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.

Ellie wheeled herself out of the room. The med bay staff had given her a wheelchair, to allow her quicker access around the place. She attended physical therapy every day now, and was slowly becoming quicker and feeling less pain as the wounds continued to heal, but it still took her ages to get anywhere. Therefore, the wheelchair. Flash and Supergirl, who she was becoming more and more attached too, were out on missions and so she was bored. She had found herself in the company of Stargirl a number of times, as well as Green Arrow and Black Canary, no doubt having been asked by Flash and Supergirl. But there was some large crisis down on Earth, which no one had told her about. For a moment she found herself itching to grab her computer and just get it over with, but she'd promised herself she wouldn't. For now, anyway.

The corridors were at a slight slant, which helped when she was going down, but made it difficult for her to make it back up to her room. But the boredom had become too much and eventually she decided the difficulty was worth it if she could find something to do. So she ended up in the monitoring room, startled at the fact that a supposed Founder wasn't helping out in the chaos that was apparently below.

"Shouldn't you be down with the others?" she asked.

He didn't appear startled, his motion slow and fluid as he turned to regard her. "My services were not needed," he answered. There was a silence that seemed slightly uncomfortable, but settled.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know your name. We never did get introduced," she said politely, smiling up at the green man. His blue cloak was billowing around him.

"My name is J'onn J'onnz. I am from the planet Mars."

"Nice to meet you, J'onn." He continued to look at her, his gaze seeming to penetrate her very thoughts. For a minute she wondered if he was actually doing that, looking into the very depths of her heart. She felt an almost irrational fear, but it was gone as his gaze shifted back to the monitor. She took the moment of silence to take him in.

Though cliché, there seemed to be an aura of loneliness around him. He was quiet, though the authority within his words made up for it. A thought, an acknowledgement of his past perhaps, appeared, a slight bafflement at his decision to come to Earth, where there were none like him, instead of staying on the planet where there were many.

"I am the last of my kind," came the voice, invading her thoughts. "I came to Earth to warn of a great danger and stayed, creating a new family within the Justice League."

"Did you just read my mind?" Ellie asked, shock filling her words.

"I do not do it often. It is a talent. But your thoughts are slightly…loud." J'onn said, frowning before turning to her. "Do you often take time to create images of people without talking to them?" he asked her, the question filling the otherwise silent room. She hunched down into the chair, still near the doorway, feeling slightly invaded. It wasn't as though he was listening in on purpose, but there was a reason she didn't speak these thoughts out loud.

"I suppose. It's a habit. My aunt was a psychologist. If my parents couldn't pick me up from school or anything, she'd come round. She was my favorite part of the family," Ellie said, smiling slightly. "She'd take us to this little café and buy us some ice cream. Then she'd go and have a small chat with someone, or just look at them, and she seemed to know everything about them. I always tried to be like her, and eventually I picked up on the little things.

"For instance, Flash has this nervous habit. When he hasn't eaten in a while, his whole body shakes, just a little bit. And Supergirl will always sit at the same table in the cafeteria. If it's full she won't sit anywhere else, she'll just go back later. People have weird little habits, which if you look hard enough, you can pick up. Me, I'm always clenching my fingers to make them crack, without actually cracking the knuckles."

She couldn't tell if he actually cared or not, with no sign of interest on his face. She felt slightly nervous. It was silly, perhaps a little vain, but she did care what people thought of her in both appearance and personality. Everyone had their little masks, but J'onn could get behind the mask. She wondered if he's noticed how Flash wasn't as stupid as some people made out, and how Supergirl found it difficult coping with her own strength. No doubt he had. But she wasn't the mind reader here, and unless he gave up the information, she doubted she would find out.

"So you are perceptive." He broke the silence, and his eyes seemed to have softened, the voice not as emotionless as before.

"I had the training. It just takes a bit of time to find out stuff. If my brain worked at light speed like Flash's does, it might help." J'onn nodded slightly at her words as he listened. "So…what's happening that needs so many heroes?" she asked him quietly.

"There has been a large prison breaches, resulting in a number of civilian injuries as well as the robbery of a number of high technological weapons. There was cause for concern, especially as Lex Luthor broke out of prison. The rest of the Founders are worried he might go after Flash." His eyes reverted back to the screen.

