I don't own any aspect of DC, Marvel, or Welcome To Night Vale.
Lucy was about ready to give up. She had been sitting here all day and not one person had walked into the little shop. The anxiety - and yes, guilt - of not working was starting to eat at her. Normally there would be Colin for distraction, but today was her talkative coworker's day off and he had left several hours ago to do who-knew-what in the city. The silence he left in his wake was getting to her. Lucy allowed herself the luxury of a loud sigh as she looked around the empty shop. Surely The Old Man wouldn't mind if she did a bit of design work while she sat behind the register. It wasn't as if she'd be ignoring anyone. Besides, she had a few tweaks to work out in some of her latest ideas. Maybe she could even start working on the computer microframe for her latest project: an omnitool. A bit clichéd, but with the sheer level of work she did it was bothersome to keep switching between things.
As she day dreamed, Colin strutted through the rickety door of the dusty shop, looking around with little surprise at the lack of customers. He honestly couldn't understand how this place stayed open. Smiling at Lucy he walked over and leaned against the counter. "Having fun are we?" his Irish baroque rolled over her as he stood their smirking. Colin was a hopeless flirt, and as he did it to everyone, Lucy soon stopped putting any stock in it.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, it's been just lovely. All the people to talk to," she made a sweeping gesture to the empty room. "We've been busy, as you can see."
Colin gave a bark of laughter. "I can tell. You may get out of dusting at this rate." He knew she'd be spitting like a wet cat at that one; they both hated doing that chore. With all the clutter that seemed to appear in every antique and curiosities shop the dust bunnies quickly grew up into the stuff of legend. The Old Man was very strict about them dusting every Tuesday. Heaven forbid any grime touch his valuable old junk! Never mind the fact that when they had first started working the place had been coated in inches of it. They had been cleaning for days before they could walk in to the shop without constantly sneezing. Lucy had mumbled once about how convenient it was that his sudden cleaning policies came into being about as soon as The Old Man had hired them. Colin had snickered all through the drawn out rant about 'frail bones' and 'respecting your elders' that had ensued. Lucy had been less amused. By the end of it she was ready to strangle The Old Man, but miraculously restrained herself.
"How will I ever go on? I might just cry…" Lucy wiped a less than convincing tear from her eye. She put her chin in her hand and looked at him with curiosity. "So what have you been doing with your temporary freedom from this place? Did you take a walk? See a movie? Rob a bank?" She was only half teasing.
"Ha," Colin crossed his arms. "You've got jokes today Luce. Here I was generously gonna offer to get us lunch. And if the money buying that lunch should have recently found its way into my possession…well. Maybe Gotham should guard its ATM's better." He waved a dismissive hand in the air, a rakish grin on his face.
Colin was the type of person who was almost always ankle deep in some kind of trouble. Luckily he was too small time to attract vigilante attention, and had no connections to make him interesting to the mob. The GCPD were another story. For a while it seemed like he couldn't go more than a week without getting busted for something. Finally, Lucy got fed up and demanded to know what was 'preventing his productivity' in his side jobs. He had explained why he couldn't scrape by with a crummy job and petty crime in Gotham the same way he had in other places; the city was already so littered with scum that the police knew exactly what to look out for. To make matters worse, they were often so fed up at their inability to bring in people from the organized crime scene that they threw the book at the people they could catch – people like Colin. Frowning, she demanded to know how he normally went about his jobs. After he ran through the basic details she had scoffed, turned on her heel and walked towards the shop's basement, mumbling to herself along the way. A bit wary, Colin had followed her, only to find that she had made a path through the clutter of things stored down there. Hidden behind a few of the larger pieces of furniture was a makeshift workshop. Colin had never seen anything like it – she had dragged an antique dining table over and had scattered bits of schematics and machinery over every available surface. Several old lamps illuminated the area and tools were strewn about the space. Still mumbling to herself, she had started to fiddle around with a half built device.
