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For the first time since the first time, Maggie Sawyer walks into her bar and is immediately met with silence. They know she’s not an alien – not their kind of alien, at least. And when she had first stumbled upon this place they had made it known she wasn’t welcome. Maggie’s mom always called her sandpaper, though: Rough around the edges, but she can smooth down corners quickly. And that’s what she had done. She smoothed them down until they accepted her as one of their own.
She made herself a home.
And now it’s icy cold again and her ex won’t serve her and Maggie doesn’t understand.
“Okay,” she says, slamming a fist down on the bar. It’s been nearly two weeks and no one will talk to her. “Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Why don’t you ask your new friend,” a shadow at the end of the bar says. He pulls back his hood a little and she can see the beginning of his beard.
“What are you talking about?”
He pulls his hood back further and she can’t hide her wince at the bruising on his face. “Your friend,” he repeats. “This is her calling card, isn’t it?”
“Say again?”
“Punch now, ask later,” he says. “That’s how she got Scorcher’s name. I mean, if she had been a little nicer, I would have just-“
Maggie holds up a hand to stop him. “Alex did this to you?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know your plaything’s name. I do know if I see her again, I’ll-“
She cuts him off again with a laugh. “Oh my god, dude. It looks like she kicked your ass to another planet and back again.” She sips her beer and laughs again. “Like, really kicked your ass.”
He sits back, his pride wounded. “Well, if you hadn’t gone and gotten yourself kidnapped by Scorcher, of all the stupid aliens, then I wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Maggie sips her beer, thinking. “Wait. She beat you up because…”
“Because I wouldn’t tell her who took you,” he fills in.
“She beat you up because she…” She frowns. “Why are you telling me all of this?”
“I don’t want her coming back in her and tossing me around again. Once in three lifetimes is enough.”
Maggie smirks into her pint glass and fishes her phone out of her pocket. She thumbs through it until she finds Alex’s name and she opens a new message. Instead of typing, she slides across the bar and steps behind the guy, snapping a quick picture and firing it off.
He groans and pulls his hood back over his head. Maggie tips the bartender, pays for his next drink, and heads out into the night.
---
Maggie glances over at Alex for the fifth time in as many minutes. The speed they're driving is reckless, if not deadly. Maggie's legs are braced under the dash and she's trying for casual but she's been holding onto the side rail of the door since Alex's boss, Hank, called and told them the news: Maxwell Lord has kidnapped Supergirl.
She almost wants to tell Alex to slow down, to wait for backup. She knows its not coming; Lord told them not to come and get Supergirl. He said he would release her when he was done. Done what, no one knew. It looked like Alex didn't want to find out.
"Sorry," Alex grumbled as she took a turn. A tractor trailer truck hydroplaned by them, the water pooled on the road shooting up into Maggie's window like gunfire.
Finally, Maggie can't stand it.
"Danvers, slow down," she says between clenched teeth. They slide around a few cars, zipping through the wrong side of the road.
Alex ignores her.
"Dammit, Alex." Maggie slaps the dashboard as they narrowly miss a pedestrian. "We won't save her if we die on our way there."
Something about that registers with Alex and Maggie feels the engine slow - but barely. Maggie still sighs in relief, her body letting down a little of its guard. She glances over at Alex again and feels a burst of sympathy bloom in her chest. Something about the set of Alex's shoulders and the way her jaw is clenched; it makes Maggie reach over and squeeze her white-knuckled hand on the steering wheel.
"We'll find her," she says quietly.
Alex grunts in response, never taking her eyes off the road. The sirens above them wail into the night and going slower now, cars are moving out of their way.
They reach the abandoned warehouse district where Supergirl's locator last pinged. Maggie flips off the sirens. Alex slows the car down and when it comes to a stop, she shuts off the running lights. They sit in the car in the dark for a moment, taking in the seemingly-empty warehouses and the dark roads between them.
"Where do you think he would be?" she asks quietly.
"Somewhere obvious. Lord," Alex says through gritted teeth, "is not as subtle as he would like to think he is."
Maggie nods. She's met him quite a few times and she likes him less and less every time she does. So maybe it has something to do with a cute blond who was perfectly happy with a metro cop until Maxwell Lord came along, but Maggie won't admit that out loud. "So we'll scout from here until backup comes."
"We're not waiting," Alex says, pushing out of the car. Her gun is in her hand before the door is even closed.
Maggie swears and follows her out of the vehicle, sweeping in front of Alex to stop her. "Wait. Just, wait."
"Maggie, this isn't the time."
