Notes: The full chapter title is "Will the Real Miss Tessmacher Please Stand Up?"
This chapter contains canon dialog from the episode, "Will the Real Miss Tessmacher Please Stand Up?"
March 28, 2019
Maggie took a deep breath, not entirely sure she was ready for this, but it couldn't wait. She, Kara and Lena were due to leave for Kaznia the next morning, and she wasn't about to take a run at Lex Luthor without as many advantages as she could get. Which was why she was standing outside the one place in all of National City she didn't want to be, trying to work up the courage to knock. She lifted her hand, and gave three sharp raps on the door, then waited for what seemed like an eternity until she saw the light coming out of the peephole dim. She forced a smile and gave a small wave. A second later, she heard a deadbolt being thrown and the door opened, leaving her facing Alex Danvers.
"Hey," she said. "Can I come in?"
"Sure," Alex said, stepping back, to let Maggie inside.
Maggie stepped into the apartment that used to be her home, the home she'd shared with Alex for months, and the first thing she saw was another woman sitting on the couch. Maggie had no idea who she was, but she was stunningly beautiful. She had rich, warm brown skin and large, deep brown eyes, full lips and high, arched brows and long black hair, and a tall, oval face, and she was sitting on Alex's couch like she belonged there. She waited for the pain to hit, but surprisingly, it never came. Just a bit of awkwardness
"I'm sorry," Maggie said. "I uh… I didn't realize you had a date tonight."
"Oh, no," Alex said. "This is Kelly Olsen."
"Oh! You're James's sister."
"You're a friend of James's?" Kelly asked.
"I'm sorry. Where are my manners? I'm Maggie Sawyer."
"Nice to meet you, Maggie," Kelly said.
Maggie nodded and turned back to Alex. "Can we talk, privately?"
"If you need me to leave…" Kelly said.
"No," Alex said. She looked at Maggie. "Can we meet tomorrow?"
"I'm going to be on a plane with your sister and Lena tomorrow, so this kind of needs to happen now," Maggie said.
Kelly stood up. "I'm going to step out onto the balcony. Alex, you can come get me when you're done."
"Okay," Alex said.
"Thank you," Maggie said.
"It's no problem," Kelly said.
As soon as the balcony door closed, Alex turned to her. "You're going with Kara?"
"Yes," Maggie said.
"Oh, thank god. I know Lena's capable, but…"
"But Kara is your sister, Kaznia is one of the most oppressive governments on the planet, and they are going there to hunt down Lex Luthor."
"It sounds so much worse when you put it that way," Alex said.
"Believe me, we're on the same page, which is why I'm here. Do you still have the gun you picked up off world?"
"Yeah," Alex said.
"I need to borrow it," Maggie said.
"You want to take it to Kaznia with you?" Alex asked.
"Yeah. We're taking Lena's private plane, so I figured I'd take some very artillery. If Lex has one of his suits, I want something that can bring it down."
"That's a good idea," Alex said. She walked over to the coffee table and reached under in, and a drawer slid out, revealing a small armory. She pulled out the alien gun, and handed it to Maggie, along with a paddle holster. "I want this back."
"I know, and I'll bring it back if I can, but protecting Kara comes first."
"Agreed," Alex said. "Can I… um… Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Maggie said.
"When Kara called me and told me she was going to Kaznia, she said that she wanted to talk to me about something important when she got back. I know you've been spending a lot of time with her lately, so I was wondering if you know what she wants to talk about?" Alex asked.
"Yeah," Maggie said. "It's… I can't tell you. It's not my news to share, but it's nothing bad. She's just been figuring a few things out lately, and she wants to talk to her sister about it."
Alex nodded. "What about you? Are you okay?"
"I am, actually," Maggie said. "I um… You were right, you know. About how I feel about Supergirl."
Alex got one of those big Danvers smiles on her face. "Does she feel the same way?"
"I think so," Maggie said. "I hope so. But it's complicated. You know, she has this person who means the world to her and I don't know they would be okay with me being with her, so until I can talk to them and get their approval things are kind of in this weird sort of holding pattern."
"Why wouldn't they be okay with it?"
"That's the complicated part," Maggie said. "And the part I can't really talk about. I just… I just hope that when all this if over, and I do get the chance to talk to them, they understand how much she means to me."
