"Tell us where she would go."

He didn't speak.

"You have to know who she'd turn to," the guard continued. J'onn was certain that they were even more riled up with Alex's escape because they'd resorted to letting a guard attempt to interrogate him for information. Normally, any kind of pain infliction was done at the enjoyment of the medical staff. No matter what, J'onn was certain of one thing...he wouldn't give them any information in order to help them bring Alex back to that hell. "Would she contact the DEO? Her sister?"

He knew that they had to be monitoring both(or taking steps to do so).

J'onn just hoped that they all kept each other safe and looked out for each other...all of them...whoever Alex turned to.

"She's just a girl," he spoke up. Of course, that wasn't true. Alex Danvers was a brilliant, capable, trained, and kind woman. J'onn hoped that maybe they would give away what they'd been doing to Alex. Honestly, he didn't know why they would be so worked up about losing her. They weren't using her in order to get Jeremiah Danvers to do anything and they could make him do anything they wanted. They didn't need Alex for any of that. "A human girl."

The guard seemed almost amused now. "You don't know what she is, do you?"

"She's human."

"Is she?"

J'onn just sat there, staring at him. The guard's grin just seemed to creepily take over his face. It was like a scary halloween mask. His mind raced. They'd done things to both of them, but now...now all he could think over was Alex. Her time in Cadmus. The line of bloody injection sites that had swollen along her spine. All of the needle marks that they'd left on her body. How she'd looked so sickly and she was always exhausted. The last three things that hit him hard was the realization that they'd changed Alex's clothing from red to teal, they'd isolated her away in a room that was obviously for long term (and obviously to make her more comfortable), and then how worked up Jeremiah had seemed over it all. "What are you saying?" he whispered.

Had he failed?

He'd told himself that he could live...for however long they allowed that...at peace with the knowledge that Alex had made it out. That had been all he'd wanted. Cadmus could do whatever they wanted to him, but not her.

"What if her life were in danger?"

Now, he felt like the guard was fishing.

"She was being medicated regularly...without it, her life is at risk."

He didn't believe him.

"Would you risk her life?"

They were hiding something.

"You two seemed close."

"She's better off out there," J'onn countered.

The guard shrugged in response like he wasn't worried about it. "When an asset of that importance goes missing, I can guarantee you that they'll do anything and everything they can to recover it," he said. "And with as much trouble as it's been, they can easily request the asset being brought in dead or alive. Both forms are useful. I guess...it just depends on you."

J'onn just glared at the man.

Alex was out there. She was beyond Cadmus. Jeremiah had gotten her out. He'd done what he'd said he was going to do. No matter who Alex turned to, he wasn't worried about her safety. She was smart. He'd trained her, he knew that she'd be smart. Plus, there was no way that Kara would let anything happen to her sister.

The Danvers sisters would be safe together.

He knew that.

He believed that.

"Good luck finding her."

They must not have appreciated his responses because it landed him in one of the sterile medical rooms strapped down. His screams filled the room and at times he felt like he was being ripped in half. None of that mattered, though. He could endure the pain. He could endure anything now.

Alex was safe.

Cadmus didn't have her.

J'onn kept thinking back to all of the memories that he had of Alex Danvers...never did he ever imagine that all of those years ago...that he'd love her like he did...or that she'd be such a crucial piece of his life and heart.

Eventually, the pain was too much and he allowed the darkness to take him in.

Eleven Years Before…

A promise.

As soon as the house came into view, he knew that that was it. The Danvers house at Midvale. He hovered above the water, the night windy and cold there. It was late, but there was one light on, in one of the top bedrooms.

Jeremiah Danvers had two daughters: Alex and Kara.

Ever since he'd left Peru, after trying to go through all of the memories that he'd taken in and seen in the minds of Jeremiah Danvers and Hank Henshaw, he'd carried the picture of Kara and Alex Danvers. These girls that he promised to protect. After it all, the only thing that seemed to make sense was to return to Henshaw's position and hope that no one would question his extended disappearance...but that was one of power and a place where he felt like he could make a difference. He would also be close enough to the Danvers family to keep an eye on them.

He also had a wife, Eliza.

All of this J'onn knew. It was hard for him to think of them...to think of Jeremiah...it reminded him of himself...how he'd lost his family...his wife and daughters. He'd lost everything and he realized...to those little girls...to Eliza Danvers...they likely felt the same way, like they'd lost everything...their father and their world (even though Earth was intact).

