Chapter 34
“Why did you decide to do this?” Alex asked, sipping at the cold pint clutched in her hands.
Maggie sipped at her own pint of beer as she glanced at her girlfriend, her eyebrow quirked in a questioning manner. “I like Kara and you need to get out and be more social.”
“I’m social enough,” the auburn haired woman grumbled as she downed a swig of her beer, wiping the froth off her lip with the back of her hand.
“Well mannered too.” Maggie rolled her eyes, “And I thought you liked Kara?”
“What?!” Alex sputtered, “No, I mean, yes, yes I do like Kara, yes, I just didn’t know why you wanted to have dinner with her, don’t you already meet her occasionally for coffee in the morning?”
“Don’t you?” When Alex didn’t respond, Maggie grinned smugly into her drink, and glanced back up at the entrance of the pub. It was one of their usual spots, other than the alien bar, but if Kara brought Lena with her, Maggie didn’t think it would be safe to have the Luthor around a lot of aliens. Plus Alex didn’t know that Kara was actually an alien, so it would have been too suspicious if they had met at an alien bar.
“Is Kara bringing anyone with her?” Alex’s question broke Maggie out of her thoughts.
“Mhm? Oh, I told her she could, she’ll probably bring Little Luthor.”
Alex just hummed and took another swig of her beer; she still didn’t trust the Luthor, despite the fact that she saved her life by shooting the psycho that was trying to kill her. Kara was basically sunshine personified so she didn’t understand how she became such good friends with Lena Luthor of all people. She spotted the blonde woman walking through the door, and raised her hand to wave her over, freezing when she saw who was walking in with her. “That’s not Luthor…” She mumbled, nearly choking on her beer.
Maggie glanced over where Alex was looking and saw Kara walking towards them with a shorter brunette walking beside her. The brunette was striking with wavy hair that fell just above her shoulders and striking, hazel eyes sparkling with curiosity and mischief. “Kara has a lot of friends, if you haven’t noticed she’s basically a sunbeam, so it makes sense.” She observed Alex as the woman became increasingly uncomfortable as the two women approached, and nearly asked her what was wrong but instead chose to observe the interaction between the women.
“Hi Maggie,” Kara grinned, embracing the shorter woman. She turned her attention to Alex, and stuttered a bit before embracing the other woman as well. Once she had released the auburn haired woman, she turned towards her friend. “Maggie, Alex, this is my friend Lucy Lane. Luce, this is Detective Maggie Sawyer and Agent Alex Danvers.”
“Oh, we’ve met,” Lucy grinned. “Agent Danvers.”
“Major Lane,” Alex bit out, nodding her head. “We met at work today,” she explained, seeing the confused looks on Maggie and Kara’s faces.
The blonde just hummed and rocked on the balls of her feet for a moment, “Small world isn’t it?”
“Yeah…” Maggie drawled out before turning her attention to the blonde and brunette seated across from them. “So how did you two meet?”
“We’ve been friends since high school,” Kara explained, “Lucy was two grades ahead of me.”
Lucy smirked, “We actually dated my entire senior year, went to prom together and everything.” She reached over and brushed her hand against Kara’s arm, “Kara’s the one who got away.”
Alex’s grip on her bottle tightened minutely and her eyes twitched. “That’s…”
“Are you such good friends with all of your exes?” Maggie asked, looking at the blonde, “I mean, that’s a little unusual.”
Kara scoffed, glancing away, “I don’t have that many exes to begin with, just a few… Anyway, I only stay in contact with a few, Lucy and I were friends before we started dating so she’s an outlier.”
“And there’s one of her girlfriends we definitely don’t talk about,” Lucy shook her head. “Right bitch that one, and good riddance too.”
“Seems like there’s an interesting story there,” Maggie commented, sipping at her own beer.
The blonde shrugged, “Not really, just a lot of things unresolved and still bitter feelings. It doesn’t matter though, I haven’t seen her in years, but enough about that, we’re here to have fun and catch up with each other.”
“Yeah like what were Lucy and Alex up to at work today,” the detective said, glancing between the two women.
“Classified,” they both replied at the same time, partially surprising each other.
