Alex and Hank part 15: Hurt
I was watching a show with Kara when she gave out a dejected sigh. I looked at her in worry I was still feeling terribly guilty. Killing Astra was both my biggest mistake and not at the same time. I hated that Kara's last real family had been killed by my hand. But I couldn't lose J'onn not when I had only just found him.
"I should go to bed." She looked at me with tears in her eyes
Seeing my disappointed face she explained. "I've got to see Miss Grant tomorrow between what happened with Adam and missing work, it's Oh, it's bad. It's really bad." She groaned I felt sympathy for her
"Hey no thinking, just cuddling." I wrapped her in a huge embrace and felt her sink into me and for a moment I felt like I was a little girl again comforting her after a bad dream this moment was promptly ruined by what Kara said next.
"You want to know the really messed up part? I miss Astra." I pulled back and Kara looked at me with sadness
"I was getting through to her, Alex. If I had just had a little more time, I could've brought her home. Brought her back. If Hank hadn't." When she said his name I saw hate fill her eyes worryingly
"Kara, there's something I need to tell you" I started I couldn't let J'onn take the blame for something that I had done, Kara would hate him if I didn't tell her. But would she hate me instead?
Suddenly I heard the window slam open and we both jumped up. I looked around expecting to see someone. When I saw that no one was there I let out a breath of relief.
"Just a bit jumpy I guess." I turned to Kara
"It would be so easy to kill you right now." I heard a snarl sound
I grabbed my gun my heart hammering knowing that Non could kill us in one moment.
"Get out." Kara coldly snarled back getting ready to fight
"I need you to come with me." He looked down
"Not a chance." I had my gun pointed steadily at him ready to shoot if he didn't go
"You have no part of this, human. I come for Astra." Suddenly a torment of guilt swept past me he was still grieving for his wife
"Not myself." He finished looking past me at Kara whom seemed to be moving towards him
"Kara, no." Knowing that she was about to go what if she got hurt
"I'll be all right." With that she jumped out the window after her uncle
I called J'onn the moment she had gone.
"Henshaw." For once I didn't stop to giggle at his tough guy voice
"J'onn, Non came for Kara and she went with him." I said frantically
"Right I'm coming over." Not two seconds later I saw J'onn flying through the same window Kara had left not ten minutes ago.
"Alex what happened?" He ran in realizing that Kara wasn't there
"Non came and said that he needed Kara and…and that it was for Astra." I stammered thinking why had I let Kara go
"It sounds like the kryptonian funeral. I think that we can let Kara go but I'm going to get the satellites to pinpoint where they are, lets head back to the DEO." He wrapped a protective arm around me and pulled me closer.
"Alex, she'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to her." I just nodded numbly
We got to the DEO where to my surprise Kara was already waiting for us. She threw a look at Hank that made my heart stop. It was even dirtier than the one she had given him when I hadn't trusted him.
"Non won't be a problem for a while." She stated as we came over
"How long before he comes back?" I stood by his side feeling uncomfortable at this coldness Kara was showing knowing that it should be me who gets those hateful looks.
"Two weeks, We give up daily toil and lend our hearts to the loved ones making the journey home to Rao, the sun god. We light their way." I could see a glazed look parse over Kara's eyes
"Do you think he can be trusted to observe this mourning period?" Hank asked looking up
"Do you think he's going to let his wife walk alone in the dark?" She snarled hatefully and I saw a very much bewildered expression pass Hank's face
"I simply…" He started before I cut in since world war 3 could erupt if Kara didn't cool down
"Thank you for coming in." I leaned over to Kara hoping that she would leave it at that
"We're at war. We're going to have to do a lot of things we don't want to do." I looked at her in astonishment she had never ever been so icy towards someone. That had been a brutal blow towards Hank.
Hank shifted uncomfortably next to me and I couldn't look at Kara she was hurting the wrong person, it should be me.
"Ma'am, Sorry to interrupt. Prisoner 5090 is demanding to see you." Vasquez interrupted the loud silence and I inwardly thanked who ever had been listening.
"Hmm, day just keeps getting better." Kara sarcastically put in rolling her eyes like a teenager
The moment she was gone I walked over to Hank.
