As the night continued on, with Winn asleep in the Med Bay, Supergirl stood in the entrance, watching him at peace when J'onn walked up next to her. "He's gonna be okay," he assured.
"I know, it's not just that," Supergirl said x thinking to herself, "Do you think I'll get through to Pestilence?"
"There's no way of knowing. You just have to try," J'onn said.
"That's not what Yoda would say," Supergirl mumbled and J'onn softly scoffed.
"Oh, yeah, Yoda. Do or do not," J'onn said, before softly chuckling, "He was wrong about that one," and Supergirl softly smiled, "You know, these days, I don't know what my father will remember. I wake up and have the same conversation with him every day. I keep at it because sometimes he remembers we've had that conversation before, and we actually laugh about it. I keep trying. I keep talking...so that he can find those moments of clarity. And laugh. Just because something's hard doesn't mean it's impossible. You break through impossible every day. You inspire the rest of us to do the same."
"You're a good son," Supergirl softly told him and he looked at her, "And thank you," he nodded before he left, leaving Supergirl and Winn alone once more.
The Legion's Ship
On the bridge, Imra was standing behind a console, pulling up holographic equations before her when Mon-El walked in, a stern look on him. "Did you talk to Iris?" He asked.
"Yes. And she didn't listen to reason," Imra said, pressing buttons on the console, avoiding his contact.
"You didn't tell her the whole story, did you?" He asked and she glanced over to him, giving him the answer he needed before looking away again. "You keep saying this is a Legion mission, but you made this decision on your own out of vengeance."
Imra harshly pressed a button on the console, which caused the holograms to fade away before she faced Mon-El, "I'm doing this to save countless lives in the future. I'm perfectly capable of keeping my personal feelings out of this," she told him before giving him a look.
Mon-El stared at her taken back before she walked past him, beginning to leave the bridge, "You brought me here," he sternly said, the both of them looking back at each other, "You can't keep punishing me for it."
She then walked out as Brainy walked in, feeling the tension between the married couple, "Are you two having martial conflict which I should stay out of, or is this a work-related quandary where my intellect might be of use?" He asked.
"Why didn't you tell me about this mission before we came here, Brainy?" Mon asked as he rubbed his temple stressed.
"Because you would've never agreed to it," Brainy said, stepping down the small step of stairs, approaching Mon-El, "To come back here."
"How do you know?" Mon asked.
"Obviously, I ran simulations based off specific emotional behavioral data taken from your brain over the last seven years. The results were troubling," Brainy explained and Mon-El sighed, slowly turning his back to him.
"We took an oath when we formed the Legion. To preserve all that is good and to never harm the innocent," Mon said before facing Brainy again, "How is this mission in line with that? We should not kill Pestilence," and by Brainy's snobby look and his crossed arms — Mon-El knew his point of view on the subject, "And you're obviously on Imra's side."
"It's not about picking sides, Mon-El," Brainy said, taking a step towards him, "If we kill Pestilence when we find her, there's a 98.449% chance the Blight will never happen. Millions of people will be saved. Now, if we try to rescue the person inside of her in order to defeat her, that chance is reduced to 52.744%."
"Some decisions can't be made with a math equation," Mon softly said but suddenly, Brainy he...he looked distressed.
"Mon-El," he muttered and Mon looked at him, "Something's happened to Winn."
The DEO
In the Med Bay, Iris stood next to Winn, staring down at him worried as he groaned, holding his stomach painfully and stammered out breaths. "Just a thought. I don't...don't think the cure is working," he stammered as Alex, Supergirl, J'onn, Mon-El and Brainy ran in.
"Oh, my God," Supergirl muttered as Alex acted quickly. She grabbed a syringe full of something, and inserted it into his bloodstream with the tube connected to him.
"Alright, this should keep him stabilized for now," she said as everyone looked down at him worried, holding on to every hope and belief that he would pull through.
"Come on, Winn," Iris muttered and soon enough, Winn's body calmed down and he began to breathe normally.
"What happened?" J'onn asked.
Brainy then began mumbling to himself, thinking very quickly, searching all throughout his mind until he got an answer as everyone looked over at him. "Oh, yes, there it is. I see it now. The cure is designed to cure victims of the Blight. But because Pestilence is not technically the Blight but the forebearer of it, the cure we have needs to be modified to fight her particular of virus," he explained.
"So, how do we do that?" James asked.
"We need a piece of Pestilence's DNA," Mon said.
"So, if we can't find her, more people could get infected and the people that are already infected-"
"Yes, finding her as soon as humanly or non-humanly possible would be-" Brainy started, but suddenly Alex dropped to the ground.
