“I wasn’t sure what to think as Barry and I looked at the needle Alex had used in her attempt to take a blood sample from my mother.  A thousand thoughts ran through my head: where was she all this time, how did she survive Krypton’s destruction, and the hardest one to process: if she was alive all these years, why did she never try to find me?  I was sure Alex immediately knew that her patient was my mother from the recordings we both saw of her.  But to avoid what I felt would be an awkward and unpleasant conversation; I bolted from the room as fast as possible.  There was only one place in the D.E.O. I thought I could go to get answers, at least until my mother wakes up to tell me personally.”

“Kara…?”

“I could hear the worry in Barry’s voice and I although didn’t want him to feel like I was pushing him away just two days into our marriage, this was something I felt like I had to do alone.  So I ignored my super-hearing and was glad that he and I weren’t telepathically linked at the moment, even if deep down I knew I was being foolish.”

“What was that Barry?  I’ve seen Kara through some rough times, but this…she should be happy that her mother is alive.”

“Alex…you know…?”

“There is a certain resemblance even if she appears younger than she should.  Besides, I fought Kara’s Aunt Astra.  I’d be a lousy agent if I couldn’t see that this woman is her twin.”

“I…I’d better go find Kara.”

“I walked away from Alex, immediately worried about what Kara was thinking and feeling in this moment.  If I found my mother alive after all these years, I wouldn’t know how to react either.  Even my trip to Earth-2 with Harry and Cisco was only the tip of what I could have felt when I talked to her on the phone.  And that Nora was another Barry’s mother, a version of me who had never become the Flash.  It didn’t take me long to find Kara as I heard her voice coming from a room off to my right, and another voice answering her but only with what seemed to be prerecorded responses.”

“All this time you were alive!  All these years I’ve spent on Earth and you never came to find me!  Where were you?”

“I am sorry Kara, but I am only a recording, made in the years before Krypton’s destruction.  I made these so you would know that your father and I love you.  That we didn’t want you to die with us.”

“But you promised you would find me!  I spent twenty-four years trapped in the Phantom Zone!  The very reason you sent me to Earth was to protect Kal!  I got here and he didn’t need my protection!”

“Kara…”

Barry watched as Kara slammed her hands down on the projector plate, deactivating the hologram of her mother.  He heard and could almost feel her anger, instantly rushing forward to hold her.  In his embrace, she turned, wrapping her arms around him and buried her face against his chest.  As Flash and Supergirl, he knew she wouldn’t always need him to come to her rescue.  But right now she was just Kara and she needed the comfort of her husband in an emotionally trying time.

Across the country Clark had just returned to Metropolis for Lois’ doctor’s appointment.  He had been in the Arctic when all of the Fortress’ sensors lit up alerting him to the multiple breaches of Earth’s atmosphere.  One fireball had come streaking across the northern skies and he followed until it crashed deep into the ocean floor off the coast of Greece.  While he could hold his breath for long periods of time, he found no trace of the object and thought that it must have been a meteorite that got caught in Earth’s gravity. 

The news that Clark and Lois received at her appointment was unexpected, but welcome as her doctor revealed that she was pregnant.  Now the couple was faced with the revelation of a human and Kryptonian hybrid, and what that meant for the baby and for Lois.  The news would require another trip to the Fortress but as they were leaving a call came through for Clark from Perry.

“Yes Chief…yes…I heard about the streak of fire over the Arctic…of course; I’ll get right on that lickety split…yes Sir…”

Lois rolled her eyes at Clark’s response as she could hear Perry’s simultaneous Great Caesar’s Ghost.  Clark had told her about the fireball that he chased as they waited for her doctor. Even though it was their day off, Perry’s call meant something had happened and her husband would have to investigate.

“Lois…”

“Yeah; I heard Perry.  What’s the news?”

“Another two of those fireballs were reported as landing near National City at the same time I tracked the other one.  Apparently one that hit a small rural farming town had a witness.”

“And Cat isn’t the first to know?  You think she’s slipping since she left the Planet and formed Cat Co. Media?  Kara has been covering all of her alien and meta-human stories…”

“I know, and I’m sure Kara probably has this well under control.  But this can’t go without Superman lending a hand.  I don’t think this is a coincidence.”

