#again I am AI neutral but passing off entirely AI generated work as your own? asshole behavior

[chipped-chimera]

Every once and a while (regularly) I run into an obviously AI-generated art post that OP is trying to pass off as actual work so hard with restricted replies and think 'maybe I should just make a sideblog dedicated to going 'this is AI generated' and nothing else'. Like a disapproval stamp I can just collectively leave on there. Hm.

[argyle-s]

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME CHAPTER 26/38

Rating: Mature

Read at Ao3

Start at the Beginning

Kara gets interrupted during a negotiation, Maggie considers whether or not she wants to try to start a relationship with Alex, and Cat finds someone on her balcony.

Notes:   I promised you a longer chapter today, and here it is.

Thanks to @ifourmindbeso for her great work as a beta. Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.

Chapter 26 - Prices

It was just past nine when Kara dropped out of the sky at a hanger near the long-closed Otto Bender International Airport. She wasn’t wearing the suit that day. Instead, she was dressed in her off-duty outfit again. Blue Leather pants worn over red boots, a blue sleeveless silk shirt, and a red leather jacket, with the House of El Coat of Arms embossed on it. This suit hadn’t made it out to the media. Not yet. It would happen eventually, she knew that. But there was a reason she’d worn that outfit, and not the suit. She wasn’t there as Supergirl, champion of National City and Earth. She was at the warehouse as Kara Zor-El, and the distinction was important, if she was going to do the things she needed to do.

She spotted the man waiting for her as she touched down. He was Bedoreeni, unless she missed her guess. Easy enough for them to pass for human as long as they wore dark sunglasses.

“My Lady,” he said.

“Marcosus?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I was told you were seeking certain goods, and that your House would pay well for them. Is this true?”

“Very well,” Kara said. “The House of El has always been known for our generosity towards our allies.”

“I am pleased to hear this,” he said. “I apologize that I am unable to offer proper courtesies before we begin, but on this world, it would attract undue notice.”

“My friend, there is no apology necessary,” she said. “If you have what I need, that is courtesy enough to gain the thanks of my House.”

He nodded and headed towards one of the small doors of the hanger, and Kara followed. When she stepped inside, she stopped and gasped.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “A Thanagarian Frigate, my Lady.”

It was in pieces, and had obviously been picked clean for salvage, but the hull lines were unmistakable.

“How much Nth Metal?” she asked.

“A thousand metric tons, My Lady,” he said. “The whole vessel weighs close to forty-two thousand tons, but much of that is lesser metals. The Nth metal I sell for ten dollars a gram.”

It was more than she ever expected to find. Probably more than she would need. But the surplus would open up possibilities. She did a bit of quick math in her head. Ten billion dollars for the lot. The money wouldn’t be a problem. The AI they’d dropped in the past before traveling to Krypton meant that she’d arrived a year ago with almost fifteen billion waiting for her. Once she’d got Konex up and running, that amount had grown by a factor of a hundred. Most of it was tied up in her long-term plans but shaking loose ten billion would be easy enough. The problem was moving ten billion dollars without attracting attention.

“How much for the whole thing?” she asked.

She couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but she could tell she’d surprised him.

“I did not realize you needed that much, My Lady,” he said.

“I’m not sure even this is enough my friend, but I would like to purchase the entire wreck, if it’s within my means. Even the lesser metals will have some value.”

She could tell he was worried, and with reason. It was possible he could take her in a fight, but it would take more luck than he could reasonably count on. If she decided to take what she wanted without paying, he would be in trouble.

“Be at ease, friend. The House of El trades fairly, and I swear to you, I will only take what I can pay for and what you are willing to sell.”

He relaxed, visibly, then turned to the wreck. “Your words please me, My Lady. I will remember your generosity and speak honestly with you.”

She nodded.

“The Nth Metal is worth the price I gave, in small amounts, but the truth is, I cannot move the wreck myself and there is no one I trust to move it for me. I brought you here only because of who you are. The name of the House of El is still remembered and your cousin has proven it is still a name associated with honor. Even you, daughter of Alura, have shown yourself to be a friend to those like me. As much as I would like to pretend otherwise, the wreck will be discovered by your DEO sooner, rather than later. The demolition of this airport is exacted to begin in the middle of next year. At that time, I would lose anything I haven’t already sold, and there are not a lot of buyers for Nth Metal. If I tried to approach the government here, they would simply take it for themselves and pay nothing. The same for the few human companies that would understand what I offer.”

He looked at the ship, then at her. “Five Hundred Million, and the whole wreck is yours,” he said.

Kara could see that he was expecting her to talk him down. In Bedoreeni custom, it was traditional to begin negotiations with the highest you could imagine someone paying, and for the buyer to begin by low balling.

“The House of El is generous, Marcosus. We will pay your price and add this, as well. The House of El owes you a favor. I will pass word to my cousin. You may come to either of us, and we will honor the debt.”

