Reconnaissance
Notes: Find me on Tumblr at spoopercorp and on AO3 as Local_Asshole.
Summary: Thinking they have a lead, Alex and Lucy are dispatched in an infiltration unit together, targeting one of LexCorp's facilities. While they strengthen their bond, Kara is assigned out of the field and therefore out of harm's way, thanks to Director Lane. However, the question is whether or not the mission will succeed.
TRIGGER WARNING: ANGST AND VIOLENCE.
"Espionage?" Kara repeated.
"Exactly," J'onn nodded, "Alex. Director Lane. You two are leading an infiltration unit into one of LexCorp's facilities; that's where he's continuing the manufacture of Kryptonite weapons and other tools of destruction according to the meeting they adjourned. Your jobs are to extract as much relevant information as possible."
"What about me?" the blonde inquired.
"The squadron is waiting approximately five miles south outside of the building. And Supergirl, at the request of Director Lane and Dr. Hamilton, you won't be participating with the covert ops unit."
"What!" Kara nearly shouted, glaring at Lucy.
"We can't afford to lose an asset like you, Supergirl," the brunette replied calmly, "You're also still recovering."
"I'm perfectly fine!" Kara protested, but then proved herself wrong when she flinched from her chest pain.
"She's right," Alex chimed in, "I think our team will suffice. After all, it's only a reconnaissance mission, and this facility's security is not as tight as the others."
The blonde growled, giving up, she knew when she was defeated.
"However, Supergirl," J'onn elaborated, "You'll be floating outside of the fortress at all times to ensure there won't be anything or anyone possibly compromising this mission. Understood?"
She crossed her arms and exhaled through her nostrils, "Alright. Fine."
"You're all dismissed."
"Come on, people. Let's move, move, move those asses," Alex ordered, strapping her silenced assault rifle to her back and turning on her night vision, "Tsung, get the entrance."
The agent nodded, attaching a device on the lock and deactivating it.
"Director Lane," Alex called, gesturing towards her and the door, "Get on my six. Everyone else, get into two groups of three. The first team to go in will cover the first floor. Second team can scour the next. My partner and I will take the third. Murdock, you'll remain near the entrance to toggle their security systems. Move out and locate as much evidence as you can."
Agent Danvers entered, followed by Lucy, guns at the ready, heading up the stairs. It was a large facility, entirely built out of steel and concrete, and luckily for the pair, the doors were relatively easy to unlock.
After five minutes of quiet sifting through crates, they found nothing of value and moved on.
"Danvers, what do you think we're going to find here?"
"I don't know, and honestly, I hope we don't find anything."
Alex saw Lucy nod in agreement from the corner of her eye, "So...you and Kara, eh?"
The soldier nearly stumbled over, "W-What?"
"You heard me, Director," Alex smirked.
"N-Nothing is going on between us, okay?"
"But it looks like you want more."
"Agent Danvers, this is really not the time," Lucy sighed with annoyance.
"So you really like her," the agent continued to tease.
"It's...it's not like that...I just...I love her and all, but..." the soldier attempted to explain.
"Oh," Alex cut her off, barely containing her laughter, "You fell in love with Supergirl."
Lucy's eye twitched, "Agent Danvers, if you don't shut up right now..."
"It's cool, I'm okay with it, you guys have my blessing," she snickered.
"We're just friends. I'm not jeopardizing the bond we've made already. I don't want to ruin our friendship."
"Well...I think you should go ahead and ruin it."
"How could you say that?"
"Because it could end up going well for the both of you. Are you sure you don't want to live a life with the cutest alien in the universe, and on top of that...raise a litter of puppies and kittens, or kids, but they're not fluffy so..."
Lucy sighed in defeat, hesitating, "Honestly...that sounds really tempting."
"Then what's stopping you?"
A pause.
"Kara is."
Alex was speechless, "What? Why?"
"I've tried many times to give her hints, she's so clueless sometimes."
"Ahhh...that's her charm though, and she's always oblivious when it comes to love," Agent Danvers said.
"Just concentrate on the mission, Danvers. You talk too much."
"You can tolerate Kara's incessant chatter, but not mine?"
"I've never been a fan of chit-chat."
"You always seem to find some time to listen to my little sister's small talk though."
"I really don't like you right now."
Alex hesitated before finally informing her, "You know...when I had my suspicions between you guys...I actually didn't like you."
"Really?" Lucy said, her interest piqued, "Well, you're her older sister, so that's understandable."
"Really," she confirmed, "It wasn't just because I'm her family. It was cause your father spent his life trying to torture and imprison people like her, and the last time I checked, you were working alongside him."
