a/n: the restaurant is closed today, because there's a big foodie event tonight with celebrity chefs from various cooking shows judging our entries. The people I work for organize it every year, so the good news is that, my schedule should lighten up after this weekend and I will have more time to write!
Back in her office, Cat is writing a detailed email to Brenda in HR, explaining the changes that she wants to make in the CATCO severance packages. Anticipating that there will be considerable fallout from the meeting, she fully expects to be firing a few people by the end of the week.
Just as she hits send, her phone chimes with a incoming message. Cat glances at the message to see who it's from and she smiles to see that it's from Kara and not a board member.
"Heading back to the office. Latte?" Kara asks.
"Not unless you're getting something for yourself. Good interview?" Cat sends.
"Yes, but I need to talk to Snapper about it," Kara types.
Cat can't help but smile at the turtle emoji Kara used in place of Snapper's name.
"Let me know how that goes." Cat sends in reply, smiling to herself until she hears loud voices out in the bullpen.
"Mr Waller!" Eve Teschmacher exclaims as she tries to block his entry into Cat's office.
"Let him enter," Cat calls out calmly from behind her desk, hitting her panic button to summon security just in case. She thought that it would be Reilly not Waller to pull a stunt like this.
"Your assistant said that you wouldn't meet with me," Waller bellows as he storms past said assistant.
"Your schedule is full..." Ms Teschmacher says following him into the room.
Cat waves her off and nods for her to leave.
"My schedule is full this week Mr Waller," Cat replies sharply. "Ms Teschmacher will schedule you for early next week."
"This can't wait until next week. I need to know what I did to warrant this reduced role," Waller presses. "I've worked here since the beginning, Cat," he reminds her.
"I am well aware Mr Waller of how long you've been here. But I've recently become aware that you are not quite as invested in CATCO as you once were," Cat responds, laying out a few screenprints from Twitter.
"How did you get these? You searched my computer?" Waller blurts out indignantly.
"Technically it is my computer. It is the property of CATCO, Mr Waller and imagine my surprise today when IT showed me how you are spending your office hours," Cat replies smugly. "Now he memes of me were bad enough," she adds laying out a few of the ones she printed, "but then I find out that you are one of the worst trolls on the Supergirl Twitter account." She lays down the last of the screenprints, still exhibiting total control, despite her heart pounding as the man towers over the desk glaring at the documents.
"You had no right to monitor my social media accounts," he snaps angrily.
"That would be true, except for the fact that you used your CATCO computer to access your accounts. Now correct me if I am wrong, but I am positive that you are aware of CATCO policy on accessing personal accounts on work computers and during work hours," Cat reminds him, as she knows that he was on the team that updated the policy and rolled it out.
"But I am a department head!" He protests loudly.
"Were actually," Cat corrects him, then nodding to Security to enter, she adds, "Mr Waller, this little stunt is grounds enough for dismissal, now security will escort you back to your office to collect your personal belongings... photos, keys, wallet. And Brenda from HR will be in touch tomorrow, she will arrange to have your office sorted and any remaining personal items delivered to your home."
Waller flinches as the two guards move to stand on either side of him. "You'll regret this," he promises as they escort him out.
Kara is entering the building when Waller is escorted past her still arguing with the security guards.
"What happened?" She asks the guard at the desk.
"Apparently, he stormed into Ms Grant's office and she fired him," the guard replies. "But you didn't hear that from me," she adds with a wink.
"He seems really angry," Kara points out worriedly.
The guard considers Kara's remark a moment. "I'll check with Monty and see if he's alerted NCPD," the guard remarks picking up her phone.
Kara heads to the stairwell, then using her x-ray vision she looks up to see if anyone is on the stairs. Once she's sure that it's clear, she takes off and flies straight up landing carefully. Taking a moment she straightens her jacket and smooths out her hair, before walking out of the stairwell to check on Cat.
"Ms Grant?" Kara says entering the office, but not seeing the CEO. Turning she spots her sitting outside on the balcony.
Opening the door, she asks, "I just heard about Steve. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Cat assures her former assistant. But Kara can see the tumbler of scotch trembling in her hand.
Kara closes the door and moves to sit beside her.
Cat clears her throat and turns to her. "Um, don't you have a meeting with Snapper?"
"Yes, but when I saw Steve being taken out by security I wanted to check on you," Kara explains. "I've never seen him like that before."
"I suspected something was off with him, but I had no idea that he was that volatile," Cat replies taking another sip of her drink. "Has the bullpen settled down yet?"
Kara pauses a moment to listen. "I think so," she answers, then frowns. "Damn, I need to go, Snapper is looking for me."
"You can honestly hear him on the fifth floor from here?" Cat inquires.
Kara smiles at her. "You don't even want to know what I can hear if I'm not careful," she replies with a grin.
"I can just imagine," Cat says with a small smile of her own. "Kara, thank you for coming up to see after me."
"Always," Kara promises, then reaches over and gives her arm a quick squeeze. "Let me know before you leave for the day?
Cat nods in agreement, although the thought of heading home to the empty penthouse after this encounter is less than appealing.