“You are too kind, My Lady,” he said.

“I’ve been told that more than once, my friend. Now, do you have an account I can transfer the money into?”

“I do most of my business in cash, My Lady.”

“I understand. Konex,” Kara said, taking out her phone, and pressing the home button. “Konex, I need you here.”

Konex appeared in a flash of light. “Yes, Lady Kara?”

“This is Marcosus. He is owed a favor by the House. Make note of it.”

“Of course, Lady Kara.”

“He is selling us goods necessary to the future of the house. The price agreed on is half a billion US Dollars. However, Marcosus does not have suitable banking arrangements. Remedy this to his satisfaction, and arrange to have the contents of this building collected and stored securely, and then-”

She was cut off by the sound of the text alert she’d set for Lucy. She quickly unlocked her phone and pulled up the message.

‘Dad headed to work to collect new guests,’ was all the text said.

“Konex, suit, now,” she said, then turned to Marcosus. “Please, forgive me-“

“Go, My Lady,” he said. “I understand.”

When Kara turned back around, Konex was holding one of her suits. A burst of super-speed and she was suited up, and out the door. Her lift off shattered the pavement, and the sonic booms echoed through National City for miles.

At three times the speed of sound, the thirty-mile trip from where she’d been to the DEO base outside of the city took less than a minute, but by the time she arrived, things were already starting to get ugly. Hank and Alex, along with thirty DEO agents were on the surface, facing down General Lane’s men over the barrels of assault rifles and pistols.

Kara didn’t want to see anyone on either side hurt, except maybe Lane himself, so she came in hot, pouring on the deceleration, but not stopping. Using a move she’d learned from Barry, she zipped through the ranks of Lane’s men at super-speed, dropping magazines, ejecting cartridges, popping takedown pins and stripping uppers off lowers, before coming to a stop next to J’onn and dropping out of superspeed.

Lane’s men all collectively flinched as they realized that their weapons had been field stripped in between one breath and the other. Even Lane’s eyes widened as he realized how drastically the situation had shifted.

“Sorry I’m late, Director Henshaw,” Kara said.

“Not a problem, Supergirl,” J’onn said. “In fact, I’d say you’re right on time.”

“And I’d say she has no business here,” Lane said.

“Well, fortunately, General Lane, you don’t make that decision,” J’onn said.

“As a matter of fact, I do. I’m here to take possession of the Fort Rozz prisoners who surrendered last night, and Supergirl is interfering with that.”

“On whose authority?” J’onn asked.

“By the authority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Military, and the Secretary of Defense,” Lane replied.

“Really,” Kara said. She reached down and pulled her phone out of her boot. “You won’t mind if I give the Joint Chiefs a call then? Or, you know what, let’s take this right to the top.” Kara pressed the home button on her phone. “Call Olivia,” she said. The command, which she’d set up with Konex over a year ago, initiated a series of protocols the AI had set up, which first accessed any number of secure systems and got the President’s exact location, which at that moment happened to be the oval office, and routed the call to the nearest phone, which in this particular case happened to be the red one sitting on President Marsdin’s desk.

“President Marsdin,” came a voice which echoed across the field in the desert, making Lane’s eyes go even wider.

“Hey, Madam President. This is Supergirl. You’re on Speaker. I’ve got Director Henshaw, Agent Danvers, and General Sam Lane here with me.”

“Interesting crowd,” came the response in a carefully neutral tone. “Any chance you’re going to tell me how you got this particular number?”

“Oh, dear… Did the call come through on the Red Phone?” Kara asked.

“Yes, it did.”

“Sorry about that,” Kara said. “Didn’t mean to scare you. When I set up the protocol, I figured I’d only be using it in an emergency and designed it to route to whatever phone was physically closest to you.”

“Maybe you should call my secretary sometime, and we can see about setting up something a bit more official.”

“That’s probably a good idea for next time, but I’m afraid this isn’t a social call, ma’am.”

“I gathered that when you described who was with you. How can I help?”

“Well, ma’am, per your instructions, last night, I contacted General In-Ze, and as agreed, she surrendered to Director Henshaw and the DEO. Altogether, she brought in ninety-five former prisoners from Fort Rozz, including the Coluan Indigo and Astra’s husband Non. At the General’s recommendation, Non and Indigo are being held as Enemy Combatants, but the rest are settling in the temporary residences we built in preparation for the surrender.”

“That’s good news,” Marsdin said.

“Yes, I thought so, until General Lane showed up this morning with the intention of taking them into military custody.”

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Marsdin asked.

“When I arrived at the DEO this morning, General Lane’s men were here, with guns pointed at the DEO agents on scene, and the stated intention of taking all the Fort Rozz prisoners into military, rather than DEO custody. I disarmed General Lane’s men in order to prevent any unfortunate accidents, and then called you. General Lane did mention that he’s here acting on orders from the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense and I have to admit, President Marsdin, that left me a little upset. I thought we had reached an understanding last week as to how the prisoners would be handled.”

