It's Not a Good Idea to Make Her Mad at You

by friendofkara

In which Supergirl practices "El Mayarah" after the events of 4x08 and President Baker is hoist with his own petard.

" . . . and then he said 'Then I thank you for your service, but you are dismissed effective immediately.' So that's the situation," Supergirl finished.

"He really said all that?" The other person's eyebrows were fully raised.

"I'm quoting him and his aide word for word. So what can I do?" Supergirl asked.

The other woman closed her eyes, fully feeling her rage, and then she carefully reined in her emotions. When she opened her eyes, she appeared perfectly calm to those who didn't know her well.

"You don't do anything. At least, not publicly. This is my fight."

Supergirl knew the other woman well.

"Why is it yours?" the Girl of Steel asked.

Her advisor told her. Then she went on to what she would do. As she worked through the list, Supergirl's face became intent, then horrified.

"You can't be serious!" she interrupted.

"Yes I am, and I'll tell you why," was the reply.

After she had finished, the Girl of Steel launched a counterargument, but her heart wasn't really in it. Half an hour later, she nodded slowly.

"You're right. I wish you weren't, but you are. This is not just about me."

"I knew you'd see it in the end. But even though I'll be doing most of it, I'll still need you to do a few things for me." She grabbed a memo pad, jotted a few notes and tore out the page. "Here's the list."

Supergirl only glanced at it. "And what will you be doing while I do all this flying around?"

"I'll be working my finger to the bone making the phone calls. However, once you've done all that, I'll need you to come back here for a couple of other things. But when you go to his earth, don't forget to give your friend Barry Allen a "Thank you" from me.

Supergirl only rolled her eyes in reply as she left.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Nobody in Washington is surprised when Presidential staffers resign after a new man takes over; even if it's a Vice-President being catapulted into office after his predecessor was exposed as an alien. So the reason a few eyebrows rose at Cat Grant's departure from the Press Secretary position wasn't her going itself, but at its' speed; no-notice resignations from the White House are still relatively rare. But when Cat said, "The President needs a Press Secretary who is not tainted by a longstanding friendship with someone we now know to be an alien," those eyebrows quickly dropped back to their normal positions.

The President was nonchalant: within ten minutes, Cat's deputy was named her successor. If the President's National City visit had been a one day affair, the man would have stayed in Washington, but since President Baker was scheduled to stay over to the next day to make a speech to the National City Chamber of Commerce followed by an appearance on CatCo's "This Evening" (a highly rated interview show that featured between two to four guests hosted by longtime news eminence Robert Walters), the former deputy Press Secretary was en route to National City half an hour later.

And of course, Cat's resignation triggered several other events in National City. Her blind trust instantly reverted to her control, and that included the CatCo shares that Lena Luthor had purchased the voting rights to for as long as Cat was Press Secretary. Which meant that as soon as Cat resigned (at 4:30 that afternoon, just in time to get picked up by the evening news), the Queen of All Media lost no time in picking up the controlling threads of her empire. As CatCo's majority shareholder she requested, and got, a special board meeting at 9 AM the next day, which duly passed a motion restoring Cat to her position as the Chair and CEO of CatCo, with immediate effect.

Lena Luthor was thrilled. Running CatCo had been challenging and rewarding, but running two companies at once had meant that she could not pursue as many of her own private projects at L-Corp as quickly as she would have liked. And the most important of those projects was moving into a critical stage. And Eve Tessmacher resigned, with immediate effect, to join L-Corp and continue working with her.

James Olsen, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he had done reasonably well as Cat's stand-in. On the other, his self-outing as Guardian meant that he could no longer present himself as an objective journalist. Going back to his old role as Art Department head put him in a position where he could still play a major role in getting the news out, but without compromising CatCo's position.

At 10:15, however, Cat's temporary assistant called the White House Press Office to let them know that Walters had come down with laryngitis, and since Cat Grant was already in National City, she would take on the interview herself.

Neither the Press Office nor the Secret Service blinked. To them, Cat Grant was a known quantity. And they weren't really concerned by the other changes the assistant had mentioned. The other guests were to have been two local politicians, a Congressman and a Senator, but Cat wanted to change the lineup. For some reason, she wanted to substitute local tech wiz / enfant terrible Maxwell Lord and some biochemistry professor none of the agents had ever heard of from a little college up the coast who was presently visiting family in National City.

It wasn't a big deal. The Secret Service has very efficient screening procedures. Max Lord was cleared in five minutes and clearing the professor took only a few minutes more (one of the black ops agencies had a file on her for some reason or other). But the timing meant that it was too late to get the new guests' names listed in the President's Daily Brief. The Secret Service did pass a verbal summary on to the President at the end of his Chamber of Commerce speech, but he made no objection to the changes. He assumed that Cat would interview him first about the politics of the day, then turn to her other guests and talk about science.

That assumption was his second mistake.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As the interview progressed, President Baker was relaxed. His former press secretary was taking him on the quick tour of some of the issues of the day and asking the softball questions he had expected. As he answered them, he knew he was scoring points with the public. Even when Cat ran a reply of Lockwood's arrest with his attempt to discredit Supergirl for hiding her identity, he was unworried. He would present his views in an even-handed manner, as one above the fray. He thought he had a good chance of picking up some of Lockwood's softer supporters with little downside risk and his political strategists had agreed.

"Your new Press Secretary was asked about your thoughts on this yesterday evening," Cat said, "And he replied that it was a matter for the local authorities. That might play well in Washington, but here in National City, we can't help but know that Supergirl is working with SWAT teams who aren't with the NCPD, as this statement makes clear." The screen behind her showed an NCPD spokesperson denying that a mysterious black-clad group who helped Supergirl take down an alien were NCPD members and then denying that the department was investigating them.

