Katie, again, woke with a gasp. Her head shot down to see cuffs on her wrists, rendering her movement.

"The High Council has rendered our verdict on the alien spy. We impose the maximum penalty. Banishment to the Phantom Zone."

"Leah-" Guards grabbed Katie as she struggled to get to Leah, "-If they take me away, you and I will be trapped here until the Black Mercy kills us."

Non turned to his daughter, "Do not listen to her. Once she is gone, we'll be happy. Like we were before she came here."

"Why do you think they're trying to silence me? It's because they're afraid of what I have to say!" Katie screams out, struggling as the guards tried to pull her away.

"She's trying to confuse you with lies."

"No! I'm trying to remind you of the truth." Katie released a cry as they tried to drag her away, "Life isn't perfect. I know it can be hard and it can be lonely. Especially for you. You have sacrificed and you have lost so much. I wish you could've had a life with your family. But even if you did, Leah, it wouldn't be this. Because this isn't real. And deep down, Leah. Deep down, you know it." There was rumbling, making them wobble as they stood, "I can't promise you a life without pain and loss because pain is a part of life. It's what makes us who we are. It is what makes you a hero." Katie was able to get out of their grip, she turned, slamming her fists down on one of the guards' shoulder, then took down the other guard. Katie walked closer to Leah, "You fight every day to keep people from struggling like you have. I know you can remember, please... If you try, please... Please try, Leah. Because Earth needs Captain Marvel."

"Captain Marvel." Ka tried to walk forward, but Non and Kal stopped her.

"Yes, remember that life. With James and Winn and Hank. Your friends need you. Especially, Winn, he loves you, Leah, please don't leave him alone. Please don't let him suffer through another loss." Katie began to sob, thinking of her brother, "Leah, I can't choose this for you. You have to choose it yourself." The guards kicked the back of Katie's leg, making her drop down, "Please come back to us, Leah. Please."

Ka looked around at her family, her face releasing a mixture of expressions. Leah turned her gaze up to her father, "I wish... I want so much for all of this to be true. To stay here with you. But this isn't real."

Leah tried to move forward but her mother jumped in front of her, "No, no."

"You taught me to be so strong. And I am. Thank you. Krypton will be in my heart forever. But Katie is right... My friend is right. I have to go." The ground shook below them, her eyes stayed on her mother, "I love you."

"Oh, Ka-El." Astra's arms wrapped around Leah in a hug, "We will never let you leave." The floor shook again, allowing Leah to go free from her mother's hold, "Katie!"

"I got you!" Katie called out, reaching for her, "I got you!"

Katie gasped, pulling the helmet off of her as fast as she could. Her eyes fell on Alex, who did the same. "Alex, Katie, thank God."

Alex jumped off the bed, looking at Kara and Leah, "You pulled me out?" Her head whipped over to James and Hank, "How could you? I told you to stop him!"

"I did."

Alex jumped at James, "She was about to choose us! She was about to come home!"

"Alex..." Katie spoke up, her eyes not moving from Kara and Leah.

"Why did you pull me out!?"

"ALEX!"

"Why!?"

"I didn't!" Hank yelled over Alex's screams and protests.

"Then how did I-" Alex turned her head to Katie, "We come back!?"

"Because you did it." Winn opened the door, jogging over to Leah, "You did it. You did it. You convinced her." His hand fell on her cheeks as the Black Mercy crawled off of them, "Hey." The Black Mercies shriveled as they got on the ground. "Hey." Leah pulled the mask off of her face, sitting up abruptly, Kara doing the same, "It's okay, wait, wait. It's okay. Hey, hey, we're here. We're here. Hey, we're here. We're here. I got you."

"Are you okay?" James questioned them, but it was mainly directed toward Kara.

Max looked down at the parasites, "Those are some messed up daffodils."

"Kara, are you okay?" James asked again.

Winn's hand fell from Leah's face as she moved, "Leah, honey, are you alright?"

