Be Part

Once Hank emerged from the rooftop door, Marley breathed a huge sigh of relief. “I can’t believe we actually pulled this off,” she said to both of them. She watched as the figure before her changed from assistant Marley Rose to J’onn J’onzz, and then again from J’onn to Chief Hank Henshaw. It was the first time Marley saw such a transformation since she was taken over by red kryptonite. Somehow, knowing that made Marley sick to her stomach.

“Almost,” Marley repeated back to Jake, glancing at him with distress in her eyes, “She almost publicized to the whole city that Patriot and Supergirl are…you know…“ She didn’t want to speak too loudly on the chance that an assistant would eavesdrop and then deliver the gossip to Cat. She and Jake walked off set as they prepared to make their exit, thanking the assistants and producers for their time and for the opportunity. Hopefully, being able to share her good will on the air would convince the skeptical New Yorkers that Marley was back to her normal self.

“At least it’s over,” she added, stopping at the dressing room to pick up her purse. At some point, she and Henshaw would need to make another switch back to normal – they had arranged to meet on the roof of the CatCo building, since it was the only place on the premises not surrounded by surveillance cameras. “Is it bad I would have preferred fighting off some alien to being interviewed?”

Jake let Marley lead the way to the stairs up to the roof so that she and Hank could switch places again. “You know, you could always leave Hank here to cover for you while we go back to my place,” he grinned. “Though now that I think about it, Cat will start questioning why you sound like a soldier today...”

Marley waved her hand, almost as though she was batting away the idea of dating Patriot. “Oh no. The two of us are partners in crime-fighting only,” she declared. Cat’s arched brow indicated she wasn’t completely buying it. Marley knew giving Jake a panicked expression would clearly draw attention to her in the interview – so instead, she tapped her knee to his, attempting to make it look accidental. Wasn’t that what Jake told her to do when she felt stuck during this whole thing?

The rest of the interview went over a little better and they survived the questions that came together without the need for any more signals. ‘Thank you for joining us today, and a big thank you to Supergirl and Patriot,’ Cat said, turning to smile at the camera as she signed off. ‘I’m Cat Grant, back to you, Brent.’ The camera man counted them out before the red light above the camera disappeared and Jake let out a breath of relief. “Almost painless,” he whispered to Marley as they stood.

“I’m fully committed to regaining the trust of the people of New York,” Marley said earnestly, “My lapse in judgement has cost their faith in me, but I’m absolutely working towards getting it back. I just want to be the same hero they remembered meeting months ago.”

While the interview carried on, Marley felt herself become more relaxed, largely due to Jake. His pep talk earlier resonated with her; whenever she felt herself becoming anxious, his words echoed in her ears. Finally, Marley had her own relief once Cat focused some questions towards Jake.

‘Patriot,’ she started, ‘I wonder, if we could just backpedal for a moment – what was it like realizing your partner in heroism had gone rogue?’

And then Cat went below the belt as she focused on him. “When I recognized that Supergirl wasn’t herself, I threw myself into bringing her back,” he said. “I would’ve given anything to get her mind out of that darkness and keep the people safe.” Cat gave him a strange look at that, but pushed on. ‘What exactly did happen to Supergirl?’ she asked, looking between them both. 

Jake quickly answered, “Obviously, that’s classified. But the people of New York no longer have anything to fear. Patriot and Supergirl are stronger than ever.” 

‘Ah, yes,’ Cat said, crossing her legs, ‘The reminder that both Supergirl and Patriot are simply part of the masses. ‘Although, you haven’t always felt a need to help people, have you, Supergirl? Care to comment on last month’s…incident?’

Crap. The moment Marley was hoping wouldn’t arrive. She wished Cat didn’t dive right into the uncomfortable questions at the start of the interview, but then again, this was Cat Grant, and she was never one to beat around the bush. She gave a sideways glance towards Jake; being fully masked, it was impossible to read his facial expression. She inhaled at the question and just remembered Jake’s advice.

“…Did I need to take a break? Yes, yes I did.”

“I think something that the people don’t understand is how stressful things can get for us,” Jake mused. ‘Stressful?’ Cat asked, turning on him. ‘As I recall, those days were stressful for the people nearly zapped to ashes. Are the people of New York supposed to give Supergirl a pass because she’s super?’ Jake inwardly sighed, feeling like things were quickly getting out of his control. “The people have nothing to fear from Supergirl any longer,” he said in a calm, strong voice that Hank had taught him to use over the communicator. “She is back to help everyone, as she has clearly shown.”

