Chapter Summery:

Mon-El and Kara have to put their brains together in order to infiltrate the Beast's base hangar and find out where Alex is and what is that mysterious shipping. Will they be successful?

Notes:

Hey guys! I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for leaving for three months! I only can redeem myself by giving you the longest chapter I ever wrote. 7.8k! Don't want to keep you waiting so enjoy. Forgive me if you see mistakes, I was in a bit rush to update this before the holidays are over.

This chapter is in Mon-El's POV

Chapter 11: Night in Gale

Mon-El bounced on his left leg a few times and made sure that there were no more lasting effects from the electrocution. He then looked at his watch as he entered Moon River through its main doors, around noon.

"Oh, hey BOSS!"

He heard Dana calling him as soon as he neared the bar.

"Hey Dana. So, everything ok around here?"

"Yes, things are good. Except your new girl hasn't been around for two days."

"My new girl?"

"Marley Danvers? The girl you told me to hire her sooner than the trial period?"

"Oh that girl. She's not my girl!"

Mon-El gave Donna a fake smile and waved his hand.

"She... eh... she asked me to have a few days off so she can attend to a personal matter. I gave her the permission."

Donna narrowed her eyes at him.

"Then why didn't she check in to tell me that?"

"Emm…It was a family emergency and she ran into me the other they and informed me, but I had to go in a hurry and couldn't find the chance to tell you."

Dana only huffed and stared at him in silence. She didn't get intimidated by him that easily like she used to. Sometimes Mon-El feared Dana was getting suspicious.

Mon-El straightened his collar and cleared his throat to sound more authoritative.

"Well, if that's all, you'd have to excuse me. I have some business to attend to in my office."

Dana sighed and dropped her eyes.

"Yes that was all. I leave you with your business."

Mon-El nodded and strode towards his office. He went straight for his desk and opened a drawer. He reached for the hidden compartment beneath it and drew out a small piece of paper from amongst other valuable secret documents he had put there. On it, only a sign was visible. A crescent moon. He held it in his hand and stared at it for long minutes, biting his lower lip.

A Memory flooded his mind.

It had been almost a year since Mon-El had left the palace, never imagining he would return. Yet here he was back in the same room where his father had died in his arms.

He walked to the late king's luxurious huge desk and searched it for any valuable documents. Damo and some other rebellion members had trained him well in the art of stealth, breaking and entering. Of course his old habits in sneaking away and shenanigans around the palace from childhood had a part in helping him improving so fast.

They perfectly knew that the queen would raid and claim anything his father owned to find anything about the Rebels, but there could be still some stuff her pawns might have missed and Damo had told Mon-El that his father had been collecting information on something very important in connection to the Dominators that he wouldn't even share with the Rebels and with him gone now, they needed to know what it was about.

Looking carefully around the desk, he spotted a craftily hidden button and pushed it. A small drawer jumped out, making Mon-El's heart rate spike.

He hurriedly went to look into it and saw only one thing in it. A small piece of paper with the shape of a crescent moon drawn onto it. He heard footsteps and pocketed the small piece quickly before running to the window where his rope was ready for him to climb down.

And even with so much time passed since the day he had come to own this document, he was no closer to understand what it could mean. Seeing the tattoo on the slave girl had confused him even more. Maybe this was just a coincidences? Why everything had to be so sophisticated? Why couldn't his father have written a word or a clue hinting what this sign meant?

Mon-El exhaled with frustration and put the small paper back where it was. He only wanted to see it again to make sure it had no extra details he might have forgotten about, wanting to know if the tattoo on the girl's wrist was the same as this mark and it was. But nothing was clearer even now. If anything, it all seemed far less meaningful. Maybe they were not the same things at all. He had only glanced at that tattoo for a few seconds after all.

After closing the drawer back to its previous state, Mon-El busied himself with some work – mostly Moon River related – and then he checked Marley's background once more. Nothing seemed different from the first time he had checked. She and Lexie had come from a planet called Earth where they had yellow sun and were stranded here for a few years. He gave up on his search when he couldn't find anything else and spend some more time on his club related business. Checking the payments, signing some forms to order new furniture for one of the VIP rooms after one of the costumers had accidently scorched them during the Garata Fest, answering some calls and so on.

By afternoon he returned back to the DEO base with few half ideas on how to break into that abandoned hangar in two days to find out about this big shipping. It seemed like one of the hardest missions he was going to plan yet.

He found everyone in the main room silently watching the only existing map of the hangar and its surroundings, all deeply in thought. Mon-El glanced at Marley, observing her defeated posture. She seemed much more stressed than usual. She must have noticed her device was gone by now. Or was she still struggling with her feelings over the death of that poor girl? What secrets was she keeping from them?

