Jade Wilson scanned her workplace, her blue eyes flittering cleverly over each superhero, set, and employee. She knew that she should have been attending to them, but she just didn't think they needed it as of now. Not wanting to make herself known, she quietly slipped into her office. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, biting her lip in excitement. She dug out her sketch book from a cabinet and began going to work with her pencil.

She began finishing up a few new designs for a superhero outfit, smiling as she created the extra touches. She was a big fan of the Amazonian outfits that she had made in correspondence to Diana's description. She also couldn't get over how pretty Superman's costume was either. It was so simple yet so unique. She had a hard time believing that she could have recreated it.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Ugh.

"This better be important," Jade grumbled under her breath. "Come in!" She then corrected herself, delightfully projecting. The door opened just a crack and in poked a red mask.

"...Deadpool?" Jade said, feeling a tad astonished to see the anti-hero in the doorway of her office. "Didn't I fire you?" She asked. The man in red slid into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Nope. Not me, sis."

Jade nearly did a double take. That voice was unmistakable.

"Slade?! What are you doing here?!" The young woman stood up from her seat as she spoke. "And why are you wearing a Deadpool costume?"

Slade peeled back his Deadpool mask to reveal his real one underneath. "I felt it was necessary. I'm not exactly popular with superheroes, Jade."

"I... I happen to find it humorous that you chose to put a Deadpool costume over your Deathstroke costume. I... Is it sweaty in there?" She asked, cautiously.

"Oh, it's stupid sweaty. You have no clue. Anyway, enough about that. Can I not visit my sister every once in a while?" Slade said, approaching his sister and embracing her. Jade hugged back, grinning in her older brother's embrace.

"It's been almost a year now, hasn't it. Things have been getting busy here," Jade said, pulling away first. Slade's one eye blinked at her, and seemed to widen in awe.

"Oh, that's right! Aren't you a manager?" He asked, sitting down in a chair, opposite of her desk.

"CEO. I own this joint now," Jade said proudly, feeling her chest flutter with pride.

"Woaaaahhh! Dude, that's awesome!" Slade said with a chuckle. "So, what is this a cover for?"

"Cover...?" Jade mirrored.

"You know. Like, what evil plans are you plotting?" Her brother asked, rubbing his gloved hands together eagerly.

"If by "what evil plan am I plotting?" you mean "what am I doing to the person who took my lunch from the fridge last night?", I have nothing to tell you. I'm here as a career choice," Jade giggled, closing her sketchbook. Jade could only assume Slade had raised his eyebrow.

"Well, you've always been a goody two shoes. Can't expect every Wilson to be rotten." He glanced at her book. "Hey can I look at that? Is that your art?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's just superhero things. Feel free," Jade said, handing her sketch book over to her sibling. "I tried to make them as close to the real things as possible, but I think most of them are going to be scrapped."

"I think it looks great. Man, I have only seen your art on Instawham, but looking at it in person is amazing. I don't know how you got so talented. When we were kids, you couldn't even draw stick figures!" Slade said in exasperation.

"Hey, now, that's not true. I painted the sets for all of the school plays!" Jade said. Slade breathed a deep sigh and passed the notebook back. Just as he did, a particular drawing caught his attention.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"Hmm?"

"Oh my God, it is!"

"What?"

Slade had a good laugh. "Your crush, dude. You drew your crush a new outfit."

Jade looked down at the page. Her face flushed. "He's not my crush. Plus, I don't even know him."

"Oh, come on! He was the only thing you would ever talk about in college!"

Jade put her book away, tucking it neatly in her desk compartment. "While I might have been a fan of Boy Wonder in my school days, I can assure you, romantic relationships are something I have no room for," Jade explained, getting out some coffee and pouring it. It was still hot. She gave a cup to her brother, who took a long chug. She figured the drink must have travelled through the air holes in his mask or something, but how he managed to do it without spilling was beyond her.

"You still admire him, though."

Jade huffed. "Yeah, sure."

"Don't act all mad, Jade. He is super cute! Wait, uh, have you eaten anything today?"

"Go father your own child. Speaking of which, how is my sweet niece? Is she okay?" Jade asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought of her favorite kid in the whole world. Slade, however, seemed to look downward as if the weight of the world had suddenly pushed on his shoulders.

"I... I don't know where she is," He said quietly. Jade suddenly felt her heart break.

"Oh..."

"I know that she can take care of herself and all... but I really wished she hadn't up and left. I know she's okay, but I really miss her. The loneliness is kinda depressing nowadays," Slade explained.

"Is that why you came to visit me?" Jade asked, taking off her glasses and cleaning them on the end of her green jacket. It was one of her nervous habits.

"A little. Other than that, I kinda just wanted to see if you were the ringleader of some sort of criminal empire or something," He explained. "Guess not."

Jade scoffed. "Me? A ringleader of a criminal empire?! Ha! Very funny."

"Well, this is Hollywood, so you'd technically be pretty close."

"Well, maybe. But, I'm not a bad apple like everyone else in this unholy family of heathens."

Jade smiled as she watched her brother relax in his chair.

"You've always been a good one, sis. Always so kind and sweet. I wish I could'a been more like you," Slade confessed, giving a troubled sigh. But, the mood changed when the subject did. "So, uh, what kind of work do you do around here?" He asked.

"Oh, well, directing takes up most of the day. In my spare time, I take care of the clients, do business online, and make sure things are running smoothly. I mostly have employees and interns to do the smaller tasks like giving tours and entertaining guests and fixing lightbulbs. I'm up half the night writing scripts or designing outfits. If I'm lucky though, I get to make the outfits myself!" Jade said, her voice becoming gradually more bubbly as she spoke. "Plus, I love bossing people around. It's one of my favorite things to do."

Slade chuckled. "So, you're a workaholic, huh?"

"Don't act like you aren't either. Don't think I haven't been noticing your face popping up in every news article as of late," Jade said, flicking a pen at him. He caught it in his hand and threw it into Jade's large collection of utensils that were sitting, worn from use, in a giant mug. It all happened in the span of two seconds.

"True, true... but you can't tell me that getting all these superheroes here in one place was completely innocent."

"Alright, alright, let's say that maybe I did want to lure all these supers here with movie deals to take them all out. Then, what would I do? Hope I can find some random kryptonite shards laying around to kill the man of steel? I don't think so," Jade said, crossing her ankles contently. She then bit her nails in thought.

"Well, that's not what I meant. I meant like, what if you could just do stuff elsewhere while all the supers are occupied here? It is kind of easier to commit crimes around these parts because the supers are so busy making movies." He paused and gestured to himself. "Exhibit A."

"Or, like, what if I didn't even have to take them out. I could probably just control them with some..." She paused for dramatic effect. "Doomsday Device! Ooooh! Then they could all work for me and change the lightbulbs!" She said with mock villainy as she held her hand up high. She pretended to hold an invisible Earth in her hand and she grasped it dramatically. It took her a moment to notice her brother again.

"Honestly, that look on your face was perfect," Slade said. "You could seriously make a scary bad guy."

"Uh-huh, sure," Jade said, pulling her hand back under her desk.

"No, I'm serious. And you might not be too far off from that Doomsday idea," He said, reaching across the desk and taking Jade's chin into his hand. "I can see it now, quite honestly. Jade Julia Wilson... ruler of the world!"

"Pfft, as if," She said, swatting his hand away.

"You may say that now, little sister, but it's uncanny."

Jade didn't think about it in that moment. She didn't care all too much. But, little did she know that the very same conversation would cross her mind several times, chipping away at her.

It would become her catalyst.