Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Suicide Squad or any of the characters. I only own my OC.
"A life without a cause is a life without effect." ― Paulo Coelho
Chapter 4: The encounter
What the hell?!
Estelle was confused, not to mention completely apoplectic, towards this unknown woman. Or should she say, 'Amanda Waller' as the woman had introduced herself as. The young adult still had no idea who this older woman was...nor did she have a single clue as to why this so-called 'Waller' person was inside her apartment. She was even more worried at the fact that she knew her name.
There was a moment of brief silence, with only the two of them staring at each other. After a few more tense seconds, Estelle finally mustered up her voice. "What are you doing in my apartment?" She asked in a hard tone. However, her cool demeanor fell at the realization of something very important. Her blue eyes widened. "Where's my sister? Lilly!" She called out in worry. Her distress only increased when she didn't receive a response from her. She was about to run to Lilly's room, when the woman's voice suddenly stopped her.
"Relax, your sister is fine." Waller said nonchalantly.
Relax?! She wants me to relax? Just who does this woman think she is? And what has she done with Lilly?!
Estelle thought in anger as she made her way closer towards her. "Lady, where's my little sister? Where's Lilly?" She demanded frantically as she stood in front of her. She literally felt the energy she had inside of her start to irradiate. The palm of her hands were seconds away from glowing an angry blue. She had to tell herself to have control over powers. So she settled with the guarded option instead. "You have ten seconds to tell me where she is before I call the cops on your ass." Estelle ended up vehemently saying to her.
"That won't do you any good." Waller said, ignoring her hysterics. "And as I said before, my name is Amanda Waller and your sister is fine. She's not here at the moment, but she's under my supervision. Now take a seat, we have a lot to talk about." She said again to her, as she gestured to the couch.
Lilly wasn't here? She was under her supervision? She had taken her?! But why? Also, why did she want to talk?
Estelle's thoughts were running wild and her heartbeat certainly hadn't slowed down. On the outside though she managed to contain herself pretty well. However, what got her pretty good was the fact that this lady supposedly had her sister and that calling the cops wouldn't do her any good. Still, she had to at least try...she gazed back towards her satchel, contemplating whether to run to it and grab her cellphone that was in there and call the cops. But that thought quickly left as soon as she heard Waller speak up.
"I wouldn't do that, Estelle. Not if you want to see your sister again."
That quickly caught Estelle's attention and she glared back towards her. "Where is she?" She demanded impatiently.
"Have a seat." Was all Waller said to her.
Estelle narrowed her blue eyes at her. "Just tell me where she is. Believe me you do not want to mess with me lady." She warned her. If she wanted to, she could have knocked her out already. And she wouldn't even have to use her powers to do so.
Waller did not look bothered by her threat at all. Instead her dark brown eyes became firm. "And you do not want to mess with me." She rebuked, scrutinizing her. "Now sit down, Estelle. I won't ask you again."
Her tone of voice this time unnerved Estelle, deeply. Despite telling herself that it didn't. There was just something about this woman that made Estelle feel on edge. Not to mention, this unknown woman had Lilly under her watch.
Despite not knowing the truth, she didn't want to take any chances. Not when it came to Lilly's life. After a few seconds of just staring hard at this woman, Estelle gave in and sat down on her couch. She made sure to sit the furthest from her. She steadied herself and looked towards her. "How do you know my name?" Estelle asked her. It was an abrupt but curious question. The question had been eating away in her head. Just how did this woman know about her?
"I know a lot of things about you, Estelle." Waller answered her cryptically. "Your name is just one of the many strings of information I have on you."
This unsettled Estelle even more. She knew many things about her? Did that mean that she knew about her...powers? No, she couldn't. That wasn't possible...she had been extra careful with the use of her powers. Only Lilly and Barry knew of her secret. There was no way Lilly would tell anyone. Neither would Barry. After all, he promised her that he wouldn't tell anyone of her powers. Just like how she promised him that she wouldn't tell anyone about him. So this Waller person had to be talking about something else...she had to.
Estelle became guarded. "So what did you want to talk about?" She asked her trying to focus on why this woman was here. "I mean, it would be important if you had to break into my apartment and kidnap my sister." She said to her in a hard tone of voice.