"No!" Supergirl yelled as she, J'onn and Iris ran over to her.
"Alex!" J'onn exclaimed, the three of them hovering over the unconscious Danvers, panic filling them.
"No, no, no! Alex, Alex!" Supergirl exclaimed.
"...imperative," Brainy continued.
———
Some time later, Alex slowly woke up, her body beginning to pale over like Winn, laying down in the other bed in the med bay. Supergirl stood by her, holding her hand, staring down at her sister worryingly with Iris next to her.
Unknown to them, someone watched outside of the med bay, watching the sisters as a tear dripped down her face. But before anyone could see her, she stepped away as Alex opened her eyes, realizing what happened.
"Hey," Supergirl said as Alex breathed heavily.
"I should be helping," Alex mumbled.
"You need to rest," J'onn said.
"No, let me-"
"No, we're on it. I promise," Supergirl said.
"Alex, whatever you have attacking you, you are stronger than it. No one's more of a fighter than you," J'onn said and Alex nodded, with her eyes closed.
"Keep holding on, Okay, Alex?" Iris said and she nodded again, not noticing the crack in the girl's voice.
Supergirl then leaned down and gave her sister a kiss on her forehead before J'onn walked out of the room. Supergirl and Iris began to walk past when James walked in. He gave both the girls a hug, comforting her as Alex and Winn coughed by them.
Supergirl pulled herself out from the hug and out of the med bay as Iris and James looked over at Winn. He sent them a weak smile before they walked over by him. "I can't even," he muttered as Iris sat in a chair by him.
"What's going on?" James asked, taking a seat next to Iris.
"No, it's just ironic. After twenty years, I finally make peace with my mom and then I get infected by Pestilence," Winn told them.
"You're gonna be better," Iris said, softly nodding her head as if to make herself believe it, too.
"Maybe," Winn muttered, "Man...I was attacked by a Worldkiller. There's no cure."
"Hey, don't go there. Winn, you cannot think like that, brother," James told him.
"Yeah, Mon-El...he's...he's gonna come up with something and you're...you're gonna be fine. You'll be just fine," Iris assured him though her voice was shaking but Winn shook his head.
"This is just making me reflect on my life," he said, "You know what? After we reconnected, my mom and I- I hadn't realized, like, so much of my baggage was tied into her abandoning me. Like, all my life I never felt like I deserved anything. But you know what, I have done great despite circumstances," he then laid his eyes on the two, "I made some true friendships," a tear dropped from Iris's eyes, trying to not let her scared feelings take over, "That has been the best parts of my life..."
A tear dropped from Winn's eyes as James wiped away his own tears, "And now I can finally let myself imagine what I'd do if I could do anything. Like, if I could really be anything. Like, I could be the next Steve Jobs, or I could make a rocket for NASA. I can build human transportation to another planet, show Elon Musk how it's done," and James let out a small chuckle, "Like, I could...like, I'm ready..."
Winn's voice was on the edge of sobbing, not wanting to go that far while tears continued to fall down Iris's face, "And I think it might be too late..."
"You are gonna do everything that you want," James said and Winn nodded, staring up at him with a smile.
He then pulled himself together, and left the med bay, leaving Iris alone with Winn. She tried to pull herself together, but every time she tried, she kept imagining life without Winn there...life without him alive, and it just made her want to cry all over again.
"Iris..." and she looked at Winn again, "There's something you need to know, in case I don't make it..."
"No, Winn," Iris muttered, shaking her head, "Don't talk like that. You are going to be fine, I-"
"I love you," He softly said and Iris stared at him taken back, "I've always loved you."
"What?" She softly said, almost a whisper as more tears developed in her eyes.
"I've loved you since that first day, when we bickered back and forth about Kara's suit. From our constant trying to out the other, from Team Guardian, from everything we've been through," he softly told her.
"Winn..."
"I'm not asking you to requite the feelings because I know you're in love with Mon-El, and you will always be in love with Mon-El. I'm not telling you this expecting anything in return, but you needed to know. You deserve...the world, Iris West. And I hope you get all the happiness you can get, with Mon-El or not."
She didn't say anything else, she just nodded and he nodded back before closing his eyes. She then stood up from her seat, gazing down at Winn a moment more before leaving the Med bay, but when she did, she was met with — Mon-El; He heard the whole thing.
But not wanting to have a even more awkward conversation or a conversation that will just hurt her heart more — Iris walked away from him.
Meanwhile, off in the distance, James pulled out his phone, dialing someone he thought could help.
"Jimmy, this really isn't a good time."
"Winn and Alex are really sick," James said into the phone.
"I'm so sorry."
