A/N: Thanks for reading and commenting, you all are awesome!
Kara wakes up in the desert, she had aimed the pod for a small lake, but seems to have miscalculated. Pushing the door off, she stumbles out and surveys the area before bolting straight up into the air and flying in a tight circle to make sure no one is coming to investigate her landing. Not seeing any vehicles or hearing anything in the area, she lands easily beside the pod and quickly buries it in the sand. Then with her laser vision, she melts a Kryptonian symbol into the sand so that she can return here when she is ready to fly home.
Alex turns at the sound of someone outside on her balcony. Grabbing her gun, she rushes to the door, then recognizing Kara, she exclaims, "Oh my god, Kara? You're back?" She exclaims sliding open the door to let her inside.
"Hey," Kara says shyly. "I'm sorry to just show up like this," she apologizes. Then noticing the gun in her hand, Kara looks at her confused.
"Oh, sorry," Alex says setting the gun down on a table. Come in, it's fine. I just... wow, you're here," Alex says a bit shocked as she wraps her arms around her.
"I'm sorry. It's just, I was afraid that they were going to arrest me," Kara replies as she pulls away from the petite brunette.
"Wait, what?" Alex stammers. "Kara, who was going to arrest you?"
"My father and Uncle Jor-El. I escaped Krypton, no one knows that I'm here," Kara explains.
"Kara, that makes no sense. How did you escape?" Alex questions.
"I managed to hide my grandfather's pod after he died. It might be old, but it got me here in one piece," Kara replies.
"Wait, you left Krypton without clearance?" Alex blurts out.
"Yes, and your people still accept refugees, right?" Kara asks.
"Yeah, but our political climate has changed. The government won't see you as a refugee, they'll see you as an unregistered alien," Alex says covering her face with her hands. "Hold on, I need a drink, then you have to tell me everything," she says as she pours herself a glass of scotch.
The next morning Kara wakes up on the couch to the sound of Alex talking to someone in the other room.
"Hank, I'm going to bring her, just trust me. We need her assistance on this. We'll be there in an hour," Alex says before hanging up the phone. Looking up she sees a worried Kara staring at her from the doorway.
"Are you sure that they won't detain me? I didn't fly two thousand light years just to end up in jail on Earth," Kara points out.
"Yes, I know and they won't detain you. I promise," Alex says reaching out to reassure her.
"Alex, I trust you, but how do you know what your government will do?" Kara asks.
"Well, I, uh, I sort of work for a secret government agency that tracks aliens on Earth," Alex confesses.
"Oh Rao," Kara exclaims. "That's why you have a gun? And now, y-you have to turn me in," she blurts out.
"Yes, no. I'm not exactly turning you in, I'm taking you in to protect you and get you registered. You've been here before, so it will be okay. Look, I even told my boss that you came here to help us round up the prisoners from Krypton," Alex says rapidly. "Hopefully, he'll offer you a job, then you can stay as long as you want, officially," she adds brightly.
"Alex, a job. Here on Earth? Catching criminals that my mother banished to the phantom zone?" Kara questions nervously. "I don't know about that Alex. What if I'm no good at it?" She asks.
"Kara, just come with me to the base and meet with Hank and then decide when you have more information," Alex suggests hopefully. "You can trust Hank, besides you are the main reason that he recruited me. It seems that traveling to Krypton with you and living there for several months made me uniquely qualified to work on an alien task force that investigates alien lifeforms on Earth," Alex explains.
"Okay, I'll go meet him. But can we do it tomorrow? I could really just use a day to relax," Kara says tearfully.
"Shh, look I know, but we have to go to the DEO now because you, uh, you're still an unregistered alien," Alex says, but then she reaches out to take Kara's hand. "Just trust me, I'll take care of this," she adds confidently.
"You brought in an unrestrained and unregistered alien on to our base!" Hank grumbles after he escorts Kara in to a holding cell.
"This isn't necessary Hank. She's practically my family. She's no threat to anyone," Alex yells back at him hoping to get him to listen. "She was the topic for my dissertation, you recruited me because of her. I swear that we can trust her. And she's here to help us with the alien criminals."
"How can she help us? You think that just because she's a Kryptonian with the same powers as the criminals, that she's going to be able to fight them? She's not trained," he points out.
"So we train her. You trained me to be a fighter and I had zero skills when you first met me," Alex counters.
