Nightwing: Heartless

Part 43: LexCorp

"Thank you for coming with me," Abby said, picking at her nails as the two girls stared up at the LexCorp building.

"Of course, babe." Willa offered an arm to walk in together. Abby had a final interview for a sales internship and she was nervous because it was in person instead of a phone interview. Plus her mom didn't want her driving all the way to Metropolis alone, so Willa had offered to tag along.

The building was certainly impressive, state of the art technology inside and the kind of environment Willa felt immediately out of place. The only woman Willa saw was at the reception desk. She felt very judged by the older men in suits.

The receptionist led the two girls into an elevator and up to a waiting area where they took a seat. Abby's knee bounced and the other candidates gave her a side-eye. Willa put her hand on Abby's need to settle her. She took a few breaths and got into a headspace while Willa looked around. A door opened and two men walked out.

"Get me the blueprints for the new Reach drink factory, will you, Roger?"

"Yes, sir." The man walked out of the room, back to the elevators.

Reach drink, Willa thought, Dick was investigating it. Last time she checked, they needed a way to get inside information from LexCorp. Well, Willa thought, she's pretty inside. Dick would kill her if he knew what she was thinking, but luckily he wasn't here.

"I'll be right back," Willa said to Abby and followed the man into the elevator as it slammed closed. The elevator went up until it dinged on the 93rd floor. The man got out, unaware he was being followed. He led Willa to a row of offices and went into his. Willa walked through the doors, reading the job titles and seeing if any were empty. Other businessmen gave her strange looks but let her be. There were perks to looking young and unassuming, she thought.

She found an office at the end of the hall, Mercy Graves, the door said, and she pushed it open. It was incredibly boring, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing labelled 'REACH INFO'. This was dumb, she thought to herself, she wasn't a spy. Willa leaned on the desk and knocked over a small statue. The bookshelf opened, revealing a secret passage. She shifted her weight back and forth, knowing it was dumb, and yet... it was a secret tunnel, how could she not follow it?

It was dark, so she moved up the stairs with a hand on a wall. It was a short passage that gave way to the top floor, and by the signs everywhere, the whole floor must belong to Lex Luthor. Willa dived behind an exhibition wall as footsteps approached and the door to the staircase closed.

"I don't want any surprises from junior heroes this time," a voice said, which Willa realized was Lex Luthor, "and make sure we have defensive measures against the Reach."

"But they're your partners, sir."

"One born of shaky trust at best. I want to be prepared in case they turn out to be more than they appear."

"Yes, sir." The footsteps retreated.

Willa came out after a minute and looked around, making sure to pull her hood up to hide her face from the security cameras. She found Luthor's private study and went over to his desk. She made sure not to touch anything but took her phone out to take pictures of all the documents that mentioned Reach or looked important.

"Jackpot," she said to herself when she found exactly what she was looking for in a trash can, a summary of facility locations. It must have fallen out of the shred pile next to the copier. She snapped a quick photo, proud of herself and dialled Dick.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hypothetical question, what did you need from LexCorp?"

"Why are you whispering?"