Blocked Number

Jack had been on hold with Unemployment for an hour, and didn't anticipate anyone picking up the other end anytime soon. That kind of thing, delays waiting for support, were to be expected after a metahuman attack. So many people would need a safety net while their employers evaluated whether it was safe to return to their places of employment. For Jack it was obvious that there would be no work for a while, as his building had been almost leveled by Black Adam and Wonder Woman's fight, and since it was a small company that he worked for, there was no chance of relocation. He would either have to find a new job or wait until they rebuilt.

His phone beeped, indicating that someone was trying to reach him. It was a blocked number, so he ignored it. Probably spam, someone trying to sell him something, a robocall from Big Belly Burger telling him about the latest special. After all the advances in technology in the past few years, Jack wondered why LexComm, his mobile provider, didn't come up with a way to block spam calls.

Probably because Lex Luthor owns Big Belly Burger and LexComm, his cynical side told him.

Living in Metropolis, Lex Luthor was a fact of life for people like Jack. He was the mobile provider, the internet provider, owned newspapers and tv stations. He was probably the largest employer in the city. It would be LexCorp's construction wing who would rebuild his store, and Jack wouldn't be surprised if in the meantime Luthor would get an ownership stake in the business in the process.

Again his phone beeped, indicating the blocked number. Again he hit ignore.

"Your call is important to us," the friendly female voice told him over the phone, "We are currently experiencing higher than average call volumes. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received."

Then the hold music returned, a synthesizer version of a classical piece that Jack recognized but didn't know the name of. Maybe he should move to a smaller town, someplace where attacks like the one he had just experienced didn't happen. But he had grown up in Metropolis. It was his home. The City of Tomorrow! It was an exciting life, so much to do, so much to see. Still, feeling safe, feeling stable, those things would appeal to him greatly. Not for the first time, he allowed himself to consider the possibility of a new life, using the opportunity of losing his job to start anew, somewhere boring, somewhere safe.

His phone beeped. Blocked number. They were going to keep calling, driving him nuts. He looked at his phone's screen and selected the button to put his call on hold and answer the new call.

"What," he said, impatient.

"Is this Jack? Jack Jordan?" a woman's voice asked.

"Yes," he answered curtly, "Who is this?"

"It's Diana," she answered, "Diana Prince. Wonder Woman."