Chapter Text
Kara Danvers had always wanted to be a journalist. She had known ever since she had come to Earth and discovered what they were that she wanted to do that. Even though her grasp of English was sometimes shaky at best, she knew with practice she could be the best reporter in the city.
So after she graduated high school, she moved from Midvale to National City to go to NCU for journalism.
Thankfully, her sister Alex was already in the city working for the FBI, so she wasn’t completely alone. Not that she couldn’t handle herself, but sometimes she could be awkward and clumsy when she was making friends. It felt nice to have someone she could always count on in a new city. Plus Alex was willing to share a place until Kara graduated, which saved money.
She picked up a job rather quickly at a bookstore just down the road from her apartment. It didn’t pay well, but it paid the bills and allowed her to move out of Alex’s apartment. She refused to accept any money from Eliza, her mother, because she had already done so much for her. She had food, shelter, a killer work ethic, and Alex just a few blocks away, which was all she needed.
Kara was on her way to work, her head down as she considered her future job as a journalist. She imagined standing onstage, accepting a Pulitzer, grinning at her mom and sister as she accepted the prize for her article. A thrill of excitement ran through her, motivating her to work even harder for her dreams, and she didn’t even notice she was practically running to work until—
She collided with a solid body. A small oomph escaped her lips as she grabbed the other person to keep them upright.
“Oh my goodness!” Kara exclaimed frantically. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t even see you there!”
The other person, a raven haired women, to be exact, knelt down and was scooping up papers and shoving them back into a folder that had been knocked out of her hands on impact. “It’s fine,” the woman replied, “I get like that too. Although, maybe you should day dream with your eyes up, rather than on your feet.”
Kara stood frozen in place, watching the woman. She suddenly realized that she was just standing there like an idiot, staring at her so she knelt down and started trying to help grab papers that were floating down the busy sidewalk. She ended up chasing one to the end of the sidewalk, and when she turned back to give the woman her paper, she had disappeared. Kara narrowed her eyebrows in confusion, scanning the mass of people currently using the sidewalk. Where did the woman go? She must not realize she’s missing a paper.
Just then, her phone beeped. She had five minutes to get to work. She was going to be late! She shoved the paper into her bag without looking at it and ran off to hopefully make it to work on time.
--
That evening, Kara practically collapsed on her couch. Work had been so busy, plus she had gotten chewed out for being five minutes late. As she laid on her couch, she let her mind wander. It was something she did to allow her brain to process the days events and allow herself to relax. As she remembered the encounter with the woman on the street, she suddenly jumped up. The paper! She hadn’t even thought of it since shoving it in her bag. She quickly opened her purse and pulled out the crumpled page and smoothed it out, hoping to find a sign of who it belonged to.
On the top left corner of the paper sat her answer. In big blue letters sat the name L-Corp, followed by a phone number and several other letters that denoted business-y things that Kara didn’t particularly care about. It seemed to be a letter of some sort. She tried not to read it—as it wasn’t her business, after all—but it was signed at the bottom.
Lena Luthor, CEO.
Kara gasped. She had run into a Luthor! A Luthor, as in Lex Luthor, the maniac that had tried to kill her cousin multiple times? Kara wondered if she should be expecting an assassination attempt soon. Lex was in prison now, but Kara knew that didn’t mean anything to someone with that much money and influence. Lex could easily organize something from jail, or Lena could even do it herself.
Kara stopped her train of thought there. Lena had never done anything to her. It was unfair of her to assume she was evil just because her family was. Besides, she didn’t seem all that angry when Kara had run into her on the street, just mildly inconvenienced. And either way, she needed to return the paper. She couldn’t just steal someone’s stuff, even if it was an accident.
She decided tomorrow she would call the phone number on the top of the page and explain how she ended up with the paper and find a way to return it. Of course, the other option would be to fly it up to L-Corp right now. But, she remembered with a sigh, no one knew she had powers. And flying a paper back to its rightful owner would be a stupid reason to reveal them. She would call in the morning.
--
The next morning, Kara had the entire day off. She decided to lay in bed for most of the day, relaxing and looking at job openings for interns in journalism. It was almost one in
the afternoon before she realized she hadn’t called about the paper.
Scrambling out of bed, she grabbed the paper and typed the number in her phone, pressing the “call” button before she could psych herself out of calling. She was calling a CEO! One didn’t just call them everyday! These were the elite of National City, and here she was calling like she was one of them.
