"What do you have?" J'onn asked approaching Winn's workstation.
"Good and bad news. I have CCTV footage of the van that took Maggie. Only the plates are fake and I lost it in the tunnel."
"That sounds like nothing." Alex said prowling like a caged tiger.
"Yeah, but I do have a picture of the one of the kidnappers and I am pretty sure he wanted us to get the picture."
"Why?" J'onn asked.
"Um, probably because he is a lunatic. I mean he has kidnapped three people." Winn said.
"I meant why do you think it was his intention to be seen?" J'onn rephrased.
"Oh right. He winked at the camera. I am currently running the image through facial recognition." He said pulling the image up on the screen.
"Henry Lawrence." Alex immediately said.
"You know him?" Winn asked as he typed away. "Oh, him." He added as the information came up on the screen.
-00-
"Do you think she is still alive?" Kara asked, her fear obvious.
"I think Eliza has already proved she's kinda a bad ass." Maggie said. "She'll be okay."
"What if-"
"Don't think like that." Maggie said as Kara stood and started pacing.
"I hate not having powers." She muttered.
"I have to admit I am kind of missing Supergirl myself." Maggie said. After a minute she asked. "You know how when Alex was missing and we got that lead I told you not to follow?"
"But I followed it anyway and we almost lost Alex." Kara recalled.
"Yeah. Well you also said if the situations were reversed Alex would have already been out the door."
"She'll be doing everything she can to find us." Kara said thinking Maggie's choice of conversation was because she didn't think rescue was coming.
"I know that." Maggie smiled. "But when you told me that I didn't believe you. I know Alex gets stressed when something happens to you, but I always thought she was more of a thinker than you. Turns out I was wrong. She chased down every sniff of a lead, doing things she really shouldn't and putting herself, her career, her freedom in danger."
"Is that so surprising?" Kara asked. "She will do anything for family. Plus she's going to blame herself."
"I know. But I was really worried she was going to do something there was no turning back from. So I tried to talk to her. To get her to calm down."
"She didn't take it well?" Kara guessed.
"No. She said I wouldn't understand as I didn't have family that cared about me."
"Maggie-" Kara started only for the detective to cut her off.
"That was the last thing said between us before I was taken."
"Alex didn't really mean that." Kara said, fearing what Alex was going through.
"I know. But what if I never get to tell her I know?" Maggie asked sadly.
"You will." Kara said, no hint of doubt in her voice. "Alex will get us out of here." For a moment the two fell silent until eventually Kara said. "Maggie?"
"Yeah."
"It may not be by blood, but trust me that doesn't matter, you do have family that cares about you." She said as they heard footsteps approach.
"Eliza?" Kara exclaimed seeing her foster mother being dragged towards the cell.
"Stand back." One of the guards said. When neither Kara or Maggie moved he added. "We can leave her to bleed to death out here." The threat causing both women to back away, helpless to do anything but watch as Eliza was roughly deposited on the ground.
"What did you do to her?" Maggie asked as the cell door was once again locked.
"I needed her to send a message. She refused so I had to be more persuasive. I'll be back in an hour to take one of you for round two." He said locking the door.
"Eliza?" Kara asked rushing to her side. "You're bleeding."
"I'll be okay." She gasped as Maggie and Kara helped move her to a more comfortable position. As they moved her and they saw the bruises and the blood flowing from her stomach Kara felt sick.
"That bad then?" Eliza asked noticing Kara's expression before squeezing her hand and saying. "I'll be okay."
"You gave yourself to him." Kara said.
"Of course I did. I'm not going to sit back and let anyone hurt my children." Eliza said as Maggie attended to the large gash in her abdomen.
-00-
"Come on." Alex said angrily as she went through all the records they had on Lawrence not finding any clue about where he may be. Giving up threw the keyboard across the room.
"You can hit me if that would help." Mon-El said entering the room. "I think J'onn would prefer that to having to buy more keyboards."
"I'm fine." Alex said trying to calm down.
"I can see that." He said. "We will find them."
"Right now there is little proof of that." Alex said as she started pacing.
"Kara told me that you will always come for her."
"I didn't when you two were being held by Cadmus."
"Only because you didn't know. You managed to find her on the slavers' moon." He reminded her. "Kara has complete faith in you, so maybe you need to have faith in you." He suggested.
"Did you want something?" Alex asked in no mood to receive a pep talk from Mon-El.
"Yeah. A new package has just arrived. Winn is setting up in the conference room."
"Next time lead with that." Alex said hurrying from the room.
-00-
"Good timing." Winn said. "We are ready to roll."
"What was in the package?" Alex asked.
"Thumb drive. Only contents is a video. Which is ready to play." Winn said.
"Do it." Alex said not sure if she really wanted to see the contents.
As the video started Lawrence appeared in front of the camera.
"Hello Agent Danvers. Do you recognise me? I bet you don't. In a way I hope you don't. Then you will not understand what is happening and why your loved ones will die. Regardless though rest assured that everything that is about to happen is because of you. Now I have the trio that matter most to you I will enjoy killing them, slowly and painfully, sharing the experience with you." The video then cut out briefly. When the image came back they saw Eliza sitting on a chair in a dark room.
"Mom." Alex said quietly, fear growing in her stomach.
"This is just to get your daughter's attention. To make sure she understands what loss feels like. To ensure she knows who is responsible." Lawrence said to Eliza. "Tell her it is her fault."
"Alex, listen to me." Eliza said looking at the camera. "We are okay. This is not your fault." The comment earning her a fist to her face.
"That was stupid." The man said. "Tell her who is really to blame or I will remind you."
"Alex, there is only one person responsible and that's him." Eliza said moments before being hit again.
As Alex watched the cycle repeat again and again she said. "Why won't she just blame me?"
"She's your mother. She wants to protect you." J'onn said before turning his attention back to the screen and Eliza's swollen face.
"Alex, none of this is your fault. I love you." Eliza said just as a small knife was plunged into her abdomen.
"You should have listened to me." The man said before turning to the camera.
"I would guess you have three hours Agents Danvers before you are parentless." With that the file ended.
"Alex." J'onn said glancing over at her. When she continued to silently stare at the screen he stepped towards her as he called to her again. "Alex?"
"I need air." She said hurrying out of the room.
"Winn, see if you can get anything from that video." J'onn said before hurrying after Alex.
-TBC...
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Next chapter up tomorrow.