Chapter Text
“You sure you’ll be fine?”
“For the hundredth time, yes, Kara. I’ve done this before.”
“But...”
“Just go have your date! You’re not going to get a chance like this for a while.”
“But last time...”
“That was years ago. C’mon, my little sister deserves to relax once and a while.”
“Okay, but you better call me... or, wait you won’t be able to... just shout really loud. Or... shoot, you can’t do that either...”
“Kara, relax. I’ve spent years doing this. I’ll be fine. Go have fun.”
“Alright,” conceded Kara’s still unconvinced voice. “Love you, Alex.”
“Love you too.” Alex ended the call and let her phone clatter to the kitchen table. She would be lying if the thought of facing her transformation alone tonight didn’t scare her. But she’d trained long and hard for this moment, pushing the physical limits of both her forms, determined to master her condition.
Alex ran her fingers through her hair a few times and glanced at her watch. Three hours to moonrise. “You’re Alex Danvers,” she said, staring down a random spot in the kitchen. “A respected DEO agent, Supergirl’s older sister, and a seasoned werewolf.” Alex exhaled hard. “You’ll survive this.”
Detective Maggie Sawyer tapped her pen repeatedly against the case file she was pouring over. She had been chasing the same dead ends, over and over again, for the entire day. Her frustration was through the roof, the agitations of the day finally compounding into a barely containable rage.
This morning she was woken up early to her neighbors blaring their TV, then the coffee maker was broken, producing an inconsumable tar. She could’ve chalked it up to a bad morning, but Detective Tom freaking Harris decided to come to work drenched in cologne, to the point where it caused a slight, yet pervasive headache, even though he sat at the other end of the bullpen. And now she can’t find any new leads, and—Maggie scratched at the bandages hiding a row of stitches on her forearm. And now her arm itched like there was no tomorrow.
“You’re awfully twitchy today, Sawyer,” commented her partner, Detective Poole, from across the desk. “You, uh, didn’t do a line when I wasn’t looking? You do know that’s against the law.”
Maggie scoffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s just been a crap day.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Here, here,” assented the other detective. “Wish we could’ve caught this bastard today.” Maggie nodded emphatically. “But it’s late now. Go rest up, Sawyer. Get a fresh pair ‘a eyes on it tomorrow.”
“And let you take all the credit when you miraculously solve the case only minutes after I leave? Keep on dreaming.”
“I’m as lost as you are,” grinned Poole. “Look, I’m just finishing up some routine paperwork, then I’m out the door.” Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Scouts honor.”
Alex turned up the radio in her car. One hour ‘till moonrise. She could feel her skin itch. Her entire being trembled, straining to give in and transform. Alex took a deep breath in, counting to ten, then out, counting down from ten.
She’d driven out of the city and into the woods in a place she knew no one frequented. A place she had completed her transformation before. But always under the watchful eye of her sister. This time... the agent shook her head. No, this time will be fine, just like all the others.
Over the years, Alex had learned to control the shiftings, to deny them and even incur them willingly. It was a painstaking process of slowly learning to separate her wolf brain from her human, honing her self-control. The full moon always put the ultimate strain on her discipline.
These last few months she suppressed the change under the moon. Her work, and subsequently the safety of National City, required her to be human. But the wolf inside could not be denied forever.
She tried to mitigate the burning in her limbs to shift and run with feral abandon by forcing a transformation during her off hours. It only served to release small amounts of steam from the gasket that was about to blow. Alex needed a complete night under the full moon.
The agent thrummed her finger on the steering wheel, her whole body hummed with energy. She couldn’t wait any longer. Alex switched off the ignition and stuffed the keys in the jockey box. She stepped out of the car and breathed in the crisp night air. Her senses were working overtime, human ones becoming more acute as the wolf vied for control.
Alex shivered as she stripped out of her clothes. She double checked the hide-a-key was stowed safely under her car and that there was no one around before undressing entirely and stuffing everything into a backpack. She draped a blanket around her shoulders and locked the car before wandering further into the woods, relishing the feeling of dirt between her toes.
