"Shut up!"

Alex just blinked wildly, she was torn at what her instincts were shouting at her to do and what Jeremiah wanted as he shoved her up against a wall with her wrists in his hands. He was angry and she knew that she wasn't being cooperative, but she didn't want to leave J'onn behind. Leaving J'onn behind was the last thing she wanted to do. "Why are you doing this?" she finally asked in a shaky whisper.

She needed to understand.

He'd made himself clear before.

Why the change of heart?

"I'm still your father," he said matter of factly before they were moving once again.

The alarms sounded, but it was too late as far as Alex was concerned. They were already in a vehicle inside of Cadmus. When you had a vehicle, it was like a moving battering ram. There was little that they could get through that she had seen being dragged into the facility. "This is the point of no return," she told him as he pulled the car out of the spot and sped through the underground parking. "You realize that...you can't just drop me off and then go back-"

"You'd be surprised who they bring back," he shot back.

He'd made her get into the back and Alex was completely uncomfortable with that. Of course she was uncomfortable with taking a back seat in anything in general. "Thank you," she blurted out as he maneuvered the vehicle towards the signed exit. He might not have gotten J'onn out too, but Alex knew that knowing the location (even roughly so) of Cadmus would make a rescue attempt much easier.

"You can't go back for him-"

"I said 'thank you', not give me advice," she snapped. Her head was pounding and she cradled it. It was like the suddenly upset made it all the worse.

"Lay down, Alex...they have to already know what's going on, let's not make you a bigger target…"

Normally, she'd argue and push back saying that she could be a force to be reckoned with. This time, though, with the thought of being able to go back and save J'onn on her mind...she did as she was told. Alex made herself as small as she could and curled herself into the small space of the floorboard between the rows of seats.

The vehicle sped through and the lighting changed going from dark and dim to bright. It was day. There were gunshots, but her father didn't slow the vehicle. It continued and she stayed down. No matter how the vehicle swerved or the bumps it hit hard.

Her thoughts kept going back to what J'onn had said to her when she'd last seen him.

He loved her.

He loved her.

Alex had never thought of him in such a way. She'd always thought of him as her boss or as a friend or as a partner in what they did. Her life had been so consumed by three things: protecting Kara, learning everything she could to follow in her father's footsteps, and being the best damn DEO agent she could be. Of all those three purposes in her life, none of them had really left much room for anything beyond.

Did she regret any of it?

No.

Without Kara being in her life, protecting her and loving her all these years...she knew that she wouldn't be as happy as she was. Having Kara as a sister had been a true privilege and her love lit Alex's life. Her education had been both a key to her continuing in life...but at the time, it had been a connection to her father as well as what she thought was protecting Kara. All of that, it had led up to her being recruited...to her job at the DEO...and to meeting J'onn.

She and J'onn had been on the run, they were targets, but she knew that there were people she could reach out to help her get him back. She had to get him back. Alex just couldn't leave him there to die in Cadmus. No, he'd done what he could to get her out of Cadmus, because Alex didn't believe that it was solely her father's change of heart that had gotten her into that position.

Alex could hear that they were being followed now. She had no weapon and she had no information. She had only hope. That was not something Alex was accustomed to solely holding onto. Cadmus, though, had made it something that she'd become used to.

"Where are we?" she whispered the question.

She couldn't just stay there curled up, silent and waiting.

"Not out of the woods yet," he came back.

"We're not going to make it far with them behind us-"

"I know a place," Jeremiah told her. He was quiet for a moment. "There was a time...when I first came to Cadmus...I fought them...security wasn't as good as it is now...and I got out...and I got all the way down to the ruins...it took them forever to find me because I managed it by foot and in the dark." He huffed. "We're not going to lose them, but I know where I can hide you…"

"You could still come home," Alex whispered.

And they both knew the truth.

"No," he said. "But if this is the last thing I do as your father, then I'll die happy…"

It was hard to think that she'd lost her father, but he'd been alive only to find that she lost him again, and then to possibly lose him now… Alex didn't know what to do with those thoughts. A small bag was tossed at her.

"You'll need that." She pulled it open to find a black jacket and pants, a pair of socks, and a phone. It wasn't much, but she could make it work. "Don't use the phone until after they leave…and don't let Kara fly in...they'll be looking for her…"

He sounded like her dad.

That made this all the harder…

She tried to focus on what needed to be done. Alex started to put on what was in the bag. She covered her feet with the socks and then pulled on the pants. The jacket went on next followed by her folding up the bag and stowing it away in a pocket (just in case). She kept the phone close, but where it would be protected.

"We're nearly there…"

"You can still change your mind."

"Tell me the one thing that you wished I'd been there for in your life."

That caught her off guard.

She had to think.

There were so many things about Kara that she wanted to tell him about. She wanted to gush about how her sister had blossomed into this wonderful person and hero and-

They came to a quick stop and doors were thrown open. He was helping her out of the car and dragging her in a direction quicker than she'd expected. Alex sucked in a breath and hurried as quickly as she could, trying not to look back. She could hear the other vehicles sliding to a stop in the dirt not far behind them and the chatter as their guards got out.

