"It's not a cure?"
"No."
"But we're all better," the senator said in confusion.
Alex decided that this was the point in which she needed to step in and speak. "Think of it like a half cure," she explained. "It's basically bringing your level from red to yellow. So, critical to basically...buying us all more time."
"But it's not going to fix it?"
"Not yet at least," Max spoke up again. "We need more time. We've seen Myriad run its course now, but from a test group of samples that I've run...I don't think that death is the end result in every person."
"You mean, that's it's not completely deadly?" Senator Crane questioned.
"Oh, it's deadly...some of us are just better at fighting it," Max went on. "Think Darwinism. Natural selection. Myriad likely will wipe out a majority of the planet's population if it's widespread. Only one out of the ten samples that I accelerated the process of seemed to fight the Myriad virus until it was expelled-"
"So, you're saying that only a bare percentage of the world's population would survive if the virus went world wide?"
"And that's not factoring in how many people would be left vulnerable to attack from the Kryptonians or those who decide to go the route of suicide after losing everyone they know or surviving humans just stupidly killing each other."
It all sounded so grim.
"But we're still working on a more...permanent solution," Alex put out there. "Which means that everyone still needs to remain in quarantine."
"But you both-" the senator started to argue.
"We used biohazard suits," she explained.
"Not everyone is as sick as we were."
"It seems that whoever was closest to the Myriad virus bomb received a larger dose of the virus and thus it hit their system harder and faster," Max put out there. "Agent Danvers and I were the farthest and so the progression isn't as...progressed."
"And we should get back to working on it," Alex cut in. "Because it won't remain that way for long...and what we gave you...it's just a stopgap."
"Of course," the senator said.
"You should take a dose."
She looked over at him. "If you think I need a dose, then you should be taking one too…"
He didn't argue. "I just-"
And she knew.
Alex moved herself away from the computers and over to the counter that they'd designated as their break station. She sat down and opened the mini fridge for a cold bottle of water. J'onn had made sure that they had absolutely everything they needed and he'd told her that Benanti had been insistent about including snacks that she knew that Alex liked.
She just felt like she needed to get something into her system. She'd eaten some at the gala, but it had been light snacking and now more than twelve hours had passed and that was all she'd had. "Come eat something, Max," she told him as she looked over her shoulder. There was no missing the fact that he'd already been looking over at her, pondering it. Right now, they needed their brains to work and their brains weren't going to function correctly without fuel...which meant eating. The virus was already sabotaging their systems without them helping it.
With a rather large sigh, he joined her. "You know we should eat something more substantial than snacks."
"There are protein bars," Alex pointed out seriously.
"We need like burgers or-"
"I don't think I could eat anything that heavy right now, I don't even want to have this," Alex said as she pulled a bag of pretzels her way.
He reached over and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. "You're feverish… You should-"
"Max-"
"Take the dose, Alex. I'll take one, too, I just figured that I wouldn't take it if I didn't feel like I needed it in case someone else out there in that quarantine tent needed it."
She understood that because it took time to manufacture enough doses of the stopgap measure that they'd come up with and there were a lot of officials in that quarantine tent. There had already been one death and that was enough to cause panic. They needed to do everything they could in order to keep everyone calm until an actual cure could be found.
Alex's phone went off and she glanced at the caller ID. It was her mother. Again. She ignored it and instead sipped on water.
Max reached out for Alex's phone. "I'm going to pick it up-"
"I will end you," Alex snapped and dropped her hand down over his. She sighed and covered her face. "I'm sorry… That was out of line. I just-"
"She's probably heard about the gala," Max pointed out. "She just wants to make sure that you and your sister are safe. Just pick up her call, Alex. She's already called you five times. She's going to get on a plane-"
She didn't want that. Alex wanted her parents to stay as far away from Myriad and National City and Non as possible. Right now, their adventures in Peru were extremely comforting to her. She grabbed her phone and stared down at it for a moment before calling her mother back.
The tapping on the glass caught Alex off guard. She jumped at the sound and turned to see J'onn standing there. Her attention quickly turned to the feed.
National City news.
"Crap," she heard Max mutter.
The TV closed caption said that they had reports of cell service and wifi no longer working, that it started in National City but it appeared to be spreading beyond.