Just as his gaze lingered on her, she raised her head meeting his eyes as if she felt the weight of his stare. Eyes which weren't covered by his usual goggles and mask anymore. Mon-El turned his eyes sideway quickly and cleared his throat. J'onn was the first to greet him.

"Oh, good you're back."

"Do we have a plan?"

"Well…"

J'onn looked at Winn and he fidgeted with his lip before answering.

"No… eh…We don't have a plan."

Mon-El took in the sight of his messed up hair and tired eyes. He seemed to have pushed himself too hard this time.

"Why not? Don't they have a hole in their security system? There must be something. There's always something."

"Not this time. I can't find anything."

Mon-El walked over to the table and looked at the maps for some minutes. How could Winn not find a way in? He had never disappoint them.

"They use a very sophisticated scanning matrix system on the area. It has to be from another planet. It can detect a fly passing from two kilometers away. I don't have anything to defy or mislead this level of technology."

Winn explained as if he sensed their confusion.

Marley put her hands on the table.

"What other options do we have? We can't just barge in there and say we are lost tourists around here. That would be too suspicious."

"No we can't." Mon-El agreed still keeping his eyes on the hangar that looked more like a fortress than an actual hangar. It was obvious they were trying to hide things there. This was the core operation base of the Beasts. He had never paid too much attention to their activities until the recent year since they had started meeting more royals in secret and even her mother that drew his attention to them. Only a few years back they were merely drug and slave dealers. Now they seemed to be working on something much bigger and no one, not even that bastard Cor-Gan had a clue what was going on. That was why they needed an insider and Lexie risked going amongst them. A mission that seemed to have failed.

"What are you thinking?"

J'onn's question made him realize he had been staring wordlessly at the maps for too long. He sighed, knowing well what he was about to say would sound not very smart.

"We need to get Cor-Gan."

"WHAT?"

As he expected, Marley was the first to react. Winn was the next.

"Cor-Gan? Wouldn't that be impossible now? He must have tipped the Beasts by now."

"No, he wouldn't. Telling his boss on his loose tongue would only bring him a very painful death. He's not that stupid. I think he's made it all look like a heist to make himself the victim and get away with it. He knows what happens if the Beasts find out what he has told us."

No one argued with him after that until J'onn stepped forward.

"So what's the plan?"

"We need to go to Garata Head for a drink tonight."

He heard behind him Marley groan.

The loud music was booming in his ears, making Mon-El squint. He ran a hand through his spiky dark hair, making it look more wild. He was wearing something he would never normally wear. Dark tight pants and a tight shirt completed by heavy chains around his neck. Without his glasses and the dark make up he had around his eyes, he was no longer Kai Rand – the highly respected club owner that everyone knew. By no means he was happy with his looks, but it was all for the show and his disguise.

He walked through the overcrowded bar and was half aware how Marely was shifting uncomfortably on her legs to his side. After explaining his plan to others, Marley had finally told them about her first encounter with Cor-Gan and why she was fired from Garata Head and now he could feel her unease and stress to be back here and meet the same guy whom they had been trying to run away from only a night ago.

He tried to calm her before going into action.

"No one can recognize you here, relax."

"I'm not worried about that!" Marley glared at her a bit, and pulled at her dark leather jacket. With her hair running wild and dark make up, she looked nothing like the innocent waitress she always was. She actually seemed a lot more intimidating than usual. A whole different person. Mon-El found himself staring at her fiery blue eyes for a moment. He quickly blinked and tried to focus on their mission.

"Then what's making you fidget? It's annoying and distracting."

"First of all I'm not fidgeting, it's because this dress is very uncomfortable! Second, I still can't imagine how this plan of yours is going to work."

In order to make her words decipherable over the loud music, Marley was leaning towards him, shouting into his ear. Too close that her cheek was almost touching his and he felt his heart beating faster against his ribcage without his consent. Why the hell he couldn't get his senses under control? He never had problem like this on his missions or around girls in general. Something about Marley was affecting him and he came to realize that he didn't like it at all. He couldn't afford to be distracted on missions.

Mon-El gripped her arm to bring her closer again and put his mouth close to her ear.

"Stop complaining. This is the only way and you know it. I thought you would do anything to find your sister."

Mon-El snapped at her through gritted teeth and she pulled her arm out of his hand, still glaring. To his relief she didn't argue and looked away with her lips pressed together.

They proceeded to the bar all the while keeping their eyes open to spot their target. Despite Marley's disbelief that Cor-Gan would not come to this place barley a day after the events of last night, it turned out Mon-El knew better when it came to thugs like him. Marley had admitted this fact more or less by uttering "oh" after they saw Cor-Gan's fancy car parked outside the Garata Head.

