Chapter Text
Margaret Giraldo is speedwalking down the streets of Midtown Metropolis. She was late for the first day of her internship at Metropolis 1. She missed her second train and almost lost her school ID. It was a messy day to say the least.
She arrives, feet sore from hoofing it down the street in heeled boots. Margaret catches her breath in the lobby, before messaging her supervisor to get her, and check her in at reception. She should have a work ID by tomorrow so she can check in by herself.
Pulling up the app while leaning against the wall, she begins messaging Mr. Dean that she has arrived, albeit 5 minutes late. He messages that someone will be getting her soon. She begins to look around, silently hoping she will see someone interesting. She always hopes she will bump into a celebrity or someone she admires in the streets of Metropolis. Same way she hopes to bump into a Wayne back home in Gotham.
“Hi, Margaret right?” A voice interrupts her thoughts.
She looks up and sees a woman in her late 20s in front of her. Margaret smiles and nods, putting out her hand to shake.
“Yeah, hi, nice to meet you!” She says smiling
“I'm Nina, one of the line producers and was sent to come get you. You'll be shadowing and helping me and Aaron for most of your time here.” The woman states as she shakes her hand.
They begin to walk through as Nina scans her into the building and they ride the elevator to the studio. It is pleasantly silent. They walk out of the elevator and through a set of doors. Nina scans them in again, and they walk through and turn down the hallway.
Margaret is met with the view of a large office and studio. There is a stage and then dozens of desks grouped in sections. She follows as Nina introduces her to various senior producers and other people you would be working with.
She then gets walked to the office of the executive producer Nick Dean. He is kind, and lets her know he is glad she is here. She is surprised to learn she is the only intern in her time block. Margaret wants to text her family and boyfriend almost immediately to tell them the news.
Nina walks her to another office where she meets the anchor she is working under, Josh Ryan. He is equally cordial and tells her to come to him if she ever has questions about hosting.
Margaret and Nina walk back to the main office area, Nina leads her to a desk next to her own. At the desk is a laptop with her name on it and her work ID. It is starting to feel very real now.
Nina fills her in about her duties, which are mostly little tasks in helping the production team. Margaret takes it in and as Nina begins to show her the different programs she will be using in her internship.
Time began to fly. Marg snuck some enthusiastic texts to Evan and her parents along the way. Nina finally tells her that it is time to pick up a guest. They go to the lobby to grab the guest. Nina informed her that he was one of Luthor’s ex-staffers.
Margaret's disdain for Lex Luthor is not well hidden. She usually tries not to be so overt with it, especially working at a self-proclaimed unbiased news station.
They take the guest to the makeup chair and the time ticks down to when the show is starting. Nina tells her she should go observe the control room and watch production happen there.
The control room was quiet but not silent. Orders were being spoken, but all Margaret can hear is the air conditioning and the live feed of the stage. She sits, says hi to the senior producers she’s met and just watches.
Josh begins the show and goes on talking about national news of the week. It is not 15 minutes before Nick touches his earpiece and begins to nod quickly.
“I am getting a report that Intergang has attacked the Star Labs building downtown,” he says, “Is Kimmy still in the area and able to get a feed going?”
He gets affirmatives and then tells Josh through the headset a basic story so he can relay and they can begin the live report.
The other producers in the room begin to call or speak through intercom to the guests that they may not be coming on because of this breaking story. Margaret watches this all occur within a minute and then turns her attention towards the new live feed. Kimmy Daniels and her camera man are running towards the Star Labs building. Kimmy is reporting on the fly, giving the limited information she has from the past few minutes.
She watches as Superman flies into the building and disappears. The older (she isn’t sure anymore) Superboy begins to evacuate the building. He flies employees out and then begins to fly the perimeter searching for stragglers. She observes with rapt attention. Kimmy Daniels is giving a play-by-play of what she has seen and knows from those present. The reporter attempts to get a statement from Superboy, but he ignores all requests and goes in to help his dad? Brother? Friend? Coworker? Uncle?
There are spectators crowded across the lot, in what seems to be a safe area. The escaped scientists are there as well. The spectators seem curious but cautious. The scientists look a little checked out.
Minutes go by and everyone waits to see Superman’s defeat of Intergang. The MPD has already arrived and is now surrounding the exits of the lab. It is about 20 minutes before Superman comes out with the members in tow. The police take them. Kimmy attempts to get a statement but Superman flies away and Superboy follows after.
Kimmy gets a statement from an officer and then the feed ends. They switch back to studio as Josh begins to talk about the information they currently have. They do move on back to the scheduled topics, but say they will switch to the press conference by the MPD when it happens.
Margaret feels overwhelmed but exhilarated. She did not know how intense newsrooms could get. Sure she worked with her university’s paper and TV station, but those are way more feature oriented. She stays in the control until it was time to take her bus back to her campus apartment.
The day is more calm, Josh talks about Lex Luthor’s new business venture and has that ex-staffer on. They stream the conference for 45 minutes. Josh comments on that and then the show is over and Margaret gets to go home.
She says goodbye to everyone she met and cannot wait to see what tomorrow will bring. She begins to scroll through her phone.
3 missed calls from Evan
5 missed calls from Ma
2 missed calls from Pa
She calls her mom first.
“Hi Mami, before you say anything, I was not near the attack and just watched the report from the studio,” she says quickly.
“Alright baby, I was just worried, how was your first day?” her mother asks relief evident in her voice.
Margaret sits on the bus and quietly regales the tale of her day to her mom.
“So, Josh Ryan and I are best friends..." she begins and then continues to explain her day bit by bit before getting to the good part "...and it was crazy how quickly things shifted"
The bus arrives at her stop "...hey I’m going to get off the bus now I’ll call you tomorrow”
“Alright love you, que dios te bendiga”
“Amen, love you too, tell Pa that as well”
Margaret begins the walk from the bus stop and down the block to her apartment. She calls Evan because she knows she will probably be chatting with him for hours.
“Hey cutie”
“Hey, how was your first day?”
“Well, you might be competing with Josh Ryan” she says jokingly “He’s a dilf”
“Is he even a dad?” Evan asks
“I don’t know, but he’s in his late 30s so dilf it is”
A hour or so pass as they chat as she cooks and eats. She has to hang up so she can start on homework. Not before scrolling on social media about people’s opinions of the day.
She is reading through tweets.
Saoirse @notronan
This latest fight was surprisingly calm
Layla @superboy1supremacy
Superboy Prime looked incredibly good today
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Tim Drake-Wayne @TimothyDW ✓
I agree
She does a double take before liking the post and putting the information in the back of her head. Margaret knew Tim Drake was bi, she just did not know he was into Superboy Prime. He did it by accident. She screenshots to share with her sister and scrolls by.
It doesn’t take long before she decides to tweet her own.
MargG @gothamgirlinmetro
Seeing a Superman fight from a newsroom was an experience.
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Ally @supergirlstan
Must’ve been something else
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MargG @gothamgirlinmetro
Ally, if I could bring you with me, I would, it was so cool.
She closes the app and gets started on homework.