"Morning." Kara said as her daughter emerged from her bedroom the next morning.
"Morning." The teen said heading to the fridge.
"How are you feeling?"
"Okay." She said yawning as she took out some orange juice.
"You sure?" Kara asked.
"I'm fine." She said yawning again before pouring herself some cereal.
"Good." Kara said.
"Can I see Frax today?" The teenager asked.
"Umm, sure." Kara replied.
"But just Frax."
"Opposed to?"
"With J'onn or anyone else."
"You sure?" Kara asked.
"Yes."
"Okay." Kara agreed.
"Thanks." Her daughter said.
"You want to talk about what happened yesterday?"
"No. I'm good." The teen said before noticing her mother was frowning. "You told me not to worry."
"I did. But you don't normally follow my instructions."
"You'd prefer I'd worry?" The teen asked.
"No." Kara replied.
"Good." Alex replied. "I'm going to get ready for school."
-00-
"Director Danvers, please take a seat." The President greeted when Alex was shown into his office. "I assume this is bad news."
"We know for sure our sensor network doesn't work. We need to figure out why. My team is looking at every component to figure out the issue. But it is a big system."
"And you can't call in extra help as you don't know who to trust." The President guessed.
"We are stretched right now and that means we are effectively a sitting duck."
"But the Tycho problem is contained?"
"Maybe."
"That did not sound reassuring. I thought Lena Luthor had contained the programme in a honeytrap." He said.
"There's a chance we only think the programme is contained and that's assuming he was a programme. It maybe that Tycho is out there and we have merely damaged his network. Either way it is an issue. If he is real the damage we caused his network will take weeks if not months to fix, that will keep him busy, but he will be back. But if he were a programme then who wrote it, what stops another one coming online? How many others are there out there?"
"If it were a programme, how did it get so many people to follow it?" The President asked.
"Money." Alex said. "From what we have found so far Tycho made a lot of money on the stock market. It is possible that was the original purpose of the programme, or maybe the means to an end. Either way, ten years ago Tycho started issuing lucrative contracts. As long as people were paid they didn't need to meet the boss. Right now we can't prove anything but we will keep digging. Something you should be aware of though is there was a DARPA call nearly twenty years ago. It is possible that work led to this."
"So we may have shot ourselves in the foot?"
"Maybe." Alex said.
"Anything else bothering you about this?"
"In hindsight his capture seems too easy. I know the programme Lena used was developed over a decade and used cutting edge technology, but still, the more I think about it the more something feels wrong. But we'll keep looking."
"And then there are the missing metas and the drugs." The President said.
"Since the school incident there have been no more cases. Whether that is because the sellers realise there is an issue or this was a test batch I don't know."
"I am convinced everything is connected, but you can't deal with everything alone." The President said.
"I'm not, we are working with the FBI."
"A few agents only." He said. "I have a suggestion. One you won't like."
"By suggestion you mean order?" Alex asked.
"Director Danvers, I didn't know you knew the difference." The President smiled.
-00-
"Everything okay?" Kara asked as Alex left the White House.
"What are you doing here?" Alex asked.
"I thought you might want a ride."
"After your encounter with Lobo I figured you needed the rest." Alex said.
"I didn't actually get into a fight with him. Alex is the one who needs rest. I'm okay. Besides, sitting at my desk, all I am doing is getting angry and I really don't like feeling like that. So here I am, your taxi service."
"Thanks." Alex said. "Want to grab some lunch before we go home?"
"You've not had lunch yet?" Kara asked. "It's nearly four."
"No. Too busy in meetings." Alex confessed.
"Then let's eat." Kara said as they walked to a cafe.
"How was Alex this morning?"
"Okay. Actually too okay. She said she wasn't going to worry." Kara said.
"And that's a bad thing?" Alex asked confused.
"It would be a good thing, but you have met Alex right? She worries about everything. Why would she suddenly stop?"
"Perhaps her forcefield helped?"
"That would be bad." Kara said. "I mean I don't want her to become over confident, especially round Lobo."
"Well hopefully she won't see Lobo again."
"As much as I wish that were true we both know he'll be back and we have no idea how to figure out when."