"Why? Is he like his mortal enemy or something? Because I thought that was just in comic books, when you always have this one guy who always comes back to fight the same superhero. It gets a bit boring after a while."

"Luthor is Superman's 'mortal enemy', if that definition is correct. But Flash defeated Luthor about a month ago, destroying something very important to Luthor." He hesitated. "There has been concerns as to Flash's health afterwards, but he has held his own and continues to go on missions." He looked over at her, his face emotionless once more, matching his monotone voice. "You should ask Flash for details. I am sure he will be willing to tell you."

It sounded like a dismissal, and she didn't want to annoy him. Usually she would have pestered whoever it was, verging on the side of annoying, but she did not know him, and he had this kind of finality around him. "It was nice talking to you," she said softly, before wheeling out the area backwards, the wheels catching on the doorway for a moment, jolting her before she got it under control.

As she disappeared, J'onn relaxed, feeling slightly sorry for the girl, the boredom rolling off her in waves. According to Batman, she could possibly be finding information about the League to use against them. Yet within that simple conversation, she had revealed more about herself, babbling on about her previous life. Perhaps she was just lonely. Like him, she had no true family, and unlike him, she had a world full of people just like her to remind her of what she had lost.

They had caught as many as they could, but in the end it was inevitable that some would escape. It was like a surge, hundreds of villains of high risk, escaping because some idiot had thought it sensible to not call in the League when transferring them, all at the same time. Flash had found moments within it terrifying, not because of the masses but because of the power within in himself.

There were times when he had come so close to it, could feel the Speed Force surrounding him, telling him to go faster, keep going on and on until he couldn't stop. Then he would have to slow down, and one of the others would yell at him, how could you let him get away, or he'd sustain an injury and another would glare at him, this is no time to be mucking around. It was getting a little easier each time, controlling his speed becoming something more of a habit. But there were still those times, when he wasn't wisecracking or heckling the bad guy, when he almost wanted to go faster, and not just so he could catch him.

Eventually he'd get up, send a bad quip and be on his way, flirting with the good looking girls and mocking the others. It was his way to break the tension, especially after a particularly vicious fight like this. Superman was storming around, an angry look on his face even as he helped move a pillar to allow some ambulance men access to a woman under it. Luthor had gotten away, but not before taking a few shots at Flash. The look of anger on Luthor's face, and the fact that at points he could have sworn the guy was talking to thin air, wasn't exactly helping matters. He'd basically ignored Superman in his quest to get revenge for taking away Brainiac, and every moment that Luthor came after him, it was like a reminder of the Speed Force all over again.

Flash shook it off and headed towards Superman. Vigilante waved at him as he passed, before Supergirl landed directly in front of him. She settled down and frowned. "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice cautious as she smiled over at Gypsy.

"I'm fine. I was barely injured compared to some guys. But I can tell you one thing. Doctor. Light's gonna think twice before turning out the lights." He snickered slightly before quieting at Supergirl's glare. "How was she supposed to know that stopping her attack would give Shadow a chance? She didn't even know he was there." His face looked sour.

"If that had happened to me you would have laughed and said it was my own fault." She stared at him pointedly.

"It usually is." Flash scowled.

"Not always. Some of the time maybe. But you're not perfect either, so nuh."

He pulled down the skin under one eye and stuck out his tongue, before pressing his comm. link. "Mr. T, one way ticket please." He grinned, disappearing just as Supergirl lunged for him. Supergirl appeared next to him a few seconds later. "You going to see Ellie, too?" Flash asked as he hopped off the platform.

"Yeah. She's probably been really bored – basically every League member was at the break-out area." She followed him as he raced off towards Ellie's room. J'onn stepped out in front of them, causing Flash to put on the brakes, skidding along the floor.

"Hey, J'onn." Supergirl smiled.

He inclined his head towards them. "Your friend Elizabeth is in the cafeteria if you are looking for her. She is…interesting." He paused, his eyes staring off into space.

"When did you talk to her?" Flash asked puzzled.