Maggie steps in front of Alex again when she tries to sidestep her. "No, listen. You want to go in there - just the two of us - and take down Maxwell Lord. The same Maxwell Lord who is currently holding Supergirl, a hero, hostage?"
Alex stares her down for a minute, then nods. "Yes."
Maggie sighs. "Shit, Danvers." She steps to the side and checks her weapon, flipping the safety on and off and on again. "We do make a great team," she says.
Alex offers her a quick smirk and then stalks ahead of her into the darkness.
"A crazy-ass team," Maggie continues to herself. "But a damn good one."
She rushes after Alex, nearly bumping into her around the first corner. Alex nods towards the lit warehouse silently, motioning with two fingers to go forward. They slip between the alleyways and press up against the warehouse Alex pointed out. The windows are hastily boarded but the light spilling out is enough for them to see that there are a few armed guards and another door behind them.
Alex holsters her gun and pulls another weapon out of the back of her waistband.
Maggie whistles lowly. "Has that been there the whole time?" Alex rolls her eyes and produces another of the same weapon from her side pocket. "Danvers, Danvers. You know how dangerous it is to have that there? You'll blow your ass off. And it's too fine of an ass." Maggie smirks. "We're gonna have to talk later about the proper way to holster your weapon."
This time, Alex scoffs and looks down. But Maggie can see the corners of her mouth turn up in something like a smile.
"Tranquilizer gun," Alex explains. "We don't want to kill them, just knock them out." She taps the holster on her side. "This is for Lord."
"We'll get Supergirl first. Kill Lord later," Maggie instructs.
Alex doesn't acknowledge her. She slips inside a loosely bolted down door and Maggie follows, immediately gagging at the smell of some rotting animal. Alex just glides forward ahead of her and Maggie finds herself following, pressed close against Alex's back. She can hear Alex breathing and feel the heat coming off her, even through the Kevlar she's wearing. Maggie shivers slightly in her leather jacket.
She's learning more and more about Alex Danvers every day that passes: Pot stickers are a must, but never pork rolls. Whisky on a bad day and beer when they're celebrating. She's seen Alex the Pool Player and Alex the Special Agent and even Alex the Enforcer, thinking back to hearing about that guy at the bar. But this Alex Danvers is new. Maggie studies this Alex, looking every bit of a nighttime vigilante, sliding through the shadows. This Alex is like Jessica Jones going after Trish Walker - focused, determined, and scared. It's hard to see it, but Maggie has spent her whole life looking at people, studying them. And this Alex is so determined but there's a tremor of fear in her shoulders. Maggie almost reaches out to steady her but adjusts her grip on the tranq gun instead.
"On my count," Alex breathes out.
Maggie waits and when Alex gets to a silent 3, she charges after her, firing at the right while Alex goes left. The three guards go down smoothly and quietly. Maggie steps over them and into the next room. Alex isn't subtle here. She lifts a leg and pushes through the frame. It comes down with a crash that startles Maggie just a moment.
"I knew you'd come," she walks into Lord saying.
"Let her go," Alex demands. Her gun is up, her eyes on him.
Maggie circles the room in the opposite direction, closer to Supergirl. There's a nasty, green gash on her forehead that's oozing. Maggie nods minutely at Alex and continues towards Supergirl while Alex circles Lord.
"It's a shame you won't answer my calls, Alex. I had to go some extreme measures this time," Lord says casually. He puts his hands in his pockets as if he doesn't have a gun aimed at his heart.
"I told you, if you touched her-"
"Death, doom, destruction," Lord says dismissively. "Yes, I've heard it all before."
Alex levels the gun as Maggie gets closer to Supergirl. She scans the area quickly and doesn't see any threats. She holsters her tranq gun and loosens the lead threads around Supergirl's wrist.
"Now, if you would listen to my proposal, Alex, I think you'd find that-"
The rest of his sentence is lost around Alex's fist as it hits him straight mouth. He crumples to the floor, clutching his jaw. Maggie tries not to snicker and focuses instead on hoisting the surprisingly light Supergirl up enough to get her out of the chair.
"Alex," Supergirl mumbles.
"She's taking care of your friend there," Maggie answers. "Come with me, Supergirl. We're gonna get you out of here."
She glances back over her shoulder at Alex, crouched in a fighting stance, daring Lord to stand up. She hesitates, wondering if she should pull Alex out of there. Supergirl sags in her arms, though, and Maggie decides against it. Alex is a big girl and she can handle herself. Instead, she tugs Supergirl back towards the door they came in and she leans them up against it. Alex is circling Lord and when he stands, she strikes, kicking him in the back of the knee. He collapses like a folding chair. Maggie tries to hide her smirk but Supergirl outright snickers. Lord holds up a hand to ask Alex for a minute but she strikes again; this time it’s a hard jab across his cheekbones.
