November 27th 2017
Things were different.
Not in an overwhelmingly obvious way, but things were slightly different. Lena still spent her days at CatCo, she still spent most evenings in her lab trying to get into that stupid Daxam Drive and either Kara, Jess, or a combined attack by both of them was usually still necessary to get her out of there. Some details were different, though. Like Kara holding her hand at every opportunity. And not just when they were within the safe confines of Kara's apartment either.
She'd seen fit to drag her to the lake during last week's lunch (she was pretty sure there were ducks involved in her argument) but all Lena really remembered was the fact that Kara hadn't let go of her hand until they'd gotten back to L-Corp. She even had to aggressively shake her head at Jess when they'd walked out the elevator, because the woman had looked like she was about to joyfully exclaim something really stupid at the sight of their joined hands.
In some of her more cynical moods, Lena thought that it was probably Kara being overbearing. That the woman was afraid to leave her alone after finding out what had really happened at the DEO following Lillian's attack. But to be honest, it was hard to keep up that sort of pessimism when Kara seemed to find ways to spend any second of either of their spare time together. And being around Kara was obviously never a bad thing.
The other main thing that was different were the frequent visits to the DEO, made possible thanks to the fact that Alex didn't give her the evil eye anymore. Not that she was there to socialize with her (she highly doubted they'd ever be close friends) but more so because of some interesting technology they had over there. Some technology that made her own attempts at recreating otherworldly portals completely superfluous, and whose existence a certain idiot had completely failed to mention to her.
("Why didn't you tell me you had a fully functional transmatter portal at the DEO?!!")
("You never asked!!")
So that's how Lena and her trusted sidekick ended up in front of said transmatter portal, readjusting the transmitter beam to be accompanied by a reciprocal tracking signal.
"All right," Winn huffed, putting the cover back in place over the exposed wires of the control panel, "so you think this should be able to connect us with Maaldoria?"
Lena sighed, adjusting the parameters on her tablet and triple checking all of it. "Assuming your coordinates are correct, yes."
"Well, they should be correct," Winn mumbled, still screwing the back of the control panel back together. "We know where Maaldoria is, obviously, but the exact location of the portal is more of an educated guess."
"It's fine," Lena absentmindedly waved her hand as she refocused on her tablet, "even if we can't make contact at the first try, it's just a loose signal. No harm done."
"Well, yeah," Winn drawled, "but if you overcharge the tracking signal you might overheat-"
"I know what I'm doing!" Lena interrupted, pausing her movements to give the man a warning look. Winn raised his hands defensively.
"All right, all right, it's cool. No need to take out your deep internal struggle on me..."
Lena stopped her movements again, her stare turning annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, well you know... this whole thing about getting Kara to see her ex again... while you'd probably much rather keep them as far away as possible..." Winn summed up, his tone light, but his eyes searching Lena's expression.
"I just... want Kara to be happy," she protested, looking over the imposing portal. "And besides, for all we know they're not even really... exes. I mean, he had to leave, he didn't..." Lena huffed, giving up on trying to finish that sentence. "Just hit the code and let's give it a try," she grumbled.
Winn looked unconvinced, but he moved in front of the panel anyway and started typing in the coordinates. "All right then... here goes nothing."
He dramatically slammed his entire hand on the panel (Lena knew for a fact that was completely unnecessary), and the large portal beside them instantly lit up, the purple light casting the room in an eerie glow.
"Okay... okay..." Winn nervously muttered, moving beside Lena and checking the tablet over her shoulder. "So the tracking signal has been sent, and if it finds a transmatter portal on its path then it should-" he was cut off by the tablet in Lena's hand buzzing loudly, as their tracker beam sent back an affirmative signal. Both of them were completely stunned for a moment.
"It worked," Lena huffed incredulously.
"Ha! Of course it worked! We're geniuses!"
Lena quirked an eyebrow at the man. "I see modesty still isn't your-" she choked on the rest of her sentence, as suddenly a figure fell through the portal.
It looked like he had jumped through at an alarming speed, as he rolled over the floor as if he'd been launched from a cannon before sliding to a stop a few feet in front of them. Lena instantly jumped back at this unknown entity appearing out of the depths of space, but Winn was giving her a weird look.
"Lena?" he questioned. "What's wrong?"
It clicked almost instantly. Not just because of Winn's total non-reaction, but also because now that the figure was slowly getting up and started looking around the room, Lena suddenly recognised him.
"Your highness?!"
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"A revolution?!"
Lena nodded patiently, as she explained the situation to Alex who had gotten there later than the rest and was now giving her an incredulous look while standing beside her sister. Her sister who was already decked out in Supergirl gear and was all set to go.
"Yes," Lena sighed, glancing over at the ghostly alien who was pacing restlessly. "Apparently Mon-el has been trying to restructure Maaldoria," she explained, "and like you predicted most of the inhabitants apparently listened to him, because he's technically their king now. But when he started dismantling the slave trade, some of the richer merchants got angry because their main source of income got shut down. And apparently they started a rebellion, and now they have this big plan to try and take him out tonight."
Alex frowned at her. "And you know this because..."
"Because his father's ghost fell through your portal and told me!" she hissed, glancing at the nearby agents who were thankfully out of earshot, before looking at the ghost in question again, who was still pacing back and forward. Lena sighed, and sent an accusatory glance towards Kara. "And apparently your sister thinks it's perfectly reasonable to try and stop a revolution by herself, even when she doesn't have any powers on the aforementioned planet."
"I won't be alone, I'll have back-up! Plus yellow sun grenades!" Kara protested. She turned to her sister. "Alex, please tell her that me going along is only reasonable."
"Why do I need to convince her?" Alex questioned distractedly as she adjusted her belt and holstered an alien-looking gun. "It's not like she can stop you." When she was met with silence she looked up, noticing Lena frowning at her and Kara looking offended. "I just meant..." she groaned and shook her head. "Look, Lena... we're taking an entire team of agents along, plus that girl from the future, so everything is going to be fine." She stepped closer and paused, before giving Lena an awkward pat on the shoulder. "I'm, uh... gonna go see if the team is ready." She proceeded to step away and towards the team of agents that were gathered nearby, while Kara and Lena looked after her in slight disbelief.
