Valiant Guardian pressed the breaks gently and came to rest just outside of Kepler Tower, the bright lights illuminating the lobby a stark contrast to the darkness that engulfed the city at this late hour. The security guard looked over his desk and caught her eye, she held his gaze for a few seconds before letting her foot off the brake and allowing her intimidating vehicle to slowly roll past the building.
When she was out of sight of the guard, and the many cameras that encircled the building, she gunned the gas and roared into the darkened city streets before heading back to her condo to call it a night.
She of course didn't really expect to catch Jordan doing anything nefarious in his corporate headquarters, but her nightly visits were more about letting him know she was watching him than anything else. Oh sure, he wouldn't actually be there to see her drive by, but she was sure he'd get a briefing on her visit the next morning. And that was more than enough to let Natalie sleep soundly.
That still left the bigger problem for her to solve though, because as much as she was sure Jordan Kepler was up to no good, she had yet to find any proof. That hadn't stopped her though, and she'd been waging a war in the media against him for the last six months which had shot her profile in the hero community through the roof. She'd only been "heroing" for a little over a year, and in the first six months she'd been unable to even break into the local news let alone the national.
That had changed when allegations against Jordan had surfaced, at first they hadn't gained any traction, mostly the standard kind of things for a wealthy bachelor. An unhappy ex claiming kinky things in the bedroom, a fired ex-employee claiming discrimination, etc. They'd all been debunked, but before they had she'd managed to get her face in front of a national reporter and given them a sound bite that had made headlines.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to take advantage of the situation and so she'd taken every opportunity since to badmouth him and the media had eaten it up. The problem was though that even her most ardent supporters were starting to grumble about the lack of evidence against him.
That wasn't going to stop her of course, he was her golden goose, that had taken her from yet another unknown hero to a national figure. Besides which, she knew it was only going to be a matter of time before she, or someone else, found the evidence of his wrongdoing.
She rounded the corner towards her building and quickly selected the cloaking mode of her vehicle. The air around it shimmered and distorted for a moment until the image of a nondescript SUV appeared in its place. A few minutes later she had parked, changed into her street clothing and was riding the elevator up to her waiting bed.
* * *
Natalie rolled over and slammed her hand on her alarm clock, but the noise continued and through her grogginess she realized it was her phone and not the damned clock. She blinked several times, clearing the sleep from her eyes as she stared at the time, 1 pm, an ungodly hour if she ever heard of one.
Grabbing her phone and swiping to answer she muttered, "Hello?", before turning over and silently cursing whoever was calling.
"Val! Val! Wake up! Turn on your TV, you have to see this!" Natalie recognized Emerald Vixen's voice perked up. Rolling back over she swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up, almost losing her balance in the process.
"I'm up! I'm up! What is it?" Natalie replied as she stomped out of her bedroom to the living room, still only in the underwear she wore to bed. Her strong legs carried her quickly to the remote and turned on the TV.
"It's Jordan Kepler, he's making some kind of big announcement."
Natalie blinked, trying to get the sleep out of her eyes as the TV came to life, the news channel that was the only channel she ever watched, displaying a podium and a scrolling line of text below announcing the event. She scanned the screen for any details, but none were given.
"What do you think it is Emm? Think he's finally going to tell the truth?" Natalie asked as she continued to focus on the TV.
"Don't know, but I knew you'd want to watch." Emerald Vixen replied as Jordan, a woman and a third man stepped in to frame and towards the podium.
Jordan stepped to the microphone and cleared his throat, "Welcome and thank you for coming. As you know, I've grown my company, Kepler Industries, into one of the largest companies in the world. I've spent years of my life dedicated to the simple proposition of improving everyone's life through technology.
Today, I'm announcing new leadership for the company I founded, leadership that will take it into the great future I know it has.
As such, I will be stepping down as CEO and day to day operations, and without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Kelsey Monroe, the new CEO of Kepler Industries."
Jordan stepped aside and the woman behind him stepped forward to take the podium.
"I can't believe it! He can't do that!" Natalie cried into the phone.
"What? What's wrong? Isn't this what you wanted? I mean you beat him... he's running away!" Emerald Vixen asked.
"But he didn't admit to anything! He's just going to disappear from the limelight and hide in the background! The bastard!" Natalie screamed and then threw her phone across the room, her enhanced strength easily embedding it into the wall.
* * *
Valiant Guardian cruised through the streets of the city, her pitch-black armour-plated vehicle looking out of place in the bright sunlight of the afternoon sun. She sped around the corner, bringing Kepler Tower in to view and she pulled up right in front of it, blocking a lane of traffic, but paying it no mind.
She opened her door and stepped out into the daylight, her similarly black outfit, hugged her body and provided little protection against the heat of the sun, which wasn't normally a problem. Today, beads of sweat were forming along her dark black hairline.
Storming towards the building, she burst through the door, sending them shuttering on their hinges as she stomped her way up to the security desk. The confused, almost panicked eyes of the rent-a-cop sitting behind it almost made her smile... almost.
"I'm here to see Jordan Kepler..." she said and the guard started to open his mouth but before he could even start his sentence, she continued, "...NOW!" she said, slamming her fist on the counter and cracking it.
Before the guard could do anything, the phone beside him rang and he held up a finger to her nervously and answered it, looking for any kind of lifeline.
"Hello?" he asked, "Yes... yes of course. Right away Sir!"
He turned back to her and gave a nervous smile, "He will see you right away ma'am. Go right up to the thirtieth floor." he said and waved towards the bank of elevators.
She didn't respond and went directly to the first one that was open. Stabbing at the button, it broke, but the doors closed and the elevator started moving upwards as the muzak played over the speakers in it. It wasn't long before she stepped out of the elevator and into the main lobby of Jordan's office. There was no one at the receptionist's desk and so she moved quickly by it and into his expansive office.
"Ah, Valiant Guardian, so nice to see you. Did you catch my press conference by chance?" he asked with a smirk.
"I don't know what game you're playing at, but it won't work Jordan!" she replied, her teeth gritted and her eyes narrow. As always he was well dressed in a suit, tailored to fit perfectly. He cut an impressive figure, getting older sure, but still in good shape and with a boyish grin that would disarm most.
"No game VG, I'm just tired of the spotlight that's all. It's time to let other's be the public face of the company." he replied with a shrug.
"Ah-ha! So you're still going to run things behind the scenes, right!" she cried accusingly.
"You got me VG, I'm still going to own the company and be interested in how it's run." he said, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated fashion.
"Look, I was hoping you'd see reason and let this go, but that doesn't seem likely. But I still have to try, right?"
"What are you talking about Jordan?" she replied, raising an eyebrow as she did.
"Look, you've been harassing me for months with baseless claims of some kind of wrongdoing. I thought, perhaps, if I stepped out of the spotlight you might take a step back as well."
"That's never going to happen, I'm going to keep digging until I find out what your hiding!"
