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“Hey!” Kara all but bounces into command, cape flapping behind her. Lucy waves from her spot at the table, barely looking up from the files in front of her. “Where’s Alex?”
Lucy looks up finally and the muscles in her jaw clench visibly.
“Lucy,” Kara says quietly.
“She’s on a field mission,” Lucy says after a moment. “Sort of.”
“What?” Kara crosses her arms over her chest, and Lucy sighs.
“Supergirl,” she says in a slightly louder voice, enough to attract the attention of the two men over at the main screen. “These are agents McMahon and Rucker with the FBI.”
“Why is the FBI here? Where’s A-- Director Danvers?”
“The FBI has been putting together a case against Maxwell Lord,” Lucy says. Her jaw clenches again. “A white collar case.”
“White collar? As in corporate? Not for Bizarro or--”
“No,” Lucy says quietly. She circles the table to Kara’s side. “I promise you, this is the start. This is how we get the warrants we need. There are still a lot of people in the government who are backing, silently or otherwise, his anti-alien agenda. But this is a start.”
“What does this have to do with Alex?” Kara hisses. “Where is she?”
“Supergirl,” one of the agents says. He’s almost a foot taller than her and folds his arms over his chest, looking down his nose at Kara and Lucy. “Director Danvers agreed to assist the FBI in a sting operation.”
“A sting?”
“She’s uniquely qualified,” the other agent says.
“Meaning what, exactly?”
“Meaning,” Lucy says with a glare at the FBI agents. “That Maxwell Lord demonstrated a particular affinity for Director Danvers when he was investigated and detained the first time around, so she was the ideal candidate to move this forward.”
“Can I have a word, please?” Kara says sharply. “In private.”
“We need--”
“Of course,” Lucy says. “Agent Vasquez, please escort Agents McMahon and Rucker to satcom so they can confirm that Director Danvers’ communications are up and running.”
“Yes ma’am,” Vasquez says. Two of her other agents stand at her flank, waiting.
“Major Lane--” Rucker reaches out to grab her elbow as she turns to walk away with Kara. Lucy moves before Kara, even, and folds his hand back towards his elbow.
“You may have bulldozed in here with an executive order to use my operatives,” she says calmly. “But this is my house, and you will do as you are told when you are in it, or you will sit in a holding cell until you can learn to behave without interfering.”
She drops his hand unceremoniously and nods at Vasquez.
“This way, sir,” Vasquez says firmly as Lucy leads Kara back out to the directors’ office.
“Okay, first,” Kara says as soon as the door was closed. “That was awesome. And second - what in the--”
“Trust me, I’m just as unhappy about it as you are,” Lucy says, rubbing a hand over her forehead. You think I like that she’s out there dealing with a sleaze like Maxwell Lord?”
“What’s the plan? Does she have backup?”
“Of course she has backup,” Lucy says with a smile. “There’s a scientific conference, and he’s presenting there. Alex would have been our best choice anyway, given her background, but he’s so clearly into her--” Lucy pauses, mouth turning down as if she’s going to vomit. “-- that it was the best option to get close enough to him. She agreed before anyone could say anything. We sent a team of four undercover and six on the perimeter.”
“I don’t like this,” Kara says, pacing. “I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I,” Lucy says. “Trust me, I’m not happy about this.”
“Then how are you this calm?”
“One: I have to be. Two: I trust Alex.”
“I do too!” Kara says. “But he’s--he’s so horrible, Lucy, after what he did to all those girls from the hospitals, and the red kryptonite--”
“Kara,” Lucy says quietly. “Don’t mistake me being calm for me being okay . I am freaking out just as much as you are because the last thing I want is Alex within fifty miles of him. But she’s going to arrest him with the FBI warrant, and he’s going to be prosecuted, and he’s going to go to prison. Trust that.”
“I don’t like it,” Kara says again.
“It’s going to be okay,” Lucy says, a hand on Kara’s shoulder. A knock sounds on the door before Kara can say anything. “What?”
“Ma’am,” Agent Miller says from the doorway. “Director Danvers has made contact with the subject.”
