Executive Assistant

Catra and Adora walk back into Catra’s office and see Entrapta and Scorpia still where they were when they left them, Entrapta still spinning around in the chair and Scorpia leaning back on the CEO’s chair with her arms crossed and her eyes furrowed.
Upon seeing Entrapta still spinning around in the chair, Catra goes over and stops her, “You keep spinning and you’re going to eventually throw up.”
“Catra! You’re back!” Entrapta shouts even though Catra is only a face away, “Your arm doesn’t look too bad.” Looking over to Adora, Entrapta smiles at the blonde, “Good work Adora!”
Feeling proud of herself, Adora smirks triumphantly at Catra.
“Don’t let it go to your big head.” Catra drawls to Adora without looking at her before going back to Entrapta, “Have you managed to pull up any security footage of the garage around the time they tried to run you over?”
“Scorpia?” Entrapta says as she spins in her chair again, “Can you pull up the footage on to the screen, please?”
Scorpia taps on her own tablet, while Catra switches on the TV screen in her office while the footage is casted on to it. The footage is good quality, thanks to Entrapta’s insistence on getting the best cameras on the market and the modifying them to Entrapta standards. The start of the footage is of Entrapta making her way down to the parking garage. The scientist looks around in the garage and then goes to her car. She can be seen pulling out her phone and calling someone (Scorpia). There’s a little back and forth on the phone and Entrapta starts to head back to the lobby when she stops in her tracks. It looks like she just received a text.
“This must be when I received that text about you.” Entrapta narrates the video footage, “As you can see, I was quite distraught.”
In actual fact, Entrapta’s had just stood still and stared at her phone, unblinking, Catra sighs, “I’m sorry I had you guys worry about me.”
Scorpia frowns as she gets up from Catra’s desk chair abruptly and walks straight to Catra, pulling the shorter woman into the biggest hug she can manage. Catra lets it happen. She knows Scorpia needs this more than her reluctance for this. Patting her friend on the arm, Scorpia reluctantly releases Catra back onto the ground, “You had me really worried, Wildcat!”
“I know. I know.” Catra offers a half smile, “Why didn’t you guys just track my phone?”
“Like I said, I was distraught.” Entrapta answers matter of factly, “I don’t have many friends. So if you die, then I am down to 1 friend. That’s a 50% decrease and it’s frankly unacceptable.”
“I’ll, uh, try not to die.” Catra tries to joke, when it falls flat, “Okay, I’m going to live forever and ever. And you’ll never be able to get rid of me.”
Adora can’t help herself and she lets out a giggle, trying to contain it behind her hand as Scorpia glares at her. “Sorry…” Adora whispers.
Going back to the footage, Catra points to the screen, “There’s Swifty coming in. Can you put it in slow motion or do the stop pause thing?”
Scorpia nods and slows the footage down by 20% as they watch Catra pull into her car space and Entrapta starting to make her way over listening intently on her phone. Frame by frame they see the car moving forward from it’s parking spot in the garage and then all of a sudden it accelerates towards the scientist. 2 people are clearly visible in the car, but both are wearing black hoods. They playback the footage of Catra pushing Entrapta out of the way over and over to try and determine who is in the car.
Catra turns to Adora, “Reckon you can work your magic with that footage?”
“Do you think it’s someone from DE?” Adora asks.
“No. I don’t think so. But they got into the parking garage somehow.” Catra replies, “Since they’re expecting the 3 of us to be investigating alongside security, you’ll have free reign to start spreading propaganda about how ruthless and unstable I am. Feel free on how you want to play that. I’m happy to take heat from HR if you tell people I’m not treating you fairly.”
“Yeah, no. I’m not doing that.” Adora quickly says, “How about… I just go talk to all your employees and see if anyone has any beef with you?”
“You’re my EA, Adora.” Catra reminds the blonde, “Do you really think they’ll tell you the truth?”
“Yes. I’ll just start complaining about you and I’m sure others will join in.” Adora smirks, “Works every time.”
“Well…” Catra begins but is interrupted by Scorpia.
“What complaints have you got against Catra?” Scorpia crosses her arms unhappily.
“Uh…” Adora feels the heat coming from Scorpia’s eyes, “Nothing bad…”
“Scorp, calm down.” Catra pats her friend on the shoulder, “She’s just doing her job.”
“So. What are you planning to say about her?” Scorpia probes a little more, “Because you know, that I know, it’s not going to be true.”
Adora puts her hands up in surrender, “It’s not going to be true. I just want to know what the other workers in the building really think of her. They won’t tell me anything if all I do is compliment her…”
“According to my data, that statement is very true. Well true to 89% of the population.” Entrapta chimes in, “From the information I’ve collected, if Adora starts saying negative things about Catra, there’s a 75% chance that others will contribute and follow in saying negative things as well.”
Scorpia puts her hands on her hips as she goes right up to Adora, “Tell me your plan. What are you going to say to our colleagues downstairs?”
Adroa looks to Catra for help and surprisingly, she does.
“Scorp.” Catra calmly says, “Adora’s here to help us find the mole, remember?” Scorpia nods, “So, give her some space to do her job, okay?”
“Okay, Wildcat.” Scorpia finally concedes, stepping back to show she was backing down now, “I just don’t like when people talk negatively about you.”
“I know, Scorp.” Catra sends her a reassuring smile, “And I glad I’ve got you to protect me.”
