"Hey Maggie."
The technology specialist distractedly glances up from the maps and pictures and code that run across the massive array of screens in front of him as he greets her.
The spiky haired brunette barely looks at her for more than a moment, before he quickly turns his attention back to the business he's obviously working hard on.
She's about to say something else, when he abruptly spins back. Wide-eyed. Slack jawed.
"Whoa…. No no no. Maggie, what are you doing up? Aren't you supposed to be resting? You should really be-"
The detective stops his hasty flow of words with a raised hand.
Then leans against the desk as she tries redistribute some of the pain that's risen to the surface with the exertion.
She was technically supposed to be 'resting.'
Bedrest. Something along those lines.
But she isn't the one to sit around and be idle.
And the agency, for all their security expertise, had absolutely no one posted at her room.
So after a hasty, frantic phone call with Alex, she'd taken the initiative.
Swallowed another dose of what she assumed was aspirin and stumbled her way into the main area.
Concern fueling most of her movements.
And the need to keep doing something, anything, that contributed, kept her going.
"Where's Kara?"
Winn rolls away from his desk and spins in his chair as he scans furtively among the throngs of DEO agents milling about the base.
Worry bubbles in his expression when he can't immediately pick the blonde out from the crowd.
"Didn't Alex send her- I mean- Wasn't she with you?"
The detective shakes her head.
"She was with me. Then… she bolted. Have you seen her at all? Recently?"
Winn only looks at her silently.
Giving her an affirmation of an answer she wasn't looking for.
"No… I haven't. Not since Alex left. Maggie… I really think you should get some rest."
He's still wide eyed.
Staring at the countless butterfly stitches.
Staring at the tightly wrapped bandages barely visible underneath her own DEO-mandated apparel.
"No. No. I don't need anymore rest, Winn. I just… Can you help me find Kara?"
And she knows exactly what he's thinking
The look of dubiety and incredulousness say it all.
"Maggie. I was there! It was a mess. You were a mess! Kara was a mess! You aren't going to help anybody if you can barely stand on your own two feet!"
And he's right in a way.
Maggie can't seem to focus with a decent degree of clarity on anything that is more than twenty feet away.
Breathing in shallow pants is the only way she can get any air without aggravating her ribs.
The only thing keeping her upright are her hands, which have a firm grip on the table.
And she can determine with no degree of certainty that her vision won't swim like it did when she stepped out of bed the first time.
But still.
"Winn. Alex is on her way back, but Kara… can't be alone right now. So please. Please."
She can tell Winn wants to say no.
But he cares about Kara as much as she does.
As much as they all do.
Having made his decision, the chair spins back towards the computer.
And soon the displays on the screens are security footage. Live feed.
Winn flips through them rapidly.
Seeing more than she obviously can.
"Aha! Here. She's in the training room."
Maggie moves over to look at the screen.
And sure enough there she is.
Curled up in the corner of the screen.
From this angle she can only see her from above, sitting hunched in the corner, legs folded up, hands shoved underneath her arms.
At first glance it looked like she was sleeping.
But then she sees the blonde's foot. Tapping out a monotonous rhythm.
Because of course it would be to good to be true for her to actually be getting decent rest.
"Thanks, Winn."
Leans away from the desk to make her way in the opposite direction.
"No!"
Winn wheels his chair directly in front her path.
"I'm coming with you. You know Alex would kill me if I let you wonder around without saying anything."
The skinny computer tech obviously isn't taking no for an answer, scooping up his tablet and transferring the security feed to the small device.
Then he's up next to her, shortening his long strides to match the detective's admittedly slow pace.
The shifting fragments of cracked ribs was enough to slow anyone down.
At first the pair walk in silence, as much silence as the noisy DEO can afford them, while Maggie ruminates over everything.
"Winn… You said it was a mess. What exactly happened after… After everything?"
The spiky haired brunette looks like he wants to physically recoil at the question.
His left hand grip tightens on the tablet.
He drums out a pattern against his khaki pants with his right.
And somehow manages to train his line of vision on a particularly interesting spot in the hallway ahead of them.
"Uh… Um… There was a lot of red."
Winn says finally.
Maggie stays silent.
Knowing it was just a waiting game when it came to the quirky IT expert.
"There was a lot of blood."
The brunette clarifies with a slight quiver.
"I mean between you and Kara… There was so much. And it was impossible to find out where it was all even coming from. I mean no one should have that much blood outside of them."
He whispers the last part to himself in disbelief, as if he can't quite grasp the concept even when he'd seen it with his own eyes.
"At first we thought it was Cadmus. I mean, Alex, she probably told you that already. Because there aren't a lot of people that can take Kara out like that. Not without kryptonite. But Cadmus likes to leave a mark. A signature. But there was nothing. And of course, no one in the bar would say anything."
