"Okay, where are we?" Alex asked as she stood in the control room.
"We have his position." Vasquez said. "It looks like his main tracker was removed though as it is showing up in a different place to his other."
"How many trackers does he have?" Alex asked Wildcat.
"Just two. One to be found and one to be useful."
"Okay. Let's send a team to the location of the first tracker so it looks like we bought the decoy. Meanwhile give me everything you have on where he is being held." Alex ordered as Supergirl flew back into the control room.
"How is she?" Alex asked.
"Stressing. MJ is distracting her. Have we got a location yet?"
"Almost." Alex said. "We are just getting intel on the site now." She said as Harris pulled up images and scans.
"It is a location linked with Kai." Vasquez said reading some of the intel. "The FBI stopped monitoring it soon after Kendell took over."
"Remember this could be trap with Diz as bait." Alex said, she then looked at her sister. "After what happened to your cousin you could be the real target."
"I'm not sitting it out. Besides my suit should offer me protection." Supergirl pointed out.
Alex then looked round the command room where several Agents had emerged.
"Okay, we have no jurisdiction with this. So the rescue mission is completely optional. We won't be able to use lethal force, which will put us in danger. Anyone who wants out leave now."
When no one left Alex nodded and said. "Okay. Team Alpha you will secure the perimeter. Team Bravo you will secure the roof. Wildcat, Supergirl you will come with me." Alex said.
"You're going?" Supergirl asked.
"Of course I am." Alex replied as Rose said.
"Ma'am we have a problem."
"What?"
"Kendell has just shown up at the front door."
"Tell him I'm not here." Alex said.
"I'll deal with him". Vasquez said leaving.
"Okay everyone let's move." Alex said looking at the rescue team.
-00-
"What do you see?" Alex asked as she Supergirl and Wildcat looked at the derelict building Diz's tracker was in.
"At least forty people in there. They all seem to have guns. Except one. That one is towards the middle of the building and surrounded by people with guns."
"Diz?" Wildcat asked.
"Maybe." Supergirl said.
"Create a distraction and make sure we can get out." Alex said to Supergirl. "Wildcat, with me." Alex said.
-00-
As Alex forced her way into the room they thought Diz was in, she saw the teenager slumped in the far corner, his wrists secured to some old pipes.
"Diz?" Alex asked rushing to his side. "Diz, wake up." She added, concerned with the blood running down his face.
"I'm awake." He said sounding groggy. "Did they get you? Kar? Is she okay?"
"Kara is fine. I'm here to get you out." Alex said.
"Just you?" He asked as she cut the cable ties that secured his wrists to the old pipes.
"No. But for the next few minutes it is just us so I need you to move. Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." Diz said getting to his feet, but was unable to hide his pained expression.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked.
"They gave me a special greeting." He said keeping one arm close to his ribs. "I can move. But with this collar I can't use my power." He said pointing to a device round her neck.
"Don't worry about your powers. We've got you." Alex said before noticing how much Diz was sweating. "You okay?"
"I can move."
"You sure?" Alex asked just as she heard footsteps from the corridor. "Stay here." She instructed as she moved back to the door, which she hid behind. As three guards entered they saw Diz in the corner and asked.
"Why is the door-" Before they could finish Alex leaped out from behind the door systematically took them down.
"You ready?" Alex asked as she returned to Diz who stood like a guppy fish.
"Yeah." He nodded as someone else entered the room.
"Diz?" Wildcat asked rushing over. "You okay Bud?"
"Great." The teenager said.
"I've cleared a path." Wildcat said to Alex.
"Good, let's get out of here." Alex said as Wildcat helped take some of Diz's weight. They only made it down one corridor though before they saw several armed men blocking their path. The second the men saw them they opened fire.
As the trio hid behind a wall trying to avoid ricocheting bullets from the walls Alex wondered what was keeping her sister.
When the shooting finally stopped she peered round the wall and saw six formerly armed men lying on the ground as Supergirl approached her.
"About time." Alex said as Supergirl reached them.
"Sorry. There were more of them that I thought."
"You okay?" Alex asked frowning.
"I'm fine. Ready to go?"
"Take him to a hospital. We'll clear things up here. Don't take him to the DEO but I'll get Ruby to assign a team to protect him. Don't leave him alone." Alex ordered.
"Okay." Supergirl said taking hold of Diz and flying him away from danger.
"Why not the DEO?" Wildcat asked. "Are you using him as bait?"
"We don't know how bad his injuries are. If they are bad the hospital will be better equipped. Supergirl will protect him. If I didn't think it was safe I wouldn't do it. Once he has the medical all clear we can move him. He'll be there long enough to be seen, but not long enough to be attacked."
-00-
"Diz!" The teenage Kara said rushing to his bedside an hour later.
"Hey." He said trying not to wince as Kara hugged him while also trying not to look at Alex who was glaring from the door.
"I was so worried." The teenage Kara said.
"I'm okay." He said as Alex decided it was best to leave and stepped out of the room.
"Good news is he'll be okay." Supergirl said standing next to her sister. "Well from his injuries, maybe not from whatever you are about to do to him."
"What's the diagnosis?"
"A cracked rib, one deep laceration requiring stitches, probably from where they removed his tracker, and a head wound also needing stitches and a possible concussion." Supergirl said.
"Anything happen here?" Alex asked.
"We removed the collar. It is at the DEO undergoing tests. Apart from that it's all quiet." Supergirl said. "Although may be not for long." She said looking behind Alex. Turning the DEO leader saw Agent Kendell approach.
"Director Danvers."
"I'll see you later." Supergirl said before leaving.
"Agent Kendell." Alex said.
"What's the DEO doing here?"
"We were part of the rescue team."
"You were? Why?" Kendell asked looking through the window in the door. Seeing the teenage Kara he asked. "Isn't that your daughter?"
"Yes."
"I didn't know she is connected to this. I mean I knew she had been a target. I didn't know she had gang links."
"She doesn't."
"That's not what it looks like." Kendell said looking into the room. "She seems to have very close gang links."
"Diz is a former gang member." Alex said.
"I see. Well my team are here now, so they can take over security. After all this is an FBI case."
"No offence, but while my daughter is here, my team is here. When she goes you can take over."
"I understand." He said somewhat reluctantly. "Has he said anything?"
"Only that he recognised a couple of his captors from his gang days. He wasn't there long enough to figure out what they wanted." Alex said.
-00-
"How is Diz?" J'onn asked walking towards Alex at the hospital.
"Says he is okay."
"You doubt it?"
"I think he is in danger." Alex said.
"You going to move him to the DEO?"
"Yes and no. I need your help."
"What to you need?"
"I think someone is going to come after Diz. I want to move him to the DEO before then, but I still want whoever is going to attack him to try."
"So you want me to take his place?" J'onn guessed looking into the room.
"Yes."
"Okay." J'onn agreed. "But make sure you tell Kara first." J'onn added.
"Yeah, that would be awkward." Alex said thinking through the consequences of not telling her daughter.
"So how do you want to do this?" J'onn asked.
"When Kara leaves, Kendell's team is taking over security. Sometime after that is when the attack will happen. So the second Kara goes, you and Supergirl fly into the room. Supergirl will fly Diz to the DEO and you take up residency in the room."
-00-
"Congratulations, you're a dead man." Alex said walking into the DEO infirmary a few hours later, looking straight at Diz.
"We weren't doing anything." Her daughter protested.
"That's not what I meant. Someone just killed Diz."
"I think you gave me too many pain meds. That made no sense." Diz said from the bed.
"When we brought you here we put J'onn as you in the hospital."
"Is J'onn okay?" Kara asked as Diz still looked lost.
"J'onn is fine. He's bullet proof."
"Bullet proof? He was shot?" Diz asked.
"Yes, but it should have been you. For now the world thinks you are dead and we need to keep it that way. So you need to stay here for a few days." Alex said before looking at her daughter. "And you are going to have to pretend he is dead. Which means you can't come back here."
"Is Kar in danger?" Diz asked.
"It's possible. But I will keep her safe." She said before looking at her daughter. "To that end you go nowhere alone. I'll let you say goodbye. I'll pick you up in ten minutes."
-00-
"What have got?" Alex asked when she saw her former mentor entering the control room.
"The would be killer was a gun for hire. He knew nothing, but we do know what account received payment." J'onn said.
"We are looking at all payments into that account to see if we can track it." Vasquez said. "But we are guessing it will be untraceable."
"What about how contact was made?"
"Email from a fake account. Which was accessed through multiple VPNs."
"So untraceable?" Alex asked.
"Maybe not." Vasquez said.
"What do mean?"
"Well you know how there is no such thing as a random number?"
"Yes."
"Well people who randomly generate passwords have the same issue. If you have a set of passwords randomly generated by the same software, you can actually group them."
"But passwords are encrypted." Alex said.
"But hackable. And if we think a set of accounts might be linked we could target those accounts and look for similarities in the passwords."
"It sounds like a needle in a haystack." Alex said.
"It is." Vasquez said. "But we have narrowed it down from a needle in a barn full of haystacks."
"Okay." Alex said unconvinced. She then looked back to J'onn and asked. "Was he contracted to kill anyone else?"
"No." J'onn said. "But if this group operates the way we think it does that isn't surprising they'll use a different killer for every kill."
"How did they find this guy?" Supergirl asked. "I mean is there a bulletin board for hired guns?"
"You aren't far off. He had a listing on the dark web. But so do thousands of others."
-00-
"Here." Alex said passing her daughter a low tech looking phone that evening.
"What's this for?"
"You can't use your phone to talk to Diz. So I have given each of you a burner cell. It should be safe."
"Thanks." The teen said hugging her mother.
"How are you doing?" Alex asked.
"Okay, I guess."
"It's okay to not be okay." Alex pointed out as the doorbell rang. Releasing her daughter Alex said. "I'll be back in a minute." With that she walked out of the lounge and opened the front door.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Alex said hugging her.
"MJ told me everything that was happening. I thought I could be more use here than in Midvale."
"I'm really glad you are here." Alex said into the hug.
When she finally pulled back Eliza asked. "How's Kara, your Kara, coping with everything."
"I don't know. Maybe she'll open up more to you." Alex said. Nodding Eliza pulled her suitcase. "I'll take that." Alex said. "Kara is in the lounge."
"Okay." Eliza said walking into the lounge where Kara was sitting staring at her phone.
"Hi Sweetie." Eliza called.
"Grandma!" Kara called jumping off the sofa and hugging her.