“Supergirl,” Marsdin said.

“Yes, Madam President?”

“Please take me off speaker and pass the phone to General Lane.”

“Of course, Madam President.” Kara touched the screen, switching the call from speaker to normal, and held the phone out to General Lane, who’d gone white as a sheet. He reached out, and took the phone, raising it to his ear.

“Yes, Madam President?” he said, and those were the last words he spoke for the next twenty-three minutes, after which he passed the phone back to Kara with a simple, “She wants to speak to you.”

Kara raised the phone to her ear. “Supergirl speaking,” she said.

“Kara,” Marsdin said, “you have my apologies.”

“I’d like to say it’s okay, but you know I can’t.”

“I know, but I promise you, this will never happen again.”

“I will hold you to that,” Kara said before hanging up the phone. She looked at General Lane. “I think you’re done here.”

Maggie dropped down on one of the bar stools at Darla’s and waved at M’gann, getting a smile in return. Without asking, M’gann reached into the beer cooler and took out a bottle of Blue Moon. She turned slightly and Carl, the other bartender, blew on the bottle for a second, chilling it an extra few degrees before M’gann carried it over.

“Perks of having a Glacian on staff,” M’gann said as she used her thumb to pop the cap of the beer.

“You know that’s kind of invasive, right?” Maggie said as she reached for the bottle.

“I am what I am,” M’gann said. “I can’t help it if you’re broadcasting right now.”

“If that’s your way of telling me to shut up, I’d love to, but I don’t know how,” Maggie said.

“You should get Kara to give you lessons,” M’gann said. “She’s got the quietest mind I’ve ever seen.”

“You know Kara?” Maggie said.

“She’s been in,” M’gann said. “Good tipper. Bit showy for my taste.”

“I thought Martians couldn’t read Kryptonians.”

“We can’t read them, but normally, we get a sense of presence, a hint of emotion. It’s like static on a radio. Not from her though. Silent as a corpse. She’s definitely had training.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Maggie said.

“So, what’s got you all wound up,” M’gann asked. “You’re not usually a screamer.”

“No, but I could make you one,” Maggie replied.

M’gann laughed and shook her head. “God, it’s a wonder anyone puts up with you.”

“You know you love me,” Maggie said.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” M’gann said. “I mean, you’re cute, but you’re a little young for me.”

“You’re three hundred and change. Everyone is young for you.”

“You begin to see my problem. So, my young Padawan, what troubles you?”

“It’s a long story,” Maggie said, “but like any good one, it’s about a girl.”

“Tall, auburn haired and gorgeous?” M’gann asked with a knowing smile.

“Yeah,” Maggie said.

“Closet cases are always trouble,” M’gann said.

“That’s not the issue,” Maggie said. “I mean, it’s an issue, but… Ah, crap. It’s complicated, and you’re gonna think I’m nuts.”

M’gann stared at her for a moment, then turned towards Carl. “Hold things down for a few?” Carl nodded, and M’gann walked through the bar. “Come on Sawyer. Let’s grab a booth.”

Maggie picked up her beer and followed M’gann over to a booth in the corner that was both empty, and away from everyone else. She dropped down opposite her friend and took another sip from her beer.

“So, spill it,” M’gann said.

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy,” Maggie said. “But let’s say you met someone, and you really, really liked them.”

“Oh, the horror,” M’gann said.

“Shut up and listen,” Maggie said. “So, you meet this person. You hit it off. Things are going really, really well. And then, someone who can see the future… Not someone who claims they can see the future, but someone who you know for absolute certain can *actually* see the future tells you that if you choose to pursue things, you and this person you like are going to fall in love and get married.”

“In that unlikely event, I think I’d probably be pretty happy. I mean, love is a good thing, right?”

“Yeah,” Maggie said. “Now, suppose that this person who can tell the future tells you there’s this one thing you and this person you like are going to fight about. And it’s not a little issue. In fact, it’s kind of huge. Like, say, she wants kids, and you have never even considered having kids. But this person won’t tell you how the argument turns out.”

M’gann stared at her for a long time, and Maggie concentrated on making her mind as blank as possible, which for Maggie basically meant playing ‘One Week’ by the Barenaked Ladies over and over again in her head. She could see M’gann’s face flicker in annoyance.

“Well, at least it’s not a Katie Perry song,” M’gann said, making Maggie smile. M’gann sighed. “Look, Maggie, species that can actually see the future are few and far between. Those that can, don’t advertise, and generally don’t share information unless there’s something in it for them. So, even if, in this ‘hypothetical’, we were to take what you were told at face value, you have to understand that these people only see *probable* futures.”

Maggie nodded. “Okay, assume that in this hypothetical, all of that has been taken into account, and the information is absolutely legit. What do you do?”

