DC Superheroes 1. Chapter 1

**Part**** 1**

It was a clear but cold night in Gotham city that made anyone and everyone want to be inside looking out. The wind brought in a chill off the coast, making a low fog the first few blocks inland. Everything seemed quiet but silence and peace is always deceiving.

In the Gotham shipyard, a slow-moving figure made its way to the brightly lit loading docks. At least seven men were working in that area at the time. They were all the usual graveyard shift workers and were very familiar with each other. They laughed and joked loudly with each other until the man running the small crane spotted a shape.

"Ay Josh!" he called to the shift manager. "There looks like a trespasser over in row three."

"I'm on it." Josh said, smartly saluting him before marching in the given direction. Whipping out the standard issue heavy-duty flashlight from his utility belt, he scanned the area with a critical eye. It looked like no one was there until a ghostly moan made him nearly jump out of skin. Bawdy laughter sounded behind him making him realize he was being watched by the other crewman. Putting on a brave face he strode to the area where the moan came from. But then his high-powered beam hit the body that made the sound.

Stumbling back to the opening of row three, Josh waved his arms like mad over his head. "Carl! Jimmy! Someone! I need a coat or blanket over here pronto!" he screamed before rushing back to the motionless body.

Three pairs of footsteps ran in his direction, their voices calling out in concern. They all slowed when they saw their manager hunched over a shape. One of the more burly workers elbowed his way to the front.

"Whot goin' on 'ere Josh?" he asked, stepping up to look over his shoulder. His jaw dropped at what he saw. "Whot the 'ell is wrong wit 'er?"

Josh who had been gingerly feeling the unconscious female jerked when he made her whimper in pain. "Anybody bring me what I asked?" he growled. "She has nothing to protect her from the cold." After a jacket was taken off and passed forward then Josh started giving orders. "We need to move her but I'm afraid to directly pick her up. You men-" he said, pointing to 2 workers. "Go find some long planks. You-" he said pointing to the burly worker. "Go find a first-aid kit." They all rushed off to do his orders.

Josh turned back to the unconscious girl with his brow furrowed with worry. She looked very young to him and malnourished. A weird black bruise-like thing jumped out at him from the crook of her left elbow. He gingerly touched it to probe for a possible broken bone.

Just as his fingers started to push at her skin, the girl jolted in awareness with a loud gasp and grabbed his arm with her other hand. Even with her whole body now starting to shake with either pain, fear or cold, her grip was very firm. Josh tried to smile and say something calming but the poor girl's expression looked like she was way past being comforted. Light suddenly flooded where they were, blinding Josh but only jarring a cruel memory in the girls mind.

With a loud scream and flail, two red beams shot from the girls eyes, slicing and burning anything they touched. Josh fell away with a yelp as she nicked his shoulder while the crane light was destroyed. The crane runner had been told what was going on and slowly moved over to them to try to help in any way he could but had only made it worse.

Regaining some sanity, the girl covered her eyes to stop wrecking havoc on everything. The screams of terror, pain and panic only made her strained mind struggle for control worse.

"I do believe you've had your fun." a deep but dark voice said over her.

Forgetting for a moment that her eyes were shooting out death, she snapped up to see the person before her. But the beams hit him square in the chest, slamming him back into the other side of the row. Clamping her hands over her eyes with a wail, she turned in to the wall she was against, now more than ever determined not to ever move.

"Why you little-" the dark voice said in anger but was cut off by a newcomer.

"Hey there." another deep but kind voice said near her level. "What's the matter?"

She only shook her head, crouching down farther.

"I'm sure I can help you if you let me." A gentle hand touched her shoulder. "Let me see. It takes a lot to hurt me."

With more gentle coaxing on his part, he got her to peel one of her hands away for a moment at him before she slapped it back in place.

"I see what's the matter." he said kindly. "But the only way that is going to stop is if you let it."

A unbelieving squeak came from her but she didn't remove her hands.

"I had the same problem when I was younger. My father told me the same thing and you know what, he was right." he gently took hold of her wrists and pulled. "You can stop it when you stop being afraid."

The red beams flickered on and off for a minute before staying on.

"I think I know what is the problem." he chuckled. "Its my silent angry friend behind me isn't it?" A snort came from the first man but didn't say anything. "He won't hurt you. I promise, I will help you."

With a weary sigh, the girl tried once more. Only this time instead of flickering on, they flickered off.

