A/N: Sorry about the delay! But on the upside, here's two for the price of one? Thanks so much for all the reviews and follows! Enjoy!

Alex had barely stepped through the doors of L-Corp when she spotted Maggie waiting, one eyebrow raised pointedly. Rolling her eyes, Alex scanned through security and directed her steps toward the waiting Security Director. "Impatient much?"

Maggie shrugged slightly and Alex could see the tension in her shoulders. "Maybe a little."

Alex couldn't really blame her; she knew she would be impatient in Maggie's position. Frowning, Alex glanced around the lobby idly, noting the security guards that were watching but trying to pretend they weren't. She didn't really want to talk about this at L-Corp but the bar wasn't exactly the best option either. And taking Maggie to her place was also out until the cops stopped sniffing around. She sighed and waved a hand toward Maggie's office. "After you."

She heard whispers and caught sidelong glances from the security guards as she followed Maggie through the security office and into Maggie's private one. For a moment, Alex wished she had her sister's super hearing so she could know what was being said. Mentally, she made a note to have Kara try and eavesdrop. She needed to know if any other employees suspected anything. And, if they did, if there were any hints of them being in Cadmus' employ.

Once inside Maggie's office with the door shut, Alex let herself drop into the visitor's chair, setting the folder she still carried on the desk in front of her and the briefcase on the floor.

Maggie arched an eyebrow, gesturing at the portfolio as she took her own seat. "Something important, Danvers?"

Alex waved a hand dismissively. "No, not really. Just some reports on something I was having tested."

"Something you couldn't have tested here?" Maggie cocked her head just slightly, expression suspicious.

Alex smirked a little. "Peer review is critical in my field, Detective."

"Touché, Dr. Danvers."

Alex smiled tightly then reached into her briefcase and pulled out the jammer, flipping it on. At Maggie's questioning look, Alex shrugged a shoulder. "It's not that I don't trust that Lena has this place secured but it never hurts to be safe."

Maggie nodded. "Understandable, Agent Danvers."

Alex rolled her eyes but smiled a little. "You are having far too much fun."

Maggie chuckled a little. "Perhaps."

Alex shook her head slightly and changed the subject. "So, now that you've ambushed me."

"I didn't hear you objecting," Maggie shot back with a smirk. Alex smiled wryly in response and gestured for her to continue. "So, Danvers, got an update for me?"

Alex ordered her thoughts. "Most of the data recovered from the first raid was corrupted, as expected. But our tech guy was able to pull enough information from it to locate a second warehouse."

"When do you plan to take it out?"

Alex quirked a slight smile at the question. She should have known Maggie would come to the right conclusion quickly. She couldn't help a glance around the room even though she knew there was no one else and that the tech within the building and sitting on the desk would prevent most forms of eavesdropping. And the door was soundproof. Not that they were talking loud enough to be heard even if it wasn't.

Maggie arched an eyebrow, clearly impatient.

Alex sighed. "Tomorrow night."

"I want in."

Alex arched an eyebrow back. "No."

"Danvers."

"Sawyer." Alex hardened her expression. "No. This isn't your jurisdiction or your mission."

"Alex—"

Alex set aside the small thrill at being called by her given name for examination later and cut off the other woman. "Maggie. No. Even if I wanted to I couldn't let you. And, I'm sorry, but I don't."

Maggie's expression went blank but her eyes were hard. Alex sighed internally and waited for the impending berating she knew was coming. "I see." Maggie's voice was controlled, nearly emotionless. "I was hired to protect Lena and L-Corp's assets."

"As her chief of security, not a paramilitary force."

"So is it that you still don't trust me, Danvers, or just think I'm incompetent?"

Alex sighed audibly and stood to leave, suddenly exhausted. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with after the stress of the past few weeks. But she'd be damned if she apologized or changed her mind either. "It's the way it is, Sawyer. I'll let you know if we find anything relevant." Grabbing her belongings, Alex made a beeline for the door without giving Maggie a chance to respond, already mentally berating herself for daring to think she'd found someone, a friend, who understood.

The rest of the week seemed interminable. For the first time in a long time, Maggie didn't randomly pop into Alex's lab either day and Alex was surprised to realize she missed the intrusion. Shaking her head slightly, she shoved the thoughts away as she left L-Corp Friday afternoon. But she couldn't completely suppress the tiny flicker of disappointment when she finally exited the building that evening with no further sight of Maggie. Briefly, she considered swinging by the security office to see if Maggie was there.

Rolling her eyes at herself, Alex focused on the more pressing issue which was ensuring the cops wouldn't suspect anything amiss when she went to the "external lab." She really hoped their warrant ran out soon. This cat and mouse game was annoying, even if she was better at it than they were. She casually ignored the cops as they followed her to the DEO building. Catching herself before she could turn into the parking garage for employees, Alex parked in one of the few visitor spots out front and grabbed her briefcase and an L-Corp branded box which ostensibly held the technology she was having the "lab" look at.

She didn't really relax until the elevator doors had opened on the floor containing her office and spared a moment of wry amusement for the fact that being in the middle of a top secret, black ops, paramilitary facility on the way to a briefing for a raid was what made her relax. A quick glance at her watch indicated she had just over fifteen minutes to get changed and make it to the briefing. Stashing her belongings in her office, Alex swiftly changed into her standard uniform and hurried to the briefing room, hopping on one leg briefly in front of the elevator to finish strapping on her holster.

She strode through the briefing room doors with exactly one minute to spare and dropped nonchalantly into the seat just to J'onn's left at the head of the table. Lucy was sitting on his other side and they locked gazes briefly before J'onn stood to begin the briefing. Alex redirected her gaze to study the other agents silently as J'onn spoke. The plan was straightforward. All four teams would leave for the desert base as soon as the briefing was over and they had suited up. From there, two helos would fly for Yuma followed an hour later by a pair of cargo helos. The warehouse itself had two known points of entry and, barring discovery of more, both would be breached simultaneously. From there… who even knew?

