And I'm back! :D Man, I've missed this book.

The D.E.O. finds Julia/Purity, Kara and Alex have two very different ways of doing things and have to get refereed, and Mon-El asks for help from J'onn.

Enjoy!

***

"We're here."

Kara took a deep breath, then swooped down to land amongst the D.E.O. vans parked outside Julia Freeman's house. The moment she touched down, the D.E.O. strike team along with J'onn, Alex, Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel poured out of the vans, Mon-El landing on the ground a second later. No words were said among them as Kara led the way up to Julia's house, the rest of the team falling in behind her.

J'onn looked to the side and pointed at Mon-El and Laurel, then pointed off to the left of the house. Mon-El nodded and raised his hand, some of the D.E.O. soldiers peeling off and following him, Laurel jogging after him. J'onn looked at Malcolm and nodded, and the two men led more of the soldiers to the right side of the house. That left Kara, Alex, Oliver, and Slade at the front, the four of them approaching the door.

"OK," Winn's voice came over the comms from where he was in one of the surveillance vans, Lucy with him. "We've got one heat signature inside . . . no movements. Look like we might catch this Worldkiller off guard. But be careful in case she's as bad as Reign."

"Copy that, Telle," Kara nodded, taking a deep breath. "Watch our backs."

"You got it."

Kara bit her lip, then planted one foot on the door and smashed it inwards. Oliver and Slade were in immediately, weapons drawn and aimed. Kara and Alex were behind them, Alex's alien gun up and ready to fire. The D.E.O. soldiers swarmed in after them, and Kara looked around, not seeing any sign of Julia. "Telle, what's your twenty on the heat signature?" Alex asked.

"Looks like a back room," Winn answered.

***

Mon-El and Laurel slowly moved through the kitchen, only to slow down further when they heard a female voice singing. They did a double take, exchanging surprised looks, then saw J'onn and Malcolm come from the other side. As soon as J'onn heard the singing, his face scrunched up in bewilderment. "Is that Lisa Loeb?" he asked.

"I thought the target's name was Julia Freeman?" Mon-El blinked.

"It is," Malcolm frowned.

***

Kara perked up when she heard the singing, she and Slade both moving forward at the same time. The eight heroes met up and emerged in the living room, where a woman was kneeling on the ground, headphones over her ears, singing and swaying like no one else was in the room, eyes closed. "That's our Worldkiller?" Laurel asked in disbelief.

"Is that her?" Oliver asked, looking at Kara.

Kara took a few steps forward so she stood in front of the woman. "Yeah, that's her, all right," she confirmed.

"Huh," was all Malcolm had to say, looking at Julia in confusion.

Alex and J'onn, however, gestured for Kara to get her attention. Kara timidly nodded, then bent down, slowly reaching out for Julia. Just before she touched her shoulder, Julia's eyes opened. The moment she saw the heroine in front of her, she let out a bloodcurdling scream, flinging her headphones off and scrambling backwards until she was pressed up against the wall. Kara jumped back as Alex and Slade raised their guns, Oliver and Malcolm reloading their bows. Laurel's eyebrows just climbed higher, signaling her surprise at the woman in front of them. "Supergirl?" Julia stammered. "The vigilantes? What – what are you . . . what are you doing here?"

"Are you Julia Freeman?" Kara asked, slowly walking forward.

"Yes," Julia answered, eyes flicking around nervously. "What do you guys want from me?"

Satisfied, Kara turned back. "Stand down," she ordered. Oliver, Slade, and J'onn complied, Malcolm a bit slower, and J'onn turned to reinforce the order. "It's OK," Kara insisted when Alex alone remained holding her gun up. Reluctantly, Alex lowered her gun as well, and Kara turned back to Julia. "Do you," she began, only to frown. "You don't know why we're here, do you?"

"No," Julia whispered, swallowing hard. "What's going on here?" Kara continued forward, looking at Julia in concern. Could she . . . could she have been wrong about this? "Supergirl, please, don't," Julia gulped. "Don't let them hurt me. Please."