"I knew you could do it." her rescuer said with a kind smile. He carefully helped her stand up and put on the coat left by one of the workers.

"I must do this." the other man said and stuck a needle in the girls neck and injected the strong quick-acting sleep-inducing solution in it.

"You didn't have to do that!" cried the second man, catching the girl before she fell.

"We are here to protect this city. She is a liability we can't just let go free. Bring her back to headquarters where we can figure this out." he sighed. "You and I both know that isn't normal. And I'm sure everyone has only seen that kind of power from one person."

"And that person is me..." he looked down at the girl he held in his arms.

"Superman? Will you help me with this?" the dark man asked.

"Whatever you say Batman. I'll see you back at base then." Superman said before flying off into the night sky.

With a critical eye, Batman quickly scoured the area for a clue about what was going on but was disappointed by the lack of evidence. Getting into his transportation, he zoomed off with high false hopes this would be quick to fix.


	2. Chapter 2

**P****art 2**

Batman sighed and started the process of analyzing the unconscious girl they had found at the docks. Superman had insisted he stay and help him. Not exactly glad for someone to be here distracting him while he was trying to work, wishing to be only in the company of his computers in his smaller lab.

Batman handed Superman a special camera that looked like a piece of clear glass with metal around it to take pictures of what they found. With a specialized black light, they poured over her body as professional as two grown men could with an attractive woman.

"Take a picture of anything and everything that could help us identify what or how this happened." he ordered.

"Might want to start with that gruesome bruise there." Superman observed.

Batman nodded and ran the black light slowly over the purple-black patch of skin. The only difference with the light was a lighter point in its center. With more slow scanning and pictures, a pattern started showing deep in her skin.

"It looks like she had been bound up very tightly." Superman observed, snapping off more pictures.

Batman nodded, looking over her face and found another binding mark across her forehead. After at least 15 minutes more of searching for clues they were sure that she had been bound for a long period of time. The binding marks/scars showed up on her ankles, thighs just above the knee, across her waist, on her upper arms and wrists and forehead.

"They obviously did not want her moving." Superman said wryly. With a quick once over her body with his x-ray vision, he checked for anything internal they would have missed. Seeing an irregularity in her skin on her shoulder, they carefully sat her up. But what they saw set a lump of dread in their stomach. A big black tattoo stared up at them reading:

**SUBJECT #146**

**STRAIN 9**

**ANITA**

Still being careful of their "subject," Superman laid Anita down while Batman got one of his computers to start a full body scan and a DNA analysis going. Taking a strand of her hair, he threaded it through a small loop for the DNA.

"I think we have a bigger problem than we thought." Superman said gravely, showing him one of the pictures he had taken earlier. The image was of the bruise at 12:49 A.M. It was now at least 1:10 A.M. and it had spread, going up to the middle of her biceps to the middle of her forearm. Under closer inspection, the black skin seemed rough but things were progressing, they both whirled around to face the big computer screen when it beeped, letting them know the DNA result was reached.

"That doesn't look like normal DNA." Superman said slowly.

On the screen, there were samples taken from different places. A few were taken from normal flesh on her body while one was taken from the blackened flesh. They had both thought the normal flesh would be normal in itself. But they were wrong to think this. The un-blackened sample showed a triple Helix DNA strand. From the blackened sample, it was basically the same but Nanites were there forcing even more foreign strands in place then securing it with a very fine metal mesh.

They both agreed this had to be kept on the quiet side and only tell who asked. Giving Anita another big dose of the sleeping draft, they settled to see how this panned out. Periodically pictures were taken of her and where the "bruise" had reached.

Finally actually looking at Anita like the girl she was instead of a patient, Superman, or Clark, as everyone on Earth that knew his secret identity called him, was surprised at just how young she looked. Anita had long wavy dark-brown hair that would frame her classic beauty. Full dark-pink lips, delicate jaw line, and a straight nose graced her face.

"How old do you think she is?" Clark asked Batman. "She looks young enough to have her parents looking for her don't you think?"

Batman leaps up from his chair and started looking through the database of missing people with the name Anita or a revision of it. It took a long while, putting the time at least at 3 AM. The bruise had completely covered her arm and her left shoulder now and was working into her face and chest.

"Anything?"

"Nothing." Batman said angrily, ripping his mask off and throwing it at the wall in frustration. "I've looked at everything I could think of. Driver's licenses, birth certificates, death certificates, health records, school listings, online job applications, the social networks, even security cameras in fast food restaurants. Nothing! Its like she doesn't exist!"

