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Kara was there. It wasn't amazing timing because Alex was practically ripping out her hair trying to find something that she could wear to the stupid faculty dinner that would comfortably be accompanied by a gun with little luck. Kara was showing Alex a hole in her shirt that she got from some Red Tornado thingy and Alex practically had to take notes just to keep up. Then Kara started asking about her mission and Alex had to struggle to say something worthy of Kara flying so far. Alex left out all the stuff that Hank had warned her about and decided to focus on the people she'd met over the past few days. Kara loved people. That was something Alex hoped would be to her advantage. "My partner's name is Kip."
"Short for…Kipper?" Kara chuckled but by the way her eyes looked around the apartment Alex knew her sister was hungry. "Have you gone out on the town yet?" That's code for: where's the best food around here?
"The town has approximately 8 stoplights, Kara. I could have one hell of a night in my apartment if I wanted to." Alex shrugged and walked over to her suitcase looking for something to change into.
"Is that what you've been doing? Alone?" Kara questioned. Alex knew from day 1 that Kara could never do subtle. It wasn't like she expected anything less from someone who could hear even the slightest shift in heartbeats without batting an eyelash. But Kara always skirted around this. Kara had seen Alex blackout drunk far too many times not to be worried. Back in college Alex would come home on breaks without ever really being there. At least twice Kara had to carrying her back inside, holding her hair back as she vomited her guts out at 4 am. Nights like those pushed the sisters away from one another. Alex was embarrassed but Kara was terrified.
"No." Alex said firmly. She held up a blue dress and scrunched up her face. "I mean I know I'm not running around fighting a tornado-military-scary-dude controlled by some bald white guy and his oddly attractive James-Olsen-dating-daughter but I get out. I went to a town fair. I had popcorn and wine."
"Okay, jeez. I get it…you're a ball of fun."
"Damn right I am." Alex looked at the dress again. "Do you think this will conceal a 9 millimeter?" Kara leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Please explain."
"I'm going to a faculty dinner tonight to see if I can finally get eyes on Foreman." Alex tossed out as she dug around for heels that would match.
"Suddenly you're a Professor?"
"What? No." Alex shook her head and laughed at Kara. "You know I'm great at finding the right connections. I got invited by the most well liked Professor on campus actually. It was actually kind of easy."
"Right…and what exactly does this Professor want in return?" Kara huffed. "You know, Alex. For a DEO agent you can be sort of naïve-."
"Kara, two weeks ago you went to the zoo to see if you could listen close enough to understand an elephant." Alex reminded her.
"Hey! I was just checking!" Kara walked over and took the blue dress out of Alex's hand. "Hm. This is surprisingly cute."
"Kara. It's your dress." Alex waved it around before plopping down on the couch. Kara followed her and sat down too. "And besides, this is a part of the mission. And it's not a date. I'm sure Maggie just felt bad that I don't know anyone-."
"Wait, Maggie? Plot twist-."
"There's no plot to begin with." Alex assured her. "Harold Foreman. That's the mission." Alex traced the torn fabric on Kara's shoulder. "I'm sorry I can't be there to help you."
"You're helping me here." Kara stared ahead at the wall in front of them. Her mind started to wonder. Somehow her thoughts took her back to high school. The time when Alex beat up Colton Bauer because he tried to trip Kara down the stairs. Alex broke his nose and fractured a bone just below his eye. She remembered the anger in her sister's eyes. The way that she actually had to try to pull Alex away. Alex got suspended and Eliza was lived. But what Kara remembered the most was that car ride home. Alex staring out the window and flexing her hands. It was, maybe, the first time Alex realized that she was powerful. Something changed that day. Alex's determination grew. She was more confident and then suddenly midway through college Kara was scrapping her off bar floors.
Alex wasn't a talker unless she needed to be; Kara knew that. And right now all Kara wanted was for Alex to tell her that things would be okay. For both of them. "But hurry up and catch the bad guy because game nights have already gotten less intense since you left. No one's nearly as competitive as you." Kara wined.
"James and Winn are horrible at everything." Alex said with a shrug. "Now will you help me do my makeup?"
"Makeup? Wow." Kara zipped into the bathroom and grabbed Alex's makeup bag. "Surprising."
"I'm just trying to fit in. Professors can be so pretentious."
"Just be yourself, Alex." Kara said with a grin. "Plus you're smarter than all of those know it alls anyway."