Cat turned to take her place on the interview set, sitting in a single armchair placed slightly left of center – to her right was a matching loveseat, obviously meant for Patriot and Supergirl. Marley eyed her surroundings and felt herself becoming slightly nervous again. There were camera crews, light crews, photographers – including James, yikes – and dozens of assistants. One of which was her – or at least Henshaw in the form of Marley Rose. She turned to Jake and gave him a wide grin, stifling laughter as Cat called her assistant over.

‘Molly, I need you to update our social media pages during the interview. Make sure you are tweeting behind the scenes pictures with your cell phone. We want as many people across the nations tuning in.’

‘Certainly, Miss Grant,’ Marley heard herself reply in a much more stoic voice than usual. She gave Jake a knowing look before two other assistants ushered Patriot and Supergirl to the loveseat.

‘All right,’ The cameraman said from behind his lens, focusing the scene into view, ‘We stream live in five, four, three, two…’

Jake walked over to take his seat on the couch, fixing his gloves and sitting still as they fitted a microphone to his uniform. ‘There you go, Patriot,’ the guy said, looking like he was fangirling a little. Jake fist bumped the guy before turning to face Cat for the beginning of the interview. 

‘Hello and welcome to the 2 o’clock news. As you already know, I’m Cat Grant. And today, I’m joined by two of New York’s most famous heroes, the well-known Patriot and the more recent Supergirl,’ she said, turning to look at them rather than the camera. ‘Now, 

‘Did some PR agent put the two of you together or did you find each other?’ she asked. 

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she added, smiling. Marley lifted the bottom of Jake’s cowl and placed her lips softly to his, humming lightly. “This is probably the primary reason why I prefer your usual gear,” she smirked, before securing the cowl under his chin again.

A knock at the door interrupted her. “Patriot? We’re on in five minutes, Miss Grant wants you and Supergirl out here now,” an assistant called from the other side of it. Marley grinned.

“Ready to show the city what we’re made of?”

When they were called for, Jake stood up and smoothed out his uniform. Turning to Marley, he gave her a thumbs up. “This is going to go well,” he told her. As they left behind his dressing room, Jake let Marley take the lead out into the set for the interview. “Oh I’m going to lose it,” he whispered quiet enough that only Marley would hear. And J’onn. In a skirt in heels. As his girlfriend. “If that doesn’t keep you calm through this, nothing will,” he said, tapping her hip with his shield. 

‘Patriot, Supergirl, welcome to the-- Oh, now that’s disappointing,’ Cat spoke as she appeared. ‘Did you really have to go back to the old costume, darling? You look so much more handsome in just the eye mask.’ 

She rattled off more questions and concerns, sitting down in the chair opposite Patriot’s vanity mirror. All of the worry had been pent up in her for the past twenty-four hours, and even though she and Jake came up with a resolution to navigate the situation, she was still so frazzled.

“I’m sorry, I’m really starting to babble now,” Marley said, interrupting her own thoughts, “But I’m not like you, babe. I’ve never done this sort of live appearance before…I mean, outside of saving the city, that’s obviously always live…by the way, I am so glad you dropped the full cowl, because I really kind of miss seeing the lower half of your face,” she giggled, attempting to alleviate some of the stress.

“When it comes to us, Patriot and Supergirl are only partners in crime. If it got out that they were involved, I’ve got enemies in my past that would come for you. And I don’t want that,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “So if they ask, just deny it. As for red kryptonite, we don’t want anyone out there knowing that it’s been created. It would ruin the trust that you’ve worked so hard to regain,” he murmured, taking off one of his gloves so that he could reach his hand up and fix her hair. 

“I will find who created it and targeted you, Marley,” he said quietly. “But for now, only answer the questions that you want to answer. For other questions? Let’s say that she asks you why you went AWOL. You say back, did I need to take a break? Yes, yes I did. See? You answer her question with your own question and then you answer that.”

As it stood, Marley had no choice but to “locate” Supergirl for the scheduled interview the following afternoon. She and Jake had laid out the plan that evening after work: Jake would call out sick first thing in the morning, and Marley would arrive to CatCo as usual. However, come shortly before 2 PM – the time of the interview – she would make the switch with Henshaw – he would morph into Marley, and Marley would arrive on the scene as Supergirl. Jake would arrive, too, with his face completely covered by his cowl so that no one would be able to even have the chance to recognize him, either. They would be good sports and sit in on the forty-five minute live-stream, answering questions together before Cat dismissed them. If they were lucky, a crime would interrupt the interview and force them to leave early.

By 1:45 that afternoon, Marley excused herself to use the ladies room – instead of using the ladies room, though, she boarded the elevator and made her way to the top floor, the floor in which the studio was located for the well-advertised interview. Before entering the studio, Marley ducked into a ladies room so that she could change out of her summer dress and into the full-on Supergirl suit. Once her attire was in place, she texted Henshaw: Let me know when you’ve made it to my desk. Cat is probably looking for you.

