#I mostly just reuse the same headcanons for where all the DP characters end up

[tachvintlogic]

Words: 2708

Edit: AO3 version with extra chapter

Clark Kent was in Australia chasing his latest story: LexCorp had been found illegally dumping pollution into the Burdekin River system, poisoning the water and causing further damage to the Great Barrier Reef downstream. This was discovered by marine biologist Dr. Elle Weston. Subsequently, she has survived at least 17 assassination attempts by Luthor’s goons. Her wife and college sweetheart Dr. Marin-Florcía is currently in hiding along with their cat, but Dr. Weston is determined to not let the attempts on her life get in the way of her work.

Perfect story for Clark Kent to cover.

He emailed her about getting an interview, and she agreed. He flew to Australia, humoring his boss and the financial controlling department by taking a plane instead of flying there himself. He booked a hotel room in Townsville, Australia that had a nice view of the reef. Dr. Weston arrived right on time, and they got to business.

“G’day mate, nice to see the guys up north finally paying attention to what one of yours is doing here.”

“Good morning to you too, Dr. Weston.”

“Please, call me Elle.”

The interview was going well. Elle explained the anomalies she noticed that eventually led to her discovery. It was very technical, and Clack asked lots of follow-up questions to help explain it in a more approachable way (or “dumbing it down” as Elle called it).

Then they got to the assassinations attempts.

“Do they scare you?”

“Not at all. The assassins are terrible shots. I’m more worried about the people around me—”

Elle didn’t get to finish that sentence because that was when a sniper’s bullet went straight through the glass and hit its mark square in the chest. Clark heard her heart stop.

Elle fell and Clack ducked for cover, feeling nauseous. He tried to grab her body, but his hand felt weaker and weaker as it drew closer. Kryptonite.

But why kryptonite? Has Luthor finally figured him out? Another shot. That was a regular bullet.

He couldn’t help her like this, but he could keep anyone who could help her safe. Staying clear of the window, he ran out of the room and into the bathroom and dialed 000, Australia’s emergency number.

“A sniper shot someone in my hotel room! I think they killed her!” he exclaimed at the operator

“Okay. Paramedics are on their way. Who got shot?”

“Dr. Elle Weston. I was doing an interview.”

“Oh.” The urgency in the operator's voice vanished. “Well, I need you to stay right where you are until paramedics arrive. Do not leave that room.”

“They’re still shooting,” he said, already changing in his costume.

“Then get somewhere safe but do not leave the building.”

“Okay,” he said, while leaving the building.

Superman flew up high. Judging from the direction the window faced, there weren’t many buildings the snipers could be. He flew over them and listened closely…

There! The sound of a sniper getting packed up!

He flew through the open window startling the two goons. They pulled handguns and fired at him uselessly. In less than 20 seconds, he had them restrained and all tied up.

“Shit!” said one of the goons, “we should’ve saved that kryptonite bullet instead of using it on the girl!”

“Kryptonite? Why kryptonite?”

“Is…she not one of yours?” asked the other goon.

“No.”

“Huh. Then how does she keep surviving?”

“Doesn't matter. That’s not your problem anymore,” said Superman.

He dropped off the goons at a police station and informed the police about the shooting. They seemed very concerned until he mentioned that it was Elle they were after. At least, he thought they weren’t concerned from their tone. The accents made it harder to understand.

He found a place to change and arrived back to the hotel room right as Elle was being loaded into the ambulance. His heart sank when he didn’t hear a heartbeat. Knowing he couldn't save everyone didn't make it hurt less.

The EMTs in the hotel room were very mad at him for leaving the hotel, especially because there was blood splatter on his suit. He was practically carried to their vehicle and driven to the hospital. When they arrived, he was led to what he could only describe as a decontamination room and interrogated on whether he got any of her blood on anything else.

He hadn’t, and they stripped him and hosed him down like he was radioactive. Then they scanned him with a scanner he had never seen before. He’d been scanned by a lot of things for various reasons, but he didn’t know what this one was looking for. Fortunately, he passed whatever it was looking for, and he was given spare clothes while his suit was cleaned of… whatever it was they were worried about.

When he asked, the doctor said something about bloodborne pathogens, in which case the procedure seemed a bit… excessive. At least they didn’t bring up the fact his clothes had bullet holes while he didn't.

When he was dressed, they let him get his rented car and change while his suit dried. The nurse told him that Elle would be discharged shortly. It seemed the hospital staff weren’t that concerned either. He wasn’t sure where they were getting their optimism from, since he hadn’t heard her heartbeat since she was shot.

Being assassinated is boring.

Oh sure, the first time was interesting just for the novelty, but at this point someone had tried to kill her at least 23 times, and those were just the times she knew about. It gets boring quickly.

