Hacker
By Floaging
Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League, its Production Company, Affiliates, and/or Sponsors. Everything is fictional and any similarities between the characters and any living person are unintentional.
"Flash, you ate half an hour ago. How can you still be hungry?" Supergirl cried, frowning at the enormous amount of food on his tray.
"Super fast metabolism. You should know that by now, SG."
"SG?"
"Your name's too long." He looked over at Ellie. "Here you go." He dropped a tray in front of her and sat down, the food in front of him almost blocking his face. Flash scoffed the food down, only slowing as he saw Ellie stare at him incredulously. "What?" He mumbled, his mouth still full of food.
"You could so beat the Guinness World Record. Though you probably have an advantage over everybody else," She said, taking a bite out of the burger in front of her.
"How can you not be disgusted?" Supergirl asked in surprise.
"He eats so fast you can't see anything. As long as I don't end up with a gob of food on me, I'm fine."
Flash continued to eat, before settling back and burping. Ellie snickered as Supergirl rolled her eyes.
"How come nobody told us about Ellie, anyway?" Supergirl asked.
He shrugged. "Supes didn't want anyone worrying, I guess. Also, if you tell too many people it could slip out and put people in danger." He turned his attention to Ellie. "What do you last remember?"
Ellie put down her burger and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "It's a bit fuzzy actually. I remember being attacked in the bathroom at my school, then an explosion pretty clearly. My leg was on fire, I think. The rest of it is like I was blacking out." She twisted her leg around so she could see the back of it. "It's all shiny and white," Ellie said, startled. "From what the Docs said the blast damaged a lot of muscle – if I remember right they said they were going to put you on physical therapy once you woke up."
Flash glanced at her, a grin settling on his face as he noticed she was now poking her leg curiously. "You look like a little kid."
Supergirl jumped in with a retort before Ellie could come up with anything, so she continued to stare at her leg as they bickered. The scar encompassed the back of her calf from the back of her knee to just above her ankle. It was a much lighter color to the rest of her skin, as well as slightly puckered. In different lights it appeared to be shining, reminding her of the scars on her face. Shaking it off, she picked up her burger and watched in amusement as Supergirl began griping at Flash about whipped cream. He looked suitably cowed, looking around nervously at the other occupants of the cafeteria, who were snickering slightly.
"If people aren't meant to know about me, shouldn't we be somewhere where they can't seem me?" she said, her voice low. "I've finished eating so we should probably…go."
"Right, let's get out of here." Once more she was in Flash's arms, annoyed that he'd managed to startle her again. "You coming, SG?"
The girl in question scowled before floating up and shooting off. "You coming or not?"
Flash headed off after her, navigating the corridors with ease. They rushed past a couple of people, who shouted complaints as they were almost lifted off the floor by the rush of air, but arrived the speedster managed to arrive outside the medical bay in ten seconds. Flash started pounding on the door as soon as he had put Ellie down. "Yo docs, it's Flash. I think you misplaced something," He called through.
The door slid open and a small man, with a balding head and large brown beard glared up at through a pair of round glasses.
"Doc Roberts, great to see you again. I think you mislaid a patient. But don't worry, we took good care of her, didn't we, SG?"
Supergirl nodded before prodding Ellie forwards.
"No one's reported anyone missing," the doctor said, glaring up at them. "But you look like the girl with the shattered hand Doctor Marth operated on. I'll contact a nurse to check. How long have you been out?" His voice softened slightly.
"About an hour, give or take. I had lunch, so…"
Nodding, Doctor Roberts disappeared, appearing about a minute later. "I'm going to fire the idiot who was looking after you," he said sulkily, opening the door fully. "Come in, you really shouldn't be out and about with your injuries."
"I'm fine. I just came so that there wasn't a worry or anything. I've got through an hour without-" She looked at Flash before amending her statement, "with only a little help."
