"Truly evil people don't just hurt others. They take pride in the pain they cause and then try to blame their victims."

"You know, normally you come to me."

"This time is different."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't think you'd actually do what I wanted and that's just not acceptable."

Max stared at the general for a long moment and then took in all of the soldiers that surrounded both of them. There was a different feeling now, different than their other moments of exchange. "So, you lured me here...and now you're what? Holding me hostage?"

"Let's not be so quick to jump to overreact, Lord," General Lane said with a smirk. "I just need you to do something that you've already done."

"Then why did you think that I would refuse to do it?" Max asked in confusion. If it was something that had already been done, why was it such a stretch that he'd do it again? He and the general had a sort of arrangement that they both benefited from and so far...Max hadn't strayed from it.

"I want super soldiers."

"I...don't do super soldiers," Max said slowly. "It's never been a project-"

"Bizarro…"

"Bizarro wasn't a super soldier."

"In my eyes, she was," the general stated. "Your vision was just...limited."

"So, what? You want soldiers with super powers?" Max questioned. "We have Supergirl and-"

"Supergirl, Superman, and J'onn J'onzz cannot be controlled by the army, they do as they wish...independent agents," General Lane said. "Even if Supergirl sometimes works with the DEO...and the martian is running the damned DEO. It's not the same."

"Bizarro had her flaws."

"You used a comatose girl-"

"It was necessary-"

"I need to be able to issue orders," Lane said firmly and matter of factly. "To be in complete control as I would be any soldier under my command."

"That's not exactly how it works-"

"Make it work that way."

It was in that moment that Max realized that he really was a prisoner. "I don't know if that's possible, there's a reason why I used comatose patients…"

"I just figured that it was because you didn't like them talking back and that you had a thing for Supergirl," Lane said with a shrug.

"The blonde hair and cheerleader do-gooder thing...not exactly my type."

"Let's be honest, you're not that picky."

Max shoved his hands in his pockets. "You obviously don't know me as well as you think, General."

"Actually, I think I know you fairly well," the general said as he took a step towards him.

"I doubt that," Max said with a smile. He didn't really feel like there was anyone in the world who really knew him. People just saw him as this rich guy who did science...and who just wanted to get richer. That really wasn't all there was to him. Max actually was a very lonely person, it didn't come with just being rich but with the level of intelligence that he possessed and a fear of letting people close only to lose them.

"Make me my super soldiers, Lord."

"No."

"Fine, I'll kill the only person in the world you seem to care about," General Lane stated with a shrug.

Max smirked. "And who would that be?"

Lane didn't have to say anything though, it was a monitor which switched to a cell somewhere (likely on the base they were on) that was suddenly filling with some kind of gas. At first, Max didn't see anyone or anything except the glass and the gas. Soon, though, he heard a panicked voice and then her face came into view.

"Shut it down," Max said evenly, his smirk falling.

No one did anything.

He watched in horror as she screamed and slammed on the glass, coughed and doubled over. Sure, he'd flirted and he'd enjoyed their banter...but he'd never thought of her seriously-

Alex Danvers.

Lane had the balls to go over one of Henshaw's DEO agents, even he knew that was over the line. Max knew that Lane really had to want those modified soldiers if he was going to these lengths. Max just hoped that General Lane didn't know that Alex Danvers was also Supergirl's sister. He'd protected that secret, he wasn't entirely sure why...it was more to show Alex that he had some honor...and maybe-

"Stop it!" Max shouted now as he turned to Lane. "You let her die, you won't get your super soldiers," he finally said.

"See? That wasn't that difficult," Lane said with a smirk.

Max turned to the screen to see that Alex was on the floor, seemingly unconscious, and the gas seemed to be dissipating. "Where is she?!"

"She'll be fine."

"Where. Is. She?" he asked slowly and angrily.

"Calm down, Lord. She's in one of our cells," Lane said, brushing off Lord's anger. "She'll just be out for an hour or so...just needs some fresh air…"

"I want to see her."

"After you get to work."

"No, now."

"And here I thought you didn't think that there was anyone in your life that you cared about…" Lane poked. He leaned in. "I guess I know your weaknesses better than you do."

"I just don't want the DEO after me… Henshaw and his people will go to any lengths, especially when it comes to an agent," Lord said. Max knew that that was true, but he also knew that Lane was right. Deep down, he cared about Alex and deep down he just hadn't wanted to see her suffer or hurt. He hated, however, that she'd been used against him. Weakness wasn't something that Max liked to have or to admit to.

"Fine," Lane said with a shrug. "Go check on your sleeping beauty."

Max watched as Lane signaled his men. He was glad that he wasn't going to have to fight him on this, but it still was grinding his gears. "You're kind of a dick," Max spat as evenly as he could in the situation. All he wanted to do in that moment was kill the other man. "And that's saying a lot when it's coming from me." He wanted to do more, but right now...Lane was the one in power and he wasn't. If he wanted Alex Danvers to live, he needed to play nicely and play along. The only problem with that was that Max didn't like to do either, especially when it came to him not being in charge.

