Chapter Text
Saturday afternoon, just after he'd gotten back from lunch, James's phone buzzed with a text from Winn:
>Its done
Instantly, James felt his heart rate spike with excitement. There was only one thing Winn could mean, it was all they'd talked about for the last week. James quickly unlocked his phone and sent him an answer.
Meet me at 4. My place<
Winn replied a second later with a thumbs up emoji.
James grinned and set his phone down, trying to focus on the paperwork before him. He didn't know what Cat had been thinking, making him CEO as well as Editor in Chief. Editing he could do, but business had never been his strong suit. At least Eve seemed to have a handle on that side of things, though James felt bad leaning so heavily on her. Maybe he could talk to the board, recommend her for a more managerial position. That way, he could officially delegate those tasks to her without feeling guilty over her assistant's salary. He filed that thought away for the next board meeting and scanned the summary she'd written and attached to the document.
Eventually, 3:30 rolled around and James's weekend shift was finally over. Even though they were only half the length of his usual eight, they somehow always left him more tired than his normal shifts. Still, news didn't stop happening just because it was a weekend. James finished proofreading Monday's issue of CatCo Magazine and handed it back to Eve with his stamp of approval. Cat would be happy to know things were running exactly as she'd left them.
James drove home, fingers tapping restlessly against his steering wheel as his anticipation grew. Luckily the commute wasn't long, he'd chosen his apartment partially due to it's short distance from work. He parked, and went up to unwind while he waited for Winn to arrive. Fifteen minutes, give or take, which meant James had a chance to grab a drink and sit down. He dropped onto his sofa and sighed, popping the lid off his beer. Ten minutes later, there was a knock on his door and James chuckled as he went to open it. Apparently, Winn was excited as he was.
"You are going to love this," Winn promised as he stepped inside. He was carrying a silver briefcase by one hand. "This suit is dope."
"Hell yeah," James said, and followed him to the kitchen. Winn set the briefcase on the island and turned it away from James as he unlatched it. James tried to move around the island to look inside, but Winn sharply turned it away.
"Come on, man," he whined. "The reveal." James laughed and raised his hands in surrender as he backed away, circling the island until he was standing opposite Winn. Satisfied, Winn lifted the lid of the case and grinned. "Okay. First, the boots."
Winn reached into the case and withdrew a pair of dark grey boots. Well, "boots" was a generous term. They looked more like a pair of calf-high slippers than anything. As Winn passed them across the counter, James eyed them skeptically. The sole was soft, and flexible, but it did seem a but thicker than the rest of the shoe. He could see them being easy to sneak around in, but they didn't look to be a huge improvement over a few layered pairs of socks.
Winn saw his doubt, but wasn't discouraged. "Go on, try them out."
James glanced at him, then bent down and pulled the boots on over his socks. Well, they were certainly comfortable. He rocked up and down, feeling the cushion beneath his feet. Okay, he might have misjudged them. "They feel good."
"Try stomping," Winn suggested. James raised an eyebrow, then raised one leg up. With one last glance, he stomped down with considerable force. He expected a dull thud, maybe a bit quieter due to the soft and thick sole, but instead the sound was more akin to someone striking the floor with a feathery pillow. James's eyebrows shot up to his forehead and he stomped a few more times, each resulting in nothing more than a soft fwump.
"It absorbs kinetic energy, and dissipates it across the entire surface area," Winn explained. "The suit does the same thing, which should soften any punches thrown your way. It has limits though. It can still be cut through, and it's not bulletproof."
James nodded solemnly. "Okay."
Winn returned the nod, and his smile returned. "Speaking of..."
He reached back into the briefcase and pulled out what was, ostensibly, a matte blueish-gray catsuit. Again, James had his doubts, but the boots had proven his initial judgments unreliable so he kept his mouth shut as Winn handed it to him. The fabric was thicker than he'd expected, like a thick sweater. It was soft, too, but there were sections that it had a more rigid skeleton underneath. The chest had a few, forming separated plates that would move as he breathed. The stomach had none though, and his limbs would only be protected from certain angles and from the joint inwards.
"That's Kevlar," Winn told him. "But it's a precaution more than anything. Between that and the kinetic absorption, you should be able to shrug off a small-caliber bullet. I'll have to repair the suit afterwards, though, and anything bigger will punch right through it so be careful."
James bobbed his head. "Alright." He'd already promised as much, and his ribs still ached whenever he did a pushup, so he wasn't going to object to that particular condition. He held the suit up to eye-level and examined it. It wasn't exactly stealthy, as light gray as it was. "You said this thing changes color?"
"Hold on," Winn told him, and left James holding the catsuit while he went over and turned off the lights in James's apartment.
James frowned, unable to see except for the faint light shining through his windows. "What-"
"Wait for it," Winn urged him. They sat in silence for a full ten seconds, with Winn counting under his breath. After the mysterious count, he flicked the lights back on and grinned. "Check it out."