“It wasn’t really anything exciting and didn’t directly involve us, so it was nothing,” Lucy replied. “What about you two, how did you guys start dating?”
Maggie started telling the story about how the two of them were friends and then decided to start dating after a few months of hanging out. Lucy noticed at the woman was conversing with some slight input from Agent Danvers that the transition from friends to girlfriends was slight, almost as if there never was a big change to begin with. It struck the Major that the two were really just friends with some extra benefits rather than two people that were in a relationship that loved each other. There were also hints that Alex had a thing for Kara, just based on how the auburn haired woman looked at the blonde. She would just have to test her hypothesis for confirmation.
They had ordered their food sometime during their conversation, and the waitress brought over their orders, most of the plates holding Kara’s large order of pub food. It had been a while since she had watched Kara eat so she just took in the efficiency she used to continuously pack away the calories she needed to function and the amazed expressions on Alex and Maggie’s faces. When they had finished eating, Lucy spotted a dance floor in the back that held a few couples swaying to the light music and an idea formed in the brunette’s mind. “Come on Kara, dance with me,” she ordered, dragging her friend to the back of the pub. The blonde let out a slight whine but complied with her friend and set her arms on Lucy’s shoulders like she did years ago at the brunette’s senior prom while the shorter girl placed her hands on Kara’s hips.
Alex’s hands tightened around her beer bottle again, enough that it shattered in her hand without her noticing. Fortunately many of the enhanced serums she and the other DEO scientist developed have made her and other agents impervious to simple injuries like cut glass. The feeling of crumbling glass still irritated her skin though, so she glanced down and started to wipe the shards off her hand. Maggie stared at her girlfriend in confusion for a moment before looking back at the two women on the dance floor. Kara had always behaved strangely around Alex ever since she introduced them. The detective thought that is was Kara just being awkward since she did get awkward on occasion around new people, but it wasn’t that. She was missing something, something important. Glancing over at Kara, Maggie knew that the blonde would answer her questions if she asked, but for some reason, she felt it wouldn’t be right to query her on this subject. She was a detective, it was time for her to do some detective work.
“What was the point of this?” Kara whispered to Lucy as she looked down at her friend curiously.
“Just trying to make the wifey jealous, see what kind of person she is,” Lucy grinned, subtly glancing over at the auburn haired woman. “And it looks like it’s working, she is furious.”
Kara rolled her eyes and stepped away from the shorter woman. “You’re terrible,” she grumbled, walking back to the table.
Lucy smirked, “You love me and you know it.”
When they walked back over to the table, Maggie was helping Alex clean up the broken glass and spilled beer on the table. “I think it’s time for us to call it a night,” Maggie said, looking over at the two women. “This was fun though.”
“Yes, very fun, we should definitely do it again,” Lucy replied, her eyes twinkling.
Alex’s teeth ground together in her mouth, and bent the spoon she was holding in half. “Alex,” Maggie whispered, drawing her girlfriend’s attention. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, just… I’m fine,” the woman replied. Maggie frowned but decided not to say anything just yet. She knew who she had to ask for information, one of the few people in the world that knew Kara best and would tell her what she wanted to know.
The four women quickly paid for their meals and left the pub, Maggie and Alex splintering off towards the street while Kara and Lucy headed off across the plaza. A low humming sound filtered through Kara’s ears, causing her to slow down as she looked around to locate the noise. “Lucy,” she murmured, gripping her friend’s arm, “Something’s not right…”
“What is it?”
Kara glanced around again before her eyes snapped up, landing on the red robot hovering over them. “Shit, it’s Red Tornado,” she gasped, pulling Lucy backwards a little. She could see the targeting system on the android lock onto Lucy and it’s arms started spinning, generating power. “Luce, it’s targeting you!”
“You’ve got to get out of here,” Lucy ordered, “You’ve got to go be her while I serve as a distraction.”
“Don’t be stupid Lucy! That robot means serious business,” Kara yelled, knocking Lucy out of the way as a car flew at them.
“I know,” the smaller woman groaned out, “That’s why you have to go be a hero, and you can’t do that if you stay here!”
