Mingling

It was windy outside, which had not bothered the Amazon in the slightest despite it whipping her dress a little wildy before you both entered the Lexor hotel lobby. You adjusted your jacket and smoothed back your hair, checking yourself in the shiny reflections of this luxuriant building that was a mix of modern and classic styles. There were white pillars reaching up to a high ceiling of some kind of mesh glass design, light washing through the strange array in a way that reminded you of the Northern Lights.

You remembered who you were with and pulled your eyes back down, quickly falling into step next to Wonder Woman. This was your first ever event of this scale and you weren’t sure what to expect, kicking yourself for not having asked your escort more questions prior. There were quite a lot of people in what appeared to be a ballroom. It was a fancy spread, a few dozen servers wandering around holding trays of hors d'oeuvres and flutes of champagne. The works.

And as soon Wonder Woman entered the room, attentions began to gravitate towards her and she was shaking hands and saying hello to dignitaries and the like one after another. You were able to follow quietly in her wake, most people either giving you a polite nod or downright ignoring you in the commanding presence of the Themysciran Princess. The pin on your lapel seemed explanation enough as to why you were with her.

You only recognised a handful of people, maybe a prime-minister from Europe somewhere, a good looking tech philanthropist from Silicon Valley. It all felt very official and serious, and you weren’t sure how many more canapés you could eat before running out of things to not do. About an hour into meet and greets there was a brief lull, and you saw Diana with a glass of champagne in her hand. While you had seen some impressive numbers on Amazon metabolism you weren’t sure if now was a good time for her to be consuming ****. Especially at her stage of addiction.

You tried to be subtle and touched her on the elbow, and she was savvy enough to lean towards you and lower her ear.

“You probably shouldn’t drink that,” you advised, attempting to keep your voice low though the venue was pretty bustling anyway. Diana took a moment to comprehend your meaning and she nodded.

“You’re right,” she conceded, somewhat unsure of why she had picked up the champagne in the first place. She set it on a passing server’s tray, who also was confused at first but after realising he had just interacted with Wonder Woman was supremely pleased to have shown up to work and walked away with a broad grin. “But I’m am quite thirsty,” she noted, glancing at you and shifting her stance, looking mildly discomforted. Those worries about your earlier load being insufficient seemed to be holding weight, and you looked around. Was there any quiet place to sneak off to with the statuesque Wonder Woman? You noticed the crowd was moving and the noise had lowered to a general murmur. Someone was taking to the stage at the back of the room. Diana took notice as well. Her shoulders stiffened.

You didn’t recognize the speaker who playfully tapped the microphone a few times to get people’s attention. It wasn’t Lex Luthor, since this person wasn’t bald. And it was a woman.

“Maxine Lord,” Diana said, less for you sake and more like she couldn’t believe it. Her stare was hard. That still didn’t really help you. You knew of Maxwell Lord, sometime business magnate who you remember had been arrested and put away for… something. Was Maxine related to him?

“Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming,” Maxine began, leaning on the podium, her voice ringing with perfect clarity through the speakers around the ballroom. “And I would be remiss not to thank our generous host, and major sponsor of Project Metis, Lex Luthor of Lexcorp. He couldn't be here tonight but I’m sure he would appreciate a round of applause all the same.”

People clapped and you joined in politely, but with Wonder Woman remaining motionless you stopped. She was glaring at the woman on stage. You wanted to ask why but maybe this wasn’t the right time. You simply watched instead. Maxine was an attractive woman with auburn hair. She seemed young, or perhaps that was due to her short stature, but her voice had a maturity to it that bore her an obvious level of advanced education if nothing else. “And to continue our thanks, this program would have not been possible without the likes of the illustrious Kord Industries, and S.T.A.R Labs,” Maxine went on, pausing for applause and you saw a few champagne flutes rise in acknowledgement. Now this was interesting, and the gala MC explained why. “It is thanks to the unprecedented level of collaboration between Lexcorp, S.T.A.R Labs and Kord Industries for the first time in history that Project Metis could come to fruition. With its successful launch will come a new age of technological and scientific discovery and advancement that will be unsurpassed in our lifetimes.”

She went on like that for a bit, and some of the high level goals did sound promising to you. But Wonder Woman seemed to have heard enough. She tugged on your arm and you were escorted away from the ballroom via a side door that passed by a catering station.

“Ambitious stuff,” you said to make conversation as you were gently dragged down a bright hallway.

“The ambition of men often treads upon the heads of their people,” was Wonder Woman’s terse response, but once the noise of the ballroom dimmed completely and it was just the two of you she appeared to soften. “Apologies doctor, but I feel something is amiss,” she said, starting to gather up the hem of her dress in her hands and tying it into a utilitarian knott as to not trip over it. “I should want to investigate.”

“Right now?” you whispered, feeling the need for secrecy all of a sudden.

“Best while people are distracted by accolades,” she retorted with a smile and headed down the hall quickly. After getting over your initial shock you had to jog to catch up. She knew you weren’t a field agent but seemed to trust your abilities enough to let you follow along. It was reckless and ill-advised, though exciting. You put your doctor hat back on and grabbed her wrist, or more accurately her bracer. At this point you had reached an unmarked door, and while it didn’t have any kind of advanced security keypad or anything on it was some kind of heavy metal barrier. Wonder Woman looked over her shoulder at you expectantly. Her hand was already on the door knob. “What is it?”