James looked down and blinked. The suit was black now. Not only that, but he could see the fabric lightening before his eyes, returning to that blueish-gray from before. James laughed in amazement, "Holy sh*t."
"It's awesome, right? See the blue? That's cause you've got your lights set to a cool temperature. If you set them to a warmer one, the suit would turn yellow."
"Holy sh*t," James repeated. He held it back up, comparing the now-static color to the rest of his apartment. He'd stand out like a sore thumb in a room, but from any significant distance he'd blend in with the horizon. Darkness would obviously enhance the effect, but even during the day he'd be hard to spot.
"You haven't even seen the mask yet," Winn told him, and James lowered the suit to look as Winn reached in one last time and removed the final piece of James's suit. "The pièce de résistance. This thing took me the better part of the week to put together, so you better appreciate it."
James reached out and accepted the mask, almost reverently. The front of it was rigid and smooth, like the face of a mannequin, save for two lenses that protruded from its eye sockets. Each lens was about an inch wide and opaque from the outside, reflecting light with a faint green tinge. The lenses were asymmetrical: the left eye protruded just barely out of the socket, but the right was perhaps twice as long. James brushed his fingers across the rims of the lenses, careful not to smudge the glass. He turned it around, lifted it up to his head, and paused. "Can I?"
Winn grinned. "Go ahead man, it's yours."
James took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slid the mask on. The rigid skeleton extended over the top of his head, stopping just short of the base of his skull. James kept his eyes closed as he rotated his neck, feeling the range of movement. It was good, so good. Winn had done an amazing job on the fit. James wasn't sure how he'd gotten the measurements so perfect, but it felt like a second skin. Then he opened his eyes.
The world was in crystal-sharp focus, with only slight warping around the edges of his vision. He looked around the kitchen, admiring the clarity of his vision. Then, he fixed his eyes back on Winn, who was watching him with bated breath. "Well?"
"It's perfect." Instantly, James's hand went to his throat. "Whoah."
Winn cackled. "Haha, yes! It works! Dude you sound awesome!"
"How did you-" James felt around his mouth. There was a speaker there, or something. On his chin, beneath the fabric, he suddenly felt a button. Lacking any other course of action, he pressed it. "Did that-" He frowned. Now nothing was coming out of the speaker, not even his normal voice. And, with the mask's dampening properties, his voice was completely muted.
"That's the mute button," Winn belatedly informed him. "So we can talk on comms without being overheard."
Winn's voice sounded off, James noticed. It was practically impossible to tell, but there was something about it. Then he realized: in order to hear through the mask's noise-dampening properties, there would have to be a microphone attached near the outside of the mask, and speakers inside by his ears. James unmuted himself and told Winn, "You are incredible."
Winn's cheeks turned red. "Thanks."
James touched the lenses again, feeling the asymmetrical lengths. "What's with the eyes?"
"Oh yeah! Feel around the side."
Curiously, James reached up and felt around on either side. By his temples, he found more buttons, a two on each side.
"Left controls your zoom, front button zooms in, back zooms out. Right one's a little different. Front toggles night vision, and then the back button takes a picture of whatever you're looking at."
James zoomed in and out on Winn's face to test it out. It wasn't much, no more than 3x, but it would be damn handy for surveillance. Then he activated night vision, watching as the world was plunged into greyscale. It was some kind of infrared, he quickly determined, judging by the way Winn seemed to glow with his own internal light. James had done some infrared photography before, though those images had been still shots and were heavily edited after the fact. This was a live feed.
Or was it? There was no way he was looking at a screen, not with that much definition. Curiously, James reached back up and took a picture, hearing the quiet snick of a shutter in his ear. Baffled, he took the mask off and turned it to stare at the lenses. "How the hell does this even work?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Winn confessed. "I cobbled it together from a set of DEO-issue night vision goggles. Something about holograms, and using them to alter the wavelengths of light that pass though them? Way over my head, and definitely alien. Anyway, I figured out how to take, what's basically a screenshot, by turning the holographic feedback into a virtual image of whatever you're looking at. Took me seven hours all by itself."
James stared at him in disbelief. Seven hours, less than a day of work, to reverse engineer a piece of alien software and find a new application for it. He shook his head. "You're... you're insane, man. This is insane."
Winn smiled broadly. "You like it?"
"I love it," James corrected. "Thank you."
"No problem," Winn said. "So, have you thought of a name?"
Oh yeah, that. James looked down at the mask in his hands. "I don't know about a name," he confessed. His ego screamed for one, for a brand to to be recognized by. But the lingering ache of his broken ribs spelled out exactly what a bad idea it was to let his ego make the decisions. It was part of the reason he wanted Winn there beside him, to be his voice of reason. "I mean, the whole point of this is that I'm anonymous, right?"
