Sitting behind his desk at the DEO, Winn was fiddling with a fidget spinner when-
"So, you work with Supergirl," Winn slowly turned around to find his mother approaching him, "You should sit up straight, be proud."
"You cannot be down here," he muttered to her.
"Oh, please. If anyone asks, I'm just looking for the bathroom," Mary said.
"It's around the corner to the left. Okay, bye now," Winn said.
"Yeah, I tried that one, but it was closed for enhanced interrogation," Mary said, catching the attention of some nearby agents, "Kidding. Jeez. Just kidding," she then turned back to Winn to find an annoyed look.
"You think this is funny?" He asked.
"Oh, a little gallows humor never killed anybody. Well, except for the fellas hanging from the gallows," Mary said and Winn stood up, leaning over towards her irritated.
"What do you want?" He asked, and she sighed.
———
The two stepped into a private room, and once the door closed behind them, that was when Mary felt most comfortable to tell Winn the truth. "I just wanted to see your face, Winn. I wanted to hear your voice, I wanted my son back," she said but he stood before her, with nothing to say, the same irritated expression on his face, "I have spent twenty years imagining this moment and now I...leaving you, it gutted me. And I've carried that with me every day of my life, but I had to, Winn, because your father-"
"Oh, no, I'm sorry, let me guess. He threatened your life," Winn said.
"No, Winn. He threatened yours," Mary said which Winn stared at her taken back, "He told me that if I went near you, ever, that he would kill you. And when he died, I thought it was safe. But I was wrong. You're still in danger."
"I don't believe you," Winn told her.
"You saw what your father did at his own funeral," Mary said.
"I saw the last grasping prank of a lunatic. And now, what I'm hearing is an excuse. Twenty years in the making," Winn said before he softly scoffed, "Hey, I had twenty years to think, too. You want to know what I think about the most? Let me set the scene for you. It's the night Dad finally snapped. And I'm sitting in the police station, freezing cold, because I'm in my pajamas. When the police came and picked me up from home, I was asleep. Remember? In bed. Alone. And the nice officer, he drapes the coat over my shoulders. I feel a little better. So I'm sitting there, and my cold little feet are dangling in the air, and I'm waiting. I'm waiting for my mom to pick me up. Cause they said that they called you. Yeah. Yeah, they said it was just gonna be like an hour, and then they'd explain everything. And then it was two hours. And then it was the next morning. When I lie in bed at night, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, I'm not wondering why Dad finally, suddenly snapped. No, that doesn't haunt me. What haunts me is you. You, who left me, when I needed you the most. With no explanation, no goodbye. Nothing."
"I'm so sorry," Mary muttered.
"I don't care anymore," Winn said, walking away from her and towards the door.
"Winn-"
"I don't need your excuses. You wanna keep me safe? Great. You know what you should do?" Winn asked, opening the door and looking past her, "Leave again!" But suddenly, running past the room they were in, was a bunch of agents, "Something's happening," he then ran out to find out what was going on as Mary followed him.
Out in the main part of the facility, everyone in the DEO were gathering, something outside catching their attention. Supergirl and Barry stepped out onto the stair area by the balcony, both of them confused as to what they were looking at. "What the hell is that?" Barry asked.
"It's a message," Mary said, standing many feet behind the two heroes, "For me," and Winn looked at her confused.
Out in the sky, directly above the balcony at the DEO, was some kind of machine drawing out words:
SURRENDER MARY
"Is that a wicked witch?" Barry asked.
"No," Supergirl muttered, narrowing her eyes out into the sky, "Is it flying monkeys?"
And out from nowhere, billions of golden robotic flying monkeys zoomed into the facility. Supergirl and Barry ducked, avoiding being slammed by the robots, but when they stood back up straight, everything in the facility went to chaos. "What in the Wizard of Oz?" Barry asked as Supergirl looked out the balcony again.
"I'll take the big one, you take the little ones," she said before she zoomed off into the air.
Barry then zoomed off, and came back to his spot in his suit. He turned towards all the chaos, zooming down, and taking a bunch of flying monkeys off with his speed and lightning while James fought off monkeys as well.
"Quickly!" Winn yelled to his mother, the two of them running through the facility, "Under the desks! Come on!"
"What are you doing? We've gotta stay down-"
"This is my job, Mom!" Winn yelled.
As they continued running, Mary accidentally slipped and fell. Winn almost slipped himself turning back for her, but monkeys kept zooming at him, so he ran for the computers while James helped Mary up.
Winn practically leaped over the circular table, landing on the other side to hide, but when he did — three monkeys found him, hovering over him. "Oh...you came for me."
