Luck of Seven: Chapter Three

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it."

-H.E. Luccock

~~~

"No."

Bruce and Charlie glance at one another in disbelief before turning back to the gruff and non-helpful fish man.

"Whad ya mean non?" Charlotte asks shocked.

Arthur crosses his arms leaning further back info his chair and says, "I mean no. As in not gonna happen."

Anger pricks at Charlotte and she exclaims loudly throwing her hands up, "He jus' fuckin told ya da crisis we be havin' and yer lil' scaly son of a bitc-"

Bruce clears his throat, effectively cutting Charlotte's rant short and says, "When the fight comes we'll need you Arthur."

Arthur stands flexing his hands and moves closer to the fire saying, "Don't count on it, Batman."

Charlotte huffs, tugging Arthur's coat tighter around her as another shiver hits and mumbles, "Unbelievable."

As if striking a chord, Arthur rounds towards her saying heatedly, "Unbelievable? What's unbelievable is how two grown adults come to my home, my territory, and start digging into my business! I left Atlantis because of their bullshit "do this, do that" and I'll be damned if I'm going somewhere else that demands the same. I want to be left alone!"

Charlotte snarls as she springs to her feet standing up to him, her nose reaching the middle of his chest, forcing her to crane her head back as she spits, "You gon get ya wish, when da whole fuckin world is overrun by dese bugs!"

Arthur glares down at the little woman and leans down slightly, blue eyes clashing with green as he says lowly, "A strong man is strongest alone. Ever heard that little one?"

Charlie's nose flares at being called little one and cocks an eyebrow whispering back just as firmly, "Tha' makes 'bout as much sense as tits on a bull. Eva heard of l'union fait la force? In union brings strength, Monsieur Curry."

Arthur purses his lips amused by the fiery woman but still firm in his decision. Charlotte continues to glare up at him, the both locked in a heated glaring contest, forgetting about Bruce next to them.

Bruce clears his throat to break the tension and says, "We don't have anymore time for this. We need to get back Charlie and hopefully find someone else who cares."

Arthur turns his glare on Bruce as Charlotte protests slightly before slowly nodding in agreement, "Alrigh' den. Let's git on back."

Bruce gives Arthur a once over before shaking his head in frustration and leaves the light house. Charlotte sets her tea mug down gingerly and shrugs off Arthur's jacket, holding it back out to him.

Arthur sighs letting his anger go as he takes in her small frame, that still shivers every once and a while. He shakes his head and wraps the coat back around her tighter saying gently, "You need it more than I do. Goodluck little firecracker."

Charlotte opens her mouth to respond, eyes crinkled in confusion before deciding better and pulling the coat tighter around her in thanks. She grabs her staff and slings her backpack over her shoulder. Just before she exits, Charlotte stops and turns taking in the large gruff man behind her.

He crosses his arms and lifts a single eyebrow in question. She raises an eyebrow back and let's a small smirk grace her face as she says, "I'll be holdin' on tah this mon ami, till ya come take it back. Cause I has a feeling yous will and hopefully it before da world go tah shit."

Arthurs ice blue eyes glow in the dim light and his jaw flexes as he watches the short, spunky, and curvy woman bounce out of his house, her head held high.

~~~

"No luck then I presume?" Alfred asks as he holds the jets hatch open for Bruce and Charlotte.

Charlotte ignores both Bruce and Alfred as they talk about the Arthur situation. Shivering once again, Charlotte stalks back to the rooms in the back of the plane and throws her travel pack down. She can hear Bruce and Alfred murmuring in the other room about Arthur, tracking devices, and squares but Charlie pays them no mind as she strips off Arthur's coat as well as her leather trench coat and tosses them on her bed. She digs through her bag for some warmer dry clothes before heading to the shower and taking a long steamy one to help defrost her cold body.

Charlotte takes this time to think about the intriguing yet infuriating blue eyed man they left behind. The people there speak of an honorable man who brings them fish when the harbor is frozen and who genuinely cares for them. And yet he doesn't care about the fate of other people!?

Wiping the suds off her face and closing her eyes under the warm water, she remembers the feeling of his extremely warm and surprisingly comfortable arms surrounded around her. He was caring to her, making sure she was warm and had tea even while he was being aggravating. So why would he not feel the same duty and compassion towards an entire world?

And that damn smirk! How badly she wanted to slap that insufferable smirk off his face! Ever head of a strong man is strongest alone, little one? Who the hell thinks something like that! And to call her little one? That really got her fury going.

"Hey Charlie! You almost done in there?" Bruce's muffled voice comes from behind the door to the small bathroom.

Charlie yells back, "Oui! Jus' a tick Bruce!"