“Well,” M’gann said, clearly still unhappy, “I suppose I would step back and consider *why* I never wanted kids. I’d also have to consider what exactly does ‘she wants kids’ mean. Does she want to carry the kids? Does she want you to carry them? Would adoption be enough? If she’s willing to adopt, does she want a baby, or would she adopt an older kid? Does she want one kid, or a bunch? Then, once you’ve worked all that out, you need to figure out how you feel about each of those options.

“Look, Maggie, the last time I went on a date, Louis the XIV was King of France, so I’m a little short on firsthand experience, but what I do know is that relationships only work when you are willing to compromise. Figure out what it is you can live with, and when she brings the subject up, lay it out for her, and figure out where she’s willing to compromise. Then, go from there.”

Maggie nodded, giving M’gann a big smile, because she’d given Maggie a way to tackle what felt like an overwhelming problem. “Thanks,” she said. “I think that’s just what I needed to hear.”

“Good,” M’gann said. “But remember what I said about people who can see the future. That sort of thing *always* ends up costing somebody something. People get shot over things like that. Usually in the head.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Maggie watched M'gann get up and walk away, admiring the view the tight jeans the Martian was wearing gave her. She blushed and looked away when M'gann gave a little wiggle that proved she knew Maggie had been looking.

She took another sip of her beer and thought about what M'gann had said. She'd never wanted kids. It just wasn't something on her radar. She could see the argument though. Getting into a relationship and getting the kids thing sprung on her. She could see it because it had happened before.

An argument over kids with Emily that just would not end. The more Emily pressed, the more Maggie had dug in. It had gone on for weeks, until one night there was a screaming match. Emily had told her to leave. Maggie had taken it as a breakup, because ‘I can’t even look at you anymore. Just get the fuck out,' sounded pretty fucking final, and she'd done something stupid. She’d gone out and gotten plastered, and when Emily had let herself into Maggie’s apartment the next morning, Maggie had been curled up around Toby, which had been horribly enough, without the screaming match with Emily that had followed, which ended with her telling Maggie to go fuck herself. The phone call with Toby later, where her former best friend expressed a similar sentiment.

Since then, Maggie had avoided thinking about the topic all together, because it brought up a lot of painful memories. Emily’s ‘you don’t deserve to be happy’ and Toby’s ‘you poison everything you touch’ and her father’s ‘you shamed me’.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what Kara was doing, either. The way she refused to tell Maggie how the argument ended was enough of a hint. Besides, she couldn’t imagine any version of herself that would consent to bringing a kid into the world in the middle of a war that was being lost. Of course, there was the possibility that she and Alex had picked up some stray. A little war orphan. Maggie had no trouble at all imagining that after all the stories she’d heard from Kara about the way Alex used to take care of her.

Had that been what the fight was about? Has she wanted to turn away some kid that Alex wanted to take in? She couldn’t see it. Not in the middle of a war zone, not with the world coming to an end. She looked around the bar and took in the people there. People she helped all the time. She liked helping people. Liked taking care of people.

So, what was it? Why did the idea of having kids bother her so much?

She thought back to the arguments with Emily. She’d been young and scared, because who wants to have kids when they are twenty-two? But she’d been frustrated more than anything. She’d just kept wondering over and over again why she wasn’t enough for anyone.

Maggie stopped dead, her hand suspended half way to her beer as the realization rolled over her of exactly what it was that had made her hate the idea so much. The feeling that she should be enough. Not that she didn’t like kids, not that she didn’t want to have to take care of someone, but the idea that someone would only want kids because she wasn’t enough for them.

Which, well, if not wanting kids was a deal breaker, was sort of true. Kind of. But Jesus, how fucked up was she to be jealous of the idea of kids?

Maggie picked up her beer and took a drink, deciding this particular bit of fucked up was something else she should thank her papá for. The problem was, knowing where to assign blame didn’t help her with the question at hand. She could safely assume that, in the other timeline, there were no kids. She could safely assume that, because in the other timeline, this had been a source of friction in an otherwise happy relationship. She wasn’t sure she bought that this was the only issue she and Alex ever fought about, but she suspected it was possible that it was the only thing that was a major, recurring issue. But she knew herself well enough to know that if she ever had a kid, no matter how that happened, she wouldn’t be resentful after the fact.

If she knew that though, knew that she’d love a kid if she had one, then what, really, was the issue? Was it the feeling that she would never be enough for someone? Was it all the other compromises she’d have to make? She loved being a cop, but that came with so many risks. Would she have to give that up? She’d fought so hard to be who she was, and she couldn’t help but wonder how much of that she’d have to give up for kids.

Maybe Kara was more right than she knew. She said what worked in that world might not work in this one. Maybe that was her and Alex. Maybe she was so broken that she could only be happy in an equally broken world. But she didn’t want that to be true. She wanted to be happy. She wanted to fall in love and get married and wake up next to Alex every morning.