They stood watching Cor-Gan's movements, waiting for him to head to the place where they wanted him to be. The only place where his bodyguards wouldn't be near him.

"Drink this."

He offered Marley a drink after a while, thinking a drink would take her edge off. She was standing too tense with her arms fold. He needed her ready and at ease for what was about to come.

"Are you serious?"

Mon-El rolled his eyes at her respond. Why she had to be like this all the time?

"Come on. Just one shot to make you more relaxed." When he saw her still looking at him with anger in her eyes he continued. "You look suspicious if you're gonna stand here like this without a drink."

Mon-El kept her stare for long seconds, giving her his most charming convincing smug look, the one every girl would fall for. She squinted at him.

"I don't think so."

He swirled the drink in front of her enticingly. "Are you scared?"

As he predicted that made her react and grab the drink from him.

"What is this?"

"Aldabran rum."

"This is too strong for …"

He couldn't hear the rest of her response over the loud screech of the singer. The loud cheers and screams put a stop to their conversation and Mon-El noticed that Marley still hadn't drunken her shot.

"Suit yourself." He clung his own glass to hers and gulped it down in one go.

He had to admit the drink was strong as she had pointed out, but he had a high tolerance for alcohol and therefore didn't lose his focus. He saw Cor-Gan moving away to another part of the bar that couldn't be seen from where they were standing. He tugged on Marley's sleeve.

"Care to dance?"

"Kai this is not a –"

"As I know, you saw him move. Let's go to the other side."

Why didn't she get his indications and assumed all his actions were to have fun?

She then didn't resist and followed him to join the crowd of happy drunk, crazy people who were moving around with no harmony.

"You call this dancing!?"

Mon-El heard her snort and turned around to face her.

"Why you dance any better on your planet?"

"You bet we do!"

"Then show me."

He saw her biting her bottom lip. "It's not the time, I …"

Mon-El saw a couple coming towards them too fast and reacted without thinking by pulling Marley close to himself to avoid the collision, instead he felt her body collide with his and his hands came up to wrap around her waist instinctively to prevent her from falling. She pulled back almost immediately and Mon-El dropped his hands. Her blush was visible even under the colorful flashes that was lighting up this dark place. He couldn't stop looking at her brilliant blue eyes that were looking back at him questioningly. Comets. He felt his own heart beating fast again. Was he blushing too? This was so embarrassing and awkward.

"We… We should move." Marley said not meeting his eyes and dragged him so others wouldn't keep bumping into them.

They didn't try to dance as they simply crossed the dance floor to the other side. No one cared to give them a second glance or was nor were they in the right mind to notice they weren't even pretending to dance.

"Look, he's going there." Marley suddenly nudged his arm and Mon-El saw Cor-Gan moving towards the toilets with his two bodyguards. It was the show time.

He turned to Marley with a serious face.

"You ready?"

She nodded firmly and waited for him to start with his plan.

Mon-El had been wasted so many nights in his previous life as the prince and had seen so many drunk people in his life that acting like one was not the hardest thing in the world for him to do. His only worry was for Marley to act like a convincing girlfriend. He prayed to all the gods that this mission didn't end up like other situations when Marley was involved in them.

They approached the toilets with Marely helping him walking. He had a lazy hand around her neck while she was gripping his waist firmly as he pretended to drag his feet unsteady and his head lolling on his shoulder.

"Heyyyyyyy…" He snorted and hiccupped.

One of the bodyguards stepped forward.

"Move away."

"OwWw… that's a... fanCy GuUuun!" He giggled and faked another hiccup.

"I said move away."

"Please sir! He's not feeling well. He needs the bathroom."

He felt satisfied with the desperate tone Marley had used.

"ohh come on babe! I still feel the vibe! I'm –"

He swung his free hand towards the dancing crowd, giving his hand an appropriate shake before jolting himself forward to pretend he was about to throw up.

"OH NO!"

Mon-El heard Marley gasp as he dropped himself down near the bodyguard's feet and he stepped back.

"Please! Can't you see?!" He felt her hands gently touching his shoulder.

"Please let us use the toilets! He's gonna be sick!"

He kept his focus on coughing pretending another vomit.

"Babe I don't feel so good" He mumbled loud enough for the guards to hear.

"Do you really wanna see vomit all over this place?!"

He had to stop himself from smirking at her demanding tone.

"Please…"

Even with his head down in a crouched position, Mon-El felt his heart clench when he heard her pleading voice. And then –

"Alright fine! Just be quick or I'll come and drag you out!"

"Thank you!"

"Let me see your pockets first!"

The guards searched them for weapons quickly and after finding none, Mon-El felt Marley's hand wrapping around his waist again and pushed himself up to stand. He kept his act until the last second before they entered the toilets.

Just as the door shut closed behind them, they looked back at each other smiling.

Their target was standing on the other side of that dirty smudged small space with his back to them. Mon-El couldn't help feeling smug as he imagined how Cor-Gan would react if he knew they were the same people who kicked his butt from last night.

"I thought I said no one should walk in while I'm here."

"I bet you did."

Mon-El answered him and pulled out his knife from its hidden place in his boots to put it on his chubby fat neck.

"Wha-" Cor-Gan gasped.

"If you make a sound I'll cut right through you."

Mon-El put a bit more pressure on his knife, feeling satisfied how that made the douche bag go still under his hand. He deserved feeling this fear after what he had done to that poor girl.

"Remember us?"

Mon-El made Cor-Gan turn and face him and Marley. He gasped and gazed at them with one bulged out eye. His face was covered with a cream to keep the dark bruises there hidden, but even that wasn't enough to hide the inflated black eye Marley had given him. Though Mon-El was far from happy about how their mission had gone south last night with Marley's impulsive behavior, he couldn't deny that he felt like Cor-Gan deserved every bit of it.

"You!"

"Keep your voice down!" He hissed at Cor-Gan, pressing the knife threateningly to his throat.

Mon-El knew they only had a few minutes left before the guards would come inside to check on their boss so there was no time.

"You are going to take us to that hangar tomorrow."

"What the hell –"

"We don't have time for this"

Marley moved forward with raised clenched fists.

"You are going to take us inside that hangar with your car and you access code or you will die."

"Why the fuck should I do what you say? I can just call my guards!"

Mon-El shoved him towards the filthy tiled wall and he groaned.

"Because if you don't, the Beasts will find out the information you gave out to us and you know what happens to the loose mouths."

Mon-El paused and stared coldly into his little dark fearful eyes, trying to make his words most effective.

"You'd wish we had killed you instead."

He watched how the fear clouded Cor-Gan's one good eye and then dropped his head in defeat.

Mon-El parked his bike in its usual hiding place in the desert. He had its tank full and the special chemical which they had burned in their run from Cor-Gan was reinstalled.

They were ready for tomorrow.

They walked in silence back to the DEO base just like the last night, both deep in thought. They shared the details of their mission with J'onn and Winn and worked on their plan, before going to their bunkers for sleeping.

They were heading outside the main room when Mon-El heard Marley calling after him.

"Hey, Kai?"

Mon-El waited for her to talk. She seemed more frazzled than normal. Gods was this about their dance or rather their none dance?

"I wanted to ask… have you seen my holo device?"

"The what?"

Inwardly Mon-El sighed and congratulated himself on keeping a very indifferent face as he pretended to not understand what she meant.

"You know that communication device I had that day."

Mon-El didn't lost the way she rolled her eyes, probably to herself, when she referred to that day.

"Oh you mean your shiny round gadget which nearly cost you your life and me a whole set of expensive furniture for the VIP room?"

He smirked as his dark sarcasm caused her to frown, making an adorable crinkle form between her eyebrows.

"Yeah that."

"No, sorry. I don't think I've seen it around."

He saw her shoulders slump and her frown turned into a disappointed, nervous look. He couldn't believe that he actually felt guilty for keeping the truth from her. He always prioritized his gut feelings when it came to trusting people and he knew there was something undeniably suspicious about Marley. But this time he was confused. A part of him didn't want to trust her yet another part of him cared about this girl.

What the hell was happening to him? There was no time for being sensitive.

"Ok. Just let me know if you found it."

"Yeah sure."

Mon-El watched her leave the room before going to check on Winn just like the night before, needing to know what he had found so far.

"Winn."

He called when he entered his office, seeing him still busy sitting in front of three monitors, typing something fast. He was always a night owl especially when he had something serious to do.

"Winn."

He didn't seem to have heard him at all even after two times, too lost in his work.

"AHHH!"

Winn fell out of his chair when he suddenly saw him standing next to his chair.

"Jeez at least make a sound!"

"I called you two times."

"You did?!"

"Yeah, sorry."

Mon-El helped Winn to get back onto his chair. He knew that he did act all bossy around Winn. Nothing personal, just didn't want anyone to get close to him, but at that moment he hated to be too hard on Winn. He could say that Winn was the closest thing he had to a friend and he was irreplaceable.

Winn composed himself finally and turned to face him worriedly.

"What can I do for you?"

"About that device I gave you last night."

"I'm so sorry, but its firewall is like nothing I've seen. I need more time to... "

Winn dropped his head, making Mon-El to cut his words.

"No of course I don't expect you to quit all your other responsibilities just to hack that device. I was just wondering if you looked at it."

Winn raised his head with wide eyes, too amazed that Mon-El wasn't too serious with him for a change.

