Lena and James barged into Morgan Edge's office at Edge Industries, despite his assistant trying to stop them. "Lena," he said, standing up from his desk, staring at Lena and James oddly. "Didn't recognize you without a .38 in your hand."
"Maybe I should hit you over the back of the head and put you on a drone headed for the reservoir," Lena said, a smirk snaked on her lips.
"Allegedly," Edge said but Lena and James stared at him the same. "Come on. I assume this visit is still off the record, though."
But Lena pulled out her phone, showing him a photo of the symbol burned into the ground. "Morgan, what is this?"
"I don't know. It looks weird," Edge said before looking at Lena from her phone. "What, are you re-branding?" Lena scoffed as she put her phone away. "I mean, hey, it worked for Prince, right?"
"I know you're behind this. It's more fearmongering, more of the same. You're so predictable," Lena said.
"Lena, Lena, Lena. Come on, it's Christmas. Where's your Christmas spirit? It's my favorite time of the year. The only fires I'm lighting are the ones I'm gonna roast chestnuts over. And if you think I had anything to do with going after you, which you sure as hell can't prove, my line of attack would be much, much more effective," Edge explained before he looked at James. "Is that why you brought your bodyguard?"
"I'm here to make sure that you remain civil," James said.
"Jimmy, I get the feeling your dislike for me is more than just purely professional," Edge said.
"You get feelings?" James asked, acting surprised.
"I, for one, have work to do, so if you wouldn't mind, it's time to go," Edge said and just like that, Lena and James walked out of the office.
But watching them go, Edge was suddenly feeling the Christmas spirit so stopped them. "Oh, hey, come on, look. Hold up." The two stopped and looked back at him as he quickly walked up to the tree in his office. "What am I thinking? Where's my manners?" He grabbed two coffee mugs full of Christmas treats, and headed towards the two. "Little parting gift. Company present. I like to spread the cheer." But James and Lena simply smiled at him.
"Bah humbug," James said before he and Lena walked off.
"Merry Christmas," Edge muttered before walking back into his office.
Alien Dive Bar
That day, Iris walked into the bar with Kara and Winn, all three of them chatting about about the night before. "Yes, but if Alura doesn't know what it is, what makes you think anybody here is gonna know?"
"Someone is burning a Kryptonian symbol everywhere, so someone out there must know who it is," Kara insisted.
"I hope you're right," Iris said.
"Iris, Kara, Winn," the three turned around to find Mon-El and Imra sitting at a table, stuffing themselves in ribs. "Kara, you're back from your honeymoon."
"Yes, Barry and I came back last night. Came to the Christmas party," Kara said, eyeing Mon annoyed.
"Hey guys," Iris muttered awkwardly before Winn leaned into her ear.
"Do you want us to provide a distraction?" He whispered but she shook her head no.
"No need, no, don't be silly," she whispered back before the three headed up to the table, but Iris immediately noticed Imra had sauce on the side of her mouth. "Oh, you've...you-"
"Here?" Imra asked, pointing to the other side of her face.
"No, No,"
"It's all right," Mon said as he grabbed a napkin. "I got it."
"Thanks," Imra said, stammering a big smile while Iris just stared at them numbly.
She cleared her throat before sitting in between Kara and Winn, smiling at the happy couple. "So, you settling in?"
"Yeah. You know, Imra wanted to see what the times were like," Mon said.
"Everyone's been very kind so far. It's fascinating to see Earth this far back," Imra said.
"Oh, yeah. This must be like medieval times for you," Winn said.
"You eat things with your hands. So cute," Imra said and Iris seemed so annoyed, but she had no reason under the sun to be.
'So cute'
"Mon-El tells me there's a place in town where you can eat all the ribs you want," Imra continued, causing Iris's breath to hitch up. "What did you call it? Food until you're full?"
"Very close. It's all you can eat," Mon corrected and Imra nodded.
"Right. Yeah, Iris, Mon, Barry and I went there together once," Kara said before looking at Iris to find she looked sad. So being the friend she is, Kara looked right at Imra again. "Have you had beer yet?"
"Does it go with ribs?" Imra asked.
"It can," Kara said before she and Winn got up from the table with Imra, heading for the bar.
Leaving Iris and Mon alone.
"Hey," Mon said and Iris looked up at him.
"Hey," she replied.
"So, how was your party?" He asked.
"Good," Iris said and he nodded. "How's your ship?"
"Broken beyond my understanding, so," Mon said and Iris nodded before chuckling a little.
"Well, it sounds like we're having two very different weeks," she said.
"Yeah. Yeah, hey, I forgot how much I miss this place. You know, it's special," Mon said.
"You did make a pretty mean club soda," Iris said and Mon smiled nervously at her.
"I'm guessing that you probably steered clear of that hard vodka," he said, and suddenly, Iris started to get flustered at the memory.
"Please do not remind me. That was," Iris said before they both started laughing. "You know, you are so lucky Kara and I did not lose our job at the DEO that day—" But the laughing and smiled stopped when Iris heard Imra laughing with Winn and Kara.
She blinked, remembering reality, and looked down at her hands again. "Hey, you know, I'm really sorry," Iris looked up at him again. "About us being here, and how this must be really hard for you."