Entrapta chuckles at that statement, much to Catra’s amusement when Adora turns to look at the scientist bewildered at why she was laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Adora asks with a nervous chuckle on her own.
“Oh!” Entrapta cackles a little more, “Catra doesn’t need Scorpia to protect her, well not physically anyways. She is more than capable of…”
“THANKS, Traps…” Catra cuts in, “She knows I can handle myself in a fight…”
“Boy! Can you!” Scorpia slaps Catra on the back.
“Okay! Can we go back to how we are going to find the 2 assholes that tried to run Entrapta over?” Catra groans, “It feels like we are wasting time right now.”
Entrapta pats Catra on the top of her head with her good hand, “Don’t worry. We’ll find them. It’s only a matter of time before I can get the facial recognition software up and running. It’ll be a little slower since I’m now down a limb…”
“Where are you planning to run that that program? Basement?” Catra asks, “If you are going down there, you’ll need to take Emily with you.”
“Of course, Emily and Emily 2 will both be coming with me.” Entrapta replies like Catra should have known better, “What about you? Are you going to stay up here for the foreseeable future?”
“No.” Catra replies, “I still have things to do.”
“I think you should hole up in here for a little while.” Adora suggests, “It’ll give me and excuse to whine about you being an ass of a boss.”
Scorpia begins to laugh loudly, startling everyone in the room with her sudden change in mood towards Adora, “You are a bit of an ass sometimes, Wildcat!”
Catra glares at Scorpia without any heat, “Yeah, well, you still want to hang around with me.”
“That’s because we are the Super Pal Trio!” Scorpia proudly announces, “And I know you secretly love us.”
“Oh, she’s already said it to me.” Entrapta pipes up like that statement was normal.
“What?!” Scorpia’s smile drops a little.
“She did say platonically though.” Entrapta adds, “Has she not said it to you?”
Shaking her head, Scorpia looks like she’s going to cry.
“Fucking hell…” Catra mutters under her breath, before saying straight to Scorpia, “I love you too. And if you mention this to anyone…”
Scorpia picks Catra up and pulls her into another bear hug, this time she actually is crying, “I love you too, Wildcat! As one of my best friends!”
“Yep… thanks.” Catra manages to get out as the air in her lungs are being squeezed out.
Once Catra is back on the ground, she turns to a giggling Adora, “Ready to get to work?”

With Entrapta and Scorpia back to their own workstations, Adora and Catra sit across from one another at Catra’s desk. Catra’s got her laptop open, working on a new project while Adora is going through the company’s organisational charts and list of employees that may have possible ties to Horde Tech. Catra watches Adora every now and then from over the top of her laptop, distracted by the way the blonde furrows her brows and sticks her tongue out when she concentrates and the way she taps her pen again her leg when she’s thinking.
“You know,” Adora breaks Catra out of her daze, “I can see you staring at me.”
Catra looks away in embarrassment first before saying, “Fuck it.” And standing up to get a better view of her EA, “Use it then.”
“Use what?” Adora looks up from her notepad.
“Use the fact that I stare at you.” Catra replies, “That way you don’t need to lie. You can say the truth, that I make you uncomfortable when I do it.”
“But you don’t.” Adora replies with a soft smile, “I mean, I don’t mind you staring at me. Is it because of what I’m wearing today?”
Catra grins, canines sticking out a little from her lips, “Yes. My hoodie looks really good on you.”
Adora pouts a little before she grins cheekily, “So, you don’t like my dress?”
“Like it? No.” Catra replies non-chalantly as Adora huffs a little, “I love it.”
Adora’s eyes flick straight back up to Catra’s, “Yeah?”
Clearing her throat a little, “Uh, yeah… but I don’t think I should be thinking about your clothes or what looks good on you…”
“Have you been thinking about me a lot?” Adora asks with a hopeful look in her eye, this was not a joke question and Catra knows it, “Because I think you might look good on me…”
Catra sighs, “Mm, but… we can’t.”
Adora backs down, but she has the same soft smile on her face, “I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be… you know…”
“If only I wasn’t your boss.” Catra groans as she sits back down on her chair, “I may be an asshole, but I don’t want to do the whole power imbalance thing.”
“I’m not really your EA. And well, I’m sort of a contractor and not exactly an employee…” Adora looks away, “I’m only here to help you find the mole in your company. That’s all.”
“Yes. But for appearance’s sake, we can’t.” Catra reiterates, “As much as I wish we could…”
“Do you really mean that?” Adora asks as she gets up and comes across to stand next to a seated Catra, “Because, I could always… quit.”
Catra sighs long and hard, “No. You can’t quit. Not until this is over and we find out who’s been sabotaging us.”
“How about if I do something… I don’t know… that could get me fired.” Adora pulls Catra’s chair out and kneels down, pushing Catra’s legs apart so she can slip in between them and puts her hands on the arm rest of Catra’s chair, “Hm?”
Adora leans in. Catra watches as Adora’s eyes flutter shut as she leans even closer in.
“Adora. No.” Catra sighs again, rubbing her cheek against the blonde, “I, I can’t. We can’t. Not right now.”
Leaning into Catra’s cheek, Adora nods in understanding, “Okay.” She whispers, “But as soon as this is over, you’re mine.”
Catra chuckles, “Possessive much?” she cups Adora’s jaw in her hand and leans their foreheads together, “Honestly, I want you too.”
“Then it’s settled.” Adora smiles, “As ridiculous as this is, when this is over, I’ll be all yours.”
