Well, I'm one midterm down. I've got four and an orchestra concert to go before spring break, so I doubt there will be updates the rest of the week. If there are, then hey, I needed a break from studying. Just another public service announcement asking readers to please respect my time so I can work to pass these.

Everything becomes chaos in the D.E.O. due to M'yrnn's psychic attack, and there's a lot to be said in the aftermath between several people.

***

"For three hundred years I lived in a cell," M'yrnn snarled angrily. "My son will not put me back in one!"

"Father!" J'onn protested, struggling to hold back the psychic waves.

The panels on the walls exploded, throwing J'onn back into one of the walls. M'yrnn flew up through the ceiling, causing alarms to wail.

***

"Containment breach. Containment breach."

The tense atmosphere in the training room was broken with the wailing sirens and flashing red lights, making everyone look up. "How the hell did that happen?" Felicity asked, looking at her tablet.

"Does it matter?" Alex gritted her teeth. "Come on!"

"Containment breach," the alarm continued to say as Mon-El gave Kara an unreadable look and followed Alex. "Containment breach."

"Can we let the two of you go?" Malcolm looked between Slade and Dig. "Or did you recover enough sanity to help solve whatever's going on out there?"

Slade and Dig exchanged wary glances, but Slade nodded curtly. Malcolm and Laurel released him, and Dig sighed and nodded as well. "Good," Oliver released him as Kara headed for the door. "Because all of us need to work together out there, differences or not."

"We're behind you," Laurel promised.

Oliver nodded. "Let's go."

***

Kara caught up to Mon-El as the door to the cell block raised, and Kara took a deep breath. "I think we need to talk after this."

"Hopefully without the punching?" Mon-El asked.

Kara smirked. "Oliver can play peacemaker."

Mon-El laughed as the door slid open entirely, and the two marched forward to meet the aliens snarling at them.

***

"Oh, my God!" Felicity's eyes widened when she saw all of the agents attacking each other in the D.E.O.

"Get over here!" Winn shouted.

"Go!" Oliver gave her a small push, and Felicity bolted to join Winn behind the desks. "Alex?"

"Who wants shock sticks?" Alex asked, running for a nearby panel.

"The three of us," Oliver gestured between himself, Slade, and Dig, both of whom had already started raising their hands. "Malcolm, tranquilizer shots if you can't bring them down. Siren, scream, help Winn and Felicity distribute those inhibitors."

"Don't let yourselves get killed," Laurel looked over all of them before running over.

"Shock sticks," Alex jogged back over, handing out pairs.

"Great," Oliver flipped one over in his hand. "Let's go."

***

"No hard feelings, Demos!" Laurel shouted before screaming at him.

The agent slid on the ground, wincing in pain, and Winn hurried out from behind cover to smile at him. "Hey, bud!" he said, fixing one of the inhibitors on him.

"Winn Schott!"

Felicity blinked when she saw the woman storming towards her friend. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Pam from HR?" Winn blinked rapidly, Demos staring in just as much surprise.

She didn't make it very far before one of Malcolm's tranquilizers hit her in the back, making her slump forward. "Was that a necessary arrow to use?" Laurel glared up towards the rafters.

"I'm taking shots where I can, Siren!" Malcolm shouted back down, drawing and aiming elsewhere.

Laurel rolled her eyes, watching Winn quickly put an inhibitor on Pam. "Sorry," he apologized, pulling the arrow out of her shoulder.

All around the room, the vigilantes were at work using the shock sticks to incapacitate the other agents, several of them swarming Oliver at the same time. He found himself backed up to the wall, narrowly missing a punch from one of the agents.

Then the wall behind him exploded, and Oliver grunted as he was caught in the debris, falling along with the other agents to the ground. "Oliver!" Felicity shouted, drawing everyone's attention.

"Supergirl!" Malcolm's voice joined hers.

