1. Changes

In which Kara tells Miss Grant what she wants and the President of the United States tells Cat what she will receive.

The usual Monday morning rush met Cat Grant as she walked out of her private elevator and across the newsroom to her office.

"Good morning, Miss Grant. Here's your latte. Here are your messages. And Kara called. She wanted to meet with you later today, so I put her on the schedule at 11, subject to your approval." It was Donna, her new administrative assistant.

"Yes, that's fine. I'll see her at 11."

"I'll tell her, Miss Grant."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As Kiera walked into the office, Cat Grant noticed that her assistant had clearly enjoyed a good vacation. She looked happy, relaxed and tanned.

"Welcome back Kiera. Sit down. You look good. What did you do for the last week?"

"Went to an almost deserted island in the sun, sat on a beach for a week, swam and relaxed." Then she yawned. "Sorry, Miss Grant, but I feel a little out of sorts since I landed this morning."

That wasn't the full truth, of course. During her nine days out of the office, Kara had conducted her uncle's funeral and observed the first week's mourning rituals as she came to terms with having had to kill him. Now, the shock was beginning to fade. She had also thought hard about the challenge her boss had given her before she left.

"Don't worry," her mentor said now, "that's probably jet lag. Just get a good night's sleep tonight and for the next few days and you'll be fine. And see me before you take your next long flight: I can give you something that'll help. That said, I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation, but of all the weeks to take it, I wish you'd picked another one."

"Oh, what's happened?"

"With the fallout from the Kryptonian's Myriad wave, and the President's announcement that Supergirl has ended the threat together with her introduction of this DEO organization that has been fighting hostile aliens under our noses for the past ten years, it's been a very busy week for the news business as we're busy trying to find out what they're not telling us. All the statements were short on details. Not the best week to try and break in a new AA."

"How's Donna doing?"

"Somewhat below your standards, but better than any other AA I've hired. Of course, it's early days yet. I know you asked me to hire her as an AA under you and to make you my Executive Assistant before you left, but you didn't explain why in any detail. I hope you're ready to explain what you want to do as my EA and why it will be a promotion for you. Won't you be doing half the same work with a different title?"

Kara Danvers took a deep breath. It was make or break time.

"No, Miss Grant, I won't be doing the same thing at all. The job I want is in two parts and the EA part is only one part of it. As your EA, I sit at my old desk and I appear to be your troubleshooter: you'll be sending me out to resolve issues throughout the building or on outside errands while Donna handles your schedule and phone calls. Which means my absences are not remarked on. And when I'm here, I can keep an eye on Donna and make sure she gets up to speed so you don't bully her too much."

"And why will you really be absent?"

"That's the second part of the job. You asked me to find something I wanted to do, within reason. I took your statement to mean that job also has to be something that helps CatCo as well as being something I want to do. And when I thought about possible jobs that met both conditions, I realized we aren't doing something we've needed to do for a long time now. We have investigative teams covering various specialties but we don't have a team specializing in Supergirl coverage and she's right here in town. We should set up a team that has covering her as its first priority. We need a team of three people to do it. I want to be on that team as one of its two writers."

"Why two writers and who is the other one?"

"The other one is James Olsen. He has contacts with Supergirl, can reach her when needed, and nobody except Lois Lane has more experience covering superhero stories. I won't regularly need him to go out in the field with me as a photographer, but if something special happens and I do need him, he's trained up a good deputy in the last year. I never have to tell Dave to redo his layouts before I pass them to you. And since I did that story on the Flash that you called passable, you know that I also have a bit of experience writing superhero stories. Yet we both know it was my first piece. I need James' help to polish my craft."

Cat thought back to that strange episode where Kiera had been saved from certain death by a charming visitor who claimed to be from another earth. She'd quickly submitted a fully professional story that included all the necessary details and required minimal editing.

"It's true your piece met our standards, but I have other, more senior reporters, whose work might have earned them the slot. Why should I give it to you over their heads? And don't forget, covering Supergirl could be dangerous. Remember what she said about people who are close to her risking having targets painted on their back. I talked to James after we met with Supergirl that night and he confirmed that the dangers are real. And both of us know what that's like: I have that same target on my back now from Livewire just as you do from Silver Banshee. Do you really want to put yourself into some more super-villains' crosshairs?"

