Chapter 2: A Few Good Men

/A/N: I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far. leave me a review if you like. It will be gravely appreciated. /

Kori took a deep breath to calm down her rattling nerves. The abysmally large doors of the elevator dinged as she exhaled. The sound of the bustling New York street was subdued by the jazz undertone of the elevator music.

She had never been a fan of Jazz, and today the music only managed to further agitate her hungover brain.

Smoothly the elevator passed by the first floor and then the second; her heart rate sped as she got closer to the sixth.

The doors opened to reveal a large marble wall with the words 'WAYNE & ASSOCIATES'. This was it, this was her destination. As soon as she stepped foot on the tiled floor all feeling of anxiety died and was soon replaced by curiosity.

"May I help you?" Asked a woman, roughly about her age. The girl had a fair complexion and contrasting dark hair. She was very petite as compared Kori's tall frame. Kaori couldn't help but note how pretty the girl was.

"Yes, I'm one of the new associates," she replied with a courteous smile.

"Right this way." She turned on her heel and walked down, further away from the reception area, her hips swaying as she moved.

"My name is Zatanna Zatara, by the way. I'm a Paralegal here. " She informed. To complete the formality Kori introduced myself to the woman.

"Quite a tongue twister." Kori picked up the conversation. Zatanna gave a hearty laugh. "I get that a lot." Turning a corner, she continued. "You can wait in the lounge here. We'll start the orientation when the other associates arrive." And with that Zatanna excused herself.

Kori sighed. She was fifteen minutes early, which was a relief given her condition the day before. How she had managed to crawl out of bed and get dressed was beyond her. Even after the aspirin, her head throbbed a little.

Kaori was flipping through magazines when a when a man stumbled into the room.

"Am I late?" He asked with his eyes widened in horror.

"No, you're right on time-" Kori began to say but was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Here at Wayne and Associates being on time means being half an hour early." The tone was steady and without anger but it still managed to frighten the man.

"I'm so sorry!" the man blurted out.

Kori's own eyes went wide. The figure that stepped out from behind the door frame looked vaguely familiar.

"I'm Richard Grayson. I'll head the associates at this firm."

Kori could have sworn that she had heard that voice before. Yesterday to be exact, at the club. She felt warmth reach her cheeks as the realization struck her. Even though she had only seen his silhouette the night before, she could still recognize the angular jaw and lean build.

"Kori Andres."

"Jamie Reyes."

As the two introduced themselves Richard looked form one to the other with his gaze eventually lingering on Kori.

"I presume you've met Zatana? She'll be giving you a tour of the building. After that, we'll regroup here to discuss your respective assignments."

Kori wasn't certain but she thought she saw Richard stop at the door to give her one last look before they left.

"Hi. You guys ready for the tour? " Kori nodded in affirmative. Noticing Jamie's defected aura, Kori have him a light squeeze on the shoulder.

Zatanna must've noticed too for she gave him an assuring smile. "Richard isn't that bad you know? Actually" she cupped her mouth as if to reveal some juicy gossip. "He's a real softy. But he's very particular about rules. Especially tardiness so be careful okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful." He finally seemed to be getting his spirits back.

"Alright, the first office near the elevator belongs to Mr Wayne. Next one here..." The tour went on for about half an hour. Kori made sure to make notes about everything that came out of the paralegal's mouth.

When the entered the lounge, Richard sat on a chair with his feet crossed at his ankles. He flipped through a Manila file with so much intrigue one could have mistaken it for an Agatha Christie.

Zatanna rapped lightly on the door. It was enough to tear his eyes from the file.

"Good. You're on time." Richard got up and motioned the two with his hands.

"Jamie, this will be your cubical. Since you're the first year you'll be assisting me in whatever file work is needed. Understood?"

"Got it."

"Great. Kori since you're a third year, you'll be working on the Buchman Case with Cassie and I. She's right over there." He pointed towards a perky blonde typing away on her laptop. "And you're cubical will be next to my office over there."

Cassie smiled as she saw Kori approaching. "You must be the new third year. I'm Cassie."

"Kori."

"Everything about the case has been summarized in this file. BruchmanMotors are a big client and they're being sued for patent infringement by JFMC. I wish I could tell you more but we got this case today morning."

Kori spent the rest of her afternoon reading up on Buchman Motors. The company had been running for over fifteen years and had been a client of the firms for over seven. And thus far had been in the clear.

'So why are they being sued now?' Kori thought to herself. 'Companies unusually have a pattern. If they stole this once, it meant that they had always been stealing.'

"Hey, Cassie, what do we have on JHMC?"

"Established by John Hendricks in 2012, right after he was kicked out by Frank Buchman for screwing him over." Answered Richard, who, unbeknown to Kori had walked up behind her. She tried not to flinch when his breath tickled the back of her neck.

