"Alex would you care to tell me why my itinerary for the day has me touring a tower for sale?" Allie questions in annoyed confusion. She's going over the email Editor-n-Chief Aldridge sent her for her Metropolis business trip.
"Oh you saw that?" Alex returns coyly and Allie rolls her eyes, though Alex can't see.
"Yes I saw that. Alex you love Gotham, I love Gotham, why would we move the Gotham City Sentinel to Metropolis?" Allie deadpans and Alex chuckles.
"Oh God no! I would never! No, Allie I'm thinking of buying out the Daily Planet and if I do I'd like to move them out of that piece of crap they call a building," Alex explains and Allie breathes a sigh of relief. "That's why I have you meeting Mr. White and some of his journalists today."
"Good. It's crazy but Gotham has become our home."
"I know. Trust me I won't have us return to live at the root of all our discontent any time soon," Alex promises, referring to their shared traumas and troubles endured in Metropolis.
"Yeah but we can both admit Metropolis is a much better place to grow up in compared to Gotham," Allie points out. "Less murder."
"True, but Gotham has its charms and speaking of Gotham's charms I have a meeting about its best newspaper," Alex remarks.
"Alright I should go through the motions of my day, love you."
"Love you too." Alex hangs up and Allie smiles, shoulders back and stature straightened.
Usually Allie is two steps behind Alex at those meetings, usually Allie is right beside Alex.
Allison Gray pockets her phone and adjusts the collar on her jacket. She feels nervous being away from Alex and dealing with business on her own but it needs to be done.
"Alright Jerry, just pull over and park whenever you can and I can walk the extra distance," Allie instructs to the driver. She hates driving and never properly learned so Alex has a personal driver on call for whenever she can't drive Allie herself.
"Of course, Ms. Gray," he responds.
A few blocks later Jerry parks the silver Mercedes on the street and Allie steps out.
"I'll be away for at least three hours, Jerry so take a paid break. If you want lunch or anything you can charge up to sixty dollars to the company," Allie instructs and he gives a grateful nod.
Allison feels a pit in her stomach as she walks alone in the direction of the building for sale. Strangely enough, Gotham is her home now and so it feels safer than Metropolis.
Less than a block away sits the vacant office tower that used to be a Wayne Foundation center until they moved up the street. It's nothing like the Gotham City Sentinel skyscraper but it's certainly more formidable than the Daily Planet's current building.
"One thing is for certain, if we come here then Wayne will have a bigger dick in Metropolis than we do," Allie grumbles to herself as she bounces up the steps to the front entrance. She reaches the doors and swings the left one open, coming face to face with two grinning realtors. One is Rick, Wayne's realtor, and the other, Dick, Aldridge's realtor. In simpler terms Dick is on her side and Rick is not.
"Rick, Dick, nice to see you both," Allie greets and politely shakes both their hands. Rick is there to make sure Allie only sees the best in the building and Dick is there to drive the price down for Allie. "Will your boss be joining us Rick?"
"Oh no, Mr. Wayne is very busy right now," Rick replies and Allie can't help but feeling a bit let down. She had been holding to see Bruce today.
"Too busy to make a quick and polite greeting to the woman who may be buying his building? That is just poor form, isn't is Ms. Gray?" Dick comments sourly.
"Well Ms. Aldridge isn't present either so it's all the same to me," Allie decides and Dick stands down. She has always been a peacemaker, it's a natural tendency for her even when she's making peace between two individuals she doesn't even like.
"Then let's start the grand tour shall we?" Rick invites with a draping hand flourish. The stocky man leads the way through the lobby towards the main set of elevators.
Allie quickly notices the building's furnishings and design are all modern and freshly done.
"Was this building renovated after Wayne moved his foundation?" Allie questions.
"Yes when Mr. Wayne heard Ms. Aldridge and you were possibly interested he had the whole thing redone," Rick explains and Allie gawks.
"How gracious," she remarks, unsure of what else to say.
"Oh yes, and he didn't even up the asking price," Rick furthers and even Dick balks at this.
"Now I'd feel rude if we didn't buy," Allie murmurs to Dick and huffs.
"A tactic."
"Excuse me?" Rick asks and Dick shrugs.
"You're excused." Rick bristles and scowls.
Allie rolls her eyes and steps forward, pressing the elevator button for up.
"The elevator is remarkably fast, fastest one in the city," Rick brags, dragging his laser eyes from Dick.
"Impressive," Allie says as the doors slide open. The three pile in and Rick presses the button for the fifth floor.
"Why the fifth? What's wrong with one through four?" Dick demands.
"Nothing, they are simply all the same."
"I'll need to see them all," Dick deadpans and Allie inwardly groans. The building tour will take ages off her life if she has to view all the floors with these catty men.
The elevator ride is blissfully short but Allie knows many more are in her future.
"This floor is like the four below it and the other five above it, all office spaces," Rick informs as they step off. Allie meanders forward, her eyes scanning the space and her feet mindlessly taking her around.
An idea comes to her as she strolls and makes her examinations, an idea to rid her of Rick and Dick.
"Gentlemen," she calls and they both stand at attention. They may be much taller and much bigger than her but somehow they make themselves small before her petite stature. "I believe you can both handle yourselves without my watching. I am sure you can take Dick to all the floors he requests, Rick, and I'm sure you can ask all the questions you want, Dick, without my presence. How about you two go on with the tour and logistics while I examine certain floors at my own pace?"
"That sounds fine," they both agree in tandem and then flinch in disgust. Allie grins and claps her hands.
"Then I shall take the elevator up to the very top floor as Ms. Aldridge and I would work there. Once you've both finished, Dick can call me with his full review and I'll report back to Ms. Aldridge." Allison turns on her pink heel and heads to the far elevator, hopping in without a glance back at Dick and Rick.
She runs her fingers along the buttons and presses the highest number, reveling in the elevator rocketing upwards. Alex won't mind Allie's abandonment of the realtors, besides if Alex really intends on buying the building she'll come tour it for herself.
Allison buzzes with excitement as the elevator comes to a halt and the doors open to real an entirely glass top floor. The skyline surrounds her in a grand view and Allie rushes to the windows, looking out in awe. Metropolis really is much brighter than Gotham. She is drawn to city life, to the bright lights, constant cacophony of noise, the endless things to do. In her youth cities rushed her anxiety but these days she has someone by her side soothing the worst of her nerves, allowing her to enjoy all the vivacious wonders life has to offer an enchanting girl like her.
She strolls onto the main glass office space, much like Alex's now, and continues marveling.
Allie snaps a photo of the view and sends it to both Alex and Bruce Wayne.
"Why would you ever abandon a view like this?" she texts him and surprisingly he responds immediately.
"So you're in the building? How do you like the remodel I did" he asks, avoiding her question. If it were any other girl he would give a flirty remark but this isn't any other girl, this is Allison Gray. "A little birdie told me you like a more modern style. Cubes and all that."
"The birdie told you right. I really like what you've done to the place." Allie is curious to who the birdie is, she can't imagine Alex would tell Bruce Wayne and she can't think of anyone else she talks too. "Who is your source?"
"A journalist never reveals his source," Bruce counters and Allie rolls her eyes. She finds herself plopping down into the large spinning armchair behind the grand desk and twirling excitedly.
"We aren't journalists."
"No, I suppose we just own newspapers." Allie shakes her head and returns her attention to the view of Metropolis.
Her eyes sweep over the sky until her gaze is tripped up by an odd sight. Allie squints, trying to look closer, but she doesn't have to strain for long as the object quickly becomes clear.
An unfamiliar aircraft descending from the clouds all too quickly. The ship has three large prongs and appears almost like a devilish jellyfish.
"Alien ship, that's fun," Allie breathes out. Her chest is becoming tight while she tries to decide what to do. "Maybe it's peac-"
A bright blue beam shooting down from the center of the prongs and into the center of Metropolis cuts her off mid-sentence. The ground shakes and Allie grips the sides of the chair, concern growing.
"Not peaceful," she mutters. In this second she begins strategizing all possible options for herself.
If she makes it out of the building then she'll be on the streets and chances are Jerry won't be around. If he is able to get her then they'd both be stuck in traffic of escaping civilians.
Being up in the tower protects her from falling debris and the sure stampede of panicked people. But buildings collapse all the time.
And so she stands paralyzed by all the hazards of every scenario she can visualize up in her mind.
Her phone starts vibrating and rolling her eyes from the scene she finds Bruce Wayne calling her.
"Bruce, is anything in your old building fortified for like mass collisions?" she rushes out the second she accepts his call.
"Yes, the elevators, get in one now!" he shouts urgently and Allie's mouth goes dry. Her feet are cemented to the floor and her eyes glued to the destruction of Metropolis.
"Bruce I-I-we should-"
"We will talk when you survive, get in that elevator and I will get you when this is over, I promise," he vows and the call cuts out.
The beam is shaking the ground and sucking the hapless structures from the center of the city into it.
On top of the alien ship Allie spies two flying men locked in aerial combat.
Buildings are shuddering and collapsing as the men hurl each other into them and the beam ruptures their integrity.
Her feet finally move and she begins heading for the fortified shelter. A natural sequence of buttons flies through her fingers and soon her phone is pressed against her ear, ringing again and again.
Nobody picks up and the answering machine goes off.
"You have somehow reached the private number of Alexandra Aldridge. I'm not answering because I'm either busy, I didn't recognize your number, or I recognized your number but I dislike you. I most likely will not get back to you but my lovely and single assistant, Allison Gray, will."
"Alex if you get this I'm in the old Wayne tech building, please don't look for my body. I don't want you to see my mangled corpse," Allie says as she wipes stray tears escaping from her eyes. "I-I left a message for you, you'll know where." By a final shred of luck Allie completes her message before the line goes dead and a service error pops up on her phone.
Allie stops before the elevator and frantically pushes the buttons, willing it to open faster. The one to the right dings so she jumps to it, irrationally hitting the doors to speed them up.
Something churns in her stomach and abruptly despairing emotions hit her.
A sound like a gunshot goes off behind her followed by glass shattering, the most of the ceiling falling through, and a man crashing into the elevator next to her. Allie screams and flattens herself against the doors, panic fully taking over now. Her hand flies over her mouth to muffle her shout and heavy desperate breathing.
She has no idea if the living projectile is the hero or villain in this situation. The man who collided with the building was clearly thrown and whatever threw him could be here any second so hero or villain it doesn't matter.
Forcing herself to inhale deeply Allison blinks and focuses on the crumpled form. He is dressed in a blue bodysuit with a red cape and red boots. The bright colors suggest hero to Allie and he does appear familiar.
"Are you the good guy or bad guy?" she squeaks out.
"Good," he huffs.
"Alright then, uhm...you're doing great but if you could just-just get up and fight back that'd be great," Allie rambles and flushes bright red. Who is she to tell a superhero how to do his job? "I mean the thing that threw you, it's gonna be here any second and I-I have a feeling I won't survive being in the blast radius of that."
"You won't." He pushes himself up and meets the gaze of Allison Gray. It is then she finally recognizes him from the papers, a new alien superhero, Superman.
Allie glances up and goes pale, the elevator lights are off. The power is out.
"Please, please would you open these doors? This elevator is fortified and I may live if you just-"
"Your building is stable but it won't be if I allow him to get close," Superman interjects and takes off to intercept the other alien mid-flight. He was gone before Allie could even comprehend what had happened or his intentions.
The hero left her.
The building creaks and groans and Allison frantically claws at the doors of the elevator.
"Please open, oh please open, please!" she cries, attempting to pull them apart. Her hands slip and her muscles fail her. "Please stay stable!" she shouts to the infrastructure below her.
The elevator doors do not listen to her pleas nor does the tower beneath.
A sickly electric charge runs through her just when it seems her situation could not worsen the slightest bit. She whips around in time to watch a pair of lasers tear through the ceiling above her and the multitude of levels below her. The aliens are now fighting with laser eyes as if Allison wasn't fucked enough.
Her eyes close and she releases a breath.
The elevator doors won't open and this building is going to collapse any second, there's nothing to do but make peace with her end.
Pieces of the roof begin raining down around her and the entirety of the tower shakes and shudders.
Allison Gray turns and in a last-ditch effort exerts as much fierce as she can trying to pull those doors open.
Suddenly dents appear in the metal above her hands and the doors fly open causing her to fall forward into the elevator, the gates slamming shut behind her. She only has seconds to gape in shock and relief before her and her shelter goes plummeting down.
The moment of impact snaps her head back and consumes all conscious thought.