"Yep," Monarch said.
"Him?" Lena said.
"Still yep," he said.
"How is he a Green Lantern?" She said.
"It makes sense if you think about it," he said.
"That's not funny," she said. Monarch looked around, weary of people passing in the street. He once told her out in the open the wrong people would be listening if you were not moving. As if walking made all the difference, following his logic could be tricky at times.
"Going back to your office?" he asked.
"Sure," she said. While tt was partially to indulge Monarch's theory, she was mainly saying whatever she needed to get on with the conversation. He went at a sauntering pace down the city streets, the traffic had died down so cars and pedestrians alike were easily overtaking him. He had this way of moving that had such an ease to it, the heavy footfalls, engine revs and busyness of his surroundings slid off him like he was meditating alone. That demeanour of moving slow but thinking fast always stuck with him.
"I wasn't trying to be funny," he said.
"I can't tell if you're still winding me up or not," she said.
"Well look at what he's done…" he started.
"Arson and attempted kidnapping?" Lena cut him off. He raised an eyebrow at her, she let him carry on.
"He saw something he thought was wrong and did something about it despite having no personal stakes. He also more than went out of his way to make sure no-one got hurt in the process. Hell, he jumped into the fray with a Kryptonian to save your arse even though you're the one he hated most," he said. Lena grunted.
"He's still hardly heroic," she said.
"Yeah but I don't think heroism is what the green rings look for, if anything the fact he's less than a paragon of virtue says more to me. The ability to listen someone else and walk away from what you worked so hard for because you realise you were wrong. Sounds like a willpower home run to me," he said.
Lena grunted again.
"Well Supergirl let him walk away because she was convinced he was a good man with poor priorities. And more importantly, Lena Luthor's approval isn't a requirement for a Green Lantern," he said.
"You're seriously not surprised Prometheus is a Green Lantern?" She said. His points were valid and she had forgotten that it was Kara's judgement of his character that had him roaming free. It was still difficult to believe.
"Oh don't get me wrong, I only found out about the Green Lantern thing a few days ago and laughed about it for five minutes straight," he said. Lena slowed to a stop as his words echoed in her mind. Her brow furrowed and her puzzled look changed to a glare.
"Tell me, when you say specifically that the Green Lantern thing was a few days ago, does that mean you were already talking with Prometheus for a long time beforehand?" She said. Monarch's lack of an immediate answer told her what she needed to know. She guided him out of the crowd's way and continued to glare at him with hands on hips.
"What constitutes a long time?" He said, his eyes shifted, knowing he had been rumbled.
"How long after he ditched the armour before you found him?" She asked, knowing pretty much exactly how it would have gone down, with Monarch casually approaching Fletcher and dropping the fact he knew he was Prometheus on him like it was nothing. Her foot tapped impatiently, the anger was mostly an act. He would know this too, but it helped get the point across. Monarch's tongue rolled around his mouth before he gave in.
"Two days," he said, his face switched to a pained expression. Even after all their time together, speaking in straight truths could bother him.
"Of course it was," she said, refusing to be surprised.
"Shall we?" Monarch said, beckoning them to get moving again. She obliged.
"Go on, now the cat's out of the bag I'm sure you're eager to tell me how you found him so easily," she said.
"You're so good to me," he said with a skip in his step. For a man so reluctant to speak plainly he was always so happy when he got to explain his methods once she was in the know. There were numerous times he had listened to her ramble on about Kara or L-Corp so she liked to throw things his way in return. The fact she usually learned a thing or two from how he operated was a nice bonus.
"Being honest, two days wasn't that quick considering how much I had on him. Someone who can operate and repair armour that advanced, get people to follow his cause and organise them so well is already a rarity. Add the fact I had a first name and knew his face, the job practically did itself," he said. Lena nodded, she had never taken the chance to properly analyse Prometheus' armour. It was on her list of things to do, but other projects had been thrust at her which took higher priority. Dabbling with Kryptonite provided by Clark, Sam's arm and Nth metal had taken up her lab time.
"So which way did you find him?" She said.
"Supergirl actually did me a big favour on that one, albeit unintentionally," he said.
"Go on," she said.
"Apparently when she's all raged up or whatever, that ring runs hot. In their scuffle she accidently branded that Red Lantern symbol on his face. I correctly assumed his first step would be finding someone… unofficial... who could heal the mark, the last thing someone trying to lay low wants is something so identifiable," he said.
"Let me guess, the unofficial people that operate what is probably unsanctioned alien healing tech, don't exactly adhere to doctor-patient confidentiality," she said.
"Your grasp of the city's seedy underbelly gets better every day, I'm so proud," he said. She raised an eyebrow, knowing that he was deliberately being patronising but making it clear to him it went unappreciated.
They stopped at a crossing, she leaned round a taller stranger in front of her to see the red light. As they waited she started to zone out. She winced when picturing the ring burning into Prometheus' face, she could hardly imagine the pain of a heat that searing. Becoming a Green Lantern was probably the last thing on his mind at the time, if he even knew what one was. Kara seemed to have made a habit of changing people for the better, even with the ring's negative influence. Her expression dropped as she considered a new train of thought.
"What are you waiting for," Monarch said, confused as she stood in place with stationary cars and the green signal glowing at them to walk. She crossed quickly to make up for being lost in her thoughts.
"All of this emotional spectrum talk and the fight for the control of the mind. You think Supergirl's ring could affect others as well?" She said.
