Olivia was relaxing much of the next morning, enjoying the relatively light load that Marvel was giving her, what with her pregnancy. Aidan, however, was busy as was his usual; besides, sitting around wasn't much his style, anyway. It usually wasn't hers, either, but she was more than content to spend a morning relaxing by the windows and looking out at the city. She was thinking about the future; about her and Aidan, and about the baby, and how life would be changing afterwards. It was simultaneously exciting and terrifying.
The phone rang, breaking her out of her thoughts. She frowned as she walked over to the kitchen, where the single phone hung on the wall. The number on the caller ID was unfamiliar; it was, however, local. Olivia picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Yes, this is Brendan Smith with the Wayne Foundation, is Miss Queen available?"
"Speaking," she said, hoping that her voice did not betray the frown on her face. What has Kamal got up his sleeve this time?
"Ah, Miss Queen, I was hoping we could get a hold of you. Recently, Mr. Wayne has given us the go ahead for a nation-wide art and music initiative in inner city schools. It just so happens that Los Angeles was on that list, and your resume has come to our attention."
Her frowned deepened; she had never written up a resume, let alone sent it to the Wayne Foundation. "Yes, well, I'm somewhat surprised at that. I…I didn't really include any artwork in it."
"Then perhaps you should bring your portfolio with you when you arrive at the interview. I have one set up for two this afternoon, at the Barnett Building downtown."
"Yes, I'm familiar with it," she said. "I will meet you at two, then."
"Excellent. Thank you, Miss Queen, and we look forward to meeting with you."
She was still frowning as she hung up, when she felt a gust of air next to her. Aidan. "Hey, I was in the neighborhood, and- what's wrong?"
She turned, shaking her head. "I just got a job offer," she said.
"No kidding? Well, that sounds good."
"Yeah, except I'm not prepared for the interview at two this afternoon." Olivia looked over at the clock. It was nearly eleven. "I have to get a portfolio of my works together by then."
"No problem, where do you keep your stuff?"
She shrugged. "Besides the couple paintings here? At home." She had barely finished the sentence when he was off again. Sighing somewhat, knowing that she should have known better, she started to root through the closet. There wasn't much there; mostly jeans, and a few t-shirts. She managed to find a single suit of Aidan's, a button down blue blouse of her own, and a pair of gray slacks. BY the time she had found them and put them down on the bed, Aidan had returned, his arms full of the art work he had taken from home.
"There's your portfolio," he said. "Gotta run. I'll see you in a bit." She barely registered the kiss on her cheek as he sped past her on the way through the door- literally. Smiling somewhat to herself, she began to go through the paintings. Some of them were definitely dated; she could tell not only from the date painted in green at the bottom left hand corner of each one, but at the quality of the work. As a joke (or, at least, she hoped it was a joke) Aidan had included a finger painting she had done when she could have been little more than three; herself, her mother, and her father, each one just a smear of color, with child's scribble over each head. She couldn't help but laugh; not only was it amusing that he put it in with the rest of her works, but she suspected that her father was going to be quite angry when he found out that the painting had been taken from the night stand.
Just as she finished putting together the dozen paintings she was going to bring with her, she heard her communicator beep. Sighing, she went over, touching the faceplate. "Green Arrow."
"Olivia, we have a level one priority emergency," Dealer said from the other end. "We have an energy surge in Chicago. I'm going to teleport you there with the others."
That was all the warning she had, and she was suddenly in an alley in Chicago. She was looking at a brick wall, but when she turned, she saw Captain Marvel, Flash, and Batman standing in the alley as well. Batman was knelt down, examining a man's corpse.
"What happened here?" Olivia asked, walking over.
"He was killed by a single blow to the neck," Batman said, putting his own gloved hand over the victim's neck. "It looks as if someone grabbed him here, one handed. then twisted the neck with the other hand. Front grip, right-handed killer. The kind of strength needed to do this is considerable. It would take a lot for me to do something like it."
"Not to mention the entire alley's cleared out, except for right here," Marvel said, pointing to the trash that had gathered on the back side of a dumpster. "It should be strewn across the alley."
Olivia frowned, turning again to look at the wall. "There was some sort of wind gust then?" she asked, as she went over to the wall. Looking down, she saw that debris had been pushed into the corners, but there was a space only a few inches in front of it that was completely cleared. "Looks like this is the epicenter. Someone came in here. Flew in pretty quick, or a teleport, maybe."
"Flash, check the city, see if you find anyone suspicious," Marvel ordered.
"More suspicious than at home," Olivia interjected.
"Got it!" He was gone by the time she turned around, as expected.
"Looks like he's been dead for only a couple minutes," Batman said. "Which puts it at the same time that Dealer noted the energy surge."
"Why would someone come to earth to kill a bum?" Marvel asked rhetorically.
