Chapter 7Notes:Just posting this a day early so I'm not updating this and Old Gods tomorrow. That way leads to putting the wrong chapter to the wrong fic.
Chapter TextKara was peacefully sorting emails for Ms. Grant and marking them by relevance or just answering or deleting the rest. It was a bit tedious, but also probably the most peaceful part of her job working for Ms. Grant. Unfortunately, it was a bit mindless, which left her mulling over the James situation. Ms. Grant's advice had mirrored Daisy's, only a bit blunter. Stop trying, shine more and he'd 'dock in her port'. Which was a horrible metaphor. But the other words 'do you still want him or do you think you are supposed to want him?' were sticking more.
The important problem was this morning at the DEO. Siobhan wasn't an alien but whatever was going on with her wasn't good. Lucy said they'd keep looking into it. But the sinking feeling in her gut said that it might be her fault. That was silly though, she'd gotten Siobhan fired, not exposed to anything that'd cause powers! Kara was still gnawing on the inside of her lip though.
Rats, she'd stopped typing. She went back to the request for a raise and sent it to the correct individual in HR who should have gotten the request, not Ms. Grant. She was clicking into an email asking about arranging a meeting with Ms. Grant when she heard the now familiar rapid drumbeat that was Daisy's distinctively too fast for a human heartbeat.
She couldn't help the reflexive smile as she looked up. Daisy hadn't said she was swinging by, it was her first day at RadioShack, and she must have just gotten off. Kara beamed, as her foot bounced slightly as she waited for the elevator to reach their floor. She was up and around her desk the second the door opened and she could believably know Daisy was here. "Daisy! What are you doing here?"
"Celebratory coffee tastes better with other people, and for the moment you're my only friend in the city." Daisy passed over a Noonens latte, extra hot and the distinctive scent of vanilla.
Kara excitedly accepted the cup before pausing and pouting at Daisy. "I should be the one doing something nice for you!"
"Uh, you're letting me crash on your couch and are helping me get a mattress tomorrow after the paint finishes drying." Daisy smiled though, "And you've been doing the dishes and helped me paint. You're good."
Kara narrowed her eyes and poked Daisy's chest. "I'm getting you ice cream after work and you can't stop me."
"Wouldn't dream of it, and I expect cookie dough." Daisy's smile was just pleased and happy as she let Kara hook their arms and pull her back to her desk.
She flicked her eyes to where Ms. Grant was working on her couch. "I can take a ten, especially if we're celebrating. Do you like red velvet?"
"Who doesn't like red velvet?" Daisy easily sat on the empty side of Kara's desk, taking a sip of her own coffee.
Kara dropped back into her seat. "Psychopaths, that's who."
"Oh, well a good thing I'm capable of basic empathy then." Daisy teased lightly, which she did a lot, the teasing. "Speaking of, RadioShack, I got the tour, and the login info and spent the remaining hour and a half cleaning porn viruses off of people's laptops."
Kara understood the pleased tone and expression. "So you like it?"
"Yeah, I think I do." Daisy hummed. "I have a terrible red polo and name tag."
It was the belonging, the slice of normalcy that Daisy liked, and Rao did Kara understand that. "Not wearing the polo outside of work?"
"I'm not really a polo girl," Daisy said dryly, amused light in her eye. "Just because red isn't hideous on me doesn't make it my color."
Kara couldn't help it, "You wear enough color to have a favorite?"
"Rude," Daisy snickered, "And I wear plenty of colors, like plaid." She turned slightly thoughtful, head tipping slightly. "I probably do need to get some clothing that's more than dark green, dark purple, grey, and black."
It really was a weird thought to only wear such somber colors. "We can go to the clothing section when we go to Target!" Kara's brow crinkled, "Why don't you wear more color?"
"Yeah, no one wears a lot of color in an underground military base. It tends to be chilly, dark colors hide stains, and I don't know, field uniforms were usually black. Just ended up a habit I guess. Dark colors or suits were pretty typical."
Kara looked at Daisy critically. "I think you'd look nice in pink actually."
"Oh, I do." Daisy grinned. "I had this hot pink sun dress I used one time, tragedy struck and it got ruined. But I liked the dress. I wore a lot more color, and skirts really before I got recruited."
Kara considered her friend. "Did you wear less eyeliner then?"
"Hey, I like my eyeliner, but yeah. And if you think this is a lot you should have seen me in my goth faze. I wore fishnets and black nail polish." Daisy's lips quirked up as she sipped at her coffee smugly.
Kara would have replied but the movement caught her attention on the other side of the bullpen. Something miserable and guilty cringed at the sight of Siobhan. "Oh no."
"What?" Daisy's eyes flicked to the movement, her brow shooting up as they watched Siobhan shove Winn out of her way. "Oh off her rocker power bitch?"
Kara cringed, "I got her fired."
"Yeah, I'm thinking that was reasonable," Daisy muttered.
Kara shot Daisy a look but didn't say anything as Ms. Grant called out from her couch. Siobhan was going through a lot, she needed help, not to self-destruct and have Ms. Grant blacklist her even more than she already had!
"Kiera, call security. I haven't seen eyes that crazy since I had fondue with Ramona Singer." The snide, casual disregard was not helping.
Still, Kara was up and around her desk not quite blocking Ms. Grant's office. Rao, she'd dreamed of this sort of thing before, now it just felt awful. The churning regret at messing everything up was uncomfortable in her stomach. "Siobhan, I'm sorry, you can't be here."
Kara did her best to beg with her eyes for Siobhan to let herself be talked down. To leave before the police got called, or she had to actually physically block her approach towards Ms. Grant.
The rage was practically leaking from Siobhan as her attention locked onto Kara. And oh, the disdain and fury were focused then. She might be more disheveled than Kara had seen her before, but she was still as razor-sharp and purposeful as ever. "You ruined my life, Kara Danvers." She spat with enough poison to make a lake from it.
Siobhan's face twisted up in a scream of sheer rage building. It was unhinged. Kara didn't even know what to do in the face of just…this. But the scream that came out of Siobhan's mouth was shrieking, a physical wall of sound so literal it blew Siobhan's hair back. It felt like knives stabbing into Kara's skull as her feet left the ground.
////
Daisy had been intending to stick around long enough to 'bump' into James and deescalate the tension there, no matter how much he rubbed her the wrong way. Besides, she'd been curious about whether Cat would try and talk to her, the woman clearly had been in her power bubble for way too long. Mostly seeing Kara was nice. Having a friend to just talk about stupid things like a first day at a boringly crappy job was nice.
Those plans went flying out the window, literally, when unhinged power bitch, apparently Siobhan, came striding in on a warpath. Which hadn't pinged any danger vibes. The woman couldn't be more of a civilian. Right up until her face had twisted up and every instinct in Daisy's body went off. Because civilian didn't mean 'safe', it just meant 'untrained'.
