Fun fact: writing is very therapeutic. And distracting. Seriously, it distracts me from everything else I need to do. Probably why I'm updating this after five in the morning . . . well, it's Sunday, at least. I can still sleep in.

So . . . Team SuperArrow finally starts to see what Pestilence can do and what she can do to the team's members, Kara and Imra don't see eye to eye, and Sam talks to . . . well, herself.

***

"Well, that was a very sick creature," Alex declared, standing up straight from examining the bird on her table and looking at everyone in the room. "And what's odd is that I can't find a virus or infection of any kind."

"Well, something must have done that," Kara frowned.

"The Blight," Imra answered grimly.

"OK, I can't be the only one thinking this," Dig frowned. "Why pigeons?"

"Yeah, I'm with Dig," Malcolm pointed. "What did pigeons ever do to Worldkillers?"

"My guess?" Slade raised an eyebrow. "Existed."

Felicity giggled, but quickly disguised it as a cough when Imra looked at her. "We went through this on Winath," Mon-El said. "The Blight is preceded by mass wildlife death and plant life, crops rotting in the Earth."

"Soon it will manifest in people," Imra nodded.

Unconsciously, all members of Team Arrow took a small step away from the bird, making Kara, Alex, Lucy, and J'onn look around at them in mild amusement. "It's a short incubation period," Mon-El continued. "It's one hundred percent fatal and extremely contagious."

"Oh, this just gets better and better," Dig grimaced.

"Based on my tests, whatever this bird had, it wasn't transmittable," Alex said. "Not even from bird to bird."

"Good?" Oliver asked cautiously.

"It had to have come in contact with Pestilence herself," Alex explained.

"Still not sure if that's good."

"It might not be contagious yet, but if Pestilence gets stronger, even half the strength of the Blight, the entire city would fall ill in a matter of days," Imra told them.

"That definitely isn't," Lucy frowned.

"But we won't let her get stronger," Kara shook her head.

"Now remember, the cure is written in our DNA," Mon-El looked at everyone.

"With Brainy's help, we'll be able to extract it, weaponize it, and use it to kill Pestilence before she ever becomes the Blight," Imra nodded.

Kara blinked as Imra headed to leave. "Whoa!" she hurried after her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not killing anyone. We got too aggressive with Purity, and that's when things got worse. I'm not making the same mistake twice. There is a human side to Pestilence. We're gonna find her, and we're going to save her."

"We came here to end the threat to our time, and that means ending her life in this time," Imra frowned.

"It's just not how we operate," Kara told her.

"That's not how I usually operate, but these are extreme circumstances," Imra countered.

"OK, how about before we get into another argument that we don't need right now," Oliver began to cut in, only for his eyes to go past Imra, locking on a man in a black jumpsuit walking into the room. "Hey!" he barked, making the man halt.

"Stop right there!" Alex quickly drew her gun quickly, followed by J'onn, Slade, and Dig.

"Whoa!" Mon-El stood in their path. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys, it's Brainy!"

"What?" Laurel blinked.

"Oh, of course," the man nodded. "I'm wearing a personal image inducer." He touched his forehead, and Querl appeared in his Coluan form. "I had to purchase some apple cider vinegar, and I nearly caused a riot at the Piggly Wiggly."

"Huh," was all Kara had to say in response as Querl activated the inducer again.

"I thought this would, uh, help me fit in better," Querl nodded. "In your universe as well, if the need arises," he added to Oliver.

"Whoa," Felicity grinned widely. "Cool!"

"Why am I more comfortable with that than you shifting right in front of me?" Dig asked J'onn curiously.

"No idea," the Martian shook his head.

"Hey, guys!" Winn hurried into the room. "I just god word from City Hall . . . " He trailed off, looking at Querl, then nodded. "Hey, Brainy."

Felicity's eyebrows shot up. "Wait, you recognize him?" Kara asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Winn nodded, looking Querl over, who looked just as surprised as Kara. "What is that, an image inducer, eh? Ah, so our brains just think we're seeing a human, but no. Hey, can I borrow that for Halloween?"

"Agent Schott," J'onn interrupted him. "You were saying?"

"Oh, yes!" Winn nodded. "The mayor, the chief of police, uh, like, five city councilmen are all sick. High fevers, bloody noses. So either it was sushi day at City Hall cafeteria or . . . " He shrugged.

"It's her," Imra said confidently. "Let's go."

"OK, wait," Oliver held up his hand. "Imra, wait a minute. We're not going to walk into this without knowing who Pestilence really is, let alone if she's still there. Right now, the people who are sick are our priority."

