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strivingscribe · 7 years

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Salt of the Earth ~ 005

Salt of the Earth by MsMoon

Chapter 5 ~ This is Her

Chapters: 5/?

Chapter Navigation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

Fandom: Young Justice

Rating: ExplicitWarnings: Angst, Feeling? Violence?

Relationships: Maybe I was a little hasty in my last post…but no. She’s still 14, and this is Gen.

Summary: After responding to an incident, members of the team are saved by an unknown metahuman. But no protocols are in place to deal with the series of unfortunate events that assail Anitia Moore. What exactly should the team do when a someone with powers needs training but doesn’t want to be a member of the team?

Author’s Notes: If anyone was wondering, root canals might be unpleasant, but they’re nowhere near as bad as needing one and not getting one :| Remember to floss, kids -..-

It wasn't often that members of the team were called to present findings to the League directly. Today was such a day. Batman had insisted that Aqualad and Robin prepare the necessary files needed (photos, videos, transcripts) and convey their findings personally before the League made its decision.

Even so, Tim still couldn't quite get a grip. They were in the Watchtower...they were in space. Nightwing had said it would be nothing, but Tim still felt like it was the opposite of that. In fact, he suspected Dick had said that just to make him feel better. Sure he had gathered most of the data...ok, all of it, but he still felt so inept in front of all these heavy hitters.

"Aqualad." Batman had been speaking, and that singular word broke through Tim's growing panic.

"Thank you." Kaldur turned and nodded at Tim, who sprung into action. They had prepared for this, and now was no time to choke. Not now...not in front of friends and allies. "The more information we glean, the more we have come to understand how delicate this situation truly is."

Tim sent the files to each Leaguer's holo computer, then set about pulling them up in order on the big screen. Right now, everyone was looking at the video replays of what Batman had begun calling… 'the incident'. It played on the center big screen in all its glory.

"This is the incident on the Metro-Narrows." Aqualad supplied.

"Do we have any leads on this man in the masks?" Icon asked.

"Not yet. That is not the lead we have been tracking." It was about then that the girl popped up, kicking Masked-Virgil across the bridge.

"Who is this?" Wonder Woman asked.

"She is who we are here to talk about." Aqualad announced. Tim froze the video and then brought up the photos of the woman that they had managed to capture, dragging it to the left side of the screen. "This woman intervened during the incident and attempted to aid Superboy."

It was then that Tim let the video play out. She grabbed the kryptonite, she couldn't throw the kryptonite, the kryptonite wasn't kryptonite anymore. Superman showed up, Arrow showed up, and then she flew the hell out of there.

"How strange." Aquaman noted.

"What isn't immediately evident, is that her presence mimics the effects of the kryptonite. While she is near, Superboy is still paralyzed, and Superman reported feeling weakened upon approaching them."

"That's true." Superman allowed. Robin had captured a still from when her face had been exposed and she was floating near the bridge. He left that image in the corner before closing out the video.

Green Arrow took this time to speak up. "The arrow that I hit her with was an expanding foam arrow. Quick drying and buoyant, it should have swelled around her and held her in the water below. But Superboy said that she was floating in midair just beneath the bridge." He shrugged. "I don't mean to brag, but my arrows are efficient. For her to get it off of her and knock it into the water means that she has incredible reaction speed and strength."

"The crystal was all that was left behind, and that is what Robin used to find her." Aqualad said, half turning to Robin.

Robin tried to clear his throat as quietly as possible. "The crystal that was left behind was no longer kryptonite, merely clear crystal." He brought up a rotating image of the crystal. "However, I managed to find three viable fingerprints." the image on screen highlighted those prints, then brought up the image of Anita.

"They belong to Anita Lilian Moore, adopted daughter of Liam and Sharon Moore. Age: 14, Weight: 135 pounds, height: 5 ft., 5, Birthday: May 9—"

"You're saying that this girl is that woman." Black Canary asked, pointing between the two images.