"No, no, no. You know what, Mon-El, your wife is lovely. And you two seem to really make each other happy," Iris said.
"So...do you want to talk about it?" Mon asked.
"There's nothing to talk about," Iris said.
Over by Winn and Kara, as they were talking up Imra, suddenly Kara's phone started ringing from an unknown number. "I should get this — Hello."
"You have a collect call from the Albatross Bay Correctional Facility."
Albatross Bay Correctional Facility
Walking into a private visiting room, Kara found herself confused when she saw Thomas Coville sitting at a table, waiting for her. "They will receive a blasphemous sigil. And in its wake, many cowards, killers and vile men will burn."
Kara stared at him oddly as the doors behind her shut. "That's not from the Book of Rao."
"And every eye will look upon the heretic, and they will call it Worldkiller," he quoted causing Kara to stare at the man even more confused. "Kara Danvers, there is so much that you still don't know."
"Worldkiller?" Kara questioned as she took slow steps towards the table.
"It's here. The End of Days," Coville said.
"There are no End of Days in the Book of Rao," Kara said.
"The prophecy I speak of predates the Book of Rao," Coville said before Kara slowly sat down in front of him. "But I suspect you already know this if you've tried to find the meaning of the Kryptonian symbol that's all over the news. They are the mark of a dark god, a devil."
"How do you know this?" Kara asked.
"You know that I spent three years on a pilgrimage all over the world collecting artifacts and texts, learning everything I could about Rao and your people. But I didn't just find objects. I met people. The forgotten from Fort Rozz," Coville explained.
"You know about Fort Rozz?" Kara asked.
"I met a disgraced Kryptonian priestess who told me about the god before Rao. A Lilith made of darkness and teeth who ends everything. There are three steps leading to the End of Days. First is the Mark of the Beast," Coville explained.
"The glyph in the field," Kara muttered.
"They're all over National City now. After that comes the Work of the Beast in the form of many deaths. And finally, comes the Reign of the Beast. And this is when She comes," Coville explained.
"She? Who is She?" Kara asked.
"Worldkiller. The one who will bring about the end of times," Coville answered before he grabbed hold of her hands. "This is your purpose. To fight the Devil."
But immediately, Kara snatched her hands away, staring at him in fear. "There's no such thing as the Devil."
"The lost gods much fall for a new god to rise. And Her rise will come at the fall of the righteous. And She will reign unless you stand and smite Her," Coville explained once more, sending chills down her spine.
The DEO
"The NCPD is investigating another fatal shooting involving the One-Seven Gang which happened this morning. Witnesses say they saw a man belonging to the One-Seven Gang open fire on a convenience store, killing the owner."
That night, Barry, Iris, Winn, Alex and J'onn all followed Kara as they walked down the steps of the facility once Kara came back from the prison. "So, Coville says that this is like the sign of the Devil. A Kryptonian 666."
"Do you believe him?" Barry asked.
"No," Kara sternly said. "No, I think Coville calling me is an excuse for him to feel relevant."
"It reaffirms the narrative he chooses to believe and gives his life purpose," J'onn said.
"We don't even know if the person burning these symbols is Kryptonian," Kara said.
"It's probably just a bunch of vandals who don't even know what it means," Alex said.
"Do you need fresh eyes?" The group all turned around to find Imra standing behind them, but Barry looked at her confused, not having met her yet. "I can take a look through the data you've collected, suspects you might have already dismissed. I'm the 31st century version of a kip."
"I think you mean cop," Winn said.
"Oh," Imra said before looking at Iris. "Iris, do you have a second? I was wondering if we could talk."
They all looked at Iris, who clearly did not want to talk, but was too nice to not say yes. "Sure."
As the two walked away together, Barry looked at Kara, who was still confused. "Who was that? We have a new roommate?"
"That was Mon-El's wife," Kara answered.
"Oh," Barry said, but a few moments in, he realized how bad it was. "Ohhhhh."
Standing in a small hallway, the girls stepped in and Imra looked at Iris. "I just...I wanted to say I know that you and Mon-El used to be together. And I know how difficult me being here must be."
"No, no, Imra. It's fine," Iris assured.
"Mon-El loved you so much, Iris," Imra said and Iris stared at her taken back. "When he first arrived in my time, he spoke only of finding a way back to you. And he certainly didn't move on lightly. I mean, he wouldn't even look at another woman for years. Until he realized he wasn't going to find a way back. I just thought you should know that."
And even though the thought of it was nice, all it did was make Iris's pain worse. It didn't remotely help. But she would still plaster a smile, and tell everyone that she was fine. "Thanks, Imra. But...I'm gonna head back to work." She then walked off, into the comfort of her friends while Imra watched her in despair.
Downtown National City
Walking through the bad side of town, James and Lena walked together, but James wasn't exactly sure where they were. Or what they were doing really. "Okay, where exactly are we going?"
"I told you, this guy had access to Edge's bank records. If Edge had been buying technology that can make those Kryptonian marks, this will lead us to him," Lena explained.
"That's great, but, I mean, literally, where are we going?" James asked.
