"She wanted what?"
Alex asks, barely constrained hysteria hidden under the obvious distress of her loud whisper.
"She wanted to… wanted to raise the kryptonite level."
Maggie explains.
Kara is asleep now.
Asleep. Unconscious. Unresponsive.
The words are interchangeable at this point.
Asleep is the nicest way to put it, even if it isn't even close to accurate.
But nothing's changed that hasn't been there before.
So, they're out here now, in the main observation room, with the rest of their close circle of friends, looking through the plexus-plated windows of the room the younger Danvers lies in.
"God. Oh God."
Alex turns away from them.
From J'onn, who, arms crossed, stands resolute, something akin to solemnness in his eyes.
From Winn who shifts nervously in the background.
From the DEO scientists who, jaws clenched, do their best to continue working.
From her.
The taller brunette's voice cracks as she leans against the table.
Resting her elbows on its surface, raising her hands to wipe the salt from her eyes.
"We… I mean…. If it's what she wants… we can…"
Winn stammers to spare Alex from becoming a spectacle.
To fill what is about to become a strained silence.
"No. No! I'm not- I'm not giving my little sister anymore kryptonite."
The tremors running through Alex's hands are visible as her girlfriend moves to rub her temples.
And she doesn't turn back to them when she says it.
Even when her shoulders shake and her voice trembles.
"Agent Danvers, I understand how hard this decision is, but until we find an acceptable alternative, kryptonite seems to be the most effective measure in suppressing the parasite and the associated pain."
And Maggie wonders how J'onn can always be so calm.
So, steady. So, resolute.
The authoritative voice of reason in an emotion fueled mess.
"J'onn, kryptonite is going to kill- It's going to kill her. I… I am not going to kill my sister."
Each word is drawn out with impossible strain.
Heavy with watery despair.
Maggie steps closer to her.
Rests her hand on Alex's shoulder and can feel the crushing tension.
It's an impossible choice.
A choice between two evils.
"I said already, my mom is coming. And Clark… Clark is bringing her."
The taller brunette shakily exhales.
"Alex…"
Maggie murmurs.
"No! The kryptonite is just hiding things. You know it. I know it. I'm not giving her any more. There has too… there must be another way. What do we know?"
She's asking.
Directing her energy towards Winn.
Winn, who has exuded nothing but anxious concern, in the hour since they'd gone back to the observation deck.
Maggie had figured then, that whatever he'd seen after four hours with the EEG records hadn't been good.
"What do we know, Winn!"
Alex asks again.
And Maggie can hear what she's doing.
Schooling her features. Hiding under her DEO persona.
Because it's easier that way, Alex had told her once.
To remain calm behind what she's supposed to be in her professional title.
But no one can hide forever.
"I… I was looking at her EEG. The reason nothing was showing up in any of our tests was because it's… neural."
Winn sounds like he doesn't want to say it.
Wincing as he pushes forward and tries to explain.
His working theory is that the Timborzati spores are replicating, are maturing at a rapid pace in the synapses of her temporal lobes.
That the slurred speech, the nausea, the sensory hallucinations, the loss of short term recollection, the power glitches, the reason she keeps looking left is because it's attacking her brain.
That it's most likely going to get worse.
"All of that. If she was human, it's working like a tumor. The more it grows, the more it's going to affect her."
"What does that mean?"
Maggie asks for Alex.
Alex, who's hugging herself, to keep from falling apart at the seams.
"It means that… the virus isn't dying. Her immune system isn't beating it."
Confirming that this isn't going away.
Confirming that this is going to get worse.
Alex blinks rapidly, glassy eyes gazing astutely at some point on the floor
Then she nods, almost imperceptibly at first, then with more vigor.
"Okay… okay."
Her girlfriend murmurs, clearly trying to wrap her head around what Winn just said.
The rest of them are frozen because it's news none of them want to hear.
And Alex is eerily calm in the way she's handling it.
There is a moment of silence.
Then…
"Where is he?"
Her girlfriend questions. Deep and low.
"Agent Danvers."
J'onn says in warning, just as deep, just as low.
And Maggie realizes what she's doing.
Turning to something she can do.
Because being angry is easier than admitting pain.
"No! He hurt her! He hurt her! And if we don't get the other goddamn one – I'm not letting the other bastard go free."
Winn is shrinking away. Gathering some files. Sinking into the background.
"Agent Danvers. No one is letting the other one go free."
And her voice is raising.
"So where is he? I'll make him talk!"
The detective takes a subtle step forward, ready to be a mediating force.