Maggie arrived about three minutes after Kara had left. Alex barely had time to strap on her shoes and conceal her weapon before she got a call. "Danvers." Alex said but then mentally kicked herself. She had to be careful with that last name crap. It made people think of cops or FBI agents and not small town security guards making a whopping 43k a year.
"So you're a former cop, then?" Maggie asked on the other line. "That or FBI."
"No comment. Are you downstairs?" Alex walked over and looked out her window. There was a black Honda Accord running in front of her apartment. Alex tried to get a look at Maggie inside but got too frustrated with the angle.
"Yep. Want me to come up?"
"I'll be right down." Alex said as she practically sprinted out the door. One thing she'd learned to be good at was running in heels. College taught her that. Back in high school Alex had been such a tomboy. She didn't start caring until Kara arrived. Suddenly all eyes were on the new girl, mostly to make fun of her. So Alex tried harder. Got in with the popular crowd just so she could protect Kara from all the jeers she'd gotten on day 1.
When Alex walked out the front doors of her apartment she spotted Maggie leaning against her car. She was texting someone as she twirled her keys in her hand. More importantly, Maggie was wearing a white button up with a fucking untied bowtie dangling around her neck. And to top it all off she was wearing black jeans. Jeans!
Alex had spent at least two hours on stupid makeup. Alex approached the woman who by now had shoved her phone into her back pocket and smiled. "You clean up nice." Maggie said with a lopsided grin.
"Are those jeans?" Alex asked. Maggie chuckled and looked down at her pants.
"They're black pants, actually-."
"They're jeans." Alex snipped. "And the bowtie. Jesus Christ. We're not leaving unless you tie it." Alex crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
"Seriously?" Maggie's eyes widened. "Fine." Maggie made quick work of the bowtie which Alex hoped would've taken at least a minute so she could berate Maggie some more. Maggie unlocked her car doors and they both got in quietly.
Alex wondered if Maggie knew that she had a habit of twirling things. First the scissors and then her keys. It was a small thing to notice but it was noticeable. Alex wondered if it was a nervous habit or if she was hyperactive. She decided to wait on mentioning it because, from experience, Alex knew that psychologist hated being psychoanalyzed. "How has your day been?"
"What?" Alex practically punched herself after responding like that. Act normal. "I mean…it's been good. Kip bought me a donut and told me in very gross and disturbing detail about his second wife."
"Just you wait until he gets to the third one. Apparently, she used to work in a circus or something." Maggie looked over at Alex and smiled. "So do you have all your questions memorized for Foreman?"
"Eh, I'll just wing it."
"I don't believe you." Maggie said as she refocused on the road. "I'm sensing a type A personality here."
"Oh fuck off." Alex said as she leaned against the window. "So you're friends with Professor Foreman?"
"Friends? A little. He does some variant species research which I'm also interested in." Maggie said with a shrug. Maggie parked the car across the street from a large two story Victorian. There were a number of cars in the drive way and even more on the street. Maggie got out first but suddenly Alex was starting to get cold feet. How many professor would be here? What would they think about some newbie security officer showing up and intruding on their fun? "You comin?" Maggie asked peering down into the car and looking at Alex with a worried expression.
"Yeah." Alex said and quickly got out of the car.
As it turns out, Maggie was right. The English Professors were wild. They could talk about literature and film and art forever. It was actually starting to get pretty fun when Harold Foreman interjected halfway through Maggie explaining something about Vegas. "You must be new." The picture Hank showed Alex before the mission didn't do this guy justice. Even though she'd scoped him out at the expensive café she didn't really get a good look until now. He was taller in person with a sharper jaw. He was dressed well enough for the occasion but the thing that caught Alex's eye was a gold band around his left middle finger. It would've been dull to the untrained eye but Alex spotted something laser engraved. Bennu.
Alex couldn't believe it but watching National Treasure on 8 class field trips in a row had actually helped her. After seeing Nicolas Cage steal the Declaration of Independence that many times had sort of driven Alex to other hobbies. She'd become obsessed with conspiracy theories and spies in all time periods. History and old military tactics became second nature to her growing mind. But linguistics was a passion. She knew four languages but was working on a fifth. So that's why when Alex saw that gold band on Foreman's finger she remembered sitting with Kara a few weeks ago and watching Warehouse 13. Artie had mentioned something about a phoenix and Alex whispered over to Kara that the mythology of the Phoenix stemmed from ancient Egyptian myths. Aka the Bennu.
