Chapter 2

James worked out in the local gym next to CATCO called Better Bodies; it was a huge complex with multiple floors. The first floor had the weights and low grade running machines like treadmills. The upper level had the more expensive equipment. James enjoyed a good run on the treadmill every now and again, but his main concern was strength and agility. He did a lot of stretching and weight lifting throughout the week, and today was no exception.

Since his father died on a mission with the National Intelligence Agency, he used Martial Arts and weight lifting as a means to cope with the tragedy. Before his father died, he had to take Martial Arts from different Masters all over the world. When his father was stationed in China, he learned Preying Mantis Kung Fu and Chinese Boxing. He always had wonderful flexibility when it came to his Martial Arts, but he had to work on his strength training because of the super villain, criminal class located in National City.

He was pressing about three hundred and fifteen pounds with no problem at all. When he picked the weights off the rack, he did so with a huge grunt. He started pressing the weights with no problem. After fifteen repetitions, he placed the weights back on the rack, and thought to himself that the Guardian suit had increased his strength. He wanted to ask Winn if the suit could change him on some physiological level, but he had forgotten. Even though he was now the National City hero, he still had a lot on his mind with his recent breakup with Kara.

He looked around the gym for a moment, and thought it had one of the largest weight areas in National City. It was a sea of different weight equipment that he needed to keep his body prepared to endure the roughness of National City's mean streets, especially the area called Little Africa.

The weight room area of the gym was a musty area, the kind of place where men with attitudes worked out, and James had a lot of attitude. Sweat poured off his head, and he left a wet spot on the bench, but he wiped it off with his white towel. James always pushed it hard in the gym because he knew the bad guys weren't going to take it easy on him in the streets. Approximately thirty something people pumped iron in the weight room area at six o'clock in the morning, and James thought it odd nobody was talking about Supergirl. He realized that he was probably the only person who had her on the mind all the time.

James continued to lift his heavy weights when he noticed a thin, approximately five-foot-eight Asian girl watching him. Her hair was completely straight as if she pressed it. She had a serious Asiatic look that he admired, and she seemed to admire him too. He glared over at her, and smiled. She smiled back. There wasn't that many women frequenting the weights early in the morning, but she didn't seem to be a stranger to weight lifting. Normally, the ladies didn't spend too much time away from the treadmills and stair-masters that set at the front of the room. There was a fleet of young women running on the treads, but he had his eyes on the Asian lady. She had a svelte frame, but it was tight and still feminine like he liked. She looked familiar to him for some reason, but he couldn't place it. He realized that he probably brushed past her in the local eatery, and just didn't notice her because Kara gave him tunnel vision.

He watched her walk over to a young, black girl no more than eighteen-years-old, and she whispered something to her on the treadmill. "That's odd," James whispered, "Both of those ladies look crazy familiar." James watched her closely because he wanted to make eye contact with her one more time just to be sure he wasn't going crazy. He wanted to ask her on a date or at least get her phone number. He didn't want to move too fast, but it was about time for him to move past Kara.

When James finished with his set, she stopped talking to her friend, and walked over to him, and said, "I'm Ju Gee." He felt a little surprised by her forwardness, but he liked it nonetheless. She came up to him with a carefree look on her face that he liked. He smiled.

James shook her hand, and said, "James Olsen." He noticed she had a perfect set of teeth and a nice smile almost immediately.

"Oh. I know who you are," she said sheepishly, "You're pretty popular around these parts."

"Are you a regular at the gym?" James asked. He wanted to move past Kara as soon as possible because she had indicated that she was done with the possibility of a relationship. Even though she didn't say it out loud, he pretty much got the feeling she didn't want a relationship with him.

"Here and there," she said, "Preparing a photo shoot with Pablo Whales."

"Oh. I was wondering. Would you like to have lun…?"

A sudden breeze—Kara in her nice work clothes—startled James as he tried to talk to Ju Gee. He didn't know what she was doing at the gym so early in the morning because she didn't lift weights. She had on a white blazer with black pants, and she looked professional.

