Chapter Text
Leaving the noise of the control center behind, the sound of Vasquez’s voice barking orders to Alpha and Delta strike teams faded the closer Alex got to her office. Stopping in front of the closed door, Alex held back an eye roll at the red and green garland, paper snowflakes, and Christmas wreath adorning the area. She loved Kara, but Alex would be damned if she let her sister convince her that the DEO “needed some holiday cheer” ever again.
Pushing the door open, Alex stepped inside as the impending mission filled her thoughts once more. Kara was the reason her agents were gearing up and preparing to head out.
After receiving a tip that illegal alien weaponry was about to be moved and sold off, Kara, or rather Supergirl, had flown off to do some recon. But the tip had been a trap. A trap set by fucking Lex Luthor, who continued to be a goddamn albatross around her neck.
They had been able to force Lex underground after foiling his plan to use Leviathan to kill Supergirl. What they hadn’t been prepared for was Lex using that time to rebuild Cadmus. Or for him to reveal his resurrection through the placement of bombs in National City’s most alien populace neighborhoods.
Beyond the rage she felt for the damage he’d done to her city and the citizens she swore an oath to protect, Alex still harbored deep hatred toward Lex for the death of her father. She had made his demise her own personal mission.
Alex placed both hands on her desk, bowing her head and closing her eyes, trying to bring herself back to the current mission: Save Kara. From what, however, Alex wasn’t completely sure. Lex had taunted her with a video of Kara strapped to a table, writhing in pain as her skin glowed with the sickly green hue of kryptonite poisoning.
Just as she took in a deep steadying breath, Alex heard the sound of footsteps enter her office. She didn’t need to turn around to know who was standing behind her.
“Don’t do this, Alex.”
Alex took one more deep breath before finally standing up straight and turning, her eyes landing on her wife. She could see the anger Maggie was trying to hold back. They’d been together for almost ten years now, married for nearly eight. Alex could read every look no matter how hard Maggie tried to hide her true feelings.
Placing her hands on her hips, Alex looked at the floor. “I have to, Maggie. You know I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
The harshness of her wife’s voice pulled Alex’s eyes back up.
“You don’t have to go. You’re the director. You have an entire army of soldiers at your disposal to send in.”
“You’re right. I’m the director. I need to lead my team so that we can find Kara and finally put an end to Lex.”
The anger in Maggie’s eyes seemed to flash as she raised a finger and pointed it at Alex. “You have no idea what you’re walking into. What you need to do is have faith in the people you’ve trained to get the job done.”
Alex ran a hand through her hair as she closed her eyes, trying to keep her own anger in check. “Maggie.”
“No, Alex.” Maggie cut her wife off, stepping closer into her space. “Don’t pull the self-sacrificing bullshit with me. I know it’s Kara out there, but you also have a daughter at home. A daughter who is currently asleep and expecting to see her mother on Christmas morning.”
“It’s not that simple, Maggie,” Alex responded, jaw tight and hands fisted at her sides.
“It should be!” Maggie yelled back. “You promised. When we had Jamie, you promised that you would take a step back, so that you could be there for our daughter. So she could grow up with both of her parents. So she wouldn’t have to experience what you went through when you lost Jeremiah.”
Maggie wasn’t wrong. Alex had promised all of those things. One look into the beautiful, brown eyes of her baby girl, and it had been a no brainer. Alex never wanted Jamie to have to worry if she was coming home or not, and Alex had kept her promise. But Lex had a way of getting under her skin. And Kara had always been Alex’s own kryptonite.
“It’s Lex and Cadmus,” Alex tried to argue. “We might be able to finally put an end to them.”
“I don’t care! I don’t care that it’s Lex! I don’t care that it’s Cadmus! It could be the fucking Queen of England herself revealing that she’s a White Martian and hellbent on Earth’s destruction, and I wouldn’t care!” Maggie raged, her eyes on fire. “I care about you, and I care about our daughter, and I don’t understand how you don’t see that!”
“Of course, I understand that!” Alex couldn’t hold her own anger in any longer and threw her hands in the air. “It’s my sister, Maggie!”
“Yeah, well, sometimes I wish-” Maggie cut herself off.
Alex paused before taking a step closer to her wife. “Sometimes you wish what?”
Maggie avoided meeting Alex’s gaze. She hadn’t meant to let the words slip out.
“What do you wish?” Alex asked quietly, refusing to back down.
Finally, looking up into Alex’s eyes, Maggie whispered, “Sometimes I wish Supergirl wasn’t your sister.”
Flinching as though she’d been slapped, Alex took a step back and turned away. She wasn’t completely surprised to hear these words from Maggie. Alex knew she put herself in the line of fire for her superpowered sister time and again, and Maggie had never held back her frustrations over that fact. Hearing those words out loud, though. Alex couldn’t deny the sting they left behind. She angrily walked away and unlocked the gun safe in her office, removing her Maaladorian pistol and Kryptonite blaster and shoving them in her thigh holsters.
Maggie crossed her arms, attempting to reel in some of her anger. “I’m sorry Alex, but you’ve become obsessed with Lex. With Cadmus. I know what he did to Jeremiah, and he deserves to be held accountable for his crimes. But you’re out for blood, and you’re going to get yourself killed.”
With her back still to Maggie, Alex roughly pulled on her magnetic gloves. She couldn’t deny the war raging inside herself. She loved her little girl and her wife more than she ever thought possible. Alex didn’t want to put them in a situation where they’d have to go on without her. But Kara needed her. And if this was her chance to finally end Lex, Alex couldn’t let the opportunity pass.
Alex finally turned to Maggie. The sadness she now found in her wife’s eyes caused her to hesitate. Alex knew every time she went into the field, she might not come back. This time was no different. But if she could bring Lex down for good, Alex could live with never going into the field again. Never putting herself at risk. She just needed to go out there one more time.
Stepping closer to her wife, Alex pressed a kiss to her temple. “I love you. Tell Jamie I’ll see her in the morning.” And then she turned and walked out the door.
“I hope so,” was the last thing Alex heard her wife whisper as she walked out of the office to lead her agents into battle.