After a painfully long wait she had hummed in approval and presented him with the first of many pieces of equipment. The disk shaped object had seemed innocuous enough until she explained that it would allow him to trick most basic security systems into thinking they hadn't been tripped. He remembered that night well; it was the night she had become his gadgeteer. Not a moment too soon either. His success rate had jumped and he was seldom caught now that he had her help and had become accustomed to the inherently suspicious city.
"Don't tell me that…" Lucy groaned. "I want to have some level of plausible deniability when the cops come around asking why the tools you've been using to hack into alarms and ATM's look remarkably like a dumbed-down version of my cryptograph design. Save your preening for someone else. Unless, of course, you were going to get us Chinese food. Then you could preen all you liked." She grinned, already able to taste the pot stickers.
Colin turned mock serious and let hurt seep into his tone. "Now Miss Lucille, you have a remarkable way of making a man feel stupid and useful at the same time. Just how do you do that?" He extended his arm out and over the counter to open up the register.
Reaching under the change tray he pulled out the only thing that insured the register would never (completely) rust shut; the takeout menus. Flipping through them to find the right one, Colin dialed the number to one of the places a few blocks over. Colin knew what to order from memory. Having been forbidden by The Old Man to leave the shop for lunch on the off chance that a customer should come in would do that to you eventually. He'd have gone stir crazy long ago if he had to work here by himself. It was true that Lucy could be a bit of a pain to live with, tinkering in the basement till God-knew-when more nights that not, but she was damnably useful and never put off by his cynicism. Plus she had no qualms about giving him the apartment for the night when he procured the attention of a woman, having long ago set up a makeshift cot in the basement for nights she just couldn't bring herself to climb the stairs. All in all she was a great roommate; it was hard to complain.
"It's a gift! And don't call me Lucille," she intoned. Bending down behind the counter she snatched up one of the clean rags and began the long task of dusting. "Remind me to tell The Old Man we're almost out of his freaky cleaning spray…and don't forget the egg rolls!" She called over her shoulder. Sighing she realized they were out of rubber gloves, the last box having been expended protecting herself from shocks as she tinkered last night. That was unfortunate. The cleaning spray that The Old Man insisted they use smelled horrible and she hated getting it all over her hands. It made them smell like a terrible mixture of ozone, nail polish remover, and lemongrass. For days it would overpower the more comforting smell of ink, cigarette smoke and machinery that had permeated her skin after years of exposure. She couldn't stand it – it gave her a crackly feeling and made her nose itch.
Their order placed, Colin grabbed a rag and joined Lucy. It might be annoying, but he never knew when he'd need her to fix something he broke was having trouble with. It was always more handy to be on her good side, and nothing scored brownie points like helping out on his day off. He tried to stockpile good favor with his gadgeteer as often as he could. Colin could still remember the last time he made her angry, or, as he called it, The Time of the Cheetah.
The memories still made a shiver run through him.
The food arrived just about the time they were half way through, Passing takeout boxes back and forth he eventually pulled himself away from his low mien long enough to strike up a conversation. "Are we still on for after work?" He winced a bit at the implications in that statement; thankfully, Lucy either didn't register them or wasn't bothered by the wording. "I meant for the boxing. You're starting to get pretty good."
Lucy groaned over her half-finished food. "I'm not sure I'd call myself any version of 'good'. Besides, every time we practice I look like a mugging victim for hours! Not fun." The pain of a split lip or cracked ribs was a bit of a deterrent as well, if she was honest with herself. She might have had a talent for healing quickly, but it wasn't immediate. And it didn't eliminate the pain.
When they had first started boxing together it had been to learn a measure of self-defense. Lucy wasn't stupid – far from it actually. She knew what city she lived in. She also knew the Batman couldn't be everywhere; after all, this wasn't Metropolis. In times gone by she could get away with not being very prepared; she lived with her parents in a subdivision on the outskirts of town, and then on Gotham U's campus. With a little common sense she could keep the chance of danger to a minimum; not to mention her ability to 'hear' which alleyways contained the buzzing of malicious minds. But with her move to a less…put together part of town she could no longer allow herself to wander about defenseless, and Colin had been more than willing to have a sparring partner. Lucy had never been one for martial arts; in fact she felt ridiculous the one and only time she had tried to pick up ti-kwon-do in college. So slowly but surely she had begun to pick up the more pragmatic bare knuckle boxing that Colin offered to teach her. "However, you know how I enjoy the chance to deck you a good one…" she teased. "I think I'll be good to go once I close up shop."