"Oliver's right," Kara nodded as Imra opened her mouth to argue. "So let's go run some tests on them. Meanwhile, you guys extract the cure so we can give it to the victims," she looked at Mon-El.

"It won't take long on our end," Mon-El nodded in agreement, giving Imra a warning look. "So we'll meet up with you later."

"Thank you," Kara nodded gratefully, then looked at Imra. "Don't worry, we'll get her."

Imra nodded reluctantly, watching the rest of the team file out of the lab.

***

"Explain it to me again," Sam looked at Lena.

"When Reign is triggered, your genome is rewritten," Lena answered. "It's why you can't shoot heat beams out of your eyes whenever you want."

"So you think there's an enzyme in my body that triggers a change," Sam frowned.

"Yes," Lena nodded. "And if we can isolate it, we can eliminate it, and no more Reign." She took a deep breath before continuing. "But in order to find it, I need to study you while you're her."

"And the only definite way to turn me into her is to electrocute me," Sam said with a frown.

"The pain response brings her out," Lena nodded.

Sam took a deep breath. "How much is it gonna hurt?"

Lena bit her lip. "We're gonna start with five hundred volts – "

"That's not what I asked," Sam gave her a small glare.

Lena sighed. "A lot," she answered quietly. "If we had more time, we could find another way, but we don't, so we have to do it."

Sam closed her eyes. "OK."

"OK," Lena nodded, standing up to put the electrodes on Sam's head. She backed up out of the containment unit as Sam laid down, triggering the forcefields to activate. When she was by her computer, she took one more look at Sam before tapping a key.

Sam gasped in pain as she was shocked, then she yelled in pain, her eyes glowing red.

***

Sam woke up surrounded by smoke in the dark valley, and she slowly sat up, looking around.

"You." Sam shot to her feet when she heard the reverberating female voice, eyes wide. "I see you."

Sam swallowed hard, looking behind her to see where the voice was coming from. When she didn't see anyone, she started to run, looking in front of her.

She gasped and stopped when she came face to face with a black-clothed Kryptonian. "They're coming for us," Reign hissed, making Sam's eyes widen in horror.

***

"Oh, my God," Felicity swallowed in horror, using her tablet to keep updated on all of the victims as she and Dig watched gurneys roll past.

"This is a nightmare," Dig agreed.

"The sooner we find this Worldkiller, the better," Lucy walked over from where she had been speaking to first responders. "Preferably before anyone else gets sick."

"It's a nightmare," the mayor told Kara, J'onn, Alex, and Malcolm, the four standing around where he was resting. "It happened so fast. My chief of staff and the councilwoman, we ordered a quarantine immediately."

"You did the right thing," Kara assured him, reaching out comfortingly as he started coughing. "You rest. We've got this."

The mayor nodded weakly, closing his eyes. The quartet stepped away, and Malcolm looked at Alex as he, she, and J'onn lowered their masks. "Alex, did you see that mark on his hand?"

"Yeah," Alex nodded. "It must not be airborne."

"You two check and see if any other patients have similar marks," J'onn ordered. "I'll check the visitor logs."

They nodded and walked off together, Kara looking around to check in with everyone else. Her gaze was drawn to a redhead sitting on the floor and leaning against the couch, and concerned, she walked over to her. "Hey, are you OK?" she asked. "Do you need a doctor?"

"No, I'm not sick," she shook her head, smiling nervously. "Just scared."

"Everything's gonna be OK," Kara promised, crouching in front of her and squeezing her hand.

***

"As you can see, most of the patients have scratches, but none of them remember being scratched," one of the doctors said, taking a clipboard back from Alex as she took her mask off.

"Maybe they didn't feel it," Oliver frowned thoughtfully.

"That makes it a probably origin of the infection," Malcolm nodded. "Which means that everyone who's sick was scratched by the source."

"That confirms your theory that it was not passed person-to-person," Winn told Alex.

"Well, if you're sure it's not contagious, then I need the quarantine lifted and the patients transferred to the nearest trauma facility," the doctor told them.

"We have a lead on a treatment," Alex told her.

"You do?" the doctor raised an eyebrow. "Already?"

"Well, we work very fast on account of being really smart," Winn grinned.

The doctor chuckled sarcastically. "Some people find humor charming during stressful circumstances. I find it's a mask for a lack of confidence."

Malcolm snorted loudly, not even bothering to hide his amusement. "Well, I find," Winn began, then trailed off. " . . . that I have no retort."

