Girl of Steel to Pick New Battle?

Former Supergirl actress Kara Danvers has joined the cast of award-winning show Dusklight, according to an announcement made yesterday during a radio interview with series regular Lucy Lane. But is all as it seems to be? Lena Luthor, sister of disgraced film mogul Lex Luthor, co-stars in the series as Dr Isabelle Lewis. Ms Luthor has long insisted that she had no idea about her brother's alleged embezzlement, which led to the downfall of major film studio LuthorFilm and left Danvers, along with dozens of other actors, out of work and virtually unemployable. Our industry insiders speculate that Danvers' casting was not a coincidence, and the fallen star may use this opportunity to settle the score. We here at StarFeed can only hope Ms Luthor watches her back with her new castmate, and we'll be sure to keep our readers informed of developments as they happen.

…

Kara's first official meeting with Lena went better than she'd expected, though that was a fairly low bar. She'd spent the night before her first table read on the phone to Alex, working herself up while her sister did her best to calm her down.

"What if she makes Cat fire me in front of everybody?"

"She won't."

"What if she hates me?"

"Nobody hates you. It's really annoying."

"What if she thinks I hate her?"

"You don't."

"I know, but what if—"

"Kara, I love you, but it is after midnight and I have work in the morning. You have a call time. Lena isn't going to hate you, and I'm pretty sure she can't fire you. You carried three movies, you can handle Lena Luthor."

Kara's fears eventually proved to be baseless, at least for now. Lena had arrived late to the table read, and Kara wasn't actually officially introduced to anyone beyond Cat's offhand, "This is Keira; she'll be playing the love interest."

"It's Kara," she corrected, but judging by the way that people were glancing between her and Lena, most of them already knew who she was.

Lena herself barely reacted to Cat's announcement, just a flick of her eyes in Kara's direction, and the showrunner continued as if Kara hadn't spoken. "Okay, chop chop, I've got a meeting with the network suits in two hours, so let's get through this."

The rest of the read went smoothly, but Lena followed Cat out the door immediately after they finished, leaving Mike frowning at her retreating back. She'd looked at Kara maybe twice the entire time, and Kara couldn't help the unease bubbling in her stomach. She couldn't dwell on it for too long, though, because now Cat had left, the other regulars were coming to say hello, including,

"Lucy!" Kara squealed, nearly pouncing on the shorter woman in her enthusiasm. With all her stressing about Lena, she'd forgotten that Lucy Lane played the resident attorney on the show.

"Easy there, Wonder Woman, not all of us are made of steel," Lucy joked, though she returned Kara's hug just as tightly.

"You two know each other, then?" Mike asked with an amused smile as they broke apart. He'd stuck around to introduce Kara, and seemed to be going out of his way to make up for his co-star's indifference.

"Lucy was in the first Supergirl movie. We spent the longest week ever hanging from wires ten feet off the ground together."

Lucy pulled a face. "Don't remind me, I chafe just thinking about it. I don't know how you did that for three movies," she said, and Kara smiled bashfully and fiddled with her glasses.

Lucy introduced her to the other two regulars, Vasquez and Demos, who played another pair of detectives who were out of the 'Jax has powers' loop but had their own complicated romance storyline. The five of them chatted easily, giving Kara helpful tips and warnings, letting her know exactly what she'd gotten herself into. They were all very friendly and welcoming, and Kara was starting to feel better about her position on the show by the time Lucy glanced at her phone and grimaced.

"I've got a radio interview in twenty minutes. I gotta go make sure our illustrious showrunner doesn't want me to plug anything specific."

That signalled the break-up of their little gathering, but Kara caught Lucy's arm as she turned to leave and lowered her voice. "Lucy, wait. James said someone suggested me to Cat…"

Lucy shook her head at the implied question. "Not me, but I wish I'd thought of it. You're so perfect for this."

"Even with…"

Lucy smiled. "Don't worry about Lena. She's not actually as terrifying as the press likes to pretend."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Demos sing-songed from the corridor, making Lucy roll her eyes.

"Ignore him, Kara. You'll be fine."

…

Kara's first day on the set of Dusklight went both better and worse than she expected. She knew from the call sheet that her first scene was a one-on-one with Lena, with Mike joining them about halfway through. The elusive lead had yet to actually acknowledge Kara for more than a second at a time, and she was approaching the prospect of spending the next twelve hours with the woman with more than a hint of apprehension.

She forgot her anxiety briefly as she was getting changed in Wardrobe, and had to explain to a very confused costuming assistant that she was giggling because her cop sister had a cheaper version of the exact outfit they'd picked for her to wear. Her nerves returned by the time she got to hair and makeup, and she sat in the chair trying not to fidget as two strangers brushed and poked and painted her into character. She'd swapped her glasses for contacts, so instead she fiddled with the necklace that Cat Grant had apparently insisted she wear without telling anyone why.