Kara looked at her friend for a moment before dashing off ending up a few blocks away before sprinting down a dark alley and changing into her suit. She took off back towards the plaza and found Lucy on the ground clutching her head with Maggie hovering over her protectively, her radio in her hand calling for backup and relaying updates on the situation. “Supergirl is currently on scene,” Maggie issued last before clicking off the device. “Supergirl, you have to try to contain that thing, the agency is already looking for a way to stop it.”
She read between the lines of Maggie’s statement, Alex had gone looking for the inventor of the machine, Dr. Morrow, to find a way to stop it. If she didn’t succeed, Kara would have to take care of it. The arms of the robot started spinning, creating several twisters of wind directed in concentrated blasts around the plaza. Supergirl raced around blocking people from flying debris and more concentrated blasts of air, but the more she time she spent doing that gave Red Tornado the opportunity to cause more damage.
The comm in her ear flared to life and Kara heard Lena’s voice through the speaker. “Just couldn’t give me this one evening could you,” the other woman grumbled. “You were supposed to be on a double date with your ex-girlfriend, your wife and her girlfriend.”
“I love that you’re continuously amused by my life,” Kara told her, “but I have a bit of a crisis right now.”
“I see that, I installed some transmission software in your mask so I can see what you see when I want. That robot, the military made that?”
“They claim it was an anti-insurgent device but I don’t know, it seems…”
“Seems a bit much for anti-insurgent technology, that’s what I was thinking, and it generated tornadoes with its body?”
Kara watched as the android looked at her for a few minutes before lifting up into her air, his entire lower body spinning. “Shit, he’s making a larger tornado.”
“Supergirl! I know that common wisdom will tell you to just speed in the opposite direction of the wind to stop it, but tornadoes are all made the same way. Recent studies suggest sending a burst of heat to the bottom or cold a the top will stop the tornado faster. You still have to stop the robot so you can’t spend all of your time on the tornado.”
Kara glanced at the spinning tornado and it headed down the street full of cars and fleeing bystanders. She quickly focused her heat vision at the very bottom of the tornado and the burst of superheated air started to unravel the whirlwind. Quickly flying to the top of the twister, she sent a blast of concentrated cold air to get rid of the last of the churning wind.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kara spotted Red Tornado flying away while she dealt with the twister, and quickly changed direction to go after it. The tornado had unraveled completely by the time she went after the android so she didn’t need to make the choice between catching the robot and protecting innocent people from harm. She broke the sound barrier charging after Red Tornado, latching onto it’s leg before it could go into stealth mode. The robot’s head twisted around and fired lasers out of its eyes towards her, causing her to let go and reel back. It hadn’t done that when she fought it before, why was an anti-insurgent weapon outfit with lasers in its eyes?
Using her speed to whirl behind the robot, Kara brutally laid into the back of the robot, slamming it back towards the ground. She swiftly followed with more brutal attacks, trying to get the robot to disengage. It seemed like the machine was dead set on search and destroy, so it would be impossible to stop it without destroying it. She didn’t know where Alex was on hunting down Dr. Morrow, but Kara needed to do something quick to get it to stop.
Supergirl pulled back and blew a blast of cold air at the robot’s head, disrupting his senses and targeting system before firing her heat vision towards its chest. When the metal was softened just enough, she wheeled back and sent her hand through the plate, wincing slightly at the pressure of the metal bending around her hand. It was stronger than it looked, designed specifically to withstand super strength, but it was no match for her. Kara had honed her superior strength under Diana’s careful supervision, she knew how to manage her strength, pulling power from different areas of her body. It was risky and would leave her slightly vulnerable while she recharged, but sometimes it was necessary.
Her fingers tangled in wires when she reached the interior of the android and she grabbed hold of them, ripping them out as she picked Red Tornado up and swiftly carried it out to the desert. Kara detected a rapid beeping coming from the inside of the robot, and instantly ripped its head off before tossing it away. The beeping quickened until the robot exploded, both the head and the body vaporizing in a ball of fire and shrapnel. She wondered briefly if it had a self-destruct function in case it was ever captured, hoping to take its enemy with it.
