Work Text:
CatCo WorldWide Media, National City, California
October 7th, 2016
Kara shifted slightly on her feet as she stood at the entrance of Miss Grant’s office, her kitten heels returning to something vaguely not uncomfortable.
It had been a really bad idea to wear these today, hadn’t it?
Normally, around this time, Kara would be sitting down on one of the couches, working on some task or another for Miss Grant. Usually scrolling through an article to proofread it before it was posted, or coordinating schedules with the other Executive Assistants in the city to ensure that meetings were being upheld.
But instead, Kara was currently on her feet, holding the door open for the several department heads and journalists who had been called into the room. Emergency staff meetings were the worst.
“Chop-chop, people!” Miss Grant called out, and the last of the stragglers began to rush into the room at a quickened pace. Bringing up the end was James, who Kara gave an awkward nod to, and Snapper, who ignored her.
Closing the door behind them, Kara made her way through the gathered array of journalists and department leads to stand in her usual position during these meetings: off to the side, where she was out of sight and out of mind until Miss Grant needed her for something.
Before everyone had gotten settled, Miss Grant spoke. “We have an opportunity on our hands. Can anyone here tell me what that opportunity is?”
There was a slight pause, but then Daniel, one of the investigative journalists who had a focus on organized crime, gave a tentative answer. “The drug bust that the N.C.P.D. and Supergirl handled this morning?”
Kara wrinkled her nose slightly. That hadn’t been a morning that she had wanted to wake up to. Instead of cuddling on her bed, or praying to Rao at her Ehl:Divi Im altar, Kara had slipped into her Supergirl suit and gone to assist a very nice detective named Maggie Sawyer in taking down a drug ring in a warehouse down by the port.
Annoying, but doable.
“A half-decent guess, but no,” Miss Grant responded to Daniel. “Supergirl is ours already, and she has always been ours. Bar any catastrophes, we don’t have to worry about keeping our resident hero with us. Anyone else?”
Kara was really hoping that she was imagining Miss Grant’s eyes flickering to her throughout the words, but she had a feeling she was lying to herself. Miss Grant was quite the smart woman, and Kara wouldn't be surprised if she knew.
It was James who ended up answering Miss Grant correctly, after several of the other meeting members had given it their own shot. “LuthorCorp’s move to National City, and subsequent rebranding?”
Miss Grant gave a dramatic sigh of relief. “Thank you; at least someone here is actually worth their paycheck.” She pressed a button on her remote, and the screens on her wall shifted to show images of various news articles and pictures of both LuthorCorp and the Luthor family.
“LuthorCorp is currently radioactive, and I don’t just mean Kryptonite. And yet the headquarters is now stationed here in National City,” Miss Grant informed. “We’ve known about this since May, but everything’s been finalized now, and the new C.E.O. of the company is now stationed here.”
There was another press of the remote, and all the screens showed one large image, spread across them all. It was of a beautifully stunning dark-haired woman with her hair in a bun, a red coat over her shoulders, and a slight smirk on her face.
“Lena Luthor, the unsung daughter of the Luthor family. And, given Lex’s incarceration and Lillian’s stepping down, Lena is the heir to the Luthor Empire.”
Kara twitched, but didn’t say anything.
“Now,” Miss Grant said, clapping her hands together to regain their attention. “We are setting up an interview immediately. We have Supergirl already, but I will not suffer for my empire to be supported by a singular pillar. You’re all here to pitch what we will need for said interview.”
Snapper grunted from where he was leaning on the wall over by Miss Grant’s bar. “You even got an interview lined up? ‘Cause the little-Luthor is infamous for not doing interviews,” he said gruffly.
Miss Grant just waved him off. “She’s an old acquaintance, and if she wants any chance at some press that will actually treat her and her company fairly, she will accept it easily.”
“So that’s a no,” Snapper nodded.
Narrowing her eyes, Miss Grant walked over to her desk. She began to pull out a notebook that Kara had given her with all of the contact information for the local offices, but Kara stepped forward before she could find it.
Turning the desk phone over to herself, Kara input the number for the LuthorCorp head office, and turned it back so that Miss Grant could hit the ‘call’ button when she was ready.
Miss Grant did so, and pressed the ‘speaker’ button. It rang for four beats, and then a click sounded as the other end picked up. “Luthor’s office, this is Jess speaking. How can I help you?”
“This is Cat Grant with CatCo WorldWide Media. When would Lena be available for an interview with the Magazine regarding the company’s move and rebranding?” Miss Grant asked, her words simultaneously nonchalant and confident.
There was a brief pause. “Miss Grant, it has long been Doctor Luthor’s stance since her takeover of the company that no interviews will be given upon request. Should Doctor Luthor deign to give one, she will reach out accordingly. That said, there is only one person at CatCo WorldWide Media who has the privilege to call and make an appointment for a reporter; and before you ask, yes, they are in your staff meeting. Good day.”
Rao, that assistant had the faintest little hint of smugness in her last sentence, and it was punctuated by the sound of the dial tone filling the room.
Miss Grant looked at the receiver in a sort of distant, enraged shock. Kara winced, already cataloguing the three double cheeseburgers she was going to have to order to fuel herself for whatever Juru that Miss Grant was going to drag up because of this.
For a moment, everything was quiet. And then Miss Grant seemed to force herself to calm down, the older woman taking a deep breath with her eyes closed. Kara took the moment to subtly pull the packet of Miss Grant’s Prozac out of her pocket, ready to give it to her the moment the meeting was done and the room was empty again.
Miss Grant’s eyes opened. “Well? Anyone want to fess up?”
