Chapter Text
“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Alex’s voice rang out from the kitchen, cutting through the stillness of the morning. With a playful toss, she sent a pillow flying toward her sister, who responded with a groan and then flung it back to what she hoped was where her sister stood.
“Hey, you almost got me!” Alex exclaimed, a smile tugging at her lips as she picked up the pillow and tossed it on the couch. She then moved to pull back the curtains, letting the morning light flood the room and headed to the kitchen to make coffee.
The light was more so for her sister and the plants on the windowsill but Kara still needed the warmth of the sun, the glowing rays still rejuvenating her cells the moment they hit her skin and Kara took a deep, meditative breath before letting her feet slip into fluffy slippers. Her movements are instinctive as she navigates her home, four steps from her bed is the curtain that divides the rest of her house from her bedroom, another eight steps to the left of it and she's reached the kitchen island. She settles onto a kitchen stool and reaches for the box of donuts that was always there, but her hand finds only empty space, and she frowns in Alex’s direction.
“Oh, right, the place was closed today. But we can go to Noonan’s later?”
“Yeah... I guess. How’s that case going? Did you find the Master Jailer?”
“Not yet,” Alex replied, handing Kara a steaming cup of coffee before sitting beside her. “He took another alien, but J’onn has a lead on where he might be hiding them.”
“It would go a lot faster if I was Supergirl...” Kara’s voice was barely a whisper, her eyes closing against the darkness that was present regardless.
“Kara…”
“No, I know what you’re going to say. It’s not safe, I could get hurt, other people could get hurt... I’ve heard it all before, but Alex, we could try! I’m working at CatCo again, and it’s going well now that I’ve learned braille. Snapper says I’ll be ready to go out and take interviews soon! Being Supergirl is just as important as being Kara Danvers, you know that.”
Alex’s expression softened, a sad smile playing on her lips. She reached out and took Kara’s hands, conveying the concern and helplessness she felt without saying a word.
“Right... I’m gonna go get ready for work. See you at Noonan’s for lunch.” Kara shook her head, got up, and turned to walk away.
“I’m so sorry, Kar...” It was a barely audible whisper but at least Kara still had her super hearing.
With her white cane tapping around her, Kara stepped out of the elevator at CatCo, guided by the symphony of sounds around her – ringing phones, hurried conversations, the thud of footsteps.
Her glasses, now with darker lenses, hid her unseeing eyes. They were lined with lead, a precaution Alex insisted on even though x-ray vision was no longer in Kara’s arsenal and her super-hearing enhanced beyond the confines of the frame that would once help silence excessive noise.
“Kara! Hey, wait up.” James’s voice rang and she turned to its origin with a warm smile that she imagined mimicked his.
“James, hi!” she greeted him and that's when the sound of a minor tapping against plastic reached her ears, no one could've possibly heard it, but to Kara, it was all she heard. "Back with a camera in your hand?"
A look of disbelief crossed the man's face and the slight exhale was followed by a nod. “Nothing escapes you, huh? But, one of the photographers is out sick, and I thought of stepping in and helping out.” He shrugged, and Kara nodded. “What about you? You look good.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” she nodded, adjusting her glasses. “I’ve--”
“Ponytail!” Snapper’s voice cut through the office, and Kara half-turned toward him before facing James again.
“I’m so sorry! I have to go, but I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Yeah, tonight! Game night, remember?”
“Great! I’ll see you then.” She was already halfway across the floor and entering the editorial room.
“Mr. Carr, what—what can I do?” She rushed out her sentence as she almost bumped into his table but quickly straightened up, her head down and away while her hands fumbled with her cane.
“Well Danvers, I need you to interview Lena Luthor, she's planning a rebranding of LuthorCorp and we need an exclusive.”
Snapper always spoke straight to the point but Kara’s head was still reeling from what he had just said, that name made it harder to hear the rest of the sentence and she stood there with her mouth half-open and no words coming out of it.
“Danvers! Yes or no?”
That was enough to snap her out of her thoughts and formulate a sentence. “Uh.. uh, didn’t Lena Luthor stay in Metropolis?”
“Geez, did you go live under a rock on your time off? Lena Luthor moved here two weeks ago but no one’s got an exclusive yet. You think you can handle it?”
“ – Yes! Yes, no, of course, I can. I’ll… I’m going to go… do… that. Interview her. Interview Lena Luthor. Yup.” At this point, Snapper had already left and she was basically mumbling to herself, reassuring herself.
For all the time LuthorCorp was placed in National City, Kara never stepped into the high-rise and thankfully she had no reason to. The organisation's false persona was always something that irked Kara to her core, how the company pretended to be saints and saviours but it was their money that fueled the crime and malpractices of this city. She wasn't a reporter back then but she was Supergirl and through investigative work of her own, Kara found out the bleak truth of just how deep-seeded LuthorCorp was with corruption. The circulation of drugs on the streets of the city was solely carried out to line their pockets with even more money without a single thought of concern for what it was doing to the people living here and yet somehow, the media applauded them for all the "good" they were doing. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Lex and Lillian ran this city and there was only so much they could do back then.