"Yeah, yeah! I did try to break the encryption, but it looks very alien, I mean I know it has to be alien, dah! But it was more alien than you would expect and the material of it is also alien and by alien I mean …"

Mon-El sighed as he let Winn babble on for a while.

"… and I'm working on breaking its firewall which looks like something only Dominators can pull off."

"You said Dominators?"

"Yes, but I mean there are other civilizations in the galaxy that are capable of making such sophisticated codes. Like Coluans."

"Do you think you can break it?"

"I have a few ideas."

Mon-El gave him a hopefully encouraging smile. "Good."

"May I ask who this belongs to?"

Mon-El contemplated telling him or not.

"Well, if you must know its Marley's."

"MARLEY?!" Winn suddenly shout out loud.

"Shhhh."

"Sorry I meant Marley?" He asked in a hushed voice this time.

"Yes and I see you are shocked as well. How can a waitress from a backward planet come close to possess such an advanced object?"

"Exactly. I mean it doesn't look like anything more than a simple holo device at the first glance, but when you try to look into it…"

Winn trialed off and Mon-El considered that enough information to intrigue his interest.

"Ok, then you just keep this between us and work on it for now and let me know if you found out anything."

"Of course, sure."

Winn nodded to assure him and then Mon-El left him with his coding.

As much as Mon-El preferred to do the missions on his own, he couldn't convince Marley to stay behind. And to make it even worse, J'onn had pointed out that he needed an extra hand for this and in his opinion he and Marley had proved to make a good team. He only had rolled his eyes at him.

And that was the last conversation they had before heading to a random spot outside Telos to meet with Cor-Gan to hide in his car so he could get them inside the Beast's high security hangar. There were lots of ways this could go wrong. Cor-Gan could sell them out, but Mon-El was counting on Cor-Gan's cowardness more than anything. He knew if he and Marley were found in his car, the Beasts wouldn't let him go that easy. That was all Mon-El hoped for. Besides that, all they could do was praying to their gods.

Mon-El sat in the passenger seat, keeping his gun aiming at eye level at Cor-Gan while he rode them to their infamous destination. The plan was for him and Marley to hide in a hidden compartment in the trunk.

When they reached two miles from the hangar, Mon-El ordered Cor-Gan to stop the car and they got inside their hiding place. Mon-El gave Cor-Gan one last warning that if he thought about talking about his secret passengers, he wouldn't survive the night as their back up were ready to finish him if the Beasts ever let him free.

The compartment was far from comfortable to fit two grown people in it. Mon-El stood by Marley, both looking a bit hesitant wondering who should get in first.

"I should –"

Mon-El started only to be stopped by Marley.

"No, I get in first."

She moved forward into the trunk without further ado and tucked her limbs close to herself as much as she could to make enough room for him. He gave Cor-Gan a deathly glare from behind his goggles before fitting himself into the trunk. Despite his trying his best not to push too much into Marely, it was too cramped. They were both facing the door.

"Are you ok back there? "

Mon-El asked, worried that she was being crushed behind him.

"Yeah, it's ok. It's just a short ride. Don't worry."

Mon-El heard her laughing nervously and felt her warm breath on the back of his neck, giving him a goose pumps. He tried hard not to pay too much attention at how their bodies were pressing into each other.

Keep it together! We have bigger problems right now!

After what felt like long minutes, they finally felt the vehicle starting to move. The road was bumpy, making them even more uncomfortable.

The closer they got to the hangar, the more anxiety gnawed at his insides. He wasn't sure what they would find out there or if they would manage to survive it. Suddenly he asked himself why he had even accepted to do this suicide mission in the first place. Had he lost his mind?

Mon-El came to the present as the car stopped. He could feel Marely gasping lightly behind him, she must have been dreading what would come next as he was. The checking point.

They both stayed silent and motionless – not that there was room for even flexing their muscles – until they heard the trunk open above them. They were right under a fake plate made by Winn to go unnoticed under scanning devices.

The guard was only inches above them. Mon-El stopped breathing altogether.

And just like that, the search ended. The plate above them proved to be working, blocking their heat signature. Mon-El thanked Winn for a thousand times inwardly, letting out a long relieving breath. He heard Marley doing the same.

The car started moving again. The second ride was much shorter than the first and Mon-El knew, as they had arranged, Cor-Gan was supposed to park his car in his garage and they would go on from there.

They only had to wait a few more minutes after the car stopped again and the trunk door opened again and two knocks on the board above them signed that it was safe now.

Mon-El pushed up the board and greeted Cor-Gan's ugly anxious face.

"Ok, I did what you wanted. Now get out and get lost."

Mon-El reached for the edge of the trunk and unfolded his numb limbs, trying to get out without accidentally kicking or elbowing Marley behind himself. As soon as he stood straight to his full height, towering over Cor-Gan, he glared at him, pulling the front of his coat in his hand.