"So? That never meant I felt the same way. He doesn't speak for me," the brunette defended.
"But you didn't disagree. You never stood up to him," Alex stated, "I still get a bit worried for my sister from time to time when I think about that."
"He's my dad and my boss. Trust me, I'd never do anything to hurt Kara."
"There's a part of me that believes that, but I'm not totally reassured. Am I supposed to just take your word for it?"
"Of course not. But at least give me the chance to prove it though."
Alex nodded, "Yeah, you're right."
Lucy sifted through a pile of papers, "DNA splicing?"
"What?"
"Lex Luthor is conducting alien and human experiments..."
"Take the files, we could use them," Alex said, and approached a sealed door.
"Agent, what're you doing?"
"This is a biometric scanner. The only one we've encountered so far. That's a bit odd considering all of the other doors have number pads."
"Damn..."
"Aha, but I came prepared with Lex's fingerprints," Agent Danvers said proudly, attaching a small, flat device onto the scanner.
"Where'd you get..."
"Ummm...after Superman's fight with Doomsday in Metropolis, the D.E.O. kind of investigated and...well, there."
The steel door made a ringing sound and slid open.
"Voila. After you, Director."
Lucy entered the premises with extreme caution before gasping, "What the hell is Luthor doing?"
Alex's mouth was wide open.
It was a dimly lit lab with a vast number of tools, and cells filled with hanging dead bodies; some of them were mutilated, faces torn clean off the bone, limbs missing and twisted every which way, boils and other unknown matter protruding out of some of the corpses. The pair could not decide which was worse, the sight or the smell. The horrid odor was intoxicating, making Lucy puke.
"You really need to get out in the field more, Director."
"Shut. Up," she coughed after finishing hacking her insides out.
"Desk jobs are lovely."
"Let's get out of here."
Alex touched her earpiece and proceeded to swipe any remaining documents from the lab, "Alpha team, beta team, this is knife leader, we're heading out and back to base in about fifteen minutes, do you copy?"
"Roger that."
"Affirmative."
Lucy was out the door already.
"Team leader! This is beta! We've got a situation! There's a bomb! Everyone, get down!"
Before the pair could react, the floor crumbled right beneath them.
Alex felt a sharp pain in her arm and screamed; it was dislocated at an unnatural angle, "Director?"
"I'm here, agent," Lucy reassured, stumbling her way towards the agent while holding her profusely bleeding head, "Your arm...I need to set it."
"Hell no, not without anesthesia, I can wait for the medics."
Without warning, she snapped the joint back into place, eliciting another scream from Alex.
"What the fuck, Lucy!"
"Get up, Danvers, we're leaving," the brunette ordered, "Alpha team, beta team, abort the mission, do you guys copy?"
No reply.
"I said do you copy?"
Nothing.
"Goddammit!" she hissed, holding out her hand to Alex, "Come on! Supergirl, where are you?"
They sprinted through the maze of rocks.
"I've been outside the building the entire time. Is something wrong?"
"Abort the mission! Agent Danvers and I are the only survivors!"
"Don't worry! I'm coming!"
"No! We can make it out alive, just get to safety!" Alex replied, cradling her arm and leading the way back through the rubble.
She didn't notice the rumbling sound that preceded the falling ceiling.
Lucy, despite her head injury, charged full speed at the unaware woman. She could feel her muscles tearing and her heart pounding in her ears.
"Move!" she shouted, shoving the agent out of harm's way.
Alex regained her composure and noticed her superior glance above, and as she was about to dive out of the way, the slab of rock crushed her.
Alarms blared and sirens painted the walls a neon red, the emergency lights turning on.
The impact of the mass created a shroud of dust, blinding Alex momentarily, as she attempted to wave the cloudy particles away.
But she regretted her action the moment she sat by Director Lane's side and her vision cleared.
Lucy laid prone on her back, pinned by a massive slab of stone from her feet up to her waist. Her breaths were short and scattered, shaking every time she struggled to inhale and exhale, the rock clearly obstructing her breathing. The state of her body looked extremely dire; half of her face was a mess of sticky blood that ran down from her scalp, likely a serious concussion as her pupils were dilated. Her left arm was mangled behind her torn up sleeve. Little bumps appeared where her ribs should be, perhaps protruding out and attempting to pierce through the skin. Her right arm she could move, it was still intact.
Lucy gasped, "You need to go."
"What? No!" Alex refused.
"Leave me. That's an order."
The stubborn agent ignored her demands and activated her earpiece, "Kara...we're on the first floor. We need you. Quickly."