"Wow," Kara huffed. "I never thought I'd see Alex have a civilized conversation with you." She turned to Lena with a wide smile, but the young CEO was still staring ahead in mild shock.
"I'm sorry..." Lena forced out, "but... did she just say 'girl from the future'?!"
"Oh yeah. I didn't mention that?"
Lena silently shook her head, not sure how these airheads managed to forget about things like transmatter portals just sitting around collecting dust, or those tiny, pesky little details like, you know, freakin' time travel!!
Lena cleared her throat, deciding to definitely come back to the subject later, as she watched Kara glance back at her sister. "How is she doing?" Lena questioned carefully, causing Kara to turn back to her. "You know... with Jeremiah and everything."
"Oh, well... she's doing okay, for the most part," Kara said unsurely. "I mean, now that we actually found his body it's Eliza who's doing worse, but..." Kara paused, letting out a breath as she scratched her head. "But it's really weird, she keeps asking me how I'm doing. Obviously we talked a lot, and you know... I find it hard to believe he's gone too..." Lena reached out and almost instinctively held the woman's hand, the gesture almost being automatic since a few weeks. Kara briefly flashed a sad smile before continuing. "But even after talking about it for hours she keeps asking me: 'Is there anything at all you would like to tell me?' And then she asks me again. And again. And again." Kara sighed as she shook her head. "I just don't get it, it's like she's fishing for me to say something specific, but I'm completely lost over here."
Lena was about to reassure her that it would all work out. And she knew that was an irresponsible promise to make, but comforting words were more important than logic sometimes. Which was rather ironic, since Lena found logic the most comforting thing in the world. (Well, maybe apart from the sensation of Kara's hand holding her own, but that was neither here nor there.) Before she could convey any sort of reassuring sentiment however, she was startled by a voice coming from close by.
"Oh my god, I can't believe it's actually you."
Lena blinked, turning her head in surprise at the very British-sounding voice and finding that it belonged to a woman with dark hair and dark eyes, who was wearing some sort of black gear and looking at her in suspiciously revering fashion. "I'm sorry," Lena drawled, narrowing her eyes at the woman, "and you are?"
"Oh, my- my name is Imra Ardeen," the woman breathed in that same revering tone. "I can't tell you what an honour it is to meet you, I wasn't sure I'd actually get to see this era in person."
Lena frowned as she looked halfway back to Kara. "Is she the...?"
"The girl from the future. Yes, that would be her," Kara affirmed.
"I'm sorry, I'm... I'm obviously not allowed to tell you about the future, but... seeing you both here working together, it's just..." she huffed out a breath, "...it's really surreal."
Lena gave a tight-lipped smile, not sure how she should take that. Was there a future where Kara and her would not work together? That would be just absurd, wouldn't it?
"Well, of course we help each other," Kara gave a broad smile. "That's what friends are for!"
The woman completely froze for a second. She darted her eyes unsurely between the two women in front of her, and Lena thought that if she really wasn't supposed to give anything away about the future they should probably stop talking to each other. Because she seemed about as skilled as Kara when it came to hiding her emotions. "That's what... friends... you mean that... you haven't even..." Imra kept darting her eyes between the two of them and Lena threw a glance sideways, finding Kara equally confused, as this was starting to get weird. "Oh, wow, I had no idea we went that far back, I just..." she shook her head and seemingly stopped herself.
"Are you okay?" Kara asked, half-concerned, half-wary.
"Yes, no, I'm just..." she huffed out an incredulous laugh. "I'm fine, I just..." she gave the two of them a weird look, "...I sure hope I'll be here to see it."
Lena frowned. "See wh-"
"I'm sorry, I- I've said too much already," Imra stammered as she started backing away. "Don't worry about it." She shot them one last nervous smile, before moving towards the collection of agents that were listening to Alex's instructions.
"Well, she's... odd," Lena commented.
"It's going to be fine," Kara reassured her again. "She apparently founded a legion of Superheroes, so we're gonna be in good hands."
"Hm..." Lena frowned, still not happy about the whole situation. Then she suddenly had a thought. "I think I should come with you," she proclaimed.
"What?! No, no. Nope, no way."
"It makes sense," Lena insisted. "With me there, we can use King Lar Gand to spy on any possible-"
"Prince."
Lena blinked at the interruption as she turned to the ghost beside her. "What?"
The ghostly alien cleared his throat, before elaborating: "Due to my death, my son has now taken his place as regent of the lost kingdom of Daxam. Thus my title of King has passed on to him, which leaves me with the title reserved for regents who have left their power in other's hands: that of Prince Lar Gand."
"Right..." Lena shook her head at the superfluous information before turning back to Kara. "I was saying that we can use him as a spy to-"
"We're all set!" Alex suddenly loudly proclaimed from across the room. "Winn, you ready?" The man gave her a nod from behind the panel, before slamming his entire hand against it (still completely unnecessary), causing the large portal to light up with that purple glow. "Kara, come on, let's go," Alex beckoned, already standing in front of the portal. Kara sighed as she turned back to Lena.
"Look, if we take you along, I'm just going to spend the whole time worrying something is going to happen to you." Lena just sighed in response, not sure how she should feel about that. "It's gonna be fine," Kara insisted. "We'll go over there, squash a rebellion, and be back before dinner, so you don't have anything to worry about."
Lena huffed out a humourless laugh. "I don't think I'll ever not worry."
Kara didn't answer. Instead she gave her an understanding smile and hugged her close.
"Before dark, Supergirl!"
"Coming, coming!"
Kara shook her head as she stepped back from Lena and next to her sister. She gave one last wave to Lena before jumping through the purple light, then Alex followed and after her all the agents, the girl from the future and another dark-haired girl in a blue sort of uniform went through one by one. While that was happening, Prince Lar Gand stepped back up to Lena.
