National City Tribune, Sunday, December 13, 2015 Edition
Inhuman Trafficking
by Siobhan Smythe
This past Wednesday morning, a young couple began loading a uHaul. The young man, named Kaamron, born on a planet some nine-hundred light-years away, fled his home after an invasion by brutal mercenaries pillaging the world for resources. A story not so unfamiliar, even here on Earth. During the months-long trip, he met a young woman named Loovorn, and as young couples do, the two of them fell in love. They arrived on Earth, not their original destination, after the ship they'd fled on suffered an engine failure. Kaamron took work as a dishwasher in a local restaurant, while Loovorn went to work in a garage, souping up engines for local racers.
They were moving out of the run-down apartment they had been renting for years, paying in cash, because they had no bank accounts, no forms of legal ID, and until President Marsdin signed the Alien Amnesty act recently, no legal right to exist anywhere on this planet. With the stroke of a pen, President Marsdin improved their lives, and when they were accepted into the free housing program in Supergirl's newly established City of Hope, the Girl of Steel gave them a dream of a better future.
They were excited for the possibilities their new life offered. Better paying jobs, a chance to live in the open. All of that came to an end when a white van pulled up to the curb next to the uHaul, and three men jumped out. The men attacked Kaamron before he had a chance to react, beating him severely, until a police officer intervened.
The assailants fled the scene, and the police officer made the decision to wait with the victim for medical assistance to arrive, and even though paramedics were on the scene in less than five minutes, Kaamron still nearly died due to the paramedics' lack of training on anatomy and medical needs of the various aliens living among us. It wasn't until DEO Agents Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer arrived on scene that the young alien received the medical help he so desperately needed and was quickly transported by Agent Danvers to the Kryptonian Medical Halls in the City of Hope.
That, sadly, is not where our story ends. It is not even where the story begins. The following day, there was a similar attack. This time, a young alien moving on their own. Once again, the police intervened, and this time when they called for medical help, they knew to report that the victim was an alien, and the Medical Halls dispatched Drones and an Attendant to help.
M'gann M'orzz, an alien whose tenure in our fair city predates the birth of most of our grandparents, was spotted speaking with Agent Sawyer at the scene, and in a later interview, she painted a far, far bleaker picture than the anti-alien hate crimes these appeared to be at first glance.
The first disappearance was a little over ten years ago. A young alien, barely past adolescence, not more than fifteen years old in human terms, simply vanished while out walking his dog one night. At first, it didn't raise many alarms. Aliens were used to their people disappearing. They were used to the black SUVs of the DEO arriving and taking their kind away. People assumed the boy had been taken by the DEO that night and waited for them to come looking for others.
The SUVs never arrived, but the disappearances continued. Silently, one by one, over the course of ten years, nearly two hundred and fifty aliens vanished into the dark. Never to be seen or heard from again.
Word spread in hushed whispers. Travel in packs. Don't move alone. Check in at safe locations. Watch for strangers. Sightings happened. White panel vans became more feared even than the terrifying black SUVs. The aliens made themselves harder targets, but the disappearances never stopped. Not until the Amnesty Act. Not until they were free to move in the daytime.
When the Amnesty Act passed, almost in the same breath, Cadmus stepped out into the open. A former government project gone rogue, they tried to murder Supergirl in retaliation for bringing about the passage of the Amnesty Act, as well as getting their government support cut. A few days later, members of PHAN, the so-called Planetary Hygiene Action Network, a hate group founded by Lex Luthor, tried to attack Darla's Bar, one of the aliens' meeting places, with rocket-propelled grenades.
After Supergirl stopped the attack and promised to build them a new refuge, community leaders put the word out once again. Stay together, move in the daytime. Watch out for each other.
This new strategy of moving in the daytime hours seemed to make the kidnappers desperate. They tried on three occasions to grab an alien off the street in broad daylight, and three times they were interrupted by the police, but these attacks weren't linked to the years of disappearances.
