They came, seemingly, from nowhere. Before she knew it, Kate was surrounded. She went for a run in the park every morning, so she wouldn't have been hard to find. She was about to call out – she knew Kara's superhearing would hear her cry of distress, as the park was less than two miles from their house – when Lilian Luthor stepped out from the group.
"I wouldn't. Not if you care about Addison. She's at school early today, isn't she? She and her friend Robert are taking part in a history project," she held her hand to her ear, as if listening in to an earpiece. "Right now, they are pinning up their posters on the classroom wall. If you want them to make it home safe, you'll come with me."
Kate loved Addie almost as much as she loved Kara. And she knew that if anything happened to her, it would devastate the whole family. "What do you want?" her tone was icy.
Lilian smiled. "We just want to spend some time with you. We know how much you mean to Supergirl. And we know you can help us … shall we say, change a few of her beliefs?"
"You're in prison," Kate remembered. "I don't understand."
Lilian laughed. "Ah. Yes. Well, prison didn't really suit me. And guards are so easy to bribe these days. Though that one guard … he'll never be taking a bribe again. I'm sorry about him. He was useful."
Kate's last thought, as she succumbed to the needle in her arm and was tossed roughly into the back of a van was for Kara. She would do everything she could to return to her. Lilian would not win this one.
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"Kara, you have to calm down," Alex tried to keep her voice even. "We don't know it's Lilian."
"Of course it's her! It's too much of a coincidence that she breaks out of prison, and less than an hour later, my girlfriend goes missing!"
Alex nodded. Deep in her heart, she knew Kara was right. She was also worried; there had been reports of an unknown van parked outside Addie's school all morning and, when they investigated, they found the license plate was false. The van was unmanned, but contained high-level technology, which only existed at the DEO and, Alex knew, Cadmus. She guessed that Cadmus had somehow used Kate's love for Addie to subdue her.
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"I don't understand Mommy," Addie was scared. She sat in Alex & Maggie's quarters in the DEO, with a sleeping Jamie in her arms. She was keeping her voice low to avoid waking Jamie, but she was frightened. Agent Susan Vasquez had come to her school, and taken her and Robert out, with little explanation. The agent had been kind, and as gentle as possible, but Addie had been kidnapped before, so was terrified, even though she spoke to Alex over Skype as it was happening.
Maggie took Jamie from her arms, and set her down in the small pack-and-play that was set up in the corner of the room. The baby remained asleep. Maggie sat on the bed, and pulled Addie into her arms. She kissed her on the top of her head. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay," she said, softly. "There are some bad people around right now, and we think they want something from Supergirl. So we have to be sure that everyone that Supergirl loves is okay, so the bad people can't use them against her."
"Is Mama okay?" Addie knew that Alex meant the world to Kara.
"She's fine. She's here. She'll be here real soon, so you can see for yourself."
"And Sergeant Kate?" Addie saw the look that crossed Maggie's face.
Maggie held her close. "We can't find her right now. I'm sure she's going to be fine when we find her."
"Did the bad people take her?"
"We hope not, baby girl. We hope not. But we're all working super-hard to find out exactly where she is. We'll make sure she's okay."
Addie nodded, and buried herself in Maggie's front. This was awful.
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"Her tracker's offline," Winn was unsurprised. Cadmus were smart. Too smart.
"We've got to be methodical," Alex was in professional mode. "We know that their two city laboratories have been abandoned in the past two months. But most of the equipment was moved out. We should check cameras for the past 90 days, see if we can find where it was taken. They would have needed trucks; lots of them."
"They wouldn't have moved it all at once," Vasquez pointed out. "It would have drawn attention."
"Check for night-time traffic. Any large truck, track its destination. I know," she glared at Winn before he spoke. "I know how much work that's going to take."
"My team are all trained on the system," Maggie said. "You can have them all."
Alex nodded. She saw Addie holding Maggie's hand, and her face softened. She crouched down and hugged her close.
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Kate tried to sit up, but the room was spinning. And she was bound. And cold. So cold. Why was she sweating so much? Her head pounded.