In a twisted sort of way, maybe Kara was thankful for Lex going completely crazy that even the media couldn't cover it. His hatred for the Supers outweighed everything else and when he snapped, the world saw everything. Saw the so-called philanthropist for the sociopath he truly was despite Lillian's best efforts to warp the story to their favour — but it can be hard to put a positive spin on, "My son is planning to murder righteous superheroes and he doesn't care if it destroys the world in the process." Lillian, after all her efforts, of course, came out of it clean after blaming it all on her son who lost his way and she had no idea about his real plans. Lex was justifiably given life for his world takeover-y motives and LuthorCorp was just another abandoned building.
Until now.
Kara hears the panicked hustling and bustling before she even walks through the building doors and the frantic energy reminds her of CatCo on a 'Breaking News' day. One like she imagines would be the day the world finds out that the Luthor name is back in circulation, except it's now pinned to an unfamiliar face. Lena's always done a great job of keeping out of the media and it's only during Lex Luthor's trial that Lena Luthor was informally introduced to the world. The formal introduction now lying on Kara's shoulders.
It makes her swallow hard and clear her throat before she speaks up,
"Hi... I’m—I’m Kara Danvers, I'm with CatCo magazine..” She raised her ID in what seemed to be the right direction of the receptionist and smiled. “I have an appointment with Lena Luthor?”
After tapping away on her computer, Jess looked up and nodded with a polite smile. “Right, Ms. Danvers. Let me show you the way.”
She got up from her chair and extended her elbow for the blonde who gently held on and followed the direction she was being led into with her other hand holding onto the cane. As it struck a door, she stopped and waited for Jess to open it before walking inside and standing in the middle of the room. She thanked the secretary before turning her attention to the C.E.O.
“Ms. Luthor? H—Hi, I’m Kara Danvers. I’m from CatCo magazine.”
There was a moment's silence on the other end and it made Kara fidget more than usual. The thought of Lena's eyes on her, looking at her had the reporter holding a breath that released only when she heard the familiar voice.
“Of course, Ms. Danvers. Please. Have a seat. Oh--”
That’s when Kara heard the silent squeak of the wheels as the chair pushed back and her stilettoes made a prominent sound when they took its first step.
“No, no. It’s okay.” Kara quickly replied before using her cane to guide her to the closest chair. She was getting used to understanding sound, understanding how each thing and each person had a vibration – a frequency, and she had to just tune in to “see”. She could hear Lena's heartbeat without even trying, it was steady and grounding... and all too familiar.
“So Ms. Danvers, what can I do for you? CatCo looking to get its exclusive on the Luthor comeback?”
It was just like she remembered it, but more confident and with a hint of something in her voice that Kara could never decipher.
“Ye- yes, but just before we start, could I just--” And her hand reached out into her purse and dug out a small recorder which she set upright on the table. “It’s just so I don’t have to try too hard to remember everything while typing it out.” She nervously chuckled.
“Of course. -- Old fashioned, I see.” Lena chuckled and Kara shook her head as a grin formed across her lips.
“Well, I can’t be trusted with technology, I’m not too good with it,” Kara replied as her hands quickly folded her cane and she shoved it in her purse before setting it down.
“So, Miss. Luthor, you're- you're here in National City, why is that? Are you going to be taking over LuthorCorp?” Kara clears any nervousness out of her system and lets work take over, keeps a level head and focuses on reporting.
The pen in Lena's hand taps against the stack of papers a few times before she takes in a breath and answers, “Yes.” She smirked, “But, it's not LuthorCorp anymore, or at least, it's not going to be for long. I'm rebranding. World domination doesn't really do well in the market and our stocks have plummeted since." The tone is light-hearted but Kara can't help but notice the bitterness that comes with the mention of the past. "Ever since Lex was put behind bars, I knew that I had to come back and reclaim this company, make it a force for good and at least attempt to make things right. And for that, I need people to be able to trust it again so by changing it to L-Corp and steering away from everything Lex believed in, I hope that I can bring about a positive change."
Kara listens intently, nodding a little too trustingly and encouraging Lena to keep going. "You know Miss. Danvers, I wasn't always a Luthor, maybe that's why I could never really align with my family's motives. I was adopted when I was four, but it was Lex that always made me feel like I was a part of this family." The lilt of sadness returns and it makes the CEO stiffen up slightly, the casual movements she made while talking come to a halt as she straightens her back. "After everything that's happened, I'm just here looking for a fresh start and I just want to do what's best for the people, I hope you understand that."
I understood that a long time ago.
Everything she was saying made so much sense and Kara already couldn’t understand why people saw her as a threat, why people thought that she was going to follow in her brother’s footsteps. The rational part of her understood that it was only natural to doubt the Luthor family but one conversation with Lena and any hesitance went out the window, she didn't need to read her heartbeat to ensure that what Lena said was the truth.
“I do.” She quietly replied with a small smile.
“Right, I trust that you'll do us justice then. If you have everything you came for, I should get back to work.”
Lena stood up from her chair and Kara did the same, she could hear the steps going around the table before coming to a halt next to her. Kara turned accordingly and then extended her hand out towards where she hoped the C.E.O. stood and when the handshake was returned, Kara’s mouth slightly opened and her eyebrows rose.
Her hands are still cold… just as they used to be.
“It was nice meeting you, Ms. Luthor.”
“Likewise, Ms. Danvers. I hope this isn’t the last time we talk.”
“I hope not, either.”
With that, she grabbed her recorder and pulled out her cane before tracing her steps back to the door.
Oh god, don’t bump into anything.