She hurt all over.

It was the first thing she realized as her consciousness came to the surface as she woke. Alex thought back to why she hurt as her eyes slowly opened. It took a moment for the memories to hit her.

They'd been on out a mission.

The DEO with Supergirl.

Out in the field.

There had been a flash.

As Alex finally took in her surroundings, she found that she was sort of alone. Kara was on one side of her (still dressed as Supergirl) and when she looked the other way she saw J'onn. They were all separated in what looked like thick glass cells that shared walls. Obviously, it couldn't be glass because Kara hadn't broken through and J'onn was still in his cell (of course, he wouldn't want to use his powers or reveal himself because people were likely watching).

Alex held her head.

"I'm fine," she finally voiced before either could ask questions.

There had been a flash.

A light that filled the entire sky, making it look brighter than day.

That was all she remembered.

Well, no-no, there was the pain.

The pain followed the flash.

Then she was there in the cell.

"You don't look so well," J'onn commented.

"I have to agree," Kara added.

Alex twisted her mouth and sat up. Standing just wasn't in her just yet. She still hurt. Though, she wasn't going to tell them that. "I remember...a flash...bright light...pain...and then here…"

"That's pretty much what happened."

"You fell from the sky!" Alex said suddenly like it hit her again, but harder. They seemed to be in a seamless prison, which was creepy and worrisome. She was on her feet then, moving towards the clear wall that she shared with Kara. Right now, though, her focus was on her sister. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?!"

"I'm...fine, Alex," Kara assured.

"Now that we've all established that everyone is fine," J'onn stated a bit gruffly. Alex looked over to see her boss behind the other glass-like wall, seemingly exploring it...testing it. She had been the last one to wake, so she was certain that Kara had already attempted an escape...and failed. "Let's find a way out."

What prison could hold both J'onn J'onzz and Supergirl?

"I thought we did that already," Kara shot back.

Her sister was worried, that was clear to Alex. So, she didn't bother asking them if they had attempted to escape because...they were them and Alex knew better. "Have you seen anyone?" she asked instead.

"We came to...just around the same time," J'onn responded. "No one's been in...and I didn't see anyone before everything went black."

"What happened to the other agents?" Alex wondered aloud. They'd been out there with a whole contingent of agents, they'd been tipped off and believed that they'd found the hideout of a Fort Rozz inmate or two. J'onn had insisted on going, just in case, instead of overseeing things from back at DEO headquarters.

"I don't know."

"They're not here," Kara said, her voice optimistic. "So, for right now...I think we can assume that they're safe… Maybe they passed out like we did and they were left behind."

"Then why us?" Alex asked the question. Something else was bugging her. "And why did they feel like it was necessary to remove our boots?" Her hands motioned downwards. At least she was wearing socks. So, there was at least that, but her feet were getting chilly. Of course she'd expect for all her gear to be gone, but not her boots. Who did that?

"I've had problems with trackers before...and though I've upgraded my security," a faceless voice said from the shadows. All that Alex could discern from it was that it sounded female, but she couldn't know for sure. Not without some other sort of reference. "I wanted to be sure that we weren't interrupted. I have all three of you to myself."

Alex moved to what she felt like was the front of the glass box. The prison they were encased in was the only thing lit, everything beyond was dim and dark. She pressed her face up against the glass and squinted her eyes in hopes of catching glimpse of someone...of something...anything really that would give them a clue of where they were and why they were there.

"Don't worry yourselves," the voice said. "I will be down to join you all shortly."

That was it.

The voice was gone.

Alex saw nothing out there except darkness. She pressed her face just a bit more, like she was some kid pressing their face up against the glass at an aquarium to attempt to get eye to eye with the fish. Why couldn't she see anything? No equipment. No walls. Nothing.

"Alex-"

"I don't see anything," she told Kara.

"We've already tried that."

A thought occurred to Alex. She pulled away from the wall and looked between the two of them. "Exactly how much longer was I out than the two of you?"

"Quite some time," J'onn responded.