She stared at the pool of blood spreading from under the rock, "You're going to be fine." But she was unsure, and Lucy could sense it.
"Don't lie to me, Alex...from the look on your face, it's worse than I thought," she chuckled, grimacing.
"Yeah...you've got some...some severe hemorrhaging."
Supergirl landed right beside her teammates, "Oh God..." The blonde immediately knelt down and brushed Lucy's hair to the side, her tears dripping onto the injured woman's face.
The soldier's lips quivered, she gritted her teeth in pain and let out a vulnerable squeak, "Kara...I don't want to die..."
The Kryptonian cupped her cheek, wiping away the tear that threatened to fall from her eye, "I won't let that happen. Let's get you out of here."
Alex put her hands under Lucy's armpits to pull her out as Kara slowly lifted up the boulder and put it to the side.
They both winced at Lucy's agonizing screams.
"Alex! Stop!"
The agent halted immediately, as the body refused to budge.
They both looked at the state of her body, pieces of thick metal protruded from her left leg and right side of her abdomen, and the rebar were attached to heavy pieces of concrete.
"Holy shit...this is not good," Alex stated with wide eyes.
"W-What is it," came Lucy's languid and lethargic voice, the dizziness swimming throughout her head. She could feel the blood pumping in her ears.
"What the hell are we supposed to do now!" came Kara's hopeless sigh.
"We have to take her out," Agent Danvers whispered reluctantly.
"Are you crazy? She'll bleed out!"
"But you can make it to the D.E.O. fast enough!"
"I can't carry the both of you!"
"Just leave me here! Backup is coming anyway!"
"What if Lex's men come?"
"I can take care of myself! I'll hide, fighting is my last resort!"
Supergirl's nostrils flared, her frustration showing, "Fine!" She crouched down to Lucy's level, and heard the brunette's heart beat spike. If they did not do something soon she would go into hypovolemic shock.
"Lucy, you've been impaled, I'm going to get you out."
"And it's going to hurt like a bitch, so brace yourself," Alex cautioned, pinning the small slabs attached to the rebar down.
Director Lane nodded slightly.
"Okay, sis," Kara prepared herself, tightening her hold under Lucy's knees and upper back, "On three. One. Two. Three!"
The brunette let out an agonizing scream as she was lifted off, nearly passing out, her vision blurring.
"Hey! Don't die on us, Lane! We need you!" Alex shouted.
Supergirl took flight and headed straight for the D.E.O., cradling the fragile body against her chest, "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay..." She continued to repeat the mantra, it almost lulled Lucy to sleep. Truthfully, she did not mind dying in Kara's arms, the last thing she would see were those toned biceps and beautiful face. She could even hear her strong heartbeat.
However, Lucy's was gradually slowing, Kara had noticed, tears streaming down her face.
With her good arm, the brunette reached up to caress Supergirl's cheek, "Don't cry..."
Kara attempted to give a reassuring smile, but failed miserably, "Come on, we're almost there, keep talking to me, you have to stay awake."
Lucy hummed, "What do you call a pile of kittens?"
"What?"
"A...meowntain."
"You're an idiot," Kara sniffled, on the verge of breaking down and sobbing.
"I know..." the soldier placed her good hand atop the center of Supergirl's chest, feeling her heart thump.
Supergirl slowly descended upon the fortress, "We're here. Let's get you fixed up."
"I don't think I'm going to make it out of this, Kara..."
"Don't talk like that..." the blonde mumbled.
Then she screamed, "Hey! We need medical attention! Director Lane is wounded!"
Agents swarmed the pair and took Lucy off of Kara's hands, loading her onto a gurney.
"Blood plasma is extremely low, going into hypovolemic shock," Dr. Hamilton announced, "Get me an oxygen mask, her levels are dropping!"
The electrocardiograph sped up its beeping at a dramatic rate.
The doctors were alarmed, "Tachycardia is setting in, hurry and get her out of the med bay and into the E.R.!"
But before they could do anything the machine let out a monotonous moan.
"Lucy!" Kara cried, attempting to reach her.
"Supergirl, get back!" The doctors and security were unable to hold her down, "Sedate her! Now!"
The blonde felt a pinch in the side of her neck and immediately lost consciousness, collapsing onto the ground, the guards dragging her limp body away from the surgeons.
"Clear!" Dr. Hamilton shouted, the defibrillators sent a shock through the dead woman's body.
Nothing.
"Clear!" the doctors repeated the actions, no movement. Then...
Beep.
They all breathed a sigh of relief, "Get her stabilized and ready for the I.C.U. A.S.A.P.! Move it!"
Notes: Constructive criticism appreciated.