"James," Kara said with a huge smile on her face, "Whatcha doing?" She had her incessant smile, a smile of innocents, and it made James automatically smile back.

"Oh. Well. Let me not interrupt," Ju Gee said, "Talk to you later, James."

"Okay," James said. Ju grabbed her friend, and they exited the weight room, and didn't make an attempt to look back. James wondered if the presence of another woman upset Kara. He didn't want to come across as somebody fast and loose with the women. James looked over at Kara, and said, "What brings you here?"

"Snapper. He has me working on the Cadmus piece with him," she said, "He was pretty adamant about that Cadmus piece. He wants a rough draft by noon."

James wondered if Kara used her super hearing to purposely interrupt his conversation with Ju Gee, but at the same time, that was what he wanted. That's exactly what he wanted Kara to do. He wanted Kara to feel jealous on some level, but at the same time, her Jealousy didn't mean she would let down her guard long enough to find love. "It's time to expose the corruption, Kara. We can't let Cadmus reign supreme."

At the office...

James fixation on Cadmus, by seeing the woman in his photos, drove him to the conclusion that spies were everywhere. He knew the woman in the photo was Lillian Luther, and he had her image on the big screen television in front of his desk. As CEO of CATCO, he wanted to do everything in his powers to bring down Cadmus. He studied her face as if she was a puzzle that could be easily solved. His motto—do what you have to do to win—rang in his mind repeatedly as he looked into Lillian's eyes. He noticed her menacing stare, and how she seemed almost unflinching. "What makes you tick?" He whispered to himself. She looked like a wolf: dangerous and vicious. "Is it complete control? Dominance? What's your weakness?"

James knew Lillian Luther through his association with Lex Luthor, and when Lex went to prison, Lillian swore that she'd do everything in her power to crush Superman, his friends, and his family. At the time, James thought she said those remarks out of anger, but now he realized that she had the power to bring them to fruition. James thought Lillian bathed in death, and without question, forced abject terror on her enemies. Lillian's threats—after the sentencing, "I'll destroy you, Superman!"-were slowly coming true. It pained him that she captured Supergirl, and with the advent of Kryptonite weapons, she might have the tools to kill her.

All the people on Lex' enemies list knew he dabbled in Kryptonite, and exploited opportunities to destroy the Man of Steel. He had a database full of projects on how to build weapons to hurt or kill Superman. Cadmus would have died out nearly fifteen years earlier, if not for the Luther's money. They kept project Cadmus alive. It was Cadmus who fed information to the DEO about Kryptonians' strengths and weaknesses. Kara had mentioned to him earlier that Cadmus can clone Kryptonians, and if that was the case, their arsenal would be almost unstoppable.

Snapper—mean-mugging and grunting—stormed through James' door, and handed him the rough draft of the article that James wanted. It was a well written article, but it didn't have enough sauce on Lillian Luther. In fact, it was almost dismissive of Lillian's contribution to the corrupt agency, and that bothered him. James opened up his desk drawer, and pulled out a stack of folders. He thumbed through the folders, and pulled out the one with Lillian's name on it. "Give this to Kara. Tell her twenty-five hundred words."

"Twenty-five hundred words? She's not ready for that," Snapper snapped.

"She can do it," James said, "I believe in her. Lex sent a shipment of Kryptonite to National City University. I'd like to know what happen with that?"

Snapper gave James a long, cold stare, and then waddled out of the room. James turned off the overhead monitor of Lillian Luther, and then fell back in his chair. He looked as if he was in a coma, but it was how he did his deep thinking. He spent a lot of time focusing on Lillian Luther like she was the head of Cadmus, but that wasn't the real truth. She was the money, but there was another woman in charge of the institution. He met the head of Cadmus during a dinner date with Lana and her father, General Lane, several years back at his mansion on the outskirts of Metropolis. It was a formal gathering with over twenty high ranking guests, and General Lane hired James to take pictures.

"No pictures of Amanda Waller," General Lane said to James Olsen.

"Why not?" James asked.

"Some government officials you don't," he said, "Just leave it at that."