But Alex had faith in her teams.

Alex watched the expressions of her teams closely. No one looked nervous and everyone was attentive. Good. Alex's gaze flicked to the door briefly as Kara slipped inside, shooting Alex an apologetic look. Alex arched an eyebrow slightly but resumed her study of the room and listening to J'onn's brief.

After a few minutes covering the broad strokes, J'onn sat down and Alex stood to detail the particulars of the mission. She made sure to make eye contact with each team leader as she covered the details of their entry, the routes to be used for sweeping the compound, the exit strategies, and the mission goals. And repeated for each backup plan. She ignored Kara's still slightly disgruntled look. Her sister was still unhappy that she wasn't accompanying Alex on the mission but Alex was confident she would stay behind as requested.

As soon as the briefing was over and the teams dismissed to grab their gear, Alex turned to J'onn and Lucy. "Everything is set to go on this end?"

J'onn nodded. "Yes. Comms have been tested and the helos are fueled and loaded."

Alex nodded thoughtfully, mentally running through her pre-mission checklist to ensure nothing had been forgotten.

Kara interjected, having come up behind the trio as they spoke, "What about Alex's cover? Won't the cops get suspicious when she doesn't leave? Or are they not outside?"

Alex glanced briefly at J'onn before turning to Kara. "Actually, that's the easy part. Near the end of the day J'onn will leave here disguised as me and head to the bar near L-Corp on my bike. He'll leave it there and return to the DEO in his normal guise. After the debrief, I'll head to the bar in a group of other agents and then leave as myself. It also allows me to return here Monday morning since I'll need to 'retrieve' the L-Corp technology left behind over the weekend."

"Oh. What if Maggie's there when J'onn gets there?"

Alex shrugged slightly. "She doesn't leave L-Corp before five at the earliest on Fridays since security has its final end of week briefing and review at four. J'onn will go around four-thirty and he'll check for Maggie's bike before going in. If she's there, backup plan is to head to my own apartment."

"I guess you really have thought of everything." Alex arched an eyebrow at the slightly snippy tone and Kara sighed. "I know; I know. You plan for every eventuality you can think of. I just don't like not being there with you."

"I'll be on comms the whole time. And I've done this before. Many times."

"I know just…" Kara trailed off then hugged Alex hard for a moment, causing her to grunt softly. "Be careful."

Alex hugged her back tightly for a moment, murmuring into Kara's ear, "I will. I promise." She stepped back and looked over at J'onn. "Anything further, sir?"

"Nothing, Agent Danvers. Go get your gear and move out."

"Yes, sir." With a brisk nod to both J'onn and Lucy, Alex strode out of the room, heading for the armory.

Lucy paced for a few steps behind Winn's console before making herself stop. Pacing was going to serve no one well and would only serve to make her agents, especially Winn, nervous. Even though Lucy herself was nervous. Which she would never admit to anyone, even Susan. And especially not to Winn or J'onn.

Technically, there wasn't anything to be nervous about. Yet. J'onn had left a few minutes before disguised as Alex and had reported the cops were following him to the bar. Any minute now Alex should be reporting that she and her teams had arrived at the warehouse location. Prior to departure from the desert base Alex had reported that everyone's gear checked out and there was no signs the cops had been noticed the departure of the DEO SUVs from the rear of the city office building. Take off had occurred on schedule and without a hitch.

So far everything was going exactly as planned. Which was only serving to ramp up Lucy's nervousness. This would be the perfect opportunity for Cadmus to strike National City again. She was fairly confident they didn't know about the raid. At least not yet. But once the attack started… all bets were off.

A quick glance at Kara showed the superhero watching the monitors closely and absently chewing on her lip. Well, that's comforting. At least she hasn't gone flying after Alex. Lucy sighed inaudibly and turned her attention back to the screens, forcing herself not to start pacing again. The screen showing the helicopter track indicated that they were no longer moving, hovering over the facility. Once Alex and her teams had rappelled out, the helos would retreat a short distance, ready for extraction.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when the comm system crackled. "Base, Trap Leader. Proceeding as briefed."

Lucy responded, voice calm and betraying none of her inner turmoil. "Copy, Trap Leader." Another glance at Kara showed her watching the monitors even more intently if possible. Lucy just hoped she didn't accidentally heat vision a monitor given how intense her stare was. "J'onn's going to be upset if you break more monitors."

Kara huffed a little but her glare softened a little. "It only happened once."

"Uh-huh…" Lucy smirked a little at Kara. The superhero rolled her eyes but smiled slightly in return before they both turned their attention to the monitors. "Anything yet, Winn?"

"Nope. I'm not detecting anything out of the ordinary in or around National City. Not even near any of the known stops."

After Cadmus had stolen the power sources, the DEO had surreptitiously placed cameras and sensors as close to the locations the crates had stopped at as possible. Unfortunately, they hadn't yet yielded any reward but J'onn and Lucy were still hopeful.

"Supergirl, can you make sweeps of the city regularly to make sure there's nothing we're missing?"

"Got it." Kara nodded and almost immediately vanished in the direction of the balcony.

Lucy let out a relieved breath, glad she'd distracted Kara at least somewhat. The regular job would help keep the superhero from breathing down Lucy's neck during the op. Lucy redirected her attention, watching silently as the small dots indicating the signals from the DEO troops swept around the target facility. Alex's, as mission commander, was a different color and Lucy watched, externally impassive, as the dot led a squad on a sweep to the left as the other dots moved right.

Several minutes passed. Lucy barely registered J'onn reappearing at her side, arms crossed and watching the monitors almost as intently. They watched in silence as the dots indicating the various team members moved slowly through the compound. Kara returned after a moment, hovering—Lucy flicked a glance down to make sure that wasn't literal—at Lucy's other shoulder.

