Next time Kara woke she kept her eyes shut and listened, hoping she was alone. She knew if Eliza or Alex were there they would offer comfort and she didn't deserve that. They didn't understand what she had cost them and ignored her when she tried to tell them. Not hearing voices and not feeling the heat of Eliza's body she started to think she was alone. No longer trying to concentrate on her surroundings she suddenly became aware of her body, which was screaming in pain. Scrunching her eyes to help suppress the discomfort she suddenly heard Alex ask.

"Kara? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Kara said, desperate to be alone and not wanting sympathy and hating how dulled her senses were without powers.

"Are you in pain?" Eliza asked. "I'll get Hamilton."

"No, please. No more drugs." Kara pleaded opening her eyes and seeing Eliza, Alex and J'onn all looking down at her with concerned expressions. Their worry only making her feel more guilty. "I'm okay." She said. "I just want to go."

"Back to where we found you?" J'onn asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Maybe it's not too late." Kara said sounding desperate.

"Too late for what?" Eliza asked.

"To save him." Kara said a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Kara, I'm not letting you out of here until you start making sense." J'onn said firmly. "If you seriously want me to take you back I need to know what happened. All of it."

"You can't take her back." Alex said outraged.

"Let's hear her out first." J'onn said waving off Alex's concern, believing Kara needed a carrot to coax the information out of her. He then looked at Kara and asked. "What happened? From the start."

"There isn't time." Kara protested.

"Until I know everything there is no chance of you getting out of here." J'onn warned.

"But there is every chance I will go after them, by myself." Alex warned deciding threatening was better than coaxing.

"No. You can't." Kara pleaded getting agitated again. "Please don't."

"Kara, if you don't calm down Hamilton will sedate you again." Eliza warned instantly causing Kara to still. Then more gently Eliza said. "Kara if you really think some good can come from you going back you have to tell us what happened."

"I wasn't there to cover a new political group." Kara confessed. "I was there to investigate an anti-alien cult."

"We know and we'll be discussing your poor judgement later." J'onn said. The harsh comment earning a glare from Eliza who felt support was the best option for Kara.

"What happened then?" Eliza asked.

"When I got down there, it took a few days to find people who could introduce me to people who knew about the cult, or movement as they called it. Eventually though a woman called Nora took me to their lodge where I was introduced to several members."

"They just let you walk in?" J'onn asked.

"The only rule was no phones and no laptops." Kara said. "They all seemed so normal until they started talking about aliens. Then they talked with such hate."

"Did they hurt you?" Eliza asked.

"No, they thought I was human and believed I believed in their cause. A day later a saw Jen."

"Jen?" Alex asked.

"She's the missing girl I was hoping to find. Her mother wrote to me saying how she had run off and joined the group. She'd read my article about those other missing people and thought I might be able to help. I was so happy when I saw her, but then I saw how torn she was. It was like she was desperate to be there, but no longer believed what she was being told. So I started talking to her about her home and her mother. She didn't want to be there, not really. She thought she was helping her mother. Her dad was killed during Myriad and her mom had been struggling to pay the bills ever since. She thought by joining the group she could make a difference, avenge her father somehow. She didn't want anyone to be hurt alien or otherwise and she knew the group wouldn't help, but she felt lost and trapped. She just wanted to go home." Kara explained before falling silent, seemingly lost in her thoughts.

"What happened?" Eliza eventually asked.

"It wasn't like those compounds you see on crime shows. Once you joined you were free to come and go. But they didn't have money. When you join you hand over everything, money, cards, phones. So Jen had nothing so she could leave, but not leave. I still wasn't part of it so I still had money. I gave what I had to Jen and she said she would leave the next day."

"But something went wrong?" J'onn asked.

"I don't know, I mean it must have because they...she... The next day she didn't come to dinner. People were wondering where she was and the others told the people looking that I had been talking to her. So I was invited to see the leader. He was just returning from something and had no idea I was there. I think he was more shocked to see me than I was to see him."

"Who was it?" J'onn asked trying to keep up with Kara's explanation.

"Hank Henshaw."

"So these cults are Cadmus?" J'onn asked as Alex sat her anger silently growing.

"Yeah, they're funding them and using them to recruit armies for attacking aliens. They also use the recruits to experiment on, they're trying to turn them into super soldiers."

"How do you know that?" J'onn asked cautiously.

"I used my super hearing to listen to one of his conversations. I don't know who exactly she was, but she is high up in Cadmus."

"What happened after Henshaw saw you?" J'onn asked.

"Every one else was ordered to leave. He told me if I used my powers he would tell the world who I was and make sure everyone knew your involvement." Kara said looking from Eliza to Alex. "Then he offered a trade."

"What trade?" Alex asked.

"Submit to them and after a month they would release Jeremiah."