“Shit,” she muttered to herself, as she realized how easily Alex’s name rolled through her head, and how true it was. Because it was Alex when she pictured it now. Alex had replaced the poorly-defined day dream she’d had for years. Maggie wanted to blame Kara for that, and probably should at least a little bit with the way Kara had spent months talking Alex up before they’d actually met, but if she believed what Kara told her about the other timeline, it wasn’t much different there.

She wanted Alex. She’d gone to see Kara because she wanted to make sure that Alex would want her too, because she already knew Alex rejecting her would hurt. Picturing a life, a future without Alex in it made her feel like she was choking.

She needed to talk to someone about this, and aside from M’gann, she could only think of one other person who might be able to give her the perspective she needed, so she took out her phone, pulled up her contacts, and found the one she wanted, hitting the call button.

“¡Hola, mija!”

Maggie smiled at the sound of the cheerful voice of her aunt Juanita on the other end of the line. “Hola, Tiá. You have time to talk?”

“For you, cariña, always. What do you need?” Juanita asked.

“I need some advice,” Maggie said.

“Oh, advice. That sounds serious,” Juanita replied. “What’s wrong, mija?”

“I met a girl,” Maggie said.

“Oh, I can see how that must be so horrible for you. However will you survive?”

Maggie laughed. “Tiá,” she said. “I’m serious!”

“So am I, mi amor. A young, attractive lesbian, meeting a beautiful, captivating woman. I know the torture will last for decades. You’ll be sitting there, in the house you’ve finished paying off, surrounded by your grandchildren, and she, your wife of thirty-five years, will be laying with her head in your lap, telling you how beautiful she thinks you are, and you’ll still be wondering if she means in a romantically, or if the dating and the marriage and the children and the finger banging and the comiendo la papaya were all just as friends.”

Maggie sighed. “You’ve been on Tumblr again haven’t you, Tiá?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I’m forty-five, not dead. And there’s talk about rebooting Xena. I want to read all the fic when that happens.”

“I kind of hate that you know what fanfiction is,” Maggie said.

“Ay, cariña, be glad I do. If it wasn’t for Xena and Gabrielle, you might not have had an embarrassing lesbiana Tiá to take you in.”

“I’ll be sure to send Lucy Lawless a thank you note any day now.”

“Just don’t send her a toaster oven. I’m sure she has enough by now.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Maggie said.

“My point is, your generation did not invent Lesbian Sheeping. Gay chicas were standing around trying to figure out if they were into each other before either of us were born.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Maggie said, doing her best to keep from laughing.

“Now, Marguerita, tell me what’s troubling you,” Juanita said.

“I really, really like this girl, Tiá,” Maggie said. “The rent the U-Haul on the second date kind of kind of like.”

“Oh, mija. No wonder you are calling me. Is it your Kara, this girl you are talking about?”

“No, Tiá, it’s Kara’s hermana,” Maggie said. “Her name is Alex, and she’s... um... she’s... she’s amazing. Just so beautiful it hurts to look at her, and my heart starts pounding the moment she walks into the room, and all I can think of is how much I want to kiss her.”

“Oh, Marguerita, you have enfermo de amor.”

“Yeah,” Maggie said, a little wistfully. “I think I do.”

“Then what’s the problem, cariña? Does she not like you back?”

“I think she does,” Maggie said. “Or at least, I think she’s starting too. It’s just... she wants kids, Tiá, and I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Oh, pobrecita, you never have it easy, do you?” Juanita asked, sympathy pouring from every word.

“I think I got myself into this one,” Maggie said. “But I don’t know what to do, Tiá.”

“We’ve been here before, cariña. But, if you want a better ending this time, I think you need to ask yourself a question. Why does it bother you, the idea of children? Be truthful.”

Maggie took a deep breath, bracing herself for the answer she was afraid to give. “I always wondered why I wasn’t enough,” she said. “Why couldn’t I ever be enough for anyone?”

“Oh, mi corazón, it’s moments like this I dearly wish I could cut your papi’s heart out with a spoon,” Juanita said. “Listen to me, Marguerita. I never, in my life before you, dreamed that I would be a mother. Never wanted to be. And then, one day, my pendejo brother calls me, screaming at me that it’s my fault somehow that his daughter is gay. And I knew, as soon as he said it, what I had to do. I said to him, ‘if you cannot love your hija for who she is and be proud of her, you bring her to me, and I will be her madre.’ That’s why he brought you to me, mija. And when my novia found out that I had taken you in, she left me.”

Maggie had to swallow a lump in her throat before she could speak. “Oh, Tiá,” she said. “I didn’t know.”

“No, no, mija. I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel guilty. I’m telling you this, because I want you to understand, that in the sixteen years since I spoke those words, I have not regretted for a single moment. Not when your mami spit in my face. Not when your papi called me a marimacha. Not when your abuela called me, screaming, telling me I deserved to burn in hell. You have been the most wonderful part of my life, Marguerita. You are not just mi sobrina, you are mi hija, have always been enough for me. I love you so much, and I never want to see you in pain.

