Cakewalk

It was supposed to be a cakewalk. It’s been one hour and these words won’t leave her alone.

*

“What? Maxima has a... what?!” Alex tries to suppress a giggle, as Kara is obviously not comfortable hearing this information.

“This alien, he says he’s from Almerac and he’s... he’s looking for his mate whom we,” he coughs. “...made prisoner.” Winn rolls around in his chair to face a blushing Supergirl, Alex (who is trying very hard not to laugh at her sister’s behavior) and J’onn, who just shakes his head in disbelief. “He’s actually, well, yelling it to the population. It’s not a pretty view,” Winn tries to explain, poorly hiding a little bit of embarrassment on his part as well.

Alex glances at him, then back at Kara and shakes her head light-heartedly. The IT guy is becoming more and more part of the family and even if he annoys her for the good part of each working day, she is really happy to have him around. Not that she is ever going to admit that, of course.

“What’s his position?” The director asks.

Winn wheels back to the screen. “He appears to be heading out of town. Reports have him throwing cars on the Sixth Street Bridge. NCPD is already on its way.”

“Alright, Agent Danvers, we’re going to have to talk to him. Explain that Maxima isn’t exactly available at the moment. Agent Schott, your job will be to guide our team and find a way to neutralize him.”

“Yes, sir. Hank. J’onn. Sir.”

Alex glances at Kara. “You in, Supergirl?”

Her sister nods and in a matter of minutes, they are off, along with a TAC team consisting of about a dozen agents. Alex remembers the first encounter with the Almeraci queen and how it took them two weeks and three casualties to take Maxima down and even if this time they have Supergirl on their side, she isn’t about to make the same mistakes and underestimate this alien menace.

*

Out of half a dozen patrol cars, only one is still working. It’s full of bumps and bullet holes, but the moment they try the engine it roars to life. Maggie sighs in relief, knowing she doesn’t have to wait for more cars to arrive and take her away.

Maggie is sitting on the passenger side; a junior officer is driving her back to the city. Her head rests on the window, as she rubs her throbbing arm. She closes her eyes and sighs.

*

“Danvers, took you long enough!” Despite the bossy tone, Maggie is smiling at her, while taking cover behind one of the patrol cars alongside three other very scared police officers.

“Sorry, mind if we take over?” Alex asks, trying to convey a tone that is a mix between cocky and flirty. From the look her girlfriend gives her, Alex knows that Maggie loves this new confidence in their relationship.

“Do your thing,” Maggie keeps smiling and gives her a nod. The DEO agent signals her team and leads them towards the middle of the bridge, where Ultraa is already busy in a fight with Supergirl. This is going to be a cakewalk, she thinks as a proud smile crosses her face.

The two aliens are in flight and even if her sister seems to be handling the conflict pretty well on her own, the agent starts yelling orders to set a perimeter around the core of the fight. More than half of her team is busy protecting civilians with the police, while the others stand their ground with her, waiting for the Almeracian to make a wrong move.

She catches a glimpse of Maggie’s ponytail as she stands up from behind the car door and goes to help with the civilians. Alex sighs in relief. The farther she is from the action, the more Alex can concentrate on how to neutralize this threat.

“Winn, now would be a good time to find something to hit this guy with,” she speaks into the comms as she watches Kara begin to struggle. Ultraa has an arm around her neck – Kara barely manages to break free when the Almeracian grabs her cape, spins her around and throws her to the ground, where Supergirl’s body leaves a crater the size of a small truck. “Winn!”

“I’m looking, I’m looking,” but Alex is already sprinting forward. She launches herself in the direction of the crouched figure who is obviously in pain. Ultraa is nowhere to be seen, her gaze shoots from side to side, up and down but she just… can’t see him. She reaches Kara and puts an arm around her shoulder.

“I gotcha,” she whispers as she lifts her off the ground.

*

Officer Perkins was supposed to take her home. Those were his orders, but it’s not like he knows where she lives. He leaves her in front of a huge building; he looks skeptic, but doesn’t say anything. She exists the car and waits in the middle of the road.

She’s not ready for this.

*

Alex never expected telekinesis to hurt this much. She always thought that being blasted away by mental powers would be way more gentle than a direct hit. She couldn’t be more wrong.

She hits the side of the bridge, her head banging on solid concrete. She clutches her chest, trying to catch her breath. Her hand finds a soft spot behind the back of her head and she flinches. Even through the glove, she feels something warm.

Shit.

As she opens her eyes, she realizes her vision is blurry and cannot make out most of the things in front of her. Her first thought goes to Kara; her second to Maggie, but her eyes will not let her focus on either of them.

She hears a loud thud. She glances up and sees Ultraa who has landed just before her and does not look pleased. At all.

Alex is still trying to recover from the hit. Still on the floor, she starts to pull back, while frantically looking for her sidearm. “Winn,” she pleads. She has no weapons; she hurts all over and can’t get up. Ultraa is coming closer. She hears her agents and police officers fire; she sees bullets bounce off of him as if he’s made of steel himself.