"What are you getting at?" Monarch said.
"Well Fletcher takes a ring to the face and next thing you know he's a Green Lantern. Could there be a correlation?" She said. Monarch scrunched his mouth to the side.
"I dunno, Prom never seemed particularly conflicted and that willpower of his was always there. It was clear from the off he wasn't your average nutter. That and from what we know, Green and Red Lanterns operate totally separately," he said. They turned a corner, the L-Corp tower in all its glory popped into view. Even so far off she liked to think it dominated the skyline.
"What about Sam and Reign? Two minds in the same body, one visit from Red Lantern Supergirl later and Reign totally vanished from her head," she said. Monarch turned to her, his presence still somehow so free from the surrounding cacophony.
"You know, that one's not a bad theory…" he said, starting to contemplate it himself. "Looks like you have more homework to do. You could ask the Super what went down that night."
"Oh that won't be fun, she's particularly sensitive about her dealings with Reign," she said.
"Well, you know what you're doing. I'm not going to tell you to risk your relationship with her, but If that ring of hers can counter the World Killers so directly it's probably the most valuable thing on the planet," he said.
"Yeah well, it's just a theory," she said, happy that it at least appeared she knew what she was doing when it came to Kara.
"A damn important one, you have to pursue it," he said with a surprising amount of intensity.
"Alright, don't get too excited," she said. Monarch caught himself, seemingly embarrassed to have strayed from his laid-back nature.
"Sorry, I just want this World Killer problem to be dealt with," he said. He had shaved since they last met, but the fatigue was still distinctive on his face. His sporadic tendencies and relentless casual tone made him hard to read, though it was starting to seem like it was shifting to a front rather than his natural behaviour.
"The cult starting to get to you?" Lena asked. She was so used to telling Kara to give it a rest that it barely occurred to her that Monarch could also be running himself ragged.
"In a way, their blind worship of something they know so little about…" He stopped. "You don't need to worry about me. In fact while we're on this topic I have more information for you."
She was concerned how unsubtly he had steered the conversation away from himself. For now she would let it slide, especially as relaying new information was undoubtedly something he loved.
"I finally got in on, for want of a better word, a sermon of the cult. It was mostly boring stuff about how great Krypton is, but then some spiel about the judgement of Krypton descending kicked in," he said, his walking pace picked up suddenly.
"Judgement? Did they mean the World Killers?" She said, his ability to weave through the more crowded areas of the street so effortlessly made it hard to keep up with him. He turned to where she was before as if he had not noticed his quickening pace. He slowed down and slinked closer to the edge of the pavement where there was more space.
"One to drain the land, one to cleanse the land, one to shape the land and one to rule it," he said in an exaggerated voice, presumably impersonating the cult leader. The wording was specific, it lined up that the four to pass Krypton's judgement were the World Killers.
"Reign sought to dominate and kill basically anyone who would stand in the way of her world order. Sounds like ruling the land to me," she said.
"Leaving drain, cleanse and shape as the unknowns. It isn't much to go on, but if some trends start cropping up in Supergirl's shenanigans that could match one of those then we're in business," he said. Lena nodded, an idea cropped into her head she knew he would not like.
"Supergirl can't exactly fully concentrate these days, especially if all she's doing is chasing revenge around for people. I've already got a thousand things to keep an eye on. The best people to go to are probably the DEO," She said. Predictably, Monarch scoffed at the mention of them.
"The more information those clumsy dolts have the higher chance they'll screw something up," he said.
"I'm just saying, Supergirl and the press that follows her won't be focused enough to put together the data you'll need. If it's trends in crime or disasters that could match those words you're after, that's exactly what the DEO can look for," she said, Monarch grimaced. She carried on, determined to find a way to let him ease his own workload.
"You're good at what you do, but they have a lot of resources that you don't," she said. Monarch stopped and looked up at the sky. He pulled a pencil from his pocket and started fiddling with it. He was oblivious to the world, Lena moved to the side. He remained in place, letting the current of people work around him. After some time of fidgeting and sighing he side-stepped perfectly through a gap in the crowd to join her.
"I can't believe I'm actually considering this," he said.
"If you don't I'll set Kara on it, you need help from somewhere," she said.
"I don't need help and you need to keep her as far away from this as possible," he said.
"Don't give me that. You're exhausted and frustrated. I know you'll never slow down so you need this to cut yourself some slack," she said. Monarch's eyes narrowed at her.
"Fine, as long as it means Kara stays away I'll let some rumours float around for the DEO to pick up on," he said. Despite his begrudging tone, Lena was pleased with herself. Looking after Kara was already difficult at times, heading this off and giving Monarch ways to look after himself felt important. In a strange role-reversal, she felt the need to throw in a line to ease the tension as Monarch's expression hardened.
"Besides, if you burn yourself out then I'll just keep beating you at the pool table," she said. A laboured grin appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"If we didn't have things to do I'd insist on righting that cocky attitude in The Cheshire right now," he said.
"We'll go soon," she said, looking up to the ever-approaching L-Corp building. "But you have rumours to start and I have rumours to stop," she said.
"Cat Grant on the brain?" He asked. She shot him a look, it was a natural reaction drilled into her not to say anything.
"Message received," he said. She watched him disappear down a side-street.
"Good luck," she said under her breath, before adopting that sauntering pace he was fond of toward the distant tower.