A/N: After the last chapter I got a few inquiries about who that „someone" watching Mon-El was, and you asked If I meant that it was Alex? I might have hinted at that throughout the chapter but it's not Alex – I promise, you'll figure it out soon enough. Also, I want to thank you for your reviews and kind words sent to me in person, they inspire me more than anything else. Anyway, let's move on with the story;

"This is just miserable." Snapper snarled, obviously unsatisfied with what had been handed to him. "My hand hurts from how many times I've had to pinch myself so I wouldn't fall asleep while reading this, and I still couldn't last through the whole thing." Suddenly, he threw the paper forcefully across the table, and if it hadn't been for Kara's incredibly fast reflexes, it surely would have landed on the ground. Not that it would matter, she was getting used to picking up stuff he threw at her on daily basis. It was becoming tiresome, and frankly, quite ridiculous. Kara had handed in two stories before this one, and Snapper Carr practically spat on each and every one. She constantly had to remind herself that he was like that with everyone, otherwise he would completely destroy her self-esteem. With the holiday season just behind them, you would expect people at the office to be more relaxed and bright, but Snapper somehow managed to create a tense, suffocating work environment that made Kara feel like she needed a couple more days off.

Deciding not to let him walk all over her, she argued. "How is it miserable? I don't mean to sound rude, but I've got a glimpse of what others brought you. This is the most interesting piece that you could've read all week." Kara retorted, absolutely convinced this was something worth publishing.

She could admit, the first two stories weren't all that good; they were just basic articles covering current charity projects and a kidnapping that was resolved rather quickly (thanks to some interference from Supergirl) and not exactly what you'd call interesting news, but this one was intriguing to say the least, not even Supergirl managed to stop the tragedy from striking. Human bodies were found scattered across the town right after Christmas. So far, there have been four, all male, but the police are still receiving reports from all over – some worth checking out, others less. At first they thought they had a psychotic serial killer on the loose, but after the autopsies came back, they weren't sure the deaths were even deliberate. The only reason the bodies were dumped was probably because they became an inconvenience. All the victims had one thing in common – their DNAs were mixed with different alien DNA, and the outcome was awful.

This, of course, was kept secret by the government for a while, and the cases weren't handed over to DEO, which was odd, and only intrigued Kara further. After doing some spying (which she wasn't proud of) she learned they were planning on airing the story to warn people of a possible threat, and Kara Danvers jumped at the opportunity. If she couldn't work on it as Supergirl, she could at least stay on top of the whole situation as a reporter. The only problem was, her story lacked some facts, and she still needed to work out a theory that would make sense – all in all, it seemed slightly incomplete, but that didn't mean it was bad. She needed Snapper to publish what she had gathered so far, while it was still fresh.

"Miss. Danvers, I will not publish a story I find unsatisfactorily just because it's the best of all the awful ones. This is the first issue in the new year. We need a powerful start; we need to make good impressions. Now quit wasting my time and come back once you've improved this." Snapper said in a stern voice, fixed his glasses, and dropped his sight to a stack of papers laid out on the table before him. "That would be all."

Defeated, Kara turned around and strolled out of the office. She crumpled up the paper that he threw at her and hurled it towards the trash can, but right in that moment James came from round the corner, and the paper ball hit his shoulder instead. "The hell…?"

Kara gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. James stood dead in his tracks and looked around in utter confusion. Although forceful, the hit didn't really hurt him, just startled him. Why would anyone throw paper at their boss? Surely he wasn't that bad. At that moment his sight landed on a familiar blonde, and he raised his eyebrow in a quizzical manner. "What did I do to deserve that?"

Kara hurried over, picked up the paper and dropped it in the can, biting her lip nervously the whole time. "I'm sorry James, I didn't mean to hit you. You sure know how to pick the wrong place, wrong time."

"It's fine, I'll live." He smiled, trying to encourage her to relax, but he didn't get the response he was hoping for. Her lips barely twitched and she still appeared troubled by something. "But I see that's not what's really bothering you, so what's up?"

