About 30 minutes after leaving L-Corp, Lena and Alura arrive at a nice fancy, and of course, very expensive, tailored suit shop. Lena has shopped in this store a few times to get herself some of her signature 3-piece suits, which have obviously cost her a pretty penny, but it's not like she can't afford it. Right now, however, Lena is very, very, excited to dress her daughter up in a little suit, which Lena does realise is something that mothers typically love to do with their children, in regards to clothes in general.
"Ah, hello Miss Luthor." A man says, as Lena and Alura enter the store, hand in hand. "How may I help you today?"
"Hello, Stephen." Lena smiles, "I'm actually here today for my daughter. I would like to buy her her own 3-piece suit. Do you have something that would fit her?"
Stephen grows a big smirk on his face as he looks at Alura.
"I believe we have a few options, although I'll have to take her measurements so it fits nicely." Stephen says.
"That should be fine." Lena smiles back.
Stephen then steps closer to Alura, and then gets down on one knee and holds out his hand.
"Hello, fine lady, I'm Stephen, it is nice to mee you." Stephen says.
"He...ello." Alura replies, clearly nervously.
Lena strokes the top of Alura's head, giving her daughter some reassurance, to hopefully make her feel more comfortable. Stephen for his part takes his hand away, understanding the girl is probably too shy to shake it.
"And what is your name?" Stephen asks, with a smile.
"A...alura." Alura says, shyly.
"Oh, what a pretty name, for a pretty girl." Stephen smiles.
Alura grows a small smile on her face upon hearing that.
"There's a smile." Stephen smirks, "Now, what type of suit would you like?"
Alura bites her lip for a moment, and then looks up at Lena briefly, before then returning to look at Stephen.
"One like momma." Alura says, with a nod of her head.
Stephen chuckles upon hearing that.
"Very well. I believe we can make that work." Stephen smiles still, and then stands up.
"I was thinking, if you have it, a maroon one, like one of mine?" Lena suggests.
"Ah, yes. I remember." Stephen says, nodding his head. "We don't have any suits that would fit her in that color right now, but I can take Alura's measurements and have one made for her. If that would be acceptable?"
"Yes, that sounds good." Lena smiles, "What do you think Alura?"
"Yes." Alura replies, nodding her head eagerly.
Lena and Stephen chuckle upon hearing that response from the young girl.
"Alright then. Can I ask you, Alura, to come step over here so I can do your measurements?" Stephen asks, with a smile, pointing to an area in the corner of the store which has a raised platform and three mirrors in front of it.
Alura looks up at Lena. Lena nods her head, letting Alura know it's okay.
"Okay." Alura says back, with a small smile on her face.
Stephen, Lena and Alura then walk over to the directed area, and Alura stands up on the raised platform.
"Okay, dear. What I have to do is I need to take your measurements, of different parts of your body. As I need to know what size your suit needs to be, as you don't want one that's too tight or baggy now, do you?" Stephen says with a smile.
"No." Alura replies in a small voice, still unsure about Stephen, as he is a new stranger to Alura.
Lena then steps in front of Alura, so the girl can see her, with a reassuring look on her face.
"It's okay darling. Stephen here helped measure me, for a few of my suits, which I purchased here. He's going to measure you the exact same way he measured me." Lena explains.
Alura looks up at Lena and smiles widely at her momma, nodding her head.
"Okay." Alura says.
"Alright then, let's get started." Stephen smiles.
**************************
Meanwhile, at the DEO, J'onn and Alex have been running about trying to sort everything out, as somehow, an alien technology in a DEO vault has gone missing, and there are very few people who have access to that vault, two of them being J'onn and Alex. So, Alex and J'onn are just trying to get to the bottom of, not only how the technology could suddenly go missing, but if someone stole it, and if it was stolen, then who did it, and how did they manage to get into the vault in the first place?