"What's happening?"

Lucy shrugged a shoulder and waved at the monitor. "So far they're proceeding as we planned. Radio silence except when necessary as per procedure so we haven't heard anything."

"Wolf Leader, Trap Leader." The communication system crackled with Alex's voice as the dots began to reach the opposite end of the compound.

"Wolf Leader."

"Status."

"All clear. No hostiles."

"Trap Leader. Viking, Trap."

"Viking."

"Move up to point Bravo."

"Copy."

Lucy held her breath momentarily before forcing herself to breathe slowly. Viking moving to point Bravo meant phase two of the raid was underway. She hated this. Tactically she understood why she had stayed behind but she hated only being able to listen. She always had. She knew Alex was their best agent but the woman was also her best friend and so knowing that didn't really help minimize the worry.

The radio fell silent again and Lucy and J'onn watched in continued silence as the signals for Alex and her team slowly moved toward the main portion of the facility.

"Trap Leader, Wolf Leader. Wolf in position. On your mark."

"Copy. On my mark."

Lucy winced slightly as she felt a sudden grip on her arm. She had half noticed Kara disappearing again for another check but not her return. Quietly, she murmured, "Uh, Kara?"

"Yeah?" Kara didn't look away from the monitors.

"I'm kind of going to need circulation in my arm."

"Oh!" Kara looked down, clearly startled. "I'm so sorry!" She immediately released Lucy's arm.

Lucy smiled wryly. "Not a problem. Just remember I'm not indestructible, yeah?"

Kara half-smiled back before looking back at the screens.

Lucy redirected her attention as well, watching as the dots indicating Wolf and half of Spook were waiting by the rear door to the warehouse. Alex, Trap, and the other half of Spook were slowly moving around to the other side of the building where the front entrance was located. The plan called for simultaneous breach. Finally, after what felt like three times as long as it had been, the comms crackled again.

"Wolf, Trap."

"Wolf. Ready."

"Mark."

Muffled explosions came across the radio followed by near simultaneous heavy thuds and then the sound of quickened breathing as the dots on the monitors suddenly moved faster than before, pouring into the building from both sides. The sound of gunfire followed almost immediately. Lucy shifted her gaze from the monitor showing Alex's mission to the ones showing the surveillance of the city. Everything was still quiet.

Lucy didn't like it.

She looked over at J'onn and found him studying the same monitors with a concerned frown. He spoke before she could. "Supergirl. Go scan the city again."

Kara nodded wordlessly and left in a gust of air that was just shy of bad enough to throw everyone's work on the floor.

Once she'd left Lucy exchanged a look with J'onn that clearly said "This is too easy." He nodded grimly and turned back to the monitors. Lucy did the same, refocusing on the still continuing spurts of gunfire and Alex's barked orders over the comm system. She thought she heard a grunt at some point, as if someone had been kicked or hit but she couldn't tell who it was.

She hated this. Sure, she could theoretically hear everything that was happening but gunfire, the occasional yell, and orders from Alex consisting of short phrases like "Spook go left!" or "Trap three and four on me!" didn't really tell her much about how the fight was actually going. J'onn looked impassive again. Lucy could tell Winn was trying to focus on monitoring the feedback from his various sensors and cameras rather than the fight itself. She could also tell it wasn't entirely working. He looked anxious though, surprisingly, not quite as anxious as she would have expected. She supposed he'd gotten somewhat used to this. Plus, she knew he had unwavering faith in Alex's abilities.

Kara seemed to flip between supremely confident and extremely worried. The regular patrols definitely seemed to be helping the superhero keep calm though. Lucy wished they were helping her keep calm as well. The longer this went on with nothing from Cadmus the more tense she became.

"Base, Trap Leader."

Lucy couldn't entirely contain the slight jump as Alex's voice, calm if tired sounding, came over the comm. "Base."

"All clear here, Base. One casualty. No fatalities."

"Base copies. Find anything interesting, Trap Leader?"

Lucy could practically hear the shrug through the radio. "Unknown. Lot of boxes. We'll begin uploading the computer systems to Agent Schott momentarily."

"Base." Lucy moved over to stand at Winn's shoulder, J'onn on the other side of him. "You ready to receive the transmission, Schott?"

His fingers flew across the keys, shoulders noticeably less tense now that the fighting appeared to be over. "Ready."

Lucy tapped the comm. "Trap Leader, Base."

"Trap Leader."

"Ready for transmission."

"Trap Leader."

Lucy watched the monitors as they waited for Alex's transmission. Everything was still quiet. She glanced at the clock. The cargo helicopters would arrive in about ten minutes to begin loading everything that looked important and bring it back to the DEO.

"Transmission incoming." Winn's voice broke into her thoughts and Lucy blinked as she refocused.

"Anything useful?"

He shot her a slightly incredulous look. "Um, no idea yet. I might be able to give you an idea once more of it comes in." He waved at a different monitor, which had been showing one of the sets of city cameras and was now flashing various pieces of information across it at a rapid rate. "It does look, at first glance, like the file structure is complete. But until I have all, or at least more of, the information, I can't tell you how much of that is actually useful."

Lucy nodded but sighed quietly. She knew that she was just antsy. If Cadmus' intention in not attacking while several DEO teams were outside the city was to drive her crazy, it was working. Intellectually, she knew that it was genuinely possible they had caught Cadmus off guard but Lucy wouldn't take that bet. The people in charge of Cadmus were far too smart. Particularly given they knew one of those people was Lillian Luthor. Sure, maybe they hadn't expected this specific attack but Lucy doubted they were unprepared to take advantage. Which meant failing to do so was deliberate.

And Lucy feared what that meant.