"I'm sorry but we can't let you wonder around without a check up to make sure you aren't aggravating your injuries. And of course after that we need clearance from one of the Founders."
"One of the Founders?" she asked, slightly puzzled.
"I'll vouch for her." Flash said, his voice filled with an authority that didn't match the grin on his face. "I'm one of the Founders, so you can't exactly keep her in if she passes the medical." Doctor Roberts looked like he was about to object. He scowled, before turning around and walking off, indicating they should follow him. When Flash went forwards to pick her up, she shook her head before shuffling forwards.
"Lean on me," Supergirl said softly. Ellie looked at her gratefully and they continued walking. The check up room wasn't a particularly long walk, though it seemed to be for Flash, who was used to getting everywhere quickly. He remained bored, as the Doctor went through a series of tests to test her mental and physical ability.
Though it was obvious that she was in a lot of pain, he seemed satisfied and told her that she had to have physical therapy every day until she could walk without pain. Flash went off to collect the bag from her room and headed back as Supergirl and Ellie were leaving the room. They all left the med bay, walking slowly to accommodate her. Once they were outside the med bay, she stopped and turned to him.
"You can carry me now," Ellie said with a grin, holding in a small shriek as he shot forwards.
They stopped off at the monitoring bay. "Hey, Bats, do you where Wonder Woman is?"
"She's on a mission. Why?" The answer contained the same menace as always.
"Do you know where that room that she organized for Ellie is?" Supergirl was now carrying the bag and had settled on the floor.
"No," he ground out.
"Do you know who does?" Supergirl asked after a moment's silence.
"No."
Flash looked over at Supergirl in concern. "I guess we'll just have to try every room until we find it," she said with a grin.
Batman swung around. "Ask J'onn. And stop bothering me," he barked before turning away again. They disappeared, and headed towards J'onn's usual headquarters. They skidded to a halt to find Superman in there, talking intently to him.
"Supes!" Flash called jubilantly. Superman turned, surprised to find a girl in his arms. "Flash, Kara. And…"
"Ellie," she said, relinquishing her hold around Flash's neck and depositing herself on the floor, wincing only slightly as she shifted her weight. "It's nice to meet you." He looked over at Flash questioningly.
"It's nice to meet you, too. J'onn was just telling me that you had woken up, but I didn't expect you to be out and about already."
"I got released after a check up."
"Do you know where her room is, Clark?" Supergirl asked before he could make Ellie feel any more self-conscious.
"Room 21, I think. It's a single up on corridor A5."
"Thanks. We're going to get her settled in. She is staying here for a while, right?" Flash asked.
"We need to have a meeting about that. Diana and Shayera should be returning soon, so once you're done, go to the meeting room," Superman said uncomfortably.
Nodding, the trio headed off yet again.
"He didn't seem particularly happy," Ellie pointed out.
"It's weird. I can understand Bats, but Supes is like a Boy Scout. Just in blue spandex." Flash frowned beneath his mask.
"Even J'onn seemed a little awkward. And I know he's usually quiet, but he hasn't said anything, both times we've turned up." Supergirl said, sounding slightly puzzled.
"The situation is pretty strange, though. I mean I met you both an hour ago and we're already acting like old friends," Ellie said as Flash slowed down.
"I guess we're just compatible," Flash shrugged, grinning. Shoving open the door, Supergirl dumped Ellie's bag on a chair. The room was simple with a double bed, a desk, bookcase and bedside table with a lamp on it. The walls were purple, the floor silver, and the window looked down onto Earth.
"Wow," she breathed, staring out into the darkness of space. "It's gorgeous."
"You'll get used to it after a while." Flash grinned. "I have to go, though. I'll come back after the meeting and we can go have some dinner. It's four now, so if I don't turn up in about two hours, I'll send Supergirl."
Ellie smiled as she slowly sat down on the bed and waved goodbye.
"You know what I find weird?" Supergirl asked as they headed off.
Flash looked back at her quizzically, slowing down to walking pace. "What?"
