"Alex did some digging," Kara said, walking fast towards her cousin.
"What is it?" the boy asked her.
"There was one passenger who booked a seat on the Venture that mysteriously didn't show up last minute – Lena Luthor," Kara answered.
"Lex's sister," Clark said back resolutely.
"Yup," Kara whispered, as they began to walk, "but Lex can't be involved in this, he's in prison."
"Congrats by the way," she added smiling.
"Yeah, thanks. Lex may be in jail, but his sister is now running Luthor Corp," Clark said, slipping his hand into the left pocket.
"Yep and she just moved to National City," Kara informed Clark.
The two cousins headed to the headquarters of Luthor Corp. The building was a huge twenty-story office, all curved glass and steel, an architect's utilitarian fantasy with "LUTHOR CORP" written discreetly in steel over the glass front doors.
Behind the solid sandstone desk, a very attractive, immaculate young woman smiled pleasantly at them.
"We're here to see Miss Luthor on the Daily Planet's behalf," Clark informed the woman.
"Please, sign here. You'll want the last elevator on the right, press for the twentieth floor," she smiled kindly at Kara.
The woman handed them a security pass that had "VISITOR" firmly stamped on the front. Kara could not help her smirk. Surely, it was obvious that she was just a visitor; she felt like she did not fit there at all.
The elevator whisked them with terminal velocity to the twentieth floor.
The door opened and they found themselves in another large lobby, another reception area, with another young woman behind it.
"Miss Luthor is in the meeting room, but she'll finish soon. In the meantime, take a seat in the lobby," the woman said, as she showed them the way.
"As soon as she's distracted, try to examine her office with x-ray," Clark suggested, a moment before Lena Luthor came out of the big grey door on the right, smiling at them.
"Please, come with me," she said, "to what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked opening the office door and letting them follow her.
Kara was intimidated by the arrogant and brisk aspect of the woman in front of them.
Her office was too big for just one person. In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, there was a huge modern white wood desk that matched with the coffee table and the couch. [Everything was white except the door that was grey.]
"I wasn't aboard the Venture yesterday since there was an emergency regarding the ceremony I'm
holding tomorrow. I'm renaming my family's company and I had to cancel", the woman explained calmly.
"Ah lucky," Clark exclaimed with a fake smile.
Lena Luthor chuckled, she moved a lock of her hair behind her ear and then turned to him..
"Yes, it is luck that Superman saved the day," she said smiling.
Clark chuckled, "Not something one expects a Luthor to say."
"Right, and Supergirl was there too," Kara interrupted instinctively.
There was a brief moment in which Kara felt Lena's eyes scan her carefully, "And who are you exactly?" Lena asked her as she walked away from her desk.
Kara lowered her gaze "Um, I'm Kara Danvers. I'm not with the Daily Planet."
Lena poured a glass of water while paying attention to the words of the odd girl.
"I'm with Catco magazine… sort of," Kara explained unsure.
Lena turned to her perplexed, "It's a publication not know for its hard hitting journalism… more like high-waisted jeans, yes or no?" Lena asked taking the glass of water and sitting again behind her desk in a very authoritarian way.
Kara blushed, "I'm just tagging along today," she answered clumsy.
"Right. Can we just speed this interview along? Just ask me what you want to ask Mr. Kent." Lena said, opening a dossier on her desk.. "Did I have anything to do with the Venture explosion?" she asked arrogantly.
"Did you?" Clark asked her, shrugging his shoulders.
Lena looked at him straight in the eyes, "You wouldn't be asking if my last name was Smith."
"Ah, but it's not. It's Luthor," Clark emphasized, with a sarcastic smile.
Kara felt uncomfortable as the two exchanged words.
Lena smiled, "Some steel under that Kansas wheat!" she exclaimed. "It wasn't always", she said while her smile disappeared. Lena looked at Kara and said, "I was adopted by the Luthors when I was four," Lena explained as Kara felt something inside breaking. "The person who made me feel welcome in the family was Lex. He made me proud to be a Luthor," Lena said, as she turned to the window.
In the meantime, the two cousins took advantage of her distraction to x-ray vision her room. "And then Lex went on his reign of terror in Metropolis, declared war on Superman, committed unspeakable crimes…" Lena continued turning to them, as she grabbed a remote.
