A glance upward from her microscope made it clear that not even two minutes had passed since Alex had last checked her watch.
It was an incredibly slow day at the DEO. Not that she minded – not every day had to end in a military intervention or an alien attack. She was more than happy to catch up on her lab work, since it had been delayed through other responsibilities.
But she was waiting for the clock to hit six so she had a reason to get out of the lab and head into the command center. Maggie would meet her and Kara for dinner, and Alex was excited to check out the place her wife had recommended.
She probably shouldn't be – if her past picks were any indication, Maggie usually went for the more environmental, vegan, green places that had Kara's eyebrows practically meeting her hairline as she read from the menu, muttering words in Kryptonian that Alex knew were probably cursing the food on Earth.
But it was the last moment of peace and quiet for the three of them. Because tomorrow, President Marsdin would be returning to National City to attend L-Corp's annual fundraiser gala. And that meant all hands on deck, especially for Maggie and Kara.
Finally, the beep of her watch made her jump up and abandon her lab work, practically running out the door.
"Alex." J'onn acknowledged when he saw her run into the command center.
"Hey. Have you seen-…" Alex was cut off by the whoosh of Kara landing next to her in Supergirl uniform. Probably just returning from a patrol she'd been on, and now wrapping her arms around her. "Hi! You ready?"
"Damn, Danvers."
Alex and Kara spun around at the words, and saw Maggie walk into the room. Badge on her belt, gun in her holster and a smirk plastered on her face.
Alex glanced down, and now realized what she'd been referring to – she was still wearing her lab coat.
"Oh…" She took it off quickly, revealing a casual outfit. Because of the lab work, she hadn't been in tactical gear all day. She draped the coat over Winn's chair quickly, smiled at him to dismiss his reply, and moved forward to greet her wife with a kiss.
"So, where is it! I could fly us over, or-…" Kara beamed. But Alex saw Maggie's eyes widen at the thought of flying with her, and stepped in quickly. "I'm sure Maggie has a car. Right, babe?"
"Right!" Maggie said, a little too quickly. "Yes. My car. On the ground."
"Oh, okay!" Kara followed the detective, who had spun on her heels and was walking to the exit. Alex jogged to catch up with her, and saw her relieved sigh.
"I owe you one."
Alex smirked and wrapped an arm around her waist.
It wasn't until they heard a strangled cry behind them, that the both of them turned around.
Kara was bent over, both hands clutching her temples, and grunting pathetically. It looked like she was having a horrible headache. Alex rushed forward immediately and reached for her. "Hey… Kara, are you okay? Can you hear me? Kara…?"
Maggie ran back to the command center for help, but then saw to her horror that Winn was already holding on to J'onn, who seemed to be in a similar position.
Something was targeting them.
"Winn! Enable the magnetic field! Do something!" Alex yelled from by the door. Maggie took J'onn over from the man, as he nodded quickly and ran a hand through his spiky hair, moving to his computer screen.
But just as suddenly as it had appeared, it seemed to be over again. J'onn and Kara gasped in unison as they lurched up. Whatever had gripped them was gone. For now.
"Hey, are you okay?!" Alex asked, her eyes wide with worry as she tried to search her sister's face for any sign of discomfort. Kara looked up. "The President…"
"What about her?"
"They're planning something." J'onn said.
Alex helped Kara up as they regrouped back near Winn's desk.
"It was some sort of telepathic frequency. A message." He continued.
"Well, what did it say?!" Maggie crossed her arms with a frown.
Kara cleared her throat. "That the President's landing in National City will be marked by decapitation, right in front of her people'."
"Decapitation…" Alex frowned.
"They're going to kill her?"
Nobody replied to the rhetorical question, but everybody knew the answer.
"What's the plan?" Maggie clenched her jaw. "She's landing at the airfield at eleven in the morning tomorrow."
"They sent the message so that only aliens could hear it. That means they wanted us to pick up on it. So they're probably aliens too."
"But why would they warn us? Why not just grab the element of surprise?" Alex shook her head. It sounded too easy.
"Some bad guys just want to see their ego stroked. We don't know if it's a credible threat." Maggie interjected.
"Credible or not, we're taking precautions." J'onn turned to Alex. "I want you on a plane to Washington right now. I'll inform the President of your arrival. You're travelling with her as Secret Service tomorrow, and keeping us updated."
"Yes sir." Alex nodded.