Kara seemed to debate whether she should talk about it or not, but she decided to go for it. James was trustworthy. "Ugh…It's just Snapper. Did you happen to hear anything about the bodies they found?"

"Not much. Honestly I tried to get my hands on some information, but they've barely released any Intel. Why?" James inquired.

"Well…with a little help from my special skills, I've actually gathered enough info to write a piece on the whole thing. And it's not just that I want my article published, which I really do, but also, I think there's stuff in there that people should know. The problem is Snapper won't publish it unless it's perfect, and by the next issue it might be too late." Kara exhaled in frustration, running her fingers through her hair. The petite blonde failed to notice the way James' gaze was locked on her the entire time.

Wanting to help a friend in distress, and get more involved in what Kara was doing in the process, James immediately offered to land a hand. "I could easily persuade him to publish the story; after all, I am his boss. I can make him do anything." He smiled cheekily, obviously enjoying his position as the head of CatCo, but Kara wasn't impressed with the idea.

She shook her head dismissively, although her lips finally curled into a genuine smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I need to make this happen on my own. I won't get anywhere if I keep pulling strings to get what I want." With some newfound willpower, Kara added; "Therefore, I have a lot of work to do. I'll catch you later."

James smiled weakly, and nodded. "Yeah, same here. Good luck, Kara." Taking a deep breath, he walked past her and continued towards his office, his shoulders slumped down in defeat. He was happy that she was taking matters into her own hands, he was proud of her for that, but he wasn't as pleased with the fact that she turned down his help. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but ever since Mon-El arrived and he formed a crime fighting duo with Winn, they've more than drifted apart, and he was nowhere near ready to let go of Kara. He had to find a way to get back to where they used to be.

Spying was definitely a new concept for Kara, but she was quickly getting a hang of it. She once again successfully sneaked into 's laboratory. Everything was exactly the same as the last time she was there. The whole place was lit incredibly brightly, with a stainless steel table set right in the middle of the room. Matching steel cabinets line the walls almost floor-to-ceiling. A section of the lab is dedicated to a couple of glass cabinets that display equipment that Kara couldn't name. Nothing else rests on the surface; the space is untarnished, neat, and you know that the person running this laboratory is a professional. It's impeccable, and the only thing she could think of is how Alex would love working in a place like this.

After some examination, Kara found what she needed and started going through Dalton's files on the case. He wasn't the one that did the autopsies, but the whole case was diverted to him the moment they discovered the foreign DNA in the bodies. When she was here two days ago, his notes were barely existent. They were brief, incomplete, and mostly useless to her, he hadn't even started working yet. She was hoping that he had made some progress in the meantime.

She took out the file that had "Brown" written on it. She remembered precisely what that one said the last time she read it; male, mid 30s, skin covered in a thick layer of red rash, melted in some areas in no particular pattern, body temperature abnormally high for a corpse...

Kara hated reading those reports. Firstly, she couldn't imagine what these people must have gone through before they finally passed away. The descriptions mortified her so much that she didn't even want to take a look at the actual bodies. Secondly, most of it was official terminology and she felt dumb when there was so much she didn't understand.

She noticed some new observations have been added. managed to separate the human DNK from the alien one, and apparently it was different from the ones that were found in the other victims, but he didn't have any samples to compare them to, so he couldn't tell which aliens were "used". He also noted that each alien DNA and each human DNA matched in at least one segment, which led him to the conclusion that they weren't picked at random. His guess was that the experiments were meant to create a superior human being by adding alien cells, but so far they have all failed.

Kara was just getting to the part where he found connections between victims when she heard the creaking of the main entrance as someone pushed the door open, followed by heavy footsteps that were nearing too fast. She quickly put everything back in it's place and flew out into the hallway, inwardly praying to God that he wouldn't notice that someone dug through his stuff.

Realizing she didn't have enough time to make an exit, she hid behind the corner and waited for the danger to pass. From the corner of her eye she saw locking himself in his lab, so she flew out of the building as fast as she could. She didn't stick around long enough for someone to catch her. She was filled with relief once she was hidden within the clouds, and she slowly made her way back home, taking the time to enjoy the feeling of the winter breeze against her cheek as she whooshed through the air.