"And you just did what they wanted?" Alex asked.

"Of course I did. You could have had your dad back."

"At what cost Kara? What did they make you do?" Alex questioned, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"They had some sort of Kryptonite gas. They used it on me and I passed out. When I was unconscious they took me somewhere, I don't know where and put me in the building where you found me. They said if I tried to escape or disobeyed them they would kill Jeremiah." Kara explained before her tears started flowing more freely and she added. "They told me they had already killed Jen as I had poisoned her."

"Then what?" Eliza asked hugging Kara.

"They had me solar flare...then they tried to bring my powers back." Kara said.

"How?" Alex questioned.

"By inflicting pain. They thought it would give me an adrenaline rush."

"Oh Sweetie." Eliza said hugging Kara tighter.

"After awhile they left, but they came back, I don't know how much later. And they tried again. When my powers eventually came back they had me solar flare again and it started all over."

"Why didn't you leave?" Alex asked.

"I didn't want Jeremiah to die. I wanted you to have your dad back."

"What happened then?" J'onn asked.

"My powers stopped coming back as quickly. That seemed to excite them more. When they were with me they injected me with things and took my blood and inflicted more pain until I got my powers back. Then they had me solar flare again." She then looked at Alex who saw the raw guilt in Kara's eyes as she added. "I'm sorry. I tried to hold on. I wanted to stay so Jeremiah could go home. If I hadn't passed out I could have told you to leave me. I'm so weak. If I go back now, maybe it isn't too late."

"Kara listen to me." Eliza said. "Even if they were telling you the truth, Jeremiah would not want to be released like that. He loved you." She then looked at Alex and added. "Both of you. You were his world." Looking back at Kara she added. "He would do anything to protect both of you and he would never want you to suffer."

"I have to go back." Kara said.

"Kara we have had a team at the site since we rescued you. There has been no sign of Cadmus." J'onn said.

"So I really did kill him." Kara said softly.

"Kara we don't know what happened to Jeremiah. Cadmus could have been lying." Eliza said. "What we know is they hurt you and you need to focus on getting better."

-00-

"Please tell me you've figured out which rock Cadmus are hiding under." Alex said stalking into the control room a couple of hours later. "I really need to shoot someone."

"We're still working on it." J'onn said, knowing full well when they had found Cadmus he couldn't risk taking Alex on the mission. "But I found something else. There's something you need to know."

"What?"

"Before I tell you, I need your assurance you won't do anything stupid with the knowledge. I am telling you because Kara will need you even more."

"What is it?" Alex asked her mind racing through different possibilities.

"Kara was wearing a ring when we found her." He said handing it to her.

"Something the cult gave her?"

"That was my assumption at first, but look carefully at the marking on the inside."

"L-Corp." Alex read. "I will kill her."

-00-

"You're looking for me?" Maggie said entering Snapper's office.

Looking away from his other visitor it took Snapper a moment to place Maggie's face before he finally greeted. "Detective Sawyer. I appreciate you coming down."

"Seeing you were harassing my Captain. I didn't really have much choice." Maggie said annoyed that she had been ordered to go to CatCo. "So what's the problem?"

"Kara Danvers."

"What about her?"

"She was working a case with you."

"No, she wasn't." Maggie said. "I think she threw you my name to throw you off. So much for verifying sources."

"I'll concede I didn't think she could be so deceptive. I'll commend her when she gets back." Snapper said looking over to his other visitor who said.

"Double pay for cult infiltration. Plus a bonus for getting her out. Based on what I have so far I'll get her out by the weekend."

"I doubt that." Maggie said looking at the unshaven disheveled looking man in the corner.

"As his appearance suggests he is good at digging." Snapper commented. "I've used him plenty of times and he always gets my reporters out of trouble. He has the location of the compound and a way in. I just didn't want to send him in if she was making progress. Seeing she's not, with you anyway, my acquaintance over there will get her out, although at his rates I will own Danvers by the end of this."

"Not this time." Maggie said. "Kara has already been freed, so you would be wasting your money."

"You know where she is?" Snapper asked.

"I do. She's in hospital." Maggie said, suddenly unsure about how much to say.

"Is she okay?"

"Battered, but she'll be okay."

"Can I see her?" Snapper asked.

"No. You are on the list of people her sister holds responsible. You'll need to stay away from Alex for a while and Alex isn't likely to leave Kara's side, partly because she is worried about her and partly because she is torn between throttling her and hugging her." Maggie said.

"I can relate, apart from the hugging part." Snapper said.

"I'll let Kara know to make contact." Maggie said. "But in return I need a favour."

"This isn't a negotiation."

"It kind of is. Besides I just saved you a lot of money and it'll lead to a story." Maggie explained.

TBC...


A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.