"I need to go back," he said seriously. "I cannot thank you enough for the times you helped my son. I just wish I could do something in return."
Lena gave him a smile. "Don't mention..." she stopped herself as she suddenly realised something. "Actually... do you remember the Daxam Drive I took from your ship with Mon-el?"
"Well... yes."
"How do I get in to it?!" Lena asked intently. Because that thing was starting to drive her nuts. Pun definitely not intended.
"Oh... it has a fail-safe to prevent intrusion from alien entities, but it's pretty basic. You just need to cut the green wire."
Lena took a moment to gape at the ghostly alien. "That's... that's it?"
"Yes." The man just stood there, no hint of irony on his face, and Lena wasn't sure whether she should laugh at herself or kick herself for not figuring that out. "Well, I should go," the former king of Daxam said as he glanced behind them at the group of agents of which there were only a few left now. "It was good to see you again, Ms. Luthor." With that, he turned around and jumped through the portal just before the very last agent did the same, leaving the room a lot emptier than before.
Lena stood there for a second while Winn powered down the portal and the purple light disappeared, realising that she would finally be able to get access to revolutionary technology, before remembering that Kara was on a planet where she didn't have her powers. And where she would come face to face with her ex-boyfriend again. Who might not be that much of an ex.
So much for her good mood lasting more than half a second.
"Well, now we just wait until they send us the signal that they want to come back," Winn said.
"Hm..." Lena swallowed, a scary thought suddenly entering her mind. "She'll come back, right?" she asked, all of a sudden not so certain of the answer, as Winn gave her a confused frown. "I mean... with Mon-el being there..."
"Pfft..." Winn scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. "Come one, like she would do that! I mean, Mon-el is cool and everything, but she's not just going to abandon earth for him." He shook his head at the youngest Luthor. "Honestly, the things you say sometimes..."
Lena was about to protest, when her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind her. "Agent Schott, Ms. Luthor," an agent in black proclaimed from the doorway, and Lena was pretty sure that that one was called Vasquez. "Detective Sawyer is here to-" she halted and looked back when someone loudly cleared their throat from behind the door. "Oh, right... sorry." She turned back towards the room. "I meant... Detective Danvers is here to see you."
"Aaahhhh," Maggie sighed contently while exaggeratedly leaning inside, and Vasquez made a face before leaving. "Just rolls of the tongue, doesn't it?" She smiled broadly as she stepped inside and up to Lena and Winn.
"Hey there, miss Lena!" Mesut proclaimed loudly as he stepped into the room after the detective, and Lena nodded as she returned the ghost's greeting.
"You just missed your wife," Lena said, amused that Maggie still wouldn't stop pointing out her new last name at every opportunity.
"No, I didn't," Maggie said while smirking, as she stepped next to their worktable. "I already said goodbye earlier. Why do you think she was late?" She wiggled her eyebrows, and Lena groaned as she scrunched her eyes closed.
"Please tell me you didn't just come here to make inappropriate innuendo's," Lena said as she rubbed her temple.
"First of all; she's my wife, so nothing we do is inappropriate. And secondly; I'm actually here with a lead on Roulette."
Lena froze as her eyes shot open, and she was only vaguely aware of the excited gasp beside her as Winn fumbled around to get his badge out of his pocket. "You're kidding," she said slowly.
"Nope." Maggie pulled out a picture of a woman with bags under her eyes and a defiant look into the camera. "Meet Delores Winters," the detective announced, as Winn and Lena leaned closer towards the picture. "I came across her when I was forced to file the explosion of Roulette's fight club as a cold case. She was apparently a thorn in the side of the NCPD quite a few years ago, before I even got transferred over here. You could say that in a way, she was Roulette's predecessor, although her areas of interest were kind of... different."
"Sounds ominous," Winn commented.
"It kinda is. She had a fascination with aliens who have special powers, or who are just stronger than humans by nature, and she was apparently obsessed with finding ways to harness their powers. Something about wanting to stay young forever or something," Maggie shrugged dismissively before carrying on. "As a matter of fact, she even got a skin transplant that made her get some sort of freezing power. It's all pretty gnarly stuff."
"So she's like an evil Elsa?"
Lena blinked in confusion as she turned to Mesut. "Who?"
"You've never seen Frozen?!" the ghostly man exclaimed. "How is that legal?!"
"Hang on," Winn suddenly interrupted, entirely missing the ghostly conversation in front of him. "This is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with Roulette?"
"Well," Maggie started smugly, "being the awesome detective that I am, I found out that Delores Winters founded a wellness spa, slash plastic surgery clinic and that that clinic was co-founded by, guess who..." she paused and glanced around for dramatic effect. "A certain Veronica Sinclair." She turned to Lena with a questioning look. "So what do you think, Luthor? Think she could be our mark?"
"Possibly," Lena mused as she took the picture in her hands and observed the woman in it, "I mean, there's no guarantee that Roulette actually cares about one of her business partners, but it's the only lead we have, so..."
"Wait a minute," Lena looked to her side where Mesut was frowning at her. "You're still going with this plan of threatening someone Roulette cares about?" Mesut kept his frown in place as Lena responded affirmatively. "Pfft... whatever happened to 'one evil doesn't justify another'?" he questioned.
"This is different," Lena protested. "For one, my sanity is on the line and besides, we're not actually going to... you know... do it." She put down the picture as she leaned her hands on the table, quite frankly already starting to feel uncomfortable now that they might be getting close to executing her plan. "It's just a matter of leverage. A matter of me having something hanging over her head that's as big of a threat to her as she could be to me." Lena sighed deeply, before turning to Maggie. "So how does this work? Can you just arrest her?"
"Actually, that's where the problems start." Lena let out a sigh, because of course it couldn't be simple. "Our friend Delores over here went off the grid years ago, and no one's seen her since. And unless we find something wrong with her clinic, I don't have an excuse to spend police resources on finding her. And although that clinic's income is suspiciously high, it's not exactly enough proof to launch an investigation into it either."
