Supergirl ~ Both Sides Now ~ Part Two

***

"OK," Mon-El finished with a few wires, then looked behind him to where Winn and J'onn were at one of the command consoles. "Try it now?"

Laurel tilted her head, hearing machinery whir, then saw something by Mon-El spark, and everything powered down again. "Guess not," she clicked her tongue, Malcolm shrugging from where he was leaning against the doorframe.

"Um, you know, is there, like, a user manual or something that we can take a look at for ideas?"

Mon-El just sighed and put his tools down, putting his face in his hand. "Sprock!"

"The 31st century has some very interesting curse words," Malcolm observed, then winced when Laurel smacked him in the shoulder.

Mon-El gave him a very unamused look as footsteps came from the other direction. "I gather it's not going too well?" Imra asked, looking around the room.

"Uh, not at presently," J'onn shook his head. "But we will get there."

"Brainy and I took a look into that Thysteria rock, but it was a dead end," Imra told Mon-El, walking up to him. "Did you get the battery working?"

"No, but I'm handling it," Mon-El shook his head, looking back down to fiddle with more wires.

"OK," Imra nodded. "Did you try recalibrating it?"

Mon-El sighed, looking like he was trying very hard not to get annoyed with her. "Yes, Imra, I'm handling it."

"OK, look," Imra raised an eyebrow at him, scowling. "I may not be a 12th-level intellect, Mon-El, but I'm sharp. And as I said last night, there's no need of telling me anything twice.

Mon-El finally looked up as Imra turned, heading back the way she came. "Imra, please don't do this."

"I'm just doing exactly what you told me when I joined the Legion," Imra held out her hands in exasperation. "I'm just speaking the truth."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow as Imra walked off, then he and Laurel exchanged looks that clearly said they should leave. "We'll go check with the others," Laurel offered an excuse for them, then both were gone.

"Uh," Winn stammered, looking at J'onn. "I'm – I've got to check on the crystal."

"Yeah," J'onn nodded, knowing that even though Max and Lucy were doing the same thing, it was probably best to have as few people around now as possible. "Yeah, I'll be right there."

"Thanks," Winn all but fled.

J'onn watched Mon-El stand up and unplug the battery, then walked over. "You still wanna carry on working?" he asked.

"There's no point," Mon-El sighed heavily, handing the battery back to him and walking off.

***

Kara had known this was a bad idea when it was suggested.

But now, standing in the room as Alex approached Purity's cell, she felt like she had underestimated how bad of an idea this really was. "Where is Reign?" her sister asked bluntly. When there was no answer from the Kryptonian lying on the metal slab, Alex carried on. "We have the Kryptonian crystal from your apartment, and we know that it's gonna lead to your headquarters. Where is Reign?" No answer again, and Alex huffed, folding her arms. "You're not so chatty now, are you? That makes sense. Because I'm not your audience. I'm just looking at a bug under glass."

Kara cringed at the wording, hearing Slade sigh from the next room over. But then Purity chuckled and sat up with a sigh, turning so she faced Alex. "To use your own words . . . you think you're smarter than me, stronger than me. You think I'm powerless to your science." She scoffed her opinion of that. "I see right through you, Alex Danvers. It's a gift I have, to see inside people, to know them." She stood up, looking closely at Alex, then grinned. "You want to hurt me because hurt. You want weak because weak. Someone cut something out of you, and you feel the hole every day. A hole that dug in Kara frowned uneasily as Purity tilted her head, her smirk growing wider. "And it's not getting any better now, is it?"

"OK, all right," Kara hurried forward, seeing Alex bristle. She knew where this was going, and it was not going to be pretty. "All right, we're done here – "

"Where is Reign?" Alex demanded, stepping away from Kara and towards Purity.

"Alex," Kara insisted.

"See the rage?" Purity grinned triumphantly. "That's your loneliness."

Alex roared angrily.

"Let's go!" Kara grabbed Alex's shoulder.

"You had your chance at happiness, and you threw it away," Purity continued to chuckle.

"Alex," Kara tugged her back.

"And now you're just a broken little doll."

Alex yanked herself away from Kara and stormed off towards the door, and Kara watched her go, almost running. "Alex, wait!" she called.

Oliver quickly opened the door, letting Alex go through. "Let her get it out," he advised quietly, stopping Alex from going after her.

Kara stopped, taking a deep breath, then tensed when she heard Purity chuckle victoriously. She spun on her heel and stormed back over as Purity sat back down on the metal slab, perching on it like she was a queen. "She was right about you," she spat. "You're just a thing built to destroy, and I'm gonna make sure you don't hurt anyone else."

***

"All right," Sam grinned at Ruby, the two of them in the center of the ice rink, hands connected. "You ready for this?"

"I'm young and reckless," Ruby retorted with a grin. "I've got this in the bag."

"Three," Sam began to count down. "Two . . . "

She suddenly let go and took off, and Ruby did a double take. "OK, cheating will get you nowhere!" she shouted, skating after her mother.

Sam just laughed gleefully, enjoying her time on the ice.

***

Winn paused in the doorway of the lab, seeing Lucy almost falling asleep at her tablet, Max absently looking through his own. "That exciting?" he asked.

Max just raised an eyebrow and pointing his stylus at the crystal and its scan. "You need to work on your definition of

Winn checked for himself, sighing in annoyance. "Really? Nothing?"

"Zilch," Lucy covered her mouth to avoid yawning.

***

Alex found herself walking away from Purity's cell as fast as she could, her entire body trembling as she tried to contain her emotions. She was halfway to the labs when a strong hand gripped her arm and yanked her into the nearest office, closing the door behind them.

Alex turned, opening her mouth to yell and say something she would regret, only to falter when she saw Slade look down at her. "Why did you think that was a good idea?" he asked quietly, no judgment in his tone.