For the second time in less than an hour, Alex Danvers found herself in National City General Hospital. Only this time she was standing in the waiting room, on the phone with J'onn.
"No updates yet." Alex said with a sigh. "I don't even know if he's still alive."
He had changed everything.
The survivor in the rubble was identified as Tristan Barclay, a DEO field operative. He had only been recruited a few months back, and was low on the command chain. Still, it was a miracle that the man had survived the blast.
And now, they just had to hope that he'd survive the surgery as well.
Alex had been assigned at the hospital, to keep everyone up to date with his status, as well as Maggie's.
The fact that she hadn't heard any updates ever since she arrived made her nauseous.
Her mind wandered off to the covert op Winn had told them about. She was convinced that it was the key to solving the puzzle of the bombing.
Alex wasn't an idiot. If Maggie was the only person that could see the guy that had something to do with it, and her division covered up a mission she was involved in, then…
Then she needed Maggie to talk. To be alive, and laugh and breathe, and talk.
Her phone buzzed. She looked down to see a text from Winn.
Still no luck on decrypting file.
"Agent Danvers?"
Alex's head snapped back up when a doctor walked over to her and nodded politely. "I have an update on your wife."
He looked down at the folder he was carrying. "She's out of surgery, and according to the staff everything went well. They located another bleeding, but it's contained, and she shouldn't have any permanent damage."
Alex had to grip the counter to stay upright, as she felt her head spin with relief. She was okay.
"She's out of the woods, but we want to keep her here for 24 hours to monitor her. She suffered a mild concussion, and we don't have the results of the CT scan back yet."
"Can I see her?"
The doctor hesitated. "She's still recovering, and she's not awake yet."
Alex reached for her badge. "I know that this may seem like an excuse to throw my weight around, but it is a matter of national security that I talk to her as soon as possible, sir."
The man nodded slowly. "The bombing. Yes, okay. I'll escort you to her room."
"Thank you." Alex said, as he led the way down the corridor. "Any word on Agent Barclay's condition?"
"I don't know about that. But I'll check on that for you."
The rest of the walk was spent in silence.
The doctor stopped at a door and pointed towards it. "Right through there. I'll ask the staff to give you some privacy, but there's only so much I can do."
After thanking the man once again, Alex pushed the door open, and smiled weakly at the sight in front of her.
"Hey, baby…"
After the miracle of finding Tristan Barclay alive underneath the rubble, the hopes at the bombsite had remained high that other survivors would follow soon.
But the longer J'onn was on site, the bigger he saw the 'confirmed deceased' list become.
The President had already given instructions on the official story: the building was an FBI headquarters that was attacked by unknown terrorists.
The public couldn't know about the existence of the DEO, or what it meant that it was now in ruins.
He'd sent Alex back to the hospital – that was the best place for her to be right now. Close to Maggie, close to Barclay, and close to answers.
He and Kara could manage the bombsite, and help out here. He had insisted that if the President wanted to stay in National City, she at least had to relocate back to the safehouse.
The clock was ticking – and it wouldn't be long until the clock struck 8.
They needed answers by then.
Because of Maggie's unsure fate, J'onn had decided to bet on another horse. Which was arriving now, stepping out of his car and pulling large eyes at the devastation in front of him.
J'onn walked towards him immediately and reached out his hand. "Lieutenant Greene."
Jeff Greene, police Lieutenant and head of the Science Division. A tough, hardened man with a passion for justice delivered to perps. J'onn admired the man's perseverance, and assumed that he wasn't going to get much out of him.
But he had to try.
"Director Henshaw." The man shook his hand, glancing back at the rubble. "I've been watching the news all day… any leads? My division is available to assist you, if you need manpower or resources."
"I appreciate that, Jeff." J'onn nodded. "Have you heard about…"
"Sawyer?" Greene sighed. "I'm the last to know every time anything happens to that woman. Haven't been able to reach her… you know more?"
"Alex is in the hospital with her. That's all I know."
Greene nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "Anyway, offer stands. Whatever you need to catch the assholes that did this."
"Actually, there is something you can help with."
Greene waited for him to elaborate, but J'onn pulled him away from passing rescue workers, to a more private area behind an emergency tent.
"I need intel on a mission the Science Division did a few months ago. We believe it may have a connection to the bombing."
"Okay…"
"The operation's name was Cerberus."
J'onn thought he saw a flash of recognition, and… fear pass on Greene's face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had happened. "That doesn't sound familiar."
"Are you sure? We couldn't access the mission files because they were encrypted and classified, but I do believe it's imperative that we know what it entailed, to find-…"
"Henshaw." Greene interrupted him with a shake of his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. There's no such mission, or I would know about it."
J'onn nodded slowly.
Either Greene was a damn good liar, or something went above his head.
"Okay. It was probably just a loose end, then. I apologize." J'onn stepped back. "I should get back to helping."
He excused himself quickly, and Greene watched him go, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cellphone.
He dialed a number and raised the phone to his ear.
"It's me. We have a problem. Meet me at our spot, thirty minutes."
Barclay still in surgery, but he sounds stable. Maggie is recovering.
Alex fired off the text to J'onn, Winn and Kara, before lowering her phone once more, taking a deep breath and wincing as her sore ribs protested.
Though compared to her wife, Alex figured she didn't have much to complain about.
Hopefully, Barclay remembered something about the bombing, though it was a long shot. It's likely he was just in the right place at the right time to survive.
She hadn't talked to him all that much during his time at the DEO. He was a junior agent, only recruited a few months prior.
Which in itself wasn't all that interesting. But given the fact that there were mysterious phone calls and warning messages, anything was possible.