"She came to the monitoring area. She is quite perceptive in her own way, but a little impatient, and easily bored." J'onn phased through the floor and disappeared, as Flash and Supergirl changed directions. The cafeteria was empty, but they could hear the voices coming from the kitchen area. The door slid open at their command to find Ellie in her wheelchair watching the kitchen staff cooking.

"Hey," she said, her eyes brightening. "They're teaching me how to cook."

"Why?"

"I was bored. And I can't cook." She shrugged, the casualness stiff and formal. "It was nice meeting you." She smiled at the cooks, who waved at her cheerfully. Supergirl wheeled her out as Flash grabbed some snacks from the snack bar. "Cooking is so boring." Ellie complained as soon as they were out of the cafeteria.

"So why were you there?" Supergirl asked, looking amused.

"I was more bored by myself. They had some pretty good gossip, though." She noticed their stares and shrugged. "Apparently you blab a lot when you're in the cafeteria. And I heard about you proclaiming yourself a stud, by the way. Very mature." She held back a grin at the rejected look on Flash's face.

Supergirl frowned slightly before turning to them. "Superman wants me back. I'll talk to you later." She smiled before flying off, heading to the teleport pads.

"Guess it's just you and me." Flash headed up to her room and pushed her in, sliding down the wall as she sat on the bed. "Your leg still hurt?" he asked, concern threaded through his words. "Not nearly as much. I'll apparently be able to walk with minimal pain in a couple of days. Which is good, because a week in a wheelchair and I'm already sick of it." She flopped back onto the bed and stared out the window. "It must be hard keeping your attention on one specific thing."

"What do you mean?" His gaze fastened onto her.

"You said that your brain works at light speed, right?" Ellie propped herself up on her elbows, allowing her to see him nod. "Well then, doesn't that mean you can listen to loads of different stuff. Boredom must be a real problem for you because eventually there's just going to be nothing for you to do or think about. And you think faster than anybody, so you have a shorter attention span, meaning people think you aren't as smart as you actually are." She became silent, staring into the eyes of the mask.

"I guess." His voice was uncertain before a grin appeared on his lips. "Now really isn't the time to get all deep, Ellie. I had that problem after Luthor tried beating me up."

"Because you destroyed something precious that belonged to him?" she asked. His eyes widened slightly.

"I wouldn't call it precious…it's complicated." He averted his eyes as she continued to stare. "Well, he combined with this super evil computer called Brainiac. Wanted to digitize everything and gain ultimate knowledge. I went slam, bam, and thank you ma'am, then tada! The Brainthor relationship is no more."

"Why are they concerned about your health, then? The other Founders, that is," she supplied at his puzzled look. Flash shifted, uncomfortable at being reminded of this. "To stop him, I had to go faster then…light, I guess. I tuned into something called the 'Speed Force' and…" He hesitated, before looking into her eyes. "It tried to suck me into it afterwards. The others ended up pulling me out, but for a moment…" His eyes became unfocused, staring off into the unknown. "For a moment I wanted to stay. It was the ultimate. All you did was run, like a speeder's heaven, I guess. Not that I believe in God. It was just…"

He shrugged and looked away, uncomfortable at having revealed that fact. Once he'd gotten his head around everything, remembering that longing for inner peace seemed selfish, as well as his anger at the others for pulling him out. He made a point never to think about it around J'onn in case he read his mind, though the guy was pretty good at leaving things well enough alone.

He was startled when Ellie's face appeared in front of him, a warm smile gracing her face. "Thanks for sharing," she said. "Now you need to get out so I can do some of that awful coursework Mr. Dee sent me."

He grinned before jumping up. "You need any help over to the desk?" he asked, not wanting to dent her pride. He cringed slightly when she saw the shadow of stubbornness grace her face, but he was grateful when she nodded her head. "That would be great, thanks."

He picked her up and slipped her into the chair, the funky looking laptop already on. It slightly freaked him out actually, considering she carried it almost everywhere as though it was an extension of herself. He let himself out, the tapping of the keys filling the area before he did, leaving him wondering what exactly she was doing. He shook it off. It was weird how much they had bonded in just over a week, but he looked forward to seeing her, and talking about the past. Perhaps it was because of the fact that she was an outsider, or maybe it was just because she seemed to understand the little things. It didn't really matter in the end. There was a bond, that he was pretty sure would soon be unbreakable.