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"How was he getting the account numbers and security questions?" Cat said.
Supergirl, pulling the ropes tighter on the mad scientist, nodded in the direction of the four vials on the counter. "Stolen from the DARPA project he was working on. Improved truth serum. Temporarily makes someone who drinks it completely incapable of lying."
"Really?" said Cat, tipping one of the vials into her purse.
"Keira," said Cat, "have some tea."
She'd put the two cups onto a little tray and taken them over to the couch. Setting the tea tray on the coffee table, Cat moved around the table and sat, taking one delicate cup in hand. When Keira went to sit opposite her, Cat clucked her tongue and patted the couch beside herself. Keira said, "oh!" and sat next to Cat. "Thank you, Ms. Grant," she said, as she picked up her teacup.
Cat waited to take a sip of her own tea until she'd watched Keira drink.
"Nice blend, isn't it?" she said.
"It is," said Keira, "yes."
"I pay far too much for it at the fancy tea shop," said Cat, "and honestly I think I prefer PG Tips."
Keira's brow furrowed. "I thought you were all about fine experiences. High-end wines, fancy teas, all that."
"It's just showing off," Cat said. "For most people it's not, but while I'm picky I actually don't have a very discerning palate."
Cat looked down at her cup in horror.
Keira looked at her own cup. Then her jaw dropped, and she set it down. "You stole one of those vials from the mad scientist's lab and drugged my tea," said Kara. "Didn't you?"
"I tried to, yes," said Cat. "Although I'm now realizing that I drank the drugged cup, and I don't know how that could have happened."
"If I were Supergirl," Keira said, "I think I'd have probably noticed that one of the cups had a distinctive smell. And I'd have recognized that smell from the mad scientist's lab, so I'd have switched the cups at super-speed when you turned aside for a moment. But I'm not Supergirl, so I guess you must have just somehow mixed up the cups. Probably you confused them when you came around the table."
"I am certain I didn't mix up the cups," said Cat, "but now you've got me second-guessing myself, and I hate that feeling."
"Ms. Grant," said Keira, "do you realize how disgusting what you tried to do is?"
"I do. I lied to myself that it didn't matter. If it had worked, I wouldn't feel guilty."
"How would you feel if you were in my shoes?"
"I'd be outraged."
"Would you punish me?"
"Naturally."
Keira's face showed real curiosity. "How?"
"Humiliation," said Cat. "If this was what you ordered, I'd make you eat it."
Keira smiled broadly. "Are you nervous right now?"
Cat said, "Terrified."
Keira said, "What's your real age?"
Cat rolled her eyes. "Fifty-one."
"Do you in fact know that my name is actually Kara, and not Keira?"
"Sometimes I remember, but it's really not very important to me."
"Are all of your name-dropping stories true?"
"Most of them."
Keira squinted at her skeptically. "Did you actually dance with David Bowie?"
"Yes, I did. But really I wanted to give head to both him and Iman."
Keira's jaw dropped. "Oh my God!" she gasped. She looked furtively left and right, then leaned in. "Wait, did you?"
Cat snorted. "No. He was disgustingly monogamous at that point. Very unbecoming for a sex god." She shrugged, then lifted the drugged tea and took another sip. "Are these as embarrassing as your questions will get? I'm not feeling very punished."
Keira set her jaw. "What's something that wouldn't cause serious problems in our relationship that would embarrass you to have me know?"
"Sometimes I think about Supergirl," Cat said.
Keira rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. You're a little obsessed on the subject --" She caught the meaningful look Cat was giving her, and hesitated. It took another moment, but the penny dropped. "Oh," said Keira. "Oh!" She turned beet-red. "Oh, my God!"
"Yes," said Cat, "that's exactly what I think about her saying."
Keira's eyes bulged. "How would you think this wouldn't cause serious problems in our relationship?!"
"I think," said Cat, "it wouldn't cause a serious problem in our relationship… if you're not really Supergirl."
"You still think I'm Supergirl after you saw me standing next to Supergirl."
"Yes, seeing that gave me some very interesting ideas."
Keira winced. "I am so not going to ask about them."
"Probably best." Cat shrugged. "Well, I'm embarrassed, but not terribly humiliated. I'm feeling much better now that I've realized that you're not a very effective interrogator."
Keira sat up stiffly. "No," she said. "You're right. I'm not a very effective interrogator. But I am a very effective personal assistant."
"Yes, you're excellent."
"So I'm going to go return all the phone calls you've been dodging for the last month. Enjoy those conversations."
"Well-played," said Cat, as Keira marched out of the office. The girl was smart to go with her strengths.
Cat's phone rang. She sighed deeply, then finished her tea and went to answer it. In for a penny, in for a pound.