"Lena," James muttered, almost a whisper, "You have the largest pharmaceutical company in the country. I really need you to put your people on this."
"I'm already working on it."
"You are?" James asked, a little surprised, "Well, that's great news, right? Have you told Supergirl?"
"Listen, I can't really say anything and please don't say anything to her. Or to Iris. I know how close they are, like you and Superman. I don't want to over-promise, but...I'm really close to a breakthrough —— I'm really sorry I can't be there with you."
"Yeah, it's just, uh...it's just tough being here with him like this and not able to do anything," James said, looking back at Winn through the med bay windows.
"You are doing something. I'm glad you called."
"Me, too," James said before he hung up the phone.
On the first floor, Iris stormed towards the circular table, Mon-El following after her, where together they found J'onn, Supergirl and Brainy. "Winn and Alex are going downhill," Iris said, pulling everyone's attention towards her, "We have to do something, there has to be something..."
"Well, I'm doing the best I can here. I followed Agent Schott and Danvers on security footage when they were at City Hall, assuming they ran into Pestilence, but they spent sixty percent of the time in blind spots. It's like they were trying to evade cameras," Brainy explained.
"What about Adelaide?" Supergirl asked.
"I followed her like the others on every camera I could find in the city," Brainy said.
"Didn't reveal any suspects," J'onn added.
"What about social media?" Supergirl asked.
"Social...what?" Brainy asked before Supergirl hurriedly got to a computer and started typing away.
"In this time, a generation called Millennials would share their whereabouts with family, friends and complete strangers on the Internet. It's a short-lived trend," Mon explained to Brainy.
"Sounds delusional," Brainy said.
"Yeah," Mon muttered and Iris shot him an annoyed look.
"Here," Supergirl said and they all looked over at her to find she pulled up Adelaide's Instagram page, "Twenty-four hours before her death, she brought cookies to a mobile flu unit at City Hall."
"That doesn't tell us anything. She works there," J'onn said.
"But look who's behind her," Supergirl said before she pointed at a woman in the background of Adelaide's Instagram post. It was the Asian doctor from before, "That's that doctor. She was talking to Winn and Alex at City Hall. If she was there hours earlier, she must have infected the mayor and everyone else. I'm sure of it."
"I didn't see her with him in the security footage," Brainy said, walking off towards a computer.
"But you said there were blind spots," Iris said before she looked at Supergirl, who stood up, a shocked look on her.
"She's Pestilence. She has to be," she said before Brainy pulled him the woman's information up on the screen.
"Doctor Grace Parker, first in her class at Metropolis University School of Medicine, now practices emergency surgery at National City General," Brainy read off and Supergirl looked back at Iris.
"She's a doctor," she softly said with a worried tone, "She heals people for a living."
"You can get through to her," Iris told her.
"We're not gonna make the same mistake we made with Julia," Supergirl said and Iris shook her head before the two looked back in front of them.
"Is she still at the hospital?" J'onn asked Brainy.
"Actually, according to a simple scan of security cameras throughout the city, it seems she entered the Silvermine Health Insurance building five minutes ago," Brainy told him.
"I'm going," Supergirl said.
"I'll come with you," Mon said before the two began to walk off.
"I'll organize a strike team," J'onn said, following after them.
Once he thought he was alone, once he thought it was just him — Brainy pressed into his comms, "Imra...they found her," and then he looked around, making sure no one heard him — just to find Iris looking right at him, an annoyed look on her.
Silvermine Health Insurance
Walking into a conference room where a meeting was being held, Doctor Grace Parker walked in, her once brown eyes now turned yellow. Pestilence.
"...is down five percent, it will affect personal bonuses. Target lower income families. Raise the rates. We can't forget it's the evaluation itself that's in question..." the man in charge of the meeting suddenly looked at the entrance of the room to find Pestilence standing there, "...Can I help you?"
"You could have, but you missed your chance," she said as everyone's attention was now on her, "You sit there, wallowing in your own ignorance. Looking for any reason you can to deny your customers the very service you have sold them."
"Can we get security in here?" The man asked, pressing into his telephone all while Pestilence walked over to him.
"You won't need them. Life-and-death decisions are out of your hands now," she said.
"Just make your point and get out, okay?" He said, staring up at her nervously.
"I was hoping you'd say that," Pestilence said before one of her fingers grew sharp.
She threw herself towards him to attack but backed off when two beams of laser heat vision almost hit her. She and everyone else looked to see where it came from to find Supergirl and Mon-El. "Don't take another step, Grace," Supergirl said.
"It's not Grace anymore," Pestilence said, turning her body towards her.
And during this time, all the humans quickly got out of the room while Supergirl slowly approached Pestilence, "You would save even these scabs? They who profit on the suffering of others?"