“Agent Danvers,” Lord tries. “She’s expendable.” He gestures to Supergirl. “You’re the real thing.”
Alex growls and rushes him, kicking and punching. She pulls him up and slams him down and Maggie barely feels it when Supergirl nudges her, she’s so shocked and intrigued and utterly fascinated with Alex right now.
“Break it up,” Supergirl rasps.
Maggie pushes off the wall and catches Alex around the arm next time she pulls back to punch. “Okay, Danvers. That’s enough.” Alex struggles in her grip and Maggie pulls her back again, wrapping her up in a hug from behind. “It’s over,” she says into Alex’s ear. “It’s done.”
Alex goes slack for a moment before she straightens up again, sliding out of Maggie’s grip and adjusting her shirt. She looks back at Maxwell Lord, bleeding and keeled over, and she nods.
“Okay. I’m done.” Alex pulls at Supergirl’s face, checking for another signs of injuries. She carefully wipes the green goo away with her sleeve, her hand lingering on Supergirl’s cheek.
Maggie feels like she’s intruding now.
“You’re okay?” Alex asks.
Supergirl nods. “Sore.”
“Kryptonite,” Alex confirms. She throws one of Supergirl’s arms over her shoulder and gestures at Maggie. “Help me?”
Maggie slides in and they start out the door into the dark alleyways.
“Stupid,” Supergirl says to Alex.
Maggie nods in agreement. “Kinda hot, though,” she adds casually.
Supergirl looks at her sharply and then looks at Alex.
Maggie takes the backseat on the ride to the DEO.
---
It’s not her first time in the DEO, but it never really stops being cool. As a kid, she had grown up wanting to be a secret spy. She had settled for the police academy and then worked her ass off to be on the meta-human task force, but that paled in comparison to the lights and the wonder of the DEO.
“Sawyer, keep up,” Alex shouts over her shoulder. “Most of this is still classified, you know.”
Maggie catches up until she bumps shoulders with Alex. “Classified,” she snorts. “You know people all over the internet speculate about this place. It’s weird that they’re so on point.”
Alex rolls her eyes and nods to the left. “Sparring room is that way. You still think you can take me?”
“I’m no Maxwell Lord, honey,” Maggie spits back. “I could take you blindfolded.”
Alex stares at her for a moment before she shakes her head and cracks a small smile. “You can try.”
She follows Alex into a small gym space. There’s a mat bolted to the floor and a cabinet full of gloves in the corner. She drops her gym back onto the bench and feels out of place. When she invited Alex to come work out with her, she hadn’t expected Alex to turn it around and invite her to the DEO. She feels out of place; under her leather jacket she’s sporting an old community college shirt that she tore into a cutoff and a pair of shorts under her ratty sweats. Alex is in some type tracksuit that doesn’t look ridiculous, though it probably should. It’s sleek and black and maybe that’s why Alex is able to get her first shot in.
Maggie shakes the stars from her eyes and shakes her arms out. She bounces on the tips of her toes and dances away from Alex.
“Come on, Sawyer. I thought you were better than that,” Alex goads her.
Maggie narrows her eyes. “Alright. Alright. Come on, then.”
Alex grins wickedly at her and charges, throwing heavy punches at Maggie’s left side and quick jabs at Maggie’s right. Maggie goes on the defensive, trying to block the body shots. She tries to back out of it but she feels the edge of the mat at the back of her heels. She won’t go out of the circle and concede. Instead, she takes a deep breath in and surges forward, catching Alex around the middle and taking her to the ground. She rolls onto her back and locks her legs around Alex’s, moving with the frustrated thrashing Alex tries to use to get out of the hold.
“Cheating,” Alex grits out.
Maggie laughs a little and loosens her grip just to readjust and roll so that she’s got Alex on the ground on her back. She pauses, hovering above her, panting.
“Danvers,” she says quietly.
Alex’s chest rises and falls rapidly. “Sawyer.”
“You give?”
Alex looks between them, at the nonexistent space there. She looks back up at Maggie, licking her lips. Maggie feels her entire body on alert.
She’s not expecting the push, though.