Not until Friday evening, when someone called the DEO and reported four men dragging an unconscious alien from a white panel van.
We may never know who that kind soul was, but what followed was a horror story. The DEO raided the building where the men took the alien. They found cages and forty-eight victims. Many who'd gone missing months earlier. They also found evidence that far, far more aliens had passed through the makeshift prison, and their fates are still unknown.
Eleven men were arrested on sight. Men who had no previously known ties to PHAN.
One might expect them to demand lawyers, to plead innocence when faced with the magnitude of their crimes, but not these men. Instead, they shouted their allegiance to PHAN. They boasted, proclaiming proudly that they were clearing the 'alien infestation' from our streets. They bragged of giving the aliens over to Cadmus, and of Cadmus' plans to drive the aliens off Earth.
It would be easy to imagine that is where the story ends. The villains in custody, as many of the victims as possible saved. Evil is defeated, and all is well. But this is not something recent. This is not a story that begins with Cadmus' break from the government. This is ten years of horrors, perpetrated on the defenseless, who were unable to even cry out for help lest they bring down a different villain on their heads. These crimes might have been committed by the Planetary Action Hygiene Network, but if the confessions are to be believed, they were aided and abetted by Cadmus while it was still a government project, through two different administrations.
So, we must ask ourselves this question. Who knew this was happening, when did they know it, and who will answer for it?
It was just after 7:15 AM when Kara's phone started blasting out 'Hail to The Chief' an a completely unreasonable volume. She flipped the blanket back and reached over, grabbing her phone and answering it.
"'ello," she muttered, barely half awake.
"What the hell are you playing at?" Olivia demanded.
Kara opened one eye and looked at the clock on her bedside table. "Uhhh… why are you calling me at seven-fifteen on a Sunday morning?"
"Because it's 10:15 in Washington DC, and that's where I keep my temper," Olivia snapped.
"Right. Call me back after you've had a cup of calm the fuck down," Kara said, then took the phone away from her ear and hung it up.
"Konex?" Kara said as her phone started blasting 'Hail to The Chief' again.
"Yes, Lady Kara?"
"Why is President Marsdin mad at me?" She swiped to decline the call.
"I believe it might have something to do with the article published a few minutes ago on CatCo's website."
"Display," Kara said.
A hologram displaying the CatCo homepage appearing in front of Kara. She reached up and scrolled down, quickly taking in the article, then tapping through to the gallery of pictures James had taken as her phone began playing 'Hail to The Chief' a third time.
"Konex, tell President Marsdin I will call her back when I get out of bed, then get Vicki Vale on the phone."
Hail to The Chief cut off immediately, and a moment later, Vicki came on the line.
"I was expecting you to call," Vicki said.
"Is the story accurate?" Kara asked.
"Yes," Vicki said. "Cat and I vetted every word."
"Did Siobhan follow the rules I laid out?" Kara asked.
"Mostly," Vicki said. "I assigned her the first attack. She caught a whiff of a bigger story when M'gann showed up at the second crime scene, and followed M'gann to get an interview, but she came to me immediately after the interview was done."
"Okay," Kara said. "Tell her I said she did a good job. Then put her on dog weddings and waterskiing parrots for a couple of weeks to make the point about following the damn rules."
"Done and done, but I will pass along that you said so as well," Vicki said. "How much heat are we going to take for this?"
"Don't worry about it," Kara said. "Get some sleep."
"Will do," Vicki said.
Kara hung up and tossed the phone back on the bedside table, then pulled the blanket back over her head.
She'd just closed her eyes when Ray Charles started singing 'It Ain't Easy, Being Green'.
She sighed and tossed the blanket aside again.
Kara touched down on the landing deck outside DEO headquarters with her war suit configured into a plain black Kryptonian military-issue jumpsuit with the House of El Coat of Arms embroidered on the upper right chest in black thread. Her makeup was a bit more intense than usual, with winged eyeliner and a darker lipstick, and she was wearing her power. She moved with an arrogance and a purpose, striding down the steps with her back straight and her head held high and a look on her face that absolutely dared anyone to get between her and her destination.