Lena pinched the bridge of her nose. "So you're saying there's nothing we can do?"
"Actually," Maggie drawled and Lena gave a wary frown at the mischievous grin the detective was showing, "I said we can't officially do anything. So with that in mind..."
She took a flyer out of her pocket and put it on the table, the words 'Endless Winter Clinic and Health Spa' boldly printed on the front.
"...how do you feel about taking a spa day?"
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Health Spas were weird.
Lena had only been to a similar place once before, and quite frankly the constant lying down and doing nothing combined with strangers touching her all over had been enough to permanently scare her off from the whole concept. And yet, she found herself in such a setting once again, as she and Maggie had been guided to a changing room by an employee of The Endless Winter Clinic who had a plastic smile (both literally and figuratively).
Lena was now waiting in one of those changing rooms, which were basically just small cubicles reminiscent of a public pool, just as they'd planned. But when after a minute or so Mesut didn't show up she started to worry. She was almost a the point of panicking, clutching her handbag tighter by the second, when the ghostly man suddenly stepped through the door. "What took you so long?" Lena whispered intently.
"Sorry, sorry, I just tried teleporting here."
"Mesut," Lena groaned quietly, "I already told you: as far as I know you have to actually know the place you're teleporting to."
"Are you sure?" he whispered back. "Because I'm pretty sure I moved a few inches to-"
"Will you just check when the camera turns?!" Lena hissed, about to lose her patience.
"Okay, okay," Mesut grumbled, before leaning through the closed door and sticking his head out of the small changing room. "Aaaand... go!"
Lena quickly opened the door, (Mesut didn't move, which looked really weird) and she skidded through the corridor before the camera could turn back and she quickly sneaked into the changing room Maggie had walked into. She let out a sigh of relief as she locked the door behind her.
"You already nervous, Luthor? We didn't even get to the risky part yet."
Lena threw an annoyed glance at Maggie, who was looking way too relaxed in her opinion. "I just don't have the best track record when it comes to sneaking into places," the young CEO responded coolly, as she put her handbag on the floor and started examining the ceiling.
"Well, I'm on your side this time, so now there's no risk of me catching you." The detective gave her a wink, and Lena rolled her eyes before zeroing in on her objective.
"It should be about there," Lena pointed at a particular point in the ceiling. Maggie promptly propped herself against the wall of the small changing room, as Lena took out a cable from her bag, but at that point Mesut walked inside.
"Damn," he whispered. "It just won't work," he muttered, apparently still sulking about his inability to teleport. "So, what exactly am I looking for again?" he asked looking at Lena, and the youngest Luthor breathed out of her nose in frustration, because they'd been over this at least twenty times.
"You're looking for financial records," she whispered. "It's very likely we won't find them in their system, so you're looking for either physical files, or a separate server room."
"Which you need because-"
"Because we need an excuse for the police to resume looking for Delores Winters!" Lena hissed. "And why are you whispering?! No one can hear you!"
"Well, you were whispering, and then she was whispering, so I just thought-"
"Can you just get a move on?!"
"Okay, okay," the man said defensively (while still whispering), before he walked through the door on the other side and started exploring the building. Lena just shook her head, as she turned back to Maggie and frowned at the sight of her still propped against the wall and her hands folded together.
"You're... giving me a boost?" she asked warily.
"Yeah, obviously."
"I just thought... you were gonna-"
"Gonna magically float to the ceiling?" the detective asked sarcastically. "Look Luthor, one of us has to get up there and no offence, but I don't see you lifting me off the floor."
Maggie pointedly motioned towards her clasped hands and after a second Lena relented as she stepped out of her heels and planted her foot; one hand steadying herself on Maggie's shoulder while the other held on to her cable. She involuntarily squeaked when she got hoisted up and she steadied herself against the wall of the small changing room instead.
"You okay there?" Maggie asked from down below.
"I'm fine," Lena responded curtly, while starting to push one of the ceiling panels out of its place, revealing a dusty compartment of the building's inner workings. "I just don't like heights," she commented, as she looked around for the cable of the security network they were about to tap into.
"Heights?" Maggie snorted. "You're barely three feet off the floor."
"Will you just stand still?" Lena said, precariously balancing on her one foot, as she finally found what she was looking for.
"I'm trying, but not everyone is as strong as your girlfriend," Maggie commented dryly. Lena ignored her as she carefully peeled away the plastic around the wire in the ceiling, before clipping the end of her cable onto the exposed copper underneath. She huffed as she climbed down, stumbling to the floor with less grace than she'd like, as she moved to take her laptop out of her handbag and attach the other end of the cable to it.
"Could you give the Kara stuff a rest already?" Lena grumbled as she typed away on her laptop and proceeded to hack into the building's security grid. "It's really not funny."
"Actually, I think it's hilarious," Maggie snickered.
"Unrequited feelings are funny to you?"
"No, but oblivious dumbasses are."
"What?"
"Miss Lena!" The youngest Luthor flinched in surprise, as Mesut suddenly stepped back into the small changing room. "I think I found something!" Lena raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to explain. "There's this big door that kinda looks like a vault, and it's separated from the rest of the rooms and it's got a real complicated lock or something."
"Did you check the other side?" Lena asked slowly.
"Well, yeah, but there's just more rooms. Except it doesn't look all fancy like the rest of the place, it looks more... you know... evil lair-like."
"Hang on," Lena returned her attention to her computer screen, where she accessed the network of security cameras. She scrolled past the one in the waiting room, the ones in the various hallways and several others, before she arrived at the one pointed at the door that Mesut had described. "Jackpot," Lena mumbled, as Maggie moved to look over her shoulder. "They have a double-armoured door standing there, but there's no security cameras on the other side of it," Lena summed up. "Which means..."
"That there's something on the other side that they don't want to have visual evidence of," Maggie finished for her.
"Exactly. So if you give me a second..." Lena started typing away again, as she very carefully waited for the right time to freeze every last security camera and loop all the ones that turned. After that, she went deeper into the system and managed to power down the armoured door and retrieve the security code. "Done. Let's go," Lena proclaimed, packing up her computer.