She entered her apartment through an open window, just in time to pick up the phone that was vibrating on the table of her living room. She checked the caller ID, and when she saw it was Mon-El , she picked it up without hesitation.

"Hey, stranger." The voice from the other side of the line sounded positively chirpy, which immediately brought a smile to Kara's face.

Trying to squeeze some guilt into her tone, Kara replied. "Hey, you. I know I kinda went AWOL for a couple of days, but I didn't realize it was that bad."

It was true, Kara was so caught up in work, both as a reporter and the city's heroine, that she completely neglected her personal life. A soft laugh echoed from the other side, and in a second she was rid of the guilt she was feeling. "It's not, don't worry about it. Actually, I'm not even calling for me. Winn asked me to try and get a hold of you. He didn't wanna say what you did wrong, but he looked kinda pissed when he asked me to deliver the message. I suggest you call him, and soon."

Kara didn't want to acknowledge it, but that stirred up a lot of negative emotions in her. First, she was pretty disappointed that he was only calling for Winn, and second, she had no clue what she did either, and she feared the prospect of her friend being mad at her. Winn was never mad, unless it was something huge. "Ugh..yeah,sure..I'll get right on it. " She wasn't sure she should say anything else, but against her better judgement, she found herself asking; "So I was wondering, are you busy right now? I thought we could maybe grab a cup of coffee and catch up."

There was a pause that lasted much too long, which made a lump form in the back of her throat and her chest constricted in an uncomfortable way, then finally he spoke again. "Umm..As a matter of fact a friend and I are getting coffee right now."

Kara swallowed the lump, but the feeling didn't go away, and for some reason she found it hard to speak again. She knew it was none of her business, but her tongue worked faster than her brain. "What friend is that?" Even to her own ears, she sounded jealous, and slightly intrusive.

Mon-El must have heard it too, because his answer was silent, almost as if he was afraid of her reaction. "Eve. We just ran into each other in front of CatCo." He paused again, expecting an answer, but when Kara didn't utter a word, he asked; "Anyway...rain check on that?"

Her answer came after another pause, but she forced some joy into her voice and mumbled. "Sure, have fun. Bye."

Not even waiting to hear him say goodbye, she hung up and threw her phone on the couch forcefully. It landed on a pillow and bounced a little, almost dropping onto the floor, but she really didn't give a damn If the stupid thing broke. All thoughts about the case and the article were pushed into the back of her mind, as she was overwhelmed by anger and frustration. She hardly spoke with Mon-El since Christmas, but she thought he'd miss her, at least a little bit. After all, they did have that one sweet moment, with the necklace and the mistletoe , that might have made her believe they were going places. She couldn't believe how stupid she was for thinking that he actually cared. She was his mentor, and he valued her for that, but that was all she was to him. So why did it hurt that he only called as a favor to Winn?

And then there was that – for some unknown reason Winn was mad at her. She tried to think of anything that could have pissed him off, but nothing came to her, other than the fact that she was sort of preoccupied these last few days. The last time they saw each other they were actually better than ever. They ate pizza , watched X-men and he went home with a smile on his face. Whatever it was, she needed to fix it. She needed to put her hurt feelings aside and work on one relationship that she knew wouldn't disappoint her.

Deciding it would be best to have that talk face to face, since Winn could never really stay mad at her when she gave him the puppy eyes, she headed for the sky again, and towards the DEO.

Half-way there, she felt a strong sting in her neck, and as she touched it she realized there was a green dart digging into it. Just the fact that it could puncture her skin made it obvious that it was made out of kryptonite. She removed it quickly, but the kryptonite burned her fingers and she let it slip. Unfortunately, by the time she removed it, it already got into her system. Her eyes were still wide open, but everything started to blur, and her head spun frantically. She felt like she was spinning in circles for hours. She lost her balance and hurtled towards the ground, too weak to even try to land safely. She collapsed on the pavement, losing her consciousness the second her head crashed against the solid ground. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she was swallowed by complete darkness.