"We need to be subtle and not raise any concerns with the civilians, but we are not letting the President get attacked here again."
A shake of heads went around the group, and then everybody scattered. Alex ran off immediately before anybody could say a word. Winn turned his chair to face his monitors once again, and J'onn ran to his office, probably to talk to the President on a secure line.
Leaving Kara and Maggie in the center of the room, leaning over the table. Stunned.
"Is that all they said? 'Decapitation, right in front of her people'?" Maggie asked.
Kara nodded meekly. "I-I think so, yeah. It was just that one sentence."
"Was it male? Female? Any accents, anything familiar you picked up on?"
Kara winced as she obviously tried to remember, but shook her head. "I don't know. It happened so quickly… Maybe J'onn knows."
"Yeah. It's okay, Kara." Maggie added quickly when she saw that the blonde still had a scowl on her face. "The President is going to be fine."
Maggie continued rubbing Kara's back, until she saw Alex appear again, holding what looked like a duffel bag.
"Kara, I need you to fly me home so I can pick up some clothes." Alex said, putting the bag down on the table. It looked like it was zipped haphazardly – Maggie could still see the barrel of a gun sticking out, and something red glowing underneath it.
Both Danvers sisters ran to the balcony, before Alex changed her mind and spun around to face her. "Mags, I'm sorry, I-…"
"Go!" Maggie said with a shake of her head.
Alex nodded and reached for Kara, as the both of them launched up into the sky.
Maggie closed her eyes, trying to think. Flying to DC meant that Alex would arrive around midnight. She shot Alex's phone a quick text to call her when she landed, before heading back to Winn.
"What can I do?"
The technician looked up and cleared his throat nervously. "J'onn said to keep it quiet so we can't exactly use the NCPD resources any more than what was already scheduled. But…" He spun his chair to face her. "… According to the schedule, the President is supposed to be greeted by the mayor at the airfield tomorrow, and they're scheduled to have lunch…"
Maggie nodded, realizing what Winn was on to. "I'll go talk to him."
"Keep your phone near, I'll call if we have any updates on President Marsdin."
"Got it!" Maggie yelled over her shoulder, before she ran out of the command center and into the elevator.
Though it wasn't a pleasant conversation, the mayor at least seemed intent on offering anything he could to help.
Maggie explained the plan that was currently in place – J'onn shapeshifting into the mayor at the airfield just to be safe, and switching out as soon as they stepped into a car – and he agreed to it reluctantly.
The detective thanked him for his cooperation and after telling him explicitly that he wasn't to talk to anybody about the threat, was escorted out of his office.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket as soon as she stepped outside, and she reached for it.
Incoming call – Alex Danvers
She frowned – Alex couldn't possibly have landed already. But she answered the call anyway. "Hey?"
"Hey." Came the filtered reply.
"How are you calling me? Did you take a private jet?"
"No, I'm flying coach. Still in the air, three more hours to go. But there's wi-fi here, so I wanted to talk."
Maggie smiled immediately as she put her phone on speaker and entered her car.
"Any updates?"
"I just talked to the mayor, he guaranteed to keep it quiet, but we have to switch him out at the tarmac. Haven't heard anything from J'onn or the President."
"I have. Instructions are 'business as usual'. Only the President and her staff know."
"You know, I'm having a really weird sense of déja-vu right now." Maggie smirked as she maneuvered out of her parking spot and started driving back to their shared apartment.
"The president-getting-attacked thing? Where we met? Oh yeah."
"You know, it was my jurisdiction, right? That was a clear PD case."
"Bite me."
Maggie laughed, before growing serious again. "It sucks that we didn't get to say goodbye properly."
"We should reschedule the reservation – I'm really sorry we missed it."
"Don't worry about it, Danvers. It was just guac and tofu, anyway. Kara would have hated it."
"It's okay. I'll be back at eleven, tomorrow. At the airfield. You'll be there, right?"
"Of course. Seeing you in all black, standing next to the president looking all badass…Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"I love you."
Maggie smiled. "I love you too. Text me when you get off the plane, I won't be able to sleep until you do. And say hi to Capitol Hill for me."
"I will. See you tomorrow, babe."
"Alright, guys. Role call." Winn said, cracking his knuckles and glancing up at the plethora of camera feeds in front of him, on a monitor wall in his van.
"In position. Nothing odd so far." Kara was the first one to speak, flying overhead to keep an eye on the crowd from above. She was the only one that couldn't be incognito – the people had to know that Supergirl was there.
