So…looks like we’re headed back to National City.”

“Wait Barry, the city is still dangerous. Despero could take control of me again, or use Myriad on me a second time. And since it works on meta-humans, you’d be at risk as well.”

“Yeah…not really.”

“Barry…?”

“Kara, my mind moves at super-speed. Makes it hard to sleep sometimes, but keeps me safe from mind control. I’ll have to tell you about Grodd someday.”

“What’s a Grodd?”

“Grodd is a telepathic gorilla, Kara. But Barry’s right, the mind control won’t have an effect on him…aside from his enhanced brain…your friend Winn and I took care of that. Show her Barry.”

Barry turned his head so Kara could see a small spot behind his right ear. She had felt the strange piece of metal during their kiss, but didn’t think anything of it as she was engulfed in her feelings.

“What is that?”

“Winn called it an inhibitor; inhibitor. I’m really going to have to teach him how to name things. The device protects the mind against outside interference. Can’t be mind-controlled if you’re wearing one.”

Cisco tossed a second one over to Kara and she immediately placed it behind her ear. It activated automatically and she instantly felt a calming presence in her mind. When she looked over at Barry, she knew he was feeling the same emotion before she heard his thoughts.

“Ready for round two, Supergirl?”

“Cisco…”

“What? Oh yeah…I took Winn’s design and enhanced it for the two of you. Barry…Kara…you’re now telepathically linked. Trust me; it will be beneficial in the fight.”

Kara smiled as she heard Barry’s next thoughts. Had she voiced them Cisco would have once again insisted they get a room. As it was; she just replied with an amused thought in return.

“You have no idea…but we’ll get to that after we finish off Cadmus.”

While Barry and Kara headed for National City, Cisco breached himself back to Star Labs with the Myriad inhibitor. He hoped that though Barry’s energy had deactivated it, he would still be able to find the frequency that Donovan had programmed in and be able to shut all of them down remotely.

“Ramon…”

“Harry, Winn…we’ve got one of the Myriad inhibitors. Barry was able to free Kara from Donovan’s mind control. If we figure out how he made this thing work, we can shut them down.”

“What do you mean if?”

Harry and Winn spoke at the same time, catching each other off guard. The three got to work immediately while the battle between the heroes and mind controlled meta-humans was entering the third hour. Lois was reporting on the battle from the Planet helicopter by phone while GBS News had sent their young reporter Tana Moon to cover the story as well.

“In earlier reports we stated that Supergirl had used her heat vision in an attack on a docked oil tanker. We’ve just been informed that the attacker wasn’t Supergirl at all, but someone pretending to be her. As of right now, we are waiting for those reports to be corroborated by the Girl of Steel herself, but she has not been seen since The Flash…”

At that moment, Barry and Kara had just arrived in National City. He was a blinding streak of lightning while she appeared as a red and blue blur flying past both helicopters. She could see that Clark and Diana were still fighting J’onn and Despero. While Diana was close to victory, Clark was still slightly holding back.

“Kal!”

Kara flew up next to her cousin, he was still in the fight, but J’onn had become relentless. Both were sporting wounds from using their heat vision on each other, and Clark knew that he could use solar flare, and while that would leave him powerless, it could kill J’onn. It was a last resort, one that was looking more and more likely that he would have to take.

“Kara? Tell me that…”

“It’s me…Flash saved me. And we’ve got a plan.”

“Tell me, I’m willing to try anything at this point.”

“We don’t want to hurt J’onn. His actions here are not his fault.”

“Neither were yours. So what’s the plan?”

“You help Wonder Woman with Despero, and I’m going to get J’onn to follow me.”

Clark and Kara had to dodge another attack from J’onn while he questioned her course of action. Having J’onn follow her would mean that she was going to deliberately put herself in harm’s way, and if J’onn didn’t hold back, she could die.

“Kara…are you sure about this idea? If…”

“Don’t worry cousin; I’m going to lead him straight to Flash, both of them. If I get him close enough, either one of them could disrupt the electrical impulses the Myriad device is using on his brain with a similar electrical discharge.”

“I take it we don’t have any other options?”

“Do you really want to burn him alive with our heat vision? Because I don’t.”

“All right…do it. Wonder Woman and I will finish off Despero. Then we’ll breach the D.E.O.”

Clark flew off to join Diana in her fight and they began punching Despero back and forth to one another while Kara hit J’onn with a small blast of heat vision, not enough to hurt, but enough to get his attention.

“J’onn…you have to fight this! Don’t let Myriad and Despero use you!”

Kara turned away to fly lower down through the city with J’onn closing the gap. She wasn’t flying at her fastest because she needed him to keep up. When she caught sight of Barry, he had already disabled several of Donovan’s meta-humans the same way he had saved her. With their connection through Cisco and Winn’s inhibitor, she called his name.

“Barry…”

“Hear you loud and clear Kara.”

“Did you find Jay?”

“He’s right behind me…and is good to go with the plan. We’re ready when you are.”

“Good…I’m coming your way with an angry Martian close behind.”