Suddenly the monkeys were impaled, and Winn poked his head up to find it was The Flash who had super thrown items towards the monkeys. He got up when another monkey came for him, when suddenly he was pulled back. Winn turned to find it was Mary who had gotten hold of the monkey, "Get away from him, you nightmare!" She yelled.
The monkey was about to attack her when it was suddenly blown into pieces by laser heat vision. The two looked back to find that Supergirl had returned, smashing monkeys along with James and The Flash. She had a long pole with her, a pole she used to smash the bigger monkey with before coming back to the DEO. She used her laser heat vision on them, she smashed them, she crushed them, she then took ten at once by spinning up into the air. Supergirl huffed and puffed, along with everyone else, seeing all the monkeys were smashed.
"This is your job? This is?" Mary questioned and Winn quickly shook his head.
The J'onzz Apartment
Walking out of a back room, was Alex, on the phone. "Okay, well, keep me posted," she said before she hung up, heading back over to the table where J'onn and Myr'nn were. "Problem?" J'onn asked.
"Oh, there was a minor kerfuffle," Alex said as she sat back down in her seat, "But, uh, no one was hurt and Kara and Barry's got it handled, so you just keep relaxing," she then softly chuckled, looking at Myr'nn, "So, some of that old time rock n roll, huh? That was an epic karaoke performance."
"Indeed. But a problematic genre," Myr'nn said and Alex slowly nodded.
"Been on the Internet?" She asked.
"Yes. Many of the pioneers of rock n roll were humans of color who did not receive the fame or fortune their white counterparts did," Myr'nn told her.
"Have you faced many challenges in your human form since you've been here?" Alex asked.
"No. My relative isolation has its silver linings. My son has found goodhearted friends in his time on this planet. You all treat me like family," Myr'nn said and Alex smiled before looking at J'onn.
"You've chosen to live as a black man in America, which is a harder existence, in and of itself. Why?" She asked.
"You know, I was...I was forced to become Hank Henshaw out of desperation, but now I choose this face. I like it. And I wouldn't want to live in a world where I need to change the color of my skin to feel safe, to feel seen, to feel like I'm not a target. I'd rather change the world," J'onn explained.
"And whatever my son's fight may be, I choose it as well," Myr'nn said.
"And I have your backs," Alex added.
"Let's drink to that," J'onn said.
"Cheers," Alex said before they all clinked their glasses.
They all swallowed some of their drinks, but Myr'nn noticed Alex's glass was cut short. "Mmm. Alex, you need more," he started, gesturing to the glass, but he couldn't get it. He couldn't spit out the word he needed.
"Wine, Dad," J'onn said with a smile as he got up, "Your English is fantastic, don't worry about the occasional slip-up. I'll go get some more wine," he then walked off to the kitchen.
"I hope you still have room. J'onn has made chocolate pie for dessert," Myr'nn said and Alex smiled.
The DEO
Winn and James walked together towards the circular table, gathering monkey parts, while agents behind them did as well. "Well, your mom's right. Somebody is definitely helping your dad out," James said.
"I just honestly just wish she would leave. Like, who the hell does she think she is anyway, huh? Like, she just doesn't get to walk back into my life after years. I did not get a say in her walking out. I definitely get a say in her walking back in," Winn vented.
"It's a fair point," James said and Winn nodded before looking back at him, findings look on him.
"You think that I should?" He asked and by James's silence, he got his answer, "No! Dude, no. Don't think that I should."
"Brother, it doesn't matter what I think, it matters what you need," James said.
"You know what? Even if, even if my dad had threatened to kill me, she could have done a thousand other things. Gone to the police, the FBI. No. Instead, she decided to abandon me. And you know what? She has to deal with the consequences," Winn said before he turned his back to James, looking over monkey parts, "You know, if she'd have stayed, then, maybe, you know, we could have had a...you know, a great relationship."
"Let me stop you there. That is a dangerous thought exercise designed purely just to piss you off," James said but when Winn was basically ignoring him, he walked up next to him, grabbing his friend's attention, "When my dad died, my mom did everything for me and my sister. She worked night and day, she busted her ass, and I still blamed her. Because she was the only one there. And that was rough. We got over it, though. You know, took a long time, and a lot of forgiveness, and me taking responsibility for my part in that...you can't change what happened, but she's here now. It's up to you what you wanna do with that," he then softly patted Winn on the back before walking away.
Meanwhile, up on the second floor, Mary watched her son over the railings when Supergirl walked up next to her. Mary glanced at the hero before looking back down at her son. "I always knew he was brilliant and capable, but I worried when I left that he'd go the same way his dad did," Mary said.
