She'd basically disappeared.

The board had been impressed and had basically told her that they would be keeping her on...at least until the time being (she took that as 'until she screwed up', which really was likely what she was doing in that moment). Her parents were back at Lord Technologies and they were keeping things running in her absence. Alex had made a point to make sure that she had gotten caught up and even ahead (where she could) on everything at the company. The thing was, she couldn't just be idle and know that Trigon was out there in the world.

Benanti had caught her tracking him a little over a week before and J'onn hadn't told her to stop. Even if J'onn had told her to stop, to tell her that it was too dangerous, and that the DEO was already working on it...it wouldn't have stopped her. Alex would have still pursued Trigon and though she was certain that Benanti knew that, J'onn knew it better.

Before leaving National City, she'd ensured that an e-mail out go out to her parents, to Kara, and to J'onn if she wasn't back to civilization in time to cancel it from sending. She'd also gone so far as to leave goodbye letters to all of them. It wasn't the first time. She'd done it upon joining the DEO, but no recent updates. With how she'd lost Max to Trigon, the reminder that they were all mortal, she'd felt like it was imperative that she do so. Her father had never gotten to say goodbye all those years before and she didn't want that for her family and though a letter wasn't the same as saying goodbye in person, it was what was needed for this trip...and her frame of mind.

So, here she stood bundled up on Bouvet Island. The ship that had brought her there was anchored nearby, but she'd needed to take a boat to actually get to the mostly glacier island. The island was technically Norwegian, but was one thousand one hundred miles north of Antarctica and one thousand six hundred miles south of the southern tip of South Africa. The island was in the middle of nowhere, uninhabited, but Alex didn't think that that was entirely true at the moment. She'd been looking for signs of Trigon and she was certain that she'd found him...on that island.

As she stood on the snowy rocky coast, looking out towards where the glacier sat atop of the inactive volcano and the majority of the tiny, she sucked in a breath and then blew it out. Her breath visible and her mind suddenly wondering if this was really such a good idea to do alone. It didn't matter now, she was there. There was no going back without at least having a look. She knew how long she could be out there and she was fairly sure that she'd packed appropriately for her time there.

Her gloved hands wrapped around the straps of her backpack as she started inland, her boots crunching into the snow as she moved forward.

"How far are you going to go?" the wind whispered to her as it whisked by her and around her. She'd forged probably further than she should have gone, the fog had drifted down and around her making her visibility level close to only a step in front of her.

Alex sucked in a breath and tried to tell herself that it wasn't real.

It was just the wind...and her mind.

There were no voices.

The glacier beneath her feet shook and Alex lost her balance, her hands immediately going out to catch herself if she were to completely fall to the ground while the rest of her body struggled to position itself in the best way to keep her balance. Her gloved fingers immediately went to dig for a hand hold as she fell to her hands and knees. Alex's hood fell back and she pulled it immediately back over her head. She was wearing a beanie and had a scarf secured around her neck, so even without the hood for a moment she hadn't been completely exposed to the harsh arctic elements.

"Alex!"

Her name was on the wind again and Alex fought tears forming in her eyes. She knew that she should head back, but she couldn't...not when she swore she was so close to Trigon's position. She had to see the location for herself. Even if it was just a sheet of ice, Alex had to see it for herself to know that Trigon wasn't actually there.

"Shut up!" she screamed at the wind.

An arm wrapped around her and dragged her upward and back. "Alex!"

She fought, not even thinking to listen carefully to the voice. After a moment, she was flung around until she came face to face with J'onn J'onzz in his Martian Manhunter attire. Stilling, Alex sucked in a breath and took a moment to take in that this was reality. It wasn't her imagination. It wasn't a hallucination. No, this was her friend. "What-what are you doing here, J'onn?" Alex finally managed to get out.

"Looking for you." He didn't seem pleased. "Your sister is scanning the island on the other side," J'onn explained.

"I-"

"You missed sister night, no one could get a hold of you, you weren't at your apartment, and that immediately led to your parents being worried about you as well," J'onn said softly. "Which made me worried…"

Alex just didn't know what to say. She'd thought she'd covered all of her steps. She thought that no one would miss her for at least a couple more days. It had been hard to keep it all a secret, but she had sworn that she'd told Kara that she hadn't felt up to doing anything this week. Maybe that had thrown Kara and she'd come to check on her? Bring sister night to her? "I couldn't just…"

"Alex!" her sister shouted and was there hugging her before Alex could even turn to find where she stood. "I was so worried!"

"I hadn't meant to worry you." She looked over at J'onn. "Either of you."

"I'm just going to start putting trackers in all of my agents," J'onn half teased. This was something that had been discussed before, so her antics probably weren't helping make that sound like a bad plan. They already placed trackers in most agents' boots.

"Why are you all the way out here?" Kara questioned.

