Hacker

By Floaging

Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League, its Production Company, Affiliates, and/or Sponsors. Everything is fictional and any similarities between the characters and any living person are unintentional.

AN: Exams are officially over for me and I am finding myself with a lot more free time. So I shall be dedicating more time to this meaning hopefully updates will be more regular. Thank you to all faithful readers and reviewers - your comments make me look sort of like this -- :D

"Smallville. You're here early, even for you." Lois looked up at him and frowned, leaning back on her desk chair. "And either you're constipated or pissed, I can't decide which one."

Clark shot her a look. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Lois. Did you tell Lex?"

"Did I tell Lex what?" she asked, spinning round to face her computer again.

"About Ellie?"

"If I knew who Ellie was, then maybe I could answer that."

He sighed heavily. "That girl that you said the League was keeping up in the Tower. Remember?"

"I don't remember saying she was called Ellie." She smirked up at him. "And for your information, Smallville, no I didn't. I followed your advice. Which means I missed a very good story because of your do-gooder ways. If he knows about her then he probably found out from the same source. As much as I want to say it, Lex isn't stupid. He's a Luthor. Meaning more resources he can use to find information than I will ever have."

"Lois…"

"Smallville, I'm sorry. I can't help with whatever little problem you've got going."

"Lois, it's all over the news. And not just that, it's been reported about Lex saying you told Superman about her."

Lois leaned back and rested her head on the back of her leather seat before twisting her head to look at him. "What do you want me to say?"

"I want the truth." Clark leaned back on his desk as he stared down at her.

"I didn't tell him, Smallville. And that's it."

"Prove it."

Her eyebrows shot up. "How exactly do you expect me to do that?"

"Tell Superman who told you about her."

"I'm a little busy, Smallville. Unlike you, I'm actually working."

"Lois…"

"It was a couple of technicians out for some cash – Jerry Wordner and Michael Kian, I think. And that superhero…" She clicked her fingers before pointing at him. "The gold one from the future. Buster something?"

"Booster Gold." He sounded weary.

"That's him. He was really obnoxious – even worse than you. And that was just to his little robot thing. They were having a conversation about the girl and that she'd been attacked. Didn't even know that me and Jimmy were there." Lois pushed her hair behind her right ear and turned her attention back to the computer. "Am I off the hook now, Farmer Kent? Or are you going to tell on me to my Daddy?"

He shook his head slightly and smiled. "Thank you, Lois."

Rolling her eyes, she smiled slightly as he left. "Later, Smallville."

"Wally!"

Flash spun around, flashing a bright grin as she hurried over. "What's the rush, Shay? You told me that I needed to slow down and this is just hypocritical." He sighed. "I love that word."

She sent him a look. "I told you that you needed to stop rushing into things and avoid Lex Luthor. I didn't say you needed to slow down."

"Same difference." He shrugged. "And what can I do for you on this fine day?"

"It's about Ellie."

He looked up to the sky. "I already had this chat with John and J'onn. Who is surprisingly not a morning person. I don't know why…" Flash looked off to the distance with a wondering look.

"You don't even know what I want to talk about."

"You just said it was about Ellie. I know you're getting old, but really Shay…" He snickered as he zoomed off, avoiding her arms narrowly as she shrieked.

"Flash…I'm warning you…"

"Yeah, yeah. Continue."

"I know you're worried about her, but you can't go after –"

"HA! I knew it! Exact same words can I just say. And J'onn's the only psychic, so you must be practicing with each other. I know I'm not allowed to go after Lex, I have to be with someone at all times, must be in bed by ten, blah, blah, blah." He waved his hands around a bit as he slipped into a seat in the cafeteria, setting down his laptop.

"Why aren't you taking this seriously? Lex is dangerous. And he wants to hurt you! If you try anything, you're going to be the bad guy."

"I'm being very serious about this. Serious is as serious does."

She blinked a couple of times. "That didn't even make sense."

Flash smiled mysteriously in response.

"Wally, you're only a kid. And I know maturity comes with age, but you need to take some responsibility. It's not just you who's in danger now."

"Shay, I know." His voice had dropped slightly and even behind the mask, she could almost feel his frustration. "I know I'm just the immature kid who is never going to live up to expectations, but I've been a hero for nearly 9 years. I've been at it longer than you, Shay and I've taken out my fair share of baddies. I saved the word a few months ago and woopdidoo, I'm glad you aren't making a big deal out of it. But you're all treating me more and more like a six-year-old. And I'm not. I know responsibility; I am dealing with it. I'm 21. Twenty-one. That means I'm considered an adult in basically every country in the world." He paused.

