How can you tell when an author is getting really excited about finishing a book? Every spare second she gets, she writes and then this happens: updates.

Kara and Mon-El discover something they didn't expect, Alex is under attack, and Kara's world gets turned upside down when she realizes what she's found.

Enjoy!

***

Mon-El sighed, watching stars rush past as he piloted J'onn's ship through space. "I always forget how beautiful it is this far out in space."

"It's perfect," Kara whispered in agreement, settling back in her seat.

Mon-El watched her, tilting his head. "Are you OK?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kara nodded, biting her lip. "It's just . . . you know, there are some parts of me I'm not sure Oliver will ever get to see," she confessed, making Mon-El turn more towards her. "He knows Kara Danvers and Supergirl for sure. The Fortress of Solitude is Krypton on Earth . . . but will he ever really get to see who Kara Zor-El ever was?"

"Surely you've told him at least a little about Krypton?" Mon-El frowned.

"Oh, I have," Kara nodded. "I definitely have. But learning about Krypton . . . it's not the same as actually being there."

"I know the feeling," Mon-El nodded. "Just like with Daxam." He looked at Kara. "You know he loves you no matter what, right?"

"Yeah," Kara couldn't help but smile. "I know. He's the best." She paused. "No offense to the ex."

"Excuse me, offense absolutely taken," Mon-El scrunched up his nose snobbishly. "How dare you say someone is better for you than me."

Kara burst into a peal of laughter. "Your face!"

Mon-El shook his head, grinning, then peered at the console when it chimed. "We're coming up on it."

Kara nodded, and as Mon-El slowed the craft down, she took in the meteorite they were going to collect the rock from. However, both she and Mon-El gawked when they saw what else appeared to be on the meteorite. Was that . . . a city? "What is that?" Kara murmured.

Blue light obscured their vision, and the ship jerked hard enough to launch them out of their seats and forward. Mon-El grunted in pain, wincing and checking everything. "It's a tractor beam," he identified.

"Everything's locked up," Kara swallowed.

"Trusters, roll, yaw, pitch," Mon-El checked everything. "Nothing's responding."

Kara blinked. "What if we're not us?" she asked.

"What?" Mon-El blinked.

"This ship can turn into other things!" Kara nodded.

A wide grin slowly spread across Mon-El's face. "Brainy's gonna be so sad he missed this."

He adjusted the settings, and Kara settled back as their ship transformed into a piece of rock that hurtled towards the meteorite, bypassing the tractor beam.

***

"Agent Schott," J'onn walked into the main room; Winn turned away from his tablet to join him, Felicity and Curtis looking up from their screens, too. "Any word from Supergirl?"

"No, but we expected that," Winn shook his head. "They're on the dark side, which means they're probably scraping off a nice chunk of space rock off a much larger piece of space rock any minute."

J'onn frowned, nodding. "I need to know the second they're on their way back."

"Well," Curtis grinned. "We got the radio dialed up to eleven."

J'onn gave him a blank look, then turned to Felicity, who nodded quickly and elaborated. "We re-tasked six military satellites to scan all airspace around the meteorite, and then we've just been obsessively checking that scan for, like, the faintest blip. We will not miss them."

J'onn hummed noncommittedly, making Winn fidget. "And yet you seem, uh . . . more stoic and grave than usual, which, if we're being honest, is making me, like, a little bit queasy."

"J'onn, what's happening?" Curtis asked nervously.

J'onn sighed. "Reign is becoming immune to Lena's synthetic Kryptonite faster than we expected."

"Oh, no," Felicity blanched.

"To be on the safe side, I've evacuated L-Corp and I have a strike team standing by with sound guns, body boots, and red sun grenades," J'onn nodded.

"Because that's worked approximately zero times before," Winn frowned.

"Do I seem appropriately stoic and grave to you now, Mr. Schott?" J'onn scowled, walking off.

Winn gulped, turning to Felicity and Curtis. "Better crank that baby up to twelve."

Curtis and Felicity immediately went back to their computers to do just that.

***

Alex was glad William and Evelyn had convinced Zoe to stay at the D.E.O. for a few days. Zoe's excitement about being in a different universe and a new city was exhilarating, but while Ruby was still dealing with being back in National City, exhilaration probably wasn't the best for her. So while William and Evelyn were lavishing Zoe with tours of their favorite places in the city and the D.E.O., she and Ruby were just chilling.

"The cosmos," the TV narrator was saying as Alex joined Ruby on the couch to watch whatever was on the screen about space. "A tree of infinite branches flowering with stars."

"Now, Kara is up there right now on a mission to find a substance that's gonna fix your mom," Alex pointed.

"There's so much nothing," Ruby whispered. "What if she doesn't make it back in time?"