"He worried about that, too," Supergirl said.
"I should have been here to tell him that he and his father were worlds apart," Mary said before she looked at Supergirl, "Did his friends tell him?"
"We did," Supergirl said.
"Thank you for that," Mary said.
"Well, it was easy — he doesn't always get the credit, but he keeps us going around here. He's always the one with some crazy idea that no one else would possibly dreams of," Supergirl explained.
"My son works with Supergirl and The Flash," Mary said with a gleaming smile, "It's just such a relief. He saves lives. I just wish he'd let me tell him how proud I am of him."
"I think he will. Eventually," Supergirl said.
"Sorry about the mess," Mary said.
"Oh, this?" Supergirl asked, gesturing to the scattered monkey parts, "This is...That's not your fault."
"Can I ask, uh, when it comes to your day-to-day, on a scale of one to ten, how big of a pain in the ass are flying monkeys?" Mary asked.
"Maybe a...two," Supergirl told her.
"Oh," Mary muttered with a smile.
"Does that make you feel better?" Supergirl asked.
"Yes. Very much so," Mary said.
"Good," Supergirl said with a smile.
The J'onzz Apartment
"Pie in three minutes!"
While J'onn was in the kitchen, Alex and Myr'nn talked amongst each other at the dinner table, but when the music turned off, Myr'nn got up to put in a new record. "Well, thank you for having me tonight," Alex said as she got up, following him over to the record player, "The place looks wonderful."
"Oh, the pleasure was mine. You mean a great deal to J'onn," Myr'nn said.
"Well, he's very important to me, too," Alex said.
"I know we are new friends, but I hope, in time, that we can be the kind of family you and J'onn have become," Myr'nn said and Alex smiled.
"That would be lovely," she said.
"I have always wanted a granddaughter," Myr'nn said, which Alex's expression dropped.
"You mean besides K'hym and T'ania?" She asked and he looked at her confused.
"Who?" He asked.
"Your granddaughters," Alex said and Myr'nn froze, not realizing he had forgotten about them, "My grandmother was a music lover as well. Especially later in her life. It just seemed to always give her that extra spark. Even when she started forgetting things. Like, little things at first. It was just words, you know, why she'd walk into a room, and eventually, people. I think you might be exhibiting similar symptoms."
"Please don't tell him," Myr'nn whispered.
"You already knew?" Alex asked.
"On Mars, we called it Za-alet. Translated roughly, it means decay of memory," Myr'nn told her.
"Dementia," Alex said.
"I am losing myself," he said.
"As it progresses, you're gonna need help," Alex said.
"He has helped me enough," he sternly told her.
"No, you're gonna need more than that, because you could hurt yourself or others. You have to tell him," Alex said.
"He just got me back, I can't ask him to watch me disappear inch by inch. It's too cruel," Myr'nn said.
"Well, that could happen, no matter what. So, the sooner you tell him, the sooner he can help," Alex said but Myr'nn looked conflicted, "I'm sorry, Myr'nn, but if he asks me, I mean, I don't think I could lie to him-"
"You will say nothing!" Myr'nn snapped, "He is my son. And I choose how best to protect him, not you."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Get out. Get out of my house!" Myr'nn snapped and Alex quickly headed out of the apartment.
"Dad, everything okay out there?"
The door closed behind Alex as J'onn walked out, a confused look on him. "What happened?"
The DEO
Meanwhile, Winn was up in the lab, trying to open up one of the monkey's, but it- "Ah!" Zapped him.
"That is an angry monkey corpse."
Winn glanced back to find Mary had walked into the room before looking back at the monkey. "I was hoping to access this thing's inner workings, but it's like a game of Operation. Every time I get close to cracking it, it just zaps me," he explained.
"Can I try?" Mary asked, pushing him to the side, looking for some tools on the table, "I love Operation."
"I'm not sure if you noticed, but it's, like a top-secret government facility in here," Winn said.
"Oh, nobody cares," Mary said as she pointed to walking by agents, "Are you paid enough to care? No, of course not. You should unionize, by the way."
"Mom, that's-"
"Did I ever tell you that I was once your father's apprentice?" Mary asked, walking over to in front of the monkey, tools in her hand.
"I thought you two met in Ivy Town," Winn said.
"Uh, we were both students, yes, but that's not where we met," Mary said as she began to screw at the monkey, "I kept the books at the local toy store and your father was the genius stock boy. And he taught me about the math in the machine. One and one is two, it's simple, it's elegant. It's clean. Just like a wind-up toy," and just like that, Mary was able to screw off the chest of the monkey, handing it to Winn, "Your father's mind was a wind-up toy," she then stepped off to the side, looking through some more tools, "I know what made him tick."