At first J'onn and Alex didn't immediately jump to the conclusions that the technology was stolen, for a few reasons. Firstly, Alex and J'onn both know how secure the vault is, and it has been tested by various people to make sure it's secure, so it would be very unlikely that someone could somehow break into a supposed impenetrable vault. Then secondly, Alex and J'onn just thought that there surely must have been some sort of clerical error, and someone accidentally moved the technology, out of the few people who had clearance, or the security level of the tech was reduced for some reason, and therefore moved out of the vault and to another facility. This could have been the case because after all, while J'onn may be the head of the DEO, the DEO is a very large organisation, so he doesn't know everything that is going on, and nor would he be able to, unless he literally never slept, and the day was 50 hours long. Therefore, due to all this, as soon as Alex arrived at the DEO, the two didn't straight away jump to the conclusion that the technology was stolen, and instead focused on looking into whether there was a clerical error or a simple mistake.
J'onn and Alex spent about an hour and a half, along with the help of a few other trusted DEO agents, including Winn, looking into all of the DEO logs. However, the results of all this wasn't helpful at all, as while they found a few things in regards to DEO personal not correctly filling in forms when checking in and out certain equipment, there was nothing that suggested that the alien technology had been moved. Therefore, because of this, Alex and J'onn had to jump to the assumption that they didn't want to have to jump to, that the device was stolen.
Once Alex and J'onn had make the assumption that the alien technology must have been stolen, they first knew they needed to look into everyone who had access to the vault, and try and figure out if the alien technology was stolen by a member of the DEO. Alex and J'onn really didn't want this to be the case, as while a member of the DEO stealing the tech would have been better for security reasons, as it would mean that some outside individual didn't break into the DEO; for J'onn and Alex's own personal reasons, they didn't want it to be the case. Alex and/or J'onn literally have vetted every single person that currently works at the DEO, so if they were to find out that someone they vetted, and trusted, were to have betrayed them, they would feel responsible for this, as Alex and J'onn would both feel like they should have done a better job at vetting the DEO individual.
Alex and J'onn went through and talked to every individual who had access to the vault, which wasn't many people at all. They carried this process out by interviewing each person, one at a time, asking them various questions. Meanwhile, while they carried out these interviews, Alex and J'onn asked Winn to go through and see if he could find if anyone's access codes or card had been used to gain access to the vault. Winn just told them that he'd do it, but it would take time.
Alex and J'onn then carried out the interviews, or interrogations really, but they really weren't getting anything from any of the DEO agents to suggest that they were guilty. Of course, J'onn could have scanned their minds, to see if they are guilty or not, but he knows that seeing as he and Alex have trained most of the DEO agents, anyone guilty would likely be able to hide the truth deep within their mind, which would make it hard for J'onn to access. Obviously J'onn could access this information, but it would be a draining process for him, and an off putting and strange process to the DEO agents. So, J'onn really didn't want to do it, as he didn't think he would physically be able to do it to every DEO agent who had access to the vault, and he didn't like the fact that doing things that way was essentially assuming guilt, and would mean he would be delving deep into several people's minds who were innocent. J'onn didn't feel right about that.
Presently, J'onn and Alex are carrying out their final interview/interrogation, and so far, they really have got nothing from all of the DEO agents. None of them knew exactly what they were being interviewed about, so while a few of them did admit to some minor things, or some things in their personal lives which they thought might affect their jobs, none of them confessed to stealing, or helping to steal the alien technology. Then at the same time, neither Alex or J'onn got the impression that any of the agents they interviewed were guilty.
Just as Alex and J'onn are about to finish interrogating the final DEO agent, there is a knock at the door to the interrogation/interview room.
"Yes?" J'onn calls out.
The door opens and Winn pokes his head in.
"Uhhh.... Director.... Agent Danvers..... I think you are going to want to see what I have found....." Winn says, nervously.
J'onn and Alex give each other a glance, and then J'onn nods his head in Winn's direction.