"You meet us back here in 60 minutes or else you know what will happen."

Cor-Gan scowled at him with disgust, not wanting to give into him, yet knowing he had no choice. Instead of an answer, Cor-Gan growled in seething and pushed away from him. Mon-El let him go, giving him a dangerous look before turning to see Marley standing behind him.

"We meet in 35 minutes on the other side of the hanger to see the ship."

Mon-El said, recounting their plan and Marley nodded in agreement. As much as Mon-El didn't like the idea of them splitting up, he knew well that this place was huge and it would take both of them working apart to cover ground and find Lexie as fast as possible. There were two main buildings they needed to search and they had to meet on the north east side, near the big landing pad to see what the important shipping Cor-Gan slipped was and then return to the garage so that Cor-Gan would take them out the same way they came.

Mon-El saw the flash of worry across Marley's face. It was a mutual feeling. Neither knew what they would find today. Was Lexie even alive?

Mon-El ran silently in the long shadows created by the setting Rao. The crimson beams had made everything seem like drenched in blood. A fitting color for this place, Mon-El thought. He pushed back the feeling of doom inside him and brought his hand up to activate the thermal scanner device in his goggles which helped him locating people inside the building, even from behind solid walls.

He entered the two story building cautiously. Fortunately most of the members were busy preparing for the landing and only a few guards were around keeping eye on the storage rooms where they were safe keeping their precious smuggled goods. He briefly scanned the two floors, spotting only moving normal individuals. Nothing even close to a captive person. He then turned left on a hallway the moment a guard past by to get into the stairs. If they kept any prisoners, they would most probably be in the basement.

Nothing. His goggles showed him nothing. Mon-El cursed constantly under his breath as he waited for another guard to change position in order to get out of the basement. He kept his gun upright ready to use if needed while praying that he didn't. A body would mean a disaster.

When Mon-El set foot outside that building, he took many deep breaths, not exactly sure how he succeeded in getting out unnoticed. His thoughts instantly went to Marley and brought his arm up to look at his watch. He had only 5 minutes to meet her, so he picked up the paste. The full darkness served as his camouflage perfectly. He noticed the red heavy clouds that were covering the sky above him accompanied by a chilling wind. He knew what that meant. It was going to be a stormy night.

As he got himself closer to the landing pad he became mesmerized by the sight in front of him, making the rising stress in him momentarily forgotten. The powerful projectors were throwing thick beams upwards to the sky guiding the observers' eyes gently to lay on the huge, magnificent spaceship that broke from the stormy clouds up above and was descending towards the ground. The first drops of rain started to collide with his mask and he didn't even blink as he watched the ship softly touching the ground, disappearing behind a cloud of fog that was created in the process, counteracting with heat that was radiating from the ship after moving too fast in the atmosphere. There were shouts and orders for getting ready to greet the new incomers. Mon-El saw a fuel truck nearing the scene.

Mon-El swallowed and started moving again towards the place where he had to meet with Marley. To his relief she was crouching behind the parked vehicle, looking constantly around to find him.

"Did you find anything?"

He asked her as soon as he kneeled beside her.

"I –"

She started to explain, her voice laced with fear, but at the same moments the sounds coming from the direction of the newly arrived spaceship caught their attention.

"- Take her here!"

Mon-El watched in confusion as two guards dragged someone with cuffed hands, kicking and resisting against them closer to the ship.

It was Lexie. There was no doubt in his mind.

He felt next to her Marley tensing.

"We have to save her!"

In her eyes he saw desperation. She knew it was impossible yet she couldn't stand by and watch her sister be taken.

"We can't do anything right now."

He answered with sympathy, gently squeezing her arm to show that he understood. She turned her head away harshly, as if rejected, and looked at the scene before them with clenched fists. Some people had stepped outside the now open doors of the spaceship and were transporting cargo boxes. It was hard to guess what was inside them. Lexie got taken straight inside the spaceship to their utter disappointment without them being able to even form a semi plan.

From the corner of his eyes he saw Marley getting out of their hiding place fast.

"Marley, no!" He whispered shout after her, grunting as he moved to follow her.

What is she thinking?! Here we go again!

She was going closer to where someone was talking to who seemed to be the captain of the spaceship. They were standing under a roof, sheltered from the rain, their silhouettes pitch dark against the strong white light of the projectors. Mon-El couldn't make out much of their faces. They hid behind an abandoned piece of scrapped metal that seemed to be the tail part of a spaceship one day.

"- the fueling would be soon finished sir."

"Good, we can't waist time here. Any massages from her?"

"She only expects some good news sooner than later."

"Well she should know we're doing our job. The rest is up on them, not us."