Cat continued: "So those people in black weren't NCPD. They can't be State Police because the State boys have no jurisdiction in National City. Yet the people in black have to be known to the NCPD because they aren't being investigated. So that means that black ops team must be from a Federal agency, which means we have to ask you this question Mr. President; what do you think of Lockwood's statement and what if anything, are you going to do about it?"

"Well, a lot of people, a lot of donors, are asking how we can tolerate Supergirl hiding her identity in a government that is supposed to be for the people." the President replied, "After Lockwood's shined that spotlight on her reticence, her keeping that secret inflames the situation. In this environment, the government can't afford anything less than full transparency from all our assets. So Supergirl has a choice to make, either she keeps her secret or she won't be permitted to volunteer with any federal agency."

"Have you told Supergirl this?" Cat asked.

"Yes, I did. She said her family's best defense was anonymity and so she chose to keep her secret."

"Wait a second, Mr. President," Max Lord interjected, "Lockwood's a liar. He didn't hide behind a mask to protect his family, he hid behind a mask because if he hadn't, the police would have arrested him the first time he appeared in public after he started committing the crimes for which he is presently facing charges: that is murder, blackmail, extortion, destruction of private and public property, theft of government property, the attempted detonation of Shelley Island. And two attempts to kill Supergirl.

"But Supergirl isn't keeping her ordinary name and address to herself, to escape criminal prosecution, there are not now, and there never have been, any charges pending against her. She's reserving that knowledge because she wants to keep her family safe and, I suspect because she wants to have a measure of privacy. All she has done for the past three years is to help people. We needed to find out who Lockwood was in order to charge him, but we don't need to charge Supergirl with anything. So why are you treating her like she's a criminal when she's not one?"

"You missed something, Mr. Lord," the President replied, "Aren't you forgetting that incident three years ago when Supergirl had to be taken out by government agents after she went on a rampage? And why are you supporting Supergirl, when you are on record as being anti-alien in general and anti-Supergirl in particular."

"I haven't been anti-Supergirl since the incident you mention." Lord replied, "And you're forgetting the reason for Supergirl's rampage, which is this: she unwittingly sprang a trap I set targeting some other aliens who turned out to be Kryptonians. They had attacked my facility and piggybacked some of their own software onto my satellites and I knew they would need to access that site to do something else. But when Supergirl sprang my trap, she was exposed to a drug I had devised." Lord said, "And the FBI issued a statement at the time that completely cleared Supergirl from any criminal charges in the incident."

"But it was a damn good thing Supergirl sprang my trap. My trap misfired and produced an effect I didn't anticipate. The drug I used was intended to knock out those other Kryptonians, not to cause them to lose self-control and give way to their worst impulses, which is what happened to Supergirl, but even at her worst, Supergirl never descended to Lockwood's level, let alone to the level of what would have happened if my intended targets had triggered the trap."

Why do you say that?" the President asked.

"Because those Kryptonians did give way to their worst impulses later," Max replied," but by that time some government agents, Supergirl and I had figured out what they were up to and Supergirl had figured out how she could stop them. So it's a good thing when the government and Supergirl work together. If Supergirl had been cut off from working with the government at that time, the only people now living on earth would have been the Kryptonian criminals who tried to hijack my satellites and any other aliens not susceptible to the Kryptonians manipulations."

"What are you talking about?" the President asked.

"Everybody in National City knows about the day three years ago when we all found ourselves waking up in a different place in the middle of the day. Remember?" Max asked the audience. And you might remember, from the news reports that CatCo published at the time, that our sleepwalking was brought about by an alien attack on my satellites."

Everybody in the audience nodded.

"What wasn't published at the time was that the aliens were Kryptonians," Lord continued, "After they'd piggybacked on to my satellites they sent out a radio wave they called Myriad, which effectively turned almost all of us into automatons before I could turn off what they'd done. However, by the time they'd launched the wave, I'd figured out what they were planning, and I'd produced a couple of blockers. I used the first one myself and I gave the other to Cat Grant here, because I knew she worked closely with Supergirl (at which Cat nodded her agreement). I knew the wave would not harm Kryptonians, and I needed someone Supergirl trusted to work with me. Working together, we came up with a couple of ideas to stop the wave and the first of these ideas, that speech of hope, which Cat inspired and Supergirl delivered, did the trick. We all woke up, and my team was able to get control of my satellites again. Unfortunately, our success pissed of the Kryptonians and they went to the second stage of Myriad. And that's where things got really dicey."

"What do you mean?" asked Cat.

"Well, you'll all remember a day or so after we woke up from our sleepwalking, everybody in North America came down with blinding headaches with drugstores selling out of Aspirin and Tylenol and emergency rooms being overwhelmed across the continent?"

Again, the audience nodded.

"The Kryptonians were behind that one, too," Lord continued, "When I took back control of my satellites, they didn't give up. Instead, they sent their wave out from their HQ, a huge spaceship that had landed, fortunately, in a very isolated part of Nevada. And when I say huge, I mean huge: one of the military types said it weighed in at about a million tons. So the Kryptonians powered up their wave using an increasing power curve and set it to a frequency that caused our brain cells to keep on expanding. My calculations showed that they had enough power to fry the craniums of every human being on the planet and from the evidence we had, they came within thirty seconds of giving every one of us killer level strokes. When I reported what they were up to, Supergirl flew to the site, fought and killed their leader, and then she flew the spacecraft up into space and sent it away from earth, all the while believing that she would not return. And if it hadn't been for someone I won't mention, because this gets us into territory that must be classified, Supergirl would not have come back alive."