“Supergirl,” Lena’s voice sounded through the comm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Kara muttered breathlessly, “Yeah, I’m fine, Red Tornado is destroyed. I’m going back to the plaza to check on Lucy and Maggie.”
“I’m going back to sleep, let me know how everything goes in the morning,” her friend yawned out before the connection cut off. Kara took off back towards the city and searched the plaza for her friend, and found her heartbeat in one of the black SUVs pulling away from the scene. She followed them towards a tall building in the city, one a few miles away from the CatCo and L-Corp towers.
Kara touched down just in front of the SUVs as they slowed down, giving the occupants of the vehicles ample opportunity to spot her. The SUV in the front slowed to a stop and Lucy Lane gingerly stepped out of the back. As she approached, Kara nodded her head, “Major Lane.”
“Supergirl,” the woman greeted, “I take it that Red Tornado has been taken care of?”
“It is lying in a smolder pile in the desert,” the hero confirmed.
Lucy nodded, “Good, Agent Danvers succeeded in the successful capture of Dr. Morrow and found that he was partially controlling the android but was unable to stop it as he sent it in self-destruct mode. It turns out that General Lane had commissioned Red Tornado as an anti-Kryptonian weapon, claiming that it was to combat the hostile Kryptonians from Fort Rozz.” The look on her face told Kara exactly how much she believed what she was saying.
“What will happen to them then?” Kara asked.
“Dr. Morrow will be charged, but unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done about General Lane other than he will be issued a formal reprimand,” the major replied. “I would like to offer gratitude on behalf of the U.S. Army for dealing with the rogue element for us and to issue an apology that you were dragged into this mess in the first place.”
“Thank you Major Lane,” Kara nodded before taking off back towards her apartment. She was dead tired and all she wanted to do was pass out in her bed and sleep. She scratched Krypto behind the ears as the dog snoozed away in his box before stumbling into her apartment, stripping her suit off as she went. She was asleep long before her head hit the pillow.
“I didn’t expect to hear from you so quickly,” Maggie said, her voice vanishing in the darkness around her. She was on one of the viewing decks above National City bay, designed to allow tourists to get a good view of the bay and the drawbridge, along with the skyline of National City. It had been a few hours since the Red Tornado incident in the plaza, even longer since she sent that discreet text during dinner with Alex, Kara, and Lucy. She had been at the station filling out paperwork when she had received an answering reply, which is why she was waiting on the deck in the early AM hours.
“I was in the area,” a familiar voice came as Kate Kane melted out of the shadows and moved to stand next to her ex-girlfriend.
“In the area?” Maggie questioned, “Without telling Kara?” Kate didn’t reply, just continued staring out at the dark waters. “You don’t want Kara to know.”
“I was a few hours north,” the redhead answered, “Tracking some sellers of venom, seemed like they had set up shop in Star City and Coast City. When I got your text, I knew that it needed an immediate, face-to-face response rather than just another text.”
“So you are you going to answer my question?” The detective asked.
Kate thought for a moment, her eyes shifting to look at the woman, “Why didn’t you just ask Kara?”
“She’s too much like her mother, like a weird mixture of Cat Grant and a puppy. I would end up getting a lot of non-answers, pouting, and fidgeting.” Maggie stifled a smile and rolled her eyes, “And as amusing as that is to watch, I really do need answers.”
The other woman was silent for a moment before looking back at her, “What do you want to know?”
“Do you know my girlfriend Alexandra Danvers?”
A slight smile crossed her face and she shook her head, “No, I don’t know her.”
“But you’ve heard of her?”
“Kara mentioned you were dating someone, so yes.”
Maggie let out a sigh and turned fully to face her ex-girlfriend, “If I wanted non-answers, I would talk to Kara. You know I have ways to make you talk.”
“Most of which you can’t do while in a relationship,” Kate said unthinkingly, wincing at the hurt expression crossing Maggie’s face. “S-sorry,” she stuttered out. “I guess I’m just trying to figure this entire situation out.”
“Situation?”
Kate smiled wryly, “It’s not every day that your ex-fiancee calls you after not speaking to you for years, and she calls for help about her current girlfriend and your little sister.”