The sound of the shriek she let out was horrible, it was like shards of glass stabbing into her brain while dancing up and down her nerve endings. Daisy wasn't unused to pain though.
She didn't even think, lunging a half second after Kara as the woman was blown clean off of her feet.
Daisy didn't need to stop and think, she'd had the instincts of what to do in these situations beaten into her head, sometimes literally, for years. She caught up to Kara right as Kara was breaking through the glass window.
She didn't hesitate, she jumped right out after her, one arm hooking around her friend's waist. Daisy barely had time to get her feet up in time as they hit the smooth metal and glass of the indented L of the face of the building. Right angles in architecture, shockingly useful at this moment.
Her right foot slipped on the smooth slightly damp surface, her left foot didn't. It was barely enough grip, but Daisy still kicked off back towards the window they'd just come out of.
Gravity and geometry were a bitch, they weren't going back through the window. But, it was close enough that Daisy was already twisting, her left hand reached out.
Daisy's hand caught the bottom of the metal window frame for the window that'd just been blown out.
The downside of grabbing the window frame of a freshly shattered window, the glass hadn't actually all fallen out, meaning a few shards of it sliced intoDaisy's hand. Especially in the far corner just barely managing to grab the thing.
Upside of grabbing the window frame of the freshly shattered window Kara'd just been chucked out of, neither of them were going to be using their powers to survive this. Cover identities preserved, 'yay team'.
And then Daisy and Kara's combined weight hit, jerking Daisy's grip, driving the shards of glass deeper. Daisy grit her teeth to keep from yelping at the pain as she held them up there. She breathed out through her nose. Ok, they were good. She glanced down at the forty-story drop beneath them, and then up at the window. With only one hand there was no way an un-serumed person was getting another human up and to safety.
She frowned, no more terrible shrieking vibrations from hell up above. So hopefully someone had tackled psycho bitch Siobhan. Daisy looked at Kara. Fuck, she was out of it. Concussion probably from the vague whiny sounds she was making while not seeming to quite grasp they were on the side of a building, considering alien, she'd give her five minutes to be good as new. Still, good to know that shit could hurt her, it was a thing to look out for.
Daisy squinted up at the open window. They did realize they were hanging here right? She hissed, fuck that glass in her hand really hurt. So she shouted up. "HEY! SOME HELP HERE PLEASE!"
It was faint, outside of a skyscraper windy and all, but Daisy could just barely hear the hysterical sound of a woman's voice, "Oh my god they didn't fall!"
There was some sound, and then James and Winn were partially leaning out of the window. Winn's face blanched, his face was sheet white.
"Hey, if I pass Kara up can you guys take her?" Daisy cut off whatever panicked anything was about to come pouring out of Winn's mouth.
James was on the ball. "Do we need a rope?"
"If I lift her up, can you hook her under the arms, or do you need the rope?" Daisy's feet were resting on the flat surface of the side of the skyscraper.
James was moving. "I can get her by the arms. Winn, grab me around the waist." He leaned half out the window. "Is she alright?"
"Probably a concussion, maybe shock." Daisy looked down at Kara. "Kara, I need you to not fight me, ok?"
Kara squinted at her from where she was hanging a bit like a sack of potatoes. "Wha- why'd you help? I…"
"You got sent flying out a window." Daisy let a thrum of her powers vibrate Kara slightly, hopefully, it would remind her everything was fine, she didn't need to do anything heroic and cover-blowing. Daisy pulled herself and Kara up a full six inches, then using a leg, and her grip adjusted Kara so she was mostly between her and the building and more upright.
There was a flash of blue eyes as Kara seemed to be more aware. Good, she just needed to play along for a few more seconds.
Daisy held Kara's eyes, "Kara, I need you to put your hands on my shoulders and push yourself up so James can grab you, ok? I know you're confused, you have a concussion. But it's going to be fine."
Kara's eyes were less glassy by the second as she nodded, her hands were gentle as they moved to Daisy's shoulders and she did as asked.
James, which he had seriously good instincts for a civilian on how to not overbalance, hooked Kara under her armpits and pulled her up and through the empty window frame.
It was a sharp lessing of the pain in Daisy's hand at the loss of the extra weight. She didn't wait for James to come back for her, he was a decent dude, and he'd have come back for her. But she had abs before she got serummed, thanks. She pushed up with what little friction she had with her feet, her now free hand gripping a less glass-encrusted part of the metal window frame, and easily pulled herself up and through the window.
Daisy ignored the sharp pain from un-impaling her hand as she swept the room, there was no hogtied and being sat on Siobhon. "Where did the shrieky bitch go? Did you shove her in a closet or something?"
"Oh, well, after she went all Mariah Carey on you, she just split," A woman with a brown updo said from where she was next to Winn where he was crouched by a now sitting upright on the floor Kara.
Cat Grant spoke. "What the hell was that?"
Daisy's head tilted, and wow, right, civilians. "Airforce Special Reconnaissance war vet?"
"You're bleeding?!" Kara sounded alarmed, her eyes locked on Daisy's hand.
She winced looking at her hand, quickly reaching up and pulling the visible piece of glass out of her palm. "Yeah, that's going to need some stitches." Daisy dropped down in front of Kara. "And you need to get checked for a concussion."
"Your nose," Kara sounded horrified.
Daisy's good hand poked at her nose, she blinked looking at her fingertips stained red. Huh, that shriek had done some damage. Would be healed up in another twenty minutes tops though. So she needed to get her and Kara out before then. "Huh, shrieky had some lungs on her." She looked over to Cat. "Look, do you have an underling who can drive us to a walk-in clinic? I just need some stitches but Kara's going to need to get evaluated, whatever that was hit her dead on. Might get sent to the ER, but faster to check out a walk-in first."
"Of course, Cathy, you have a car I presume?"
Daisy bit the inside of her cheek, good to know, Cat Grant cared about Kara, even if she was still ridiculously bitchy about it. She tuned out the arrangements and looked at James. "You wouldn't have a handkerchief or something I can use to stop the bleeding?"
"Of course," He yanked his necktie off his neck, handing it over. "Will that work?"
She blinked, huh, hostile towards newbies in Kara's life, but not an asshole. "Yeah, that'll work." Daisy accepted the tie, quickly tying it around her sliced open hand, and hiding what would be skin stitching back together, and fast. "I'll get you a new one."
"You saved Kara, you don't owe me anything," James said, voice warm and slightly shaky. Not uncertain though.
Kara lunged forward hugging her.
Daisy awkwardly patted Kara on the back. "It's not a big deal?"
"You jumped out a window forty stories up!" Winn squeaked.