"You mentioned classification, Mr. Lord. Didn't you just break a national security restriction by telling us what you did?" asked the President.

"No, I didn't," Max replied, "The incident wasn't classified at the time, and it hasn't been classified since. And here's why I know that: nobody has ever presented me with an NDA to sign or told me to keep what I know to myself. Some months back I asked then-President Marsden why the government had never approached me on the subject and she said that she had thought at the time that a major media organization already had the story and would publish it because it would give Supergirl a boost. Why didn't you publish, Cat?"

"Because I didn't have the full story then, and I don't have it now. But I do know that my other guest, Dr. Eliza Danvers, Professor Emerita of Redwood University's Midvale campus was also on the spot that night and she can tell us what she saw. Dr. Danvers, how did you come to be involved in this situation?"

"I was visiting National City, and one of my daughters, a law enforcement professional, experienced deep mental trauma as a result of what she was forced to do during the mind control incident," the motherly blond woman replied, "Since I was in her file as her emergency contact, I was asked to help her get back on balance. I was successful, and as I came in to report to her boss, Mr. Lord announced what the Kryptonians were up to with their increased intensity Myriad wave, which took all eyes off me. So I stayed in the background until the end."

"And was Mr. Lord telling the truth about the danger we faced?"

"Not quite. He understated the danger. If Supergirl had been fifteen seconds slower getting that thing off the earth, we'd all be dead now."

"How do you know that?"

"There was a timer on the wall that monitored the growing intensity of the wave and it ticked down the time to terminal threshold. I couldn't take my eyes off it. And when Supergirl flew that thing away, the timer stopped at thirteen seconds and then it reversed directions and the time to termination increased."

As the audience digested that, Cat turned to Max and asked him, "In the events of that night did anybody mention the name of that spaceship that Supergirl threw into space?"

"General Lane said it was Fort Rozz, whatever that is." Dr. Danvers nodded at Lord's words.

"General Lane?" Cat asked.

"General Samuel Lane," Max said, "He was then the Chief of Military Intelligence and is now the Inspector General of the Army."

"And were any Kryptonians identified?"

"The Kryptonian leader that Supergirl killed with her heat vision was called Non," Max replied, and again Dr. Danvers nodded. "By the way, he was the same guy who led the team that attacked my facility."

"Thank you, Max," said Cat Grant, "It would be nice if we knew more about this Non character."

"I can speak to that point," came a voice from the audience.

"And you are . . ." Cat prompted.

A dark-haired woman in an elegant blue outfit rose gracefully from her seat. "My name is Alura Zor-El, and at the time of Krypton's doom, I was the Chief Judicator of its High Council, a position somewhat analogous to that of the Chief Justice of your country's Supreme Court.

"Then how are you here? Krypton blew up, did it not?" Cat asked.

"It did. But not entirely. And the story of how one city came to be saved from that destruction is directly connected to the arrival of Non and his allies in this world. So, if I may join you. . . "and the woman suddenly flew to the set area, landed, and, at Cat's gesture, sat down in the empty seat across from the President with a poise that any queen would envy.

"My apologies for alarming anyone by flying here," the newcomer said, "but I thought it best to demonstrate that I am not earth-born by using one of the powers we acquire by coming to this planet. But if I may return to Miss Grant's question: my story starts two years before Krypton's destruction when a report was presented to our High Council that claimed that the planet's core was becoming unstable and immediate, drastic action was needed to avert a planetary explosion. The author of that report was not one of our planetologists, but a military general, Astra In-Ze, whose longstanding hobby had been planetology. Unfortunately, the High Council rejected her report when the professionals cast doubt on her conclusions. Under pressure of her fears, she attempted to save the situation by launching a military coup with the help of a strike force that included her husband Non, a fellow military officer. Her group was stopped with some loss of life, and she and her team were tried, convicted and sentenced to Fort Rozz, which was our maximum security prison. I served as the judge at their trials."

"But one member of the High Council believed General Astra's report, and he did something about it. He was one of our greatest physicists, and he devised a force field that had had a radius of about 600 of your miles, and when destruction was imminent he activated it over Argo City, Krypton's capital. He had also worked with the head of the local power utility to initiate an anti-gravity field centered around Argo so when the final explosion happened, Argo became an asteroid and our people survived. So when word reached me about this situation, it was a simple matter for me to access our files and bring a picture which I can show you."

The visitor took something like a small tablet from her jacket pocket, placed it on the desk in front of Cat, tapped it, and a hologram appeared.

"That's Non," said Max, and again Dr. Danvers nodded.

"As it happened," continued the Kryptonian visitor as she again tapped her device and the hologram disappeared, "Supergirl's parents did not know in advance of the physicist's plan, which is why they sent their twelve-year-old daughter and baby nephew away from Krypton moments before the blast. The pod carrying their nephew, the baby you now know as Superman, was launched first and came directly here: the pod that carried the girl who became Supergirl was launched later and was still close enough to the planet to be damaged by the blast wave when Krypton exploded. It was blown off course and into the same region of space as Fort Rozz. And there it sat for some years, with its occupant in suspended animation, until the pod could repair itself and re-commence its flight to earth. Meanwhile, it seems General In-Ze had taken over the prison and somehow activated Fort Rozz's engines to follow Supergirl's pod when it reactivated." "When they got here, General In-Ze and Non saw that in some respects your people had begun on the same path of planetary abuse that ended for us with Krypton's destruction and they sought to avert it. Which is why, Mr. Lord, you met Non and suffered the takeover of your satellites. And while mine is not an official visit, I wish to give you not only my personal apologies for this incident but also those of our High Council. And one more thing needs to be said, General In-Ze had a niece – and that niece is Supergirl."

