Maggie Sawyer
Denial.
She isn't there when it happens.
None of them are really.
Not Alex.
Not J'onn.
Not the media. Who pick like vultures over the sparse scraps of information and run with it.
No matter how misconstrued the information is.
They'd been split up amongst the various Cadmus sects.
Struggling to put out another fire with roots that threatened to purge the 'scourge' of alien species from American land.
It was a battle that they'd needed desperately to end in triumph not calamity.
They had needed a win.
They had needed it.
Because Cadmus had come out of the shadows, had grown a pear, had become more willing to assert their power.
Consequences and fatalities damned.
And those consequences and fatalities had increased exponentially within the recent weeks.
The organization had been pulling everyone apart at the seams for months now.
Wheedling its way into every nook and cranny of their professional and personal lives.
Stretching them thin.
And they can't save everyone.
Not even Supergirl.
And all of them, with every life lost, take it hard. Take it personally.
And work themselves even harder as some form of twisted retribution.
Because everyone reaches that point eventually.
The point in which they'd reasoned that if a victim can't go back to a warm home and soft bed, then they themselves had no right.
So they'd all been running on fewer and fewer hours of sleep.
Trying to put out fire after fire.
Trying to find that one weakness to exploit.
Trying to find the point when it would all just stop.
When they could be afforded a break in the city with the impossible crime rate.
In the city that never slept.
The night it happened, she'd been running on barely three hours.
And she doesn't sleep for a good while after.
Thinking of everything that had happened. Worrying.
Kara had been the one to suggest it.
That the only way to beat CADMUS was to fight fire with fire.
Go to them, instead of waiting for CADMUS to come to them.
But they couldn't reach a consensus. No one could settle on any logistics.
So they argued over it. Over and over and over. Until it became the only option.
And when the night's events come to a close, she would want to shoot herself for ever agreeing.
.. … … ….
Day 1
It turns into a firestorm within minutes.
Instigated by a group who would rather go down with the cause than be taken of their free will.
They make it a joint case.
It's the only way they can get complete jurisdiction.
They'd been walking on eggshells with the government ever since they'd overstepped bounds on the last CADMUS related case.
It's also the only way they can get Maggie involved.
She and her fellow compatriots make up the Delta Team.
DEO agents compose the C Unit.
Alex and J'onn and Agent Vasquez and a few others make up the Beta Unit.
Winn takes point from the DEO facility.
And the golden trio make up the Alpha unit.
Mon-el, Clark, and Kara.
A formidable trio of sorts.
One for the superhero cards.
One for the comic books.
One for the media to salivate over.
It's supposed to be easy.
Supposed to be.
"No! Nononono-"
Maggie registers Kara's voice in her ear this time.
A stark difference from the joking banter that had dominated the lines earlier.
Confusion. Shock. Anger?
Then the blonde's resounding scream blows across the comms.
It's anger then.
Pure, unadulterated rage.
Overpowering all the side conversations transmitting through the comm links.
Bringing the other voices to an instant stand still.
The detective has never heard that degree of fury from the younger Danvers before.
Maggie winces at its ferocity, at its rawness as she unloads another clip into a CADMUS agent that rounds the corner.
Those few seconds are all it takes for the voices spring to life again.
Trying, questioning, demanding information.
Speaking over each other in a flurry of discern.
"Supergirl! Mon-el! Superman! Status report-"
J'onn with his stern, steady authoritative calmness.
Even in the face of clear uncertainty.
"Oh god. Oh my god…"
Winn sounds sick. Queasy.
In shock.
The detective can almost picture him at his desk.
Wide eyes. Frozen still.
"Supergirl! Winn, what the hell is going on?"
Alex's voice is the loudest.
Rings the truest.
But there is no answer.
Not from any of them.
There is a silent, but defining loudness in the lack of coherent response.
And as quickly as the screaming starts, it fades suddenly.
Her com must have fallen out.
