Lillian Luthor was a lot of things.
A bitch, the devil incarnated, a horrible mother, a corrupt scientist.
But there was no denying she could throw one hell of a party. The room was filled to the nook with people in suits and dresses, a band was playing light jazz, and in the middle of it all, was Maggie.
Lillian had allowed her to wear something classy for the occasion, even if the pockets of her elegant jumpsuit were filled to the nook with various forms of poison, and she was hiding a 9mm pistol in her clutch.
Maggie looked around the room, trying to spot her first target. She'd memorized the file Lillian had given her, the other names were still a mystery. The blonde had ordered Maggie to only take one target at a time, with one other instruction.
"The DEO is not invited. Anybody who shows up needs to be taken care of. That's an order."
Maggie hoped that her warning had been enough for Alex and her teams to back off.
Her hair was loosely draped over her face. Both trying to look seductive, and covering up the bruises on the side of her face. They hadn't aimed directly for her face, but she was pretty sure her left eye had taken a hit, as she felt it throb painfully.
Finally, she spotted her target on the stairs to the atrium they were in, talking to a few people Maggie only recognized from political campaigns. She made her way over to the trio.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt." She smiled warmheartedly. "You're Celeste Walker, right? The senator?"
The fifties-something dark-haired woman looked at her, and returned a polite smile. "Yes, I am."
Maggie faked wide eyes. "I'm a really big fan of your campaign, madam. I just wanted to… uh… ask you about the recent developments in the alien legislature."
"Are you a journalist?" Celeste eyed her cautiously, as her two previous conversation partners excused themselves. Maggie laughed, and shook her head. "NCPD. Alien task force."
"Oh, my…" Celeste raised an eyebrow. "Seems you and I have a lot in common, then. We both care for the wellbeing of aliens."
Maggie suppressed the sarcastic retort ready on her lips, and settled on a nod, casually tucking her hand into her pocket. "Could I get you a drink?"
"Oh, there's no need, I've seen the waiters make their rounds. Won't be long until somebody comes back with a full glass. So, tell me…?"
"Maggie. Sawyer." Maggie shook the woman's hand. The woman winced at Maggie's firm shake, and Maggie recoiled. "I'm sorry… Too hard?" She chuckled nervously. "I work out a lot, sometimes I don't know my strength."
Celeste laughed, and shook her head. "No worries."
"Well, I'd love to exchange opinions on aliens, madam senator. But, of course, we're at a party. It would be rude to stand here discussing when you could obviously be mingling and networking with people more important than me."
"I wouldn't be against a healthy conversation with one of National City's finest, though." Celeste smiled, reaching into her purse and taking out a card. "Here. Call me tomorrow, maybe we can schedule something over lunch."
Maggie gratefully accepted the card with a polite smile. "Thank you. Enjoy your evening, madam senator."
"And yours, miss Sawyer."
Maggie turned around, and walked back down the stairs, as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. A blocked number.
Good. Room left of the atrium. Underneath the desk.
She checked if anybody was watching her, as she disappeared into the adjacent room.
As soon as she was alone, she breathed a sigh of relief. Celeste Walker hadn't noticed anything.
She took the business card and ripped it until it was too small to read, and threw it in a nearby trashcan.
Six down, six to go.
She fished the next file from under the desk, and opened it, reading through the notes quickly. A lawyer who defended aliens, and had apparently tried to sabotage a few CADMUS cases. An alien himself, not killable with the neurotoxin Maggie had been using.
She cursed under her breath as she checked her pockets. The rest of her arsenal was in her car, she needed to go back and switch.
She quickly memorized the rest of the file. Father of two, came to Earth as a refugee trying to fit in, standard alien story.
She crouched to tape the file back to her desk, but before she could she felt a hand covering her mouth and pulling her back from behind. She resisted immediately, throwing her elbow back and smirking at the grunt of her attacker. She turned around to throw more punches, but froze when she saw who her attacker was.
"Alex, what the hell are you doing here?!" She hissed at the sight of her girlfriend, arms raised and nursing her cheek from the impact of Maggie's arm.
The agent looked up with a scoff. "Trying to save you, obviously."
"I don't need saving, I need you to stay away, I thought I made that pretty clear." Maggie watched Alex move past her and reach underneath the desk to pull out the file again. "Who's your target?"
"Alien lawyer." Maggie grunted. "Danvers, I'm serious."
"Yeah, so am I." Alex shot back, closing the file when she was satisfied, and looking at her, her jaw clenching at the sight of the bruises on Maggie's face. "Did Lillian do that?"
"That doesn't matter. Alex, if she sees you here with me, you're dead, don't you get that?!"
"I do. Which is why I came alone, with no strike team, nothing to expose you. But I'm going to help you."
"This is not a two-head job, you need to back off and let me do this." Maggie shoved past Alex angrily, but froze when Alex grabbed her arm to pull her back.
"I'm not losing you again."
Maggie frowned at the confession, looking Alex in the eyes as the agent continued. "I'm so scared, Maggie. For you, for Kara… For us and what this is going to mean. But we agreed that as long as the two of us were together, and kept believing in each other, we'd be fine. Do you remember that?!"