"Jimmy Olsen, are you scared?" Lena asked and he laughed a little. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." But as they turned a corner, they found themselves staring at a wall with the symbol burned into it.
And then something exploded behind them, causing them both to flinch. "Go! Move, move, move, move!" The two ran off to an alleyway, where the shooting continued until they ran into an open area, and dropped to the ground. "Stay down." James then got up, turned around to find a man with a blaster.
He pulled the trigger but James whipped out his shield just in time, to block off the blast. He then knocked the guy down with the shield before looking back at Lena, who wasn't paying attention. "Hey, so we're alive."
"Yeah, well, thank God I was here," Lena said as she got up.
"You okay?" James asked.
"It's just my quarterly assassination attempt," Lena said.
"Yeah, about that," James said before he looked down at the unconscious guy he just beat up. "Who the hell is this guy?"
CatCo Worldwide Media
The next place Lena and James found themselves, was back in James's office, with Lena on the computer looking up information about her attempted assassinator, and James on the phone. "All right, thanks," he hung up the phone before looking at Lena as Sam suddenly charged into the office. "The ADA said laser guy lawyered up. He's not talking."
"Hey, I couldn't get here any faster," Sam said as the two looked at her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to Jimmy," Lena said and James smiled a little.
"Do you know why he tried kill you?" Sam asked.
"Morgan Edge hired him," Lena said.
"You have proof?" Sam asked.
"Circumstantial," Lena said before she turned the computer towards Sam. "But the shooter used to work for the annual National City Tech Conference. Morgan Edge hosts it every year."
But as Sam stared at a photo of Morgan Edge, Lena saw a darkness in Sam's eyes, something she didn't recognize. "He shouldn't be alive."
Lena stared at her oddly as James turned his attention to the tv screens. "You guys want to see this," he said before unmuting the TVs.
"We'll hearing that as many as a dozen members of the One-Seven street gang have been found murdered. We should warn you the images you are about to see are graphic."
"Now, Susan, police are still looking for a suspect in the multiple killings of members of the notorious National City One-Seven Gang..."
The DEO
Surrounded around the table, Iris, Barry, Kara, Alex and J'onn watched as Winn stood by the screens, explaining the gruesome photos of the crime scene. "Samples from the remains of the victims confirm they were killed by heat vision."
"So...our bad guy is Kryptonian," Barry said.
"Yep," Kara muttered.
"And Morgan Edge had nothing to do with it," Barry added.
"Hey, well, at least it's not related to the guy with the laser gun who went after Lena," Winn said.
"No, that guy was just someone Edge hired to try to kill Lena," Iris corrected, that situation being much worse.
"He thought he could get away with killing her and blame it on the Kryptonian?" Winn asked.
"Just like Coville said," J'onn said and they all looked at him. "Work of the Beast."
"It's creepy," Barry muttered.
"But Coville's a fanatic, not a prophet," Kara argued.
"The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. He said this, the Beast would come," J'onn said as Mon-El walked up to them. Alone. "She would mark the city and then She would take it." Iris looked away from J'onn for a moment, to realize that Mon was there, already staring at her, and in a nervous fit, Iris looked straight back at J'onn. "I think it's worth pushing through the noise here to see the truth."
"Well, the moment you start believing in something is the moment you give your power away. I'm not gonna give away mine," Kara sternly stated. "So what we know about this Kryptonian is that she's a pretender. I beat Kal down to the ground when I had to, I'll beat her down, too." Iris nodded, as did everyone else, understanding what had to be done.
But when Iris looked away again, she saw Mon still staring.
Great, he wants something.
Iris began to walk off, wanting to avoid him, but it hadn't seemed to work because all he's done is be in her way. Including in that moment when he walked after her. "Iris." She looked back at him for a moment, but continued walking, so he ran up to her. "Hey. You keep walking away from me."
"I'm not walking away from you. I'm just walking away," Iris said.
"Hey, just stop for one second," Mon begged and Iris reluctantly ordered, facing him. "Look, Imra...she feels really bad that she upset you. That was not her intention."
"No, she didn't do anything wrong. She was very kind, and generous, and you know, she's smart, and beautiful, and even though she looks like a Greek Goddess, I can't find any reason to hate her. But am I okay with this? No," Iris answered the very dying obvious question Mon-El had been wanting to know.
"Iris, I-"
"No. Stop. Please. Mon-El, I...I see this very clearly for what it is. We're just three good people stuck in a really crappy situation. But you know what, at least two of us still get to be happy," Iris said before she began to walk off again, Mon staying where he was. But she stopped again and looked back at him, sighing in defeat. "And just for the record, Mon-El, I really am trying to be okay with this, but...you are making this so incredibly difficult. You come back into my life, into the Team's life, all of us acting like nothing has changed, but everything has changed. These past weeks, we all have been pretending of what our reality is, occupied by other things, and it's not fair...for any of us...but it's how it is now. But...you..." she stopped herself for a moment, staring into his eyes, with no sparkle. "This is...This is worse than the worst thing I could possibly imagine. And that's you looking at me with no love in your eyes. So please, just...please." She then walked away and Mon just watched her go, knowing every word she said was right.