"First, Supergirl saved my sister. I owe her. If I can help her by giving her accurate coverage, I want to do that. With that kind of motivation, I'll work harder than anyone else you assign. Also, Supergirl has met me and we seemed to get on well together. I think she may trust me a bit and I don't think she has had extended conversations with any of our other reporters, so I could have an advantage that CatCo's other reporters don't have. As your EA, I can be the team's direct link to you without going through the news desk editors, and that's something that will be necessary given who we'll be covering. Also, you owe me: this is my quid pro quo for what you called keeping Supergirl in the CatCo stable. The most important reason though is that I've got an idea of how to minimize the dangers that covering Supergirl might bring to any of our people who get too close to her in the public eye."

"I see. You've really given some thought to this. How do we keep either our other people or yourself safe?"

First, we don't publish the fact that we've established Team Supergirl. Only you, me, James and Winn, the news desk editors and Donna will know what's really going on. And when most of our stories get filed, they'll get filed under a series of different pseudonyms we make up as well as my own byline. That way no one reporter will get a reputation for being especially close to Supergirl.

"You said most of our stories? That means some of them won't get filed under pseudonyms. Who files them and why are they different?"

"The Team Supergirl writers file the run of the mill stories, the Supergirl airlifts an ambulance or stops a robbery stories. I'll write them and file some of those under my own name, but no more than any other name we use, maybe one in five, one in six. You'll file the big stories, the Supergirl saves the world stories, an annual interview maybe. We'll probably run one or two Supergirl stories a week, once we get going and of those, maybe one in one in twenty will need to go under your byline. So the target on your back doesn't get much bigger, but you keep your place as Supergirl's principal cheerleader which is important to CatCo."

"Why do you need Winn?"

"Because Team Supergirl is going to need his computer skills which are far beyond what he needs for his assignment to the executive suite and he's bored stiff doing the little we need him to do here. Did his manager tell you that the DEO borrowed him during the Kryptonian crisis because his counter hacking skills were better than anything they had? Team Supergirl can use him to do all kinds of work covering the full range of his skills. But mostly we'll use him to write programs that predict the likelihood of situations where Supergirl might be needed so the team can get ahead of events. By the way, that reminds me of the other reason I want to be your EA. In that role, when I'm here, I'll be one of the first to know when something breaks."

"I see. You are right that we need Team Supergirl, and you've made a good case for yourself as its principal writer, at least to start. But I'll make one change to your plans."

"What's that?"

"The Team Supergirl stories don't go through the desk editors. I'll edit them personally. That way I'll make sure you meet our standards. We'll start you on three months probation, and if you survive that, we'll make it permanent."

"That will be great, Miss Grant. Could you come with me for a moment please?"

"Where would we go?"

"I want you to see something. It won't take long; you'll be back before your next appointment. Trust me, it's important."

Cat nodded and followed Keira out of her office, down the corridors to the door of the office she had given Keira before her vacation. But her assistant didn't stop.

"Keira, isn't this your office?"

"It's too small for the job we just talked about. So Winn found me something else. I'd like you to see it." They got into the freight elevator and went up one floor.

They rounded the last corner and Keira opened another door to a larger office. It was vacant and unpainted. A large number of CatCo computers and monitors were present on the desks. James Olsen and Winn were waiting.

"Team Supergirl is a go," Kara announced.

"Thank you, Miss Grant," said James as Winn said "Great."

"Don't mention it, gentlemen. As Keira pointed out, we really should have done it a long time ago. But I really don't need to see an office, Keira."

"No, you don't, but you do need to meet some people who you might not want to meet openly in your office. And here are two of them now."

Into the office walked a black man and a slight, chestnut haired woman, both of whom Cat had seen before.

"Agents Mulder and Scully, what are you doing here?"

"Now that the President has made the agency public, I can tell you that my name is Hank Henshaw and I'm the Director of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. This is my Deputy Director for Field Operations, Alexandra Danvers. We have authority to act as FBI agents at need."

