Chapter Six
"Hey, did you hear we got a new member, dude?" Wally's question was nearly drowned out by the sound of his own chewing as he spoke to Roy Harper, who was sipping on his own drink, sunglasses over his eyes and dressed in civvies just like Robin and Kaldur, minus the sunglasses for Kaldur. Roy's eyes shifted towards Wally as he spoke, but he leaned back slightly in an attempt to avoid Wally's 'spray zone'.
"I mean, you've gotta come by one day. She's pretty hot." He pointed a thumb towards Robin, who instantly knew what was going to come out of his friend's mouth next. "And she even kicked Robin's but during training. Heck, when I first met her, she threw me clear across the room because I surprised her."
Roy raised an eyebrow at the statement, but Kaldur cleared his throat, already prepared to correct the mistakes in their friend's tall tale. At the sound of Kaldur clearing his throat, Roy turned towards him, his eyebrow still raised as if demanding an explanation.
"She did not throw Wally clear across the room, so to speak, but a remarkably long distance for such a small girl. And she and Robin were-"Robin interrupted him.
"She kicked my butt, okay?" Robin nearly shouted as he crossed his arms and tried to resist the urge to pout. His friends were momentarily stunned by his outburst. "Kicked my butt to kingdom come and back." He muttered the last part, but Roy heard it, and stifled a chuckle.
"Well," Roy looked around at his friends as he lifted up his water. "What's her name?" Wally was the first to respond.
"Eternal. I think I'll call her Etta. Or just Et." He spoke just after he swallowed his food, his friends grateful for this small blessing. Robin chuckled.
"I wonder how far she'd throw you if you actually called her that." Robin's chuckle turned into a laugh when he caught his friend's less than pleased expression. Kaldur and Roy caught themselves smirking at the jab towards Wally as well. Robin looked towards Roy and continued explaining.
"Said she's Black Canary's step niece," Robin rolled his eyes from behind his sunglasses, and Roy narrowed his eyes. "But we all know how that goes."
"Meta?" Roy asked as he looked around at his friends. Robin shook his head. "No powers? Like us?" He pointed back and forth towards himself and Robin. Robin nodded in response with a smirk on his face.
"And she's made friends with Artemis." Wally commented, causing the table's residents to turn towards him just in time to see him shove a handful of fries in his mouth. The three boys watched Wally with slight disgust. Even after all these years of watching Wally eat, it was difficult to hold an appetite around the boy. "Like, best friends. Eternal even teaches her moves and stuff. It's weird."
Roy and the rest of the table became quiet when the waitress came by to return Roy's credit card, and swiftly scribble her phone number down on the check just before she walked away- swinging her hips as she went.
"Look at mister Harper over here." Robin teased as the four boys exited the café, and began the trek towards their motorcycles a mile away. Roy smirked and ruffled his short friend's hair, or attempted to, since Robin swiftly swatted Roy's hand away.
"So will you be coming with us?" Kaldur asked as they walked down the road a few more feet, and then turn into the woods where Roy removed his sunglasses and replaced them with his mask so quickly no one could see a thing. Roy shrugged. He'd had a good week so far. Night had taken a break and he had all the time he wanted on his hands during the day with school over with.
"Sure. Why not meet the infamous Eternal you speak all speak so highly of."
-0-
Eternal had been sitting in her room for most of the day that day. After training, nothing really exiting had happened, and the rest of the team was out. She was alone in the cave- minus Red Tornado, but she rarely saw him. She was throwing her small knives at her worn and torn target, her knives falling onto a pillow each time she knocked one out of the wall.
She sighed loudly, and then turned to look at the black bag with her new costume in it next to her kukris on the desk across the room. She shifted her head on her pillow, and continued to look at it.
She hadn't even opened the bag yet, she was having such terrible withdrawals from her old costume that Mercy didn't even want a new costume. She wanted her old one.
Mercy sighed loudly again, and swung her legs over the side of the bed so that she was be sitting upright, and gave the bag a hard stare as if it would wither underneath her gaze. Of course, it did not, and she glared even harder.
"What color would the Bat choose for me anyway?" She wondered out loud as she stood, and walked over to the desk. If the bag would have had eyes, it would have been glaring back at her hard stare.
Mercy finally picked it up, and brought it back over to her bed as she unzipped it.