"I can't let this go on much longer." I stated hoping that I sounded a lot stronger than I felt
"Yes you can." He countered giving me a knowing look
"She deserves to know the truth. And it's not fair to you." I shivered when I thought of the way Kara was acting at the moment.
"I can take her hating me, you tell her you killed Astra, she'll have lost you, too." He fought back with "She needs you, Alex."
"It's not fair." I couldn't look at Hank after everything he had lost I had put him into a position where he would lose even more if I didn't tell Kara what had happened
"Mabey, but it's what she needs to keep going." He walked off and I knew that it was his final word on the matter. And no matter how guilty I felt I couldn't lose Kara.
I couldn't lose either of them.
-00-
I sat down at my desk feeling Kara's hate weigh onto me like a ton of bricks. It felt awful but I knew I couldn't let Alex get hurt, especially by her sister it would break her. I was having a look through seeing if there were any alerts and to my surprise we had a code: orange.
I got up and assembled the team. I saw Alex come to my side in an instant to see what I had. I got Vasquez to bring up the Fort Rozz's prisoner list up.
When everyone that I had asked for had arrived I started on the brief.
"We've got a rogue. Fort Rozz prisoner number 2444. He's been hiding out in National City using a human alias, Gabriel Phillips. Surveillance spotted him yesterday." I put a few codes into the computer so the picture would show what this creature really looked like
"Don't be fooled by the pretty face, this thing is nasty. Feeds off rotting flesh. He's been spotted coming and going from an abandoned warehouse downtown, where we suspect he's storing his food. Proceed with caution when apprehending him."
"This one bites." I finished the brief before pulling up team Delta
"Alex you lead make sure you have everyone within your sights. This could end in mayhem if we don't play this right." I said handing her a gun
"I'll do my best, sir." She answered completely aware of all the other agents around us
"I have the greatest faith in you." It was the closest I could get to telling Alex to be careful without all the other agents noticing anything out of the ordinary.
Alex just nodded before pulling out to apprehend the alien. I listened to everything over my headset waiting for them to finish their mission.
To my surprise I saw that Alex had ordered a weapons free I had been fairly certain that this mission wouldn't require one. It was just as lucky that I had made sure that Alex and the other agents had been armed. I switched on my comm the moment I knew that Alex could hear me over the gunfire.
"Agent Danvers, are you alright?" I knew that it shouldn't be my first question but I had to ask
"We were ambushed, sir. The hostile's gone." She sounded out of breath but otherwise was fine
"He fled?" I asked in surprise for that was defiantly not expected
"Nope he was abducted." Okay this was sounding really weirder by the second.
When Alex and what was left of the team she came to report at my office. I saw that there were a lot of agents looking at us weirdly but I just ignored it.
"I was able to retrieve these, but I have no idea who they are or what they want." Alex came in looking rather tired
"Let's get the lab to run tests on these. Were you able to get a few shots of the kidnapper?" I asked handing them back to the agents who were running around
"Yes I have just put them up onto the screen. Have you ever seen this person around here or." She leaned in to whisper
"Or back on Mars?" She looked up to make sure that no one had overheard
"No, I've never seen this before." I looked at the pictures closely
"Looks like your masked kidnapper was using advanced extra-terrestrial weaponry." Alex stated when the reports came back
"Well, the big question is, where did he take our target? And why?" I asked looking at the pictures again not hearing Kara walk in
"Maybe he had some beef he needed to settle." She stood beside Alex and glared at me
"Since when don't you call me?" She looked at Alex
"I thought it might be a good idea to give you some time off." I said that was partly true but also I didn't want to say anything to Kara that might tick her off since she was already mad at me
"When I need time off, I'll fill out a request form with HR. Until then, if there's a dangerous alien to catch I'd like to be included." She put in formally her eyes screaming hatred
"Sir." She sneered and I lowered my head in defeat I was not going to respond to that and cause her to fly off the handle even more then she had already
"Is he human?" She pointedly turned her back on me
"Couldn't tell under all that armour." Alex glanced at me with a guilt ridden look on her face
"What would he want with an alien who eats rotting flesh?" Kara read the brief that I had put up still not looking my way
"The vulture he captured could be wanted on a dozen other worlds for crimes he committed long before he wound up in Fort Rozz. We could be dealing with an interstellar bounty hunter." I said to Kara's back Alex looked up with a horrified expression
"You don't think," She started and I saw where she was heading and I cut her off
"No. If he were in town, we'd know."