Walking into the studio, Marley kept her phone close by as producers and assistants greeted her with enthusiasm. “Supergirl!”One of them beamed, looking utterly starstruck, “Cat will be here shortly. Can I get you anything, water or coffee?”

“No, thank you,” Marley replied politely, slightly taken aback by the celebrity treatment – this was her first televised interview, and although she was considered a star by New York’s standards, she hadn’t been quite used to others’ behavior in this way. “Could you tell me where Patriot is right now?”

“His dressing room,” the assistant replied, “It’s just the last door on the right,” he tilted his head in the direction.

“Great, thank you,” Marley smiled, heading off towards the destination. The door was closed – for good reason, Marley surmised – she knocked on it twice, but didn’t wait for Jake to respond before letting herself in and closing the door.

“Okay,” she sighed, leaning against the door, “Henshaw should be downstairs preparing Miss Grant for the interview and I’m ninety-nine percent certain no one saw me take the elevator up here, so we’re safe for now.”

By the time 1:45 rolled around, Jake knew that things were as good as they were going to get. While ‘Marley’ got off on the office floor, Patriot rode all the way up to the top for the interview. Jake idly scratched at the cowl that dug into the back of his neck, remembering why he didn’t like the thing in the first place. 

When he exited, an attendant was there to guide him to a dressing room. ‘I guess you don’t need to change, or have makeup,’ they mused, looking him over.  ‘I’ll just be back when they’re ready for you on set.’ Jake nodded and waited until the door had closed to get some water for himself. Walking around in the full suit in the middle of the day was way hotter than he was used to. 

The door opened and Jake turned around, pulling his cowl back on over most of his face. “Good job, love,” he said proudly. Jake walked over and greeted her with a kiss before pulling back to bring his cowl the rest of the way down. “Just - don’t be nervous. And if you’re going to be nervous, then use the nerves. It’s just an interview. We already know that she’ll ask about your debut, then when you went AWOL, and the plane. If you get nervous, just tap your knee to mine or something and I can talk,” he shrugged. 

He smiled to himself as she spoke her fears about him and his secret identity. They were all fears that he had faced over the years. “You forget how long I’ve been doing this, love,” he said, turning around and walking over to her. His hands ran along her arms soothingly. “This is just a small bump. We’ve faced way worse than Cat Grant before,” he chuckled. 

More concerned comments regarding the situation flew out of Marley as she showered. Jake was right; Marley was able to finish scrubbing the Hudson River off her in minutes. After turning the water off, she wrapped a towel around her body, holding it up as she scrambled back to her bedroom.

“Wait a minute,” Marley grinned at the thought of the idea, hurrying back towrds the living room where she left Jake. “…What about Chief Henshaw?” Marley inquired, giving Jake an inquisitive look, “Do you think he would be willing to shape-shift into one of us for the interview? I know it’s a huge, huge favor to ask him, but it would really help avoid getting someone fired.” It was a long shot – especially considering Henshaw’s reveal as something other than human – but it was the only option, at least in Marley’s eyes.

When the water turned off and she came back out to where he sat, Jake looked up. “Henshaw?” he echoed. “He might be willing, but I don’t know that the DEO will like him showing off his shifting abilities...” Then again, the DEO didn’t have to know. “Okay, we’ll ask him to help us out. I know that he would. The complication is that he’ll have to - well, he’ll have to be Marley Rose,” Jake winced. Patriot and Supergirl would be on television, so Hank couldn’t be either of them. And Jake was nowhere near as important to Cat as Marley was. “But!” he said, jumping up. “If people see Marley Rose and Supergirl in the same room together, then they’ll know that there’s no possible way that the two of them could be the same person!”

“Oh, crap!” Marley’s brows furrowed in concern as she called over her shoulder, “There’s only one person who ever calls me in the middle of the day, and that would be…” She rummaged around in her purse for the phone, answering it by the fourth ring.

“Miss Grant!” Marley exclaimed.

‘Molly,’ The unimpressed tone sounded on the other end, ‘End your already too-long lunch hour and come back to your desk. I need you to locate Supergirl and track her down. I want her to sit in on the interview with Patriot.’

“W-what?” Marley replied, probably sounding a little too surprised.

‘Unlike you, Molly, I didn’t stutter. Schedule them to come in tomorrow afternoon. And make sure James and Jason are available. This will be televised and I need them to take photographs.’ Click. Cat finished the command without even hearing Marley’s response, in her typical fashion.

Oh shit.

His jaw lowered as Cat dropped her request on Marley. Supergirl and Patriot being interviewed with Marley and Jake in the room. “Shit,” he said.