Catra smiles, “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Adora confirms with a chuckle, “So…” Adora pushes herself off the floor and smooths down the bottom half of her dress, “I better get back to work and find whoever is keeping us apart.”
As Adora crosses back to her seat and sits down, picking up her notebook and getting back to work. Catra just smiles as she watches, “Better hurry up then, princess.”

“You sure you’re going to be okay doing this?” Catra asks for the third time as Adora makes her way to the elevator, “It’s fine, if you’re not.”
“Catra.” Adora turns around after pushing the button to call the lift up, “It’ll be fine. I’m just going to talk to people. It’s not like anyone is going to do any crazy because I whine about you in the break room.”
Exhaling, Catra nods, “Yeah, you’re right.”
“It’s cute when you worry about me.” Adora tells her as she bumps shoulders with Catra, “But, there’s nothing to worry about. Okay?”
“Okay.” Catra bumps her back, “I know you can take care of yourself. Considering you kicked my ass at the gym.”
The grin on Catra’s face makes Adora smile as the elevator doors open, she steps inside and before the doors shut she points a finger at Catra, “You still owe me a rematch. No holding back this time.”
Catra raises her hands up, “Yes. Yes, fine.”
“Good.” The doors shut and Catra watches as the number decrease.

Adora heads down to the lobby, deciding to question the security staff first since she’s had a little contact with the so far compared the near zero contact to anyone else in this building. As soon as the elevator doors opens, she walks straight towards the security desk, leaning up against it trying to look casual. Lonnie and her security team glance up at the blonde but don’t pay her much attention. When the blonde realises that this isn’t going to work, she pulls out her phone and huffs angrily at it.
Lonnie sighs, clearly not wanting to get into whatever this way, “What’s eating you, blondie?”
Adora shoves her phone back into the pocket of Catra’s hoodie, “It’s… Catra.”
“What did she do now?” Lonnie sighs, rolling her eyes and expecting to hear the worse, “I know she can get mad sometimes, but she’ll be grovelling for forgiveness in the next…” Lonnie rolls her wrist over to see her watch, “20 minutes. I should know.”
Taken aback by that statement, Adora just nods, “Okay. Yeah.” She looks around the lobby, “Can I hang out here until that happens?”
Lonnie raises an eyebrow at the blonde and just says, “No. You’re too distracting.”
“What do you mean?” Adora straightens up, feeling a little confused at that statement.
“You’re distracting.” Lonnie repeats, but when that doesn’t alleviate the confusion on Adora’s face, she grabs Adora firmly by the elbow and spins her around so she can get a good look at the lobby and all the eyes on her, “In case you haven’t noticed, my team won’t be able to do their jobs if you are down her… not too mention they would rather not face the wrath of Catra if they did something to upset you.”
“Uh…” Adora starts, Lonnie staring her down until something finally clicks in her brain, “Oh, right. Yeah, that would be bad, huh?”
“Yes. And I just got my team up to speed.” Lonnie starts walking Adora back to the elevator, “Why don’t you chill out in the staff room or something?”
Nodding, Adora then asks, “And… where exactly would that be? I’ve only been to the top 2 floors, the lobby and the parking garage so far…”
“What? I’m not your tour guide.” Lonnie replies with a slight annoyance before looking around for someone that may be able to help. “Hey! Starla! Get over here!”
A curvy girl with dark blonde hair, glasses and wearing a company polo and pants, stands up from where she’s seated on one of the lobby chairs and points to herself with a questioning look, “Me?” Lonnie nods and waves her over furiously, Starla making quick work of crossing over to Lonnie, “What do you want Lon? I’ve got things to do.”
“Yeah, right.” Lonnie snorts, “I mean, what do you do exactly?”
“I’m an online reviewer! You know that!” Starla tries to calm herself as Lonnie starts laughing at how easy it is to rile her up, “Not that you care anyways!”
Lonnie turns to Adora to explain, “She basically just reads through all the feeds on the internet that have Dryll Enterprises on it and weeds out which ones can be of concern.”
“Oh, so have you been following what’s happened between DE and HT?” Adora asks Starla so fast that she doesn’t realise that she hasn’t even introduced herself yet, “Sorry… I’m Adora.”
Adora sticks her hand out to Starla, the other woman shakes it once and releases, “Starla.” Before turning back to Lonnie, “What did you call me over for?”
“Get Adora here, out of my lobby.” Lonnie says, “Give her a tour of the building or something.”
“You know I don’t have access to most of these floors.” Starla retorts unhappily, “2 floors. That’s all I have access to.”
“Hey, don’t blame me for that. It’s not my fault you fucked up your access privileges.” Lonnie shakes her head, “But, Adora has full access due to being Catra’s new EA.”
Starla’s eyes light up as her head snaps back to Adora, “Really?”
“Yes…?” Adora nods uncertainly.
“Great!” Starla grabs Adora’s arm and leads her into the open elevator doors, “I am going to show you everything!”
“Um… okay.” Adora reluctantly agrees as Starla excited presses the button to the 3rd floor, “Where are we going first?”
“Do me a favour and swipe your staff card, would you please?” Starla asks when the elevator doesn’t move. Adora sighs and does it and when the elevator starts to ascend, Starla claps her hands and cheers a little, “Oh, you are going to love this floor!”
“And… why is that?” Adora asks.
“This is where the creative team is.” Starla excited tells her, “And, they have the best floor in the whole building!”
