Lena looked around, appreciating the layout of the room. It was an ample distraction to admire the gleaming office. Its style was similar to the time before it took a beating, it was a spacious area with white furniture and luxurious carpeting. She often kicked off her shoes just to appreciate the soft touch on her feet. It was a perk of being forced to refurbish after it had a brief stint as a fighting ring for various powered beings. Supergirl had crashed through the walls to get at Reign, and before that, Prometheus had wrecked most of the room in his own fight with Reign. He had used her old desk as an improvised weapon. She had spent a week with a dinky replacement, it had been a sad looking thing. The days of that replacement desk were dark times indeed, Lena had impatiently cursed the thing numerous times before the new one she commissioned came in. She tapped away at it, the novelty had yet to wear off. Having not replaced some of the more worthless shelves she had more space to work with, which was the perfect excuse for an even bigger desk. To her left was a touchscreen built into the desk itself, at the press of a button it could retract underneath. To her right, a large monitor with a fully flexible base. She wandered why it took an angry armoured man breaking everything for her to think of such a glorious work set-up.
At this point, she had set up L-Corp to basically run itself. She kept oversight and her new displays made it even easier to keep track of it all. After smoothing over the hits on her affiliates from Prometheus, she was now in a position where she could sit around and do nothing all day while profits still steadily increased. It gave her the time to look after Sam, Ruby and Kara, as well as sneak in trips to The Cheshire. She almost resented how comparatively little she had to do these days. The challenge of L-Corp had disappeared, a victim of her own success. Part of the reason she had bought CatCo was for the new experience of running a media empire. This was a decision she had come to regret, even the gloriousness of the monitor did not alleviate how dull the content of the screen was. Jimmy Olsen was running the CatCo side of things and had insisted she have some form of press release on the complications of the acquisition. She had been deflecting it long enough, happy to let baseless speculation float around. It did nothing to tarnish L-Corp's image and added no substantial fuel to the ridiculous feud narrative. She finally accepted it when Jimmy informed her of CatCo's board member's growing insecurities. Keeping nervous board members happy was nothing new, she had quickly earned the confidence of Lex's old associates and the other high-ups in the company. Now she just had to do it again, the only real hardship she faced was just how dull it was. Dealing with the obstacles and colossal ego of Cat Grant were not the challenges she had in mind when she bought the company.
She forced herself to read through the statement again. The draft CatCo sent her had been so dire that she set the ultimatum that either she could write it herself or would not do it at all. She had changed the meaningless business buzzwords and passive aggressive snipes at Cat Grant into something far more eloquent and neutral. Jimmy had not told her who the author of the original draft was. He was probably protecting whichever dim-witted member wrote it from her judgement. Scrolling down the screen and reading her familiar words kept drawing her eyes to the minimised tab of Dr. Tammy Dyer's designs. The incredible work in artificial limbs was far more interesting than wording a statement to be as boring and free of controversy as possible. She got about halfway through before giving in to take a look. Dr. Dyer's standard work was already impressive, Alex Danvers' artificial arms were a testament to that. Though they paled in comparison to the current design she had pulled up. Whatever mad inspiration drove Dr. Dyer to create an arm with massively increased strength and extreme durability was a worry Lena glossed over. If applied to a regular human this arm's power would be dangerous, the rest of the body would be unable to cope with its strength and break the body of the user in all sorts of nasty ways. Putting it on a Kryptonian negated this problem entirely. With a few tweaks and some help from Dr. Dyer integrating the arm's neurological compatibility with Kryptonian physiology, it was a perfect replacement for Sam. For the sake of privacy Lena had told the doctor it was all theoretical. It was likely she suspected something, but Dr. Dyer was not the type to ask questions if it meant she could move forward with her work. When the time came Lena would be applying the procedure to Sam. It was mostly an automated process, but it did not stop her mulling over the notes and taking in all the blueprints. She fully understood how it all worked having studied it all intently numerous times, but it was a good excuse to avoid the boredom of the unnecessary statement. She had even dabbled with the idea of applying Nth metal to the arm for greater flexibility and durability. Eventually she had decided against it, she did not have much of it and changing the design late in the game was an unnecessary risk.
She hovered back over the statement's tab, waiting for some sort of interruption. Her wishful thinking went unanswered. The phone was rudely silent and her assistant had nothing to bring up. She reluctantly opened the file back up and forced her way through it. An hour into this mind-numbing task a notification popped up on her screen, one of the pressure plates on her balcony had been triggered. Monarch once asked her why she did not face her desk towards the window, he clearly lacked the eye for interior design that she did. Lena swung round in her chair, a fiery-looking Supergirl stood there. Lena pulled herself out of the leather chair, it took a bit of effort as she had sunk further and further down into it over the past hour. It squeaked and it bounced lightly off the desk as she pushed off. She admired Kara's uniform as she approached. Public opinion was divided but Lena was firmly in the Red Lantern camp when it came to her preferred outfit design. The sleek red and black exuded a commanding presence and though she would never admit it to her, she thought the cape always looked a bit tacky and was glad it was gone. Lena's shoeless feet pressed against the rough ground as she went from her soft carpet to the concrete balcony.