"I know," a soft voice said. "I know. The first eight days are the worst. Your body has to get used to it. We'll take care of you."
Kate felt the straps being unbuckled, and she was raised to a sitting position. Rough hands supported her as she retched into a basin. When she was done, she fell back, and felt the buckles being reattached. She almost laughed. She couldn't even sit up without help; there was no way she'd be able to escape.
"You just need to let it happen. In a week or so, you'll start to feel better. And soon, you'll start to see things from our point of view," Lilian's voice was unmistakeable. The feel of her hand on her face, caressing her cheek, was horrifying. Kate tried to jerk away. Lilian gave a short laugh. "Soon you won't want to pull away, Sergeant. Soon, you'll be seeking me out," her tone was oily. "Maybe," Lilian let her hand briefly fall across Kate's breast, "maybe we'll be good friends. Very good friends."
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"I'm staying on this," Hamilton said to J'onn, "unless you want me elsewhere?"
J'onn shook his head. "No, I need you doing exactly what you are doing. If they have taken her, there's a high chance they'll be using the drug on her."
Hamilton nodded. She was looking through Alex's notes from the night before. Alex had been working flat out on the drug that Cadmus had used to manipulate her father, and she had made great progress, not only on identifying it, but she also had some suggestions as to the antidote. "I'll make it a priority to develop a working antidote," she promised.
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Eliza picked up her cellphone, smiling when she saw Alex's name. Their relationship was still tenuous, but Alex was trying her best. "Hey sweetheart," she said, with a smile in her voice.
"Mom?" Alex was tense. "I hate to ask you this. It's the hardest thing that I'm going to ask you. But Kate is missing, and we have reason to believe that she may be drugged like Dad was. To try and turn her against Kara."
"Cadmus?" Eliza felt faint.
"Cadmus," Alex agreed. "And Mom, you are the best. Hamilton and I have been working on an antidote. But there's nobody better than you in the field. I know what I'm asking is too much..."
"They autopsied your father," Eliza intuited.
"They did. And I wouldn't ask, Mom, but Kate ..."
"I'm on my way," Eliza told her. This was going to be devastatingly difficult, but for Kara's sake, she had to do it.
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Kate tried to focus, but her vision swam. She thought she saw someone loom over her, but she wasn't sure. She tried to blink, but the effort was too great. Her mind didn't feel like it was her own. She tried to turn her head, but the slightest movement sent her whole body spinning, or that was how it felt. Everything hurt. Every inch of her was in agony.
"Convulsions?" a voice asked.
"Three since this morning," someone replied.
Kate didn't understand. She didn't understand anything. She was thirsty, but she knew she would be sick if she drank. And the stifling heat didn't do anything to mitigate the extreme cold she felt. If she had been able to think, she would have realized that she had a high fever. As it was, all she knew was fear. And pain. She was barely aware as her arm was swabbed, and she was injected three times. The blackness rushed in, but still brought the pain along with it.
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"She's been up there for nearly thirteen hours," Maggie looked out from Kara's 'landing pad' at the DEO.
"She's listening for her heartbeat," J'onn said. "She's covered the whole city, and the 500 miles surrounding it."
Alex ran up the stairs to meet them. "Underwater," she said, slightly out of breath. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Winn has been working on tracking the traffic, and, over a period of a month, every two days the same truck took the same route from near the Cadmus lab to the unused Western entrance at the port. They must have an underwater lab. Maybe a sub."
J'onn spoke into his wrist, and a minute later, an exhausted and harried-looking Kara landed. She nodded as Alex explained her theory. She turned to take off, stopped by Alex's hand.
"Kara, you are exhausted," Alex said gently. She knew Kara wouldn't listen.
Kara nodded. "I'll sleep once we've found her."
Alex knew how she felt. There was no way she would be able to sleep if it were Maggie who was missing. Hell, she knew she wouldn't sleep until Kate was back, and safe. "Okay," she said. "But please eat. It'll only take a minute, and it'll make you stronger. Give you a greater chance of finding her."