"Of course sir, we inform her of the successful delivery."

"Tell her it will reach the destination in a five days and remind her that the payment should be wired when we reach Starhaven."

"Yes sir."

"Any more surprise passengers for us?"

"No Sir."

"This is unacceptable! I will see into the recruits when I get back! I want everyone present in the base and a thorough check up. Who was responsible for recruiting her?"

"Eh, it was Dal-Ran sir…"

"Put him in a cell until I'm back."

"Yes, sir."

There was moment of silent only filled with the humming of the spaceship mixed with the clattering sound of rain drops, before the ship captain started speaking again.

"But I have to admit they'd be happy about a new compatible subject. A Kryptonian no less. Good job catching her."

A Kryptonian?!

"Thank you sir."

Someone else came closer to them to announce the fueling was over and then he boarded his ship and in no time everyone started leaving the platform, ready for the ship's take-off.

Mon-El urged Marely to start moving. They needed to get back to meat Cor-Gan and get out. She shuddered and he wasn't sure if it was because of anger or the cold freezing wind and rain that had soaked her clothes. He felt wet and cold equally.

The distraction from the take-off helped them get out of their hiding place and they got to the garage without any disrupt.

Cor-Gan wasn't there.

Mon-El angrily kicked at the floor. Of course that bastard would stand them up. They waited a long minute, each looking at the other thinking of something. Mon-El could hear his heart thumping faster and faster. He knew what they had to do.

He reached into his damp jacket and drew out a gadget that allowed him to open any door and unlocked Cor-Gan's car door and got into the driver's seat.

"What are you –"

He cut off Marley's word as he bent down and opened a box under the dashboard with his knife.

"Get in the car."

"But –"

"There's no time! We need to go now!"

"But they'll catch us!"

"Then we drive faster."

He let out a breath as he heard the engine igniting. He slammed his door shut and looked around to see Marley finally deciding to ride shotgun.

Mon-El drove with normal speed until they got to the guarded exit doors. He stopped casually, waiting for the guard to come up and check them out. Marley shifted beside him, taking out her gun.

"You hold them off, I open the gate."

Mon-El saw her perched on the edge of the seat and holding Cor-Gan's pass key – which he had left in the car – in her other hand. He only had time to nod at her before someone approached the car.

"Leaving so soon Cor-Gan? Thought you wanted to stick around for a drink at -"

The guard stopped talking when he saw Mon-El's masked face and confusion replaced his cocky smirk.

"Who the f-"

Mon-El didn't allow him to finish as he shot him in the chest and he dropped. Marley had got out of the car in the meantime and ran to the cubic room where the controls were. Another guard was alarmed immediately and raised his rifle to aim at him. He hurriedly aimed with his own gun but saw the guard falling down before seeing Marely with her own raised gun. She then went to work with the controls.

"Come on, come on!" Mon-El gripped tightly at the steering wheel, willing Marely to open the gates before they were found out.

After what seemed like minutes the door started to open and Marley was running back to the car. That was when he heard shots.

Marley throw herself in her seat.

"GO GO GO GO!"

Mon-El didn't need her to say that. He just stumped on the gas with unnecessary force and the wheels screeched against the ground before they shot outside the still opening gates.

The laser shots followed them and Mon-El kept zig-zagging and never slowed down even after they died away. To his surprise no one followed them and he couldn't decide if that was a good sign or not. He focused back on the dark road. The rain had stopped, but the fog was obscuring their view. That was then when he noticed some lights on the controls showing red. The damn car was damaged after the heavy shooting. A lot of sensors didn't work anymore and the engine power was dropping fast.

"Kai!"

Marley's urgent call was followed by a loud crash. He had missed a boulder because of his momentary distraction. They came to a halt harshly and air bags activated. Last thing he thought of, was why he hadn't fasten his seat belt.

He wasn't sure how long he blacked out. A moment or minutes? Regardless, when he slowly started to register his surrounding, he noticed he couldn't feel the flow of the air and that they weren't upside down, meaning the car had mostly endured the collision. He pushed against the annoying airbag, groaning at the erupting pain in his ribs and head.

"Marley?"

He called out hoarsely, but no answer came. His head was spinning.

"Marley?!"

When he didn't feel any movement on her side either, the anxiety settled back in his chest. They weren't far enough from the hangar. He forgot his pain and struggled to open his door only to greet the freezing cold wind. He ran as fast as he could in his disoriented condition on wobbling legs to the other side of the car and saw the damn boulder had hit the car on the right side.

Gods no!

He had to climb over the car to get himself to the passenger's seat door.

"Marley?"

She was unconscious. He felt his heart drop as he dragged her gently outside, putting her head on his lap and kept patting her shoulder while he tried to take off his glove with his teeth.

