Chapter 12: 『Walkman』
The next day she was dressed in her signature pumpkin pants, leggings and black blouse with an ocean green tie. This time she was wearing colored contacts and her glasses, though it didn't stop from giving her irises a strange glow. She came walking out of Bestbuy with a new digital walkman in her hand. She was staring at the little device in her palm. It was about the size of a phone, but it was thinner and didn't close like the phone she had before.
She placed the headphones which matched the color of her tie on her head and plugged them into the walkman. It apparently had twenty five free songs on it already sung by 'James Darren' from Deep Space 9. It was a Star Trek series soundtrack.
It had a dimly lit blue screen with black text, the words that represented the song's name scrolled in a fixed location, while other information was displayed on the small readout.
Looking over and seeing Winn standing by the door, she tilted her head a bit as she hit the play button. Suddenly the song called "It's only a Paper Moon" which James had covered from the broadway play known as The Great Magoo in the 1930's. It was one of her favorite songs she heard when watching random episodes of Deep Space Nine.
She found her senses completely taken over by the music. The beat and the sound of the man's voice, her head began to fill with pins and needles. She curled in her lips as she smiled a little.
Her blouse was partially tucked into her shorts on one side, which was above her waist and right below her belly button. She looked like an unkempt and unruly teenager, with a slight bedhead as she hadn't brushed out the layers in her hair.
Humming along with the song, the two were just walking along the side of the street. Winn was going to take her to the University which he was taking classes. So they had taken a quick stop to pick something up to keep her occupied for later if there was nothing for her to do.
Their interactions didn't really go anywhere. They walked, but the conversations were mainly one or two words. She was mainly focused on the music, while he on the other hand was watching their surroundings.
She was completely absent in mind when it came to what was going on. Her eyes watched the ground and her right hand grasped at the loose back of his sleeve. She wasn't going to get lost.
This time around it didn't seem as if she was carrying her satchel, she probably left it in her inventory after that one time at the bank. Her eyes traced over the sidewalk cracks between cement slabs. Oddly enough, she was stepping on each one she came across purposely, as if they were actually going to break her mother's back.
She believed her dead, so that was a given. A dead back never hurt anyone who wasn't alive no more.
"So where did you get the money to buy that anyway?" Winn asked as she looked down at her as she was listening to the music. As she didn't answer right away, he used his other hand to poke her cheek. "You didn't take money from the vault did you?"
Raising a brow reading his lips she shook his head slightly, taking one of the phones off her ear left. "I have a networth of like four thousand nine hundred and... Thirty nine dollars and twenty two cents."
"Huh... So you could pay for a few months rent." He blinked a few times before looking forward and nodding to himself. "Where'd you get that though?"
She shrugged slightly, "IF there was money missing from the Vault, we'd know about it by now." She informed him pretty much saying she didn't steal it at all, it was clean cash, her cash.
"Are you being paid for being a 'hero'?" Winn snickered lightly as he lead her over to a public bus and climbed on board after giving money for the fare. They sat in the back.
"Yes and no," She said, yawning as she looked at him with bored eyes.
Winn raised a brow at this as she said that she was both paid for doing heroics as well as not. He didn't quite understand. "By who?"
"Not sure," She made a puzzled expression as she looked up at him. She didn't know what the Guardian-1 thing was, just that it was an overlay and had the ability to influence reality to some extent.
After about an hour on the bus, they arrived at the National City University Campus. Stepping off the bus and making their way towards the School Store. Winn needed some new text books and probably some other office supplies.
On their way there, the Professor Ben Lockwood was standing in front of the store talking to a handful of students. It had just been right after a lecture, it appeared they were reviewing over the notes in a friendly manner.
"I'll stay out here Winn, you can go in, come get me when you're done." Hekate suddenly said, letting go of his sleeve and rushing past him.
Winn watched as she creeped up behind the Professor and just stood there unannounced. Raising a brow, he rolled his eyes and went walking into the sponsored school store, passing through the glass doors.
A few moments later, one of the university students noticed the younger girl standing behind the professor. Raising a brow, the pointed to her. "You know her, Professor Lockwood?"
"Hm?" Glancing to the side briefly, he barely outlined her face, before looking forward. "No I..." He remembered something familiar with her hairstyle and the shape of her eyes. The glow they had to them was rather strange. He whirled around on his heel and looked at her before looking to his students. "Seems I do," He laughed awkwardly to himself, "It's a student from a school I visited before. I'll meet you three in the library, go on without me."
"Whatever you say, Teach." The trio left the Professor alone with the girl.
Lockwood crossed his arms looking down at her, taking in the clothing and sense of style. "You look like a Goth Hipster... The tie contrasts greatly with the dark colors," his eyes rested on the fingerless gloves that had the same symbol from her chest the day before. "Not very Discrete." He almost made a duck face as he lowered his head to look at her as if he was judging her harshly. "If you're crashing at the University, I'll have to call security."