"We'll mobilize a team, and we can have the undersea capsule at the dock in 20 minutes using the chopper," J'onn said.
"You can't breathe underwater," Alex reminded Kara, after she had eaten a hurried meal. "Please be careful. You can't help Kate if you can't help yourself."
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The convulsions were coming almost every hour now. Kate fought hard against the changes she could feel in her mind. Nothing made sense any more.
"Don't fight it," Lilian's voice was strangely soothing. Kate hated that she almost looked forward to her speaking, to hearing her soft voice. "It'll be so much easier if you just submit. The fever will start to fall in a day or so. And, when you wake up, you'll start to realize that we're on the same side. It's going to be a long road, Sergeant. This is only the first session. It took seventeen sessions before Jeremiah came around. You don't want to go through this seventeen times, do you? He nearly died. You don't want to die, do you?" she ran a hand soothingly down Kate's forearm. Kate hated that she found it comforting.
Kate realized that she was no longer bound. Of course she wasn't. She couldn't even control her own eyelids. She was no threat to them. She felt herself being rolled to the side, as her stomach spontaneously contracted. She was grateful for the cool cloth that Lilian applied to her forehead.
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Alex looked in on her daughters, and smiled at Winn, who was taking turns to babysit.
Addie lay on her side, her bear Henry clutched in her arms. "You need to sleep too," Winn said quietly.
Alex nodded. "I will. When she's safe."
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Eliza was working flat-out with Dr Hamilton. Maggie watched through the glass, as the two scientists compared notes, drew up syringes, tested compounds. She knew, from what she had learned from Alex, that many of the slides they were looking at under the microscope held fragments of Jeremiah – thin slices of brain tissue, heart muscle, liver samples – and her admiration for Eliza grew. She knew how it had devastated Alex – was still devastating her – and she could only guess how much harder it was for Eliza. Jeremiah had been her husband. But here she was, doing all that she could, to help Kara's fiancée.
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Kara hadn't realized how many noises there were in the ocean. The wildlife under the water was not silent as it appeared from above. It was teeming with activity, communication, a whole, busy world. But it was Kate's hearbeat that she was looking for. She was able to stay underwater for nearly eight minutes at a time, before she had to refill her lungs. So far, she had discerned nothing.
But then she heard a faint thrum. Was it an engine? And now a beep. Voices. And then, at last, gloriously, a sound that was more familiar to her than anything; Kate's hearbeat. It was faint, and too fast, and erratic. But it was definitely her. She dived deeper.
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Alex was relieved that Kara was following instructions. It had been her instinct just to dive straight in, but Alex had persuaded her that she would need for the DEO capsule to be nearby. Kara could survive eight minutes under water; Kate could not, even when she was well. And, from Kara's description of her heartbeat, she was far from well. "Come back to the capsule. They've got a breathing mask for her. And you can push it out to just by the DEO sub, and transfer Kate across. I'll get J'onn to fly me to the dock, we'll meet you there with the chopper."
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It was chaos. Guns, shouting, smoke grenades. Kate was aware of none of it. Kate wasn't really aware of anything any more – nothing beyond fear, nausea, pain, and confusion. She dreamt that she felt Kara's arms around her. And then water. Unbelievably cold water. And then she was in Kara's arms again. Bright lights. And then darkness. So much darkness.
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"We can't be sure. None of this is tested," Eliza looked down at Kate's shaking form. She was a ghostly grey. Sweat poured from her, and her breathing was labored. She had never seen someone so deathly ill. Had Jeremiah gone through this too? But he had survived, at least in some way. His mind had been altered, of course. Were they in time?
"We don't have a choice," Alex wanted to cry. She set up the IV and, with a solemn look at her mother, injected the antidote.
Kara seemed unaware; she sat by Kate's head, her hand lying limply in her own, and used her other hand to stroke her cheek, avoiding the ever-present oxygen mask.
Alex put a gentle hand on Kara's back. "You should get out of that wet suit," she said, quietly.
