Chapter 74

They leave in the middle of the night, when most of the people of National City are asleep, or at least at home. The DEO is having their entire force that will be used against Cadmus together for the first stretch of the journey. They'll break apart as they get closer.

It feels like aside from Jeremiah and Eliza, and perhaps most of the castle staff, everyone is coming. Some people are left behind at the DEO just in case something happens while everyone else is gone.

They leave at night because a force this big that includes the Danvers sisters and the Queen of the Luthor Kingdom would be a reason for gossip. They don't want Cadmus to catch wind of this. They're hoping for a surprise attack on Cadmus, though Lena has no doubt that Lillian prepared her people for that.

Lena, Kara, Alex, Maggie, Winn, and Vasquez all walk together as they go through the city. They're towards the front of the large crowd of DEO agents and knights. Some people are leading horses who are pulling wagons full of supplies.

The group of people are surprisingly quiet as they move through the darkened streets of the city they protect. Though that shouldn't really be a surprise, given that they're DEO agents. They're known to be quiet, more stoic people that can move like ghosts.

The streets are illuminated only by street lamps placed equidistant from each other. The candles flicker in the night, bathing the traveling group in a yellow-orange light.

The hinges of the gate squeaks as it opens for them, the guards nodding to everyone as they pass. It is almost eerily silent, since despite there is this large group of people traveling together, no one is speaking. There's barely a whisper. The guards have been told to speak of them leaving to no one, not even their own families. At least until they safely return.

So the six of them walk together, breathing in the fresh night air, untainted by the smells of the city as they walk along the path. They won't be able to walk together forever, so they enjoy it now. They will separate at different points, depending on which subgroup they're going with, and what their mission while inside the castle will be.

They don't speak as they walk, they don't need to. They stick close together, using sign language when they do need to communicate. It's something every DEO agent is required to learn before becoming a full agent, or a fully trained DEO knight. Knowing how to communicate without speaking has saved so many lives since J'onn put that rule into effect. They no longer had to make up their own signs at their comrades across the room and hope that they understood while on a possibly dangerous mission.

And Kara, being amazing with languages like she is, picked it up rather quickly when she first noticed Alex using it. Alex has always been impressed with her ability to learn languages.

"This is going to be your first time in a battle like this, Kara." Alex signs. "Are you going to be okay?"

Kara nods to her. "Yes. I will have Lena with me. I should be okay."

Lena signs to Kara. "I'll protect you babe."

Kara smiles at her, her eyes dancing in amusement as Lena wraps an arm around her waist.

"Don't do anything stupid, you two. Be careful." Alex signs, giving them her best convincing glare.

She once made a man literally run away when she glared at him like this for harassing a girl nearby. He tripped over an empty bar stool in his haste to get away, but got back up from the dirty bar floor and kept running. It was a proud moment for Alex. And then the girl who was being harassed thanked her profusely and Alex thinks the girl flirted with her? She's not great at recognizing flirting. But back then she wasn't even out to herself yet and turned down going inside after walking the girl home (for safety reasons).

"You too. You and Maggie need to stick together, have each other's backs." Kara signs. "You work well together."

"We're a power couple, Little Danvers." Maggie signs. "Of course we do well together, we're awesome."

"And humble too." Kara signs, making everyone chuckle softly.

"There are three power couples in the Danvers family." Winn signs (he had Alex teach him when he noticed people signing in the DEO and wanted to learn). "There's Eliza and Jeremiah, the leaders of the Danvers Kingdom. There's the Princess and the Queen. And the two knights."

"What about you and Lyra?" Vasquez signs to him, smirking when his face turns red.

"I'm still technically a Schott, though I'm unofficially adopted by them. And Lyra and I aren't dating. Yet." Winn signs, blushing so hard his ears are red.

"Then why did I see the two of you making out when I snuck into the kitchen to get a midnight snack?" Kara signs, raising an eyebrow at him.

