Notes: Mon-El's POV
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Mon-El had never had such confusing feelings for anyone. He always knew how he felt about his parents, his acquaintances or the rebellion members, but Marley was somehow different. She managed to get under his skin in a way no one else had ever succeeded.
He knew every single one of his staff very well. He would check all their backgrounds and ties, and chose them wisely. Marley Danvers was certainly an unusual addition to the Moon River and being Lexie's younger sister – the sister she had claimed would join them at DEO soon – she piqued his interest.
Had Lexie told her sister to come to Moon River? Lexie was one of the few people in the DEO who knew he was Kai Rand. Mon-El thoroughly went through Marley's data and tried to keep an eye on her, not knowing how much she knew about the rebels.
On that fateful night, when he had prepared everything for Kus-Gar and his gang to come to Moon River and get settled in a VIP room – to make them spill their plans to him – Marley had marched in and almost ruined everything. Almost. After stepping inside just in time to prevent a very nasty situation from occurring, he managed to coax them with strong drinks to gather some intel about the future shipping or specific orders from the royalties. However, he couldn't make them tell him any important information. He sensed Kus-Gar had turned a bit alarmed after Marley and didn't drink as much as he usually would.
Marley's impulsive and reckless behavior pissed him off. Clearly she knew about the rebels and was trying to eavesdrop on them in such an idiotic and dangerous manner, causing him to interfere and save her. He usually didn't step so far for anyone. He was constantly in danger of being found out by his mother's eyes and ears around Telos, but being Lexie's sister, he couldn't just let her be found out so easily. So he took the risk and was even more frustrated to find Marley angry with him for not defending her honor.
He wanted to shout at her that night so badly, but seeing her almost hurt by those men and then later crouching hopelessly outside in the storm, something stirred inside him. Feelings he had never felt before, feelings he had feared to feel them. He was worried for this girl and he didn't know why.
And it seemed as if the gods had plans for them, because their next encounter was as dramatic as the first one. It was a complete coincidence that he was at the base that night. Winn spotted an intruder and they thought it wouldn't be that important, but after seeing the footage and noticing the posture of the stranger, how she had her hands on her hips, he knew that was Marley and went out to get her to the base. When he found her sprawled half under the sand with a two headed desert rattlesnake ready to bite her, an unfamiliar fear gripped at his insides. He hadn't seen any of these vipers for the past two years. He had personally killed them all. The venom from those ugly reptiles was the poison that had killed his father. He would kill any of them on sight and tonight, one had appeared just to take another precious life, but he wasn't going to stand aside and allow it.
And afterwards, he had to hide himself from her. She had seen her up close and had heard his voice. Obviously he was irritating her, but he didn't care. The fewer people knew him, the better. Literally anyone who knew his true identity would die, like he was cursed. Almost everyone, J'onn knew and he was still alive. For now anyway, he thought.
He wanted to object J'onn's decision on sending Marley on a mission with him barely a day after meeting her. He had to admit she had a fire in her that no one could put out and if they denied, he knew she would go to Cor-Gan herself and beat him senseless to find out about her sister's fate. So he thought it would be better for him to be there to prevent her from doing something stupid again. The girl had a talent for getting into trouble like a magnet.
And so they waited for Cor-Gan in the shadows patiently and followed him to his luxurious mansion. Mon-El observed her at length in their long wait. She was fidgeting with her lips and fingers the whole time, trying to stay focused, totally normal for a rookie. What bothered him was all the small things he had seen until now. How she had wounded two of Kus-Gar's huge men, how she sneaked up in the VIP section and how she was hiding perfectly in that ally. Marley may be a beginner, but she seemed to know her way around these stuff. He was completely conflicted about trusting her.
Why did J'onn agree to this? That was his only thought as they lurked in the yard to find their way into the mansion. He had a bad feeling about this.
Finding the servants' door was easy. The hard part was avoiding the cameras which hadn't shut down with the others since they weren't fed on the same power source. Marley threw one of the micro emf bombs – skillfully he had to admit – near a camera they couldn't avoid on their path and they managed to get themselves in front of the door with no further obstacle.