Supergirl's breathing was heavy and her fists were clenched. Lena placed her hands on her shoulders.
"Look at me," Lena said, trying to catch her gaze. Supergirl was looking to the ground, her heavy breathing causing the crest on her chest to slowly rise and fall. The S had merged with the Red Lantern symbol, symmetrical jagged lines lined up either side of the famous logo. Lena snapped her fingers at her.
"Supergirl?" Still no response. Lena reached for her chin, there was no resistance as she pushed Supergirl's face up to make eye contact with her.
"Kara," she said. Kara blinked quickly for a few seconds.
"Lena. Sorry." she said, becoming more aware of where she was.
"No need to be sorry," Lena looked strolled to the side. "I've not seen you that out of it for about a week. Anything I should know about?"
"A particularly violent gang in the DRC tried to put up a fight, the ring made itself known," Kara said.
"When was the last time you took a break?" Lena said, leaning on the railing. Now Kara zipped around the entire world instead of just one city she spent a lot more time as Supergirl and in turn, a lot more time using the ring.
"I was at that bar with you…" she said.
"I mean a real break, an odd hour here or there won't cut it," Lena said.
"I can't stand by when there's people out there who need me. I can always hear there calls, ringing in my ears. The hum of their cries for justice, it never stops," Kara said.
"You aren't alone, let others pick up the work for you. Clark and J'onn may not be as powerful but they can still make a big difference" she said. Kara seemed hesitant. "You told me yourself that you can't let the ring control you, if you're out there 24/7 it's just giving it more of an opportunity. It can't be easy, but I'll always be here for you and I'll do everything in my power to get you through this." Kara was silent, it was nothing she had not heard before. Keeping Kara away from the fight was hard, it went against her need to help everyone. The look Kara would have in her eyes when she was forced to step back was the hardest part to deal with. Lena still pushed through, knowing it was for Kara's own good. After a long pause Kara spoke up.
"I'll let Clark know I'll be taking it easy for a few days," she said, the reluctance in her voice was not just about having to take a break.
"How are things with him?" Lena asked. She noticed a slight glimmer from the ring as Kara joined her in looking over the balcony, a light breeze brushed at Kara's hair.
"I don't really know, he's making an effort but I can tell he's still struggling to deal with what I did to the Daxamites," she said. Lena shuffled closer to Kara, still admiring the view.
"And what does he make of the ring?" she said. Kara sighed.
"He saw me at my absolute worst and still accepts me. I cut off Sam's arm as much out of spite for him as it was for my own revenge. He understands what happened, his willingness to forgive and his belief that everyone has good in them has worked in my favour. Though he is very bad at hiding how uncomfortable he is when I'm around," Kara said.
"Well I know all he really wants is what's best for you. It's painful for him to see you go through all this," Lena said.
"I guess, he's definitely judging me as well," Kara said, her expression was neutral. She wanted to disagree but knew that was not what Kara needed to hear. The cloudless sky was filled with plane trails, Kara stood up straight and looked ready to leave again. Her check-ins were usually brief, Lena never felt like she did much to calm her down, though Kara claimed they worked.
"You can stay if you like, I'll be working but would welcome the distraction," Lena said.
"No, I'll leave you be," she said. Lena pushed off the railing and smiled at her. Kara returned a half-smile, still seeming distracted. Lena struggled to think of what to say, nothing profound or particularly comforting sprang to mind.
"See you soon," was all she could think to say as Kara gently levitated. She gave her one last look before shooting off into the distance. The red glow lingered in the air for a few seconds, Lena kept looking at it long after it had faded. Her visits like this often felt too short, just as Kara would begin to warm up to her, she would leave. She figured the detached attitude kept the ring in check, not angry enough to lose control but doing what she could to stop it rejecting her. Though it never felt like it, helping Kara stay balanced was a victory.
Lena rubbed her arms, the railing she had leaned on left a slight mark on them. Her feet welcomed the padded carpet as she stepped back inside. She was startled by her phone rattled against her desk. There were three missed calls and a message reading "Answer your damn phone." It was all from Monarch. This sort of urgency was rare from him. She called him, grateful for another merciful distraction from the press packet. He picked up immediately.
"There's a workshop downtown called "The Forge." Meet me there," he said. It sounded like he was on the move.
"Since when do you start barking orders at me, I'm away from my phone for a few minutes and you start blowing it up," she said.
"This is supposed to be a concise conversation," he said.
"What do you need me for?" She said.
"I've got a contact that can help you, but he's a very busy man," he said.
"I'm working, can't you rearrange or just tell me what you find out?" she said.
"I feel like the conciseness is slipping further and further away," he said.
"Then answer me," she said.
"This is the guy I mentioned who knows all about the rings and Lanterns," he said. Lena's eyes widened.
"I'll be right there," she said, hanging up before he could get one last snide comment in. She hurriedly packed up her workstation, the immense satisfaction she should have felt closing the press document was overshadowed by her rush out the office.