AN:
New chapter, which Mister. Enigma or Mister E helped write.
LeviathanTamer- I didn't say that she got rid of her Big Sister suit. She just gave her helmet to Kid Flash as a souvenir.
Chapter 8
Eleanor was lying down on her new bed in her new room and was staring at the ceiling. The room was empty except for the bed, closet and the bags filled with clothes that she had yet to sort through. It was unlike anywhere on Rapture were most if not all of the rooms were filled with rubbish. It was clean and it was for her alone while the small pieces of sanctuary found in the underwater city belonged to who had found it first. Even though it was a lot better comparison than that place in many ways, she couldn't find it in herself to fall asleep.
The Rapturian put a hand on her cheek and then pinched it as hard as she can to be certain that she wasn't just dreaming of being on the surface world…again.
"Ouch! Alright then I know that I'm not dreaming," she confirmed to herself while rubbing her sore cheek, the bruise that she had gave to herself was quickly healing.
She was actually here on the surface. It wasn't a dream this time. She was finally able to breathe in air that didn't smell like the sea. She was finally able to set foot on dry land and not the rusting metal platforms of Rapture. At last, she was able to look out the window and see not the bottom of the ocean but the outside world of the surface.
The sky though was unlike any of the pictures she had seen. It went beyond her wildest imaginations. How could one not get lost in its sheer beauty like she had countless of times when she arrived? Maybe she should go look at the sky again?
She decided to do just that. She got up from her bed, still wearing her nightwear that was a plain light green shirt and pajama bottom, and proceeded to exit her room.
On her way out, she had failed notice Superboy about to return to his room, which was right next to hers.
He had just been to the toilet and had relieved himself. He then saw the new girl, Eleanor leaving her room and he could tell that she was deep in thought since the normally alert girl didn't even notice him.
Her alertness was both a helpful and very dangerous aspect that she had. It was helpful because they will no longer be easily taken by surprise with her on the Team. But it was dangerous because the slightest unexpected noise might set her off. They had learned this earlier when the alarm of the oven went off, signaling that whatever M'gann was baking was finished, and startled the newly dubbed Siren which caused her to throw a fireball at the said kitchen appliance and promptly blowing it up. It was safe to say that you shouldn't try to sneak up on her if you don't want her to accidently kill you. It was a good thing that it was just the oven or it could've been one of them. You can see why that the Kryptonian was wondering why she didn't notice him yet.
He was going to call out to her but he thought better of it because he didn't want her to shoot a fireball right at his face…again. So he decided to follow her instead to see where she was going.
It's not like Superboy doesn't trust someone who had the capability to become a worldwide threat even to the Justice League. Sure, she did nearly kill them when they first met her. She did seem a little intimidating because of all the multiple powers that she had. Her screech was frightening as it was loud. Okay, maybe he doesn't entirely trust the girl.
He repressed a shudder from the memory of her screech. It wasn't anything like Black Canary's sonic screeches because it felt natural like a regular old screech and didn't do any significant damage besides momentarily causing them to go deaf. But it was more primal than their combat instructor's power. It was like a roar of a predator that was preparing to hunt for prey. And at that moment, it felt like that she was the predator and that they were her prey. How very disturbing it was for them.
His thoughts were cut off when he caught sight of Siren stopping in the middle of the hallway. She glanced upward and stared at the ceiling for a couple of minutes before she disappeared, leaving purple smoke behind that quickly dissipated.
"What the!" the clone of Superman stared wide-eyed at the spot where Eleanor was moments ago in that exact place.
He continued to stare at that spot for a few minutes before it hit him. He remembered that she was able to escape from being pinned down by disappearing which left a purple smoke just like the one earlier. They did notice that she had more than one kind of power so it was most likely that teleportation was one of them.
But it still doesn't tell him where she teleported to.
"Wait a minute," he said to himself as he looked up at the ceiling, "She was looking up before she disappeared."
"That means she probably went up, I think."
Without further ado, Superboy ran to the exit to see if he was right.