"You're free to leave, Agent Rodriguez." Alex says to the final agent they were interviewing.
"Thank you." Agent Rodriguez says, relieved, and then quickly leaves the room.
Once Agent Rodriguez leaves the room, Winn steps inside, closing the door behind him, knowing that this needs to be kept private between himself, J'onn and Alex.
"So, what did you find?" J'onn asks.
"So, I ran through all the access codes for that vault. I got nothing on any of the agents you have interviewed, but then I just thought to look at both of your access codes, and that's when I found something." Winn says.
Alex and J'onn glance at each other, confused.
"What did you find, Agent Schott?" J'onn asks.
"I found that the last person to use their access codes to enter that vault was you, J'onn, at 10:52AM today." Winn says.
"What?!" J'onn says, shocked.
"I ran it twice; it was your codes used to enter the vault." Winn explains.
"That's not possible." J'onn says, "To enter the vault, you not only need my access codes, but also my security card, which I have right...."
J'onn then reaches into his pocket, and pulls out nothing, his security card is gone.
"What the...." J'onn says confused, searching his other pockets for his clearance card.
Alex, for her part, looks at the back of J'onn's clothing, and sees the metal clip that usually hangs the security card, on the back of J'onn's trousers is still there, but the security card is missing.
"Uhh, J'onn..." Alex says, pointing to what she has found.
J'onn then reaches around to the back of his trousers, and then feels the clip where his security card should be.
"It's gone..." J'onn says, surprised.
"Yes." Alex nods.
"That means that anyone in the DEO could have stolen the tech. But that still doesn't solve how they would have got my security codes." J'onn says, still confused.
"I think I might have an answer to that." Winn explains.
"What is it Winn?" Alex asks.
"Well, while your security codes are unique to you, they are not exactly meant to be used as the final layer of security. The security system of the vault was built so that you'd physically need your card to access the vault, as the thought was that it would be harder for a thief to obtain a physical object, kept on someone's person at all times, than to obtain security codes." Winn explains.
"Okay..." Alex says, still confused, "So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying, that technically, J'onn's codes may not have been used." Winn replies.
"But you said..." Alex begins.
"I know. But there seems to be a glitch in the security system, which would allow for one person's codes to be used, and another person's security card. Then as a result of that, the system would just show up that whoever used their card was the one to also use their security codes." Winn explains.
"Agent Schott, are you telling me that the security system that you have been working on, has a glitch in it that you didn't inform me about?" J'onn asks, now not amused.
"No!" Winn says, quickly. "I've worked on the system. There WAS no glitch previously."
"Hang on, I don't understand." Alex says, now very confused how suddenly a glitch can appear within the security system for one of their vaults.
"What I'm saying, is that it seems that the same person who broke into the vault, introduced a glitch into the vault's security system to allow them to use one person's security codes, and another person's security card." Winn explains.
Alex and J'onn both go wide-eyed upon hearing that.
"That means....." Alex begins.
"That anyone in the DEO could have broken into the vault." J'onn says.
"Well.... not anyone.... You'd need some serious tech skills to create that glitch, and the only place you'd be able to introduce it would be the DEOs main frame." Winn explains.
"Okay...." Alex nods, "So, how many people who work at the DEO do you think have those skills?"
Winn looks at Alex and J'onn with a nervous look on his face.
"Agent Schott?" J'onn presses.
"One." Winn replies.
"Who?" Alex asks.
"Me." Winn replies.
*******************************
Meanwhile, back in the suit store, Lena, Alura and Stephen have been spending the last half an hour trying to get Alura a suit that will fit her correctly. First Stephen began by taking Alura's measurements, starting off measuring her leg, and then her arms, and then her torso, and finishing up around her neck. Of course, Alura, being a five-year-old girl, couldn't help but giggle throughout the measurements, as it tickled slightly. Some people may have been annoyed by a child that they were trying to measure doing that, but Stephen didn't mind at all. Lena knows that Stephen is a good person, from her experiences with him, which is why she decided to take Alura to him, as it's not like she would trust her daughter being introduced to just about anyone. After all, Alura is the most precious thing in the world to Lena, and she does not treat that lightly.
