Disclaimer: I do not own Supergirl or the characters.

A/N: This is a sequel to Prisoner of Prejudice and is set a couple of weeks after the conclusion of that story.

"You okay?" Winn asked noticing Kara had a pained expression on her face. When he got no response he moved over to her desk and waved his hand in front of her face. The movement seemingly snapping Kara back into focus.

"Winn?" She asked, suddenly aware of his presence in her office.

"You okay?" He repeated.

"Yeah." Kara replied, although it sounded more of a question than a statement.

"Really? Because you don't look so good."

"I just need to concentrate." Kara said as the noise in her head grew.

"It looks like that is the opposite of what you need to do." Winn pointed out before whispering. "Have you lost your powers?"

"No." Kara said shaking her head.

"You want me to call Alex?" He offered.

"No, I'll be okay." Kara said trying to smile at her friend just as her phone rang, the noise causing her to wince in pain.

Looking at the caller display Kara picked up the phone and answered.

"Yes Ms Grant?…..Of course. I'll be right there." She then carefully put the handset down and stood.

"Sorry I have to go."

"Are you sure you should be working?" Winn asked.

"I'm fine." Kara lied as she walked out of her office, Winn on her heels. As she and Winn approached the open plan office and the noise levels increased she found it harder and harder to concentrate. Straining to block out the sounds she eventually made it to Cat's office.

"Yes Ms Grant?"

"I need you to get my lawyers down here."

"Yes Ms Grant." She said turning to go.

"Stay. I made need you get something else as well." Cat demanded forcing Kara to turn back to face her. Reluctantly Kara stayed in Cat's office becoming more and more aware of every noise.

"It's not that easy." James said. "We can't just march in there and demand they hand over their photos." As he spoke Kara struggled to remain focused. It felt as if every sound from the city was being played out in her head causing immense pain. She tried to focus on the breathing techniques her cousin had taught her, but still the sounds grew. The heart beats of James and Cat turning into thundering drum beats in her head.

"My photos." Cat reminded him. "And I don't see why not."

"Technically they're not yours. Besides it's not ethical and I'm fairly sure it's illegal." James countered as Kara felt like she was loosing the battle, the noise and pain becoming so extreme she could no longer concentrate on anything else.

"Just because you used to date a lawyer does not make you an expert on the law." Cat pointed out.

"Please will you all just be quiet" Kara snapped holding her head in pain as she dropped her notepad.

"Kara?" James asked shocked by the outburst.

"I need to make it stop."

"Kara?" James repeated as he approached her. As he reached her though he saw that she was covered in sweat. "You're burning up."

"Can't make it stop." She ground out as she dropped to her knees.

"Make what stop?" James asked as he dropped down in front of Kara before glancing at Cat who looked on concerned.

"Hurts." Kara said her eyes scrunched shut in pain as she squeezed her head.

"What hurts?" James asked.

"Too loud. Why won't it stop?" Kara pleaded before she collapsed unconscious.

"Kara!" James exclaimed as he dropped to her side. "She's still breathing." He said relieved.

"Perhaps you should call her sister?" Cat suggested.

"I'll take her. It will be quicker." James said scooping Kara up in his arms.

-00-

"What gets me is everything we got from the Cadmus database referred to failed projects." Lucy said as she reread the reports in front of her.

"Failed projects would have been archived. It makes sense they were all grouped together." J'onn said.

"True, but you'd still expect a pattern. From looking at the archived projects we should be able to see a direction of travel and infer what their current projects were. But it looks like a random assortment. Which brings me back to my original fear that we are only seeing what they want us to see."

"You are thinking it was staged?" Alex asked.

"I do and that's not all. Maxwell Lord is a clever guy, he should be seeing what I'm seeing. But he hasn't mentioned it. Which could be because he wants to keep his cards close to his chest, maybe he doesn't trust us, but what if it is more than that?" Lucy pressed.

"You think he was involved in Cadmus and he deliberately leaked information? To what end?" J'onn asked.

"When you two found out about Jeremiah being at Cadmus you both decided to take it down. Let's face it Alex, once you have your mind set on something you get tunnel vision. The only way of stopping you going after Cadmus was killing you or shutting it down."

"If I died Kara would take it upon herself to go after Cadmus. So the only way to really stop people going after it was to allow us to find it and shut it down." Alex argued.

"Only what if it isn't shut down, just moved or on hold?" Lucy suggested.

"And you think Lord is what, running it? Working for it?" J'onn asked sceptically.

"I don't know." Lucy confessed. "I just think we would be better not ruling anything out."

"Especially as Max has a history of conducting unethical experiments using alien DNA." Alex pointed out. "Even if he wasn't involved originally I am sure his work would have be appreciated by those who did run it."

"Unfortunately there is no way to prove it one way or the other. But it is starting to feel like we were played." Lucy said, stopping herself before raising her next concern.

"If no one else is going to say it, I will." Alex sighed. "If we really were leaked the information deliberately and we were meant to find Cadmus and my dad, there is a chance that were were meant to rescue my dad."

"I found no evidence in his mind that he was being controlled or had ulterior motives." J'onn said.

"You can't read everyone's minds." Alex pointed out.

"I can if they are human." J'onn countered.

"But he was there a long time. We don't know what happened to him. What of they have found a way of shielding part of his mind?" Alex asked.

"Has your mother said he has done anything strange?"

"No."

"Have you noticed anything odd?"

"No."

"In that case have a little faith." J'onn said. "At the moment all of this is speculation." He added.

"Sir, Ma'ams, sorry to interrupt, but you are needed." Vasquez said bursting into the office.

"What is it?" J'onn asked.

"Your sister." Vasquez answered looking at Alex. "Mr Olsen just brought her in, she is in a bad way."

"What's wrong?" Alex asked paling as she ran out to where Kara was being carefully placed on a gurney by James.

"She was complaining about the noise and not making it stop then she collapsed." James said watching helpless as Hamilton did a quick examination of Kara.

"Was she ill?" Hamilton asked.

"She was sweating, but it didn't seem to be a fever." James said.

"Any obvious exposure to strange rocks, dust or gas?" Hamilton probed.

"No." James and Winn said.

"Were her powers working?" J'onn asked.

"She said she still had her powers." Winn added running a nervous hand through his hair. "If anything it was like she couldn't control them. At least her hearing. She said she needed to concentrate more."

"No fever, but elevated heart rate." Hamilton commented more to herself than anyone else before signalling her team to wheel Kara away as Alex watched, trying to suppress her own fears.

-TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing.