Rewind
ONE
Isobel sighed, burying her hands further down into her pockets. She should have been doing actual work, not going to the Starbucks across the street of the Central City Citizen building. She got a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism to report, not to run errands.
Yet that was how the world worked, apparently, with the smart people stuck getting coffee (a no mocha two percent skim milk soy frappuccino drizzled in chocolate!) for the people who looked good on TV. (She spent half an hour on her daily makeup routine, yet Chia Verrazano was still prettier than her.) Namely Isobel Norman (with a degree) getting coffee for Central City Citizen's star reporter, Chia Verrazano (with a pretty face.)
She frowned at the thought of Chia, who said her name in a thick Italian accent that was more fake than her plastic-y face. She waited for the cars to stop as she crossed the street.
Starbucks was full of people on laptops at this time of the day and week. She went up to the counter, where a bored teenager was on her phone. Izzy took her hand out of her pocket, looking at what she wrote Chia's order on. "Excuse me?"
The teenager looked up, and put on a smile. "Hi! Welcome to Starbucks, may I take your order?"
"Can I have a...no mocha, two percent skim milk, soy frappuccino drizzled in chocolate?" Izzy said the words slowly.
The teenager grit her teeth, still wearing a smile. "Of course!"
Izzy looked at her in sympathy. "It's for a co-worker. I hate her."
"Special orders are the death of me," the teenager muttered. While she was making the drink, Izzy slipped a five into the tips jar.
The teenager smiled at her, a real smile, and handed her the cup. "Have a good day," she called out after her.
"You too." One hand holding the cup and the other in her pocket, she waited to cross the street.
She stepped into the elevator, about to press the 10 button when a boy slammed his hand over the doors. He was breathing heavily and leaned against the wall of the elevator, his head tilted back and his eyes closed.
Izzy took a good look at him. His short, caramel hair was windblown – he had probably ran here. Intern, maybe? It would make sense with his age. He couldn't be over twenty.
"First day?" she asked.
He smiled thinly at her. "Yeah. New job, just moved here – what's with cars always trying to run people over?"
She laughed. "It's Central City. That is, a big city. Of course cars are going to try to run you over. What, have you been living under a rock?"
"Just Canada. I lived in a big city. Toronto. Except we're polite and don't try to run people over."
She raised her eyebrows at this, but didn't get a chance to respond when the elevator doors opened. "Well, good luck."
He smiled, a real smile this time. "You too."
She headed for the newsroom when she noticed him following her. She glanced back at him. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Um, this is where I work..."
She blinked. "What do you do?"
"Investigative journalism."
She snorted. "That's what I'm supposed to be doing. Be glad you have a pretty face, kid, because that's what'll get you a job here, not what kind of degree or experience you have."
"Pretty face?" he echoed.
"I have a degree in broadcast journalism. I should be out there getting a good story, not delivering coffee to Chia Verrazano."
"Who's she?"
"Only the star of the Central City Citizen. She kind of stole my job when she came, I used to be the person you saw on TV telling you the major news, now it's her, all because my boss decided she looked better than I did. So now I'm stuck running her errands." Izzy hoped she sounded bitter.
"Ouch," he said.
She didn't respond.
Izzy opened the door to the newsroom and was immediately greeted by noise. The newsroom was covered in streamers, confetti, and Frank Sinatra was playing. She almost dropped the Starbucks cup.
"Is this normal...?"
"No," she said, "this is most certainly not normal." Then she saw the banner hanging over the glass wall at the opposite end of the room which looked out over Central City. Happy retirement! it screamed in bold, purple letters.
She stopped a co-worker she knew who was rushing to the conference table, which had a giant Happy Retirement! cake on it. "Iris? Who's retiring?"
"Ignatius," Iris responded, cutting the cake. Her eyes went to the man behind her. "Who're you?" she asked, clearly curious.
He smiled. "Connor Marstall. I'm the new investigative journalist, I heard your old one...passed away?"
Iris cringed. "Right. Eric. Um, just a warning, it's a...dangerous job..."
Connor nodded. "I understand the risk. Signed a waiver and everything. But hey, I figured I needed some excitement in my life."
Iris raised an eyebrow, grinning. "So you'd say you're up for anything?"
He laughed. "Pretty much."
Izzy frowned at this. Iris West was somewhat of a flirt, in her opinion. She had met her best friend, Barry Allen, before (and he was seriously cute), and it was clear he was into her, but she didn't seem to notice, and somehow managed to lead him on without trying. She wasn't sure how. Then Izzy learned that she had a boyfriend, not Barry.
Maybe it was just Izzy, but it almost looked like she was flirting with Connor. "So, who's the new boss?"
"Chia," Iris said, forking a piece of cake into her mouth.
Izzy almost dropped the drink again. Connor looked at her out the corner of his eye. "Chia?" she repeated.
"Yeah...I think Ignatius had...well, had a thing for her...it's creepy, but probably true." Izzy sighed heavily.
"Is there something wrong with Chia?" Connor asked.
Izzy was about to scream to him that she'd already told him, but Iris responded first, looking at Izzy. "She's really nice, I don't know why you don't like her, Isobel."
Izzy dug her nails into the cup. "I've explained this, Iris."
Connor glanced at Izzy, then Iris, who had folded her arms across her chest. "Right, okay, I'm gonna go talk to her now."
"I'll go with you," Izzy and Iris said in unison.
He winced. "Um. Okay?"
Iris looked at him with sympathy. "I'll just stay here, actually."