Adora thinks to herself that Catra actually has the best floor in the whole building, but decides to keep that to herself, instead just awkwardly smiling back to Starla, not really sure what to think, “What’s so special about the 3rd floor?”
“Oh, you’ll see!” The doors open and the runs out like a puppy that’s been let off the leash, “Come on, Adora!”
Adora sighs again and steps out, shoving her hands into the hoodie’s front pouch of a pocket and following slowly behind the other woman.
“Starla!” A young man greets as the other woman makes her way further into the floor, “How the fuck did you get up there? Pretty sure they banned you after you broke the coffee machine, toaster, microwave…”
“This is Adora! She’s Catra’s new EA!” Starla shoves Adora up front to stop the other man from adding the list, “Lonnie said I could show her around. So, what better place to start than the creative team?”
The young man rolls his eyes, “You’ll have to excuse my sister, Starla.” He smiles gently at Adora, “Jewelstar, but you can call me Jay for short. Everyone does.”
“It’s nice to meet you Jay, I’m Adora.” Adora reaches out to shake his hand, “This floor certainly is nice.”
Adora looks around and it looks less like an office and more like a relaxation area with a workstations scattered next to the windows. The middle of the floor is a mix of couches and sleep pods, with one side having a pool table, 2 x table tennis tables and a punching bag.
“Yeah, it’s pretty good here at DE.” Jay smiles widely when he sees his coworkers having an animated discussion about something while they play table tennis, “Much better than the working conditions at HT, that’s for sure.”
“So…” Starla takes off before Adora can stop her, “Is she always like that?”
“Yeah. Baby sibling syndrome, I guess.” Jay chuckles to himself as Starla starts making herself comfortable in one of the sleep pods, “So, you’re Catra’s EA, huh? How’s that working out for you?”
He gestures to walk with him towards where the couches are located, they sit across from one another. Jay looking very relaxed as he leans back and waits for Adora’s answer. “Catra’s… I like being her EA.” She settles on.
“Hm.” He looks at Adora like he’s thinking, “She seems to have taken a liking to you.”
That was an odd thing to say considering Adora had only just met this man, “I, I don’t know about that…”
Jay chuckles again, “I just meant, usually when someone doesn’t come back after a week, that usually means they didn’t get the job or they didn’t like the job.” He leans forward, “But, I’ve never witnessed her pursue anyone for the EA job. You seem to be the exception.”
Adora laughs nervously at that, “Pfft, I’m not that special.”
“Hm… believe whatever you want.” He leans back, “She obviously thinks you are.”
“How are you so sure?” Adora looks away as she asks the question, trying to hide her blush.
“Any news to do with Catra is usually very scarce, but since you’ve started, her name has been a hot topic around DE.” Jay smiles, “Not in a bad way. We were all very happy when she got out of that toxic relationship with Estelle.”
“Does everyone know about that?” Adora whispers like it was a secret.
“Everyone does. She made quite a scene in the lobby when she left.” Jay answered, “We were all very glad that she didn’t go on one of her benders. Her previous one nearly set the building on fire…”
“What do you mean?”
“The last time her and the ex had a fight, she ended going on a bender… I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was great that she shouted drinks for everyone at DE but during the whole thing, she was just… isolated.” Jay explains, “The next day we were told not to come into work due to fire in the building. Turns out Catra and Entrapta decided it was the best time to test out one of those experiments in the building… Yeah, that didn’t turn out so well.”
“It wasn’t deliberate?”
“No.” Jay shakes his head laughing, “Turns out our bosses are just as human as the rest of us. Pretty sure Catra was just trying to find something to take her mind off things, Entrapta well… you’ve met her right?” Adora nods, “Yeah, well, she’s a fucking genius, but sometimes she’s also an absolute dumbass, if you know what I mean.”
“Where was Scorpia in all this? I’m sure she would have stopped whatever they were planning to do.” Adora asks.
“Well, Scorpia was on leave at the time with her girlfriend.” Jay replies with a smile, “But, you’re right. She would not have let it escalate that quickly or that far. You probably know how protective she is of her friends.”
“Yeah. I do.” Adora groans, “I thought she was going to crush me because I was doing a bit of first aid on Catra’s arm in the office upstairs.”
Jay laughs, “Yeah, she can be scary. Wouldn’t want to cross her.”
“What about Catra? Do you find her… scary?” Adora asks as she pushes back some stray hairs behind her ear.
Jay pauses for a moment, gathering his thoughts, “You’re her EA. You know I’m not going to say anything bad about her to you.”
“Is there anything bad, though?” Adora probes a little more.
There’s a slight awkwardness in the air before Jay answers, “Honestly, no.” A grin comes across his face as he sees the look of relief on Adora’s, “I doubt there’s anyone in this company that has a bad word to say about her.”
“Then…”
“All those negative rumours swirling around?” Jay replies to Adora’s pending question, “Those are all external influences. No one in DE has anything negative to say about Catra, Entrapta or Scorpia. Those 3, well, they actually listen to their employees. Everyone on this floor, as far as I know, is loyal to this company and to them.” He smiles to himself, “Scorpia hand picked this team. They’ve had nothing but trust in us from the start, which you know, could also have been a bad thing if they picked someone… well, not good.”
“How can you be sure about that?” Adora leans forward.
“Easy.” Jay replies, “Catra never wanted to be CEO. We don’t follow her blindly if that’s what you think.”
Adora made a noise that sounded like a scoff, “Sounds like it…” she mutters under her breath.