Oliver's head shot up when he saw Kara scramble to sit up, brushing debris off her. One of the aliens from the prison cells sneered and stormed forwards, and Kara balanced herself enough to fire her heat vision at the alien, knocking him back.

***

J'onn finally found his father on one of the upper levels, lying limply on the ground. "Father," he knelt by him. "You need to listen to me."

"Stay away from me!" M'yrnn cried, increasing his psychic waves and making his son groan in pain.

***

Oliver rolled away from one of the aliens coming after him, and a blue cape swatted the alien away like a fly. "You good?" Mon-El asked.

"Just – " Oliver jabbed one of his sticks into the back of an agent trying to sneak up on the Daxamite. " – peachy!"

"Yeah, figured," Mon-El delivered a sharp uppercut to another alien. "Anything interesting happen?"

Oliver looked around as a black arrow flew past him to hit one of the agents sneaking up on Dig, and Dig looked back in surprise before up at Malcolm. "Define interesting."

Mon-El grimaced. "I think I just got my answer."

"Oh, and it wasn't even Malcolm John tried to punch," Oliver shook his head.

Mon-El did a double take. "Slade?"

"You missed a bit," Oliver said dryly. "So can we discuss this after we get this place under control?"

"Good plan," Mon-El nodded.

***

Slade punched one of the D.E.O. agents in the side, then jammed one of the shock sticks into their stomach, bringing them down. "Down!" Alex shouted, and Slade dropped as well, letting Alex leap on his back to bring her shock sticks into the man trying to jump on him from behind.

Slade took a second to admire her handiwork, then heard a loud click from nearby. He looked up, and his eye widened when he saw what one of the other agents had brought out. "Alex, down!" he shouted. "Malcolm! Siren!"

The two whipped around at the same time, and Laurel bolted towards the agent, though all of them knew she wouldn't make it in time. "Mon-El!" Oliver barked, looking over his shoulder at the Daxamite.

Mon-El nodded as Laurel barreled into the D.E.O. agent just as he fired the flamethrower, and Mon-El quickly threw out his cape, wrapping it around the missile. Oliver jerked back when he felt the heat of the flames, then looked at Mon-El in surprise as he unraveled his cape, revealing no harm had been done. "Nice," he finally complimented.

***

Across the room, close to where Slade was holding his own, Kara was engaging two aliens at the same time. She managed to shove one away to focus on the other, and almost unconsciously, she threw her cape out. The fabric wrapped around the wrist of the alien trying to punch her, and Kara blinked before turning to find her target. She yanked as hard as she could, and she threw her captive into the alien charging towards her, knocking both to the ground easily.

Kara stared for a few seconds, surprised that she had done exactly what she couldn't just a few minutes ago, then looked up to see Mon-El give her a proud smile. She giggled happily, giving him a thumbs up. Mon-El nodded to her, then his gaze slid past her and behind her, turning worried. Kara quickly turned to see Slade's sticks were locked with another agent, and she bent her knees to fly at the agent sneaking up on him from behind.

She didn't need to do anything because Dig beat her to him, one of his arms going around the agent in a headlock, the other sticking him in the stomach. Kara chose to crash into the agent Slade was engaged with, and the Aussie looked behind him at the agent collapsed on the ground. He then raised his gaze to Dig, who flipped his stick back into his hand. "Watch your six," he warned.

"No kidding," Slade agreed, eyeing him warily. "Thank you."

Dig nodded in response. "Maybe next time we talk when there's not a psychic attack going on?"

Slade nodded in agreement, the two of them looking around to see who else they needed to stop from doing something drastic.

***

"Father, look around you," J'onn begged M'yrnn. "You're hurting people. Your mind is doing this."

"No," M'yrnn shook his head. "You are trying to trick me."

"I would never do that!" J'onn denied, swallowing hard. "I love you. All I want to do is protect you as you have tried to protect me my entire life. Trust me, Father."

M'yrnn stared at him, then his eyes averted, and his entire form tensed further. "No!" he cried. "No!"

