Enjoy and please tell me what you think :D

L.L.A.P

~Laces

Chpt.7

"The league refused to destroy her?" Dr. Milo questioned, although he already figured the answer.

"Of course. And if you want to keep getting my funding, you have better find her and finish her. I can't be related to this in any way." A man stated, glaring at the scientist.

Milo shrugged looking at the girl's medical records.

"There's not much of your DNA in her, and all she knows is that her DNA is made up of only heroes." Milo explained. The other man shook his head.

"There is still a part of me there. If they examine her DNA close enough, they'll see a part of me and I will have no alibi as to why." The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, couldn't you just… I don't know… pay off enough people so you wouldn't be found out." Milo suggested.

"To pay off enough people to hide the fact that my DNA just so happens to be part of an experiment that may cause mass destruction? Why, that would take more money than I have."

"What about Bruce Wayne? Aren't you friends with him?"

"Childhood friends. And Bruce would ask questions, and would not be okay with what I'm doing if I did tell him." The man sighed. "So, the quick and easy solution would be for you to simply kill her."

Dr. Milo sighed, but nodded.

"We're trying, but it's hard to find her." He explained.

"Didn't you put a tracker in her?" the man questioned, and Milo looked down at the floor, feeling stupid.

"We didn't think there'd be any need." The other man sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"For a scientist, you're unbelievably stupid."

"You're the one who wanted to have some of your DNA in the experiments." Milo debated, slightly enraged that the man was putting all the blame on him.

"Because I thought they were all going to be successes! Not one surviving failure! I was supposed to be the father of powerful weapons!" the man grunted angrily. "I don't care how, but you will find her, and once you do, kill her." The man straightened out his jacket, striding to the door. "If I do get caught, I will find a way to make you pay, and you know it Milo."

Dr. Milo nodded his head, his eyes wide with fear.

"I understand sir." Milo said in a small voice, and the other man grinned, turning his back to the scientist.

"Good. Now make it happen."

~*~*~*~*~At Mt. Justice~*~*~*~*~

"Where's Athena?" Wondergirl inquired, looking at Conner, and he sighed. This was the third day of Athena living in Mt. Justice, and he quickly realized that it was going to take a while for her to get fully adjusted.

"She's been gone all morning, but the monitors haven't reported anyone going outside. I think she's…"

"Hiding so no one sees her crying?" Robin suggested in a whisper, walking over to the group holding Athena in his arms. The girl was asleep, but her cheeks were wet from when she was crying earlier.

"She must've had another bad dream." Conner sighed, gently taking Athena from Robin's hands.

Conner found out quickly that Athena was always told to never cry, but to tell a little girl that is ridiculous. So, Athena would wait until she was all alone, or where no one could see her, and just cry for a while.

Despite being safe, Athena still would think about Cadmus, and was too afraid to cry in front of everyone.

"Where was she?" Wondergirl inquired in a concerned voice.

"A supply closet." Robin answered, which would explain why Athena smelt a bit like cleaning products to Conner.

The girl started to stir in Conner's arms, and he waited for her to wake up. Her blue and green eyes settled on him in some confusion.

"Conner?" she inquired.

"It's me, Athena." Conner nodded, and the girl looked around, most likely confused how she fell asleep in a closet then somehow landed in Conner's arms.

"Why'd you lock yourself in the closet?" Wondergirl inquired, and Athena looked down at the ground.

"I…" she paused, stopping herself. Everyone knew she was in there to cry, but she never wanted to say so.

"You can talk to us, Athena. It's alright, you won't get in any trouble." Robin informed gently, and Athena looked up at him, then glanced at everyone else.

"I was… crying." She whispered in a shameful voice. "I'm sorry." She started to shake slightly. "I never… mean to cry… I just… I'm just really scared."

"Scared?" Wondergirl inquired, and Athena nodded.

"I'm scared that… I will be sent… back to Cadmus. I'm scared that I will be… found. And killed. I'm scared of… some of the team… I just get scared." She informed, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry."

"There's no need for you to be sorry about being scared, Athena." Conner stated. "We all get scared, but everything's going to be okay. We will never send you to Cadmus, we won't let you be found, and no one on this team will hurt you." Athena smiled slightly, nodding, and Conner placed her back on her feet.

"Athena, today Cassie is going to take you into town." Robin smiled.

"Cassie?" she looked up at Wondergirl, then smiled. "Is that your other name? Like how Superboy is Conner?"

"Yes." Cassie grinned, but Athena frowned slightly.

"But… what if they find me?" Athena inquired, and Cassie beamed at her.

"They can't find you if they don't recognize you." Cassie informed, taking a hold of Athena's hand.

"Here, I'll show you in your room!" she said with excitement. Athena followed Cassie, and once inside the room, Cassie took out a wig from her bag. It was dark brown and short and curly.

"I think this wig should look pretty convincing. I was thinking blond, but your skin's too dark for that to look natural. So, brown. It's short and curly, which helps because you're hair's long, wavy, and black." Cassie seemed very proud of herself.

"How do you put it on?" Athena inquired, and Cassie patted, the edge of the bed for her to sit.

"It might take a while." She informed, taking out some hair pins and a wig cap. Athena sat on the edge of the bed, where Cassie started to take strands of the girl's long hair, and started to pin the strands of hair closer to her head. She then pulled the wig cap over her head, pining it into place.

