Kara was comfortable, very cozy, and snuggly. She really didn't want to move, why did she have to wake up? The warm humming buzz just felt like a hug, so did the arm around her waist. Her eyes cracked open, wait…Kara froze as she realized exactly the position she was in because she was on the couch, or, on top of Daisy who was on the couch. Her face flushed, they'd fallen asleep watching movies Daisy's world hadn't had.
The last thing Kara remembered was the wheel fight in the second Pirates movie. She was pretty sure she'd been using Daisy's shoulder as a pillow at that point? It kind of explained how they'd ended up tangled up on the couch, though the blanket over her, said Daisy'd been somewhat awake for part of that process. She wasn't now. Kara barely kept from squeaking as she realized Daisy was purring. It was adorable, and Daisy looked younger when she was sleeping. Or maybe actually looked her age?
She untensed, it was fine, though she couldn't help the embarrassed flush at realizing she'd drooled on her friend's shoulder. Kara had fallen asleep on the couch enough times with Alex to know there was no way out without waking Daisy up. Especially considering Daisy had an arm wrapped protectively around Kara's waist. Floating up and off wasn't an option. She could see the clock, there was still time before the alarm would go off. It'd be weird to just go back to sleep on top of Daisy, wouldn't it? Even if it was comfy, and she didn't want to stop the barely audible purring sound. "Daisy."
Daisy went from asleep to awake in less than a beat of her too-fast heart. It was funny how different it was from how Alex woke up. Daisy didn't go tense, there wasn't alarm, she stayed loose, but her breathing barely changed, her eyes just snapped open. She stared at her for a second, and then yawned, "Morning."
"I didn't squish you?" Kara asked, she carefully climbed off of Daisy.
Daisy just stretched sitting up, "You're fine," She ran a hand through her mussed hair. She smiled, it was sleepy but fond, "I'm sturdier than your average bear."
Kara shook off the reference in Daisy's words that she didn't recognize. "I forget that sometimes." She didn't, not really. It was more, she felt afraid of harming the people around her. It was ingrained in her, to be careful.
"Oh, we're up before the coffee," Daisy yawned, walking over to the kitchen, easily getting it going with practiced motions.
Kara scanned the contents of her cupboards, "We have time for pancakes?"
"You're so perky in the morning." Daisy blinked slowly at her before looking over at the clock on the microwave. "Sure, pancakes, there's time for me to get through tai chi first though."
Kara smiled, it was a thing she knew about Daisy's morning routine. "Sorry for getting us up early."
Waving absently, Daisy silently padded over to the more open area by the window, smoothly falling into a stance, her eyes closing as she began the slow water-like movements of tai chi. It was really peaceful to watch her. A thing Kara'd done more than one morning.
This morning, however, she pulled out the pancake mix and started getting it ready. Pancakes were something she could do. Kara grabbed the eggs out of the fridge, it was early, but she didn't feel tired, maybe because she'd slept well, or maybe because the warm rays of a beautiful day were just beginning to pour through the windows. She hummed along to a song as she worked.
Kara had the first four pancakes on a plate and was pouring the batter for the next round when she felt more than heard Daisy sliding onto one of the stools at the kitchen island. It was funny, she was starting to expect how Daisy would do things. Kara grabbed the already-poured mug of coffee and passed it over. "More awake?"
"Hmmm." Daisy closed her eyes, breathing in the smell of her coffee. "You didn't have to do all the cooking."
Kara turned around going back to work before she burned anything, "You're always making dinner, it's only fair."
"No complaints from me," Daisy quietly drank her coffee before speaking. "It's probably going to mean more takeout, but I was thinking of trying some Chinese recipes this week. If you don't mind the risk?"
Kara glanced at her, "I love Chinese food, and I'll pick up the pizza if it takes you a few tries." She felt a pang at the expression on Daisy's face. "Have you cooked Chinese food before?"
"Uh, no." Daisy shifted slightly, "But my mom was from Hunan and it kinda feels like something I should at least try to learn?"
Oh.
Kara lifted the pan off of the burner and set it aside before walking straight to Daisy and hugging her friend. "I think that's a great idea."
Daisy made an amused huffing noise but hugged back. "Thanks. If I ruin more cookware, feel free to yell at me."
"Never," Kara tightened her hug because she could do that with Daisy, really hug her. She did have to pull away though, breakfast, and it was weird to just hug your friends for too long.