"Good to hear, lass. I'll meet you at the usual place, shall I?" With a nod Colin threw away his empty containers and walked to their living space at the back of the shop.
Essentially a studio apartment that they had managed to cram themselves into, things were no less cluttered in it than out in the shop. However, between the two of them they managed to keep it in an organized sort of chaos, and Colin had lived in worse places. He sat around for a while, watching a bit of television until Lucy finally closed the shop. It was the usual nonsense; Arkham had another breakout, some reality star was in court, someone else had won the lotto. Sighing he resigned himself to channel surfing for a few hours until the real fun began.
It would be a lie of Colin said he didn't look forward to their boxing; it was so hard to find a halfway decent partner in Gotham. He had been wary of fighting with her originally (his mother's voice in his head telling him exactly how she felt about him striking a woman), but damn if she didn't make a good argument for him to teach her. He did have some guilt the first time she didn't manage to block a jab to the face, but it went away fast when she showed him exactly how fast she could heal.
He would have been shocked ten years ago, now it was just a bit of a surprise. It had been the perfect time to show her his own ability with electricity, but he had held back. Nothing good ever came from showing it off. Meta powers were too new to most people for them to honestly take it in stride, but thankfully they were becoming more and more prevalent as time marched on. He had heard of a group of metas a while back who were adamant that they were the next step in evolution. Curious, he had checked out their website, but to him it sounded like the same propaganda you'd find on a skinhead site or a KKK pamphlet. It had endless ramblings on why normal humans were evil and needed to be 'exterminated'. To Colin that sounded like more trouble than it was worth, especially if metas really were the next step in evolution. If time would take care of it on its own, why bother to step in?
Checking the time, he quickly got dressed in loose clothes and started out towards the old parking lot that he and Lucy normally fought in. That was one of the main benefits to living so close to the Narrows; no one would call the cops for anything less than a body. Sometimes not even then…
It would make the plans he had for tonight go much more smoothly...
Her everlasting day seemed to finally be over with. Gleefully locking up the front door, Lucy quickly changed and got ready to meet Colin. Noticing the time she tried to hurry, grabbing a hair tie and jogging out the back door and down the street. She had just managed to wrangle her hair into a pony tail as she approached the parking lot, and was about to secure it with the hair tie when she was pulled violently by the elbow. Forced to drop her hair with the force of the yank, she let out a small yip. With her hair her face it took her a minute to realize the figure pulling her deeper into the closest alley wasn't Colin. Panic seeped into her veins and Lucy dug her heels in, beginning to struggle.
Spinning her around the man grabbed her by both arms and slammed her into the hard brick of the wall. Her head met the wall with an audible crack as her vision went white and nausea overpowered her senses. When she came back to herself she just managed to decipher the menacing croon of the thug. "Now just be calm and I won't hurt you. Much." His dirty yellow teeth smiled maliciously as his eyes swept over her form.
Run! Run! You can run! Her mind was screaming at her, telling her what to do, but she couldn't make her body respond. Seeing him looming over her with lust in his eyes, twice her weight and all muscle, was not helping her to stop her panic induced rigidity. Combined with the quickly blossoming headache she was getting from her new friend Mr. Wall, all of her flight instincts were screaming. Lucy opened her mouth, ready to scream with them – she would have too, if not for the swift backhand the man delivered. No doubt he had meant it to be a deterrent to her struggling, the pain from her spilt lip meant to make her thing twice about drawing too much attention to them.
Instead the blow refocused her.
The voice in her head changed, become more powerful and insistent. Fight! Fight! You know you can fight! After all, how was this different from fighting with Colin? He was just as big as this thug, just as menacing. But Colin knew what to expect from her – the thug had no idea what she could do. You have the advantage! Now fight!