Mon-El quickly knelt in front of the door, placed a device on the lock, fiddling with it for a few seconds and got them inside without making any noise.
They stepped in the narrow and dark corridor. When the door was shut behind them, the silence engulfed them. Lurking forward with light steps, Mon-El kept all his senses in high alert as he walked in front of Marley. Gradually, he heard some faint sounds while passing by the doors on their way. Some snored behind the door. It was a sleeping room for slaves. A baby was crying but turned quiet shortly. They continued to reach the end of the corridor where there was a stair case, leading them upstairs.
They sneaked into the back rooms and carefully got closer to the living room, where the lights were still on and indicated that Cor-Gan must be there. Staying hidden behind a marble pillar, Mon-El and Marley peeked at what Cor-Gan was doing.
The drug smuggler was growling at a poor lone servant who was pouring him more wine, while sprawled on his luxurious, golden couch.
"You filthy WORM!"
He spat at the shivering slim slave who had spilled the wine a bit while pouring it into Cor-Gan's glass because it was shaking in his drunken state. Mon-El was disgusted to see the slave was only a boy no older than thirteen. He gripped his knife tighter in anger.
They both waited for a few more minutes, until Cor-Gan dismissed the boy with more insults to his ancestors and seemingly wanted to get himself to his bedroom with unstable steps.
The second the boy left the room, Mon-El moved out of the pillar's shadow, Marley at his heel. They followed him upstairs in the hallway that his bedroom was located in. He approached the over grown man from behind and gripped his shoulder harshly, throwing him back so he hit the ground on his back with a groan, completely baffled.
"WHAT THE HELL? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"
He seemed less drunk. The shock of falling had brought him a bit back to consciousness. Without saying a word, Mon-El dropped his weight on Cor-Gan and straddled him to restrain his movements. He then extended his hands towards Marley.
She put the syringe in his hand promptly. Cor-Gan was about to shout for his guards when Mon-El stabbed the drug into his neck and silenced him. He choked for a few seconds and went limp, his eyes rolling back into his tick skull.
"Why did he faint?" Mon-El heard Kara whisper near his head worriedly.
He stood up and let his hold on Cor-Gan go, before answering. "It's temporary."
Mon-El slapped Cor-Gan a bit harder than was needed to and his eyes snapped open, unfocused as if he wasn't aware of their presence.
Mon-El turned to Marley and nodded. She could start her questioning now.
"What is your name?"
"Cor-Gan son of Sil-Gan" he answered robatically.
"Who do you work for?"
"The Beasts."
"Where is Lexie Danvers?"
"I don't recognize that name"
Mon-El heard Marley gritting her teeth before trying again.
"A tall woman, brunet, brown eyes, recently joined the Beasts."
"I don't remember such a person."
He saw Cor-Gan's right eye twitching a bit. Was he actually fighting off the serum?
"Always wears black, has an old bike, neck length brown hair –"
"I don't know this person."
Cor-Gan denied again a bit choking on his words. Marley grunted in frustration and Mon-El nervously checked his watch and decided to interfere. They were running out of time slowly. Only 20 minutes left of their window of safe escape.
"Where is your base?" Mon-El put his heavy boot cladded foot on Cor-Gan's arm and pressed harshly. He squirmed harder.
"No... Down the ....Ugh... NO...Hangar... South... Beasts... Ships..."
And he passed out again.
"What did you do?!" Marley hissed at him.
"He was resisting the drug. We can't pull out anything else from him. Let's move him to his bed and leave."
"I will not leave until I have an answer about Lexie!"
Mon-El gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. Why did she had to be so damn stubborn?
"We don't have time. Only 19 minutes to escape and his passed out for unknown amount of time. We can't risk it."
He heard Marley huffing angrily, but gave in at last. They carried Cor-Gan's heavy weight towards his bedroom. On their way however, they both clearly heard the sound of weak moaning coming from behind a closed door and Marley stopped without a warning.
"Move."
