The pain hit her first and left her mouth in a groan, but then she took in that she wasn't alone. Trying to move too quickly, not realizing who it was at first, she found herself pushed back down and hushed. The world spun and she felt sick to her stomach. Her entire spine felt like it was on fire and she wasn't even sure she could move, even though she'd tried to. Another groan was pushed out of her.

"Just rest, Alex," J'onn told her.

"J'onn?" she whispered.

"I'm here."

Relief hit her and she sought out some form of physical connection and found his hand. She held it, closed her eyes, and fell back asleep...content that for the time being...she was safe.

"What was the song you were singing before?"

"Something I used to sing to those I loved," J'onn told her.

Alex rolled her head to the side and blinked a couple of times. He was watching her, though she'd known that before she'd seen his face staring back at her. "I tried to stay quiet," she whispered.

"What?"

"They said that you'd be watching...when they were doing that procedure...when they kept sticking those needles into my back," Alex explained. She hadn't wanted to appear weak and she hadn't wanted to be used against J'onn. That wasn't fair. "I-"

"Shh…" he hushed gently before she could even work herself up to being upset. "They know what they're doing, Alex. They know our history...it was probably on file here at Cadmus before we even left the DEO before…"

Alex brushed it off. She still felt terrible, physically and still about them using her against J'onn. "Spinal procedures are generally painful. They're supposed to apply a local-"

"Alex!" he shouted in a hushed whisper. It wasn't angry, it was to get her attention and to snap her out of what she was dwelling on.

She looked at him, silence just passing between them for a few moments. "Can you help me up?" she requested. Though her spine was still sore and tender, Alex was fairly sure that most of the intense pain and nausea had passed. He didn't look too sure and she was ready to start arguing him over it, but instead, he just silently carefully and maybe too slowly helped her into a sitting position. He sat down at her as she just breathed and tried to hold back the tears. Her spine definitely was still sore and tender and moving hadn't helped it, the nausea also seemed to have returned in full force. "Thanks," she forced the whisper as she braced herself with her hands against the bench and her head bowed, her hair providing a curtain that she hoped would keep J'onn from reading her face.

"Alex? Say something…"

"I saw my father," was all she could say, her voice breaking a little. She cringed at the sound of it. It was all she could think of that would mean pushing the topic from her to something...someone else. Right now, she didn't wanted to be fussed over...she didn't want to be seen as weak.

Silence.

Alex had expected him to say something. Anything. It had been a shock to her, even though she'd known to expect him alive in Cadmus. She'd expected J'onn to at least have something to say about her brief reunion with her father after all of these years. "J'onn?"

"So did I," he whispered and his voice was sad. It reminded her of the time that he told her about his family on Mars...of the horror. She couldn't think of a reason why he'd sound so sad about it. This was why they were here (though this was obviously not the plan). Their eyes met and somehow his eyes looked sadder. "Alex, he's not the same…"

"He doesn't remember-"

"No," he cut off and the way he said it, it caught her attention and made her stop. "I wish it was just that he'd lost time, Alex." He looked hesitant and torn up to continue. "He's different."

"It's been eleven years-"

"He's one of them, Alex," J'onn said quickly and yet gently. "He's a doctor here. He's working with them, willingly." He paused for a painful breath. "I don't know if he's been brainwashed, I can't tell without my powers...but he's not on our side."

She just stared at him.

Everything just sort of hit her at once. He'd been wearing white when she'd found him in the cell with her. All the doctors she'd seen had been wearing white. The guards had been in black. She and J'onn were in red and yellow respectively. They obviously had some kind of color system, likely to easily identify people on monitors even if faces weren't visible. She dropped her head into her hands and just told herself to breathe. They'd have to figure something out, how to escape...she just didn't know if that would require them to still try to take her father with them.

Even if her father...if Jeremiah Danvers...was brainwashed...that didn't mean that he had to stay that way, right? Their mission had been to find him and bring him home. They could still do that and if he was brainwashed, then they could hold him and try to break it. They had to be able to do that. She had to believe that. Alex was certain that J'onn would be able to assist bring the memories he'd had of his family to the surface once they were out of there and he was able to use his powers.

"I can be objective," she whispered as she lifted her head to look at him. "We just have to agree on what our mission is." This was the only way she knew how to get through this, at least until they got out of Cadmus. If she thought about it as a mission with objectives and goals, then she could concentrate on that.

"Alex…"

"We have to agree on what it is," Alex told him. "Do we leave our target and worry about extracting ourselves or do we attempt to go forward with the original plan...with obvious complications."

He just stared at her and she waited. This was their decision. She didn't want to solely make it and in all honesty, she didn't really want to make it at all. J'onn seemed to take his time to think about it. "Right now, our mission is to extract ourselves from Cadmus," J'onn told her and his voice was gentle and full of thought. "If we get to that point and we can take the target with us, then we'll do it."

They were going to play it by ear, she could do that, she just needed to know the plan. "What do we know?"

J'onn motioned to the wall across from where they were sitting. "That wall retracts. There's a long observation window behind it. They can pump audio and gas into this room." When she gave him a concerned look, he shrugged. "It was just to knock me out...likely so they could enter the room to bring you in without having to worry about what I might do."