"I ran all the images of the kidnapper through our database. Nothing matches up." She gave a defeated sigh of frustration.
"Maybe if he's done this before, he's run into local law enforcement. We could interview NCPD. See if some of their missing persons are our missing aliens."
"Where do you think he took that guy?" Kara asked obviously thinking that we alien that had been kidnapped was an innocent, for once I didn't comment
"As far as we know, he could be anywhere in the galaxy." Alex ended and with that Kara turned sharply and left without another word.
"Come on Alex let's go and interview NCPD." I sighed knowing that she wanted to say something about the way Kara was behaving
She followed me to the change rooms were we had to find an outfit that fitted the roll of FBI. I was easy all I had to put on was a suit, Alex on the other hand.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Came a shocked voice
"Alex are you alright?" I asked buttoning up my shirt
"There is not on SINGEL plain black shirt. Look the closets I can get to black is the striped black and dark purple one." She sounded rather annoyed
"Alex from where I'm looking that is black." She snorted
"Honestly all men really are colour blind." She still put the shirt on rather grudgingly and I couldn't help but snort at the idea that Alex would wear a purple shirt. I was still pretty certain that it wasn't purple but any way.
"Alex hurry up." I yelled waiting for he to appear
"Sorry I had to quickly re-apply my make up." She came running out and hopped into the seat next to me
"Alex you don't need to put make-up on. You look perfect without it." I said rubbing a small smudge of her cheek
"J'onn you really do know how to make me feel good." She smiled leaning over to place a small peck onto the tip off my nose. I blushed because I suddenly felt like an awkward teenager again.
"Come on let's go before the DEO see's us." I put in starting the Ute up
We pulled up outside the headquarters of NCPD and walked in flashing our fake creds. We were pointed towards an office.
"Agent Danvers and Henshaw, FBI." I saw that Alex had put on an extremely bright smile and I saw she had a bit of fun at calling me a fellow agent. I'll remind her off that.
"I'm Detective Warren. He's Draper." Replied a stern looking man whom seemed to be looking at us oddly
"We're looking into a recent kidnapping in National City. This is our primary suspect." I showed them a picture of the kidnapper smiling as broadly as I could mange
"Halloween already, huh?" The commented when they saw the picture we all chuckled lightly
"Any help would be much appreciated." Alex asked sickeningly sweet I knew that she was putting a mask on
"Feds come crawling. You must be embarrassed." The Detective whom was Warren commented looking at Alex in a way that made me want to punch his lights out I lightly growled under my breath while trying to keep my face expressionless.
"As long as the job gets done, doesn't matter who helps. I mean, look at you guys." I saw calm spite pass through Alex's eyes and I knew that she was about to mentally beat them up real bad
"Meaning?" He looked at her in interest seeming to think that she was nothing but pretty oh how wrong he was
"Crime's gone way down in National City over the last few months, a lot of thanks to Supergirl. But you don't mind that she helps, do you?" She struck calmly looking him right in the eye without backing down
"I got an interview with a donut. Wouldn't want to be late." He got up and walked out and I saw victory glimmer in Alex's eyes.
"Sorry about Warren. He's a good cop. He's just, not enlightened." His partner apologised for him looking a bit embarrassed by his behaviour
"Anything you can tell us." I walked over to him hoping that this trip would be informative
"Not much. We don't know who this guy is. We know he's been kicking around for months, though." That surprised me to no end
"There's been other kidnappings?" I asked confused
"At least five that we know of. But, he's not just kidnapping them." I saw to my horror that there was pictures of bodies that were sickening
"We found all the bodies down by the river. All of them decapitated." I turned away and Alex looked over my shoulder and her disgusted voice sounded
"How could we not have heard about this?" She sounded plain shocked
"The Mayor wants this kept quiet, but all the victims were weird."
"Weird, how?" I queried
"One of them had gills. Like a fish." He gestured towards his neck
"Hope that helps." He ended it by taking the folder back and snapping it close
"Thank you, Detective Draper." I said motioning to Alex to get out so we could talk
"Yeah, thank you." She quickly hurried after me
"There's an alien serial killer in National City. We need to find out whose next." I leaned in not wanting the other people around us to overhear.