"Supergirl killed her uncle?" broke in Max, stunned.

"She did. On Krypton family was everything, except when a family member turns criminal. Then it is the duty of the family to see that justice is done. Supergirl fulfilled that duty when she killed her uncle."

"So where is this General Astra In-Ze now?" asked the President. "If she was on Fort Rozz and Fort Rozz came here, are we in for more trouble with criminal Kryptonians?"

"Your second question is one you should ask of your police agencies, but I can tell you that you don't have to worry about General In-Ze. After repeatedly trying to recruit her niece to her cause, General In-Ze was killed in a firefight with some of your people. And she died in the presence of Supergirl, who has remained loyal to your government and continued to work with your police, even though Astra In-Ze was not only her much-beloved aunt but also her mother's identical twin. Since she has remained loyal to her new people for years despite that not inconsiderable provocation to the contrary, may I respectfully suggest that you and your people have no need to distrust or fear Supergirl?"

"How do you know all this? And how did you get here? And why is your English so fluent?" asked the President.

"To answer your first question: six months ago your police encountered the rogue Kryptonian called Reign. To defeat her, it was found necessary to acquire a particular element not found on your planet. Some of Supergirl's friends did a search of nearby space and found a supply of that element on Argo, then over a thousand light years away. Another friend of hers has the capability to travel between worlds and he put it at her disposal. So when she arrived on Argo, we met, and when she told me of her time on earth, her encounters with the Fort Rozz criminals were included in her story.

"Why did she make a point of meeting you?" the President asked again.

"She couldn't help meeting me," the visitor replied, "To obtain the supply of the needed element, she had to make a presentation to Argo's High Council, of which the Chief Judicator is a member. Prior to that presentation, when we were chatting privately, we discussed what had happened to Fort Rozz and the fates of some of its prisoners. Once she obtained the needed supply of the element from the Council, she promised to have a friend of hers attempt to synthesize that element and return with an increased supply, which thanks to a physicist of this city, she was able to do. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Lena Luthor of L Corp, who provided that supply which has made it possible for us to speed our flight through space, arrive at our projected destination somewhat sooner than we had originally projected while remaining healthier while we do so."

"And to answer your second question, Krypton had, and Argo still has, the ability to use a matter transportation system to send people instantly to destinations within a thousand light years and I used that system to come here. And while I do apologize, Mr. President, for this technical violation of your immigration laws, rest assured that I shall very shortly use that system to return home."

"Once I learned of your world, I wanted to learn more about it, so I asked Supergirl to obtain some items for me including an English dictionary and grammar textbook, When she returned to Argo with the supply of the element Dr. Luthor had synthesized, she also brought the items I'd requested. So I had her enter the details into our translating computers, went to bed that night and woke up fluent in English the next morning. Since then, I have been studying your legal system, history, and literature with great interest. Does anyone have any other questions?"

"Yes," President Baker asked, "You mentioned that Argo was over a thousand light-years away when Supergirl first arrived. Now it is clearly closer than that. Are you planning to come here?"

"No, Mr. President, we are not planning to come to Earth. Instead, we are traveling to a planet our astronomers have identified as being more suitable for our needs. While it has a full biosphere under a yellow sun and is thus fully able to support us, it does not have sentient life on it, or anywhere within three hundred light years. So we should be able to settle there peacefully without troubling anyone. Once we are settled, we'll consider the possibility of trade relationships, or if you think it might be useful to you to start trading earlier, we'd be open to a discussion. Are there any more questions?"

"Yes, Chief Judicator," Cat Grant replied, "You mentioned that this was not an official visit. When legal eminences from other countries visit us, their visits are never described as official. Also, your visit must have been organized very quickly, yet you apparently can speak for your High Council. So I'm wondering: do you hold any other position in Argo's government?"

"That's a very astute observation," the Kryptonian replied. "Under Krypton's system of government, the Chief Judicator was the Vice-Chair of the High Council and the Chair's designated successor. After Krypton's destruction, the then-Chair felt so responsible for what had happened that he fell into a deep depression. Ultimately, he could not live with himself and eventually he committed suicide. Normally, the Chair of the High Council does not hold any other position: however, my designated successor as Chief Judicator had been visiting another city on the day of doom, and the man who will now succeed me in the role had just been chosen when the former chair committed suicide. Following those events, the High Council received a petition signed by the great majority of our lawyers and the general population requesting that I remain temporarily in the double role of Chief Judicator and High Council Chair until my successor as Chief Judicator can complete his preparations, which will be sometime next year. And that, of course, is the fundamental reason why I must not remain: the Chair of Argo's High Council has no place in this discussion. It is a matter between Supergirl and her earth government. The saying 'Strangers have no business at a family fight' is as true here as it is on Argo."

And with that, Alura Zor-El gave the audience a gentle smile and left the set.

As she left, Cat Grant asked her next question.

"Mr. President, you said that when you asked Supergirl to reveal her identity, that she replied that her family's identity needed to be kept out of public view. Do you know if her family has been attacked in any way because of who she is in the years since she landed here?"

"I don't know," he replied.

"Did you think of offering her family the same Secret Service protection your family gets?"

"I can't do that. The Secret Service gains its authorization to protect certain individuals by an act of Congress. It would require a change in the law to do have them protect Supergirl's family. And for all we know, they don't need protection."