Shaking off those thoughts for the moment, Lucy watched the status bar for the information download progress while half-listening to the comm chatter that was Alex directing the newly arrived agents on what to take and in what order to load on the cargo helicopters.

"Trap Leader, Base."

"Trap Leader."

"Anything interesting?"

Alex hummed thoughtfully into the comm and Lucy exchanged a mildly amused look with J'onn. "A few things, yes. Won't know for sure until I go through it all properly."

"Copy. Be careful."

"Of course." Lucy smirked slightly at the hint of exasperation in Alex's voice.

It took another hour before Alex spoke directly to the DEO again. Kara continued making regular sweeps of the city while Lucy and J'onn watched the monitors carefully for any other signs of problems. Winn was flipping through screens on his tablet at dizzying speed while conversing quietly with the other IT agents as Lucy hovered over his shoulder when Alex's voice rang out clearly, rather than the mostly silence brought on by her muting the comm system so she could direct the loading.

"Base, Trap Leader."

"Base." J'onn answered this time and Lucy looked up from Winn's tablet.

"Everything's loaded here. Airborne in five."

"Base copies. Fly safe, Trap Leader."

"Trap Leader."

Once they received confirmation that all the helicopters were in the air, J'onn waved Lucy toward the nearest conference room, ordering Winn to let them know the moment anything happened. Lucy closed the door behind herself and dropped into the nearest chair, giving J'onn a troubled look. "I don't like it."

He shook his head, sitting in a nearby chair with more grace than Lucy had bothered with. "I don't either. It's too neat."

She nodded and tapped the table thoughtfully for a moment. "You think Winn will actually be able to get anything useful off that data? Or has she already scrubbed everything outside her primary bases?" Lucy had a feeling she knew the answer but she was curious what J'onn thought.

J'onn grimaced slightly. "I won't be surprised if she's scrubbed things. But Schott is smart. I imagine we can piece together more than she thinks."

Lucy smiled a little. "Plus, we have Alex."

J'onn let out a light laugh and Lucy was briefly proud she'd managed to get him to lighten up even for a moment. "True. Wouldn't be the first to underestimate Agent Danvers."

He gave her a knowing look and Lucy blushed slightly, looking away for a moment. She knew none of them, least of all Alex, held a grudge for her actions prior to switching from the Army to the DEO but still, she didn't particularly like to dwell on it. Dismissing that train of thought, Lucy cocked her head slightly as she thought. "They're probably trying to do what we attempted."

"A false sense of security?" Lucy nodded. J'onn pondered the topic for a moment before speaking again. "Perhaps. Though, they have to realize it would not be as effective. The opposite, however, that might make more sense."

"Make us so hypervigilant we begin to make mistakes?"

"Precisely."

Lucy nodded again. That was definitely the most likely purpose. Part of her wondered if it might actually work. The DEO was used to being on high alert in a general sense, but this sort of waiting and watching for a specific threat, one that quite possibly had as many or more resources as the DEO itself? That was a bit of a different matter, particularly given the personal nature of the conflict on several levels. "So what do we do?"

J'onn settled himself back into his seat. "We'll talk it through more when Alex returns but the best option is likely to keep going as we are. Stay alert, make sure no one starts cutting corners or overworking, and continue to try and get as much information from the databases we've acquired and the technology being brought back as possible."

"Not having Alex around regularly is going to make things more difficult."

J'onn frowned and nodded. Lucy knew he wasn't thrilled with the surveillance on Alex either. It locked their best agent down far too tightly, making it difficult for her to fully integrate what she was doing with the DEO. "How much longer do you think the police will want to follow Alex, Director Lane?"

Lucy considered the question. "It likely depends on if they've actually acquired anything that confirms their suspicions about Alex. Which seems unlikely. But even then, it depends on if they can convince their superior officer that continuing to follow Alex is worthwhile. The wiretap will run out on its own and they can't get anything from that anyway." She sighed and shrugged. "Hard to say. I don't think it can be for too much longer before they're forced to drop it but, again, that assumes they haven't seen something, or thought they saw something, that gives them more substance. It's highly unlikely given they're following Alex but… anything is possible."

J'onn studied her for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly. "You don't trust Sawyer."

Lucy arched an eyebrow questioningly.

His lips quirked just a touch. "You like her but you don't trust her. You think she might give information to the NCPD."

Lucy's lips tightened briefly. "Alex trusts her so I do, too. But… yes, it's possible."

"And you think Alex hasn't considered that?"

"I didn't say that." Her voice was sharp. "I trust Alex and her judgment completely. If she trusts Sawyer, then so do I. But she doesn't trust her completely either. Nor should she."

"Agreed." He was silent a moment. "I should visit L-Corp and meet her myself."

"Excuse me?" That had been the last thing she expected to hear come out of his mouth.

"We need to know if she can be trusted."

"Kara likes her." Even as she said it Lucy wasn't really sure why she said it. Kara liked nearly everyone after all. And likeable didn't mean trustworthy. She also wasn't entirely sure why she was defending Sawyer. J'onn had just pointed out, rightfully, that Lucy didn't trust her. Scratch that, Lucy knew why she was defending her despite the lack of trust and it had everything to do with her best friend and said best friend's obliviousness. She shook her head slightly. That wasn't the point right now. "But you're right. Alex said she agreed not to tell. And she signed the NDA but still." Lucy shrugged eloquently.

"Precisely."

Alex stalked into the DEO, handing her helmet to her second in command and waving her troops toward the armory and locker rooms. She continued to the command center, ignoring the pain in her side though she could tell the bandage would need to be changed soon. She had barely hit the top step when she was already speaking. "Anything?"

Lucy looked over and shook her head. As soon as Alex had come to a stop next to her, Lucy waved at the monitors. "Not a thing. Supergirl is out doing a circuit of the city again. She's done a sweep every ten minutes, almost on the dot, since you left but… nothing." Lucy huffed.