She shoves all thoughts of Arthur from her head and quickly finishes washing out her hair before turning the faucets off and drying off with a towel. She's feeling much better already, all the steam and heat helping her body feel back to normal. She quickly gets dressed pulling on her undergarments, black leggings, fuzzy socks, big soft pink shirt, and her combat boots. Her hair curls slightly naturally so she leaves it be and quickly gathers her dirty clothing, leaving the bathroom.

She dumps the stuff on her bed before heading over to the Alfred and Bruce's area with all their papers, pictures, and evidence which she dubbed the "research room". Alfred sits behind the computer desk, scrolling through numerous things and projecting pictures on to the other screens. Bruce is studying the drawing of the two boxes on the drawing board as she approaches them.

"Well we had luck with one person on the team list besides Ms. Charlotte."

"Tis Charlie, Alfred. Non of dat Charlotte shit." Charlie states as she leans against the wall, watching the video screen.

Alfred smiles in apology before returning back to the subject at hand, "Barry Allen of Central City. Squatting I think as he moves suddenly and often. But he does however visit his father in prison... for murdering his mother."

"Jesus!" Bruce exclaims the same time Charlotte whistles, "Damn."

Alfred adjusts his glasses ignoring them as he reads, "Young Barry always protested his fathers innocence but he was nine and nobody would listen to him."

Bruce begins to pace, his fingers lightly drumming in his chin as he asks, "We got somebody at the prison?"

Alfred spins from his computer and nods, "Oh yeah. We'll find the address."

Bruce looks as if in deep thought before he asks almost hesitantly, instantly catching Charlie's attention as he asks, "What about Diana?"

Alfred spins back around in his chair again assessing Bruce with a raised eyebrow, "You have her number sir."

Bruce sighs shaking his head and says unconvincingly, "She's probably busy anyways ya know?"

Charlie grins as she notices Bruce's uncomfortableness and the beginning of an embarassed blush working on to his cheeks. Alfred notices as well as he smirks and says sarcastically, "Perhaps I should fly to Paris with a handwritten note. 'Will you be Bruce's teammate? Check: yes or no."

Bruce's face flushes and he says as firmly as possible, "I'm only interested in her skill set."

Alfred rolls his eyes turning back to the screen and mutters, "I'm sure you are."

At this Charlie can't hold back and busts up laughing patting Alfred on the back as she exclaims, "Oh dat was a good wun!"

Alfred continues to smirk as Charlie slowly comes down from her giggle attack while Bruce glares at the both of them before waving his hand towards the computer and asks, "Can we now? Children?"

Alfred and Charlie compose themselves as Alfred brings up the next profile, "The facial recognition was a bit dodgy on this one, but we got a partial match. A Victor Stone. Genius I.Q., football scholarship to GCU... and deceased."

Bruce shakes his head, pacing the floor back and forth, "Figures. Fairytales and ghost stories."

Alfred removes his glasses and says concerend, "One misses the days when ones biggest concerns were exploding wind up penguins." Alfred pauses a moment before stating quietly, "I don't recognize this world anymore."

Charlie frowns and shakes her head in disagreement, "Yah don' ave to recognize it anymo'. Da world changes and we wit' it."