Superman rubbed his eyes in weariness. "Maybe when she wakes up-"

"Be serious Clark." Batman said solemnly. "Whatever this... 'strain' is, looks like it destroys the body on purpose."

"Then lets try to reverse it!" Clark urged him.

"How do you recommend we do that?" Batman said, slowly turning to face him. "We don't know anything about her condition and I don't think there is any possibility we will anytime soon."

Clark sat down. "You don't think there is any way we can help her?"

"No." he said simply.

Clark nodded in agreement. "I'll stay here with her until..." he didn't know if he should say "until she dies" or "until the end."

Batman nodded. "If you don't mind it, I'll keep a video camera trained on her. We can analyze it later for traces of what or who could have done this."

Superman didn't know how long time passed but sitting alone with his thoughts, it seemed like an eternity. Watching the transformation of Anita's body change was a strange thing to see. Her face turned into the ugly black, her hair taking it on like a stain.

A steady hand gently grasped his shoulder. "Clark?" It was Diana, or Wonder Woman as some knew her. Always beautifully dressed in clothes that were similar to her homeland. Wearing a short red one-shouldered dress, she looked beautiful as always. He could only manage a nod of greeting, finding his voice surprisingly missing at the moment.

"Who is she?" Diana asked him softly.

Clark found his voice and cleared his throat simply saying, "Anita was her name."

"Was?"

"Bruce thinks she is going to die." Clark sighed, shoving his hand through his hair. "With all the evidence he has found, its difficult to not believe him." He stood up and slowly paced to where Anita's charred-looking body lay.

"Did you know her?"

Clark shook his head. "We have no idea if Anita is even her real name or not. She can't be found in any database so we wouldn't be able to find her family and tell them what happened to their little girl."

"Why are you so attached to her if you never knew her?" Diana asked in confusion.

"In the first minutes I had known her, she was scared and completely helpless. I had promised I would help her." he said softly.

"You and your promises." Diana said kindly, coming to stand beside him. "Wow. Can you feel that heat?" she asked him, taking a small step back. "Its coming directly from her!"

With a few commands typed into the computer, a thermal heat scan was shown of Anita's body on the screen. All the areas the black had reached on her body was very, very hot while the rest of her was slightly cooler than it should have been. Both Diana and Clark were in awe of what was going on.

"Where is Bruce?" Clark asked Diana.

"Work. Where you should be soon too?" she said pointedly.

With a quick phone call to The Globe, Clark had the day off and possibly the next few too if needed. Diana had sensed his urgency and called Bruce for him. It had taken some convincing but he promised to come. In half an hour, Bruce was here in a tailored black suit and tie.

"What's going on here?" he demanded, no longer the millionaire bachelor he was on the phone.

"She's heating up like a fire, internally and externally." Diana said before Clark could.

"That's a problem?" he asked.

"Look at the screen that you love so much Bruce and see for yourself." she said sarcastically.

Bruce glared at her but did anyway. She was completely blackened now as they watched the heat intensified. He cursed as the temperature started to get critical and dangerous to them all. Before any of them had time to really react, Anita exploded.

The blast from Anita's body singed and burned anything and everything in the room. Superman had been standing by her head but still facing the computer screen while Diana was by her feet, her back slightly to her. Bruce was the farthest away and the least affected but still burned and singed in some areas.

As the explosion happened, Bruce was thrown against the computer while Diana was blown into the actual screen, smashing the glass. Clark on the other hand had a front row seat to everything. All were first struck by the black dust that flew from her body, then blinded by a bright flash of white light, then the actual shock wave knocked them back and off their feet.

Diana groaned and picked herself up off the floor. "Damn. This was a new dress." she muttered to herself, trying to brush the black off.

Bruce seemed to be fine but his suit was no longer wearable with the back of his jacket burned off.

Clark had been blown backwards into the wall, making a near perfect mold of his shoulders. "Everyone okay?" he asked, prying himself out of the wall.

"Fine, fine. But my computers are junk now. Completely useless." Bruce said, rapping his knuckles on the burned out mainframe.

"That's not our biggest problem boys." Diana said slowly.

"Then what is?" he snapped.

Diana turned him around. "There's still a body on the table."


	3. Chapter 3

**P****art 3**

Diana was right. There was a living breathing human being still on the observation table. Pulling off his cape, Clark draped it over the body before gently moving her left arm for an inspection of his suspicion.