If anyone from the old timeline had seen her, they would have stepped back in fear as memories of Red Kryptonite and maniacal Kryptonians came rushing to the fore. The resemblance was not unintentional, and the harshness of her brutally short haircut only added to the image, which was having exactly the desired effect, as people took one look at her and got out of her way.
"Director," Kara said, in a voice that was cold and spoke with authority. Alex, Maggie, Lucy, Susan, Leslie and J'onn all turned around, and all of them but Leslie and J'onn blanched at the sight of her. "A word."
J'onn's eyes narrowed, but it was Leslie who broke the silence.
"Holy shit, Sunshine," Leslie said. "whose ass are you looking to kick?"
J'onn closed his eyes and tilted his head, wincing in physical pain at Leslie's remark.
"Upstairs," he said as he looked at Kara again.
Kara didn't wait for him, she just turned and headed up the stairs, going to the empty conference room just past the one Lucy and Maggie were still using as a makeshift workspace. She dropped into the seat at the head of the conference table, and waited, smiling slightly at the annoyed glare J'onn gave her as he came into the room. She turned, glancing at the door at the sound of a second pair of footsteps, a little surprised to see Susan following J'onn.
J'onn stopped and turned around to face her. "We'll be speaking in private, Agent," J'onn said.
"Like hell," Susan said. "Both of you are up here waving your dicks around. Someone needs to be the adult in the room. You two idiots hired me for the job, and I was just dumb enough to take it, so suck it up, buttercup."
She didn't wait for him to respond. She stepped around him and dropped into the chair to Kara's left. J'onn, with a long suffering look on his face, dropped into the chair on Kara's right.
"Would you mind telling me what the hell you were thinking?" J'onn asked.
"You're really gonna have to narrow it down," Kara said. "Given how many poor decisions I've made in the last two weeks, I'm really not sure what I'm being yelled at for."
"Why don't we start with you hanging up on the President of the United States three times?" J'onn said.
Susan looked mildly impressed.
"Well, technically, I only hung up on her once. The second time, I sent the call to voice mail without answering, and the third time I told Konex to let her know I'd call her back once I got out of bed," Kara said.
"And did you?" J'onn asked.
"No, because my favorite Martian called, and demanded I 'get my Kryptonian ass to the DEO'."
"Which took you twenty minutes," J'onn said.
"It would have taken me less if there'd been a good reason to hurry," Kara said.
"Are you trying to turn her against us?" J'onn asked.
"No," Kara said, "but the story was fact checked, by the reporter, by the head of investigative reporting for CatCo World Wide Media, and by Cat Grant herself."
"That's not the point," J'onn said.
"Actually, it is," Kara said. "Every word of that story is the truth. Olivia Marsdin sat in the Oval Office and let this happen. She sat there for three fucking years and let Cadmus haul people in off the street and butcher them. And they did it right under your nose, and you were too busy hiding behind threats like Fort Rozz to care."
"Kara!" Susan snapped, and Kara turned towards her. Susan nodded, looking down at the table where Kara's hand was. "Dial it down a little."
Kara looked down, realizing she'd driving her fingers through the metal top of the table and twisted the surface into a mangled mess. She let go, and pushed back, taking a deep breath.
"Next time something like this is going on, J'onn, I need you to call me," she said.
"We were trying to give you time," J'onn said, all of the heat gone from his voice. "I know what it's like to lose a wife," he said. "I can't imagine it happening twice."
"I appreciate that. I do," Kara said. "But I need to be able to trust you, and if you keep me out of the loop on things that are important, I can't help. I could have headed off this whole situation with Siobhan if I'd known what was going on."
"She's got a point," Susan said. "We can't exclude her and then blame her when that decision bites us in the ass."