Once the measuring was finished, Stephen then went to the back, and fetched a few suit examples, just for Alura to try on. Stephen soon came back with the suits that he thought would fit Alura, and Lena and Alura then went to a back dressing room, where Lena helped Alura get changed into them. First Alura tried on a red suit, which didn't have a vest as part of it. Lena and Alura then stepped outside, for Alura to have a look in the three mirrors. Once Alura looked, she didn't seem too into it, and honestly nor was Lena. Lena didn't really think the bright red color suited Alura too well. So, Lena and Alura then went back and tried on the second suit, which was a dark blue three-piece suit. That time, as soon as Alura was dressed in it, Lena grew a very big smile on her face, as her daughter looked absolutely amazing. Lena and Alura then went out, so Alura could see herself in the mirror again, and as soon as Alura saw herself she grew a massive smile on her face.
"What do you think, darling?" Lena asked, with a big smile.
"I look like you momma!" Alura said, happily, clearly previously remembering Lena wearing a similarly coloured three-piece suit.
Lena chuckled.
"Yes, you do." Lena smiled, "So, would you like us to get that one?"
"Yes." Alura nodded, happily.
"Alright." Lena smiled.
After that, Stephen stepped forward and examined the suit, and began putting a few pins in it, to signify places were the suit would need to be taken up/in, so that it would fit Alura better. Then once Stephen was finished, Lena and Alura went back in the changing room, for Alura to get back dressed in her regular clothes.
Back in the present, Lena and Alura are just stepping out of the changing room, hand in hand, both with big smiles on their faces. Alura is super happy about the suit she just tried on, as she looks like Lena in it, while Lena has very much enjoyed dressing up her daughter, she has really felt like it has been a true motherly experience. Lena knows that she did miss out on dressing Alura up in her first clothes when she was a baby, because she wasn't in her life then, but Lena thinks that this does make up for it in some way, as silly as that thought may be.
"So, are you done now, ladies?" Stephen asks, with a smile.
"Yes, thank you." Lena smiles back at Stephen.
"Excellent. I will have the suit taken up for you." Stephen replies, "Do you still want the maroon suit to be made as well?"
"Yes, please." Lena replies.
"Perfect." Stephen smiles back, "So, I should have this suit finished for you by Friday, and the maroon suit will be in sometime next week."
"Okay, thank you." Lena smiles, "Do you need me to put a deposit down on the suit?"
"No, I trust you, Miss Luthor." Stephen replies.
"Okay then." Lena smiles once more, "Thank you for helping us."
"It was my pleasure." Stephen says.
"Alura, say thank you." Lena says.
"Thank you!" Alura says, with a smile.
"You're very welcome. It is my honour to help little girls dress appropriately, in an attempt to match their natural beauty." Stephen says, with another smile.
Alura just smiles happily at Stephen, her shyness and nerves having mostly melted away now, happy by the compliment.
"Okay, well, we better be off then." Lena says.
"Of course." Stephen nods, "It was a pleasure as usual, Miss Luthor."
"Likewise." Lena nods.
Lena and Alura then walk out the store. Once the two are outside, Alura tugs on Lena's hand, getting her attention.
"Momma?" Alura asks.
"Yes, darling?" Lena replies.
"I thought I was going to choose something for mommy to wear?" Alura says, clearly remembering what Lena promised a few days ago, when she first mentioned going shopping with Alura.
Lena smiles at Alura and also chuckles.
"Well, we can't do that now while mommy isn't with us, as we don't want to buy anything that doesn't fit her properly." Lena says, "But, later this week, when we pick up your suit, we can bring mommy with us, and then have her try on a few things. How does that sound?"
