself to do anything about it.

"Do you want me to knock for you? I'm pretty good at knocking on this door."

She gave Alex a half-hearted shove and rapped on the door with her other hand, if only to make her shut up.

There was no sound from the apartment on the other side and after a few moments, Frankie hesitantly knocked again, eventually leaning up to the door.

"Brad? It's Frankie, are you home?"

Even after she called out, there was no reply and Alex tried the handle. It didn't budge.

"It's locked," she said as though Frankie couldn't see that on her own before reaching up and banging on the door harder. Frankie could hear it reverberate inside the apartment.

"You're right, you really are good at it."

From behind them, a door opened and a neighbour Frankie vaguely recognised emerged from her apartment, crochet needles in one hand and a half-finished portrait of something that might have been vulgar if it was closer to being complete in the other.

"Do you two need help with anything?"

Alex turned from the neighbour to Frankie, silently asking if this was someone she could talk to. Frankie nodded.

"Yes, actually. Brad Coopers, is he here?"

The woman thought for a moment, absentmindedly fiddling with the crochet needles, before she shook her head. "I haven't seen him in a few days, no."

"Okay, thank you," Alex replied as the neighbour disappeared back into her own apartment.

Her response made Frankie stop, however. A few days? How many were a few? Had he not been back since…

"He wasn't here when I came by to get your stuff," Alex said quietly, finishing Frankie's thought for her. The fact that he hadn't come back was suspicious and a pit plunged its way into her stomach.

Alex seemed to share her concern because she looked back at Frankie before banging against the door one more time. Again, there was no reply, although this time, Frankie wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Can you smell that?" Alex asked suddenly.

Frankie hadn't noticed anything pungent but gave a few enthusiastic sniffs just to make sure. "Smell what?"

"It smells like… mould."

They looked at each other and, at that moment, Frankie knew exactly what Alex was planning on doing. She nodded, not sure why she needed to give her permission but felt as though it was somewhat needed, and took several steps back.

Alex leaned back on her heels before swinging a leg up and slamming her foot into the door just next to the lock, hard enough that it fell open with a crash that rang in Frankie's ears long after it had stopped echoing through the hallway.

As the door swung into the apartment, Frankie tried to look inside but found herself rooted to the spot, completely paralysed.

It was a mess. Clothes and books were strewn all over the floor and couches, the curtains ripped from their rods and the coffee table lying in a heap in the middle of the living room. The smell that Frankie could recognise now that the door was open was coming from the sink and trash can which were both overflowing with dirty dishes and spoiled food.

"What the fuck?" Alex muttered, taking it all in.

Frankie could wholeheartedly agree. What the fuck?