A light goes off in the corner of the room and Alex pushes her to the side, sitting up suddenly. “Wounded agent,” she says quickly. “J’o- Hank was out in the field.” She scrambles to her feet and Maggie lays flat on her back for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She sits up and follows after Alex, pulling only her sweats on over her shorts. She follows after Alex and tries not to shiver when they get to the main room of the DEO where there’s air conditioning. Alex pads towards a girl Maggie vaguely remembers as Vasquez and asks what’s going on.
The clatter behind them answers the question. A gurney comes in and the Winn kid is sitting on it, his face pale compared to the bright red gash across his forehead. Alex rushes to meet him.
“What happened?” she asks, taking a chart from the side of the gurney.
“It’s nothing,” Winn grumbles. The gurney comes to a stop and Maggie moves closer, taking the clipboard from Alex when she’s done scanning it.
“Blow to the head. Possible concussion,” Maggie reads outloud. “Assaulted by a…” She looks up. “A flying Jimmy Choo?”
Alex ignores her and pushes the sweat-slick mop of Winn’s hair off his forehead. “Contusion to the frontal bone. No stiches required. Who did it?” she asks as she fusses over him.
Maggie steps back a little, staring as Alex runs her fingertips along Winn’s forehead, behind his ears and down his neck. She didn’t think Alex was all into the whole Mother Hen routine, but she seems to be clucking at Winn like she’s been doing it her whole life.
Winn grumbles something Maggie can’t make out. Alex must not hear him either because she looks up and asks him to repeat himself.
“I said,” Winn starts. “It was Siobhan.”
“Siobhan Smythe,” Alex repeats slowly.
“Silver Banshee?” Maggie asks. “She’s locked up in Metro…”
Winn has the decency to look sheepish. “It was visiting day. I thought I’d surprise her.”
Alex crosses her arms over her chest and stares him down until he wilts under her glare. Maggie smiles and drops the chart back on the gurney. If she had known Alex was going to tear Winn a new one, she would have made popcorn.
Instead, Alex sighs and fixes Winn’s hair. “You need to be more careful. If Kara found out-“
“I know,” Winn says. “I will be.”
Alex nods at him and brushes by Maggie. “Come on, Sawyer. I was just about to kick your ass.”
Maggie scoffs and follows Alex back to the sparring room.
---
Maggie doesn’t wait to gauge Alex’s reaction. She reaches forward and rests her fingertips on Alex’s wrist gently before she takes her hand and squeezes.
“He’ll be fine,” she says quietly.
Alex doesn’t look away from the window of the small operating room. Hank Henshaw lays flat on his back, wires in every direction.
Not Hank, Maggie reminds herself. A Martian. His name is J’onn.
“He’s a goddamn Martian. He’ll be fine,” she repeats.
Alex’s hand turns in hers, their fingers lacing together. They’re shoulder to shoulder in the window, watching the DEO doctors work. They were having a Twilight Zone marathon when Winn called in to say there were a security breach and Hank – J’onn – was injured.
“What if he doesn’t-“
Maggie shakes her head and stops Alex with a squeeze of her hand. “Don’t. He’ll be fine.”
“He has to be,” Alex whispers.
Maggie feels Alex sag a little into her side. “You love him,” she says.
“He’s just…” She trails off. “I just…”
“You love him,” Maggie repeats. “That’s okay to admit.”
Alex wipes furiously at her face before any of the tears in her eyes can fall. “I want to know what happened,” she says.
Maggie shakes her head. “Not now, Alex. Now is the time to wait.”
Alex’s hand tenses in hers. “Waiting is useless.” She starts to move but Maggie tightens her grip, holding her in place. “Maggie, stop. I’m going to go find out what happened.”
Maggie turns and grabs Alex by the shoulders. “Listen. I know you’re hurting and I know you want to make someone else hurt too. And that’s cool. Like, I get that. But J’onn wouldn’t want you out there trying to beat down everyone who looks at you funny. He’d want you here, waiting for him.”
Alex looks away from her for a moment and then looks back. “No. He would want me out there kicking ass.”
“He wouldn’t want you going on a suicide mission,” Maggie counters.
Alex closes her mouth at that and sighs.
“He knows you care. Even if you’re just standing here instead of leaving a wake of destruction through National City.”
Alex turns back to the window and watches as the doctors fiddle with buttons and adjust wires. “Okay,” she whispers.
Maggie nods. “Okay.”
---
There’ve been many nights where they’ve gone out, just the two of them. Maggie clocks out on time those nights and spends just a few extra minutes in front of the mirror, making sure her jacket is perfectly rugged. Alex always meets her at the same table in the same bar – not Maggie’s bar, though. It’s kind of an unspoken agreement.