"Smooth," Oliver rolled his eyes fondly, patting him on the shoulder.

"We'll get the patients transferred as soon as possible," Alex told the doctor. "And when the treatment is ready, we'll have it widely distributed."

The doctor smirked. "You, I believe," she declared, walking past her.

"When did you get so smart about infections and diseases?" Alex asked Malcolm curiously as they turned around to meet J'onn, Kara, Lucy, Dig, and Felicity.

"The League," Malcolm answered simply.

"Why do I get the feeling that's always the answer with you?" Winn tilted his head.

"Because it most likely is," Oliver smirked.

Winn conceded with a nod, looking at the other five. "OK, so mean doctor says we have to lift the quarantine."

"She's not mean, she's just serious," Alex looked at him. "And she's correct. If the same thing that happened to the birds happens to these patients, they could descend into catastrophic organ failure."

"And there's still the possibility that Pestilence is still here," Lucy pointed out.

"Mon-El did say that there's an incubation period, but those scratches did not look new," Alex sighed.

"So she's not here anymore?" Dig frowned.

Alex shrugged helplessly. "Let's get all these people to the hospital," Kara finally said. "J'onn, you and I can fly the really sick ones."

J'onn nodded in agreement, turning to look at the D.E.O. men. "All right, people, let's keep it calm," he said. "The last thing we need is a panic."

Bright light suddenly came from outside, followed by surprised screams. "What the hell is that?" Lucy grimaced, shielding her eyes.

Kara and J'onn ran outside, and Kara skidded to a halt when she saw the shimmering blue forcefield encompassing the entire building, police cars smashing into it. Imra stood inside the bubble, surveying everything that was happening. "So much for avoiding a panic," J'onn grumbled.

Kara scowled, storming up to Imra as she turned away from the forcefield. "Take down the forcefield!" she ordered.

"Did you find her?" Imra asked.

"Take it down, now!" Kara snapped. "We have to get these people to a hospital!"

"Is Pestilence here?" Imra insisted, stepping forward.

"There's no sign of her now," Kara narrowed her eyes. "Just scared people who need medical attention. Take it down!" Imra sighed, then turned and put a finger on her temple. The forcefield hummed and vanished, letting the sound of sirens back in. "Shouldn't you be working on the cure?" Kara asked.

"Brainy and Mon-El are getting the transfer set up now," Imra told her.

"Well, we can handle this," Kara told her.

"You say that, but you do not know what you're up against," Imra scowled, turning on her heel and leaving.

Kara watched her go, then turned back and headed towards the entrance of the building, where Oliver was watching and coordinating with D.E.O. men. "Why does she want Pestilence so badly?" he asked when she reached him.

"I don't know," Kara admitted.

***

Sam groaned in pain as she woke up, slowly sitting up. She heard the forcefield sizzle as it turned off, and she looked up at Lena as she walked in. "Reign was there, in the dark valley," she told her, holding her forehead.

"What valley?" Lena frowned.

"I just thought it was in my dreams, my nightmares, but it was real this time," Sam answered. "And I remember everything. She was talking to me like I'm talking to you."

Lena's eyes lit up. "It's a parallel dimension," she realized. "It's where you go when Reign takes over. It's why you can't remember anything. When your body transforms into Reign, your mind literally goes there."

"Well, we were both there this time," Sam told her.

"I mean, I've been suppressing Reign's consciousness," Lena thought out loud. "She couldn't manifest fully in this world, so she existed in that one with you, together."

"She said they were coming for us," Sam said.

Lena frowned. "Who's coming?"

"I don't know," Sam shook her head with a sigh. "Did you find what triggers the transformation?"

"Not yet," Lena shook her head, giving her a cautious look. "I need to increase the voltage. I need more time to observe Reign."

"OK," Sam acquiesced, bracing herself as she laid back down.

***

"You shouldn't have gone to City Hall," Mon-El told Imra as they sat in the Legion ship, waiting for the cure to be extracted. "Kara said she had it handled."

"She's not taking it seriously enough," Imra scowled.

"No one takes the protection of this planet more seriously than she does," Mon-El shook his head. "Look, I know what this mission means to you."

"This isn't about me," Imra shook her head at once. "This is about the Legion, and our mission is to save the people of our time."

"There has to be a way to do this without making a moral compromise," Mon-El told her. "We base the entire philosophy of the Legion on Supergirl. Have you considered that she might have the right approach here?"

"Success is the only thing that matters," Imra didn't answer completely.