J'onn turned to see a White Martian stomp across the balcony, snarling violently. Kara flew up to land on J'onn's other side, and Malcolm grappled up as well. "J'onn!" Kara cried.

"Stay with him!" J'onn ordered.

Kara nodded immediately and rushed to M'yrnn's side, Malcolm firing arrows to distract the White Martian as J'onn morphed into his Martian form and charged. When both Martians crashed through the glass into the labs, Malcolm raised an eyebrow and lowered his bow. "Guess I wasn't needed."

"Then get back down here!" Laurel's annoyed shout echoed through the comms.

"You're bossy!" Malcolm rolled his eyes, though a fond smile was on his face as he jumped down.

Kara hid a smile as she crouched down by M'yrnn, drawing the older Martian's attention to her. "Hey, I'm here," she told him. "You're OK." She laid a gentle hand on his arm, continuing to speak. "I know how hard it is when everything we know to be true changes. But sometimes all we can do is just accept the way things are and make the best of that."

M'yrnn stared up at her, and she silently nodded in encouragement. He winced suddenly, and Kara flinched when she heard a pop near her ear. The inhibitor fell off her temple, and Kara stared down at it when it landed in her hand. "Oh, God," she gulped.

She heard footsteps behind her, and she stood up, quickly backing away as J'onn approached. He morphed back into human form, taking her place by his father's side. "J'onn," M'yrnn rasped.

"The son becomes the father," J'onn said, reaching up and putting his hand against his father's face.

His eyes glowed red as he connected with M'yrnn, and Kara watched both Martians wince as they struggled to contain the psychic waves. Then M'yrnn lifted his arm, looking up at J'onn. "Do it."

J'onn swallowed, then locked the power dampener around his father's wrist. The psychic waves ended, and as Kara kept an open ear for the startled D.E.O. agents coming back to themselves, she watched J'onn hug his father tightly, crying into his shoulder.

***

"I know," Sam spoke to Ruby on the phone, sniffing as she looked down at the picture of herself and her daughter. "I don't want you to worry about me, OK? I just have to stay in the hospital for a little while." She smiled faintly through the tears she was crying. "I miss you, too. Yeah, the doctors are saying it's contagious, so I don't want you getting sick. Lena is gonna check up on you, and I will be home as soon as I'm better. I love you so, so much, baby."

She hung up and sobbed, closing her eyes. "Don't worry about Ruby," Lena said quietly from next to her. "I'll take her to – "

"Don't tell me where she is," Sam cut her off, looking over at her. "You keep her away from me until I'm cured."

Lena swallowed, nodding as she watched Sam bow her head and continue to cry.

***

"So those are cape tricks, huh?" Oliver asked as he observed the two aliens being led off.

"They're impressive," Slade toed the little debris from when Mon-El had caught the missile from the flamethrower.

"I'm just happy I finally got it," Kara smiled. "Kind of wish it wasn't in the middle of a battle, though."

"Sometimes that's the only way you know you've got something down," Alex shrugged.

"May I speak to you all?" M'yrnn asked from where he stood with J'onn. The four exchanged looks, then walked over to the Martians, joining Winn, Mon-El, Felicity, Malcolm, Laurel, and Dig. M'yrnn looked at J'onn for support, and when he nodded in encouragement, M'yrnn swallowed and looked around at all of the heroes and D.E.O. agents around him. "I am sorry for the pain I caused," he told them. "I hurt you, all of you. I was so fearful of losing control of what's left of my life, I refused to accept what was happening, and it nearly cost me everything I hold dear."

J'onn put a hand on his father's shoulder supportively, looking around at his agency. "I hoped I would've been able to protect you all better."

"You protect us all the time, J'onn," Alex shook her head.

"Tonight was our turn," Kara stepped forward, rubbing M'yrnn's back.

***

Lena stepped into her office, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She was exhausted and ready to eat after the day she had had.

A chirp from her phone made her frown and look at the device in her hand, and she pulled up the many messages that had piled up in her inbox. With a small smile on her face, she tapped out a quick message.

