FOUR WEEKS EARLIER.
"Is it a joint taskforce? Or just another excuse to pull Sawyer off her work and have her running around pretending to be a fed?"
Needless to say, Maggie's boss was completely unimpressed. He was leaning on the back legs of his chair, arms crossed and both feet on the table in front of him.
The man took liberties, that was for sure.
He also didn't seem too fond of the feds.
J'onn smiled politely, trying to keep his composure. But Alex saw the vein in his neck pulsing. It was almost amusing, if she didn't know any better. Watching the two men sitting at the table, facing each other. It was almost a stand-off.
"I believe the chief of police gave us quota for joint taskforces, Lieutenant. This seems like the perfect opportunity for some interdepartmental bonding."
The man chuckled humorlessly. "You want me to give you my best detective for a lousy undercover op that about three quarters of your guys are trained for, Henshaw?"
Alex felt a sense of pride at hearing the words. Of course Maggie would be the best at her job.
"We only want the best." J'onn concluded. And with that, it seemed like the conversation was over. The Lieutenant got up from his chair, and glanced up at Alex for one second, before focusing back on J'onn.
"Guess there's nothing I can do if Sawyer wants the op. But if I hear that you offered her a job, or that she wants to come work for you guys anyway… This is over."
After that, the man stalked out of J'onn's office, leaving behind the two dumbfounded agents.
"Well…" Alex started. "That guy's a douche."
J'onn seemed skeptical. "Did you prefer Cooper?"
The hair on the back of Alex's neck stood up at the sound of Maggie's former boss' name. That man had been the absolute devil in disguise.
Compared to him, this guy was a cakewalk.
"It shows that he's protective of her. Makes him a good cop in the long run." J'onn said, getting up from his chair. He eyed her carefully. "What about you, Alex, you alright?"
"Are you asking if I'm okay with all of this? Because you know my answer." Alex grunted. "I think her boss is right. There's an entire building full of competent agents right here."
"We need a woman."
"I know that. There are competent women in this organization."
"I'm not saying there aren't." J'onn crossed his arms. "But the only person with previous undercover experience here that fits the part is you."
"Then let me do it!"
"You are the assistant Director, the second in command and the lead on field missions. I can't send you off to an undercover operation when we don't know how long it'll take."
Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew J'onn was right.
Between her and Maggie, her wife definitely was the better fit for the operation.
Of course, that did less than nothing to ease her mind. If anything, it made it worse. Because the uncertainty about the operation, about the cover…
"I asked her to come over. She'll be here in an hour. Can you try and get our… guest to talk?"
"I'll see what I can do." Alex nodded, as she walked out of the room with big strides, and headed downstairs, to the prison cells.
It had all gone really fast. That morning, the NCPD had been on edge because of a man, standing in the middle of a plaza downtown and screaming hysterically about some alien that was going to prevent the world from ending, saving all of humanity if they wished to be saved.
Of course, the majority of the civilians that had heard him brushed it off and ignored him, branding him just another crazy idiot. But he obviously wasn't in the right mindset, and was arrested.
The science division was brought in, just to be sure that he was just crazy, and not actually on to something. But when they had talked to him, he'd stuttered a half-coherent explanation about a cult in the desert, where an alien lived along with humans that idolized him.
Maggie had picked up on the case, and had informed Alex of the guy's story right away. Not even ten minutes later, there was a black SUV parked outside the precinct, ready to escort the guy to the DEO building.
If anything, Maggie's boss was probably just pissed that the DEO had once again taken a big case from underneath him.
Based on what they knew, Kara had done a quick scouting, and much to everyone's surprise, confirmed his story.
In the desert, about fifty miles away from National City, there was a small town, isolated from the rest of civilization. Just as he'd said.
Alex entered the med bay, where the man was sent to get a full body scan. The medical staff had assured J'onn and Alex that the guy was in fact human, and not injured or sick in any way.
Just in shock, and probably horribly traumatized. He hadn't said a word since his explanation back at the precinct. Alex assumed that his body had shut down. But she needed more.
If either of them were going to risk their life heading into a cult lead by some psycho alien that thought he could control and manipulate humans, she needed all the intel she could get.
"Hey." Alex said as she entered the med bay. She glanced at the other medical personnel in the room, who got the hint immediately, and walked out.
Leaving her alone with the man sitting upright on the stretcher.
"It's okay, sir. You're safe here. Nobody's going to hurt you."
Somehow, the man didn't look convinced. This was the first close-up look Alex had gotten ever since they'd escorted him into the building. He had black, short hair, and dark brown eyes. Hauntingly dark, like they'd seen the terrors of the world. He couldn't be older than 25.
"My name is Alex. Can you tell me your name?"
She tried to look as compassionate as possible, and restrict her hand gestures to a bare minimum. Sudden movements would only make it worse.
"D-Dorian."
She hadn't expected him to talk so soon. But she smiled weakly as she looked at him. "Hello, Dorian."
"Did you get him?"
A loaded question. But Alex shook her head, deciding that telling him the truth would be better in the long run. "We're going to get him. But to do that, we need you to tell us what exactly is going on there."
At the man's wince, she continued. "I know it's painful. But we need to know what you know, if we want to take him down."
Dorian nodded weakly. "I'll… I'll tell you everything."
"Hey, J'onn." Maggie greeted him as she entered his office. "Why did you want to see me?"