"Come on let's go back to headquarters."
"Bye the way, good job with that beating back in there." I slipped my hand into hers
"Well I learnt from the best." She grinned
"What's that supposed to mean?" I tried to act offended
"It means that you are the best." She went onto her tip toes and planted a small kiss on my lips.
I opened the car door for her grinning like an idiot. We drove back to headquarters where I had to do my best to stop smiling at everyone and I think Alex got very amused at my efforts.
"You taught me to lie spotlessly and you can't even stop grinning like a hyena." She pointed out
I remained silent just giving her a longing look. "You should call your sister, we'll need her here."
"I'll do that now." She walked out pulling her phone and speed dialling Kara.
I sighed if only Kara didn't hate me.
-00-
"Alex, what's up?" Kara sounded fed up
"We need you at the DEO."
"I'm dealing with a problem right now." She spat out like she wanted someone to hear
"We can't wait." Hoping that she wouldn't refuse to come
"I'm on my way." I heard the phone click and I knew she had hung up
I started to walk to the front of the DEO where I saw Hank looking through some files.
"Found anything?"
"Well we've matched up which aliens have been decapitated by his guy." He showed me the files
"But what is the common thread?" I asked but before Hank could answer Kara marched in
"What's going on that needs me here so urgently."
"We've got some information on our Kidnapper, it seems that he has been doing this for months." I explained knowing that Kara would bite Hanks head off if he said anything
"Based on the human aliases of our guy's victims, I think they were actually these five alien prisoners from Fort Rozz." I punched in the Fort Rozz prisoner identifications
"Any connection besides Fort Rozz?" Kara asked completely ignoring Hank
"Not that I can see. All different backgrounds and crimes. None of them were even cellmates." I said completely defeated
"The killer must be picking them for a reason." I looked at the photos in frustration
"Wait a minute." I noticed something that made me stop and type a few commands into the DEO data base, and to my satisfaction it worked.
"Look at that. See what happens when you arrange them in the order that they were killed? They were all incarcerated in Fort Rozz one after the other."
"That's the pattern." I looked up in relief at finally figuring out what was going on
"He's killing the escapees in their prisoner number order." I looked at Hank waiting for him to comment
"Which would make the next target Prisoner 2445." He punched it into the system and I saw a rather innocent looking person come onto the screen
"Supergirl go to the university." I turned over to a retreating red cape.
"Alex, good job for picking that out." He came over to me and flicked a strand of hair that had attached itself to my face. I just blushed slightly at the contact.
"You would have picked that out, J'onn." I whispered
"No, I wouldn't have." If I hadn't been in front of the whole DEO I would have been kissing him
He must have picked up my feelings and motioned for me to follow him. The moment we were inside of his office I was kissing him.
"You are terrible, you know that right." I whispered
"How so?" He looked at me teasingly
"Because I want to kiss you so much but were in front of the DEO."
Suddenly he broke off and gave an annoyed sigh.
"Looks like your sister's back, we'd better go out before she comes looking for us." I stepped back shooting the door a dirty look.
"You're right, she knows that were married but right now…" I trailed off thinking off the complications that had been created
When we walked out together she gave Hank a chilly look. When I saw what had been put on the table Hank looked at it in worry.
"Black star alloy. That kind of technology, this guy's definitely not from around here." He picked it up looking curiously at the figments
"So why is he killing other aliens?" Kara asked
"These victims aren't just being killed. They're being executed. And they're all from Fort Rozz." I started thinking of what was happening it was quite creepy
"That professor he just took seemed harmless enough."
"Real name Luzano. Drug smuggler, until your mother put him away." Hank was flicking through the files on his tablet not looking up
"Not the week for you to discuss my family." Kara advised her eyes throwing daggers at him
"I'll start questioning our Fort Rozz criminal alumni again. Anything we get we'll cross-reference with the weapons left at the scene." He turned and fled from an angry Kryptonian
"Ma'am. Excuse me. There's someone asking to see you." Vasquez interrupted the chilly silence
"Can we tell Max Lord that I'm not at his beck and call?" Kara threw her hands up in torment as if she were being tortured I couldn't help but roll my eyes
"That's not who wants to see you." And to both of our surprise James Olsen walked in and to my bewilderment Kara gave out a heavy long suffering sigh. She quickly whisked him to the armoury and all I could do was wait.