Alex saw J'onn's eyes on her and she knew that he knew why she was there. Kara obviously didn't or maybe she was just hoping to hear another answer instead. "Trigon," she said, her eyes diverting away from Kara's for a moment. She knew that it wasn't the response that Kara would want to hear, but it was the truth.

"Trigon?" Kara repeated. It took a moment, but her sister's voice definitely got angry. "And you came alone?! Without backup? Without telling anyone? Without telling me?" It seemed to take a moment for it to settle in her before Kara looked at J'onn. "Did you know?"

"I suspected," J'onn said calmly.

"Alex, I thought things were going okay with you and the company?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and took a moment before responding. Even though it was cold there, it wasn't as cold as she'd originally expected when she'd looked up the weather for the small island. "I couldn't let go of the fact that Trigon was still out there...that the creature who killed Max was still out there…"

"You're still having the dreams, aren't you?" Kara asked, her voice finally calm and gentle.

"Yeah…"

Kara was hugging her again and Alex held to her for a long moment, just trying to think what came next. "Alex, you know that we'd have helped…"

"I was still on my 'normal life' trial period," Alex reminded. "Benanti had already caught me the other week looking into this…"

Kara pulled back and looked at her and then J'onn. "But…"

"I told you I suspected," J'onn said. "I have just been keeping a closer eye on her since Lara came to me."

"Please," Alex practically pleaded, looking between the two of them. "Just a little farther? If he's not at the location that I have, then I'll go home… I just have to see."

"What about your boat?"

Pulling back the sleeve of her jacket just enough, she sighed. "They'll probably turn around and head back if I'm not back soon."

"How good of a plan was that? A boat to bring you out of here and then it just leaves you?" Kara went off. She was clearly not pleased, but for good reason. Alex really couldn't fault her sister for her feelings. "It sounds like some crazy plan they had in one of the 'Jurassic Park' movies."

"It probably was," Alex said, but was unable to think of an exact moment where that was a thing. It was likely part of a villain arc or something. She knew that this meant, though, more than before...that she was going to have to really explain herself to her parents once they got back to National City. "Are you going to make me go back now?"

"No," Kara told her and they both looked over at J'onn. "Right?"

"Are you going to be warm enough for the flight back?" J'onn questioned.

"Yes," Alex confirmed. It had been a while since she'd been flying with Kara, so it was sort of a nice bonus even though she was sort of in trouble over everything.

"Then I guess it's been decided, but if we're in over our heads...we're going to turn around and get backup."

"Agreed."

Trigon was one who could change his size, which often was a difficult thing for them. It was one of the reasons why Cisco and the others were working so hard to repair the The Pipeline cells back at the DEO. They were purposefully taking into account some of their more difficult aliens and creatures, whether that be due to their size or their level of danger. It was a necessary thing with better safeguards that would hopefully prevent what had happened before…

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Her feet moved quickly underneath her, but it didn't seem like it was fast enough. Alex went sliding down a section of the glacier, the entire time her head kept looking back to where she'd been to begin with and then back over to where she was sliding towards.

Trigon had been there on the island.

They'd been spotted and so Kara and J'onn had gone to engage him. Alex had only come prepared with a personal sidearm and a bit of extra ammunition. Even though she'd known Trigon was there, she'd logically known that there was no way that she could take him down on her own. No, they'd need the entire force of the DEO and everything that came along with it. Her sidearm had done nothing. Nothing. It hadn't even pissed off Trigon. It hadn't even been the slightest bit a distraction. Last she'd seen of her sister and boss, they'd been smacked skyward in opposite directions and then Trigon had come after her. The heat from his body seemed to be melting the glacier at a slow rate and Alex wondered if the heat he produced increased with anger and other such emotions.

There was a stomping sound and then a loud crash sound right behind her. The ground beneath her felt like she was on one of those wiggly bridges they had on playgrounds, like a constant wave...but there was nothing to hold onto. Alex found herself flying forward, she was flying off the side of a dropoff, and right towards the icy water. There was nothing she could do except to breathe and try to prepare her body for the cold that would penetrate the winter clothing she was wearing and would undoubtedly kill her in the end.

"Alex!"

This time, it definitely wasn't the wind, but rather J'onn catching her right before she hit the water. He pulled her higher, so that she was positioned better for flight. He waited a moment before finding a good hover point and turned them so that they could see the island once again. Kara joined them a moment later. Trigon was still down there and Alex wasn't really sure what to feel at that point.

Relief seemed like the obvious emotion, but all Alex could really think was that they'd been so close. If she'd talked to J'onn, maybe if they'd coordinated with the DEO then they'd have Trigon in custody.

"Am I taking this as you cancelling your trial period?" J'onn questioned.

"There has never been any real option of a normal life for me," Alex countered. "This is who I am...I think it's about time that we all accept that."

"But will you be able to keep a level head?"

"As much as anyone else."

"Adler's going to test you," Kara pointed out.

"Bring it."

TBC…