No one moved for nearly a minute. Miss Grant shifted tactics after that, staring at everyone directly, moving from one person to the next. An intimidation display, one that was working since everyone she glared at was very pale and uncomfortable afterwards.
The death stare was just about to hit Anya from the Science Department when Kara pushed herself to move. No point in dragging this out longer than she should.
Everyone was looking at her, but Kara ignored them and channeled a little bit of Supergirl as she stepped up to Miss Grant’s desk. Reaching to the phone, she pressed the button to recall the last number, waiting four rings.
“Luthor’s office, this is Jess speaking. How may I help you?”
“Miss Huang, this is Kara Danvers from CatCo WorldWide Media,” she started. Kara could feel the confused and shocked stares from everyone else in the room, but she set those aside for the moment. “I was calling to inform you that the best option for Doctor Luthor to interview would be Miss Grant herself. And in my opinion, the sooner the better.”
There was a brief rustling in the receiver, as if someone was rustling papers on the other end. “Understood, Miss Danvers. Would tomorrow at eleven-thirty work? Doctor Luthor would be able to stop by and speak with Miss Grant directly.”
Tilting her head, Kara recalled what Miss Grant’s schedule looked like this week. Tomorrow had… oh, her mother was stopping by at eleven-thirty. Good, Miss Grant loved it whenever Kara was able to put something else on top of Katherine Grant’s times.
“That will indeed work, thank you, Miss Huang,” Kara responded kindly. “Is there anything else you will need from us here?”
“No, Miss Danvers,” came the succinct answer. “Would you like to use the password?”
Kara didn’t even take a moment to think about it. “Please. Ehshov.”
A couple of moments passed, and the awkward air in Miss Grant’s office was getting worse. Kara busied herself by staring out the office windows and out across the city until the click of another line being passed to another sounded
“Darling!” came the tell-tale voice of Lena Luthor, oh so beautiful and perfect. “I wasn’t expecting a call today. Is everything alright at work? I can send Frank to pick you up if need be.”
Kara’s muscles relaxed at the drawl of Lena’s voice, the slight hint of an Irish tilt in the words. She smiled to herself and sent a quick prayer to Rao that she was in the sunlight. Because otherwise the glowing of her hair’s bioluminescence was going to out her.
“No, :zhao-te, no emergencies. Well, we are in a staff meeting on speakerphone. Miss Grant really wanted an interview with you.” Kara risked a glance at the room.
Everyone was looking at her in shock. Presumably because she had successfully called Lena Luthor and gotten a delighted response instead of the usual cold demeanor she gave off in prior calls and paparazzi questioning.
When Lena spoke again, Kara could hear the smile in her voice. “I see. Very well, I shall hold back on my flirting, then. I take it I’m meeting with Cat, then, instead of you? I do wish you could interview me, but I understand it would be a conflict of interest.”
“And I’m not a reporter,” Kara reminded her, gently but fondly.
The eye roll was audible. “At this rate, if Cat doesn’t promote you, I’m going to set you up with a website of your own to run a blog of some sort. You could turn the guest room in the library into a workspace for it, even.”
Kara smiled softly, but she went for teasing instead. “You know, wanting me to stay in your penthouse all the time is counterproductive considering you’re at the office all the time.”
Lena made a faux affronted noise. “Ah! I see how it is: I control my flirting, and you jump right into it. Rude, especially considering I have a home office of my own.”
“You and I both know that if we were both home during work hours, no work would be getting done, giehrehv:divi,” Kara drawled out. Several inhales went around the room, and Kara thought she saw James face redden.
But the laugh that Lena gave off was so worth it. Kara subtly shifted so that she was directly in the sunlight; her hair was definitely going to be glowing, and the only way to prevent that from being noticed was to be in the sunlight.
“Very well, :zhao-te. Now, I can assume that tomorrow’s interview will have a bunch of new questions added to the list; about us, correct?”
Miss Grant leaned forward. “Count on it, Lena. How long have you been dating my assistant?”
Kara looked around the room carefully, and then reached up to her neck. She gently removed the necklace from underneath her blouse, letting the ring on the end sit on her chest. It was exquisite, made of the most extravagant and hardy materials that Lena was able to find.
Miss Grant’s eyes bugged out as she looked at the ring. She had to have seen the engraving of Lena’s personal sigil: the double ‘L’s in the trunk of a tree design.
“Lena? Would this weekend be a good date to go forge the wedding bracelets with me? Or should we do that separately and keep it as a surprise for each other?” Kara asked.
There was another chuckle on Lena’s end, presumably having guessed what Kara had done. “I’d like it to be a surprise, but we can discuss it when we’re both home tonight. Is there anything else you need, :zhao-te?”
Kara shook her head before remembering Lena couldn’t see that. “No. See you soon, :zhao khap rrip.” I love you.
“:zhao khap rrip vahdhah. Goodbye, darling,” Lena responded warmly. I love you too.
With a warm smile and a delightful buzz in her chest at the sound of her fiancé’s voice, Kara ended the call. Clearing her throat, she then turned to Miss Grant, putting a professional look on her face. “Interview secured, Miss Grant. At eleven tomorrow, Doctor Luthor will be arriving for the meeting. Shall I prepare the normal set of questions, or would you like me to get Porter to assist you?”
A brief pause. “The meeting is at eleven-thirty,” someone said from the crowd; Kara wasn’t sure who.
Kara glanced back with a smile still on her face. “Miss Grant’s meeting is at eleven-thirty. My meeting with Doctor Luthor will last about fifteen minutes, but I’m sure we can squeeze out a longer interview paired with lunch. My fiancé likes to bring me potstickers.”
“Kiera… what the fuck?”