“Now, this Alex… if you want to be with her, then you need to ask yourself a difficult question. Is it that you don’t want children? Or is it that you are afraid that she won’t have enough love for you, and the children? If it’s the first, then however wonderful she is, she’s not the right woman for you. But if it’s the second, then ask yourself if that’s a reasonable fear? Do you really believe that she doesn’t have enough love to go around? If you do, then again, she is not the woman for you. You are easy to love, mi corazón, but I will not deny that you need a very great deal of it. All beautiful things do.”

“Gracias, Tiá,” Maggie said as she wiped tears from her face.

“Do you know what you are going to do, mija?” Juanita asked.

“Yes,” Maggie said. “I think I’m going to stop crying, and then I’m going to text the girl.”

“Good for you, mija! ¡Buena suerte con la chica!”

“Well, this is getting to be a habit,” Cat said.

Kara looked up from the glass of Scotch she’d been staring into, and smiled, just a bit. “Good evening, Miss Grant,” she said.

“You know, considering all the things we’re doing together, I think I can let you call me Cat,” she said.

The small smile on Kara’s face turned into a full-blown grin. “I’m still not telling you my name, Cat.”

“I had to try,” Cat said, no hint of apology on her face or in her voice. “Mind if I join you?”

“It’s your balcony,” Kara said, “but I would definitely enjoy the company.”

“Good to know,” Cat said as she sat down. “You have another glass?”

Kara nodded and reached down, picking up a second tumbler and setting it on the table. Then she used the same mold from the interview, and a puff of her freeze breath to make an ice ball for Cat’s glass, before pouring her a couple of fingers of the Ardbeg.

“That’s a handy trick,” Cat said, taking the glass.

“Yeah. I’m a big hit at parties,” Kara replied before taking a sip of her Scotch.

“Rough day?” Cat asked.

“Does it show?”

“Well, day drinking is usually a sign. Want to talk about it?”

Kara looked up at her for a moment, considering the questions and her own mixed emotions, and gave a tiny shrug. “If I didn’t, I probably would have remembered to check to see if you were still here before I borrowed your balcony.”

“That’s… probably a bit more self-awareness than I was expecting.”

“Well,” Kara said. “Someone I admire… Someone who’s spent a lot of time teaching me how to be better, once told me that the key is never lying to yourself about who you are, what you want, and what you can and cannot do.” Kara watched Cat’s face as she said it, and if she hadn’t known Cat as well as she did, she would have missed the shock on Cat’s face, because Cat had said those exact words to her, not long after she’d hired Kara.

“That sounds like good advice,” Cat said.

“Oh, she always gives good advice,” Kara said. “She’s a bit nosey though.”

“We all have our faults.”

Kara turned and looked out over the city, taking another sip of her scotch before she spoke again. “I locked one of the people I love most in the universe in a cage last night,” she said. She turned back to Cat. “It’s a very nice cage. It’s got a TV, a jacuzzi tub, meal service.”

“But it’s still a cage,” Cat said.

“And I locked her in it,” Kara said. “Because she’s a criminal. Because my mother, and my father, and my aunt and my uncle, and all the leaders of Krypton made her a criminal.”

“What happened?”

“Our world was dying… No, that’s not right. We were killing it. Oh, we had help. There were people out there, more than willing to push the knife in, but our arrogance, or hubris… We ignored the warning signs. Abused the gift Rao had given us. In our greed and avarice, we drove mines deep in to the core of our world. We did it without hesitation, without thought for the future. Jor-El realized what was happening, but Aunt Astra was the only one who would listen, and when Uncle Jor was too weak, too cowed by the word of the council to act, Astra gathered a group of followers. People she’d worked with over the years. Some of them believed her. Most of them, probably. I think a few just hated the Houses and the Council, not that I can blame them.”

“What they planned to do… It was horrible, and in the end, Krypton was already too far gone for it to make a difference. But they tried. They defied the council, they broke the law, and in the end, someone died. But at least they tried.”

Kara closed her eyes. She could feel the tears running down her face, the lump in her throat, and when she spoke, the way her lip quivered. “My mother, my father, my aunt and uncle… They did nothing. They stood back and let it happen. And I lost everything, Cat. My family, my home, my culture, my entire world. It was just wiped from the stars, and I saw it happen. I watched it. Thirty billion people died, and it was just me and Kal-El, and then, when I got here, he didn’t need me. He… He just abandoned me.”

She felt Cat’s arms slip around her, and pull her close, and she rested her head on Cat’s shoulder.

“Shhh…” Cat whispered.

Kara slipped her arms around Cat, holding her as tightly as she dared. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m here. Just let it out.”

“I talked her into surrendering. I begged her. I promised her she’d be safe.”

“Something happened?” Cat asked.

“General Lane tried to take them,” Kara said. “I stopped it, but if someone hadn’t warned me… I can’t lose Astra again,” Kara said. “I can’t.”

Cat reached up, stroking Kara’s hair. “We won’t let it happen,” she said. “I promise.”

Kara closed her eyes, leaning into Cat’s touch. She knew the promise was empty, that as powerful as Cat was, the forces aligned against them were nearly unstoppable, but it didn’t matter. Hearing Cat say it, she believed it, and she felt just a bit of the weight of fifty-three universes lift off her shoulders.

[hobartfrancis]

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[martechadvisor-blog]

The Net Neutrality Vote: 10 Ways it will Impact Marketers and Advertisers

Will the end of neutrality change digital marketing forever? Will innovation be the victim and the saviour? Two MTA Category Advisors - Mike Kelly, Category Expert for AdTech and Christine Crandell, Category Expert for Customer Experience weigh in, and we examine 10 possible impact areas of the end of net neutrality

What comes to mind when you think of the internet? Freedom. Open. Information Superhighway. A place where even little players can punch above their weight. No doubt every individual will feel the impact when plans and monthly ISP bills become complicated and higher. But what about marketers and advertisers? What are the possible impact areas for us? Let’s find out.

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication. For instance, under these principles, internet service providers are unable to intentionally block, slow down or charge money for specific websites and online content. - Wikipedia

What is Net Neutrality?

The FCC just voted to repeal laws that protected the principle of net neutrality. But what is net neutrality? It’s the principle that all content, publishers, websites, platforms, applications, users - basically all stakeholders of the internet - must be treated equally by ISPs and government regulations (see box).

What lane are you riding? Alas, as with many things under this administration, those days are well over. Now, **the ISPs pretty much have the power to decide what online content is delivered at what speed to whom. Think they will exercise that power? Is the sky blue?**

Imagine that you are Amazon and I am small-time-local-artisan- both of us are trying to get our artisanal cheese to you. But Amazon’s delivery vans have access to the fast lane to your house and I have to take the long, pot-holed, toll-free route: who do you think will go out of business?

So, what does it mean for marketers and advertisers?

For starters, SEO, online advertising, content marketing- all the cornerstones of your digital marketing and customer engagement strategy will be high impact areas.

Here are **10 areas of marketing that could be impacted by the end of net neutrality**

1. SEO: Organic reach will become more difficult. Even more difficult. It wont matter how skilled you are at SEO best practices- if you aren’t on the fast lane, you may not get found that fast or easily. Or ever.

2. Offers: the nature of incentivisation may change. Instead of offering free trials, marketers may need to offer free bandwidth + free trial offers!

3. Online advertising: is going to get more expensive. Because the adexchanges – small and large – that offer us the freedom to pick and choose our spends will be forced to pay higher rates to have content served up in the fast lane. Which means they will either pay and pass the cost onto advertisers (you) - making it more expensive to advertise - or - they will potentially go out of business. In the latter case, the market will consolidate, leaving only a few big players, who anyway will charge more. Either way - get set for online advertising in all forms getting either slower or more expensive.

4. Content marketing credibility: the reason content marketing wins as a strategy is because it enjoys credibility. Prospects seeking information will find lots of it- sponsored or otherwise- and will be able to make more informed decisions by gathering their own portfolio of intelligence. Unfortunately, once they know that large swathes of content are not even showing up to them and most of what they see is only because someone paid the money to be visible – content marketing will start to lose its value.

5. Content distribution: Dependence on ‘free’ platforms like Twitter, FB, Linkedin and other social media may increase for smaller players, who will probably be pushed to publish on these sites where the traffic already is. Good content may become the new currency – as marketers are forced to give away good content for free (ungated) in order to remain visible. Content marketing may become more about creating great content but leaving the distribution to large social media brands that can afford the toll to reach wider audiences.

6. User experience will suffer. all the SEO in the world won’t help if people are having varying net experiences, seeing varying search results and experiencing differing load time and speed for some bands versus others. The players in the ‘slow-lane’ will be hoping audiences don’t abandon us while the page buffers (in spite of our IT team’s best efforts). Websites will take longer to load up, videos will start ‘buffering’ again - as a result, marketers will pay the price of higher bounce rates.

7. Online lead generation will suffer. A biased playing field, disgruntled customers, lower credibility of content, and skewed advertising options will add up to poorer intent signals. The entire online lead gen industry may be at some risk.

8. Back to commissions? Advertising may or may not become more expensive but it will certainly become more obtuse than ever- confusing packages with differential pricing for every single add-on will mean that Agencies will become relevant again (end of the self-serve model) and be able to charge more to help make sense of it all for you. The hard-won battle to move away from standard agency commissions to a performance based model may just have been lost!

9. Analytics and metrics will get distorted: since the playing field is not level, it will be hard to trust the numbers and measure in a comparable way. There will be other variables impacting performance at play that may be outside the marketers control. This may set up a new normal for the way we approach metrics.