Tim had done his homework, and he was not without showmanship. Both of the images had been on either side of the monitor, and they now began to float towards each other. Side by side, the contrast was pretty astounding.

"Thanks to a reconnaissance mission spearheaded by Batman, we now have confirmation on that." Robin reported.

"The listening devices?" Batman asked.

Robin nodded, but Aqualad stepped in. "That evening, the team managed to find the Moore household. Batman spoke with Mrs. Moore, offering help for her daughter, while members of the team planted listening devices at key places in the home."

Robin nodded again. "We have their conversation about the incident recorded. You have the entire transcripts in front of you, but I've highlighted key parts of the conversation."

With that, Robin hit play on the edited audio file.

"And that's when you pitched in?" the mother's voice sounded distinctly unimpressed.

"He was gonna die." young, and a touch desperate, that had to be the girl's voice.

"Baby. We have had this talk." the firmness of the mother's tone was somehow mitigated by the worry creeping in. Worry for her child, no doubt. "People die by the billions every day. That doesn't mean you have to risk yourself." that statement seemed so callous.

"Mom, it was Superboy." a pleading whisper, before her tone rose. "Superboy was going to die! Super. Boy. Superman's Boy. Might as well be Metropolis boy, Our boy, and there was no one else there!" she sounded so stricken, as though the thought of losing Superboy was personal to her.

"Anita, really!" The mother's explosive huff probably knocked the wind right out of her daughter. "Superboy is our boy?" the derision in her tone was palpable. "If you're willing to make decisions worth dying over, that's...that's not fine, I'm not happy about it, but it's your decision. Die for the people you love, die to make the world a better place, but don't die for some pseudo-fascist iconography! I'm sure that works really well for Superboy, but everyone else doesn't think of you as their girl, and they're not willing to save you. Clearly!" Long seconds passed as both women regrouped. Seconds in which all they could do was breathe. "So, what? You just jumped into the fray? Caution to the wind, and all that."

"I changed my shape!" The girl rebutted. "But.." you could her despair crawling into her tone. "I guess I just...forgot my—"

"Your fingerprints."

The sound of audio whizzing as Tim had sped to the parts of the conversation that were necessary.

"Hit the guy with the masks. Hard. I rarely take my jasper off, so." the girl says, but she pauses, lingering on some unseen communication. "The guy had put a glowing green rock on a lead chain around Superboy's neck…" There's a faint distant noise of shuffling. "It's what was killing him."

More audio whirring as the conversation that's unnecessary speeds by. "And here, she's talking about the kryptonite."

"I took it." her voice sounds loud in the quiet.

"...the ...lead?" The mother's voice is followed by shifting. "You know what lead does to you."

"Not the lead, Mom. I mean, I did tap the lead too. But...the kryptonite. I took it." Both women seem to hold their breath. "I took it all."

The silence hangs heavy before the mother speaks. "How...is that?" she sounds like she's gargled scotch recently. Many league members also shift forward, as if by pressing in they can get a closer look into the girl's experience.

"Uhhh." the girl gave one of those slightly off-kilter laughs that signals tears. "Horrific." she continues laughing breathlessly. "It's like… like I feel really weightless, or I could be if I want to, but there's this weird...shortness of breath. And I want to cry. Like, all the time. And I keep going between really just wanting to curl into a tight ball and sob and wanting to stare listlessly at the dirt, but I feel like I need to run or something's going to eat me." she takes in a shuddering breath. "It's like… like being clinically depressed, being aware of the depression, and trying to rationalize it and knowing you don't have time for this shit."

The sounds of more shifting. Some on the recording and some in the room.

"That explains why your eyes turned so green." the mother observed. "It's ok. They're still your eyes." There are squeaky kisses of the mother kissing her daughter's hands, and some of the Leaguers can't help but smile at that open affection. "What happened then?"