Winn was visibly disappointed as he said, "I guess so. But, you're gonna get a name either way. I mean," he chuckled, "there aren't exactly many informants with your M.O. of high quality surveillance photos."
"Okay," James said, nodding. As long as Winn thought it was a good idea. He grinned. "So, what kind of name did you have in mind?"
"Well," Winn reasoned. "If you want to get it out there, you're gonna have to start signing your evidence drops. So we want something that looks good as a signature. Like, "signed, a concerned citizen"."
James raised an eyebrow. "You want me to be the Concerned Citizen?"
Winn waved his hand. "No, obviously not. I just meant-"
"Yeah," James cut him off. "Something descriptive. Like... the Photographer."
"Says the famous photographer," Winn objected. "They'll figure you out in a heartbeat. What about something spooky, like the Watcher?"
"Eh." James wasn't sure about spooky. He didn't want people scared of him.
"Hm..." Winn drummed his fingers on the countertop. "You helped out Superman a bunch, right? Didn't you have some kind of codename for that?"
"Mostly I was just Jimmy," James replied, then he hummed in thought. "Though, when we were around other people, talking about something Clark learned through his powers, we always used to say it was a confidential informant who told us." He chuckled, remembering. "We came up with a whole backstory for him. Joked about what he was up to while we were at work."
"Okay?"
James pulled himself away from memory lane and leaned forward. "Well what about that, as a name? The Informant?"
Winn tilted his head. "It's accurate. Simple. Not very flashy though, kind of understated."
"I'm supposed to be understated," James reminded him. "And the Informant sounds helpful. The Watcher sounds like I'm spying on people."
"You kind of are spying on people," Winn pointed out.
"Yeah, criminals, I'm not just looking through peoples' windows."
Winn raised his hands up. "Okay." Lowering them, he continued. "It's your name, dude. If you want to be known as the Informant, that's your decision."
James looked back down at the mask. That was why he became a photojournalist, after all. Because he wanted to inform people, and a picture was worth a thousand words. And, really, not much had changed, had it? He slid the mask on and nodded. "Yeah, I like it. The Informant."
Alex took long, quick strides as she sped through the halls of the DEO, a bundle of files tucked under her arm. With all the anticipation of her conversation with Maggie, and all the complicated feelings afterwards, she had completely forgotten to actually file any of the paperwork she'd gotten done the previous day. Thankfully, Pam from HR had emailed her earlier, asking when the form confirming Maggie's clearance would be turned in. Alex turned a corner tightly, eager to get it done and get out, and collided with someone going the opposite way.
"I'm so sorry," she blurted out reflexively as she bent down to pick up her dropped files. Thankfully, the papers contained within had been secure enough not to fly everywhere. "That was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It's alright," J'onn said, and Alex looked up in surprise. She hadn't actually registered who she'd crashed into. He squatted down, handed her a couple files, and they both stood. "Perhaps you should slow down," J'onn suggested, then tilted his head. "I have to say, Alex, I wasn't expecting to see you today."
Alex frowned. "Why not?"
His eyebrows lifted in bemusem*nt. "You told me you wouldn't be taking as much overtime," he reminded her. "And, if I recall, tonight is your weekly game night."
"Oh yeah." Alex chuckled and waved her hand. "I'm not here long, I just forgot to file these. Then I'm out of here, and off to Kara's."
"Ah." He bobbed his head. "Enjoy your evening."
"I will thanks," she said with a smile. J'onn returned her smile and walked past her. A thought sparked in Alex's head and she whirled around. "Actually-"
J'onn paused, and turned back. "Yes?"
Alex had so rarely seen him outside of work, or work-related business. She didn't know his address, or if he even had one. How much time did J'onn spend at the DEO, alone? "Would you... like to come? To game night, I mean?"
He hesitated. "I wouldn't want to intrude."
"You wouldn't be," Alex assured him. "The more the merrier. And, I mean, Kara's getting her cast off tonight. Maybe you'd like to be there for that?"
He paused, then nodded. "I would, yes. Thank you." He glanced the way he'd been going. "Just give me a few minutes to finish up, and I'll be ready to leave."
Alex grinned. "Great. Meet you back at Ops."
He nodded, and left. Alex did the same, going the opposite way. For a moment, she'd been worried that she'd crossed some unspoken professional boundary, but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case. Alex dropped of the files, apologized to the clerk for making him work so late, then rushed back to the Ops room elevators. Then she leaned against the wall and pulled out her phone, shooting Kara a quick text:
jonns coming hope thays alrihgt<
A few seconds later, Kara replied:
>Of course he can come!!
Good. Not that there was a universe where Kara would say no, but still. Good to give her some warning. Alex slipped her phone back into her pocket and waited. It wasn't long, ten minutes maybe, before J'onn walked out into the Ops room and spotted her. He approached, smiling, and came to a stop in front of her. "Shall we?"