Progress is being made, slow and steady

She didn't expect the onslaught of messages that returned, several of them wishing her luck on helping Sam and a few reminders from the more sciency people reminding her that she needed to sleep and eat as well as help Sam. Touched, she tapped out a thank you and sat down on her couch, leaning her head back.

There were times the group chat between the teams was annoying, but it was times like these she was really glad it existed.

***

Oliver leaned in the doorway of the med bay, watching Dig roll his shoulder around. "Are you OK?" he asked.

Dig looked up, then cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah," he said, sitting up straighter. "It just hurts from when I landed on it."

Oliver nodded as well, walking into the room. "John, I won't deny that I have made bad calls during my time as the Green Arrow," he said, sitting on the bed across from Dig. "But I'm not the only one who has. We've all made our bad calls."

"You're right," Dig nodded after a second. "I lied to the team. I wasn't in the field at one hundred percent capacity. And Diaz did show up while I was the Green Arrow."

"And maybe I am spreading myself thin," Oliver admitted. "Especially between Star City and National City." He took a deep breath. "There's another reason I've been clinging to the hood in Star City." Dig frowned, tilting his head, and Oliver looked up at him. "Think about it," he said. "I live in Star City on Earth-1. Kara lives here, in National City, on Earth-38. That is over three dozen universes apart. We're fine moving between our universes right now, but I don't want that when we're married. Neither of us deserve that – neither does William. We're going to have to make a choice soon."

Dig blinked, realizing where Oliver was going with this. "You're thinking about moving here?" he asked. "For good?"

"Either William and I will end up here, or Kara may end up in Star City," Oliver nodded heavily. "We haven't discussed it, but I want us grounded somewhere in one place. That's either in my universe or here in hers. The question I'm thinking of . . . which city needs its hero more than the other? Does National City need Supergirl more . . . or does Star City need the Green Arrow more?"

"Both cities need their hero," Dig frowned.

"True," Oliver nodded. "That leads to another point . . . Supergirl can't be replaced. Neither can her cousin. They're the only Kryptonians left. The Green Arrow can be replaced. It won't be the same, but Star City would have a Green Arrow anyway." He looked up at Dig to see a stunned look on his face. "Kara and I need to discuss this soon," he said. "But there is a very good chance that after I marry her, William and I will move here to Earth-38. Star City will still need the Green Arrow. That could still be you, John."

Dig swallowed hard. "After all I just did?" he asked, gesturing vaguely out towards the D.E.O.

"That depends," Oliver tilted his head. "You said your issues are with me. I think I saw the issue isn't just with me."

Dig sighed, slumping a bit. "It's not just you," he admitted. "I don't know. It's just . . . having three former supervillains, two of which have been constant pains in our asses in the past, on the team . . . it's bugged me, Oliver. And after all that's happened, with the team splitting up, the battle between them and our former teammates, and the revelation that Diaz has been pulling strings all this time . . . I guess I just snapped."

"A lot has gone wrong," Oliver nodded. "I get where you're coming from. I just wish you had brought it up and not kept it inside. John, you are one of my brothers. You've been with me longer than anyone else. I don't want to lose you . . . but it's your decision."

Dig swallowed. "That means a lot to me, Oliver," he said quietly. "Really, it does. Let me think about it?"

"Take all the time you need," Oliver nodded, standing up and heading for the door.

***

"So let me get this straight," Max frowned from the video call Winn had pulled up in the D.E.O. "I leave you all alone for . . . what, a few days, and in that time, you not only manage to deal with a psychotic Toywoman and then it's all Kill Bill because of an out of control Martian?"

"Thank you, Max, for putting that oh so eloquently," Alex scowled.

"I'm simply asking," the man held up his hands placatingly. "Sounds like I missed quite a bit is all."

"Oh, try to sound a little less disappointed," Lucy huffed.

"The way I hear it, you weren't there, either," Max countered.