Winn lets out a quiet squeak of embarrassment and signs back quickly. "We haven't labeled it yet. I plan on talking to her about it when we get back. What about you, Vasquez? Found anyone?" He deflects, hoping they will distract the others from questioning him.

"I've been in a relationship with my girlfriend for three years, Winn." They sign, raising an eyebrow.

Everyone is surprised and they barely keep themselves from using their voices.

"What? Why didn't you tell us?" Alex signs to them, more confused than anything. "Do we know her?"

"I have told you about her, Danvers." They sign back. "She's a lab assistant and she's worked with you a bunch of times. I've talked to you about her a lot. Her name is Ari."

Suddenly, dozens of conversations Alex has had with Vasquez come to mind. She groans internally. "Gods, why didn't I put two and two together? I thought you just really admired her work." She signs.

"I did, I do. But I also am dating her." Vasquez signs to Alex, looking more amused than anything. "I'm guessing it was compulsory heterosexuality."

"Probably." Alex admits. Heck, she thought she was straight for a while.

"Hey, can we all have a dinner together after all of this? I can bring Lyra and Vasquez can bring Ari." Winn suggests.

Everyone nods in agreement. By now, they've been walking long enough that the sun is beginning to come up.

"When do you think we'll stop to rest?" Lena signs.

"A short rest should be coming up soon, and there will be a few more throughout the day, some longer so people can eat. We'll stop walking for the night earlier than usual since we left in the middle of the night." Alex signs back, more than familiar with how this works. She's marched in groups like this quite a few times, and she assumes Maggie has as well.

"That's a lot nicer than a couple of the places I've worked." Maggie signs. "Some would let us rest every couple of hours like this, but one in particular was rough. He didn't like stopping unless it was an emergency, and would make us eat and walk."

"That's horrible. Who was it? I can have him fired." Alex signs, frowning.

"Don't worry, he died in battle a while ago." Maggie signs back.

"I'll ask Mom to make a law against that when we get back." Alex signs, making Maggie smile softly.

"Stop being cute," Kara signs but she's smiling at them too.

They continue traveling, occasionally signing back and forth, mainly to ask Vasquez about their girlfriend, who they seem crazy about. The breaks are shorter than Winn would like, and Kara ends up carrying him after lunch because he's so exhausted. He wasn't built for walking miles in a day like the others.

Vasquez, Alex, and Maggie are fit because they have to be for the DEO. Kara's Kryptonian, and even if she were human she would be exceptionally strong. Lena's been walking miles and miles since she was young enough to be sent off to scout places. She keeps in shape with martial arts, and with her extensive training with the bow. She needs to be strong.

By the time they actually stop for the night, everyone is exhausted. Some poor souls have to pass out tents to the tired agents and knights, and some amazing people are whipping up some food for everyone to eat, and something nicer than the quick thing they had for breakfast and lunch. Though they did make certain Kara got enough food. Both because she needs it and because the people making food don't want to incur Alex's wrath if they didn't give her enough for the calories Kara needs.

Maggie and Alex sit on the soft grass side by side, leaning their weight against each other as they wait for their food. Kara's lying down on her back, her head resting in Lena's lap. Lena runs her fingers through her girlfriend's hair and smiles at how easily Kara melts into her touch.

Okay! Next chapter, more traveling. Getting to the castle isn't very far away! And hey, Vasquez has a girlfriend! I recently remembered learning about a trope where even when non-binary people are portrayed in media (like books, movies, shows, etc.), they aren't given love interests! And I can certainly understand how that would be a harmful trope, so I try to avoid it. This is my second book with a major non-binary character (the first of which was my original book, but I didn't learn about the trope until before I wrote the epilogue, so I wrote them in a partner there). Ari is literally just the first name I thought of, but it's also one of my favorite names (plus I was almost named Ariana or something like that). We will be seeing more of her, I promise! :) And while I do try to educate myself, I am a cis woman so if I ever get anything wrong about Vasquez, please feel free to tell me! Anyway! Man, this note got long. Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!