Family Name 5

“Do you want the good news or the bad news?”Sam asked once she entered Lena’s office. Lena sighed. She honestly didn’t think she could handle more bad news. It was past 9pm and she had been working non stop all day on the investigation. Winn had left at 5pm with a promise he would be back the next day. That being something Lena was extremely grateful for. Winn was able to help with not only the email task but had been able to get Lena the full patent applications Luther Corp filed during the time the aliens had been illegally detained. Lena had looked for them but only found the approved patent not the application which showed a lot more information then the approved. Lena figured that destroying the applications was part of the cover up. Especially because she found a few of current employee’s names on the paperwork. Employees that were not held responsible for any crimes.

“Does the bad news require a glass of scotch to hear?”Lena asked.

“Unfortunately I believe it does.”Sam wasn’t happy with what she had found during her research and knew Lena wouldn’t be either.

Lena walked to the small bar in the corner of the office and held up a clear bottle filled with brown liquid.”You want one?”

“Ruby is at a friend’s house for the night so I’m safe to drink.”Sam had arranged for Ruby to have a sleepover because she figured she would be working long hours until they finished the investigation.

Lena poured two glasses, handed one to Sam and took a seat on her couch.”Was your day as fucked up as mine?”

“Yup.”Sam flopped down in the arm chair next to the couch and took a large swig of her drink.

“How bad is it?”Lena really didn’t want to know but had to ask.

“I can prove 9 current employees were involved in the scheme.”Sam told her.

Lena winced at the number.”You have solid proof?”

“I researched the name of the suppliers and a couple of them are actually linked to the people who were hired to kidnap the aliens. The signatures are the same group of people. There are even handwritten notes on some of the invoices. So unless they are forgeries which I doubt they are then I have solid proof.”Sam said.

“Maybe when Winn comes tomorrow we can ask him if he knows a way to verify handwriting.”Lena suggested.

“It anyone would know it would be a member of the Super Friends.”Sam thought asking Winn was the best thing they could do.”Speaking of Winn what did he find out?”

“Nothing good. He was able to access deleted emails and found 18 current employees that worked with Lex and Lionel. Some of them like we expected are the leading scientists working at the company.”Lena had not been pleased when Winn had given her the names as the biggest earners at the company were some of them.

“Shit.”Sam didn’t expect that many people.

“Yeah shit.”Lena took a large gulp of her drink wincing at the way it burned after she swallowed.

“Lena what the fuck are we supposed to do? We won’t survive financially if we lose all these people.”Sam wasn’t sure how they could continue day to day operations with the lack of cash flow coming in.

“Luckily I still own the majority stock in the company so we don’t have to worry about someone buying it and selling everything off in a fire sale but as to how we are going to survive is that we need to get this investigation finished as soon as possible so that Kara will vouch for us.”Lena was beyond thankful that Lex and Lionel were stupid enough to sell her their shares of the company under the pretense that it stay in the Luther family. It was to bad that those idiots didn’t realize that Lena hated them and in no way was going to use her influence to get them out of jail like they wanted.

“That’s all well in good but what do we do in the mean time?”Sam asked.

Lena sighed.”I honestly don’t know. We can try getting a loan but I doubt any bank would touch us.”

“What do you think about talking to Kara? She seems really invested in helping you. Maybe she would be willing to give you a personal loan?”Same suggested.

“I really don’t want to do that.”Lena would be beyond embarrassed asking Kara for a loan.

“What other choice do we have?”Sam had tried to think of something all day but the only thing she could think of was asking Kara.

Lena had also been trying to find a solution but she had come up with nothing.”Do you think she would actually lend us the money?”

“The worst thing she can say is no.”Sam was pretty sure that Kara would help them.

“Should I call her assistant tomorrow?”Lena didn’t want to deal with the woman again.

“I think you should ask Winn. He is a member of the Super Friends. He has direct access to her.”Sam figured that Winn would tell Kara right away whereas Kara’s assistant would try and schedule a meeting for months in the future.

“I’ll do that. Hopefully she will agree to speak to me.”Lena wasn’t sure that Kara would even agree to have a meeting. Let alone lend her a large amount of money.

“I already have all the documents you will need to show her the amount you need for the loan.”Sam had put together the information earlier when she realized that they would need to borrow money.

“What kind of terms do you think she would ask for?”Lena asked.

“I don’t think she will be that ruthless or demanding. She is Supergirl after all. Plus I have heard mostly positive comments about people doing business with her. She treats her employees better than any company in the world. The only real grievances against her is that she refuses to give distributors exclusive rights to sell her products.”Sam wasn’t sure why Kara didn’t do that as it would make it so she could charge more for her products but that wasn’t the way she operated. She actually went out of her way to sell her products for the least amount she could. Some things she even gave away for free.

