"Danvers shouldn't be going."

"I can hear you, Adler," Alex snapped and glared at the slightly older woman. They were all crammed together in the DEO's armory gearing up for their half assessed plan, so it wouldn't like there was a lot of distance. They could all hear everything. All of them in there, all dressed in full black gear like they would for any mission, not really looking at each other as they geared.

Adler wasn't going to make this easy. She holstered the weapon she'd just grabbed and stomped the few feet across the room until they were both glaring at each other, only a foot apart. "I call it like I see it," Adler told her crisply. "You're emotionally compromised. You were held in that facility against your will. You're not an asset for infiltration because you don't remember crap. You're a liability-"

"I remember my training!" Alex spat back, not backing down. She wasn't going to be left behind. "I'm not going to just sit here and let all of you go and risk everything to get him back without me…no chance in hell."

"I stepped out of the room for one minute," came Lucy's surprised voice.

Alex's eyes didn't leave Adler's. Everyone in that room, except Lucy, had been apart of the DEO longer than Alex had. Her fingers curled up into angry fists and she wasn't going to back down. They weren't taking many agents, but Alex had still been the last to be recruited from those who surrounded her. Somehow, it made her feel like she'd failed him most…

Benanti intervened, putting a hand on Adler's shoulder. "If the roles were reversed," Lara said gently. "None of us would be sitting on our hands here when we could be out in the field. We all agreed that we were willing to risk everything to get the boss back, that included Danvers." Lara shrugged. "Plus, she's going to have the rest of us to look out for her. If she starts to get too emotional, someone will be there to pull her into check...or knock her out," Benanti completed making it sound like it was the most kind thing that they could.

"Right," Lucy called. "Let's grab what we need...and get to our transport. It's waiting."

Alex moved away from Adler and Benanti and followed Lucy. "What about Kara?"

"She's already at the transport-"

"She can't be dressed as-"

"Don't worry," Lucy told her. "She was there when we went over everything. She knows. She's dressed in black. We all agreed to make every attempt to conceal our identities, that hasn't changed."

"Ma'am!" Vasquez shouted from the control area. From the sound of her voice, it was clear that there was something wrong. "We have a problem!" Even before they could move to Vasquez's position, the klaxons blared through the base.

They knew why from the images on the monitors before Vasquez even said anything. General Lab was on approach. "You have to hide...your sister-"

"Lane?" Kara questioned, suddenly there. As Lucy had said, Kara was dressed in black and for a split second, Alex found it trippy because Kara looked so much like she had on the night that Kara and Lucy had saved them from the truck to Cadmus.

"You have to hide," Lucy told them.

She knew why. Kara needed to hide because she wasn't dressed properly (though that could be amended quickly) and Alex because she was supposed to be deemed a traitor and in a cell in Cadmus. There was also the clear fact that all of them (including her and Kara) were geared up to go on a mission together. That would raise flags just by the fact that they were all in matching gear.

Alex started to argue, Lucy was obviously a good person, but this was putting a lot on the line plus she was going to be going up against her own father. "You shouldn't get into trouble-"

"It's my choice, Agent Danvers," Lucy snapped. "Now both of you...get out of here...or hide."

"I'd suggest hiding," Vasquez told them. "That way if they look at our system, they won't see your route away…"

"I have just the place," Benanti told them and then grinned mischievously in Adler's direction.

Adler sighed and threw up an arm. "Fine...give away all our secrets."

Benanti pouted for a moment. "It's for a good cause, Love." She put an arm around the Danvers. "We love them, remember?"

"You said it," Adler grumbled and turned away. "You babysit while I go give a tour to General Jackass…" She glanced at Lucy. "No offense, of course, Ma'am."

"None taken."

They had been taken into a utility closet that had a secret door behind it, it was extremely hard to find unless you were looking for it. As far as Alex knew and from what Benanti had said, it wasn't on the actual DEO plans. It led to something that reminded her of a crude panic room. Whatever it was, she and Kara sat next to each other in the dim with a flashlight acting as their light in the middle of the room. All they did was listen.

Time passed and Alex purposely avoided looking down at the watch on her wrist to see just how much time had gone by. She sighed and then realized that she was tired. She didn't want to be tired. Once General Lane left, they needed to go to Cadmus. They needed to get J'onn out of that torture prison.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah…"

"You're lying," Kara accused gently.

Alex crinkled up her face and shook her head. "I'm not…"

"Your heart rate has dropped slightly...your breathing is shaky-"

"Kara, I'm-"

"Drink something," Kara argued as she shoved a bottle of water into her sister's hands. Her hand immediately sought out Alex's forehead, which just made her grumpier. "You're warm...and sweaty…"

"I'm fine."

"You can lie to everyone else," Kara said gently, "but you can't lie to me."

At some point, she'd fallen asleep up against Kara. The change in light concentration and the scraping sound was what woke her. Benanti and Adler were peering in at them. Alex was certain that they were about to say that the coast was clear, she could feel Kara stirring against her.

"Crap, Danvers...what the hell happened to you?" Adler asked. "You look like death mostly warmed over…"

"Thanks, Adler."

"Sure. Anytime."

Benanti sighed. "Let's get you to med bay, not like we're going anywhere right now," she said as she moved in and helped Alex out of the secret hideaway area.

"What? Why?" Alex asked in a groan. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she really did feel like she needed to go to med bay. She didn't want to stay there, but it definitely felt like she needed something.

"We're being monitored...and it's too late. Alice and I have to go...and Davis needs to go home," Benanti informed her as she helped her to med bay. "We have to keep things as normal as possible." She shrugged. "Director Lane tried to explain that we were going out, but all of our missions are scrubbed until further notice...don't worry, though, she's on the phone…" She was quiet for a moment. "She's full of fury when she's arguing, let me just tell you…"

"Whatever's wrong with her...it's from what they did to her at Cadmus," she heard Doctor Hamilton explaining.

Alex was laying there, pretending to sleep. The doctor was likely explaining it Lucy and Kara. Her sister might realize that she was awake, but she didn't think that her sister would say anything. All she wanted to do was hear it without someone trying to sugar coat things.

"I've compared it to her other blood samples, I don't know what to tell you," Doctor Hamilton continued. "I've sought out treatments and conferred with Doctor Hernandez…whatever they were giving her at Cadmus, we think that they made her dependent on it." She sighed and paused for a moment. "She's going to die without it."

"You can't be sure," Kara argued.

"I can," Hamilton insisted. "Whatever they did to Danvers, it wasn't kind and it wasn't pleasant. They experimented on her...and I don't know exactly what they were doing...but I can tell you that even though the army has us grounded...that I'd suggest that we go around that order. She's not going to survive much longer. Her body is going to shut down, right now her body is literally fighting itself."

"How long?" Lucy questioned.

"I can't be certain."

"I could fly to Cadmus-" Kara started.

"No," Lucy shut down quickly. "We go in together. The entire team. I'll call them in."

"Even though I don't like the idea of her being a liability in the field for the team, I would suggest you take Danvers along with her," Hamilton said. "She's going to need that medication as soon as she can get it...and make sure you bring back enough of a batch for me to formulate."

All Alex knew was that Adler had been right, but for different reasons. She shouldn't go, but then Hamilton… Even though Alex desperately wanted to go, she didn't want the reason for going to be different. The objective needed to remain getting J'onn fried, finding whatever crap they were dosing her with needed to be secondary.

"Just do it fast," Hamilton said.

TBC…