On the third ring, the call clicked through. “Luthor.” A woman’s voice answered, the tone harsh and cold, and Kara nearly hung up the phone right then.
“Um, hi. This is Kara Danvers.”
“Who? How did you get this number?”
Kara opened her mouth but no sound came out for several heartbeats. “Hello?” The woman asked.
“Oh! I ran into you on the street yesterday. Your papers scattered around.”
“Oh, it’s you. Why are you calling? And how?”
“So, it’s funny, really,” Kara was stuttering, her hands fidgeting with anything unlucky enough to be in her path. “I have one of your papers. It flew down the street and I ran to catch it, but when I looked up you were gone. It has your number on it, and I would like to return it.”
The woman on the other side of the phone was quiet for a moment, then replied, “I already wrote up another letter, but I appreciate you being honest enough to try and return it. You didn’t let anyone see it, did you?”
“No! No, of course not. I didn’t even read it myself! I just looked at your number.”
“What’s your name again?” the woman asked, letting out a sigh like she had been holding her breath.
“Kara, ma’am.” Kara squeaked out.
“Kara, first of all, please don’t ever call me ma’am again. Second, I really do appreciate you calling and the fact that you didn’t show anyone what you had. I have a break at 2:30, why don’t you come to my office and you can return it? Even if I don’t need it, I still feel more comfortable having sensitive material disposed of by my team.”
Her jaw nearly hit the floor. Meet? With a CEO? In her office? She was just some girl that worked at a bookstore while she tried to get an internship. She didn’t meet with CEOs! Especially not one’s that had family that was hell bent on killing her family!
“Kara?” came the woman’s voice through the phone.
“Yes, yes! Sorry!” Kara fumbled through her words like she was trying to learn English all over again. “Where is your office?”
“Seriously?” The woman laughed. “It’s the L-Corp building. Top floor. I’ll make sure you’re allowed access. Tell them you’re here to see Lena Luthor.” At that, the line clicked dead.
She glanced at her oven clock. It was already 1:30! She glanced down at her pajamas and grimaced at the party penguin print that danced all over her. What did one wear to meet a billionaire?
Thirty minutes later, Kara finally decided on a pastel pink dress that was fitted, but not so much that she couldn’t breathe. She looked around her room. It looked like a hurricane had gone through her closet. Clothes were strewn everywhere. Even with her super speed, it took forever for her to decide on something. And now she only had thirty minutes to make it across town!
She called an uber as she rode the elevator down, promising the driver if he got her to her destination in time that he would get one hefty tip. It would use all of her spending money, but she absolutely could not be late. In the car ride over, she couldn’t help her leg bouncing up and down or checking her phone clock every minute, much to her driver’s chagrin by the way he was looking at her through the rear view. She wished desperately that she could fly. But he did get her there with time to spare, and she gave him the tip she promised.
Kara took a deep breath and gazed up the building. It was massive, with L-Corp written on the top. She had never been in a place so big. She opened the front door and was greeted with a metal detector and security guards.
“Wallet, keys, phone, and anything metal.” The guard said, sounding bored.
Kara immediately complied, her hands shaking as she handed over the requested items. They scanned her through, and she walked over to the reception desk.
“Hi, I’m here to see, um Lena Luthor?” Kara asked, and the reception lady looked at her with such disdain that Kara nearly bolted back out the door.
“Yeah, right, and I’m scheduled to see the president tomorrow.” The lady snapped at her. “Get lost, or I’ll call security.”
“No, I promise it’s true! She said I would be allowed up.” Kara tried, gripping her purse straps tightly.
The receptionist sighed. “Name?”
“Kara Danvers.”
The lady typed something into her computer and gave Kara a hard look. “Fine, go on up. 50th floor.”
Kara gave the woman a friendly smile, hoping to cheer the harsh woman up, but the lady only glanced at her and back down to her screen. She turned from the desk and into an elevator, finding herself surrounded by men in suits and women in professional attire, all typing or calling on their phones. She pressed the 50 button, earning her some very confused looks from the people next to her.
The last person got off on the 40th floor, leaving Kara to travel the next ten floors alone. She glanced at her phone. 2:25. Better early than late, she guessed. When the elevator door opened to floor 50, a more friendly face greeted her from behind the desk.
“Hi, can I get your name please?” The friendly woman asked.
