Would 64k be considered too long for a oneshot ?
I may or may have not gone unhinged over Agentreign again and I'm definitely the type of person who would read a 64k story in one go but I'm not completely sure that's normal behaviour 🤔
At the same time, splitting it up in chapters is a shit ton of additional work and the story might never see the light of day 😬
Alex sighed as she rested her forehead against Sam’s. She felt the other woman’s hand on her neck, kneading the back of her scalp. It was a simple comfort, one she often performed on Kara to calm her down when she was panicked, yet the action spoke volumes as she felt her walls crumble all too fast.
Suddenly, the tears she fought to hold back came pouring down like rivers, and the sniffles manifested against her wishes, shocking both Sam and herself. At once, she detached herself from the CFO’s open arms and rubbed at her face roughly, her calloused palms doing little to stop the teardrops from forming.
“I’m sorry, I don’t usually do- usually do this.” She laughed, partly trying to lighten the mood and save herself from embarrassment, but mostly because of just how absurd her lack of control felt.
She doesn’t remember how long it has been since she had a breakdown like this. She was so sure she had gotten to the point in self-discipline where she only cried when she was alone or with her sister. Certainly not in front of a fairly new friend who was too nice to do anything but comfort the woman who just broke out in tears in front of her - because honestly who does that, and why is Alex so inexplicably drawn to her to the point of this just happening out of the blue, and what was she thinking-
Alex was pulled out of her thoughts and into a hug as strong arms wrapped around her. Sam felt the agent tense up at the unexpected contact. She didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, but she also felt that a hug was just what she needed. So they stood there for a minute, Sam’s arms around Alex, rubbing her back and stroking her hair, and Alex limply standing there, relaxing into it as the time slowly passed.
“You don’t need to be ashamed or anything. Even badasses like yourself are allowed to show some raw feelings occasionally.” Sam quipped as she pulled back and rested her hands on Alex’s shoulders. She didn’t want to prolong the emotional session for Alex’s sake.
The agent was beyond grateful for this as she chuckled. “Is that so?” she asked, wiping the wetness from her cheeks.
Sam walked over to the small table a few feet away and picked up the tissue box that rested there, holding it out for Alex to take as many as she needed, “Oh yeah. Definitely. It’s in the rulebook for badasses. I’m totally not making this up.”
“Uh-huh. I can tell now where Ruby gets all her dramatics from.” Alex plucked out some tissues and blew her nose with them, smirking at her friend’s antics and the laugh that followed her comment.
Her expression then straightened out, a tactic she used to mask her nerves. “Hey, can you - um - not mention this to anyone? Especially not Kara. She would only get worried and try to pry, and I don’t think I can deal with that right now,” her voice faded out.
Sam had initiated contact again by taking hold of Alex’s bicep and squeezing it gently. Another small comfort.
Alex looked up to her sympathetic grin, “Of course,” Sam paused before continuing, “That’s like rule 105 in the rulebook: ‘Never discuss the tears of a badass lest they give you the explicit permission. That way, no one can mistake them for being a big softy with actual feelings.’” She bumped shoulders playfully with Alex, who outright guffawed at the supposed rule. Sam was happy that she managed to cheer the woman up, and Alex was nothing but thankful for how understanding and caring Sam was.
So like... what do you guys want to see first? Maggie coming back or Ruby’s father showing up? Because both will be written, I just can’t decide which I want to write more.
I was talking to a friend today and we were joking about a chat we saw on here. One where Alex complains about Kara talking non-stop about Lena and not telling her how she feels then Sam says she goes through the same thing with Lena, who talks about Kara and they’re like so done and just want Supercorp to kiss already lol Then I thought this would make a great romcom: Sam and Alex play matchmakers and in the process they end up realizing they have feelings for each other as well, and in the end we have two couples yay!
I know it’s a general concept but I haven’t been blesses with the gift of writing so if anyone knows any fics like this or want to write this I’d LOVE to read.
do reign with alex, if reign captured her instead of killing her
Okay anon, you want to see the kind of monster I can be?? Spoiler alert: i am a total softy, but there is violence in this piece. (I needed to do some editing to canon for this; just a few tweaks) You can read the fic on AO3, if you prefer. Buckle up, everyone.
Kara was a symbol of hope, but with her knees against the cement and her spine protesting holding her shoulders aloft, she could feel hope slipping away from her.
Reign’s arrival was just the pinnacle of ill-timing. Just as she felt like they had made progress–they had reached Julia–it was falling away from them. From her. She did not have the strength to hold on.