I went to the lab and found out some very interesting information. When I spotted Kara leave looking rather put-out I went up to her.
"What's his problem?" I saw James looking at her weirdly
"Forget it. What's going on?" She looked at me
"We ran diagnostics on the masked man's weapon from the attack. The metal baton was standard police issue. Covered in human DNA. So, when we ran it through our database, we got a match." Kara looked at me in amazement
"Detective Warren." I finished
"That cop you interviewed who hates me?"
"Good thing we know where he works." I checked that my gun was full
"Ooh, I've wanted to catch a corrupt cop ever since we binge-watched The Wire." I smiled thinking off the fun movie nights we have.
I moved out it was just me and Kara this shouldn't be too hard. I walked out to the Ute and jumped in. I drove off after Kara whom had spotted the car we had to stop. I followed close by and I had to slam on the brakes since Kara had stopped the car quiet dangerously.
"What the? What do you think you are doing?" Came Warrens outraged voice
"Detective Draper, I'm going to need you to step away." I stepped out of the Ute with my gun pointed at Warren now they were seeing me in a totally different light.
"What do you think you're doing?" He sounded really peeved
"Catching a murderer." Kara snarled
"You're out of your mind. I'm one of the good guys!" He pointed at himself
"He's telling the truth." Draper's voice sounded through the night and before I could react I heard a gunshot and Harper fell to the ground.
Suddenly I felt something hit me squarely in the chest. I fell over at the impact and blanked out from the concrete hit my head and I blanked out. I heard Kara screaming I felt the cold hard ground and then I felt nothing.
I felt cold motionless. I couldn't feel anything but yet could hear everything. My mind sent me images many ones that made me want to cry. I saw Dad, Mum, Kara and J'onn. I wanted to wake up I wanted to forget these things. I use to think being unconscious would make you forget everything for a while but I see now that if anything it makes you see things clearer.
"Agent Danvers come in. Alex!" I heard Hanks voice begin to panic
"I'm here." I let out a painful groan as I rubbed the back of my head I unzipped my jacket and I thanked Hank in my head for making me wear a bullet proof vest. Because right in the centre on the vest was a bullet that would have killed me if not for the vest.
Hank let out a breath I could hear it clearly over the radio "Are you okay."
"He took Kara." I answered knowing looking around hoping to see the familiar cape
I drove back to headquarters as fast as I could. And when Hank suggested that I go down to the med bay to get checked out I refused I had to get Kara back.
"Twelve hours from the exact time the last alien was kidnapped to his time of death. Which means she doesn't have long." My voice was frantic as I ran towards Hank
"Your sister wasn't his target." He reasoned
"Well, maybe that doesn't mean anything to him. We have to find her." My voice went up a note
"And we will. When I promised Jeremiah Danvers I'd look after his daughters, I wasn't only talking about you." He put his hand onto my shoulder and that instantaneously calmed me down
"We have a face, but we still don't have a match." I ran it through the data base again wanting to hit the computers for not coming up with anything
"Draper's prisoner file could have been corrupted in the crash. Unless…" I trailed off as a thought hit me
"Unless?" Hank looked at me as I typed into the computer
"What if Draper wasn't a prisoner?"
"A guard." Hank sounded affirmative as he gasped
"I thought they were all killed by the prisoners when Fort Rozz crashed." He queried
"What if one got away?" Suddenly a match came up and I let out a breath of relief
"Draper was a guard. Originally from the planet Trombus. Technologically advanced weapons manufacturers, which explains the Robocop suit." Hank read of his file
"His father was a guard. His grandfather before him. This job is in his blood."
"And still is. He's trying to re-create Fort Rozz here on Earth. But with his rules." I explained
"Draper's been jamming his GPS signal when he's off duty" Vasquez came up and I felt utter relief
"Did you unscramble it?" I asked feeling my hopes rise
"He's been spending time at a cabin 80 miles northeast of the city." I glanced at Hank before running off to get my weaponry
I got the team out there and was ordering everyone around I had to find Kara. Fast.