"Psh, no. Sleeping in a public place isn't my thing. I won't even use a public bathroom to change in," She dismissed his joke of a claim that she was sleeping in the university at night. "I mean if you have a bed with my name on it, I don't mind turning it in for the couch."
"I... Don't think my dad will like that." He knew his father didn't like superman or even the idea of aliens living amongst men. Pessimist and a racist, a nativist.
"I believe you are your own man," her eyes rested on the ring which was on his finger. "And I'm sure your wife would enjoy having a help around the house..." Her eyes went up to his face again.
Lockwood stared through her frames for a moment, thinking about what she was saying. "How do you know about my wife?" He rolled his fingers on his arm.
"Ring." She pointed at his hand.
"I could just enjoy wearing jewelry." He shook his head as if trying to throw her off or rationalize the presence of a ring on his finger.
"You don't seem like the type." She presumed as she looked at her own nails, her bare fingers. She then looked back up at him with her head tilted to the side. "Plus I'm an orphan and all modern moms want a daughter."
Seeing how she seemed to be pitching herself to be adopted into his family, whether or not she wanted to use it for some way to get an official background cover, he wasn't deterred really. "Why don't you go back to where you landed?"
"I don't want to be anywhere near Superman."
"Because he'll lecture you on how you handled the Robbery at the City Bank?" He asked as he kept his arms crossed, continuing to observe her with a dullard look on his face.
"That and probably justify my parents forcing me to survive the death of my world without them, in all, abandoning me by choice." Her eye twitched slightly when he had made her say this. She just didn't want to go back. She would be with Kara, she'd be with Alex and she'd be with Eliza.
She believed if she stayed there she'd lose her willingness to take Justice and Law into her own hands, that she'd lose her integrity, her honor.
"Okay..." He nodded slightly, "What if I told you that humanity only needed one superman?"
"I'm not superman, so they're fine." This was a near automatic response, one that didn't need thinking on her part. She wasn't superman, she was Agent Cadmus, the personification of an ancient Greek hero.
He nodded slightly and chuckled, rubbing an index finger under his nose slightly. "Thats fair."
"Plus, Superman may be the Man of Steel, but there are metals out there greater than Steel..." What she said wasn't wrong. There were definitely metals out there more durable and stronger than steel, even lighter. "Especially if an interstellar Empire tries to lay claim over Earth. Probably need more than one laser eye'd bugger."
Lockwood stared at her with laughing eyes as she had referred to herself as a laser eye'd bugger. "That's... Understandable." He knew of the invasions that Superman had averted, but who says that those invasions were the firsts. A lot of human history has been marked with alien interference, it was just now becoming more prominent due to worldwide mass media.
"Anyways, if you change your mind and want a literal otherworldly daughter, just send a signal." She wanted to refer to the bat signal in Gotham, but refrained from doing so.
"Uh huh..." The Professor looked over towards the school store as Winn came walking out. His eyes then looked down towards the girl in front of him as the guy was looking right at her. "I assume that's your friend."
Glancing over her shoulder and smiling towards Winn, she waved over at him.
Blinking a few times, he walked over to the duo at a quick stride with his satchel tucked under his arm. "I'm sorry Professor Lockwood, uh." He looked over at Hekate and then back towards the man. "I'm sorry if this kid is bothering you, she's following me around for today."
"Ah, It's quite fine. You must be her friend," He bobbed his head slightly in acknowledgement. He took in the boy's attire. He looked like a very clean fellow, and he remembered seeing him at the University.
Winn nodded back to him as he pointed out his relationship with the girl. "Indeed, yes, yes I am."
"Good to know, take good care of her, would you. Well, uh.. hmmm... I must be going now," he gave a light point away from the two, waved, and then left them behind as he went off to do another class lecture.
Winn looked over at Hekate as he placed a hand on the top of her head and started moving his finger as if he was sucking her brain out of her head. "So, did you know him or something?"
"Met him yesterday after he helped me save a guy from being crushed by his own car."
Winn nodded slightly as she had spoke before flicking her forehead. "What's the point have having a secret identity if you reveal it like that?"
She shrugged and looked up at him, "He seemed open minded and might be able to supply me with the ability to build a foundation. That and I'm just making connections with people I can find relatable in some way or another." She smiled up at Winn as she walked beside him now, music still playing in her one ear.
Winn chuckled a bit, "Does that mean you'll be freeing my couch?" He asked sarcastically as she shook her head as soon as he said it. "Time share?"
"I'll think about it," Hekate uttered when he asked about sharing the couch during certain points of the day. It didn't really matter, it could hold more than one person. If he took up the cushions, she'd take up the arms or lay right on top of him without shame.
Either way for now, she was going to class with him, she wanted to see what he was learning. Thankfully he had gotten permission from his professors, having called her his foster sister in a sense.
Weekly Power Status
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