“Well go on; Smallville.  I can get home okay.  Tell Kara I said hi.”

“What; just Kara? Nothing for me to say to Barry?”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll be there as well.”

Lois smirked as she got into their car as Clark dashed down an alley way, pulling his tie off and changing into Superman.  It had only been two days since Barry and Kara’s wedding and seeing them again so soon was unexpected.  But he had to take care of interviewing the witness first and then make a trip to the D.E.O.  Upon arriving in National, Clark used his super hearing to single out conversations about the incident.  When he found the bar, the witness seemed to be heavily drunk and was telling his story about a woman with blood red hair crawling out of the remains of his pickup truck to Jimmy and Barry’s foster sister Iris who had been assigned to report on the story as well. 

“Blood red hair…a streak of fire through the sky that destroyed his pickup truck…what do you think Iris?”

Iris and Jimmy both turned around upon hearing Clark’s voice.  The latter was happy to see his friend again and Iris was still in shock at seeing Clark Kent in person even though she had met him back at the Daily Planet last year when she was in Metropolis. 

“Well; Mr. Kent…with all the strange things we’ve seen since the particle accelerator explosion, not to mention Cadmus…the Khunds that your cousin Kara reported on…”

“You think we’ve got another alien that crashed on Earth?  It’s certainly not impossible.”

“Our witness’ description went far beyond just the blood red hair…she had gray skin and didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects from the flames she crawled out of.  But he even admits that he can’t be sure of everything he saw.  He passed out shortly after he saw her.  When he woke up, all that was left in the crater were the remains of his truck.  Whatever she crashed down in…he says nothing remained.  What’s even more confusing is that National City’s special task force didn’t find anything.”

“Strange…I take it you’re going to report on this?”

“On what?  There’s not much here to report on, Mr. Kent.  I’ll need to do a lot more digging to see if there is any more to the story.”

“I see…well Iris…you’ve got great instincts…Lois and I both realized that when you came to the Planet.  A good journalist will dig until he or she finds the truth.  I learned that from Lois when I first got hired.  Keep up the good work.”

Iris left the bar with that high praise from Clark to continue her investigation.  Jimmy stayed behind to talk to his friend and was met with multiple curious questions.

“So Jimmy…Cat’s got you writing now?  Is she short on reporters or did you just take this assignment to get closer to Iris West?”

“Clark…I’ve known Iris for two days.  You know the first time we met was the day of Barry and Kara’s wedding.  I didn’t even…she was…”

“Relax Jimmy.  I’d forgotten how flustered you get since you moved to National City to get out of my shadow.  I still think it was the best choice for you.”

“And I’m still glad to hear that.  And yes, Cat did ask me to cover the story since Kara is…”

“…supposed to be on her honeymoon?  Somehow I don’t think she’s left yet.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised…speaking of Cat…”

Jimmy’s phone began ringing with a call from his boss.  As he answered he knew that he was needed back at the office and Clark had other matters to attend to so he gave Jimmy a clasp on the shoulder before heading off for his next destination. After landing at the D.E.O., Clark could tell that the whole agency was abuzz as everyone was wrapped up in one investigation or another.  With J’onn on Mars dealing with an unknown situation, Alex had been left in charge.  She was issuing orders as he entered the building.

“Seems like I arrived just in time Alex.  Seems like the D.E.O. has multiple emergencies in play.”

“Superman, you have no idea.  The President called personally about U.S. satellites picking up numerous breaches of Earth’s atmosphere.  Four to be specific…, one of which turned out to be a Kryptonian pod…”

“Wait…a Kryptonian pod?  Where is it now?”

“Here.  Kara and Barry were the first to find it…”

“Where is it?  I need to see it.”

“Winn’s working on it now.  He’s trying to figure out how it protected the pilot and made her invulnerable when I tried to take a blood sample.”

“Then I need to check in on him.  You’re sure it’s Kryptonian?”

“Kara was sure.  Good enough for me.  Why?”

“Because there was rumor in the archives at my Fortress that some Daxamites got a hold of some our pods before the destruction.  The royal family of Daxam hated the High Council of Krypton.  And the High Council condemned Daxam’s open slavery.”

“Kara told me about Daxam.  They were one of the planets that decided to wage war on your home.”

“Yes…so the pod…?”