Daisy rolled her eyes. "I've jumped out of airplanes at twenty thousand feet, what's a skyscraper? Only like a 90% chance of going splat if I missed getting the frame on the way down." Her eyes widened as she stared at Cat Grant. "Do not put me on your front page, I swear to god!"
////
Kara breathed easy as Karen's car drove off after dropping them off at the walk-in clinic. She looked at Daisy. "Come on, let's get you stitched up."
"Uh, I'm fine." Daisy pulled the soppy with blood tie off of her hand, it was just an angry red scab. "I heal fast. Needed to get us out of there before someone noticed that or that you healed up from a severe concussion in under two minutes. I'll fake our medical paperwork once it doesn't hurt to type."
Kara hugged her. "Why would you do that! You got hurt!?"
"Uh, you got chucked out a window, grabbing you was just instinct. Then like it wasn't a big deal to keep everyone thinking we were human." Daisy shrugged, after hugging her back briefly. "You're really a hugger aren't you?"
Kara's face flushed, not having Alex around for hugs and cuddles was showing. "I'm sorry, I can stop if-"
"It's fine, I'm just not that used to it." Daisy smiled, and it wasn't a happy smile. "So, now that you've got a free afternoon, what's the plan, cause I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your former co-worker is going to need to be stopped and if the cops do it she's going to end up dead."
Her jaw tensed at that thought. "Would it be all right if I flew us back to the apartment?"
"Go for it." Daisy agreed, tipping her head to a nearby alley.
What Kara actually wanted to do was fly them to the secret base at Catco. But she knew enough about Daisy to know she'd be deeply opposed to anyone knowing about her. She wanted to disappear into the crowds. So to the apartment, she went. As soon as her feet had hit the floor she let go of Daisy. "I don't know what to do, when her scream hit me, everything went fuzzy."
"Well it's soundwaves, you're sturdy enough some construction earplugs with like over-the-ear construction muff things should probably keep you on your feet." Daisy frowned stepping to the sink and whipping the blood stains off of her hands. "That and you're fast enough you should be able to get around her if you take her by surprise. If that doesn't work, I control vibrations, sound waves are vibrations, I can just make them not happen."
Kara's eyes widened as she realized that was an offer of help with Super stuff. "You'd help?"
"Yeah, I'm not going to leave you to deal with this alone." Daisy scoffed, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter. "That said, Daisy Johnson and Quake can't be connected. Not if Cadmus is linked to the DEO. If they know who I am it's going to limit what I can do, and ups the chances of me having to fight them outright before we even know where their icky tentacles of shit are. At least as plan A."
Kara nodded, that made sense. "So what, I text you where and you meet me there?"
"If something happens and you can't take her by yourself, yeah. You take a GPS tracker, hit an SOS message, I'll stay central enough that you should only have to hold out for three minutes tops till I can get there. Ideally less, but if she heads to the outskirts, It'll take me a couple of minutes."
Kara considered what she knew of the situation. "I need to go into the DEO and update Lucy on what's going on." She looked at Daisy. "Siobhan isn't…nice…she's really mean but she's scared and doesn't know what's going on with her powers. She needs help."
"So we're helping the lady who just tried to murder you, sounds fun." Daisy hesitated, "Kara, if you end up needing me it's going to be important that anyone who sees it believes it's the first time we've met. You can't act like you've seen me before. I can make sure your reaction is more genuine, but it means you needto be surprised."
She wanted to brush off the warning, but there was a seriousness to Daisy that said she shouldn't do that. Kara straightened fully, "Let's do this."
Chapter 8Notes:Two days early because of the Holiday! Hope you all are having a wonderful Valentines day.
If this chapter keeps getting updated a few times in the next twenty minutes or so it's cause I'm tying a new HTML font thing and just am fixing any errors in the formatting it might cause. Should probably be fine, but ya know, if something weird happens that's why.
Chapter TextCat Grant was having a terrible day that was going to make her have to get some touch-ups on her hair to hide the new grey strands. She'd agreed, against her business sense, to blur Daisy's face from the security footage that'd been published on the website and frames that would be running in the Tribune. It was dramatic, not the best angle. But Cat took a handful of M&Ms at the sight of the security footage of a human 'yeeting' themself out of a skyscraper like a suicidal lemming and surviving somehow.
Sometimes she knew to her bones that her obnoxiously perky millennial assistant was Supergirl. But then days like this came. Days where a niggling feeling of doubt crept in. Because there was an emailed note Kiera had sent her, from the hospital ER informing her that her assistant had a mild concussion and would be out of work for the next three days. The trick of Kiera and Supergirl both in her office, this doctor's note, the way Kiera had seemed genuinely harmed and disoriented by Siobhan's screaming. But everything else lined up. It was miserable being unsure.
What she was sure of was those military medals Daisy had casually referenced being very real. It'd only taken a quick Google search to see what on earth Special Reconnaissance was. The answer was special forces that did things so classified it was probably impossible even for her to get a real run down on most of the types of missions they did. But someone trained to jump out of a plane and land behind enemy lines. It fit for the sort of suicidal 'yeeting' Daisy had done, and then being concerned about not being plastered on the news.
And Cat couldn't deny the horrible, sick horror at the sight of Kiera being thrown out that window. It didn't matter she was almost sure the girl was Supergirl. What mattered was if she hadn't been she would have died. If she hadn't befriended a veteran missing all survival instincts, thank god, she would have died.
At least they were raking in eyes and numbers with the office footage of 'wished to remain anonymous veteran' saving the day. The footage was still sickening. There was a moment when Kiera and Daisy fell out of frame, and without knowing to look for it, it was so easy to miss where Daisy's hand caught the window frame, half impaling her hand on the glass. Then the rush of pulling Kiera up, only for the now blurred-out face of Daisy climbing right back in and pulling a shard of glass out of her hand. It was selling. The arguments in the comments about the probability of pulling off the insane stunt were wild.
Cat had no doubt by the end of the week every parkour idiot in the city would have built an obstacle to test the maneuver out on. She didn't need to be an expert to know it was insane they'd survived that. To know the difference in life and death had been one shoe not slipping, pure athleticism, and a woman with the pain tolerance to hang on even while her hand was partially impaled on glass.
The submitted video from people on the ground was equally sickeningly impressive. Because when windows got blown out, the people on the ground noticed the shower of glass and looked up. And then aimed smartphones at the human beings hanging out of said window. The phone footage wasn't clear due to the distance. It was clear enough to tell what was happening broadly though.
Cat eyed her bottle. It was too early to get drunk, but once five o'clock hit nothing on god's green earth was keeping her from knocking back four fingers of that. She had a driver for a reason. Which left her stress munching on M&M's one at a time. At least her cover story had resolved itself. Superpowered attack and heroic rescue by bystander sold. It'd sell better if Daisy had consented to an interview and her face being used. But, for saving Kara's life, Cat would accept keeping the woman anonymous.