Excellent.

Pushing out a breath, she put her hands on her hips and started to pace the cell. She stopped and looked to Kara. "You tried-"

"Not even a dent," Kara supplied the answer before Alex could even finish her question.

Her head swung in the direction of J'onn. "And you..."

He just eyed her and her voice trailed off. Well, she supposed that he was really not pleased with how much he'd been using his powers lately and how he, in general, just didn't want to expose himself as anything other than human. She couldn't blame J'onn. Alex had mixed feelings on him coming out as a Martian to the world...but she knew that all the reasons that said 'yes' were mainly selfish ones as she wanted Kara to feel more 'normal' in the world. She wanted her sister to feel less alone.

"Right," Alex said and began to pace again.

Time passed and it only drove Alex more crazy. Eventually, she settled along the back wall corner, leaning against the smooth surface with her arms crossed over her chest. Kara was right on the other side of the wall and in her peripheral vision. She could also see J'onn from where she was standing. There was only so much they could discuss while being monitored, which made the passage of time harder and harder.

Eventually, there was the sound of a door. That brought them all to alert and there was no more leaning. They were all moving towards the middle of their respective cells. There was still darkness that surrounded them.

"The daughter of Alura Zor-El," the voice from beyond said in amusement. "I know many former Fort Rozz residents who would pay me a hefty price to take revenge for what your mother did to them…"

That scared Alex. It wasn't that she was afraid that Kara would be taken, but that whomever this was was from Fort Rozz, that this person had bigger plans for all three of them than whatever bounty could have been received for Kara.

"Who are you?" Kara demanded.

The question that they all wanted to know the answer to.

"My name is Erndine Ze-Da," the voice said and suddenly the area right in front of the prison was lit. A figure stepped into the light, head cast down. From the figure, Alex was fairly sure that she was definitely a woman. Her dark hair was pulled tightly back and secured into a neat bun. She was wearing a charcoal grey garment that looked like some cross between a dress and a coat with a high neckline. When her face finally was revealed, she had bright clear crystal blue eyes that seem to almost glow and the right side of her face was covered in thick plum colored winding circular tattoos that to Alex almost looked tribal. "Alura sentenced me to Fort Rozz...she seemed to think my...experiments were unnatural and cruel…"

A wicked smile flashed across Erndine's face. She moved towards the prison walls and towards the section that Kara was housed in, her fingers dragging along the smooth surface. She was quiet for a moment, only the grin on her face speaking to the wicked thoughts in her mind until she was face to face with Kara. "Kara Zor-El… You have no idea how thrilled I am to get my hands on some fresh Kryptonian DNA once again."

"Then why did you bring them?" Kara questioned as she motioned to Alex and J'onn. Her voice turned gentle and almost pleading. "They're human… You have no need for them. Keep me. Let them go."

Alex wanted to argue with Kara, she didn't want to leave her sister there. Kara was good at being noble, she swore that it was in her sister's DNA. Alex couldn't live knowing that Kara had traded her precious life for hers. It would be too much to bear. It wouldn't be just the grief or guilt, it would be that she needed Kara in her life.

"So much like Alura," the Kryptonian practically purred.

"They're innocents, please," Kara pleaded.

Instead of replying to her, though, Erndine moved from each section of cell, taking her time to stare at each one of them as if she were inspecting them. "Do you think that you have not been watched, Kara Zor-El?" Erndine asked, glancing for just a moment back at Kara. "Others may have not observed you as I have. I have noticed that these...creatures...are very important to you."

Not good.

Alex looked at Kara, who seemed to be silently fuming.

Her mind spun, did that mean that whatever Erndine wanted meant that she intended to use her and J'onn as leverage to get what she wanted or to torture Kara? Either way, Alex did not approve. They needed to find a way out. There had to be a way.