"The bruise is gone." he whispered in awe.

"What?" Bruce said in disbelief, running forward to see for himself.

"Will someone please explain to me what is going on?" Diana demanded.

Bruce and Clark ignored her to look and see if the tattoo of her name was still there... but it wasn't. As quickly as they could, they gave a recount of their night and its events.

"Then why isn't she awake?" Diana asked.

"I gave her quite a big dose." Bruce grimaced. "But she should wake up within a few hours."

"Best get her something to wear." Diana said wryly, leaving the lab for a change of clothes. "She can't go around wearing your cape."

"Diana!" Clark cried, flying after her retreating back.

"What do you want?" she sighed.

"Please." Clark begged her. "Help me. Help her."

With a roll of her eyes she set off to her room at the headquarters. "I may have something she could use..."

Black...

Heavy...

Warm...

Soft...

Comfortable...

Movement...

Movement!

'Sit up. Sit up!' her mind ordered her. 'Get up! Run!' but she couldn't make herself answer. Cracking open her eyelids, light painfully pierced her eyes. Moaning, she tried to roll over to her side but her body felt so heavy it was nearly impossible.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake." a kind voice said beside her.

Forcing her eyes open to see who the speaker was, she saw a very handsome man. Wavy black hair flopped over his forehead and slightly into his kind gray-blue eyes. A strong nose and cheekbones with a cleft chin made up the rest of his face. But his expression looked relieved to see her awake. Everything felt so wrong.

"Where am I?" she croaked with some difficulty.

"Somewhere safe." he reassured her and she believed him. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

With a slow negative shake of her head, she tried to sit up but her arms felt too heavy for something normal.

"Let me help you." the beautiful man said, taking her arm and putting a supportive hand behind her back. Looking down at herself, she saw a white garment on her body that she didn't recognize.

_"It's like a infant. She can't do anything for herself."_

'There's a person hidden close-by.' her brain screamed. 'Get out of here!'

"Do you know who you are?" the beautiful man asked her.

"Who are you?" she asked him.

_"Don't give her your name." _ the strange disembodied body said from somewhere.

"I'm Clark." he said. "Do you know who you are?" he asked again.

_"I said don't give her your name!"_

The beautiful man named Clark looked quickly at the wall for a moment then back at her. She looked at the wall too, hoping to see what he did but there was nothing.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking back at Clark.

"First tell me what you know. Do you know your name?" he asked once more.

'Name?' her mind thought, scrambling through the nothingness she felt for something. "No." she said softly, feeling very strange.

"Do you remember anyone?" he asked.

Another mad scramble through the nothingness but all that she came up with was him. "Just you."

"Me?" he asked with a frown that made her feel slightly scared and uncomfortable with his nearness.

Trying to move away from him with her still heavy body was nearly impossible. 'But I will get away!' her subconscious screamed.

_"Did you see that?" _the disembodied voice said. _"There is something on a deep mental damage level that is scaring her."_

"I'm so sorry." Clark said, standing up and backing away with his hands up like in surrender. "I can leave-"

"No!" she cried, but still looked terrified. "No." she said softer.

"May I ask what scared you?" he asked her.

With a heavy hand, she pointed at him then used her finger to point to her lips. "That." she said softly.

"Do you mean my frown?" he asked.

With a slow nod, she hugged herself tightly against the headboard.

_"Why would a frown scare her?" _the voice said again.

_"Maybe she has a mental illness or a phobia?" _a different voice said.

"Make it stop." she whimpered, covering her ears.

"What do you hear?" Clark said, coming closer to her.

"Voices. 2 of them." she whispered. "But I can't see them."

Clark jaw dropped for a moment then he smiled. "You must hear my friends next-door to us."

"They don't like me."

"They don't understand you." Clark corrected her.

_"Well I want to do a brain scan of her. Maybe that will help us with our mess. Will you comply?"_ one of the voices asked.

"That could prove helpful to you." Clark said, looking straight at her.

"You can hear them too?"

_"Don't-"_

"Yes I can."

_"Why am I even here to help you if you won't take my advice?" _the voice snapped unhappily.

"I'll take care of you Anita." Clark said, holding out his hand to her. "You can trust me." he promised.

She looked at his big hand then back up at him. "Anita? That's my name?"

He smiled and nodded at her. Almost trance-like she put her hand in his, not looking away from his face. He helped her stand up. "I won't let you fall Anita. I promise you that." he said with another one of his smiles.

