"Morning." Vasquez greeted when Supergirl flew into the temporary DEO control room.
"Morning. Anything happening?"
"Not much. Before you ask, we still haven't found the other two hundred giant spiders that may be out there."
"Here's hoping you don't find them." Supergirl said.
"I don't know. If they exist and breed we are going to have a huge problem." Vasquez argued as Ruby approached.
"Looks like you weren't wrong." Ruby said to Supergirl.
"About what?"
"Tycho." Ruby explained. "We've being trying to find his electronic fingerprints and convert them to physical fingerprints. But we found nothing. Your theory that he isn't real might not be wrong."
"How do you know about that theory?" Kara asked confused.
"Alex called me this morning." Ruby explained.
"She did?" Supergirl asked confused.
"Yeah, she said you had an idea and I was to prioritise it. And I did. But it is only a first step. Plenty more digging to do. Especially as we may not actually be looking for Tycho, but someone who sits behind the scenes. And before you ask yes Lex is still in prison and has no communication with anyone. Harris has been going through all the security footage and we have just verified Lex's identity. Of course if Tycho is just some sort of AI bot or avatar Lex or whoever wouldn't actually need to be in contact."
"Could be like Earth's version of an early Indigo." Vasquez agreed.
"I think that is an even more scary prospect." Supergirl sighed.
"Ma'am. I have a hit." Harris said walking up to the group. "The man in the photo you recognised." He clarified.
"Who is he?" Supergirl asked.
"Ivan Utkin. Ex special forces." Harris said.
"So why didn't he show up when we ran facial recognition?" Vasquez asked.
"Because he wasn't US special forces." He said. "And cracking foreign government firewalls is delicate."
"And illegal and out of scope." Vasquez listed. "But now we have a name, we can start putting the pieces together. I want everything you can get and I don't care how you get it. Just make sure I never know how you get it."
"Yes Ma'am."
"I have the records on John Sharma." Lena said entering the room. "Sorry it took so long, they were on a disused network." She then gave Vasquez a disk. "On there is every project he worked on, officially anyway, when he worked for Lex. However, he left Lex's employment a long time ago."
"Eight years and thirty three days." Ruby clarified. "He went to go work for Stagg."
"Where is he now?" Supergirl asked.
"The Desert facility." Ruby replied.
"Why?"
"We brought him in for questioning." Ruby said.
"You did?"
"Yeah, it's been a busy day." Ruby shrugged. "But before you get excited he is a super geek. I get the impression he just likes the work and didn't care about the why and who. Good news is he is happy to talk about everything he worked on."
"Can I talk to him?" Lena asked.
"Be my guest." Vasquez said.
"Want me to fly you over there?" Supergirl asked.
"No. Thank you. I'll get my driver to take me."
-00-
"What have you got there?" Kara asked as she approached her sister that evening.
"Everything we have found so far on Utkin."
"And?"
"Nothing to tell us where he is now, but hopefully it will start coming together. Are you sure you are okay taking Kara tonight?"
"Of course. It will be fun." Her sister smiled.
"But you didn't get much sleep last night."
"I'm fine. Plus I think Alex might have a full meltdown if I pulled out. She's like super excited about it." She added before saying. "I thought you didn't take my Tycho theory seriously, so why was Ruby investigating?"
"It wasn't that I didn't take it seriously. You just took me by surprise, it was three am." Alex reminded her. "You think it has legs so of course we are investigating." She said as a very uncomfortable Diz walked into the room wearing a tux.
"Hi Diz." Kara smiled.
"Hi." He said playing with the collar.
"You look very Eggsy." Kara said.
"Huh?" The teen asked.
"Eggsy Unwin, tough upbringing before being converted into a secret agent who saved the world."
"Is this like a movie thing?" He asked.
"We are so going to watch Kingsman this weekend." Kara said.
"She meant you look very smart." Alex added, trying to be nice.
"Feel like I'm in a strait jacket." He complained as the door opened and the teenage Alex and Kara entered the room.
"Hi." Diz said transfixed on the teenage Kara.
"Hi." She replied, equally transfixed.
"You ready?" The older Kara asked.
"Yes." Her daughter said as her cousin just stared at her boyfriend.
"We'll see you later." Kara said to her sister as she ushered the group out of the house.
-00-
"You look bored." The teenage Alex said to her mother after the keynote as the masses started to head into the main area.