"No, because I'm dealing with my dad being dishonorably discharged," Lucy snorted.

"Ah," Max nodded, then looked at Alex. "Don't worry, Danvers, I'll be back to annoy you soon enough."

"Wonderful," Alex said through clenched teeth.

Max gave her a smirk and a lazy salute before ending the call. "Was he always that . . . annoyingly charming?" Felicity tilted her head.

"Yes," Alex turned around. "I'm just happy he's not doing it as an enemy this time. Are we anywhere with our Worldkillers?"

"Imra and Brainy haven't checked in yet, and there's nothing from Purity," Winn shook his head.

Alex bit her lip. "And Sam?"

"Lena's making some progress."

Alex sighed, nodding. "Let's hope we get more progress soon."

***

Dig was skimming through the D.E.O. armory when he heard a knock on the doorframe behind him. "If I walk in here, you won't lunge for one of the guns, will you?" a dry voice asked.

Dig looked behind him and snorted when he saw Slade raise an eyebrow. "I'll even step away from the racks so you're not intimidated," he exaggerated raising his hands.

Slade snorted, stepping into the room. "I figured you wouldn't have gone for one of them anyway."

"You're that certain?" Dig raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Because you didn't let the agent yesterday get the jump on me," Slade answered simply. "Bit surprising, given you were trying to punch me not even ten minutes earlier."

Dig cleared his throat awkwardly. "Not my finest moment."

"Not mine, either," Slade shook his head, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. "Though I would certainly punch back if you tried to put something I did, or the wizard's actions or Siren's, on Oliver."

"Next time, don't throw my brother in my face," Dig countered.

"Next time, don't imply I would betray Oliver's trust after all I've done to try and gain it back," Slade shook his head. "I understand your hesitancy to trust us after all we've done, Malcolm and myself in particular, but do you truly think we would have made it this far if we wanted to turn on him?"

Dig sighed, hands on his hips as he looked down. "Probably not."

"Kara would fry our hearts if we tried," Slade smirked.

Dig chuckled, nodding in agreement. "She probably would."

"There's no probably, she just would."

Dig nodded in agreement. "This year's thrown me through a loop," he finally said, looking up at Slade. "First with coming here to help Kara with Cadmus, my injury, the team splitting apart, Diaz turning out to be the one we're supposed to focus on . . . guess it took a Martian attack to make me let it out."

"And I'm guessing me acting as another second in command to Oliver hasn't helped, either," Slade guessed.

"No offense, but definitely not."

"None taken," Slade shook his head. "You have been by Oliver's side longer than any of us. And, in your words, I'm a former villain. And part of the reason it may be hard to trust us . . . we mentioned to the other three that they never really trained with us. I think I can count on less than ten fingers the amount of times we've actually worked together in the field."

Dig tilted his head, thinking. "You're right," he said after a moment, blinking in surprise.

"That might be another trust issue," Slade shrugged.

"After all I've said, you really think this could be worked out?" Dig frowned.

"After all I've done to hurt Oliver, and after all Malcolm's done, Oliver's given us another chance," Slade shrugged. "Some of our sins are unforgivable in my eyes and the wizard's, but here we stand anyway. What you've said is hardly a crime."

Dig was silent for a few seconds. "Look," he finally said. "I've told Oliver I need to think. I have a lot to think about, actually."

"I think we all do after today," Slade nodded. "A word of advice?"

"This'll be good," Dig said dryly, but nodded.

Slade's lips quirked up in a smirk. "You said it yourself. We just found out Diaz is the one we need to focus on, and he has God knows how much of the city in his pocket already. He's already tried to dig his claws into Laurel. Oliver is strong, we both know that, but there is always strength in numbers. Whatever your decision is . . . please keep in mind that the more support Oliver has, no matter what form it takes, the stronger he will be."

Dig gave him a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

Slade nodded back and left the armory, leaving Dig to his thoughts.

