stranger things | dick grayson

fifty eight

'Just promise me one thing?' Kory mumbled into Eleanor's shoulder. 'You take care of yourself and that baby before anyone else. Got it?'

'I promise.'

+

Over the Comms, Eleanor, Dick and Tim, all listened to Kory and Lex Luthor talk back and forth. The three were staked out across from LexCorp - Dick and Eleanor had suited up, and Tim carried his bo-staff.

Eleanor was a little scared that she looked incredibly fat in her suit, and stressed her stomach was noticeable, but Kory reassured her that boys were stupid and they wouldn't notice anything different. And she was right. Nobody had noticed anything.

'What a quaint little place you have here...'

'Allow me to show you around. May I give you a tour?'

Tim announced, 'So far nothing.'

'Just give her some time,' Eleanor said softly, watching the city below through the thick glass on the twenty-second floor.

They listened to Lex talk about nothing and everything, none of it being of actual real importance.

'Powerful, isn't it? Gautier. I acquired this bottle at auction. It was found in the sealed-off compartment underneath Jean-Paul Marat's bathtub.

'It tastes like it.'

'To new friends?'

'We'll see...'

Dick and Eleanor grinned at one another widely. Kory always made just the right call.

'I have so many questions for you. So much I want to learn about your planet, history, and your abilities...'

Feeling her stomach churn, Eleanor placed a hand on her hip and inhaled sharply, turning away from Tim and Dick. This was the wrong time to be throwing up. She forced herself to take deep breaths as the room spun and she fought to swallow to pool of saliva gathering in her mouth.

'You good?' Dick asked her, placing his hand on her lower back.

She nodded and looked at him, offering a small smile.

'I'm okay. I guess gas station food just doesn't sit right with me,' she said, pushing her hair from her face after recomposing herself.

'I don't know, you've been sick for a while now. Is there something you're not telling me?'

They stared at each other in silence, and they both knew there was something. A secret.

A couple of feet behind them, Tim began raving about how much of Lex's information he had access to, thinking that the older superheroes were listening to him. However, they weren't. They were both too focused on staring one another down.

'Eleanor... What's going on?' He asked, stepping closer to her, his hand grabbing her hand firmly.

The worry in his eyes caused Eleanor to let out a quiet sob of guilt, one to which Dick reacted rather quickly by placing his hand on her cheek as a form of comfort

'I'm, oh...'

'Isn't that exactly... how you're using him... Richard?'

They both spun around violently and rushed over to the window, their hands still in each other's. There they could see Lex standing there, facing them and offering a polite wave from his place high in his tower.

'Hasn't Bruce taught you any other way?' They shared a worried look. 'And miss Wayne, haven't you done enough damage to your name? I'd like you to meet some friends of mine... Remember, Richard, this is me being gentle.'

Eleanor let go of Dick's hand and rested it on the gun— the brand new gun that she recently bought— that she had in a holster across her chest. It was in case of emergencies, and this seemed like the perfect emergency to try it out in. Who knew what Lex Luthor was going to throw at them?

'Tim, stay down,' Dick said, noticing the young man grab his bo-staff.

They all crept out from behind the plastic sheets that had been put up due to the construction happening in the building. Eleanor squinted at the boxes in front of them and let her brows furrow when several black figures jumped out into view.

'Ninjas!' Dick muttered and pulled his batons out, the electricity crackling loudly.

'Ninjas?' Eleanor asked, baffled by the ridiculous idea.

As Dick leapt out and began attacking them, Eleanor simply dodged them, refusing to hit them. There was no way she was fighting ninjas right now, it was so ridiculous! After feeling one of them kick her back, Eleanor spun around and flared her nostrils in annoyance. Maybe her plans of avoiding confrontation were silly.

Feeling rather tired already from it all, Eleanor pulled her gun off her chest and aimed it at one of the ninjas before pulling the trigger. She had shot two more before the first one even hit the ground. Before they knew it, Eleanor had shot them all, leaving them either with their brains splattered on the plastic sheets or groaning and moaning in pain because she had shot their kneecaps.

'Are you serious?' Tim asked her in disbelief, receiving only a shrug in reply. 'Dick, you okay?'

'I hate ninjas,' he muttered with a weary sigh. Hearing another commotion, he turned around and watched as three more ninjas appeared. 'More ninjas!'

Dick somersaulted into the fight, but Eleanor remained leaning against the wall, having a battle of her own with nausea, watching as Tim unleashed his bo-staff skills onto a ninja. The ninja quickly overpowered Tim and shoved him to the floor violently with his own bo-staff.

'Okay...' She muttered to herself before sighing deeply. 'We're saving their asses again,' she quietly said to her stomach.

Eleanor pushed herself off the wall and put a bullet in the back of the ninja's head before spinning and shooting the other ninja that was seconds away from stabbing Dick with a sword. Dick grabbed the last ninja and slammed him up against the window for Lex to see the damage they did.

'Did you have to shoot them like that, Eleanor?' Tim asked her, looking at the mess they had made. 'That was insane!'

'You're welcome,' she said with a smile before tucking her gun away.

'Guys, let's go!' Dick grabbed Eleanor's hand as Tim grabbed the laptop and they all hightailed it out of the building. 

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