"No." Her mother lied as Carter and Cat approached.
"You made it." Carter smiled.
"Hi Carter. Thank you for this." Kara replied.
"Of course." He nodded before looking at the teenage Alex and saying. "So Alex, some of the leading researchers are having a select town hall now, want to go?"
"Really?" The teen asked. Before turning to her mother. "Can I?"
"Sure." Kara smiled before watching the pair walk off.
"Thank you. I haven't seen her this happy about anything for while."
"You're welcome. But seeing she is occupied. Maybe now is the time to look for Tycho?" Cat suggested.
"Is he here?"
"No. But he was on the invite list. And he responded positively. I think it is time to work the room and get some intelligence." Cat said. Seeing Kara glance at her daughter she said. "Carter will look after her."
"Okay." Kara said glancing over to her niece and Diz who were on the dance floor. Content they were okay she followed Cat.
-00-
"Is this actually legal?" MJ asked his mother.
"Do you actually care?" His mother countered.
"No. Just curious. You always told me we couldn't use this size booster."
"As long as we only launch from approved areas we're fine." She said as she passed him the PCB.
"So not the backyard?" He asked as he soldered something onto it under his mother's watchful gaze.
"No. I was thinking more the DEO proving ground." Alex said.
"I thought we weren't allowed there?"
"It's not a blanket invitation." Alex pointed out. "But one launch can't hurt. Plus we can store the explosives there, which will be a little safer." She said as she inspected the soldering. "You need to redo that joint, it won't stand the vibrations." She said passing it back.
As MJ re-soldered it Alex said. "It's usually the smallest component that lets you down."
"How's that?" MJ asked passing the board back to her.
"Much better." Alex said before passing her son a box.
"What is it?" He asked.
"The comms module."
"That's not the default" He said.
"No. It's better. It will give you better range and better bit rate." Alex said. "Should improve your chances of landing it safely."
"Sweet." He said as she soldered it into place. As he did so he asked. "When will your leg be good enough to fly this?"
"I probably need a couple of weeks. Three if your grandmother stays in National City."
"So a month then?" He asked. "How is your leg really doing?"
"Okay." Alex said.
"And you? I know you aren't sleeping?"
"I don't like being trapped at home. I'm just restless." She lied. "So how are you doing?" Alex asked.
"Fine."
"I'm sorry I scared you." Alex apologised.
"It's your job."
"While there might be dangerous components to my job, my job is not to get into trouble or to end up scaring you. I know it has been hard on you and I know that with your sister dating Diz and Alex working on her powers you are feeling left out. And I know that is made worse by having the DEO follow you round."
"It's okay." He shrugged.
"No it's not." Alex said. "Kara, your aunt, had an idea. You can say yes or no. It's up to you." She said causing him to look round at her. "James is going to come down for your aunt's surprise birthday. So is Clark. After that James is going to visit Clark in Metropolis. Why don't you join them?"
"Are you okay with that?" He asked.
"It is only a week. But I will miss you. In fact I will miss you so much I am going to need to have some majors hugs before you go." She said pulling him into her arms.
"Mom!" He protested as he tried and failed to squirm his way out of the hug.
-00-
"We're back." Kara called as she entered Alex's house with the three teens.
"How was it?" Eliza asked coming out to greet them.
"Good." Kara said as the teens went to the lounge where Diz immediately started to remove his jacket and loosen his shirt "Well Kara and Alex enjoyed themselves. Diz not so much. Did you guys have fun?"
"Yes." MJ said enthusiastically before going of in search of the other teens.
"He seemed happy." Kara commented to her sister.
"We had a good evening. Plus he is very excited about staying with James for a few days." Alex said. "Everything okay tonight?"
"Apparently Tycho was on the invite list for tonight. But he didn't show."
"No surprise there. I doubt he is even in the US." Alex said. "If he is indeed real."
"Enough speculation. You both need rest." Eliza said.
"Actually I'm kind of hungry." Kara said.
"Wasn't there a buffet?" Alex asked.
"Yes, but with all that weird fancy food in small portions." Kara pointed out. "It doesn't count. Also pretty sure Diz would prefer pizza."
"You don't have to shamelessly use Diz as an excuse to get pizza." Alex pointed out as she placed an order.
"I'm not. Just thinking about what is best for everyone." Kara said.