Though loss of cell service and wifi wasn't a huge deal to them right now, Alex was certain that most people felt like it was a sign of the end of the world. Most people didn't know how to function without their smart phones for calls, texts, and internet needs. "That's going to put people into more of a panic than anything else…"
"No kidding."
Alex turned to look at J'onn. "Non?" He nodded. "Something more is going on…"
"No one's spotted him, but it's not just a malfunction...it has to be Non."
There was a crash and clatter and Alex looked over to see Max on the floor. Immediately, she moved to his side. Neither one of them had broken down and taken the stopgap measure. Kneeling at his side, she checked for a pulse before rolling him onto his back and checking him over. "Max? Max? Come on, open your eyes," she pleaded. Her voice dropped and her tone hit utter sadness. "Please don't leave me alone… I can't do this alone, Max."
His eyes slowly started to open and Alex realized that she was crying, she pushed away the tears and pushed forward a smile. He looked like crap. They'd both looked like crap, but Max looked like Myriad was really kicking his ass. "Are you married, Alex?" he whispered.
A bubble of laughter left her chest and she replied back the next line. "Are you asking?"
"Yes."
"Yes," Alex told him brightly as she wiped away more tears. No matter how much Max had screwed up since she'd met him (and even before then), Alex had never once wished death on him. Knowing him better, knowing the goodness inside of him, it was the last thing Alex had wanted for Maxwell.
"No, hang on...did you think I was asking you to marry me? Or-or-or asking you if you were married?"
"Yes."
"No, but was that yes...or yes?"
"Yes." Alex could tell that her playing along had brightened him all the more. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He was burning up. Squeezing her eyes shut, she held the kiss and tried not to show her upset. Max had been so concerned about her that he'd neglected to take care of himself.
There was another knock on the glass. "Alex?"
Opening her eyes, she looked over to where J'onn was standing, he was obviously waiting to know if Max was okay. "We're okay," she told him. "We're just going to have to take the stopgap-"
"Then do it," J'onn said quickly. "Anything else?"
"Something with electrolytes," Alex told him. She and Max had been so busy in the lab and had only taken one time to really eat so far, but they needed to stay hydrated and they needed to get Max's fever down. Alex was unsure if the stopgap would help with the fever or not. "Gatorade...Powerade...something like that…" Her attention turned back to Max and she sighed as she cupped his face. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Forgive me?" Max offered weakly. "This thing is likely to get worse before it gets better...and if I happen to not make it through-"
"Don't say crap like that," she chastised quickly and lightly smacked his arm before helping him up into a sitting position. "We're all going to get out of this just fine… No one else dies because of Myriad…"
"That's fine, but just in case…"
"Max-"
"Please, Alex?" he pleaded. Their eyes exchanged words in silence. "Please?"
She ignored his pleas for a moment as she moved to get to the stopgap. They'd be the last priority, but that needed to change now. There were already two doses ready in syringes for them. She administered one to herself first before moving to Max to give him his. After a moment of watching him, how much he looked like he was suffering, she pressed another kiss to his feverish forehead. "You are forgiven," she whispered. "Always and completely forgiven."
As the hours passed, the news didn't get any better.
"He released the Myriad virus…" Max said, pulling them both from their work. They stared at the screen for a long while. "Fuck!"
So far, the Myriad virus only seemed to be contained in National City, but there were already reports that the lack of wifi and cell service had hit world wide. Now this… But that wasn't all. The next headline had to do with water contamination. No one was supposed to be drinking or showering or anything...everything needed to come from purified bottled water.
"What the hell is their endgame?" Alex muttered angrily.
"World domination tends to be a thing."
She looked at him and then back to the television. It only took a moment of Alex really taking that in before she was working once again on a cure. Whenever they felt like they'd found it, something didn't test out right…
They were so close.
"How you doing in there?"
"We're hanging in," Alex said, but was more concerned about her friend. She'd just brought her and Max some food along with about six Gatorades. "How are you and Alice?"
"The boss has okayed us going to the Harewoods and bringing the kids and his wife to the DEO… Blacked out windows and all that, but Myriad is affecting everyone in National City and everyone would think a little better if we had them here."
The thing with the DEO was that it didn't leave you a lot of time for life outside the job. Harewood had a wife and kids and then Adler and Benanti had Charlie. No one else that she could think of even had a steady boyfriend or girlfriend. Life wasn't easy chasing down alien threats, but Alex had always felt like it was worth it. "That's good," she said with a nod. "I'll talk to Henshaw about making sure that the kids are monitored closer and that they get the stopgap medicine."