"I'm sure they will."
"I hope so," Maggie said. "After you, I never thought I'd feel like this again. I don't think the universe is going to give me a third chance." Maggie pulled back her jacket and slipped the hostler into place on her belt. "Thanks for the loan. I'll let you get back to your night."
March 29, 2019
Kara let out a moan of pleasure that made Maggie smile.
"I know, right," Lena said.
"I'm not sure which one is more surprising. That you invented a Sushi machine, that you installed it on a plane, or that it actually makes good sushi," Maggie said.
"Well, I figured if I was going to automate the rest of the plane, I might as well automate that too," Lena said.
"Um… you automated the rest of the plane?" Maggie asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Yeah. This plane makes its own coffee, cleans its own toilets, and flies itself," Lena said.
"There's no pilot?" Kara asked.
"Humans make mistakes. Technology doesn't," Lena said.
"Um, Lena, have you ever actually used a computer for more than five minutes?" Maggie asked.
"It's not like the plane is running Windows," Lena said.
"Neither did that probe that crashed into Mars because someone forgot to convert from English to Metric," Maggie said. "I swear to god, if you kill me with a math error, my ghost is going to send TMZ the inventory I did of your underwear drawer when I searched your hotel room."
Lena's eyes got as big as dinner plates and she started to turn an interesting shade of red. Kara started to laugh and tried to cover it with a cough.
"The technology is perfectly safe," Lena said.
Any reply Maggie or Kara might have given was cut off by a huge crack of thunder.
"Shit!" Maggie said.
"It's fine," Lena said. "Just a little lightning storm."
"Is lightning usually purple?" Kara asked.
There was another crack of lightning, and the lights in the cabin went out. A second later, the emergency lights came on, but Maggie couldn't help but notice a distinct lack of engine noise.
"Shit," Maggie said. She looked over at Kara, to see the same worried expression on her face.
"You two get your seatbelts on," Lena said. "I'm going to land the plane."
Maggie put her seatbelt as Lena headed for the cockpit, then looked back over to Kara.
"Can you carry this thing from inside?"
Kara shook her head. "No. The ribs of the air frame are too weak. I need to get under it."
"Guys, brace yourself! We're going to make an emergency landing!" Lena yelled from the cockpit.
"Go," Maggie said.
Kara vanished at superspeed. Maggie wasn't quite sure how she got outside, but a moment later, she saw her flying alongside the plane. She gave a small wave before dropping out of site.
Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Maggie grabbed one and put it on, cinching it tight. Lena continued to yell from the cockpit, but Maggie tuned it out. She gripped the arms of her seat tightly and waited. Kara wouldn't let her down. She wouldn't let either of them down.
The plane lifted up, and a few seconds later, a mountain sailed by terrifyingly close, and Maggie added a tick mark to the number of times Kara had saved her life. She took slow, deep breaths until she felt he plane touch down a few minutes later and made a note to never fly in one of Lena's jets again, after they got home.
Kara reappeared beside her.
"Seatbelt," Maggie hissed.
Kara nodded and put her seatbelt and oxygen mask on, just in time. Lena appeared out of the cockpit, looking frantic as she ran to Kara.
"Are you okay?" Lena asked.
Kara nodded and pulled off the oxygen mask. "We're fine," she said. "God, I hate flying."
"That lightning wasn't natural. Someone brought us down on purpose."
"No shit," Maggie said. "Twenty bucks says the death ray belongs to Lex."
"That's a sucker bet," Kara said.
Maggie stood up and checked that she still had Alex's gun on her hip. "You guys ready to do this?"
"I really don't like this place," Maggie said.
Kara looked around the massive room they were in, and she couldn't help but agree. The room was filled with two rows of operating tables. Each table was separated from the ones to either side by heavy plastic sheeting, and all the sheeting was liberally splattered with what Kara was sure was blood.
"This is like Cadmus, all over again," Maggie said. "Kidnapping and torturing aliens."
"But why?" Kara asked.
"He was probably trying to figure out how to duplicate their powers," Lena said.
"That does seem to be a running theme in your family," Maggie said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lena asked.
Kara winced at the defensive tone in Lena's voice.