She looked up as James burst into her office. "I don't recall asking for your presence?"
"Ms. Grant, you have to leave now." He had a cell phone in one hand. "Livewire has escaped. She could be anywhere now, but you know she'll come for you eventually. You need to head home and pack. Winn called Kara for her passwords, he's arranging a car to take you and Carter to the airport with guards. He'll take care of your escape arrangements."
"I'm not going anywhere." Cat met his faintly panicked expression with her own, even one. "I've beat her once, I'll beat her again." She scoffed at the gaping disbelief on his face. "Fine. I had help, but I will have help again. National City may have lost faith in Supergirl, but I have not. And you shouldn't either, Mr. Olsen."
He tried that warm, persuasive, ever so slightly commanding but not overbearing posture. "Ms. Grant, I have every faith in Supergirl. But she can't be everywhere all at once. You need to leave until she's caught Livewire."
"I'm not going anywhere." She replied, like hell, she was letting her own demented protege chase her out of her city. The screens behind her desk started to spark. Well, now would be a really good time for Supergirl to show up.
Cool under pressure was a joke. Her heart was beating out of her chest abnormally fast, her hands sweating as she tried not to flinch as Leslie shot lightning in great showy arches to explode things. Supergirl had better get here, soon. Being handcuffed to a bench as human bait was not what she'd meant when she'd said she believed in Supergirl. The screaming of the idiot innocent bystanders who were running around like chickens with their heads cut off was not helping the situation.
"Think she'll show?" Siobhan asked from where she was standing looking like a Party City reject. Who showed her facepaint? She really should have stayed behind the scenes. Clearly, she was not cut out for being in front of the camera. Of course, Cat could have told her that if she'd asked. Also if terror wasn't tightening her throat it'd help with communicating her disdain. And terror.
Leslie, or Livewire, or whatever insipid name the woman was going by now, replied. "Don't know. Don't really care. Either way, I'm getting my jolts." She stalked towards Cat, her voice dripping venom. "You see Cat, I'm still fifty-fifty if your heart's actually beating, but I'm going to stop it anyway."
She meant it.
It was the jolt that unstuck Cat's tongue. "No, Leslie. Please don't do this." Cat's wrists ached from the handcuffs holding her in place. She was going to die. If Supergirl didn't get here now, she was going to die. Because Leslie really would kill her.
Leslie sneered, "Begging? I'm disappointed. What are you so afraid you're going to miss, hmm? Another silly award ceremony? Where a bunch of sycophants kowtow to the false queen and tell you how great you are?"
"No. No, I'm not asking for myself. I'm asking for my boys. I'm all they have. Please don't take their mother away from them." It was all she had. The only thing that mattered. Carter who was so young, so special. He'd never recover from losing her. And she'd only just begun to mend bridges with Adam. Cat didn't care about dignity or pride, she needed to survive, for them. Because she loved them.
A relief so desperate it felt like a physical blow hit her as Supergirl landed not twenty yards away.
The hero's clear commanding voice traveled, bringing the chaos, the running masses, and even the monsters to a halt through the sheer force of her presence. "Leslie! Leave Ms. Grant alone."
"Skirt! You showed." Leslie straightened, turning to face Supergirl. "Think things will go differently for you this time? Or are you going to run away to save your hide again?"
Siobhan, pretentious facepaint she thought made her a serious 'villain' scoffed. "Enough of this," and then opened her mouth and screamed.
Supergirl looked ridiculous with construction worker ear-muffs over her ears, but the force of the scream only forced her back an inch. "You don't have to do this Siobhan, we can help you."
"You think you can take both of us?" Leslie sneered, "Some ridiculous earmuffs aren't going to save you. It's only a little murder, well-deserved murder. Why don't you go fly off."
Supergirl's hand was held out in the universal sign for 'stop'. "We can talk this out, no one has to get hurt."
"Only a couple of people do," Lightning cracked up her arms, her eyes turned to the sky on the Catco World Wide Media helicopter, her face twisted into a snarl, and Cat knew talking was at an end. "I HATE, HELICOPTERS!"
Lightning poured out of her fingers, people screamed as they realized what was about to happen.
Supergirl moved.
She was fast, she threw herself between the lightning and the helicopter, arms outstretched.
Lightning lit her up, enwrapping her form, her head flung back in a silent scream, and then she dropped the second Leslie's powers ceased. It was as if the lightning itself had kept her in place.
She crashed to the ground, pain on her face, her back arching from what appeared to be muscle spasms.
A murmur washed through the crowd. Cat could have sworn someone said 'she saved them'. Her heart was in her throat.
"Not so Super now, are you Skirt." Leslie and Siobhan stepped forward only to stop, as a loud, echoing, clap, echoed through the city park.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The air itself felt heavy with a low hum. Like the air before a thunderstorm.
Cat and everyone else looked up, and there, sitting on the edge of a building against one side of the park, was a figure. And Cat knew as she took in the figure it was bad news.
The person looked vaguely feminine from the hair but could have been a slight man. They were clad all in black, not a sliver of skin was visible. Their face was covered with some kind of goggle face mask that glinted gold in the light, and their lower face was covered with hard plastic. But whereas Leslie and Siobhan looked like they were trying to wear a costume, this person did not.
Leslie balked, before puffing up with unearned bravado…possibly earned. "And who are you?"
"Someone fascinated by the stupidity down there." There was a voice modulator being used. A horrible artificial sound as it echoed from them. The figure pushed off falling the three stories without a flicker of hesitation, landing lightly. Probably flight then. As they walked forward, it was clear it was a woman. And Cat felt a shiver of dread as she realized that black fabric was kevlar.
The woman had a short women's bob cut, the color a dark poisonous-looking purple. It was the only thing besides some dark purple paneling of her jacket, and the gold glint of her mask that gave the faintest hint of personality. And to say she stalked forward didn't do her movement justice. And that was blatantly a gun attached to her thigh. Cat's eyes turned to where a confused-looking Supergirl was trying to climb to her feet, but swaying with the movement.
"Well, no one accused Supergirl of being smart," Leslie said snidely. "Name's Livewire, that's Banshee. If you're here to get in our way, it won't go well for you."
The woman came to a stop, head tilting. "Cute, but sure, let's go with the made-up names. Call me Quake."
"Planning on intervening?" Leslie's voice had a threat in it, she was getting more confident by the second.
'Quake's' face turned ever so slightly towards Cat, "All this just to kill a bitchy CEO? I mean, go off I guess?" that same horrible artificial voice modulated voice that was impersonal, the same lack of a human face.
Supergirl's fingers twitched slightly as she looked between the new arrival and Leslie and Siobhan. "Ms. Grant does not deserve to die."
"Is that asking me for help, Hotstuff?" Quake's voice, altered and robotic as it was, came across as almost amused.