“She is but a newborn, and yet you kneel before her,” she mocked. Reign knew she was hurt. Weak. Julia faltered beside Kara.
Alex, the only one standing, moved between Kara and the Worldkiller. Kara reached out feebly. “Alex, no,” she pleaded.
Alex was steadfast, fearless as she faced off with Reign, firing her gun with no affect. Reign approached at a human pace, making the seconds drag. Kara willed her legs to move, but the pain in her back kept her knees rooted.
Reign seemed to ignore Alex, not even sparing her a glance, but as she was about to pass Alex on her way to Kara, her arm swung out faster than Alex would even be able to see. Her hand connected with the side of Alex’s temple and Alex’s head rocked sharply to the side. Alex’s knees did not give; she just tipped, like a felled tree, and crashed to the ground. Reign stood above Alex, regarding her, and lifted her foot.
Kara saw red. The hot pain became a the fire that drove her. She did not think.
Kara stood, her fingers lacing into Julia’s hair, dragging her forward. “Touch her and Purity dies.” Julia’s hands wrapped around her wrist, struggling against her grip, her heart beating wildly.
Reign turned her head, red eyes training on Kara. She chuckled softly, but returned her foot to the ground.
“Don’t start a game you are unwilling to play,” she warned. “You have given away your hand anyway.” Kara watched Reign kneel and turn Alex’s face upward. “You will bring Purity to me, tomorrow, on the roof of CatCo, where you called me out last time. You will give her up to me,” she stroked a finger over the bruise that was already beginning to redden Alex’s skin. “Or you will never see Alex again.”
Kara released Julia and tried to step forward, but crumpled as she watched Reign lift Alex’s unconscious body. “No,” she breathed, tears already carving streaks down her cheeks.
“Noon, Supergirl,” Reign named the time.
Alex woke mid air, her stomach upturning and emptying, as her concussion set in. Her eye was already swelling shut and she could not see as the wind cut across her eyes. Reign did not carry her like Kara did, not like she was a person.
It was unceremonious, the way Reign dropped her, when they landed. She fell in a heap, hand gripping her head as her stomach heaved. Alex turned onto her back, letting her body sag as her head pounded. “What do you want with me,” she spat the question. “You get your kicks taking me? Is that your thing?”
Reign stepped toward her and Alex knew there was no escape, so she did not bother to move. She just needed to provoke conversation.
“I am here to dispense ultimate justice, I am not interested in stepping on bugs. But,” she placed her foot on Alex’s leg, pressing her knee into the stone. Alex fumbled to sit up, her hands gripping Reign’s ankle, pushing with every ounce of her strength. She knew it was futile, but every instinct drove her to try. “If you make yourself a nuisance,” Reign trailed off. Alex cried out as Reign’s weight came down, hot pain shooting through her leg.
With her jaw tight, Alex fought back tears as she glared up at Reign. There was something about her, the cold indifference. Alex had stood face to face with Kara under the influence of red kryptonite, she knew the effects of dark thoughts on someone as powerful as Kara.
Reign was different. She was not lashing out. She was not looking to inflict pain beyond accenting a threat, but would debilitate or even kill Alex without a second thought, if it served her objectives. And somehow that was scarier. Alex was not the subject of Reign’s goals. Alex was a means to an end. A tool. An object. Only worth what use she could serve.
“You seem to have had a recent break, Alex Danvers.” Reign’s eyes were fixed on her leg, her expression neutral.
“That was your doing,” Alex said through gritted teeth, but her mind was occupied with the way Reign said her name.
Reign tilted her head. “Was it?” There was a note of mild curiosity in her voice. “I have no recollection of you.”
Alex gasped as the weight was removed from her leg. Reign’s point was made and she turned away. “Who are you?” Alex pried.
“I am Reign.” Reign’s words were short, like she barely considered the question worth answering.
“No, I mean the other you,” Alex groaned, as she fell back into a supine position.
“There is no human part of me,” Reign insisted, in a clipped tone.
“Cut the bullshit. Who is it? I know there’s a person in there, like Julia,” Alex pressed. “She would black out, not even know-” Alex’s eyes went wide.
“Don’t make me rip your tongue from your mouth before I return you to Supergirl,” Reign hissed, but Alex did not hear her.
“Sam,” she breathed, barely a whisper, but she saw Reign pause. “Sam,” she said again, more loudly. “It’s you.”
There was a long beat of silence, as Alex poured over details of the past months of getting to know Sam and dealing with Reign. It fit, all of it.
Reign stalked back toward her. “You are the clever human, Alex,” she mused, “even with my efforts to make her appear human during your testing.” Alex swallowed. There was a murderous glint in Reign’s eyes and she sported a wicked smile.