"A necessary action. It was the only way I would get your full attention." Waller said to her business like. She then gave her a calculated expression. "I also think you already know what I want to talk to you about."
Estelle felt her hands start to sweat, but she kept her face steady. "No, I don't know." She said narrowly. "All I know is that you're a strange middle aged woman, who broke into my house, took my sister, and is now saying she knows things about me. Overall, this is borderline creepy. So remind me again why I shouldn't call the cops on you?"
Waller gave her a superior look. "Because I know your secret."
Estelle pursed her lips. "Secret...what secret?" She drawled, feeling a bit flimsy. "I don't have a secret."
"Yes, you do." Waller insisted as she narrowed her dark brown eyes. "The secret about you being a metahuman."
Estelle could have sworn that right about now she felt her blood run ice cold from hearing this. She didn't necessarily like the term metahuman...it unnerved her. Made her remember that she was indeed different. But what made her temperature drop was that this lady called her that. That she knew. Just who was this woman? She had to remain calm. She couldn't let this woman get the upper hand. "I don't know what you're talking about." Estelle said, attempting to act aloof. "I'm just a young ordinary woman trying to make a living in order to take care of her little sister."
"Oh you're more than that and you know it." Waller quickly disputed.
"Look lady..." Estelle said, raising her voice." I don't have a clue what you're talking about." She said still maintaining her act.
Waller simply took out a file that was in the briefcase she had. She opened it up and began reading from it. "Your name is Estelle Carter. Middle name Anise. Although based on your records and paperwork, your middle name is something you don't regularly like to address. You were born and raised in Star City, until your family moved to live in the suburbs. You stayed with them up until your teen years but left once you started college. Isn't that right? Please correct me if I've stated anything incorrectly." Waller asked her, but Estelle knew she was being caustic with her. Of course all the information she stated had been right. Especially the one about her not liking her middle name, and that just startled Estelle even more. But she was in no way going to let Waller get under her skin.
"So you Googled me and wrote down some facts." Estelle said, trying to be standoffish. She gave her a tight smile. "Way to go, you've reached the modern use of technology intelligence. That still doesn't prove anything unusual about me."
Waller gave her an unamused look by her lack of seriousness. She continued to read her file as it was a list of groceries. This next part sure would get a reaction out of her. "You began attending University of Washington at the age of eighteen. Thanks to a physics scholarship. Life was just dandy for you. But it wasn't until the age of nineteen that your life turned upside down." She announced and looked back up towards Estelle. She saw how frozen Estelle had gotten. Pleased by this, Waller continued reading. "The passing of your parents, getting guardianship over your younger sister, her heart diagnosis, and then the biggest one of them all. The explosion at the University's physics lab." Waller put the file of her on the coffee table and gave her a fake relieved expression.
"It was a good thing the school found out that no one was in the building during the explosion. Everybody was relieved to hear about that. But yet to my knowledge there was someone in there when it happened." Waller narrowed her eyes. "You. You were in there when it happened, and you managed to escape the wreckage before anyone noticed. Call it dumb luck, a miracle or whatever, but you survived. And you came out different...gained some unique abilities. Some of which I've already seen for myself."
Estelle was vexed. Vexed to the extreme, because this woman mentioned several emotional triggers. The death of parents, the fact that her little sister was sick, and the main one...the explosion that she was in and the powers she gained out of it. She knew everything. She hated that she somehow gained this knowledge of her and she hated it even more with how apathetic she was towards her. Like the fact that she lost her parents and that her little sister was sick meant nothing.
Waller finally got under her skin, and Estelle hated that. She never wanted to blast someone so bad like she did right now at that moment. She even felt the energy flowing through her start to pulsate. She had half a right mind to just unleash her powers. After all, Waller did say that she already saw her powers...but yet she didn't. Estelle still had small hope that perhaps Waller was bluffing about that. There was no way she could have seen her use her powers after all. She had to be lying...so with this small doltish hope, Estelle didn't say anything, but instead shook her head.
There was no need for words in order for Waller to know that Estelle was indeed denying everything she had just said about her powers. She figured this would happen, so she solemnly reached into her briefcase and pulled out her iPad. And just like she had done with Rick Flag, she showed her the surveillance video of her using her powers in that small store.