“We follow her because of what she, what this company stands for.” Jay continues, ignoring Adora’s reaction for the moment, “And for each of us, it could mean something different. My sisters and I were really fortunate that DE took a chance on us. We put some content on a public platform and within the next hour, Entrapta had sent us a very long and detailed email about wanting to hire us.” He laughs just thinking about that email all those years ago, “I really thought we were getting scammed.”
“What happened to get you guys on board?” Adora’s mind trying to wrap around this whole business loyalty thing that DE seemed to have, “I mean, I’ve heard of people leaving pretty quickly… like her last EA apparently.”
“That’s the culture here. You either leave within the first week or you stay for life.” Jay waves his hand as he explains, “So, hence the surprise when you came back.”
“So… how did you find out that the email wasn’t a scam?”
“Well, Entrapta set up a meeting with us. She had Catra and Scorpia attend as well.” He smiles again, “Entrapta had to be held back by the other 2. Catra basically took control of the meeting. Scorpia didn’t say much apart from look menacing and big. Once she explained the vision of DE, well, we were on board straight away. Plus it helped that we could get away from working with HT ever again.”
Adora nods, “So… who would have beef against DE? Is there, like, maybe another floor or department that wouldn’t feel the same?”
“Doubt it.”
“Okay.” Adora sighs, her investigation was not going well in terms of finding anyone who was out to take down DE, not to mention she didn’t even get to whine to anyone about it, she sighs, “And here I thought this would be like every other workplace where we all complain about our bosses.”
Jay chuckles at that, “I didn’t say we don’t complain… we complain lots.” He laughs a little louder this time, “But, it’s usually just first world problems. Nothing that we’d betray the company over that’s for sure.” He turns to Adora, wiping a tear away from his eye, “What were you going to complain about? Catra?”
“Well, I don’t know now.” Adora fidgets with her fingers.
“It’s okay. Whatever is said on this floor, stays on this floor.” Jay promises, “If you want, I could start?”
Adora laughs are how silly this all is, “Fine, fine. You can start.”
“Okay.” He puts his fingers to his chin to think, “I got it! Why can’t they let us stream movies on our work computers when we work? I mean, it’s not like we’re not working!”
Snorting back a laugh, Adora says, “That’s not even a thing!”
“Yeah, it is. It’s totally a thing!” Jay defends, “I mean, it’d be nice to have like a third screen to watch or stream something on. You know, to up the creativity of the group.” Adora shakes her head, still laughing, “What about you? What did you want to whine about?”
Adora stills for a moment as she tries to get her brain back into her investigative mode, “Uh, nothing bad, I guess.” She thinks for a moment, “I mean, is it so hard for her to look a little more professional?!”
Jay starts to laugh, “I’m not going to touch that one. They don’t set a dress code where we have to be in business wear all the time, well unless we have to meet a client. But other than that, I can’t really complain about that one. I always keep a set of business clothes in case behind my desk.”
“Okay, no I get that.” Adora agrees, “But the first time I met her, she wasn’t even wearing shoes!”
The laughter from Jay gets louder and Adora joins him, “That’s really not surprising.” He eventually ends up saying, “You know, that first meeting we had with DE, we were dressed to impress, but them… Entrapta was in overalls, like always, Catra was in that hoodie that you’re wearing and a pair of cargo shorts and flip flops. The only one that was dressed like they were there for a business meeting was Scorpia. But then again, she looked more like she was there for security than as a partner in DE.”
Adora blushes when Jay points out the fact that she’s wearing Catra’s hoodie, she really should have realise that would have been a huge red flag in regards to whining about your boss. She can feel her face going red, “She dragged me all the way to the Crimson Waste on my first day without telling me. It was a 2 hour drive!”
“Did Huntara hit on you?” Jay cocked an eyebrow at the blonde.
“Yes. She was so… inappropriate!” Adora blushes even harder, “And Catra didn’t even do anything to stop it!”
“Starla met her.” Jay says with a grin, “My sister… well, I guess she loves the attention.”
“Uh huh… you said sisters before?”
“Oh yeah, Tallstar is my big sister, Starla my little sister. I’m in the middle.” Jay explains, “She wasn’t Huntara’s type I guess. Tall is just over there, on the phone. She basically is the boss of this floor.” He smiles and waves at his sister. He receives a wary wave back and a half smile as she returns back to her work, “Scorpia put a 3 month ban on Starla being up here… speaking of which, you might want to get her off this floor before she causes more problems for herself.”
“Oh, right.” Adora stands, “Thanks for the chat.”
“Right back at you.” Jay mirrors Adora as he stands too, “Don’t be a stranger Adora, we would love from fresh Catra goss if you have it.”
Adora blushes as Jay chuckles at his own remark, “Where is she?”
“Starla!” Jay yells, turning his head slightly.
“What?!” Starla yells back.
“You need to go with Adora!”
“Can you 2 please stop yelling in this office!?” Tallstar shouts over the both of them, “This is supposed to be a place of work.”
“Starla!!!” Jay screams at the top of his voice, “Get off this floor, right now!”
Starla comes stomping back, about ready to get into a fist fight with her brother, but instead she just throws her arms around him, “I’ll see you at home?”
“Yes. I am driving us after all.” He rolls his eyes at his sister, “Now, get the fuck out of here before Lonnie pings us for letting you up here.”
“She wouldn’t.” Starla gives him her most innocent smile, “Besides, she wants me to show Adora around the building. I thought this would be a great place to start.”