“Sam, listen to me,” Alex talked fast, knowing that at any moment her time would be up, “I know you can hear me and I know you can fight her. You are so strong and dedicated and-”
Reign’s knee was on her chest, fingers playing around her throat as her chest struggled to expand. “She is going to watch you die,” Reign jeered, “and the best part is that she really likes you. You make her feel safe, like she can be open and can ask for help. You make her feel like being scared is not the end of the world. And she is going to watch as her own hand squeezes tight around your throat.”
Alex could not gather sufficient air into her lungs. “Sam,” she choked out, as her chest compressed further and Reign’s hand tightened.
Alex’s vision become fuzzy and then blackened, as her lungs burned hot and her body writhed weakly, until it felt like she was sinking into darkness.
Sam was only vaguely aware that there was an absence of everything. Without any of her senses to remind her that there could be something else, she just floated, her thoughts disjointed and without purpose.
The reintroduction of sight was jarring. She was so unused to the light and tried to blink, but couldn’t, instead forced to adjust to the scene before her. A woman was in front of her, against a wall- no, beneath her on the ground.
The woman was battered. A few blood vessels were burst by her eye and it was swollen almost shut. Her short red hair was wind tossed, with some of it plastered to her face with sweat. Her good eye was pouring tears and slightly unfocused. There was a hand around her throat.
“She is going to watch you die.” It took her a moment to realize the words came from her own mouth. That hand was hers. She tried to jerk back, but her body refused. “And the best part is that she really likes you.” Sam was beginning to realize that the ‘she’ was her. “You make her feel safe, like she can be open and can ask for help. You make her feel like being scared is not the end of the world.” This person was important. Was someone close to her. “And she is going to watch as her own hand squeezes tight around your throat.”
Sam wanted to scream and cry. Everything was so sharp. She could feel every twitch of the woman’s throat, could hear the frantic beat of her heart. She could see the blood as it rushed to her head, even before it colored her face and bulged the veins beneath her skin. She could hear the way air barely trickled to greedy lungs.
And the one word said at the expense of the rest of the woman’s oxygen. “Sam.”
That was her. Memories bombarded her, a flood that seemed impossible to sort through, but gave her some purchase in her own body. Her shoulders twitched and her neck stiffened as she tried again to rear back.
Sam thrashed. She threw herself against the walls of her mind. Names came to her - Ruby, Lena, Kara. They were all people in her world. People who were extremely important to her.
Reign. She knew who tied her hands. She knew who urged her fingers tighter against her wishes.
The woman gurgled and sputtered, her feet kicking weakly behind Sam. And then she went still.
“Alex,” she breathed. Alex. That was Alex. “No!”
Her hand shot away. She looked around, finally able to direct her body. She could hear the faint beat of Alex’s heart. She shifted such that she knelt beside Alex. “Shit, shit, shit, fuck.” Her hands hovered uselessly above Alex’s body as her heartbeat continued to slow until it stopped. She needed to do something.
Sam took a deep breath. She had learned CPR after Ruby was born and went for regular refresher courses. She started with chest compressions, talking herself through the steps. She blocked Alex’s nose and placed their mouths together, releasing a short breath into Alex’s lungs. She nodded as Alex’s chest expanded. That was a good sign, she reminded herself. After another breath, she returned to chest compressions.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep time, even as she counted aloud. Panic was bleeding through her guarded mind. Her focus drifted. “Alex, Alex, Alex…” Why did it have to be Alex? She had not had someone to confide in for longer than she could remember. She loved Ruby, but she always sheltered her. That was her motherly instinct. But with Alex, she didn’t have to censor her troubles.
“Who am I supposed to talk to if you leave me?” She barely resisted the urge to push on Alex’s chest more forcefully, as much as she wished she could command her heart to beat. “You’re the only one I want.”
After three cycles, as Sam was beginning to believe Alex was gone and the world felt like it was falling down around her, Alex gasped and tried to sit up. Sam put her hand out and was surprised by how little resistance Alex provided as she forced her to lay back. “It’s okay, I’m here,” she rushed.
Alex’s open eye fixated on her face, darting about as she regarded her. Sam realized she was wearing the mask she had seen in pictures of Reign and her fingers jumped to her face. “Sam,” Alex exhaled softly, reaching up to touch her hand. “It’s okay.”
“I don’t think you can say that when I almost killed you,” Sam argued, almost hysterical.
“Have you met me?” Sam shook her head, choking on a laugh. “We will figure this out, Sam, I promise.” And somehow, despite everything, she believed Alex.
