āWaitā¦ā You couldnāt even process something that ridiculous at first. āMy best friend all through high school was in that trial too, thatās how we met. She was a lot of things, but superhuman wasnāt one of them.ā
Barry reached in his pocket and pulled out a pocket sized composition notebook and paged through it.
āWhat was the name?ā Oliver demanded as you, and everybody else at the table watched Barry, but you were the only one who didnāt know what he was doing.
āUhā¦ oh! Me? Sorry. Her name was Irene. Irene Schumer. Why?ā
Barry went back a page and then looked up from the book at all of the heroes around him and shook his head sadly.
āWhen did you last talk to Irene?ā Diana asked gently. Too gently. Gentle to the point that you knew something terrible was up.
There was a tightness in your chest as you tried to remember. I guess it had been a while, but not a lifetime ago. You still saw her spouse posting stuff on Facebook with their kid. But now that you thought about it, Irene was always tagged in the picture, but not in themā¦ āItās been a few years. Maybeā¦ nine?ā
After they all exchanged a glance, Bruce said solomnly, āIām sorry to tell you this, but we have it on good authority that Irene has been killed.ā
Suddenly the room seemed to dim and all of the Justice Leauge were looking at you, Clark even leaned towards you as if he expected you to break right there. But you had more tact than that.
āYou have it on good authority? What the hell does that even mean, Mr. Wayne? Whoās authority is good?ā
Clark stopped Bruce from talking and slowly explained, āOnce we found out about theā¦ natureā¦ of the experiment, we started trying to track down the results and the participants. Something that Barry found outā¦ wellā¦ every year, one person from the trial was killed.ā
āSorry to interject,ā Hal suddenly spoke.
That was the first time you actually paid attention to him. His features were nearly as strong as Dianaās and Clarkās, but his hair was much moreā¦ shaggy?
āBut we thought that maybe the reason they were being killed was because of how dangerous the testers determined them to be-ā
He stopped when you snorted.
āImpossible,ā you insisted, āIrene was the only fully grown adult Iāve seen with a 1 above her head. Iāve had a three as long as I can remember until recently.ā
āUntil recently?ā Diana repeated.
Oops. Probably best to leave out the fact you were a ten right now.
āMaybe,ā Clark said when he saw you didnāt want to answer, āit has something to do with the type of power it is.ā
Clark seemed to be trying to put you at ease more than anybody else sitting at the table.
āA person with superhuman abilities or whatever canāt give off a one. Thatāsā¦ insane,ā you started arguing.
āUnless her power was deception,ā Oliver muttered. He looked at Barry and asked, āhow many people are left from that experiment that havenāt died, disappeared, or become incompacitated?ā
He didnāt even look at the book before saying ājust oneā
Every eye fell to you again.
It was like someone poured something hot over your head. Your scalp burned and tingled and then it trickled down your neck and spine and made your shoulders ache until your arms tensed. You had to decide if you believed them or not. They were supposed to be the good guys, Clark seemed to think you two were friends, but some of the stuff they were saying wasā¦ ridiculous. Impossible. Inconceivable. Unbelievable. Justā¦ You picked your coffee up and took a drink. To mask everything you were thinking.
You set it down and tried to lighten the mood by saying, āMight need something stronger.ā
That pulled a few smirks out of some.
āOkay,ā you sighed, āletās say-hypothetically- I believe you and Iām willing to go along. What isā¦ I mean, what do you wantā¦ what are you gonna do about it?ā
āWell, we started with meeting up with you for lunch to see if youād be interested in joining us. Joining our little team.ā
You examined all of them. Perfect, poised, powerful, with some kind of super power- besides Bruce (you assume). You had none of that. You had a history of hapkido, a green belt in tae kwon do, and saw floating numbers above peoples heads. That was hardly as impressive as anyone else at the table.
āWhy would you want me to?ā You finally asked. āIt doesnāt make sense. Iām not a hero. I canāt throw buildings, or fly, Iām not bulletproof, at all. Thatās not aā¦ liability? Or a bad idea?ā
āNone of us think so,ā Bruce Wayne leaned forward.
ā-Bruce,ā He corrected without making much noise.
āBruce. What do you think I have that somebody else doesnāt have?ā
It was a while before he said, āSkill. Spirit. Talent. But more importantly, a calling to be part of our team.ā
The word your grandmother had said to you everyday since your parents died until her death echoed in your head. Everything leads to your destiny, but you have to know when youāve reached it. Was this is? Did you reach it?
āSo,ā Bruce said abruptly, āWhat do you say?ā
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