He coldly ordered Marley, fully aware of what was behind that door. A punished slave - probably in chains – for being disobedient or merely a displeasure to his master.
"Open this door right now!"
Marley had let Cor-Gan go and moved to that door, working with the handle, unsuccessful in opening it and glared at Mon-El so determinate that he knew she wouldn't let it go.
"We don't have time for this! Let it go!" He continued dragging Cor-Gan's limp body alone to his room. Completely annoyed by Marley's irrational demands.
Why in the world J'onn sent her with me on this mission?!
Panting, he saw Marley starting to kick the door, making more noise and the moaning grew louder.
"For the love of all the gods!" he muttered under his breath
He threw Cor-Gan carelessly on the floor and went to open the damn door with his gadgets in a matter of 10 seconds and watched as Marley rushed inside the dark small room towards the small fallen figure in it.
"Hey, Hey... It's ok. You're gonna be ok!"
He watched in bewilderment as Marley – that damn annoying girl – drew the young slave girl into her arms soothing her bruised face. She groaned painfully and mumbled incoherently to Marley who was trying to pry open the shackles on her wrists forcefully, even injuring her own hands in the process.
In the dim light emitting form the hallway behind him, Mon-El noticed a small mark on the girl's right wrist when the shackle came off. A small crescent moon almost hidden beneath the wounds caused by the chains. For a moment he forgot how little time they had and his mind went blank. How could this mark, this tattoo, appear here and on a slave's body?!
He was driven out of his haze by Marley's desperate pleas.
"Please stay with me! I'm gonna get you out! Hang on..."
Mon-El felt his heart break as he saw the girl stopped breathing and went limp in Marley's embrace. Despite all the cold persona he'd created as a mask to even convince himself that he didn't care anymore about tragedies, he felt a lump in his throat.
They needed to get out of this place. He strode towards Marley and tried to detach her from the unmoving body in her arms.
"We need to go now." He told her in a softer voice than before.
But Marley didn't budge. Mon-El could see she was frozen and in shock, her eyes fixed on the girl's wide open ones. Involuntarily his eye fell on her glossy lifeless eyes and he felt a shiver running down his spine as he saw how her beautiful green eyes seemed so cold, staring at something they couldn't see. Suddenly memories of his father's death danced across his eyes changing into flashes of Damo's beheading, causing his breath getting caught in his throat.
Reaching forward with a shaking hand, he closed the poor girl's eyes and gently removed Marley's hands away from the body. She didn't resist this time and slowly rose to her feet.
Mon-El almost ran to the door, sick to his stomach. Only 13 minutes was left for the fences to come back on. They had to be very fast. No time to even put Cor-Gan back to his bed. If they were lucky, he would wake up thinking he had passed out before even getting to his bed due to being very drunk. As he took fast steps toward the stairs he heard Marley shout at the top of her lungs without a care.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
She was straddling Cor-Gan, punching him mercilessly like a sack of potatoes. For a moment he couldn't even move. What the HELL was she doing?!
Cor-Gan was awake now. Shouting in pain.
"WHERE IS ALEX?"
Who the freak was Alex?
"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER?"
Cor-Gan was defenseless under her brutal fists, not able to answer Marley even if he wanted to.
"SPEAK NOW YOU PISS OF SHIT! WHY DID YOU KILL HER? IT WAS ME WHO BEAT YOU! WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"
What the hell was she talking about?! Mon-El heard Marley panting, out of breath to shout anymore. He ran towards them, fearing all the wrecking sounds must have tipped all the guards by now.
"They... gonna get her... in...in the ship... spy...Kryp..."
Cor-Gan was talking!
"WHERE?" Marley bunched his collar in her fists, shaking him violently.
"Two days! UGH! PLeaSe, let me go!"
Mon-El frantically moved to pull Marley away, but she elbowed him hard in the gut, knocking the breath out of him unexpectedly.
"SPEAK! TWO DAYS WHAT?" She demanded.
"IN The Hangar. They ship something top secret in two days! PLEASE I don't know anything else!"