"You didn't offer to fund the protection they might need? Did you ask her how many times her family had been attacked because they'd taken her in?"

"No, I didn't."

"Also, you mentioned previously that you were being urged to take this stand for transparency and find out Supergirl's identity by some concerned donors. Would you reveal the identity of those donors?

"Of course not," said the President.

"Do you plan to investigate them?" Cat continued. "I mean, we don't know if these donors have been funding Cadmus or the Children of Liberty."

"Of course not," said the President. "They're American citizens and they have the right to privacy, which means they have the right to act anonymously, just as you do. As the Supreme Court has pointed out, in Roe v. Wade and Griswold v. Connecticut the right to privacy is a right to protection from government intrusion. Those rights go all the way back to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which tells us that governments 'derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.' Unless they consent to give up their privacy, governments have to be careful with the information they reveal about American citizens. And the only way American citzens lose that protection is by due process of law."

"And yet, you would you deny Supergirl that same right to maintain her privacy and act anonymously." pressed Cat.

"Supergirl is not an American citizen," replied the President.

"Are you sure?" asked Cat. "I believe my next guest has some pertinent information on both of these points. To avoid creating security issues, he's joining us via Skype."

A screen off to one side lit up and everyone exclaimed in surprise as they recognized Cat's next guest. Thomas Donaldson was a billionaire real estate developer who'd run a maverick campaign for President over a decade earlier when the previous incumbent had died suddenly of a heart attack. His campaign had been barely successful and his Presidency had been, to put it mildly, not politically correct and highly controversial, marked by high-risk, high reward negotiating tactics that were so nerve-wracking to the public and an overall strategy so unpopular to the chattering classes that he had not been re-elected. Since his departure from office, he'd returned to his business and re-launched his hit TV series Negotiations, which purportedly took his audience inside real business deals as they happened.

"Good evening, Cat," he said.

"Good evening, Mr. President. It's your second toughest bitch kitty negotiator hassling you again."

Donaldson winced, "I still say that mike was supposed to be off."

Despite Cat Grant's political preferences, she knew a good show when she saw one and she'd eagerly signed the former President to reprise his show on CATCO-TV where it quickly became the new network's first big hit. Naturally, the first of the new Negotiators episodes had covered the negotiation that had given the show its' new home. Media Mogul and former President had gone head to head over a number of points and afterward, a mike had picked up the latter's comment to his aide that Cat was "the second toughest bitch kitty negotiator" he'd ever seen. His remark had sent ratings through the roof and caused an immense amount of speculation as to who the toughest negotiator was, speculation to which the former President had never responded.

"Are you ever going to let me forget that?" he now asked.

"Not until you tell me who the toughest bitch kitty negotiator you ever met is. After all the magazine interviews I've done where the writers have given me that title, I find it hard to believe I have competition. I think you were just putting me down," Cat replied, "But that's not why we're here. Do you know if Supergirl is an American citizen in her private life?"

"She is an American citizen of fourteen years standing. I facilitated the process myself. And, right now I wish this question had never been asked."

"Why did you make her a citizen?" asked President Baker. "Supergirl is an alien."

"Because Supergirl was represented by a negotiator who held all the high cards and I had zip."

"What happened?" asked President Baker.

"It started when the White House Signals Office got a phone call–from an American calling from a location in Russia. The caller left a very disturbing message. After identifying herself, she said three things: that earth had a second Kryptonian visitor, that if I wanted that visitor to grow up as an American, I would need to personally take her next incoming call in three hours, and that if I needed proof of her claims, I should: a) consult her entry in Who's Who to determine whether she might be likely to be offered employment in other countries and b) consult a particular man who would be able to confirm her custody of the Kryptonian, and c) she gave me a detail that would enable me to find him. That detail was something less than one hundred very highly cleared people in the US government should have known and the fact that someone not authorized to know that detail knew it set off a lot of alarm bells. So I was briefed, asked for a check on the Who's Who entry which showed that my caller was indeed in demand all over the world, asked if we knew anything about a second Kryptonian on earth, and started a rush check on the confidential detail my caller had supplied. And when I got those answers, I realized that we had a major problem, and so I was waiting for her call. And when she called back, still from within Russia but from another city, she told me an even more disturbing story."

"And that was?" Cat asked.

"According to my caller, some two years previously, she and her husband had been entrusted, (she didn't say by whom, but I could guess) with raising our latest Kryptonian visitor. Less than a year after that, their home was invaded one night by a large number of armed men proclaiming themselves agents of the US government and they would take the Kryptonian girl by force with them for study - an action only averted when the husband, who had a deep knowledge of Superman – for reasons I won't mention here – offered to put that knowledge, and himself, at the government's disposal instead. The name that my caller had originally supplied turned out to have been the name of the agent in charge that night. Since that night, her husband had worked for the US government and my caller had bank records to prove it. Some months later, she said, (which was six months before my election) her husband was reported dead in a plane crash, but given how he had been recruited, she doubted that the report was accurate. So she had waited until her work took her abroad, which it frequently did, and arranged for her daughters to leave the country with her. So since all of them were now abroad, she asked, did I want a second American Kryptonian or did I want another country to have her, because she had a job offer from that country?"

"I asked her if I could have a couple of hours to check on this part of her story, and my caller agreed to call me back. By the time she did, I had checked out her story as best I could.