Alex scowled slightly up at the monitors, automatically resting her right hand on the butt of her rifle where it still hung in its sling. "I don't like it."

"Join the club." Lucy's gaze continued to flick over the monitors. "Mission sounded like it went well?"

Alex nodded, glancing to her left as J'onn stepped up beside her. "It did. Won't know how much data we really recovered until Winn and the team have a chance to look at the hard drives but we recovered what looked to be some interesting tech. I—"

"Will start studying it on Monday." J'onn broke in.

"Monday?" Alex whirled to face J'onn head on. "It can't wait until Monday!"

"And it won't," he answered calmly. "This is why you have a team, Alex."

"Yes, but—"

"No, Agent Danvers. Your weekend team can begin examining the retrieved technology over the weekend and they will notify you of anything that requires your attention before Monday."

"Cadmus—"

"Isn't attacking at the moment. And you will be notified if they do as per usual procedure." J'onn paused then lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear. Alex was vaguely aware Lucy had moved away and was talking to Winn. "You're allowed to take breaks, Alex. Everything that was retrieved from the facility needs to be sorted and inspected for potential problems anyway. You know that will take nearly all day tomorrow at best."

Alex sighed. "Fine. I will be here first thing Monday."

He smiled slightly. "I would expect nothing less."

She looked over at Lucy who was gesturing at something on Winn's screen. Raising her voice slightly, she asked, "Debrief in five, Lane?" There was no way Lucy would agree to that.

Lucy looked over and arched an eyebrow, flicking a glance down Alex's form. "In twenty. Go change."

Alex rolled her eyes but nodded, heading away from command and lazily flipping Lucy off as she did so.

"Right back at you, Danvers." She grinned a little to herself at the amusement in Lucy's voice.

Once out of sight of the command center, Alex winced slightly and let the smile drop. Gingerly, she pressed lightly against her side. Yep, definitely needed to change that before the debrief. She kept her expression impassive as she headed for the armory. The rest of her team had already been and gone by the time she arrived and Alex deftly unclipped the rifle from its sling, handing it to the waiting armorer. Her tactical knife and vest followed, leaving her in her normal pullover and thigh holsters.

With a brief "Thanks" to the armorer, she spun on her heel and strode out, ignoring the pull on her side. She refused to show weakness in front of her agents. It wasn't until she reached her private DEO quarters that she allowed herself to grimace, carefully pulling up her pullover so she could see her side in the mirror of the small attached bathroom. "Well, that's going to sting for a bit."

Fully removing the pullover, she dropped it on the floor for the moment and grabbed her first aid kit, kept under the bathroom sink. She had a similar one in her actual apartment but, somewhat depressingly, this one had seen far more use given how little time Alex spent in her own apartment sometimes. Hissing slightly, she removed the bloody bandage and tossed it in the trash.

She hadn't had much time in the field to do more than check that it wasn't serious and slap gauze on the injury. Now, in the bright light of the bathroom, she confirmed the seriousness (not very) and took the time to thoroughly flush it out with saline. Checking the time and noting she still had ten minutes, she turned back to her kit. Retrieving a local anesthetic, she carefully injected a local anesthetic before meticulously adding a few stitches. They weren't really necessary but Alex would rather be safe than sorry.

If Hamilton found out she would likely be pissed that Alex had tended to her wound herself. Alex smiled faintly to herself as she cleaned up and put the first aid kit away. She swore the medical staff had a bad tendency to forget she had an MD herself despite the fact that she was officially part of the medical staff and Kara's lead physician. Retrieving a clean pullover from the few she kept in her base quarters, Alex tugged it on and headed for the debrief room.

Alex had barely stepped through the door to the briefing room before she was accosted by Kara. A small part of her was glad the local anesthetic hadn't yet worn off given the tight hug from her sister. Nevertheless, she could feel a twinge in her side and dimly hoped Kara hadn't managed to pop the stitches she had just put in. Before Kara could notice, Alex hugged back briefly before gently disengaging. "Told you I'd be fine, Kara."

"Yeah, yeah," Kara muttered, barely audibly. She backed off and resumed her seat as Alex moved to the front of the briefing room, letting her gaze sweep the assembled personnel. Only the squad leaders were present in addition to J'onn, Lucy, Winn, and Kara. All the rest of the team members that had been on the raid were going through medical before leaving. Minus one who had been shot in the leg and would be staying at least overnight in the medical bay. Everyone else was a little battered but nothing that required immediate medical attention beyond what had already been administered. The entire team had debriefed over the radios on the way back and now Alex and her squad leaders would debrief with leadership so the rest of the agents could leave.

Alex glanced briefly at J'onn, Lucy, and the other squad leaders to ensure everyone was ready before beginning the briefing. She pulled up the layout of the facility on the large screen behind her and began talking, emphasizing points with the laser pointer contained in the slide remote as she moved smoothly through the details of the operation.

"The mission was a success, though we won't know the full extent of that success until the teams have finished going through the data and items recovered. As planned, Trap, Wolf, Spook, and Viking were dropped off just post 1630 inside the compound. Trap, Wolf, and Spook split to scan the compound while Viking provided backup.

Nothing significant was noted in any of the exterior buildings, just like the previous mission. We breached the main building at 1706. As expected, the facility was still manned by a small staff of Cadmus guards. Fernandez was injured in the ensuing firefight. He'll be fine but out of commission for a couple weeks pending Doctor Hamilton's evaluation.

All Cadmus forces were eliminated. None surrendered. Based on the at-site assessment, the cargo obtained contains at least some weapons and related pieces. Agent Schott will discuss the data."

She lightly tossed the remote at Winn, who bobbled it for a moment but managed to avoid dropping it. With a faint smile, Alex took her seat at the head of the table and to one side so she could see the screen. Winn shot her an annoyed look, which he immediately schooled at her arched eyebrow, before rising to speak himself.