"YOU-"
Mon-El gripped Marley's waist and pilled her off Cor-Gan. She kicked, trying to push him away.
"LET GO OF ME!"
Her mask was gone. Mon-El could see the tears staining her cheeks, her bright blue eyes burning with pain, resentment and wrath, blazing like comets descending towards Rao.
"We have to go now!"
"He's TALKING! Don't you see?!"
This girl is unbelievable!
"If we don't leave now, we will be captured!" Mon-El tried his best to keep his voice calm. He couldn't afford to snap now.
"He killed her! I –"
She was ready to go back and start kicking Cor-Gan. Her whole body stiffened and rigid with rage. If he was to be honest, he wanted to beat the crap out of Cor-Gan as well, but he knew, their mission had been a total failure. Their only hope was to get out somehow. There was only 9 minutes left and the guards must be on their way.
He jumped forward to grab Marley's hand, but she twisted his hand in a practiced move and he had to let her go. He then realized he had only one option left to make her stop and none of them were physical. He reached for his mask and goggles. He cleared his throat once to sound like himself again.
"We need to leave NOW!"
It took her a few seconds, but it worked as he had predicted. Mon-El saw Marley turned around and looked at him. Her eyes widening with surprise.
"YOU!"
"Please! Come now! Trust me!" He pleaded with her, not exactly realizing why he cared so much.
Why would he risk his identity in such drastic situation to save this girl's life? Why couldn't he just leave her behind?
He walked towards her and felt for her blood stained hands – Cor-Gan's and her own blood covering her trembling hands. She didn't swat his hand away this time.
"He doesn't know anything else. He's out and there's nothing else we can do!"
Marley looked at him in astonishment for a moment. Her bulged out eyes stopped on the door to the cell that held the lifeless body of the slave girl. He gave her hand a squeeze and she looked back at him, nodding firmly.
Mon-El pulled back up his mask and tugged on her hand to make her move and they started running towards the stairs at last. He noticed something shiny on the ground and snatched it hurriedly as they went, thinking it must be one of Winn's gadgets and shoved it inside his pocket.
Mon-El took the lead again. He heard rushed footsteps climbing the stairs. The best plan was not to engage the guards at all. They were gravely outnumbered. He swiftly pulled Marley towards the dark shadows and pressed her flat and fixed against the wall with his front to her back.
The guards didn't notice them as they ran messily to Cor-Gan's bedroom and Mon-El didn't waste a second to drag Marley away with himself and they successfully got themselves to the servant's resident part of the mansion, downstairs and ran towards the exit. In the yard they met a much more difficult situation. The fences were back on before their anticipated time. They should have had at least 5 minutes left. Mon-El cursed and turned to face Marley. She had been quiet and he saw doubt in her eyes and maybe fear.
He wanted so much to reach out and touch her hand again, but he stopped himself and decided to give her a firm nod instead.
"Stay close to me. We'll get to the cut in the fence. We're gonna get out."
Mon-El expected her to protest and mock his optimism, but she didn't and it showed him just how much shaken she was by watching the slave girl die in her arms. Though, he saw then how her expression changed into a serious one and her lips pressed together to form a thin line. Her eyes were sparkling with determination again.
He thought for the hundredth time that night, why had J'onn send her on this mission.
Mon-El moved through the yard and Kara threw another one of emf micro bombs to disable the same camera momentarily and granting them a way across the yard unnoticed for a few seconds. They were in the midway when a group of five guards surrounded them. He spun around and assessed their positions to form the best defense and attack plan, seeing Marley doing the same thing. When he stopped, He felt her pressing her back to his.
"Stand down!" one of the guards shouted.
It seemed like they were done for, being the target of five guns at such short distance. No way they could miss, but that was their mistake. He didn't know how much Marley knew of hand to hand combat, but he had to make his move now.
"Duck!" He muttered to Marley under his breath and grabbed the barrel of nearest gun, twirling the owner of the rifle around so his front was to his back, making others confused. To his surprise, Marley moved fast, ducking, she swiped the legs of two guards and disarmed them before knocking them out cold with the hilt of the gun she had wielded in the midst.