Kara moved away from them, as did Leah, both of their eyes were brimming with tears, thinking of the world they were once in. In the lives that they could have had. Kara had turned around, her eyes dark, "Who did this to us?"

"Non."

Leah slowly turned, the tears that were in her eyes slipped down her cheeks, but she only showed anger, "Where is he?"

🎆~🎆~🎆~🎆~🎆

"The Kryptonians used the Black Mercy and the solar storms to distract us from their next move." Hank looked over at Winn, "Agent Vasquez tells me you have a working theory on what that might be."

"Um, like I said before, I thought it would have something to do with satellites. And since I spend most of my day looking at satellite signals, I decided to analyze them with your computers which, by the way, if you're ever having, like, a fire sale, you just let me know." Winn chuckles but quickly stops himself, "Ahem. Um... Anyways, I found some hidden transmissions buried in the C-band spectrum."

"What's the connection?"

"Uh, well, funny you should ask." Winn leaned over the keyboard, quickly typing, "They all use Lord Tech servers, which happen to be based at the same lab Non's troops attacked."

"Now you know why he hit my facility."

"He's using your tech to override the civilian network." Katie pointed at Max, her head turning back to Hank and her brother, "Non didn't take anything, he left something behind. A virus."

"A virus that does what?" James queries, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't know. But I don't want to wait around to find out."

Kara stepped forward, "How do we find them?"

"My company handles six other satellite farms in the city limits. They have to be the next target."

"Scramble our teams to each location."

Leah stopped Hank, "You leave my father to Kara and I." Her voice was dark, "We'll deal with him."

Vasquez walked over to Katie, "Agent Schott, this will be the location where you must stop the Kryptonian." She gave her the address, "Kick some ass."

Leah and Kara flew side-by-side but did not speak to one another. They were far too focused on the task in their minds. Leah flew directly into her father, throwing him far away into some gravel. As Kara slammed her fist into him, sitting on top of him, wailing punches at him as she screamed in anger, "Do you have any idea what you did to me? You made me lose them again! My parents! My whole world!"

Leah pressed her foot against his neck, "And you think that I'm gonna let you take this world away from me, too? You think I'm gonna let you hurt them like you hurt me?" Kara got off of him, allowing Leah to lift him off his feet. "Never!" Leah punched him, then threw his body into the wall.

Civilians came running out to see what the noise was. Kara's eyes widened, "Stay back!"

Non took this chance the slam into Leah, making her go flying into another direction. Kara threw a punch at his chest, making him go back, but he still stood, "You stupid girl. Have you any idea what you're doing?"

"Yes." Kara glared, "I'm stopping you."

"My mother believed she could, but she failed."

"I won't," Leah spoke, flying over and punching Non in the face.

Kara moved over, swinging her fist at him as he stood, "Because I've known pain. But I've also known love. And the people here are my family. I may have been born on Krypton, but I choose Earth. And I will protect it until my last breath."

"You have the hubris of the great House of El, which blinds you to the truth. Even you, my daughter are blinded. Humanity is a disease. Myriad is the cure." His laser vision pushed both Leah and Kara back. "You are getting better Kara Zor-El. Ka-El. But I will not be dying today." He used his laser vision on the satellite behind him, making it fall. Kara and Leah flew over as fast as they could and caught it before it crashed into the building. They were able to set it back to the correct spot.

"Kara, Leah, get over here now. It's Astra."

Leah flew right past Kara, flying far ahead of her cousin. Leah landed on the rooftop, then Kara did, "What happened?"

"There was a fight-"

"I killed her." Hank suddenly said, walking over to the petrified Kryptonians, " I'm sorry, but I could see no other way."

"She doesn't have long."