"You're right," J'onn said. "But it probably is time to call the President."
It ended up being another thirty minutes before the call went through, and when it did, it was on Kara's video phone on the forty-second floor conference room in the CatCo building, with Cat sitting next to her on the right, holding her hand under the table, and Lena sitting next to her on the left.
"Morning, Olivia," Cat said.
"Madam President," Lena said.
"Olivia," Kara said.
"Morning Cat," Olivia said. "Miss Luthor."
"Lena, please," Lena said.
"Of course, Lena," Olivia said. "And I suppose you might as well join the club and call me Olivia, since we seem to be casual this morning."
Lena gave a small laugh. "Thank you, Olivia."
"Now, it's always a pleasure to see you, Cat, and it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Lena, but I need to speak to Kara in private."
"I don't think that would be particularly productive," Kara said. "Unless I'm wrong and this isn't about the story that CatCo ran this morning."
"It is," Olivia said.
"Then I'm really not the one you should be speaking with," Kara said. "You see, Cat, Lena and I are joint owners of Danvers International now. Lena runs the LCorp division, which is focused on technology and other consumer goods, while Cat runs CatCo World Wide Media, which is currently in the process of absorbing the remnants of LexTel and Galaxy Communications, along with the Media Assets of Lord Technologies, TychoTech and Queen Consolidated."
"Is that so?" Olivia said.
"It is," Cat said. "In fact, Kara's been on medical leave since before the first attack happened on Wednesday. Not only did she not approve the story, she was unaware of the story, or the events behind it until *after* your call this morning."
"I see," Olivia said.
"Good," Cat said. "Then, as you and I have known each other since our freshman year at college, I'm sure you understand that, if a story is factual, newsworthy, and in the public interest, there isn't much that can keep me from publishing it."
"Really?" Olivia said, insinuation dripping from her voice.
"Yes," Cat said.
"You've never sat on a story for personal reasons?" Olivia asked.
"I never said that," Cat said. "I said there 'isn't much', but that doesn't mean there aren't lines I won't cross. Destroying someone's life by outing them publicly, for example. Especially when there's no compelling public interest."
Kara could see the anger boiling away behind Olivia's face, and wasn't quite ready to make peace just yet.
"The story was timely, factual and relevant to the public conversation," Kara said. "Questions like why Cadmus was allowed to operate for so long, why they were allowed to employ the methods they used, who knew what those methods were, and who might still be lending them aid are all important issues."
"Just spit it out," Olivia said. "What do you want?"
"I want you to do what you should have done the day you took office and clean your damn house," Kara said. "I'm sick of cleaning up your shit with my friends' blood."
Kara glanced over at Cat, and got just the slightest dip of the head, something barely perceptible, and she turned back to Olivia. "Siobhan Smythe."
"The reporter who wrote the article?" Olivia asked. "What about her?"
"She stepped in front of Carter. She took two bullets in the chest to save his life," Kara said. "She's alive because of Kryptonian medical technology, but that is on you, Olivia. As much as it's on Lane and Lillian and Tycho and Lord and Harper. You let this go on for three years. A black market in alien refugees. Two hundred and fifty in National City alone, and that's just the ones we know of, and now, they're out there, hiding, waiting while they perfect some weapon, and I honestly don't know if I'm going to be able to stop them this time.
"And that's on you," Kara said. "So, clean your damn house." Before Olivia could say anything, Kara leaned forward and cut the line. When the screen was dark, she leaned back in the chair and let out an exhausted sigh.
"Well," Lena said, "I never thought scolding the President of the United States would be part of my Sunday morning routine," Lena said. "You, Kara Danvers, are full of surprises."
"Yeah," Kara said. "Maybe I should have had that cup of calm the fuck down I told her to drink."
"You told Olivia to have a cup of calm the fuck down?" Cat asked.
Kara nodded a little sheepishly.
Cat smiled as she closed her yes. "I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you."
"Kisses please," Kara said. "Attempts on my life are so last week."
