I flew to Cat-Co’s roof, pressing my watch and changing into a T-shirt and jeans. I manipulated the lobby camera footage to see me walking into the lobby, pressing the elevator button and getting into the elevator. At the same time, I erased myself from the rooftop camera footage.

I walked to the elevator and rode it down to Cat’s floor, groaning all the way down and grumbling to myself. Cat would definitely be angry with me. The doors opened and I walked past them, into the office, where I saw Cat in her office, pacing in there.

She must really be struggling with what she had figured out if she was pacing. I hadn't seen her pace like this since Carter had gotten a cold. Back then, I had caught her pacing in her library, wearing out the floorboards of her house.

As I walked into the office and Cat noticed me, I could see a change go through her, a noticeable one. Her hands clenched, the sides of her eyes tightened, her lips thinned. She was definitely pissed off at me.

She walked up to me and said, “You couldn’t tell me?! You know that a National City hero duo, especially a superheroine-superhero team up, would boost the sales and viewership enough that I would not have to give up the Tribune! You know how much the Tribune means to me. Why wouldn’t you tell me about your superhero activities?”

I winced at her words. I was there when she bought the Tribune. I actually scouted it out with her. She was so happy to be out of the purview of the boy's club. To start up a place where female reporters and assistants wouldn’t have to suffer within the hands of their bosses.

“Do you not trust me anymore, Winslow?” I sighed and gestured her over to her couch, where we both sat down.

“I was going to tell you, Cat. I just wanted to get up and running first. I have been getting ready for my debut for years. I trained my powers, made an amazing suit, set up a base to work from. I couldn’t act from nowhere. The only reason that I even started up was because I was helping the other person that was in the pictures and videos, the superheroine.”

Cat scoffed, deadpanning at me, “That is obviously Kara. She did not use a mask or a suit or even change her clothes to hide her identity, like Clark does.”

I squinted my eyes, “Wait, you know who Superman is?”

She looked me in the eye, raising an eyebrow, “I was still an investigative journalist, and he was a man who just took off his glasses to ‘become’ Superman. Winslow, I may be blonde, but I am not as blonde as people think.” I chuckled at her joke.

“So does this mean that you forgive me?” I asked her, waiting with trepidation for her answer as she decided.

“Hmmmm, I suppose I could forgive you, especially if you gave me an impromptu interview.” She said, with a devious smirk. “So why did Kara suddenly come out as this super girl now?” She asked, making a noise after she said what I knew would become Kara’s super name.

“I can’t really say exactly as to why now, but she saw a plane about to crash and she did something about it.” I answered her question, being intentionally obscure due to the ease with her identity being figured out if they knew about Alex.

“What about you? You said that you were going to wait and make sure that you were ready, are you ready?”

I put my hand to my chin and thought about it, should I give her the real answer or the answer that I had thought up for the press. “Do you want the real answer or the superhero one?” I asked her. I was fine giving her either one.

“How about both?”

“The Superhero answer is that I saw people in trouble and at that point it didn’t matter how ready I am, it only mattered that I saved a life. The real answer, the honest answer is that no, I am not. I still have glitches with some of my powers and new ones are still coming in that I need to train to learn to control but I will try because I have to, now that I am out there in the world. I would have wished for more time, but life isn’t about what you want, it’s about what you get and what you do with it.”

She smiled at me, “As long as you put your full effort into being a hero, I believe that you can do it, glitches and all.” She took a deep breath before saying, “With that, you are fired.”

I-I’m fired?! “Why am I being fired? I questioned in confusion. I really wanted this job. It was easy work that paid well and kept me close to the women of my dreams, Kara.

“Isn’t it obvious? If you work here, there will be less time for you and Kara to save people’s lives and avert disasters. I could not stand it if this job kept you from saving lives.” I looked at Cat in confusion.

“I get it, Cat. It’s hard to take in the fact that this job may keep lives from being saved but the fact is that it is saving lives, Kara and I’s. We can’t spend our entire lives, however long it is, saving people and stopping crisis after crisis. We would go insane. This job, our outside lives, our friends, you, when we face issues, we go to you to help us with our problems. This job is a place where we will not have to deal with the pressure of saving lives. This place is my, and I suspect Kara’s, escape from what will be a rather frantic life.”

Cat looked away from me, I could sense her embarrassment at what I had said about her as a impromptu therapist to Kara and I. “So do you want me to fly you to your house or are you going to get a car back?”

She glared at me before sighing in defeat. “I will take my chauffeur, Adrienne.” I smiled at her and walked out of her office, humming ‘We are the champions’
************************************************************************************
I flew down into the alleyway next to my building, pressing the button on my watch to change my suit back to jeans and a T-shirt. I walked out of the alleyway and towards my building. As I walked down the street, I noticed slight, almost imperceptible vibrations in the ground.

I stopped there and put my hand to the ground. I felt the vibrations strongly, now that I could feel the earth. Was someone in my lair?

I set my teeth in anger, a tooth cracking in my rage. I could taste the metallic flavor of my blood filling my mouth and my tooth healing as the blood pooled around it and the serum in my blood fixing the crack.

I pushed up from the ground and walked into my building. As I walked into the building, I felt the vibrations getting stronger and stronger. I walked to the elevator, pressing the panel. I took out my keys and inputted the one for this keyhole. I waited for the button to switch, and I pressed the blue button that it switched to, leaving it there to allow it to scan my finger. I walked into the elevator and noticed that the button on the elevator panel labeled ‘training room’ was smashed into the panel.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes in relief. “Damn it, Kara. You had me worried that I would have to break some limbs in order to get an answer from whomever broke into my lair.” I shook my head in exasperation at what Kara had momentarily put me through. I had truly thought that I would have to erase someone’s mind for the first time.

I pressed the ‘Training room’ button, having to press harder due to its state. I watched the doors closed and smiled at the chance to further my relationship with Kara. I sniffed the elevator, enjoying the scent of lavender on my way to the training room. I allowed the scent to unleash a memory of a woman that I had not seen in over a decade. My mother from my first life.
**********************************************************************************************************************************
Patreon.com/kanai3
Paypal.com/kanai3
Ko-fi.com/kanai3
Discord.gg/vZ4tzWF