Not quite Super-Earp

It turned out that ancestral enemies returning from the grave was only the beginning, Wynonna - after a considerable amount of persuasion from Nicole - had started to take Maggie through the revenants that she’d taken down and explaining the ones that were yet to be got when Waverly marched into the office. The piece of paper that Nedley had given her bore almost no resemblance to the reality of the situation. He’d probably just made it up so it looked like he was in control of the situation.

“Hey babe!” Nicole said, that already familiar dopey smile playing across her face, “I was hoping you’d show up.”

“I know you were. I would’ve got here sooner but I wanted to make sure I was 100% prepared for Maggie’s questions.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought about this a lot more than me,” Wynonna said, standing up immediately, “Whaddup lil sis. You’re up.” and she tossed a file at Waverly which she missed, scattering sheets of paper and photographs across the office. “Waverly. Stop making such a mess, God!” Wynonna said as she stalked out of the room.

Waverly hurriedly gathered up all the papers and positioned herself in Wynonna’s vacated seat and started reordering them, “So, I’m guessing Nicole and Wynonna explained the whole curse thing we have going on here.”

“They did,” Maggie said.

“And Maggie filled us in on all the aliens they have in National City,” Nicole added.

“Oh yeah! I wanted to ask you about that,” Waverly said excitedly.

“Wait! You know about all that already, Waves?” Nicole said, clearly surprised.

“Of course! I check the news.”

“Huh!” Nicole swivelled in her chair and returned to frantically tapping at her keyboard.

“Tell me, Maggie,” Waverly continued in a voice heavy with expectation, “Have you met Supergirl?”

“I have actually,” Maggie said, enjoying seeing Waverly’s jaw drop open, “she works pretty closely with my girlfriend.”

“She does!” Waverly seemed nearly beside herself with excitement. “A real life superhero,” she said wistfully.

“I mean, you could say that my job kinda makes me a superhero,” Nicole said eagerly.

“Yeah but can you fly?” Waverly said quickly before taking in Nicole’s slightly hurt expression, “But you’re still perfect, baby. You’re my supergirl,” she glanced across at Maggie and blushed, “so are you and your girlfriend this cute?”

“We have our moments,” Maggie replied.

“Do you have a picture?”

“Uh, yeah,” and she showed Waverly her phone background. Both Nicole and Waverly crowded around it, scrutinising the hurried selfie they’d taken in the park the other week. She suddenly felt very vulnerable.

“She’s cute,” Nicole said, looking up at last.

“And a redhead,” Waverly smiled, glancing at Nicole’s hair, “you make a great couple.”

“Yeah, we do,” Maggie said, smiling at the photo as her phone was handed back.

“Where did you guys meet?” Nicole asked.

“Work,” Maggie said, “What about you two?”

“Uh…” they both looked at each other.

“Oh wait, you told me on the ride here. You met at Shorty’s.”

“Yeah but we got together…” Waverly began.

“On that couch,” Nicole finished, pointing feebly at the couch Maggie was sat on.

Maggie resisted the temptation to leap immediately off the couch, “huh,” she managed to mumble.

“Don’t worry,” Waverly said, “Nothing gross happened. We just kissed.”

Maggie nodded, “Ok, cool,” she stammered.

“Anyway,” Nicole said, smiling falsely at the two of them and looking at the stack of paperwork.

“Yes!” Waverly enthused, “where were we?” and she back on the couch next to Maggie and leafed back through the file, “Where did you get up to with Wynonna?”

