Chapter 45

After breakfast, everyone meets up at the DEO. J'onn watches them all arrive with his usual serious expression, his eyes kind as he greets them. He has Vasquez lead them to the private conference room they'll be using so he can stay where he is and make sure everyone has arrived. He raises an eyebrow at a sheepish Winn, the last to arrive. J'onn walks him to the conference room himself.

Maggie, Alex, Kara, Lena, Eliza, and Jeremiah are all sitting the the conference table, waiting for them to arrive. Winn rushes to sit down, murmuring apologies for his lateness and nearly dropping his large stack of papers when he trips over nothing in his haste.

J'onn clears his throat after he takes his seat, drawing everyone's attention. "I assume everyone knows each other by now. We'll get down to business unless anyone has something to add." He glances around but no one speaks up. "Very well. Queen Lena?" He urges respectfully.

"Thank you." She replies politely, straightening in her seat. "As you all know, my adoptive mother is the head of Cadmus, an anti-alien terrorist group. I have brought all of the data and papers and notebooks she and Lex left behind. It should have arrived in your office, Winn."

"It did," he confirms.

"Good. I've barely had time to look through it, but what I have been able to decode is written in an additional notebook on the top of the pile."

"Do you know of Cadmus' location?" J'onn questions.

Lena shakes her head. "Not exactly. I know an area where it's more than likely they're hiding out in, but it's a rather large area. I was hoping that we could work together to narrow down the possibilities."

"We will be happy to work with you." J'onn nods to her and Lena's lips twitch up  into a small smile.

"It will be a pleasure working with your team. You have some fine minds here." Lena compliments before turning to Winn. "Do you have the map I asked for?"

"Yes!" Winn exclaims, digging through the pile of papers he brought with him. "Just hang on a moment while I find it..."

His eyes brighten when he miraculously finds it in his mess, handing it over to Lena.

"Would it be alright if I wrote on this?" Lena questions.

"Sure, I have other copies."

Lena grabs a nearby quill, deciding ink will work better than pencil. She dabs it  in the ink and works as she speaks, outlining the edges of the area.

"This region here I had Winn find I blown up map of. You may recognize it; it has been disputed territory between our Kingdoms for generations. Because of that fact, the few who have ever dared to settle there never stay. I assume your people fear becoming part of Luthor Kingdom and mine fear becoming part of your kingdom."

"Why would they stay there?" Kara asks curiously.

"The people who try to settle there are always rich, and have built lavish castles on the land. They're all abandoned now. Officially, at least. My mother loves the Luthor Kingdom in her own sick, twisted way and wouldn't want to be too far from it. So this land is perfect for her, it's right on our border with you, the Danvers Kingdom. Not to mention the fact she's used to being a Queen and getting the most luxurious things. She needs somewhere fancy and as large as her overinflated ego.  the large castles make for rather good hideouts for a large group of people, especially the ones with dungeons or basements."

"So how do we know which one they're in?" Alex questions, her and Maggie both walking over to where Lena and Kara are standing to get a better look at the map.

"We can exclude all of them that are old enough to be reclaimed by the plants and the ones in various states of disrepair." Lena replies.

She looks it over, making a mental note to praise Winn on the detail. Every place with a castle has a rough sketch and has the name of it, if it has one. She begins crossing some out.

"We can x out the smaller ones, too." Maggie muses, and Lena starts crossing those off too. "And from what you've told us, Lillian wouldn't want to stay in a castle built or owned by anyone in the Danvers Kingdom."

Lena blinks in surprise and looks away from her work for a moment to regard Maggie with respect. "Very astute observation, Sir Maggie."

Maggie grins at her and Alex squeezes her hand proudly.

"So how many possibilities does that leave us with?" Eliza asks.

Lena glances at the paper again quickly. "Four," she sighs.

"I can fly and check on them tomorrow, listen for heartbeats." Kara offers.

"No," Lena shoots it down immediately. At Kara's surprised expression tinged with hurt, she starts to elaborate, taking her girlfriend's hand again. "It's dangerous."

"Pretty much everything we do is dangerous." Kara replies.

