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"Tell me again," J'Onn said as he rubbed his fingers across the space between his eyebrows."Max Lord has the alien-tech necessary to mind control most of National City," Susan Vasquez said, an earpiece feeding live information, and at this point, she barely raised an eyebrow speaking such a sentence. "Of course, he does, because why not? It's Saturday night," Lucy piped in. She was leaning on her elbows and let her head flop forward. "I need a vacation. How many vacation days do I have so far?""Less than zero, Agent Lane. We need help," Alex cut her off because this isn't in the time to indulge her bretheren."She took her vacation day today," Lucy bantered back because it was true. Alex and Lucy were the first to enforce days off for Supergirl on a pre-scheduled and definite manner; a sane superhero was a great superhero. Alex rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's why I haven't called her yet." Lucy stuck her tongue out, and then smoothed her eyebrow over with her middle finger for emphasis. "We need another option," Alex said, ignoring her."Thank you, Captain Obvious.""Both of you, enough!" J'onn frowned but he was looking at the screen Vasquez was pulling up...even as Lucy and Alex made gagging faces at each other. "Vasquez, what are you looking at?""Our other options, Sir," Susan responded smartly. She typed fast, narrowing her options from hundreds to tens by putting in the credentials needed for the job. And then there were two.J'Onn tilted his head as everyone absorbed what they were seeing on the screen. Susan smiled and then clicked on the profile she had settled on. She turned back in her seat, looking at her slack-jawed audience and grinned. "Sirs, I think we have a winner."As they read through the profile and got to the past missions' section, there was a sag in the room. "We're definitely putting a GPS tracker on her," Lucy said, echoing what everyone was thinking. _________________________________________________Today was a day of extras. Extra Lexapro (scratch that, we just graduated to Xanax), extra Scotch but far more watered down because combining vices was always tricky, extra long deep tissue massage (first thing in the morning so that Cat had just enough of the day's wear on her to be softened but not doughy in her patience), extra long lunch with absolutely no interruptions. Kara made sure that today was filled with extras because tonight was the Max Lord Charity Ball for the Children's Hospital, and Cat Grant had a wing built there so she had to attend. Cat sometimes muttered that Lord only put together this Ball to goad her. But it was for a good cause so there really was no argument in the end. Cat would attend but the only way to ensure that she would be warned in enough time that Lord was even approaching her was to have Kara hovering over her shoulder. It also really helped with reminding Cat in low tones about any person walking towards her so that Cat had the right name and frame of reference. One would barely be able to tell the way Cat gently leaned towards the woman behind her, her assistant by day and some nights, but there was the drop in the right shoulder as the mogul leaned ever so slightly towards Kara before she turned back with a false smile.Until Miranda Priestly walked towards Cat, and the mogul turned towards Kara. "Can you please get me a glass of wine?" which was their agreed-upon code for when Cat need a private conversation. Kara nodded and retreated to the nearest bar and kept her boss in her field of vision, ready to step in at the first sign of anyone else approaching Cat. But, really, you'd have to be a fool to interrupt a conversation between Cat Grant and Miranda Priestly. _______________________________________"She's in," Vasquez reported to J'Onn, Alex, and Lucy. They were watching through the night-vision camera their thief was wearing. That was an additional condition that they had insisted on, beyond the tracker. There was silence but all they could see were dusty air ducts and alarm laser beams that were dismantled one by skillfully one. As time, crawling as it always did at the early parts of any mission because the general way of things was, "hurry up and wait and then everything goes wrong." Seemingly interminable minutes later and then they were through into the room with the wall-sized safe, surrounded by a longitudinal and latitudinal matrix of laser beams . This was called the hard part. ________________________________________"How are you?" Cat asked, and it was one of the few times in her life that she cared about the answer. "Well. It's been a trying couple of years, but fine otherwise. The subscriptions haven't dropped because that's all that matters these days," Miranda said with her signature lilt but allowed some of the exhaustion seep in with Cat. She nodded. "Really, this too shall pass."Uncharactestically, Miranda snorted into her glass. "Not soon enough.""Oh lord, that's Bettina," Cat said, unable to help the shudder as she turned away. "I've just wanted an excuse to go see the mezzanine," Miranda mused, noting Bettina moving in their general direction."There's another level? Move it." ___________________________________________"She's out, Sirs," Vasquez says somewhat triumphantly, more than glad her bet paid off. There's a distinct loosening within the room, and even some smiles as it sinks in just what they've managed to pull off: one of the toughest heists of their careers. The camera feed bounces around a bit as usual as their agent gets through the air ducts again. And then..."Wait, what is she doing?" J'Onn is the first to ask as they taken what looks like the inside of a posh version of a ladies' room. Clothes are shed and only J'Onn averts his eyes. All the women's eyebrows peak as they take in the next few seconds. "Um. I think she's done changing," a somewhat cowed Lucy says to J'Onn, who looks back at the screen now as they take in...a gala?"What the hell is she doing?" Alex roars as the camera cuts out. Vasquez looks at the GPS tracker. "Ma'am? I think...I think she's mingling."