It has been almost two months since the arrest of Cyborg Superman. Two months since his metal army of robots was defeated and sent into the deep recesses of space. National City had shown it's tenacity by rebuilding the damage caused and treating those who were injured. Businesses reopened within weeks, homes rebuilt in under a month. Everything had returned to normal almost effortlessly.
Many thanks to this were the helpful aids of the likes of Lena Luthor, who helped fund the relief efforts along with many other corporations and charities, and Supergirl who assisted in the removal of wreckage and watching over the city. Dreamer helped on the ground, relocating and helping the alien refugees caught in the devastation alongside Jon Jones. The DEO remained busy ensuring the last remnants of Hank Henshaw's forces were curtailed and found. Much of his militia was left out there but with Hank behind bars the threat seemed to be over.
But the destruction left the city vulnerable for criminal elements to attempt their own scores. Break-ins and robberies became a daily occurrence with the police stretched so thin. Fortunately Kara remained on hand to help where she was needed, juggling her personal life and career at Cacto Worldwide media alongside her superhero antics. She kept tabs on the city and reacted as fast as she was able, rushing to the crime to stop the robbers whether they were armed with bats or guns or the occasional advanced weapon.
Luckily for her, sometimes she had help in the form of Maxwell Davies, the CEO of TITAN Industries who had taken it upon himself to Sherriff the city in his knew battle suit which he debuted during Cyborg Superman's assault. Now calling his prototype project Samaritan, Maxwell had been operating in the public eye for the last two months, assisting in the clean-up, arresting criminals, repairing infrastructure, all the while his company also funding the restoration and relief efforts. Within weeks with man had become a public icon and figurehead of the relief efforts, taking equal time helping the civilians as well as hosting interviews both in TV studios and in the field donning his suit. At first it seemed ridicules seeing him posing in his armour, but when he started efficiently engaging with criminals and stopping crime, even Kara had to take a moment to reflect on his accomplishments.
One such example, a group of armed assailants let an assault on the rail station wielding assault rifles. Kara heard it from twelve blocks away and changed into her costume to intercept them. But by the time she got there Maxwell was already on sigh in his Samaritan suit, the bulky armour blocking the thieves escape. With bullets bouncing off the metal plating Maxwell launched a series of snares and bolas capturing them, the fight over in seconds. Supergirl hovered overhead as police and new crews arrived on scene to find the matter resolved and Maxwell revelling in the victory. The man retracted his helmet and looked up at Supergirl, giving her a smile and a salute. She politely nodded, feeling surplus to requirements and returned to her day job as Kara Danvers.
"Is it bad that a part of me almost resents what he's doing?" Kara asked Nia while they were on their lunch break.
The Transgender second generation Human-Naltorian female reporter sipped her coffee thinking about it. "It is great that he's helping a lot of people" she observed. "yet it is all to promote his own self-image as this new superhero" she noted, counting the number of press releases and interviews he's done since his big reveal. "I don't think even you had as much press as he's getting."
"Superman never did interviews" Kara huffed indignantly.
"You did" Nia chuckled.
Kara groaned, recalling her first official on the record conversation with Cat Grant over five years ago. "Yeah, the first time I let slip I was Superman's cousin. Then it was all anyone could talk about."
"I suppose my first interview on TV wasn't a disaster" Nia mused, reminiscing about how she sat across from the anchor-woman in her costume announcing herself to the city.
"You did that to inspire confidence in human and alien coexistence" Kara reminded her. "But you're right, Maxwell is only doing this to promote his Samaritan armour and his company."
"But you have to admit he genuinely wants to help people. We did the fact finding report with Jimmy; it's the whole reason that project existed."
"I know" Kara nodded, drinking her coffee with mixed feelings. Everything Maxwell was telling the press was the truth, his mission, all of it. He really wants to help protect the city. The only reason he's getting as much press as he is was because he's petitioning to make the technology accessible to the police and military. Maybe that's what scares Kara, the idea that the city wouldn't need the likes of her anymore. It was odd finding the one thing she'd been striving to achieve for the world is what terrifies her most. But she had reservations about Maxwell, mostly because of how much Lena seemed to be against him. She hadn't told her why yet, but her best friend was determined to bring the man down along with his project. Kara had been so busy she'd forgotten to make time to talk to her.
Her phone suddenly buzzed as a text message lit up her screen. She picked it up and ready the message sent from Jake White. Just reading it made her smile, enough though he was just asking if they'd like to go out tonight. She replied back "can't, working late" hoping he wouldn't be too disappointed. When she put the phone down she caught Nia staring at her. "What?"
"So are you going to tell me?" she asked.
"Tell you what?" she replied, acting innocent as she sipped her coffee. Nia smirked, sitting back in her seat taking her own sip, watching Kara out the corner of her eye as she responded to a follow up text message. Jake wasn't mad, telling her he'll be fixing Jimmy's bike if she changed her mind. Once again she smiled, this time aware Nia could see her. "There's nothing to tell" she said dismissively.