They stepped stepped the elevator together and Alex hit the button for the basem*nt garage. As they descended she said, "I rode my bike here, so we'll probably have to take your car."
"No need," he assured her. "I can drive separately."
Alex shrugged. It made no difference to her. "Alright."
The elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the garage, footsteps echoing in the cave-like space. Deputy Director perks included a reserved parking spot near the elevators, so Alex only had to take a few steps to reach her bike. She grabbed her helmet off the seat where she'd left it and paused, watching as J'onn approached his 1952 Bel Air in the space beside hers. His eyes flashed red and Alex's eyes went wife as both J'onn's clothes and his car radiated with the familiar light signifying Martian shape-shifting. When the red glow faded, J'onn was wearing a light brown leather jacket and sitting astride a 1948 Indian Chief with the same baby-blue-and-white coloration as his Bel Air.
"I- what?" Alex said eloquently. J'onn could shapeshift his car into a motorcycle?
"How did you think I got to Earth?" he asked, with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"That's your ship?" Alex clarified. "How does it even- where does the mass go?"
J'onn just laughed, as he manifested an open-faced helmet and a pair of aviators. He revved his engine, apparently having no need for a starter when he could control his bike with his mind, and rolled out of his parking space. Alex stirred into action, rushing to start her own bike and follow him out of the garage.
Once they were on the street Alex took the lead, since she was more familiar with the route to Kara's place. J'onn wasn't far behind her though, and from time to time she glanced back to admire the classic design of his ride. Both his car and his bike imitated the look of a specific time period. Alex wondered idly if there was a nostalgic reason for that, recalling his centuries-long lifespan, or if he was simply a fan of the aesthetic.
They parked near Kara's building and walked the rest of the way, as only residents were allowed to park on the street outside. Going to Kara's always felt a little bit like coming home for Alex, probably because the apartment had been her home for a few years, before she'd left it to Kara and gotten her own place. It was the familiar little details, like the elevator that was put of order more often than not, or the large brown stain in the stairwell that Kara insisted was spilled coffee and Alex thought was water damage from a leaky pipe. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best, but it was rent controlled and Alex had some pretty fond memories of the place.
Kara greeted them at the door with one arm held wide in welcome. "Hey guys, about time you got here!"
Alex gave her a hug then walked past to where James and Winn were sitting at the kitchen table, a bowl of snack mix between them. She eyed them warningly. Between the boys and her sister, there was a limited window of opportunity for Alex to enjoy any kind of snack food.
"Hey," James greeted with a nod, and looked past her to wave at J'onn. "Good to see you, Director."
Winn started and stood, wiping his fingers on his pants as J'onn approached them. He stuck a hand out nervously. "Uh, sir."
J'onn chuckled and shook his hand. "Please, outside of work, call me J'onn."
"I'm not sure I can," Winn confessed.
Alex rolled her eyes and leaned over the table to pull the bowl of mix closer. As she picked through it, she asked Kara, "So, what games are we playing?"
"Well Scrabble's out," Kara said with a frown. "Unless someone feels like being the ref. There's always Monopoly though-"
A chorus of "No!"s sounded out, and Alex punctuated it with an "Absolutely not. You remember what happened last time."
Kara deflated. "Fine, but if we play a game with pieces I want to use the Monopoly top hat."
"What about Clue," Alex suggested.
"Of course you want to play Clue," James said with a teasing grin.
"It's a good game," Alex defended.
"You always win," Winn complained.
"How about we let J'onn decide," James spoke up, and everyone turned to look at the Martian.
J'onn shifted, visibly uncertain. "I'm afraid the only games I'm familiar with involve a pack of cards."
Kara beamed. "That's okay, I can show you the games I have and you can pick one you like!"
"Alright," J'onn said and the tension in his shoulders eased. He glanced at Winn. "Mr. Schott, would you be willing to assist me?"
"Uh, okay." The three of them wandered off to Kara's bedroom, where she kept the games.
Alex watched them for a moment, wondering what game J'onn would pick, then resumed picking at the snack mix. James got up from the table and moved to a cabinet, withdrew a couple smaller bowls, and handed one to Alex. With his own, he scooped up some of the mix and sat back down. Alex followed suit, listening as Winn and Kara distantly explained the premise of each game.
"Hey," James said, unprompted. "Have you met Kieran yet?"
Alex looked at him blankly, not recognizing the name straight away. Then her brain caught up and she quickly hid her confusion. "Uh, yeah. Why?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. Just, Kara talks about her, but she hasn't hasn't even shown me a picture of her yet. It's a little weird, don't you think?"
Alex shrugged, aiming for nonchalant. "Not really. It's new, they want to keep it to themselves. You'll meet her eventually." Preferrably after Alex was able to clear her as a suspect.
"It was new a month ago," James objected.
Alex bit her cheek. "Kara's always done things differently," she evaded. "I think sometimes we forget she isn't human."