"Your mom with the cyborgs, you with the Harun-El formula, and Lex with…" Maggie waved her hand around, "…this. It also explains what happened with James. Lex couldn't get this to work the way he wanted, but he knew you were working along the same lines, so he had Eve shoot James to push you into testing the serum."
Lena frowned, and Kara wanted to say something, to smooth things over, but it was hard to find words to sooth Lena's bruised feelings with the evidence of Lex's crimes all around them.
"Look at the equipment," Maggie said.
"It all says Amertek," Lena said.
Kara looked around the room and spotted a stand of files on the desk at the far end.
"Paper files," she said.
"That would be Eve," Lena said. "She always said you couldn't hack paper." She walked over, picked up one of the files, and flipped it open. "This is Eve's handwriting."
"That's great," Maggie said as she reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out the Camera James had loaded her. "Lena, why don't you get pictures of the lab equipment, while Kara and I start going through the files."
"I should be the one going through the files," Lena said. "I'm more likely to pick up anything useful."
"The files aren't going anywhere," Maggie said. "Kara and I don't know what half the shit in the room is, so neither of us would know what's important to get photos of, but we're both able to sort out supply closet inventories and cafeteria requisitions from something actually important."
"Do you speak Russian?" Lena asked.
"I do," Kara said. "And Maggie's right. Neither of us would know what to get pictures of."
"Fine," Lena said. She took the camera from Maggie and stalked off.
"What was that about?" Kara asked.
"Giving you a chance to go through the files at super speed," Maggie said.
Kara had to fight to keep from leaning over and kissing Maggie in that moment, because she hadn't even thought of trying that. She glanced towards Lena to make sure she wasn't watching, then tore into the files, quickly sorting them into two piles. One was a stack of files of various prisoners, and the experiments that had been conducted on them. The second, larger stand was day to day operations of the base.
"What did you find?" Maggie asked.
"All of the aliens who came through here were prisoners at the DEO desert facility. Kopy, who attacked that carnival last year, the Morae assassin who tried to kill Haley."
"How was he getting prisoners from the desert facility?" Maggie asked.
"I don't know," Kara said. "He'd have to have help from the inside."
"Haley?"
"No. I don't see it. Haley's a bigot, but she's all about rules. The only way she'd have something to do with this is if she got orders from higher up."
"Kara, Maggie," Lena called out. They both turned to see her coming up the isle in the middle of the room holding a pair of while cuffs.
"What's that?" Kara asked.
"DEO power damping cuffs," Lena said.
"Well, that tracks," Maggie said. "It looks like Lex was getting his victims out of the lock up at the DEO Desert facility."
"How do you know that?" Lena asked.
"The stack of files on the left are all DEO prisoners. Most of them are ones Supergirl fought at some point," Kara said.
"Well, that explains why he was spying on the desert facility. He was picking out victims," Lena said.
"You know, I've never met him, but I'm going out on a limb here and saying I really hate Lex," Maggie said.
"Join the club," Lena said.
"I-"
A loud bang filled the room and all three of them turned towards three large doors where the sound came from. Maggie drew Alex's alien pistol and pointed it at the door, while Lena reached for one of the stun batons in a rack on the wall. Kara glanced at Maggie who gave her a small nod before she moved forward and opened the door. Eve Tessmacher was on the other side.
"Kara! Lena! Maggie! You found me!" Eve said. She let out a huge sigh. "I was so scared."
"Right," Maggie said. "How the hell do you know who I am?"
"Oh. You came to visit Kara at CatCo once," Eve said.
"Nice try, but I never met you," Maggie said.
"Oh. Um…"
"Where's Lex?" Kara asked.
"I saw what he was doing to those poor aliens and I just couldn't stand by him anymore," Eva said.
"Cut the crap, Eva Braun. You're a backstabber and a liar," Lena said.
"You're right. I am lying. But I really do love you guys. I just love Lex more. I'm always going to be on his side."
Lena stepped closer to Eve and shoved the electrified end of the stun baton in her face. "You're going to jail, but whether it's an American prison or a Siberian hole in the ground, is up to me right now. So, you're going tell us what we want to know. Now."
Maggie reached out and grabbed the stun baton, yanking it out of Lena's hand. "Okay, dial it back a little, Torquemada. We're not electrocuting Lex's little Manson girl today."
"We need to find out what Lex is up to," Lena said.