Now what exactly that meant right now? Alex had no fucking clue. "Yeah, I'm Alex Danvers." She said to Harold who shook her hand firmly. Maggie smiled between them and even though Alex was attempting to focus she knew that Maggie was waiting to hear all the questions Alex had for Harold. "I hear you do some really interesting research. Genomes. Variant species things." Alex knew from extensive bar talk that if you dumbed stuff down than men would be propelled to show off. Alex was relying on that right now.
"Actually…yes. I'm working on a sort of transnational project right now. Wolf splicing. Everybody loves a good werewolf, right?" He was lying. But Alex didn't exactly know why. He was obviously doing something shady, so why even bring up splicing? "But that's small time. My biggest project is containment. Variant species repellants."
"Why not just call it what it is?" Alex said with a tight smile. "You're working to control aliens."
"Not exactly-."
"Then what exactly is it? Slavery? Concentration camps-."
"Harold, are you serious?" Maggie questioned. Alex almost forgot she was there. "You're working at this alone?"
"Okay the liberal thing is charming until it comes to national security. We don't know what these beings are capable of. These are just precautions." Harold got tense when Maggie shifted like he was worried about what she thought of him.
"Bullshit." Maggie said.
"Well I won't call it bullshit until I see it." Alex said trying to calm her nerves. "Any interest in showing me around the lab?" That caught him off guard. Maggie too. But Alex needed to get more information to Hank. If Harold was already working on something big then maybe Alex could uncover it quicker than if they just spoke about it.
"I won't be in for a couple of days." He said. "But would next week work?"
"Sure." Alex said giving him a nod. Just as quickly as he arrived he went over to mingle with the biology professors. Alex watched him for a moment before Maggie grabbed her hand and led her into the kitchen. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Funny, that's exactly what I was about to ask you." Maggie grabs a plate and some mini cheesecakes. "You looked like you were about to kill the guy and then suddenly you want a tour of his lab?"
"I'm interested."
"He's a Nazi and you're interested?" Maggie scoffed. "What's your angle?"
"No angle-."
"I thought you said you used to be a cop." Maggie started.
"You said that." Alex reminded her. "Former biomolecular engineer. Also sort of ex-military. Also a doctor."
Maggie just stared at her for what seemed like forever. Alex was about to check the woman's wiring to make sure she was still breathing when Maggie blinked. "Get the fuck outta here." Maggie said. Alex laughed. "No, seriously. You need to get the fuck out of here." Alex took a step back. Did she give too much away? Was Maggie seeing right through her? "You're some kind of genius and you're sitting in the middle of nowhere breaking up arguments over videogames? You're better than this place, Alex. That's becoming increasingly obvious."
"Why do you care?" Alex asked.
Just then Frank walked into the room. He looked surprised when he saw Alex but quickly smiled to cover it up. "Ladies, hello." Maggie took a step away from Alex and sat her plate down. As Frank rummaged through the fridge looking for another beer, Maggie grabbed a fork and started twirling it in her hand. She was nervous. That had to be it. Because the silence hung heavy in the room and the only thing Alex wanted to do was calm Maggie down.
So she reached for Maggie's hand to stop her fidgeting. Wrong move. The fork landed on the ground with a loud clang. Frank turned towards them, Maggie muttered something under her breath. "Sorry." Alex said with furrowed brows. Frank seemed a bit indifferent. Not as talkative as he'd been earlier that day. He left them alone and that's when Maggie finally looked up at her. "You have a nervous tick." Alex leaned against the counter next to Maggie.
"No I don't."
"You fidget. Twirl whatever's close to you." Alex nodded towards the fork. "You're pretty confident most of the time. Proud of your work with the kids, I can tell. But you get tense when you're around me. I know I look super tough." Alex motioned to her dress and smiled. "But I'm not that scary."
"It's not you…it's-."
"Don't hit me with a breakup line, drama queen." Alex waved her off. "Just tell me what awful thing about you people keep skirting around. Oh shit…" Alex took a dramatic step back. "Are you a republican?" Maggie burst out laughing and Alex joined in. This felt eerily familiar. Alex realized that this was how she'd cheer Kara up when they were younger. Joke until Kara laughed and then offer her encouraging words. She was a good support system when she needed to be.