Siobhan apparently had lost it. "Enough of this." And then she turned her whole body moving with the force of it as she screamed.
There was no sound.
Quake's hand was raised towards Siobhan, and there was no noise. She spoke, her voice still that artificial crackle. "That was dumber than trusting the Kryptonian to play nice." And then she shot Siobhan in the face.
Screams echoed out as Siobhon crumpled like a puppet.
"No!" Supergirl came to a skidding stop just short of where Siobhon's body was. She turned, eyes wide towards Quake. "You shot her?!"
Quake's face mask was tilted to the side. "And?"
"Holy fuck." Leslie took a half step backward, electricity crackling over her.
Quake's gun swung towards Leslie.
The gun went off.
Supergirl was faster than a bullet.
One hand of hers was on Quake's chest just below her throat, the other had a grip around Quake's wrist, holding the hand and gun straight upwards. The crack of the gun echoed. This park really did have a problem with that, echoing. Supergirls's face was hard. "We don't murder people."
"I mean, speak for yourself." Quake leaned into Supergirl's grip even as the Kyrptonian's face filled with affront. "But don't worry, can't you hear Shrieky's heartbeat? Tranq rounds, I was getting tired of the casuals' pretension. I mean where did she get her suit, the bargain bin? And that makeup, yikes."
Supergirl's head snapped around as she dropped Quake to look at Siobhan's body only to nearly slump in relief. "Oh thank Rao."
"You know what, fuck this sideshow." Leslie turned, lightning sparking as she started shifting into pure lightning as she took off, lunging towards Cat.
Cat only kept from screaming through sheer terror.
Supergirl blurred, skidding to a stop in front of Cat.
She hadn't needed to.
The white light of Livewire fractured as she returned to being corporeal, slamming into the ground with a sharp scream of pain, She twisted, looking at Quake. "What di-"
There was a crack as Quake shot her.
Quake holstered her weapon. "Boring."
"Would you stop shooting people!" Supergirl yelped as she dropped to one knee, pressing two fingers to Leslie's neck. Her shoulders softened with relief.
One of Quake's hands dropped to her waist, her weight leaning to one side. "Shouldn't you be happier? 'Yay, bad guys down, innocents saved', you didn't have hurt anyone in the process, victory all around and all that? You even tried to choke me a bit. Which kinky, but I'm down for negotiating limits."
Supergirl actually choked, her face flushing as she made a vaguely inarticulate sound. Cat had never been so certain Supergirl was Kara Danvers in her life. She'd have spoken up, but getting the attention of the person who screamed supervillain, didn't sound smart. And she'd had enough near-death experiences for a single day. Cat held her tongue. She'd prefer someone got around to uncuffing her from this bench sooner rather than later though.
"Why did you shoot them?!" Supergirl waved her arms.
Quake's head tilted again. "They were annoying me? Is this because I didn't punch them? Cause the effort you go to so you don't accidentally murder your opponents is wild and I don't like pulling punches. The restrained strength thing is very sexy, but is getting hit by things really worth it?"
"I…why are you here?" Supergirl just ignored the cavalier disregard for life and the flirting. Well, if there was a hero that outright flirting on would put off foot, it'd be Supergirl.
Quake stepped straight into Supergirl's personal space, till they were less than a foot apart. "Huh, I think you might be more interesting than my why." She took a large step backward. "Nice meeting you Hotstuff, you're welcome for the save by the way. I think I'll see you around." Her head gave a very pointed tip of an up-down look of the hero. "This has been fun."
"Wait, what do you mea-"
But Quake didn't stay to hear whatever Supergirl had been about to ask, instead she simply shot straight up into the sky in a gust of wind.
The awful weight vanished with the woman's presence.
Cat felt rather like she could breathe again. "Supergirl, as amusing as it is to watch you being tricked into letting a villain escape because she was flirting with you, handcuffs. Anytime now."
"Ms. Grant!" Supergirl strode for her and quickly snapped the handcuffs off of her.
She rubbed at her wrists while standing up. "Took you long enough." And nobody had better notice the shake in her hands. Fear did not agree with her.
////
Kara was going so fast as she flew through her apartment window she skidded three inches before coming to a halt. "Daisy! What…what was that?!"
Daisy looked up from where she was seated on a stool by the kitchen island. "Your reactions had to be genuine, and honestly with how your world's PR is looking, being a borderline villain is more flexible and probably more useful." She reached up pulling the wig off of her head. "I am sorry for freaking you out though."
"Freaking me out…you're going to be a villain?" Kara's arms waved.
Daisy pulled out a series of bobby pins as she spoke, her long hair falling back down over her shoulders. "Eh, villain vibes." Daisy hesitated. "Look I didn't…how bad did that push it for you?"
"That was really intense, you were very convincing. I didn't realize it was you immediately." Kara admitted, she'd felt a horrible lurch at the thought it was three villains, not two. The distinctive beat of Daisy's heart had taken a few seconds to place, and even then, she'd just been…so different.
Daisy smiled weakly. "Well, I am a spy." The smile faded though. "What I said was the acting, how I handled them, not as much. I wasn't the you of my world, even if I was trying to do good."
"Why do you need to be a villain? Because that sounds terrible, really unreasonably terrible." Kara picked up the other stool by the kitchen island, set it down in front of Daisy, and took a seat. Their knees bumped slightly.
Daisy seemed hesitant and cautious. Her words careful. "Your change from the RedK, it was blatantly obvious something was wrong with you, it was short, the only people you even physically harmed were your boss, sister, and J'onn, and the general population is behaving as if you've betrayed them. Hell, even Cat is refusing to help you. And she could, it'd be good business too. Sex and drugs sell, you being drugged would sell. So why is no one supporting you, publically? The government was prepared and ready to take as much power over you at the drop of a hat, but not a single person whose life you've saved is doing impassioned defenses of you? I mean sure, there's a few private blogs, Facebook posts, but nothing with weight. And that...that's weird."
"And that's not how you think it should be?" Kara said slowly.
Daisy gave her a faintly frustrated, faintly pleading look. "Look the first big heroes on my world were a billionaire in a flying tank, a WWII vet shot up with steroids that left him a near physical match for an Asgardian, an Asgardian with lightning powers, a guy who turned into a giant rage monster, a special ops agent with a bow and arrows, and a Russian murder spy with guns. You or your cousin probably could take all of them. Well, if you played to win instead of going easy to try and not hurt them."
"I think, you and more your cousin, being the heroes on this world shaped how people see heroes in some really fucked up ways." There was a faint shiver in the air that Kara was beginning to learn meant Daisy was upset. "They don't see you as people. The standard they are holding you to is perfection. And as much as they worship you, they also are terrifiedof you." Something steely passed across Daisy's eyes. "So I'm going to give them an alternative. I'm three-quarters human, I have the power to crack a planet like an egg. They need to see humans can fight gods, and they need to have a point of contrast for the standard you two are setting."