"I know. I'm sorry. I really thought the shield would work. But we are fixing it."
"I know." Kara said.
-00-
"We're back." Alex called as they entered the house.
"Hi." Eliza called back. "We're in the lounge."
"Everything okay?" Alex asked.
"It's fine." Eliza assured them.
"Any problems at school?"
"No." MJ said looking up from his homework.
"Where's your sister?"
"She is with Diz, like always."
"So you get the three of us all to yourself?" The older Kara asked.
"Yeah, can I go out?" MJ asked his mom.
"Where?"
"Literally anywhere." MJ said not wanting an evening with his mother, grandmother and aunt.
"Bad luck you are stuck with us." Alex said.
"This is so unfair." MJ complained.
"Unfair would be me reminding you that you owe me several chores." His mother pointed out before noticing Kara was getting restless. "You okay?" She asked her sister.
"Yes. Just trying not to worry."
"About?" Eliza asked.
"Alex being alone with Frax."
"You don't trust him?" Eliza asked.
"No, I do. I just, it's the first time she has been alone with him and with his parents around..."
"Alex can take care of herself." Eliza reminded her.
"I know. I'm not sure it is Alex I am worried about. Something tells me if her grandparents do show up she won't hold back."
"Still don't see why she isn't meeting her grandparents. I mean they have the money." MJ said.
"I don't think she is interested in money." His mother said.
"Not how she came across today."
"What do you mean?" Kara asked.
"At lunch she was trying to think about how much money she had and what she could buy with it." He said.
"Oh Rao!." Kara exclaimed.
"What?" Her sister asked.
"I've figured out what Alex is up to. I have to stop her."
-00-
"You said I'd inherit." The teenage Alex said to her uncle.
"Yes."
"And that I'd be rich."
"Yes."
"Rich enough that my uncle tried to kill me?"
"Yes." Frax confirmed not sure where she was going.
"Is any of that money mine now?"
"Everything that was your father's has already been transferred to you. The account is held on Dakran, but you could access it from Earth. Why the sudden interest?"
"I want to buy something."
"What?"
"A bounty hunter."
"Alex stop." Kara said landing next to her daughter.
"What?" The teen asked.
"This is not the answer." Kara said.
"It's the perfect solution." The teen argued.
"No it's not."
"Have I missed something?" Frax asked.
"The bounty hunter who told you about Alex has come to Earth." Kara explained.
"I was going to hire him." The teen said.
"To do what?" Frax asked confused.
"Stop anyone who wants to hurt mom. If he is chasing them he can't hurt mom. Plus it will be safer for her."
"Even if he accepted, which I am pretty sure he wouldn't, you can't do that." Kara said.
"Why not?"
"What do you think he'd do to the people he caught? He'd kill them. And what about everyone who got in the way?"
"I thought about that. There would be a clause in the contract saying no collateral damage." The teen said.
"I don't think Lobo cares too much about the fine print." Kara said. "But you are ignoring the big point of him killing people for you. You can't do that. That's not who we are."
"It wasn't going to be to kill them. It was going to be to stop them." The teen argued. "You were the one who said to think outside the box."
"I know." Kara said. "But this isn't the way."
"Why not? If it is in the contract he'll stick to it. He believes in honour." The teen pressed.
"Yes he does. I'm sure he would never stab a blind man in the back." Kara said before looking at Frax and apologising. "I'm sorry that you have been dragged into this."
"Can I help?" Frax asked.
"I don't think so. But thank you."
-00-
"Are you still mad at me." The teenage Alex asked later that evening when they were back home.
"No. I'm not mad at you." Kara said sitting next to her and hugging her. "Your idea was smart, but you don't know Lobo like I do. He will do something that will make you regret it."
"I just want you to be safe."
"I'm right here and safe." Kara pointed out.
"For now." The teen said. "I thought it would keep you safe long term."
"Actions always have unintended consequences."
"Not if you think things through."
"Some things you can't think through which is why you now have an MJ problem."
"What do you mean?"
"MJ has worked out how rich you and how he can help spend your fortune." Kara said.