Alex's jaw was clenched as she watched what was happening, and Laurel looked up at Malcolm, who was exchanging even more bewildered looks with Oliver and Slade. "This is our Worldkiller?" she repeated.

"No, no," Kara shook her head. "Don't worry. I won't." She held out her hand encouragingly, and biting her lip, Julia moved to take it.

That was when Alex raised her gun again, taking a threatening step forward. "Don't move!"

"Whoa!" Julia backed away quickly, Kara turning around and looking at Alex incredulously.

"Wolf!" Oliver looked at her sharply.

"You stay right there!" Alex snarled.

"Let's get her back to the D.E.O.," J'onn tried to calm everyone down.

"This doesn't feel right," Kara walked back over insistently.

"Guys," Laurel watched Julia warily as she scrambled to her feet, pressing against the wall as if she hoped it would swallow her, her eyes blown wide.

"She's right," Malcolm tried to cut in.

"I said stay still!" Alex glared at Julia.

"Guys!" Laurel shouted, eyes widening as Julia panted for breath, then threw her hands out to her sides.

Sound vibrations were immediately projected, and Kara tried to approach, only to grimace in pain and find herself stopped in her tracks. Mon-El and J'onn hnched over behind her, reaching for their ears, and Oliver and Malcolm doubled over, fists clenching.

That left only Slade, Laurel, and Alex mostly upright to see Julia's eyes snap open, now pure white.

Glass and electronics shattered all around them, forcing everyone to back up and cover their heads, trying to avoid being cut. The fire poker went flying past Alex's head, heading for Oliver, but Mon-El brought his hand up just in time, snatching it out of the air. Both men looked at the poker in surprise, then Oliver nodded his thanks, Mon-El nodding back.

When the vibrations stopped, J'onn made the first move, walking forward with the power-dampening cuffs in his hand. Julia screamed in his direction, unleashing a sonic scream similar to Laurel's and Dinah's that hit J'onn and catapulting him back and through one of the walls. She turned in the direction of a few of the D.E.O. soldiers, but Laurel jumped in the way. The two screamed at the same time, and everyone stared in a mixture of shock and horror as Julia's overwhelmed Laurel, the metahuman's eyes widening in surprise before she was thrown into the D.E.O. soldiers behind her, all of them falling to the floor.

Kara turned back around, and as Julia opened her mouth to scream again, she blew with all her might, freezing the entryway into the living room, Julia trapped on the other side. "J'onn!" she called desperately.

Malcolm and Mon-El went to help the collapsed men, Malcolm reaching Laurel first. "You OK?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded shakily, taking a few deep breaths as Malcolm put his arm around her. "What . . . what was that?"

Malcolm looked back as J'onn ran forward, phasing through the ice. "That was our Worldkiller," he answered grimly.

Kara reached out and tapped twice on the ice, then stepped back again as it started to crack. Alex waited in anticipation as Oliver and Slade tensed, waiting to see if they were needed. Both men relaxed as, when the ice shattered, they saw J'onn standing over Julia, the woman on the ground, her hands in the cuffs.

Alex sighed in relief as J'onn hauled the woman up. "That could have been worse."

"Says the one who made her attack us," Slade shot her a sharp look.

Kara just swallowed, Julia's pure white eyes making her feel far too uncomfortable.

***

"I met your KPis, and you're still under-performing . . . I'll call you back. Hey!"

Lena looked up from her tablet when she heard Sam hang up, and she turned to look at her friend, smiling. "Hey," she greeted back.

"What's up?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Nothing," Lena shook her head, looking at the phone Sam was putting away. "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "TYK Labs branch. I'm gonna have to replace a few people there."

"Oh, I can handle that," Lena waved her hand dismissively. "I've been away from L-Corp too long. I'm looking forward to getting back in and getting my hands a little dirty again." Sam looked at her incredulously, and Lena gave her a reassuring smile. "Sam, this has nothing to do with the way things have been running, believe me."

"But it's because I'm sick, though," Sam scowled. "You don't think I'm up for the job anymore?"