James just frowned. "Neither is Clark, and he told everyone the moment he and Lois got together. Wouldn't stop introducing her as his girlfriend."
"Clark isn't from Krypton," Alex told him. "I mean, genetically, yeah. But all of that culture is, like, heritage to him. It's there, but it's before his time. For Kara, it's still a living part of her."
"Yeah," James said. "I guess. She's just usually not so private. I mean, she wasn't when it was me." He frowned.
Oh yeah, crap. Alex sighed. "It's also... Kieran's family isn't... the best."
James furrowed his eyebrows at her. "You mean, like abusive?"
"Well yeah." Nobody could argue against that. "But also legally. They're mixed up in some shady business. Kieran's the only one who isn't either a criminal or dead."
James's eyebrows shot up to his forehead and he blew air out his mouth. "Damn. I can see why Kara would want to keep that to herself."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "And I'm not supposed to tell anyone either, so don't go spreading it around."
"My lips are sealed," he promised, and mimed zipping his mouth closed.
"We're playing Clue!" Kara announced as she led J'onn and Winn back into the living room. J'onn held the game box in his hands, looking quite pleased while Winn slouched along behind him. "But first-"
Kara unbuckled her sling and clenched her fist. With a loud splintery crack her cast split at the elbow and Kara fully extended her arm. With her right hand, she reached over and pulled the pieces down over her wrist.
"Rao that feels good," she exclaimed, bending and twisting her arm every which way. She walked triumphantly over to the garbage can and dropped the broken pieces of cast inside. "Sayonara buddy, I will not miss you."
"The bone is still going to be weak for a few days," Alex reminded her. "So take it easy, or you'll be back in the cast."
"Yes Doctor Danvers," Kara said with an eye roll. "Now come pick your character. I already called Mrs. White."
Later, after everyone had left, Alex was helping Kara clean up. It had been fun, even though J'onn had broken her Clue streak by guessing the correct answer the turn before she would have. By the end of the night, they were all laughing loudly and joking with J'onn like he'd always been a staple of the somewhat-weekly get-together. Even Winn had eased up around him, and settled on calling him "Director" instead of "sir". In the end, they all agreed that he should come back for the next one, and he promised to try. In her head, Alex started wondering whether to invite Maggie to the next night as well, there were more games they could play with an even number of people. Not the next one, she decided. Let J'onn get settled in a bit more first. Besides, Alex didn't want to spook Maggie and trigger whatever sort of panic response could make her run half a state away.
Alex was in the middle of sweeping when Kara abruptly stopped washing dishes and announced, "It's Lena."
A second later, the door opened and Kara's girlfriend stepped inside. Kara, predictably, left the dishes where they were and went to greet her with her arms outstretched. Alex turned back to her sweeping and did her best not to listen in on the quiet murmuring by the door. She couldn't help but overhear a few words and phrases, however, or her investigator's reflex to piece them into a coherent conversation.
"You're really okay without the cast?"
"Absolutely, it's all healed. See? Not even a scar."
"Alright. I suppose you'll be moving back into your own place now."
"People might wonder where I am otherwise. I wish you could have been here tonight, it would have been more fun with you."
"I'm not so sure about that. I'm useless at board games, unless it's chess."
"You don't have to be good to have fun."
"Of course you would say that."
Then there was kissing, and Alex stared resolutely at the floor wishing she had earplugs. A pang of jealousy tugged at her heart, as Lena pulled up her sleeves and fell into place beside Kara at the sink. They worked so well together, both of them hardly thinking before they went to help the other. It was just so perfect, while what she had with Maggie was so messy and complicated. Alex wasn't a fool, she knew she was only seeing the barest surface level of their relationship. But they way they just fit together so easily, like matching puzzle pieces, made her wonder if Maggie was truly her match or if Alex was just trying to force a connection.
It didn't matter, Alex decided firmly as she emptied the dustpan. Ultimately, it was up to Maggie now, whether they pursued a relationship. And if they did, then Alex was going to do everything in her power to make it work. And Maggie did make her happy, regardless of whatever else was going on with the detective. She was like breath of fresh air, cutting through all the confusion that still lingered around her sexuality. Even when Alex's doubt began to surface, questioning whether it was all just a phase, Alex could point towards Maggie and say with absolute certainty that she wanted to be with her.
Alex bade her sister farewell and left, making a mental note not to return in the morning. She'd been lucky enough not to catch them in the act so far, and she was looking to keep that streak going for as long as possible.
Kara was at her bathroom sink, brushing her teeth in the fogged-up mirror, when she heard her phone ring. She paused and glanced through the wall to check the caller ID. Alex was calling her. Frowning, Kara wedged her toothbrush into her cheek and emerged from the bathroom to answer it.
"Wha'sh up?" she asked, and walked back to the sink.
"I- I hear water, are you taking a shower?"