When Amanda Waller walked through the front door, she had several body guards around her—always . Even though she was diminutive compared to the surrounding men, she was large in presences. She had a small, perfectly comb fro with little makeup on her face. She had a sleek frame, and strong, muscular looking arms. She had the rank of a General, but Lana had told James earlier in the day. "Nobody knows her rank. She has several PhDs and heads Cadmus, and has her hands in the dirtiest parts of the intelligence branch."

"Seriously?" James asked with a look of disbelief, "My father worked for the NIA."

"There're rumors she killed her own family when she became the director of the NIA nearly twenty years ago."

James walked over to the window in his office, and knew that Amanda's name wouldn't be in the article, and he wasn't sure if he should play with that kind of fire. He only knew the myth of Amanda Waller, but all the awful things he heard must have some foot in reality. When he mentioned her to Clark a few years ealier, he immediately told James to drop the conversation.

"Never mention her name," Clark said.

"People act like she's the devil," James said.

Clark laughed. "No. She's the devil's mom."

James never forgot that conversation because if a human woman could put that much fear in the strongest man on the planet, then there was something to her. Once he remembered how the conversation about Amanda Waller went in his mind, he realized that he didn't want to cross that line. The last thing he needed to do was to put an unnecessary burden on Supergirl.

Later That Evening…

James wore some relaxed fitting blue jeans with a buttoned up, short sleeve shirt. When he looked at himself in his full length mirror, he played around with his shirt buttoned up to the neck or not fastening the top three buttons. He decided to hang loose, and leave the top three buttons unbuttoned so the upper part of his muscular chest would show. Leaving the top buttons fastened made him seem unapproachable, and he wanted to feel relaxed in the Alien Bar.

When James arrived at the bar, Winn had already secured a table in the far corner of the room. Maggie and Alex sat in a booth so they could talk about their relationship, and Kara was at the bar playfully flirting with Mon-El. James veered over at Kara for a second, and immediately flushed any feelings he had deep down inside. He looked over at her once, and immediately headed for Winn's table. He hated the fact that ignoring Kara and Mon-El was palpable. He felt like not paying attention to them was louder than going up to Kara, and screaming, "How the hell are you? I see you're going to fuck this guy at some point." He started laughing at the thought.

"What's so funny?" Winn asked.

"Oh nothing," James said, "Just waiting to get a few drinks in me."

"James, you ever thought about talking to one of these alien chicks?" Winn asked.

James smiled for a second. "I was, but then..."

Winn almost spit out his drink. "True. True."

"I met a young lady this morning," James said, "But it's like I knew her or something."

"Did you know her?" Winn asked.

"That's the crazy thing," James said, "I feel like I do, but I don't. It's the craziest."

"James?" Maggie said, "How's it hanging?"

"'Bout ei..."

"Don't say it," Alex said as she tried to choke down her drink. "You're horrible, James."

Maggie laughed. "At least you're in a good mood."

"I'm doing okay. Thanks, Maggie."

James looked around the room for the barmaid, but had a hard time seeing her through all the haze. Several of the patrons were smoking on electric cigars, and the smells were pleasant to the nose. One of the guys behind him smoked a lemon flavored cigar, and the aroma calmed him to a certain degree. He took in a huge whiff of smoke, and turned towards the small dance floor for a moment. Three lesbian couples were on the dance floor in a deep embrace. They all looked like they were recovering from a bad argument.

Most days of the week only one barmaid walked the floor until the weekend. The bar had low hanging, upside down dome shaped lights, and James noticed the barmaid was standing next to Kara. He didn't want to approach the bar because he felt uncomfortable for some reason. Talking to Kara about everything except the way she made his heart bleed was more pain than it was worth. If a relationship was a living organism, then it would only be natural for that organism to find some way to survive an animal attack, but every time he wanted to talk to her about what happened to their relationship, she refused to discuss it.

He looked over at Winn, and he was busy drinking his drink, and James felt awkward sitting for over five minutes without a drink in his hand.

"Here goes nothing," He said as he headed for the bar. Standing behind Kara, he said, "How's it going, Kara?"