Maggie pushed the speed limit on her motorcycle ride home. She was the police, speeding tickets be damned. The cool night air did nothing to assuage the burning restlessness that had settled in her heart. Normally a long ride would clear her head, but this time it didn’t feel like it even scratched the surface of her problems.
The detective stopped by her apartment building and paused. There was no way she’d get any rest in this state.
Maggie let out a frustrated sigh and re-buckled her helmet, a quick ride around the city should do her good. She scratched furiously at the bandages covering her arm. And maybe these damn stitches would give her some relief as well.
Alex chanced a look up at the sky once she felt she was sufficiently far enough in the forest. The moon was nearly at its zenith, and she was ready to jump out of her skin—literally.
The agent took a deep breath and embraced the burning, stretching feeling in the pit of her gut. The wolf gnashed at its muzzle, pulling, straining to break free. Alex closed her eyes and took one final human breath.
And let the leash break.
Maggie wasn’t sure how or why she ended up this far out of town and into the woods. She did know one thing for certain: the cut on her arm burned like a bitch.
The detective had driven straight and fast out of the city and didn’t stop until the poorly paved one-lane road turned to gravel, not traversable by motorcycle. Today was adding up to be a very strange one.
Maggie absent mindedly picked at her bandages, fingers itching to grab a cigarette from her emergency stash hidden away in her bag. Actually, it wasn’t just her fingers that itched, her whole body tingled. Maggie frowned, confused at the swell of nausea and adrenaline that crashed through her.
The detective slid down to her knees, not trusting how suddenly faint she felt. She quickly tossed aside her helmet, desperate to grab fresh air, clawing at the zipper to her jacket in the process. Oh, god, was she having a panic attack? Cardiac arrest? Shit. Fuck. Was she going to die in the middle of the forest for her colleagues in homicide to find? Oh god. Fuck. Was Holly Westford, the very beautiful medical examiner, going to see her naked?
Her breathing became labored, heart straining in its own confines. Maggie shed her jacket, the fabric feeling too constricting. The world seemed to close in on itself and expand all at once. Her vision flickered, sharpening and un-focusing in rapid succession. The smell of damp earth invaded her nostrils. She could swear the air around her crackled with electricity, or was that just her bones? Every perceivable thing built to a grand crescendo, and then... nothing. Flat, black, nothing.
Alex sprinted through the forest, her large paws thudding rhythmically on the earthen floor. She drank in the myriad of smells and sounds that were lost on her human senses, the whole world bursting at the seams with vitality.
The wolf dashed around trees, playing games with the obstacles. Left, right. Right, right. Full circle. Skid, jump. A flash of boxing practice played in the back portion of her human brain, but it quickly dissipated. It was the wolf’s turn to captain the ship.
The small shred of humanity determined Alex was far enough away from civilization and she released a cheeky howl of joy. The wolf skidded to a stop and leaned back on her haunches, gathering air into her lungs before letting out a long, keening howl skyward. If wolves could smile, Alex would be grinning ear to ear.
A fallen leaf swirling in the wind caught Alex’s attention. She barked playfully at it and pounced, trapping it beneath her massive front paws. Alex lifted her right paw, ready to snap at the trapped vegetation when an unfamiliar scent halted her movements.
Alex lifted her snout and tested the air. The scent was musty, predatory. She swiveled her ears to try and gain more information. A set of pounding paws was all she heard before a mass of chocolate brown fur slammed into her side.
The wolf in Alex took full control, reacting with pure instinct to the attack. She snarled and lashed out with a clawed paw, twisting and baring her teeth down. The offending animal was frightened and uncoordinated, making it weak. Alex easily pinned it down, displaying her teeth near her opponent’s neck. It would just take one bite and.... Alex paused, the pure killer wolf seceding a fraction of slack to her human counterpart.
