Chapter Text
A Tactful Omission of the Facts
Chapter 1
“Hello, and welcome to The Talk in National City!”, Sheryl Underwood’s tight black curls bounced with the same enthusiasm as her trademark introduction.
The stunning backdrop of the city’s sprawling high rises looked particularly striking in the late summer afternoon, but was atypically overshadowed by a far more captivating late addition to the usual talk shows’ panel. Seated either side of Sara Gilbert and Sharon Osbourne at the smoked oak round table featuring the talk show’s five regular anchors was none other than Cat Grant. She looked resplendent in a papaya round-neck dress, perfectly adorned with a bold silver necklace which accentuated her neckline and intelligent visage.
Julie Chen picked up from where her colleague left off, “Our special guest today is CatCo CEO, Cat Grant, who joins us to discuss the latest actions of our disgraced Girl of Steel”.
The faintest flinch ghosted across Cat’s face. She was not expecting this task to be easy, but the tension in the studio audience was palpable. Her battle to defend Supergirl’s behaviour had begun. She braced herself for whomever was going to strike first.
Today’s topic. Indeed, the only topic in National City currently was regarding Supergirl’s sudden and as yet unexplained departure from the bastion of heroism into someone who was spoiled, self-centred, reckless and cold-hearted. As the host’s added their many opinions about Supergirl’s latest antics, Cat caught sight in a side monitor of the footage being played for audiences at home as documented on smartphones, cameras, news choppers and media satellites throughout the city. It seemed that no lens had missed the opportunity to evidence every single one of Supergirl’s shameful antics.
Cut to Supergirl defacing the city’s Police department headquarters façade by branding the letters “SGPD, #badgirlEL” with her heat vision into its front façade. The next shot, shaky footage from a mobile phone of Supergirl hurling and drop-kicking dozens of cars to score field goals in National City Stadium. Now, a hastily zoomed out wide shot of the closure of the airport due to Supergirl turning the runways into one giant ice rink and using aircraft as hockey sticks. Cut to her breaking into National City Bank, where only months ago she had prevented an armed robbery, only this time she was scattering the contents of the vault directly above the city’s homeless shelter, wearing a Santa hat no less. Then, liberating all of the animals from National City Zoo to recreate the opening scene of the Lion King; that one Cat had thought mildly amusing. But the final shots of the young heroine super speeding in an out of the malls and boutiques, endlessly changing in and out of the various items of jewellery, clothes, bags and shoes she left strewn in her destructive wake left a bitter taste in Cat’s mouth. How could anyone justify this type of behaviour?
“It’s a question many are asking Cat,” added Julie. Only then did Cat realize that her thought had been voiced aloud by the woman sat to her immediate right. Julie turned to face the camera and continued. “As the woman who claims Supergirl as her creation, branded her and has been a fierce proponent of her since she emerged…” she paused for emphasis. “What does she have to say for herself?”.
Cat cleared her throat, “Well Julie, let me begin by saying I am not here to show support of Supergirl’s latest behaviour.” Her remark was met with assured murmurings from the studio audience. “What is clear to me however, is that Supergirl was acting way outside of her normal character and rather than strive to investigate what could be the cause of this, the people have decreed that she is 100% responsible for what happened.” Cat took a moment to glance round her compatriots at the table before continuing. “Let’s not forget that we have already made this mistake when we blamed Bizarro for the carnage wrought when she first made an appearance by assuming they were one and the same”-
“Yes, true” Sharon Osbourne couldn’t help but add her piece, “But everyone in the city knows it was actually her this time”, a chorus of agreement’s were heard in the audience as Sharon continued “Because after she was neutralized by those anonymous men in black who appeared from nowhere, she snapped out of, something like a trance. That one agent, the woman with the brown hair who eventually made the shot, she called her Supergirl! Begged her to stop what she was doing!” Sharon’s eyebrows rose in emphasis of her next point. “It was definitely her this time Cat”.
“Well Sharon, you have in fact made an important point, despite doing it by interrupting me...” Cat send a cowing look in her direction, “The way she acted directly after being shot down, she appeared remorseful didn’t she?” Cat already knew the answer but looked for the few subtle nods in the affirmative from the remaining women at the table. “Let me tell you this National City, Supergirl owes us nothing”.
This time the response from the audience was impassioned. Shouts of “Rubbish!” and “Nonsense” could be heard among some more uncouth reactions.