She turned around immediately, smiling from ear to ear, and said, "Hey, you." The greeting caused James to pause for a second because it felt cold and unfeeling. It was completely void of any emotion.

"Just getting me a couple of beers and an Apple Martini," he said sheepishly.

"'Sup with your shirt?" Kara ask. She looked at him seriously for a second. "Kind of letting it hang out." She pushed her glasses up on face.

"It's just warm in here," he said, "You know how it gets?"

"Yeah," she said. She turned around, and looked as if he knocked the wind out of her for a second.

He grabbed his drinks, and said, "Talk to you later."

She kind of waved at him, but it was a half wave. He could see her tapping her fingers on the bar as if something was bothering her, but he didn't want to pry. It was confusing because her demeanor changed during the conversation, but he didn't understand why. When he sat down at the table, he asked Winn a few things about what she was drinking.

"Is Kara drinking that alien drink?"

"Yeah. She had a few," he said. "Mon-El cut her off." He make the crazy gesture with his right finger.

"Okay," he said, "That explains a lot." He looked back at Kara for a moment, and she looked over at him, and gave him a nasty looking scowl before she turned away. James was completely caught off guard by the look, but he just summed it up as too much alien ale.

The bar—for a Tuesday night—was blissfully active, and several alien ladies stumbled through the front door, and they actually looked human. One of the aliens who walked into the room looked human except for her spotted forehead. She had brown spots on her tan skin. He noticed one last lady walk through the door, and it was Ju Gee, the Asian lady he met at the gym.

James immediately hopped out of his seat, and said, "Ju, I didn't know you came here."

"Yeah," she said, "Love hanging out with my kind of people."

"Wait? You're an alien?" he asked.

"Just weird," she said. "Sometimes I like to escape my room."

"Why's that?" James asked.

"My roomie is eighteen with three PhDs," she said, "She's one of the smartest people on the planet."

James paused for a minute, and then said, "Is your roommate Rachel Ballard?" He had an enthusiastic look on his face.

"Yes," she said.

"Wow! Just wow," he said, "Do you know she published a book called 'It's not that God doesn't Care, But God Isn't There.' She was nine." James waved for the barmaid, and she came over to his table immediately. She was a new barmaid that had come into the pub while he was sitting with Ju. "What would you like, Ju?"

"Long Island," she said. "Extra lemon."

"Okay," the barmaid said, "Can I get you another beer, sir?"

"Two beers and an Apple Martini," James said, "Thank you."

"You're welcomed."

"So, I read Rachel's work," James said, "I was at her National City University graduation when she received her four bachelor degrees a year later."

Ju smiled. "She's the greatest. She's like my sister," she said, "We've been roomies for nine years now. What's your favorite quote from Rachel's first book?"

James thought for a second, and said, "I'm not angry with god because five cops killed my dad. If I had an ounce of anger for a god, then that would negate my atheism because I'd believe there was a god to be angry at. I'm angry at the cops. I'm angry at the justice system that didn't prosecute them for killing my dad. I'm angry at the lack of justice. I'm angry because of the injustice." James looked down at his cold beer, took a drink, and said, "Her words resonated with me."

"Me too," Ju said, "She works nonstop on the betterment of humankind."

"What's your favorite quote from the book?" James asked.

Ju laughed sheepishly for a moment. "That's a hard one." She looked around the room for a second, and noticed the girl at the bar looking at her. "Who's that?"

James turned around for a moment, and noticed Kara looking at him. "Oh. That's Kara." He waved at her, but she didn't wave back.

"Jealous girlfriend?" Ju asked.

"No. No. Not at all," James assured her.

"Okay. Well, I don't have a famous quote from the book," she said, "But I liked it when she wrote in the prologue to her thesis on quantum physics, 'We have Superman with all his gifts and powers, and where there's one, then you can assume there's many. To us mere mortals, he's like a god. We either learn all we can now about his strength and weaknesses, or relegate ourselves to his underlings tomorrow. I'd rather do the former.'"

