Chapter Text
Maggie Sawyer really thought she had learned to expect the unexpected in her three long years as a decorated NCPD detective. This was particularly true whilst dating her now ex-fiancée of a year, Alex Danvers, secret agent extraordinaire and most importantly the sister of Earth’s mightiest hero.
However, if you had told Maggie that on an otherwise unremarkable rainy Wednesday morning, she would stumble across a delirious and injured Supergirl on her walk to the gym, she would have laughed in your face.
Maggie blinked deeply, shifting the tiredness from her eyes. Surely she was either clinically insane, or in serious need of an updated prescription for her glasses, because that was most definitely Supergirl. Twisting around in confusion, Maggie rapidly checked her surroundings before squinting once again at the slumped red and blue form refusing to leave her vision.
“What the hell?” She muttered, taking a hesitant step closer.
Maggie’s instincts screamed blaringly at her, her booted feet quickly splashing through small puddles of water as she rushed to the dishevelled blonde’s side.
“Kara?” Maggie called out, louder this time. “Kara, is that you?”
The figure remained still, slumped lifelessly against the exposed brick of the wall. She was almost unrecognisable – blonde hair tinged in a worrying red hanging limply over her shoulder, the once regal reds and blues of her unform now muted and ripped from whatever battle had left her in this state.
The lack of movement scared Maggie the most as she gingerly knelt by Kara’s side, one hand coming up to clutch tightly at the Super’s shoulder.
“Kara.” She spoke more firmly, lightly shaking the girl as she did so. “Kara, wake up.”
Still nothing.
Maggie shakily reached around to press two fingers into the sweaty flesh of Kara’s neck, a sigh of relief leaving her lips immediately at the light flutter of a heartbeat she felt beating beneath her fingertips.
“Kara!” She shouted out this time, tripping backwards in surprise as cobalt blue eyes finally shot open in response.
Ragged gasps pierced the quiet alleyway as Kara suddenly heaved in air, eyes pinwheeling around, trying and failing to find purchase in any direction. Her crumpled form straightened slowly, one hand fisting against the concrete as she attempted to hold up her own bodyweight.
Maggie scrambled upwards to push Kara gently back against the wall as she teetered forward, scared the younger girl might collapse if she kept moving.
“Kara, what the fuck is going on?” The detective asked frantically. She felt herself succumbing to panic, wide eyes scanning the super’s body and cataloguing her injuries – the visible ones anyway.
Kara blinked up at her owlishly, face scrunching in adorable confusion. Maggie felt her heart squeeze. Kara had always looked so terribly young to her, the somewhat pompous supersuit seemingly melting away to leave just scared kid in its wake. That’s what Kara was. She was just Alex’s little sister. Just a kid.
Maggie tapped the side of Kara’s face, hoping to wake her from her daze. She noted Kara’s blown pupils with growing concern. Did she hit her head?
“Hey little Danvers,” Maggie shuffled forward as she spoke to the younger girl. “Can you look at me? Please Kara. I need you to look at me.”
Kara’s head lolled away from the noise with a pained moan and Maggie felt like crying. What the fuck had happened? Maggie reached up to grasp at Kara’s jaw, carefully turning her head back towards her. She felt a sense of growing hope when Kara seemed to lock on to her face, eyebrows furrowing in a cute mimicry of concentration.
“Heyyy y- you look like,” Kara’s slurred speech broke off with a cough “Like some- someone I know.” She smiled sweetly as she finished her sentence, lifting a heavy hand in a half-hearted attempt at a wave. “You’re really pretty.” She slurred out.
Maggie looked stricken. Something was incredibly wrong with Kara, and she needed to get her to the DEO right now before it was too late. She had to call Alex, she realised with a grimace. But first…
“You do know me silly,” Maggie soothed carefully, leaning forward and running her hands through Kara’s hair to feel for any bumps or bleeding. “I’m Maggie, remember?”
Her hand came away concerningly wet as she passed over Kara’s right temple, immediately sticky with blood from a sluggishly bleeding wound.
“Hi Maggie. I-” Kara hissed out a wince as Maggie probed the edges of the cut. “I- I like that name. Mag- Ma-” Kara struggled to push the words past her lips.
“Yep, I happen to like that name too. I’ll even let you call me Mags if you like.” Maggie continued to distract the girl, still assessing her for damage. She eyed the way Kara clutched her left arm almost too tightly in her right, elbow pulled into her stomach in a sort-of protective positioning.
“Does your arm hurt kara?” Maggie asked, wincing in sympathy as she finally noticed the unnatural angle of her elbow, clearly dislocated from its socket.
Kara slowly nodded, head falling forward heavily as she did so, landing on Maggie’s shoulder. She visibly grimaced when Maggie pushed her head gently back up to lean against the wall once again.
“Hmm, I’m not surprised” The detective mused. “It looks like it’s a bit sore kid, that’s for sure.” She patted the hero’s thigh, pulling away immediately when Kara instantly whimpered in pain.
“Wha-” Maggie looked down at the girl’s legs, spotting the growing pool of blood beneath them with a shocked horror. “Oh my God. Kara, I- Oh my God.”
The super was bleeding deeply from what looked like a gunshot wound, skin around the obvious hole angry and inflamed. Maggie immediately shed her jacket, pushing the fleecy fabric hard into Kara’s thigh with one hand, groping around for her phone with the other.
“Okay wow, okay.” Maggie was reassuring herself as much as Kara at this point. “I’m going to call your sister, okay?” Kara’s eyes snapped up at that, tears spilling through long eyelashes. “We’re going to fix you right up, I promise.” Maggie continued soothing Kara, as she thumbed through the contacts in her phone. A frown pulled onto her face when Kara started vigorously shaking her head from side to side, eyes now clenched shut.
“You- you can’t.” Kara grimaced through the pain.
“I can’t what?” Maggie probed, confused.
“Ca- call Alex-“
“But-”
“Please Maggie.” Kara sobbed out, becoming near hysterical now. “Alex doesn’t- she- you just can’t.” There was a desperation hidden in the slurred words that gave Maggie pause. There had to be a deeper reason for Kara’s uncharacteristic reluctance to contact her sister.
“Okay Kara, okay. I won’t call her. But I have to call someone who can help.” Maggie swept a strand of sweaty hair behind Kara’s non-bloody ear as she dipped her head to meet the super’s unfocussed eyes. “Who can I call?”
Kara seemed to consider the possibilities slowly, pale face twisting in her obvious struggle to think properly. She suddenly lit up as if a lightbulb had gone off in her head. Maggie looked on in concern.
“Lena.” She landed on decisively with a nod, providing no further explanation.
“Lena who?” Maggie stared at the blonde in confusion, running through the very short list of Lenas she knew in her head.
“Lena with the nice office.” Kara helpfully clarified, raising a very shaky hand to point over Maggie’s shoulder.
Maggie followed Kara’s gesture, turning her head to see the L-Corp skyscraper peeking through a gap in the clouds.
No way.
How had little Danvers managed to find herself brushing shoulders with the multi-millionaire sister of her own sworn enemy. It was incredibly on-brand for Kara if Maggie was honest with herself.
“Lena Luthor?” Maggie asked incredulously, sincerely hoping that Kara was mistaken.
Kara nodded again, bloodied teeth showing in a dopey smile. “Lena will he- help. Promise” The super reaffirmed. “She’ll help.”
“Jesus.” Maggie whispered to herself as she pulled out her phone, this time to google the L-Corp office number. “You better be right about this Kara.”