"Wait, isn't it safer if I check out all those rooms?" Mesut asked confused.
"It would be," Lena sighed as she retrieved her cable and stepped back into her heels, "but they don't have any financial records in their system, so whether they're hiding physical copies or a hard drive behind that door, we're gonna have to go and get it ourselves." Lena huffed out a breath, as she was definitely getting nervous now, but she kept her poise. And her dignity. "You check what's ahead, okay?" she told Mesut, and he nodded as he stepped through the door again.
They stood at the ready, and after a few seconds Lena heard Mesut's voice: "It's clear!"
Lena swiftly stepped out of the changing room, with Maggie following closely behind, as they ran to the end of the hallway where Mesut was motioning towards them. They proceeded this way through the building, stopping at every corner so Mesut could scout the path ahead, and they even had to run two corridors back one time when an unsuspecting employee was headed their way. Eventually they made it to the door though, and Lena nervously wiped her hands before typing in the code that she'd seen a minute earlier on her computer. There was a click as the door unlocked, and Lena sighed a breath of relief as the giant armoured door opened and they snuck past it, careful to push it back again once they'd stepped through.
"Whoa..."
Lena turned around and saw what was giving Maggie pause. Because Mesut apparently wasn't exaggerating about the resemblance to an evil lair. Gone were the plants that seemed to be standing in every corridor of the rest of the clinic, gone was the atmospheric lighting, gone was the calming music playing in the background and gone was any trace of a window. The walls were stark and bare, and the overhead lights flickered sometimes as it suddenly felt like they'd stepped into an underground parking lot after midnight.
"Damn," Maggie whispered. "Subtlety really isn't criminals strong suit, is it?" She chuckled briefly, but despite her attempt at humour she still pulled her gun out of her back pocket as they started walking through the neon-lights-lit corridor.
Lena swallowed, as she now made sure to walk behind the detective with the firearm, as she nodded to Mesut to go and check ahead. And the ghostly man nodded in return, as he seemed to have turned just as serious by the change in atmosphere. They proceeded carefully, but suddenly Mesut's voice sounded from around the corner.
"Oh, crap..."
Lena froze as she grabbed Maggie's leather jacket, forcing her to stop, as she waited for some sort of clarification. When that didn't happen, she softly called out for him. "Mesut?" she whispered hesitantly, while Maggie had now raised her gun toward the corner at the end of the corridor, while glancing between the spot she was pointing at and Lena.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Mesut suddenly proclaimed. "It's clear."
Lena huffed out a breath that was equally annoyed as it was relieved, as she let go of Maggie and nodded at her, signalling that it was okay. When they rounded the corner, she gave Mesut an accusatory look as he was just standing there. "What was that about?" she asked annoyed, crossing her arms as she stepped next to him.
"It's just..." Mesut pulled a face as he motioned ahead at the next piece of corridor, "...a lot."
Lena turned to look at what he meant, and she felt her determination sag all the way to her shoes. Because there had to be at least a dozen doors on each side of the corridor, almost beckoning to the three would-be investigators that their evidence of embezzlement or affiliated wrongdoing could be behind any of them. Lena sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Crap," she muttered. "Alright..." she stepped up to the first door and tried the handle, surprisingly finding it unlocked. She quickly peeked inside, seeing only a bunch of stacked up chairs and other unutilised furniture. "Mesut," she started as she closed the first door, "you keep watch. We'll check the rooms." The ghostly man nodded and immediately ran for the end of the corridor.
Lena and Maggie now stepped up to the second room, the detective making a point of stepping inside first, her gun stretched out 'just in case'. The first few rooms were remarkably ordinary. One was full of file cabins, and Lena's heart had immediately jumped in excitement that they'd found what they were looking for, before realising that they just contained zoning permits and architectural plans.
There were another few that contained medical equipment, which Lena found quite strange since the place freely advertised their performances of plastic surgery. So what was the point of hiding their equipment behind a secured door? Only at door number seven did they find something unusual. The unusual thing being that unlike the other rooms, this one was locked.
"Alright, Luthor," the detective said smugly. "Step back." She proceeded to step in front of the door as she brought her leg up and swiftly kicked at the door, just like Lena had seen her do once before. Unlike last time, however, the door didn't budge and Maggie let out a strangled groan as she put her foot back down. "Reinforced lock," the detective mumbled before grimacing and clutching her knee. "Fuck."
Lena supressed the urge to laugh as Maggie limped a few steps while cursing under her breath, and instead turned to the side. "Mesut!" she whisper-shouted towards the end of the corridor. And as the man appeared around the corner with a questioning look, she motioned to him to get closer. "This one's locked," she explained, "can you take a look?"
"Yeah, sure."
The ghostly man stepped inside, leaving Lena and Maggie waiting for him on the other side. The detective had apparently recomposed herself, glancing from one side of the corridor to the other as the seconds ticked away, when she suddenly spoke up: "So about the Kara stuff..." she gave her a sideways glance while Lena rolled her eyes, "...I'm just curious about something."
"About what?" Lena asked annoyed.
"Well... what do you think that two people who are going out together would do?"
"What kind of a question is that?"
"Well," Maggie shrugged and flashed one of her dimpled grins, "I'm just saying that, by the way you two go out to romantic dinners, hang out every evening and hold hands all the time, one might think you two are already dating." The detective kept giving her that amused look, but Lena wasn't in the mood.
"That's just Jess jumping to conclusions," Lena protested. "Kara's just... affectionate," she said hesitantly. "I mean... best friends are supposed to be close, right?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
Lena huffed out an annoyed breath as she frowned at Maggie's self-satisfied look, but suddenly they both heard a loud scream. Or at least that's what Lena thought, but as she jumped up in surprise she noticed that Maggie hadn't heard anything. And that that scream was definitely Mesut. As if on cue, the man suddenly fell backwards out of the room, scurrying away on the floor as if the room had physically burned him. He heaved loudly as he pointed a shaking finger at the locked door and struggled to form words.