It was then that he realized that the girls were actually sitting on the roof, they wouldn't see him (at least he didn't think so). He watched them. From a distance and likely for too long, but all he could think of was his own daughters.

As he studied them, J'onn realized that this might possibly be harder on Kara rather than Alex. He remembered Jeremiah telling him about how Kara was a refugee like him. When he'd looked into Jeremiah's mind, he'd discovered that Kara had escaped Krypton's destruction, that she'd been sent there to protect her cousin while her world and her family burned. Kara hadn't been able to see through protecting and caring for her cousin because she'd been trapped in the phantom zone and he'd grown up without her. So, the Danvers had become a new family to Kara...one that had adopted her instantly and unconditionally. Kara had had Jeremiah in her life for just a year and lost him...lost another father. He couldn't imagine what it was like to have lost a family, a world, and then to lose another member of your family. Alex, however, had gone through so much trying to adjust to having Kara in her life...but she'd been so close to her father. It was hard on both of the girls. As he watched them on the roof, Kara holding Alex close as she ran her fingers through her sister's dark hair, he could hear her whisper her about the planets beyond Earth that she'd been to.

Right now, at the ages they were at...he knew he couldn't do much. Eliza Danvers held Hank Henshaw responsible for the death of her husband (and she wasn't wrong), but his presence would not help them now...especially given the human form he intended to take.

They needed to heal.

He couldn't be apart of that.

He would still keep an eye on them from a distance...and when they needed him...he'd be there.

J'onn J'onzz would keep his promise.

Three Years Before…

"What do you think?"

"She's brilliant," Torres told him.

J'onn was fairly sure that they were the only ones in the world thinking that right now. He'd continued to watch Alex Danvers from a distance. She'd had tough spots over the years, but she'd always figured it out. There had been no way for him to step in...not until now. Six months ago, Alex was on the short list to be recruited by every major company in the industry worldwide, which included Queen Consolidated: Applied Sciences Division, STAR Labs, and Lord Technologies.

"Better snatch her up then before any of those other places that were looking at her the other month," Vasquez said as they looked at the file on the screen.

"I can go with you, Boss," Adler said quickly.

Benanti chuckled. "I can't see you trying to extract her from some rave… Boss, can I come, just to watch?"

"I know where you sleep-"

"Okay, okay…" J'onn said a bit grumpily. This was getting out of hand. Whenever Adler and Benanti were around each other, they always either went back and forth in some way. He was just glad that they'd ended up sorting out their differences and growing closer. J'onn was convinced that they'd needed each other...and Charlie.

Benanti was still cheery as she sat in the chair next to Vasquez. "So? Who is it? Because I'd totally go...you know, not freak her out with all the alien stuff-"

"You'd just lull her into a false sense of friendship?" Adler countered.

"Hey now… She and I are totally going to be friends…" She spun in the chair until the boss stopped it with his hand. "Do we know if she sings? That's a plus for me…"

Although he had to keep a tough exterior, he had no doubt that Alex Danvers would fit in with the DEO agents he'd recruited. The frequency of his recruitments tended to work out perfectly, there would be a good six to eight months in between which would allow for the last recruit to mesh in with the others nicely. It seemed to make it more a family, which was something that he had never intended. He looked back at the women he'd recruited, as much as he'd avoided attachment, he couldn't have been prouder of his agents. "For right now, just Adler...but we'll see how it goes…"

"It's because I've had too many coffees today, isn't it?"

He couldn't help but smirk slightly at Benanti's comment. "I was going to say it was because you're still new...but you do get a little scary to people who don't know you when you've had as many as you've had today…"

"It's hard maintaining my level of awesome without the massive caffeine intake," Benanti told him all too seriously.

"Do we have eyes on her, Vasquez?" J'onn questioned.

"She's at the same club she was at last night," Vasquez reported.

"Keep an eye on her," J'onn insisted. "We need to move at the right time."

"Alex…"

J'onn blinked his eyes, struggling to regain consciousness when her name hit his ears. As he took in his new surroundings, at first he believed that Alex's name had come from his own mouth without him realizing it.

"Alex…"

The voice was weak and yet J'onn found it familiar.

"Alex…"

J'onn had been strapped to a type of table that could be locked in a vertical position. He looked to the side and who he saw there...he hadn't expected. What he said came out in a huff of a shocked breath, "Jeremiah?"

TBC…