"Uh…" the girl swallowed audibly. "I'd uh… So, I'd punted the ass in the masks across the bridge, right? He was on the other side of the bridge. And Superman shows up…" she chuckled softly. "He just t-balled the guy with an enormous metal beam, and the guy flew all the way back across the bridge, back near us again." a beat of sobering silence. "But then, Superman flew towards us, and he… I was affected by it."

"By what?"

"The kryptonite. I mean, I'd taken it all but… but kryptonite's such a trip. Like, I couldn't-" she held back a little sob. "I was the thing that was killing them."

"Ok, first, you are not a thing."

"Not really the point, Mom." The girl reminded. She sighed. "Anyway, something hit me and knocked me off the bridge. And I was full-on hovering out there… like.. Kryptonite's really really intense and horrible, but evidently it gives you wings." the mother lets out a wheezy breath. The girl started chuckling softly again. "I remember thinking, 'I lost my camera, my scarf, and I lost my peace of mind all in one outing'." she laughed, shaking her head. "It shouldn't be funny."

The audio stopped. The rest was in the transcript...everything was in the transcript, but Tim felt as if the majority or what was necessary for the League was in this section of the recording.

"From this, we gather that Anita Moore can absorb different abilities through different minerals." Robin reports.

"She refers to jasper as a means of gaging how well equipped she is to hit Superboy's assailant." Aqualad recalls. "Her mother mentions what contact with lead does to her. And Anita mentions 'tapping' the lead and 'taking' the kryptonite."

"How did the home seem when you were there?" Black Canary asked.

"The home is adequate. Sharon Moore's ultimate concern is with her children's well being." Batman's voice is methodical. "During my discussion with her, she refused to allow any purchase or allowance on my part. Even calling the children her 'foster' children was corrected, territorially describing them as 'my children'." he flips through his own version of the transcript. "Even her discussion with them in passing makes it clear that her priority is their safety and nothing else."

"Because she is not their foster mother. She is their mother." Wonder Woman says with enough quiet conviction move a mountain.

"What else do we know about their living situation?" this came from Superman.

"Liam and Sharon Moore have owned a bakery in Metropolis for years. The couple adopted four children; Anita, Travis, Bryce, and Jeremiah. The husband, Liam Moore, passed away in an accident four years ago." Robin recited. "As for the girl, she's an exemplary student, rarely scoring below a 91. That being said, she is also a very...quiet student."

"How so?" Batman asked.

"In searching her academic records, I found several reports—all of which seem to be submitted for extracurricular science projects. Not surprising, most of those projects are based in or around geology. What is surprising is that most promising students receive some measure of support from teachers. There's a level of fanfare that goes with the academia. Something that assures the hard work is rewarded beyond the realm of general education. With the exception of one paper, Anita Moore is a ghost in the science community. She's...a ghost in her entire school. The only reason she was published at all is because her teacher sent one of her papers to the local college for a Young Minds event. It caused a stir, because she refused to attend any of the events that come with it."

"So her profile is unusually low."

"It goes beyond that." Robin continued. "Finding her online is nearly impossible. It took forever, but I managed to find a single e-mail address and an Instagram. They aren't linked to her name at all, and she works hard to upload photos and access that email through the onion."

"..the onion?"

"It's a web browser that makes it very difficult for anyone to track your activity online." Robin said. "This is a pretty extreme level of forethought when it comes to a cyber footprint."

"For a teenage girl?" Captain Atom began, before confirming exactly what Tim was eluding to. "That's downright paranoid."

"This is all well and good," Green Arrow said, rocking back in his seat. "but what can we do with all of this?"

Robin and Aqualad exchanged looks.

"Without quoting the mother directly," Batman began, "it was made apparent that any outside intervention would be…. unwelcome."

"Perhaps the girl would be more receptive to aid from those her own age." Black Canary suggests. Tim can already feel his head shaking.

"The team is more than capable of taking measures to ensure Anita Moore is well taken care of." Aqualad said, and Robin found himself nodding.

None of them took note of Superman's keen focus on the transcript.

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