"And this one," Erndine said as she tapped on the exterior of J'onn's section of the prison, but she looked back at Kara. "This one I think is special...like us…" She tilted her head and grinned a bit wider. "He's not a son of Krypton...but there are so many others out there...and look at how perfectly human he appears," Erndine pointed out as she turned her attention back to J'onn. "I've already collected samples from all three of you...so I know you're different...I just want to know who you really are... Your DNA is so...beautiful… The things that I could do with DNA like yours…"

Moving back towards Kara, Erndine made a disgusted face at Alex. "Yours...however...is quite common on this infested world… You are nothing." As she neared Kara, Erndine smirked again. "Such interesting company you keep. It must be the House of El that has such weaknesses for inferior species… You forget that you're Kryptonians...that you're gods on this world."

"We're people just like they are," Kara argued. "Some of us just respect the fact that this isn't our planet."

"Oh, but it will be," Erndine told her. "And you're going to help me…" She looked in J'onn's direction again. "You both are." Moving towards Alex's cell again, Erndine stopped and tapped a controller that Alex hadn't noticed before on the other woman's wrist. "You, however, are expendable."

The controls were to the prison it appeared as the seamless wall in front of Alex began to form a door that allowed Erndine access to the section she was being held in. Alex automatically started to back up, moving herself away from the Kryptonian, putting as much space between them as possible.

Fear.

It was something that Alex had learned to control, but it was flooding her. She couldn't go toe to toe with a Kryptonian without her gear. Hell, she didn't even have boots! She was more likely to slip on the floor than actually do any damage to Erndine.

She was expendable.

She was nothing.

Erndine obviously didn't intend to keep her around. That really wasn't a good sign. Alex was more worried about Kara, though. Who would look out for her little sister? Who would be Kara's shoulder to cry on? Who would talk sense into her when she needed it? J'onn could look out for Kara, but he couldn't be Alex.

"Erndine! Leave her alone! Tell me what you want!" Kara shouted as she pounded with all her might on the divider between the cells.

Alex glanced in her sister's direction and could see the near hysterical look on Kara's face. She wanted to tell her sister to look away, but she didn't think Kara would do it. No, she knew her sister well enough to know that Kara would pound and do whatever she possibly could in her power to bring down the barrier between them and save Alex.

"I want your mysterious friend to tell me who he is," Erndine said as she glanced from Kara to J'onn.

"Don't!" Alex said firmly as her eyes matched J'onn's.

"But I just don't need an extra subject, especially not such a feeble one," Erndine said and Alex found herself knocked the rest of the short distance to the back of the cell.

Her back slammed into the wall, her chest letting out a sickening crack sound. Falling to the floor, Alex tried to concentrate on sucking in air and not the miserable agony that her chest was currently in. Not matter how much she hurt, she still needed to breathe. More importantly, she needed to find a way out. Erndine hadn't closed the opening yet and Alex wondered for a moment if she could possibly get past Erndine and get out. Alex held her chest and hoped that the scientist's firm belief that humans were both inferior and feeble would give Alex an advantage. Even if she made it out, Alex didn't even know if there was some kind of mechanism on the outside to release Kara and J'onn, all she knew was that they needed to do something.

The sound of Kara pounding on the wall was making Alex feel sick. It wasn't just the sound of pounding, but the sound that Kara was making that she probably didn't even realize she was making. It was the sound of her sister's desperation.

Before Alex could even get make a move, Erndine had gripped the back of Alex's black shirt and was hauling her towards one of the barriers. There was a blurred knowledge of the direction she was headed, towards the cell that J'onn was in. As her face was bashed into the barrier, pain spread throughout her face as the impact seemed to shock the intensity and blur it for just a moment. A breath later, the acute blaze of pain hit her. It was enough to really make her worry about the outcome. Would Erndine just leave her? Or was this going to be it? Suddenly, she realized that her feet weren't on the ground, that Erndine was holding her up and between that and the pressing, her chest was feeling the strain. Gasping for breath, Alex struggled. Alex was feeling sick to her stomach, but she still knew that she needed to fight, even if it was a hopeless battle. Maybe it was because of the intense pain that had been inflicted between her head and lungs, but Alex's body was suddenly aching and throbbing with pain all over.