Benanti nodded. There was no bubbly peppiness that often drove all of them a little crazy even though someone had to be the bright light in the DEO (besides Kara). She was quiet and Benanti was never quiet.
"Charlie's going to be fi-"
"It's not Charlie exactly," she said and then sighed. Benanti looked around. "The boss turned off the news feed because it's getting really bad out there and he doesn't want you and Lord to feel pressured anymore than you already do…"
"How bad?"
"There's been fires set to food stores… I'm not talking about just grocery stores...but any place that serves food or stores emergency food…"
Alex blinked. "Non?"
"Kryptonians… As far as I know, they still haven't spotted Non again."
"What else?"
For Benanti to get so quiet and solemn looking, Alex knew that there had to be more. "There's a major storm heading in our direction… Henshaw's dispatched a team, well...he went with the team...that's why he's not here…in order to investigate what looks like the source of the storm. They don't think it's a naturally occurring force...not this time at least…"
"Crap," Alex muttered and turned away for a moment. She looked down at the Gatorades for a moment. "We don't need these-"
"Oh no," Benanti said. "You do need them. You're going to find the cure." She got fiercely serious now. "You're going to find a cure and keep my daughter alive, Alex. You hear me? If you have to think about one thing instead of the entire population, then think of Charlie…"
Charlie.
Pretty much everyone in the DEO knew Charlie Benanti and the Harewood kids. Davis and his wife hosted fairly regular barbecues and get togethers, which was the closest many of them got to socializing outside of work. Of course, that was mostly the only socializing they did besides maybe going for the occasional drink. Drinking was often a necessity when it came to their job.
"Okay," she breathed and gave Benanti a nod. She could do that. She could focus on solely curing Charlie. That little girl reminded Alex so much of Kara, always a bright smile and so full of love and sunshine.
"I think I might have found something," Max said from behind.
"Go on," Benanti said and moved away.
Alex just gave a nod before turning to him. She just hoped that whatever it was that he had that it was promising. Things were just getting worse and worse-
The entire base rocked and Alex went careening into a desk. She gripped it and held on for a moment. It didn't feel like an earthquake, but apparently Max thought it was better to be safe than sorry and dragged her under a metal table that they both could barely hide under. It shook and Alex couldn't help but feel completely and utterly helpless as she watched people scream and flee on the other side of the quarantine barrier.
When it finally stopped, everyone slowly moved out of place and immediately turned towards the news, which had been turned on. The sound was loud enough that even from behind the glass, Alex could hear it. The pictures, though, were enough to speak volumes. The video that they seemed to have was of what looked like fire raining down from the sky all over National City.
Max was the first to speak. "This is starting to feel biblical..."
"You would think that they would have demands-"
Kara zooming around National City as Supergirl cut off her own sentence and Alex gasped. Worry filled her and all she wanted to do was to protect her sister. She knew that Kara was Kryptonian and had super powers, but this was one of those times where Alex wanted to be able to be out there being the one to keep her safe. Right now, Alex couldn't do anything more than work and hope and let science find a cure.
The power flickered.
The base shook again for just a moment.
The power flickered again.
Suddenly Non's face was on the television, he'd obviously hijacked the feed. "Citizens of National City...you will be the first to understand what it truly means to suffer." And Alex knew that he wasn't kidding. "Soon, so will the world…"
Crap.
Max was holding her hand, she realized suddenly.
"The Myriad virus that I have already infected you all with is just the beginning… I've already started to distribute the second phase of the virus… We'll see just how adaptable you fragile humans are...and how well you do without your comforts of electricity...and the sun…"
The entire base went black.
"At least he didn't say that he was going to kill all of the first born?" she heard Max say as he squeezed her hand.
Alex knew that he was only trying to keep things light. Max didn't cope well with serious situations. She didn't respond to his quip, but waited a moment...but nothing happened. She pushed out a shaky breath. "It's going to be okay," she whispered to herself as much as she was saying it for Max to hear.
"How are we going to come up with a cure and distribute it to everyone without power?"
Crap.
Crap.
Crap.
Fuck.