Alex smirked. "She's called Supergirl for a reason. She will, I promise." Ruby nodded and turned back to the TV, then Alex reached for the remote. "Hey, you know what? Why don't we get out of here." She clicked the power button and turned the TV off. "I just happen to know where there is a wicked ice cream truck. And I mean, all the toppings."

Ruby grinned. "That's all I need right now."

"Let's do it," Alex nodded, getting off the couch. "Me, too."

***

"I could definitely be an astronaut," Ruby said as they walked from the ice cream truck.

"Mmm," Alex licked her spoon. "I could see that." She smirked. "You know, once you get past your motion sickness thing, I think you'd be golden!"

Ruby made a face. "That's funny, 'cause I never got motion sickness until you started driving me around."

Alex made a noise of disgust. "Boo." Ruby snickered, and Alex tugged her over to an accessories kiosk, pulling a hat off one of the pegs. "All right, look, let me see." She plopped it on Ruby's head and grinned. "Oh, yes," she nodded in agreement, and Ruby grinned before playfully modeling with the hat. "That is amazing. I am getting you that hat. You look adorable. That's really cute." She found a pair of sunglasses she liked, then held up her hand, picking them up. "Wait, let me see. Excuse me."

She moved to the mirror attached to the kiosk, slipping the sunglasses on. She smiled at what she saw, glad she found a pair that worked. As she slipped them off, a man not moving at the edge of the pavement caught her eye. He was watching her.

She stiffened, then cleared her throat. "OK, I'll tell you what," she said, folding the glasses up. "Why don't I pay for these things? Give me that," she plucked the hat off Ruby's head. "And then you go get us some sodas." Ruby grinned in agreement, and Alex handed her a twenty-dollar bill. "All right." Ruby hurried off, and Alex called, "Don't think I'm not gonna count all that change!" Ruby nodded in agreement, and Alex replaced the glasses and hat before moving to look around the kiosk again.

The man was still there, and this time he had a sidearm drawn and aimed at her. "Gun!" Alex shouted, dropping behind the kiosk.

The bullets smacked into the kiosk, and Alex looked around for Ruby. She found her hiding, thankfully, then looked back when she heard something clatter on the pavement. A blinking metal orb bounced gently off the sign, and Alex carefully picked it up, watching the blue light. When it started beeping rapidly and the light turned red, she sprinted to the closest trash can. "Everybody, get back!" she yelled, taking off the lid and dropping the orb inside, placing the lid back on and running to cover behind the kiosk.

She had just dropped down and turned to see what happened when the grenade went off, fire blasting out from under the lid.

***

Lena winced when she heard one of the D.E.O. men put a case down heavily. "Can you please not blow up my lab?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Max, the one working closest to the case distributed, leaned down to look at what it was and raised an eyebrow. "Hopefully that's not what it takes to make this place go kaboom."

"Yeah, I hope so, too," Lena muttered, continuing typing.

A cold voice behind them made both tense up. "So it's explosives they're carrying." Max turned to look at the containment unit, then looked at Lena in disbelief. Lena had a similar look on her face as she grabbed her tablet. "Your wall doesn't work anymore. Neither does your Kryptonite." Lena took down the shield, revealing Reign lounging in the chair inside the unit, looking totally at ease. "I'm getting stronger."

"Well, someone's chatty today," Max raised an eyebrow.

"Good morning, sunshine," Lena snorted.

"How much longer do you think you can hold me?" Reign questioned.

"Long enough," Lena answered.

"Long enough," Reign repeated, scoffing. "For Supergirl to return?" Lena scowled at her, and Reign grinned, standing up and walking over to the edge of the unit. "That's right. I see you, Lena Kieran Luthor. I see your anger, your fear. Supergirl is your Hail Mary."

"Supergirl's my best friend," Lena deadpanned. "And we agree that you need to be stopped."

"Enjoy your time in the sun, Reign," Max smirked and waved at her. "Say goodbye to Mr. Hyde and say hello to Dr. Jekyll."

"Not quite what I would have said," Lena frowned.

"She gets the gist."

"You mean to save Sam and end me," Reign's lips curled in a smirk. "But the only way to end me is to kill me, and Sam. And I don't think you have the stomach for that."

Max scowled at Reign as Lena balked, and Reign gave him a smug look, turning with a flourish and sauntering back to her seat. "This version of Sam is a bitch."

"That's not Sam," Lena said in disgust, turning back to her work. "And I am going to get my friend back, whatever it takes."

***

"There's an entire city here!" Kara marveled as she and Mon-El left J'onn's ship, looking at the buildings and skyscrapers at the edge of the wooded area. "How did we miss this?"

"We're on our own," Mon-El shrugged.

Kara sighed, shaking her head when she couldn't use her super hearing. "And powerless."