"You better be right about her," he grumbles turning to enter the holding area.
"Welcome to the DEO, Kara Zor-El, Kryptonian from the House of El and daughter of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze."" Hank booms as he enters the holding cell. "The Department of Extranormal Operations. The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and/or invasions," he adds.
"And what about you," Kara remarks immediately moving to examine him more closely. "You are not of this planet."
Hank steps over and shuts off the coms link before she finishes that sentence. He didn't expect her to be able to detect him so easily.
"What makes you think that I am not of this planet?" He asks turning around slowly to challenge her.
"It takes an alien to know an alien," she replies as she carefully looks him over. "You may resemble a human, but shape-shifters can resemble anyone," Kara replies confidently. "Show me who you really are," she dares him.
Hank's eyes flash red and he transforms into his real self.
"Martian," Kara says triumphantly. "I met many of your kind during my stay on Mars. Most were welcoming, others were not. I narrowly escaped Mars before the white martians took over the planet," she adds.
"You couldn't have been there at that time," he replies. "The white martians destroyed everyone and everything," he adds.
"I was investigating the situation for my grandfather's news agency, unofficially," she explains.
He shrugs off her comment in disbelief, then realizes what she said, "You're a reporter? I thought all Kryptonians were scientists," he remarks.
"Many of our people are scientists, but my mother's father was a journalist. I've been carrying on his work," she explains. "What is your martian name?" Kara ask kindly.
"J'onn J'onzz," he replies reluctantly. "This is off the record," he adds quickly.
They stare at each other a moment, sizing each other up.
"J'onn, when I returned to Krypton with the story, my grandfather and I tried to get the Intergalactical Council to intervene," Kara says tearfully.
He scoffs and transforms back into Hank Henshaw. "Kryptonians do not help anyone but other Kryptonians," he snaps.
"Your impression of Kryptonian is based on our refusal to accept refugees. But that was done out of necessity, our planet was dying and barely able to sustain the lives that were there," Kara explains. "It's not that we didn't want to help, we were unable to help, our very planet was on the verge of collapse."
"Yet it is stable now," he points out.
"It is, but only because we were able to make the necessary changes to our environment to stabilize it," Kara counters. "We made many hard choices, we lost many native species and Argo City is practically shrouded in a bubble for protection now that most of Krypton is a desert wasteland. Kandor and Argo City are all that remains," she explains.
"Have you been to Mars lately?" Hank questions sadly.
"Yes, I have. It is devastating to see what was once a thriving planet is now all but uninhabitable," she remarks.
Hank is taken aback by the woman before him. This is not what he expected, but perhaps he should have, given that Alex Danvers doesn't trust people easily and it would seem that she trusts this Kryptonian completely.
"Hank," Alex rushes to the door as soon as it opens. She was stunned when he shut off the coms link.
"Everything is fine Agent Danvers," Hanks says opening the door widely so that Kara can pass through. "We need to discuss some things, then you can get Kara Zor-El a tac suit, so that we she see what she can do," he adds flashing a quick smile. "Wait here Ms Zor-El," he says softly before turning to follow Alex into his office.
A few minutes later, Alex appears and smiles brightly at Kara. We're all set," she says and nods towards the hallway for Kara to follow.
"I knew that you would win him over," Alex adds softly as they make their way down the hall. "What happened in there?" She asks pausing to look at Kara more closely.
Kara pauses, not sure that Alex knows that she's working for a martian. "He's a good man, you were right about him," Kara replies. Then glancing around the hallway she asks, "Uh, Alex do you ever get lost in here? Every hallway looks the same," she remarks.
"Not in a long time," Alex replies, noting that Hank must have revealed himself to Kara in the holding cell. Curiously she wonders if they've met before, because this went smoother than she thought it would.
A few minutes later they turn down yet another hallway, and Alex calls out to another agent, "Hey Vasquez, do you have an extra tac suit we can borrow?"
"Yeah, why?" She asks skeptically looking at the woman standing beside Alex.
"Uh, this is a friend of mine from another agency," Alex explains. "She's on loan to us to help with the aliens, Hank wants to spar with her," she adds.
"Another agency? Let me guess, it's a modeling agency?" Vasquez retorts sarcastically.
"Kara, Kara Zor-El," Kara says extending her hand and introducing herself to the other woman.
