Chapter 10: Assembling THE Team

"Found something!" Nate shouted excitedly as soon as the elevator doors opened before him. "Oh. Kara, hey! I didn't know you were coming. Good to see you! How are you?"

"So, basically, you told everyone but me." Lena stated, earning herself an eye roll from her best friend.

"I didn't tell them. Technically, Barry did."

"Yeah, that one's on me." The young man said, rubbing the back of his neck, "to be honest, I didn't think it would be an issue, with Kara being from a different Earth and all. Clearly, I was wrong."

"Clearly." Lena deadpanned, unamused.

Kara decided to ignore the sudden tension in the room and returned Nate's brief hug. "Nate, this is Alex, my sister. That's Maggie, her fiancée. And this is Lena, my best friend."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Nate." The man said after politely shaking their hands and discretely smirking at the mention of Kara's best friend.

"What did you find?" Sara asked curtly, more than eager to skip all the pleasantries and focus on finding her wife.

"Oh, yeah!" Nate exclaimed, turning to look at her and clapping his hands once. "Ray and Gideon were able to pick up traces from the Pilgrim's movements. No signs of a time jump, she just… relocated."

The blonde nodded once and pursed her lips. "That's good, makes it easier for us. Do we know where she is?"

"Um…" the man winced, nervously rubbing his hands together, "...not exactly."

"Okay, but we do have a general idea, right? If Ray was able to follow her somehow."

"Let me be more clear: when I said 'not exactly' I actually meant 'not at all'."

"Then why didn't you just say that?!" Sara asked irritated.

Shrugging, Nate answered, "I didn't want to sound pessimistic!"

Lena chuckled when Sara groaned in frustration and looked at Felicity. "Who exactly is this man?" She asked in a low voice, trying not to interrupt the exchange that was still going on between him and Sara.

"Oh, he's part of the Legends, just like Sara. He's a historian, but he's also… um, special."

"You mean he has superpowers?"

"Yeah."

"Is he an alien?"

"No, he's human. Aliens are not that common here. He's just been…" Felicity paused, trying to find the right word, "...enhanced with a serum while they tried to save his life after he got injured. He was a hemophiliac."

"Was?"

"Yes, the serum changed him."

"Interesting." The raven haired woman said pursing her lips and thoroughly looking at the flustered man who was still in a heated argument with Sara, and obviously losing said argument.

"You find him interesting?" Kara asked with a scowl as she walked closer to them.

Lena arched her eyebrow and smirked at her friend. "Nosy much, Supergirl?"

"You're practically shouting." The blonde superhero tried to defend herself.

"We were literally whispering and you were all the way across the room." Felicity pointed out frowning.

"Well…" Kara looked down at her sleeve as she picked at it nervously, avoiding Lena's amused gaze "...everything sounds like shouting to me, okay?"

"Of course." Her friend conceded, exchanging a glance with Felicity.

"Alright, listen up!" Sara called everyone's attention. "I'm gonna go find Talia, put her up to date, and bring her to the Waverider, see if we can figure out where the Pilgrim took Nyssa. Felicity, can you look for something out of the ordinary that might relate to Leslie's abilities?"

"Yes. Cisco and I will start looking into it right now."

"Thank you." Sara said with a nod, then looked at Lena. "You said you could help stop the Pilgrim's chronokinetic abilities, right?"

"I am fairly confident I can."

"Good, I'll send Ray here in a few minutes. He'll be able to explain everything you need to know and even help you with whatever you need."

"I can help her, too." Cisco said trying to sound uninterested.

"I need you to help Felicity find Leslie."

"But—"

"Cisco, save your crushes for another time, okay?!"

"What?" He asked feigning confusion, but blushing furiously. "I don't—I'm not—I have—You know what—?"

"I would shut up if I were you, kid." Maggie said chuckling and kindly placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort, "nothing you can say now will fix all that weirdness you have going on."

He sighed and shook his head, following Felicity to the platform where all the computers were situated and taking a seat next to her.

"How can I help?" Kara asked frowning in concern.

"You know Leslie more than anyone, right?" When Kara nodded, Sara continued. "If Cisco and Felicity find her, I need you and Barry to act on it as soon as you can. Your speed is our best chance at stopping her."

"What about us?" Alex asked after Kara nodded and joined Barry on the platform, standing behind Cisco and Felicity.

"You two can hold your own, right?"

"Damn right." Maggie said nodding and straightening her jacket.

