Chapter Text
Alex coughed. Water churned in her lungs as she tried to take a deep breath for the first time in what felt like forever. She was dizzy and didn’t know if it was because she’d been floating for so long or due to a lack of blood flow to her brain. Probably both. She shivering started once the coughing stopped. She clung to Maggie, trying to drown out the smell of cold and wet with leather and gunpowder and the faintest hint of cigarettes from the bar and other cops. She held tight to Kara’s hand and focused on the blue and red, forcing away the memories of clear water, white lights, and blank stone.
She didn’t want to close her eyes, but she was so, so tired.
It was perhaps best that she was unconscious due to trauma and not because she was going to sleep as usual.
(At least, that’s what Nile would tell her a week later.)
Waking up warm, dry, and able to breathe without coughing felt like the best thing ever. She shifted her hand to squeeze Lucy’s before getting Maggie’s attention. “Hey.”
It hurt to talk, and the tears in her eyes made her headache. But she was here. They were here. Everything was going to be okay.
Okay, the best feeling ever was to hear the three of them say, “I love you” to each other for the first time.
Going down to the command hub wasn’t a great idea, but she needed to see everyone. She needed to see that everything was okay, that everyone was okay, and she knew Doc Fraiser would put a quick end to visitors.
Punching Rick was satisfying. Watching Kara and Maggie hug it out was a fucking relief. She really wished her sister wouldn’t wait until Alex’s life was in danger before getting along with people, though.
One day, sooner over later, she wasn’t going to come back from these little adventures.
“C’mon,” Lucy said, putting an arm around Alex’s waist. “You’ve checked up on everyone. You need more rest.”
As reluctant as Alex was, she nodded. Maggie and Kara joined them as they headed for the elevator. When they got back to the room, two cots were already set up.
“Do you think you’re getting predictable?” Kara teased.
“In this one instance, I don’t care,” Maggie said as she sat on the end of one of the cots.
“I’m gonna change and grab my laptop,” Kara said. “You two can get some sleep while I catch up on my day job.”
Alex squeezed her sister’s hand in thanks. She felt exhausted and knew her girlfriends were just as bad off. Lucy lowered the light level before making sure Alex was comfortable. Alex watched them settle, happy, and content and feeling all fantastic sorts of things she didn’t think possible after almost drowning.
“Hey, Sawyer, Lane.”
“Yeah, Danvers?”
“I love you.”
Maggie smiled brightly at her. “I love you, too.”
Lucy rolled her eyes but smiled as well. “Yeah, I love you, too.”
Kara settled into a chair. Alex fell asleep to the sight of her girlfriends and the sound of her sister’s steady typing.
(She didn’t dream then, either.)
(She’s not sure if things would be better or worse if she had.)
The water was rising, the grate overhead was getting closer.
Everything was so bright and clean and clear.
Water sloshed overhead. Surface, slosh, surface, slosh...
Dark and damp and dusty, and a leather jacket, and a crest known the world over.
“We’ve got you, Alex. We got you.”
Andromache bolted awake and immediately reached for Noriko. “Hey, ‘Riko, hey, look at me.”
Nothing, just a paralyzed stare at nothing and everything.
“Shit, c’mon, ‘Riko.”
Nile found the light switch before shifting to sit next to Andy. “Noriko, I need you to listen to the sound of my voice.” She took Noriko’s hands and laced one with hers and another with Andy’s. “It’s 2017, you’re in some shitty, shitty motel in Toronto ‘cause your girlfriend is a paranoid bitch-”
“This paranoid bitch saved your life, asshole.”
Nile ignored her with ease. “Focus on my annoying American accent, Noriko. There’s no rain, no ship, no ocean. Just the smell of the cheapest cigarettes known to mankind and an eyesore that can’t even be called art.”
“I get it, you hate the accommodations.”
“Andromache?” Noriko whispered, hoarse and far away.
“I’m here, love. You’re here with me, with us.”
The full-body shiver made Nile relax. Noriko blinked rapidly as she squeezed their hands. Looking around, she sighed.
“You’re right, that’s not art.”
Nile huffed out a laugh before getting out of the bed. Andy pulled Noriko closer and wrapped her arms around her. ‘Riko picked at the rough cotton sheets until Nile returned with water.
“It’s twisted to give a drowning victim water,” Noriko pointed out even as she sipped.
“Get over yourself,” Nile said, carefully, gently teasing.
“That’s gonna take a bit. I’m kind of amazing.”
“Humble, too.” Nile reached out for the laptop on the bedside table. “I doubt there’s much to find, but if I had to pick a place...”
Andy shook her head. “National City. This is gonna be a rough retrieval.”
“Even I stayed out of Superman’s city,” ‘Riko muttered.
“Second smartest thing you did.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s the first?”
Andy shrugged, tucking her face against Noriko’s shoulder. “Leading me back to you.”
“You are such a fucking sap,” Nile said, watching them happily.
“You should’ve seen her in Spain, once,” Noriko said. “There was this sword maker-”
“How about we focus on the new blood?” Andy quickly interrupted.
Nile and ‘Riko gave her a look. Noriko shrugged. “I can always distract her, and you can ask the boys.”
“Speaking of,” Andy said when her cell rang. She answered, “You two go on another honeymoon. We’ll do retrieval and relocate to Bogota.”
“You sure, boss?” Joe asked. “Someone gets rescued by a Super that knows her name, that’s gonna be dangerous.”
“Which is why we’re not going in as a team. Gonna have to leave the kid in the car as it is.”
Nile protested automatically. “Hey.”
“How about we wait for you in Sacramento?”
“How about you do what I say?”
“I’ll think about it.” He hung up.
Andy dropped her phone on the bed. “What’s the point of being called team lead if all you assholes question orders?”
‘Riko patted her shoulder. “Everyone has a role. Yours is to believe you’re in charge.”
Nile turned the laptop around to show a webpage filled with crappy cell phone and security camera pictures. “Supergirl works with the government.”
‘Riko cursed. “We’re going to have to make sure this “Alex” isn’t so close to her or them if we want to get her out.”
“I’m more worried about them looking into her quick recovery,” Andy said as she stood. “There’s not gonna be any damage, nothing that needs to be monitored.”
“And that’s if whatever threat put her in a tank to require rescue has been dealt with,” Nile said. “And, hey, we might already have a problem before we get there.”
Andy closed her eyes. “The dreams.” Which were going to be fucking nightmares for the new blood after the bloodshed a handful of hours ago.
“She’s gonna be in counseling,” Nile said. “She starts talking about seeing the same people after drowning...”
“Do you see why I was into anarchy?” Noriko asked. “Would’ve made things easier.”
“Sure, that always works out,” Andy drawled. “Nothing horrible has ever happened to us because of chaos and anarchy.”
“We weren’t in charge of it.”
Andy raised an eyebrow.
“....Recently. We’ve not been in charge of it recently.”
Nile looked between them as she closed the laptop. “Is this one of those things the kid is better off not knowing?”
Andy shrugged and grabbed at her clothes, tossing their piles over to them. “When I was boys’ age, there were some people who looked at someone coming back from the dead as a demon. Others saw the exact opposite. They say it’s good to be king.” She looked at Nile. “It can be better to be a god.”
She watched Nile process and file away the information. “God in bed, maybe, but some of your ideas...”
Noriko laughed. “Once, in what most people these days are calling Iceland...”
Andy didn’t stop that particular story. It was one of their better times together. Nile was going to need to know those existed far more often than it seemed, some days.
Because Andy knew, without a doubt, that shit was about to hit the fan.
Again.
Fuck.