_______________________________Kara didn't see her until she was about twenty feet away but then there was no missing her. Kara straightened when she realized the woman was looking right at her and was walking towards -- should she call it slowly stalking towards instead? -- her, with the crowd parting like the proverbial seas as if in helpless response to the woman. Kara pushed her glasses up her nose, giving into her nervousness because who in the galaxy wouldn't be nervous at having that look directed towards you?When it became utterly clear five feet out that she really was the intended recipient of all that walk, Kara straightened to imperfectly straight shoulders. The woman stopped about a foot way and smiled. "Hello." "He-hi," Kara said ever so smoothly.The woman didn't grin or roll her eyes, as Kara may well have expected, but she did smile, and gently extend her hand, palm up. "Would you like to dance?" she said in a dulcet tone that did funny things to everyone who could have heard that sentence. Kara was often caught off-guard in the human world of interactions but never so thoroughly so recently. "Um. Well, okay...?" she said, both blushing and shuddering in her confusion at the offer. Never had she been asked so blatantly for something seemingly so simple. Should she have said no? Just because Cat was in a secluded lounge with Miranda Priestly didn't mean they couldn't be accosted by some plebeian looking for an insipid conversation. Right? Yet the woman across from her didn't flinch in hesitation at all, the gentle smile remaining non-judgemental even as her eyes burned into Kara's. Kara didn't know how she did it, but she had the most dangerously intuitive look Kara had ever come across."Is that a yes?" came the slightly smoky question with a humorous lilt just at the edges. Kara looked up and saw Cat still handily engaged in conversation with Miranda. While some parts of her mind berated even considering the offer, there was another part of her that felt seen in a way that was entirely new. Truly what sealed the deal was that Kara felt absolutely no obligation; were she to say no, she got the sense her response would have been met with the utmost grace. But really there was only one answer. "Yes. That's a yes."Kara put her hand in a solidly warm hold, and of course an Etta James song was just coming on. If Eliza had taught her daughters anything about music, it was that the most romantic songs were from Nina Simone, Etta James, and Janis Joplin. The third had been the hardest for the Danvers sisters to understand, but Alex surmised to Kara that it probably had to with a wild window in to Eliza's youth, and Kara had agreed. And now Kara was pulled into a loose waltz hold and could hardly look at the woman who was leading. It was true that this was the first time she had ever danced with anyone in public and she could feel the distant, pulsing heat of a camera's flash, but it was far overshadowed by the magnetism that Kara felt; a safety, a fatalism, a pleasurable stroll, a biting squeeze, and a challenging heat that Kara apparently could not help indulging. Admittedly it was new territory but what she enjoyed was the steady and gentle stare of her companion, who didn't speak a word but move Kara's novice-dancing-self around the floor in gentle movements of seduction. As the Etta's words wept from around them, her companion only smiled at the corner of her lips and said nothing, just keep looking at her with that gently heated look. On a serial murderer, it would have been scary. But that wasn't what Kara saw: her hand was gently held and her partner's gaze was a combination of an offer one couldn't refuse combined with the ironic humor of a life well-lived. For Kara to be on the receiving end was, in a word, intoxicating. To be seen as an equal before having to prove herself through a fight. Somehow, she had been seen as an equal from across the room, and Kara allowed for the immenseness of that seduction. And so she barely looked at her partner in the eye but every time she did, they both smiled anew. ______________________________Cat cast an uncaring eye on the floor below them from their perch and was mid-sentence in her screed when the breath caught in her throat. Her eyes narrowed, just to be sure she was seeing what she was seeing. "Miranda," she said without ever moving her gaze from what had caught her attention. "Mm?""Who is that?" Cat asked, raising her jaw to direct below them, and it was quickly patent that there was only figure on the dance floor, even as the strobe lights cut this way and that on the dancing below them, that could have had the presence necessary to attract either of their attention, especially in the middle of a thought. "Oh, I didn't know she was in town. Darling, that's Selina Kyle." - End Chapter 1
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Kara kissed like heartbreak was inevitable; given that she was kissing Cat Grant, that was an excellent supposition. Cat arched in her lap, her back bowing at a dangerous arc as she rode out her orgasm. And if it weren't for the firmness of Kara's hand holding her lower back, Cat may have fallen but she gripped Kara's shoulder just the same.
Kara never said so but maybe Cat knew that this was one of Kara's favorite positions; there was an openness to her torso, her sighs, moans, and instructions that made Kara feel like she would never be closer except when they were like this with Cat's knees bent on either side of Kara's on the couch, boxing her in.
Every time felt like the last time because Kara never knew when the next time was coming -- if it were coming -- and so she pulled Cat gently closer as she came down from what seem like a great orgasm and kissed that lethal clavicle, dotted kisses up Cat's neck, and just breathed her lover in.
T hey never got too sappy, not beyond some toe-curling kisses right after an orgasm, so Kara took that now, and there was a lethargy to Cat's tongue in her mouth that made Kara shiver anew. The sweat was already cooling, and all the words that they never said came out silently in the harsh breaths now, winding in to the gaps between their bodies. She leaned her forehead against Kara's and swallowed roughly. Kara's hands were gentle against Cat's torso, as if holding her rib cage together as she came back to herself.
"I want more," Cat breathed out.
Kara's heart stuttered. This couldn't be happening. But then Cat kissed her so gently before pulling back. "I want you on your knees," Cat whispered, her face so serious and her pupils still mostly black.
Kara swallowed because she wanted that too. She wanted that and all the other things they were going to do tonight. She wanted all the things. So her eyelids fall to half-mast and smiled, and lifted Cat off of her lap and flipped her on the couch. And then there she was, National City's most powerful woman, on her knees in front of Cat Grant.
Cat looked down and ran her fingers along the edge of Kara's jaw, and she saw how Kara fought against closing her eyes, fought against leaning into those fingers, fought against kissing them as they whispered past her lips. Cat was just content to let her fingertips trace the arch of Kara's eyebrows, her nose, her cheeks. And then she sighed and fought valiantly against the intimate languor that was threatening to overtake the moment; she pushed at Kara's shoulder and raised her eyebrow.
Kara smiled and leaned down to kiss Cat's knee and then slowly up her thighs, all the while lifting Cat's legs over her shoulder. Cat let her head loll back against the couch and for a brief moment the thought went through her head: Cat Grant, what are you doing?
But then Kara's tongue descended and she was lost.
Cat chased perfection during the day. At night, as she dug her heel into Kara's shoulder blade to show appreciation, she chased pleasure. Her hand tangled in Kara's hair and fisted. Kara moaned, and Cat pulled, and Kara moaned more. Cat's hips chased Kara's tongue; Kara teasing her in these moments were becoming a welcome if surprising addition. But Cat's patience had limits and when she had had enough teasing, she pulled at Kara's hair with even greater force, and then Kara gave them both what they really wanted.
Cat looked down for a brief moment, seeing the bliss on Kara's face and it was like Kara had blown on the embers of her arousal and turned Cat's nerve endings into a conflagration. She could only hope that their energy, their desire, the hours between them, the silence apart from salacious requests would last. But if it didn't, then they could have this present moment now and Cat would have to count on her fallible memory to remember what it was like to be seemingly held together even as she felt as if she were flying apart.
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Selina Kyle waltzed into the DEO, quickly glancing at the all weaponry and machinery around them, noting the potential exit options out of old habit. If there were a credo to her professional life, it would be: Never, ever get surprised. Because, in her line of work, surprises never turned out to be good things. The young sergeant leading her to, what she assumed, the command center was entirely green, locking eyes with her ever so often and then skittering away with an added bonus of a blush. Selina would have smiled if she were feeling less generous but it had been a good night. The doors to another room hissed open and there were her handlers, and by the foreboding frowns on their faces, Selina tilted her head ever so slightly. " So how is everyone this evening?""You strayed from the agreed-upon plan," Alex spit at her, leaning over a gargantuan console filled with lit-up buttons of different colors. Selina smiled. "Would you like to see it?"Alex fumed while Lucy, J'onn, and Susan just waited. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Selina said as she reached into the cleavage of her ball gown and extended a flash drive. "Quite prehistoric by today's standards, really, but small enough to work on any machine." She walked over to Alex and handed it to her. "Agent Danvers, with my compliments."Alex huffed and handed it over to Susan. "Let's run this and see what we've got. Susan, make sure it doesn't have a tracking program that'll give us away.""Yes, ma'am," Susan nodded, even as she was already downloading and decoding the device. ----------------------Max Lord certainly did enjoy a good party, and he acknowledged that it was mostly because he was extremely dashing in a tux. As he smiled over his champagne at the latest model-du-jour, whose name was entirely forgettable, he was already planning on when and how to get her out of her dress. If outright charm didn't work, and then a lavish display of his wealth didn't work, well there was always the pill in his pocket. Somethings never went of style. As he was leaning to whisper something no doubt seductive in her ear, he caught a figure out of the corner of his eye and stopped himself. The man, dressed entirely in black, barely dipped his head. Max sighed internally; this did not look good. He leaned back, smiled at the woman, and excused himself. "Shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Running a multi-billion dollar conglomerate can be so boring somethings. You won't run away, will you?""I'll be right here, Max. Hurry back," she giggled as she turned towards to bar and motioned for a refill."Good," he said, kissing her cheek for good measure, before stepping away and tracking the man in all black to a far corner of the cavernous ballroom. Max did not follow him but instead made a circuitous tour of the ballroom, smiling and nodding to people in his way, as he took the long way over to the man. When he was within earshot, Max lost his smile. "What is it?""He wants to see you." "Now? I'm in the middle of something here."The man was unsmiling. "Now. There's a secure uplink on the thirteenth floor."Max frowned and stretched his neck. "How bad is it?""He wants to speak to you."Well that was one way of answering the question. With little recourse, he followed the man from the ballroom into the elevators in the lobby, and watched as he swiped his keycard and pressed the appropriate floor. Max put his hands in his pants and thought about what a shame it would be to waste such a great suit for the rest of the night. As they stepped out of the elevator the man lead him through a series of doors, each with increasingly greater levels of security before getting through the last set of doors with a retina scan, a full palm scan, and a gait analysis scan. The man opened the doors and ushered Max in. "You're not coming in?" Max asked. The man shook his head. "For your eyes only."Max rolled his eyes and then walked into the room, seeing a gigantic digital screen light up as soon as he was ten feet away. The face on the screen was not happy. "General Lane, what can I do for you?" Max asked, injecting some insouciance into his voice. After all, he had probably lost the chance to bed a goddamn model for this. "You've been compromised, Mr. Lord." "Oh?""As predicted, the weakest link in your plan has been revealed and hijacked."Max narrowed his eyes; he did not appreciate being needled about his talents. "The flash drive?""Gone. As I said, repeatedly, that it would. Weakest link."Max fought against rolling his eyes. Were all military brass this repetitive and full of themselves? He pulled out his phone and started tracking every piece of major equipment. As far his mobile scans could tell, the drive was safe. "Well, that's not what my information shows."The General snarled. "Your information is as faulty and unreliable as your instincts then. Go check the vault. The drive is gone and the systems have been reset. This is why I said we should have gone with Plan B first. Civilians," he spat, clearly at his limit. "Careful, General. You need at least this civilian to do what you're planning. If the drive is gone as you say, we have options. Quite a few of them. All of which I am providing."The General set his jaw. "We are moving on to Plan B."Max felt a quiver of uncertainty. "Are you sure? We have other options we can explore first.""No. No more of this. We need to be decisive and surgical. There are no more chances." Max clenched his jaw. "So a direct attack on Supergirl then?"The General smiled and it was not friendly. "I wouldn't call it an attack, Max. After all, we are about to give Supergirl everything she's ever wanted." Somehow Max didn't think either the General or him were going to receive a 'thank you' basket for their troubles. - TBD