Lena raised an eyebrow, surprised her friend would even think that. "Sam, do you remember when we first met?" she asked, gesturing for her to sit as she took her own seat. "It was three 'o clock in the morning. We'd just acquired your company, and I was in charge of the takeover. You were a junior VP, and your light was the only one on in the office. I walked by, and I saw your head down over spreadsheets."

"Cross analysis report," Sam remembered, smiling fondly. "God, I was good at those."

"You were so focused," Lena chuckled. "And I thought, 'Her. I wanna work with her.' Everyone knows how good you are at your job, Sam. You don't have to keep on proving it. With everything that you're dealing with in your life right now, I just wanna give you as little stress as possible."

"Lena, I can't take time off right now," Sam protested.

"Yeah, you can," Lena interrupted. "In fact, I am ordering you to take today off. There is nothing here I can't handle, so go. Be with your daughter."

Sam chewed her lip, then finally smiled and nodded.

***

"Whew," Alex sighed happily as the team walked through the D.E.O. "Purity is down, Reign and Pestilence to go, and it is only Wednesday."

"It's certainly been a good morning so far," J'onn agreed.

"Yes, and bonus points, the D.E.O. techs found this at the Worldkiller's home," Winn gestured to what Max was examining. "It is a Kryptonian cache crystal, as you know, used to store sensitive information."

"I've seen crystals like this in the Fortress of Solitude," Kara nodded. "They contain elements of the Fortress itself, sort of like an artist's stamp."

"If we're going with that analogy, this crystal has a very different stamp, which means it has a very different home," Max told her.

"We might be able to pinpoint the location of the Worldkillers' headquarters if we analyze it," Kara realized.

Max nodded, and Alex raised her hands in satisfaction. "First round is on me," she announced.

"It better be," Slade grumbled under his breath, making Oliver give him a warning look.

Alex ignored him. "Winn, get your chicken wings."

"And I will have an unnecessary amount of chicken wings as befits a man of my stature," Winn declared.

"As long as I get those mozzarella sticks," Laurel smirked.

Kara nodded as if automatically, still gazing at the crystal. "Are you OK?" Oliver asked, putting a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped as if realizing she was being spoken to. "You took a few blows back at the house."

"Oh, hey, you know what?" Winn snapped his fingers, turning to his computer and tapping on the keyboard. "I analyzed the frequency of the Worldkiller's vibrations when I was in the van. Turns out, it is tuned specifically to hurt Kryptonians."

"Of course it is," Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Luckily, the inhibitors in the cell seem to be working on her," J'onn eyed Julia as she came on the screen.

"Yeah, you do seem a bit off," Alex eyed her sister. "Maybe we should run some tests. Guys?"

"Yeah, sure," J'onn nodded, backing away.

"Absolutely," Lucy followed after him.

Oliver kissed Kara's cheek, squeezing her shoulder softly before following the others. "Thanks," Alex nodded.

"Break," Winn whispered, Max snorting as they left last.

Kara chewed her lip, folding her arms and stopping in front of Alex. "It's not the sonic blast that's bothering me," she said.

***

"Hey, J'onn," Mon-El turned to the Martian as they walked down the steps. "By the way, I need your help with something."

"Yeah?" J'onn raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Well, you know that our Legion ship is the only way home," he said. "And in about a day, we're gonna lose the ability to fly."

"That's not good," Malcolm frowned.

"Is there some way to fix it?" J'onn asked.

"Yeah," Mon-El nodded. "And I think the part might be in your ship."

"Whoa, whoa," Winn spun around, eyes wide. "You guys are doing spaceship repair? 'Cause I need to see that."

"You're busy," J'onn deadpanned.

"Oh, come on," Winn grinned. "The decoder, it's doing its thing. It's gonna take, like, five hours."

"And between him and me, who would you rather have around a spaceship like that?" Max pointed out.

Four identical snorts came from the Earth-1 vigilantes. "What confidence," Lucy teased.

"Fine," J'onn grumbled. "But you're coming back here the second there's a breakthrough with that crystal."

