As Alex came down from her shower she noticed both her kids sitting in the kitchen, with her sister and her niece.
"Morning." Her sister greeted. "I assumed you wanted to see MJ this morning and seeing last time he bypassed the house I thought we could have family breakfast."
"Thanks." The adult Alex said pouring coffee. As she did so MJ asked, while nodding at his sister.
"So how long is she grounded for?"
"She's not." Alex said.
"I'm not." The teenage Kara asked confused.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because the easiest thing to do is hide in your room for the next few months. But that isn't the way to deal with it. So you get to go out and be a teenager."
"What about Kai or whoever is after us?" The teenager asked.
"You'll still have a guard, but they'll keep their distance."
She then looked at her son and said. "Don't look so happy, you are getting punished."
"I didn't do anything wrong. I mean I didn't punch anyone. I was the one who was punched."
"That doesn't get you out of it." Alex said.
"Well, how long am I grounded for?" MJ asked.
"Do you want it in days or years?" Alex asked.
"This is so unfair." MJ muttered.
-00-
"You okay?" The adult Kara asked once the teens had left for school.
"No. Right now I am thinking of murdering a teenager, which won't end well for anyone."
"Stopping yourself is progress." Kara pointed out.
"Well it's partially my fault. I let all the unknowns about Kelly's accident get to me and I started to get obsessed again. If I spent more time focusing on what was actually happening with Kara now rather than something I can't change, maybe I could have stopped it getting so bad."
"The important thing is that from now you focus on now and the future, not the past." Kara said.
"I'm trying. And I did get some good news this morning though." Alex said.
"You did? What?"
"The medical team think they have come up with a way to remove the contact lenses without killing the user." Alex explained.
"That is good news. But when did you find all this out?" Kara asked confused.
"Five o'clock."
"In the morning?" Kara asked.
"Yes." Alex confirmed.
"They called you at 5?"
"No I was already at the DEO."
"Why?" Kara asked frowning.
"I needed to punch something, so I used the gym."
"So you are feeling better?"
"Nope."
"What can I do?"
"I don't know." Alex said. "Actually, one thing. Can you make it to the DEO at two?"
"Sure, why?"
"The FBI are coming in for a brief. Lisa is going to be there as well. It could get interesting."
"I'll be there.
-00-
"Thank you for coming." Alex said as she, Supergirl, Vasquez and Harris entered the meeting room where several FBI agents were waiting. "We thought a joint meeting made sense." Alex added as she sat.
"Sounds good to me." Aptil said. "But without wanting to sound rude. Who is that?"
"This is Lisa. She was on one of Mongul's squads. She knew of his plans and has been filling us in. She is here to help us explore any potential connections between Mongul and Sloane syndicate."
"You think that is possible?" Aptil asked.
"I do. I mean I hope it isn't. But in the interest of cooperation we are putting all our cards on the table." Alex said.
"Well, nice meeting you, Lisa? But are secret names really necessary?"
"It is my Earth name." The alien said. "The human tongue can not pronounce my real name."
"Okay." Aptil said before looking at Alex and saying. "Again I don't want to be rude, but are you happy with me revealing our progress with a non government employee."
"Share what you feel comfortable with. If there is no obvious link we carry on later behind closed doors." Alex said.
"Okay." Aptil said before starting his recap. As he did so Lisa looked round the room.
After a few minutes Lisa started to whisper something to Alex causing Aptil to stop and ask.
"Is there a problem?"
"Um, yes. Can you come with me a minute?" Alex said standing.
"Okay." Aptil said confused.
Alex then looked at Supergirl and said.
"No one leaves this room."
"Okay." Supergirl agreed before watching the pair leave.
-00-
"What's going on?" Aptil asked as Alex shut her office door.
"Lisa is an empath." Alex said.
"A what?"
"An empath, she senses people's emotions."
"That must be kinda annoying." He said before he realised why Alex was telling him. "This was a set up. You're screening us?"
"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. The only people who knew were Supergirl, Lisa and me. We wanted everyone acting normally."
"I'm assuming you are telling me now for a reason."
"Yes. But remember Lisa could be lying, but she says Rogers and McGuire are both feeling unusually nervous and guilty. They are hiding something."
"So how do we play it?"
"What about sending J'onn into the room? They'll know he is a telepath. After what happened before he won't use telepathy, but it might drive a change in behaviour." Alex suggested.
"How are you going to do that when he is already in the room impersonating one of my agents?"
"How long have you known?" Alex asked surprised.
"Awhile. I should be angry, but I understand your paranoia. Plus he is incredibly efficient. That said, if we are going to work together, which I believe we have to to stop the threat, you have to start trusting me." Aptil said.
"I am trying." Alex said.