He tried not to rush as they walked, he tried to keep calm and collected. Even though the general had to know that he had an upper hand over him with Alex Danvers, that didn't mean that he needed to act like he really had a complete hold over him. Max kept his eyes open as they walked, looking for anything that could be used later for him to escape or even to contact the outside world. He wasn't one to normally initiate contact with the DEO, but this was obviously one time where he needed them to step in (for Alex's sake if for no one else's). If Lane was willing to go this far, then he had to be desperate.

They came upon the cell and Alex was still on the floor unconscious. The guards just stood there. Max motioned to the door, waiting for them to open it so that he could check on her himself. He wondered if the idiots realized that it was possible that she could be lying dead in there after having some kind of allergic reaction to whatever Lane had ordered be pumped into the cell.

"The general didn't order that we allow you in, Mr. Lord," one of the guards said.

"Doctor," he corrected. It wasn't something that he often did, but he was pissed and moved to the glass. He could tell that she was alive, could see her even breathing. He took in the fact that she was wearing civilian attire, jeans and a dark olive colored shirt, rather than the normal black she wore for DEO business.

"Just that you were to see her. You can see her from here," the guard continued.

He looked over his shoulder at the drones that Lane had sent down with him. "Well, you can tell General Lane that I need to be in there with her to check on her, to talk to her, and that I might very well need her."

"Oh, you will," one of the other guards spoke up. "General Lane has ordered that as soon as Ms. Danvers-"

"She's a freaking DEO agent and doctor!" Max found himself snapping. He knew that it didn't matter to them, but he was beyond livid in that moment. They were treating Alex Danvers like she was some fragile, empty-headed, and defenseless princess in some castle. They didn't know who they'd kidnapped and they didn't realize the wrath that was destined to rain down on them. The cavalry would be coming to storm the castle...

The guards just stared at him. "You will both be taken to one of the laboratories where you can conduct your experiment soon enough."

Max realized that the general had to be watching him, listening in, and speaking to his minions in some kind of earpiece. He didn't care. He didn't want to be used as a pawn and he didn't want to be manipulated. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right. "I assume everything I need will be there?" he questioned, trying to remain calm. If they were moving them both together, then he'd be able to check on Alex soon enough himself.

"Yes," one responded.

"And who is supposed to be the soldier that I am to make...super?"

Both guards were quiet for a long moment. A voice came from the end of the hall, a familiar one, but somehow it wasn't as familiar as he remembered. It was harsh and seemed to bark. "We have an entire list of soldiers who are willing to be part of this program, Mr. Lord, but we cannot risk their safety as a guinea pig in your initial calibration of the procedure." The man was dressed all in black, which only made it more familiar. He carried himself differently, though. It was all slight, but there was something almost chilling about the man before him.

"Director Henshaw?" he questioned.

Even though Max knew the man's true nature as a Green Martian and J'onn J'onzz, he was far too used to his more familiar form and name and rank. Director Hank Henshaw of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. One thing that Max knew well enough was that both Danvers sisters, but especially Alex, trusted the DEO director and now he was standing before him mixed up in all of this. The thing was, he obviously didn't seem to be forced into things. Was this some kind of cover? Was this something he was in on? With Alex? The guards weren't interrupting him and they were letting him talk and he seemed to be saying the things that Max had been waiting for Lane to relay through his drones. He'd been around the man, seen him around Alex to know that he cared about Alex more than a boss should. They were more than friends, more like family. He would never allow this-

"We haven't actually gotten the chance to meet, Mr. Lord," Henshaw said as he closed the distance between them. His voice was gruff and Max kept picking up on subtle differences between the man before him and the man he was used to working with. "My name is Hank Henshaw...I used to be the director of the DEO before a shapeshifting alien left me for dead and took over my life," he said as he held out a hand. "Luckily, people were able to keep me on the verge of life long enough for them to bring me back...make me better...stronger…"

That sounded ominous, Max thought as he shook the man's hand without much thought.

"Who am I supposed to turn into a super soldier, if not one of your men? Or the general's men?" he asked, trying to get as much information as possible. His head was spinning and everything suddenly seemed so much bigger than himself and so much bigger than General Lane. There were obviously more players at work here than he had first realized. He just had to make them think that they could trust him, even if it was only a little bit.

"Alexandra Danvers."

Alex.

His head turned to her unconscious form and he just sucked in a breath.

"I recruited her father over a decade ago, threatened him in order to get him to work with us…" Henshaw told him as their hands dropped away from each other. "I should have just gone into that house with a team and taken the entire family." This Henshaw was obviously a lot different than the one that he was used to, the alien shapeshifter version obviously cared about Alex and her sister. "Forced Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers into working for me, sent the Kryptonian off to Cadmus, and locked this one up in a cell to use as leverage."

"You...you're why Alex said she lost her father…" he stated, more than questioning it.

"Don't be so dramatic, Mr. Lord… Jeremiah Danvers might have been dead to the world for the last eleven years, but he's not quite-"

"What is he?" Max pushed. "Mostly dead?"

Henshaw seemed to smirk at that. "Something like that."

"So, I'm just supposed to experiment on Alex?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"Several," Max replied evenly and matter of factly.