Summoning her courage she slammed her forehead into the thug's chin, sending him back with a yelp. Lucy would have smiled if she hadn't felt blood dribbling from her mouth. Curling her hands into fists she quickly decked him as hard as she could. "Bitch!" he screamed, holding what looked like a broken nose. She allowed herself a quick moment to feel proud before taking a better stance. With a flick he pulled out a knife, but Lucy was too focused – and adrenalin fueled – to be afraid any longer.
They moved around each other for what seemed like an eternity. Had she ever had a life before this? Or had she always been in this alley, fighting for her life? It didn't matter; she could clearly see her victory approaching. Where his strengths were his size and weapon, hers were speed and practice. She dodged the knife when she could, but felt it bite into her flesh more than once. Her left cheekbone, right forearm, and left hip would have new decorations, but she would be fine. She couldn't say the same for him.
She left him there in the alley, nose broken, various body parts beginning to swell in a swirl of purple bruises, a snapped wrist from when she had wrenched his knife away from him and buried it in his thigh, and - she thought – a cracked rib or two. Lucy was limping out of the alleyway, wanting nothing more than to go home and lick her wounds, when she saw him. Colin. And the bastard was smirking.
Slowly, he started to clap. "Well done. I honestly expected that I'd have to step in at some point. Or at the very least for you to scream; not that it would have really helped you, considering the side of town we live on." He shrugged off his jacket and slowly started to move forward. "Here."
Snarling she smacked his hands away. "You've been watching?! Why didn't you help me?!" She shoved him, ready to kick his ass the same way she had the man in the alley. A cry left her lips as a shot of pain struck her like lightning. She let out a stream of expletives. Why did her hands hurt so badly?
"Calm down. You're probably pretty banged up, no need to make it worse. No doubt you'll start to feel it now that the adrenaline's wearing off," he said with his hands out in a placating gesture. Colin had expected her to be angry, but the murderous glint in her eyes was a bit unsettling.
"Calm down? Calm down?! Oh, I'll show you calm!" In a single fluid motion Lucy pushed out with both her hands and her mind. It was immensely satisfying to watch her bastard of a roommate fly back several feet and land flat on her ass. "Care to explain why you didn't even bother to lift a finger to help me?" She began to register that it was difficult to breathe. More than difficult actually - downright agonizing.
Colin looked at her in shock. She has telekinesis? She has telekinesis?! Why the blasted hell did she need him to teach her how to throw a punch if she had telekinesis?! Women! Putting his panic and confusion to the side he focused on trying to calm her down. Better to pacify the angry meta lady than face her wrath. "Luce, don't be stupid," he winced. Insulting her intelligence may not have been the best way to make her not want to murder him. "No matter how many times you throw a punch at me it will never be the same as having to fight a stranger who's attacking you. Better you be forced to do it with me there to intervene than having to do it without a net. So you panicked in the beginning, big deal. You pulled yourself out of it. Next time you won't panic, which is good because chances are I won't be there." Please don't force push me again, please don't force push me again…
She felt the anger drain out of her as he spoke. He's right, damn him. "So you organized this whole thing? As some kind of sick test? Bastard."
He nodded and stood up. "You're right, I am a bastard. But now you've proven your ability to the only person who matters – yourself. You won't hesitate again, and with any luck you won't get as injured." He offered his jacket again and this time she reached for it. She tried to put it on, but as she stretched out her arms she dropped the jacket with a hiss. Clutching her chest, she almost blacked out as pain ripped through her. When she came back to herself Colin was holding her up and every inch of her hurt. Trying to stand on her own, Colin refused to let her go. "Easy now. You're hurt worse than I thought. I know you don't want to hear this, but you need to see a doctor." She opened her mouth to protest, but he was having none of it. "Don't argue Luce. Even with your healing factor, you'll need stitches for those knife wounds."
Not waiting for an answer, Colin scooped her unto his arms. Gritting her teeth against the pain of being jostled around in his arms, Lucy attempted to sort out her night. Colin was her friend, one of the only ones she had and certainly the one she saw most. They worked together, shared an apartment together, boxed together. She even helped him steal things, in a roundabout way. And tonight he had betrayed her.
