Life In Smallville & Metropolis {10}

Chapter 2: Shield

Liana walks into The Daily Planet with new hair and she goes to meet the new reporter and show her around. Liana walks up to the new reporter's desk and says, "Ms. Grant?" The woman turns around with a smile and says, "Don't be so formal. It's Catherine. But my friends call me Cat. Cat Grant. With a C. Want a cookie? I just baked them this morning. Really gooey, so be careful. I use twice the sugar." Cat offers Liana a cookie and Liana politely takes it and says, "Thanks." Liana bites into the cookie and it's really good. Cat says, "No relation to that woman in TV. I get that a lot." Cat holds her hand out and Liana shakes it and says, "Nice to meet you. Liana Lane. Welcome to The Daily Planet." Cat smiles and says, "Can I tell you how excited I am to be working at The Planet? After all those weeks at the small-town paper my words are finally going to have a real impact." Liana says, "Weeks? Wow, that's incredible." Cat smiles and says, "Classic overachiever. Got that from my granddaddy. Back home, I basically owned the front page of the paper." Cat shows Liana an article that she wrote about how the Green Arrow destroys a playground. Cat continues to say, "Now, I can finally have an influence on millions of people." Cat turns on her radio and the man says, "Hero mania? I say hero menace. Don't tell me these masked, anarchy-loving vigilantes are out there to protect my kids. Don't tell me some abomination who is too grotesque to show its face but vandalizes our town with the letter S is a hero! What's the S stand for, huh? I'll tell you what. Shame!" Liana turns off the radio and Liana says, "Ugh, these people don't understand why these heroes don't show their face. They have loved ones too." Cat says, "I have to disagree with you. You know, Godfrey is so right, about everything. You're the one who got this whole thing started. I mean, why are you calling those costumed vigilante's heroes?" Liana says, "Because they've saved the people of this city. They haven't done any harm to anyone." Cat softly scoffs and says, "Please." Later, Liana and Cat leave The Daily Planet and as their on their way to Cat's car, it explodes. Liana shields Cat from the blast, getting a little burnt in the process. Liana looks at Cat and says, "You, okay?" Cat says, "Yeah, thank you." Liana nods and looks towards the exploded car and thinks that Cat is being targeted. Later, Liana and Cat are back at The Daily Planet and Liana looks at the bullet she found at the scene and has the letters, ANNE on the side and she's wondering what it means. Cat's on the phone and she says, "Hi. No, no. Don't tell him that it's me. He'll just get upset. Look, I'm not gonna be able to make the pick-up tonight. Uh, I'll call as soon as I can. Okay, got to go." Liana sits on Cat's desk and says, "You want to tell me what you got caught up in? I mean, someone did just try to kill you." Cat smiles and says, "I was valedictorian. I mean, trust me, nobody wants to kill a valedictorian." Liana says, "Maybe they got you mixed up with someone else." Cat says, "Would you listen to yourself? Save it for Liana Lane making a statement about conspiracy around every corner. Always railing against the establishment against the normal people." Liana says, "Normal?" Cat says, "Like you and me. I mean, it would be one thing if they actually had remorse. Or wanted to change, but, you know, they have no moral center." Liana says, "They?" Cat says, "Your so called 'heroes' exploded my car." Liana says, "Wait, you think they did this?" Cat says, "I don't think, I know." Liana says, "Well, that's easy to say when they can't come out and defend themselves." Cat says, "Sure they can. They could come out of the shadowy gutters into the light so we could see them any day. They just choose not to." Liana says, "What if they're not ready?" Cat says, "Then why are they heroes? You know, Godfrey says that they--" Liana cuts Cat off and says, "I found something. The police found a bullet in the driver's seat." Cat widens her eyes and says, "Oh, my God. Why would anyone want to kill me?" Liana says, "Look, we should get you some place safe. My friend won't mind if you stay at their apartment. No one will be looking for you in Smallville." Later, Liana's in Tess's office looking at Cat Grant's file because she's hiding something. Liana hears a familiar voice say, "All you had to do was ask." Liana sighs and says, "Cat Grant isn't who she says she is. Her real name is Mary Louise Shroger and that's not the only secret she's keeping. Something weird is going on with Cat. She's making suspicious phone calls. And this morning, before me and her got into her car, it blew up. The explosion was caused by a bullet and it's engraved. The only letters visible are A, N, N, E." Tess says, "I think I've seen this work before. Let's hope I'm wrong." Liana walks around Tess's desk and Tess starts typing on her computer and Liana says, "You know who did this?" Tess says, "If it's who I'm thinking of it was a top target of Checkmate. One of the few they never got and one of the even fewer they feared." Tess pulled up FBI's five most wanted fugitives and Liana says, "I can see why. Number three on Interpol's most wanted and top five on FBI and CIA. What's his name?" Tess says, "Checkmate never could ID him. They just called him Deadshot.