One more…
The striped fourteen lies tauntingly in the sea of green.
The lone contester amongst a crowd of other numbers that had already met their end.
The brunette leans over the pool table, lines up the cue for a smooth shot.
Relishing the dull clunk as the balls connect, watching with satisfaction as the final striped sphere rolls toward the desired destination.
Maggie sighs as she steps out from under the fluorescent lighting and back into the muted, pulsing colors of the alien pub.
Humming to herself as she took another congratulatory sip of Jack Daniels.
Another game in the hole.
Three for three.
It would be a lot more fun if Alex were here with her.
Alex with her silky brown hair and sparkling caramel eyes and ridiculously dry sense of humor.
But she was away on official DEO business, the specifics of which were very unclear.
Because if there was one thing she could take away from their nights together was that Alex took her job very seriously.
Which meant though she incessantly complained about her job, details were always far and few between.
It didn't bother Maggie much. She, being from an intelligence field herself, knew how it was with confidentiality.
It was a testament of faith that Alex even trusted her with Supergirl's identity.
So it was settled, Maggie was riding solo tonight.
The detective makes her way back to the bar stools, searching for another refill.
The maneuvering around aliens of all kind and creed, almost makes the effort not worth it.
She should be on the down low anyways.
A flash of blonde catches her eye, but she continues forward.
Makes small talk with the bartender as he prepares her a drink.
On the way back another stab of familiarity makes itself known.
The detective scans the bar.
Aliens laughing.
Drinking.
Playing pool.
But something's off.
Then she sees it.
A flash of blonde underneath a mass of two burly, heavily tattooed men.
Something bothers her about that.
Too much.
Maggie narrows her eyes as she puts her drink down.
Kara?
Shouldn't she have been doosing it up with her friend.
What's his name.
Mon-el?
"Kara!"
She gets no reply from her friend.
And when Maggie approaches the table she clearly sees why.
The taller blonde looks completely out of it.
Swaying in her seat as the two men hold her up.
Maggie's gut twists with disgust and fury when she realizes what's going on.
"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Though she and Kara hadn't started off on the right foot, she and the blonde had grown closer over the months her and Alex had dated.
It was impossible not to get along with her easygoing demeanor and affable attitude.
The giddy alien often reminded Maggie of the little sister she never had.
Guessed the protective instinct came with it.
"Move along lady. She wants this."
The burly man on the left grumbles.
"Mhm…" The other one murmurs. "Don't worry about it, she's just a bit drunk."
She'd seen Kara Danvers drunk before.
Several times.
At the bar.
At Danver's house.
At the goddamn Christmas party.
The exuberant blonde was, by no surprise, a happy drunk.
Dissolving into laughter at even the most mundane things.
Giggling at the lights and the broken glass and at Alex who'd only roll her eyes affectionately and take her drink away.
So she knows this isn't Kara drunk.
Knows that these two men are lying through their teeth.
Maggie glances at the table.
Three tall mugs.
Almost all of them empty.
Except the one in the center.
Kara's.
"What did you assholes give her?"
Her question goes unanswered.
The burly man smirks.
The other one leans in for another kiss.
"What the fuck is your problem bitch?"
Bitch.
Maggie grabs the scruff of his collar and slams him headfirst into the table.
Crimson sprays immediately, a broken nose probably, but it's nothing compared to what Alex would have done.
Alex would have shot him.
Without hesitation.
The other one releases his hold on Kara's shirt.
And the alien with no support, slumps limply to the side.
Maggie reaches for her badge and flashes it, when the few remaining patrons in the bar perk at the altercation.
Most of them back away as soon as they see it. A good majority scatter towards the exits.
Because this bar, isn't like the other one, it's supposed to be a police free, human free zone and all that.
And they'd always had with clear reason for distrust.
The two men scramble when they see it.
The larger one shoves the table towards her.
Sending the contents and the table flying to the ground.
Shattering the glass and spraying the liquid everywhere.
The bloodied one weasels himself around her in the momentary disarray.
God given defiance in his eyes.
Within moments they're both running for the doors.
For a moment, she considers chasing down the bastards.
But there are more pressing matters.
Kara.
The blonde is a ghastly shade of greyish red.
Like she's blushing and paling at the same time
"Hey Kara… Are you with me?"
The detective uses her momentum to shift the younger woman back into an upwards sitting position.
Cups her chin and tries to gently coax the blonde into meeting her eyes.
What she sees isn't good.
Her pupils are wide, rolling aimlessly amongst the bloodshot streaked seas of white.