Alex snorted, her nostrils flaring, filled with something hauntingly familiar, yet uniquely different. A gleam of humanity shone out from underneath the pervading feral cloud of the other animal’s eyes. Alex’s logical brain clicked into gear. It was another werewolf. Her surprise caused Alex to loosen the hold she had, just enough for the other werewolf to squirm free and bolt away.
Alex stood rooted in place, shocked. The last werewolf she met had given her the cursed scratch that turned her this way. She snapped out of her revere and sprinted after the mysterious wolf, snout to the ground.
Alex growled in frustration as the scent she was tracking doubled back yet again. Whoever this other werewolf was, they knew how to not be followed. She sighed. She’d have to continue this search as a human. The familiar tug back to human form had been growing ever stronger with the rising sun. Alex turned back towards the direction of her parked car and ambled along, fog rising in clouds past her sharp canines and lolling tongue.
The first thing Maggie noticed when she awoke was that she was freezing cold. She picked herself off of the forest floor and quickly realized her state of undress accounted for the temperature. Maggie glanced around, thoroughly confused and worried at her predicament. Was she drugged? Kidnapped? She remembers feeling ill, and then... nothing. Her mind was a blur.
Maggie looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted her parked motorcycle in the distance. The detective made her way cautiously towards it, wary of an ambush.
Seeing no immediate danger, and her items in tact: backpack slung over her bike, keys and wallet still present—except for her clothes, now in tatters. The detective opened a compartment under the seat and pulled out a change of clothes she keeps for late nights at the office, or more times than she cares to admit, one night stands.
Whatever happened was insanely bizarre. How did one even call this incident in? Maggie took a steadying breath. She’d figure this out later, but for now she was absolutely starving.
Alex shifted back into human form and dressed quickly. She glanced down at her phone and sighed as just the entirety of her notifications were from Kara. She called up her sister from the Bluetooth in her car and started to make her way back home.
“Alex! Thank Rao you’re okay. I was so worried!”
“Everything went fine, just like I said it would,” the agent paused.
“Except…” Kara pushed.
“Relax, relax. It’s just a new development that I’ll have to investigate on my own time.”
“Oh no, you didn’t...”
“No, no, no,” she quickly admonished.
“Then what, Alex?” whined Kara, drawing the vowels of the agent's name.
“Just... I’ll deal with it, okay? What I want to hear about is that date.”
“Alex, no. You don’t get to hide things from your sister.” The agent rolled her eyes, imagining the pout forming on Kara’s face.
“I... I ran into another werewolf.”
“What? That’s, that’s amazing! Did you meet up with them after, you know, the full moon thing?”
“No, they ran away. But Kara, whoever it was seemed pretty new to it all... or never bothered to discipline their wolf. He or she could pose a real threat if they transformed close to the city.”
“But think, you would have a friend to share this experience with! You could chase squirrels and talk about how awesome fetch is. It’d be like... like your own little pack!”
“Kara, that’s not what…” Alex pinched the bridge of her nose, but couldn’t help but grin at her sister’s antics. “What if they like being a wolf? There are people who would abuse that kind of power. Just... try and help me find them before the next full moon. It’s for the safety of National City, alright?”
Kara huffed. “Fine, you spoil sport.”
“I’m just doing my job. Now how about that date last night?”
“Oh,” started Kara, her excitement fizzling out. “I... Supergirl had to interrupt.”
“I’m so sorry, Kara.”
“Yeah... well maybe it’s for the best. It wasn’t going so well anyways... but hey, I know how hungry you get after a transformation, so I flew over to your favorite food cart and ordered, like, twenty different things, and then I...”
Maggie Sawyer was ravenous. She pulled into the first open diner there was and promptly ordered pancakes on top of omelets on top of bacon on top of whatever the Number 4 special was. She inhaled the meal(s) and tipped the waiter extra for not saying anything about her extra ordinary appetite or the fact she probably still has leaves in her hair. The detective ducked out of the restaurant as soon as she finished, marking it as a place she could never set foot in again.
Maggie mounted her motorcycle and took off home. She was determined to get to the bottom of whatever strange thing happened to her. She was, after all, a detective.