“I…” Maggie didn’t know what to say. It was an awkward situation but she didn’t know what else to do. “It’s not that I didn’t want to talk to you,” the shorter woman replied, licking her lips. “I just didn’t know how.”
The two were silent for a few minutes before Kate spoke again, “Why did you leave, walk away after years of dating as we were planning our wedding?”
“Would you believe that I was afraid?” The detective replied. “You, you scared me, still do really.” Maggie laughed humorlessly, “I love you so much, but you, you love with an intensity and passion, and it’s overwhelming at times. It was so easy to just fall into the love you offered without any restraint or hesitation. Eventually, I didn’t know how to live without it, loving you kept the pain at bay, the absence of my family, their disapproval about who I am…”
When her voice trailed off into silence for a few moments, Kate prompted her to speak again, “So what changed?”
Maggie sighed, “You kept throwing yourself into danger, chasing some of Gotham’s darkest and most dangerous villains, and I know you’re trained but it still scared me. Then you got hurt and I… I got scared. I didn’t know how to live without you, without you love, so…”
“So you walked away before anything could happen,” Kate finished sadly. “You cut yourself out before you were cut off.”
“I know it doesn’t fit with the badass, tough detective image I project, but I do get afraid, especially of losing people that I love.”
Silence stretched between them, heavy and tense, neither wanting to continue the conversation. “Kara and Alex are technically married,” Kate finally broke, “That’s what you wanted to know right? Why Kara is so weird around both of you, that’s why.”
The shorter woman stared at Kate incredulously, “What? Alex never said-”
“She doesn’t know,” Kate hurried out. “As far as Kara believes, Alex doesn’t remember.”
“Explain, now.”
“This was years ago, Wonder Woman had brought Kara back from training on Themyscira, and she had blown out her powers, again.”
Maggie chuckled, “She does that a lot doesn’t she?”
“Less often now, but probably because she’s blown them out more than necessary,” Kate rolled her eyes. “Lena was at my place waiting for her and somehow we ended up going to Vegas for a few days, and Kara met Alex…”
The detective groaned, “Don’t tell me, Kara, dear, sweet, lightweight Kara got drunk, and they ended up getting married.”
“And having wild crazy sex,” Kate confirmed. “Next morning when Kara woke up, Alex was gone and the only thing left was a smudge marriage license with Kara’s name and Danvers on it. Alex didn’t tell Kara her real name, just ‘Lexie.’ She only saw her briefly one night while at a club, but didn’t see her again until Agent Alexandra Danvers attempted to shoot her out of the sky with a Kryptonite dart.”
“Wha- seriously? The DEO tried to shoot Supergirl out of the sky?” Maggie gasped, shocked, “What if the Kryptonite had taken away her powers, she could’ve died!”
“I think you’re focusing on the wrong issue at present.”
Maggie held her hand up, “I’m still trying to process.” Her mind kept repeating the phrase ‘Kara and Alex are married’ over and over again, whirling it around, pushing it, prodding it, before it finally sank in. “Why didn’t she get an annulment?” She asked, “People get married in Vegas all the time.”
“Kryptonians are… well, basically all of Kryptonian marriages were arranged, so they were for life. Divorce is shameful in their culture, so any marriage Kara enters, even if it’s one of haste and drunken decisions…”
“Is a permanent one,” Maggie finished. “Why didn’t she ever say anything though?”
“She was probably thinking about your happiness,” Kate said, “Both of yours. She didn’t want to break up your relationship, especially since Alex didn’t remember her or the night they had, though Kara only remembers bits and pieces of it.”
“She’s too nice for her own good sometimes. She knew that Alex and I were more casually dating than anything else, really better friends than lovers, especially with how Alex has been reacting to Kara.” Maggie smirked a little, “She might not remember Kara, but she’s definitely attracted to her, and she’s definitely attracted to Supergirl, the times she’s chattered on and on about her, it’s rather amusing really.”
“You’re taking this rather well, better than expected really.”
Maggie smiled sadly, “I like Alex, I do, I love her really, but I’m not in love with her, and Kara and Alex, there’s something there, something that could be great any amazing if they got over themselves and actually talked to each other.” She let out a sigh, “I’m going to have to break up with Alex.”