Because Alex is surely going to regret yelling at her superior offer.
Even under these circumstances.
"We have other agents on this case, you don't need to be in the field. You need to be with your sister-"
J'onn isn't backing down either.
And the words he's saying, they make sense, it just isn't something Alex wants to hear right now.
"He's in the docks."
Mon-el.
All heads whip towards the Daxamite.
The Daxamite who hasn't so much as crossed the peripheral since this all occurred.
"The docks."
He repeats. Quieter this time.
J'onn lips press together in a thin line.
But he says nothing further.
Because they all know that now that Alex has a location, there's nothing going to stop her from going.
"Alex, you should leave you should leave your gun here."
Maggie murmurs quietly.
Alex stares emptily for a moment. Not comprehending.
The tension stretches across the room.
Then she looks down and sees what Maggie sees. What they all see.
Her hand shaking, trembling, as it rests on the butt of her service weapon.
The elder Danvers sister blinks. Once. Twice.
And then Alex is unholstering her gun. Sliding out the cartridge. Emptying it.
The casings drop to the floor.
One by one.
Clinking against the concrete.
And when it's empty, she slams it on the table.
The computer rattles at the force.
But Alex is gone before it stops shaking.
Taking off before anything more can be said.
"I'll handle it."
The detective says to the remaining occupants and she doesn't stop to see what they have to say.
Instead, she's turning, rushing after Alex, who's hurrying away.
Maggie's silent first, jogging to match her pace.
Trailing her as they turn down one hallway then another, becoming more and more isolated.
Then enough is enough.
Because if they're going to do this, then both of their heads need to be on straight.
They need to do this right.
"Hey. Hey. Look at me Danvers."
Maggie says, reaching for her arm.
And Alex whirls to face her, laser guided fury smothering all sense of reason.
"What? You're going to tell me to go back too?"
Malice dripping off her words as she gestures in the general direction she'd stalked from.
But the detective knows this is emotion talking.
Merely misdirected anger that Alex is projecting.
"No, I'm not going to make you go back. I told you, I'm ride or die. But, you need to calm down."
Incredulousness encompasses Alex's features.
Contorting into visible, then audible hurt.
"Maggie. That. Is. My. Sister. How can you tell me to calm down?"
But Maggie doesn't falter. Refuses to look away.
Stands willingly in the path of her anger.
Because this is Alex.
Alex who's finally at her breaking point.
"Alex. You're thinking with your heart, not your head. And when that happens you make mistakes."
Maggie tries to explain.
The detective had told Kara those same words months ago.
When the situation had been reversed.
When Alex had been missing.
When Alex had been hurt, and Kara was the overprotective sister looking for answers.
And Alex's anger dulls a little as she deflates under the detective words.
"They want me to…"
The tall brunette takes a small step back.
Eyes widening, voice lowering, as the rush of anger wisps away.
"They want me to kill my sister."
She whispers.
Impossibly small. Impossibly broken.
Her weight seems to drop, sliding her down against the wall and onto the floor.
Maggie kneels next to her.
"Hey… Hey… No, they don't. They're trying to help her."
Alex's shoulders are heaving as she shakes her head.
Brown doe eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears.
"How can they help her, when we don't know anything? All we have is the name of a parasite that shouldn't be on this planet and a list of symptoms saying how fucked up everything is. Unless we find something… anything that's concrete … We're running out of time and she's going to- going to… die."
"Don't talk like that. Nothing's ever final. Nothing's ever over, until it's over."
Maggie soothes, but Alex isn't done.
Words falling from her mouth like they're on fire.
Speaking faster and faster as she tries to get her thoughts out of head
Sounding more and more wounded as she goes along.
"Isn't it though?"
Alex murmurs morosely.
"If we give her more kryptonite, she could die. If we don't, she could die. If she blows out her powers, or if my mom doesn't get here in time, or if that goddamn bastard doesn't fess up then she's or if the fucking parasite spreads a-any further... You saw her Maggie! I was gone… I was gone for twenty minutes! And I told her b-before I left. I told where I was going to be. I told her-"
Alex's voice cracks.
That is all it takes for the tears to fall.
For desperate sobs to tear their way to the surface.
For her to lean into Maggie's leather jacket.
And the detective gathers her girlfriend in her arms.
Ignores the pinching soreness in her healing ribs.
Ignores the straggling DEO agents in the nearly empty hallway.
Because this is Alex.
"If she… If she dies… God. If-"
Alex is saying through hiccupping breaths.
Maggie shushes her, running her hands through short brown hair, holding her close.
"I'm a horrible sister."