"So then you know how to stop him from, uh, going crazy and killing a bunch of people," Winn said before he looked at the monkey while Mary froze.
"Um, do you remember when I took you to Disneyland when you were nine?" Mary asked as Winn looked at her.
"Do I remember? Yeah, we drove overnight, cause you wanted to be there the second it opened," Winn said as Mary looked back at him, "And then we get into a car accident at two a.m in the morning and Dad has to come and pick us up and takes us home. We never actually went to Disneyland."
"No, we were never going there. We were going to a domestic-abuse shelter," Mary said and Winn stared at her taken back, "And he ran us off the road. Stole a car, sped down a highway, ran us into a ditch. You sat dazed in the backseat with a concussion, and he and I had it out on the shoulder of the interstate. That's the night that he threatened to kill you, his only son, his only child — Just to hurt me," she then walked over to him while Winn didn't know what to say, "Your father didn't just go to bed normal and wake up the next morning a monster. He was paranoid, he was controlling, he...he was mean."
"I never saw it," Winn softly said.
"I didn't want you to. And I'm sorry, Winn. I'm sorry that...I couldn't get us out from under his shadow. That I couldn't save you," Mary told him.
"That's not on you," Winn told her.
"Maybe not, but the last twenty years, those were. And you were right about that. But I just wanted you to understand why," she said.
———
The next day, when Alex arrived at work — J'onn followed after her. "Alex!" He called out and she looked back at him, slowing down so that he could catch up, "What happened?"
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, continuing to walk, but J'onn cut her off so they both stayed still.
"Last night, my father...Did he, um, offend you? Say something?" J'onn asked.
"No, of course not. No, your father is wonderful," Alex said.
"So then, what went so wrong? You know, we were having such a lovely time. And now my father has completely closed himself off for some reason. Why?" J'onn asked, and Alex was hesitant.
"You're gonna have to talk to him about it. It's not my place. I'm sorry. But for the record," Alex said before she smiled, "I had a lovely time, too," she then walked off while J'onn watched her go confused.
Down below them, James walked amongst the facility, calling Lena again, who went to voicemail.
"If you have this number, you must be important."
BEEP!
"Yo, it's me again. Uh...I talked to your assistant, he said the only time you've been in was yesterday morning this entire week so that Iris could sign Ruby's legal guardian papers, and I just wanted to...just give me a call when you can," he then ended the call before walking into the lab where Winn and his mother were working hard in, "Any luck on figuring out who's behind the Toyman attacks?"
"No, but we've discovered a thousand ways how not to make a flying monkey," Mary said.
"And also a few ways to make better flying monkeys," Winn added as he walked around the table to grab more tools.
"Oh, and the wiring on these is amateurish at best," Mary said.
"Alas, we are no closer to finding out who actually built them," Winn said before suddenly, Mary looked at Winn.
"I could use a break. I'm gonna head downstairs, rest for a little bit," she said before she walked out of the lab.
———
Later on, after hours, Winn stormed up to the circular table of the facility where he found Supergirl, The Flash with his cowl off, James and Mon-El. "Have you guys seen my mom?" He asked.
"I thought you two were putting Humpty Dumpty together again," Mon said.
"No, she's gone. So is the side panel from the monkey's gear chamber," Winn said just as Iris approached them as well.
"Hey, guys," she said and they all looked at her.
"Iris, hey...where's Ruby?" Mon asked.
"Uh, at school? Why? What's going on-" She started but then a video screen popped up on the screens behind them, a video of Mary stuck inside a claw of some sort, "Oh...my, God," and by her reaction and the daze in her eyes, they all looked at the screen as well.
"I have your mother, but you can trade your life for hers. She's hanging around at the old Wiggins Game Company factory. But hurry, Junior. The pressure is on."
"Winn, don't come here!"
Winn breathed heavily, panicking as Supergirl and Barry sternly looked at the screen. "I'll go," Supergirl said.
"We both will," Barry added.
"Me too," Mon said.
"Not without me," Winn said as he began to walk off, which Iris began to follow after him.
"That's exactly what she wants," she said as everyone else began to follow them.
"I've spent my entire life trying to fight off the part of me that's like my dad, but now, now I can use it. Let's go," Winn said, and Iris nodded. But as they continued to walk out, Mon-El suddenly placed his blaster in Iris's hand, not wanting her to go into danger without her own backup.