Lena stepped closer, feeling concerned. "Mesut, what happened?"
"They... it... it's... corpses..." he heaved, looking completely shaken. "They... they have... dead aliens... and arms and legs... and claws, horns and more... it's full of it... the whole room, it's..." he swallowed harshly, as he gave Lena a scared look, but before the youngest Luthor could even process that information, she suddenly heard another voice coming from behind her.
"This is a restricted area."
Lena spun around immediately, as Maggie snapped her head up as well. She'd been so distracted by Mesut, and the detective by Lena's reaction to him, that they'd completely missed the man they were currently looking at walking around the corner that Mesut had previously been guarding. And Lena noticed his expensive shoes, his Rolex and his dark hair that was slicked back with an absurd amount of gel. He was looking at them with a deep frown, his eyes darting suspiciously between the two women. Lena was frozen in place, but Maggie cleared her throat and composed herself.
"Detective Danvers, NCPD," she announced boldly, as she flashed her badge. "We have a search warrant on suspected illegal activity," she improvised. Lena was impressed by the quick recovery from the shock, but the man with the slicked back hair seemed less impressed.
"Well, that's a shame," he said in an amused tone. And Lena didn't like the sound of it, because he was starting to show a grin. "I'm afraid you won't be able to get back to your treatments any time soon, then." He snapped his fingers, and before Lena knew what was happening, five more men suddenly appeared from behind the corner, every last one of them pointing an assault rifle at their face. Lena's insides froze, as Maggie appeared to push her back out of instinct, stepping in front of the youngest Luthor with her lone gun pointing at the five armed grunts. "I suggest you put that down," the dark-haired man mused arrogantly, "unless you want to redecorate the floor with blood."
Maggie was breathing heavier, but she didn't lower her gun as she took a step back, pushing Lena along. The youngest Luthor was definitely panicking now, despite keeping her cool exterior. She glanced at her left wrist, looking at the watch that could summon Supergirl. But with Kara lightyears away on an alien planet somewhere, it was completely useless. She glanced back up at the last unlocked door, but it was too far away to make a run for it. She glanced to her right, where Mesut had jumped to his feet and was looking from left to right with a panicked expression on his face. And looking at the ghostly man who was muttering to himself with his hands in his hair she suddenly saw it.
She suddenly saw a way out of this mess.
Lena turned her head slightly, putting her right profile out of view of the armed thugs and their boss as she brought a hand up to her ear. "They're inside," she proclaimed with a confidence she didn't feel, making sure everyone heard, as she looked at Maggie. "They've started doing a sweep of the room," she proclaimed, and the detective looked at her over her shoulder with a confused expression that screamed; 'what the hell are you doing?'
Lena instead turned her gaze to the men ahead, their leader squinting his eyes at her. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news," she started, her voice cool and detached, "but you're currently being infiltrated." She paused, as she watched the grunts give each other sideways looks. "So I suggest you lay down your weapons before anyone gets hurt."
For a second, nobody moved as Lena and the man with the slicked back hair just stared at each other intently, while Maggie and the grunts kept their guns pointed at each other. Then the man started grinning.
"You're bluffing," he stated confidently.
"Am I?" Lena countered, giving the man her best corporate glare. "You're absolutely sure there isn't a tactical team behind that door?" Lena nodded to the side at the door with the reinforced lock. "Because if there isn't... there would be no way they could tell me exactly what they're finding in there... could they, now?"
Lena very slowly turned her head, bringing her hand to her ear again, as if listening to an imaginary comm in her ear. And she took the opportunity to stare directly at Mesut, trying to force him to understand what she was thinking through sheer willpower.
The ghostly man paused for an agonisingly long second... and then he got the hint.
She barely saw his eyes widen in understanding, before he sprinted back into the room he'd just stumbled out of, basically jumping through the door. The man with the slicked back hair was snickering now, apparently thinking he'd successfully called her out, but thankfully she heard Mesut shouting from inside the room: "There's a glass case in the corner, all the way in the back!! There's- there's only horns and claws and other stuff... you know, hard stuff... "
"So you keep the preservable goods in a glass case?" Lena said, raising an eyebrow at the man and his armed subordinates, whose expressions seemed to harden, all previous amusement suddenly gone. "Very posh."
"There's, like... some sort of water tank!!" she heard Mesut yelling. "There's floating things and I think... ugh!! Those are brains!!"
"A tank of cerebrospinal fluid?" Lena asked, squinting her eyes at the men who were now exchanging worried glances. "How very advanced of you," Lena remarked condescendingly, buying Mesut some time more than anything.
"The rest are just freezer racks!!" Mesut continued his shouted report, despite his trembling voice. "There's arms and legs and... no wait, there's a separate compartment with- ah, shit, that's a heart!!"
"I'm impressed," Lena remarked sarcastically, "you at least had the foresight to separate internal organs from other limbs. One would almost say you know what you're doing. Although freezer racks, really? Are you running a butcher shop or a second-rate villain lair?"
The men with the rifles were now muttering to each other as they all sent wary glances to the door. But although Lena noticed the man with the slicked back hair looking more angry and more worried than before, he was still hesitating. And when Mesut reappeared from inside the room, looking like he was about to be sick and just shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'that's all there is', Lena realised she had to take it a step further. So she went for broke. She calmly got on her knees, never changing her cool and calm expression, while gently tugging at Maggie's sleeve to signal her to do the same. When the detective looked at her, she seemed completely lost, but she seemed to just roll with it. And Lena was incredibly relieved, despite forcing herself not to show it.
"What- what are you doing?" the man in front of them stammered.