"Don't do this to me!"

He took of her mask and felt for the vein on her neck. He felt a pulse.

"Hey, hey, can you hear me?"

He rubbed at her temples with his thumbs, his eyes searching around for other injuries, but there was no light to be sure of that.

"Ugh…"

"Hey, you're ok. Look at me."

She finally opened her eyes, unfocused. Her hand came up to grab at her head and touching over his hand there, moaning a little.

"Where are we?"

"Still on the road. We can't stay here. Are you in pain?"

"No I'm good."

She tried to get up, but he held her head in his hands, preventing her.

"Don't lie to me."

Mon-El saw a flash of what he put as something between gilt and surprise shadowing her face, which got replaced soon after with her famous crinkle.

"I'm not lying. I'm good enough to run."

They hadn't time to argue so he gave up and helped her standing up. It was only then that he noticed that it was pouring again. And the car wasn't working anymore.

Could this night go any worse?!

He used his navigator to check their location.

"How far are we from the drop point?"

Marley asked and he showed her.

"Two miles?!" She huffed in disbelief.

"We need to move now."

She nodded and they started jogging towards north, to the location Cor-Gan first picked them up and was supposed to drop them. His speeder bike was there.

They ran as fast as they could under the merciless cold rain. Mon-El kept glancing at Marley, but she never complained or showed any weakness beyond the frown on her face.

It took them about half an hour, but they finally got there. Mon-El still didn't feel safe. He couldn't believe they had escaped so easily. Something was off.

He turned on his bike and the headlight was blinding after spending so much time in darkness. He saw Marley standing with her arms wrapped around herself under the rain, dripping and squinting against the bright light. She looked miserable and he knew he didn't look any better either. The headache was killing him.

"You're bleeding!"

Marley gasped and walked over to him with her eyes fixed on his head. Mon-El touched the numb throbbing source of pain on the side of his head and when he withdrew his hand he found it bloody.

"No, it's not bleeding anymore."

She looked at him somberly and didn't say anything. Mon-El felt how worried and disheartened she was. He wanted to tell her something. Tell her that they were ok and they'd find a way to save her sister but he noticed a blood stain on her bicep.

"You're shot!"

He jumped off his bike and reached for her arm. She seemed as surprised as he was.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just a graze." He reached to touch the wound but she shrank away.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, let's just get back to DEO sooner."

Mon-El couldn't agree more and decided to trust her on this wound not being serious. He sat back on his bike and Marley came to sit behind him, wrapping her arms securely around his middle. He wasted no more time and sped towards their safe house.

The rain never stopped and it turned into a full thunder storm when they got near DEO. The blinding and deafening lightning bolts with non stop heavy shower ruined their progress and he had stop and find a shelter.

He spotted a rock near them and they crouched next to each other behind it. Mon-El used his speeder's covers to cover themselves from head to toe.

Mon-El felt the cold to his bones and when he felt Marley shivering next to him, he couldn't resist and unfolded his arm from around himself, where he was trying to keep it warm and wrapped it around her shoulders, urging her to lean into his side. She tensed a bit at his touch, but a moment later she pressed into him slowly, seeking his warmth. Soon he brought up his other hand and pulled her closer to himself. He knew she must have been too tired when she didn't complain and only tucked her head onto his chest, trembling slightly.

They sat like that for long minutes, listening and waiting for the thunder to pass. Mon-El found himself listening to her breathing instead after a while. It helped grounding him when his insides were twirling with worry and soon he felt her limbs relaxing in his arms, indicating that she had fallen asleep. Mon-El tried to stay vigilant, to know when the storm was over so they could get back on his bike, but he couldn't win the battle against the fatigue and before he knew it, his eyelids gave in and dream world welcomed him.

End Notes:

soooo, How was this chapter?
I think I owe you all an explanation. Well long story short is that I haven't been feeling that well lately. Mentally I mean. Homesickness, intense anxiety and some panic attacks (for the first time in my life) have left me so depressed. I'm still struggling and writing this chapter, knowing you all were waiting so patiently for me, was the only motivation I had for the past three months. I hope you haven't abandoned this fic. I'm sorry again for the long wait. I hope things get better for me so I can write more and update sooner.
I wish you all are having a great holiday where ever you are and a happy new year in advance. I know it's a bit late, but Merry Christmas and consider this my Christmas gift to you XOXO

P.s: Despite my almost constant depressed mood, I just came from watching the Last Jedi and it brought a genuine smile to my face :))) This was the first Star Wars movie I had ever watched in the theater! when the famous opening "A long time ago in a Galaxy far far away..." showed up with the famous tone, I had to hold myself back not to cry. I'm not a hard core fan but it was impossible not to get effected by it.