“Uh, we didn’t get that far. It might be for the best if you take it from the beginning.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

As Waverly took Maggie through the file and the history of all of the revenants, Nicole tapped her computer awake in the hope of actually discovering why Maggie was there. She thought they’d seen the last of the interference from Top Secret US Government organisations with Xavier Dolls. It had certainly taken some adjustment to get used to his presence and she wasn’t sure how she was now going to account for Maggie especially if nobody really knew why she was there. Whilst Maggie herself was ok, what she potentially represented was not and it set Nicole on edge. This wasn’t helped by the revelation that Supergirl was actually real. She’d never felt threatened by Waverly’s preoccupation before but flight was something she’d never be able to compete with. Her inbox held no answers about Maggie or the NCPD; there was one email forwarded to her by Nedley with the NCPD header that simply said they’d be ‘hosting a visit’ for an indefinite period of time and appropriate arrangements should be made. This was accompanied by a request for the use of Nicole’s spare room from Nedley and the expectation that she’d collect Maggie from the airport. It was only Nicole’s assumptions and Maggie’s alien revelation that meant she was now sat on that couch with Waverly dissecting all of Purgatory’s biggest secrets. She really hoped Maggie wasn’t here just to deal with the upsurge in sexual harassment cases otherwise Nicole was royally screwed.

***

After Waverly’s crash course in revenants, Maggie took advantage of Wynonna’s absence and sprawled across the sofa; she had chosen to ignore its romantic history and focus on its structural integrity. Her head was reeling slightly from Waverly’s potted history of demonic activity in Purgatory and she almost wished she could revert back to the point where she was left with nothing to do other than play solitaire. Aliens were one thing, but angry cowboys coming back from the dead was something else entirely.

It got worse when Wynonna burst back into the office, swept Maggie’s feet aside and threw herself onto the sofa, “Don’t get too comfy,” she said, “there’s a man outside with a gun and an axe in his head.”

“Revenant?” Waverly asked. She’d moved from the sofa as soon as the tutorial was done and was perched happily on Nicole’s desk.

“Oh yes,” Wynonna grinned.

“Did you get him?” Nicole added.

“Nope,” Wynonna said, still grinning.

“You’re literally holding Peacemaker,” Nicole frowned.

“Good observation skills, Haught,” Wynonna said, pointing approvingly at her, “You should be a cop.”

“So you’re telling me you saw a revenant out there in the street and you didn’t send him back to hell?” Nicole said carefully.

“Did you not hear the part where I said he had an axe in his head? He ain’t going anywhere fast.”

“But still…”

“I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to show the newest member of the scoobie gang how we roll,” and she stood up dramatically, spinning the gun clumsily around her finger.

Maggie realised with a start that she was talking about her and jumped to her feet, “so what are we waiting for?” she said, automatically reaching for the gun she didn’t have before heading towards the door feeling very exposed. She hesitated in the doorway, unexpectedly nervous, before Wynonna pushed her aside and barged out of the door ahead of her.

***

Outside, Maggie realised Wynonna wasn’t lying: there really was a man outside with a gun in his hand and an axe in his head. Purgatory was apparently a town of roughly five people so thankfully he was the only person out there. Maggie wondered if his presenting minimal threat to local residents was why Wynonna was so relaxed in the office but she suspected it was more likely that she just liked winding up Nicole. She looked longingly at Nicole’s gun which was already aimed at their guy. Waverly was stood between the two of them practically jumping up and down in excitement.

“Oi Waves!” Wynonna called, raising Peacemaker, “What have I said? No gun, no play. You too city chick.” When Waverly and Maggie just blinked at her, Wynonna shoved them aside and lined up her gun which - to Maggie’s surprise - had started to glow. Wynonna cocked the gun, muttered something to herself and fired. Maggie expected the guy to just fall down. She wasn’t expecting any blood as the guy was already dead but what she certainly didn’t expect was a literal entrance-way to hell to open up in the middle of the pot-holed street and suck the guy into it. All Maggie could do was stand there, frozen in a mix of shock and awe but Wynonna, Waverly and Nicole just shrugged and headed back inside. Maggie was still stood there when Waverly came back out and gently led her back inside.

Once inside, Wynonna handed her a half empty bottle of whisky and encouraged her to take several large swigs before making room for her on the sofa. “Not bad for a newbie,” she said and wrestled the bottle off her, “I definitely thought you’d faint or throw up.”