“Uh huh. Sure. Now, get the fuck out.” He laughs as Starla grabs Adora’s elbow once again and leads her to the elevators.
Starla pushes the button to go up, as they wait for the lift to arrive, Starla turns to Adora with a smug smile on her face, “What do you think about my brother?”
“He’s nice.” Adora answers truthfully.
“If you want, I can put in a good word with him for you.” She offers, much to Adora’s surprise.
“No, that won’t be necessary.” Adora sputters out, “He’s nice, but I’m not into him like that.”
“How about my sister? Or me?” Starla fires out in rapid succession, completely oblivious to the fact that Adora is still wearing Catra’s hoodie over the top of her dress, “I mean, you are kind of attractive…”
Adora feels her whole body heat up with the unintended attention, “No, I think I’m good.”
“Oh.” Starla’s voice a little disappointed, “Are you with someone?”
Adora shuffles from one foot to the other, “Sort of, I guess.”
“Vague…” Starla looks at her questioning, “Is it just a crush or is it reciprocated?”
“Pretty sure it’s the second one, Starla.” Adora admits, “Can we, can we not talk about this?”
“Sure.” The doors for the elevator opens and they both step in, “Come on, next stop, level 8, finance.”
“Okay…” Adora agrees as she swipes her card so they can get to the next floor.

The finance floor was as expected when the doors of the lift opened. The floor was stock standard with bull pens upon exiting the lift. Starla walks out first again, excited that she can get onto these floors with the help of Adora’s swipe card access. When they get to the back of the finance floor, Adora’s eyes widen at the arcade room the finance department have at their disposals. The room is not small by any standards. The back wall of the building is lined with pinball machines, on the opposite side, driving games and other arcade games.
“Why do they need all these machines for?” Adora asks Starla who happily jumps on one of the pinball machines.
“I think it helps with stress relief or something.” Starla replies as she concentrates on the game she’s playing, “This floor has the best pinball machines.”
“Isn’t this meant to be a finance floor?” Adora points out, “Besides, there’s like, no one in here, but us?”
The ball drops to the side, Starla huffs at loosing her last ball on the game, “I’ll introduce you to the coolest finance people you’ve ever met.”
“Okay…” Adora agrees as she follows Starla out of the arcade and into the finance area’s break room where there are a few people milling around, filling up coffee cups and chatting casually. They all stop what they are doing when Starla and Adora walk in.
“Starla…” a woman drawls, stirring her coffee cup, “Who gave you access up here?”
“Oh, hi Netossa!” Starla greets with the brightest smile, the other woman eying her suspiciously, “Have… you met Adora? She’s Catra’s new EA.”
“No, can’t say that I have.” Netossa replies sweeping her silver hair over her shoulder before turning her gaze to the blonde, looking her up and down with a smirk, “It’s nice to meet Catra’s new… EA.”
Adora blushes, clearly aware of what Netossa really means. She clears her throat, “It’s nice to meet you too.”
“What can I do for you today? Apart from Starla spending hours playing pinball instead of doing whatever job it is she’s getting paid for.” Netossa snarks before she stage whispers to Adora, “No one really knows what a online reviewer is… we think it’s just made up to keep the other 2 Star siblings here.”
“Hey! I heard that!” Starla calls Netossa out, “I am not just here to play pinball.”
“Yeah? And why are you here?”
Starla stays silent for a moment, trying to think of a better excuse to be up on this floor, when she can’t come up with anything, she sighs and concedes, “Fine. I just wanted to show Adora your arcade section at the back.”
Netossa laughs and waves Starla off, “Go on. I’m pretty sure you still have another month left on your ban before you can get back up here.”
Starla nods and literally runs back to the pinball machines. Adora looks to Netossa, questioning pretty much everything that just transpired, “So… she just comes up and plays pinball?”
Nodding and laughing, Netossa answers, “Yes. It was nice and peaceful for the last 2 months since she got slapped with that ban and forced to work from the lobby.” Netossa looks back to Adora, “Would you like a coffee? Tea? Water? Juice?”
“Oh, thank you, but I’m okay.” Adora replies, “She was supposed to be giving me a tour of the building.”
“Oh yeah?” Netossa smirks at the blonde, “I’m surprised Catra isn’t giving you a personal tour herself. Considering that’s her hoodie you’re wearing right now.”
“Uh, I…what, no…” Adora stutters out, “She had a rough time after her breakup.”
“I’m sure she did.” Netossa says, “Good riddance to that blood sucking ex of hers.” The grin on Netossa’s face borderline smug, “But, that’s Catra for you. Stubborn until the end.”
Adora laughs at that assessment of the CEO, “I know, right!?” Netossa laughs along nodding, “We ended up driving all the way to the Crimson Waste so she could get wasted. And then we run into her ex’s lover or whatever.”
“Sounds like Catra to a T.” Netossa smirks, “Why did you go with her though? It’s not exactly in the EA scope, is it?”
Adora looks away, “I couldn’t let her drive there alone.” She looks back at Netossa, “Plus, what else was I going to do? I’m her EA. And if she’s not around… well, then I’m kind of out of the job…”
“Good point, Adora.” Netossa replies with a thoughtful look before eying Adora again, “So… why have you got her hoodie on? Pretty sure that’s her favourite one, too.”
“She lent it to me after dinner and we went outside for some air, it was cold and she just shucks it off and hands it to.” Adora recounts the story with a smile, “I call it payment for the impromptu trip and babysitting.”