Kara wasn't entirely sure she followed. She mostly did, but she'd be playing this conversation over and over in her head for days. She just knew it. "...and that means you need to be a villain?"
"I mean without the trying to dominate the planet and all that." Daisy shrugged. "Also, it gives me a lot more options going forward."
"That's terrible, Daisy, you shouldn't be making yourself out to be someone you're not." Kara reached out touching her knee. "You don't need to do that."
"I know I don't have to do it." The line of Daisy's shoulders softened. "I'm choosing to. And Kara, I've killed people, a lot of people. Fuck, I've tortured a few people. I'm not good, I may try to protect people when I can and stop threats but it's never been clean for me."
Kara blew out a breath. "That's…a lot."
"Yeah, and not your method." Daisy's fingers twitched. "Which is a good thing. But it's never going to be mine."
She felt something settle, it wasn't what she in part wanted to hear. Or would have expected really. But it felt honest. "I'm not that naive, I know not everything can be uncomplicated and not everyone can be saved. My mother was a judge, I've seen so much death. Promise me only as a last resort."
"I…" Daisy's back straightened. "Self-defense or in defense of another as a last good resort, anything premeditated only if it's the only good option and I never lie to you about it. And no torture as anything but an absolute last resort when every other option has been exhausted. It's not like torture even works really." Daisy didn't flinch in the slightest as she spoke. "I don't like killing, I don't like hurting people. But it is necessary sometimes."
Kara didn't like it, but she knew it was all she would get. "Ok."
"Hey, this isn't some final whatever. You can change your mind." Daisy's knee knocked into Kara's. "We can and probably should talk about it again in the future. And I know when it comes to the people I love I can go too far. I'm not perfect, I'm not always right. I help you, you help me, ok?"
And that felt lighter, a lot lighter. She leaned forward, and awkward or not, hugged her friend. "I think that's doable." She squeezed Daisy before pulling back, ignoring the surprised look on her face. "I get the villain thing, even if I still think it's a terrible idea. Why were you flirting with me like that?"
"I needed you too off balance so you wouldn't give away you knew me already." Daisy shrugged a faint curl to her lips. "And it was hilarious."
Chapter 9Notes:This fic will stabilize with weekly Friday updates once Old Gods goes on Hiatus, but till then it's probably going to just update earlier in the week so I don't end up with both updating anywhere near the same day.
Also, Alex gets brought up a lot in the comments, she'll pop up when she returns in the show, so like the later half of the whole Myriad thing. So you'll know when she's coming, it's the same time and place as the show.
Chapter TextDaisy wasn't sure what to do with the warm fuzzy feelings as she ate cookie dough ice cream straight from the carton, curled up on one end of Kara's couch, listening to Kara gripe about how the DEO had taken the day's shenanigans. It wasn't exactly what she'd expected after she'd reacted that strongly to the gun. But it hadn't ruined everything. She'd thought, for a second there Kara had realized she was a monster and wanted nothing to do with her. But here they were, ice cream, pajamas, and still friends.
"Lucy was having kittens over you, or Quake you," Kara said while taking a vicious dig into her carton of triple chocolate fudge ice cream with her spoon. "I'm supposed to try and get information out of you if you show up again, apprehend you if possible."
Daisy smiled faintly at that, well that would be fun. Maybe she should look up 'Super' related pick-up lines? Kara had clearly never had to use flirting as a tool before, and was easy to get a rise out of. "Well, probably shouldn't show up for another four or five days unless you have something big happen again."
"Why?" Kara asked looking at her in confusion.
Daisy continued to work at prying up a chuck of cookie dough. "Playing hard to get with the media. And it gives you more time to get back into your usual groove. The optics are better."
"You sound like military Ms. Grant sometimes," Kara said with a beleaguered sigh.
Daisy blinked. "I think that's an insult, that feels like an insult."
"Ms. Grant is an amazing woman, she's accomplished so much!" Kara protested with a loyalty that wasn't deserved from what Daisy had seen.
She stared at her friend. "She's a bitch, I'll give her she's not quite as awful as she comes across as, but she's like all the worst boomer traits wrapped up with a designer bow."
"Once you get to know her and get past the prickles, and there's maybe a lot of those, she cares so much and tries so hard to use her platform for what she believes in." Kara defended.
Daisy gave a tip of her head in acknowledgment. It wasn't like she knew the woman, but she wasn't convinced. "If you say so, I'll reserve judgment till I see her do something positive that isn't being upset at you almost dying."
"I can't believe she's letting me stay home for three days!" Kara actually sounded shocked.
Not that Daisy could judge, it wasn't like SHIELD had sick days. "According to Google it's the average time recommended for people with mild concussions to stay at home. You're also supposed to be avoiding bright lights, sounds, and other stimuli. So I just went with that on your doctor's note."
"You sent in a whole doctor's note?" Kara looked up from her ice cream.
Daisy laughed, "I said I would." She held up her hand slipping the bandages up, revealing the fully healed skin, only a thin, barely noticeable mark left on her palm. "And, all healed up."
"You were still bleeding." Kara reached out poking the palm of Daisy's hand as she protested the injury.
"Not everyone is bulletproof, which has got to be so nice. I mean I can't wear a bikini without getting noticed for the wrong reasons. Which is a shame, I'm hot. Do you know how much cover-up makeup I have to wear to infiltrate a pool party? Or even just go to the beach? Vacation is supposed to involve tropical islands and I've got questionable scars everywhere."
Kara hesitated, "I'm sorry if it's rude, but how many scars do you have?"
"No idea, five bullet wounds, couple of grazes, been stabbed, then got vivisected, had the slave chip ripped out of the side of my neck, jumped through some glass windows before, uh…only have scars from being tortured the one time, the other times didn't leave scars. So there's that. Then just the usual cuts and stuff from working in the field and just being human." Daisy reached out catching Kara's hand, poor alien looked like she was blatantly horrified. "Hey, I'm fine."
Kara had that look that said she was considering hugging her again as she spoke. "That's horrible!"
"And why I wear a suit that stops bullets." Daisy's face softened as she looked at Kara's just concern and vibrating consideration of physical affection. "I'm sorry you miss your sister so much."
Kara seemed confused by that. "I miss her, of course, I do, but what does that have to do with bulletproof suits?"
"You're a very huggy person, which is nice, but you look like you're about to try and cuddle me. I figured you're just missing the person you'd usually be spending time with." Daisy didn't mind being a replacement for the person Kara actually wanted to spend time with. It was sweet even.
"Oh, I do miss snuggling on the couch with Alex, and morning hugs, and evening hugs, and quick hugs at lunch," Kara admitted, her cheeks flushing. "But you're hurt and I can't make it better. It makes me want to hug you even though I know it won't help."