Meanwhile, Mon-El used the guard in his grip as a shield for a while longer as he fought the other remaining two guards. He then hit the guard in the back of his neck that made him go limp.
Glancing one more time at Marley, Mon-El moved towards the fences almost 6 yards away, before anymore guards could show up.
They stood in front of the fence where they had made a cut in it. The electricity was blocking their passage with glowing blue arcs. They looked at one another for a few seconds listening to the shouts and alarms going off in the mansion, until an idea hit Mon-El. It could work. But before he could tell anything to Marley, he saw behind her giant semi-lizard creature, with the length of about 5 feet, approaching them soundlessly and fast, too fast that he feared it was going to rip Marley's foot off with its sharp teeth that were glowing ready in the low light from the fence. He didn't even have to warn her.
Marley though sensed the danger, and unlike the previous time he had seen her frozen in the desert, she jumped away in a prefect summersault and hit the ugly lizard on the head with the rifle still in her hand. Mon-El saw the creature hissing in pain, swinging his strong tail dangerously in anger, rising to attack Marley again. He used that moment to leap forward and hold its head in his arms, locking it's powerful jaw.
"SHOOT NOW!" He groaned through gritted teeth, his grip getting looser by the second.
Marley cocked the rifle masterfully and shot the squirming creature without hesitation.
Mon-El panted heavily as he let the finally motionless animal fall on the ground with a loud thud. He took a few more seconds to see how Marley was doing and how close were the guards to finding them, before turning to face Marley with a spread arm.
"Give me the emf bomb!"
Marley quickly pulled out her last micro bomb out of her pocket and placed it on his gloved waiting hand.
"We will have only a few seconds to pass through the fence. Trust me okay? You go first!"
Her eyes darted worriedly between the fence and his eyes and only nodded in response.
Mon-El threw the small marble sized metal into the cut and it immediately reacted. Long bolts of electricity radiated momentarily, blinding them and then the section around the cut turned off. He wrapped his hands around Marley's waist fast and hurled her into the opening, before jumping after her. She landed safely on the other side but he didn't get that lucky. Mon-El groaned as his left thigh got caught in the line of charged sparks that came back the same moment he was passing. He flopped onto the dusty ground and felt his left leg going completely numb. DAMMIT! They didn't have time for this.
Then he was startled when he felt Marley's hand throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling him to his feet with unexpected strength. He could hear more guards coming. He would only slow them down.
"Don't-"He tried to pull away from her.
"Shut up and try to use your working leg! We're both getting out tonight."
Mon-El could not answer her and focused on using his right leg to spread his weight better, so his weight wouldn't completely be leaning on her. He wasn't sure how they managed to get themselves to where his speeder bike was parked, without getting caught. He couldn't believe Marley could show this much stamina with her slim figure. Clearly he had underestimated her.
"Keys." He heard Marley ask him as soon as they reached his bike. Only then he noticed, he couldn't properly drive it with his left foot incapacitated.
"Can you drive?" He wasn't sure of anything about her then.
"Yes! Give them to me now Kai!"
When she mentioned the name Kai, he snapped out of his hesitation and shoved his hand into his chest pocket to give her the keys.
She helped him on the bike quickly in reversed positions compared to when they had arrived and Mon-El saw with astonishment as Marley started his bike and drove them out of its hiding place.
As soon as they reached the main road, they heard a few vehicles following them. They were catching up to them fast and with the two of them on his speeder, it couldn't go any faster. Mon-El knew it was time to use his last trick.
"Hold on tight!" He shouted into Marley's ear over the loud sound of engine, the strain on it obvious.
He didn't wait for her response as he pulled his hand forward to push the small button under the left handle and grabbed onto her waist with his other hand harder.
He heard Marley gasp as the special chemicals hit the engine, causing their speed to triple suddenly, the drag pushing them backwards violently. They lost Cor-Gan's guards in matter of few minutes.
When they reached the outskirts of the desert outside Telos, Marley slowed down.