"Okay" Nia chuckled, her smirk still on her face. "Don't tell me who the mystery guy is. I'll just have to ask Alex."
"No!" Kara cried, knowing Alex would drop his name in a heartbeat. Nia looked back at her and she groaned. She hated having nosy friends. "It's just this guy I met, okay. We've only been dating for a few weeks."
"I guessed that much" Nia replied, leaning in to talk more intimately. "We all have. What I've been waiting for is more than just he's "some guy". I haven't seen you acting like this since…actually, I don't think I have" she said. She titled her head. "So what's he like?"
"Stubborn" Kara sighed. "Funny, kind, a little arrogant. Very romantic."
"And his name is Jake?" Nia assumed. When Kara's face went pale she told her "that name keeps showing up on your phone." Kara looked at her screen, once again a text from him flashing on her screen with a love heart. She groaned. Damn her for doing such a good job training her as a reporter. "So when do we get to meet him?" she asked.
"Not for a while I should hope" Kara rebuffed. The last thing she wanted was her family and friends scaring him off. She knew the moment Jon and Alex got involved they'd turn overprotective and give him the third degree.
"Does he know you're…?" Nia asked, leaving the question open know Kara would catch her meaning.
She shook her head. "No. it's actually nice having a relationship where they just know me as Kara Danvers, not Kara Zor'El."
"But still, that much be difficult" Nia said.
Kara didn't answer, but Nia was right. As fun as it was pretending to be an ordinary human for a time, building a relationship whilst hiding that part of her life was pretty exhausting. While they had only started dating, it felt like she was skirting around eggshells whenever they were together. And she was really starting to like him. She was beginning to wonder if she could keep this a secret for much longer. "It's still early days" she told her friend. "Maybe it'll fizzle out before I need to tell him."
Nia shrugged, leaving it up to her as they finished their coffee. "We'd better get back to work" Kara said looking at her watch. "Whether what Maxwell is doing this for good or bad, it has given us less excuses to be late" she moaned.
While Kara and Nia were debating over Maxwell's motives, across the city Lena Luthor was on her own personal mission to sink the Samaritan project. She sat in her office silently fuming behind her desk. She'd just finished another disappointing meeting with her lawyers. Once again they had nothing but bad news to report. Once again they failed to find any way to outmanoeuvre the red tape TITAN Industries had around the Samaritan project, especially with the DOD circling. without gaining access to their company files there was no way to find evidence that that man stole Lex's battle suit designs in order to complete his project.
Lena dismissed them after receiving the report, telling her assistant to hold her calls so she could plot her next steps in silence. A TV in her office played the latest press release of Maxwell himself speaking to the cameras, his red and blue battle suit standing behind him as the new graphics reads TITAN CEO BECOME'S NATIONAL CITY'S HERO.
"I never started out to become a hero" the man told the people. "But I will never again stand by when I have the ability to do something to help. The Samaritan is my way of giving back to humanity and protecting our home and our future. The advancements my company have made has ensured this reality, and soon we hope to bring this technology to our governments and our police force. Supergirl and her allies will no longer need to be the only ones to protect us from extra-terrestrial threats and we can finally evolve further than our base capabilities."
Lena switched off the TV with a huff. His words struck a chord with everyone in the city, including her. But her admiration was tainted by the fact Maxwell manipulated her so he could gain access to her laptop and personal login, stealing the files from her own apartment. Just the sheer reminder she took that slimball willingly to her bed made her want to vomit. Unfortunately he was right when he said she'd be unable to prove it. She had her technicians rip her laptop apart but they couldn't find any evidence he hacked her device. And without gaining access to his project files she couldn't prove the designs were based off Lex's suits. All she could legal demonstrate was she opened herself up to risk by sleeping with him and leaving him alone in her apartment. There was nothing to prove he committed corporate espionage.
So she decided to try another approach, redialling her investigators to start digging into TITAN Industries other business partners. Maxwell practically told her this wasn't the first time he'd used his womanising reputation to extort or blackmail his way up the corporate ladder. Thinking logically, it was cunning how easily a man like him could gain the advantage over any negotiation just by smoozing his opponents or rivals. But while he was careful this time, there must be a pattern out there she could expose. If it could give her people grounds to access his company files or plunge his company into an investigation, it was worth a shot.
In the meantime she had one last avenue to explore. She still had the information for the shell company named Kronos Limited, the group financing Axis Enviromental's manufacturing of the Metallo army Cyborg Superman stole. She had a theory, given the timing of the attacks and Maxwell's debut of the Samaritan. If she could find the link between Maxwell Davies and this shell company, it would prove he intended to orchestrate the metallo invasion to upsell his project. That could open a whole new branch of criminal investigations into the man.
But it was only a theory for now, hence while Lena kept it to herself. However, in her humiliating arrogance she confronted him with this thought two months ago. So if he was behind it, he's had two months to clear his tracks. She could be on the wide goose chase now. But Lena Luthor was nothing if not tenacious. If there was something to find, she will uncover it.