"Then you're with me." The blonde instructed. "I'll go find Talia first, then we'll move from there."

Both Alex and Maggie nodded, then took the comms Sara was handing them, quickly placing them in their ears and checking they were working properly.

"We'll stay in comms the whole time. Overwatch, keep us updated."

"Yes, Captain!" The blonde hacker said, not even lifting her gaze from the screen in front of her.

Sara looked at Nate, then at Alex and Maggie, and nodded "Alright, let's go. Try not to die, okay? I don't have time for that bullshit right now."

Nate scoffed and rolled his eyes, "you're one to talk. You die at least once a year."

"What the actual fuck?" Maggie mumbled as she leaned closer to her fiancée, who only shrugged in response.

"Okay, so you…" Thea said pointing at Alex "...are Kara's sister?"

"Yes."

"That means you're an alien, too?"

"Adoptive sister." Alex said smiling and shaking her head, "I'm human."

"Cool. And you…" she looked at Maggie, turning slightly so her finger was pointing at her now "...are her fiancée?"

"Alex's, not Kara's." The detective clarified.

Thea nodded once and continued, "and you both deal with aliens and weird stuff all the time?"

"I'm a detective, actually. NCPD's Science Police. My job is basically to investigate anything regarding aliens."

"So cool." The younger woman said with a short, approving nod. "What about you, Alex?"

"I work for the D.E.O."

"What's that?"

"It stands for Department of Extra-Normal Operations." Agent Danvers stated without offering any additional information.

"You're chatty, aren't you?"

Thea's observation made Maggie laugh and Alex glare at her, quickly making her bite her lip to stop her laughter. "I'm sorry, but it's a secret government organization, and you don't have clearance for me to share more information with you." Alex explained, then added, "and also, I don't know you that well, or at all, so… there's that, too."

"I'm literally from another earth. Who am I gonna tell?"

"You can never be too careful." Alex shrugged.

"I already know about Kara and haven't spilled her secret, have I?"

"Don't even remind me of that."

Maggie leaned slightly closer to the younger girl to be able to lower her voice and still be heard by her. "She gets very protective of Kara's identity, nothing personal. She didn't even tell me, I had to figure it out on my own, and that was only because she freaked out on me the time Supergirl went missing and I just put two and two together."

"Oh…" Thea took a few seconds to think about it, then shrugged "...it's fine, I have an overprotective older brother, so I kinda get it."

"Your brother is that vigilante... the Green Arrow, right?" Alex asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but you don't have clearance for me to share that information with you." Thea said with a proud smirk on her face, using Alex's previous words. "And also, I don't know you that well, or at all."

Maggie chuckled in disbelief, while Alex merely glared at both of them. "Well played, little Queen, well played." Then she noticed her fiancée's glare and shrugged, taking a step away from her. "What? She had you there, Danvers."

"It's not the same."

"Of course it is!" Thea said triumphantly.

"Are you always this cocky?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Maggie laughed again and patted Thea's back. "I like you, kid."

"Thank you, detective. I like you, too."

"This is getting ridiculous." Alex stated exasperatedly.

"Alex, relax. I'm just messing with you, I'm not an ass, that's Oliver's job, to be honest. Ask Sara if you don't believe me." The young Queen said smiling, trying to ease the tension.

Alex regarded her in silence for a few seconds, sighing loudly and shaking her head, deciding to let it go. "Are you some kind of vigilante, too?"

Thea folded her arms and pursed her lips, leaning back against the wall. "Well, kinda…" she said shrugging "...that's how this whole thing started, but..."

"But…?" Maggie asked curiously, urging her to continue.

"I had additional training."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know Nyssa? The woman we are going to rescue?"

"Yes." Both Maggie and Alex said at the same time.

"Well, she trained me. I have League training."

"What exactly is this 'League training'?" Detective Sawyer asked frowning.

"The League of Assassins…?" Thea said slowly.

"Holy shit!" Maggie exclaimed in disbelief. "You were trained by assassins?!"

Nodding, the younger woman said, "not just any assassins. Nyssa was the head of the League before she decided to disband it. She and Sara are, like, the assassins. Equally feared and respected by everyone who knows who they are."

"So, they're like a big deal for this League of Assassins."

"Huge deal, yeah."

Alex, who had remained silent through the short explanation, quietly asked, "you are still the good guys, right?"

Thea smiled at her while nodding, "do you think Kara would have helped us if we weren't?"

"No."

"Do you trust your sister's judgment?"

"Blindly."

"Then there you have your answer."