Connor smiled at her in relief. "Thanks."
She smiled back. "I'll see you around!"
Connor was about to respond, but Izzy grabbed his wrist. "Let's go talk to Chia."
"Someone's angry," he said in all seriousness.
"Yeah, no kidding."
Chia smiled at the both of them. Izzy saw she had taken no time moving into Ignatius's old desk. "Hello, Isobel! And who are you?" She looked at Connor with interest.
Chia was in her thirties, and claimed to have "experience" reporting. It was clear some sort of plastic surgery had been done, but unlike most people who got plastic surgery, it just made her prettier. She felt bad for Connor – who had to be under twenty five, at least – being looked at by her.
But Connor smiled brightly at her anyway. "Connor Marstall. I'm your new investigative journalist, replacing Eric?"
"Of course!" Chia sighed. "Poor Eric...investigative journalism is a tough job."
"I'm up for it, I promise."
She grinned at him. "I'm glad." She turned her attention to Izzy, who handed her the cup. "Uh, sorry it might be kind of cold...I got sort of sidetracked."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Isobel, you were just the one I wanted to talk to! Since I'm promoted, you're still our broadcast journalist. I actually have a very important job for you."
Izzy blinked. "What?" She blinked again. "I mean, of course I'll take it, it'll be nice to get out of the office."
"Well, we got an anonymous tip from someone in Central City that had visited Gotham City, and they had reported a super-human there. I believe the term is meta-human?" Izzy nodded, while Connor looked utterly lost. "We had an accident with technology – a particle accelerator, I think – about a year ago that resulted in people getting superhuman powers. It appears that one of these meta-humans has moved to Gotham, and is causing havoc there, robbing banks. It seems like this meta-human can stop time."
"Stop time?" Connor repeated in disbelief.
Chia sighed. "It's hard to believe, I know. But yes, apparently. We have plenty of meta-humans here, but there are some that use their powers for good, like one dubbed the Flash. He can run at super speed."
"Never had those in Canada," Connor muttered under his breath.
"So what do you want me to do?" Izzy asked.
"I've arranged with the Gotham Gazette that I'll be sending a couple reporters over there since the meta-humans are something that originated in Central City. You'll be teaming up with Audrey Summers, a reporter for the Gotham Gazette. There aren't many, it's...a rather dangerous place..."
"Why so dangerous?" Connor asked.
"Gotham has the highest crime rate in America. And probably in Canada too, though I don't know about your crime rates up there. It's a criminal hotspot, which is probably why the meta-human has chosen to stay there," Chia explained. "The GCPD is practically ineffective, while the crime bosses will learn to stay out of your way if you're powerful enough. You'd have to really show them that, but once you did, then you'd be fine. It's a perfect choice for a meta-human looking to get rich quick."
Izzy nodded. "So if I can just stay under the radar while subtly gathering information from witnesses, then I'll be good, right?"
Chia opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Connor. "Well, actually, if you wanted to be subtle, you'd gather information from crime scenes and piece together what you find, not witnesses. If you start interviewing witnesses, people will get suspicious, and that's the last thing you'd want."
Izzy frowned. "I'm not a detective, though, I trained for broadcast journalism."
Chia cleared her throat. "Um, hello? The obvious? I'm sending you two to work together! You'll be the perfect team!"
Izzy's eyes met Connor's, then they simultaneously stared at Chia in disbelief. "...What?" Izzy finally said after a minute of awkward silence.
"Are you serious?" said Connor.
Chia sighed. "Of course. It's the logical thing to do, two people with your skill sets, etcetera etcetera. I thought you seemed to be getting along fine."
"Well, it's just that..." Izzy started.
"I work better alone," Connor finished.
They both nodded at that.
Chia rolled her eyes. "I hate to have to do this, but...I'm your boss now. I'm pulling the boss card. Deal with it." She set down two envelopes addressed to each of them. "Train tickets and key cards. I made reservations for you at a hotel – the nicest in Gotham – called the Embassy. You're sharing a two-bedroom suite. Hope it's not awkward."
Izzy stared dubiously at the envelopes. "Did you plan this out beforehand?"
"Actually, yes, though I was originally going to have Iris go with Connor. She's more investigative, that's all I was going for, no offense to you, Isobel. But Iris didn't want the job, said she was working on her Flash article. And that's fine, she seems to be doing a good job on it. So I thought, well, Isobel Norman would be a good candidate! Hard worker, has experience in journalism, seems to get along well with people. So there you are." Chia pushed the envelopes into their hands.
Smiling at them, she said, "Your train leaves at five." Izzy glanced at the digital clock on Chia's desk. It was two. "Go pack. You're excused early."
Connor and Izzy smiled in return and headed towards the elevator. "Well, could have been worse," he said. "You could've gotten Eric. Whoever that is."
Izzy shivered. Eric was okay, she supposed. She never really knew him, though. It would have been far more awkward to share a hotel room with Eric than Connor, much to her surprise. "Yeah. You're right. And you could have been with Iris."
He shrugged. "Iris seemed nice. Not that I don't like you," he added hurriedly.
"Sure."
"Chia was really nice, too," he said, looking at her sideways. "She seemed far less horrible than you made her out to be."
"Yeah, well, I guess she is nice, I guess it wasn't her fault she stole my job, but allow someone to hate someone for involuntarily stealing their job, please."
"That's fine by me."
The elevator doors opened. "See you around, Isobel," he said with a smile so bright it could've lit the room.
She smiled back, though somewhat less...amazingly. "Izzy."
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