"When she called again, I began by telling her that while the man whose name she had given me was missing and believed dead, my staff had found other people who could confirm her story of the house raid and what had been said that night. I then turned to the big question. Now remember: by that date, we all knew that Superman was a valuable national asset, so of course I said I wanted the girl to grow up American.
"To which my caller replied: 'That's good because I want her to grow up American, too. But here are my terms.'
• 'I will commit to raising my Kryptonian daughter in the tradition of the finest American ideals,
(I agreed to that.)
'And you Mr. President,' she said, 'will ensure that the following is done as soon as possible:
• 'There will be no government interference with my daughter's life for as long as she remains hidden and does not use her powers publically.
(We had a long discussion on this. My caller pointed out that if the young girl grew up and volunteered to use her powers she would be more valuable to us as a volunteer rather than as someone forced into doing something she didn't want to do. I agreed. But while she was growing up, and for as long as she didn't come out publically, I wanted her monitored to make sure she was living below the radar and not using her powers, and, after some back and forth, my caller eventually agreed.) Then my caller continued:
• 'That I would facilitate her daughter's formal legal adoption into that family and see her granted legal American citizenship in a way that protected her identity as much as possible,
(I could do that easily, and I did.)
• And finally, with one exception, we agreed that we would both commit to keeping this agreement totally between ourselves,' the former President finished

"And what was that exception?" asked Cat.

"It was this," replied his predecessor, "If the government ever made the young girl's earth identity public, or even threatened to do so, my caller would have the right to not only make our agreement public without being prosecuted for violating national security, but she would have the additional right to make public any incident involving her daughter which the government had classified. And this term of the agreement would be in writing. (I said I could grant that during my term, but I couldn't speak for my successor, but my caller had thought of that. She said 'Then give me an undated Presidential pardon, that specifically allows my daughter to speak to me of any incident in which she is involved, and me to speak publicly of any incident involving my daughter, without regard to classification. I could make public what I want and date the pardon for the next day. No subsequent President would want to take the risk of testing that pardon in the courts or in Congress.' (And she was right. Once she had that pardon, trying her after she made something public would open a hellacious can of worms. I didn't want to do that, but the situation forced my hand and my caller knew I'd have to give in. So she held out until I did. I tried everything I could think of, but I couldn't change her mind.)

"How could you do that?" sputtered an appalled President Baker.

"Easily. The bottom line was and is national security. Two well-meaning Kryptonians are better than one, especially if the other one were to serve a country not fully aligned to our interests." Everybody in the room understood what the former President did not say. "And from the way she handled her initial phone calls, I had some reason to trust that my caller would keep her end of the deal, which is something that she has done to this very moment. And it's a damn good thing I make that deal. If I hadn't made it, we'd all be dead now–as Mr. Lord and Dr. Danvers have told us. As far as I know, Supergirl's never asked anyone for any favor whatsoever: the least we can do is give her some private life, as Max Lord has pointed out. And Max, I think this is the first time you've ever agreed with me on anything."

Max Lord looked as if he had bit into a lemon as President Baker shook his head, unmoved. "Then why are you telling us all this?"

"Because Supergirl's mother knew in advance about your attempt to forcibly expose Supergirl's identity. She asked me to stand by for a Skype call from Cat tonight."

Cat rejoined the conversation, "Do you know, Mr. President, if Supergirl's earth family have suffered any more attacks because she is Supergirl other than this illegal home invasion and the loss of their husband and father to the coercion that you have described?"

"Not to my knowledge," the former President replied.

Another voice from the crowd spoke up. "That's a question I can answer."

"And who are you?" Cat asked.

"I'm Detective Sergeant Margaret Sawyer of the NCPD's Science division. A year or so back, Supergirl reported receiving a phone call from someone who had kidnapped her sister and placed her in a time-limited death trap entailing death by drowning. The kidnapper knew Supergirl's civilian identity and wanted her to engage in an illegal activity as the ransom for saving her sister's life. To solve the case, Supergirl realized that it was necessary for her to tell us of the kidnapper's motive. Thankfully, working together the NCPD and Supergirl managed to free her sister in time. If we'd got there even a minute later, she would have drowned."

"And the kidnapper?" Cat asked

Maggie half-lied with a good conscience since J'onn had wiped the man's memory, "In the wind."

"So you know Supergirl's identity?" President Baker asked.

"Certain members of the NCPD know it, but it's a law enforcement confidence. I've also been authorized to speak officially by both Chief Lowell and Mayor Truxton to tell the world that so long as Supergirl acts within the confines of the Good Samaritan laws, it's fine with National City and the NCPD if she does so anonymously. City Council will be passing a resolution tomorrow to put that in writing."

The audience applauded, but the petite Latina hadn't finished. She raised her hand, and when the audience quietened, she spoke again:

"We've known for some time that certain people in the Federal Government know who Supergirl is and until now they have been happy to work with her. We also know from the news clips of that night she went out of control that the Feds can take her out any time they want to, whether or not she goes off the rails. So even if Supergirl wants to keep her private life to herself, that anonymity is no threat whatsoever to the safety of the people of National City. And the NCPD utterly rejects any notion that would posit a false moral equivalence between the criminal reasons Ben Lockwood hid his identity and the valid reasons why Supergirl reserves hers." With that, Maggie sat down.

In the silence that followed, Cat spoke up: "So everybody on this planet owes Supergirl their lives. Ben Lockwood hates her, yet he owes Supergirl his life, and the lives of his wife and kids. Your donors owe her their lives and the lives of their spouses and their kids. Even you, Mr. President, owe Supergirl your life and the lives of your wife and children. It doesn't bother you that you are welshing on your debt?"