Estelle sat with her mouth agape as she silently watched the video play out. She knew exactly when this footage had taken place. About two years ago. When she and Lilly had first arrived in Central City in hopes of finding an affordable place to live. It was a rough time for them. Their parents had just passed away, and Estelle was trying her hardest to become a parental role for Lilly. But trying wasn't exactly working out for Estelle, because during this time Lilly had gotten sick with the stomach flu.
That's the only reason why she went to that damn liquor store in the first place. It was at the exact liquor store where she used her powers to defeat that robber, and it was also where she met Barry...her friend. Who also had abilities of his own. Unfortunately, Barry was caught on this surveillance footage as well. Which meant this Waller person knew about him too...they were both caught and that had Estelle worrying even more. If she was being dragged down, she didn't want to drag Barry with her. He didn't deserve that. What had her in shock was the fact that this video footage existed.
Barry and her had made sure that they had taken it down...so how was this footage still active? How?! Estelle wondered as the video footage finally came to an end. Her face practically showed everything she was feeling now.
Once the video footage came to an end, Waller pulled the iPad away ."You were saying." She said in a blasé tone to her.
Estelle remained shell shocked. "How did you get that?" She asked, completely thrown back.
Amanda Waller in comparison to her was composed. "Surveillance video footage is easy to find nowadays. You really should have been more careful if you truly didn't want to be discovered." She said to her evenly.
"I was careful." Estelle rebuked ardently. "That video footage had been deleted. We―I made sure of it." She corrected herself quickly.
Waller raised an eyebrow at her. "There's no need to deny your association with your other metahuman friend from the footage." She said the word friend with aversion.
Estelle felt her heart beat pick up faster when she heard this. She kept a hard gaze at her as she spoke up. "How'd you get it?" She finally asked, referring to the surveillance footage.
"It helps to know people in high places." Waller simply replied back to her.
People in high places? That unnerved Estelle. "Just who are you?" She asked, mystified.
Waller evened her stare. "My name is Amanda Waller and I am a high ranking U.S. government agent. And I'm here because I have a proposition for you, Miss Carter."
Estelle was slightly thrown off that she had used her last name instead of her first. This could only mean that whatever she had to say to her had to be important. "What proposition?" She asked with wariness.
"I've known and met quite a handful of metahumans in my life." Waller said grimly. "It's something that's guaranteed with my job. So I've seen a lot of different abilities, but it's yours that really did it for me."
"What's your point?" Estelle snapped impatiently.
Waller felt an ounce of annoyance at her interruption. "My point is that I'm assembling a team. A team of very bad people, hoping to do some good in the world. And I want you to be a part of it." She said earnestly.
A team of bad people? And she wanted her to join? Was she for real? Estelle scoffed. "I'm not a bad person, so I wouldn't fit your criteria for this dream team of yours." She replied to her, not at all wanting to be associated with these bad people.
"On the contrary, you couldn't be more than perfect." Waller corrected her. "I know you're not bad, but you have dealt with bad people before in your life. On account of the lifestyle your father used to have." This caused a reaction out of Estelle. Which was exactly what Waller was hoping for.
"That was years ago!" Estelle argued back. "You have no right to say that! My father got his act straight and changed." She said defending her father's honor.
Waller was not at all bothered by her outburst. "I know that. I also know that he trained you on how to defend yourself. Very thoroughly might I add. So mixing your fighting skills and powers certainly makes you more than capable."
"Capable for what?" Estelle asked bemused.
"Capable of being backup." Waller answered her.
Estelle furrowed her eyebrows. "Backup for who exactly?" She asked, exasperated. Was she going to be back up for these so-called bad people? Because that certainly did not sit well with her.
Waller simply let her gaze go past her, which only confused Estelle. The young adult was about to question her again, when a very familiar gruff voice filled the living room.
"Backup for me."
Estelle turned her head towards where she heard the voice come from. She saw someone step out from the hallway. That someone turned out to be a man, but not just any man. She recognized this man instantly. "You." She muttered with her blue eyes widening. She was greatly startled because standing not that far away from her was the nice man she had met at the diner.