Daisy had a warm smile as she watched her before shaking her head slightly. "So, I'm not on shift today, I can dig through LuthorCorp files. Hopefully, make progress on tracking Cadmus's financials."
"And once you have the financials you can see who is getting that money because that would be leadership, yes?" Kara checked. It was really interesting how Daisy laid out the investigation. And Kara might not have done much of use, yet, but she'd be able to if she understood what was going on.
Daisy made a sound of agreement, "Money, leadership, and find the main hubs. From there we can gather evidence of them being evil assholes before figuring out how to rip it out."
"Rip out?" Kara flipped pancakes.
Daisy ran her fingers through her hair. "Organizations like Cadmus just burrow deeper underground if you let them. And with how weird this planet is about aliens, we need to drag the hate out into the public and let them deal with cleaning up their own mess. You or I are not going to just fix anti-alien sentiment. We can help, but that's so far beyond what any one person can do it's wild."
Kara wasn't sure if she found that statement a relief or frustrating, maybe both? "We can try."
"Yeah, we'll fight that fight even if it's not one we can win." Daisy's quiet resolve was confident and settled. There wasn't a question that she meant it.
It was warm and left Kara so very glad that Daisy was here with her. "Fighting for what's right, to protect people is always worth it."
"Yeah, it is." Daisy agreed.
Kara was ahead on her work for Ms. Grant, it helped superspeed made the endless errands less time-consuming. And as long as Ms. Grant had her Lexapro, a constant stream of lattes, and cheat lunches her temper was manageable. Mostly, not really, but manageable in that she was only getting yelled at a few times a day and the endless fetch jobs. For a human, it probably would be exhausting.
She clicked on the tab she had open about Hunan China. It wouldn't leave her, the thought that Daisy and Kal had it in common. Not much, but they'd both been raised away from their family, their culture, everything, and that it was sad. Kal had never wanted to know much about who he was, what his heritage was, what being a Kryptonian meant. And it was different, Daisy was still raised on the same planet as her heritage, and clearly understood the alien part of her. But it mattered that Daisy hesitantly wanted to know about what she hadn't had. And it was more attainable than what Kara and Kal had lost. It was something Kara could actually help with.
Or, well help in her own small way. And it was just constantly Daisy helping her. So, Kara was looking at cookbooks at the store down the road that was on the right kind of Chinese food. Because abstractly she'd been aware China was huge and different regions had different food and things, but it was kind of staggering now that she was looking into it. Apparently, Hunan cuisine was considered one of the Eight Great Traditions of Chinese cooking. Which at least was making finding cookbooks for it not as hard as expected, but still kinda ridiculous finding a store in National City that had them listed on their website.
"Did you get banned from the Chinese place?" James asked with a chuckle.
She startled slightly, she twisted to look up at him, "What, no? Oh! I was thinking Daisy might like one since she's learning how to cook and all." It felt wrong to say why Daisy might want a cookbook on the topic.
"Is she Chinese American then?" He asked curiously, leaning over her shoulder to see the list of cookbooks on her screen.
It prickled as not quite right, but Kara wanted her friends to like Daisy. "Yes, and I thought it might be nice to get her a cookbook from the part of China her mom was from. That's not too much, right?"
"No, that sounds very thoughtful," He sounded warm, he always did, like a big hug in voice form if that made any sense. "We could maybe see if any of Winn's martial arts films are something she'd like if you want." James frowned, "Do you know what dialect she speaks, or I suppose if she speaks one?"
Kara leaned back in her chair. Well, that was a question, "I'm not sure, what dialect do they speak in Hunan?"
"I have no idea," James admitted.
////
Daisy had left her programs pulling the documents she needed, and was swinging by the alien bar. Which was called Al's Dive Bar, apparently. She waved at Kevin who was doing something to the jukebox, as she walked towards the bar. "Hey, M'gann, do you have a minute?"
"Depends on what you need to ask." The woman turned away from the man she'd been talking to over a clipboard.
The man looked up, "New to Earth?"
"Sorta spent the last couple years off-world, but was born here actually." Daisy held out her hand, "Daisy Johnson."
"Al Crane, owner of this dump, and welcome back to Earth." He looked like any bald trucker in America, it was endearing really. "If you don't mind my asking, what system do your people hail from?"
Daisy hesitated, "I'm not just one species."
