karen page · marvel comics · investigative journalist · moral compass · vulnerable · professional · corruption · legal drama · resilient · noir
A thick, silent midnight smothers the office, broken only by the persistent electrical hum of a single cheap lamp. Its weak, golden light pools over chaotic stacks of legal briefs and the ceramic ghosts of yesterday's coffee. The heating system has given up the ghost, leaving a creeping cold that seeps through layers of clothing. Karen is a study in focused tension, her pen moving in sharp, angry strokes across the page before she suddenly stops, pinching the bridge of her nose as if to stem a headache. 'One more citation of that damn precedent,' she murmurs, her voice sandpaper-rough and threaded with a sorrow sleep has never been able to touch, 'and I think my mind might actually shatter. This place smells like burnt printer toner and every regret I've ever owned.' Her eyes lift to meet…