Daisy couldn't help the smile as she rolled her eyes, before scootching on the couch. "Right, you're sharing some of that chocolate, you can have some of my cookie dough. And I think we have to brave the news."
Kara lit up and adjusted so that Daisy could settle next to her, their sides leaning against each other. "You don't have to."
"You are very warm and cuddly." Daisy flicked her eyes at Kara, letting a brief hum of vibrations run through Kara. "I'm not suffering to make you feel better. Now, no more delay. The media's reaction to Supergirl blushing at being flirted with by a supervillain. The embarrassment is part of life."
Pouting, Kara picked up the remote and turned it on.
The coverage was exactly as confused and directionless as Daisy'd assumed. The ongoing and baffling anti-Supergirl sentiment left everyone flat-footed in what to think of what was clearly a powered person capable and willing to kill flirting with their hero. And Daisy'd timed her arrival right, cameras everywhere from the professional to the personal. The whole thing had been heard, seen, and recorded from multiple angles. Also, Supergirl had taken that hit from Livewire to save a lot of lives. A helicopter crashing on a crowded park in the middle of the city would have killed more than a handful of people.
It was a genuine mess of stories. Who was Siobhan and what was her power, when and how had Livewire escaped again, a few positive comments about Supergirl, who was Quake, what were Quake's powers, what was Quake, what was Quake's obviously evil master plan, did a villain really just flirt with Supergirl instead of fighting her? And on it went. They couldn't seem to settle on a narrative. The repeated coverage of 'Banshee's first attack on Catco World Wide Media PA foiled by anonymous hero' was a bit frustrating. Fortunately, that footage was poor, and her own face was blurred even if Kara's and the rest of the offices' were not.
Daisy grabbed the carton off the coffee table of open things of ice cream. She checked the label. "You really went out on the ice cream thing."
"It's for emotional support," Kara grumbled into her current carton of mint chip. "Do they have to keep showing me blushing? Supergirl isn't supposed to blush."
Daisy snickered, "It's outside of Supergirl's usual image, I don't think it's going away for a while. If you didn't want people looking at your face you should have worn a mask."
"Your mask is horrible, it scares people." Kara snuck a spoonful of Daisy's newly opened toffee chip and caramel.
She elbowed her slightly. "That's the point, I don't plan on anyone finding out I'm Daisy Johnson and that I'm Quake. At least not till it's useful for them to find out."
"You could find a nice mask," Kara mumbled around the spoon in her mouth. "One with a face on it."
Daisy knew she'd break down, it wasn't like she was attached to the ski mask and face shield, and putting in some air filtering into a mouth and nose guard part would be a good idea. Getting gassed by the Kree, shame on them, letting it happen by anyone else and it'd be shame on her. And Daisy was getting sick of getting kidnapped. "I could find a Ghostface mask I guess."
"Don't you dare!" Kara whacked her shoulder.
She grinned, and was pleased Kara wasn't treating her like she was made from glass, cause that shoulder whack had some weight to it. More weight than Kara probably fully realized. It was fine, it wasn't enough to bruise her. "What, it has eyes and a mouth."
"It's a horror movie mask," Kara's eyes squinted, cheeks puffed slightly. It was adorable, the woman was unfairly adorable most of the time.
Daisy just grinned before a question occurred to her. "Are the Scream movies musicals?"
"No, or yes, but no we are not watching horror movies!" Kara protested, "I had to watch them with Alex, I'm not watching them again."
Daisy's grin grew, "Holy shit, please say the killers have a murder song?"
"It's really catchy." Kara was outright pouting.
She couldn't help the burst of laughter at that. So she knew what she was hunting down while Kara was rescuing kittens. "That is so wild you guys have so many musicals, I mean we have them but it's like one or two a year, not fifty percent of movies."
"It's forty percent," Kara admitted, her head tipped a bit. "Do people not like them in your world?"
Daisy shrugged, "I've got no idea, Coulson would have known, but he's not here to ask."
Kara opened her mouth to reply only to pause, her eyes focusing on the door past Daisy's ear. "Lucy?" And then she was speeding to the door.
////
Lucy Lane didn't even get to knock on Kara's door before it was yanked open fast enough to cause a gust of wind. She mourned the chance to bang her knuckles on the door. It'd have been therapeutic. She had a great knock, very authoritative and firm. The blinding enthusiasm on Kara's face was overwhelming and joyful, it would be nice if she could understand why! It'd been a nerve-wracking, horrible day. Lucy wouldn't be surprised if Alex Danvers developed an ulcer before spontaneously combusting through sheer rage at seeing the news. The amount of effort J'onn had to be putting in to keep Alex Danvers from showing up had to be an alien super power.
"Lucy!" Kara moved too fast for Lucy to defend herself before she was being hugged by an enthusiastic alien.
She wheezed, "Can't breathe." Fuck, since when were she and Kara people who hugged?
"Sorry!" Kara pulled back like she'd been burned. It was funny to see her like this, all comfy Kara Danvers lounge clothing but with no glasses and the loose Supergirl waves of hair.
Lucy had no idea how she hadn't figured it out. It made so much sense, she hadn't wanted to see it, but it was a depressing testament to the human mind she'd managed to miss it, even willfully. Which is what Lucy was blaming that it took her a solid thirty seconds to notice the stranger in the room. "You're not alone."
"Oh, this is Daisy!" Kara excitedly stepped back welcoming Lucy in.
The woman on the couch buried her face in her hands. "Kara, you're so bad at compartmentalization."
Lucy shut the door behind her, folding her hands behind her back, and looked at Kara, her few last, precious crumbs of belief in her ability to hold down the Super-fort dying. "Want to explain who this is, Kara?"
"Uh…what is happening?" Kara looked back and forth between Lucy and this 'Daisy'.
Daisy groaned and looked up, setting a carton of ice-cream with a…horrifying amount of cartons on the coffee table while standing up. "You answered the door without your glasses, hair down, faster than a human, before she could knock, and you're wearing Kara clothing. IE, I'm a random stranger who knows both of you."
"Not going to deny it?" Lucy looked at the woman evaluating her. The flannel pajama pants with a soft longsleeved shirt weren't threatening, but the way her clothing laid on her said muscle, and there was something that made Lucy pay attention.
Daisy shrugged, "You'd be an idiot not to dig into my life with a backhoe if we tried to lie. And I'd rather just give you what you need so the inevitable background checking doesn't make things irritating for me."
"Wait, what?" Kara's shoulders were setting, huh, Supergirl stance while in pajamas would never not be strange.
Daisy rolled her eyes, walking over and holding out her hand to Lucy. "Daisy Johnson, Kara's new downstairs neighbor. She took insult at me sleeping in my car till I got the place set up and insisted I crash on her couch." Her amused expression had a slightly lopsided lilt to it. "And then this is a studio apartment and she floats in her sleep. Didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Ma'am."