"Stop!" J'onn yelled.

"No! Don't! Not because of me!" Alex pleaded.

"I will not stand idly by-"

"Every life is a pile of good things and bad things," Alex told J'onn. It was starting to become difficult to be able to completely mentally grasp onto things as she knew she normally did, the pain was to blame for that. It was likely something that was both silly and confusing in a moment like that to J'onn, she knew he wouldn't understand, but it was all she could cling to. She knew that Kara would understand and somehow that made it all easier. "The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant."

"What kind of talk is this?" Erndine questioned and then threw Alex back across the room.

Gasping wildly for air, Alex immediately wrapped her arms around her chest to protect her ribs and lungs from any more abuse, as she lay there on the floor. Blinking to try to keep focus, Alex found herself mentally reminding her lungs what they needed to do. Breathe in. Exhale. Breathe in. Exhale. Again and again. A small cry escaped without her permission as her lungs expanded further than her ribs seemed to suddenly allow, sending sharp pains through her and making her not want to breathe. Breathing was necessary and she couldn't let all the pain keep her from continuing to fight to stay alive.

Looking to the side, blinking twice to focus, her eyes settled on Erndine. She was still standing where she'd thrown Alex from. How she was standing, with her back to Alex, it seemed that Alex was not seen as any kind of threat. This was it, she thought. Alex was not inferior or feeble, she could do this. She could get them help...either in the form of opening the cells or maybe even possibly finding a way out. She didn't care how highly unlikely either were.

Sucking in air, she pushed herself up to her feet and went scrambling for the opening in the barrier. She was going to make it, Alex thought for a split second. The opening merely a couple of feet from her last step. Without warning, her feet were yanked out from under her. She hit the floor face first, reminding both her face and her chest how much pain they had been in that was becoming a normal feeling to Alex. Her lungs seemed riot for a moment and it took her a long minute to convince them to take in oxygen. Erndine seemed to fling her again against the back wall like she was nothing more than a doll. The world was losing focus and Alex knew then that she had lost the fight.

"My name is J'onn J'onzz!" she heard J'onn proclaim loudly amongst all of the clatter of Kara's frantic attempts to break free...all before Alex finally blacked out.

"Alex...please…"

The voice belonged to Kara and it was what pulled Alex from the twisting nether, back to the land of the conscious. Her eyes slowly opened and she found herself staring in the direction of Kara, who was sitting in her cell, hands pressed against the barrier that kept them separate. "Hello, Sweetie," Alex whispered with a small smile and then coughed violently for a moment. Okay, so breathing and talking was something that she was going to have to work on, well...until she got her ribs checked out. There were definitely some broken ones.

Kara looked at her quite seriously for a moment before her features seemed to soften just a bit, though Alex could tell that her length of unconsciousness had taken a toll on her sister, that her sister had been crying. That was something that Kara wouldn't have wanted to do, to break down...especially not while being captive by some crazed Fort Rozz escapee and certainly not in front of J'onn J'onzz. "Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire; through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes. And one thing I can tell you, Alex… Monsters are real," Kara recited.

And she was right.

Monsters were real.

"You two have started to talk in code?" J'onn questioned.

Slowly, Alex managed to sit herself up. She moved to sit so that her back rested in the far back corner near Kara's barrier, where she'd been before Erndine had decided it was time to toss her about. "Not exactly code…"

"More like quoting," Kara supplied.

J'onn just stared at them both. "Quoting what?"

"Spoilers," Alex told him in a whisper as she put a finger up to her lips. It was only a moment of seriousness before she and Kara both burst out laughing. Alex, however, found that laughing didn't agree with her chest anymore than breathing or talking while lying on her side had. She sputtered a cough and then held her chest. She hurt. She definitely hurt and she knew that she wasn't going to be able to hide that from them.

"Alex-"

"Kara," Alex countered quickly. She didn't want a pity party. All she wanted right now was to rest for a few minutes before going back to trying to figure out how they were going to escape. "Silence will fall."