"I know," Maggie said, "but we also want anything we find out to hold up in court, which means anything we coerce is useless."
Lena looked like she was going to argue, but Maggie turned back to Eve.
"What was Lex doing here?" Maggie asked.
"I don't know. Lex likes to keep his plans compartmentalized," Eve said. Her gaze dropped down to the floor, before she looked at Maggie again.
"Eve, you just said you saw what he was doing."
"I was…" Eve stopped as her eyes glazed over. She stared off into space for a minute.
"Eve?" Maggie asked.
"Maggie! Hi," Eve said.
Maggie looked over at Kara for a moment. "Something's off here."
"Yeah."
Eve's gaze dropped down the floor again, and Maggie looked down. Kara followed her gaze.
"Are those claw marks?" Kara asked.
"Yeah," Maggie said.
"They look like they lead somewhere," Kara said.
"Into a trap, would be my guess," Maggie said. She looked over at Kara.
"I'm not sure we have a choice," Kara said.
Maggie turned to Lena. "Put the cuffs on her. I'll get the files."
Maggie lead the way down the hall, the alien gun held out in front of her. Lena and Kara both followed, each of them carrying a stun baton, with Lena leading Eve. She wasn't really sure that was the best idea since she didn't really trust Lena, but if shit really hit the far, Kara needed to be free to move and move fast. They could worry about blown secret identities later if it became an issue, and if it came to it, Maggie was perfectly willing to stun Lena and carry her back to the jet if it was necessary to cover Kara.
The hall ended in a lab of some sort. Nothing like what she might have found in America, just a large room with some lab equipment set up on one side, more like a high school chemistry classroom than a serious research facility.
"Lena," Maggie said.
"Yes?"
Maggie pointed at a crate. "Put Eve there, and then see what you can make of this."
Lena marched Eve over and sat her down on the crate, then started looking at the equipment on the lab table.
"This is Harun-El," Lena said.
"Well, that's just fucking lovely," Maggie said.
Lena moved over and opened a crate sitting next to the table, and a sickening green light filled the room.
"Kryptonite," Kara said. Maggie could hear the distress in her voice and she moved over, pushing Lena out of the way and slamming the lid of the box shut, then relocking the crate.
"What are you doing?" Lena asked.
"That stuff is radioactive," Maggie said.
"The radiation is harmless to humans," Lena said.
"Tell that to your brother's cancer," Maggie said.
"You're being ridiculous," Lena said.
"Maybe," Maggie said. She turned to Kara and felt her stomach sink as she saw the board behind Kara. "Shit."
"What?" Kara asked, turning around.
"It's an attack plan," Lena said.
"They're going to invade America," Maggie said.
"That's the plan," Eve said in a cheerful voice.
"That's insane," Lena said. "A Kaznian invasion on American soil will be like a child throwing rocks at a tank."
"Lex has a tank," Eve said. "Tank. Tank. Tank…"
"Eve?" Lena said, rushing to Eve's side.
Eve kept repeating the same word, ever and ever again, shaking each time she did as Eve finally just slumped down and was still.
"Is she okay?"
"I don't know," Lena said. "Lex must have done something to her. Embedded a trigger word or something."
Maggie turned at the sound of the computer system on one end of the room coming to life. The screens, all seven of them, filled with images of Kara. Wireframe diagrams, vital signs readouts, footage of her in a weird gray suit throwing a missile.
"It's Supergirl," Kara said.
"Lexie calls her Krasnaya Doch," Eve said.
"That means Red Daughter," Lena said.
"Is she a clone?" Kara asked.
"No. Not exactly. All these biometrics have been affected by Harun-El. We know it duplicates Kryptonians. In split Sam from Reign. Supergirl must have come in contact with it."
"This is bad," Maggie said. "The Kaznias have her, and they have the Harun-El, which means they can give their soldiers superpowers, which makes that invasion a lot less one sides."
"But Supergirl would never work with Lex," Kara said.
"She's not Supergirl," Lena said. "She's a blank slate, or at least, she was."
"When did Supergirl come into contact with the Harun-El?" Maggie asked.
"It would have had to be during the final battle with Reign," Lena said.
"So, Lex and the Kaznias have had nine months to experiment on her, train her and indoctrinate her."