Because she can still hear Kara.
Can hear her anger.
Her fury in the distance.
Through someone else's coms.
But why aren't they answering?
The detective leans back, let's the rest of DEO squad cover her as she tries to pick out any noise from the silent lines.
"-can't access the video feed. There's something overridi-"
"We have to get over there-"
"That's a negative, Agent Danvers! B-team leader report-"
Then she hears it.
Just barely over the ricocheting bullets and frantic relaying of words by the other units.
A soft, pained gasping.
Gurgling and wet.
Labored.
That could be anything, she attempts to reassure herself.
It could be a CADMUS agent.
It could be anyone.
It doesn't mean what it could allude too.
"Delta-Team leader report! Sawyer!"
She snaps back to focus. The gasping fades as J'onn's voice takes precedent.
He's asking for status. Questioning availability for backup. All the other units must be preoccupied.
Including Alex's. And Maggie knows how frustrated that must make her.
"Delta-Team is accounted for. We're almost done here. We can be en route in five."
The small group of police officers under her guidance shift on their feet nervously.
Maggie knows what they're thinking. The same thing she is.
What good can they possibly do?
If Alpha team wouldn't come in, what would a couple of officers be able to do?
The fine hairs on Maggie's arms stand on end, and there's a strange tingling at the base of her neck.
And somehow she knows before she even gets there, how bad it's going to be.
Yet still, she agrees and J'onn returns to barking orders at the other units.
And Alex seems to be attempting to coax an answer out of Winn.
Her girlfriend seems oddly calm.
But she remembers this is how Alex always in these type of situations.
Remembers that she's probably panicking on the inside.
The sound of gunfire echoes in her ears as they move forward.
Navigating the twists and turns of the hallways that make up the maze of a facility.
And when Kara's anger-filled screams fade completely.
There are no words…
The detective smells it before she sees anything.
The putrid aroma.
Because nothing is unmistakable as the smell that infiltrates her senses now.
Nothing is as unbearable, as horrifying, as unforgettable as the smell of burning flesh.
The love child of burnt cat fur, rotten eggs, smoky sulfur and the coppery aroma of blood.
The putrid odor of seared meat sweeps over her unit like a shock wave.
Makes their eyes burn.
Makes them gag.
And that odor, that acrid odor of burnt bone and half-cooked blood, it only grows stronger as they approach where Team-A last initiated contact.
And Maggie knows only one thing that can burn so quick, so final.
Heat vision.
It doesn't mean what it could mean. It doesn't mean…
A dull thunk, like rock hitting dirt, is vaguely audible.
The sound rings solemnly, but consistently, like the muted toll of a funeral bell.
Somewhere in the distance.
Growing louder as they grow closer.
Her unit levels their weapons, rounds the corner that the Alpha Unit had last initiated contact form with extreme precision and speed, ready to fight, ready to go in guns blazing
Instead, smelling of ozone and charred flesh, is a ring of at least forty CADMUS agents, blistered and burnt black.
Flayed, stripped bare and laid recklessly open.
Limbs barely attached, torn, strewn, ripped apart with out discrimination.
Unknown faces twisted into ghastly expressions. Sightless eyes, bulging with deadened fear.
Waxy flesh melting away from the muscle that anchored it, fusing with charring cloth and warm concrete.
Mixing, coagulating into soupy gravy.
Oh god.
God. It's a blood bath.
There's a distant sound of retching behind her.
One of them, Collins from the sound of it, can't stomach the sight.
Nausea swells up within her.
Her jaws clamp together as it tries to find an exit.
And the detective's grip on her service weapon tightens.
Until she's holding on so tight, her knuckles turn white.
"Delta Team Leader report!"
J'onn again. Sounding vaguely out of breath as he yells over the gun fire on his end.
She opens her mouth to respond, but somehow the words are lost.
Smothered by the bulging eyes, the twisted mouths, the charring bone.
Stolen from the distracting, methodical thunks in the distance.