"He probably wasn't the target," Olivia said. "He just happened to by lying in his way, I guess. Poor guy." Just then, Olivia frowned, as a stray thought struck her. "Dealer mentioned something about a woman in his dreams, she was going to cause trouble. She may be the one who caused this."
"What makes you think that?" Marvel asked.
Olivia shrugged. "Nothing. It was just something we could start with, at least."
"I have enough to start with," Batman said, standing up. "I'm going back u to the satellite to check out the energy readings, we may be able to cross reference them with something already in the computer."
"Before you go, I wanted to know how the Wayne Foundation got a hold of my resume," Olivia said. "The resume I never wrote."
Batman shrugged. "It was a simple matter of looking up your school records."
"They can't be that extensive."
He narrowed his eyes, and proceeded to rattle off her preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college names, the GPA in college and high school, the classes she had taken, and her extracurricular activities. Before she could say anything else, the blue light was around him, and he was gone.
"Well, looks like my files aren't all that private," she muttered. Marvel looked at her.
"Are you certain you want to be involved in this?" he asked. "It could be dangerous."
Olivia waved her hand dismissively. "I can handle it a little while longer. I'm not showing that much, am I? You can barely see it yet." She pressed her hands against her shirt, doing little more than show her lack of a waist. There was a slight bulge, one that only she or Aidan- or of course, Kamal- would notice. "Besides, I can still do monitor duty. D's gotta sleep sometime."
Marvel nodded, though she thought he was a bit hesitant about it. "I'm going to keep an eye on the city; The Flash may be quick, but he can't be everywhere at once."
Olivia nodded, as he flew off, out of the alley. She pulled out her communicator. "D, take me home, and have the local authorities notified about the dead guy."
"Already done," Dealer said, and Olivia soon found herself back in the apartment. After a quick shower, she was dressed and almost halfway across town, standing in the elevator of the Barnett Building, her portfolio under her left arm. She had wanted to thank Kamal for the set up- as she knew it was definitely little more than that. They had known each other for quite a while, even before she had joined the League, and though they had their differences from time to time, she knew she could count on him if things got difficult. She also knew that he expected to stand godfather to her baby, and she doubted Aidan would have much say in changing that- not that she would have wanted him to.
As the elevator door opened, she entered a small reception area. There was a large desk on the far wall, with the Wayne Foundation logo above it on the wall. To the right of the desk was a large wooden door, and there were chairs scattered about. She walked up to the woman seated behind the desk, who looked up. "Can I help you, miss?"
"Yes, I have an appointment with Mr. Smith," she said.
"Go right in," she said, hitting a small switch on the other side of the desk. The doors opened, and Olivia walked in. A man was standing at the head of a V-shaped table, that terminated against a large wall. On the wall was a screen, with an older but still well-kept black man, his eyes sharp, and a similarly-shaped table in the background.
"Miss Queen, I'm Brendan Smith," the man in the room said, extending his hand. She shook it quickly, nodding. "And this is Mr. Lucius Fox, He's with us from Gotham."
"Mr. Fox," Olivia said, and the man on the screen nodded his head once.
"Miss Queen, your resume was rather impressive. I trust you brought some of your works with you?"
She nodded, as Smith took her portfolio, opening them to show the screen. "Yes, I have a few of them."
"Tell me about your work."
Olivia shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I prefer to paint more realism than anything else, though I am proficient in impressionism, as well. I like to use lighting and shadow to give them depth, more than color. Color does lend itself much better to the symbolism that way."
Fox nodded, and Smith put the paintings down on the table. "Miss Queen, this initiative is going to be targeting under funded schools in the city," he said. "This means that you will be working with children who are below the poverty line."
Olivia shrugged. "I don't mind," she said. "In fact, I'd be glad to help. These kids get forgotten too much as it is; someone has to take responsibility and give them a chance to do something with their lives, other than become slaves to minimum wage jobs."
Fox again nodded. "I'm glad we understand each other, then," he said. "We'll be contacting you in a few days, after the rest of the interviews have been conducted. Thank you, Miss Queen."
Olivia nodded, taking her portfolio as she left, the door closing. Though she paused for a moment, the door was too heavy to hear through, and she made her way back to the elevator. Not long after she was back at the apartment, bringing up an area map of Chicago. Though Kamal had casually dismissed her concerns, she had a strange feeling that the incident was connected to Dealer's warning. Another disturbing thought preyed on her mind, as well; Dealer had gone to her. She wasn't the most well-known of the League, and wasn't the most popular among it's members, either- she had broken one's nose at one point, and had fist fights with almost every one except Marvel and Batman. If he had trusted her with the information, than she had to do something about it.
It didn't take her very long to bring up the maps that she wanted, and she began to pour over them, spending the rest of the afternoon learning the nighttime hot spots of Chicago. It would be a place to start.