Kara’s frown extends at his words, just as Lucy’s nose wrinkles, and she follows Lucy with a sigh back to command. A blueprint of the building Alex is in fills the whole screen with a series of blue dots scattered throughout the map.
The dot labelled Danvers is near the center of the map, next to a red dot flashing with Target .
“Tracker active,” one of the techs calls out.
“Someone go get the FBI idiots,” Lucy says, huffing out a sigh. “I guess we’re not allowed to have all the fun here.”
Kara snorts, trying and failing to hide the sound behind her hand, and Lucy shoots her a small smile and winks.
Rucker and McMahon stomp back in, FBI windbreakers ruffling loudly as they walk.
“Asset has contacted the target and is in pursuit,” Lucy tells them. “Once she gets him clear of the crowd, Bravo Team close in.”
A staticky collection of grumbled “Roger” rattle through on the radios, and Kara grinds her teeth, eyes locked on Alex’s tracker. Long seconds click by until it moves, in tandem with the red dot, away from the center of the room.
Kara looks over at Lucy, and Lucy’s arms are folded tightly over her chest, her shoulders tight and jaw clenching and unclenching rhythmically. Alex’s tracker slides out into a hallway on the map, and Lord’s follows.
“This is Bravo,” one of the agents on site says. “Do we have authorization to move?”
“Not yet,” Agent McMahon says quickly, gripping at the shoulder of the comm tech before Lucy can even open her mouth. “Patch the tracker comms through,” he adds to the tech, who glances at Lucy uncertainly.
“Go ahead,” she says tightly. “Agent McMahon--”
Maxwell Lord’s voice crackles through the speakers. “--surprised to see you, I have to admit. I don’t suppose this is you waving a white flag and coming to your senses, is it, Agent Danvers?”
There’s a loud rustle over the tracker microphone, as if fabric is dragging over it, muffling Lord’s voice, and Lucy’s fingers dig sharply enough into her own arm to whiten her knuckles.
“Where exactly is her mic hidden?” Kara mutters. Lucy shoots her a look that promises pure murder before directing her attention back to the screen.
“Bravo team, move in,” she snaps over the comms.
“Director--”
“Remember your place, Agent Rucker,” Lucy says quietly, back ramrod straight as she glares at him. “If you’ve done your job properly, which your shiny executive order promises me you have, then you do not need audible confirmation from my undercover agent to make your case. And if you haven’t done your job and are just using my agency for the manpower to circumvent your shoddy investigative work, then I assure you, the failed prosecution of Maxwell Lord will be the least of your extremely extensive list of worries.”
Agent McMahon lunges towards the tech, aiming for the microphone she controls, and Kara blurs over to grab him by the collar, dangling him over her head easily.
“You hear the director,” she says sweetly. “Now play nice.”
Lucy offers her a nod of thanks and turns to her tech. “Status?”
“This is Director Danvers,” Alex says over the radio. “Target is in custody with Bravo team and we’re headed home.”
Lucy doesn’t say anything, instead folding her arms over her chest once more before she turns to Kara. “I’ll be in my office. Please ask Director Danvers to come in for debriefing immediately.”
Alex walks into the office, tired and yawning, and kicks her heels off as soon as she’s in the door.
“I hate undercover,” she grumbles and shrugs out of her suit jacket.
“What did he say to you?” Lucy says from her spot leaning against her desk.
“What?” Alex tosses her heels over by her desk and unhooks an earring, frowning at Lucy.
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Lucy says. “So what did he say to you?”
“Nothing,” Alex says with a sigh. She drops her earrings on her desk and shuffles barefoot over to where Lucy stands stiffly.
“Alex,” she says quietly.
“He’s a creep, Lucy,” Alex says. Her hands fall to Lucy’s shoulders and slide down her arms, familiar and easy. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Alex, please.”
“He made some gross sexist comments about the last time I was undercover when we were investigating him,” Alex says with a shrug.
“What did he say?”
“Lucy,” Alex says. She offers a small smile, her hands fitting around Lucy’s hips, and leans forward to press a kiss to her lips; Lucy pulls her head back at the last moment, and Alex sighs, dropping her forehead onto Lucy’s shoulder.