The echoing gunfire.
The sparks flying from torn wires and sputtering machines, overturned and shattered in the disarray.
Another officer takes over for her. Mathis.
And he doesn't fair much better.
"They're dead… All the CADMUS agents. It's… They killed them all."
The words are uttered in awe, in shock, in pure disgust.
And now that he's said them, it's real.
No matter how unbelievable it sounds.
As the faces of Honor and Justice, Kara and Clark have an honor code.
They don't kill. They never kill. Only aim to incapacitate.
Only aim to hinder.
Because it was complicated being a superhero.
It was complicated being put on a pedestal like that.
On top of being an alien in constantly shifting world views.
It would most likely end in a witch hunt if someone had died at the hands of an indestructible alien.
So they often left killing to a last resort.
Like this.
The other officers begin to secure the massive area of the ventricular room.
There's a lot she can't see from the entrance.
Everything's uprooted, overturned, scorched.
The twists and turns are more than enough to make the entire process a considerable effort.
"What? Where's Supergirl? Where are they?"
It's Alex. She sounds winded. She sounds worried.
More so than the last time.
As if she's acknowledging for the first time that this is more serious than she initially wished to believe
"I…."
She surveys the carnage from the entry way.
She can't see much.
Everything thing is muted.
The lights flickering above them.
The walls crumbling around them.
Rooms she hasn't even been able to look inside yet.
"Officer Sawyer!"
Officer Matthis yells her name from a few yards away. Half hidden, kneeling just behind an overturned control panel.
One that was previously bolted to the ground.
His tone carries enough panic, enough worry, for her to drop her conversation with Alex.
Enough panic to lower her gun. To run over.
She freezes at the sight.
Mon-el.
The normally rambunctious alien, lay limply amongst the carnage.
Thick rivulets of crimson pooling around him.
Seeping from him.
Gushing, pouring weakly from his chest.
Just to the left of his sternum, just below his collar bone.
And he's gasping, wetly and futilely, struggling to take in air.
Matthis is above him. Hands pressed tightly against the Daxamite's chest.
Trying to stop the bleeding. Trying to stop the goddamn crimson.
But the blood is soaking through in rapid spurts. Dousing his uniform with crimson.
Flowing thickly over Matthis's fingers.
Dribbling down the sides.
"We need a medical evac, now! Mon-el's down. He's been shot."
Those words open a whole other can of questions for those on the other line.
For those who aren't with them now.
But she can't focus on answering them right now.
Maggie holsters her gun. Gets down to her knees. On level with the injured Daxamite.
His lips are turning blue.
His teeth are speckled with red, chattering viciously as watery blood dribbles at the corners of his mouth.
And his eyes meet hers. Wide with pain. With shock. With fear. A plethora of emotions.
"Muh- Maa- M-m-mag Magu-"
He's trying to say her name.
Trying, but failing.
She surveys him for more injuries.
Finds another wound on his leg, and another in his arm.
All seeping more than enough crimson.
"Mon-el, listen to me. You're going to be fine. Help is coming. So stay awake okay? You have to stay awake."
The Daxamite groans.
Offers a weak, barely decipherable nod.
But his eyes are dancing. Rolling in their sockets.
Somewhere in the vestiges of her mind she remembers he's allergic to lead.
Damnit.
To Matthis she's more firm, more authoritative.
"Get Collins and Andrews to help you move him towards the entrance. A med evac team should be on the way."
~ thunk thunk thunk ~
What the hell is making that sound?
Over the lines, her authoritativeness wavers, worry seeping through.
"He was shot three times. He's loosing a lot of blood. What's the ETA on the medical team? Winn? Winn!"
"Estimated t-time of arrival is… is five minutes."
He sounds hollow. Empty. Shell-shocked.
But she doesn't have enough time to question it.
She's up again, gun in hand, moving away from Mon-el, stepping over bodies, and machinery, and weapons.