Perhaps that was over dramatic. She mused to herself. He did make a very good argument… Lucy tried to look at it from his perspective. Sure she had been progressing, but she hadn't be confident in her ability until she limped her way out of that alley. Would she have made it through an attack like that? Probably. Could she have done it without help or serious injury? That was less certain. And he was right – there was no telling if anyone would be around to help her if her first fight with someone else had happened another way. It was clever of him to set this up, force her test her mettle in a way that felt real to her without actually being all that dangerous. The last vestiges of her anger slipped away into the cool night. There was nothing else for it. She would forgive him.
The clinic was busy. Druggies and thugs from most of the major gangs milled about, all in some state of injury. Placing her as in one of the cheap plastic chairs in the waiting area as gently as he could, Colin went and checked in with the receptionist. They had gone over a story on the way in, and had decided the best idea was to stick close to the truth; Lucy had been jumped near her home on the way to meet her roommate. Simple, believable, and easy to remember. She had thankfully stopped bleeding, but her healing factor meant her bruises were coming in fast, turning her a garish mix of black and blue. He winced a bit in sympathy, but the bruises made the nurse take pity on her and bump her up the list, so he supposed it wasn't all bad. She'd look like a wreck just long enough to see the doctor, and they would be on the way home by the time she really started to heal. Going back to sit with her, Colin began to feel a bit badly for not stepping in, but knew that it wouldn't have helped her in the long run if he would have. She needed to know that she could take care of herself and, as fucked up as it was, this was the only way he could think of to show her she could.
A nurse poked her head around the door that he knew from experience led to four little run down exam rooms. "Lucille Malkin?" Lucy winced as she started to stand. The nurse would assume it was from pain, but he knew it was at the sound of her full name. Trying not to laugh, he stood up and pulled her to her feet, letting her brace herself on him as they walked through the door. The nurse led them to one of the exam rooms and took Lucy's vitals. As she did so, Lucy recounted the edited story of what had happened that night, telling the nurse that the thug had run off as Colin appeared on the scene. The nurse listened with detached professionalism before leaving with a quick "Dr. Tompkins will be right in."
"I hope so," Lucy muttered. "All I want to do is lie down and sleep for days." She probably would too. Healing always took a lot out of her, and having to heal this much damage in addition to having used her telekinesis would require a massive recuperation time.
"No doubt. But while we wait for the good doctor, maybe you could explain a few things to me. Like your sudden ability to use the force?" Colin piped up from the chair in the corner.
She sighed. "I thought that might come up. My sob story's a bit long though. Sure you're up for it?" She could see him nod, his full attention on her. "Very well. But I'll expect you to share yours afterword."
"I think I can manage that," he said with a quirk of his lips. "Now stop stalling, woman."
She took a moment to gather her thoughts, and then began. "I was taken away as an infant and placed in an orphanage on the outskirts of Gotham. My mother was pregnant with me and had had some sort of accident that snapped her neck. The paramedics arrived in time to deliver me, but only just. It was supposed to be a temporary stay, just until they could find my father, you know? But a few days turned into a few weeks, and they never found him. I stayed there until I was three. The orphanage, though home to many children, was poorly funded at best. The Wayne Foundation funds plenty of local boy homes, but I guess they're not all that interested in female orphans. The orphanage was never able to garner the benefaction of many charities in Gotham, so they were forced to do what they could with what they had. We were all slightly undernourished and I was always sick. It wasn't anyone's fault really; I was a preemie, and there wasn't much they could do but give me cold medicine and an extra blanket. Thankfully I was a damn cute kid – I got adopted fairly quickly." She would have continued, but Dr. Tompkins chose that moment to walk in.
After introductions, the good doctor went through the same round of questions as the nurse and shook her head. "Ms. Malkin, I'm afraid you have several broken bones in your hands, along with what feels like three fractured ribs. In addition, some of your lacerations will need stitches. I'd like to take a few x-rays of your hands and ribs, but I'm afraid I can't do much more than brace them and prescribe some painkillers."
"I understand, Doctor." Lucy smiled softly, careful of her still cracked lip.