Barry and Jay were running in opposite directions like they did in the battle with Godspeed all those months ago. A lightning vortex was just beginning to form as Kara flew between them, leaving J’onn caught in the middle as she flew at ground level through the meta-humans that were overwhelming Nightwing and Batgirl.

“That’s one you owe me now, Batgirl!”

“Hey! I thought we weren’t counting!”

Barbara shouted back after Kara as she flew back up to see Despero finished off. Clark easily caught him and turned to fly towards the D.E.O. Diana and Kara were right behind him and landed just as he threw the alien into the last open cell which Kara used her handprint to close and lock. The three of them weren’t out of the battle yet as Donovan had kept Live Wire and the Bizarro Supergirl in reserve should any of the heroes get to him. Only the other Supergirl was under Myriad’s control as Live Wire agreed to help based on being defeated again just a few weeks ago.

“So Supergirl…I’m guessing you have equal reasons to fight these two?”

“Take your pick Superman. Although I’m sure Live Wire wants another shot at me.”

While Clark and Kara engaged Leslie and the other Supergirl, Diana went about freeing the D.E.O. agents. In that same time back at city level, Barry and Jay’s lightning vortex had fully contained J’onn. He was using whatever powers he could, but the energy both heroes were releasing kept him at their mercy. Unlike Kara, J’onn was beginning to weaken, falling to his knees. Barry was close enough now to spot the inhibitor and reached out, sending a small bolt of lightning through the device. This one exploded with only that small amount of energy. J’onn was disoriented, but no longer fighting back so Barry and Jay came to a stop.

“You got this; Kid?

“Yeah Jay…glad you came to help again.”

“All you have to do is ask. If you’ll excuse me, I better go find Jesse.”

Jay took off, leaving Barry confused. He knew Harry’s daughter Jesse had become a speedster just recently, but she was still on Earth-2, her own crisis had popped up before he was taken into the Speed Force. Clearly he had a lot of catching up to do. But before he could do that, he had to see to J’onn who was now beginning to recover.

“What…what happened?”

“Had to kick start your brain, Director Jones. You were…”

“Despero, he took control of my mind with Myriad. Where is he now?”

“If what I’m hearing from Kara is correct, she, Superman and Wonder Woman took care of him. And seeing how this battle is almost wrapped up, I’ve still got a job to do. But you might want to get back to the D.E.O.”

Barry took off, chasing down more meta-humans and deactivating their inhibitors. Jay and Jesse had joined him, now that they too knew that Myriad operated on electric pulses to control the mind. With the three speedsters working together, Green Arrow, Batman and their respective teams began seeing to the injured. J’onn silently thanked them all before returning to the D.E.O. where he found Donovan being escorted through the corridors by the now freed agents.

“Sir…I think this is the man you’d like to have a word with.”

Kara and Clark came walking up to join J’onn and Diana as they had just won their fights with Live Wire and Bizarro Girl. Kara still felt bad for her imperfect duplicate and Clark agreed as soon as she asked to see if he could find a cure in the Fortress of Solitude’s databanks.

“You know you’ve won nothing here today, Martian. The world has seen what you and Supergirl have done. You may have beaten me, but how long before someone else decides to finish what I started? How long before another Myriad is created or…”

J’onn’s eyes started to glow red, and Donovan’s rant was silenced. The mad scientist was unable to move or speak as J’onn used his telepathy to erase his memories of the D.E.O., Myriad, and how he had created meta-humans in the first place. Dabney Donovan was almost a blank slate as Superman flew him off to Iron Heights.

Back on the streets of National City, Barry and the others were watching as the meta-humans they had been fighting were essentially waking up. There was a lot of confusion as many didn’t even live in National City. Donovan had gathered them from around the country and used them as test subjects. All of them were lucky that the mind control used on them left no lasting memories of what they had been forced to do. As the general population came back from their homes to thank the assembled heroes, only one of them would be met with fear.

Kara had just rejoined Barry on the streets and the people of her city reacted to her with outright hostility. Anything they could get their hands on was thrown at her. In mere moments she was pelted with rocks, broken bottles, and even trash. Barry quickly stepped up to her defense, creating small vortexes by rotating his arms to catch the projectiles and deflect them away from her.

“Flash…stop. I’ll deal with this. I have to.”

Barry turned towards his fiancée, worried over the dejected tone of her voice. He knew that none of her actions were her fault, but the citizenry wasn’t seeing it that way. While they had stopped throwing things at her, the abuse became verbal.

“Please…hear me out…”

Kara’s words went unheeded as the abuse continued. She wanted so desperately to explain what had happened but knew no one would believe her. Finally both Lois and Tana came forward, hoping to get Supergirl’s side of the story.

“Supergirl…Tana Moon; GBS. Clearly there are a lot of angry people here. They feel you’ve betrayed them by causing massive destruction. There is video footage of you using your heat vision on an empty oil tanker…but there were also reports of some sort of clone…tell us…which is accurate?”

“Sorry Miss Moon…but I have to interrupt you.”

“Who are you?”