"Don't blink."

"Count the shadows."

"There is no such thing as an ordinary human," Kara told her.

Alex realized that was something that they were going to need to teach Erndine because Alex wasn't about to just be swept into some grave because she was 'feeble' or 'expendable'. She looked over at her sister. "You and me. Time and space. Watch us run."

"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams," Kara answered Alex's quote.

J'onn let out a very audible sigh. "We need to get out of here," he told them. "We need to get you to a hospital, Alex."

"I'm fine," she lied and tried to brush off, but Alex knew it wouldn't work. These were probably the two people in the entire world that she couldn't trick or lie to.

"You have cracked or broken ribs...at least three," J'onn informed her. "Which means that we have to be concerned about them pressing against your lungs-"

"Check."

"No, it's four broken ribs," Kara corrected. When Alex looked at her sister, she just shrugged a bit at first in response. "I might have looked."

"That might explain the pain," Alex mumbled.

"There is also a risk of them puncturing them."

"Double pneumothorax might be a record," she tried to joke weakly. Alex saw the look in Kara's eyes and knew that the joking wasn't working.

"Broken nose," J'onn pointed out next.

"Oh," Alex found herself bleeding as she brought a hand up to her nose. "That might explain the pounding head."

"You need a doctor," he informed her all too calmly.

"I might also have a concussion."

The room filled with silence for what stretched on for some time. Even though they were separated by the relatively thin barrier, it felt so much farther to Alex. All she wanted to do was to hold Kara's hand and assure her that everything would be okay like she'd done so many times before...even if Alex wasn't completely sure that was actually true.

Her hand went up to the glass-like barrier that separated them and Alex spoke softly and slowly, Kara's hand pressing against her side of the barrier before Alex could even finish. "There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive… wormhole refractors… You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold." It was a little easier to talk and breathe that time, but Alex had been determined to get it out. Even though the words were not her own, she meant every word. She didn't know how her life would have shaped up if Kara hadn't been in it, but all she knew was that she was glad that Kara had been brought to them. She was glad to have a sister, to have Kara in her life even if she hadn't always appreciated her.

"You aren't going to break out into song now, are you?" J'onn asked. His question had caught Alex off guard for a split second, thinking that he must things were far more serious...far more grim.

Alex couldn't help but beam brightly over at him anyway. They needed to keep things light…light and hopeful for Kara. "I wasn't planning on it...because I think my lungs might riot on me...but I'm sure Kara and I could come up with something, if you needed."

"Except we don't do Klingon opera," Kara told him quite seriously.

J'onn stared at them once again.

"Do you even own a TV?" Alex asked him.

The conversation stopped then when the sound of the door in the darkness echoed throughout the room they were being held in. Alex got to her feet even though she hurt. Her poor body was going to require a good dose of painkillers if she got out of that situation alive. "I really would love a weapon right now," she mumbled and noticed that Kara had gotten to her feet as well.

"You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world!" Kara whispered.

It wasn't really helpful, but it was amusing and it did distract her a bit from the pain that was resonating throughout her whole being. "I could do with a book right about now," Alex muttered.

"No weapon would assist you in preventing what is to come," Erndine declared as she was lit up once again.

Super hearing.

Alex really didn't care.

At the very least, smacking Erndine with something even if it was a book would make her feel a little better. Right now, it didn't seem like they had any good options. The super-powered criminals that had escaped Fort Rozz had been running around the world for well over a decade and obviously Erndine had erected the prison they were in with great care over that time. That explained why Kara couldn't get through, Alex thought, which made it highly unlikely that J'onn could either.

"J'onn J'onzz...you said this was not your true form...that you would reveal it to me," Erndine said. "I have returned for the show."

"What?" Alex blurted out and looked towards her boss. She'd forced his hand in using his abilities before and he'd had to reveal himself to Kara (which Alex really didn't regret one bit). "No!"

