The Red Shadow

Chapter 3: The Interview

"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired."

F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

It was another regular bustling day at CatCo with phones ringing nonstop and everyone busy trying to get their jobs done. Despite the normalcy of the office atmosphere, however, the morning hours were particularly slow to tick by that day for Kara who was uselessly trying to focus on a piece of an interview with a twitching foot, tapping constantly against the floor. For some reason, she had an eerie sensation of being watched and had been feeling paranoid since that morning. Her dreams from the previous night were too blurry to remember. Regardless, she somewhat linked the reason behind the strange feelings she got to her dreams. Her memories.

Dropping the red pen she had been holding in frustration and admitting defeat, Kara let the paper fall to the desk with a groan and leaned back in her chair. Closing her eyes and rubbing her forehead in exhaustion, she tried to block out the annoying symphony of loud chatters and ringtones in the building, traffic noises from outside and many other sounds from beyond that were adamant to make holes in her skull. She really needed some peace and quiet for just a day. She thought of the Fortress of Solitude and nodded to herself. Yes, solitude was what she needed the most. This duality within her was effectively wearing her down at the seams.

In spite of her personal troubles, Kara being the strong headed Kryptonian she was, was glad that James was out of town for a conference this week, and not around to notice her struggles and to probe her like she knew he definitely would. Alex fussing over her was more than enough.

Besides James at Catco, however, there was her new friend, Nia Nal. National City's fresh Superhero, Dreamer, whom Kara had been neglecting her mentoring responsibilities towards gravely as of late. Kara had hoped that perhaps she could do even better with Nia than her first attempt at mentoring a Superhero, Mon-El – considering how he had ended up as the leader of a freaking Legion of Superheroes – but in fairness, she had nothing to do with his mindblowing glow up in the future, and the credit for his growth went entirely to himself. He was just amazing like that - Something he himself sadly didn't see. Kara sighed at the thought of him and his deep stormy eyes as memories flashed through her mind and she let them flow and fade, not daring to hold on any of the moments she cherished most. Thinking about him was very hard. This whole year had been just so off and unusual without him around. She stopped before her thoughts wandered too far to places she was too afraid to go and instead made a mental note to check up on Nia later that day and plan a training schedule, now that she wasn't public enemy number one anymore.

Thinking of friends, strangely, Lena hadn't been around much or at all either lately, Kara thought. She couldn't remember the last time she had received even a text from Lean. She had been so preoccupied that it had slipped her mind to call her. Oh well, it wasn't like she could talk with Lena about any of her problems either. With Lena, it was only small talks. After breaking up with James, the number of common topics they had to talk about had dwindled even further. She had begun to think about sharing her big secret with her not so long ago, but a few days later, she was still hesitant. It had been so long that telling her now could only sabotage their friendship, considering how emotionally and begrudgingly Lena reacted to Eve's betrayal. Kara just couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want all her hopes to get crushed and see that side of Lena. That 'Luthor' side. She, kind of, was very over with Luthors, especially seeing how Lex had brainwashed and manipulated Red Daughter. Indirectly she felt hurt by and angry at them all together.

Suddenly having it enough of two coworkers rambling about Game of Thrones' disappointing ending after one hour for the sixth time that day, Kara called it a lunch break an hour earlier and grabbed her purse to go get something to eat somewhere far and quiet. Maybe the Himalayas was a good choice today.