The silver haired woman raises her eyebrow at Adora, before she starts laughing again, “I would have thought Scorpia would have been all over that mess.” She pats Adora on the shoulder, “But I’m glad she had you. The last bender she went on nearly burnt down the building.”
Chuckling, Adora nods, “I know. Jay from downstairs told me about that.”
“Honestly, our bosses don’t really get up to too much mischief, but it’s always nice when they do. Makes them more human I guess.” Netossa smiles, “But then again, this company is the most…laid back company I’ve ever worked for, so I can’t really complain.”
“What do you mean?” Adora leans up against one of the cupboards in the kitchen, the other workers had promptly left when Adora and Netossa begun talking.
“The 3 of them are good kids.” Netossa says casually, “I know they aren’t kids, but they might as well be when I met them all those years ago.” Adora just nods, “I’m pretty sure you’re already aware that Scorpia is the only one of the 3 that appreciates looking and dressing the part at work.”
“Definitely.” Adora agrees.
“They are smart kids, honestly they could run this company from a shack and still be making billions.” She sighs, “I’m just happy that they wanted to do more for the community. You know, this building is entirely Entrapta’s design?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, she designed it. Catra managed the construction, timelines, organised labourers and services etc and Scorpia ran the construction of it. As you can probably imagine, 3 people building this with next to zero experience wasn’t going to work out well.” Netossa rolls her eyes at the memory, “I had just happened to walk by when Catra nearly walked into me, grumbling about something regarding money. I stopped her on the street and asked if she was okay. Well, Catra being Catra just said she was fine and was about to walk off. We kept running into each other from then on, I guess it was more than coincidence. Then one day my wife told me a story of the trio and their vision, she’d met them when they stopped by her coffee shop, turns out to be their favourite coffee shop in this city. It was at that point I knew I had to help them out. So one day when they were all in the coffee shop, I approached Catra, since she seemed like the one in charge and laid out my case. Hired me on the spot.” Netossa chuckles, “And I’ve been sorting out all their finances ever since.”
“Wow…” Adora mouths, “How that heck did they even pay for all this?”
“That. Is confidential.” The smirk on Netossa’s face evident, “I reckon if you ask your boss, she might tell you.”
Adora clears her throat, “So… I take it this floor is like Jay’s floor in terms of loyalty?”
“Damn straight it is.” Netossa points to Adora, “And if they aren’t, they won’t last more than a week. Speaking of… you left after your first day… what made you come back?”
“I needed a job.” Adora shrugs trying to sell the lie, “So I challenged Catra to a sparring match in the gym and I won.”
Netossa’s eyes light up, “Wait, like seriously? You beat Catra?”
Adora nods, “I mean, at the time I thought…”
Cackling, Netossa holds her hand up, “That is a first. You must be some kind of pro fighter or something. She never loses.”
“Well… she did.” Adora finishes, “So, that’s how I got my job back.”
Patting the blonde on the shoulder, “I have to tell Spinny about this when I get home!”
Starla comes back to the break room, looking frustrated, “Adora? Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah.” Adora replies before turning back to Netossa, “It was really nice meeting you.”
“Likewise.” Netossa raises her now empty cup, “Starla, you better not have broken any of those machines in there or I swear…”
“No! I promise, I didn’t!” Starla defends quickly, “I can’t wait for my ban to be over.”
Netossa laughs and waves the pair off.
“Hey! Can we go to the top floor?” Starla asks with puppy dog eyes.
“Uh… why?”
“Because it’s like the unicorn of floors!” Starla says exasperated, “I’ve never been to that floor. No one really has…”
“Let me check with Catra.” Adora replies as Starla nods with excitement. Adora pulls out her phone and dials Catra’s number, “Hey.”
“Hey Adora.” Catra replies a little muffled, like she has something in her mouth while talking, “What’s up?” Comes out a clearer.
“Would it be okay for me to come back up to the office?” Starla looks at Adora confused as to why the blonde was asking for permission to go back to her office, “Lonnie set me up with Starla to show me around the building…”
“But you already know about this floor.” The amusement in Catra’s voice was evident, “Are you trying to impress her or something?”
“What? No!” Adora protests as loudly as she can whisper, “She said she’s never been to the top floor…”
“Well, no one really has, princess.” Catra chuckles before relenting a little, “You can bring her up to see your office area and that’s it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. It’s fine Adora if she sees your workstation.” Catra reassures, “I need to talk to you about something anyways. It’ll be a good end to your tour.”
“Okay, well, then I’ll see you soon.”
“Cool.”
“Okay, we are good to go.” Adora turns to Starla who happily cheers and then jumps up to hug Adora tightly, “Okay…” tugging the other woman off her, “Shall we?”

“Ah, there you are, Adora.” Catra grins as the elevator doors open to the top floor, “And you, must be Starla.”
“You’ve met me before Catra.” Starla rolls her eyes and runs towards the CEO and giving her the biggest hug she can, “I’ve missed you so much!”
Chuckling, Catra frees herself from Starla’s hug, “What are you on about? I practically live here.”
Adora snorts back a laugh as Catra winks back at her.
“Ooh, can I see your office?” Starla bounces on her feet.
“If you are asking if you can play video games in my office…” Catra drawls, “Then yeah, go for it.”
Starla claps to herself happily and then rounds the corner to Catra’s office.
“Don’t worry about her, she doesn’t have access past that door.” Catra laughs, “How’s the recon going?”