"Only one door," Alex said, stating the obvious.

"Guards wear black. Doctors wear white. Those that are kept here either wear yellow, red, or teal."

"I would think that it would designate human versus alien, but why three?" Alex asked and then sucked in a breath. "Cadmus… They're experimenting. They could be producing or mutating people...making hybrids."

"I thought of that," J'onn admitted. "Unless it's a level of threat…"

Alex looked down at her red tank top. "Then which one of us is more dangerous…"

That earned her a smirk from J'onn. "Likely you."

"Unless it's level of importance and I'm a red shirt...expendable."

"And maybe we're completely off…"

Alex got to her feet and felt J'onn grab onto her arm and stand at the same time, in order to keep her steady. At first, her vision swam a bit but it passed. Her spine was sore, tender, and stiff as she attempted to full straighten. When she'd been laying down, she'd been fairly close to a fetal position. When she'd been sitting up, she'd still been hunched forward. Her spine obviously was going to take some time to adjust to being in a straighten positioning. She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes.

"I can't sense your thoughts, Alex," J'onn reminded in a whisper. "You have to tell me if something's wrong...if you're hurting too much."

"I just need a minute," Alex told him. "Just stay here."

"They're collecting samples of all kinds," Alex said as she paced the cell. J'onn was sitting on the bench. She needed to move, to think. "I mean, spinal fluid isn't exactly on the list of normal things that you test…"

"Alex…"

They both froze and turned their heads when there was a flashing of light and then a tap on the door. Instinctively, Alex moved away from it and towards J'onn. It had to be what they expected most people to do, because the door opened and trays slid in. Alex wasn't sure how long they'd already been in Cadmus, but this was the first meal she'd seen. The passage of time since they arrived was a mystery of her, though, if it had been a day or if it had been two. She didn't think much more time than that could have passed. The door immediately was closed and the sound of the hard grinding chink echoed through the cell as it was locked once again.

Neither one of them moved at first, giving time for whomever might have slid the trays in to move away from the other side of the door. Alex moved first and J'onn was right behind her as they went to grab the trays. Mostly, Alex was looking forward to drinking the bottle of water that was on the tray. The bottle of water didn't even look like it would be enough to sate her thirst, one that she really hadn't realized she had until she'd actually seen the water bottle.

Behind them, the sound of the door being unlocked and swung open, but it wasn't processed in Alex's brain until she was already being grabbed from behind. Her tray hit the floor, the food flying every which way, and the water bottle bouncing off the floor. Even though her eyes were distracted by the flying food, her instincts automatically kicked in and she immediately started to fight back.

"Stay back, Martian!"

Alex managed to catch whoever had grabbed her from behind off guard. She elbowed them and then kicked them, sending them backwards. Moving back towards J'onn, who had taken a step back when the guard had yelled at him, she realized that he looked worried. His mouth opened and he started to say something, but Alex suddenly tensed up...she couldn't move...she couldn't do anything except witness what was going on around her. J'onn's terrified face and all she could do was stare back at him. She suddenly relaxed and flopped forward, only to be grabbed quickly and be removed from the room.

All she knew for sure...they were going to use her against him.

They would try to break him.

To break them both.

Alex woke in another medical chair, but this wasn't like the last one she'd been in. No, this reminded her more of a dental chair than anything else...except she was strapped down. It took her a moment, but she realized she wasn't alone. On the other side of the room seemed to be a lab and in there were two men.

"I see you are awake, Agent Danvers."

When faces came into view, it killed her when she realized that one of them was her father. J'onn had been right. Seeing him standing there next to the other doctor made her sick and made her feel so stupid for not seeing it earlier. She turned her head in the other direction, Alex closed her eyes and tried to think of being somewhere else.

"I know this has to be hard for you, Alex," Jeremiah said. "But if you cooperate...you'll be given a chance…"

Her father's words pulled her attention back to where he stood, both of them now not more than a foot away from her. "Chance?" Alex echoed, not sure what his meaning was. Whatever it was, she was certain not what she'd consider to be a chance.

"You're a smart girl, Alex...you could have a place here with me," Jeremiah told her.

"You think I want to be like you? Brainwashed? Doing only God knows what to people in here?!" Alex exploded. "The knowledge I have...it's to change the world...a positive change, not this-"

"You're so blind!" her father spat at her. It took her back. "I am doing the good work, Alex! We're making a difference here! I wanted you to be part of it with me! Do you have any idea how many biological threats there are on this planet right now because of aliens? How else are we supposed to get ahead of it? To combat it? To keep the planet safe?"

"Not like this!"

"She's made her choice," the other doctor interrupted sharply as he glared in Alex's direction.

And Alex realized, so had her father.

He wasn't her father.

Even if he'd been brainwashed, Alex wasn't sure that there was any hope to bring him back from this. What came next, locked that thought into her. Her father grabbed a syringe from nearby and injected her with it, no matter how much she fought against the restraints she couldn't get away. Eventually the world started to darken around her.

"She's a strong candidate," the other doctor said.

"She's strong in general," her father said creepily proud.

Alex blinked once more before sliding into unconsciousness and clinging to a memory of comfort and safety for refuge.

TBC…