"I'd suggest you get over them. Don't think that I haven't read the file that General Lane has compiled about you," Henshaw said darkly. "I know the things you've done. What you're capable of and what you're responsible for. Your ability to be seduced into being a do-gooder every other month for all of ten seconds, you're just like us, Mr. Lord."

Max glared at him, not sure if he wanted Henshaw to be right or wrong. "If I refuse?"

"You really want to be responsible for killing Ms. Danvers?" Henshaw asked with a smirk.

It was beyond creepy.

"Oh, perhaps something else will sway your ability to do as you're asked," Henshaw said as he motioned to the soldiers. Another cell was revealed, the wall lifting and revealing a translucent one just like the cell that Alex was currently unconscious in.

"Oh for the love of everything," Max muttered as he realized who it was.

"I believe you're familiar with Ms. Danvers' mother… It's practically a family reunion, Mr. Lord...now, do you really want to have her watch her only daughter die in front of her before I have her killed too?" Henshaw asked coldly, a smirk still firmly in place.

He knew that he had no choice.

Max knew that at least for now, he was going to have to do what they asked. Just because they wanted a super soldier that they could control didn't mean that he needed to work quickly. With Eliza there, Max knew that even Alex would agree to having anything done to her...in order to save her mother. Alex Danvers was too good for that world, he realized. "I'll do it."

"No more games? Or demands?"

"I mean, I might require things," Max said with a shrug. He refused to act as though they'd completely beaten him. "So...that might fall into the demand category."

"I consider those requests."

"Requesting isn't really in my vocabulary."

"You'll learn," Henshaw said before motioning to the guards.

In one swift movement, cells were open and they were all shoved into the cell that Alex was still unconscious in. Max watched them go as the cell was closed, watching Eliza move to her daughter out of her the corner of his eye. He still couldn't believe this. It was like they'd gone through to some twisted mirror universe.

"Alex...Alexandra, Sweetie...open your eyes," Eliza begged.

He finally turned to them. Max had always liked Alex, she challenged him and was intelligent (that was on top of her beauty). "She's going to be okay, they pumped gas in here. She'll just be unconscious for a little bit," Max said as calmly as he could. The last thing that he needed was for Eliza to be hysterical.

"Why would he do that? He cares about Alex-"

"That wasn't the Henshaw we all know and tolerate," Max said. "That was like his evil twin. Something about how he was dead...and then not dead...and some alien took over his life. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I like his alien counterpart so much more all of the sudden…"

"What do you mean? Henshaw, the real Hank Henshaw...he died in Peru eleven years ago…"

"Someone's got a lazarus pit stashed away somewhere," Max mumbled. "Apparently they brought him back to life and maybe made him more evil."

"He was already evil to begin with," Eliza said as she moved towards him. "I just don't understand why they brought us here…"

"Well, I can tell you that they're likely trying to get the attention of Supergirl and the DEO by taking both you and Alex. They won't stop until they find you both," Max explained. "But that's not the worst of it."

"And what is?"

He looked at her and he could see where Alex got so much of herself from. She was so lucky to have her mother and apparently her father was out there somewhere too. He thought for a moment if he should tell her, but then Max remembered that they had told him that Eliza would be able to help him. They were right, he'd looked into Eliza Danvers after he'd met Alex (well, he'd looked into Alex's entire world actually). He knew that Alex had taken after her parents and that her mother was a brilliant scientist as well. "They want me to make super soldiers. Basically, they want Supergirl's power set...but in soldiers that will answer to military orders."

"Didn't you already do that? I remember the girls telling me about-"

Max waved a hand. "Something similar...yes...but I was using coma-"

"You do realize that you're not making things better for yourself, right?"

Sighing, he covered his face with his hand. "He wants me to use Alex as my first test subject, before I use it on soldiers."

"What?" Eliza breathed. "No, you can't-"

"I don't want to, but I also don't want you two dead because I defied them," Max explained. He paused for a moment. "And Alex will volunteer as soon as she wakes and realizes that it's the only way to keep you safe."

"You can't-"

"Believe me, I don't want to, but it's going to be the only way," Max told her. He'd already thought about doing it to himself, but he also knew that as familiar Alex had to be with her sister's physiology, he knew the Bizarro process.

Eliza moved towards him and he suddenly felt threatened. "You will stall and put off doing anything to my daughter for as long as possible-"

"Wow," Max mumbled. "I didn't realize that Alex had so much in common with her mother…" He looked from Eliza to Alex's unconscious form. "How how arousing being threatened by a Danvers is…"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh," Max muttered. "I said that out loud?" He looked over at Eliza. "Nothing. Nothing."

"You're not good enough for her."

"Believe me, pretty much everyone tells me the exact opposite," Max told her honestly. Most of the women he'd been with, though, had been ditzy and all over him because of his money. Alex, though, was different. Of course, her original pursuit of him had been about her job and aliens and protecting him. "But you're right. Alex is amazing and brilliant and deserves so much better."

"Are you trying to win yourself points?"

"All the time," Max said with a shrug. "It's like a reflex." That obviously wasn't winning him any points. "But honestly, I meant what I said."

TBC…