"Well, it sounds like they're almost done sweeping the room," Lena said calmly, as she now laid down on her stomach and leaned on her forearms. And after a moment of hesitation, Maggie followed her lead. "And the team is starting to get worried that we didn't give them the all clear," Lena continued while never breaking eye contact with the man, who was now looking frantically between the youngest Luthor and the offending door. "I'm afraid they're the 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of fellows. Just the mentality that you get amongst two dozen special op agents, I guess. So if you don't mind, we're just getting out of dodge." Lena kept staring at the man who was now breathing heavily while his eyes kept darting back and forward, and the armed men behind them were now looking downright panicked. "Enjoy the bullet storm," Lena scoffed, as she decided to go all in and put her hands behind her head and finally break eye contact. Laying her head down against the cold floor, while she noticed Maggie seemingly fighting every instinct in her body, as she slowly did the same despite never letting go of her gun.
The silence lasted half a second... but half a second had never lasted so long.
"Alright, alright!!" the panicked shout above her head sounded. "Stand down!! Stand down, I said!! Tell them it's clear, woman!!"
Lena thought she'd snapped her head up fast, but when she looked up, Maggie had already bounded across the corridor and had kicked the men's discarded rifles to the side. "On the ground!! Hands behind your back!!" Maggie yelled, frantically reaching for the inside pocket of her leather jacket as she started pulling out several plastic handcuffs. Lena quickly got to her feet as she watched all six men follow Maggie's orders, and she feigned reassuring the imaginary tactical team through her comm just to make sure they didn't do anything stupid. She watched as Maggie started handcuffing all of them, but when Lena went to pick up one of the discarded rifles the detective aggressively shook her head at her.
After restraining the last man and calling for back up, Maggie suddenly grabbed Lena by her arm and dragged her out of earshot. "You need to get out of here. Now."
Lena paused, as she gave the woman a confused look. "I can't leave you alone with six guys who are gonna be livid when they realise-"
"Do you remember your last name?!" Maggie interrupted her. "You don't need to get caught in a building with dissected aliens, and you don't need your fingerprints on rifles that were probably obtained illegally! Especially with McConnell trying to find any excuse to incriminate you!"
Lena shook her head in confusion. "That guy is still at it?!" she asked incredulously. "But Jeremiah told us where to find dr. Runnels' body," she protested. "McConnell knows how mother got her hands on the alien detection technology now, why would he still-"
"Because he's a fucking asshole, Luthor!!" Maggie hissed, throwing a wary glance at the handcuffed men behind her. "So just get out of here before you give him something concrete to latch onto again!!" Lena opened and closed her mouth as she hesitated for a moment. "Go!!" Maggie insisted.
Lena reluctantly backed away, darting her eyes between her friend and the men behind her, before turning around and starting to run for the exit.
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Lena nervously tapped her foot while she sipped her coffee.
She was sitting in a booth in a small diner that didn't look like it was used to having customers. Their toast was disgusting, but the place was only two streets removed from the clinic she just escaped and she'd actually managed to see several police cars racing that way over half an hour ago. Lena let her eyes go over the deserted diner, as she'd been getting more nervous about leaving Maggie alone every passing minute. However, after sending Mesut back to find out what was happening, he'd reassured her that she was just processing evidence. He'd also subsequently left. Apparently he'd spotted a cinema nearby.
("I'm traumatized and I need a distraction, all right?! You're just gonna talk about stuff I have to omit anyway!")
Lena's head suddenly shot up at the sound of the door opening, and she immediately jumped out of her seat when she noticed it was Maggie. "Finally!!" she exclaimed. "I've been worried sick over here!" Maggie just hummed as she patted Lena on the back in response to the hug she received.
"Alright, alright, don't get clingy. I'm a married woman, you know?"
"Yes," Lena chuckled as she stepped back. "So you keep reminding everyone." They both sat down in the booth and Lena noticed that despite her joking tone, Maggie's expression remained very serious. "I suppose it would be naïve to hope that Delores Winters left a forwarding address lying around?"
"Forget about that for a second, Luthor. We've got bigger problems." Maggie leaned closer with her elbows on the table, her expression still very grim. "So that guy back there, the one with enough gel in his hair to stick a Toyota to a wall, he actually ran the shady side of the business. He claims not to know where Delores Winters is, but he did confirm that Roulette used to sell them the bodies of aliens that didn't survive in her fight club."
"What on earth would they need that for?!" Lena asked in disgust.
"Well, apparently the 'plastic surgeries' they performed there were not exactly... conventional. If you had enough money, they could get you a skin transplant, so you'd be immune to certain toxins, or replace an arm with a much stronger alien variant and so on. They did more procedures, but those are just some of the less nasty ones." Maggie cleared her throat, and Lena was thankful that her innate curiosity was muted by the revolting nature of the information. "But here's the thing... they actually kept track of where they got all those corpses. Every purchase, every single body, to the last limb is accounted for in their records. And I quickly went over them, you know, to confirm that Roulette delivered to them before a colleague would bag the evidence. But..." Maggie sighed and shifted in her seat again, "...while she used to sell to them regularly when her first fight club was still running... lately..." Maggie fell quiet as she let out another sigh and Lena was starting to feel anxious.
"What?!" she exclaimed, sitting on the edge of her seat. "Just spit it out! What is it?!"
Maggie wringed her hands together before looking at Lena again with a concerned expression. "They'd been scraping them together since Roulette's fight club got shut down," Maggie started slowly. "A murder victim here, a homeless alien there, barely getting by, apparently. Roulette sold them one last batch in May, but after that... they found a regular supplier again." Maggie paused once more, clenching her jaw as she looked over Lena's face. But just as Lena was about to lose her patience, the woman spoke up again. "It's Cadmus."
Lena's eyes went wide, searching Maggie's face in disbelief, but the woman kept looking back at her with that grave expression in place. "But that's... not possible," Lena started weakly. "I thought the whole thing just crumbled after mother died. I mean... they haven't done anything since..."
"Nothing obvious," Maggie corrected. "But like I just said, they've been selling alien corpses to the Endless Winter Clinic. Do you remember I told you that I got put in charge of a string of alien kidnappings?" Maggie asked, and Lena just nodded back. "Well, I guess we know who's behind it now. Or at least what organisation." Maggie sighed as she reached out and took a swig of Lena's coffee. "I'm not sure why they're suddenly trying to be subtle, although I guess it's not uncommon for a criminal organisation to lay low for a while after a shift in power."