"That's rare, let me guess, you have some Daxamite in you?" He had a curious gleam.
She laughed, "No, how'd you get that?"
"Well shucks, and you pass as human, and Daxamites were famous for getting around with other species." He shrugged good-naturedly, "And from how M'gann is reacting she can't read you so you must be resistant to psychic abilities. Which is rare, she can read every one."
Daisy couldn't help tensing at that, her eyes flicking to M'gann. "You can read minds?"
"Not yours," M'gann admitted. "I can feel it's there, but you and your friend aren't readable."
She gave a faint nod, the crawling unease fading, "Must make your job easier?"
"Oh it does, she's the best at discrete service." Al clapped M'gann on the shoulder. "So, how far off was I?"
Daisy forced herself to ease, if she ever wanted to know what drinks would kill her and which wouldn't, she would need to mention her species anyway. "My dad was human, my mom's people you could say were from Hala and tend to look a bit blue."
M'gann's eyes widened slightly, while Al choked, "Kree, you're Kree?"
Daisy shrugged a half-shoulder, "They don't consider me one of them, and I have yet to meet one who isn't a dick."
"Well that's something," Al's face was kind. "Most of us are running from something, you're welcome here."
Daisy flicked a brief smile at him, "Thanks, but running from a fight isn't really my style." She reached into her jacket and pulled out the bar of gold and set it on the counter. "And you could say Nazis and I don't get along, know anyone I can pay a seller's fee for helping me get rid of some of this stuff?"
"I might, how hot is this?" Al had gone entirely serious, setting his clipboard aside.
She shook her head, "It's not hot, the issue is getting rid of a large amount of gold is attention-grabbing. I think you can get why I'd want to avoid that. And if I'm going to have to pay someone to help, I'd rather do it inside the community."
"It would have to be recast, they're identifiable," Al said as he stroked his chin, and he was def a middleman like she'd thought. Shitty bars didn't generate enough cash to keep something like this functioning. At least not long term.
Daisy picked up the bar, turning her hand over so that it was above her palm, and then she closed her eyes. Heating and reshaping metal was…difficult. Or, it took concentration, she hadn't done anything like it a lot. Knowing she could do it in theory and doing it in life were two different things. But well, she'd figured out all of her powers while on the spot. Breathing out, her eyes opened and she set a perfectly smooth golden plate on the counter. "What shape attracts the least attention?"
"That's not a Kree skill," Al whistled looking up at her from the plate. "But alright, I can work with that. Can you put them into one-ounce bars?"
She nodded, "I can do that, what kind of rate are we talking?"
Al's smile looked distinctly shark-like. "After my guy and I take our cut, one of those bars will get you a thousand."
"Funny, see I googled the value of high-quality gold before I came here, and that's a thousand for you, a thousand for me. Doesn't seem entirely fair, does it?" Daisy met his eyes and ignored it as M'gann went to go deal with backstock. Negotiations were always fun. She grinned.
Daisy was one gold bar lighter, a thousand dollars richer, and would be seven hundred more once Al'd found a buyer, if this worked out. "Nice doing business with you, Al."
"Same to you," He pointed at her, a certain levity to it, but also seriousness, "It better be as cold as you're saying."
She tipped her head, "I wouldn't lie about this. I gave you my actual name."
"I believe you, mostly." Al grabbed two beers from the fridge beneath the counter, popping their caps off passing her one, and holding his up. "To doing business?"
"To doing business." Daisy tapped the bottle against his. She took a swig, before saying anything else. "So what about you, which species are you?"
"I'm a Debstam, a plague wiped out our planet, there's not very many of us. Wouldn't blame you if you hadn't heard of us." He took a swig of his beer. "Not all of us are from infamous species."
Daisy reached out and pulled the clipboard over, it had a bottle order on it. She scrawled her cellphone number on the bottom of the sheet. She looked up at him, "Someone or something comes around trying to fuck with you or the people just minding their business, call me." She held his eyes.
He understood her meaning. If he was smart he wouldn't take her up on it. At least not for a while. He didn't know her after all, she wasn't established in the alien community. But it was important if he got desperate enough, he'd know she was offering. It was about stating her intentions, they'd believe it in time.
Al gave her the faintest nod, "I'll keep that in mind."