Kara glanced behind her at the silhouette in her shower curtain. "Lena ish, I jusht got out. Bwushin my teef." She bent over and spat. "Wha's goin' on?"
"I thought you should know, Leslie Willis escaped from prison last night."
Kara pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth. "Escaped? How?"
She heard the shower curtain behind her slide open as Alex answered, "Looks like she had inside help. A guard and a prisoner, we're going over their identities now while we wait for CSI to finish in her cell."
"Who escaped?" Lena asked, and Kara looked back to see her anxious face peeking out from behind the curtain.
"Livewire," Kara answered, and saw her relax in real time. "Lex is still locked up tight," she assured her.
"What does Lex have to do with anything?"
"Nothing," Kara answered. She strode out of the bathroom and started grabbing underwear. "I'm on my way. Gimme a minute." She looked around for her suit and cursed internally, she still hadn't gotten it back from Winn. "Make that a few minutes."
"You really don't have to, we've got it under control."
"It's Livewire," Kara retorted. "Of course I have to be there." She hung up.
"What about our plans?" Lena asked. She stood in the bathroom doorway, wrapped in a towel and watching Kara get dressed.
Kara hesitated as she remembered their make-up anniversary date, but it was Livewire. She was dangerous, for reasons few villains were able to match. Kara buttoned her pants over her shirt and moved to kiss Lena. "This won't take long," she promised. "We'll still have time for our date."
She didn't wait for an answer, and rushed to the door, barely remembering to grab her coat on the way out. No suit meant no flying, so Kara had to take a cab. She gave him the address of the prison, promised a hefty tip if he got her there in fifteen minutes or less, then sat back to shoot Snapper a text.
Chasing down a story<
Livewire escaped last night<
>Your last story just went to print.
Kara waited a few more minutes, but that was it. No comment on Livewire, or judgmental quip about trying too hard. From Snapper, that was as good as praise.
The cabbie got her to the prison in thirteen minutes and change. As promised, Kara tipped him fifty percent and climbed out of the vehicle. She approached the front gate confidently, staring down the guard posted outside. She pulled her wallet and showed the guard the press card that identified her as a official reporter for the Tribune. "Kara Danvers, National City Tribune. I'm here about Leslie Willis's escape."
The guard, predictably, held up her hand and shook her head firmly. "Sorry Miss, authorized personnel only."
Fine. Kara stowed her wallet back in her coat pocket. "Then in that case, could you please let Special Agent Alex Danvers know that I'm here?"
Apparently the shared last name was enough for the guard to reach over and grab the radio off her shoulder. "This is Richards at the front gate. I've got a reporter from the Tribune out here, a Miss Kara Danvers?"
A few seconds later, the reply came crackling through, "Let her in."
Richards sighed and opened the gate for her. Kara nodded her thanks and stepped through. Inside the prison proper, Kara was given similar treatment to a TSA checkpoint. Shoes off, pockets emptied, no phones, and a full body scanner to make sure she wasn't smuggling anything inside. It was just as well that she hadn't worn her suit, since it probably would have shown up on the scanner. On the other side, she was given her shoes back, but informed her that her phone would only be returned after she left. Then a guard came up and escorted her deeper into the prison.
Kara was mildly surprised to see all the prisoners were still in their cells, even as they approached Livewire's cell. The inmates all stared as they passed, two to a room, but didn't say a word. Kara's escort noticed her curiosity and explained, "Protocol for an escape like this is complete lockdown. Once the cops leave and we confirm there's no security breach, the prisoners' schedule resumes as normal."
Kara nodded her understanding. That made sense.
Livewire's cell was busy, with uniformed guards and officers alike forming an airtight barrier in the hallway on either side. Kara was waved through, and once past the blockade she was able to see inside the actual cell. Alex and Maggie were standing in the middle of the room, peering around at a handful of small yellow signs. One was on the rumpled bed, a second by the sink next to a puddle of water, and a third was perched next to a discarded shiv. Kara eyed the cell and swallowed, then pulled herself together and retrieved her notepad from her coat pocket.
"So," she said, and drew out her pencil as well. "What can you tell me about the escape?"
Alex looked up and blinked, before she registered the notepad and answered, "It looks like it was premeditated, but we're not sure if freeing Willis was always part of the plan. One person impersonated a guard, then freed another prisoner, and together they broke Willis out."
Kara nodded and jotted that down. "Impersonated?" She clarified.
Maggie glanced at Alex and answered, "He, uh, used a fake uniform and a stolen ID to get through security. The prison is going to do an internal investigation, to figure out if someone inside gave it to him."
"I thought male guards weren't used in women's prisons," Kara said, noting the masculine pronoun.
Kara's escort answered that one, "We have a few for external security, but none of them have clearance for the prisoner areas. That's one of the questions we're looking into."
Alex resumed the narrative, "The cameras only show the halls, so we're not sure what happened inside the cell unfortunately. But when they left, Willis had the dampener cuffs on."
