"Kerenai, I need you to go to Washington"

"What for sir?"

"There's a ceremony being held there for some sort of thing that even I don't fully know about but you've been personally requested"

"Understood sir, sir are you sure you can't give me any more details?"

"Unfortunately not, all I know is that there's a ceremony being held for some mysterious reason and that you were personally requested to witness the ceremony"

"I hate it when the government does this to news reporters, but it is what it is...wait I'm only a camera person, so who..."

"That would be Lane and Kent"

"Got it"

"And Kerenai...keep them safe, I have a bad feeling about this ceremony for some reason"

"Don't worry I will"

"I know you will, you have several rules and guidelines regarding your abilities but one rule that I know has been in place for a long time is that if absolutely necessary you'll reveal your powers in order to save lives"

"The family wasn't exactly happy about that rule but I insisted it was necessary and eventually they came to agree with me"

"Well you guys need to be in Washington by nine tonight so you'd best get going"

"Will do"

Katherine walks out of the chief's office and goes over to the shared desks of Lane and Kent

"Come on you two, we need to get to Washington by nine tonight and there's only one way we're going to do that without going through massive security and delays"

"Your family...but why do we need to get to Washington?"

"I have no idea, all I know is that there's supposed to be some sort of ceremony or something going on but even the chief doesn't know what's going on"

"Great, this might not end well"

"No kidding, but in any case let's get packed and going"

"You calling your family to let them know?"

"Yeah, they might need to go there too so..."

Suddenly Katherine's phone rings and she sees that it's from Captain Faireborn

"Kerenai here go ahead...yes...yes actually...okay...one hour got it...bye"

She hangs up and the looks she got said that the two people were expecting that phone call and that one of them had obviously heard the entire conversation

"One hour guys"

"Heard and can do"

An hour later and all three of them were at the EDC base for transport to Washington

"Hey Kerenai, so you guys need to go to Washington too huh?"

"Yep, I was personally invited and Lane and Kent are actual reporters while I just work behind the camera so they also need to go"

"And civilian travel..."

"Exactly we do not need that hassle if we're going to be in Washington on time"

"Come on time to board"

Three hours later and the group was landing in Washington and went through security much quicker than they would have otherwise and checked into the hotel two hours early

"So...since we're early what's the plan?"

"We could get dinner and do some exploring"

"Sounds good"

"By the way I'm warning you guys now I'm armed and dangerous right now if not for the fact that I have a permit and am only going to shoot at EDC enemies if they show up, local cops can handle the normal criminals"

"We understand, you've been raised on having a gun on you at all times and you have the right permits to be able to do so too don't you?"

"Oh yeah I need those permits because of my unique circumstances"

"Speaking of which, do you know if we'll ever find out, I know that the chief knows your circumstances but..."

"I don't know Lois, I just don't know"

"And like I said my dual identity means my Clark Kent identity doesn't know your unique circumstances but my Superman identity does"

"Yeah, that's both a relief and makes things harder at times"

"You're telling me, I have to constantly remind myself that I can't openly talk to you about it in my Kent identity but in my Superman identity and definitely in the watchtower I am free to discuss things with you regarding your circumstances"

"Speaking of actually, your Superman identity and I need to have a talk soon"

"Understood"

"And when I say me, I mean the me that works with your Clark Kent identity"

"Oh, I thought..."

"Yeah, that's why I cleared things up, Superman needs to talk to Kerenai"

"Got it, when should that happen?"

"Not sure really, but when I say soon I mean soon"

"Understood, let me know exactly when since you're still not giving an exact definition of soon"

"I will, but right now I feel we should focus on this ceremony that we have no clue what's actually going on for"

"Good point"

"The chief has a bad feeling about this ceremony and to be honest I don't feel entirely comfortable either because generally I know why there's a ceremony being held but this time..."

"You're out of the loop by way too much and generally that means something big is up that you're not cleared for even if normally because of your circumstances you are"

"Exactly, generally if I'm kept out of the loop it means something big is up and they're concerned about my health and thus it's safer to keep me out of the loop unless absolutely necessary like suddenly being in the middle of battle"

"Well hopefully your concerns should be allieved tomorrow"

"Yeah, let's hope so because if not...well there's going to be a talk with some people"

"I don't doubt it"

Fortunately there were indeed answers as to why Katherine hadn't been told about the ceremony until she was on scene as part of the reporting team. The ceremony involved both her family and several world government leaders, plus it also involved three different militaries and their actions in helping newly gained alien allies. The reason Katherine hadn't been told about it was because no one was sure if there had been any survivors (and with the recent loss of Jazz that would not have gone over well) and there was also the fact that no one was sure if the species would become allies of any sort and for the moment they were mainly trade partners but it was a step in the right direction at least in everyone's mind

"So that's why I wasn't informed, they were right to keep me out of it all things considered"

"Yes they were, they were protecting you in their own way"

"And even though I generally hate to admit it I did need protection this time around"

Katherine and the other two go back to Metropolis and soon enough the week passed and the League informed her family about why they had been kept away initially in regards to the weapon that they hadn't mentioned the first time around when they had explained why they were waiting a week before having anyone do a retrieval mission

"You were thinking about our safety as well weren't you?"

"Yes we were"

"By the way Kerenai has chosen a new name"

"Oh?"

"Yep, she is going to inform the public that she is now going to go by Power Woman"

"By the way Superman, don't you have a job to do?"

"Not today, Kerenai is investigating something on the side I think but there's no proof"

"She'll let you guys know if it develops into something, I promise"

Meanwhile at the Daily Planet things weren't going well and the only reason anyone knew that was because Katherine's hands were on her hips

"Well, I'm flat out of ideas guys"

"Kerenai is that including..."

"Yep, it's why I didn't go there in the first place chief"

"That's not good"

"No it's not"

"Anyone else have ideas?"

"It turned out that everyone was drawing a blank in their situation and with the chief knowing that Kerenai was drawing up a blank even if she did use her powers it let him know that things were bad and could quite possibly mean a call to the EDC if they didn't think of something soon

"Okay people, start shouting out potential ideas, even if you think they sound stupid"

And so the idea shouting started and then Jimmy Olsen said something that took them all by surprise

"Well, what if we cause a distraction like a minor fire and then through the computer send an SOS to the police or EDC?"

"Kerenai?"

"Technically that could work chief, however I must point out that there would be extreme danger even with what we're trying to keep secret, if even one element of the plan went wrong..."

(Sighs) "I know, but in all honesty this is so far the best option I've heard of"

"Okay, does anyone else have any ideas that may sound stupid but aren't actually that bad of an idea because hate to admit it, but I am still drawing a blank"

It turned out that no one else had any other ideas good or bad