"Maggie. Where is Kara? Where is Clark?"
Alex again. The waver in her tone is noticeable.
The sound of artillery fire on their end seems to have eased.
A few shots here and there. The Beta team seems to be wrapping up.
Maggie glances around the arena-like room.
Scouring the area for the familiar red and blue suits.
Three other officers are right on her heels.
The catastrophic mess is only enunciated.
Plaster is tearing from the walls.
Ceiling tiles hang from the floor above them.
Revealing the warped metal support beams within them.
Where are they? Where are they?
"We're securing the facility Alex. When I see them I'll-"
Maggie turns the corner.
And stumbles right on him.
The uniform is unmistakable.
The insignia even more stark.
It's him.
There's a neatly pierced hole in the back of his head.
A mess of mashed pumpkinesque brain matter spills out of a gaping hole just above his right eye.
A mess of yellow sticky pus and half-clotted blood and oozing spinal fluid.
She recoils.
It's him.
It's Clarke.
He stares at her with an empty gaze.
Far removed from the amused, confident glint they'd held only hours before.
There's no life in his eyes.
His chest isn't moving.
His fingers aren't twitching.
He's gone.
But it isn't possible
"Mother of god…"
One of the officers murmurs.
"Sawyer! O'Conner! Mathis! B-Team is on the way! I need a status report!"
Maggie doesn't answer. None of them do.
The gun shakes in her hands as she kneels.
She has to find a pulse, even though she knows one won't be there.
He's cold.
Too cold.
She feels along his neck.
There isn't one.
And she sees it then.
The culprit, resting in the congealing crimson.
A bullet.
It's green.
Glows a soft emerald hue in the darkening red.
Kryptonite.
It's him.
It's Clarke.
It's Superman.
The Man of Steel.
Felled by a single bullet.
She didn't think that had been possible.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Where is Kara?
Where is she?
She springs to her feet.
Vaguely wonders if she should be looking for a body.
But no. She isn't going to be the one to tell Alex that.
~Thunk, thunk, thunk ~
The sounds grows louder with every consecutive step.
Until there's only one possible place it can be emanating from.
The remaining members of her unit round the corner.
Maggie's grip on her gun loosens slightly.
She's alive.
Kara's alive.
The blonde faces away from her.
Kneeling over somebody she can't fully see.
A Cadmus agent by the look of it.
She doesn't look up at Maggie.
Doesn't acknowledge any of them.
Instead the blonde raises her fist again.
Her hand glints red in the artificial light.
The blood of the CADMUS agent.
The one who lays completely still beneath her.
And Maggie sees the telltale emerald of the kryptonite cartridge in the gun a few feet away.
Rapidly puts the pieces together.
Kara throws her fist downward.
~Thunk~
It's scary.
"Stand down!"
The detective hisses at her compatriots who've cocked their guns, who've aimed their weapons at her girlfriend's younger sister.
They don't move.
"I. Said. Stand. Down."
And one by one they lower guns.
The wariness, the nervousness, doesn't go away.
It's evident in their demeanor. In the way they hold their guns.
She takes her com out, bringing an instant mute to the voices yelling over the lines.
She needs focus.
Concentration.
"Supergirl."
The detective steps forward hesitantly as the blonde, almost robotically, raises her fist again.
Kara's breathing heavily. Haggardly.
And as Maggie inches closer she realizes that the CADMUS agent is beyond gone.
His helmet pulverized, his skull crushed.
Kara is essentially hitting concrete.
"Kara."
The young alien whips around at the sound of her name.
And their eyes meet.
Neon emerald encompasses her pupils, her irises, the whites of her eyes.
Barely restrained heat vision.
The anger, the fear, the uncertainty glows within them.
Maggie raises her hands in surrender.
Trying to show she's not a threat.
Waits for the dull recognition to flit in Kara's eyes
The emerald color fades gradually.
And her eyes take on a different quality. An omniscient semblance.