00000
The Watchtower
Around the same time that Eleanor decided to take a nightly stroll, all of the Justice League members except for Red Tornado and Captain Marvel were called in for a meeting by Batman. The Dark Knight had told them that it was of the utmost concern and everyone was put on edge when he had deemed something really important.
"So Bats, what's with the sudden house call? Not all of us live in a dark cave you know?" Flash, the crimson speedster and the mentor of Kid Flash asked him.
"You all recall the kidnapping spree that occurred in the previous year?"
"Yeah, we do," Superman, the man of steel answered, regret eating him away that someone with all if his power was unable to find the lost girls and return them to their families.
Last year's kidnapping spree had first started with just one city and wasn't even a Justice League concern. In fact, the very first victim was a girl who lived in Gotham and was around six years old. Batman and the Gotham police force were the only ones investigating it. That was until more girls began to disappear from other coastline cities. The disappearance seemed random yet it always coincided with sightings of strange lights being seen in the sea. Batman concluded that it was connected to all of the kidnappings for the victims were always young girls around the same age group and they all just so happen to live near the coast. The strange lights meant that it wasn't any ordinary culprit who they were dealing with. The kidnappings came to an abrupt stop when the Dark Knight had confronted one of the kidnappers as he tried to take away another girl from her family. The culprit showed to wield a vast amount of power, which nearly killed him. He could have handled him easily if it wasn't for the fact that the culprit had an accomplice who also had the same powers. By the time that reinforcements arrived, Batman was in a critical state and both of the attackers had escaped. They had no more clues to go on after that. It was as if the victims had disappeared off of the face of the Earth.
"Why are you bringing it up anyway?" the Kryptonian asked him, expression grim.
"We found them," Batman announced which caused all of them to break out of their depressing attitude and stare wide-eyed at him except for Black Canary and Martian Manhunter who both knew beforehand of the news.
He began to tell them everything that Sofia Lamb and her daughter had told him. He told them who had taken the girls, where they were taken to, and the reason why they were taken. Finally, he told them about Eleanor and how she escaped from wherever the young girls were taken to. They all shared looks of disgust and anger in their faces at the news.
"How can a mother do that to their own daughter!" Wonder Woman exclaimed as she slammed a fist on the table, leaving an impression of her fist on it.
"Because she merely saw her daughter as another experiment to mold into her image of perfection," he said to the irate Amazon with voice devoid of any emotion like he was just stating a fact.
"So what will become of this…woman?" Aquaman asked, wanting to call Sofia Lamb a more appropriate but improper word.
"Since she was officially declared dead to the world by the British government after she vanished for many years, she now falls under your jurisdiction, Aquaman," he replied to the king of Atlantis.
"Excuse me?" Aquaman raised an eyebrow at this.
"For the past twenty years, she was technically living in your kingdom thus giving you power over her as if she was one of your subjects," he calmly explained, "I have already consulted the British parliament concerning this issue which I explained to them should be kept secret for now."
"So it is now entirely up to you on what sentence will be given to her."
"I am also organizing on which members should go to Rapture to retrieve the remaining children and any other survivor that can find. The most logical choice would be Aquaman since underwaster missions are his forte. Next would be Superman, Zatara and myself. To be on the safe side, Wonder Woman and Captain Atom should also accompany us."
"That's a lot of heavy hitters for a search and rescue mission," Green Arrow pointed out, "But from what you just told us, you're going to need all the firepower you got."
00000
At the top of Mt. Justice
{Nice view isn't it, father?} Eleanor asked the Big Daddy that dwelt within her mind as she stared at the night sky looming over the ocean with the light of the stars being reflected of the surface of the water.
She heard him give a soft whale-like rumbling to her instead of words. This meant that the view before them really was a sight to behold that he was even mesmerized from it.
{I would have preferred to see it with my own eyes while sitting beside you but it's better than not seeing this with you at all.} her father said to her after a long while of staring into the horizon through the Eleanor's eyes.
"So what brings you here, Superboy?" Siren called out to the Kryptonian as she turned her head to look at him who stood a few feet away from her and he looked surprised.