"Director Henshaw, I'm pleased to meet you. Are you any connection to Kiera, Deputy Danvers?"

"My sister's name is Kara, Miss Grant."

"Well aside from correcting my pronunciation, why are you two here?"

Director Henshaw took the floor. "Miss Grant, what happened with the Kryptonians has told everyone that there are unknown, antagonistic aliens on earth. As a matter of fact, we have known that for over a decade. We have no reason to think that Supergirl's recent victory has accounted for all of the aliens who wish us ill, and the DEO is the agency charged with managing such situations. Now while Supergirl is not a DEO employee, it has occurred to us that she might well encounter such aliens in future, and if your Team Supergirl people are on the scene of such an event, they might be in a position to give us some additional information that will help us – without violating journalistic ethics. We also want to trade something for that information. We want to set up a communications link between our headquarters and this office that will give Mr. Schott access to one of our databases in order to help him write the necessary algorithms for the Team Supergirl that your Ms. Danvers has proposed."

"Does Winn have the appropriate security clearance?" Cat asked.

"Yes. Mr. Schott has been a highly effective consultant to us on previous occasions. For one thing, he's far more advanced in malware counter hacking than any of our staff. He was invaluable to us in the recent emergency. He has already set up algorithms that have proven accurate in predicting alien activities and he can apply the same skills to help your team predict where Supergirl is likely to be needed, even at very short notice. And that could also help us get some backup to her more quickly if she ever needs it."

"We have always cooperated with legitimate requests from law enforcement agencies and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't do this. By all means go ahead," said Cat.

"Thank you, but Ms. Danvers insisted that she would not set up such a relationship without your specific approval. And she also wanted you to meet the people involved. Now that you've agreed, there's someone else who'd like to speak to you." said Director Henshaw as his deputy turned on a monitor, and Cat found herself looking at the face of the President of the United States.

"Hello Cat."

"Madam President."

"I wanted to thank you for agreeing to help Director Henshaw and his team. As you know we can't fully assess the alien dangers at this time, but we know they could be serious."

"Yes indeed, and that reminds me." Cat turned away from the screen. "Director Henshaw, what can you tell us about that green alien who stopped Supergirl when she went temporarily insane?"

Cat noticed that the two DEO agents and Keira all froze at her question. "Interesting," she thought.

Surprisingly, it was the President who answered.

"Cat, you can take my word for it that that particular alien is a known quantity on the side of the angels. For one thing, if he hadn't helped Supergirl win her final battle with the Kryptonians, none of us would be here today."

"Is that alien on the DEO staff, Director Henshaw?"

Cat noticed that the three frozen people in the room tightened up even more if that was possible.

Again it was the President who replied.

"Cat, I'm joining this conversation on Skype which is non-secure. Let's just say he's available whenever he's needed."

Cat realized that the President would not allow the conversation to go further down this road. "I see," she said.

"One more thing," the President continued.

"What's that?"

"I've been told by Director Henshaw that you inspired Supergirl to give that broadcast that ended the mind control phase of the war. Because you did that, I've asked him to give his first on-the-record interview to you as an exclusive. And that interview will include the details we can release of how Supergirl and her friend defeated the Kryptonians."

"Thank you, Madam President."

"You're welcome, Cat. Bye for now."

Alex Danvers turned off the monitor as Director Henshaw looked at Cat.

"Our headquarters is outside the city. Could you come by sometime this evening?"

"Why not here and now?"

"Don't you want some time to prepare your questions?"

"Yes, that will be helpful. But why not here?"

"There are a few things on-site that you might like to see that are too big to be brought here."

"I see. Kiera, what does my schedule look like this evening?"

"You're free after five o'clock, Miss Grant," her assistant replied. "You may want to hold a half hour in reserve in case of delays. I've already called Carter's nanny and confirmed that she'll be able to stay late tonight."

"A 5:30 departure it is then. Director Henshaw, what's your address?"

"I'll give your driver the directions on my way out. It will be about an hour's drive. Bring a warm jacket, we have to keep the temperatures cool."

"Then I'll see you this evening. Good-bye," Cat said as the two DEO agents left.