"Well, we expected that," Mon-El said dryly.

Kara huffed. "That's the only thing we've been right about."

Mon-El adjusted his Legion ring, then held it out and projected a hologram of the city in the air. "Looks like the Black Rock is about a mile into the city," he said.

Kara nodded. "We better get moving before they find us."

Mon-El shut down the hologram and turned around sharply when he heard a whirring noise, then grabbed Kara. "Watch out!"

Kara took off running for the city, Mon-El behind her as lasers peppered the ground where they had just been standing. They jogged onto what seemed to be a paved sidewalk leading to a marketplace, and Kara panted, looking behind her. "I think we lost them, whoever they are."

Mon-El nodded, surveying the crowd in front of them. "We have other problems."

Kara tilted her head. "They seem human."

Mon-El looked down at himself, then snorted. "At least we fit in."

Kara snorted as well, gesturing to their suits. "I'm not so sure about that," she mumbled, arms around herself self-consciously.

"We need to change," Mon-El nodded, finding a nearby stand and grabbing two cloaks for them. "Here."

He handed the dark blue one to Kara, then raspy breathing caught his attention. He peered past the stand to see a young boy with dark curls breathing harshly, a breathing unit at his side. A blonde woman placed a seat down for him, and Mon-El watched with a close eye as she helped the boy sit.

"OK," Kara reappeared suddenly, and Mon-El jumped, seeing she had donned the cloak. "Let's go."

"Yeah," Mon-El agreed, hastily putting on his dark grey cloak and following behind her. He frowned, seeing Kara continue to adjust the folds of her cloak. "You OK?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "Just thinking how ironic this is. Donning disguises across the solar system seems to be my karma."

"And universes," Mon-El joked. Kara gave him an annoyed look, and he cleared his throat. Right, not a humorous approach, then. "It's necessary for survival."

"So is Kara Danvers," Kara sighed. "Sometimes, I just wish my day-to-day life didn't have to have a disguise. I mean, I don't even exist on Earth-1! It's exhausting!"

"In the future, I just live in the open," Mon-El revealed, making Kara look at him in surprise. "All Legionnaires do. There's no secret identities, no disguises. 24/7, I'm just me: Mon-El, from the Legion of Super-Heroes . . . and it's still exhausting."

Kara chuckled. "What we do, the responsibilities we have . . . there's always a trade-off, isn't there?"

Mon-El nodded, projecting a miniature hologram. "We're getting close," he said, walking down another path. "It's this way."

***

"Alex!"

Oliver's sharp voice rang out in the D.E.O., and Alex instantly moved forward as the vigilante sprinted across the room to get to her, the rest of his team right behind. "I'm OK," she held up her hands in reassurance. "We're both OK," she included Ruby behind her.

"What happened?" William appeared from nowhere, a concerned look on his face.

"Oh, my gosh, it was crazy," Ruby gushed, eyes wide as she rambled quickly, J'onn raising an eyebrow as he listened. "There was a guy at the park, and he was shooting, and everyone was running, and then Alex caught a grenade – !"

"Uh, it was really just not that big of a deal," Alex smiled nervously, cutting her off. "I mean, we're fine, so everything is chill. It's just super chill."

"Are you chill?" Winn raised an eyebrow.

Alex cleared her throat, pasted a smile on her face, then looked at Ruby. "Listen, you know what? I have some work that I have to do, so, um . . . how about you just start reading that Ada Lovelace book I got you?"

"We can show her around!" William perked up.

"Hey, don't bother any of the agents if you do," Oliver warned.

"Got it!" William nodded. "Come on, Ruby!"

Ruby chased after her friend, and as soon as they were out of hearing range, Alex gulped and turned to the others. "Someone's trying to kill me," she whispered, heading for the main debrief area.

"What?" Slade asked sharply.

"Oh, things were not chill," Winn blanched.

"You sure you were the target?" J'onn asked, following his second in command.

Alex nodded. "A hundred percent. Guys, this is really bad, OK? I can't have some psycho who's trying to murder me out there on the loose while I'm taking care of Ruby! I mean, she's been through so much, she's seen so much." She balked. "And God forbid, what if she got hurt? And it's on my watch! I – I can't live with that!"

"Alex," Slade held up his hand. "Deep breaths. Panicking is not going to help you." Alex slumped against one of the tables, closing her eyes and forcing herself to calm down. "There you go," Slade nodded in satisfaction.

"OK, where do we start?" Oliver scratched his head.

"Who would want Alex dead?" Curtis wondered.

"There's a good place to start," Rene pointed at him.

"Well," Winn spun around, pulling up searches on his computer and the main screen. "OK, well, there's Griggs, uh . . . the Hellgrammite, Hannibal, I mean – "

"Look, the Hellgrammite and Griggs have been in containment," Alex pointed out. "So that's a no."