"She had the cuffs on in the cell?" Kara asked.
"We keep them on her twenty-four seven," the guard answered. "Standard procedure, so she can't use her powers. But we usually attach both cuffs to the same wrist."
"Well both hands were cuffed when she left last night," Maggie retorted. Kara made a note of that, pursing her lips.
"They went down that hall," Alex pointed the way Kara had come. "At that point, the alarm was raised, but they used the fake guard as a hostage to walk right out the front door."
Kara frowned, and tapped her pencil against the side her notepad. "Is there any sort of connection between Livewire and her accomplices?"
"No ID on the man," Maggie replied, glancing at Alex, "But the, uh, the woman's name is Lisa Gold. Arrested for distribution, and she's a suspected member of the Vipers."
Kara met Alex's eyes and saw that she had come to the same conclusion. Cadmus had already experimented with creating their own supersoldiers through Metallo, it wouldn't be a huge leap for them to start employing existing metahumans as mercenaries.
Kara took a breath and reviewed her notes, sorting them into sensitive and public information. "Okay. How about this? Livewire escapes with the help of another prisoner and a man dressed as a guard, investigations are underway. We'll keep the details private for now, including the Vipers connection, and focus on how they got past security."
The guard frowned. "Now hold on-"
"Sounds good to me," Maggie interrupted. Kara bobbed her head, and underlined which facts she would highlight in her article. It would be short, but it was early in the investigation and it served the purpose of getting the word out. She could do follow-up pieces as needed, along with a definitive piece with all the information once Livewire was safely back behind bars.
Kara looked up and paused, frowning at Alex and Maggie. They were acting strangely. Maggie kept stealing glances at Alex, then quickly looking away like she'd been caught. Alex was doing the same, but her expression was less nervous and more... hopeful? Kara cleared her throat, watching as both women snapped to attention. "Is there anything else?" Kara asked. "Has anyone talked to Lisa Gold's cellmate?"
"She doesn't know anything," Alex replied. "And, I think we're done here, actually. Right, Sawyer?"
Maggie cleared her throat and nodded. "Yep. I'll, uh, round everyone up and put a BOLO out on our suspects."
"And I'll put an alert out, for any unusual electrical activity on the city's power grid," Alex offered. "With luck, we'll be able to find her before she can do too much harm."
Alex and Kara made their way back to the prison entrance, where they went through the same process as before: shoes off, pockets emptied, stand in the scanner. This time, though, they were given their phone back on the other side and allowed to exit the building freely.
"So," Kara began casually. "You and Maggie were kind of dancing around each other in there."
"Were we?" Alex asked. She sounded casual, but Kara liked to think that she could hear her heartbeat pick up, even with her lead frames.
Kara grinned. "Did you two..?"
"No." Alex blushed and shook her head. "We just talked, Friday night."
Okay, so not as exciting as Kara had hoped. "How did that go?"
"Good." Alex shoved her hands into her coat pockets. "I think. She... Well, she went from a "no" to a "maybe" so that's an improvement, I think. She's gonna take a week to think it over, then get back to me."
"What's holding her back?" Kara wondered. "I mean, if she feels the same way it seems like a no-brainer."
Alex took a deep breath. "It sounds like she has some issues with commitment. Like, an actual phobia or something. It's, caused some problems for her in the past so she kind of swore off dating."
Kara pressed her lips together, wondering how best to frame her question. "And... are you sure this is something you... y'know, you're prepared for?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well." Kara stopped, struggling with finding the right words. "It's your first real relationship. If Maggie has issues with commitment, it seems like a relationship with her is kind of... it doesn't seem like it'll end well."
Alex crossed her arms. "I'm not thinking about how it ends," she said firmly. "Nothing ends well. The best end I can hope for is that I die of old age before she does."
Kara winced. She'd struck a nerve. "I didn't mean-"
"What matters," Alex stressed, then sighed. She dropped her arms to her sides and adopted a softer tone, looking at Kara sadly. "What matters is the memories we make."
Kara swallowed and looked down. "Yeah. Okay. I just, I don't want you to get hurt."
Alex stepped forward and hugged her. "I probably will. But that doesn't mean it's not worth it."
"I know," Kara whispered. Then she pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I don't have my suit. Can you give me a ride home?"
"How about I give you a ride to the DEO and you can pick up your suit," Alex countered, and resumed walking towards her bike.
"That works too."
Her suit, it turned out, had been repaired the day after her surgery, and Winn simply hadn't gotten around to bringing it to her. Though, the delay was partially Kara's fault for staying at Lena's. Winn didn't have a key to her place, and it was hardly something he could just leave outside her door. Still though, he could have at least brought it to Game Night. She grumbled as much to him when he sheepishly handed it over.