"Yes!" Winn fist pumped.

"And if you cause trouble of any kind," J'onn turned to glare at Max, "I will let these four race to get you out of here."

"Yes, sir," Max nodded, giving a halfway sarcastic salute.

"I'll watch him," Lucy snickered, following after Max as he returned to head back to the lab.

***

"That woman was scared before her eyes turned white," Kara told Alex, gesturing to the monitor with Julia on it. "She looked me in the eye and she asked me for help. It's like someone else took over her."

"Due respect, but what I saw in that house was a very capable liar putting on an act so she can get close enough to kill you," Alex shook her head, glaring out the one-way mirror at Julia.

"No," Kara argued. "No, I don't think she's faking it."

"You told me about the vision you had," Alex looked at her. "The world was burning. That is the Worldkiller that you saw."

"Yes, but what if there's a part of her that isn't?" Kara asked. "If I can get her to be Julia again, doesn't that mean that there's someone we can work with? This?" She gestured wildly around them, to the computers and the cell. "This isn't telling us anything. Julia might."

Alex gritted her teeth. "We can try it your way," she told her.

"Thank you," Kara sighed in relief.

"And when your way fails, we try it mine," Alex finished her thought.

***

Kara walked into the room, approaching the cell Julia was in. "Hi, Julia," she greeted, hearing Alex close the door behind her. "You seemed really scared at your house earlier, and I totally understand that. And I'm here to help you." The woman in the cell chuckled, and Alex threw Kara a victorious look. "Julia," Kara began.

"That's not my name," she shook her head.

"OK," Kara tilted her head. "What would you like me to call you?"

"I am the scalding light," she answered, her tone piercing and cutting. "I am the flood that sweeps away sins. I am the word and cry of justice."

"Yeah, would you mind just condensing that a little bit?" Alex stepped forward.

"Alex!" Kara shot her an exasperated look. "Just – "

"Well, it's long!"

"Alex!" She turned back around, walking up to the glass door, where the woman was smirking at them. "Hey. Hey, you were about to tell me your name. I'd really like to hear what you have to say."

"I am Purity," she answered, holding out her hands as if she should have known that.

"Nice to meet you, Purity," Kara nodded. "I'm gonna call you Julia, though. Is that OK? Just, I met her first, and she's who I'd really like to talk to, actually."

"Hmm." Purity smirked, sitting up and scooting forward on the bench. "Call me what you will, Kryptonian. They don't understand yet." She pointed, but not at Kara. "You do."

"Me?" Alex raised an eyebrow, pointing at herself. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," she nodded, walking forward. "I understand it just fine." She turned to look at Kara. "May I?"

"Alex," she sighed.

"See, I know that look," Alex pointed at Julia, then folded her arms. "You think that you're smarter than me, that you're stronger than me, which is fine. I mean, you're entitled to your own opinion. It'll change in time, though. Because, after days, weeks, months in here, you're gonna feel like I peeled your skin off and saw everything underneath. You can call me Agent Danvers, Purity."

Purity just looked at them with unblinking eyes. "Julia," Kara tried again. "I know you're in there. If you can show yourself, I will help you."

"Or you can just tell us where Reign is," Alex said, and Kara closed her eyes, sighing in frustration. "I mean, that's why we brought you in here. Which was super easy, by the way."

"Oh, ladies," Purity chuckled, looking between them. "How will you ever make your minds up about me?"

***

From the room Kara and Alex had left, Oliver turned away from the computers with a frown, leaning against the table and looking at Slade, who was watching through the mirror. "OK, I get what you mean."

"It's like Malcolm said," Slade looked at his brother. "It didn't feel right. It was Julia first – "

"Then Alex got aggressive, and out came Purity," Oliver nodded. "So what do we do?"

Slade narrowed his eye, considering Alex as the two sisters exchanged tense looks.

***

Ruby hurried down the steps of Davis Middle School as Sam's van pulled up, and she opened the door, looking at her mom in surprise. "OK, ice skating?" she asked.

"Uh, it's a mental healthy holiday," Sam told her as Ruby got in.