His frustration shines through his words.
His anger pouring through in his whisper-shouts.
Though there's no point in whispering.
Anyone could hear him, if they put in the effort.
Especially Supergirl, with enhanced hearing and all.
"There aren't a lot of security cameras in the alley. There aren't any in the bar. So I had to use the parking lot one, but you won't believe this Maggie, that one only works on fucking twenty minute intervals, because the owner is too lazy to pay for basic CCTV. So even that took a lot of scrubbing to get even a basic image. Until today, we've been working with diddly squat. And the footage I managed to get is so poor… I can't even do my job beyond two fucking grainy photographs! So yeah, this case has been a mess!"
The duo comes to a stop.
Only a short hallway separates them from the training room Kara had presumedly holed herself up in.
Regardless, neither of them make a move to go in.
Instead, Winn runs a hand through his spiky hair.
Oozing nervousness and desperation simultaneously.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry- I just- it's so frustrating."
His anger quickly dissipates, leaving nothing but defeat in its wake.
And the detective moves to meet his eyes.
"You don't need to apologize for things you have no control over."
It is much easier to say that to someone else than it is to say it to herself.
The duo dwell on that for a moment.
And then wordlessly make the decision to move into the room.
She realizes immediately why Kara seemed so subdued into the security footage.
Emerald green spills out from under the cracks of the doors.
Poking through like sunlight through the clouds.
Right.
It was Supergirl's training room.
Kryptonite.
"Danvers?"
There's no response from the other side of the door.
Nor does she expect there to be.
Not in the way the blonde left hours earlier.
"Kara?"
It's Winn asking this time.
Quieter and unsure, still trying to pull himself together.
Nothing. Not even a sound.
The computer tech hands the tablet off to Maggie as he heads toward the control panel.
Starts fiddling with the keys.
The detective takes a seat.
Takes the one closest to that kryptonite door.
"Kara, it's Maggie and Winn. We're here. And we're not leaving okay?"
There's no answer.
…. …. … … …
Winn can't get pass the security code.
Apparently, he doesn't have a high enough clearance level.
And the computer code behind the locks are a jumbled, incoherent mess with too many back doors and rattraps and alien jargon.
So Winn is forced to retreat back and sit with Maggie and wait for a person with the correct clearance level to unlock the door for them.
The correct clearance level meaning, Alex or Director Henshaw.
Both of whom are out in the field.
The detective checks the time.
The digital red numbers blink half past three.
It had been a little over half an hour since she'd gotten off the phone with Alex.
And it was a waiting game until then.
The digital numbers blink a quarter past when Alex finally appears at the entryway.
The brunette looks a little bit worse for wear.
Her short hair is tousled.
The redness of her raw knuckles are difficult not to notice.
It is almost impossible to miss the beginnings of a bruise just above her left eye.
The misty heaviness prominent in both.
And she looks tired. So, so tired.
And that tiredness is more than just lack of sleep.
Because this occupation made things complex.
Tired could be physical. A tired body. A sore one.
But tired could be also be mental. A wearing down of the emotions.
And when those come together, a tired body and a tired mind, it tended to leave negativity in its wake.
That sobering thought reminds the detective that Alex is crossing into five days with an extremely disproportionate amount of sleep.
Maggie watches the elder Danvers's hazel eyes drift from Winn, linger on her, and finally land on the emerald hue that emanates from the door on the opposite end.
And Maggie knows she wants to say something. The questions are undeniably working their way through her mind.
What was Winn doing here? Why wasn't Maggie still under observation? And what in the hell was Kara doing in the kryptonite-encased training room in this state?
"She's been in there for more than an hour and we couldn't get in without a system override. Only you and J'onn have the clearance for that."
Winn offers up the weak explanation, clearly regretting that he hadn't been able to hack into the system.
Alex gaze shifts towards him emptily for a moment. Then she blinks the mistiness away and nods at him. Once. Then twice. And swallows hard to clear her throat.
"Uh… Thanks Winn. J'onn… J'onn needs you back at base. We found one of them… We need help tracking down the other."
Winn nods as he jumps to his feet.
Anxious to contribute something more to this then he already had.
As he exits, Alex is already making large strides towards the control panel.
And Maggie watches her begin to nimbly work at the controls.
"Are you feeling better?"
The brunette asks softly.
"Managing."
She returns the softness, but keeps her answer honest and succinct.
Alex already has too much on her plate.
"Are you feeling better?"
The detective echoes, looking knowingly at the bruise just under her hairline.
A ghost of a smile passes her girlfriend's lips.
"Managing."
The locks on the door hiss open.
Emerald light spills out of the cracks.
And Maggie tilts her head towards the entrance.
Your sister, she motions silently.
"Wait for me?"
Maggie smiles forlornly.
"Always."