Her comms come to life. “I got it, Alex!” Winn yells, enthusiastic. “I got it. You need to produce a very specific frequency of ultrasound and BOOM he’s asleep like a baby. There’s a thing in the SUV that should do the trick!” But how the hell is she supposed to get to that, now? “Alex! Alex, can you hear me?” She gulps and her gaze shoots up to look into the alien’s eyes.

He just grins.

*

Kara has been sitting on this bench for what feels like hours. Her hair is still wet, the towel on her shoulders is so dump it’s useless. She looks at her hands resting on her lap and, even if they are clean now, even if she has washed them and scrubbed them until they hurt, she can’t help but still see the red stains on them.

She closes her eyes and concentrates for what must be the hundredth time since they got back.

She has to focus.

Find the right room.

Tune out every other sound.

Every voice. Every whisper. Every breath.

Someone sneezes.

She moves on and visits every corner of the facility until she finds it.

Finally. There it is.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

But she doesn’t want to hear that. Not the one from the machine. This one proves she’s still alive, yes – but she wants, she needs to hear her true heartbeat.

Kara squeezes her eyes harder; she cancels the voice of doctors calmly dictating orders, the sound of the numerous machines doing everything they can to keep her sister breathing. The loud clang of one of the tools falling from the scrub nurse’s hands to the ground distracts her for a split second, but she’s back on the task.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud. Thud-thud.

It’s slower than usual, somewhat irregular, but it’s hers. Kara can make it out in a crowd of hundreds of people. It’s the first sound she looks for whenever Alex is thrown to the other side of the room by a seven feet alien; it’s the sound she listens to when her sister is sleeping over because she had a bad day. It’s calming, reassuring, familiar. It’s home.

And, right now, it’s the sound that lets her know Alex is fighting, that she’s trying to stay alive.

That she won’t leave her.  

A tear rolls down her cheek as she drowns in the comforting sound.

“Hey.” There’s somebody else in the room. In the room with her. Suddenly, she’s back on the cold bench in the middle of the DEO’s locker room. She looks to her left and sees Detective Sawyer standing in the doorframe. She’s leaning against the wall, her shoulders slumped, her features tired. She’s holding her right arm, unconsciously massaging it.

Kara brings herself to speak – she hasn’t since the bridge. “You okay?”

Maggie’s eyes dart to her arm then back to Kara. “It’s… it’s just a bruise.” She’s lying. She’s obviously hurting.

“I’m sorry I left you there.”

Maggie quickly shakes her head. “You don’t have to be. I’d rather you were with…” She trails off, then she looks over her shoulder and stays like that for a few seconds.

The detective sits down next to her and buries her face in the palm of her hands. Kara hears her sigh. “Any news?”

“Her heart stopped two times.” Kara was in the shower the first time. She crawled up on the floor and started sobbing. “I checked again before you came in. She’s alive, but they’re still operating on her. It’s going to be a while.”

Maggie – her face still hidden from sight – just nods.

*

Maggie looks back up and sits a little straighter. Her eyes catch the red and blue uniform on the floor. The crest on the chest is drenched in blood. Alex’s blood.

She shudders.

“So, I guess this is a way to find out you’re dating Supergirl’s sister,” she lets out a small laugh. She’s tired, so tired and she can’t even begin to think about what could be happening upstairs. She needs to change the subject. Talk about something. Anything, really.

Kara just looks at her. Her big blue eyes piercing through her soul, like she just kicked a kitten in the middle of the street for the fun of it. She mentally kicks herself. This isn’t the right time for humor, Sawyer. But it is. It’s exactly what the both of them need right now. Alex is somewhere inside one of the rooms of this huge facility and the two of them – a super powered goddess-like alien and a local cop – are sitting in a stinky locker room, unable to do anything. Useless. Like the start of a bad joke, whose punchline she’s pretty sure she’s not going to like.

A whisper suddenly breaks her out of the self-deprecating line of thought. “I didn’t know.”

Maggie blinks. “What?”

Kara looks up at her: her eyes are red and swollen and she looks like she’s trying really hard to suppress the tear that’s so obviously threatening to fall down. “I didn’t know you two were dating.” It’s Kara’s time to bury her face in her palms. She starts sobbing and Maggie starts to feel really uncomfortable. “After I… after I came back, Alex and I had a fight. She felt abandoned because I didn’t think to tell her I was leaving. But Barry, he… assured me I wasn’t going to be gone long! I wasn’t expecting six weeks! For me… for me, it was three days!” She stops.

Maggie isn’t about to interrupt. They hadn’t really talked about Kara with Alex, recently. She had no idea she had been missing that long. Yes, she knew Supergirl was gone and Alex had told her Kara was out of town on some sort of spiritual retreat… and now she feels so stupid. Some detective she is.

Kara’s tears are now falling freely on her cheeks. She takes a deep breath. “We haven’t talked in days, we were supposed to get dinner tonight.”

Maggie suddenly feels guilty. She doesn’t really know why – maybe because she took Alex’s time from Kara’s, maybe because she somehow got in between the two of them making up sooner. She doesn’t know, but she leans over to Kara and puts one arm around her shoulders. Kara – who is Supergirl! – rests her head against her and closes her eyes. After a few seconds, she stops shaking and relaxes.

Maggie knows she’s listening. She’s listening to her sister’s heart beat.

Alex is still alive and that’s all that matters now.