Alex tearfully murmurs minutes later, pushing forward before the detective can negate it.
"I-I am. I didn't see it. Something was bothering her and I never saw it. She had broken up with Mon-el weeks ago and I had to hear it from him. I didn't know she was at the bar. But when we went back to question the owner, he said… He said she'd been going there for weeks. I'm- I'm a h-horrible sister."
This is news to Maggie, she hadn't known about the breakup either.
Though it explains why Mon-el hasn't been in the peripheral recently.
However, there must be more to it than that.
Because Kara had never seemed to be the type to drown her sorrows in alcohol.
Especially over something that supposedly happened weeks ago.
But the detective doesn't let her surprise show, instead she rushes to calm her sister.
"You know that isn't true. You couldn't possibly be a horrible sister to Kara, the bond you share, it's too strong for that. You're doing everything you can."
And it's true, she's never seen a bond stronger than the one shared by the Danvers sisters.
Bound by trauma, fortified by that fierce protectiveness, reinforced in their years of constant togetherness.
Unbreakable.
They would die for each other. Without a second thought.
So, Maggie can't sit here and let Alex's self-deprecation convince her otherwise.
"I know it's hard… that it's tough to see how this is going to solve itself, but she's strong and so are you. You need to hold on to that."
She's not going to tell Alex that everything will be fine.
Because the truth is, is that she doesn't know.
No one does.
And giving false assurances tended to do more harm than good.
Alex's fingers curl tighter into her jacket.
Her tears are silent now.
And Maggie holds on tighter.
Refuses to let go.
Refuses to let Alex harbor this alone.
And they sit there, until they're ready.
Too keep moving forward.
… .. … … …
"You're the cop."
The man is saying when Alex and Maggie finally make it to his holding cell.
Vasquez lets them in, then very deliberately finds something else to do.
And when they go through the door, Maggie recognizes him immediately.
This is the one who was dumb enough to return to the crime scene.
The detective had broken his nose in barely a week ago.
Would have thought he'd learned something from that.
He looked a lot more roughed up now.
Bruised and cuffed to the metal table in front of him
Though it's not stopping him from spouting off at the mouth.
"You can't keep me in here like this. I know my rights. Thirty-six hours under duress must be breaking all kind of rules. I told the black guy… I want my lawyer!"
"Sorry. I'm off duty."
Maggie murmurs dryly.
And because fury is easier to feel than sorrow, she can sense Alex next to her, radiating with anger once more.
Facing one of the men responsible for what happened.
Ready to make damn sure they get the other one.
Whatever way it takes.
"We were in a hurry before, so we skipped the formalities. I'm Detective Maggie Sawyer and this is DEO Agent Alex Danvers. If you don't recognize her, I'm sure you'd recognize the girl you poisoned. That's her sister."
The man blanches, if only for a moment, before rapidly schooling his features.
"I told them I didn't know anything. And even if I did, you ain't getting nothing from me!"
Alex steps forward.
Maggie smiles grimly.
"Yeah, we'll see about that."
The door closes behind them.
…
It takes an hour for them to get information.
For them to return to home base.
J'onn, Mon-el, and a few DEO scientists are the only ones still there.
They all look up when they enter.
And J'onn has something indecipherable in his eyes as he takes them in.
Sees the red on Alex's knuckles.
Sees the red on hers.
And just because she stopped Alex from taking her gun, doesn't mean she stopped her from doing anything else.
Alex deserved time to have at him.
And he had hurt Kara.
He had it coming.
"We have an address."
Maggie tells him.
And at last he nods.
Says nothing further.
Maybe because he knows how much they needed this.
"Anything?"
Alex asks.
J'onn clenches his jaw.
So, nothing.
Alex's knuckles are white amongst the specks of crimson as they clench at her sides.
"Who's with Kara?"
The elder Danvers questions without missing a beat.
Because even if she's not conscious, Kara should never have to wake up alone.
"Winn's with her. He needed to- "
J'onn's interrupted.
By a rush of wind.
A roar of sound.
A flash of red and blue.
Papers flutter up in its wake.
Empty chairs roll forward with the momentum.
Monitor screens flicker.
People grab at their hats.
Then he's there.
Superman.
Lowering Eliza Danvers to the ground, in all her windswept glory.
Then standing tall.
Muscles rippling.
Jaw clenched.
Eyes dark.
Zeroing in on them.
"Where is she?"
_...
Sorry for glossing over the interrogation scene, but I'm a horrible writer when it comes to those.
Anyways. Things are coming to a head.
A few chapters left. What do you think?