“Are you going to tell her why?”
“I’m going to tell her my reasons,” Maggie confirmed, “But those have nothing to do with Kara and Alex actually being married. No, I realized something standing here talking to you that would make it impossible to keep up a relationship with her. I would rather break up with her now than risk losing her as my best friend. Everything else is really between her and Kara and really none of our business.”
Relief crossed Kate’s face and she closed her eyes, sending up a prayer of thanks to Rao that Maggie wouldn’t tell Alex what Kara was afraid to speak of, before her brain caught up to what her ex said. “Wait, what are your reasons?”
“If you paid attention, you’ll figure it out,” Maggie called as she walked back to her car, leaving Kate standing on the deck. She climbed into her car and leaned her forehead on the steering wheel, releasing a long sigh as the tension trained out of her body. She dreaded the conversation that she was about to face, one that will be more emotional and complicated than talking to her ex for many reasons. She only hoped that Alex understood, she couldn’t continue being in a relationship with her, not when she was still completely in love with Katherine Kane.
“So…” Alex started, drawing out the word, “We’re breaking up.”
“Yeah,” Maggie muttered, sipping at her bottle of beer. She had driven over to Alex’s place after her conversation with Kate, and sat in her car for a few minutes, thinking about how it was nearly 2 in the morning and she was about to break up with her best friend. It wasn’t a conversation that could really be put off though, so she found herself knocking on the apartment door only a few minutes later. Alex had been awake already, or still depending on how you looked at it, working on paperwork and nursing a beer and a pot of coffee.
“Is it something that I did or…”
“No!” Maggie rushed out, “No, it- this… I just realized some things that’s all. We’re… we’re really better as friends aren’t we? Don’t lie, we don’t really have the passion that many couples together have.”
Alex made to refute but she just thought about Maggie’s words and hung her head. “You’re right,” she replied, “It sucks but you’re right, I guess we always were better as friends, more friends with benefits these past few months.”
“Pretty fun benefits though,” Maggie winked and gave the auburn haired woman a wide grin with full dimples showing. It dimmed slightly when she remembered the conversation they were having, “I just… I realized this was unfair to keep doing this.”
“Is this about how I acted at dinner?” Alex asked, “With Kara and Lucy, and the whole… beer bottle incident.”
Maggie smirked, “Not really, though Danvers, you have got it bad and really need to get that sorted out. No I just realized that while I do love you, I’m not in love with you.”
“You still love her don’t you?” Alex asked, “Your ex-fiancee?”
“Kate? Yes, still do, probably always will. I don’t know if I deserve her after what I did, deserve her forgiveness, but I want to try. You deserve better than someone who’s heart belongs to someone else.”
The agent bumped Maggie’s shoulder lightly, a small smile on her face, “Awe Sawyer, that might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” She wiped away at a tear that was threatening to roll down her face, “And Kane would be lucky to have you, you know? You’re a hell of a woman.”
“You say the nicest things Danvers,” she replied, returning the bump to the shoulder. “So we’re good, friends?”
“Can’t get rid of me that easy, how else are you going to plan to woo the elusive Kate Kane.”
Maggie waved her hand, “Oh no, that will come when it comes. I definitely need some time to myself though to work through why I walked out on Kate in the first place, that is something that I need to get over. No, what we will be working on is your game plan for Kara.”
“Wha- What game plan?” Alex stuttered, choking on her coffee. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Right, and you crushed a bottle of beer in your hand just because you were happy about seeing Kara dancing with Major Lucy Lane, her introduced ex-girlfriend.” Alex grit her teeth at the mention of the major’s name and Maggie smirked. “See?” She pointed out, “My point exactly.”
Alex waved her hand, “Okay, okay, so I may have a tiny, tiny crush on Kara, it isn’t a big deal.”
“Oh no Danvers, this is a big deal,” Maggie proclaimed, “You are going to keep getting to know Kara, and since you are officially unattached now, you are going to woo her, turn up the Danvers’s charm.”
“Danvers’s charm?”
“Of course,” the detective said with a wink, “You learned it from me after all.”