"Is everything OK?" Ruby asked in concern, taking her backpack off.

"Yeah, of course," Sam assured her. "I just miss seeing you, babe. I mean, it's been a rough couple months, I feel like we can both play a little hooky."

Ruby stared at her in shock. "Oh, my God, you're being serious."

"I'm serious," Sam confirmed with a grin. "Sound like a plan?"

"Hell, yeah!" Ruby grinned back.

"You get precisely one 'hell, yes' today," Sam informed her, putting the car back in drive. "I hope you enjoyed that."

"OK," Ruby bit her lip, trying to contain her grin as they drove off.

***

J'onn pushed up the garage door, and as he, Winn, Mon-El, Malcolm, and Laurel ducked under to enter the garage, Winn all but squealed when he saw J'onn's disguised ship. "A Bel Air!" he gawked. "Oh, your ship is a Bel Air?!"

"Indeed," J'onn nodded, popping the hood open. "Two four-barrel carburetors, Duntov cam – "

"What's the mileage?" Winn asked eagerly.

"About 700 million," J'onn answered.

"You're into cars, Winn?" Laurel raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, please," he scoffed. "If you can take it apart and put it back together, you better believe I'm into it. Ooo!" he reached down to look into the hood, and Malcolm smirked when J'onn smacked the techie's hand away. "Yeah, 'look, don't touch.' Got it."

"Why did you want to see my ship?" J'onn asked Mon-El.

"Well, the Moran battery in our cruiser died last week," he began.

"Your ship doesn't have any power?" Malcolm asked in surprise.

"Well, not entirely," Mon-El tilted his head side to side. "There's five power sources."

"But a Moran battery generates anti-gravitational field," J'onn said slowly.

"Which is how the ship flies," Mon-El nodded. "But if the circuits are without power long enough, they degrade."

"And turn into a pumpkin," Winn nodded. "Got it."

"So the only way to save it is if we use the Moran battery from your ship to regenerate the fuel cells in ours," Mon-El told J'onn, who nodded and moved over to find the necessary tools.

"So you need a jump," Laurel made the connection.

"Yeah," Mon-El confirmed.

"Easy," Winn smiled, then his eyes lit up as J'onn disconnected the battery. "Ohohohoho, now that bttery looks like it packs a punch! Can I hold it?"

"No," J'onn deadpanned.

"OK," Winn hastily ducked his head as Laurel grinned at Malcolm, the assassin rolling his eyes fondly.

***

"Julia Freeman," Kara read off the file she held, pacing in front of Purity's cell, the woman leaning with her back against the glass. "No birth certificate, adopted in 1993 by Lawrence and Molly Freeman. Let's see what it says . . . " She chuckled when she saw the first thing. "Allergic to milk. Studied music at the Cincinnati Conservatory."

"Doesn't Julia sound nice?" Purity suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Kara blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, from the little I've been around her, I liked her."

"She was very fun to play," Purity said. "Everything you have in that file is just a character description. There never was, and never will be, a Julia Freeman. Just little old me."

"But why keep up an act for a decade?" Kara asked.

"When my sisters and I arrived, we knew it would be many years before the cosmic alignment of forces came to pass," Purity answered. "Masks would be necessary."

Kara looked through the file, then pulled out a picture, crouched down, and put the picture up against the glass. "Vinita Ripson," she told Purity as she turned to look. "Your roommate at Cincinnati. Your emergency contact, your best friend for a decade. I bet she's really worried about you right now."

"Sounds about right," Purity said after a moment, her voice trembling slightly. "Vinita was always so clingy. It drove me crazy."

"Crazy enough to save her life?" Kara raised an eyebrow, then took the picture away, seeing Purity's fingers were hovered over the picture. Purity looked down, seeming confused, and Kara looked at her hopefully. "Julia?" she asked, Alex straightening from where she leaned against the wall.

But then just as suddenly, Purity's face was cold again, and she scoffed, glaring at Kara. "You imagine I care about humans just because you do?"