“That’s true she is known to be very fair.”Lena admired the way Kara ran her business. She wasn’t pushing out subpar products trying to make the most profits. Kara put out high quality products for reasonable prices sometimes taking losses. Lena didn’t know anyone other than Kara who wouldn’t charge through the roof for some of the things she produced.

“Hopefully that fairness will lead her to agreeing to give us a loan without outrageous conditions attached to it.”Sam knew that if they went to anyone else that they would make crazy demands for the money. With Kara’s reputation Sam was counting on her not trying to take advantage of the bad situation that L-Corp was in.

“I’m almost hoping that she asks for a seat on the board.”Lena said.

“Why?”Sam couldn’t think of any reason Lena would want her biggest competitor having a say in the company.

“Think about it. After everything Lex and Lionel did if we could claim that Supergirl has a stake in L-Corp it would improve our reputation a hell of a lot more than just working on one project with her.”Lena could already imagine all the good will they would get if Kara was a member of the board.

Sam hadn’t thought of that.”You make a very good point. If we could say that Kara was involved in the decision making that would instantly give us the public’s trust. The only problem I see with that is if she really would want to be a part of our company. I mean she is already the global leader in technology and a lot of other markets. What can we really offer her to get her to agree to align with us in such a way?”

“I’m not sure. I mean if we knew what her motive was in helping us then we could work out a plan based on that because I honestly don’t believe that she only agreed to help us to get rid of the left over employees that were in involved with Lex and Lionel.”Lena was positive that Kara had more of an interest in L-Corp than just cleaning out the trash. Something was driving her to help them and if they could figure out what they could use it to their benefit.

“I’m glad you thought that was weird too. At the time she said it seemed completely reasonable but after thinking about it her reasons for helping us really don’t make sense. I mean she could have easily come to us with the evidence of who needed to be fired. The fact that she is making us do the investigation ourselves and is offering to step in to save the company doesn’t seem like an even trade.”Sam said.

“I know. We are gaining everything from this deal and in return we are basically giving her nothing. I would have happily agreed to fire the people who were helping my father and brother with no conditions. I didn’t need any incentive. The fact that she just readily volunteered to work with me on a project doesn’t make sense. Especially because she has never partnered with anyone before and is well know to work alone.”Lena couldn’t figure out why Kara was giving her the chance.

“Do you think it has something to do with her culture?”Sam asked.

Lena thought about that.”I want to say no but we have no clue where she is from or what her society was like. Although Winn admitted he knew what her home planet is.”

“Did he tell you what it is?”Sam was very surprised that Kara told anyone about her home world.

”I asked him but he said he wouldn’t tell me.”Lena had been sad he didn’t but wasn’t really expecting him to tell her.

“I bet if Winn knows then all the Super Friends do.”Sam figured that Kara would tell the others if she told Winn.

“I wonder if I could get her to tell me?”Lena would love to know more about Kara’s origins.

“I think if you can control your Supergirl crush you would have a good chance of being her friend.”Sam said.

“I don’t have a crush on Supergirl.”Lena denied.

Sam smiled.”The blush on your face tells me otherwise.”

“I’m not blushing and I don’t have a crush on Supergirl.”Lena lied. She had a big crush on Supergirl. Not that she would admit it out loud though.

“Lena I am your best friend and I have listened to you go on and on about how wonderful and attractive Supergirl is. I could also remind you of that Halloween that you dressed up like Supergirl and had me dress up like Alex Danvers.”Sam knew all about Lena’s love of Supergirl.”Let’s not even get into the posters that you hung on your dorm room walls.”

Lena knew based on how hot her face felt that she couldn’t deny the blush any longer.”In my defense anyone who has seen Kara knows she’s attractive.”

“That may be true but do those people wax poetically about her abs when they have a little too much to drink?”Sam had listened to Lena’s many drunken rants about how perfect Kara’s body was and all the things that Lena fantasized doing to it.

“You swore you would never bring that up again.”Lena reminded her.

“Yeah after the first time it happened. Now that you have done it so many times I have lost count I think that promise is now void.”Sam told her.

“You better have not have told anybody about that.”Lena would be mortified if anyone found out about her obsession with Supergirl. Not that she was obsessed. She just had a healthy level of interest in the super hero.”Also a lot of people dress up as Supergirl for Halloween. Especially college girls.”

“I can give you that one. A lot of college girls do dress up as Supergirl. Hell even a lot college guys dress up as Supergirl.”Sam had seen all genders dressed up as Supergirl at one time or another. She had even seen some aliens in the outfit.”Remember that one that won the Supergirl look alike contest. You were so convinced he actually was Supergirl.”