"No nothing like that. And it's not bad." Maggie sighed. "Look…long story short: when I first got here things were going amazing. My students loved me. I was working on my second book and my family was finally supporting me in my career. But then…some students found out that I was gay and I thought they were going to fire me. Parents in town got worried about my TAs, thinking that I was some creep that would corrupt their daughters or something. But so many students backed me. And then the faculty stood by my side. Townies are still on the fence sometimes but things got a lot better." Maggie took a deep breath. "So I get worried about you.
"I'm sorry." And Alex meant it. She felt horrible that Maggie was outed like that even worse that Maggie was so worried about Alex's fake-new life. "But I'm pretty much fearless so…fuck the haters." Maggie grinned at that.
"Nerd." Alex grabbed a mini cheesecake and then another.
"You know, I've got a stress reliever for you." Alex chuckled before she even started speaking. Maggie looked nervous like she knew she was getting herself into trouble before Alex actually explained what the hell she was talking about. "Wanna go shoot something?"
Finding a place to shoot a bunch of empty beer bottles was surprisingly easy. And although there wasn't that much light and Alex was worried about stray animals attacking them, Maggie assured her that this random barren corn field was completely isolated. Alex explained all the techniques for shooting and aiming to Maggie but Maggie seemed to think that it would be easy.
Totally wrong. On the first shot Maggie's gun nearly fell out of her hands as the bullet completely missed the beer bottles Alex had set up about 20 or so feet ahead. "Maybe you should untie your bowtie. Maybe that'll help." Alex joked. Maggie groaned.
"Okay hotshot. Why don't you go ahead?" Maggie held her gun at her side and Alex, still wearing her blue dress and heels, obliterated four beer bottles in just under 3 seconds. Maggie looked hilarious standing there with her jaw hanging open and Alex actually wished that she could've taken a picture. "Well shit. Alright."
"Years of training." Alex motioned for Maggie to try again. "So…why'd you want to teach here?"
"Loaded question." Maggie said as she focused her gun and took a shot. Still missed but she was getting closer. "Being a professor is tough these days. So when this job I took it. Without a second thought. And besides, it's not much different from where I grew up."
"Where's that?"
"Nebraska." Maggie stood up straighter. Leveled the gun, eyes trained on her target and Bam, she did it. "Holy shit, I did it." Maggie said proudly. "I should stop while I'm ahead." Maggie watched Alex shoot for a while. After she went through one clip, Maggie went to her car and brought back a bag of empty beer bottles that they'd collected from Harold's recycling bin before they came out here. While she was setting them up she talked some more about her hometown. "Being gay was tough where I was from. Humbolt, Nebraska. It's the same place Brandon Teena was killed." Maggie thought for a long while. "I played sports to bulk up. At first I did track so I could learn how to run, but then I stayed for the strength training. I didn't run after that. I stayed. And fought." Maggie walked back over and stood next to Alex. "I never really admitted that to anyone before." Maggie tapped her fingers against the counter and let out a shaky breath. Alex was surprised. She figured she'd shared that a million times with her LGBT student organization. Alex didn't feel special by that information she felt scared. For Maggie. "So now you see why Harold's alien bullshit got to me earlier. Back in high school I might has well have been one."
"Professor Foreman doesn't know what he's dealing with."
"And you do?"
"I did some work back in National City that dealt with aliens." Alex told her. "Our science is weak compared to theirs but more importantly if he's working on anything alien related he needs samples. Bodies to test. That's what worries me."
"Hm." Maggie watched Alex intently before looking away. "Okay, Danvers."
"Okay, Sawyer." Alex mocked. "So your research on aliens? It's a side project."
"A main project now." Maggie began. "Physiology and linguistics and biology and blah blah whatever the hell else people are so damn worried about comes second to what I want to know."
"And what's that?"
"What they're thinking." Maggie got this look, like her mind was waking up. "It's easy for us to project humanity onto the ones that look most like us. Think about Superman…hell actually think about Supergirl. But what people want to know are their motives. Can they love like us? Can they love us?" Maggie looked up at the sky. Alex joined her. "I want to prove that lightyears away doesn't mean we can't find common ground. I think they're like us, Alex."
"Some people would call you radical."
"And what would you call me?"
"Right."
I'll be back with another chapter soon. Please let me know what you think of this. Any comment at all would help me tremendously!