10. Your affiliations will decide your fate: is an ISP decides they don’t want to be associated with you, your brand, your values or your audiences, they may just cut you off. Almost like some publications who refuse to (unofficially) carry a certain kind of content or advertising. Goodbye freedom of speech?

  MIKE KELLY, PARTNER AT KELLY NEWMAN VENTURES AND MARTECH ADVISOR CATEGORY EXPERT FOR AdTech WEIGHS IN ON THE IMPACT ON ADTECH...

What this end of net neutrality means to advertisers and advertising? At first, not a whole lot. Down the road it could be dramatic. Let’s face it, this puts the ISP's in a position to create multiple new revenue streams around the speed and delivery of content and ads. As more video content moves to streaming services, more video/TV advertising will be streaming as well. Conceivably, your ISP could charge more to ensure your video ad plays without buffering. The increase in complexity and cost could be a giant headache and expense.  

Is there a silver lining or opportunity for advertisers who want to further customize creatives to go with their programmatic ad buys? Again, it puts the ISP in the pole position so if made available, they can work with advertisers and create targeted advertising services. It will mean that ISP's will have more incentive to focus on advertising and targeting. At this time, it’s unclear how it will enhance customized creative. How would this impact the analytics and metrics of programmatic adbuys? ISP's can control the flow of data more aggressively and create new categories of inventory around speed and accessibility.

Silver linings, anyone?

**Innovation is the victim, and innovation will be the saviour.**

Could email be the big winner in a world where online experiences are going to change dramatically?

Will mobile marketing be a game changer?

Will we see amazing innovation in content marketing techniques?

Will someone – a disruptor of mythical proportions- come up with a whole new way of accessing the internet? We may not even need the ISPs anymore then…

With every closed door, another one opens. So, I’d like to end this on an optimistic note. Will this create disruptions we (or they) never saw coming? Possible. Nothing is outside the realm of human creativity.

My closing question is – for the moment - will money become more important than merit on the internet? Most likely. But more importantly, are the big ISPs being penny wise and pound foolish on this one?

  THE ‘AGE OF THE CUSTOMER’ WILL GO BACK TO ‘THE DARK AGES

CHRISTINE CRANDELL, President, New Business Strategies, and MarTech Advisor Category Expert for CX, shares her perspective on how the end of Net Neutrality will impact CX, innovation and the digital transformation experience For decades 'all things cloud' were heralded as the future. Get on board or be left behind was the mantra. It didn't matter if you were B2B or B2C, the global economy is hooked on the internet. Heck, I can't get my email if my phone is not connected to the Internet and I will go to great lengths to make sure I'm always connected. The global economy assumes unfettered, ubiquitous access with increasing bandwidth to support our appetite for instant access to all applications and data, petabytes of data. The effect of the reversal of Net Neutrality is more than being held hostage for access and an Orwellian dampening of freedom of speech - it will dramatically and negatively impact customer satisfaction and service and innovation. The real loser is The Customer. Companies are in the midst of shifting the majority of their operations online - everything from accounting, supply chains, sales enablement, reporting to manufacturing systems. The result is a significant percentage of the economy is wrapped around the customer. Whether it's through programmatic ads, store beacons, self-serve applications, AI-enabled chat, real time collaboration or ecommerce, post-purchase support, satisfaction ratings, crowd sourced help, or influencer marketing - it's all about the customer. The reversal of Net Neutrality puts a choke hold on the digital experience transformation. Sure Facebook, Google, SAP, Microsoft and Amazon will pay to enable fast access but smaller innovative companies like Totango, Bluescape, Cogito, PayScale, and the emerging digital customer acquisitions companies like LQDigital will not be able to. Their customers and prospects will encounter a slower, patience-testing experience through no fault of the brand. If you're Bluescape enabling a studio to globally collaborate on a movie; slower access equals death. The same is true for Totango and companies like Cogito and ZipWhip that enable brands to better understand and serve their customers more effectively. What will you do when the Lyft app is slow and you get the spinning clock? And Uber is no better? What are you going to do and who are you going to complain about? Oh right, NextDoor isn't loading on your phone, either. Think about this people. Sadly, most customers will not understand what is happening and will blame the brand. In response brands will shift investment out of engineering and marketing and into paying for priority bandwidth, thus stymieing innovation and the ability to be more customer aligned. Customers will interpret the slower pace of product enhancement and support as a weakness of the brand. Otherwise innovative good companies will either fail or be forced into acquisitions that are less than ideal for them and their investors. In the midst of all the turmoil, the customer will get lost. Promising new technologies and innovations like blockchain, IoT, and deep learning AI will be side lined because start-ups won't be able to reach their target customers. The emerging focus on cybersecurity, which is desperately needed and long overdue, will be side lined too. The result is the Age of the Customer will step back into the Dark Ages. My advice is to not throw out that landline phone, that dusty phone book from 2010 or your cookie jar of cash - we're about to become our parents. Thanks to the FCC; not really.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor