"Agent Danvers." Hank greeted as he saw Alex enter the control room.
"Sir."
"I assume you are fully recovered." He said vaguely, aware there were plenty of ears in the control room.
"Yes Sir. Any sightings of Non?"
"Not yet. My guess is he is looking for your sister. If he continues to not find her I am sure he'll make a statement. When he does we move in."
"Is there any news from her?"
"Not directly, we are monitoring her location though. If she gets into trouble we'll know."
"If Non does send a message will she work with us?" Alex asked, her eyes swimming with worry.
"Honestly, I don't know. But I hope she will. We are all after the same thing."
"What about Lord?"
"What about him?"
"He has effectively got Supergirl out of the way, was it just out of revenge or did he have another motive?"
"Let's deal with one problem at a time." Hank said before noticing Alex was standing awkwardly and asking. "What's wrong with your side?"
"It's nothing." Alex said as Vasquez approached.
"Sorry to interrupt Sir, but all television feeds have just gone off line."
"Are they showing anything?" Hank asked.
"Just static at the moment Sir." Vasquez explained as all monitors in the control room were changed to display it.
"Myriad?" Alex asked.
As if on cue Non's face filled the screens.
"If you claim to be the defender of these people you will meet me in the shadows of the buildings that resemble the Icion and Rin Temples at midnight." Non said before he disappeared from the screens.
"I assume that was a message for your sister. Did that mean anything to you?" Hank asked looking Alex.
"No."
"How about when you were in your sister's dream world, did you see any buildings that resembled anything in National City?"
"No, but I wasn't exactly sight seeing."
"Go through all the images we have of the city, see if anything reminds you of what you saw of Krypton in the dream."
"Yes Sir."
"Vasquez?" Hank called.
"Yes Sir."
"Has Supergirl moved?"
"No Sir."
"Send in Agent Vardy, tell him to tell Supergirl we have received a message from Non and would like her to come in."
"Sir."
-00-
"I'm here." Supergirl said marching into the DEO an hour later, before getting straight to the point and asking. "What's the message?"
"Play it." Hank ordered Vasquez. As the video played Hank carefully watched Kara's face. Once the message had been played Kara asked.
"Why not just get Vardy to tell me the message?"
"Because our best chance of defeating Non is working together. If Vardy had passed on the message and you knew what Non was taking about you would have gone it alone." Hank said, seeing Kara was going to argue he asked. "Do you want to die?"
"No."
"Good, then we are on the same page. We need to work together." Hank said as Alex re-entered the room.
"Kara?" She asked surprised to she her sister there.
"Alex." Kara replied cooly before looking at Hank and asking. "What exactly do you want from me?"
"Do you know what buildings he is talking about?" Hank asked.
"I know what they looked like on Krypton, but I can't think of any buildings in the city that look like them."
"Can you draw them?"
"I guess." Kara said.
"Good. Work with Alex, let's at least see if we can work out where the trap is. Let me know when you have something." Hank said leaving.
"If you prefer I can get someone else to work with you on the drawings." Alex offered.
"It's fine." Kara said before noticing Alex's bruised face and asking. "What happened to you?"
"A fight with a couple of former Fort Rozz detainees." Alex said.
"Should you be here?"
"I can take time off when Non is dealt with." Alex replied before finally making eye contact with Kara. She was about to say something when her sister said.
"Let's get on with this."
-00-
"Do you have anything yet?" Hank asked several hours later.
"Nothing." Supergirl said frustrated.
"Maybe we are looking at this wrong."Alex said.
"How do you mean?"
"The meeting is at midnight right, during a full moon? We've been looking for buildings, maybe we should be looking for shadows they'll project at midnight."
"You mean it is the projection of the buildings in a given light that bear a resemblance, not the buildings themselves?"
"Yeah. And if we are looking at the shadows it could well be more than two buildings that contribute."
"That just made our haystack multidimensional." Kara said.
"Okay, new plan." Hank said after digesting the news. "We'll take up several search helicopters and use the search lights on them as proxies for the moon, looking for shadows that resemble your drawings. Supergirl, I need you to fly round the city and see if anything looks familiar, but do not engage without back up. Alex, stay here and keep scanning the images."
"But-" Alex started only to be cut off.
"You are in no condition to fight anyone." Hank said walking off.
-00-
"I think I have something." Alex said over the radio.
"What?" Kara immediately asked, aware that midnight was just a few minutes away.
Near the port there is a warehouse district with an old church and an abandoned observatory. There is also a comms station. All of those shapes can combine to cast shadows like the Icion building."
"I'm five minutes away." Kara said.
"The closest team is twenty minutes away." Hank said. "Hold your position."
