A/N: As the summary states, this is heavily based on the Bourne movies (but only the original three). If you haven't watched them yet, I strongly recommend it; They're some of the best action movies ever made.
It's funny how someone's life can change in an instant. In one single moment that steers their course into uncharted territory. You might not realize that such an event can be so momentous while it's happening. You get caught in the whirlwind; too confused and disoriented to think anything else than stay here. Focus on the now.
So, you do just that; it's the most you can do anyways. Taking it one scene at a time, one day at a time, one minute at a time. You don't know where this new path will take you. For now, you're just content to stay where you are and let the currents do their thing. Eventually, you start to fall into a routine. The path is now familiar. The storm is comforting. Then, the waves grow too high for the ship to handle and the creaking and splintering of the wooden body of the ship becomes too deafening to ignore. It is only when the ship is violently ripped out from under your feet, you truly grasp how much your life has changed.
In the case of one Alexandra Danvers, her moment occurs on a stormy Wednesday night. More specifically, it occurs in the form of a girl with golden locks who plummeted from the sky.
She sits on her backyard porch, legs swinging as she watches the storm unfold. She leans back with one hand clutching a beer bottle and the other planted by her side for balance. In the distance, flashes of lighting dominate the sky, allowing her to steal glimpses of the choppy waters that lay ahead. The wind chimes are singing at an erratic pace.
Alex takes a swig of her beer, relishing the cold sensation. She lets her mind go blank and just merely listens to the howling of the storm and the thunderous chorus of the sky as an appreciative observer. In the time between the lightening strikes, she manages to finish her beer and sets it down to her side, intending to pick it up when she retires for the night.
A brilliant flash. Then after a few beats, a ground shaking boom. The redhead catches a glimpse of her flailing boat tied to the dock, helpless against the constant onslaught of the vicious waves. If the rest of the storm season is anything like this then she might have to reinvest in some stronger rope, lest the boat drift off into the unforgiving sea without its captain. Alex didn't imagine herself, when she started college, to be here back in Midvale, fishing and boating everyday when the weather allowed her to do so. But after her undergraduate degree, couple of rather unsuccessful relationships, and medical school, she didn't have a clue on what to pursue. The logical next step for many would be residency or internship at a local hospital, but for Alex, it just didn't feel right. Even though she quite enjoyed her classes in medical school, she wasn't sure that becoming a doctor was the best choice of action for her. She couldn't place it then and she certainly can't place it now, but there was something about the profession that made her wary, despite the fact that her mother is a doctor.
So here she is, empty beer bottles, warm days out on the boat, and helping her mother at the hospital when she needed the extra hands. It isn't the life she had originally envisioned for herself, but for now, she's content.
The rain comes down harshly, and Alex can feel the sting of the occasional raindrop that catches her skin. Her shoulder length auburn hair whips across her face. She tries to push it aside, but to avail. After a few tries, she gives up, resting both of her hands in her lap.
Another flash. Alex is staring mindlessly into the sea when she sees it: a projectile plummeting from the heavens. It's only a glimpse, but she could vaguely make out the silhouette of something falling towards the icy waters below. And what ever it is, it is falling fast. A blinding lightening strike illuminates the skies once again, just long enough for Alex to catch the projectile making impact with the water with an enormous splash.
She leans in, trying to get a better view. She can't find it for a few seconds, due to the limited lighting that only occurs briefly.
There. Is that…? Oh fuck, is that a person?
Immediately, she springs into action, grabbing a poncho that was resting on the deck chair before rushing out towards the dock.
The rain droplets prick her skin, causing her to shield her face with her arm. She stumbles a little because of the sharp decline in elevation, but she manages to make her way down to the dock intact.
Alex climbs in and fumbles with the rope tethering the boat. Her hands don't work as well as they normally do given the freezing conditions. Any colder, and the rain might turn into ice crystals. Once the boat of free of any restraints, Alex turns the key in the ignition, but the engine only splutters. She gives it another try, and she is met with several whines and coughs from the engine.
"Work, you old piece of shit," she commands, turning the key once again. Miraculously, the engine springs to life after much complaint. Alex wipes off the water from her face and looks out to the ominous seas for the person she had seen. The weather isn't helping, as the light isn't nearly enough to guide her to her target and the waves are as disorienting as ever. Nevertheless, she sets off into the darkness.
She trains her eye ahead, looking for the figure that seemingly dropped out of the sky. She squints, focusing, waiting, watching. Once in a while, she has to grab on to the side of the boat just to keep herself afloat and out of the water. If she doesn't find whoever she's looking for soon, she very well could join them in the icy waters. The ship has served her well thus far, but it is getting up their in years. There's no telling if it could hold out for much longer and endure any more of the punishing waves.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Alex mumbles, anxious to get back to solid ground. "Where the hell are you?"