Like this latest assassination. Elle went down, not prepared to suddenly have a non-functioning heart. Clark got himself out before she could get her bearings and play it off as merely a flesh wound. She played dead for a while until the assassins stopped shooting. Then she got up to see if the assassins would start shooting again. When they didn’t, she called the paramedics to get her, and they were already on their way.

The paramedics and the clean-up crew arrived decked out like they were about to handle a level 3 biohazard. It was a little insulting. Ecto-contaminated blood was only a level 2 biohazard at most.

Amy, who she recognized her even with all that PPE on, closed the window curtain. “You got shot again? Really?”

“It’s not my fault! Bullets just keep getting in my way.”

“You’d think they’d try something else.”

“They have. I’ve been poisoned plenty of times.” Those are the scariest attempts because it’s usually when she’s going out with friends and coworkers. Who knows who else got a poisoned dish?

“Ay yai yai. They should just give up,” said Amy. Now addressing the rest of the clean-up crew. “Well don’t just stand there, we have a biohazard to clean up and a reporter to find!”

“He’s not in the building?”

“He wasn’t in the lobby or the bathroom.”

Elle was bandaged by the paramedics while the blood was cleaned up. She was taken to an ambulance in a stretcher, not because she needed it but for appearances sake.

The hospital stay was uneventful and free of charge. One of the only nice things about the multiple assassination attempts and hospital stays was that there was a place besides Amity Park that knew how to deal with her… unique biology. Not as much as the doctors at Amity, but enough that they weren’t shocked by her regrowing damaged organs.

The heart monitor beeped at a steady rate, confirming that blood was pumping even if her organic heart wasn’t doing anything. Her ectoplasm had constructed an intangible heart and was moving the blood through it, turning it intangible to tangible as it moved through.

She took out her phone and texted in the family group chat. She didn’t expect anyone to respond. After all, everyone she wanted to talk to was on the other side of the world. They should all be in bed.

Then her phone rang. The caller ID said “Dad.” She answered.

“Elle? You were shot again? How are you feeling?” came a tired that sounded more worried than it really should be at this point.

“Fine dad. But it’s late for you. Why are you still up?”

“You know, work.” She heard some papers ruffling in the background. “Client is accusing ex-husband of patent infringement. Ex-husband is denying it and has promised to drag this case out as long as possible.”

“Oh, divorce law. The worst kind of law. Is it Vlad bad?”

“No. No one can be that bad, not even the ex-husband.”

Elle laughed. She remembered when Danny first sent her to live at Wes’s house in case she melted again. (Wes owed him a favor, and he wasn’t quite ready to be out to his parents.) She wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay, but then it turned out Wes’s dad hated Vlad just as much as she did. Compiling a list of all Vlad’s crimes and attempted crimes (many of which were patent related) and calculating total fines and jailtime wasn’t the most typical of father-daughter bonding activities, but it was ultimately what made her decide to stay.

“But you never answered my questions,” said dad.

“Yes, I was shot. Got me right in the heart, so I’ve been managing. Otherwise I’m fine. How’s Juliana?”

“She’s fine. Went to sleep about an hour ago. You want me to wake her up?”

“No, no. I’ll talk to her in the morning. Your morning. Having any trouble with assassins?”

“Not that I’ve noticed. There was another report of the ground swallowing someone and spitting them out of town, so we’ve been avoiding the outskirts just in case they get too far in.” The ectoplasm in Amity Park had made the town just a little sentient for a haunt. It didn’t like it when people had murderous intent within its borders.

“Good. How’s your grandbaby?”

Dad chuckled. “He’s right here in my lap.”

“Oh no! Is that why you haven’t gone to bed?”

“No. Not at all. Hey Shady, you want to talk to your mommy?”

Elle hear a soft purr from the phone. “Hey Shady! It’s mommy!”

The black and white cat on the other end meowed and Elle giggled.

They talked some more, and eventually the doctor came in to check her vials. After checking that everything was normal by Elle standards, she informed her that Clark was currently in the waiting room after going through standard decontamination procedures. Since she was already healing up just fine, Elle was free to leave. She got up and started ending the call.

“Sorry, Dad, I’m going to have to let you go. Clark might want to continue the interview and I do kinda have to let him know I’m alive.”

“Okay. Call me when you’re done.”

“No, you’ll be in bed by then. I’ll call when it’s morning for you.”

“I assure you I will not be.”

Elle laughed. “Okay, love you dad.”

“Love you too.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

She hung up and walked to the waiting room. While she walked, Elle checked if she had any text messages. Tries out, quite a few members of her family were awake later than they should be.