Kara looked up at her, as if she didn't understand what she was saying. Then she nodded. Almost before Alex noticed she had gone, she was back, dressed in DEO sweats. Alex draped a blanket around her shoulders. She knew Kara got chilly when she was stressed. She kissed her on the top of her head.
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Alex stalked into Lilian Luthor's cell. "You won't ever get away. Not this time. You'll be right here. You'll never do that to anyone else."
Lilian smiled. "Cadmus will continue. We will win, in the end. Mark my words. The aliens will not defeat us."
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The double bed in their quarters was much smaller than the one they had at home. But still, Maggie, Alex and Addie huddled together that night. Alex barely slept, and Maggie was unsurprised when she slid from the bed at 0330hrs to rejoin Kara at Kate's bedside.
Kara's face showed a maelstrom of emotions. She continuously stroked Kate – her arm, her face, her hair. Eliza sat at the back of the room, ready to act if she were needed, but not wanting to intrude.
Alex rested a hand on Kara's shoulder, and kissed the top of her head.
"She's calmer," Kara said, as she reapplied the cool cloth to Kate's brow. Kate moaned, and leaned into the touch. "I think she knows I'm here."
"Of course she does," Alex said softly. She picked up Kate's chart, and looked over at the monitors to compare. "Her fever has fallen a fraction. That's good, Kara." She went over to a tray and returned with the blood-draw kit. Efficiently, she took another sample from Kate. Eliza stepped forward wordlessly and took it from her. Alex nodded her gratitude.
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"She doesn't know anything's wrong," Addie held Jamie in her lap as she fed her some breakfast. "See?" Jamie's grin seemed ever-present. Jamie loved being held, especially by her sister.
"She's getting better," Maggie held out her phone to display a message. "Your Mama says she's doing well, in the circumstances."
Addie nodded. "I love Sergeant Kate," her voice shook a little.
Maggie put a comforting hand on her back. "She loves you too, Addie. Very much. And she's going to be okay. Your Mama and Grandma Eliza are going to make very sure of that."
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Ellie put down the phone, her face white with anxiety. "They got her back. She's very sick," she said to her worried wife. "But Alex is doing all that she can."
"What can we do?" Aoife wanted to know.
"Maggie has asked if we can take the kids. She doesn't want Addie at school, not for another day or two."
Aoife nodded. "Of course. I'll go get them. I know you're on shift in an hour..."
"No," Ellie was firm. "I'll call Palmer. I'm going to take a few days, at least until the end of the week. I know it's short notice, but family comes first. And Addie's likely real anxious, she needs people around her."
Aoife reached for her hand. "I love you, Mrs Sawyer."
Ellie smiled, and kissed her softly. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Aoife agreed, smiling.
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Everything hurt. Her head pounded sickeningly. But she knew she had to escape. But how? She tried to move, and her limbs wouldn't co-operate. And it was so hot. She could barely breathe. She felt a cool hand on her brow, heard a soothing voice. She was hallucinating again. This time, the voice sounded like Kara. She knew it couldn't be true. She knew she would never see her fiancée again. She tried to move away, but nothing worked.
Alex lay a gentle hand on Kate's shoulder, and she could feel her shaking. "It's okay, Kate. You're going to be okay," she reached up and injected the heavy sedative into her IV. "She needs to rest, Kara," she told her sister. "The blood test came back. There's still a strong concentration of the drug in her system. This is going to take a while."
"Has it fallen at all?" Kara wanted to know.
"A little. We're hoping the antidote is working. We'll give her another dose in an hour."
"What can I do?" Kara wanted to know.
"Just what you are doing. Talk to her. Touch her. Part of her knows you are here."
"We're getting married," Kara's voice hitched. "In 19 days."
"Focus on that. Talk to her about it. Make some plans. You both need something to look forward to."
Alex felt rather than saw Maggie approaching her from behind, and she leant back into her soft embrace.
"Hey, Danvers," Maggie whispered, and rested her chin on Alex's shoulder, and encircled her waist with her arms.
Alex stroked Maggie's arm. "Hey babe."
