The next time Kara woke she found herself still being cradled in Eliza's arms and immediately tried to pull away. Eliza was having none of it though and pulled Kara tighter into her chest.
"It's okay Sweetie." Eliza soothed. "You're safe now. They can't hurt you any more."
"But you can be hurt." Kara said. "I'm poison you have to go."
"I'm not going anywhere." Eliza said, her tone firm but kind. "And you are not poison. You are the light that drives us to be better."
"You don't understand. You don't know what I am." Kara said still trying and failing to escape Eliza.
"You are my daughter." Eliza said as she continued to hug Kara.
"I've caused so much pain."
"Kara you have brought so much happiness into people's lives." Eliza said.
"That doesn't make up for everything I have destroyed. You should hate me."
"Kara I love you. Nothing is going to change that." Eliza said as she continued to hold her. When Kara's body seemed to relax Eliza asked. "Are you in pain? Without your powers Dr Hamilton has been giving you drugs to help, but we don't know if they work."
"I'm fine."
"Do you want to talk?"
"No. I want to, I need to go back."
"That's not happening." Eliza said. "You are not leaving this room until your powers are back and you have told us what happened."
"I killed him." Kara said as she started crying again. "Please let me go. It will be better for everyone."
"Kara, you are staying here and I'm staying right here too. I'm not leaving you." Eliza said.
-00-
"How is she?" Maggie asked as she walked up to Alex who stood outside the infirmary watching Eliza talk to Kara.
"I don't know. She keeps saying she wants to go back. She said she was poison and that mom should hate her. I don't know how to help her." Alex said upset and frustrated.
"She was held for nearly a month by a cult. Cults form as they have people who can almost brainwash people into believing what they have been told." Maggie pointed out. "Maybe she underwent some sort of mental conditioning."
"Kara's strong." Alex said dismissing the suggestion. "I mean really tough. She has endured so much."
"Everyone has doubts." Maggie said. "And Kara was not herself when she left. Maybe they exploited that."
"So how do I fix her? I hate seeing her like this."
"It may not be that easy." Maggie warned. "I worked a case a few years back that involved a cult. The people who were rescued, it took time to get them to see what had happened."
"But they went back to who they were?" Alex asked.
"I don't think anyone who is brainwashed by a cult can truly go back to the life they had." Maggie said. "I mean people join cults for a reason, normally they've had something traumatic happen to them or they reached rock bottom. Those issues have to be resolved first."
"Kara didn't join a cult she was captured by one. She shouldn't have been susceptible to what they were saying. I mean she's an alien, she is never going to be brainwashed into thinking all aliens are evil." Alex said.
"True, but the techniques they use to manipulate, they could have used on her to make her feel worthless. They are good at playing with people's emotions. And it may take time to undo what they did."
"How did you help the people who were rescued?" Alex asked.
"I didn't. There are specially trained people who help with deprogramming. But simplistically you discredit what they were told and the person who told them."
"Only to do that we need to know what Kara was told." Alex said frustrated.
"Your boss can't read her mind?" Maggie asked.
"No. He can't read Kryptonian minds, even when they don't have powers." Alex said.
"We'll figure out a way to help her." Maggie said. "Maybe it is not as bad as I'm making out. Maybe she just needs time. Either way she needs her sister. You should go in there."
"Last time she saw me she got really agitated and tried to escape. At least she is calm with mom." Alex said.
-00-
"How's Kara?" Mon-El asked when Alex approached him, Winn and J'onn as they stood round a console.
"The same. Whenever she wakes up she gets upset. But mom thinks she is being calmer. They managed a kind of normal conversation an hour ago and mom got Kara to eat something."
"That's something." J'onn said.
"Have you got anything?" Alex asked.
"Not yet." Winn confessed. "But I'm working on it."
"Something else on your mind?" J'onn asked looking at Alex.
"For the last fourteen hours I have been trying to work out how to help Kara. But until we know what happened that's hard to do. So I was wondering, is there anyway we can use the Narth to figure out what happened?" Alex asked out of desperation.
"You think he could read Kara's mind?" J'onn questioned.
"He said he could sense her sadness, maybe he could actually see what happened." Alex suggested.
"No." Mon-El said firmly. "You can't use the Narth."
"Why?" J'onn asked.
"The Narth aren't a bad race, but they have been used for evil. There are stories of them being used as a torture technique."
"You didn't think about mentioning this before?" J'onn asked.
"Why? He's already locked away." Mon-El shrugged. "Besides, as I said the Narth aren't bad but they were exploited because they can't control their power. One touch and the person touched is in their own nightmare. So using the Narth is bad, even if his intentions are perfectly good he couldn't control his power. Kara would go back to having dark visions."
"So what do we do?" Alex asked as she started to pace. "There has to be something we can do."
"Right now all we can do is wait." J'onn said.
"I hate waiting." Alex said.
"Really? Didn't get that vibe from you." Winn commented sarcastically, but on seeing Alex's face he added. "Not helpful. You know, I am going to go back to finding who did this? And I'm going to work in that office which has a lockable door. So see you." He finished as he scampered off.
"Alex, I know it is hard, but all you can do is be there for her." J'onn said.
-00-
"Hey." Alex whispered as she entered the infirmary.
"Hey." Eliza smiled wearily.
"I thought you may be hungry." Alex said offering her a protein bar. "It's the most nutritious we have here."
"I hope you eat more than just this." Eliza said taking the bar off Alex.
"You think Kara would let me get away with eating just those?" Alex said, her eyes going to Kara who lay asleep. "How is she?"
"Calmer. I don't know if that is the sedatives and pain medication though." Eliza replied glancing down at Kara. "Dr Hamilton said she's scaling everything back so I guess we'll see." Noticing Alex's deep frown she asked. "What's bothering you?"
"Maggie's worried she may have been brainwashed."
"Let's not speculate for now." Eliza said.
"I hate not knowing." Alex said.
"I know, but we'll figure it out."
TBC...
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.
