"Supergirl!" Winn's shout ricocheted through Alex's head.

"It's alright! She just lost her comms," but watching the red flare of her sister being hit by whatever the ship was armed with panicked her anyway. Almost as much as the ship picking up speed.

Freeze breath did away with the immediate danger, but the seconds were slipping between their fingers.

She stumbled only briefly when the shipped lurched under Kara's hands. She pressed her fingers against the ledge of the window for purchase and nodded in encouragement as her baby sister tried to stop a speeding spaceship bare handed. The sound of protesting metal and the sight of the superhero's arms shaking made everything come into direct focus.

"Alex, in twenty seconds, this spaceship is going to be on the other side of the universe."

Supergirl's biceps were visibly shaking. The ledge of the ship caved under her fingers. The ship was not slowing down and there was no more time.

"She isn't going to stop it," the whisper couldn't register over the sound of the ship, but there was no time for repetition. Her mind whirled as she tried to think faster than the ship dragging her out of the atmosphere. "Winn, you have to tell Lucy and Maggie-"

"What? Alex no, Supergirl-"

"No, listen," he started to say something, but Alex careened through, staring unblinkingly at her sisters clenched eyes. The Crinkle™ well and truly formed and coming to the sudden sickening realization that she may never be able to sooth it away again. "Look after them, okay? I… I got Lyra. And I'll keep my promise. I'll bring her home. Just, look after each other okay? I love-"

Even if Alex's human eyes had any hope comprehending light speed, she didn't have the chance. The ship lurched violently, ripping itself out of Kara's grasp, and promptly slamming Alex's head against the console, blinking her out of consciousness.

Breaking under the pressure of pain looked so different between the three of them. That's all Maggie could think about as she watched Lucy shut down before her eyes. Alex, strong, stoic, badass Alex, would fight to the very last moment, not to react. You could see it, in her eyes, as she became overwhelmed. The glaze of tears, the growing redness. But her lips did not tremble, her jaw did not tick. She was still, but for her eyes.

Maggie, she knew, was the opposite. She clenched her jaw against any onslaught. Crossed her arms and pulled back her shoulders. Tears were not a luxury she allowed herself often, but the signs of breaking were obvious.

Lucy was a whole 'nother beast. While the pain was written clear as day across Alex and Maggie, whether it be body language or tears, you could see it. Even if you did not know them well, the signs of distress were there. But Lucy did not break. She did not react. There were no tears, no ticking jaw, no crossing arms or fighting tears.

The only way to know how much this news broke her, was by how little she reacted. There was a moment, a pause between her hearing the news and processing it, where Maggie saw how scared she was. And then, nothing. A blink, and the pain and fear and anger was wiped from her expression. Her jaw didn't even set, nor did her back straighten. She simply froze, and shut down, before doing what had to be done.

"Can you track the ship?" Neutral, no heat. The perfect soldier. The perfect lawyer.

"I don't… no, I don't think…" Winn's eyes had not left his phone, though the call had disconnected abruptly in time with the ship reaching light speed.

"Agent Shott," Lucy's voice was a razor across the room's tension, eyes clear. "I need to know if you can track that ship. Now."

"Okay… Um…" He jerked his head back to the monitor, "okay let me just…" and the muttering began. Focused on the task ahead.

"Vas, I need a location on Supergirl," Maggie's panic drunk mind registered that Kara could be anywhere by now. Would be broken by now.

Turning on her heal, Lucy locked eyes with McCarthy, a Supervisory Special Agent who was not currently on the other side of the universe. "Scatter a team – I want that facility swarmed ASAP. Anyone remaining, bring back alive. A Red Team will follow to tear that building apart." With a nod, he vanished down a corridor, taking several lingering agents with him.

"Mags," for a second Maggie didn't process that she was Mags, and Lucy's empty eyes were on her. "Maggie, the NCPD need to be brought into the loop, and should help secure the scene." There was an order in there somewhere, she vaguely acknowledged. Lucy was asking her to do something. But even blinking felt like a momentous effort, cement trying to hold her eyelids closed – and looking into Lucy's dead eyes made her stomach drop away further.

"Detective," a large hand came down on her shoulder, the weight dragging her a little further back into the room. "Maggie," J'onn's voice saying her first name was jarring enough to focus her eyes. "Can you call your captain, or would you like me to do so?"

A task. They were giving her a task. A task which squarely fell into her role as NCPD liaison. A task she could do.

"No," that was her voice, even if she never asked her brain to produce it. "I got it." Her hands started to pull her phone out and dial, independent from any intention Maggie might have had. She distantly heard her conversation, explaining that yes, the reports of a spaceship exiting earth over National City were accurate. But no, there was no immediate threat to its citizens. And yes, of course she would help secure the scene with the officers being dispatched – this was well within the science divisions purview and definitely her job given the DEO would already be on scene. But finally, no. No, she would not be able to co-ordinate with her normal contact, but she was acting under the Directors orders so there shouldn't be any problems.

By the time she hung up, the energy in the room shifted. The adrenaline of rescuing a fellow agent and stopping a xenophobic plot pumping through the air had drained away – now the room was suffocating in panic and despair and the sound of Winn's increasingly frantic typing. J'onn was gone – hopefully to collect Kara – but Lucy still stood front and center, legs spread, hands clasped behind her back and eyes locked on the screens above.

Maggie needed to go. The DEO team would be long gone, NCDP was on rout, so she would be last to the scene at this rate. But it felt like her brain was lagging – like she was moving in quicksand. When she turned her head, she felt that same delay that the edges of drunkenness gave, that interval as her mind kept up with her body – and the nausea that followed.

Maggie needed to go, but the world was moving in slow motion and her girlfriend was standing five feet away, too rigid, too focused and calm and still.

Her pain was less obvious to the untrained eye, but anyone who knew Lucy Lane, knew how much she loved Alex Danvers. Even before the three of them started their whole thing, Lucy had always reserved a place in her heart for Alex.

So, anyone who knew the first thing about Lucy could see that she was a bow string pulled taught. That this calm was the calm of someone stretching themselves to snapping point in order to move forward. Right now, Maggie could appreciate that Lucy could not stop, or she would be dragged into the depths of despair. But Alex was God knows where, and they were the only ones who could help her.

Maggie needed to go, and Lucy needed to keep moving, but right now in this tornado of despair, they were at the center and this may be the only moment of calm they would be granted.

Saying "Lucy," was like whispering into a storm. Exhaling to clear the cobwebs from her voice Maggie tried again - "Luce?" Taking a step back towards central command pocketing her phone, Maggie could see the slight incline of the C.O.s head. "I have to head to the scene," garnered no response. Maggie got the distinct feeling that Lucy was waiting for actualnews before she bothered engaging.

"Are you going to be okay?" Unimaginably stupid fucking question, Maggie's brain helpfully provides. And Lucy obviously agrees, because she remains stoically silent. "Okay, just…" inhaling shakily, she raised a hand towards her girlfriend, just shy of contact. Lucy was touch adverse in the best of times. "Just, keep me posted okay? And tell me if you leave the base?"

For a moment, Maggie's slow mind truly thought Lucy was going to ignore her. The space between seconds stretched out without any movement between the couple. And then, finally, imperceptibly, Lucy nodded, and returned her eyes to Winn's screen.

Even though the Detective understood this as a dismissal, that this was the most she would get out of the Co-Director, and her girlfriend Lucy was currently not available for comment, she still hesitated. "Lane," the firmest she had managed to make her voice sound. "I promise" clenching her jaw and eyeing the monitor that once held the blinking symbol of the ship, "we will bring her home."