Lindsay sat alone in the glass enclosed conference room, eyes fixed on the tablet's screen while her finger dragged across the smooth surface, skimming and scanning the information. The fact that so many private pieces of someone's life had been published made her stomach turn. Sure, she wasn't exactly innocent of exposing something personal that could have remained without seeing the light of day, but this was a whole other level. Personal correspondence, multiple people connected, and for what? The sick glee over exposing a secret? Not to mention, it was the only subject that news outlets seemed to be focused on. Half a billion wildlife lost to fires, and instead of focusing on that, she was sure that they would find a way to tie it to Wonder Woman and the Super friends. Hell, knowing the media? They would try to blame them for it.
"And we're sure it's not a hoax? There's proof?"
"Man, did you not read the file we were sent? All proof, all legitimized. Fucking supers, man. They're real."
The rest of the nightly news team entered the room, the air in the room became heavily saturated with disbelief with each word as they took seats around the table. Lindsay, however, remained silent.
"So does this mean that if I step out in front of a bus, Supergirl would show up and save me? Because that would be pretty badass. She's a smokeshow."
Lindsay's head snapped up in attention at the mention of other female hero. There was the sore spot. Nora. Kara. The young woman who she had known for what seemed like a lifetime. No one deserved this kind of unwanted attention, but it was especially not something she deserved. Lindsay hadn't been shocked when she found out, more like curious. However, she checked the curiosity in favor of being a friend, something that Nora, and probably the others, needed.
"Here's a crazy idea," she finally spoke, head back down and eyes back on the screen while keeping her voice loud enough for those in the room to hear, "How about we focus on the fact that a woman who has worked her ass off to get where she is has had her entire life blown up and exposed for the world to see. Why not focus on the fact that this is a criminal offense and now she, along with everyone else that's been 'outed'," fingers up to air quote the term, "Now has a target on their back. Where the hell is your compassion for your fellow humans?"
"But are they really?" one of the PA's piped up, "Human, I mean. Wonder Woman's an Amazonian."
"The Amazon is a real place." Lindsay deadpanned.
"Yeah but up until now? Themyscira was a mythical location, and what about the others? Different planets, alien races..."
"I thought you would find that to be an actual comfort, Mark." She shot back, "Considering your dating life is a trainwreck and you've blown it with basically every female currently inhabiting this earth, you now have options to be denied on different planets, too." A smile pulled her lips back, but it was anything but kind. The man in question narrowed his eyes in Lindsay's direction, but remained quiet. The room fell into a heavy silence until the head of the network strolled in, trailed behind by the executive producer of the show.
"I'm sure you all can guess why we called you in here." There was a brief pause to take in the faces around the table before continuing, "Big things are happening in our city and rather than go the way of the paparazzi and gossip rags, the network wants an actual story. We've been told that a press release from the Dupree/Prince camp will be released soon, and we want someone, or multiple someones to be on this. This would be a piece to humanize the situation. There's enough tension in the world right now for those who aren't exactly considered human, and we would like to focus on the repercussions and day to day effects."
"Lockhart should take it. She's the only one who seems unbothered by this whole revelation." Mark spat out. Lindsay didn't even bother resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Idiot. While he was under the impression that the suggestion would be a dig, it was anything but.
"I'd be happy to. I'll reach out to her camp, see if I can broker some sort of sit down. Primetime slot, pre-vetted questions. It would be a huge bump in ratings, and we would be ahead of our viewership numbers. Puts us in a great position to be in. Hell, this'll carry us all the way through to the start of the Olympics."
"All very valid." Another pause for some reflection, and then he went on, "If you can get it, it's yours. We'll even give you the option to pick the team you want to support you."
The room came to life once more with rushed and excited chattering. Those skeptics suddenly turned into humanists, stating the exact case she had presented earlier, but with far less genuine concern. Even Mark began to backpeddle. At any other time, Lindsay would be basking in the groveling, but it just didn't seem right. Not one of them would treat the situation with compassion and understanding. Each would use it to their advantage, but even more so, they would take advantage. There was no pleasure in dangling this opportunity in their faces. She merely nodded and after jotting a few notes down, stood up from her seat and offered her hand to the network head who shook it.
"Thank you for the opportunity. I'll get to work on it and get back to you with a team once I have the exclusive. For right now, though? We should focus on tonight's broadcast. Sir," she nodded at him then glanced over at the men off to the right, "Lesser human species." And with a quick nod, she was out the door.