"Right." He clicked to another slide, this one showing a couple screenshots of the file structure that had been uploaded from the raid site. "We haven't finished going through the data yet. However, at first look, it does appear the file structure was intact. We're still suspicious since they had plenty of time to alter or delete data before Agent Danvers and her team entered the main building. Agent Danvers was nice enough to bring back the computer hard drives themselves so we'll go through those also and see if we can recover anything that may have been wiped. If we do, we'll compare that with the data that was uploaded. I'll have a better idea of the reliability of the data once we've completed the full analysis."

Winn sat back down. He seemed to consider throwing the remote at Alex but then thought better of it and handed it over to Lucy instead. Alex smirked. Lucy rolled her eyes at both of them as she took the remote. Alex gave Lucy an innocent smile, garnering another eye roll but also a faint smile.

"Thank you, Agent Danvers, Agent Schott. Agent Filoni, your report?" J'onn spoke from the opposite end of the table from Alex and Lucy, causing all present to swivel slightly to face him.

Alex settled back into her chair and turned her undivided attention on her agent, ignoring the pain starting to creep back into her side. The rest of the debrief would be filled with each squad leader going through a rundown of what their squad had noticed and done, relaying the information the squad members had already detailed during the initial debrief and including any concerns or things of note about the agents under their command.

After the other squad leaders had left, Alex turned her gaze on Winn and Kara until they both shifted awkwardly and followed them. Not that Kara couldn't listen in if she absolutely wanted to but still. As soon as both were out of sight, Lucy snickered, leaning comfortably back into her chair. "You know, you're the only person I know that can do that except for J'onn. And even then it only works marginally on Kara."

Alex grinned a little, looking over at J'onn as he moved to join them at their end of the table. "I've had a few more years of practice using it on Kara than J'onn has, to be fair."

J'onn chuckled briefly as he took his new seat and settled comfortably. "And those same number of years to pass on your particular brand of resistance to authority."

Alex shrugged slightly. It was true after all. She didn't trust or give respect easily and though she, and Kara, would follow J'onn's orders mostly without question, that level of respect didn't completely negate the independent streak in both her and her sister. Trust and respect? Yes. Ability to be cowed with just a look? Not so much.

Dismissing those thoughts from her mind, she flicked a glance between J'onn and Lucy. "So, what do we know?"

J'onn grimaced slightly. "Not much I'm afraid. There were no attacks during the same time as yours. Here or anywhere else that we know of. And Winn's cameras at the Cadmus drop points didn't pick up any activity either. Cadmus is clearly biding its time."

Alex nodded. "False sense of security or an attempt to get us so on edge we make a mistake."

It wasn't a question but Lucy answered anyway, "We suspect the latter. Unlikely they really think we'd be lulled into a sense of security just because they didn't attack tonight."

"Agreed." Alex tapped the table for a moment. "I'm not sure there's a way to avoid a heightened sense of concern. Everyone knows about Cadmus and that we're after them. The longer it goes without an attack from them, the edginess is going to rise no matter what we say."

J'onn studied her for a moment. "You propose we counter that with actual heightened alert."

Alex shrugged again and tilted her head back to study the ceiling briefly. "To some extent, yes. Keeping it from them will just make it worse. If we take steps to actively show everyone that they are prepared, that will mitigate some of the antsiness. Though not all."

Lucy nodded slowly. "We'll have to make sure that doesn't translate to people pulling extended shifts like some people."

Alex just smiled and ignored the barb. "We will. That should be easy enough given DEO security. Winn can easily set up a program to flag anyone that's been on base too long with certain exceptions."

"Exceptions like yourself?" Lucy asked dryly.

Alex arched an eyebrow. "I was referring to J'onn. After all, I work at L-Corp right now."

"Oh yes, of course, how could I ever think you'd want to be an exception to that particular rule?"

Alex laughed briefly before sobering. "In all seriousness, senior staff should probably be the exception, workaholics or not."

"Alex is right," J'onn stated. "Though we still need to take steps to ensure senior staff doesn't exhaust themselves, it's better not to limit their access to the base."

"What about the cops? So long as they're tailing Alex this becomes more annoying. And difficult." Lucy interjected.

Alex sighed. "Unless you have a better idea, being a lawyer and all, I don't think there's much we can do there except continue as we are. The switch went off smoothly earlier, sir?"

J'onn nodded in response.

Lucy sighed also. "I can't think of another solution, no. Eventually their superior will order them to stop surveillance unless they've acquired more reason to be suspicious than we're aware of?"

Alex thought for a moment then shook her head. "Not that I can think of. I've kept eyes on them and they've only seen me go from L-Corp to home and to Kara's or running some errands. The few times I've come here have been under guise of working with one of the cover companies that are officially listed as collaborating with L-Corp. Unless there's a gap in the cover stories we don't know about, I can't see how they could know."

"What about Sawyer?"

Alex controlled the frown before it could appear, asking calmly, "What about her?"

Lucy gave her a curious look but didn't comment. "Do you think she can really be trusted to keep her word? And would she have some more information on how to handle the NCPD?"

Alex pondered the question for a moment, absently rubbing her fingers together. "Yes, I think she can. I'm not proposing we read her in but in the context of what she knows so far, yes. As for the NCPD? I don't know. She's not one of them anymore and though she implied her word still carries some weight with the lead detective on the case, he doesn't appear to be inclined to take her at her word and having her ask again might be suspicious."

They were all silent for a moment, digesting the information, before J'onn spoke again. "Continue treating Sawyer as you have been. I trust your judgment on what to tell her. She could be a valuable resource if she can be trusted."

Alex nodded, ignoring the speculative look from Lucy. "Yes, sir."

"Do you think the technology and information recovered from the Cadmus facility will be beneficial?"