"Okay…" Agent Danvers said quietly, almost apologetically "...it's just… well…"

"Yeah, I know, the word assassin doesn't particularly inspire trust."

"No, not really." The D.E.O. agent said, laughing softly.

"We're the good guys, don't worry. After we get Nyssa back, I'll tell you the whole story."

"You've got yourself a deal, Speedy."

Thea laughed at the use of her alias and shook her head. "So, you two, Kara, and who's the other one?"

"Lena," Alex provided, nodding, "she's Kara's friend."

"Alien?"

"Human."

"Metahuman?"

"I said human."

"Superpowers?"

"If you count a glare that can make you shit yourself as a superpower..." Maggie suggested, making the other two laugh.

"No," Alex said smiling, "she's brilliant, though. She's putting together some kind of device to stop that woman from using her chronokinetic powers."

"The chick who can stop time?"

"Yes."

"I didn't think that was an option!" Thea said surprised after all the stories she heard about the Pilgrim.

"Well, that's Lena for you. I have an M.D. and a Ph.D. in bioengineering and I can hardly keep up with her brain. Kara can, though, being from a civilization millennia advanced compared to ours, scientifically speaking."

"Wait, so Kara is also really smart?" Thea waited for Alex to nod, then huffed, "that's so not fair! She gets the brains, the hotness and the superpowers?"

"Ew! You think my sister is hot?"

"You don't?"

"Ew!"

Thea rolled her eyes at Alex's childish reaction. "You know, I realize this can come as a shock to you, but you can appreciate someone's hotness without wanting to fuck their brains out."

"Oh my God, Thea!"

At this point, Maggie was leaning against the wall next to Thea, bent over with laughter, clutching her stomach with one hand while wiping away her tears with the other.

"What? I'm not even gay, but I know Kara is hot."

"Um, thanks…?"

The three of them turned around to find Supergirl landing a few feet away from them.

"See?" Thea said, waving her arm in Kara's direction.

"Stop that!" Alex said wincing.

"Not that I don't appreciate your very nice observation…" Supergirl said looking at the young woman, who smiled at her proudly "...but Sara sent me to ask you to go get someone called…" she paused for a few moments, trying to remember the strange name. "Sa… Sarc—"

"Saracon." Thea interrupted her chuckling.

"Yes! Saracon!" She exclaimed, then looked at her sister. "She also asked for you two to join her now that she was able to explain the whole alien thing to that other super scary woman."

"What?"

"We don't think they were working alone."

"We can understand the words, Mrs. Smoak." Talia intervened when she noticed Sara tiredly rubbing her forehead. "I believe what Sara meant to ask is how did you and Mr. Ramon arrive to that conclusion."

"Thanks." The blonde assassin whispered, glancing at her sister in law, who merely nodded at her in response.

"Oh, right! Of course! Traffic cams and face recognition software we may or may not have stolen from a secret government organization. We managed to pinpoint Leslie about 4 hours ago before she disappeared into some kind of portal. She was with two other women, and they had Nyssa. She looked unconscious but otherwise unharmed."

"Where?"

"Sending you the location right now." Cisco said, and they could hear some frantic typing from the other side of the comms.

"Thank you, Mr. Ramon." Talia responded while Sara paced back and forth in front of her, staring at her phone while waiting for the location.

"So… Portals, huh?" Maggie asked, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Is that like… a regular thing here, too?"

"Who is this woman, again?" Talia asked bluntly, staring at Sara in annoyance, not even caring about sounding remotely polite.

"Detective Sawyer, NCPD, and I'm standing right here."

Sara looked at Maggie apologetically before focusing on Talia and saying, "they are Supergirl's family."

"Children and their ridiculous alter egos." Talia mumbled mostly to herself, shaking her head in annoyance. "Why is their presence and assistance relevant to our mission?"

"Why do you speak like that?" Detective Sawyer asked amused, and if Alex didn't know any better, she would have sworn Maggie was enjoying getting under the other brunette's skin.

Oh, wait… She did know better. And her fiancée was definitely and intentionally irritating a very dangerous woman, from what they've heard from… Felicity, was it?

"Beg your pardon?"

"Exactly like that!"

"You mean why I express myself in proper english instead of the aberration you seem to enjoy using to communicate with others?"

"Yeah." Maggie shrugged and smirked when Alex elbowed her not-so-gently.

"Because I have a fully functional brain."

Alex laughed, both at the response and at Maggie's stunned expression, while her fiancée could only stare at Talia, mouth agape and the hint of a smirk starting to appear.