***

Oliver leaned against the wall watching Kara move through the sequence Mon-El had taught her, a small smile on his lips. Kara eventually swept around and saw him, then blinked when she saw his face. "What?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Oliver raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say anything."

Kara fidgeted. "You're smiling."

Oliver grinned. "I can't admire how you're doing? My sincerest apologies, angel."

Kara ducked her head, chewing her lip. "It feels like dancing, almost."

"I can see that," Oliver nodded, watching her start the sequence again. "Though I typically wouldn't associate dancing with bowling one alien into another with a cape."

"Oh, God," Kara groaned, stopping and putting her face in her hands. "What I did to Mon-El . . . "

"What did you do?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"The first or second time?"

Oliver's other eyebrow joined the first. "Yes."

Kara sighed, dropping down to sit on her heels. "Well, the first time, I punched him," she answered. "Hard."

"In the face?" Oliver smirked.

"Ha ha," Kara gave him a look, which he returned innocently. "No, in the ribs."

"That's not bad," Oliver shrugged.

"And then I called him a lying jackass the second time and completely poured out every negative thought I ever had of him," Kara sighed, dropping her head into her hands again.

Oliver blinked. "Whoa."

"Yeah," Kara blew out her breath. "I thought everything was water under the bridge, but . . . "

"Hey," Oliver walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. "From what you told me Mon-El was like before . . . well, before he became a hero, it sounded like that was something he needed to hear. Maybe everything after your relationship was water under the bridge, but not what happened before you realized you loved him. And even when you were together, it might not have all been glitter and gold." Kara bit her lip thoughtfully, and Oliver gently took her chin, making her look at him. "Sometimes things need to be said, otherwise when it comes out, it could get very ugly very quickly. I think all of us found that out yesterday. Talk to Mon-El. The man he is now will listen to what you have to say."

Kara nodded silently. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Any time," he kissed her gently, then leaned his forehead against hers. "And if he doesn't listen . . . well, lead weapons can still hurt him, right?"

Kara giggled. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Oliver kissed her forehead, holding out his hand to help her stand.

"Speaking of yesterday," Kara said, accepting his help. "How did it go with John? And Slade?"

"Well, I know Slade was going to talk to John today," Oliver said, wincing a bit. "As for John . . . he needs time to think."

Kara bit her lip, then gave him a tight hug. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Thanks, angel," Oliver squeezed her back thankfully.

Footsteps caught their attention, and Oliver looked over Kara's shoulder as she turned her head. Mon-El froze in the doorway, then cleared his throat, looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I can come back later," he began, starting to back up.

"I was about to leave, actually," Oliver shook his head. "I need to check in with the rest of my team."

Mon-El nodded, and Oliver kissed Kara's cheek, she returning the gesture before he left. The two aliens stood in silence for a few seconds, then Kara sighed. "We were going to talk about yesterday."

"Yes," Mon-El confirmed, walking further into the room. "You were whammied by the psychic attack."

"Yes, that's true," Kara nodded. "But I . . . the things I said . . . I thought I had dealt with my feelings about us. But when we were in this episode, it made me realize that our relationship was not perfect." She sat down on the bench against the wall, Mon-El walking over to join her. "You know, maybe I – I knew that deep down. But especially when you were gone, I was so busy missing you and romanticizing us." She sighed, looking up at him, watching him sit. "I do feel a big weight off my shoulders, so in a way, I'm grateful that it happened." She smiled a bit. "I'm just really sorry that it took a Martian attack to make it come out, and I'm sorry it was so brutal."

"You know, the truth can be brutal," Mon-El shrugged. "It's not news to me that I used to be a jerk. And I'm sorry," he told her sincerely. "I'm sorry for all of it. I didn't really grasp your perspective back then."

"Yeah, but still, I shouldn't have hit you," Kara muttered. "I'm sorry for that. And I'm sorry for . . . " She trailed off, then sighed. "I'm just sorry."

Mon-El smirked. "Can we make an agreement?"