"When Superman put Lex in jail, I vowed to take back my family's company. Rename it L-Corp, make it a force for good. I'm just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family," Lena said and Kara smiled as she nodded.
"Yeah," Kara answered and Clark looked at her.
"I know why you're here. A subsidiary of my company made the part that exploded on the Venture. This drive contains all the information we have on the oscillator. I hope it helps you in your investigation," Lena said as she offered the stick to Clark.
"Thank you," Clark said, taking it.
"Give me a chance Mr. Kent. I'm here for a fresh start… let me have one," Lena said as Kara observed her.
Lena was different from how the media portrayed her.
"Good day, Ms. Luthor," Clark said.
"Good day," Kara whispered, as she followed her cousin. Kara felt Lena's gaze on her until she came out of that office.
Finally she was free from that agonizing embarrassment.
The two cousins came out of the Luthor Corp, and when they were alone, Clark spoke first, "I didn't see anything when I x-ray visioned the room," he said unsatisfied.
"Yeah, me neither," Kara said.
"What do you think?" Clark asked her.
"She was polite, intense, smart, and really intimidating," Kara said as Clark nodded, "Maybe too arrogant and superior. That annoyed me." Clark laughed at her words. "But, you know, maybe I'm not a reporter or anything but I kinda believe her… What do you think?" she asked him.
They stopped at the traffic lights and Clark looked at her.
"I've learned through hard experience not to believe anything a Luthor says."
Lena arrived at the roof, where the pilot was waiting for her. As she boarded the helicopter, the pilot said "Should be a smooth flight Ms. Luthor," the man said, trying to reassure her.
"I hate flying. I know statistically it's the safe way to travel but still…" Lena answered while the helicopter took off.
Lena saw something strange approaching to them, "What the hell?" she whispered looking at the drones pointed at her. Her blood freezed as she realized what was happening. She felt a wave of panic, then she closed her eyes, but she heard nothing.
Superman and Supergirl were defending her from the bullets.
"I have drones planted throughout the city, targeting civilian populations as we speak. Your choice, aliens. Innocent civilians or the chopper?" a voice radiated from the hostile drones.
Supergirl looked at Superman. "Go! I got the chopper," she said as he flew away. She destroyed a drone with her heat vision and blocked the chopper from a missile by letting it explode on her body. Supergirl fell on the roof of Luthor Corp, causing cracks on the asphalt. However, she got up when she saw another drone attack the helicopter again. She destroyed another drone by breaking it into fragments. Supergirl clung to the helicopter, dragging it down to the roof.
Lena observed the entire scene, shocked as she passed her hand through her hair. "You're safe now." Supergirl said, as she opened the door of the helicopter.
"What the hell was that?" Lena asked in panic.
"Someone's trying to kill you." Supergirl answered, as she helped Lena out of the helicopter.
Lena's legs trembled, as she almost experienced a heart attack. Meanwhile, Supergirl observed her without words.
"I don't know how to thank you," Lena said as Supergirl smiled at her.
Kara saw Superman approach them. "You had a narrow escape," he said to Kara. "Is she okay?" he asked, referring to Lena. "Well, she is still in shock. I'll take her home," Supergirl answered, as she took Lena into her arms.
"You don't have to." Lena said, but Supergirl was stubborn. "I know you hate flying, Miss Luthor," Supergirl said, while she started to fly. Lena did not notice since her surname came out so well from those lips. "I can't let you go, not after what happened," she explained resolutely.
Kara tried to repress her feelings, but failed miserably. The woman previously looked arrogant and confident, but in her arms, Lena finally showed her mortal weakness, her human fragility.
"I don't need to ask how you know my address, right?" Lena said as Supergirl left her on the floor of her balcony. "I'm Supergirl" Kara said, as if that was enough to explain everything.
Lena chuckled and went into her penthouse. "A Super who saved a Luthor, I'm surprised," she said, turning to the hero and inviting her into the living room. Supergirl folded her arms, "A Super saves whoever is in danger, but please, stay away from trouble."
"I owe you one then." Lena said, slightly smiling at the Super.
The next day Kara did her best to avoid her odd feelings.
The first time she meet Lena Luthor as Supergirl was by saving her.