"Are you satisfied with that answer?" Talia asked, smirking.

"Pretty much, yeah." Detective Sawyer chuckled, then looked at Alex. "She's pretty scary, but I like her attitude."

"Yeah, me too." The other woman agreed nodding.

"Great!" Sara interrupted, alternating her gaze between the three of them. "If you're done with your smartass battle, I would very much like to find my wife…?" She looked at Talia, "remember your missing sister…?"

"Do you have the location yet?" Talia asked, her fingers nervously fumbling with the hilt of her sword the only hint of her uneasiness.

"Yeah, it's not far from here," the blonde said, gesturing to the other three, "follow me, Cisco will meet us there, see if he can vibe anything."

When they arrived at the location, Cisco, Barry and Kara were already waiting for them. "We tagged along, just in case." The speedster said shrugging nonchalantly.

"That's fine," Sara kindly dismissed him, looking at Cisco. "Were you able to pick up something?"

"Not yet…" he mumbled looking around them "...I was hoping to find something I could touch to vibe on any of them. I can't seem to get any residual energy from the portal they opened."

"Something like what?" Maggie asked, intrigued as to how Cisco's powers worked.

"Anything belonging to them, really." The man said with a shrug. "Something they had touched could work, too, or anything emotionally meaningful to either of them."

"Emotionally meaningful like a wedding band?" Alex asked, glancing at Sara's left hand.

"Yes!" The young man exclaimed, snapping his fingers and pointing at the D.E.O. agent. "I love you, agent Danvers." He said, then looked at Sara extending his hand, palm up, and looking at her left hand. "May I?"

The blonde frowned, looking at her hand and fidgeting with her wedding ring, before silently nodding, taking it off and handing it to Cisco. "If that's not back on my finger in thirty seconds, you're dead."

"Sure!" He said nodding and reaching for it.

"I mean it."

"Scariest part is that I know that." Cisco reassured her, then closed his eyes, immediately vibing something.

"What do you see?" Barry asked softly, taking a step closer to his friend.

"Dirt. Like…" he paused, frowning "...I'm in the middle of nowhere. Oh, wait, there's a mountain range. It's chilly, too."

"Okay, what else?" Sara asked, urging him on.

"It's dark, but there are some candles lit. And…" he looked around "...torches? No electricity. Wait, I see Nyssa. She seems okay. A few bruises, but otherwise okay. She's tied to..." tilting his head to the side, he continued "...some kind of throne? The place is in ruins, though, I don't think it's safe for anyone to be there."

Talia and Sara exchanged a worried glance, both thinking the exact same thing. "What else, Cisco? Give us something else so we can be sure." The blonde asked.

"She's not alone. There's a woman there with her. It's not Leslie or the Pilgrim."

"Do you know who she is?"

"No."

Groaning in frustration, a sudden thought rushed into Sara's mind, and without thinking twice or asking for permission, she reached over and grasped Cisco's hand in her own, gasping when she was immediately surrounded by the very familiar ruins, and the image of Nyssa roughly tied to a throne they both had kneeled before countless times in the past.

After a few seconds, she let go of Cisco's hand and took a step back, closing her eyes and placing her hand over them. "Fuck…" she mumbled quietly, followed by a louder, angrier, almost devastating "FUCK!"

"Sara?" Talia asked carefully while everyone else remained silent.

The blonde looked at her sister in law, her expression almost painful. "Nanda Parbat. The ruins. The priestess."

"The priestess?"

"Yes. It's her, she has Nyssa." She rubbed her temple and groaned in frustration. "Talia, it's not safe. The place is in ruins, you know what we did, I don't ever know how they managed to get in there. The slightest landslide miles away from the temple could make the whole thing collapse. We need to get her out of there. She's also been beaten. There are several bruises all over her face, we can't—I can't—"

"Sara, breathe." Talia interrupted her in a soothing —yet determined— voice.

"We need to get her out of there."

"We will, Sara." Barry reassured her, "we will call Oliver and the rest and—"

"No." She interrupted him. "I will be the one assembling the team."

"But maybe Oliver—"

"We don't need more arrows, we need brains and people Nyssa and I can trust to do what's necessary. And right now, Oliver is not on that list." The blonde stated sternly, shooting Barry a glance that told him to stop pushing. "A League psycho, a very dangerous metahuman and the fucking Pilgrim. That's what we're dealing with. We're gonna fight fire with fire and bring my wife and unborn child home."