"Transfusion complete."

Imra looked at the machine she was attached to, then sat up and started taking the equipment off her. "You're done already?" Mon-El asked in surprise.

"You always were a little bit slow," Imra joked, standing up and walking off.

***

"So Winn and Felicity are running through security footage to see who came in contact with everyone who got sick," Kara told Alex as they walked through the D.E.O.

"Well, I just got word that Brainy, Imra, and Mon-El have extracted the cure and they're manufacturing doses as we speak, so hopefully it's just a matter of time," Alex told her.

"Hopefully," Kara repeated, nodding with a sigh.

"Hey," Alex stopped her. "I know that you're frustrated, OK? But there's still a really good chance that Imra could come around, you know, and that we can work with her on this. She might have some really important insight into Pestilence."

"Yeah, to kill her," Kara huffed. "I don't kill. I mean, you know it's possible to reach them. You of all people understand how important it is to help whoever's in Pestilence."

"Yeah, of course I do," Alex nodded. "But I didn't see that at first. You and Slade were the ones who convinced me that the Worldkillers could even be saved. So maybe Imra just needs a little more convincing."

"I've been trying," Kara sighed. "She's – she's being irrational. She's just not listening to me."

"We found her!" Felicity's gleeful voice called. "We found her, we found her!"

"Actually, we think we found her," Winn amended, he and Felicity running up, both panting. "OK, so there was one person who came in contact with everybody who got sick at the mayor's office."

"Meet Adelaide Swanson," Felicity held up her tablet as Team Arrow followed after them. "An administrator known for her famous lemon poppy seed cookies."

"A Worldkiller that bakes cookies?" Laurel raised an eyebrow.

"The last Worldkiller we met could belt out Lisa Loeb at perfect pitch, I think we can cut this one some slack," Malcolm pointed out.

"Wait, let me see," Kara blinked, leaning towards the tablet. "Yeah . . . yeah, I saw her at City Hall. She looked . . . well, she looked terrified."

"Just like Julia?" Slade asked.

"Just like Julia," Kara nodded.

***

"Supergirl, I have Green Arrow, Deathstroke, and Dark Archer suiting up," Alex spoke through her comms as she flew through National City. "They'll meet you there with J'onn and a strike team."

Kara nodded, putting on a new burst of speed. When she arrived at Adelaide's apartment, she was immediately on edge when she found someone else already there. "Imra, get away from her!" Imra just gave her a look and gestured to the ground, and Kara's eyes widened when she saw Adelaide lying there, face deathly pale. "What did you do?" she demanded, crouching to check on her.

"I didn't do anything," Imra shook her head. "She was dead when I got here. It's not Pestilence, she's human. A victim."

"How did you know she was here?" Kara frowned.

"Brainiac 5 has all the same data you do," Imra answered.

"So you came here without telling me?" Kara scowled.

Imra looked back at her defiantly, then the door behind them opened. "Saturn Girl?" Slade's incredulous voice asked.

"Stand down," Kara held up her hands as Oliver and Malcolm followed Slade in, J'onn and the strike team behind them. "Stand down. We got the wrong person, she's a human. A victim."

"Oh, no," Oliver sighed, lowering his bow as he looked down at Adelaide.

J'onn lifted a hand to his comms as Slade and Malcolm lowered their weapons as well. "Winn, Felicity, Alex, keep looking."

***

"Man, I was so sure it was gonna be her!" Winn complained, flopping back in his seat.

"I know," Felicity frowned, checking through her tablet. "I mean, according to the security footage, she's the only person that came in contact with all the victims."

"Because we know security footage is always so reliable," Laurel sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Dig nodded in agreement. "You'll find her," he said, then paused, looking at Winn. "Is your nose OK?"

"What?" Winn blinked, reaching up to check. "My nose?"

He faltered, and Dig's eyes widened when his hand came away with blood. "Oh, my God."

***

"Oh, my God."

"John?" Oliver frowned, absently scratching the back of his hand when he heard the voice in the comms. "What's wrong?"

"Guys, you need to get back here now," Alex's startled voice said. "It's Winn."

"Winn?" Malcolm repeated sharply, all of them exchanging startled glances.

"But we weren't at City Hall when the outbreak happened," J'onn said in confusion.

"Unless he got in contact with one of the victims," Oliver pointed out.

Slade tilted his head. "You all right, kid?" he asked, nodding at his hand.

"Fine, just an itch," Oliver shook his head.

Malcolm stiffened. "Oliver." At the tone in his voice, Oliver looked up at the assassin. "Most of the victims had scratches on the back of their right hand."