"Take a seat, Maggie."
The detective frowned, but complied nonetheless. She hadn't been in J'onn's office all too many times before. Usually things were run from the command center. She knew that both Alex and J'onn were barely in their offices, as they preferred working in their labs or out in the field.
This was new.
"What's going on?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion. "Did something happen?"
J'onn's serious look told Maggie all she needed to know. "Is it Alex? Is she hurt?!"
She'd just talked to her a few hours ago, but she knew a lot could happen in that time…
"Alex is fine." J'onn raised a hand quickly. "Everyone's okay."
Maggie sagged slightly, trying to cover up how worried his words had made her.
"We talked to your boss about the guy you handed over to us this morning."
The detective nodded slowly. Was she about to get fired? Did she make a mistake?
"Your boss has agreed to another joint taskforce between the NCPD and the DEO."
"Which means…?" Maggie had been on a few DEO missions before, but that hardly counted as a joint taskforce. The most they'd done besides that was share files with the DEO and tell them about new species or abilities they'd discovered.
J'onn opened his mouth, but the door behind Maggie opened, prompting her to glance back.
Alex walked inside, in her black DEO gear, and nodded at the two of them, bringing her hands to her hips as she moved to the table.
Maggie didn't expect Alex to greet her in any way less formal or professional than she was doing now, as they'd both agreed that they had to keep their PDA to a minimum when they were at work. God forbid one of those aliens got the wrong idea.
But this, this was all-out Agent Danvers. Professional, stoic, and factual. The one that meant business.
So, Maggie went all-business too.
"What is it?"
Alex took point. "The man that was transferred here. He told me everything he knew about the cult."
"… We're going to set up an operation to dismantle the cult and apprehend the alien leading it." J'onn supplied.
Maggie nodded slowly, as she watched Alex take a step forward and move to cross her arms. "According to the guy, the alien is dangerous. So we have to take him down."
She could already picture the fit her Lieutenant had thrown. Greene hated undercover operations. Probably some kind of trauma from something that went bad back in his day. Maggie didn't know, and honestly she didn't care either.
"I want it." Maggie said, immediately. When she saw Alex's frown, she backtracked instantly. "I mean, if that's what you're asking me."
"It is." J'onn nodded. "So, you're volunteering?"
Alex flinched. But Maggie didn't notice, and nodded.
"I've done undercover ops before."
"Only one day at a time." Alex interjected. Maggie glanced up at her wife, but Alex didn't seem defensive or angry.
She seemed… sad.
"I'll be straight with you, Maggie." J'onn looked her in the eyes. "We need a woman to infiltrate the cult, get intel on the alien, try and identify it, and report back. For as long as it takes to build a case."
Maggie nodded. "I'm in, J'onn."
Alex sighed to her right, apparently giving up whatever emotions she had building up, and lowered her arms. "We need to get started as soon as possible, in case the alien hears about the leak and does anything stupid. I'll brief you on everything we know."
"I'll tell your Lieutenant that you took the op." J'onn said, moving to his telephone. Alex moved to the door, and Maggie got up and trailed behind her.
"Hey, you okay?" She asked, when she saw the conflicted look on the agent's face. Alex snapped out of her thoughts, and looked up quickly. "Yeah, yeah. Just…"
"… You didn't want me to take the op."
Alex shook her head. "It's… Stupid. You're the only one qualified to do it."
"What about you?" Maggie stopped walking, and tilted her head to look her wife in the eyes.
Alex grunted. "I'm needed here. I can't be in deep when the DEO gets raided, or something goes wrong."
Maggie noticed the look on her wife's face, and searched for words. "Alex, what you think matters, okay? I know what you're feeling, and I understand. But… if the roles were reversed…"
"I'd want to take it too." Alex chuckled weakly. "I know."
"Are we okay?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah. We are." Alex confirmed quickly. "You have my blessing on the mission. But on one condition – and J'onn knows about it."
"Which is?" Maggie raised an eyebrow.
"I need to be your handler. You're checking in with me, as much as you can, and I'm guiding you through it."
"I can live with that." Maggie smiled. If that was the one thing she could do to ease Alex's mind, she'd gladly take it.
"You'd better." Alex wrapped an arm around Maggie's waist, and pulled her into a side hug. "Just promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
Maggie laughed. "Me? I'm not the one that had to be pulled out because she couldn't stop laughing at her target's laugh, Danvers."
"Hey!" Alex defended weakly. "He sounded like a canary, Maggie! I couldn't help myself."
"Tax dollars, hard at wor-…" Maggie cut herself off when she felt Alex elbow nudging her in the ribs.
Once their laughing had died down, Maggie grew serious again. "I can take it, Al. Besides, if anything goes wrong, you'll be there."
"In a heartbeat." Alex smiled, before she put both hands on Maggie's cheeks, and pulled her in for a deep, lingering kiss.
When they pulled back, Maggie did her signature head tilt as she glanced at her wife. "But if I am going to be living in the desert for the next couple of days, I'm going to need you to buy me dinner first."
"Really?" Alex smirked, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
"Yes, really." Maggie repeated. "I am not going in there until I've had my Last Supper with crappy wine and great company."
"Guess I'll go have to look for some, then."
Maggie watched Alex walk off ostentatiously after her comment, and rolled her eyes. "You're such a nerd, Danvers."
"Don't pretend like you don't like it!"