"Good." Alura says, nodding her head, a big smile on her face.
"Perfect." Lena grins. "Now, let's go home."
"Okay, momma." Alura says, happily, continuing to walk down the street hand in hand with Lena once more.
"What would you like for dinner?" Lena asks.
"Pizza?" Alura suggests.
Lena chuckles, knowing she should have already guessed that would have been the answer.
"Sorry, darling, but you, and both of us really, have eaten far too much junk food over the last week, so we are going to have something more healthy instead." Lena explains.
"Okay." Alura says, sounding a bit disappointed.
Obviously a part of Lena wants to just tell Alura that they can have pizza, as she doesn't want to disappoint her daughter, but the other more sensible part of Lena knows that not having Alura eat junk food every night for dinner is much better for her.
"How about we have some pasta, with tomato sauce, chicken, and some kale in it?" Lena suggests.
"Okay." Alura smiles, liking kale just like her momma. "But what about mommy? She doesn't like kale."
Lena chuckles, while also feeling a tug at her heartstrings from how sweet her daughter is, thinking about how Kara doesn't like kale, and being concerned as to what she would eat for dinner.
"Remember I said that mommy won't be getting home until we are in bed?" Lena says, "That means she won't be eating dinner with us either. She'll probably just get herself something."
"Oh.... okay." Alura nods, remembering now what Lena told her just before they left L-Corp.
*********************
Lena and Alura return home to Lena's penthouse about 30 minutes after leaving the suit tailor shop. As they enter the penthouse, it isn't lost on Lena how crazy and amazing it feels for her to consider her penthouse her home, with Alura and Kara. Lena feels so happy, and she knows she wants the work on her penthouse to be completed as soon as possible, so they can actually be settled and move in together. In fact, Lena makes a note in her mind to talk with the contractors about potential bonuses to speed up the process in further, once it begins.
Once Lena and Alura are home, Lena gets started on their dinner, making the pasta dish with chicken and kale, just as she promised Alura. Alura just happily watches on as Lena makes it, with Lena even allowing Alura to help her stir the dish. Lena thinks that it is probably a good thing to get Alura involved in cooking, and make her feel a part of making the food for them to eat for dinner. Lena is well aware that growing up, she didn't have that opportunity, as while living at the Luthor household, all their meals were cooked for them, and the same was the case at the boarding schools she went to. This meant that Lena never got the opportunity to really cook for herself, and learn how to cook, until she was an adult, and living on her own at university. Lena thinks that cooking is a really important skill that she hopes she and Kara can continue to teach Alura, and also bond while doing it. Lena certainly isn't going to turn down any opportunity to bond with her daughter.
Once Lena and Alura finish making their dinner, Lena dishes up the food, and the duo then have their food, and happily talk about a few things as they eat. Throughout the conversation, Lena has tried to keep Alura engaged, because she doesn't want her daughter to feel sad about Kara not having dinner with them.
Eventually, after Lena and Alura eat their food, the two women clean up their dishes, with Alura insisting she helps. Lena lets Alura dry all the dishes, and cutlery, while she washes. Once the mother and daughter are finished with that, they then settle in on the couch to watch a movie that Alura requests. As they watch the film, Alura snuggles into Lena's side, happy to be next to her momma. Lena feels her heart continue to beat faster with happiness as Alura does this.
"Did you have a good day today, darling?" Lena asks, as they continue to watch the film, as Alura snuggles into her side.
"Yes, momma." Alura replies.
"I'm glad." Lena smiles back, "What was your favourite part?"
"All the parts with you!" Alura says, happily.
Lena smiles even wider upon hearing that, and then places a kiss on one of Alura's cheeks.
"I love you, darling." Lena says.
"Love you too, momma." Alura replies, with a massive smile on her face.