"That's a start. What if we drag J'onn, well Agent Brody from the room? Make it look like we think he is the mole, then send him, as in J'onn, in as himself." Aptil suggested.
"Seeing there is a lack of any other plan, let's go with it." Alex replied as she opened her office door and called to the two guards.
"Simms and Landry please can you detain Agent Brody and have him brought to interrogation room three."
"Umm, yes ma'am." Simms said before the two disappeared.
-00-
"What's going on?" One of the FBI Agents asked as Alex, Aptil and J'onn entered the briefing room thirty minutes later. "Where's Brody?"
"Sorry." Aptil said. "We have been running a counter mole operation. For obvious reasons I couldn't tell you. We found evidence pointing to Brody, who is now being interrogated."
"By the DEO?" McGuire asked, glancing nervously at J'onn.
"Yes, they have more freedom in integration."
"But-"
"The evidence was overwhelming." Aptil said. "He deserves everything he gets."
"I feel uneasy about this Sir."
"If you want to raise a complaint feel free to leave now." Aptil said, deliberately offering an exit.
"Yes Sir." McGuire said standing and leaving.
"Anyone with a problem?" Aptil asked looking round the room, trying not to subconsciously linger on Rogers. When no one else spoke Aptil restarted, being careful not to say anything Rogers didn't already know.
-00-
After the meeting ended and Lisa the FBI agents, less Aptil, had been escorted from the building the remaining group went to the control room where Alex asked.
"What happened to McGuire?"
"McGuire left here and went to Central train station." Rose said.
"Did he make a run for it?" Alex asked.
"No. He went to a storage locker and took out a phone, sent a message, locked it up again and went back to the FBI building." Rose explained putting various photos on the screen.
"What was the message that he sent?" Aptil asked. "I mean I am assuming the phone magically fell into your lap somehow?"
"The phone is in the sealed locker." Rose said. "As for the message we are assuming it was coded. It read. 'Home soon." The number it went to is not registered. When we searched the networks we couldn't find it. However, we could find where it was prior to that message being sent. Our guess is as soon as it received the message it deactivated. But it had been in a warehouse in Iceland."
"Iceland?" Alex asked.
"Yes Ma'am."
"Although strange, none of this is exactly incriminating." Aptil said.
"Which shows how professional the people behind this are. But we are continuing to follow Rogers and McGuire." Vasquez said.
"What I want to know is why the different reactions?" Supergirl asked.
"I have some thoughts about that. During the meeting ended I pulled their files and Rogers has completed the TRT course. McGuire hasn't." Aptil said.
"TRT?" Supergirl asked.
"Telepath Resistance Training. It is pretty hardcore, I doubt J'onn will be able to read Rogers' mind." Aprtil said. "He probably thought he was safe."
"The other question is do they know about each other." Alex said.
"There is no way to answer that unless one of them breaks. For now all we can do is watch and wait." Aptil commented. "Which is frustrating. But at least McGuire will be kicked off the task force, assuming my boss doesn't side with him."
"I'm thinking we might want to bypass the chain of command and take this straight to the President." Alex said. "There could be other moles in the FBI."
"Won't that give the game away that you are still investigating?"
"Well there is the possible link to Mongul." Alex pointed out.
"You are going to lie to the President?" Aptil asked.
"I am going to present every threat we are considering."
"While you do that do you want Brody to approach McGuire?" J'onn asked. "He could say he was released, had heard how McGuire defended him. It may be possible to get a read."
"And it may fry your brain." Alex said. "I don't want to risk you. Let's see what happens."
-00-
"There are two more of you than there should be." Ruby said as all three teens walked towards her at the school gate.
"I'll leave you to it then." MJ said turning.
"Unfortunately for you, you were the one I was expecting." Ruby said before looking at the teenage Kara and saying. "The random instructions about you were 'make have fun'." But as she spoke there was a roar of an engine before a motorbike skidded to a stop behind them. Recognising the bike and the helmet Ruby relaxed and looked at the rider, wondering why they were there.
"Hey guys." Wildcat said taking his helmet off.
"What are you doing here?" MJ asked suspiciously.
"I've got some time, thought we could restart the lessons. Don't worry, your moms signed off on it."
"Sweet." MJ said as Wildcat looked at the teenage Kara and asked as he held out a spare helmet. "Want a ride to the gym?"
"Mom would kill us." Kara pointed out.
"So, want a ride to the gym?"
"Okay." Kara said taking the helmet and climbing on he back of the bike, oblivious to the fact that the scene was the centre of attention at the school.
As they rode off MJ said to Ruby. "Mom is going to kill you to."
"The instructions were for Kara to have fun." Ruby said. "Your mom should really know better." She then looked at the teenage Alex and asked. "Aren't you meant to me in chess club?"
"Wrong day."
"Fair enough. Let's get to the gym then." Ruby said.