"Lex has created the very thing he fears the most. A Kryptonian trained as a killer. And in Lex's hands, it's more dangerous than an atomic bomb. And he has it pointed right at America."
"She is not an it," Kara said. "Whatever Lex and the Kaznias have done to her, there must be some part of Supergirl still in her."
"I'm with Kara on this," Maggie said. "If she really is some kind of duplicate of Supergirl, then there must be some way to reach her."
Lena looked at Maggie. "You're letting your emotions cloud your judgement. I know you have feelings for Supergirl, but you have to see reason."
"That's not what this is about," Maggie said. "If she is…"
Maggie turned and drew the alien gun and find herself staring at a second Eve.
"What the fucking hell?" she asked.
"I don't understand," Lena said. "The Harun-El can't duplicate humans."
"Kopy," Kara said. "Lex must have given Eve Kopy's powers."
"True," the second Eve said. She raised her arm and reached for her watch, but her hand never got there. Maggie pulled the trigger, and a blast of energy caught Eve in the chest. She dropped like a rock, and the Eve in the cuffs vanished before the second Eve hit the ground.
"Well, I guess we know which one is the original," Maggie said.
"Did you kill her?" Lena asked.
"No," Maggie said. "Just stunned her."
Maggie walked over and took Eve's watch off, then fastened the power dampening cuffs on her. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a hard drive.
"Can you transfer everything from those computers on to this?" Maggie asked.
"I think so," Lena said.
"Good. Do it and pack up as much of what you can to take with us. Kara and I will do a quick search of the rest of the base."
"Okay," Lena said.
Maggie looked at Kara and nodded towards the hallway. Kara followed her as they headed out. As soon as they were out of earshot of Lena, Maggie turned to Kara.
"How fast can you search this place?"
"Five, ten minutes tops," Kara said.
"Go," Maggie said, holding out her bag. "See if you can find anything that can tell us who in the administration is helping Lex."
Kara nodded as she slung Maggie's bag over her shoulder, and then she was gone.
Kara raced back the way they came and took the stairs up to the top of the facility and worked her way down, going room by room, scanning every document she found at super speed, between quick X-Ray vision checks on Maggie and Lena. She put anything that seemed important into Maggie's bag before moving on. The bag filled slowly until she got to a records room on the ground floor, where she found copies of the prisoner transfers. Every single one of them was signed for by Sarah Walker, the President's chief of staff. Those files went into the bag, and she finished searching the rest of the room, and found a few files that detailed resourced provided to the Children of Liberty through Mercy and Otis Graves, which made her smile. With a little luck, she'd be able to bring down Lockwood as well as Lex. Once she was sure the file room didn't have anything else they could use, she headed back down to the sublevel where the labs where.
She moved through the sublevel quickly, finding much, or expecting much, until she came to one last hallway. The first room off the hall was a grimy bedroom, with paint peeling off the wall, and she almost walked past it until she caught sight of one of the photos. It was a picture of her and Alex, sitting in Noonans.
Kara stepped into the room, a growing feeling of horror and panic spreading through her as she studied every picture in the room. There were pictures of her as she took in every picture on the wall. Pictures of her and Alex, pictures of her and Lena, pictures of her and Cat, pictures of her and Nia, pictures of her sitting on her couch in the suit, pictures of her at CatCo, pictures of her with Eliza at the house in Midvale, pictures of her at the DEO in the suit, pictures of her and Lucy, pictures of her and Maggie.
She looked around the room, and spotted her journal, the one she'd thought she lost in Kansas, sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. She picked it up, and the picture of her and Alex almost fell out. She caught it, and flipped through the journal, making sure it was hers. She saw the entries she'd made about Lena, about Alex, about Cat, and Nia and Eliza and Maggie.
The longer she stared at it, the harder it was to breathe.
"Self-Destruct in ten minutes!" a voice shouted over a PA system in Russian.
Kara shoved her journal into Maggie's bag, used her superspeed to collect all the pictures off the wall, and took off towards where she'd left Maggie and Lena at super speed.
Maggie rushed back into the lab to find Lena standing at one of the computers, typing frantically.
"What happened?" Maggie asked.