"No," said President Baker, "My constitutional responsibility is to protect the country. As a very wise politician said, many years ago, 'My first qualification for this office is my monumental personal ingratitude.'"

"Your 'constitutional responsibility?'" The incredulous note in the calm voice turned all eyes to the Professor as she rejoined the conversation, "Your constitutional responsibility does not allow you to reject the America of the Declaration of Independence in which 'all men are created equal' and 'endowed with unalienable rights' in favor of an America founded on George Orwell's Animal Farm in which 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,' which is what you are doing. I think it's hypocritical for someone whose family has never been attacked because they are protected by the Secret Service to push for an action that would put an unprotected family, which has already been attacked twice, squarely into the sights of any of the crazies that Lockwood's fanaticism has whipped up. And it's equally hypocritical to deny Supergirl and her family the rights of American citizens to which they are all legally entitled, while you correctly and eloquently affirm those rights in the case of your donors. The only reason for denying an American citizen his or her rights is due process of law, and what you are doing here is anything but. You are trying to put Supergirl into a box. Either she does violence to her sense of public duty and puts the security of the country at measurably increased risk by not volunteering for whatever federal agencies she's been helping out, or you force her to sacrifice not only her own constitutional right to privacy but also the constitutional rights to privacy of her family as well." Dr. Danvers turned and looked at the audience. "And every one of you should ask yourself this: if he gets away with doing this to Supergirl and her family, what's he going to do to any of us if we get in his way?"

"You seem to be taking this personally Dr. Danvers," the President commented. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Well, in the sense that I'm not an alien or an immigrant you're right," Dr. Danvers replied. "I'm a fifth-generation American on both sides of my family, so you might think I shouldn't be affected by any of this." The voice of the motherly blond biochemist had never varied from its quiet tones and it did not vary now. "But if Supergirl was to give way to your pressure and stand here and reveal the name under which she lives her private life, that action would make you an accessory before the fact to violating three people's constitutional rights to privacy without due process of law: those people are Supergirl herself; my eldest daughter, her sister; and me, her adoptive mother."

The audience gasped, but Eliza Danvers continued, as calmly as if she was discussing a shopping list, "And I'm taking this opportunity to look you in the eye and exercise my constitutional right to protest your action. By doing what you did, apparently for no better reason than to curry favor with some of Lockwood's supporters, you have not only threatened to force my daughter to paint a target on my back and her sister's back, but by your attempt to deprive us of our Constitutional rights, you have broken your Presidential oath to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States' and you have proved yourself to be a coward, a hypocrite, and precisely the kind of tyrant our ancestors fought the American Revolution to free ourselves from."

A dead silence fell over the room, unbroken and ominous. Nobody moved, nobody breathed.

Nobody dared breathe.

"I told Supergirl that the United States does not want a war with her," a stunned President Baker finally replied.

"You aren't getting a war with Supergirl and the United States isn't getting one with her either" that quiet, implacable voice continued, "But you started a war with me. And I'll finish it."

"But there's no need for a war," the President said. "Now that the public knows who Supergirl is, she can work for the government without restriction. And you're a law-abiding citizen so you won't take it further."

"No, neither of those things is going to happen," replied Eliza Danvers, "Supergirl has never "worked" for the government, and she's not starting now. In addition, I am indeed taking the matter further. We're going on a family vacation."

"A vacation. So you're not really concerned about the targets you painted on your backs?" asked the President, in a nasty tone.

"I am gravely concerned," the biochemist replied, "But the destination we are going to is the ideal destination for us because it's a place where nobody on earth will be able to take advantage of the information you tried to force Supergirl to reveal. But it's no surprise that you don't see it. One key detail hasn't been mentioned yet. You remember that General Astra In-Ze had a twin sister?"

"Yes." President Baker replied.

"That twin sister is Chief Judicator Zor-El." The audience gasped as the penny dropped. "Which makes her Supergirl's mother," Eliza Danvers continued. "Don't you think my daughter would love to introduce her earth family and her cousin to her mother and show them around her old home town? In fact, she's so eager to do so that she's already left earth. And, by the way, she's traveling to Argo in the same ship she arrived in which was her mother's personal property."

"That's impossible. That ship is in government storage," President Baker exclaimed.

"Not anymore," was the calm reply,

"Taking that ship is theft. The US Government has salvage rights to it."

"Actually the government removed the ship prematurely from where it had been temporarily parked so Superman could take his cousin to a safe place. He had planned to take it elsewhere after ensuring his cousin's safety. In fact, it was less than an hour from the time Superman left to the time he returned and found it gone. Granted, her procedure is a little irregular, and if you really want to be petty about it, you can initiate a claim for the salvage and storage costs with the US Federal District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which, as the US Admiralty court, is the proper venue for this situation. Before you do that, however, you might want to consider how the court's judges might respond to government requests to keep certain relevant information under wraps, like who removed the ship, and where was it stored for the last couple of decades? And if you do launch a suit, once the court renders its judgment, which will be in about eighteen months or so, just email a copy of the decision to the email address inside the envelope that Miss Grant has for you. If you do that, the Chief Judicator tells me that the bill will be paid. Also inside that envelope is the name of a military officer who is known to you, and a note explaining why that name is relevant."

"How do you know whether I know a particular officer's name?"

"That will be explained in the note."

"How long will your family stay on Argo?" Cat asked.