With a lot of help from Clark, Anita left the small room. As they walked, her mind was a whirl with the information she had been given. "Anita" didn't sit completely comfortable in her mind without feeling familiar like a name should. Hopefully Clark and his friends would explain this to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**P****art 4**

"These are my friends Bruce and Diana." Clark said, introducing Anita to them. "You can trust them. They only want to help."

Anita nodded but stuck close Clark. The others hadn't stopped frowning at her since she had first seen them.

"Have to use my bigger lab." the man called Bruce said unhappily. "The other needs to be repaired." he said, looking at her before walking quickly down the hallway.

"He doesn't like me, does he?" Anita asked Clark, clutching his arm.

"You hang any harder onto his arm Honey, and you'll bruise him. That's an accomplishment in itself." the woman called Diana said a small smile on her lips.

Anita let go of Clark and stuck her hands behind her back guiltily "Sorry." she said, looking at the floor and completely missing Clark nodding his thanks to her for helping him avoid that particular question.

"No need to apologize." Clark reassured her, gently guiding her down the hall in the direction where Bruce had disappeared.

"Diana. Clark." a low voice said behind them.

"Jonn." Diana said with a smile. "Nice to see you today."

Anita turned to see a towering man with a plain-looking face with brown hair and brown eyes while wearing a plain black jacket and jeans. He came closer, looking at her with an emotionless face.

"This is Anita." Clark introduced. "Anita, I'd like you to meet Jonn Jonzz. He's another good friend of ours."

"Hello Anita." he said with a tilt of his head.

"I'm sure Bruce would like to know you are here. You could possibly help us out greatly." Diana offered.

"Of course." he said and followed them down the hall.

"Glad you could join me." Bruce said sarcastically as they came in, still tapping away at his computer.

"Hello Bruce." Jonn said as he came into the room.

"Jonn." Bruce said with a less stressed tone of voice, coming forward to shake his hand. "You were just the person I was wishing were here." Bruce quickly filled him in on the past few hours and what he wanted to do while Diana and Clark kept Anita's attention elsewhere other than on their conversation.

"I see how worried you are about this girl." Jonn said, glancing behind him at the others. "I will do as you ask. I too am very curious as to how her mind works. It is like nothing I have come upon before."

"But can you actually penetrate her mind?" Bruce asked.

"Yes I will be able to. It isn't any different from other humans I have encountered." he reassured Bruce but glanced over at the girl before continuing. "It's the presence it gives off that makes me wonder."

"Lets get started then." Bruce said before turning to face the others. "Anita, Jonn and I have a small request of you."

Anita looked at him with a cautious face. "What is it?"

"Please remember that I want to help." Bruce said slowly. "But Jonn has certain... abilities that could help us figure out what is blocking your mind and how to... fix it."

"Are you thinking about a reading?" Clark asked.

"Yes." Jonn answered simply.

"I see no problem why not." Diana agreed. "It's a lot safer than other alternatives."

"But it is your decision Anita." Clark told her. "If you don't want to do it, we can find another way."

"I will do it." she agreed.

Jonn had Anita sit in one of the chairs in the large lab with a back and armrests. The others took a few steps back, wanting to give them space but not wanting to miss what would be revealed.

"Please remember this Anita," Jonn started out. "Don't try to resist me as I enter your mind. It could possibly harm you or me in the process. Do you understand?" Anita nodded and Jonn knelt down in front of her. Even on his knees, he was the same height as her as she sat. He took her hand, his first finger on the underside of her wrist and placed his other hand on her shoulder. "Look into my eyes." he ordered, his eyes now a dark almost glowing red. Anita did as she was told, his face barely 6 inches away. "Don't resist me." he reminded, not blinking as he gently squeezed her shoulder.

Diana gasped as Anita suddenly slumped forward as if in sleep onto his shoulder. Jonn carefully pushed her back against the chair and continued with his mind reading, his eyes slowly turning yellow as he too left this room and entered a completely different world.

Jonn was surprised what he saw as Anita's mind became clearer and clearer. He had appeared in the white observing room where she had first woken up in. It looked exactly as it did now with surprising detail. He turned towards the door and turned the handle. It opened and he stepped past it, hoping to see something that would speak of her mind. It was the same hall the room opened into. He tried the door he had come through but it would not open. He tried the elevators also near the observation room but pressing the calling buttons gave him no response. Frowning and thoroughly puzzled, he tried the door that would lead to the lab they were all currently in and was not so surprised to see it was the lab itself. The big computer Bruce treasured so much was on and buzzing like it usually did. He decided to give it a try and see if it would give up any information.