“He said he must be special since I keep dressing up for him,” she says softly. “And that he preferred the dress from the first time because he could--”
Lucy jerks away from her, storming out of the office. Alex stumbles back on bare feet and recovers six steps behind her, running down the hallway to where Lucy has already disappeared into the holding area.
“I need the room,” Lucy tells Rucker and McMahon just as they’re about to step into Lord’s interrogation room. “Now.”
“What--”
“Director Lane,” Alex says sharply. Lucy ignores her save for a short glance.
“Now, gentlemen,” she says, her voice low. “Five minutes. Turn off the surveillance.”
“Director Lane,” Kara says, skidding to a stop in the interrogation room.
“Now,” Luy says once more, and Kara and both FBI agents all take two steps back.
“Yes ma’am,” McMahon says. He disengages the cameras and steps aside, tugging Rucker out of the way.
Lucy strides into the room and shuts the door quietly behind her. Alex stares through the glass, hands on her hips, as Lucy leans her hands on the table at Lord’s side and speaks to him; she shoots a look over to Kara and touches a finger to her ear, but Kara shrugs helplessly. She can’t hear them, either.
On the other side of the glass, Maxwell Lord sneers up at Lucy, and Lucy swiftly twists his arm back behind him and slams his forehead into the table.
“Oh my God!” Kara jumps, hands over her mouth. Rucker and McMahon stare open-mouthed through the glass, and Alex sighs, pushing a hand through her hair.
He has a bloody nose and cradles his wrist to his chest, and Lucy glares down at him and speaks in his ear for a brief moment, and then she’s done. She leaves the room and shuts the door behind her. “All yours,” she says to Rucker and McMahon. He’ll probably cooperate. As soon as you have something viable I want to know about it so I can start the warrant process.”
“Yes ma’am,” they say in unison. Kara giggles into her hand, and Lucy stalks out of the room.
“Director Danvers, a word, please,” she says over her shoulder, and Alex sighs as she follows back to their office.
“So, do you want to tell me what that was about?” Alex says sharply once the door closes behind her. “You’re a lawyer , Lucy, you know you can’t--”
Lucy kisses her, heavy and angry, and the force of it shoves Alex back against the door. Her hands fall to Lucy’s hips instinctively, mouth opening to Lucy’s before she regains her train of thought and pushes at Lucy’s shoulders.
“What-- Lucy, wait,” she mumbles. A sharp inhale whistles past her teeth when Lucy bites down on her neck instead. “What the hell is going on with you?”
“He doesn’t get to look at you like that.” Her voice is rougher than Alex has ever heard it before, her fingernails scraping down Alex’s back, and Alex’s spine arches under her touch. “He doesn’t get to talk to you like that, or think about you--”
“Like what,” Alex manages to say. Her head thumps back into the door.
“Like he has some claim to you.” Her fingers pull harshly at the buckle on Alex’s belt.
“Oh my God,” Alex half-groans, half laughs. “Are you jealous?”
Lucy says nothing and instead works her hand down past Alex’s belt until Alex bites down on Lucy’s shoulder and clamps down on her arm. A strangled “Fuck” makes its way out of Alex’s mouth and her body bows under Lucy’s touch.
“So,” Alex says between heavy breaths and Lucy pressing tired kisses to the side of her neck.
“Not a word,” Lucy says, pulling back enough to give Alex a stern look. She extracts her hand slowly, and Alex’s entire body trembles.
“You mean about the fact that you were jealous of Maxwell Lord?”
“Nope,” Lucy says.
“You were jealous .” Alex squints at Lucy from her spot still slumped against the door, lazily buckling her belt. Lucy ignores her, straightening her uniform jacket, and strides over to her desk and extracts a mirror from the drawer to fix her hair.
Alex follows and takes the mirror out of her hands gently, taking Lucy by the shoulders and turning her around. She combs through Lucy’s hair carefully, twisting it into her usual military bun and securing it. Her fingers brush along the side of Lucy’s neck softly, and she follows it up with a gentle kiss in the same spot.
“Don’t be jealous,” she says quietly, not moving away.
“Of Maxwell Lord?”
Alex wraps her arms around Lucy’s waist and props her chin on Lucy’s shoulder. “Of anyone.”