It was a deep burgundy color that made Mercy's eyes widen in surprise. She had been expecting maybe a deep purple, or dark blue color.
"Huh…" She marveled as she pulled it out of the bag with one hand, holding the bag in the other as she eyed the soft, light fabric the costume was made out of. "How can this possibly-" She stabbed at it with a throwing knife, and the knife didn't even leave a scratch. Her eyebrows shot up in shock as she looked at the unscathed fabric.
Just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she tried it again, and yet again it didn't leave a scratch.
"Holy shit." Mercy gaped as she tossed her knife over towards the target. Even though she wasn't even paying attention- the knife hit the target dead center.
She checked the thinness of the fabric again, and had to suppress another swear.
"Holy mother of balls this is amazing." She said to herself as she threw the costume on the bed and began to undress so quickly she was practically tearing off her clothes. Forget the old costume, this one was so much cooler and she hadn't even put it on yet.
Once she had pulled it on, she ran to the mirror, and quickly zipped it up, and marveled at how perfectly it fit. It was several shades darker than her disguised hair, and her false blue eyes popped like lights. But that wasn't the point of the costume, which was something Mercy had to continuously remind herself of as she began testing the dressed boundaries. She did a few high kicks then threw a few punches before looking back in the mirror with a satisfied grin.
"I look hot." She whispered to herself as she turned around and gave her own backside a good look. Mercy then looked towards her bed, and then walked over to retrieve the boots and the utility belt.
They were the same color as the rest of her suit, and she quickly strapped on the belt and slipped on the boots. Inside of the boots where special sheaths for a small knife to fit into, and the utility belt already held a new set of blades that were the same burgundy color from the tip of the blade to the end of the hilt. She brought it close to her face for a better look, and sighed in content.
"Oh, that Bat knows exactly what he's doing." Mercy muttered to herself as she finally pulled out the domino mask, which was also burgundy. "Exactly, what he's doing."
Once she had on the entire uniform, she picked up the kukris, and their designated holster and threw it over her shoulders as they should be, then braided her hair as she always did.
She looked at herself, and smirked.
"Perfect. Way to go Bats." She then reached up, and took off her domino mask, and pulled out the hair tie keeping her braid together, and just in time for Kid Flash to come barging through her door, skidding to a stop right in front of her.
"Hey Etta, come and meet-" He stopped short when he finally saw what she was wearing- or 'Etta's' narrow eyes and the feeling of the cold tip of a kukri touch his throat. Once she realized whose throat she was holding a blade to, her eyes widened, and she sheathed the kukri with a sigh.
"You have got to quit doing that, Wally." She snapped as she thrust a finger at his chest. Wally rubbed the spot with a small expression of pain and then looked at her with a confused expression. When he continued to stare at her, but now with a different expression, she stepped back, and gave him a once over.
"Wally, do you need something or were you just trying to see what I would do if you rushed me again?" Not like it would be the first time since she moved into Mount Justice. Which, quite frankly, she was doing a fair job of adjusting to; she acted normal, she made friends with most of the team right away, and she didn't act suspicious or brood in a dark corner about her past. That was what she had been trained to do. Blend in when necessary, but stand out in a fight.
Wally finally snapped out of it, and shook his head.
"N-no! Hey, Eternal, did you know you look great in that suit?" He winked, returning to his normal self quickly, and she sent him a glare.
"Wally." She snapped as she clapped his arm hard with her left hand, and then squeezed just hard enough for it to be painful. Wally winced a little, but his smile remained. "What. Do. You. Want?" She let go of his arm when she finished her choppy sentence.
"Oh!" Wally smacked his forehead. "Hello, Megan. I wanted you to come meet a friend of mine." He suddenly grabbed her arm, and before he could drag her to the main hall of Mount Justice, she hit his arm away with enough force to knock a large man off of his feet. Wally stumbled back, and ran into the desk before hitting the chair and then landing face first on the floor.
Mercy, or, right now, Eternal, smacked her own forehead, and sighed loudly as she heard Wally get up.
"Alright. I quit. I'm done touching you." Wally groaned as he stood, rubbing his nose with a look of displeasure on his face. Eternal smirked, and led herself out the door, her head held high, and her red hair swinging behind her. Kid Flash smiled with a smirk, and raced ahead, causing a gust of wind to swing Eternal's hair into her face, and tangle it more than it already was.