"Good. Now, if you'd just remove your shirt, I'll stitch you up." Dr. Tompkins turned to Colin. "Would you mind giving us a minute? You can wait right outside."
Colin nodded, relieved that he wouldn't have to stay. He liked Lucy, but not like that; besides, by now some of her less serious bruises would have started to turn into the almost healed greenish-yellow stage. That was good for Lucy, but the doctor didn't know about the healing factor and would assume they were older. No doubt she would jump to conclusions, and Colin didn't want to be there for that. He shut the door firmly behind him.
Gingerly, the doctor helped Lucy strip off her outer layers until she was sitting on the exam table in only her underwear. She knew she looked bad as soon as she saw the shock behind the professionalism in doctor's expression. Glancing down at herself she understood why. To an outsider her body was a canvas with abuse painted onto it. Wordlessly, the doctor numbed the areas around her knife wounds and started to stitch her up. Afterwards she rolled in a portable x-ray machine and began snapping pictures of her ribs and hands. Lucy was more than a little surprised that the doc hadn't commented about her half healed bruises yet. She assumed that she'd at least have to deal with a 'do you need help' or 'would you like to press charges'.
"Not all of those bruises look recent." There it was. Lucy had to concede that Dr. Tompkins was very nonchalant. She never took her eye off what she was doing. How many times did she do this a day? A month? Lucy tried not to think about it.
"It's not what you think, doc. I'm a bit of a klutz." She wanted to roll her eyes. That sounded weak even to her.
Doctor Tompkins just made a noncommittal hum. "I see. Well, if you grow tired of being a klutz," She looked up and made eye contact with Lucy. "You know where to find me. I'd be more than willing to help you."
Lucy nodded. She could do nothing but let the other woman think she was being abused. She couldn't tell Dr. Tompkins the truth. There was no way in hell she would ever tell anyone she didn't know about her meta powers. That was just asking for trouble.
After applying a few splints and being given a prescription for painkillers (along with a pamphlet about a local woman's shelter) Lucy was declared free to go. She met Colin in the hall and together they left the clinic, headed for home. "So," Colin started. "I believe you were spilling your guts to me?"
Lucy groaned. "I just had to get stitches from a doctor who thought you were abusing me. How about a little quid pro quo?"
Colin laughed. "I supposed that's fair. I was born in Ireland, as you already know. Dublin, to be more specific. Believe it or not, there was a time when I wanted to be a superhero." Lucy laughed so hard she had to stop walking. Colin was a thief, the idea of him in spandex and a cape was too much for her. At first Colin was insulted, but the look of pain on her face as she jostled her injured ribs was payback enough so he let it slide. "Are you done?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. She had the decency to blush. "Sorry."
They started walking again as he continued. "I discovered early that I wasn't normal. I had my own meta ability, much to my mother's horror. I can control small bursts of electricity. When I was a kid I'd pull it out of wall sockets and play with it. Drove my mum mad." He chuckled for a moment before the smile slipped away from his face. "I was seven when I started my first electrical fire. I didn't mean to do it, you see. My mum and I were living in a crappy apartment building at the time and there was no telling how old the wiring was. One day I was just trying to amuse myself after school while my mum ran out to the store. Before I knew it there was fire everywhere and I couldn't get out. Just as I gave up hope I was surrounded by a green light and carried out of the third story apartment, straight into the arms of my mother. The Green lantern saved my life. I promised myself then and there that I would be a hero too when I grew up." He grinned at her with more than a little irony. "As you can tell, things didn't quite work out."
Lucy looked over at him, completely absorbed in his tale. "What happened?"
Colin ran his hand through his hair. "Well, we were never that well off. Mum did all she could for us, but it seemed like there was never any money left at the end of the month. She insisted I do well in school and tried to make me participate in everything. I was so busy trying to be a kid that I didn't even know she was sick until she was dying. I think that was what she wanted. I was seventeen when she died." His voice faltered for a moment. Lucy didn't acknowledge the moment he took to mourn, just waited for him to go on.