Then came the wig, which Cassie also used an excessive amount of pins to hold into place.

"There we go." Cassie grinned happily, proud of her wig work. "Now, time for your eye color."

Athena didn't necessarily enjoy the brown contacts, but she had felt much more uncomfortable before, so she could deal with the strange feeling covering her eyes.

Cassie then pulled out a pair of jeans that looked like they would fit her, along with a long sleeve shirt. Both would cover her scars easily.

The green long sleeve shirt fit well, but the jeans were slightly long. Cassie had a quick solution and rolled up her pant legs to fit.

She then gave the girl some socks and sneakers to put on.

"There." Cassie said, pleased with herself, holding up a mirror for Athena.

The small girl looked in the mirror and her eyes widened.

"I… look so different." She said in a soft voice, but then smiled. "I look different!" she could care less about the strange feeling contacts and the somewhat itchy wig. All Athena cared about was the fact that she looked different.

"Now let's head to town and get you some more cloths, and I'll take you to the mall! Oh my god, Athena, you are going to love the mall!" Cassie said with excitement. "It will be a total girl's day out. Just you and me!"

Athena couldn't help from laughing happily as she followed Cassie downstairs after the elder got changed into jeans, boots, and a sweatshirt, and pulled her hair into a pony tail.

Conner was surprised by how well Cassie was able to disguise Athena so well.

"Great disguise." Conner smiled, but then walked closer to Cassie as Athena headed towards the door. "Keep an eye on her, okay? If anything goes wrong, just give a shout. I'll hear you." He stated seriously, and Cassie nodded.

"I'll look after her, Conner. There's nothing to worry about." Cassie said softly, then caught up with Athena, ready to go outside for the second time in her life.

~*~*~*~*~At the mall~*~*~*~*~

Athena was in awe at how many people were in one large building. People were moving past her quickly and Athena was too busy observing the scene around her that she didn't realize Cassie moving ahead.

"Athena?" Cassie questioned, turning around, and she saw the girl frozen, staring at everything around her. Athena then noticed that she was separated from the older girl, and sprinted over to her.

While doing so, the young girl collided with a larger man, landing her on her butt.

"S-s-s-s-s-"Athena was trying to get the word 'sorry' out, but was too terrified. She had just collided with a man she didn't know at a busy mall. Was she in trouble? Is that a crime? Nobody else seemed to be bumping into each other.

"Are you okay?" the man questioned, helping Athena to her feet. Athena nodded and Cassie was quickly at her side.

"I'm sorry, sir. My cousin gets distracted easily." She said with an apologetic smile, and the man shrugged.

"It's alright. You two be safe, now." The man grinned, then continued to walk along.

"Watch where you're going, okay Athena?" Cassie questioned, and the girl mutely nodded. Cassie gently gripped Athena's hand, and the two walked into a clothing store.

Athena didn't expect for there to be such a large amount of clothing items. She grew up wearing a one piece zip up suit for majority of her life, but she realized that the stores didn't even sell one piece zip up suits.

Cassie had her try on t-shirts, and jeans, and shoes, and hats, and scarves, and jackets, and some items of clothing Athena couldn't even identify the name.

They ended up leaving the store with a bag that was huge, completely filled with clothing. Cassie reminded herself to thank Batman for the money to get Athena clothes. She wouldn't be surprised if she found out Batman was a billionaire or something of the sorts.

As they were walking through the mall, they passed a music shop.

"What's that?" Athena inquired, looking up at Cassie.

"What's what?" the older questioned, confused about what the girl was referring to.

"That… sound. I've been… hearing it throughout the mall… but this is a very… nice sound. It's like talking and… other things… but… not."

"You mean the music?" Cassie questioned, still perplexed.

"Is that what music is?" Athena inquired, listening more to the sound playing nearby. Cassie looked over at the music shop.

"You mean the sound coming from that store?" she questioned, pointing to the store. Athena nodded her head, and Cassie chuckled.

"Let's rock! Everybody let's rock. Everybody in the old cell block. Were dancin' to the jail house rock."

"That's Elvis." She informed, and Athena was still confused.

"Elvis?"

"The person singing. His name is Elvis." Cassie stated as she and Athena made their way to the store. Athena never was introduced to music before. She heard a guard occasionally hum, but that was the closest she had ever heard of music.

"I like Elvis." The girl nodded, listening to the song some more.

"It must be his birthday or something for them to be playing it." Cassie mused as they walked into the store. She then picked up a CD.

"Do you want to listen to this when we get home? It's all of Elvis' hits."

"Is that a good thing?" Athena inquired, and Cassie nodded.

"Yes, that's a good thing." Athena thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright…that sounds fun."

Cassie bought the CD, and the two started to head back to the exit to get back home, or at least that's what Athena started calling it. The rest of the team usually referred to it as "the base" or "Mt. Justice" but Athena was the only one who actually dubbed it as her home.

"Thank you for taking me out today. The world is so… big." Athena smiled. "And all the English is also a big help."

"Help?" Cassie inquired, raising an eyebrow. No one had told her about how Athena was still learning the language.

"For my speaking." Athena explained, and Cassie just assumed that Athena was thanking her for the experience to expand her vocabulary. "Just, thank you. I… appreciate it very much."

Cassie smiled as she swung their clasped hands a little.

"No problem, Athena."