And Maggie leans her head back against the cool, metal walls when Alex disappears into the kryptonite-encased room.
Willing the silent migraine that is threatening to take root to wither away.
Willing for everything in this fucked-up world to work in their favor for once.
"Kara…"
Alex's voice comes out crackly and vinyl-like.
And it takes a moment before Maggie realizes that her voice is coming from the tablet not from the woman herself.
She hadn't even realized that Winn had left it behind in his hasty retreat.
But she can see her girlfriend's form now. The image as grainy and colorless as it was.
Crouched on the ground next to her sister, who'd barely moved at all.
"Kara? Look at me… What are you doing in here?"
The elder Danvers tone takes on that special softness.
The one that Maggie has heard only a few times, reserved for whenever Kara's hurt or scared.
Or both.
But still, there's no response.
"Kara. You have to tell me what's wrong or I can't help."
There was a moment of silence.
Then finally the blonde speaks.
"It's too loud."
It's a whisper of a rasp.
The emotional pain seeps out in her words. And it hurts to hear them.
Even from the crackly audio feed.
"Kara-"
"No. It's too loud. It's too loud! It's too loud, Alex! And I- I-I can't focus. I can't concentr- IT's too loud."
Every word that the blonde sputters is unraveled and hysterical and so completely and utterly broken.
And Maggie knows from experience that if the breaking is hard, the recovery is always worse.
After the emergency room, after the stripping, the needles, all the medical attention… come the doctors with their clip boards and looks of consternation.
And even the most well-meaning glances, were still looks of pity.
Gone is the looseness of the mind. Gone is the obliviousness and the naivety that came with it.
Now there is only the chasm that is mental torment lies ahead.
"Kara…"
And Maggie turns off the sound.
Looks away from the screen until it flickers to black.
Gives the sisters the privacy they deserve.
It's a solid fifteen minutes more before the steel entrance, now a dull grey silver, instead of the pulsing emerald green, slide open again.
Just as silently as before.
The elder Danvers comes out first.
Murmuring something in smooth, soft words that Maggie can no longer hear now that the duo are out of range of the cameras.
Knowing Alex it's words of comfort. She'd always been good at that.
Maggie wants to look away when she sees Kara. Because she can tell how badly the younger girl is trying to keep the pain at bay, body stiff and slow moving, like every breath rips through her.
Her eyes are distant, cloudy, shuttered, like she can barely focus through the pain.
And it doesn't make any sense to the detective.
Kara said it, Alex had confirmed it.
She'd been under the sun lamp or whatever they called it.
Had been under it for hours.
But she looked broken now, shattered really, robbed early of the tape and glue necessary to put her soul back together.
Hands covering her ears, as she followed her sister wordlessly out into the open.
Something else is wrong.
It has to be.
The blonde seemed to be folding in on herself.
Looking even worse than what she'd seen merely hours earlier.
This wasn't just trauma. This wasn't just lack of sleep.
Kara looked sick.
"-going to head back home, okay? We've just been in the DEO for too long. That's all."
The detective hears the back end of the Alex's placating, one-sided conversation as the sisters approach.
"Hey. You too. We're going home."
Alex murmurs softly looking down at Maggie.
The detective cradles the iPad closer.
Silently looking between the elder Danvers and her sister.
Imploring an answer to the unspoken question.
And the tall brunette conveys a wordless reply with her own eyes.
Filled with their own confusion and worry.
She's going to be fine. Alex seems to convey.
But even those words seem weak and unsure.
And it sounds like the elder Danvers's is trying to convince herself as well as the rest of them.
So Maggie follows them out. Trailing just behind the faltering steps of Kara.
Back into the fray of the DEO.
Into the bustle of fluttering papers, shuffling feet, ringing telephones, and murmuring voices.
Into the agency that never rested.
They run into the J'onn only minutes later.
His arms crossed, exuding his usual grim demeanor.
J'onn takes one look at the trio.
And affirms the command that they all go home. Demands they get some rest.
Claiming sleep would solve at least half of the problems they were facing.
And maybe he's right.
But something tells her whatever is happening with the blonde won't be fixed with a few hours of shuteye.
Alex steps aside then. Pulling J'onn along with her.
And though they keep their voices quiet, having moved out of the supposed circle of sound, Maggie still hears their hushed whispers.
"Did you get anything else out of him?"
His grim thin-lined expression answers the question for her.
"It has to be something that didn't show up on the scans. It has to-"
J'oon stops her gruffly.
And it's only because the two are close, that Maggie knows his interruption is well-meaning, not mean-spirited.
"Alex. We're handling it."
He pauses.
And his dark eyes drift over to Kara.
Then intersect with the detective's own line of vision.
His eyes are dark and brooding and full of authority and understanding.
She can't look away.
Finally, he turns back to Alex.
"Take them home. Get some rest. I'll keep you updated."