"Follow that star." Mon-El told her while pointing at a bright star in the south-west, assuming she had lost directions to the DEO base.
"I know." She answered tiredly. She sped up a little, leaving Mon-El to wonder why she had slowed down in the first place. In fact, Mon-El was feeling completely confused about Marley, and suspicious.
After about an hour, when they were proceeding on sand hills slower than his likening, Marley finally broke the silence.
"em, Kai? What was that?"
"Hmmm?"
"What was that creature that attacked us?"
Really? She is curious about that?!
"Oh, that was a Sabata. Rich people use them as pets or for guarding their property."
He felt her only nod. Her shoulders had been tense ever since their escape. He knew she had many more questions. Sabata was nothing compared to them.
The bike suddenly stopped.
"What –"
"Oh, shoot! I forgot. We're in the two mile radius from the base. Nothing works in that circle. We have to walk the rest of the way." Mon-El sighed and tried to get of his bike, but his darn left leg didn't complied and was about to fall into the sand. Fortunately, Marley's arm prevented that and once again he found themselves with her dragging him to walk. He was embarrassed. This had never happened before. Then he remembered that they had to take care of the bike.
"Hey, we need to hide my speeder first."
"I'll do it."
Marley gently let him sink down to the sand, as she strode to the bike and pushed it around with difficulty to hide it behind the nearest rock. Meanwhile, Mon-El twitched his left leg constantly and felt a bit of sensation coming back to it.
"There's a cover in the sack on the rear. Cover the bike with it." He told Marley as he tried to get up to his feet, limping towards her.
"Hey, I take care of it. You can rest." Marley protested when she saw him approaching.
"It's fine. My leg's better."
After making sure the bike was perfectly hidden, they headed towards the trap door where only Mon-El knew its exact location.
"So what will happen now?" He heard Marley speaking up again.
"We have to check out that hangar in two days. He talked about a shipping. Maybe Lexie is there."
"No... I meant with Cor-Gan. Will they look for us?" He felt rather than hear, the dread in her tone.
"Maybe. You shouldn't have beaten him!" Mon-El snapped at her, groaning as his feet wasn't flexing fast enough for him to walk and he wobbled. He saw Marley reaching to help him again, but pushed her hand away.
"No, I can walk just fine."
Marley's shoulder slumped and backed off.
"I know I messed up... I'm trying... but when I saw her..."
Mon-El heard her whisper and his heart clenched as he remembered her death again.
"There's nothing we could do for her. The only way is to put an end to the system and that's what we're trying to do. But you perfectly knew that we wanted him to be in one piece so when he woke up he wouldn't suspect anything happened!"
"YOU said he was resisting the drug!"
"Yes, but he would probably never remembered tonight if it wasn't for your unchecked temper!"
They glared at each other for a few seconds and then started walking again in silence.
"Who's Alex?"
Mon-El saw her stiffen.
"What?!"
"When you were beating Cor-Gan, you asked about someone named Alex."
"Uhh... It...You must have heard wrong. I don't remember saying that name."
Clever Marley. I know you're hiding something.
Mon-El let it go, too tired to persist any longer. He could push her tomorrow. They had reached the base.
*
After settling in and giving their reports to J'onn, Mon-El watched Marley leaving for her room to rest. He on the other hand had one more thing to do.
He looked at the device in his hand again – The object he had picked as they were running away in Cor-Gan's mansion. He recognized it as Marley's weird communication device. The same device that was costing her life that night in Moon River. After the events of tonight, he wanted to figure out what Marley was hiding more than ever. She didn't seem to be exactly who she was letting on.
"Winn."
He called their tech expert as soon as everyone had left.
"Ah, hey Valor! Glad to see you in one piece. That must have been a narrow escape!"
"Yeah almost." Mon-El answered coldly, causing Winn to retreat into his fidgeting state.
"Yeah, um... how can I help you?"
Mon-El gave him Marley's gadget.
"I want you to know what information this device holds. Do what you must do to break its encryption."
He then turned around without any more explanation, leaving Winn with the look of total surprise on his face.