"After that I couldn't stay in Ireland. I moved to Coast City for college and tried to start working as a hero. Unfortunately I was terrible at it. Every attempt I made to be heroic either went miserably or failed to be credited to me, despite leaving my calling card every time!" He dug into his pocket and pulled something out. Passing it to her, Lucy realized she was holding a AA battery. She would have laughed again if she didn't see how serious his face was. "This is your calling card?" He nodded. "Don't you….think it's a bit small? Wouldn't most people just think it was…junk lying around?"
"That's the beauty of it!" He rushed to explain. "People think its junk until they check and see that it's fully charged! Then they know that it was my alter ego – The Battery!" He looked so proud that she couldn't bring herself to explain that not even Batman would take that much interest in a battery lying on the floor of a crime scene. Best to leave it for another day. Besides, he had started talking again. "Anyway, in the end I got so fed up with everything that I left. I dropped out of college and drifted for a while. I picked things up here and there, learning to pickpocket and pulling a few jobs here and there. Eventually I ended up here in Gotham. My cash had just about dried up and after the third ATM I failed to knock over I got a job with you working for The Old Man. And here I am." He shrugged, finishing his story just as they made it to the back door to the shop that opened directly into their living area. Opening the door he ushered her inside before making her sit on the couch. "Now how about you tell me the end of your saga while I make you make you some dinner?"
She was exhausted, but the idea of food made her stomach growl loudly. "Well let's see," she began. "I told you I was adopted, right? Well my parents are scientists. They're from this little town in the middle of the Mojave Desert called Dessert Bluffs. The company they work for had them doing some work with Wayne Industries at the time. They'd been living in Gotham for about a year when they decided to start a family. My mom didn't want to take much time off work though, so they decided to adopt a kid instead. I swear, I've been around science all my life. I practically grew up in labs; some of my best memories are of tinkering with one of my parents or helping them perform experiments. Like you, it wasn't long before they could tell I was gifted," she paused as Colin handed her a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches. Digging in, she continued.
"You've seen most of my powers in action. What you don't know is I have a low level telepathy. At first my parents just thought I was insightful, but then I began to answer question before they asked them. They were shocked, but very excited; I assumed it was because they were scientists. They did all they could for me, trying to help me control it. I has just started school and hearing everyone's thought in my head left me drained and mentally exhausted." Lucy winced at the memory. To this day she despised crowds. "At first I was afraid of my new powers, but I learned to cope. I would have been content for things to have ended there, but after the fourth time denied sweets whisked through the air towards me or objects shook and flew about during childish temper tantrums my parents and I were forced to concede that I also possessed telekinesis. I will say, it was fortunate that along with these mental powers I developed a healing ability. Otherwise books - among other things - flying top speed at her head would have left a more permanent mark." She snickered a bit and started on her second sandwich
. "With time and practice I learned how to better use my abilities. I can usually use them without fear of collapsing from exhaustion or losing control, so long as I don't over exert myself."
"So you've been here your whole life?" Colin queried. He could tell he touched a sensitive subject as a look of nervousness overtook her face.
"Not exactly," she whispered. Finding her voice she carried on "When I was thirteen we moved back to my parent's home town. The things I saw…" she shook her head. "Anyway. I graduated at fifteen and moved back to Gotham to go to college for engineering. Right now I'm finishing my Masters in Quantum Physics, and once that happens I either have to start paying back my student loans or go for a doctorate. Either way I figured it'd be a good idea to have a little money put away, so I applied for a job with The Old Man."
Colin leaned back in his chair and gave a low whistle. "Alright then. But why didn't got get a job in one of the fancy labs around town?"
Lucy finished off her sandwich and chugged a bottle of water before answering. "It's gonna sound ridiculous, but it would be too much work. I wanted time to design and tinker around with my own ideas instead of having to do research on someone else's." She shrugged and grinned at him. "Besides, how could I pass up a friendship like this?"
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "I knew you couldn't resist me!" She laughed as she slowly got to her feet. He shooed her towards the small area around her bed that was shielded with a curtain. "Go to bed lass, I'll cover your shifts until you wake up."
Waving goodnight Lucy was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
Thank you for reading, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. The next one should be up shortly, probably sometime this week. In the meantime, please leave me a review.