Lena laughed, but Cat picked up a folder off the table and slapped her in the face with it, and Kara, completely unprepared, flinched backwards, tipping the chair over, which made Lena and Cat both laugh.
Olivia sat for a moment, fuming at the absolute audacity of the little Kryptonian upstart. She's spent decades moving through human society, blending in, playing the good little hairless primate. She's swallowed her pride, choked on her own dignity, ignored filthy little monkey men putting their paws on her, all to get where she was, to improve the lot of her people here on Earth. And this child from a race so foolish they blasted themselves out of the stars presumed to tell her how to go about things.
She leaned back in her chair, taking deep, calming breaths, soothing herself before she lost control. She was too close already, could taste her own venom on her tongue. She could deal with this. She was not without resources.
The girl was a nuisance. So far, a useful one, but a nuisance. If she had to be removed, it would have to be done in such a way that the blame could not come back on her or on any human. The girl's aunt would have to go, as well. She was too attached to the girl. That would leave Fendra of House Kann. The intelligence officer, and by all accounts, a more reasonable sort. A follower. She would be smart enough to understand what had been done, and the warning implicit in it.
But how? Not Superman, of course. The girl was his family, and after the incident in the Fortress, it was clear he wasn't up to the challenge. The Amazon was unreliable. Give her an order, and she was equally likely to follow it, or spend the afternoon chasing butterflies around the park and buying children ice cream. The Bat was out. That was too much like tossing nitroglycerine on a dynamite fire. The Cyborg would follow Superman, the Amazon and the Bat right into hell without asking questions, and the Atlantian would laugh in her face.
It would have to be one of the Lanterns, but which one? Jordan, Stewart or Rayner were the most likely to be able to handle the girl, but Jordan and Rayner were almost as unpredictable as she was. Gardner was a buffoon. It would be easy enough to convince him to take the girl down, but Olivia suspected Kara would wipe the floor with him without so much as breaking a sweat. Cruz and Baz weren't even worth considering. Too new, too inexperienced.
Who was she kidding? The girl brought down Superman without her powers.
It would have to be all six of them. Six Lanterns would do it. Sure, she was a Kryptonian, but she was just *one* Kryptonian.
But how to convince the Lanterns to do it?
Olivia closed her eyes, wishing she knew what the girl's agenda was. The Alien Amnesty had obviously only been the first step. That much was clear, right from the start. Maybe she was building up to go after whoever destroyed her homeworld. It fit as well as any other theory Olivia had come up with. Of course, Kara had never told her who that was. For all Olivia knew, it might be the Green Lanterns.
She bolted upright in her chair, as the perfect plan formed in her mind. Ask Stewart to carry a message to the Guardians. Tell them Kara was planning to attack them. That she believed they had destroyed Krypton. The Guardians would send the Lanterns after her.
It was perfect. Brilliant.
She sat back, not quite able to smile. It would be a shame, if she had to do it. She liked Kara, when the girl wasn't causing problems. Of course, if the girl went, Cat would have to go too, which was a bigger shame, if easier to accomplish. She wouldn't even have to die. Just a few words in the right ears. Adam's name. A rumor that Cat was sleeping with her assistant. A timely investigation into insider trading. Cat's reputation would be in tatters, and her empire would crumble.
Maybe the girl wouldn't push. Maybe. She just needed time. Time for J'onzz to deal with the Cadmus business, and then, a few months down the road, she could take subtle, less direct action. A few whispers in the right ears. Words about super-powered vigilantism. A few sad speeches about the cost to tax payers after one of Superman's battles. Slow, careful. Shift public opinion, not against aliens, but against superheroes.
A plank in the campaign promising to rein them in.
It would work.
As long as the girl didn't push.
In the meantime, she could find a few people in Defense and Homeland Security to throw to the wolves.
She reached over and hit the intercom. "Somebody find Nia," she said. "And schedule a press briefing for this afternoon."