Pressing a few keys, this time he was surprised it actually worked somewhat. Clicking on a file that read "Anita," he hoped it would give up some semblance of what a human mind should be. But he was sadly disappointed as if only gave a perfect recounting of the past hour she had been awake. He tried to search the computer for anything that could explain something of what was going on but it was all in vain. He sighed and slowly withdrew from her seemingly simple mind. His eyes focused on reality and he felt the deep frown on his physical face.

"What did you find?" Bruce asked, hurrying towards them.

"This." Jonn said, gesturing to the lab around them. "I saw a near perfect replica of the lab, hall, and observing room. I couldn't go beyond it. But for some reason your computer was on in her mind. There was where I found something that pointed towards it being her mind. But all I found was the memory of the past hour." he finished with a negative shake of his head.

The other were shocked at the lack of originality and information her mind had given them.

"That doesn't give much for us to work with." Bruce said, his closed hand tapping his chin.

"The human mind usually takes knowledge and images from their world around them and it shapes a world inside to its own likeness. But there was no difference from what you see now." Jonn said gravely. "It's like she has had no life before today."

By now, Anita had carefully sat up in her chair and slowly become aware of her surroundings. She looked up at Jonn with hope in her eyes. "Did you find anything?" she asked.

Jonn closed his eyes and shook his head. "I am sorry to say that I did not." Anita tried not to let her disappointment show but Clark jumped in to try to cheer her up.

"We have other ways we can reach your mind. We aren't giving up just yet." Clark promised, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

They heard Bruce sigh irritably and rub his forehead hard for a moment before turning back to face them. "I have another way we could possibly understand this. This computer isn't as good as the one recently destroyed but a brain scanis the next best thing."

"As long as it is safe." Clark said.

"It is." Bruce sighed. "I've used it myself and I'm fine."

With his back turned, he missed the concerned look between Diana and Clark. Anita, who didn't really know what was happening, knew that look meant trouble.

"Are you ready for this?" Bruce asked, not completely caring if she was or not.

After looking at Clark for a bit of courage, Anita was on the table a few minutes later with some odd hat thing on her head and something strapped to her arm. After a few more taps and clicks, Bruce and his computer were ready.

"Alright... Anita. For this to work, I need you to follow my instructions." Bruce said slowly. "Can you do that?"

"Yes." she said quietly.

"Good." he said, starting the scan. "Don't be afraid." he added as second thought.

For the next hour, Anita lay completely still on the table inside a tube-like thing. Completely going through her body systems, muscles, and bones for anything different from before... they weren't disappointed.

By now Bruce had removed his tie and rolled up his sleeves with his hair a mess. Diana was just as confused as he was, no longer wearing her shoes as she paced between Anita and the computer. Clark was the only one with a semblance of order, standing beside where Anita lay but was still confused.

"How is it possible for her to be so much more different?" Bruce asked no one in particular. "That... change from before shouldn't have done something this drastic!"

"What about her DNA?" Diana asked him.

Pulling up the files from earlier for a comparison, it was very different. The double Helix it should have been or the triple Helix it had seemed to be changing into was in the past. Her DNA was a literal column of genetics and information. If there were any Nanites still working, they were nowhere to be found.

"Is that..." Diana shook her head and looked at Clark to see if he saw what she did.

"Its like mine." Clark said in awe.

"This is impossible." Bruce grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"Try a brain scan. Maybe there will be something to explain this." Clark urged.

A couple of hurried clicks and taps, Bruce spoke to Anita. "Still with us?"

"Yes." she said softly, feeling anxious that they were so angry sounding.

"Will you please think of something happy." Bruce stated rather than asked.

"Happy." Anita repeated, her mind scrambling through the void for something along the lines of happy.

"Anita?" Bruce asked.

"I don't... have anything." she said quietly, wondering if this was normal.

"You don't?" she heard Diana say.

"No..." Anita whispered, concluding it wasn't normal.

There was silence outside her tube before Bruce said, "Can you think of something... sad? Or even scary?"

The nothingness in her mind was replaced with a few very vague memories but of ones that physically made her hurt. The flash of a black silhouette with a flash on a malicious smile leaning menacingly over her, the burning in her arm, the pain... oh the pain.