Bruce meets Charlotte's fierce green eyes and nods in agreement breathing out heavily, "She's right. We don't have to recognize it, we just have to save it."

~~~

Charlie mumbles in annoyance as she takes her deck of cards and splits it with a simple twist, shuffles with the flick of her wrist, and taps it on the table to smooth it out before repeating. Bruce had them fly back in to his mansion and bat cave to prepare and fix up his jet and some other gadgets while Alfred finds a location on either Victor or Barry.

But its taking too long for Charlotte to handle.

She glances up to where Bruce is crawled under one of his big toys and calls out to him loudly, "Yo when we be able tah git goin? Charlie is bored as all hell mon amie!"

Bruce grunts, fiddling with the undercarriage of his Batwing jet, wiping some sweat from his forehead as he huffs irritated, "We can go once there's a lock on Stone or Allen. For now just be quie- ouch!"

He yanks his hand back quickly as a wire pops electricity sparks by his hand. Charlie grins in smug satisfaction at Bruce's luck before turning her attention back to her cards, trying to keep the boredem at bay. She doesn't have to wait long as the sound of clicking heels approaching allows her to notice the woman striding into the cave. She's fairly tall, definitley standing above Charlotte with long chocolate hair pulled back in a practical ponytail. Her outfit and stance radiate confidence and control as she leisurely takes her time walking over to Charlie and Bruce.

Charlotte finishes shuffling her cards before taking the last one, rolling it between her fingers before flinging it at Bruce without using her powers. It arcs through the air and hits him in the back of the head, causing him to drop a tool and turn growling at Charlotte, "The fuck, Dubois?"

Charlie laughs at his frustrated expression before nonchalanty waving her hand towards the woman stating, "Yous 'ave a friend 'ere mon amie."

The woman glances at Charlotte curiously before turning back to Bruce as he swallows back his anger and tugs a little at his collar, clearly embarassed, and says, "You know, I paid millions of dollars for this buildings security."

She simply smirks, nodding as she looks around casually, before retorting back teasingly, "Yeah. It looked expensive."

Bruce just smiles at her, allowing Charlie to seize the moment as she lets out a low whistle, chuckling as she says, "Oh non, looks tah me dat Bruce as got a petite beguin."

Bruce huffs glaring at Charlotte but she ignores it as she hops to her feet and extends her hand to the mystery woman, "Bonjou' mon cher! I am Charlotte Dubois but ye can call me Charlie."

The woman gazes at her clearly amused and curious but takes her hand giving it a firm shake as she says, "I once knew a Charlie, he was a great man. My name is Diana Prince."

The name registers to Charlotte, immediatley recalling the picture of a woman in strange metal armor surrounded by a bunch of men from the very first world war. Before Charlie can ask more on that Bruce finishes messing with his jet and calls out to Diana as he descends the ladder, "I think there's an attack coming Diana. Something we all need to be worried about."

Diana grows solemn as she shakes her head and says, "Not coming, Bruce. It's already here."

They hold each other's gazes for a few minutes, having a silent conversation before Bruce turns to Charlie, "I made a suit to help you during combat, that Alfred is currently uploading data onto. He needs you to go try it out so he can make adjustments before we head out."

Charlie nods in agreement but motions towards Diana and asks, "What 'bout da information Diana has?"

Bruce shakes his head in question and states, "Don't worry, I'll debrief you on the flight."

He claps her on the shoulder before leaving the cave with Diana. Alfred rounds the corner just in time and smiles when he sees Charlotte, nodding to her, "Hello Miss Charlie. I have upgraded and installed software into your suit as per request of Master Bruce. If you'll follow me, we can get you suited up and make any adjustments."

Charlie groans internally at the thought of having to change in and out of armor, instead of just wearing her old trusty trench coat but follows Alfred anyways as he leads her past Bruce's vehicles and over to the end of the cave where the weapons racks and all the computer monitors are. Laying on the table amomgst random parts and sketches is a form fitting suit made of thick material with armor pieces already attached. It's a flat black color with almost a translucent clear piping along the edges of the suit where the stitch line might have been. It's not very bulky, as it's skin tight but it does have armor plates already attached along the thighs, arms, and the chest making it a bit thicker. Beside the suit is gauntlets of the same design, tall armored boots, and a lower face mask.

Alfred circles the table and points to the skin tight suit explaining, "This is made of two different synthetic materials which allows your body to pass the infrared radiation or heat, through it while keeping you at your normal temperature and dry. Due to your ability with kinetic conversion, your body naturally creates more heat and when released it converts into kinetic energy. This should help you not get overheated nor too cold as your body doesnt handle that well either. The heat released through this will tap into your actual armor and help give you easier access when using your powers. You're the battery to your suit basically."

Charlie's eyebrows raise as she listens to everything Alfred said while she runs her finger over the rough and cool texture. She glances over the suit and nods to the mask asking, "Non helmet?"

Alfred shakes his head grabbing the lower face mask as he explains, "Bruce figured you wouldn't want to be contained like that so you have a hood attached to your suit that is bulletproof, made with the same synthetic material as the rest, and a lower face mask that will immediately attach. It's bulletproof as well, contains audio for speaking to the team and can act as a gas mask as well."

Charlie grins excited, her green eyes crinkling at the edges, as she takes in her new gadgets and asks eagerly, "So when da I git tah try mah cool suit on and blow up sum shit?"

Alfred shakes his head in bemused exasperation but motions her over towards the changing screen. As he waits, Alfred does more research on Barry Allen, finally getting a hit when he receives a text from one of the prison guards where Barry's father is kept.

He writes the information down and sighs as he makes note of who and what the team consists of. A billionaire with fancy technology, a goddess who's been alive for centuries, a hustler with wicked humor, and now a man who is as fast as lightning.

Hopefully, it'll be enough to save the world.

~~~

Gosh it's been forever since I've hashed out a chapter for y'all! I'm a terrible person for holding y'all off for so long and not getting a chapter out. Thank you so much to everyone who followed, favorited, and commented on this story! I hope I haven't let ya down and will continue to write as many more chapters as I can!! Y'all are precious and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Also for if anyone is wondering, I will have a website for this fanfic that will make things easier to understand about Charlotte as well as the team. It will have backstory, inspired playlist, her armor, glossary of words she says, and anything else that I think is relevant and kinda cool. :)