"I don't know," Lena said. "I packed up the Harun-El samples while the files were copying to the hard drive. Once the copy was finished, I initiated a purge on the computer. I didn't want to leave the Harun-El research in Kaznian hands, but as soon as I initiated the purge, the self-destruct system activated."
"Fuck," Maggie said.
"Where's Kara?" Lena said.
"On her way," Maggie said.
"You left her alone?"
"She can handle herself," Maggie said.
"She's a reporter," Lena said.
"Yeah, and sister is the Director of the DEO and a certified Krav Maga instructor. Kara can handle herself," Maggie said.
"What happened?" Kara called out as she ran into the room.
"Lena triggered some sort of booby trap," Maggie said. "We need to get out of here."
"Okay," Kara said. "We'll have to go back out the way we came in."
"Can you carry Eve?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah," Kara said.
"Lena, grab the Harun-El and the hard drive, and let's get out of here," Maggie said as she grabbed the crate with the Kryptonite.
They made it back to the Jet with a good four minutes to spare. Kara dropped Eve into one of the seats and buckled her in while Lena went up to the cockpit to get them into the air, and Maggie secured the Kryptonite and the Harun-El samples.
"We're about to move," Lena called from the cockpit.
"Understood," Maggie said as she finished stowing the crate. She dropped down into the seat facing Kara as the plane started to move. One look at Kara's face told her there was something wrong.
"What is it?"
"I found Red Daughter's bedroom when I was searching the facility," Kara said.
"Okay," Maggie said. "Why does that have you so shook up?"
"She had pictures of me," Kara said.
Maggie felt a chill run down her spine. She hoped she was misunderstanding what Kara was saying. "She had pictures of you in your suit?"
"That too," Kara said. "But she had pictures of me with Alex, Lena, Lucy, Cat, Eliza and you. Pictures of my apartment, of CatCo. She even had one of my journals. It's in your bag with the files."
"Fuck," Maggie said. "So she knows, which means…"
"Which means Lex knows," Kara said.
"Which means Eve knows too," Maggie said. "Shit. If we turn her in, she could blow your identity."
"She could tell Lena as soon as she wakes up," Kara said.
"Jesus fuck," Maggie said. "What are we going to do?"
Kara leaned out and looked towards the cockpit of the Jet. "I think I need to tell Lena."
"Tell Lena that you're Supergirl?" Maggie asked.
"You think I shouldn't?" Kara asked.
"I'm not crazy about the idea, but Kara, it's not my decision. It's your secret to keep or share. If you want to tell Lena, I'll be here while you do, and I'll be here for whatever happens after. Just, be sure, because you can't unring that bell."
Kara nodded. "I'm sure," she said. "If she had found that room instead of me… I don't want to think about how she would have reacted."
"I get it," Maggie said.
The plane tilted back as they lifted off, and for a few minutes, the whine of the engines silenced any further conversation, so Maggie just leaned forward and took Kara's hand.
"Did you find what we needed?" Maggie asked once the whine of the engines died away.
"Everything," Kara said. "I've got all the proof I need to clear Supergirl's name, to link Lex to his contact in the White House, and to prove that Lex was behind the Children of Liberty."
"That's great," Maggie said.
"Yeah," Kara said.
They sat in silence for a while longer until the plane leveled off.
"Here she comes," Kara said. She let go of Maggie's hand and sat up a little straighter.
Lena took the seat across the aisle from them and turned to face them. "We're at cruising altitude. I have an LCorp mid-air refueling drone set to meet us over Alaska, but we're running cloaked until we're back in US airspace."
"Good," Kara said. "Lena, there's something I need to tell you, and… You might not like it, but I need to you to hear me out, okay."
"What is it?" Lena asked. "You know you can tell me anything, Kara."
"I hope so, but I'm afraid this is going to be really hard for you to hear. The thing is, I've been keeping a secret from you since the day we met. At first, it was because I didn't know you. I wanted to trust you from that first day, but this is something only a handful of people know about me. It's something I had only ever willingly chose to tell one person when we met.
"The thing is this secret doesn't just affect me. If it ever got out, it would put everyone I care about in danger. So, before I share it, before I tell anyone, I have to be sure I can trust them. But by the time I was sure I could trust you, the idea of telling you was terrifying because I'd kept the truth from you for so long that I was sure you would hate me for it."
"Kara, I could never hate you," Lena said.