Kara and Leah walked over to Astra. Leah dropped to her knees, moving her mother's head so it was on her lap. Astra moved her hands weakly, to hold Kara and Leah's, "Hello, little one and my sweet daughter." Astra had tears falling down her face, but she smiled, struggling to speak as she looked up at them, "I'm so happy to see your sister and friend were able to bring you back."

"Astra." Kara spoke, "I have to tell you when I was under the Black Mercy, you were there."

"You and father were there in mine." Leah's voice cracked as she moved her free hand on her mother's cheek.

"As your enemies."

Leah sobbed, Kara moved away from Leah, allowing her to be there with her mother moving over to Alex to sob on her shoulder. Leah allowed the tears to stream down her face, "As my family."

"Leah..." Astra lifted her hands up to her daughter's cheeks, " Leah, listen to me. You father cannot be stopped. If you stand in his way, he will kill you and those you love."

"He said something about, um, Myriad. Tell me, tell me what it is before it's too late. Please."

"It already is, my sweet daughter. My beautiful girl." Astra struggled as she breathed, "I am so proud of you."

Leah cried, "I missed you so much, mom." She sniffled, "Please, don't leave me again." Leah looked down as Astra breathed one last time, her hands slowly fell from her daughter's face as her head moved, Leah released a loud sob, "No! Mom! Please, mom, please." Leah lifted her mother's body into her chest, holding her in a hug, "Please, please, please."

Kara had tears in her eyes as she moved to her, "Leah." She tried to touch her but Leah had flinched away, holding her mother as tight as possible, "Leah, we have to go."

Alex looked up at the other Kryptonians coming their way, "Now!"

Kara turned back to Leah, "Leah, we have to go-"

"No!" Leah cried out, "I can't leave her."

Kara covered her mouth, tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry." Kara forcefully grabbed Leah, dragged her away from Astra's body.

"No!" Leah reached out for her, the tears in her eyes making her vision foggy, "No!"

🎆~🎆~🎆~🎆~🎆

Kara stayed with Leah, holding her hand as they walked up to Kara's apartment. Kara pushed open the door, seeing everyone there, cleaning, "Oh, you guys, you did not have to do this."

"Like, seriously, we didn't?" Winn paused from this cleaning, "I thought this was mandatory." All of them laughed, even Kara and Leah despite having a family member die.

"Hey, um... We need to talk about that "perfect fantasy world" we were in-"

"You guys, we don't have to discuss-"

Leah spoke over James, "I want to tell you guys why I imagined myself on Krypton. It's not because I hate it here. It's because the past few weeks I've been feeling lost and... Like I did when I first came to Earth. So I started fantasizing about the same things I used to back then. I chose to come back because I realized I belong here with you. My family."

Kara gave them a small smile, "I guess it's true. There's no place like home."

"Aw. That's right. You just quoted a movie. Danvers, this is like a whole new level in our friendship here."

"Yeah, yeah." Kara held the same smile, "The bestest of friends."

"Give it up." The two high-fived.

Katie tapped the table, "Well, I didn't know if it was a pot sticker night or sushi or ice cream. So, guess what? I got them all." Kara and Leah smiled at their friends and family.

"They're my favorite."

"I know." Katie grinned at them, holding up the ice creams as Winn and James held the sushi and pot stickers, "I know what you two like."

Before Kara and Leah could go sit with them, Alex stopped them, "Kara, Leah, there's, um... There's something that you should know."

"Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"Hank tried to cover for Kara at work while she was gone."

"Whoa... I'm guessing that did not go well."

"Well, that would be a solid guess." Katie mused.

Winn shook his head, "Oh, no. Not by any metric. No."

"Let's take the CatCo talk for tomorrow. Okay? It's time to eat. And plus..." James pulls out some white wine, "I got a little bit of this."

Alex shot her hand in the air, "Yes!"

"That's no fun. You know we can't get drunk." Kara was referring to Leah since Katie found out that her mutation gave her the ability to drink.

"It is fun be 'cause we can." Alex took the bottle, "Uh, and we will."