By the time she made it to the soundstage they were filming on, Kara felt like a live wire of nerves. She took a moment in the corner to breathe, closing her eyes and letting the sound of the controlled chaos wash over her. She'd always felt at home on set, felt more like herself when she was about to become someone else, and the familiar bustle of movement and sound helped calm her, helped to remind her that she could actually do this. She shook herself and moved into the swirl of people, heading for the centre of whirlwind where the director should be.

The director for this episode was apparently a regular one for the show, but Kara wasn't sure which one because everyone kept calling him Snapper. She found him in a set dressed to look like a living room which was the backdrop for their first scene. Standing next to him was Lena Luthor, looking even more striking in person than she did on screen, and Kara was momentarily stunned by the sight of her. She stood there, frozen, until a short man with a comically long boom mic reminded her where she was by accidentally clipping her with it, and Kara shook herself and took a deep breath, steeling herself before approaching them.

"Hi," she said as two sets of eyes snapped to her. "Um, Kara Danvers?"

"Right, the new girl," Snapper said. "Well, you're on time at least. Let's block this out." He walked off to the other side of the set, obviously expecting them to follow. Lena looked her over as they trailed him, then gave her a perfunctory smile that didn't touch her eyes and kept walking.

Kara deflated a little. She'd built up a massive confrontation in her head, prepared herself to defend against any number of scathing remarks, and being dismissed without a word was almost a letdown. It was ultimately a better outcome than she'd expected, though, so Kara went with it.

Despite her scene partner's aloofness, they flowed quickly through the scene blocking and rehearsal, and by the time they were ready to start filming, Kara was feeling much more confident.

The scene opened with Sara approaching Dr Lewis as she crouched over the body of the victim-of-the-week and introducing herself, and Kara got a whole two lines in before messing up.

"Hey doc, what'cha got?" Kara said, trying to walk with the added weight of the prop gun on her hip without looking ridiculous and mentally congratulating herself for hitting her mark without looking at it.

Then Lena turned to look at her, and it was as if a switch had been flipped. Gone was the coldly professional actress she'd been dealing with all morning, and in her place was a playfully flirtatious Isabelle Lewis, all green eyes and sultry "And who are you exactly?" and Kara forgot her lines, her character's name, her actual name, and the fact that there were at least two cameras pointed at her. Lena's gaze was hypnotic, but when she arched her eyebrow Kara realised it was her turn to talk and she had no idea what she was saying.

"I um, I'm Kar—no, Sara, no, Detective Harper, crap."

"Cut!" was called from somewhere behind her, and around her the set became a flurry of activity as the cameras, background extras and boom guy moved back to their starting position. On the ground beside the two women, the actor playing the victim cracked one eye open and chuckled, making the bloody mess of prosthetics on his throat move weirdly.

"Nailed that one, Danvers. Good job," he teased.

"Shut up, Dead Guy, you're supposed to be dismembered," Kara muttered to him, ignoring the faintly amused quirk of Lena's lips and turning to the director. "Sorry!"

"Get it together, Ponytail. Reset!"

The takes after that went better, and it only took another four tries before Snapper was happy with her performance. "Acceptable, I guess. Where's Matthews?" he called to the room at large, sending a PA scurrying off the set in search of him. "Take five while we wait, people. And someone tell me Lane is at least in the building."

The set dissolved into a bustle of movement as Snapper released them. Kara flinched slightly when a figure popped up in front of her, but it was just a hair-and-makeup assistant. She eyed Kara carefully, then nodded. "You're fine. Try not to smudge your lipstick if you eat," she said, then took off after Lena, who had stood without a word and was heading towards the door that led outside with her phone in one hand and a chattering assistant at her elbow.

Kara stood, disoriented by all the movement until a groan down by her hip reminded her she wasn't totally alone.

"Here," she said, offering a hand to Dead Guy and pulling him to his feet.

"Thanks." He seemed surprised, and shuffled awkwardly for a moment.

"Hey, you're Carl, right?" Kara said, tugging him towards craft services "Didn't you play a taxi driver in season one?"

His face lit up. "Yeah, you remember that?" Ice broken, they chatted easily for a few minutes until the star of the show finally reappeared.

"I'm here, I'm here," Mike called, emerging onto set with a red-faced PA behind him.

"Finally," Snapper groused, looking around. "Where's Luthor?"

"Here," called her assistant from a secluded corner, where Lena stood talking softly but with obvious heat into her phone.

"Oh no, when you're ready, Ms Luthor. It's not like we're on a schedule or anything," Snapper called to her, earning himself an icy glare, but Lena did finish her call a moment later and shoved her phone at her assistant before stalking over to where Kara was waiting.