It was too much.
She did not sleep well, destroyed the alarm, and went straight to Luthor Corp.
The target of the day was to discourage Lena from holding the ceremony. Lena decided to not delay the ceremony despite the fact that the day before, someone had tried to kill her.
This made Kara crazy.
She had spent the last half hour trying to discourage Lena from holding the ceremony (that insane idea) until they reached the place where the new symbol of her company stood, while the journalists photographed them.
"You're taking an awful risk, going ahead with the renaming ceremony even with your life in danger", Kara said, letting Lena notice her displeasure.
"I won't have a life if I can't make this company into something positive. All this company will be remembered for is Lex's madness," Lena said as she walked away from Kara and reached the platform.
"Thank you all for coming. My family has a debt not just to the people Metropolis, but everyone after my brother hurt many good, innocent people. I intend to pay that debt by renaming Luthor company to L-Corp, with the intent to usher a new age of cooperation and build a community. Together, we will chart a brighter future!" she announced proudly.
Behind her, there were two explosions. Kara looked around to find Alex, who nodded at her while people ran away and Kara took off her glasses.
Lena ran away, terrorized, but gave a sigh of relief when she saw a police officer heading towards her.
"Officer, thank God," she whispered, but the relief quickly disappeared when she saw the man pointing a gun at her.
That was the second time in two days that she risked her life. Luckily, a woman successfully disarmed the man by grabbing the gun and pointing it at the asphalt. Once more, luck was on her side. However, the man took out a knife and tried to hit the woman, but she disarmed him again. Sadly, he was able to retrieve the gun, and grabbed the woman tight.
"Let her go!" Supergirl cried, but she was powerless against the man who was pointing a gun to Alex's head.
"You're going to let me out of here," the man demanded.
"Lex Luthor hired you to kill his sister, didn't he?" Supergirl asked while slowly approaching them.
"Luthor still has resources and reach, even while he is rotting in maximum security lockdown. Now, I'm leaving and there's nothing.." the man did not finish his sentence as two bullets hit him in the back.
Kara turned her gaze and she saw Lena Luthor with a gun in her hands.
Alex checked if the man was dead and stopped up his wounds.
"You have to go," Kara said to Lena.
"Thank you, again Supergirl." the CEO said.
When Kara knew she had to go to the newly-named L-Corp, she felt embarrassed at the idea of finding herself again in the same room as Lena Luthor, who would certainly show the same arrogant charm on the day they first met. This annoyed her, and at the same time embarrassed her.
Being in front of Lena Luthor as Supergirl was a different ordeal. She felt differently wearing her suit in front of the woman, so confident and proud. Or rather, Lena Luthor showed another side, almost as if she was intimidated by the symbol of the house of El on Supergirl's chest.
As Kara Danvers, things were different. Lena Luthor made her blush every minute, the embarrassment invaded her body, and sometimes she just wanted to run away.
"Thank you, Mr. Kent. This is exactly the kind of the press my company needed after yesterday's attack," Lena said, putting a copy of the Daily Planet on her desk.
"And thank you for including that part about me shooting the guy. That'll teach Lex to mess with me. He'll be the laughingstock of cellblock X", she added as she walked right in front of Kara and Clark as they laughed.
"Well, that's not exactly why I wrote it. It's the truth and I was wrong about you, Ms Luthor. I'm sorry," Clark said smiling.
Lena folded her arms and smiled softly, "Well, if I can make a believer out of Clark Kent, there's hope yet." She said and Kara laughed lowering her gaze.
"And what about you, Ms. Danvers? I didn't see your name on the byline." Lena said, as she looked at Kara in the eyes. Kara hated the eye contact because it made her feel too fragile.
"Uh... well, like I said, I'm not a reporter," she blushed as she answered.
"You could have fooled me," the woman said, staring at her with a crafty smile.
"Well, we have to leave. I have a flight for Metropolis waiting for me," Clark declared. Kara smiled, softly taking the hint.
"It was a pleasure, Mr. Kent," Lena said, as they shook hands, then she looked straight at Kara.
"I hope this isn't the last time we talk, Ms. Danvers," Lena added as she turned to Kara.
"I hope not either," Kara said, smiling shy.