"Don't be so sure," Kara said. She reached up and took off her glasses. Maggie held out her hand, and Kara passed her the glasses, then she reached up and unpinned her hair, letting it fall down loose.
"My name is Kara Zor-El. I was born on the planet Krypton. I left the day my planet was destroyed, just like my cousin, but my pod got knocked off course, and I drifted into a rift in space time called the phantom zone. I was trapped there for twenty-four years before my pod's navigation system got rebooted. I arrived on Earth, and I was taken in by the Danvers. I hid my powers, hid the fact that I'm an alien until that night when the plane went down. Alex was on the plane. I caught that plane to save her."
"You're… You're Supergirl…" Lena said.
"Yes," Kara said. "I know I should have told you before now. I wanted to, but I didn't know how."
"Why now?" Lena asked.
"Lex knows," Kara said. "Eve and Red Daughter too. I didn't want you to find out from them. You deserve to hear it from me."
"So you're only telling me because you're afraid they'll tell me first?" Lena asked.
"No," Kara said. "Lena, I've wanted to tell you for a long time, but I was scared. You… You don't have the best outlook when it comes to aliens."
"What?" Lena said.
"The alien detector," Kara said. "All the speeches about it made sense that humans were scared of us. And the Kryptonite. The way you acted. Lena, you're one of my closest friends, but I don't think you understand how scared I am of losing people. I watched my whole world die, and I lost my baby cousin, replaced by a man I barely know, I lost my foster father, the first boy I ever liked was murdered, I found out my aunt survived, and then watched her die in my arms. Lucy left, Cat left, Mon-El left twice, Maggie, Imra, Winn, Sam and Ruby, Susan… Every time I lose someone, every time someone walks out of my life, it tears that wound open again. It's like watching Krypton burn again. And I was scared. I was scared that you would hate me for being an alien. I was scared that you would hate me for keeping a secret from you and then I was scared because you were so angry at Supergirl, so I didn't tell you, and I know that was wrong. I should have been honest with you a long time ago. I know that. But when I saw… When I saw what I saw back there, and I thought of how much it would hurt you to find out from someone else, I knew I had to tell you. Even if you hate me, even if you never speak to me again, you deserve the truth."
"Who else knows?" Lena asked.
"J'onn, Eliza, Winn, Cat Grant, Lucy Lane, Susan Vasquez, James, Brainy, Nia, Maggie, obviously, my cousin and his girlfriend, Mon-El, Imra, Lillian, Hank Henshaw. A hand full of Superheroes from another universe that I help out sometimes."
"Alex?" Lena asked.
"No," Kara said. "She… It's hard to explain. She used to know, but Colonel Haley brought in a truth seeker to question people at the DEO to try and uncover my secret identity so she could blackmail me into doing whatever the government wanted. Alex and the hand full of agents who knew my identity all volunteered to have the knowledge blocked from their memories, so the truth seeker couldn't force the information out of them. Alex hasn't known I'm Supergirl for months. She doesn't even remember that I'm an alien."
"My God," Lena said.
"That's another reason I was hesitant to tell you this. Just knowing who I am puts you at risk. Two years ago, right before the Daxamite invasion, someone kidnapped Alex, and tried to use her to blackmail me. In January, half a dozen agents at the DEO had to have their minds wiped to protect my secret. Maggie lost her job because people thought she might know who I am."
"But you told all of these people," Lena said. "Just not me."
"I told Winn," Kara said. "I told him the day after I saved the plane, because he was my best and closest friend, and I needed someone to believe in me, to be happy for me. I told Lucy because I didn't have a choice. I needed her help to save Alex and J'onn's lives, and it was the only way I could get her to trust me. I told the Flash because he saw me saw use my powers after Kara Danvers got attacked by a metahuman. And I told Nia for reasons that aren't mine to share. Everyone else who knows either figured it out on their own or were told by someone else without my permission. My cousin told James, my foster family, and his girlfriend. My foster dad told J'onn. J'onn told Susan. Mon-El told Brainy and Imra. Cat and Maggie figured it out on their own. Henshaw used to run the DEO, and they caught me flying with Alex not long after I got here. I assume Henshaw or Jeremiah told your mother, but I don't know for sure."
"So my mother knew before we even met?" Lena asked.