Alura then returns to snuggling Lena, as they continue to watch the film, and about 40 minutes later, about two thirds of the way through the film, Alura falls asleep. Lena then carefully picks Alura up and takes her to bed, tucking her in. After that, Lena sits in her living room for a while, doing some more work on her laptop, just trying to complete the work she was supposed to before she left L-Corp early today, in hopes that that will mean she doesn't have to go in early tomorrow.
About an hour and a half later, Lena feels her tiredness getting to her. By this point she had hoped that Kara would have been back by now, but that is clearly not the case. Even though Kara told her not to wait up, Lena had tried to wait up, just so she could get a goodnight kiss from Kara. But unfortunately, that is not the case.
Lena sighs, and gets up from her couch and makes her way to bed. A few minutes later Lena is in bed, and a while after that, drifts off to sleep. About an hour after Lena falls asleep, she feels someone slip into the bed with her, and cuddle her tightly.
"Goodnight, Lee." Kara says, snuggling into her girlfriend, placing a kiss on one of her shoulders.
"Hmmm... night Kara." Lena mumbles, still mostly asleep.
The two women then cuddle as they fall asleep/continue to sleep.
**************************
Back at the DEO, over the last few hours Alex and J'onn have been going about the entirety of the DEO, trying to see if they can find J'onn's security access card anywhere. At the same time, Winn firstly made sure to patch up the glitch in their security system, and then got to work seeing if he could find anything else as to who stole the alien tech. Obviously, earlier, as soon as Winn confessed to Alex and J'onn that he is the only person at the DEO capable of creating that glitch, Alex and J'onn didn't, even for a second, think that Winn was responsible for the alien tech being stolen, they trust him completely. Alex and J'onn just assumed that there must be a DEO agent who has some serious tech skills who has been hiding it all along, suggesting they have some sort of mole.
Alex and J'onn are now returning to DEO command centre, where Winn has been stationed for the last few hours, trying to see if there are any more breaches in DEO security.
"You find anything?" J'onn asks Alex.
"No." Alex sighs. "You?"
"No." J'onn replies.
"Uhhh.... I have." Winn says, unsure, still looking at his computer.
Alex and J'onn give each other concerned looks, and then walk over to Winn.
"What have you found, Agent Schott?" J'onn asks.
"Well..... after I originally found out that your security card was used, I had a look at all the cameras by the vault in that area of the DEO, to see if I could find who it was." Winn explains.
"Right." Alex says.
"I didn't see anything. But, I have spent the last few hours looking through everything else, so I decided to have another look at the cameras, and look." Winn says.
Winn then begins to play the camera pointed towards the door to the vault in the DEO, which was housing the alien tech. The footage doesn't appear to show anything.
"Uhhh.... am I missing something?" Alex asks, confused why Winn thinks this is important to show them.
"See, at first nothing. But I then slowed it down. That is when I saw something." Winn says.
Winn plays the video again, and slows it down enough so that just for two frames of the video a shadow can be seen to move, looking to be the shadow of a woman, who quickly enter the first vault door, without the doors even opening. The camera then can't see the second doors. Winn then freezes the footage on the frame with the shadow which looks like a woman.
"What the hell is that?" Alex says, confused.
"I have no idea." Winn says.
"J'onn.... that means that it wasn't a DEO agent who took it..... but some..... powered person.... or alien..." Alex says.
"Yes." J'onn nods, still staring at the screen.
"Do you know any alien races that have this sort of power?" Winn asks, looking at J'onn.
"No." J'onn replies, in a voice that suggest he knows more.
"J'onn what aren't you saying?" Alex presses.
J'onn looks at Alex and then Winn, with a concerned look on his face.
"I have lived on Earth for a few hundred years now, and.... in that time, I have heard all sorts of rumours.... most of which are just that.... rumours..... But during that time..... I heard about..... a group of people...... who...... have the power to bestow a gift..... allowing an individual to walk like a shadow...." J'onn explains.
Alex and Winn look at one another.
"What is the group called?" Alex asks.
"Leviathan." J'onn says.
*************************
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