To Life Being Full (Book Three of The Unmatched Records)

Supergirl ~ Both Sides Now ~ Part Two

Today has been a good day. Have a chapter and celebrate with me on a successful Friday.

Alex has a go at Purity that backfires rather miserably, we check in with Malcolm and Laurel (a profile picture change felt appropriate), and J'onn and Mon-El have a chat that really reminds me how polar opposites my two takes on Mon-El so far (here and in D4) have been. Like, seriously. I know which Mon-El I prefer.

Enjoy!

***

"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. Ever."

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."