Kara blanched, and Oliver quickly removed his glove. Kara hurried to his side, and Oliver swallowed hard, showing them the back of his hand. "It's not just Winn."

Kara whimpered fearfully, seeing he had the same scratch on the back of his hand that the other victims had gotten. "Oh, my God."

"Let's move," J'onn ordered, shepherding the D.E.O. "Now!"

***

"James!" Winn called gleefully when the man hurried into the medbay. "Hey, Oliver, look, it's James!"

"I can see that, Winn," Oliver rolled his eyes fondly as James joined the semicircle around the beds the two men were lying in.

"He's grumpy," Winn smiled widely.

"He's very drugged," Oliver huffed.

"He's also very chatty."

"Says the one who can't stop talking in general."

"You're both drugged, we get it," Slade pinched the bridge of his nose; Malcolm squeezed his shoulder supportively, feeling just how tense and on edge the Aussie was.

"Hey, at least we're not dying," Winn pointed out, then he gasped. "Hey, tell him we're not dying!"

"You just did that, Winn," Oliver closed his eyes in exasperation, a small smile forming on Kara's face as she squeezed his other hand from where she sat as close to the bed as she could get.

"I did?" Winn blinked. "Oh. I guess I did. How about that?"

"Like I said," Oliver gave James a pointed look. "Can't. Stop. Talking."

"And you're definitely chatty," Dig eyed him worriedly.

J'onn cleared his throat, turning to James. "We're giving them the Legion's cure."

"Which, by my calculations, should have them rebounding in approximately 2.4534 hours," Querl told them.

"That's . . . precise," Felicity blinked.

"OK," James frowned, then looked between the two. "How you guys doing?"

"Fine," Oliver answered.

"At least compared to everyone that was at City Hall," Lucy said uneasily.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Slade grumbled.

"Seconded," Dig nodded.

"Ditto," Kara agreed at the same time.

"You should be at CatCo," Winn frowned at James.

"It's called delegation, I've got every reporter in the building working on this," James told him. "Which actually reminds me," he turned to J'onn, "the city is pretty panicked about this. So if you have any information I can disseminate, that would be helpful."

"Doses of the cure are on their way to all the hospitals," J'onn answered.

"And the Worldkiller is still MIA," Kara muttered.

"Yeah, but now that Winn and Oliver are infected, doesn't that give us another lead?" James asked.

"Yes," Querl nodded, leaning forward. "The scratch on your hands seem to be the point of infection – "

From where she was working on Oliver, Alex reached over and smacked his hand away. "Don't touch that."

Querl blinked once, then looked between the men. "You are slightly smarter-than-average humans – "

"Oh, that's what they're called?" Laurel muttered, fidgeting when Malcolm nudged her with a short look.

Querl ignored her. "Please tell us you remember who scratched you."

"Not a clue," Oliver shook his head, closing his eyes. "Like I said at City Hall . . . didn't feel it."

Kara sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"'S not your fault, angel," Oliver frowned down at her. "You didn't scratch me."

"I know," Kara mumbled. "It's not making me feel better, though."

Oliver squeezed their joined hands, then looked over when Winn gasped. "Oh! Well, there was the guy with the gloves and the knives and then the burnt face."

"Go on," Querl nodded quickly, looking up. "This sounds like a very promising lead. What else do you remember?" he asked.

"Oh, so scary, man," Winn smiled widely. "I couldn't even look at it – "

Laurel blinked. "Is he describing Freddy Krueger?"

"That's exactly who he's describing," Oliver sighed.

"You know him, too?" Querl brightened. "Eureka!"

"Yeah, I know him," Laurel rolled her eyes. "Earth-2 was like a living horror story, I know my horror movie characters."

Querl blinked, then frowned at Winn when he laughed. "Facetiousness," the Coluan grumbled. "It's my greatest weakness."

"Based on all of the victims, the scratches don't seem to manifest until the symptoms do," Alex said. "Oliver's scratch and a few others showed up as one of the first. The only trace evidence I could find is a mild anesthetic."

"No feeling," Oliver pointed at her.

"Well, Alex, keep running those tests," J'onn ordered. "In the meantime, take a team out. See if you can talk to these patients and find a common link."

Kara sighed and sat up. "Get some rest, OK?" she whispered to Oliver.

"I'm not going anywhere," he gestured to where he was.