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Eliza locked herself away in the lab, continuing to fine-tune the antidote, adding some chemicals, taking some out of the mix, testing, testing. She hadn't slept since she had arrived. This was one, real, tangible thing she could do for Kara. And for Kate, whom she loved. She didn't notice when J'onn entered the room.
"Thank you," J'onn said, making her start with surprise. "Thank you for what you are doing."
"I couldn't be anywhere else," Eliza said.
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The soft hand on her face was so familiar. It couldn't be true. It couldn't really be her. Was there even the slightest chance that the torture was over? The pain seemed dull now, not the screaming agony of before. Was this just a lull before Lilian started all over again? Kate's heartbeat increased in panic at the thought.
Kara could hear every beat. She stroked Kate's face softly. "You're safe, my love. You're at the DEO. I'm here with you. I'm not going to leave you. Alex and Eliza are going to make you all better. Shh, it's okay," Kara adjusted the ice pack at her neck. She could hear her heartbeat slowly slightly. "It's okay. Just try to relax. You just need to sleep now, darling. It's all over. It's over. I swear to you."
Kate turned her head, seeking greater contact with Kara's hand. If this were a hallucination, she didn't care. The touch was comforting, the cool skin a balm to her fevered body. She moaned lightly. "It's okay," the voice came again. "I'll take care of you now." She let herself drift off.
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Alex fixed Kara with a stern look. "I know you're not hungry. But if you don't eat this, I'm going to have you removed from the med bay." They both knew that there was nobody strong enough to drag Kara away – even J'onn couldn't do it. But Alex was taking care of her, and she was right. She needed to be the best she could, so that she could support Kate. She nodded, and picked up a fork. She was surprised. "This is delicious."
"Kit brought it in," Alex said. "She said she wanted to do something to help."
Kara smiled. Their friends were so loyal, so loving. "Blood test?"
"Getting better," Alex smiled back. The improvements were so slow, but they were there. And Kate had not had a convulsion for thirteen hours now. Her fever was still high, at 103°, but a marked improvement on the 104.7° of just a day before.
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Addie climbed into Aoife's lap. She had just spoken to her moms over Skype, and she was a little reassured. She was sad she wasn't going to see them until the next day, but she knew that they were both working hard to help Kate, and that was the most important thing. She felt Aoife's arm tighten around her, and she snuggled in.
"You doin' okay there?" Ellie asked, as she sat next to them.
Addie nodded.
"Just a little sad, right?" Aoife instinctively knew how Addie was feeling.
Addie nodded again. "Jamie was real funny today," she spoke at last.
Ellie smiled. Jamie had been making them all laugh, pulling silly faces and making noises. She was so full of joy.
"I think your sister is going to be a comedian," Aoife pulled a blanket over Addie.
Addie smiled. "I love Jamie," she said.
"And she loves you. Whenever you come into the room, she looks round for you and smiles," Ellie told her, truthfully.
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Kara sat up as she detected a slight change in Kate's heartbeat. Was she waking up?
Kate rolled on to her back, and instinctively put an arm over her eyes. Kara quickly turned down the lights. She heard a light moan, and put a soft hand on Kate's arm. "Hey," she said quietly.
Kate moaned again. Her head hurt. It wasn't the blinding, vicious agony of before, but the pounding she felt with every heartbeat made her stomach roil. She heard the voice that she loved above anything in the world. "Hey. It's okay. Just relax." The voice came again.
Kate forced an eye open, and the world swam before her eyes. She shut it again. She felt a hand lifting her arm gently away from her face. She knew that hand. She opened her eyes again. It was true. She was there. Her vision was blurry, but that was definitely Kara. She tried to raise a shaky hand. Kara saw, and took it and held it between both of hers. "Hey," Kara said again. She ran a hand through Kate's hair. "I missed you."
Kate tried to squeeze her fingers, putting all her strength into the effort. She gave a half smile.
Alex approached the bed, watching in awe as her patient slowly awoke. She put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Good to see you," Alex's voice was soft. Loving. Alex blinked away tears.
Kara leaned down, moved the oxygen mask to one side, and placed a tender kiss on Kate's dry lips. "I love you," she said. "I love you."