“I’ll tell you later.” Adora replies as they head towards Catra’s office where Starla is waiting, “Are you really planning to entertain her up here?”
“No.” Catra laughs, “There aren’t any video games in my office, it was just a rumour that got started by finance to get an arcade on their floor.”
Catra swipes her card as she watches Starla run inside, looking around the office like she’s lost something, “Your office is so cool, Catra!”
“I guess so.” Catra stands behind the woman, “It is a place of work though, so it can’t be super cool.”
Starla laughs at the joke as she makes her way to the windows, awed by the sights and the view from the top, “This is amazing. I can see where we live from here!”
Catra turns her attention away from Starla and back to Adora, “So, Adora.”
“Yes?”
“I need you to set up a meeting with the PR team and see how we an get this whole, H Virus thing gone.” Catra instructs as Adora nods, “We have nothing to do with it and we need to prove it.”
“That whole H Virus leak is such a load of crap.” Starla adds as she comes back, “There’s no way anyone loyal to DE would do anything like that.”
“Thanks Starla.” Catra says gratefully, “I heard that you were banned from most of the floors in this building…”
Turning away in embarrassment, “Yeah, I might have broke a few things on our floor… Tall was just overreacting though!”
“I am not having an argument with Tall over this, sorry Star, you’re on your own.” Catra grins, “Besides, how long left of the ban is there?”
“A month.” Starla groans.
“Well, at least you got to use Adora’s access for a few hours.” Catra points out.
“Apart from the amazing views, your office is kind of boring.” Starla snarks back with a grin, “You don’t have video games in here, do you?”
“Nope. Don’t have time for them.” Catra replies, “That’s more of an Entrapta thing anyways.”
Starla nods, “Okay, well, I guess I better get back to work… in the lobby… annoying Lonnie.”
Catra laughs, “Don’t worry, Star. I’m sure this month will go faster than you think and you’ll have access to whatever floors you had previously.”
“I guess…” Starla sighs, “Well, thanks for letting me up here.”
“Thanks for giving Adora a tour.” Catra replies right back.
“It’s weird though.” Starla starts, “Why don’t you give her a tour yourself?”
“Can’t you see how busy I am?” Catra grins as she looks down to the papers spread across her desk and files scattered across the room, “Someone keeps dropping all these papers in my office that need to get actioned…”
Starla nods, “Okay then. Thanks again!”
“See you, Starla.” Catra waves to the other woman, “Adora will walk you out.”
Adora nods and opens the door to let Starla out, before leading the other woman back to the lifts and pushing the button. The doors open almost automatically.
“Thanks, Adora.” Starla says with a genuine smile, “I’m not the best tour guide but I hope you met a few good people.”
“Yeah, I did. Thank you.” Adora replies, mirroring Starla’s smile.
Before the doors shut, Starla leans forward a little, “Take care of her. I mean that. Everyone here is fiercely protective of this company and its people.”
Adora nods as the doors close and she lets the words sink in before heading back to Catra’s office again.
“So, how’d it go?” Catra looks over the top of her laptop as Adora slumps down on the couch, “That bad, huh?”
“I think I’m going to need to look at the hires around the time the mole activity started.” Adora says looking up at the ceiling, “All your long term employees seem to be very loyal to this company.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” Catra focusses back on her laptop, typing away, “What did you find out?”
“That you and Entrapta nearly set burnt down this building that you guys built from scratch.” Adora answers with a smile on her lips, “That the Star siblings all love you, Entrapta and Scorpia as well as this company. That Netossa is very scary when it comes to protecting this company and you.” Adora sits up and smirks over to Catra who’s still looking intently into her laptop screen, “Did you know, everyone I spoke to hated Estelle?”
“Mm…” Catra makes a noise that seems annoyed.
“Yes. It’s true.” Adora stands up from the couch and crosses over to hover over Catra, “They all want you to be happy. And they were extremely happy when you ended your relationship with her.”
Catra sighs, “Great…” she mumbles under her breath, “So, I’m an idiot is basically what they are saying…”
Adora rolls her eyes as she rounds the desk and pushes Catra’s chair out enough so that she can comfortably sit in Catra’s lap, much to the surprise of the CEO, “No, that’s not what they are saying at all.”
“What are you doing, Adora?” Catra looks Adora up and down now that she’s perched on her lap, “I don’t think this chair is strong enough to hold both of us up…”
“Just listen to me, will you?” Adora looks intently into Catra’s eyes, “I’ll get off once I get this out.” She sees the grin and look in Catra’s eyes when she says that, “Don’t even go there.”
Catra sighs, “Fine. But you’re the one that said it.”
“I know what I said.” Adora chides, “Your employees actually like you and this company. And so far, they just want you to be happy. They don’t think you’re an idiot by any measure.”
True to her word, Adora gently lifts herself off Catra’s lap and moves to sit on the edge of Catra’s desk. Catra just stares at the blonde, “Okay, fine. Was there anything else?”
“I might have let slip on the finance floor, that I beat you in a sparring match to get my job back…” Adora bites her lip.
Catra groans, “Great, Netty is going to have a field day with that one…”
“Well, if you want…” Adora leans down close to Catra’s ear, “You do owe me a rematch, after all.”
“What are you suggesting? A public bout?” Catra groans again, “You’ve already kicked my ass once, now you want to do it again in front of an audience?”
Adora laughs, “Should I get this set up along with that meeting with PR?”
Rolling her eyes at the blonde, “Yeah, fine. Do it.”