"Vasquez, Susannah Vasquez," the agent says taking the offered hand and almost falling to her knees when the blonde grips it.
Shaking her hand, Vasquez follows them into the locker room.
"Which agency are you from exactly?" She asks as she pulls the spare suit out of her locker and hands it over to the blonde.
"Uh, she's from a Canadian agency like ours," Alex stammers. "And they train differently than we do, she's here to learn Krav Magna and learn how to fight and contain the aliens."
"Uh huh," Vasquez says not quite believing the other agent.
"She's a really quick learner, so I was hoping that we could give her a crash course," Alex suggests.
"Danvers, you really think that she can learn Krav Maga before she heads into the sparring room with Henshaw?" Vasquez asks incredulously.
"Once she learns the basics, she'll figure the rest out on her own fighting Henshaw," Alex explains.
Vasquez isn't sure of that, but then she turns around and Kara is already zipping up the tac suit and her other clothes are folded neatly on the bench. "How did you do that?" She asks.
"It's a gift," Kara jokes, making Alex laugh out loud at the familiar joke they used in high school.
"Now this room is secure, it's just you and me in here, Kara Zor-El. Don't hold back, just show me what you've got," Hank explains encouraging her.
Kara nods and begins to move around the circle, remembering the tips that Vasquez shared with her. Henshaw follows her with his eyes, barely adjusting his position, until she passes behind him. Then suddenly he zips around her, but she jumps up and hovers above him. He reaches up and grabs her leg and snatches her out of the air. She comes back to the ground hard, but practically bounces up and throws her first punch, landing a solid hit to his chest which throws him against the wall. He lets his momentum carry him into the wall, but then uses it to launch over her head and land behind her. Kara turns quickly and as he rushes towards her, she moves to her left and avoids him. They keep going at it for almost two hours, when Hank finally gets the best of her.
"You're a quick study, I'll give you that," he admits slightly impressed by her ability to learn his moves and then use them against him.
"And I've only been on Earth for 24 hours, imagine how much stronger I'll be after longer exposure to the yellow sun," Kara points out excitedly.
"Your powers increase with exposure to this sun?" Hank questions, he doesn't recall Alex mentioning that in her dissertation.
"Yes, in a week, I'll be twice as strong as I am now," she replies.
"Well, if that's true then we have a week to train you before you'll be ready to assist us in the field," Hank remarks going over to the door and entering the code to open it.
"How did she do?" Alex asks curiously as they enter the office area.
"She did fine. Vasquez take her to the mess hall and get her something to eat. Agent Danvers, come with me. We need to discuss this unusual situation," Hank says, his tone the usual mix of annoyance tinged with amusement.
Alex enters his office hesitantly, not sure if she should sit down or stand. Hank comes around the desk and leans against it. "So you invited an alien to come help us without talking to me first," he remarks.
"Not exactly, I didn't know that she was coming," Alex explains. "But she did well, right? I mean, when she was here before, she accidently stopped a mugging. She's a natural sir," Alex adds.
"From what I saw today, she is definitely an asset that we need in the field as soon as possible. And she seems willing to do the work, now where is she going to stay?" He asks.
"Uh, yeah, she can stay with me. I can clear out my spare room for her. Thanks, Hank. This means so much, she really wants to help sir, that's why she's here," Alex replies.
"Now, it's going to take a bit of paperwork and I might have to call in a few favors to get her registered properly, so tell me why she's really here," Hank remarks leaning back on his desk and staring intently at Alex.
Alex looks busted. "Okay, so there was this situation there that wasn't good..." Alex remarks before outlining the situation with CATCO that Kara told her about.
"And you don't think that she was behind the hacking, Agent Danvers?" Hank asks.
"No, not at all. Besides Kara is positive that she received the same leaked documents from the hacker that CATCO received and turned over to us, Alex replies.
"You mean the same documents which provided us the details about all of the occupants aboard the prison ship?" He inquires.
"Yes, I thought that we could show her the documents and have her translate them for us," Alex suggests.
"Hmm, but you said that she destroyed her copies," Hank points out.
"Yes, but she would still be able to translate them for us and confirm that they are from the Judicial Council," Alex counters.
"She's going to need to make a statement about that situation, but if she'll help us with that investigation and the escapees, I'm sure that I can get her clearance through," Hank replies confidently.
