Alex felt like she was going to vomit.
It was a sight she would never be able to get out of her mind. Het girlfriend, taking slow steps towards her sister, who was swaying unsteadily, focused on the green pulsing through Maggie's throat.
"M-Maggie…" Kara carefully took a small step backwards. "Hey… It's me…"
"I'm afraid she can't hear you, Supergirl. She's too busy working out ways to make sure you never see the light of day again."
"No, Lillian, please, I…" Alex tried, but she knew well enough that there was nothing that she could do about this. This was Lillian Luthor's endgame. She couldn't try to gamble for Maggie's life, she couldn't do anything that would risk Kara's safety.
Instead, she could only watch, as Maggie tilted her neck from side to side, hearing the bones crack. The detective smirked once again. "I'm going to enjoy this."
"Maggie, this isn't you. Please snap out of it…" Kara tried hopelessly, before Maggie swung her fist upward, hitting Kara in the face and causing her to stumble backwards.
Before she could attempt to get back up, Maggie was already continuing her attack with punches and kicks. Alex jumped up and tried to push Maggie away, but the other woman grabbed her by the throat and shoved her away with a force Alex had never known she possessed.
She had to have been enhanced somehow.
Maggie focused back on Kara, who had in the meantime jumped back to her feet and raised her fists defensively. "Maggie, I don't want to hurt you…"
"Try me."
Kara ran towards Maggie, feeling her strength drain the closer she got. The moment she swung her fist, Maggie dodged it, and returned it with a punch of her own, right in Kara's throat. The blonde stumbled back, her hand nursing the sore spot and trying to catch her breath.
Alex ran up to Maggie from behind, grabbing her arms and trying to hold her down. She heard Maggie hiss. "You think you can hold me down? You've always thought that." She spun around, getting out of Alex's grip easily, and headbutting her. Alex grunted, and clutched her nose.
Kara grabbed Maggie by the back of her top, pulling her back and finally delivering her first punch. Maggie groaned, and tried to grab Kara by the hair, but the blonde spun around so that she was holding Maggie in a chokehold.
Maggie gasped for air, and clawed desperately at Kara's arm around her throat. Alex watched in horror as Maggie's eyes finally found her, and she saw recognition inside them.
"A-Al..ex…" Maggie choked out, a confused look on her face. Alex's eyes widened. "Kara, stop it! You're hurting her!"
"What?! No, Alex, this is a trick! She wouldn't get caught like that!"
"Kara, Jesus, let her go!" Alex shoved Kara away, the blonde dropping the hold on Maggie immediately, and the detective crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily.
Alex crouched down next to her, running a hand through her hair. "Hey… Maggie… It's me, you're okay…"
Maggie's eyes shot open again, and she turned to Alex, bending her leg to kick the agent in the abdomen. Alex let out an indignant howl of pain as she tumbled to the ground, and Maggie jumped up again to meet Kara's fighting stance.
"Well, this is all quite entertaining, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere." Lillian's voice boomed through the speaker.
Kara looked back at Alex, crumpled in a heap on the ground, before looking at the ceiling. "In a few minutes this place is going to be crawling with DEO agents, Luthor."
"Oh, I'm well aware, dear. We all made it out safely, but I'm glad you care about our wellbeing. Which is why I left you a little present."
Kara was panting, but she and Alex still managed to share a look. Even Maggie was transfixed by Lillian's voice, as she was staring at the blinking green light on the ceiling intensely.
"Detective Sawyer, you have five minutes to finish the job. Otherwise, the explosives in the ceiling will detonate. And don't worry, Supergirl, there's plenty more of that kryptonite inside."
Shit. Alex winced at the different pains radiating throughout her body, as she realized what those words meant. Either Maggie would kill them both, or they'd blow up to pieces.
Kara took a shaky breath. "We need to leave. Now." She turned to Maggie. "Please, I know you're still in there."
She half expected another sarcastic response, or maybe even another punch to the throat, but she froze when she saw Maggie bent over, moaning while holding her head. "Ugh… I-… I c-can't… F-fight it…"
After that, she looked back up with another big smirk on her face. "You're not leaving. I won't allow it."
Alex struggled to get back on her feet. "Mags, you're trying so hard, baby… You're doing so well… Please, just a little bit longer, we can get you help, we can take out whatever chip… or… thing they put inside you… We just need to leave."