Regardless of the reason, she was glad to have it back. The suit gave her freedom, in a lot of ways. Freedom to use her powers openly, and recieve nothing but awe in return. Mostly though, it allowed her to fly without concern for being seen. More than the limited mobility, not being able to fly was by far the worst part of her cast. Kara alighted on her fire escape and slipped inside through the window.
"Where were you?"
Uh oh. Kara turned to the side and saw Lena standing in the living room, arms crossed and scowling. "I told you-"
"No, you didn't," Lena interjected. "You said Livewire escaped, and then you rushed out the door. I checked the news, I called you, I even tried calling your sister. Where were you?"
Oh. Whoops. Kara shuffled, guilty. "I was at the prison, with Alex. They took our phones when we went inside."
Lena's face softened a bit, but she still looked angry. "Did you have to be there?"
"Well I-"
"Was your physical presence required? Yes, or no."
Kara looked at the floor. She hadn't learned anything at the prison that she couldn't have learned later or over the phone. She'd just felt the need to be there, on the scene with everyone else. "...No."
Lena sighed and uncrossed her arms to rub at her temples with one hand. "I understand that being with you requires a certain amount of flexibility. But an emergency is one thing. This, rushing off to stand around and be there, when we already made plans together? This is not something I can abide quite as easily."
Kara played with the hem of her skirt. Lena was right and she knew it. She'd messed up, prioritized Livewire's escape over spending time with the woman she loved. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.
Lena sighed heavily. "I know. Now tell me what's going on. You've never done this before."
Kara looked up to see Lena sit down in one of her armchairs. Kara hesitated, then followed and sat down across from her. "It's Livewire," she confessed. "She's... different, from the other people I've fought."
Lena leaned forward and laced her fingers. "Different how?"
"She's unstable. Not, the usual kind of unstable where they want to kill Supergirl. Livewire... the first thing she did after getting her powers was kill some random person on the street. And then, she tried to kill Cat Grant, just for canceling her radio show!"
Lena frowned, but didn't say anything. Encouraged, Kara continued.
"She's dangerous. There's no holding back with her, if you get in her way she'll just kill you. No second chances, no restraint."
"Alright," Lena said quietly. "I understand." She sat back and worked her jaw. "So what now? Do you go out and lead the manhunt for her?"
Kara almost agreed. Said that yes, actually, that sounds like an amazing idea. But something about Lena's expression and tone made her take a second to think. She could go out and personally search every last inch of the city. But, the DEO and the police could cast far wider nets more quickly. At the end of the day, Kara would be doing... what, exactly?
"...No," Kara decided, and paused for Lena's reaction. At a slight softening around her eyes, Kara continued more confidently. "No. I'll let Alex and the police look for her, they're better equipped for something like this anyway. I'd just be wasting my time, trying to feel useful when I could be with you."
Lena smiled, the last of the frustration in her face evaporating. "Good answer."
Kara returned the smile, relieved. Then she hesitated. "If they find her..."
"I'll understand," Lena assured her. "But until the next emergency arises, why don't we try to focus on the here and now?"
Kara's smile returned and she bobbed her head happily. "Okay."
Livewire sat on the floor of a windowless panel van, back to the wall, waiting for the others to return from the gas station. When two randos broke into her cell and offered her an escape, she'd jumped on the opportunity in a heartbeat. But she wasn't an idiot. She knew something was off about the whole situation. The woman, she knew. Lisa Gold, addict turned dealer. The man was more of a mystery. It was his van, she knew that. But he hadn't introduced himself, and Lisa hadn't done it for him.
The door opened and Livewire rocked forwards, at the ready. Lisa and the other guy climbed in, not bothering to give her more than a glance. They were wearing normal clothes, having ditched the uniforms the first chance they'd gotten. Livewire was still wearing her blue prison coveralls. The disparity made her blood boil.
"I want these cuffs off," Livewire growled.
Lisa looked back at her. "We're working on it. I told you, we know a guy who can deactivate them, but first we have to lose some heat."
Livewire scowled and fell back against the wall with a thump. She was lying. They were both way to calm for there to still be cops on their tail. The question was why. The bad feeling in Livewire's gut began to grow.
As the engine started, Lisa tossed a sports drink and a bag of chips into the back. Suddenly, Livewire's mouth felt parched, and she unscrewed the cap of the sports drink and took a long drink.
"Told you," the man joked. "Electrolytes."
Livewire scowled at the back of his head and pointedly screwed the cap of her drink back on. "Where are we going?"
"Someplace safe," Lisa answered. "We'll lay low there and wait for further instru- information."
Livewire pretended not to notice the slip, and grumbled, settling back in her spot as they turned onto the road and picked up speed. So her rescuers were working for someone. Someone who didn't want her to know about them. Suddenly taking her chances with the cops was looking like a better and better idea. Not yet though. She'd wait until the next time they stopped, then make a break for it. Livewire smirked as she ripped open her bag of chips and crammed some into her mouth. Blech, barbecue.