“Supergirl, just like her cousin, has god-like powers on earth.” Cat knew the only way to quell the rising anger in the studio was to keep going, “In the hands of a some of the most notorious figures in our planet’s dark history, these powers could have transformed this world into a place we wouldn’t recognize today and I dare say want to imagine. What you have all failed to consider is how terrifying it must be to possess these kind of abilities”. That remark caused the audience to pause for a moment. “Imagine having to always focus your strength, restrain it so that you don’t inadvertently break something, hurt someone but then also be able to unleash it at a moment’s notice when battling an enemy or averting disaster. Can any of you?” The response was silence. Cat continued “Then try to imagine the pressure you put on yourself to always be in control, all of the time”.
Sara Gilbert, who until this moment had not spoken added “But that’s just it Cat, this time she didn’t restrain herself”.
“Don’t we know it” deadpanned Cat. “Which only proves to us that Superheroes can be just as fallible as us mere mortals. But they aren’t the ones to put themselves on a pedestal. It’s human nature to idolize those with power and influence in this chaotic world we live in because we want to seek their continued support. The danger in doing so is that, nobody is perfect, least of all super powered beings from other planets.” Cat took a moment for her words to be absorbed before saying “It’s easy to look at Supergirl and be taken in by her pretty smile, splendorous costume and golden hair, but that’s not the first thing I see”.
“Then what is Cat?” Sheryl asks.
“Her eyes. They’re haunted.” Cat knows her next remark is what she would ideally tell the girl in private but she’s pretty sure Supergirl is probably hiding under a rock somewhere at this very moment. “I see a young woman who has lost everything – her world, her family and now the love of her city”, this time Cat looks directly into the nearest monitor and adds “You’ve gone through all of this but I know in my heart that you still have a desire to help people, to continue to do the right thing. It’s what you were born to do. I know that things are probably pretty raw for you right now, but when you’re ready to talk, to tell the people of this city your side, I am telling you, that I will listen”.
Cat lets out a small sigh and turns back to the panel seated round the table. “We all make mistakes, even Superman. And because it’s not the day for fanning the flames of the feminist rhetoric, I won’t get into the reason why we judge Supergirl more harshly than her elder male cousin.” She shares a knowing look with Aisha Taylor, whom she is sure would love to invite her back for a more through discussion of that particular topic. “What we have to do now is give Supergirl a chance to collect her thoughts and decide what she wants to do next.”
“Well, thank you to Cat Grant for joining us in the studio today and for sharing her unique insight on Supergirl” Aisha brings the discussion to a natural close then adds “But despite your heartfelt loyalty to CatCo’s go to cover girl, there are still a lot of people out there who are going to need more convincing.” She turns to the camera and gets confirmation through her earpiece that they are ready to link in with their on-site reporter.
Aisha looks directly at Cat motioning behind her to show live feed from across the city on monitors off to her right-hand side .
The voice of a young, nubile reporter cut across the visual, “Here was the scene earlier today down at National City Park where a protest rally attended by Maxwell Lord, was held directly in front of the newly erected statue of Supergirl. Lord, who has never been shy of a criticism or two for the disgraced hero was inspecting the damage to the metal work, which Police say they will investigate after they have finished prioritizing the criminal damage caused by the Girl of Steel during her recent escapades.”
The scene cut to a wide shot of a bronze figure atop a marbled stone base. Supergirl was posed in the trademark hands-on-hips stance she seemed to favour when she was aware of the public’s gaze and chose to remain after a rescue to answer brief questions from the press. However, atop the finely detailed reproduction of the crest adorning Supergirl’s chest, someone had savagely sprayed in blood-red paint a circle with a diagonal line through it. Her face, once beautifully crafted into a soft smile looking down at those who positioned themselves at the foot of the podium was now brutalized by the eyes being scorched with what would appear to have been a blowtorch, giving her the blackened, hollow appearance akin to a soul-sucking ghoul. The marble base had been given equally unrestrained savagery and was now embellished with the shakily spewed words “HUMAN LIVES MATTER”.
In a cruel irony, the hastily erected metal railings now surrounding the podium whose purpose was to prevent further defacement, had been bent askew in the tops and could be likened to pitchforks.
Cat sat through the remaining broadcast with a barely contained rage. No good could come from allowing the public and Maxwell to see how much this barbarism of a young girl was affecting her. Cat briefly wondered if all of the points about double-standards and the fickle nature of public opinion she had just made would now evaporate in the harsh sunlight beating down on a statue of an already beaten down girl. She blanked out the barbed responses spoken by Lord as he stood beneath the statue with his smarmy winks to the camera and vitriolic critique of how everything wrong that had happened in the world was somehow down to a woman who flew around in a cape helping others who sometimes didn’t even want to be saved…
She barely had time to acknowledge the muted applause from the audience as the hosts concluded the show with their characteristic farewell.
“Remember, it’s always the right time to have The Talk!”