"Anita? Anita!" Clark said, breaking though the wall of bad.

"Stop her Clark. Her heart is racing and I don't want to risk losing this lab too!" Bruce hissed.

Anita trying to force herself to calm down, her body violently shake. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she apologized over and over, trying to refocus her mind on anything other than the bad black memory. But it was a much stronger memory for her than anything she knew. Her lungs seemed to be half of what was normal, making it hard for her to breathe. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt a tear slip out.

"Calm down Honey." she heard Diana say kindly, laying a comforting hand on her ankle. "Everything is fine." she promised, slowly helping Anita come back to the present.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, her shaking only in her hands now.

"Its fine Anita. You did as he asked and that is good enough." Clark said, his voice nearer to her now.

"It was more than enough actually." Bruce said, pointing to the part of her brain where memories were stored. "Look at all the memory clusters. They look like they were drained into... well that." he said, gesturing to the picture of healthy looking clusters and then raisin-like clusters. "This was not a normal memory loss. This was more like a memory editing."

"Who would do something like that?" Diana asked in disgust. "What would that even accomplish?"

"It's the ideal way for mind-control." Jonn said quietly.

"Exactly." Bruce muttered, staring intently at the screen. "I saw this somewhere but... I can't remember what from."

"I have one question." Clark interjected. "With new DNA like that, what do you think its going to mean for Anita in the future?"

Bruce shrugged. "That's beyond me at the moment. Just about anything is possible right now."

"Not very helpful but okay." Clark said with a sigh.

What Bruce suggested they do was simple, keep Anita here for now until they decided what would be better. Clark would stay here with her for a few days and Diana would come help. Bruce would come by sometimes to check up, unable to come by more often with his big company to run. Jonn promised he could and would be here to help if they needed it.

Saying goodbye to Diana and Bruce, Clark looked at the skeptical Anita with a big grin. "I think there is someone here you should meet."


	5. Chapter 5

**P****art 5**

Clark led Anita out of the lab past the cell-like room she had been in earlier and out a door into a stairwell. Ignoring the flight that went down, they went up another flight through a sliding door. It closed with a soft click behind them. When Anita looked back to see it, there was nothing but a white wall, no seam or crack anywhere to hint at the existence. Hurrying to catch up to Clark after a quick glance around the room showed it was full of bookcases and soft-looking couches to sit upon. Hoping to come back soon to this welcoming room, she rushed out the door nearly bumping into Clark.

He chuckled, making her smile. "I think you might want to see where you will be calling home for a while." he said, leading her down a smaller hallway.

It quickly opened into a huge room with a large double door thrown wide open to let in the breeze and light come in. Opposite of the door where a wall should have been was all open air. It showed an amazing backyard complete with a large wooden porch, fire pit, and a small swimming pool. Out both of the large openings, you could see a variety of tall and small trees waving their branches in the warm wind. Birds sang and called back to each other in the tree's branches with a faint sound of the ocean splashing up on a beach in the distance.

"Where are we?" Anita asked in awe of the beauty she saw.

Clark smiled at her. "This is a sanctuary for my friends and I." he explained. "We have just about everything we could want or need here. Its like a second home to us all."

Anita glanced at him then back outside. 'Where is my real home?' she asked herself as a semi-loud boom caught their attention.

Rushing back the direction they had come, Clark hurried through a double swinging door with smoke coming out the top. Anita followed close behind him to see what was going on. They had come into a room that looked like a kitchen with a strange man with silver-white hair wearing khaki pants and a short sleeve Hawaiian shirt stood facing the wall with only patches of it on fire.

"Uh, Zach? Do you need any help here?" Clark asked him.

The man called Zach looked back at them with a cheeky grin on his wizened face. "No I got it." he said, grabbing a fire extinguisher and put out the flames with a flourish.

"Uh... care to tell what happened?" Clark asked, trying not to laugh.

"Well..." Zach said, turning towards the oven. "This little technological devil here decided to burn my cake." he sniffed, grabbing the pan right out of the oven.

Anita jaw dropped when she saw his right hand. It was made completely from metal and looked like how a special robot's hand would. It had joints where human fingers bent and even the creases on where his palm would have been.

Clark sighed and shook his head. "That is a tragedy. Well Zachary, I would like you to meet Anita. She will be staying here with us for a while."

Zach's face crinkled up as he smiled at her. "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Anita." he said with a half bow.

"Zach runs the household. If you ever need anything, he is the person to ask." Clark explained.