Alex pursed her lips. "I didn't have a chance to look at all of it closely but… yes, I think so. It may not directly tie into what we've been dealing with but I think it will give us some idea of what else they have been doing or are planning, at a minimum. As for the data… you'll have to ask Winn. We grabbed what we could in the upload plus the hard drives themselves but I have no idea if the men left behind were savvy enough to wipe or modify any of the data remaining in the computers."

"It seems like our best option is, as you said earlier, J'onn, to continue as we are with the added protections Alex suggested." Lucy stated.

Both J'onn and Alex nodded in agreement. "I will have Agent Schott implement the security measures immediately."

As J'onn started to rise, Alex added, "What about checks on our current agents?" At the curious looks from her companions, she elaborated, "Winn and I already found one mole in Agent McGill. I know we ran checks on everyone after that and it's unlikely there's anything overt but, in light of recent events, I think it would behoove us to run those checks again. See if anyone has started exhibiting any strange patterns or behaviors or accessed things they shouldn't."

"Good idea, Alex," J'onn responded. "Director Lane, would you—"

"Have Vas implement close security checks of all current agents and employees and coordinate with Schott to look for suspicious activity? Yes, immediately."

J'onn smiled slightly. "Thank you, Lucy. Is there anything else?" His gaze encompassed both women.

Alex thought for a moment then shook her head. Lucy did the same. J'onn rose, followed by Alex and Lucy.

"I'll tell Agent Schott to begin implementing the proposed plans immediately. I will see you both on Monday." A stern glance stopped their protests before they began and he strode out of the room.

Alex exchanged a wry look with Lucy. "At least I'm not the only one kicked out until Monday."

Lucy frowned. "He can't do that."

Alex snickered and patted her friend on the shoulder. "He just did. And since he outranks us both… I think it's going to stick. Sorry, Luce. Go be with Vasquez."

Lucy sighed dramatically as she followed Alex out of the briefing room. "You mean go prepare for Hurricane Lois."

"She's not that bad." At Lucy's deeply skeptical look, Alex corrected herself. "Ok, she is that bad. But invitation's open to crash at my place if you need to. Or, hell, go stay at Vas' for a while. I doubt she'll mind."

Lucy rocked her head back and forth briefly, gaze distant. "Either could work. I'll think about it and let you know. But, for now, I have post-mission duties to wrap up and you, I believe, need to go trick the police into thinking you were at the bar this whole time."

Alex sighed, though less overtly dramatically than Lucy. "You just had to remind me."

Lucy smirked. "I did. Have fun."

Alex rolled her eyes. "I know where you live, Lane. And your sister likes me."

Lucy's eyes widened slightly. "You are my very best friend, Alex. Is there any way I can help throw the cops off?"

Alex laughed and patted Lucy lightly on the arm. "Not tonight but I'll let you know. See you later." With a half-wave, Alex peeled off to head back to her office to change. She would be meeting a small group of agents downstairs and they would head to the bar together, Alex in the middle, helping sneak her inside where she could then exit as if she'd been there the whole time.

Alex exhaled tiredly as the SUV she was riding in pulled up to the bar, forcing her mind into the right headspace for the temporary deception. She was riding with agents from Spook, a squad that normally grabbed a beer together after missions and had no problems switching their normal location for a night to help out Alex.

The team leader, Scott, glanced over at her. "You ok, boss?"

Alex forced a quick smile. "Yep. Let's do this."

Alex tugged the hood of her borrowed jacket up and the group piled out of the SUV, the rest of the squad doing the same from another car that had parked nearby. Alex smoothly inserted herself in the center of the group, all of the agents laughing and goofing off as they headed for the door of the bar. About half of them also had the hoods of their jackets off and Alex was grateful for the chill in the air which helped it look less suspicious. She didn't dare look at the police car once outside though she had marked its location as they pulled up.

"They paying attention to us?" she asked Scott through a laugh, deftly maintaining the façade.

"Nope. They looked over then back at the door."

"Perfect."

The team poured through the door of the bar and immediately sobered up. Alex tugged off the jacket she was wearing and traded with one of the other agents who had been wearing hers. She was just saying her goodbyes to her agents when she heard her last name called by someone definitely not in the group and tensed, eyes closing briefly. She really didn't want to deal with this now.

The agents with her tensed as well and turned almost as one to face the source of the word. Alex sighed and did the same, gently nudging Scott. "It's fine. Stand down."

He looked down at her, clearly still keeping the newcomer in sight. "Are you sure, ma'am?"

Alex nodded. "Positive. Get your beers and relax. I'll see you next week." He inclined his head and wordlessly moved his team toward the bar. Alex knew he'd be keeping an eye on her though. She twisted her mouth slightly as she met the gaze of an annoyed Maggie Sawyer. "Sawyer."

Maggie arched an eyebrow expectantly and Alex sighed again. She refrained from looking longingly toward the door and strode toward Maggie instead. She had hoped to delay this confrontation until the following week if not forever. Right now her primary goal was to get home and sleep. Unfortunately, that goal appeared to be on hold.

Alex came to a stop next to where Maggie was leaning against a pool table. She raised her eyebrows and inquired coolly, "Something you need, Sawyer?"

"Having a good night with your friends, Danvers?" Maggie's expression was mostly impassive but her eyes glinted with challenge.

So that's how she wants to play this? Ok, then. Alex smiled blandly in response, propping her hip against the pool table. "It is Friday night after all."

"It is. So color me surprised to see Alex Danvers' bike but no Alex Danvers."

Alex's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure your own friends were delighted to know this information."

Maggie scoffed. "Is that really what you think of me, Danvers?"

Alex didn't respond immediately, studying Maggie's expression. The woman was genuinely offended. Interesting. And a good sign. Finally she cocked her head slightly, deliberately softening her expression and stance just a little. "No. It's not."

