435. Chapter 435

Alex has been in charge before. Recently.

But when he woke?

When Winn charged at his Papa Bear – all of their Papa Bear – and practically barreled him over in relief that he was alright, Alex had thought she didn’t have to be in command anymore.

Didn’t have to be in charge anymore.

That she could get out into the streets and protect people.

Save people.

But she’s in charge again, and it’s better now – it’s better now, because J’onn’s awake, J’onn’s alright, J’onn is safe and J’onn loves her – but she still feels like, in the very moment she has an arsenal at her fingertips and an army at her disposal, she is spiraling out of control.

Maggie’s hand on her arm, Maggie’s soft words in her ear, Maggie’s gentle eyes on her face?

They help.

They help, but god, everyone’s going to die, and it’s going to be her fault.

Her fault because she hesitated.

She hesitated but if she hadn’t Kara would be dead and if she hadn’t she might as well be dead because life without Kara…

There might be life without Kara, anyway, at the rate this is going.

“Danvers, you don’t have to do this by yourself.”

“J’onn does.”

“You’re also not, what, four hundred years old? And he doesn’t do it alone, Alex.”

“He does, Maggie, he – “

“No, babe. No. J’onn has you. And you have me. Okay?”

Alex chews on her bottom lip and tries to decide whether Maggie is biased because they’re dating or whether she’s just… right.

Because she is trained for this. J’onn has trained her specially for this.

And she does. Have Maggie.

“You wanted to coordinate the NCPD efforts from here, right?”

Maggie nods. “I’m also patched into the fire department and EMT services. I won’t ever admit to saying this, but I convinced my captain I had access to superior surveillance than we lowly local cops have. And even extra seconds of warning can give us an advantage.”

The wheels in Alex’s brain spin behind her eyes, and Maggie tries to swallow her smile of pride as Alex nods, calculating.

“Alright. Sawyer, I need you on Winn’s computers, monitoring Daxamite activity and dispatching evac teams and rescue teams as needed.”

Maggie nods, salutes, and turns on her heel.

Vasquez whistles, Maggie smirks as she straps into Winn’s headset, and Alex fixes Vasquez – and every other DEO agent with amusement in their war-torn eyes – with a death glare.

“Vasquez, I need you on structural integrity. If anything starts buckling in this building, I need to know about it right away.”

“Ma’am,” she winks as she mimics Maggie’s salute.

“I swear I’m locking you all up when we get out of this,” Alex murmurs as she watches the locator beacons lighting up on Maggie’s screen.

Maggie’s hand rests on hers for a brief, intense moment.

“Fine by me. But you’re right: we will get out of this. Because you’re gonna lead us there, Alex. I believe in you, okay?”

Alex just grins as calculations, strategies, and backup plans spin behind her eyes, a new look on her face and a new meaning in her posture: confidence.