"We both know I can't do that. If I don't show up at midnight he will do something bad."
"If you turn up alone he will do something bad, to you." Hank pointed out.
"I will wait until midnight." Kara said. "But then I am heading in. I will try to hold him off for as long as possible and buy your team time."
"We'll be there as soon as we can." Hank said.
When midnight came and went and he heard nothing from Kara he started to get worried. The other thing that worried him was Alex's silence.
Picking up a radio he asked. "Danvers, where are you?"
"One minute from Kara's location." Alex said after a long silence.
"Why are you not at the DEO?" Hank growled.
"Because I can't let her take on Non alone."
"Alex, do not go there." Hank growled.
"It's a little late for that." Alex replied.
"Damn it Alex, you can't beat Non. You know that."
"I don't have to beat him, just distract him long enough for you to get here." Alex reminded him. "I am not going to let him kill Kara." With that she removed her radio and walked out of the shadows towards Non, who had Kara pinned to the floor as he strangled her.
"Leave her alone." Alex shouted as she approached Kara and Non. "Kara has done nothing. If you want revenge, I am who you are after."
"You are a pitiful human and this fight does not concern you." Non said as he continued to strangle Kara.
"You're wrong. I was the one who killed Astra. She died by my hand. Your fight is with me."
Releasing Kara, who remained on the floor trying to breathe, he stood and looked at Alex saying. "You are very brave and very stupid coming here."
"I defeated your General, how hard can a mere foot soldier like you be?"
Her words had the desired effect and Non immediately became outraged and a split second later he was in front of Alex pushing her into a wall.
"I take it back, you are merely stupid." Non said as he squeezed Alex's neck. "I wonder, why are you in such a rush to die?"
As Alex choked she pulled a Kryptonite blade from her side and used her left arm to thrust it towards Non's neck. Unfortunately the movement was too slow and Non, protected by his anti Kryptonite suit, grabbed Alex's wrist stopping the blade reaching him. He then snapped Alex's wrist back and drove the knife, still in Alex's hand into the DEO agent's leg. Releasing her throat Non watched Alex scream in pain as she dropped to the ground.
Looking down at her with utter contempt he commented. "Humans are pathetic." He then kicked her ribs, careful to not make the blow fatal, smiling as he heard her scream again.
Alex was saved from a further blow by Supergirl attacking Non with her heat vision. Using the distraction Alex tried to ignore the pain and climbed to her feet whilst instructing Kara. "Go." The command confusing both Kara and Non.
"You can't win this fight human." Non said before looking at Kara and saying. "And you have now fully disgraced the your House by allowing this broken thing to fight for you."
"You're wrong." Alex said trying to stand taller.
"I can win, all I have to do is achieve my goal."
"And what are these goals you speak of? To kill me? Save your planet?"
"No, one goal." Alex said struggling to draw breath because of the pain. "To protect my sister."
"Do you know what the flaw is in fighting to protect someone?" Non asked as he hit Alex again, sending Alex crashing to the ground.
"If you lose, they lose. And I will enjoy ensuring that when you die, they die. You will fail." He said kicking her in the ribs so hard she went flying backwards into the wall.
"Alex!" Kara screamed as she saw her sister fall to the ground unconscious.
With Alex dealt with Non turned his attention back to Kara who was already flying at him. Absorbing the initial blow Non unleashed punch after punch at Kara holding nothing back.
"You may be stronger than you were, but you are still weak." He said as she straddled her relentlessly punching her until she no longer fought back.
"I promised your aunt that if she died you would die." Non said as he released the barely conscious Kara. "However, a simple death was deemed to good for the descendent of the House of El. So your fate has been decided by the new council. You will once again have a Black Mercy used on you. The chance of survival is significantly higher the second time round and as you survived it once I have every hope you survive it again and can once again lose everyone you held dear." He paused before adding. "If you survive the Black Mercy you may either be subjected to it again or beg for a slow death. Out of respect for your aunt, you can choose." Non said opening a box.
Kara lay dazed watching as the Black Mercy emerged from the box. She tried to get up, but she couldn't. She wasn't sure if it was from the beating she had just taken or the fear that washed through her as the Non prepared to throw the parasite at her.
"It looks like your allies will arrive too late for you." Non said seeing the helicopters fly towards them as he threw the Black Mercy at Kara.
What no one was expecting was Alex somehow stumbling to her feet and throwing herself between the Black Mercy and Kara, so it was she who was hit.
As Kryptonite bullets started to rain down on Non from the DEO helicopters he warned Kara. "By the end of the week you will be dead like her." With that he flew off leaving Kara to crawl over to Alex who lay unconscious under the control of the Black Mercy.
-TBC
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.