"Hannibal, we deported after the Daxamite invasion," J'onn added.

"Right," Winn pursed his lips, closing the tabs.

"So we just keep narrowing it down," Dinah nodded.

"Who else has tried to kill me before and failed?" Alex wondered.

"It's that big a list, huh?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

Alex gave him an exasperated look, and he held up both hands in defense. "What about good ol' Ricky, huh?" Winn suggested. "He definitely hates you."

"Oh, hated," J'onn corrected. "I mind-wiped him, remember?"

Winn made a noise saying he remembered. "Anyone from your past?" Dig suggested. "Maybe it's personal?"

"Maybe even before you were at the D.E.O.?" Oliver nodded in agreement. "Somebody who may have threatened you before?"

Alex's eyes lit up. "Pull up Ron Collins."

"Ronald Collins," Winn tapped away. "Let's see . . . age 56, recently made parole after six failed attempts."

Dinah whistled, impressed. "Holy frack," Felicity mumbled.

"Uh, let's see," Winn peered closer at the profile. "He was in for –"

"First degree murder," Alex finished for him, crossing her arms. "I should know, he was my first arrest."

Everyone from Earth-1 looked at her in a mixture of respect, awe, and disbelief. "I'm sorry, that would have," Winn blinked rapidly. "That would have made you seventeen when you arrested him." Alex raised an eyebrow coldly, making Slade chuckle. "Yeah, that tracks," Winn gulped nervously.

"Go Danvers," Slade snickered.

Alex smirked smugly at him, then looked back at Collins' picture. "He lived his whole life in Midvale, and then he moves to National City after he was released from prison?"

"Eh, it's a big city," Winn tilted his head side to side.

"He moved to within six blocks of her apartment," Felicity pointed.

"Not so big a city after all," Dig frowned.

"OK, I ruined his life, he's trying to ruin mine," Alex turned on her heel. "That's him." She paused, looking around. "Ruby – ?"

"Will be fine," Oliver assured her.

"It takes a village," J'onn agreed.

"Great," Alex nodded in relief, heading for the exit. She missed Oliver and Slade exchanging looks before Oliver made a gesture with his head, and Slade nodded. She didn't miss when Slade caught up to her. "I don't need babysitting," she scoffed.

"I know you don't," Slade snorted. "You survived a Worldkiller attack, Danvers. You're not getting killed by an ex-cop, definitely not on my watch."

Alex huffed. "I take the lead on this."

"Done," Slade agreed instantly.

***

Mon-El pointed at the building ahead of them. "The Black Rock is definitely in there."

"Let's go," Kara nodded, walking ahead of him to go in.

One of the monuments next to the building caught her eye, though. She started reading the words on it and froze, eyes widening. "Kara?" Mon-El prompted from the building entrance.

"'And on Earth, the souls lost in destruction,'" Kara read, her voice trembling. "'May their flames forever burn in Rao's light.'" She reached out with a trembling hand, touching the monument reverently. "It's a Kryptonian memorial," she said in disbelief.

Mon-El's eyes widened. "This is Krypton."

"No," Kara looked around, looking back at the city. Tears glittered in her eyes as her heart clenched. "Argo."

Before Mon-El could reply, the air whooshed around them, and flying robots descended around them, grouping the two together. "Don't move," a male monotone voice said. "Identify yourself. Stay where you are. Do not move."

"Stand down, caretakers!"

Kara had thought she couldn't be surprised anymore. She almost fell backwards when she heard that voice, and as the caretakers disbursed, she stared with wide eyes as a group of people emerged from the treeline to see who had come. At their head was a woman in a light blue dress with gold accents, a gold charm hanging from her neck, her dark hair loose in waves . . .

And the faint impression of the House of El crest was emblazoned on the front of her dress. Kara's voice cracked when she finally found her voice. "Mom."

The woman stopped short, her own eyes widening. "Kara?" she asked, her own voice trembling. "Is that you?"

Kara's tears fell as she nodded rapidly, and she stumbled forward as if in a dream and collapsed in Alura Zor-El's arms, and as Alura held her tightly in a hug, she cried into her mother's shoulder. After so long . . . after believing for so long that she and Clark were now the only survivors of Krypton, she found out that not only was her home city still somehow intact on this meteorite . . .

But Alura Zor-El, Clark's aunt, her mother, was still alive, too.

***

I admit it, I cried when Kara and Alura reunited in the show. I had been spoiled with pictures from the season finale and I knew Alura was alive somehow, but I cried anyway.

And as you can tell, I'm more than likely going to ship tease the hell out of Danson/DeathWolf in this episode, so hang onto your seats for that.