"I will remember that." Anita said with a grin.

It was very easy to talk to Zachary, almost as easy as Clark. He was quick to laugh and smile about anything, his grin contagious to them both. Finally gathering up enough courage, Anita asked him what happened to his hand.

"Well that is a very good story." Zachary said as he showed off just how amazing his fake hand was, making the hand fold in half and show a few of the things that he carried inside it like some keys, a pen, a taser, and even a spatula. "You see about 6 years ago when I had first come here, there use to be a bunch of big sharp-toothed pests around. While I was outside doing some maintenance, one of them decided to sneak up on me for a little snack! It was only after it had taken a bite of me did I realize I wasn't alone. It took my hand and scurried away. I was almost okay with letting it live but in taking my right hand, it also had taken my championship boxing ring which was one of my most prized possessions. It was then I decided they all had to go. So after a little care on my new stump, I started to pick them off. They no longer plague this island and the birds returned. I even got my ring back!" Zachary said proudly, showing her the big black ring on his left hand with 2 gold boxing gloves crossed on its front.

"That's amazing." Anita said. "Did you make your own hand?"

"That I did. I wish I had thought of losing my hand earlier, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble when I needed a pen!" he joked.

After a few slices of Zach's pre-made cake, Clark and Anita left him to his own devices. With a quick tour of the large but cleverly built house, she was shown to a room that would be hers. The whole house itself was shaped like a U with the backyard of sorts between the two different wings. The right wing was where the kitchen was and entertainment room (where the bookcases and couches were) but the left wing was where a bunch of bedrooms were. She had a corner room at the end of the hallway on the second floor facing the backyard and the jungle/forest behind it. Anita was happy to stay here even though she didn't think she belonged.

When Diana came later that night while they were outside eating dinner on the porch, she was holding a big paper bag and offered it to Anita with one of her amazing smiles. "I think you might like what I brought you Honey."

Anita thanked her and took the bag. Carefully opening it, she pulled out a colorful sun dress. Very grateful for the gift, she hugged Diana tightly and thanked her at least 4 more times.

"Don't mention it. I thought you might like them. They were some of my clothes that I thought wouldn't drown you in length." she said.

"I can't take your clothes." Anita protested but Diana only laughed.

"Of course you can! Just think about it. Now I can go replace them with newer versions." she said, ignoring the look Clark gave her because he knew these were brand new. Anita excused herself to change out of the long white nightgown she had been wearing all day and into one of the dresses.

"Thank you for that Diana. I honestly didn't think of getting her anything." Clark said sincerely.

"I don't know what you are talking about." she said with a smirk, brushing at her skirt. "I just couldn't stop thinking about the poor dear all day. The moment I got off work I went out and got those for her. I hope they fit okay."

"I don't think the fit will matter to her. Anita will be grateful no matter what." Clark reassured her.

At that moment Zachary came out bearing another plate for Diana to dine with the others. Diana thanked him graciously and took a few bites before asking Clark what he thought of Anita's condition and predicament. He honestly didn't know what to tell her but she seemed like a helpless girl who had no memories about herself or her past.

"That could prove very difficult for us to help her later. Do you think she will ever remember more?" Diana wondered.

"No. You were there when we did the brain scan. All those memory clusters weren't suppose to look like that. If she is going to remember anything else, its going to have to be very, very recent." Clark said gravely.

Diana sighed and shook her head sadly. "The poor girl."

A few minutes later, Anita came racing down the stairs to where they sat wearing a knee-length purple dress with white polka dots and also a huge smile on her face. She hugged Diana and thanked her once more for the clothes and also for the bag of essentials at the bottom. Dinner continued and was finished with slices of Zach's amazing cake.

Sadly it was getting late and Diana had to get back to her home and to bed for her early job the next morning. Promising to come back tomorrow night, she left after giving a hug to Anita.

"I really like her." Anita said to Clark after Diana had left. "How long have you known her?"

Clark and Anita talked a bit later into the night about the people she had met and about him. She was fascinated by the stories of his childhood and of his parents. After a big yawn, she told him that she hoped to meet them someday. After Clark kindly ordered her to go to bed, Zach came out to ask if there was anything else he needed before retiring tonight. Clark said no and made his way to his own room and bed. As he laid down, he hoped that what he thought of Anita was true and the distrust Bruce felt for her wasn't a legitimate concern for everyone's safety...


End file.

DC Superheroes, Drama, Family