"We have no choice, Alex," J'onn told her.

"And then what?" Alex snapped. "Do you think that she's just going to release the three of us and let us go on our merry way? It's just going to sate this part of her curiosity...but what good will that do? She's clearly insane! Why else would Alura put her away?"

This comment seemed to amuse Erndine. "I was trying to save people, but Alura called those experiments cruel and called my creations monsters… Here on Earth, these inferior beings would think the same things, but our kind would be gods...even more so than we are already to these fragile creatures." She tilted her head. "I was trying to make our people stronger...more formidable…"

"What did you do?" Kara questioned.

"I was working with the military on our planet," Erndine told her. "They wanted soldiers that were as powerful as we are on this world. My experimentations did more than augment their strength. I made them mentally malleable. They were able to be controlled and ensured that they would follow any order given. They mutated...they were shunned and they were killed as Alura and the others tried to get to me. My magnificent creations...they were beautiful. They were murdered… I was just doing what I was asked to do...and what do I get? My creations destroyed and a life of imprisonment." Erndine had been consumed by fury, but then she suddenly perked. "So, you can imagine my joy when Fort Rozz was pulled out of the Phantom Zone by your pod, Kara? Brought to this new planet… Free to build my laboratory and experiment...to create new creations… Don't think that you're the first ones who have taken up residence in these cells since we first arrived here..."

That struck Alex and she was sure that Kara and J'onn were calculating all of the harm and horror that Erndine could have done in that time as she was. So, was that perhaps some of the things that they'd imprisoned at the DEO? They weren't criminals from Fort Rozz, but actually monsters of Erndine's creation? How many had been released out into the world? How many were still out there?

"So, what? You're going to do freaky experiments on us?" Alex questioned.

"On them, I am," Erndine informed Alex with a sly smile. "Don't worry, though...you're going to be a part of it all...you're going to get them to cooperate."

"No, no I'm not…"

"Just wait."

Erndine's voice scared her. It wasn't what she said, but the WAY she said it. Alex studied Erndine for a moment, the moment of truth, Erndine was using her controls once again to bring up the door that had been invisible moments before in order to access Alex's cell. Crap. This was not going to be good. Alex wasn't sure that her body could take much more. It still hurt to breathe.

"J'onn J'onzz will reveal himself to me...and they will cooperate with whatever I wish…" Erndine explained as she strolled into the cell. "I could have hurt Kara...but this will be much more fun...for me…" She started to rush at Alex, fist ready to deliver another blow.

Aex had been ready. She pushed off the wall and scrambled forward past Erndine, ducking under the scientist's arm that was swinging towards her. She made her break for the doorway once again. Her entire body hurt, she was straining every bit of her body that was injured, but that didn't stop her. Her chest felt like it was going to pop out of her body and like her ribs were going to puncture her lungs all at the same time. Alex's fingers curled around the smooth edges of the open doorway.

Free-

The world was yanked from her. Alex couldn't breathe, not until after she already hit the floor. Erndine had gotten to her again. She went to get away, but Erndine's booted foot came crashing down, slamming into Alex's leg. It was a blur of agonizing pain coupled with a loud snap. A scream escaped her lips, the pain throughout her body was overwhelming and she couldn't keep it bottled up inside of her.

Erndine grinned down at her for a moment before she reached down and grabbed the middle of her shirt, balling it up in her hand. Alex tried to struggle, to fight, but it only intensified the pain. A moment later, she was being launched backwards. Alex came into contact with a barrier, her body smacking against it before sliding down back to the floor.

"Stop!" Kara yelled.

"Look at me!" J'onn shouted.

Alex had no idea what else had been said. Everything had been blurred and blocked, all she could experience in those moments was immense pain. Her head rolled side and side and she sucked in a shaky breath. She found herself not even wanting to try to breathe, but forcing it just the same.

Erndine's cackle echoed in her ears, loud and harsh. It was the last thing that touched Alex's ears before she was dragged into the darkness.

Her last thought however...was of Kara.

TBC…