“In the hangar where we keep Kara’s.  But Superman, I really think you should see my patient.  She’s alive…but…”

Alex’s hesitation in continuing her train of thought worried Clark.  Whoever this woman is, his curiosity was piqued and he followed her to the lab.  Though he had been a baby upon leaving Krypton, he recognized her face from Kara’s archive crystal.  As such he was barely able to get the words out at seeing her in person.

“She…this can’t be…”

“Kara’s mother?  There’s no mistaking the fact that she looks just like Astra.  But she could be someone else, someone who had her appearance altered to look like Alura.”

“No…Krypton may have experimented with genetic engineering in the past, but altering one’s appearance was seen as an affront to the Gods.  At least according to my father.  Kryptonians were many things, but vain was not one of them.”

“Seriously?”

“Why should we have been?  My people were dedicated to the advancement of science.”

Alex was mystified as Clark walked off to find Winn and the pod in the hangar but came across the room where Barry and Kara were first.  He could tell by the way Kara was leaning heavily on Barry that she was extremely angry, and as the younger hero was doing everything he could to comfort her, Clark didn’t want to interrupt and continued on.  He found Winn a short while later, still pouring over the pod, an intense look on his face and his brow furrowed.

“You need some help Winn?”

“Superman…yeah…I’ve been working on this ship for a few hours now but I can’t seem to come up with any answers.  There has to be a reason for it to…”

“Come to Earth?  I’m sure there was.  Let me take a look.”

Clark climbed into the pilot’s seat and took hold of the controls.  Instantly the ship powered up, showing the propulsion engines, diagnostics, and the tracking systems all in response to his Kryptonian D.N.A.  The last system to power up was an ultraviolet light array that revealed why the pilot was already showing signs of invulnerability. 

“Yellow sunlight…our pilot is in a state of hyper-sleep so she must have programmed her ship to simulate the Earth’s star while she made her journey.”

“Okay but how did you get the pod to power up when I couldn’t?”

“The systems are designed to respond to Kryptonian D.N.A. only.  Whoever this woman is, she must have been in danger for her to gamble on Kryptonian survivors being on Earth.”

“Or she knew that there were Kryptonians living here and specifically set the ship’s navigation systems to bring her here.  You know who she is?”

“I think I do Winn, but until she wakes up I can’t offer any kind of confirmation.  And with J’onn off planet, we’re without a telepath to read her mind.”

“We could always use…”

“Absolutely not.  I know he’s still in lockdown here…but I’m not letting that maniac anywhere near us.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest using Despero; Superman.  I don’t want to see a repeat of what he did to Kara and J’onn any more than you do.  But I can fashion new telepathic inhibitors to connect her mind to yours or to Kara’s.  We can get our answers that way.”

“There’s no need for that Winn.  She’s my mother.”

Neither Clark nor Winn had heard Kara and Barry enter as they were caught up in their conversation.  Both looked over at her and while her anger seemed to have abated she was still leaning on Barry as she spoke.

“Kara…”

“I had a feeling Alex would have told you already Clark.  And yes, I have my theories that this woman could have had her appearance altered to look like my mother but we both know that the High Council didn’t approve of cosmetic alterations to our fundamental physical appearance.”

“To do so would be dishonoring Rao who according to myth forged our physical attributes.”

“Just like Earth and how humanity was based on the appearances of whatever God or Gods the ancients believed in.”

“Yes Winn…so if this woman is Alura…we have to figure out why she came here…”

“And how she survived Krypton’s destruction; cousin.”

Clark and Winn could hear the edge still in Kara’s voice and knew she was hurt and angry that her mother had come to Earth now and not years ago to find her daughter.  Barry had been with Kara and knew how emotional she was, so he wrapped his arm around her just a little tighter as alarms started to sound throughout the building. 

“What the…where…?”

“Alex’s lab, Barry.  Something’s happened to my mother.”

Kara took off with Barry and Clark right behind her.  They reached the lab in seconds to find her mother sitting up in the bed, the various machines she was connected to beeping wildly.  She didn’t seem to be aware of her surroundings and her eyes were blank as she spoke two words repeatedly in Kryptonian.  Alex and Barry were confused as Clark and Kara translated with a slight amount fear in their voices.

“Kara…what’s she saying?”

“Argo…Worldkiller.”