Maggie remembered the conversation all too well, and the words hit home, but no emotional pleas and sobs could change the fact that Lillian needed the hit on the lawyer in ten minutes, and she was wasting time.
"Just, don't. Okay?" Maggie shook her head. "I have to go."
"No, wait!" Alex yelled after her as Maggie headed towards the door. Maggie spun around looking exasperated. "Alex, shut up. I'm done."
Alex swallowed thickly at the implication of those words, but followed Maggie out of the room nonetheless. If Maggie wanted distance, she'd give her just that. But she wasn't going to stand by and watch her get disposed of as soon as those names were struck through.
No, Alex Danvers came prepared. With the only weapon she had that could save her.
She grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter, and took a small sip as she looked around the room.
"My, my, my. Agent Danvers."
Alex spun around at the sound of her name, and her eyes widened as she saw who the voice belonged to.
"Maxwell Lord." She tried to keep the surprise out of her voice, but he did pick up on it judging by the size of his smirk. "Shocked to see me?"
"Just… Surprised." Alex frowned. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, everywhere." He smiled invitingly. "Working on some new projects, but I settled back into National City about a week ago."
"Welcome back." Alex was stunned. Maxwell put a casual hand into his ridiculously expensive suit pocket and eyed her. "So, Supergirl still saving the city here?"
"She is." Alex nodded, a small smirk appearing at the thought of her sister. "Though crime rates are much lower without you trying to nuke the city every other week."
"Point taken." He laughed, but the smile lingered on his face for too long. Alex started to suspect his agenda, and her suspicions were confirmed when he stepped closer. "Well, I'd love to have dinner with you, Alex. To get reacquainted. Tell each other about our lives."
"Max, I-…" Alex got distracted by the sight of Maggie walking behind Maxwell's left ear. She followed her trajectory, seeing her walk up to the lawyer from the file, and introducing herself.
She tried not to stare, but it was hard not to be entranced by the way her girlfriend was working the man. The subtle flirting, the hand touches.
Her thoughts were snapped back when she saw Max waving a hand in front of her face. She cleared her throat awkwardly, looking away from Maggie's mission. "Sorry. Dinner, right."
"Would you do me the honor?" Max smiled.
Alex sighed. "Max, I really don't think that's a good idea. A lot has changed since you went away."
She tried to focus on his response, but found herself pulled to Maggie once again, as the detective now walked away from the lawyer, leaving him staring at her back and ass with a flirty look on his face. A twinge of jealousy spread through her, but she knew that the feeling was completely irrational.
That made seven.
"… The feeling that you're not really listening to me."
Alex's eyes snapped back to the man in front of her. "God, I'm… I'm so rude. I'm sorry, Max. You know what? Fine. Dinner sounds lovely."
"Great. Tomorrow at seven?"
"Sure." Alex nodded, smiling at him politely. "Now, excuse me. I have something I need to take care of."
"Oh, official DEO business at a Luthor soirée? That sounds exciting." Maxwell's eyes lit up. Alex scoffed. "Yeah, wouldn't you like to know."
"Just keep me hanging on, agent Danvers." Maxwell winked, before walking off while sipping his glass of champagne. Jesus.
The encounter with Max had thrown Alex off her focus completely. And now she'd lost track of Maggie too.
The comm device in her ear beeped, and she reached for it, activating it subtly.
"Kara?"
"Alex, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, where are you?"
"I'm with Lena, we're somewhere near the stairs. I haven't seen Maggie."
Alex looked around, until she spotted her, in her civilian clothes. "I see you. I'm to your right, near the entrance."
She saw Kara looking around, until Lena pointed in Alex's direction, and the agent replied. "She still has five names to go, so she'll be on the move soon enough."
"How do you want us to play it?!"
"Lay low for now. Have you seen Lillian anywhere?"
"I'm not sure she's here, Alex. Nobody has seen her yet."
"Damn… Okay, we need Lillian, the plan won't work if we don't have her."
Alex watched Lena say something to Kara that she couldn't understand, before Kara sighed. "Alex, Lena says that her mother has an office on the top floor of the building. Maybe the controls are in there?"
"She's probably planning something…" Alex grunted.
"I'll go up, try to see if she's there. If she's alone, I can totally overpower her."
Alex saw Lena's lips move again, and she could read the phrase easily. I'm coming with you.
Kara protested, but eventually gave in, and looked at Alex again. "We'll take care of it. You focus on Maggie. I'll keep you updated."
Alex nodded, and tapped her comms off again. "Come on, Mags… Where are you…"
Another sip of her champagne as she glanced around the room looking for a sign of her. But the murmurs of the crowd were silenced by the lights in the atrium dimming down, leaving only one single spotlight at the top of the stairs.
A big round of applause came when a figure stepped into the light, and towards the microphone planted there, connected to the speakers all around the room. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for attending this lovely event on such short notice."
Alex clenched her hands into fists. Tonight was the night that woman's voice would be silenced forever. No more smirking, no more sneering. No more hurting either of her girls.
Tonight was the night Alex put a bullet through her head.
Lillian Luthor.