"Yes," Kara nodded.

He held out his hand. "No more apologies."

Kara nodded, shaking his hand, then gave him a wide grin. "Do you wanna go be heroes?"

Mon-El smiled back.

***

Laurel tilted her head, watching a few D.E.O. agents clean up the glass from where J'onn had fought the White Martian. A chuckle came from behind her, and Laurel turned, raising an eyebrow when she saw Malcolm walk up, looking around at the glass on the floor. "Something funny?"

"This is the second time in about two months that the glass surrounding this lab's been broken," Malcolm answered with a grin. "How unlucky."

"Because the lab has feelings," Laurel rolled her eyes fondly.

"Well, have you ever talked to it?"

"Have you?"

"Don't turn this on me."

"You're the one who brought it up."

Malcolm snorted. "Traitor."

Laurel smirked, hip checking him. "You know I love you."

Malcolm's smile was tight. "Yeah."

They stood in tense silence, then Laurel cleared her throat. "How about we strive to make sure there aren't any fights in the D.E.O. any time soon now?"

"Good idea," Malcolm nodded quickly, grateful for the subject change. "Can I add something to that?"

"Add what?" Laurel asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Malcolm pressed his lips together. "Don't charge an agent with a flamethrower, for one?"

Laurel snorted. "I'll put that on my not-to-do list, yeah. As long as you put 'don't attack a White Martian' on yours."

"For one, that Martian came nowhere close to hurting me," Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "And you're one to talk, Miss Rile Spartan Up."

"For one, that was M'yrnn's psychic attack speaking," Laurel mocked. "And you're one to talk, Mr. Interferer."

"Yes, I'm so sorry for stopping him from potentially shooting you and killing you," Malcolm gave her a stern look.

"And you couldn't have been?" Laurel countered.

Malcolm snorted loudly. "Oh, ye of so little faith."

"Hey!" Laurel shoved him in the shoulder, and he did a double take, looking at her. "I'm serious! With the psychic attack? Anything could have happened!"

"Yeah, well, I'd do it again," Malcolm narrowed his eyes. "Especially if someone was gonna shoot you."

"You're not bulletproof, Malcolm."

"At least the gun wouldn't be aimed at you."

Laurel stared at him, eyes wide. "You really mean that?" she asked quietly.

"Do you doubt it?" Malcolm asked with a small frown.

Laurel gulped. "Well . . . I definitely don't now."

"What I did to protect you I would do again in a heartbeat," Malcolm promised, raising a hand and cupping her cheek.

Laurel swallowed hard. "About that, when you first challenged John . . . what you said – "

Startled shouts came from Winn and Felicity on the ground floor, and Laurel cursed the timing as Oliver's shout rang through the open area. "Malcolm? Laurel? You need to get down here!"

"For the love of – " Laurel growled, seething as she stormed towards the staircase.

"Laurel!" Malcolm called after her.

"What?" she snapped, turning around.

He faltered at her anger, but recovered quickly, eyes hardening. "We're finishing this conversation later."

Laurel took a deep breath, then nodded in agreement. "I'm holding you to that."

"Please do," Malcolm muttered, following her down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Laurel asked as she joined Oliver at the foot of the stairs.

"Kara and Mon-El just called in," Oliver answered, a steely glint in his eyes. "We've got a problem."

***

Kara and Mon-El stood atop one of the skyscrapers in National City, watching pigeons drop onto the roof all around them. Kara already had a guess as to what was going on as she watched the pigeons flop lifelessly, but it was confirmed by Mon-El's grim, simple statement.

"Pestilence."

***

So Dig hasn't given an answer yet as to what his decision is going to be. I can tell you he will have his decision made by the time the next two Supergirl episodes are over. And you poor DarkSiren shippers, I'm not making it easy for you, am I? XD

So one Supergirl episode of three is done . . . and the next one's the one that's probably going to be the most emotional of the three. The next time I update, it'll be time for "Of Two Minds!"