Daisy had a whiteboard she was sticking photos on and labeling names. The LutherCorp hack had been exactly on the money. It was pure gold intel-wise. Oh, it was all neatly obscured, but rooting through corporate shell companies for the ones talking to each other, the ones producing profit, and the ones producing the weapons was a skill, and it was one she'd been fantastic at at eighteen; now she was one of the best in the world at it. Hydra tactics weren't unique tactics after all.
Most of what she was finding wouldn't hold up in court, and if you weren't looking for it, would just look like sloppy disregard for the future of the company by a man losing his mind in his grudge match with Superman. Daisy could see the structure to it though, Cadmus was a cancer, and it was one LutherCorp and the Government had birthed together, and the scar tissue was where she knew to look for it. Given another year or two, the new CEO would have audited and cleaned up the mess. But right now? Lena Luthor was drowning in tanking stocks and had no idea what horrors to look for so she could prune them.
It was interesting though, Lena was killing programs left right, and center that were almost certainly Cadmus, but wildly missing others. Daisy wasn't a financial person exactly, though she'd been skimming corporate funds for SHIELD for years. But she was guessing the new Luthor was trying to staunch the loss of revenue like staunching blood and hadn't had two seconds to try and map out the internal face of the company. It was sloppy, either she was giving other forces time to get their ducks in a row before she severed the connections, or she wasn't aware of how deep the shit ran.
And there was a name on the directors' list of so many projects and shell companies that was ratcheting up Daisy's focus. Lillian Luthor, one or two Cadmus projects? Sure, almost all of them? Yeah, Daisy was flagging and noting down everything in the company with the bitch's name on it. The fact Lillian had spent the post-Lex trial time consolidating control of those areas instead of fighting with her daughter for the company itself was telling. Not that it wasn't possible, Lex, mommy, and sister were in on it; but she wasn't convinced. She was convinced Lillian was going to be an issue.
Daisy was getting a nice list of people and companies and shell companies and accounts to look into. With SHIELD resources and a few interns, she could have Cadmus neatly laid out in a week. Without that, it was going to take her closer to two and a half weeks to really have them measured out. It was slow but better to do it right and slow than miss something.
She was metaphorically elbow-deep in files when she felt Kara fly through the window. Her eyes didn't leave the screen, "Hey."
"Oh, wow, you found something?" Kara dropped her purse that hit the counter with a solid sounding thud.
Daisy hummed, "We were right, LutherCorp is involved with Cadmus, if I'm right they're the biggest backers of it." She passed the tablet she'd pre-loaded with financials, "Here, can you highlight every name listed on the financials for this shell company and then cross-reference it with the ones I've already done?"
"You think they're Cadmus?" Kara asked while accepting the tablet.
She nodded, "Part of maybe," Daisy looked up at Kara. "We map out who is connected, then we look into which ones of these are actually Cadmus. If we know which people and programs are linked, we know who to rule out, and who to take another look at."
"Like glitter, anyone who touched it gets it on them." Kara settled next to her on the new couch in Daisy's apartment.
Daisy leaned into the contact, it was weak of her. It wasn't like anything would ever happen there. She wasn't delusional, but also not above enjoying how touchy Kara was. "Exactly, And once we map out LutherCorp and its subsidiaries we can start mapping out who besides LutherCorp and the Army have their fingers in it."
"I'll order pizza," Kara started scrolling through the financials. "This is going to take a while, isn't it?"
"Probably, and sorry for not making dinner, I kind of forgot." Daisy actually kinda felt guilty about being reminded of it. "I kinda forget about food sometimes."
Kara handed her the tablet, "Hold that." She zipped off the couch and back, fast. As she settled back she neatly took the tablet back, setting it beside her on the couch. "No idea how you forget to eat, but I got you something."
Daisy smiled, focusing on Kara, setting her laptop aside. "You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to," Kara pulled a book out of her purse pressing it into Daisy's hands.
She looked down at the cover, "Xiang Cuisine." Daisy slowly opened it, "You got me a Chinese cookbook?" She couldn't help the way she felt warm and fuzzy as she looked at it.
"Yes, or it's a cookbook of the food from Hunan." Kara nudged her gently, "I thought you might want to start there if you didn't already have one."
Daisy's throat felt tight as she looked up from the book that suddenly weighed so much more. "Thank you, this is…really great." So Kara was kinda awesome, and if she was anyone else, Daisy would have done something about it. But it wouldn't be fair. She was a lot of things, but forever wasn't one of them. "So, any chance potstickers are Xiang Cuisine?"