"WALLY!" She shouted in angrily as Wally's streak of green disappeared around a corner, leaving Eternal to flip her now even messier hair back over her head.
"Good god I need a haircut…" She muttered to herself as she attempted to untangle her hair with her gloved fingers. In another minute or so, she approached the main room, or as it was frequently called, the briefing room, but was too busy now trying to untangle her fingers to acknowledge the semi-familiar being standing next to her teammates. When she finally heard someone clear their throat, she practically ripped her fingers out of her hair, and ignored the short cry of pain her scalp made.
She looked up with her false blue eyes, and immediately spotted Red Arrow. But as far as she was supposed to know as Eternal, he was another fellow hero that she had never met before. She sent him a small grin, and then shot a glare at Wally.
"You're buying me a hair cut if you're going to keep pulling that stunt." She snarled as she pushed back her dark red hair once again. Wally imitated her, and then dodged one of Eternal's infamous glares by disappearing in a blink of an eye, and appearing next to Red Arrow.
"Eternal, meet Red Arrow, Red Arrow," Eternal held her hand out for him to shake, but Red Arrow did not uncross his arms, or even twitch for the matter. Wally noticed the tension, and his voice became discouraged. "And uh… yeah." Eternal continued to hold out her hand, even though her eyes had narrowed, and her lips were pressed together in a thin line.
"Well?" Eternal held her hand up higher, and she felt Red Arrow look towards her hand. Red Arrow didn't say a word, and the silence carried on for moment longer.
"Black Canary's niece, huh?" He suddenly asked as Eternal finally lowered her hand, and crossed her own arms. Her left eyebrow shot up.
"Step niece." She corrected. "And even better yet. I'm adopted. So technically- I'm not her niece at all, if that's what you were looking for." She sneered at him, causing the white eye slits to narrow at her.
Without another word, Red Arrow turned on his heel, and walked towards the Zeta tubes, despite his friend's protest, and he left without another word.
"Some great friend you guys have." Eternal growled as she turned on her heel as well, and walked back towards her room. "From now on, if you want me to meet someone, make sure they have some manners, unless you'd like me to cut their head off of their shoulders." And with that, she disappeared behind the corner, leaving Robin, Wally, and Kaldur to steam at their temperamental friends.
Not fifteen minutes after Eternal, or, now Mercy with the door locked and bolted behind her, had come back to her room and changed out of her suit, her cell phone rang, something that rarely happened anymore- and she squinted at the vibrating phone as it chimed its factory set ring tone over and over.
She walked over, her utility belt over her shoulder and her kukris on the desk across the room, and picked up the phone. Unknown caller. She answered anyway.
"Hello?"Mercy chirped in her regular voice "Mercy speaking." She said the last part a tad hushed, just in case anyone was listening.
"Ah, so that's your name." Mercy's eyebrow rose at the remark, and the caller quickly tried to catch his fumble. "I mean, uh, its um… Stranger? I opened the cab door for you and-"
"Called me Beautiful," Mercy finally smirked, and she could feel the caller on the other end relax as she spoke. "I remember. So," Mercy flopped onto her bed, her uniform still on. "What can I help you with, Stranger?" She asked as she raised her feet towards the ceiling, and then reached up with her free hand and began untying her boots. It was truly a scene meant to be depicted on a pin up poster.
"I was wondering if I could take you to dinner, maybe tonight or tomorrow." He asked, causing Mercy to smile. "I know its short notice but-" Mercy cut him off.
"Oh no, short notice is my specialty," She said, causing him to laugh a little. "Tonight would be great though- but under one condition." She felt him freeze a little on the other end of the phone. And he sighed quietly before speaking again.
"And what is that condition?" He asked gently. Mercy smirked, aware that she had just played with him before she even knew his name.
"You tell me your name." Mercy replied, causing him to laugh loudly. Mercy smiled, and a small chill ran up her spine. "I can't keep calling you Stranger… or at least I think I can't."
He laughed a little more before finally calming down, and asking her if that was a serious condition. She replied that it was deadly serious, and he chuckled at her response.
"Roy." He replied, causing Mercy to smile wide. "Roy Harper."
Horribly short and sadly, an obvious filler. Sorry guys. I've been a little under the weather this week and I'm also busy with exams and such. But I'd like to say thanks to those of you who have reviewed! It really means a lot to me!
And thanks to Peter the Otaku! Your story Smooth Criminal is great.