Maggie watched her through narrowed eyes before gesturing with her chin to the group at the bar. "Who're your friends?"

Alex arched an eyebrow. "Just some friends from work. Unwinding after a long day."

"I see. Good day?"

Alex sighed. "Look, Sawyer, can we drop the game? It's late and I'd like to sleep some time soon."

Maggie cocked her head, expression shifting minutely from annoyance to concern. "Everything ok?" The hard edge had bled from her voice.

"Everything's fine." Alex flicked a hand slightly in dismissal. The wound in her side hardly counted as a problem given Alex had gone the extra step of ensuring it was stitched in addition to bandaged up.

"Define 'fine.'"

Alex sighed. "Can the interrogation wait until Monday?"

"You said you were going to keep me in the loop. Since you wouldn't let me come along… no, no it can't."

"It's not like I'm going to sit at home plotting how to change the details to keep you in the dark, you know." Alex saw the flicker of guilt that indicated the barb had struck home. Abruptly, she was even more exhausted than before. She really had thought they'd reached a place where they trusted each other. Were even friendly. Either she'd been very wrong about that or refusing to let Maggie join the raid had damaged whatever relationship they had been forming even worse than she'd thought it would. Which would just figure.

It was the story of her life, really, from the day she'd joined the DEO. Longer, if she was being honest with herself. But it had gotten worse once she was no longer able to really talk about her life with friends or family. There was a reason her friends were ones Kara had acquired that now knew about the DEO and the occasional work-friend. Alex was self-aware enough to realize her prickly nature prevented her from making many friends even at the best of times nowadays. But she'd really thought Maggie might be different.

"Fine." She waved toward a table in the back corner, ignoring the curious looks from her agents and the concerned one from Maggie—Sawyer. No point in getting too friendly, right? She dropped heavily into the chair facing the exit and winced slightly as the motion jarred her injury.

"Danvers?" Sawyer was frowning now as she slipped into one of the other seats.

"I'm fine."

"Don't look fine."

"It's nothing."

"That's not the same as fine."

Alex groaned quietly. "I got cut a bit. It's nothing."

"You got cut."

"It's a minor knife wound, ok? I'm fine."

"You got stabbed?"

"Lightly. Didn't even require stitches. Just grazed along the ribcage." It wasn't, technically, a lie after all.

Sawyer looked outraged. "Don't you idiot feds wear body armor?"

"Of course. Which is why it was minor." Alex took in the look on Sawyer's face and resigned herself to elaborating. "It caught the edge of the armor and skipped to the side and managed to slice through part of the webbing on the side of my ribs as I moved. It's fine."

Sawyer continued to frown at her for a long moment before muttering, just loud enough for Alex to hear (which Alex was positive was deliberate), "Some federal agent… idiot."

Alex rolled her eyes. "So what did you want to know?"

"Were you successful?"

Alex shrugged slightly. "Depending on your definition. The mission was completed. We won't know just how successful it was in the overall scheme until we go through things."

Maggie inclined her head slightly toward the bar. "Those guys?"

Alex smiled tightly. "I told you. Coworkers."

"Find anything useful?"

"Maybe."

Sawyer huffed. "Are you going to give me a real answer to any of my questions?"

"There's really not much to tell right now. We still need to go through everything to get an accurate assessment of how successful the op was." Alex dropped her head back for a moment, pushing away the wave of tiredness for now. She straightened and met Sawyer's gaze once again. "Look, I get that you're mad at me for not letting you tag along and you don't trust me or whatever. But I promised I would keep you in the loop and I keep my promises. As soon as I have something actually concrete to tell you, I will. In the meantime, I'm very tired and being in hostile company isn't really my idea of a good time."

Alex stood to leave and paused as Sawyer asked, "You think I'm hostile company?"

Alex frowned slightly, looking down at the other woman. Sawyer's expression was blank, the kind of blank that was clearly deliberate, but there was something in her voice that gave Alex pause. It almost sounded as if she was hurt by Alex's assessment. "Aren't you?"

Sawyer was silent long enough that Alex rolled her eyes again and moved to leave. She hadn't taken more than a step when Sawyer's voice made her stop again. "Not intentionally."

Alex turned and gave Sawyer a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I'm not going to deny that your refusal stung. And I'm certainly not going to claim I trust you one hundred percent yet. But I wasn't trying to be actively hostile."

Alex shoved down the twinge of hurt at hearing it confirmed that Sawyer still didn't trust her. "Just passively?"

Sawyer sighed. "That's not what I meant. Look, Danvers—Alex—this is just all a little bit more crazy than I thought I was signing up for, ok? I'm not saying I don't trust you; I just wasn't exactly expecting federal agent scientists and terrorist groups when I took this job."

Alex chewed on her lip for a moment then nodded. "Fair enough. I won't promise to take you on any ops. I will keep you updated and as involved as possible given the nature of the situation, ok?"

Maggie nodded, smiling tentatively. "Ok." She stood fluidly and waved toward the previously abandoned pool table. "Round of pool? Loser buys drinks?"

Alex chuckled. "You mean you buy drinks. Unless you have somehow vastly improved since the other day. But… rain check? I really am exhausted."

Maggie nodded again. "Sure. Oh, one more question, Danvers." Alex raised an eyebrow questioningly. "How did your bike get here without you? In such a fashion that the detectives thought you were actually here?"

Alex laughed softly. "Saw them, did you? That, Detective Sawyer, is for me to know and you to find out." She flashed a grin and, without thinking, winked before pivoting and heading for the exit. Outside, she paused and looked up at the sky, mentally berating herself for the wink. Get over it, Danvers. It's too late to take it back now. Lucy would be proud. Huffing out a brief laugh at her own thoughts, Alex made her way to her bike to head home, ignoring the cops still watching.