“Lois Lane…Daily Planet. I know you’re trying to do your job, and I won’t tell you how to do so. But a lot of what you’ve asked the Girl of Steel is…well…”

“Are you calling this all speculation, Miss Lane?”

“Not is so many words…but we live in an age where video footage can and has been doctored for malicious purposes. I believe that Supergirl deserves a chance to speak and we can hold our questions until she is done.”

Kara let a brief show of thanks appear in her eyes for Lois as this could have quickly turned into a witch hunt. Even the people who had been attacking her fell silent as it seemed everyone knew who Lois Lane was, even Tana Moon who didn’t recognize the experienced reporter at first. Kara was just about to explain when J’onn brought Max Lord forward and he took the reins of the conversation.

“Excuse me…my name is Maxwell Lord. I’m sure many of you are familiar with me. I’m here today to set the record straight. The actions you all have seen in the video footage of Supergirl were completely false. Yes…the perpetrator was dressed like Supergirl herself. What you don’t know is that this girl was just as innocent as the hero standing beside me. Supergirl was faultless for the actions of a young woman my company tried to save the life of with Kryptonian D.N.A. This girl who shall remain nameless was a patient of my medical division. She was suffering from an aggressive form of cancer.”

“Mr. Lord…so you’re telling us that you performed illegal experimentation on a young woman with alien D.N.A. And yet you did not anticipate the effects said treatments would have on her physiology?”

“First of all Miss Moon, the girl came to us for help. Conventional treatments had failed her. All of this was a mistake on the part of my company and medical teams. Mistakes I take full responsibility for. Cadmus, under the leadership of Paul Westfield and Dabney Donovan had convinced me that they could help my patient. What they did instead was turn her into a weapon. A weapon that was used to frame Supergirl. I know this does not absolve me of my sins, but all of you should forgive the Girl of Steel for something that she had no part of.”

“Mr. Lord…you say that Supergirl was not to blame, but we all saw her. What proof is there that she wasn’t responsible?”

“I can answer that…”

Max, Kara and Barry all turned to see J’onn escorting the Bizarro Supergirl towards them. She had power dampening handcuffs on and given that she was human enhanced with Kryptonian D.N.A., she was powerless for the moment.

“Miss Moon, this is the patient Mr. Lord was speaking of. As you can see, she is a near perfect doppelganger for our own Girl of Steel. From the air, no one would be able to see the scars that were left on her face after the illegal experimentation that was done to her. It was a tragedy that she endured such suffering.”

“Director Jones…what will happen to her now?”

“I have arranged for her to be transported to Star Labs in Metropolis. Their medical facilities are far more advanced than those we possess here. In time we hope she can be cured and return to society.”

The entire crowd looked back and forth between Supergirl and her duplicate. The uniforms were nearly identical though Supergirl’s was lighter in color. Satisfied, everyone turned to depart, leaving the heroes remaining to begin the cleanup.

“J’onn…you really did this? She’s going to Star Labs in Metropolis?”

“She is, Supergirl. She deserves a second chance at a new life. And she was just as much a victim of Max Lord as you were.”

“Speaking of Max…where did he disappear off to?”

Max had stepped away as soon J’onn had brought his creation out of the D.E.O. He nearly got away before a red blur brought him back to J’onn and Kara. Barry had been watching and made sure he wouldn’t escape.

“Supergirl…I believe I found something you lost.”

“Thanks, Flash. I think we can take him from here.”

“Actually Director, given Mr. Lord’s confession earlier, I think we’ll take him.”

National City P.D. stepped up and arrested Lord for what he had done. This one time J’onn was happy to let this prisoner go. With the city safe, Kara turned to Barry, and even if they didn’t still have the telepathic connection, he would have known what she was thinking just by the look in her eyes. That still didn’t stop them from having a private conversation.

“I’ve got to get back to Central City, Kara. And you…”

“Have a lot of rounding up of D.E.O. prisoners to do. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take long.”

“Then I’ll see you back at my place?”

“Better believe it, Barry. We’ve got six months of catching up to do.”

“Wait…six months? That’s how long I was gone and you waited for me?”

Kara nodded to Barry with a shy smirk before turning away to help J’onn and the other agents with the cleanup. As she flew away, Barry could only watch and had a million thoughts running through his head. One thought in particular which Kara replied to caused him to smile.

“God I love you Kara.”

“I love you too, baby.”

As Kara flew off and Barry ran back for Central City, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were watching from a rooftop. They were having a brief conversation before getting back to helping with the cleanup.

“You were right before, Clark. I think it is time we unite for something bigger.”

“Did you two have a discussion about joining forces without me again, Bruce?”

“Diana, you were protecting Metropolis while Clark recovered. You weren’t there, but we’ve had this talk before.”

“Yes…so…”

“Bruce is finally admitting that we work together well, and the fact that we have all these new heroes showing up, it’s time. Time we form a Justice League.”

“Justice League…that could work. I think the Flash and Supergirl should be some of our first recruits, Clark.

“I agree Diana, but they’ve got something more important planned in the future.”