Tonight, there’s a guy at the end of the bar that reminds Maggie of Maxwell Lord. He’s smarmy and trying too hard and he gives Maggie the creeps. She keeps an eye on him and watches him hit on woman after woman. By the time Maggie has put down three rum and cokes – Alex sips hers slowly, like it’s the last drink she’ll ever have – he’s getting a little pushy with a woman who just isn’t interested.
Maggie nods towards him. “That guy seems like trouble.”
Alex turns around in her chair and makes a face. “He probably is. You should say something.”
Maggie frowns. She watches him reach for the woman and grab a hold of her arm. The woman tries to pull away but he won't let go. Maggie heads to the end of the bar where she loops a lazy arm around the woman and tugs gently. When the guy tries to follow, she cradles the back of his head in her hand and draws him forward, his forehead connecting with the bar top. The woman thanks her and she goes back to her seat to find a fresh rum and coke waiting for her.
"I'm surprised you didn't do something," Maggie says as she sits back down.
Alex cocks her head to one side. “What’re you talking about?”
“I thought you were all admirable and for the people, by the people.” Alex frowns.
“You know,” Maggie says. “You’re always kicking ass. In the name of Justice and stuff.”
Alex laughs. “No I’m not.”
“You are,” she says as she sits back down next to Alex. “I have literally seen you beat up people because they so much as looked funny at someone else. I mean, you went Fight Club on Maxwell Lord. You put Siobhan Smythe up against a wall – oh yeah, I know about that. I’m a Metro cop. Word gets around when an ‘FBI’ agent shows up. You even took out that shape shifting alien who used J’onn like a coat hanger. Plus there was the guy who wouldn’t give you Scorcher’s name.” Maggie nods in satisfaction. “You’re all for one and one for Justice.”
Alex tosses back the last sip of her drink with a flick of her wrist and slams it down on the bar top. “I only beat people up if I really like you,” she says casually.
Maggie tries her best not to choke on her drink but it still burns as it comes out of her nose.
---
Maggie has always had this one dream, for as long as she can remember. It starts with a wide shot of a beach, the kind her mother used to show her pictures of. It’s all sandy-white shores and bubbling seafoam. And in the distance, there’s a buoy floating, bobbing up and down in the water. Maggie is always tied to the buoy and every time it dips into the water, she ends up with a mouthful. Just as she’s about to swallow her last drop of air, a horse appears on the beach. She can never see the person riding it – there’s long flowing hair, though. She always remembers that. And even though she always wakes up just as she’s being pulled to shore, she knows she’s being rescued.
In the end, in reality, there’s no beach and there’s no horse and her rescuer doesn’t have that long, flowing hair Maggie used to dream about.
Instead, Alex Danvers kicks in the door to the basement where she’s being held captive. Her hair is tucked away under a DEO ballcap and the thing blowing in the door beside her is superhero, not a horse.
“Maggie,” she hears Alex shout.
She’s weak but she manages to make a noise over the t-shirt shoved in her mouth.
Maggie hears Alex crashing through items in her way. She barely manages to look up as Alex comes into view. The relief on her face is instantaneous and she drops to her knees in front of Maggie.
“Oh, thank God,” she breathes out, frantically grabbing at the cuffs around Maggie’s wrists. “You missed the check in.” She rips the dry cotton out of Maggie’s mouth.
“Evil,” she rasps as fresh air hits her lungs for the first time in 36 hours.
Alex holds Maggie’s face steady in her hands, her eyes scanning every inch of her. “You’re okay,” she says, as if she doesn’t believe it.
Maggie nods slowly. “You came,” she manages to get out. Her lungs burn.
Alex’s eyes are wet and she blinks rapidly. “Of course I did.”
Maggie sags a little. “Alex Danvers. You care.”
Even as Alex leans in, Maggie is still holding her breath, waiting for the inevitable moment where is going to wake up from this dream.
“I care,” Alex agrees before she kisses her.
Maggie’s hands grip Alex’s utility belt, trying to pull her closer. Alex’s hands slide down the back of her neck and she’s kissing Maggie like she’s fragile, like she’ll break. Maggie whines a little, pressing harder against Alex’s mouth and sighing when Alex kisses back.
Finally she pulls back, resting her forehead against Alex’s.
“How many?” Maggie asks.
Alex frowns, rocking back on her heels, Maggie’s face still in her hands. “How many what?”
Maggie manages something close to a smirk. “How many people did you go through to get here?”
Alex holds her gaze, her thumb stroking Maggie’s cheekbone slightly. “Every single one of them,” she says.
Maggie smiles.