"Clear the premises." I shouted as I ran in and I saw agents banging down doors and bashing open windows
"Clear." I heard Norton's voice sound out from behind me
"Clear." I heard the other agents call out I tore through everything inside me screaming
"Alex, what's your status?" My comm sprang to life
"Hank, the cabin is empty." I couldn't use formalities right now I saw the DEO agents exchanging looks with one another
"Kara's not here." I chocked out
"There has to be some clue there as to where Draper takes his victims." Came out Hanks frustrated growl
"There isn't. There's nothing here." I glanced down and to my surprise the floor boards seemed to glow red. Suddenly I got an idea
"Give me that crowbar." Someone handed it to me and as quickly as I could I ripped the floorboards up and all the agents were watching in bewilderment.
"His ship. It's underneath the cabin. How much rope do we have?" I asked seeing that I would have to climb down there myself.
I grabbed the rope and secured myself to the end and lowered myself as quickly as I could. I landed just as he was about to decapitate the professor and the other agents were right behind me.
"Professor, move!" I heard Kara yell
I saw that the jailer was killing the other agents I saw Kara and I couldn't stop myself giving out a grunt of relief.
"Kara!" I said running over to her I saw that there was a weird sort of red filter on top of Kara "Red sunlight?"
"Yeah. Alex, look out!" he screamed and I turned just in time to block a blow from Draper I battled him but with that suit it was really hard and suddenly he had my head in that guillotine that he had been using. I grabbed my gun and started to fire.
"No!" Kara cried out when she saw me there
"You wasted your ammo." I saw he was about to kill me but I couldn't help grinning
"No, I didn't. Here comes the sun." I had won. Again.
Kara seeing the light shine onto her ripped out of her cage.
"Alex, run." She ran and knocked him off me and I staggered up and retreated knowing that Kara would finish him off
"It's over." She hit him and he fell down. Dead.
"Sorry I was late." I gasped as I came out
"You were right on time." She smiled and I couldn't help but grin back
"Pardon me. And now, may I ask what happens to me?" He was really polite that was one of the last things I had expected him to be.
I looked at Kara and I nodded. She wanted him to go free and I agreed, I would deal with Hank.
I drove back to the DEO where Hank all but ran up to me.
"You done well, Alex." He pulled me into a tight hug which I gratefully fell into
But Kara interrupted the moment when she came marching down the hallway.
"I want to release Maxwell Lord." She told us straight out that had been unexpected I looked at her in surprise.
"Are you sure?" I looked at her incredulously
"We can't keep him here, it's not right." I looked at Hank whom didn't say anything he was scared that he would set off Kara. He just nodded.
"If you're sure." He looked at Kara hopefully
"I'm certain. No one deserves to be punished without a fair trial." She said clipped and I saw Hank visibly wince, that had been a cruel blow. I closed my eyes and counted to ten.
"Come on." I said to Kara we walked towards Maxwell Lord's cell and opened the door.
"You're free to go." Kara said simply punching in the code for the prisoner release.
Maxwell Lord looked up warily. "That's unexpected. Why?" He asked stepping out slowly of his cell
"Because it's the right thing to do." Kara said putting her hands behind her back I rolled my eyes
"Because she's a better person than you are." I looked at him letting my hate show very clearly
"I'm relieved, of course, but curious. How do you know I won't expose you, the DEO and all your shenanigans to the world once I exit this place?"
"I don't. All I can hope for is that there's still some part of you that will listen to your better angels." Kara had way to much hope in my opinion
"Still harbouring hope? Even for me? You really are an alien."He looked at her curiously but in a total different light, Kara then walked out and Maxwell Lord stepped after her but before he could leave I stood in front off him.
"If you don't have better angels, and I suspect you don't, you should know that we've amassed a dossier the size of this room documenting your crimes. Ready for immediate release to law enforcement." I explained
"You tell on us, we tell on you." I finished looking him in the eye
"Mutually assured destruction. You're making me nostalgic for the Cold War, Alex." He walked out
"Dos svidanya." I said grinning
"Brrr." He shivered like it was cold
I watched him walk away wondering if we had in fact done the right thing. I had my many doubts. I saw Hank walk out of the hologram room looking utterly and totally defeated.
"Hank! What's wrong?" I chased after him
"Nothing. Let's go home." I didn't believe him but by the look on his face I knew that it would be better if I just followed him and didn't ask. Not yet at any rate.
I slipped my hand into his and we walked out of the DEO together hand in hand.