"That's a good question," Eliza Danvers replied. "Some months certainly, possibly longer. Who knows? It'll take a while to show us all around. Also, her mother wants to have some long talks with us, and I want to have some long talks with her. And Superman does too, and he's already there. I wonder what he'll think when he hears about all this: even before this, he's had good reasons to keep the federal government at arm's length. And this will give my daughter time to decide what she wants to do. She's always wanted to live a normal Kryptonian life with her friends and family and pursue her ambition to join the military guild. Now she has the chance to take up the life she'd dreamed of and thought lost forever, not to mention the ability to re-connect with her childhood friends. She might even take up another useful job that will be waiting for her."

"What's that?" asked Cat.

"It's only two or three years until Argo arrives at the new planet they've chosen. And since it has a yellow sun, my daughter – not to mention myself and her sister – will be needed to help them adapt more easily to the new powers they'll receive. So for the first time in over a decade, my daughter has a real choice about her future and the kind of life she wants to live. She can stay there if she wants, or she can come back here if she wants to live without the private life she loved. And she'll make that choice without any pressure whatsoever."

"But we need Supergirl here," President Baker said as he realized, too late, where this was going.

"Really? You dismissed her from government service yourself. You just want a Kryptonian or two to help the police. And now that Argo is in our sky, you can't play on my daughter's sense of public duty to force her into doing what you want, because she knows that you'll find it easy to arrange suitable replacements just by talking to the Argo High Council via that email address in the envelope."

The President blanched as he realized the full depth of the hole Eliza Danvers had dug for him. If he negotiated for Kryptonian police, he would lose any support from Lockwood's sympathizers who'd see them as the "foreign mercenaries" decried by the Declaration of Independence: if he lost Supergirl, and possibly Superman, without replacing them, he would be publicly putting national security at risk. Combine that with the way the quiet, all-American mother had shaped her charge about how his attempt to force Supergirl to reveal her identity violated her family's constitutional rights, and he might even be facing an impeachment fight.

"I think I need to consult some files," said President Baker, "so if you will excuse me. . ." and he rose and left the set, barely remembering to receive the envelope Cat Grant handed to him.

Dr. Danvers began to rise a few seconds later, "I'm afraid I must ask you to excuse me too: my ride to Argo is waiting."

The former President was still watching from the monitor, "Before you go, Dr. Danvers, I'd like a word." As Eliza sat back in her chair, Donaldson continued, "There are two things that must be said. I don't speak for America anymore, but I think I speak for many of us when I thank you for raising your daughter in the way that you have. You have more than fulfilled the deal we made that night." A loud roar from the audience heralded a standing ovation. As it died, the former President continued, "Second, now that the agreement we made has been broken by Henry's stupidity, I'd like to reiterate the job offer I made you after I left the White House. And I'll sweeten the deal. If you come to work for me, I'll commit to permanently supplying the bodyguards that you and your eldest daughter will need. And they are trained to Secret Service levels."

"Thank you, Mr. President, but as I said before, I can take a stand on what's right when I have to, but practical negotiations of the kind you want me for are not really my thing. But I appreciate the thought. And I'll take my share of your thanks for raising Supergirl, but any credit for the way she turned out needs to be shared with Chair Zor-El who did a marvelous job starting her off, and my eldest daughter who stepped up over and over again for her sister, to the point of putting her own life at risk in the incident Mr. Lord didn't mention. "

Another roar of applause filled the room as Max nodded his agreement, and then he spoke: "Negotiations may not be your thing, Dr. Danvers, but biotechnology most definitely is. And my offer to head up Lord Industries new biotech division is still open. And I'd be happy to provide the necessary bodyguards, both for you and your eldest, whose courage and integrity fully match those of her sister.

Eliza Danvers ignored the new round of applause, "Thank you, Mr. Lord, but no. The reasons I gave you the last time we talked still hold. Good night," she nodded to Lord, "good night Mr. President, good night Cat, and thank you for setting this up. And I'd also like to thank you for being my daughter's mentor for her first three years at CatCo. I owe you two favors and I won't forget that."

"Well, in that case, Dr. Danvers," Cat Grant replied, "you can pay me back right now."

"What can I do for you? And it's Eliza."

"First, I want to know how your bulletproof daughter, who was easily the best assistant I've ever had, managed to cut herself on some broken glass right in front of me. I was beginning to suspect that she might be Supergirl until she did that. And second, I want an interview with your daughter, a tour of Argo City, and an interview with her mother if it can be arranged."

Eliza grinned, "She hasn't told me about the glass incident, so I can't help you there, but we both thought you might like a trip to Argo. How long will it take you to pack?" She stood to leave.

"Two hours," Cat replied, as she rose with her audience.

"Then follow the instructions in this note," and she handed Cat an envelope from her purse, turned, touched the new Cisco Ramon broach she was wearing, walked into an eye-searing, blue-white circle, and vanished.

The standing ovation that had started with her turn to go became a stunned silence as she disappeared.

As Cat sat down, she caught the questioning look and raised eyebrow of the former President.

"All right, Mr. President, you win. Dr. Danvers takes the prize."

"Cat, when you talk to her, please tell Chair Zor-El that I want to pay that salvage bill, if and when," the former President said. "We can't have the Argo High Council thinking that all our Presidents lack any sense of honor."

"Make that half, Mr. President. Chair Zor-El also needs to know that some Americans appreciate her daughter," Max Lord piped up.

"It'll be twenty-five percent from each of you. I'll put in twenty-five myself and I'll open a public subscription for the rest." Cat said.

"That's fine with me, "Max replied as the former President nodded, "But, you know, Mr. President, there's another thing we agree on."

"What's that, Max?"

"That's one very tough lady, and I'm glad I've never faced her over a negotiating table."

"And if you're lucky, you never will," the former President observed, "But if you do, remember this: it's not a good idea to make her mad at you."