"It's unnecessarily dangerous, darling." Lena revises her words. "They could easily see you flying. We don't know what kind of technology they have. And it's headed by my mother, so we can safely assume she has or is working on something to take you and Superman down."

"I'll stay below the trees."

"The forest will be heavily patrolled, they will see you. No matter how fast you go. They'll be trained to see you. So if you must go, it should be on foot. Without superspeed." Lena squints at nothing, thinking. "You should probably wear a disguise or something so they don't know who you are. You know what? Kara, if you're going to go I'm going with you."

"What? No it's dangerous, Lena!" Kara protests.

"I'm aware." Lena says, raising an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

"You're not arrow proof. I am."

"And you also have superspeed, and can fly. If things go south, we can get out of there easily. Plus, Kara, I know these woods. Mother used to send me on missions to scout it, which I think was just an attempt to get me away from her. I know exactly where these castles are." Kara still doesn't seem convinced, so she continues. "Not to mention my other valuable assets. Like how I've mastered two forms of martial arts and the fact that I'm the best archer in my entire Kingdom. Despite what my mother may think, I'm not useless. I can help."

Lena almost feels bad, mentioning her mother in attempt to convince Kara. She watches as her girlfriend tries to come up with a reason for her not to go. Lena knows it's not personal, why Kara doesn't want her to come. She knows she's worried, about her safety and about Lena's mental and emotional health. She's tracking down her own mother, to throw in jail just like her brother.

"I'll be okay, I promise. And I'll tell you if I'm not." Lena murmurs so only Kara can hear.

Kara purses her lips and nods reluctantly. "Alright. But don't do anything rash or stupid, okay?"

"Okay. And same to you, Miss Danvers."

Kara flushes and adjusts her glasses while Maggie tries to contain her snickers at how red she is. Lena doesn't pull that out often, that teasing nickname. Especially not in front of others. It just slipped out, but she can tell Kara doesn't really mind. Lena knows she loves the nickname.

She chuckles when Kara gets redder, presumably because of hearing her sister mutter "please tell me that's not a sex thing."

J'onn clears his throat again to draw everyone's attention back to him. "So Lena and Kara, tomorrow you will both be wearing disguises and Kara will be listening for the heartbeats of people inside the castles. Also look for anything coated in lead. The disguises will be ready when you come in tomorrow. Be careful and be prepared. Meanwhile, the DEO will continue to interrogate the assassins."

"Are we done already?" Winn says when J'onn stands.

"Yes," he answers. "We will meet again when Lena and Kara come back from their reconnaissance mission. By then, we should all have more information."

"What will I be doing sir?" Winn asks.

"You and Vasquez will be making the disguises today. Until Lena and Kara come back, you will be looking for layouts of the castles and making notes."

Winn's voice gets small. "Um. J'onn? Sir? I don't have those blueprints. They weren't made by anyone of the Danvers Kingdom, so they didn't have to send us a copy of the layout."

J'onn sighs and rubs his forehead, looking up when Lena speaks again. "I brought the blueprints from the Luthor Kingdom for precisely that reason. You should have them in your office as well, Winn."

"You're a lifesaver," he breathes out. "Thank you! I swear, if you weren't dating Kara I could kiss you right now."

"Save it for Lyra." Lena teases as she stands, making Winn blush bright red. "And Winn? Even if I weren't dating Kara, I would still be a lesbian."

Lena leaves alongside Kara, chuckling as Maggie "ooh"s at a flushed Winn.

I saw the opportunity and took it. Next chapter, the crossbow!! And at this point as I'm writing this, the episode hasn't come out yet but I would bet my giant stuffed Pikachu that it's going to wreck me (I've had him for a while; his name's Big Pika and he currently lives in my luxurious closet) . Looking forward to it! Hopefully it'll wreck me in the good way...  (Posting Lindsey: *screams* Cat Grant with amazing one-liners and advice,, Kara loves Lena!!! Incredible. Though there still are some things the writers really need to work on :/ ) Thank you all for reading and for you amazing comments! Stay awesome!