"Yes," Kara said.
Lena looked over at Maggie. "How long have you known?"
"Since before I started dating Alex," Maggie said.
Kara looked over at her. "Alex said you figured it out when I got taken to the Slaver's moon," she said.
Maggie laughed and shook her head. "I figured it out that night I met you as Kara at Al's bar."
"How?" Kara asked.
"When you said 'and I've heard all about you,' you glared at me and your eyes glowed a little. I thought you were going to incinerate me."
Kara shrugged. "I considered it, but I decided I'd settle for helping Alex hide your body."
"Oh," Lena said.
Maggie turned to look at her. "What?"
Lena looked at Kara. "That's why you got so defensive that night when I asked you about Maggie. I feel so stupid. I thought the two of you were together."
Kara looked over at Maggie, who gave a small shrug. "Might as well tell her."
Kara nodded and turned back to Lena.
"You are together!"
"No," Kara said. "But it's not because we don't want to be."
"I thought you were straight," Lena said.
"I've never come out to anyone because I never had a reason to before," Kara said. "The thing is… Alex knows that Maggie has feelings for Supergirl, but she doesn't know that I'm Supergirl, so if Maggie were to go to her and ask if it's okay for her to date me…"
"It would go over like a lead balloon," Lena said.
"This is Alex," Kara said. "I'm pretty sure any lead involved with be moving at muzzle velocity."
Lena leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Kara asked.
"It's just a lot to take in. I think I just need some time," Lena said.
"Of course," Kara said.
Lena stood up. "I'll be in the cockpit."
"Okay," Kara said.
Lena headed up to the cockpit and closed the door behind her.
"That could have gone better," Kara said.
"It could have also gone a lot worse too," Maggie said. "How are you doing?"
"I don't know," Kara said.
Maggie reached out and took Kara's hand. "Whatever happens, I'm here."
"Thank you," Kara said.
March 29, 2019
Maggie wasn't quite sure what woke her up, but she reached out and frowned when she didn't find Kara next to her. It took her a little longer to realize she wasn't in a bed, but in some sort of recliner. She opened her eyes slowly and found herself in the cabin of a dimly lit plane. Kara was sitting across the aisle from her, staring at a laptop.
"Kara?"
Kara turned towards her. "Hey," she said.
"How long was I asleep?"
"About six hours," Kara said.
"I'm sorry," Maggie said. "I didn't mean to sleep that long."
"It's okay," Kara said. "You needed the rest."
"Where's Lena?" Maggie asked as she sat up.
"She's up in the cockpit," Kara said.
"How's she doing?"
"We talked a bit," Kara said. "She's upset, but I think we're going to be okay."
"Eve hasn't woken up yet?" Maggie asked.
"She did, but Lena gave her a sedative," Kara said. "I contacted Barry. He's going to meet us when we touch down and take Eve to Earth 1. He'll hold her in the pipeline until we decide what to do with her."
"That takes care of that problem then."
"Yeah. Once that's done, I'm going to head over to CatCo and let James know what's going on, then I'm going to head to DC. I'm pretty sure Cat has enough sway to get me in to see President Baker. I'll take the original files with me so he has proof that I'm telling the truth."
"That's a good plan," Maggie said.
"I need a favor from you," Kara said.
"Anything."
"J'onn is back. Apparently, he went to Mars to deal with something. I want you to go back to the loft, pack a bag, and go to his place until I get back from DC."
"You don't think you'll be back tonight?" Maggie asked.
"I'm taking the President proof that a member of his staff is colluding with a foreign power to attack the US. He might have some questions." Kara reached across the aisle and took Maggie's hand. "Lex and Red Daughter both know who I am. I need you to be safe."
"Okay. I'll go to J'onn's tonight. But just for tonight."
"Maggie-"
"El Mayara, / ,kahrah,/. We run towards the danger, Kara. Both of us. But we're stronger if we do it together."
Kara smiled and squeezed her hand. "Okay. Together." She looked up the aisle, then back at Maggie.
"You know that thing you asked me not to say."
Maggie nodded. "Yeah?"
"I won't say it. Not yet. But I just want you to know, if I did say it, I would mean it."
"I would mean it too." Maggie lifted Kara's hand up and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "You come back to me, / ,kahrah,zor,el,/."