"I met with John Ward, he's in charge of the NCPD Vigilante Task Force. Apparently there are at least fourteen active vigilantes right now in National City and he's worried that if we begin profiling them, it will encourage more," Kara explains.
"Okay, so what did he give you?" Snapper asks gruffly.
"He gave me crime stats. These are before and after Supergirl's arrival. Vigilantes tend to interrupt petty crimes with varying degrees of success, while Supergirl has impacted and reduced major crimes, like bank robberies and she's helped capture a record number of metahumans and rogue aliens," Kara informs him as she hands over each file.
"You get any quotes to go along with these?" Snapper grumbles the question as he drops the files on his desk.
"Yes, I'll transcribe the interview before I leave today. Do you want to review it first?" The young reporter asks holding up her phone which has the recorded interview.
"No, go ahead. Just send me your notes and we'll write this one together tomorrow. I want to show you how to pull this together and format it," Snapper explains.
"Oh," Kara squeaks out a bit surprised. She thought that he was going to take it from her altogether. "I'm on it Chief," she replies brightly.
He walks around to sit back down at his desk and realizes that the girl is still standing there grinning like an idiot.
"Danvers, go. Now." He snaps without looking up at her.
That afternoon Kara splits her focus between transcribing the interview and listening to Cat in her office. She's so focused that she doesn't hear her phone ringing until Clarissa tosses a pen at her.
"Danvers, phone!" Clarissa barks.
"Hey Alex," Kara says answering the phone quickly.
"Hey," Alex replies back and immediately Kara can tell that something is wrong. She suddenly remembers her earlier conversation with James.
"What's wrong?" Kara asks.
"Uh, Maggie and I had a fight last night and she's not talking to me right now. How do you apologize for omitting information because of work?" Alex asks sincerely.
"She probably has to do the same thing with you, maybe point that out to her?" Kara suggests hopefully.
"No, that won't work in this situation. Maybe I just need to give her some space right now," Alex admits.
"Do you want me to talk to her?" Kara asks. "I kind of wanted to call her about this guy who threatened Cat today."
"Who threatened Cat?" Alex inquires.
"A disgruntled employee, and get this, he was one of the guys trolling Supergirl on Twitter," Kara informs her sister.
"One less Twitter troll is always good," Alex sighs.
"Little Danvers, let me guess you're either calling on behalf of your sister or because of the guy that got fired from CATCO today," Maggie quips into the phone.
"Uh, you already know about Steve Waller?" Kara asks.
"Yeah, your head of security and I go way back. Monty called me a few hours ago and gave me a heads up. I passed it on to the captain and there will be regular patrols around Cat Grant's place tonight," Maggie informs her.
"Oh, well thanks. That means a lot to me and I'm sure Ms Grant will appreciate it too," Kara exclaims.
"You're welcome. Now anything else?" Maggie asks closing her eyes as she waits for Kara to ask.
"No, not unless you have something you'd like to talk about," Kara retorts.
"Ha, interesting strategy. Did your sister tell you to try that?" Maggie questions sharply.
"No. I just thought maybe you would want to talk. I've been in your shoes before. It sucks when Alex lies to you. I know, she lied to me for years about her job," Kara points out.
"Yeah, I get it. I mean, I have the same problem, but I don't lie so much as I hold back information," Maggie counters. "She actually lied to me Kara. And it could have affected me on the job."
"I'm sure that she didn't realize that," Kara suggests.
"Well, I almost stormed into Lord Tech and made an ass of myself but thanks to your buddy James', I ended up investigating his latest vigilante stunt," Maggie grouses.
Kara gasps a minute. "What?" She asks.
"Save it Kara. I know all about Guardian, another thing your sister failed to share with me," Maggie retorts angrily.
"Maggie, we both told James to tell you, but he wouldn't listen. He thought that you would report him," Kara explains.
"I won't report him until I have proof that he's the vigilante," Maggie concedes.
"Alex hates keeping things from you," Kara interjects.
"Look, just let her know that I need some space right now and I'll call her," Maggie says ending the call without saying goodbye.
Cat looks up from her desk as Supergirl lands on the balcony.
"This a surprise," Cat quips sarcastically as she opens the door to greet the hero.
"I'm here to escort you home, Waller won't try anything if he knows that I am protecting you," Kara points out.
"I don't disagree," Cat replies before sighing. "However, Supergirl providing me personal protection is only going to draw more attention to the situation. Perhaps Kara Danvers could accompany me home instead," she counters crossing back to her desk and letting the hero follow her.
Kara swirls around and instantly is back into her Kara Danvers wardrobe.
Cat glances up and shakes her head. "Well, that explains a lot," she quips. "I would love to know how you do that and where did the suit go?"
Kara sighs, she should have realized not to do that in front of her. "Uh, are you going to be ready to go soon?" Kara asks impatiently, she won't relax until Cat is tucked into her penthouse safe and sound.
"Almost," Cat replies opening up her laptop and clicking on a few things.
"What are you doing now?" Kara asks.
"Right now, I am deleting the video of Supergirl entering via my balcony and then spinning into Kara Danvers," Cat informs her. "You should know that I had new cameras installed this afternoon and the footage writes to a backup drive every 15 minutes."