Mike reached her a few steps ahead of his co-star, and Kara was treated to the smile that had been dubbed National City's Most Charming two years running.

"Kara," he said, bumping familiarly against her shoulder. "It's good to see you again."

"You too," Kara said, returning his smile as Lena reached them.

"Check your messages when we're done," she told Mike shortly, ignoring Kara completely. "I'm not arguing with your mother as well as mine." Mike frowned at her then nodded sharply while Kara looked between them, mystified.

Any further conversation between them was cut off by Snapper stomping towards them. "Right, if Their Majesty are ready, let's get this blocked out."

The scene was an important one, despite being mostly expository dialogue. The show had been building an intense will-they-won't-they dynamic between the two leads, and the introduction of Kara's character as a romantic rival for Lena's was designed to shake up that dynamic. It was a risky move by writers, interfering in the well-liked pairing that had been dubbed 'Jaxabel' by the fans, but Cat Grant had a history of risky moves paying off, and the current ratings meant that the network suits were giving her a lot of leeway.

Blocking out the scene took just under half an hour, and the actual filming took almost three. Watching Lena and Mike together was fascinating. They had an engaging rapport, and Kara was reminded of the rumours she'd heard that they were dating. Neither had publicly confirmed it, but they were seen together at all the right events, and watching them now, Kara could see why people thought that. Even if it wasn't true, they were obviously used to working together, and knew each other's quirks. It left her feeling very aware of how much of an outsider she was, which was the tone Snapper seemed to be going for in the scene anyway, so Kara went with it.

The co-stars were good scene partners, and they got through the takes quickly. Even though most of Snapper's criticisms were directed at Kara, she only actually messed up one other take, and she still wasn't sure if she'd really messed it up. The set dresser had come over to reapply Carl's fake blood, and there was a new pool of it on the ground near Kara's mark. The script called for her to lean over the body at one point, and she slipped as she straightened, and would have fallen face-first into the sticky mess had an arm not snaked around her waist to brace her. Kara regained her balance and looked around, blinking in surprise when she met green eyes inches from her own.

"Careful, detective," Lena murmured in a tone layered with meaning as she released her, and it took Kara a second to realise she hadn't broken character and there had been no call of 'cut!' from Snapper.

"Um, thanks," Kara stuttered out, glancing covertly at Mike. He shrugged minutely and continued the scene as if there had been no interruption.

They did three more takes after that one, and Kara was beginning to feel sorry for Carl, who'd been lying in the same position for hours, when Snapper finally popped up from behind his screens.

"Okay, we're done here. Danvers, Luthor, you two are free. Matthews, courtroom scene. Someone tell Lane she's got two minutes. Let's go people!"

Most of the crew scurried off towards the other stage, and Kara relaxed and twisted to unhook the prop gun on her belt. It had been digging into her hip for the last forty minutes, and she almost whimpered in relief as the holster came loose in her hand.

"I remember those days," said a voice from beside her, and Kara jumped and looked around to find Mike grinning at her. "You'll get used to it," he said, patting the prop on his hip. "I forget I'm wearing mine most of the time. If it's bothering you too much, ask Wardrobe and they'll give you a little pad to wear under it."

Kara smiled at him, one hand massaging her hip. "Thanks, I might do that."

"You were great today," he told her, flashing that charming smile and standing just a bit closer than Kara expected. "I know the first day can be kind of overwhelming, but you handled it just fine."

"Matthews! Sometime today!" echoed Snapper's voice from the other stage, and Mike grinned again.

"No rest for the wicked." He clapped her gently on the shoulder and turned to leave. "I'm looking forward to working with you, partner."

Kara smiled at him and shook her head, thinking to herself that if everyone was as friendly as Mike, working on this show might not be so bad.

…

The first week flew by, and Kara found that she genuinely enjoyed working with almost everyone on set. Lena was still treating her with a kind of distant professionalism, and Kara wasn't quite sure what that meant. Kara herself didn't actually bear Lena any ill will, and she'd had a half-formed plan to try and get her alone to clear the air, but it was stymied by the fact that Lena seemed to be actively avoiding her. Her aloofness extended only to Kara, though, which she knew because she'd heard her giggling with Lucy between takes. The sound of it had stopped Kara in her tracks, and when her eyes found them near the director's screens, she was stuck dumb by how stunning Lena looked when she laughed. She probably would've stayed there, frozen and entranced until the two women noticed her, but one of the lighting guys had almost run into her with one of the stage lamps, dodging out of the way at the last second and calling an apology. By the time Kara had righted herself, Lena was talking to Mike and the mirth on her face was gone.

Snapper didn't even aim for professionalism, instead going for just plain mean, but he was an excellent director and the few scenes Kara saw in post-production were amazing.