Kara giggled quietly, kissing him on the forehead. "I know." She squeezed his hand and stood up, looking at the next two men in line next to her. "Please tell me you two at least came to some kind of understanding to handle this while he's out," she said quietly, eyes narrowed.

Slade and Dig exchanged glances, then both nodded firmly. "We have," Slade said.

"Good," Kara nodded curtly. "Because both of you have been his seconds. That leaves you the leaders of his team."

"You're as good as one, too, Kara," Dig frowned.

Kara didn't respond, instead stepping around them to see Winn. "I'll come check in, but there's something I have to take care of."

"Okie dokie," he smiled goofily.

Kara patted him on the arm, then saw Imra walk around the corner, sparing a quick glance at the med bay. "Hang in there," she said, barely hearing him hum a response as she hurried outside after the Titanian. "Imra!" she called sharply. "Why did you go behind my back?"

"I didn't have a choice," Imra sighed, walking on.

"You always have a choice!"

"No, I don't!" she snapped, turning around. "Look, I don't wanna kill her or anyone. I have the same ideals you do."

"Then you should know you don't get to pick or choose when your ideals matter," Kara told her. "You either live by them or you don't."

"You think this is bad?" Imra narrowed her eyes. "The Blight is so much worse. Every hospital bed in every city on every planet is overrun. Mass graves. So if it's between her and the millions of people who die by the Blight in the future, I'm going to kill her."

"The best way to defeat the Worldkillers is by saving their human sides," Kara scowled.

"The man you love is dying because of one of the Worldkillers and you still want to save her?" Imra asked incredulously.

"Don't you dare!" Kara growled, getting in her face and making Imra take a step back. "Don't you dare bring Oliver into this because he would not want me to sacrifice my ideals or my ways for him!"

"Your ways for this are wrong," Imra told her bluntly. "I'm from the future. I've seen what happens if you're left to deal with the situation the way you want to. The Blight happens, Pestilence survives. Whatever you do in this time to try to stop her fails. You fail. So if I get the chance, I will end this."

Kara watched Imra walk off, then clenched her jaw and looked back towards the medbay, where Alex and Brainy were working on Oliver and Winn still. She knew she was right when she said Oliver wouldn't want her to sacrifice her ideals for him.

That didn't mean she wasn't determined to save him. On the contrary – he had risked his entire team to bring down Cadmus for her, had braved Earth-X to reach S.T.A.R. Labs and save her, had flat out chosen to fight a Nazi invasion over surrendering her. He'd shown what lengths he was willing to go to for her.

It was time for her to do the same for him, and there was no way she was going to accept failure, no matter what Imra said.

***

Sam slowly walked through the dark valley, her breath escaping her in short breaths. She knew she had to do this, she really did . . . that didn't mean she was terrified of facing her other self, one that was a murderer, one that hurt others.

"I was here for so long," Reign's voice said, and Sam turned to see her standing behind her. "Alone. You kept me here. You're strong, much stronger than you should be . . . but that will change. Your friend, she's breaking your body. You should stop her."

"Why?" Sam asked. "Because you're afraid we're getting closer?"

"No," Reign shook her head, walking towards her. "Because it will be so much better if you give in. There's bliss in surrender. I've seen your life. All those sleepless, solitary nights where you stare into the dark, not even able to dream of an escape. You've been trapped since Ruby was born. It doesn't have to be that way. There's another life, one of power, control. It's here for you. Just reach out and take it." Sam stared at Reign in shock as the woman smirked. "You'll be free, Samantha. Surrender."

She extended her hand, and Sam gasped, forcing herself to wake up. She did with a violent gasp, shooting upright in the containment unit and ripping the electrodes off her head. "Sam!" Lena ran to her side. "Sam, it's OK. Just deep breaths, deep breaths. Calm down."

"I can't go back in there," Sam stammered, holding her head in her hands. "We have to find another way."

"There is no other way," Lena shook her head. "I know how hard this is – "

"No!" Sam yelled at her, standing up and glaring at her. "No, you don't! It's like facing your shadow – everything dark you've ever feared about yourself!"

Lena swallowed, looking at her. "If you don't do this, Reign will take control of your body, and she will condemn you to that place forever, OK? She will win."

Sam held her head for a few seconds, taking deep breaths. "OK. Just give me a minute."

"OK," Lena nodded as well, watching her carefully as Sam worked to get her breathing back under control.

***

Yeah, some of you probably figured that Oliver would be one of Pestilence's victims. I think it's a nice twist to see what Kara is willing (and not willing) to do when it's her fiancé on the line.

More drama will definitely happen next chapter!