Glassy and unseeing.
And the younger Danvers is cold. So cold.
How can someone be so cold in this makeshift excuse for an oven?
Maggie finds herself looking at the glass again.
Now shattered in pieces. Broken shards soaking in its previously held liquid remnants.
And wished so desperately she'd brushed up on at least a little Kryptonion pharmacology.
She reaches for her phone. Hastily dialing in the numbers.
If Kara were normal, a hospital would have been the top priority.
But Kara isn't normal.
And hospitals aren't made for alien physiology.
"You've reached Alex Danvers. If I haven't answered I'm either busy or don't want to talk to you. Leave a message after the beep."
Voicemail.
She tries J'onn.
Voicemail.
Winn.
Straight to dial tone.
Alex again.
Nothing.
Goddamn it.
Goddamn it!
She doesn't have anyone else from the DEO on speed dial.
Her focus turns back to Kara.
Who is looking at everything and nothing at the same time.
Who is speaking wordlessly, incomprehensibly with absolutely no sound.
Whose form has started to tremble, Maggie can feel the small shivers underneath her hand.
She presses two fingers against the girl's neck.
Her pulse is thready. Weak.
But the detective isn't exactly sure what her normal pulse is supposed to be.
Because Supergirl was supposed to be indestructible.
And until now she'd never seen her as anything other than exactly that.
Things like heartrate had never seemed that important until now.
"Kara. I need you to look at me. Danvers! At me! I need you to focus."
Maggie reiterates the command when the girl's eyes begin to drift away again.
"Do you know what they gave you?"
But the younger sister of her girlfriend only gives her a dopey, empty glance.
No spark of recognition or attentiveness even register in her eyes.
Not even a semblance of concentration.
Cold runs through her veins.
It's bad.
She needs to get Kara to the DEO. Now.
Only they were equipped to deal with this type of situation.
The detective shifts herself under the taller woman's arm. Prepares to lift her up.
Prepares to drag her to the car if she has too.
The remaining patrons that haven't scattered, gaze warily from their barstools.
Byproducts of a world where it was much easier to stand idly by instead of get directly involved.
Assholes.
The blonde is a mess of uncooperative heavy limbs.
And her height certainly isn't helping.
The younger woman is shaking now.
The former shivers transforming into sporadic spasms as Maggie struggled to get her to stand on her own two feet.
"Kara. Come on, we're going to get some help."
And there's nothing but a distressed groan in response.
But she supposes saying something is better than saying nothing at all.
In agonizing minutes, rather than seconds the detective manages to get the blonde to the exit.
Forced to plow straight through the floor of broken glass.
Because any longer route risked more pain than necessary.
And she's already coaching the blonde the entire way as it is.
Maggie wants to feel relieved when they finally reach the door, but she knows that it is only a small, if not temporary victory and Kara is nowhere near off the hook.
"Come on, Little Danvers. One more step. One more…"
The cold air stings her skin.
The back entrance of the bar slams shut behind them.
And when she looks up at taller woman, Maggie notices the grey tint rapidly overtaking her features.
One more step…
But the blonde doesn't have one more step left in her.
A guttural groan escapes Kara's throat as her eyes roll back into her head and then she's convulsing.
Her limbs begin to jerk sharply, a massive amplification of the mere trembling that dominated her beforehand.
Kara's hands clench and her ankles spasms inwardly as her legs try to pull in different directions.
And suddenly Maggie finds herself supporting the entirety of the younger woman as gravity tries to pull them both down.
She is so focused on helping, that she doesn't take into consideration just how strong her friend is.
Not until an arm is flying in her direction.
The force of the blow sends a spike of white-hot pain across her chest, pitching her backwards, sending her crashing across the backstreet alley they'd exited into.
The fragile wood splinters under her weight and the loose debris scrapes gashes into her skin as the momentum sends her ten, twenty, thirty feet away.
Air rushes from her lungs as her back finally collides with a brick wall.
The crack of her ribs is more than audible.
And so is the ringing in her ears.
For a moment everything grows fuzzy.
There are stars…
And colors…
But she could still hear Kara.
Could hear every sharp movement of her arms colliding with the cement and each watery… or bloody exhale as she struggles to breathe through the contractions.
And something else.
Something else…
Something…
Her concentration falters.
Something wet slides down her neck.
Wet and warm.
She raises a hand to it.
Comes back with crimson.
Shit.
The fuzziness threatens to overtake her vision.
The detective struggles to shake it away.
Struggles to get up.
Too no avail.
The darkness wins that battle.