It was an abandoned town, she realized, and though she knew she should be looking and taking in her surroundings...Jeremiah seemed to know exactly where he was going. Zigzagging and moving slightly beyond the perimeter of the town. There were no buildings that she could see, but he knew exactly where he was going as they dropped down a bit. He guided her into the tiniest space. Alex wasn't sure if she was going to be able to breathe in it, but she knew that it would definitely be hard to find. He started to move dry brush to further camouflage the area.

"You'll be safe here," he told her as he crouched down. He was red, sweating, and panting slightly...and all she could see was her father.

Jeremiah Danvers.

The man that she'd mourned.

The first man in life that she'd loved.

Her father.

"Dad, please…" she whispered as she reached out to grab his hand.

Leaning in, he pressed a long kiss to her forehead. "You are the best thing I ever did in life, Alex. You were always the strongest of us all…"

"I wished you were there when my work went under scrutiny at Stanford," she whispered as tears fell. All she could think back then was that her father would have known how to make it work, he would have lifted her up rather than tearing her down like the university had. Things would have been so different…

"Stay quiet...don't come out, no matter what happens...you promise me," he whispered.

"I promise," she whispered before she could realize the words were coming out of her own mouth. She watched him go and it might just have been harder than the last time she'd watched him walk out the door at the Midvale house. Alex held tight to the phone and squeezed her eyes shut, she was trying to stay calm by controlling her breathing.

There were voices. She could hear them. They were close. She knew that her father had said to stay put no matter what, to not call for help until after they were gone, and for Kara not to come flying in...but that was growing harder and harder for Alex to comply with with each passing moment. The noise of voices grew and she heard her father shouting in the distance.

Gunfire quieted everything around her.

Judging from the time on the phone, they had searched for her for well over five hours. She'd waited an extra hour and a half just to be certain. It was dark and her body ached from being jammed into such a small space. Her bladder wasn't happy with her either. Alex was thirsty and her body had gone from being hungry to not and then hungry again.

Putting the phone up to her ear, she listened as it rang and just hoped that Kara wasn't busy somewhere else. It wouldn't be a number that her sister recognized. It went to voicemail and Alex let out a shaky breath. Worry was setting in. She was just glad that she knew a couple of numbers, the next one she placed directly to the DEO line that she knew Vasquez (or whoever was on duty) would pick up.

It rang.

And rang.

They were trying to decide who was calling in.

It rang.

They were tracing the call.

She just hoped that they could triangulate her position.

It rang.

"Federal Bur-"

"Vasquez?" Alex questioned as quickly as she could push the words out. She didn't realize how frantic she sounded until the words were already out of her mouth. "I need Director Lane."

"Danvers?!"

Alex knew that she didn't need to confirm her identity from how Vasquez said her surname. She knew. There was a moment of silence and she knew that Vasquez was paging Lucy to the control room or asking her if she wanted it to be patched through to her (it all depended on where in the DEO she was). There was a faint click and she could hear that she was back.

"Please tell me that you've got my position," Alex practically pleaded quietly.

She was exhausted and she really wanted to just hear her sister's voice. Right now, though, she knew that she needed to risk exposing herself even though technically she should be having no contact with the DEO. She needed it right now. They could throw her into a cell at the DEO, but right now...she needed help. She trusted them, even Lucy...to not give Project Cadmus her location.

"Utah," Vasquez told her. "Near an old town-"

"Is Lane coming-"

"Alex?"

She nearly cried at the sound of her sister's voice. "Kara?"

"We've got your position, we're com-"

"No!" she shouted and realized it was likely louder than she should have. Alex just hoped that she was really alone. Alex sucked in a heavy breath and pushed the air out to try to steady herself for a moment. "They'll be looking for you by air, Kara… They'll know. You can't end up in Cadmus…"

"She's right," and it was Lucy on the comm line. "It's going to take us about two hours to get to you, Danvers."

"I could get there faster," Kara argued.

So Alex knew that they were likely moving people in order to extract her but that they were likely still on base or very close. "I'll be fine for a few more hours," Alex whispered sleepily. "I'm hidden away…"

"What about J'onn?"

Letting out a sigh, Alex wasn't really ready to get into this. "Jeremiah helped me get out of Cadmus, but he couldn't help J'onn…" She was quiet for a long moment before she spoke again before Kara could ask. "I'm pretty sure they shot Jeremiah when they were looking for us."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Lucy said. "And then we'll go from there."

"Alex, are you okay?" Kara asked a moment later.

"I am now...but I shouldn't keep talking...just in case someone is still out here looking for me...and to keep the battery from dying," Alex told her sister. "I love you, Kara."

"I love you. We'll see you soon."

She hit the red button to end the call and just sat there for a moment staring at the time on the phone until the light dimmed and then turned off on its own.

Hours passed.

She didn't move.

They found her all on their own.

By then, though, Alex couldn't move without pain. Everyone was dressed in all black, even Kara. Her sister lifted her out and all she could do was stare up at Kara as she carried her to the transport and think that J'onn had kept her promise.

"You're going to be okay," Kara told her.

And she believed that.

TBC…