“It was a close call,” Maggie said shakily.

“At least you know what it’s like now,” Nicole said and raised her mug in Maggie’s direction.

“If we’re gonna do that again,” Maggie said breathlessly, “You’re gonna need to loan me a gun.”

“It won’t do anything,” Wynonna said, “Only this one can take down a revenant,” she held up Peacemaker.

“But…” Nicole said,” I’m sure we’d all feel a lot better if you were armed. I’m sure I can find you something,” and she rooted around in the bottom of a drawer for a set of keys.

“Hang on!” Maggie said, “There’s only one gun that can take down a revenant?”

“And I’m the only one who can fire it,” Wynonna said, “Earp curse and all.”

“So why am I here?” Maggie asked.

“That’s looking like a mystery that’ll never get solved,” Wynonna said and Waverly quickly started rummaging through piles of paper as if joining Nicole in her hunt for the key.  

*** 

An hour - and several swigs later - Maggie allowed herself to feel a little bit excited by what she’d discovered. She felt more secure with the gun Nicole had found her although it was a far cry from what she was used to in the City. Purgatory might not have aliens but it certainly had more than enough going on to make it interesting. Wynonna had persuaded Nicole and Waverly to buy her a drink in Shorty’s and whilst Maggie had been invited, she’d elected to stay in the office to process what had gone on. The only snag in Maggie’s involvement was that the problem could only be dealt with with a magic gun that could only be used by one person and that person wasn’t her. She couldn’t help but feel a little redundant. What she realised though was that her bosses back home didn’t know any of that and they’d only find out if she told them which she was reluctant to do, at least for now. Slowly a plan fell in place in her mind. She sent an email to the NCPD with a slightly fabricated version of events, suggesting that they send a DEO agent as back up. Then she called Alex.

“Danvers!” she said excitedly.

“Maggie! How’s it going?”

“You know, it’s not bad,” Maggie said,  “I’ve not pissed off any more locals and there’s definitely some weird shit happening.”

“Alien?” Alex said hopefully.

“Not quite but I haven’t told the NCPD that,” Maggie smiled, “What I have done is ask for a DEO agent as back up so what do you think? Do you wanna come to Canada and get your winter gear back?”

“I mean, I’d love to Mags but when the request comes through, J’onn could choose anyone. And you know, I am kind of important so he might not wanna let me go.”

“But you’re his favourite right?” Maggie said hopefully.

“Maggie…” Alex said and Maggie could hear how sensible she was trying to be.

“Please…” Maggie pleaded, “It’ll be so much fun and I really miss you.”

“But if there aren’t any aliens, couldn’t you just come home?”

“There may not be aliens but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some really cool shit going on.”

“Now that does sound intriguing,” Alex said, her voice lightening and the excitement bleeding in.

“And you can meet Nicole and the others,” Maggie said excitedly, ”Did you know there’s a Purgatory Pride?”

“Ok. Ok. I’ll see what I can do,” Alex said.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

***

After calling Alex, Maggie just stayed on the sofa flicking through the files trying to match the faded photos with what she’d just witnessed in the street. Eventually Waverly and Nicole returned with a slightly reluctant Wynonna in tow. They also had coffee which Maggie suddenly felt in desperate need of: the whiskey had taken effect and she was struggling to tell all the cowboys apart. Maggie stood up automatically - allowing Wynonna to immediately sprawl across the sofa - and found herself stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“So guess what,” she began.

They all looked up at her expectantly.

“Alex is hopefully coming up here to ‘help’ with the investigation,” she said smiling nervously at them.

“Do we need any more help?” Wynonna asked, “Who’s Alex anyway?”

“My girlfriend,” Maggie frowned. “And no, you seem to have this situation... under control. But I just thought it might be fun!”

“Oh my gosh,” Waverly exclaimed, “That would be so amazing. We could go on double dates…”

“I honestly can’t wait!” Maggie grinned.