A couple of seconds later and she is seriously starting to doubt if she had seen anybody at all. She always believed herself as someone who could hold her liquor, but things could start to get a bit hazy after her fourth bottle. Had she just imagined it? She's out in the middle of a thunderstorm, for crying out loud. It's entirely within the realm of possibility that she just mistook something entirely different as a human and rushed out here for no reason. She is briefly contemplating heading back to shore when she sees it.
Just up ahead.
The body is about fifty yards to her right, unmoving and completely at the mercy of the waves. She carefully maneuvers the boat just near the body, but not too close to risk a collision. She drops the anchor and put the boat in reverse. It's not ideal, but it's the best she can do in these conditions to keep still.
Looking around the boat, Alex searches for a tool to help her pull the body towards the boat. She curses herself for not planning ahead and acting recklessly. In a moment of clarity, she remembers the fishing net with an extendable rod that she had bought the day before.
It's hard work, and her dexterity is challenged by having to pull a full adult body with a lengthy, flexible aluminum rod. After minutes of effort, she manages to get the body in a position where she can reach down and pull it up by hand. She is surprised by how heavy the body is. It might be due to the fact their clothes had soaked up water, but as far as Alex can tell, the vague outline of the body shouldn't warrant such a hefty load.
"Jesus, what the hell did you eat for breakfast?" She grumbles, grunting from the straining muscles.
Once the body is dragged onto the boat safely, Alex gets a clear glimpse of the face that belongs to the mysterious body. It's a girl. Not a woman. But an actual girl. She can't have been more than 22 years old. Recovering from her initial shock, she checks for a pulse.
Faint. But still there.
Alex checks over the rest of the body to make sure that the girl's bones are at least underneath the skin. It's hard to be sure, since she is wearing some kind of a tight full body swimsuit, but it'll do for now. She hoists the anchor back up and speeds towards the shore, eager to get out of this godforsaken storm as fast as possible.
Once the boat is tied down again, Alex rushes towards the house, half carrying and dragging the girl over to her house. She slams open the door and clears the dining room table, pushing aside anything that occupied the space. She somehow manages to lift the girl up to the table all by herself even in her current exhausted state.
"Mom? I need some help!" She yells, hoping she conveyed the urgency of the situation. Her mother appears a few seconds later, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she descends the stairs.
"Alex, what's wrong? Who is that on the dining room table?" She rushes over to her daughter's side.
"I don't know, but I fished her out of the ocean after I saw her fall from the sky."
"Fall from the sky?" She asks incredulously. "Honey, no one can survive that."
"Well, she did," Alex defended, gesturing to the still body. "Check her pulse." Her mother's eyebrows furrow in concern.
"If she did fall from that great of a height, then she is very lucky to be alive. I don't know how she is breathing right now, but I guess miracles do happen sometimes. Alex, grab some scissors and help me get her suit off." She obliges and hands a pair to her mother when she notices distinct holes and burn marks on the suit.
"Are those bullet holes?"
"I think so. We should act fast before she gets an infection from the open wounds." The two Danvers women work in silence and with deliberation, only speaking when they need certain tools. After the suit is peeled away, they can see the multiple rounds embedded in her skin. The girl is riddled with bullets, some lodged in her arm, her leg, her stomach, and her back. The suit must have been made out of Kevlar or some similar material as the bullets didn't have enough force to push straight through. Why would someone as young as you have bullet wounds?
When it's all said and done, they manage to extract all eight bullets from the girl's body. They suture all open wounds and clean any blood that spilled on to her skin. Alex examines the girl once again, noting how toned and muscular she is despite her relatively thin frame. There are multiple scars, some raking over her entire body. They are faded and distant, but still maintain their rope like feature. She is drawn to a particular scar on her hip. It seems more recent than the others, fresh and red. It's barely half an inch in length. It's nothing out of the ordinary, except that it's protruding far too much for it to be just a natural scar. She grabs a scalpel and cuts in. She pulls out a metal capsule.
"What is that?" Her mother asks.
"I don't know. It's embedded into her hip, though." She stiches the girl back up and places the capsule on a cloth, wiping away the blood. Alex turns towards her mother. "What should we do with her?"
"Well, I'd like to get her in for some scans first thing in the morning, and check for any signs of internal damage. She's stable now, but considering her fall and wounds, it'd be good to make sure."
"Should I get the guest bedroom ready?"
With a jolt, the girl on the table suddenly sits up, gasping for breath. She coughs in between breaths, and her eyes are wide in fear and confusion. Alex sets a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, take it easy. Deep breaths. You're safe now, can you understand me?" The girl nods, tears involuntarily falling out the corners of her eyes. Alex looks the girl in the eyes and holds her steady. Her breathing begins to even out, feeling more comfortable by each passing second. "We found you in the ocean and you had some injuries, but we patched you up. Do you remember how you ended up in the ocean?" She speaks slowly, careful to not overwhelm the girl anymore than she already is.
The girl shakes her head vigorously. More tears threaten to spill out.
"Hey, hey. It's okay, we can come back to that. My name is Alex Danvers. Can you tell me your name?"
The girl's voice is hoarse and shaky.
"I, I don't know. I don't remember."