Super: Origins Read Online Free PDF

to Lex, a little close in Lex’s opinion, and introduced herself as Serena Vitalé. Serena’s dress shone in the way silk usually did, and Lex also smelled expensive perfume as the other woman shifted on the couch. Trying not to think about the way Serena’s appearance contrasted with her own ripped skirt and painted shoes, Lex instead focused on the others in the room. Joan and Casey took seats on opposite sides of the couch facing Lex and Serena, and Clara pulled a chair to the space in front of the windows in between both couches.
    “Riss, can you hear us?” Clara said, talking more loudly and looking up to the ceiling.
    Lex looked up and saw a speaker over Clara’s head. Suddenly, a voice responded from that direction, the sound anonymized and flattened, probably by being run through a computer. “I can hear you, Clara. There’s no need to shout. Just speak normally.”
    “All right. Can you see us as well?” Clara asked.
    “Yes, I can see everyone. I’m in the middle of something and can’t come down, but I’ll watch and listen from here,” Riss responded.
    Clara then looked at all of the women in turn. “Now that we’re all here, I just wanted to reiterate that this is Lex’s acceptance interview. I know that Lily isn’t here right now, but we have enough team members present to take a vote today. If we need a tie breaker Lily can meet with Lex later, but Mr. Sauer thought Lex should talk to whoever was here today to see if we can make a decision now.”
    Joan frowned slightly. “I don’t think we got advance notice about this, did we? I haven’t had a chance to review her file.”
    Clara sighed. “Has anyone been keeping up with their candidate packets? I’ve been putting them together for everyone we’re considering so that you can review them as we bring people in for interviews. I sent Lex’s to you a few weeks ago.”
    Casey snorted. “There’s no point in reading them in advance. We never have any idea who we’re going to be meeting with, since most of the people you pick fail their trials.”
    Serena nodded. “It seems like most of them can’t pass the test, so why waste our time?” She looked at Lex again, curiously. “What about her trial?”
    “Ah, yes,” Clara said, looking Serena in the eye. “Riss, I put together a clip of what turned out to be Lex’s trial. You can find it in my network folder; it will be named ‘McKilliam’ with today’s date. I know you’re in the middle of a project, but could you please queue it up to play on the main screen in the living room? I’ll set up the screen and everything, but if you could kick that off, I’d appreciate it.”
    Something that sounded like a small exhale could be heard from the overhead speakers. “OK, give me a minute.”
    Clara went to a panel at the front left corner of the room and pushed a few buttons. Curtains slid quietly over the windows as a viewing screen started to come down from the ceiling and the lights dimmed in that area. When it was halfway down, Lex began to see the footage of herself that she’d watched with Clara and Sauer earlier, the front view followed by the side view. Clara came back to the grouping and passed folders out to Casey, Serena, and Joan. “OK, take a few minutes to review Lex's information. Riss, you can find it on the network in Lex’s candidate folder. Once you’ve had time to look at it, we can go to questions and then vote.”
    None of them seemed to be paying much attention to Clara, however. All eyes, except for Lex’s, were glued to the clip. Casey elbowed Joan and pointed at the screen at the point where Lex had glanced skyward. Serena gasped and Joan raised her eyebrows as Lex’s image suddenly got smaller. Lex could see the three of them watching intently as the side view came on, and then they all reacted as she jumped back.
    “You could hardly see that!” Casey said, elbowing Joan.
    “I don’t know,” Joan replied. “That film wasn’t tampered with, was