“Uh, Kara Danvers?”
“Please have a seat, Ms. Danvers. Ms. Luthor is just finishing a meeting and will be right out. Can I get you anything? Water?”
“No, thank you.” Kara said with a wave of her hand. The woman nodded and sat back down at her desk.
Kara sank into a plush leather chair to wait for her audience with a CEO. She still couldn’t believe she was doing this. She fidgeted with her glasses, her hands, her phone, until finally the office door opened.
“Thank you for meeting me again, Mr. Smith.” A familiar voice said from the door as an older gentleman walked out. “I’ll send you the final details over email by the end of the week.” The man gave her a smile, shook her hand and headed for the elevator. Ms. Luthor watched him go, then her eyes fell to Kara, who instantly shot to her feet.
“Ms. Danvers, I presume?” She asked, and Kara nodded quickly. “You certainly look different when you aren’t running me over on the street.”
Kara felt her cheeks warm. “Sorry again.” She mumbled.
Ms. Luthor laughed. “No problem. Come in, please.” She stepped aside and beckoned Kara into her massive office. Everything was black or white, with a pop of gold in the form of several vases or knicknacks. Kara figured that just her desk chair probably cost more than her rent.
Her eyes traveled over the room and finally landed back on the woman in front of her. She opened her bag and pulled out a wrinkly piece of paper and held it out.
“Here’s your letter, Ms. Luthor. I promise, not one person but me has seen it, and I haven’t even read it.”
Ms. Luthor took the crumpled paper from her and immediately put it into the shredder next to her desk. “Thank you, Ms. Danvers. I appreciate you coming all the way here to meet with me and return my letter.”
“No, it’s not problem.” Kara responded. “It’s not my business, and I didn’t want you to be missing something important. It looked official.”
“It was,” Ms. Luthor conceded, nodding her head. “But no matter. My report was still turned in on time. Please, sit.” She motioned to a chair in front of her desk.
Kara sighed in relief as she sat down on the edge of the chair. “I’m glad to hear that. I am sorry for running into you.”
“Yes, about that, what had you thinking so hard if you don’t mind my asking?”
Kara felt a blush heat her cheeks again and glanced down at her shoes. “Oh, it was nothing.”
“Sure, whatever you say.” Ms. Luthor said...teasingly? Was she being teased by a CEO? “Whenever I get that deep in thought, it’s usually about something I’m building or a new test I need to run. So it can’t be nothing. Was it a man?”
“No!” Kara sputtered. “No, nothing like that. I was just thinking of the future, is all.”
Ms. Luthor gave her a serious look. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m just curious. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay,” Kara gave her a little smile, which seemed to make the other woman perk up a bit. “I was on my way to work and I was daydreaming about my career. Well, my dream career. I want to be a journalist, but right now I work at a bookshop on the other side of town.”
“Did you go to NCU?” Ms. Luthor asked, a gentle look on her face.
“Yes, I graduated last year. But so far I haven’t gotten any internships, even though I was top of my class.”
Ms. Luthor gave her an impressed look. “Well, Ms. Danvers—”
“Please, call me Kara.” She blurted out, then felt like an idiot. She wouldn’t be seeing Ms. Luthor again, why get familiar?
“Kara,” Ms. Luthor corrected, a big smile on her face, “If you make the impression on any journal like you did on me, you’ll get an internship in no time.”
She couldn’t stop the big, dopey grin that plastered itself on her face. “You think so?”
“Of course! You’re honest, polite, and friendly. Any paper would be more than lucky to have you.” Ms. Luthor said.
“Oh, Ms. Luthor, I don’t know about that,” Kara said, embarrassed at the unexpected praise.
“Please, Kara, if I get to call you by your first name, you can call me Lena.”
“Okay, Lena,” Kara said, a giggle bubbling out of her. “Thank you.”
A knock on the door jolted both of them, and Kara watched the smile drop off Lena’s face. “Ms. Luthor, your three o’clock is here.”
Kara looked at her phone. 3:02, it read. Had they really been talking for that long?
“Okay, Jess. I’ll be out in a minute!” Lena called, then in a normal voice said, “I’m sorry to have to leave you, Kara. But here’s my phone number,” she scribbled something down on a sticky note. “Let’s get lunch sometime, alright?”
Kara took the note with a shaky hand and smiled. “I’d love that.”