"Military?" Lucy asked, shaking the woman's hand. And Jesus, no wonder Alex was an anxious wreck. Apparently, her superpower was keeping Kara's secret a secret.
Johnson gave a tip of her head. "Air Force SR, just got out on a medical discharge. Hence getting an apartment but not owning any furniture."
"Nice to meet you, Major Lucy Lane." And Lucy would be pulling the woman's files as soon as she got to the DEO tomorrow morning.
Kara was vibrating with excitement. "Don't worry, Daisy won't say anything."
"I'll sign an NDA for you." Johnson shot a fond look at Kara. "Just because you decided I was a good person, doesn't mean anyone else should trust me. Legal paperwork isn't a big deal, she wouldn't be doing her job if she didn't insist."
Wonderful, Kara had definitely told the woman about the DEO and that Lucy was running it. But the woman was being reasonable at least. Lucy looked at the woman again, a few inches shorter than Kara, with extreme physical training, trained to react in high-stress situations, a new 'friend', and that was a bandage around her left hand. "You jumped out of a window to rescue a person who can fly?"
"Oh, that was fast." Johnson grinned, "And to be fair I didn't process she didn't need the help till we were already hanging off the side of the building, and by then I mean might as well finish it out so nobody's explaining a crater instead of a body from Kara hitting the ground. Or her flying in a cardigan." There was an aggravating shrug like that was obvious.
And the thing was Lucy could see it, of course, Kara without Alex there to chaperone would meet her new neighbor who was a veteran planning on sleeping in her car while figuring out civilian life. Of course, Kara would then insist on the woman sleeping on her couch, who cares about a secret identity? A woman around the same age as Kara, who had to be accidentally ticking so many subconscious boxes as being similar to Alex which would make Kara far too trusting. Then Kara being Kara would endear herself to a jumpy veteran. Especially the type of veteran who had almost certainly seen active combat, and was either too traumatized to re-connect with their pre-enlistment civilian contacts or didn't have them. So entirely the kind of person who'd jump out a window of a mother fucking skyscraper.
Lucy was not paid enough for this. Nobody was paid enough for this. No wonder J'onn had an Oreo stress-eating condition and Alex looked like a hard poke would make her explode like a porcupine. "Please say you have a bottle of Alex's scotch lying around somewhere?"
Lucy was not frowning from a minor hangover, or feeling slightly sick from being force-fed a horrifying amount of ice cream last night. Or rather been left with a carton of ice cream and a bottle of scotch as the whole scale of the fact she was the only rational adult left to hold together the DEO, Supergirl, and thus preventing the regression of anti-alien governance on the west coast. No, she was fine, thinking about the so heavily redacted it might as well not exist, file of one Special Reconnaissance Senior Airman Daisy Skye Johnson.
That wasn't entirely true. Lucy had learned the woman had been Air Force for eight years, and been on the career path in it. Someone important had noticed her early and fast-tracked her hard for the SR. From there it was almost entirely classified with metaphorical giant flashing letters of warning she'd been doing some legally tenuous and or highly politically delicate at best action for the Air Force. It wasn't hard to guess what kind of work she'd been doing. The lists of commendations, and medals, were telling as well.
It was impressive, but also a problem. Someone like Johnson wouldn't follow anyone's tune she didn't choose to follow. With her skills that could be very dangerous. However, there was an opportunity. Daisy Johnson had no family, likely no civilian friends, and no purpose. The woman also wasn't interested in notice or fame. Probably a partially trained-in trait, and partially a trait that got her the notice of her trainers and slotted into the SR.
A gamble for Lucy to make, was this mess something she could pull something good out of, or was she just adding fuel to the fire? Doing nothing was the worst option. Protecting Kara and 'Controlling' Supergirl rarely were two interests that aligned. It was a hell of a balancing act J'onn and Alex had been playing there. But Johnson offered something that might just work to relieve a bit of the pressure. Which was why she was here, in Daisy Johnson's bare bones, but actually on its way to being a very nice, apartment. "Thank you for meeting me."
"I mean we could have used Kara's apartment, there's a coffee machine and chairs." Johnson pointed out, her eyes were sharp though.
Lucy set a file on the kitchen counter, it was a very nice kitchen counter, ignoring the complaint they both knew the answer to. No still sleeping Kryptonian to hear this conversation. "I organized that after I left last night."
"Did you get any sleep?" Johnson asked a single brow raising.
She took a drink of her coffee, it was pure espresso. "No, but I think we agree that protecting Kara takes precedence."
"Agreed, so what do you want to talk about that you don't want Kara to know about?" Johnson crossed her arms, utterly uninterested in touching the file. "Because all this theater isn't necessary for an NDA."
Lucy hoped Johnson was exactly who her files said she was. That she was who Kara thought she was. Because if Lucy was someone with hostile intentions for Supergirl, she'd have stuck someone exactly like Johnson in this building with a set-out purpose to 'befriend' Kara. It would be so easy for Johnson to be Cadmus or Cadmus affiliated. Lucy was risking a great deal on how very short the gap was between medical discharge, and Johnson showing up in National City. "You jumped out of a building to save Kara, are you willing to do more?"
"What do you want?" Johnson's stance shifted to something distinctly military.
She opened up the folder and turned it to be clear Johnson could see the contents. "For you to sign an NDA, and if you're interested, I'd hire you to monitor Kara."
"No." Johnson uncrossed her arms, hands coming to rest on the counter. And there was a threat there.
Lucy looked at the other woman and felt a spark of victory, less likely to be Cadmus then. "I don't want you to write reports on her, I don't need you spying on her. I need someone to keep an eye out for threats and risks to her in her civilian life."
Johnson blew out a breath. "And you need to be seen tightening the leash. That's a hell of a risk to take on me."
"Your service record, classified to hell and back as it is, tells me you can keep your mouth shut even under torture, you are capable, and your commendations for bravery and repeated disciplinary notes for disregarding or being flexible with orders to protect your unit tell me you care. And, you're already involved in this whether I like it or not." Lucy held the woman's attention. "So, will you assist in keeping an eye on Kara?" And if she was something worse than what she seemed, as a contracted employee, Lucy would have every legal ability to arrest and chuck her into a dark hole.
Johnson picked up the file, her eyes traveling over the contract, she barely skimmed the NDA. She looked up after a moment. "Verbal only reports?"
"The DEO isn't secure for a paper trail." A thing that made Lucy's skin crawl.
Finally, Johnson set the file down, her fingers drumming on the wooden kitchen island's countertop. "It's that bad of a situation then. Fine, but I won't keep this from Kara."
"Then I look forward to working with you." Lucy hoped this didn't bite her in the ass. "NDA first."