As if Kara's looking right through her.
It takes a moment for Maggie to realize that she is.
Looking right through her.
Through her unit.
Through that crumbling wall behind her.
At Clarke.
With her X-ray vision.
"No… no. Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Focus on me okay?"
Kara's not listening.
Her fist, still raised, begins to tremble.
And as if a domino effect, the rest of the blonde is trembling.
Quaking in that spot.
Silent tears threaten to spill from her eyes.
Maggie wishes she could offer words of comfort.
Anything.
But she's at a loss.
More footsteps sound in the hallway.
Growing louder. And louder.
The Beta-team must be here.
Alex and J'onn.
"Hey! STAND DOWN!"
She turns away from Kara.
Back at her unit, who've raised their guns once more.
She sees Alex, having approached from the opposite end, see Clarke.
Turn towards them and see Kara.
"Oh Kara…"
Then Alex is next to them.
Flat out ignoring anything else in the room.
Focusing solely on her sister.
The blonde's eyes snap back to present at the sight of the older Danvers sister.
Full of unshed tears.
"K-Kal-el…"
The blonde whispers shakily.
Alex bites her lip.
Maggie's heart is breaking,
"I know… I-I'm sorry Kara…"
Kara shoves up from the CADMUS agent then.
Brings a bloodied hand to cover her mouth, stifling whatever noise threatens to come out.
Maggie realizes then that Kara's injured too.
She's limping.
Heavily favoring her right side.
The detective curses herself for not realizing sooner.
"Kara, you're hurt. You need to let the med team look at you."
Alex's tone is forcibly calm.
Remaining strong for her sister, who's about two steps away from falling apart.
"No! Kal-el, he needs it more. H-he… T-they need to help him. He n-needs help!"
She thinks he's still alive.
She has to know that he isn't….
She has to….
She's in denial, Maggie realizes.
Denial.
"Kara… Kal-el, he's gone…"
That only serves to agitate the blonde further.
Maggie registers the sound of safeties of weapons being clicked off.
"Put your goddamn weapons down!"
Alex screams at the Delta unit.
Kara's still backing aways. Palming her way along the wall. Using it for support.
"He's not gone Alex. He's not! I'm- I'm supposed to protect him. He's not gone. You need to help him!"
She's panicking. Hyperventilating. Now that the adrenaline rush is over.
Mumbling something in Kryptonese that Maggie can't understand.
Over and over again.
"Look at me Kara. Look at me. We're gonna move Kal-el out of here, but you need to be checked out too. Do you understand?"
Kara refuses to listen. Refuses to answer directly.
But her knees are shaking as her fight dissolves.
And her weight seems to drop, sliding her down against the wall and onto the floor.
"I can't hear him, Alex!. Ican'tIcan'tIcan't-"
Maggie backs away from them.
Back towards her own unit.
Forcing them out of the room.
They're to trigger happy.
Outside the room, she see's J'onn and the rest of the B-Team.
They're covering Clarke's body with a tarp.
Getting ready to move him.
J'onn's on the phone with somebody.
She doesn't want to know who.
The detective glances back towards the sisters.
Alex is holding Kara's shaking hands.
Ignoring the blood that drips from them.
"They shot him, they shot him, they shot them."
The blonde doesn't sound like she believes the words she's saying.
Another sign of shock.
And right now Maggie doesn't see Supergirl.
She sees Kara Danvers.
Breaking.
And Alex is doing everything she can to placate her.
"Focus my heartbeat okay? On Maggie's. On Jonn's okay?"
Why did she agree?
Why did she agree?
They shouldn't have gone in all guns blazing.
It was stupid.
It was deadly.
"Listen Mon-el's getting looked at. Clarke is too. But you have to stay calm, you have to let us help you. Let us help. It's going to be fine. I promise."
Maggie watches as Alex breaks one of her own rules then.
Never make a promise you can't keep.
Mon-el doesn't make it through the night.