TheNormalOne: Are you alright? They didn’t hit you in the head did they?

TheConspiracyTheorist: DID YOU ASK IF HE’S SUPERMAN??????

Elle smiled. She expected nothing less from Easton and Wes.

Elle: Of course not. Superman doesn’t exist

TheConspiracyTheorist: Nooooooooooooo Not you too :(

Elle: Kyle’s the only one with a braincell since you guys are supposed to be ASLEEP

TheConspiracyTheorist: It’s not that late

Elle: It breaks my heart to see you not taking care of yourselves

Elle: even more than the bullet

TheNormalOne: Shot you in the heart?

Elle: Yep

She reached the waiting room and there was Clark holding his cleaned suit. His hair a complete mess from the decontamination. He was staring at her wide eyed.

“Hey Clark, looks like the bullet didn’t hit that deep, so I get to go home to heal up.”

“Al…Already?”

“Yep! So do you want to continue the interview or…?”

“No, no. We can continue it a later time or call it there. Um…do you want me to drive you home?” She said yes. While she usually flew home since she didn’t own a car, that wasn’t an option here if she wanted to pass as normal. Or at least somewhat normal. Plausibly normal.

Clark drove while Elle gave directions. He kept looking at her and not the road like she was going to drop dead any moment.

“So, the bullet wasn’t that deep?”

“Yep. Pay attention to the road.”

“Sorry.” Clark turned away from her. “I could’ve sworn it hit your heart. They got you square in the chest.”

“It stopped before then. You’re going to want to take a left here.”

As Clark turned left, Elle’s phone vibrated. She checked her text messages and saw that Wes was still awake.

TheConspiracyTheorist: He has superhearing and x-ray vision so if you’re body’s doing anything weird while it’s healing he might notice

“You sure they checked? Like that it didn’t do any damage to your heart?”

Oh.

Wait a minute.

Damn it. Wes was right. He is Superman. She’s doesn’t really want to confirm it because if Wes hears about this, he’ll be so insufferable. However, this was a problem. The heart currently pumping her blood wasn’t tangible, so it didn’t make any sound. That’s something Superman would notice.

“Yeah. Pretty sure. Can we stop talking about this?”

“Sure. Sure. Just…um…” Elle could tell he wants to talk about her lack of a heartbeat. Of course, that would give away his hearing was that good.

Unfortunately, she’s not really sure what she should say if he decides to just out himself as Superman. Or worse, he finds some way around outing himself as Superman.

When he stops the car at her house, Elle feels something lurch in her chest.

Thump-thump Thump-thump

Oh, her heart started working again.

Clark turned to face her completely wide-eyed and pale as a sheet. Elle looked at him and tilted her head. “What?”

He blinked. “Nothing! Just…nothing.” He wanted to ask so badly. It would be funny if it wasn’t low-key terrifying being on the Justice League’s radar. At the very least, the cabal of superhumans in their giant space satellite won’t be able to connect her being a meta to Danny being a meta that easily.

“So, um…”

“I’d going to go take a nap,” she said getting out of the car, “you might want to call the hotel and get another room.”

“Yeah, I should do that.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Maybe continue the interview then?” she said as she walked to the entrance door.

“Yes, that would be a good idea, if you’re feeling up to it.”

Elle closed the door on Clark and let out a sigh of relief. She was a little tired. After all, her heart wasn’t fully healed yet; her body liked to use ectoplasm as a placeholder for organic cells, and they multiplied fast, but not that fast.

There was also the problem of Clark, secretly Superman. She did not want him in her house. She had stuff in here. Ghost stuff. Ghost stuff that was a lot more secure and hidden thanks to the whole assassin problem, but still. She didn’t want him knowing the extent of her powers.

She was going to deal with him later. Right now, she was going to take a nap.

That night, or early morning for those in the US, she was about to call Juliana when she got a text from Wes. It was a link to an article by an Australian news site. Superman had dropped off the assassins at the police station only a few minutes after she was shot.

TheConspiracyTheorist: Look at that! I wonder who else from Metropolis was in the area and happens to have the exact same face

Elle: Oh shut it

Luckily, Kyle had her back.

TheFlatEarther: Damn another mass hallucination. I bet it’s from all the stuff LexCorp dumped in the water. Right Elle?

Elle: Yeah that’s it

TheConspiracyTheorist: Kyle nooo

(The wife’s surnames are Marin which means “of the sea” and Florcía which is a combination of Florez and García that didn’t pull up many search results when I typed it into google.)

Short DP X DC Prompts #28

Clark Kent hears this Dani kid he recently met heart just stop. He panics but then an hour later he hears her heartbeat again. What the hell was going on?!