"You didn't hit on her. Not once. You've hit on practically every good-looking girl you've ever met. And I know she's not gorgeous, but she's cute and nice and actually laughs at your jokes." She smirked at him. "You off your game, Wally?"
He paused, mouth open in shock. "Excuse me, but I'm a stud. So, no, I'm not off my game, thank you very much. And I didn't hit on her because…because…" He frowned. "Because she had a bad experience and I'm nice. So there." He stuck out his tongue at her before disappearing off the corner.
"That is such a crap excuse!" she shouted after him.
Flash barged into the room, to find that Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman still weren't there. "Hey GL." Flash slipped into his seat.
"Hotshot, what's this I hear about you carrying around the new girl?" John said, frowning slightly.
"She was having trouble walking." Flash shrugged, turning around as both of the female Founders walked in. They slipped into their seats without a word before turning to Superman.
"Why were we called, Clark?"
Superman sat down, breaking off from conversation with Batman. "The girl that Nightwing dropped off – Elizabeth Clark, has woken up. I know that we agreed to take her in, but Bruce remains suspicious from the lack of evidence and J'onn found there is a block in her mind."
Flash glanced over at the Martian. "You read her mind without permission?"
"I was merely looking for any signs of malicious intent towards the Justice League. Bruce had asked me earlier to look once she woke up," he explained, regarding Flash with unblinking eyes.
Flash looked away first, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of J'onn poking around in Ellie's mind.
"When did you go to the medical bay?" Hawkgirl asked him.
"Flash and Supergirl brought her to the monitoring area," J'onn answered, his voice quiet. The two women glanced over at him in surprise.
Flash shifted uncomfortably. "We found her walking around the corridors – she thought she'd been kidnapped and was trying to get out."
"That seems a bit suspicious, especially with the injury to her leg."
Flash would have glared at Batman if he hadn't already been scowling. "She told us that she left because she thought it would be better to hide then for the bad guys to turn up and do more damage to her. Except obviously there weren't any bad guys."
"Still seems suspicious." Hawkgirl leaned back in her chair.
"Nightwing seemed to trust her. If he's your ex-sidekick, shouldn't you trust his judgment?" Wonder Woman said.
Batman scowled at her slightly. "There is no reason for her to be under attack. And why did they change from killing to capturing? It makes no sense."
Green Lantern sighed. "That doesn't mean she's a bad guy. Lots of things don't make sense to us, such as mindless killing, but people still do it." He turned his attention to Flash. "Do you think she should stay?" he asked him.
"Definitely. She's nice and she didn't try to get any information out of us, so there's no point in her being here, especially if she's just human." Flash looked over at J'onn.
"I detected no superpowers within in her," he acknowledged.
Superman sighed. "If she does stay here we need to organize things. You said that she is doing 5 exams for Grade 11, right?" he asked Batman, who nodded. "That means she needs to attend school. We need to keep her busy with other things. Since the Tower has never accommodated anyone 24/7, only those who aren't going on missions, we're not particularly equipped. Bruce, could you get her a tutor? Until her injuries are healed, she won't be able to go down to Earth, and I'm not sure if we could send her down then either, especially if as many people are after her as the Titans say." He looked over at them. "Alright, meeting over. We should probably tell everyone about her staying, so they know to look after her."
"I shall alert the rest of the Watchtower to her stay. I am sure those who are not here will learn through gossip." J'onn left, heading towards the communications centre.
Wonder Woman dragged Batman out, his face in a perpetual frown, while Green Lantern and Hawkgirl followed Flash, who was already dashing off around the corner. Superman himself, headed towards the monitoring bay, wanting to see if there was any missions he could go on. Right now, he needed a distraction. Batman's consistent bad mood was worse than usual, and just thinking about it was giving him a headache. Perhaps they were being overly cautious, but all the same, he hoped they were placing their trust in the right place. They didn't need any more stress placed upon them right now.