"Crowd seems excited." Maggie's voice was second, from her spot near the crush barriers, to keep the huge mass of people contained. Hundreds of people had come down to catch a glimpse of the President, and though they seemed to behave, the sheer amount of heads made Maggie nervous.
Any one of them could have bad intentions.
"The mayor is waiting in the car, I'm coming out now." J'onn announced. The rest of the team saw the doors to one of the black cars on the tarmac open, as a gray-haired man stepped out, waving politely at the crowd.
"Is Alex in range yet?" Kara asked. "I can hear the jet approaching, they shouldn't be more than ten minutes out."
"Six, according to the pilot." Alex's voice flooded the intercom. "When the airstair drops, I'm coming out first. The President will stay behind me until everyone greenlights, do you copy?"
A series of 'copy's went around the coms, before Winn took a deep breath. "Alright. Showtime."
Under loud cheers from the crowd, Air Force One landed a few minutes later, and taxied to the carpet. As the engines died down, the entire team seemed on high alert, looking around.
"I don't see anything." Kara grunted.
But Maggie frowned, as she noticed somebody in the crowd. Her gut feeling told her something was wrong, as the man was glaring right at her from underneath a dirty blue baseball cap.
She took a step in the man's direction, but he turned around and walked away. This alerted her even more, as she increased her pace. "NCPD…!"
But when she stepped into the crowd and looked around, the man had vanished. She was gaining attention now, as the civilians around her started to notice that something was wrong.
"Maggie?" Alex's voice in the intercom.
The detective turned her head to see her wife standing on top of the airstair, pretending to look through the crowd but eyes focused on hers. "What's wrong?"
"I- nothing, I think." Maggie shook her head.
"Everyone else has greenlit." Alex continued, a hand pressed to her earpiece. "Can you confirm?"
One last glance into the crowd, as Maggie sighed. "Yes. Proceed. All clear."
Alex nodded and leaned back. Within seconds, President Marsdin appeared in the doorway of the jet, initiating a loud round of applause from the crowd. She waved charmingly at the group of people as she descended the steps.
Alex lead the way down, stopping in front of J'onn – in the body of the mayor. They exchanged a small nod, before the President joined them, and reached for his hand.
"Anything yet?" She asked the man. J'onn smiled back to keep up appearances for the cameras. "Not yet. We should move to the car and get out of the open."
The President nodded, as she allowed him to lead the way, glancing sideways at the agent by her side. "Thank you for the protection, Agent Danvers."
"Of course, ma'am." Alex responded, blending in with the other Secret Service members effortlessly as the group escorted the two politicians to the waiting car convoy.
J'onn held the door open for the President to get into a black car with tinted windows, and she smiled at him as she got inside. J'onn pretended to head inside as well, before shapeshifting back into his Hank Henshaw form, and stepping out of the car.
"We'll rendezvous at the DEO site for a briefing, madam President." J'onn said, before closing the door. He and Alex stepped back as the convoy drove off. Supergirl flew into the direction of the cars, continuing to monitor any dangers around the vehicles.
Alex sighed. "Well, that was easy."
"Yeah, I don't like it." J'onn grunted, before they walked back to the plane. Most of the crowd had dispersed when the President had left, and the NCPD officers on site were trying to remove whoever had stayed. Maggie walked over to them in her oversized windbreaker. "So much for the decapitation as soon as she landed."
"Maybe you were right." Alex said, looking at Maggie. "Not every threat is acted upon."
"We need to head back to the DEO – I'm sure the President has questions." J'onn said.
"Guys…?" Winn's voice filled their earpieces once again. They were only a few feet away from the van he was sitting in, so Alex ran up to the side of the car and yanked the door open.
A few seconds later, Winn appeared. His eyes wide and paler than they'd ever seen him.
"What? What is it?" Alex asked, sensing that something was wrong immediately.
"T-the building…" He stuttered. "It's… It was…"
Realizing that they weren't going to get anything out of him soon, the three agents entered the van and looked at his screens.
"Oh my god…" Maggie gasped.
Alex felt her stomach drop.
A big plume of smoke filled the skyline of National City on the satellite images.
Zoomed in on a building that looked ready to collapse any second.
"It's…"
"According to eyewitnesses, there was an explosion." Winn said, clutching his tablet. "A minute ago."
Decapitation.
They bombed the DEO.