Contributions to society extended cut edition

chapter 3: universe food (part 1 of 2)

Date: March 10 2019 (Press on New Fastfood Restaurant Chain Universe Food)-June 10 2019

Over the next few months, every DEO site in the country went mad trying to find Supergirl. When no results were yielded, every other government agency was called into play and, soon, even international and intergalactic organizations (Justice League) were enlisted, but not a single soul could find a single clue about the whereabouts of the missing Kryptonian. No one on Earth or in space had any idea where Kara had gotten to and it didn’t matter how hard anyone looked, nothing ever came of it.
“Alex...” James Olsen approached the broken DEO agent with a tender and agonized expression.
“Don’t,” Alex croaked back, voice full of pain and fury. She would’ve spoken louder, but after Kara went missing, it was like she had died as well, her own strength vanishing entirely. She couldn’t even turn around to look at him as he entered her little office.
“I’m sorry,” James replied, then he took a seat opposite of Alex’s and simply held her hand. No more words were spoken, but none were needed. Instead, Alex’s hand only lay limply in James’ as the two old friends silently grieved their beloved Kara Danvers.
Back at CatCo, for the first time ever, someone caught Cat Grant crying. She was silent, and almost motionless, but every once in a while, she would wipe at her eyes, or her shoulders would convulse. That was how Winn Schott knew that she was grieving.
“Ms. Grant?” he asked, voice consoling, even though his own eyes were red and swollen.
“Mr. Schott, you had better have your transcript ready for me this time,” Cat replied, voice totally devoid of emotion. But she would not meet his eyes and that was how Winn knew just how deeply her heart was aching. Maybe Cat could lie with face and voice, but her eyes could never lie. Winn opened his mouth to say more, but at the sight of his miserable-looking boss, he felt his own throat close up and he quickly left her office before collapsing in his own, muffling his cries with his hand as he whimpered Kara’s name.
“Please, Supergirl, come back! We need you!... I... need you...” but Kara was not going to be coming home any time soon, and everyone's mourning carried on.
Even Lena Luthor got in on the action, enlisted to try and help find Supergirl. Not long after, then, she was told by Winn that her beloved Kara Danvers had gone missing as well. Lena nearly ran L-Corp into the ground after that, using every little last resource to try and find the two missing women. It did no good.
“I don’t care!!” she cried when another one of her workers warned her about how low the company was on funding. Even though she knew he was right, she didn’t want to hear it. She would sooner see L-Corp go bankrupt than surrender the search for Supergirl and, more importantly to her, Kara Danvers.
“Money is nothing compared to a life!” she continued to thunder. “And until we can find them again and bring them both home, safe and sound, L-Corp will continue to work full speed ahead to try and find them!” so Lena continued to flush millions of dollars down the drain in a vain attempt to find Supergirl and Kara. It didn’t work. No one on Earth had any clue where the Girl of Steel had gone.
J’onn had left Earth entirely, joining a squadron hunting the stars and nearby planets for Supergirl. Superman was part of that group too, but they were making about as much progress as anyone down at CatCo or the DEO. J’onn would never admit it, but the loss of one of the two girls he considered a daughter was a blow so devastating to his soul that there were some nights when he genuinely wondered if ending it all wouldn’t be the better option.
“I failed her,” he murmured softly, sadly. “It should’ve been me who died. God, how I wish it had been...”
The rest of the country wasn’t faring too much better. Supergirl had been a national symbol, and icon of hope. For her to have gone so completely missing was a crushing blow to everyone in America. But even so, the people of the world were strong, and they fought hard to keep their heads up just as their superhero would’ve wanted them to. Every citizen played their part in staying strong and hopeful, for Supergirl’s sake. And even various large-scale agencies and companies invested in the mourning and grieving processes, sometimes offering some of their goods and services for free in the name of the hero who had so freely given her own self to them, time and time again.
Leading the charge was a relatively new company called Universe Food. It was a fast-food chain, but it had since garnered massive respect from the public eye, firstly for being so charitable, secondly for being so supportive in the wake of Supergirl’s disappearance, thirdly for being a “human-run enterprise with a strong belief that aliens CAN make great contributions to society” and fourthly for having really great burgers. It would never quite gain the mainstream attention that McDonalds had as a cultural icon, but Universe Food quickly dominated the country and all who ate there was all in agreement that the burgers were sublime. Or, as the cheesy tagline said, they were “OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!” Never had the planet seen such human-alien cooperation before in light of Supergirl’s disappearance. It was the start of a new era, for better and for worse.