“I wasn’t the only one who thought he was Kara. The entire crowd agreed with me.”Lena wouldn’t have believed he wasn’t if he hadn’t removed his wig and his top to show off his bald head, flat hairy chest and the lack of Kara’s signature 12 pack abs that she was known for. Abs that Lena had never seen on anyone else. Neither human or alien and had been featured in many of her fantasies.

“I wish that was the only time you acted out in public when you thought you saw Kara in person.”Sam had witnessed numerous incidences of Lena approaching random people convinced they were Kara. Most of the those times Lena had been drunk.

“That hasn’t happened in years.”Lena was a lot more controlled in her reactions and thought things out before she acted.

“It’s said don’t meet your heroes. Now that you have does she live up to your expectations?”Sam asked.

“She exceeded my expectations.”Lena thought Kara was even better in real life. Her body was more beautiful than Lena had thought, her voice was more alluring and she was as genuine as Lena had been told by others. Kara was even more perfect than Lena had made her out to be in her head.

“I’m glad to hear that.”Sam said.”Now just try and keep from drooling when you ask her for the large amount of money we need.”

“I’m not going to drool over her.”Lena scoffed at the very idea.

“At least keep the staring to a minimum. It was embarrassing how often your eyes swept over her body last night.”Sam told her.

Lena felt her face get even hotter. She had been checking Kara out while they had been speaking but didn’t think she was that obvious about it.”I won’t do anything to embarrass myself.”

“Good now why don’t we call it a night. You need to be well rested if you get a chance to meet with Kara tomorrow.”Sam was crossing her fingers that Kara would agree to the meeting.

“I’m going to go over the numbers you gathered and try to work out a good pitch to convince her to give us some money.”Lena knew it would have to be the best pitch she had ever put together in her entire life.

Sam finished her drink, set the empty glass on the coffee table and stood up from her seat.”If all else fails use your sex appeal to sway her.”

“That would only work if she was into women.”Lena would be more than happy to flirt with Kara but she didn’t know if it would be received well.

“Just because she has never been linked to anyone doesn’t mean she’s straight. Maybe she has some weird dating practices that she follows and that’s why she isn’t in a relationship.”Sam said.

“That actually makes sense.”Lena hadn’t considered that Kara could be refraining from dating due to some cultural differences.

Sam shrugged.”It’s very common amongst aliens to follow their culture’s rules when it comes to relationships. It wouldn’t be that far fetched for Kara to be one of them as well. I mean we don’t know anything about the planet she comes from and have never heard of anyone claiming to be one of her species so we aren’t likely to find out what those rules are unless we ask her.”

“That being something I am definitely not doing.”Now matter how much Lena wanted to ask Kara out on a date she would never actually do it. She didn’t want to deal with being rejected and making things awkward between them.

“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.”Sam wasn’t excited about having to spend another day investigating employees but it had to be done to save the company.

Lena groaned.”Remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to buy Lex and Lionel’s shares of the company and take over as CEO?”

“Because you knew that with you at helm L-Corp could help create a better future for all earth’s inhabitants.”Sam told her.

“I need you to keep reminding me of that when I feel like giving up. Something that is going to happen constantly until this investigation is over with”Lena knew that she was going to need many pep talks to get through this road bump.

“And I will happily to do it. Now go home, get some rest and come in tomorrow and create the greatest pitch you have created.”Sam was sure that Lena could win Kara over.

“I will.”Lena promised.

“Good night.”Sam said as she made her way out of the door.

“Good night.”Lena called after her. Taking a minute to relax on the couch Lena thought about everything that happened that day. Finding out there was such an infestation of employees that were involved in Lex and Lionel’s scheme was shocking and Lena was ashamed that she hadn’t been on top of things since she took over. The fact that her competitor was the one who pointed out the company’s faults was beyond embarrassing. It made Lena feel unqualified to lead the company. The only thing that was really keeping her from stepping down was the fact that Lillian would be the next in line to take over and Lena knew if she did then L-Corp would probably commit worse atrocities with Lillian in charge than what happened under Lex and Lionel’s leadership. It was Lena’s sense of justice that kept her from stepping down. She was just lucky that Kara was willing to support her along this journey because without Kara’s help her company would have gone bankrupt and been dissolved. Unless Lena wanted to lower herself to illegal practices which of course she wasn’t. Not that it would matter much if she couldn’t convince Kara to give her a loan. L-Corp couldn’t survive with the low amount of capital that was coming in currently. With no new products being produced the company was at a stand still and only an influx of cash and a partnership with Kara could save them. Hopefully Kara would be willing to go along with Lena’s plan because if she didn’t Lena didn’t know what she would do.