"Wait a minute," Lena frowned. "So do you suppose... they're the ones who helped Henshaw escape?"
"That seems likely," Maggie nodded.
"And... Delores Winters..." Lena started thoughtfully, "...do you think she might be... in charge of Cadmus now?"
Maggie shook her head at her. "It's possible, but I don't think we should jump to conclusions. But hey, look on the bright side," she huffed out a humourless laugh, "at least now I have a good excuse to spend police resources on finding her."
Lena gave a smile that more resembled a grimace, as she hadn't thought that her problems could have gotten even worse. Well, turns out that old saying was true. Things can always get worse. Before she could think any deeper about it however, both hers and Maggie's phones suddenly buzzed. As she took it out of her pocket, she just had time to read Winn's text, before Maggie exclaimed it's content: "They're back!"
And as Lena would find out later, everything had worked out just fine. Kara and company had squashed a rebellion and had come right back, just as promised. She'd been prepared to console Kara, ready to put her own feelings aside and listen to how hard it was to leave Mon-el behind another time. But Kara had seemed genuinely fine, as she'd just wrapped her up in a tight hug and told her she'd missed her. Lena didn't miss the beat her heart skipped, nor did she miss Maggie's pointed look at their interaction. But despite the Supergirl mission going smoothly, despite Kara seeming fine, and despite witnessing the miracle of her computer finally being able to connect with the Daxam Drive thanks to Lar Gand's instructions, she still didn't sleep easy that night. She didn't sleep easy because of Cadmus. Because despite the fact that her mother wasn't even leading it anymore, Cadmus was still a product of the Luthor madness.
And Lena wanted... no, needed to put an end to it.
========================================================
Cyborg Superman woke with a start.
His robotic eye immediately lit up, as he sat up straight while scanning his surroundings. He growled while he looked around the cubical cell with see-through walls that he was trapped in, as he clearly wasn't in that transportation van anymore. As he got up from the floor and gazed around his new prison, he caught sight of the figure sitting in a chair in the otherwise empty room. He froze for a moment, before letting out a primal roar and lunging in that direction, only causing him to slam into the apparently impervious confines of his cell. The hooded figure just gave him a sly grin from the chair, slowly getting up before approaching the odd cell, while repeatedly flicking the lid of a metallic lighter.
"Welcome back among the living, Henshaw."
"You!" the cyborg growled, as he sent a hateful glare in the figure's direction. "You deserted me in Metropolis!"
"Oh, I think you have your facts wrong there," the figure drawled, looking the cyborg over with bemusement. "You see, I never actually left National City. So I think 'deserted' isn't the best way to put it."
The cyborg just growled in response, shooting a blue beam from his robotic eye, but it did nothing to damage the walls of his see-through prison.
"Don't waste your energy," the figure spoke calmly, while appearing more interested in flicking the lid of the lighter than Henshaw's anger. "I understand why you might resent me, but you should know that I was simply thinking of the bigger picture. Lillian Luthor was smart in many ways, but her ego was too big for her own good." The figure let out a measured laugh, seemingly unaffected by the increasingly animalistic rage on Henshaw's face, while pacing back and forward in front of the cell. "She really had a hard time learning from her mistakes," the hooded figure mused. "Her daughter thwarted her plans multiple times, and still she could not predict how her final mission was going to end. Cadmus will be much better off without that woman's ego in the way," the figure continued. "With her gone, we will finally be able to move forward in trying to defend ourselves, instead of constantly posturing about our superiority or engaging in wild goose chases after Supergirl. If only she would have realised that it is so much easier to operate out of the shadows..."
The figure came to a stop and flicked the lid of the metallic lighter closed, opting to finally give the cyborg some acknowledgement. "That is why I brought you here, Henshaw. To offer you a place in the new and improved Cadmus. One with a practical leader, instead of a self-centred, superficial millionaire with a personal vendetta against Supergirl."
"I will never work for you!" The cyborg emphasized his statement by bashing his fists against the confines of his cell. The hooded figure grinned again, seemingly unaffected by Henshaw's outburst, before taking out a small remote-like device and pointing it at the see-through cell.
"I thought you might say that," the figure responded while pressing a button on the device. Instantly, the cyborg let out an angry growl as he clutched his left shoulder in pain. "Did you know..." the figure started calmly, resuming the flicking of the metallic lighter, "...there once was a study claiming that smoking actually prevents cancer?"
The cyborg didn't appear to be listening as he kept clutching his shoulder, his eyes widening as a beeping sound seemed to be coming from that particular limb.
"Obviously no one was eager to encourage people to start smoking several packs a day. But don't you think it would be worth it?"
The cyborg was now panting as he tugged his shirt aside to look at his shoulder, his eyes widening as he saw a red flashing light from under his skin accompanying the increasingly fast beeping sound.
"Don't you think exterminating such a heinous parasite would be worth the risk of any side effects? Don't you think that sometimes one evil can justify another? Because I do."
Henshaw started clawing at his shoulder, as both the beeping and the figure's voice intensified.
"It's a shame you won't be joining us, because Cadmus as a whole will start being more practical now. No more posturing, or bold grandiose gestures to try and win over the people's approval. The people will start thinking practically. Now that I'm in charge, they will see us as the necessary evil that we are." The figure grinned once more while stepping up to the cell, as the incessant beeping turned to one long sound, and the cyborg gave the hooded figure one last hateful look. "They will call me... Cigarette."
Cyborg Superman didn't get a chance respond, however... because the man formerly known as Hank Henshaw was suddenly blown to pieces.
The see-through walls shook in their place, but the cell did its job of containing the blast. The hooded figure simply stood there, looking over the walls that were no longer see-through. Instead... they were now stained red. The blast had signalled the end of the incessant beeping, leaving the room in complete silence. Deadly silence.
At least until Cigarette resumed flicking the lid of the metallic lighter.