It was one of those days were Kara knew that it was far too quiet. She kept glancing up to check on her boss. From where she sat, it appeared that Ms. Grant was having a fairly quiet, non-needy day. Once in a long while, that happened. Cat would basically lock herself away for the entire day and not need or want anything, not even lunch or coffee.
It was a quarter to five, Kara was starting to think that they'd hit a full day of Cat not needing anything and being perfectly content in her office...when all of the power went out. It wasn't just something confined to the CatCo building, with her super hearing Kara could hear people complaining all across the city.
"Kiera! Witt! I need you! Now!"
Kara didn't wait a breath, but just sprung up from her chair and hurried in, hoping that Winn was right behind her. Sometimes being Ms. Grant's assistant meant feeling like you were always on constant alert that the world was going to end, because for CatCo...power going out was practically world ending (at least for the brief period of time that passed that Cat couldn't be productive and CatCo couldn't be spreading news to the people of National City).
As they stood in front of Cat's desk, all Kara could think about was how this was going to be interesting. She didn't know if Cat was going to expect them to magically restore power to the city from her office or something else. She could see Winn out of the corner of her eye, nervously fidgeting, he was likely wondering the same thing. They had been so close to having a perfectly quiet and uneventful day.
"From glancing out my window, it appears we are not the only ones affected by this power outage," Cat said evenly as she stood on the other side of her desk. "Now, people out there are likely worried...scared-"
"Scared?" Kara blurted out the question without thinking.
Cat's eyes landed right on her. It was nearly a glare, but not quite. It was more a silent scolding for interrupting her in the middle of her sentence. "Yes. Scared," Cat said, this time far slowly, as if Kara hadn't understood the first time.
"The power's only been out for...two minutes," Kara said as she glanced down at her watch for a moment.
Now she'd done it, she could see it in Cat's eyes. Kara had been her assistant for two years, but two years was really far more than enough time to know that she was walking on thin ice in that moment. "It might only seem like two minutes to you, Kiera," Cat said.
Because it actually was only two minutes.
"To people out there in National City without power, they are likely worrying that it's the end of the world," Cat stated. "People are probably worried about how long their electronics will stay charged and how long it'll have to be until they have to brave the outdoors…"
That was possibly one of the most feared thing for so many people living in California during the summer...having to go outside. It wasn't just because their AC was broken, but just from pure boredom. Kara didn't understand it, but Cat wasn't wrong. People did seem to easily think the world was ending. She didn't think it helped that when there was even an inkling of rain in the area that they'd call it 'Storm Watch insert year'. There was just something different about the people that lived in that state, though Kara was fairly sure that they were sort of brainwashed in a way by the media.
Currently, Kara didn't think that Cat was helping the world...but then at least there was no power.
"Let's get the back-up generators online, so we can get back online," Cat said.
"But if the power's down," Winn started to say.
"People have their phones," Cat snapped. "Really you two. I'm disappointed! Do you just lose brain cells the closer to five it gets? Honestly!" She picked up her cell phone from her desk and held it up. "There's no way that people don't have their phones and cell service. It's not like cell towers and the internet went down. We have to get news out to the people. Give them a message of hope!"
Hope?
Kara would have facepalmed right there, but she knew that Cat wouldn't have appreciated it. It also wouldn't have helped any of them. In fact, it might have endangered them more than anything. Suddenly Cat looked disgusted as she looked over at them. Kara didn't know if it was because she and Winn were waiting for exact orders or-
"If I could snap," Cat said as she snapped her fingers. "And the-" The power went on, as if sensing Cat's command of it to come back on. Cat seemed extremely pleased with herself and then looked over at them. "Maybe I am the queen of more than just the media," Cat said with a tilt of her head and amusement picking up her lips. "I don't know why everyone was panicking…" She looked at them all before giving a slight sigh. "I don't know what you all would do without me."
They'd been without power for five minutes.
Five minutes.
The world was still spinning.
"It's four fifty-five," Cat announced. "Why don't you two go home early? Take some time to calm yourselves." She dismissed them with a wave of her hand.
"Thank you, Ms. Grant," Kara said cheerfully and yet confused.
Five minutes.
"Run," Winn whispered as they retreated from her office. "Before she changes her mind."
"Race you," Kara teased.
"Not fair."
The End.