"I think you do care, Julia," Kara nodded. "And I care about you."

"Hmm," Purity smirked, turning so she faced Kara fully as she stood. "Will you care when I tear open your bones and rip out your soft parts?"

"You're never gonna get that chance," Alex strode forward angrily, "because you are gonna sit in that cell until I say so."

"And after," Purity continued, smirking at Alex, "I'll open up your friend and eat her heart with the other gods."

"You want to talk about insides?" Alex glared. "'Cause you are gonna have eight different government agencies fighting over who's going to dissect you."

"All right," Kara stood up, glaring at Alex. "Let's speak outside, Agent Danvers."

"You're not a god," Alex sneered as she backed up. "You're just meat and bones!"

"Agent Danvers!" Oliver opened the door, he and Slade both outside.

Alex seethed and stormed out, Kara giving Purity one last look before following.

***

"Alex!" Kara ran after Alex as she stormed into the lab nearby. "Alex, why are you fighting me so hard on this?"

"You realize that Purity is just toying with you, right?" Alex turned and looked at her.

"If we have the chance to save Julia, we have to take it," Kara told her.

"That is such a nice motto, Kara, but it's not very practical," she snorted.

Kara's eyebrows flew up. "Excuse me?"

"No matter how much evidence piles up saying that you are wrong, you always hope!"

"That's my job!"

"Purity is evil!" Alex exploded. "She is a Worldkiller, and there's two others out there just like her, endangering lives, and your feelings are costing us time!"

"OK, my feelings have saved lives countless times," Kara retorted.

Alex scoffed and turned around, smiling in disbelief. "Alex," Slade cut in, drawing attention to where he and Oliver were on the opposite side of the room. "Purity is a Worldkiller, yes – "

"Thank you!" Alex gestured to him triumphantly, smirking at Kara.

"But it was not Purity we stormed in on," Slade finished, and Alex did a double take, looking at him in shock. "Those were two very different people."

"Slade's right," Oliver nodded. "I may have been down, but Julia was scared of us, frightened, and she only moved when Kara encouraged her to. And her eyes were far from white. It was only after you drew your gun on her and threatened her that she got scared and attacked us. That was when her eyes turned white. Maybe it's Purity in that cell now, but that doesn't mean she was never Julia."

Alex stared at them in disbelief, then scoffed and turned around. "Alex, wait," Kara held out her hand. "Listen to me. I am used to you being pragmatic, but since when have you become so hard and cynical?"

"Well, not all of us are bulletproof, Kara," Alex told her.

"I know," Kara glared at her.

"So cynicism? That's what's keeping the rest of us alive."

"This is more cynicism from you than I've ever seen," Slade remarked.

"Stay out of this," Alex growled.

Slade raised an eyebrow, but didn't reply. "And it seems like it's killing you," Kara agreed with Slade. "My sister? The sister I know? She has compassion for others."

"I am just trying to do my job!" Alex scowled.

"OK, enough," Oliver rubbed his temples, pushing up off the wall. "Alex, if you think your way will work, by all means, try."

"Oliver!" Kara protested.

"Thank you," Alex smirked, walking off.

Oliver waited until she was gone before holding up her hand to stop Kara from saying anything else. "Take it from me," he said softly. "If someone ever gets like that, it's best to let them do what they think will work. I saw what happened when she saw Vinita's picture. I don't think that was Purity."

"No, it wasn't," Kara shook her head.

"But Alex isn't going to see what you're seeing, not when she's looking for what she wants to see," Oliver continued. "Let her try her way, we'll see what happens."

Kara closed her eyes, sighing. "OK," she whispered.

"And we'll see which side appears," Slade turned back from watching Alex leave. "Because while this isn't like Alex, I do want to know which side will win."

***

Alex just annoyed me this episode. Anyone else?

Also, fun fact: I got too addicted to Dark Siren and decided "Believer" by Imagine Dragons is a good song for them. You know I'm way into a pairing when I find a theme song for them.

Suffice to say, Dark Siren is gonna happen. XD

No promises on when another update will happen, but keep an eye out!