She'd forgotten how exhausting a full week of filming was, though. The role had a physicality to it that Kara had missed when she was doing two-minute guest spots on sitcoms, but the stage fighting was more draining than she remembered. She was thankful that her filming schedule would lighten after a few episodes, once they'd introduced her character and established her personality. She was being written as an optimist who wasn't naïve, but who hadn't had her faith in humanity beaten out of her yet as a counterpoint to the sarcastic and cynical Isabelle and the jaded, brooding Jax. It was a fun dynamic, and Kara knew from reading the next couple of scripts that they were taking the time to establish Sara's relationships with the other character before diving into the romance aspect, which Kara appreciated.

But for now, she was in almost every scene, hadn't seen Alex for days, and – by the time Saturday rolled around – was about ready to drop.

"Right, you three are done. Get outta here."

Kara almost collapsed with relief at those words. She'd just finished filming the final scene for the week with Mike and Lucy, she didn't have to be back on set until Monday afternoon, and she was looking forward to going to Alex's for a bit then going home and passing out for twelve hours.

Lucy had other plans. "C'mon Danvers," she said, linking her arm with Kara's and tugging her towards the trailers. "We're celebrating you surviving your first week on set."

Kara let herself be towed along but let her hesitation leak into her tone. "I dunno, Luce, I was meeting my sister after…"

Lucy's eyes lit up. "Bring her along! I wanna meet this 'Alex' I've heard so much about."

"C'mon, Kara, it'll be fun!" Mike insisted, squeezing her shoulders from behind, and Kara sighed.

"Okay, okay, let me call her…"

…

The club – Vortex – was packed, but the bouncer guarding the VIP section recognised Kara and waved her and Alex through with a smile. They moved through the short corridor that opened onto a slightly smaller dancefloor that was less densely populated than the one out the front, but it still took some manoeuvring to get through to where most of the cast of Dusklight were holding court.

"Everyone, this is my sister Alex," Kara said as they reached them, raising her voice to be heard over the pounding bass.

Most of her castmates called or waved a greeting, but Lucy looked between them for a long moment then burst out laughing. "Oh my god, she's a cop, right? Does she know Sara Harper is mostly you pretending to be her?" She dissolved into another fit of giggles, hitting a grinning Vasquez on the shoulder with her free hand, and Kara groaned.

"She isn't—I'm not…ugh." She gave up at the sight of Alex's teasing smile. "I'm going to the bar." She backed away, groaning again when Lucy slid further into the booth, patting the spot next to her with a vulpine smile.

"Sit here. Tell me everything."

Kara made it to the bar and ordered – a fruity cocktail for her and some obnoxiously overpriced scotch for Alex – and was waiting for the bartender to come back when someone settled against the counter next to her.

"Kara Danvers. I thought you'd bailed on us," Lena said, sipping something amber that glittered in the low light. It was the longest sentence she'd ever said to Kara that wasn't scripted, and Kara was thrown momentarily by how different her Lena voice was from her Isabelle voice. The latter tended towards light and sarcastic to match her character, intended as a foil to Mike's dark and brooding Jax. The former was lower, smokier, and in combination with the half-light and Lena's glittering eyes, felt like a finger ghosting down Kara's spine.

Kara laughed to cover her nerves and fiddled with her glasses. "Nope, just had to collect my sister first."

"The famous Alex Danvers. I'll have to say hello," Lena said with a slow smile. The way her vowels were running together ever so slightly told Kara that the drink she was holding was at least her third, but there was an undercurrent to her words that had nothing to do with alcohol. Before Kara could puzzle it out, though, the bartender returned with her drinks. "Let's not keep them waiting," Lena said, pushing off the bar and gesturing for Kara to go ahead of her.

They made their way back over to the booth. Lucy shoved Vasquez further along the bench when she saw them coming, then tugged a startled Alex closer to her, leaving enough space for Kara to slide in next to her sister. Alex looked at the arm looped around her own, then at the actress it was attached to, then reached for the drink in Kara's hand. Kara released it to her without the teasing she'd planned on, distracted instead by the interaction on the other side of the booth.

Mike was sitting opposite Kara, and there was enough space on his other side for him to slide over to let Lena sit down, but he didn't. Instead, he twisted to the side, sticking one knee out and patting it invitingly. Lena's eyes flashed for a split second, but then her expression melted into one of fond exasperation and she lowered herself gracefully onto his lap. Kara looked around and saw Alex with her cop face on and her eyes flicking between the pair, telling her that she hadn't imagined the moment of irritation, but the others seemed oblivious and Lucy quickly diverted her attention.

"To Kara!" she called, holding up her drink. "Surviving her first week on set!" The others cheered and raised their glasses, and Kara blushed.

"To you guys, for helping me," she countered, making them laugh as she drained her glass.

an: i am going somewhere with this, trust me.