She could feel herself shaking. The weight of the world was suddenly on her shoulders. Max pulled her into his arms and she allowed it. She clung to him and squeezed her eyes shut. They didn't have to save everyone, she reminded herself, just Charlie. They just needed to find a cure for Charlie...but now...now Non had sent out what Alex could only assume was a stronger, uglier, and deadlier secondary Myriad virus.
"We're going to figure this out," Max told her, suddenly the voice of hope and reason.
And she knew he was right.
They had to.
Pulling back from him, she sighed and looked around. Her eyes had begun to adjust to the dark and she realized that no matter what, now everyone was affected and there was really no reason for any of them to be in quarantine. "We need to make sure that everyone is safe...that the base is secured," Alex said. "People need radios…"
"I hope they're charged."
"Yeah, me too…"
People were moving around outside of the room with flashlights and Alex heard the door swing open. "Danvers, let's go!" came Adler's voice. "You're out of time out."
Alex held tight to Max's hand and dragged him along with her. Right now, they all needed to stick together. They had no idea what was going to happen, but one thing was for sure...they all needed each other. "Has anyone checked the Pipeline?"
"Didn't that Cisco kid say that it stays locked down even during power outages?"
"Supposed to."
"No rampages aliens so far, so I think we're okay," Adler said.
"I already checked it," came Lucy Lane's voice. "Everything is secured. It looks like we even have power to drop down the barricades throughout it, but I thought we might want to hold off in case we need to barricade ourselves in the middle."
"What about the quarantine camp topside?" Alex questioned as they all moved together towards where she knew the control station was.
"Already being evacuated into one of the storage areas down here," Adler filled in. "Lara's on it."
"What about Henshaw? His team?"
Now Vasquez could be heard. "Last I heard, he was trying to disable the device that they believed was generating that artificial storm that was headed our way…"
Crap.
The storm.
"How long until it hits?" Lucy asked. "If they couldn't destroy it or divert the storm?"
"Two hours."
Two hours.
"We have a lot of work to do," Alex said.
Everything came to a halt, though, when there was a scream of a single word.
"Mama!"
Everyone looked in the direction, flashlights finding the source, little Charlie Benanti was running towards them. They were breaking rules, but it was for sanity's sake and in the end...it was the best decision to make.
"Charlie," Adler breathed and immediately scooped up the little girl and held her close.
"Mom Alice, where is Mommy?" Charlie questioned as she held onto Adler for dear life.
Adler kissed the little girl and held her tight. "She's just making sure some people are safe in another area...she'll be here soon, okay?"
"It's dark."
"It is."
"It's like a cave."
"It is."
"Are there monsters in this cave?"
There was a long pause before Adler finally responded. "You know that we'd never let monsters get you."
And that was true.
"We're still going to need a cure," Max spoke up. "But we can work on that...after we make sure that everyone in this building has the stopgap measure… We're going to need everyone as healthy as possible."
"I don't like shots," Charlie voiced.
"You want to hear a secret?"
"Uh huh."
"No one likes them, but they will help keep you from feeling sick."
Charlie was quiet for a moment. "And then I can draw?"
"I will find you pen and paper myself."
"Okay."
It was the simplest and sweetest thing that Alex might have seen from Max. It was dark and they only had the dim light that lit their faces with the flashlights that were pointed downwards, but Alex knew that he'd made a difference in how Charlie was coping with what was going on. He also was making the right choice in priority without her having to tell him or him being ordered by someone else.
"We could use Hamilton and anyone else you could spare for the injections," Alex told Adler.
"I'll send them your way."
She was handed a flashlight and then she headed back to the lab with Max. Alex just hoped that what they had would be enough to get them through until they found out how to combat this new threat.
"You were good with her," Alex said quietly as they re-entered the lab.
"Are you really shocked?"
"Yes, well...no," she amended. Alex remembered him with River, when they thought that they had a daughter. Max had been so good with her. Max had been better with their 'daughter' than she had been.
"I know I don't scream family man-"
"It's not that-"
"It is."
She was quiet for a moment. "Okay, it is."
"I might be selfish, Alex, but there are things...people in this world that would and will make me a selfless person…" He was quiet and then very sad. "You...and I would have given anything for River...you know that. I would still give anything to give her back to you, if only she'd been a real child…"
And she knew that.
She believed that.
"Right now," Alex whispered as she took his hand. "This is enough."
TBC…