"How did you know it was me?" he replied as his face returned to a neutral expression.
"For someone who's supposedly a part of a team that handles covert operation, you're not very stealthy," she answered, ignoring the fact that he didn't answer her previous question, "I literally heard you a mile away and I also recognized the sound of your footsteps."
"You're not the only one with 'super' hearing," she tapped her ear for emphasis.
"So again, what brings you up here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," he scowled and folded his arms across his muscular chest.
"Just wanted to see the view," she simply responded as she turned her head back to look at the ocean, "What about you?"
"I saw you leave your room earlier and I wanted to know where you're going at this time of night," he explained as his scowl lessened.
"You followed me," she stated sadly. Her earlier mood changed in that instant. It seemed that she had yet to earn the trust of her new teammates even when the others openly accepted her.
"I guess I didn't really deserve his trust not after I attempted to kill him and his friends," she muttered her thoughts out loud to herself.
"It's not that actually," he told her, having heard what she said, "I also tried to kill them when I first met them and before we even became a team. But my reason for doing so was a lot different from yours."
Her neck creaked as she turned to look at Superboy in surprise at his confession.
"What was your reason?" she was really curious on why he had tried to kill the Team before they were formed.
"You see, I'm kind of like you," he said. He looked a uncomfortable as he began to explain his origin that he was a clone of the Man of Steel and how Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad tried to save him from the facility that created him but he was given orders from his creator to detain them. He eventually had a change of heart and helped rescue them. Finally, the team was formed after they defeated his creator who transformed into a mindless monster called Blockbuster.
"So you nearly killing them and having them replaced with clones was how you boys first met."
"Pretty much," he shrugged, "M'gann joined the Team later on."
"Mmhm," she hummed in response, not really paying attention anymore as she stared at the starry sky once again.
"You must really like looking at the sky?" he asked her as he sat down beside her and stared at the view too.
"Images were implanted into my mind but it never had any of the emotions or thoughts that came with it," she explained as she continued to take in the sight, "I have to say that it feels… nice to see the real thing for myself."
Unknown to her, Superboy's eyes widened at what she last she said. It was exactly how he felt when he witnessed the sky for the very first time of his short life. He may not be naturally born like her but they both went through things that no one should ever go through. They were both connected each other through being used as a weapon by immoral scientist, defying the purpose that those scientists gave them, and wishing for a better life. They both shared a bond through a syringe and a test tube.
"I've been meaning to ask you," Eleanor broke him out of his deep thoughts as she turned to stare into his sapphire eyes with piercing blue eyes of her own, "Didn't they give you any other name besides 'Superboy'?"
"Um, no they didn't actually," he replied sheepishly.
"You mean that you don't have any other name?"
"Yeah. But I'll think of something when I need to."
"He doesn't even have his own name," Siren thought to herself, "And why haven't the Justice League give him a name?"
She deeply thought on what she should say now to the unnamed boy beside her. the friendly atmosphere that they had going quickly became awkward for her.
{To not have a name is worse than having it taken from you.} the Big Daddy, formerly named: Johnny Topside, told her.
"I have a suggestion if you want to hear it," she told the Kryptonian, "I could give you a name if you want?"
"…Yeah, sure why not?" he responded a bit hesitantly.
"How about…" she trailed off before an idea popped out of her mind.
"How about Connor?" she announced excitedly as she snapped her fingers which accidently caused small harmless spark to erupt from them that fortunately went unnoticed by the girl.
"Connor, huh?" he put a hand to his chin as he extensively thought about it.
"I like it," he told the Rapturian as he took his hand off his chin and grinned at her
"Thanks, Eleanor."
"You're welcome…Connor."
Within the innermost thoughts of Eleanor that even she could not reach, Subject Delta beamed at the exchange between his daughter and Superboy-no, Connor. He had hoped that Eleanor would happily live out her life however long it may be with the ADAM drastically extending her life span far beyond that of a normal human being. He can see that now was a pretty good start.
The rising sun began to illuminate them in its orange light signifying a start of a new day. A new beginning.