The waitress dropped off the drinks, and when Ju took a sip of her tea, he noticed a black ring on her right pinkie finger. It was black with a "c" in the middle of it. He remembered back when he met Amanda Waller that she had the same ring. "What does the c on that ring mean?"

Ju looked down at it for a second, and said, "Oh. Caring. It means caring."

The Next Morning…

James only slept for a few hours before he headed back to work, and when he entered into the Office, Snapper met him in the main entrance. He looked befuddle.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"We're down. The whole damn system is down," he snapped, "I posted that Cadmus piece, and in five minutes we went off-line."

"Can you pull up the page internally?" James asked.

"Yeah," he said, "No outside access."

When James and Snapper headed for the elevator, they saw a fleet of men in black and one woman entering into the building. It was Amanda Waller, and she didn't look happy. She hopped on the elevator with James and Snapper, and immediately chewed into them.

"Who do you think you are, Olsen?" Amanda asked. She looked over at Snapper. "You know better than to fuck with Cadmus, Snapper."

"Just Lillian Luther," James said, "The piece was about her."

"I don't give a flying fuck. It was about Cadmus," she said, "And we're here for the protection of the world against Alien beings."

"Lillian has a personal vendetta against Supergirl," he said, "That's why I had the piece written."

"You do realize Supergirl's an alien?"

"But..."

"But nothing, Olsen. I spent years refining Kryptonite to keep Krptonians in their place," she snapped, "And I'd be damned if you or anybody else jeopardizes my work. Remove the article, and make sure nobody has a copy of it."

When James walked off the elevator with Snapper and Amanda Waller, James said, "Snapper, remove the article." Amanda and James walked into his office, and Kara came up behind them. When Kara got close to Amanda, she fainted.

"What did you do?" James asked.

"Just know that your little girlfriend and her cousin are no match for Cadmus." She opened up her blouse, and it was a kyptonite laced vest underneath it. "We don't fuck around." She walked over to James, and said, "Your father."

"Don't talk about my fath..."

"Your father worked for me in the NIA, Olsen,' she said, "Surely he warned you about meddling in these affairs before his untimely death?"

Later that morning:

James placed Kara on his cozy sofa, and gently laid her head on the soft pillow. She looked peaceful. Her face had a shine to it. He opened the office window to let the sun shine directly on her face. He knew the rays would rejuvenate her powers. He knelt beside her, and watched her breathing erratically for a moment. Parts of him wanted to call Hank Henshaw, the DEO leader, but he knew it wouldn't go well. He had messed up so much with that one article, and it put everybody at CATCO at risk that he didn't want to talk to Hank.

As Kara laid on his couch, he sat at his desk for a moment, and thought about where he went wrong. He knew messing with Amanda Waller was a dangerous game, a crazy game, and Snapper warned him. Even his father had clued him in all those years ago about messing with secretive government agencies because he knew from first hand experience. Jack Olsen, James father, was in the National Intelligence Agency or the NIA, and he died under suspicious circumstances on a covert mission to Iraq. And the last thing Jack would have wanted for James was to die under mysterious circumstances. And the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Kara, and that upset him the most because he knew jabbing the lion was dangerous. She looked like she was at peace. It took her nearly two hours before she gained conscience, and when she did, she wasn't happy.

"What happen?" She asked. She sat up for a moment, and held her head. Her hair was in disarray as she tried to regain her composure. She had on a fluffy white top with light blue pants.

"Kryptonite," James said in a calm voice. He bounced a ball off the wall. "Weapons grade."

"Holy snickers," Kara said, "I feel like I died."

"It's my fault. Shouldn't have had you write that story."

"My story? How'd you like it?" Kara asked. "Oh. My head hurts so badly."

"It was a fantastic piece, but ..."

"Wait? This is about my story?" Kara asked.

"Yeah. It got the attention of some special people," he said, "The kind of people who make the world go around."

She walked onto the veranda, and looked up at the sun for a moment. She let the rays hit her in the face. "That girl last night was the one at the gym?" She asked.

"Yeah," he said, "She's a nice lady."

She looked down at the ground for a moment. "Okay. Well, she seems nice." She gave him a fake smile, and then exited the office.