"Everyone deserves saving," Supergirl softly said.
"Not them. They're not good," Pestilence said.
"But you are," Supergirl said and Pestilence rolled her eyes.
Right then, Imra ran up to them, but Mon-El stopped her before she could get any closer, "Imra, wait. Give her a chance," he told her.
"Think of the lives you've saved," Supergirl said, taking a bigger step towards her while Pestilence walked around the table, away from her, "You're a doctor, Grace. The day you took an oath you swore you would do no harm."
"Do no harm," Pestilence quoted before she began to shudder.
She grabbed hold of a nearby chair, trying to hold herself together when her finger went back to normal. She looked towards Supergirl as her yellow eyes turned back to brown.
"Grace," Supergirl whispered, stepping towards her, "It's gonna be okay."
"My mother used to always say that good would be rewarded with Grace," Grace said before she chuckled, walking off a bit, "But when I became a surgeon I finally saw the truth. There's no reward for being good."
"Whatever's happening to you doesn't give you power over who lives," Supergirl said, walking around the table and towards Grace, "Only over who dies. You don't want that. We can stop it."
"Stop it?" Grace questioned and Supergirl nodded, "Why would I ever wanna stop it? This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I don't have to worry about saving anyone anymore because I don't want to."
"No-"
"I get to choose who dies."
"Grace-"
"They saw that surgeons have a God complex, but it's simple. I am a God," Grace said before her eyes turned back yellow.
She held her hand back, the fatal claws grown back, about to slash Supergirl when suddenly her hand was wrapped by something, preventing her from doing so. She looked back to see it was Mon-El. So she grabbed the cape, and yanked it, throwing him across the room.
Imra stepped in, using her powers to lift up a chair then throw it at Pestilence. But she dodged the attack. She then looked at Supergirl who breathed heavily. She attacked the hero but Supergirl pulled her around, pushing her through a glass wall.
Imra and Mon-El quickly ran over to Supergirl, just to find Pestilence climbing up onto a railing before jumping off of it. Supergirl quickly flew after her, harshly landing in front of Pestilence on the first floor, "You honestly thought you could talk me into being redeemed? You're such a child. Words will never hurt me."
"What about sticks and stones?" Supergirl asked before at that moment, things began to be thrown down at Pestilence.
Supergirl and Pestilence looked up to find Imra, throwing down any heavy objects she could find, levitating them on top of Pestilence.
Supergirl and Pestilence looked up to find Imra, throwing down any heavy objects she could find, levitating them on top of Pestilence. The Worldkiller then quickly found a pole, and yanked it right for Imra, but Mon-El flew in just in time, catching it.
He dropped down in front of Pestilence, using the pole she used against her, smashing her face with it. But she got jumped up into the air and Imra ran off as Supergirl flew up into the air, beginning to fight Pestilence.
It ended with Pestilence being slammed to the ground while Supergirl stayed in the air. But when Pestilence looked up, she smirked at the hero. "Oh, Supergirl," she taunted, gesturing to her own face, "You got a little something."
Supergirl touched her cheek and felt multiple scratches. She then felt her nose bleeding, and she felt very weak. She gasped before she dropped to the ground where Mon-El immediately ran up to her. But when the two looked back at Pestilence, they found a circular force field around her.
Behind the force field, it was Imra, holding a type of device in her hand. "Imra," Supergirl muttered but Imra ignored her.
She stabbed the device into Pestilence with her telekinesis, and Supergirl could only assume it was something to kill the Worldkiller. Pestilence dropped to the ground as the force field faded away around her. She pulled the devil out of her, shuddering, as yellow veins appeared all over her head, causing the Worldkiller pain.
Imra walked around her slowly while Supergirl looked defeated. Imra thought she had won when suddenly Pestilence looked up to the sky, smiling, "She's here," she muttered.
Right then, Purity crashed through the glass roof, standing by Pestilence, "Julia!" Supergirl called out, but Purity stared at her annoyed.
She screamed out, air frequencies booming, slamming into Supergirl, Mon-El and Imra, causing them to slid against the floor and away from the two.
Purity then looked down at Pestilence, "Sister," she said, helping her to her feet, "I've found you."
Purity then flew them both off as Mon-El and Imra stood. "She was dying!" Imra snapped.
"Purity made her stronger," Mon said before he looked down at Supergirl to find she was having trouble standing so he helped her up.
"Oh, wait!" Imra exclaimed, seeing the device she used was on the ground, "It's hers," she picked it up off the ground, "It's her DNA."
"Is that enough for Brainy to alter the cure?" Supergirl asked.
"It's more than enough," Imra said.