"So this isn't a patent case at all. It's a revenge plot." Kori turned around.

"Exactly." Richard stepped back, realizing his position left only inches between him and the new associate.

"Then we have a shot at settling this without going to trial."

"I don't think so. This guy is looking for vengeance. He'll get it one way or another. We need to shut this guy down before he sues for something else."

"Or maybe we don't."

"Excuse me?" Richard cocked his brow at the redhead.

"I mean if he does, we can use it as evidence that he has a personal motive involved."

"We might be able to prove it to the judge but have a blast convincing our client that we have their best interest in mind. We are literally opening them up to another lawsuit."

Cassie followed the conversation like a tennis match. The two kept firing words so rapidly that she didn't even get a chance to offer input.

"You know." She finally blurted out. "It won't be a problem if we shut both the cases down. As long as neither one goes to court we have no problem."

"I that case, we need to strengthen out argument so much so that any other lawsuit they throw at us seems like a concocted story," Kori answered.

"Well then, get to work on a deposition. This better not fail Andres, otherwise, this one's on you."

"It won't." Kori smiled sharply at the dark-haired man. She didn't know why she had gotten so fired up when he had come around but it had left her with a rush that was hard to shake off.

Kori didn't even realize its time for lunch until Cassie pointed it out to her.

"I know you're engrossed in work and all but you might want to grab a bite you know?" Kori looked up form her work, shocked by the lack of people around her. She flushed a bit before standing up. "Right."

"If you want you can come have lunch with me." Cassie offered. "There is this vegan restaurant nearby."

"Thank you, Cassie, but if you don't mind I'd like to go someplace quiet." Kori's headache was back and it had come with vengeance in mind. She could feel her pulse against her skull and it made her nauseous.

"That's alright." Cassie smiled. "Take your time. I'll see you after lunch."

"So you're the new third year." A voice called. It belonged to a young woman with dark brown curls and caramel skin. She wore a yellow dress with a black bow fashioned around her neck and even though she could not have been much older than Kori herself, she had about her an all-knowing look.

"Yeah, I'm Kori-"

"Andres. I know. I'm Karen Beecher. I work as a Legal Secretary."

"Hi. I guess I'm spared the whole introduction thing."

"Yeah. It must not be so fun when you're hungover like that."

"Is it that obvious?" Kori gasped.

"No. You've done a pretty good job of hiding it. I just have a sixth sense for this kind of things." Karen smiled.

"Remind me never to lie to you."

"I like you already. So I heard you were looking for a quiet place?"

Kori nodded eagerly only to have her hands fly to her temple to soothe the ache.

"Here you go sweety." Karen handed Kori a small key. "It's on the roof. 10th floor. Return it to me afterwards okay?"

"Got it."Kori took the key graciously.

When Kori got to the roof the door had already been swung open. She stepped into the cool air and looked about to see who had opened the door. For a moment the view distracted her. You could see the entire city from up there- the traffic, the blinding lights, the sprouting buds of green. She could only imagine what it would look like at night.

"Don't mind me." She spun around to find Richard standing there.

"I'm sorry to do you want to be alone?"

"No, you stay. I guessing Karen have you the key?" Kori nodded in response. "She must like you then."

Richard turned to look the vast of the city scene that lay beneath them.

"I wasn't expecting such good ideas from the drunk girl at the club yesterday."

Instantly Kori began to blush. "I haven't made habit of it."

"Habit of what? Having good ideas or stumbling out to clubs?"

"The latter of course." When she finally looked at him, a smirk played on Richard's lip making him appear dangerously endearing.

"You know, with the way you treated Jamie this morning, I almost couldn't imagine you having a casual persona."

"Work's work." He shrugged.

Kori laughed. "You shouldn't be a lawyer. Film writing suits you better."

"Really? Because with my good looks I think I could have been an actor." Richard's playful smile turned into a stern glare."You can't handle the truth!"

Kori continued to laugh. "A few Good Men, huh?"

"You got the reference?" He smiled genuinely. "Looks like we have more in common than I thought."

"What do you wanna talk about now? My favourite colour?" Kori replied with a sly smile playing on her lips.

Richard's smile broadened. "Careful there Andres, I might just ask you out."

Unvulonteerly a blush crept up Kori's cheeks again. Usually, she had something witty to retort but sending here, high up on the roof staring into his blue eyes, Kori realized she wasn't opposed to the idea.

"Relax. I'm joking." Richard laughed at her reaction. "Oh and finish your lunch, there are only twenty minutes left until your break is over." Richard passed her a smile as he climbed down the stairs.

Characters Introduced:

Zatanna Zatara

Jamie Reyes (Blue Beetle)

Karen Beecher (Bumblebee)

Richard Grayson (Robin, Nightwing)

Cassandra 'Cassie' Sandsmark (Wonder Girl)