"Kara? Should you be here?" Steve asked when he saw her sat in the hall.
"Is this the wrong hall?" She asked.
"No right hall. But there have been many rumours about your health. Including poisoning putting you on death's door. And don't take this the wrong way, but you do have that near death vibe."
"Poisoned yes? Dead no. There was no way I was missing this."
"Hello Steve." Lena said from Kara's other side.
"Lena." He smiled before looking back at Kara and asking.
"Can I get you anything? A shot of adrenaline?"
"I'm fine. Lena and Eliza would not have let me come if I wasn't."
"Let is a strong word." Lena pointed out.
"Seriously if you need anything let me know. I can make it to that coffee cart and back in less than three minutes. And the hospital in eight."
"I appreciate the concern but I'm okay."
"Let me know if that changes." Steve said before he saw Martin signalling him. "I'll be right back."
"I have to hand it to you, your ability to lie is improving." Lena said as Eliza walked into the hall with the teenage Alex and Kara.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" The teenage Alex asked walking over to where her mother was.
"Where else would I be?"
"In bed." The teenager pointed out frowning.
"And miss this? No chance."
"How do you even know about today?" The asked, throwing an accusatory glare at her cousin.
"I'm your mother, it's my job to know everything."
"But-" The teen started only for Kara to hug her.
"I was not going to miss this." Kara said. "Besides Eliza and Lena are here, they'll take me back if they think anything is wrong. Just go out and have fun."
Not believing her mother the teen looked to Lena who said.
"Don't worry, I have her. Go put that practice to good use."
"Okay." Alex said hugging her mother before heading over to the chess tables as Eliza sat on Kara's other side.
-00-
"What are you doing here?" Alex asked when she saw her son sitting in the corner of her room, glued to a computer game.
"Grandma didn't think you could be left unsupervised." MJ said. "And here I can play games." He said pausing the game and looking at his mother and asking. "Can I get you anything?"
"No I'm oka- actually can you bring me my laptop?"
"You want to work rather than spend time with me?" MJ asked.
"What? No. I just thought you'd be going soon and I didn't want to move. But of course I want to spend time-" Alex started only for MJ to cut her off.
"I'm messing with you." MJ said reaching into his bag before carrying his mother's laptop over to her. "I thought you'd want it."
"Thanks." She said.
"For the record I didn't give that to you. Grandma is still mad at me."
"For what?" Alex asked.
"Losing our DEO escort so we could find Alex."
"What do you mean losing your DEO escort?" Alex asked sitting up straighter.
"Grandma didn't tell you that part?" He guessed.
"No. All she said was you found Alex." His mother said.
"Right, well let's stick to that." MJ said as the door opened and J'onn walked in. "Hi J'onn." He greeted enthusiastically before leaving the room.
"Did I say something?" J'onn asked confused.
"No. MJ did." Alex said before asking. "Is everything okay?"
"I thought you might want to know what is happening. Although I see you've managed to get your computer." He said looking at the laptop.
"I haven't looked at it yet." Alex said. "What is happening?"
"Your team has spent the last couple of weeks going through the facility you and Kara were held at. Well both facilities."
"And?" Alex asked.
"They collected several prints and have got positive IDs."
"Yet you don't look happy." Alex said.
"We found nothing to identify the people who were experimenting on Kara. By the time the team got to that site it was cleaned out. The site you were held at was a slightly different story. That's where the DEO team found prints. The prints they found are all from gang members or former gang members. It looks like they were the guards."
"So what's the bad news."
"By the time the team got there, there wasn't anyone to arrest."
"You said the rescue had alerted them and they evacuated as soon as Kara was rescued, long before the DEO team got there."
"What we didn't tell you was the DEO were monitoring the building and no vehicles left after we rescued you and your sister."
"Then where did they go?" Alex asked.
"We couldn't find any tunnels and no secret rooms." J'onn said.
"Then that only leaves transmatter portals." Alex said.
"Yes, only if it was a full portal it would be left behind and we'd find it. We didn't. So the best guess is they have Transmitter portal watches like Lex." J'onn said.
"But as far as we know Lex is the only one who has ever managed to make those. Not even Lena managed it and she knows as much about portals as anyone."
"I know. Which means we have to consider the possibility that Lex has sold his design." J'onn said.
"Or there is a method we don't know about. Do you remember a few years ago, probably ten now there was that Meta called Warp? He could teleport and take others with him."
"I will look into it." J'onn said.
"Thanks." Alex said before guessing. "Is there more bad news?"
"Yes. I have been working with Kara's alien contact about the missing aliens and there are thirty three confirmed missing now. Five have turned up dead. We can't find any connection between them, so the missing Metas is probably the best route to follow and that is what the DEO is doing. But I will keep chasing down leads."
-00-
Once the tournament had ended the teenage Alex made a beeline for her mother who as soon as she was close enough stood and hugged her daughter.
"I'm so proud of you." Kara said into the hug.
"Are you sure you should be here?" The teenager asked still worried about her mother.
"I'm fine." Kara promised her.
"Does that mean you are coming home?"
"No. Not yet." Kara said.
"So you shouldn't be here?"
"That's not what I said. Lena gave me this." Kara said revealing a bracelet. "It stops my powers. So today everyone is safe. But in order to heal I can't wear it."
"So by being here you aren't healing?" Alex asked.
"Maybe physically." Kara said. "But emotionally this is helping a lot."
"You promise?" Alex asked.
"I promise." Kara said hugging her. "But I do have to go back."
"Can I come with you?"
"No. You have the chess club dinner."
"I don't want to go alone."
"You won't. Lena is going to take you." Kara said.
"But-"
"You need to spend time with your friends. You can see me later." Kara said.
"Okay." The teen agreed reluctantly.
"Come on." Lena said. "We don't want to be late."
"I'll look after your mom." Eliza said to the teen who followed Lena out of the hall.
"Did you have fun?" Lena asked.
"Not when I lost." Alex pointed out.
-00-
"How did it go?" Alex asked when Eliza entered her room.
"She came third."
"And Kara?"
"Exhausted but okay. How's your leg?"
"Hurts. But it is okay."
"It must be bad for you to not try leaving." Eliza said concerned.
"You assigned two guards." Alex pointed out.
"MJ and J'onn weren't guards." Eliza said. "But I meant more generally. I assumed you would have tried to be back at work by now."
"I'm not leaving Kara here alone." Alex explained. "She's struggling a lot more than she lets on."
"I know." Eliza said. "Has she opened up to you at all?"
"Not really." Alex said.
"And what about you?" Eliza asked.
"What about me?"
"You were prisoner for longer than Kara. I saw the bruises and what they did to your leg. Have you talked to anyone?"
"I'm okay." Alex assured her mother who kept looking at her causing Alex to add. "I promise."
-00-
"How are you feeling?" Eliza asked as she entered Kara's room the next day.
"Better." Kara said. "I think being exposed to the sun actually helped. Or my lack of control was just a mental thing."
"You are definitely looking better." Eliza said. "Do you want to try another test."
"Sure." Kara said sounding optimistic.
"Okay, I'll get the lab set up." Eliza said. "But first you need to eat some breakfast."
"Okay, I'm starving."
"Well that's a good sign." Eliza said. "Any preference?"
"Sticky bun?"
"I'll ask Lena to bring one over." Eliza smiled.
"How was Alex last night?" Kara asked.
"She's worried about you." Eliza said. "She's looking forward to you coming home." She pointed out before adding. "But she wasn't happy with you wearing that bracelet. She grilled Lena about it last night."
-00-
"What can you depend on narcissistic sociopaths to do?" Vasquez asked as she sat in Alex's room while Kara was being tested.
"Screw people over for their own benefit?" Alex guessed.
"Exactly." Vasquez said.
"I'm lost." Alex said.
"From what we could tell Tycho and Stagg were working together. Which is unusual for two big egos. So the question is why? The answer they both thought they had something to gain and they both thought they were using the other."
"Max is convinced they worked together to lower share price in his hyperloop business." Alex said.
"I think that is probably an added benefit." Vasquez said.
"So what is their goal?" Alex asked.
"We think there are two goals. Tycho has always been obsessed with Kryptonians, so we think he has been behind the attacks on Superman and Supergirl." Vasquez said. "Meanwhile Stagg is known to run expensive fight clubs. We think his focus has been on the metas."
"How does that connect the two?" Alex aksed.
"We got a lead. Two nights ago a meta went on a really bad rampage through the city. J'onn stopped him, eventually. But a lot of damaged was caused."
"What did the meta say?"
"Nothing they died an hour after they were caught from a massive coronary. But the autopsy was interesting. Their blood chemistry was all over the shop and we found traces of a form of Kryptonite."
"You think they were experimented on?"
"Possibly. We are looking into it. But if that is the case the other missing metas might be close by. And it might be that Tycho and Stagg are sharing research. We are seeing if there are any unique traces we can use to find the other metas."