Maggie took a step forward, walking over to Alex. The agent tensed, not sure what the outcome of her words would be.
But instead of the recognition she hoped to see once again, her girlfriend's eyes were cold as ice. She felt Maggie's hand wrap around her throat, as she was forced backwards until her back hit the wall behind her.
"Please…" Alex was crying now. This was not how she wanted her life to end. This wasn't how she wanted the last memory of her girlfriend. Or Kara, for that matter. So she tried one last desperate move.
"Baby, I love you. You're… You're all I ever wanted in life, you're so perfect. And I-I can't imagine living without you. These past months… of you by my side have been the happiest of my life. And if it has to end tonight, then I'll still be the luckiest person in the world to have had you to love."
Maggie stared at her, as Alex felt the grip on her throat close, and realized that this was it. Though a big part of her was at least glad that she'd managed to say what had been on her mind ever since CADMUS had taken both of them.
It wasn't until she saw the tears in Maggie's eyes, that she realized that something was actually happening. The detective was breathing heavily, and the green in her veins seemed to be pulsing. Her mouth opened slightly, locked in a grimace. "L-Luthor…"
"Detective Sawyer, stick to your orders. If you can't obey, I'll be forced to take action."
"To h-hell… w-with your… o-orders." Maggie managed to grunt, before pulling herself away from Alex and landing on her knees.
For a second, Alex looked up helplessly to Kara, but the blonde was frozen. She looked torn between helping Maggie, and being on guard in case she pulled her earlier stunt again.
Within seconds, Maggie went calm, apparently again overcome with whatever mind control Lillian Luthor was performing. She got to her feet, Kara running to stand protectively in front of Alex.
Maggie looked up, but the arrogant smirk she'd had on earlier was replaced by a look of serenity, as she reached into her back pocket. For a second, Kara feared she had a kryptonite gun, but both Danvers sisters were confused at the sight of a syringe, clutched in Maggie's sweaty palm.
"I figured it appropriate that this was how she died. You know, she had it coming anyway. With her rates being low for about a week… Nobody will be surprised at the overdose of such a chaotic, self-destructive woman... So tragic."
Alex saw the insulin syringe and stepped forward immediately. "No… Baby, look at me. Give me that, come on."
"Alex…" Kara held her back. Alex looked at her sister with a frown. "No, she needs help. She needs me."
Kara looked up at her and whispered. "It might be another trick."
"Kara, what the hell, let go of me! Maggie!" Alex looked at her girlfriend, and saw that she was pulling up her shirt, to reveal the badly bandaged cut, blood seeping through the sterile white gauze. She raised the syringe, ready to plunge it into her abdomen, when Alex tackled her to the ground.
Kara raced forward to help her, but was stopped by her super hearing. A constant beeping, speeding up. Dangerously fast. In that second, she realized that the three of them were out of time.
"Alex! We need to go, the bomb is about to go off!"
Alex still had her arms wrapped around Maggie, who had yet to move, and neither sister wanted to think about what that meant.
"Alex, I can't carry her!" Kara shouted. "The kryptonite!"
The agent looked around, and realized the gravity of the situation. "Shit…"
A few moments of silence, only disturbed by the beeping in Kara's ears. "Alex, we need to move, I'm sorry… I need to fly you out."
"What?!" Alex's eyes widened. "No, shut up! We need to think!"
"Alex, there's no other way, I can't take her, you know that."
"But what if… If… We…" Tears slipped down Alex's cheeks. "I can't leave her… I won't leave her, Kara! Get out, I'll stay here with her."
"No! I'm taking you with me!"
"Get the fuck out!" Alex screamed at Kara, turning back to her girlfriend and wrapping her arms around her, kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry… Maggie, I love you…"
Kara had thick tears streaming down her face too. "Alex, please…"
"GO!"
And in that moment, Kara knew that she had to make the decision that would change her life forever. Because they'd run out of time. And she couldn't bear the thought of losing her sister to CADMUS.
So with her final seconds, she pulled Alex away from Maggie with the last strength she had, and launched herself upwards into the hole in the ceiling, and out of the CADMUS facility.
The ringing in her ears followed by the explosion behind her would haunt her forever.