A weak moan filled the room, and Alex abandoned all train of thought to jump up from her chair and lean forward. "Hey…"
The moan turned into a groan of pain, as Maggie's pale face distorted with pain before her eyes opened slowly. She blinked a few times, as her eyes flitted to Alex's watery smile.
"Al…" She grunted weakly. "You okay?"
"Wh- yes. I'm okay, babe." Alex sniffed as she reached for Maggie's hand and kissed the back of it weakly. "And you're going to be okay too."
"I got blown up." Maggie frowned, as she apparently started to remember the events at the DEO site.
Alex nodded slowly. "You saw the guy again, and you probably activated a UXO that hadn't gone off during the blast."
Maggie stayed silent for a while, trying to process the situation. Alex squeezed her hand softly, and reached her other hand out to caress Maggie's cheek. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"I'm not going anywhere." The detective smiled. "Love you."
"I love you too, Mags." Alex leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Maggie's lips. Maggie reached her left arm out to reach for Alex's face too.
When they pulled back, Alex bit her lip. She couldn't afford to wait any longer.
"Mags, I… I need to talk to you about something."
Maggie frowned at her serious tone. "Did something happen…? Another attack?"
"No." Alex shook her head. "Not yet. But… they announced another one. Mags- Winn found a lead. But only you can help us figure it out."
Maggie nodded silently.
"We found a file in the NCPD database. There was a tip to go look for it, but it's classified, and it looks like a Science Division op."
"Okay…"
Alex squeezed her hand. "The name of the operation was Cerberus."
Maggie shot upright so quickly that Alex didn't have a chance to react. But she jumped up when Maggie emitted a loud cry of pain, clutching her side.
"Mags!" She yelled, already reaching for her shoulders to ease her back down. But Maggie ignored her, a hand reaching out to grab Alex's collar and pull her close. Through gritted teeth, she managed to growl. "Where did you hear that name?!"
"It was- in a mission file, but it was all blacked out! Winn hacked into the database… Mags, what the hell is going on? What happened on that mission?!"
Maggie glanced down. A spot of blood was beginning to form on the hospital gown she was wearing – her stitches had ripped with her sudden movement. Alex's eyes widened as she noticed it too.
She turned to run outside and get assistance, but Maggie yanked at her arm, pulling her back. "Stay here."
"Mags, you're bleeding, your stitches-…" Alex wanted to continue, but Maggie cut her off. "Alex. I'm serious. You can not tell anyone about Cerberus."
"Tell them what?!" Alex shot back. "We don't know anything! Someone called Winn and tipped us off about the op, we're trying to see what it has to do with the bombing!"
Maggie glanced down, nodding slowly. "Of course…"
"Of course what!" Alex was losing her patience. Between the blood stain on Maggie's side and the vague comments, she needed answers fast.
Maggie looked back at her. "There's a reason that op was covered up. Nobody can touch it, except for the people that were in on it."
"There are over a hundred people dead because of those bombers, Maggie." Alex swallowed thickly. "And they announced another attack within four hours. I need to know what you know, now. Before they kill more innocent people."
Maggie looked away once more, before taking a deep breath. "Shut the door."
Alex nodded and complied, checking if anybody was around in the corridor, before taking off her jacket and pressing it to Maggie's side. It didn't look like too much blood, but it was enough to need help the second she was finished talking.
"Cerberus…" Maggie grunted. "… Was a covert op we did a few months back. A raid of an old factory building just outside the city."
Alex nodded, keeping her distance so that her wife could tell the story.
"We'd gathered intelligence on a man that lived in the building. We assumed he was a squatter, but… we started picking up on communication. He was talking to someone… or something about a portal. A doorway to 'The Room', as he called it."
"The room…" Alex repeated slowly.
"We monitored him closely, and eventually we figured out that he had a portal in that factory building, that he was guarding."
"Cerberus." Alex nodded.
"Yeah. We prepared to raid the building and deactivate the portal, so that whatever things were on the other side would stay there, instead of come to National City. There were only four people involved – me and three other officers. But… the entire op went south. The guy was tipped off apparently, and he was nowhere in sight. But when we found the portal and moved to deactivate it, whoever was on the other side started firing through. Two of our guys were shot down, but I saw the man that had been guarding it, on the other side. So… I jumped."
"You jumped into the portal?!" Alex's eyes widened, ready to start raging at how insanely careless that was. But Maggie only nodded. "I had to. They'd pulled the last guy into the portal, and I jumped to save him. When I got to the other side, everything happened really fast. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, back in the factory."
Alex tried to understand. From what she heard, it was a raid that had indeed gone south, but… the DEO had plenty of missions that ended in failure.
No need to classify and keep it a complete secret.
Maggie saw the confusion written on her face, and nodded. "I know. It doesn't make any sense. I blacked out, and when I woke up, Greene was there. He told me that I was never allowed to talk about the mission again, and that he would kill me if I ran my mouth about it."
"But why?!"
Maggie looked down, and took a deep breath. "I don't know. They didn't tell me. All I know is that Greene threatened to wipe my memory. They threatened to hurt you. If I didn't swear to them that I would never tell a soul."
"Jesus…" Alex whispered.
"That's all I know, Alex, I swear! I don't know what happened, or what I was supposed to see…"
"It's okay, it's okay." Alex shushed her gently, as she wrapped her arms around her as best as she could. She felt Maggie's arms reach around her waist too. They stayed like that for a few seconds, until Alex pulled back. "I'm going to get a doctor, okay?"
Maggie nodded meekly, and watched Alex run out of the room.
As soon as Alex was out of sight, she glanced down at her hand, the one she'd used to take Alex's phone out of her pocket without her noticing during the hug. She dialed a number quickly, and raised the phone to her ear.
"Greene, it's Sawyer. The DEO knows about Cerberus."