"Wally…"

"And you can't talk! You're still avoiding John even after I set up that meeting with Ellie. Come on, Shay, like you said, I'm not the only one in danger. What about that kid they saw? Rex Stewart? Why aren't you fighting for him? It's obvious John's not in love with Vixen. He loves you but unless you do something about it, nothing is going to change. I respected you a hell of a lot more when you fought for what you believed in." He shook his head. "Right now I just see a hypocrite who won't take her own advice and take some responsibility for her actions and grow up." He swallowed slightly and looked down at his laptop before closing his eyes. "I'm sorry Shay, I didn't mean – "

"Yes you did." Her voice was quiet. "And you're right. But sometimes, loving someone means sacrificing your own happiness for theirs. And I loved John. I still do. Which means that if he's happy with Vixen, then fine." She held up a hand as he begun to protest. "He is happy. He's content. He may not be ridiculously in love, but I can tell that he likes his life as it is. And I'm not going to destroy that for him." She stood up. "I know you're frustrated, Wally. I know that we're coddling you. But we want to protect you. You're family to us. To me. I just want to make sure that when I get up in the morning, you're going to be safe and well. Look after yourself. Don't throw all you have away for pride." She got up and began to walk away, her eyes watering slightly as she set herself. Only Question was still in the room. As embarrassing as it was, as least there was only one person who had seen her humiliation at the hands of Flash.

"It wouldn't be for pride." The voice was soft, but caused her to halt. "It would be to protect someone I loved, just like you're all trying to do with me. Except I can handle myself. She can't."

"How's Ellie?" Nightwing's voice travelled through the still air.

"She's fine. Worried about what's going on." Raven shrugged, hovering slightly in midair as the Beast Boy and Cyborg stuffed themselves with food. "Seems to have taken a likening to Wally."

Starfire clapped her hands together excitedly as Nightwing raised an eyebrow. "Wally West and Elizabeth Clarke. I don't know whether to be surprised or not."

"Dude, that's totally a match made in heaven. Think about it. The superhero and the criminal turned good finding love in the midst of panic. Totally storybook." Beast Boy chomped loudly.

"Except storybooks have happy endings. We don't know what this one is going to be like." Nightwing pointed out.

"Both are very nice," Starfire smiled. "You should try to enjoy that two people have found happiness with each other because human life is very short."

"They aren't together," Raven pointed out. "And we aren't going to get involved and try to set them up, no matter how much you want to, Beast Boy." He frowned and turned into a cat who stared up at Raven miserably. "I hate cats." Her voice was deadpan. Beast Boy turned back into himself.

"There is just no pleasing you," he pouted.

"Anyway, I want to continue investigating into the people after Ellie."

"Even after Batman's warning? The guy is like the opposite of the Joker on the scary scale – just as freaky on a whole different degree." Cyborg bit into another chicken leg. "I know he used to be your mentor, and as uptight as you are, you're surprisingly normal for having grown up with him and that housekeeper dude who Wally keeps calling Jeeves."

"His name's Alfred and Bruce can't control me. I'm twenty-one, not a kid, and I don't need to rely on him anymore."

"Doesn't he fund the tower?" Raven asked, sounding slightly amused.

"We're funded by the Jump City government. Bruce is only a small part of the budget. And do you want to know about what I found or not?" He was beginning to sound quite flustered.

Starfire patted his knee. "Of course."

He groaned softly as Beast Boy and Cyborg snickered, quietening down at Starfire's glowing glare. "I was investigating into the OS4 project that the League found, and I figured out a couple of people who were funding the project. One of them was a Mrs. O. Potter, head of Potter's Industries. They own a large amount of corporations, including the companies that own McDonalds, Starbucks, Waterstones, Primark, and so on."

"That doesn't sound particularly criminal."

"The person that she bought Starbucks from was a Mr. Roy Gilligan. She bought it for a couple of dollars."

Cyborg snickered. "No one is going to sell something like the Starbucks trademark for anything less than a million. No one in their right mind, anyway."

"Exactly. Potter's Industries didn't just fund the OS4 project, they also funded parts of Luthor Corp and various chemical experiments including one that was very successful but destroyed later before it got out properly. She managed to use it on Mr. Gilligan – a drug that left him totally under the control of the first person to speak to them. He committed suicide the day after he signed the deal."

"So what happened?"

"She sold all the companies for billions of dollars a few years back to various other retailers, but somehow is finding herself in debt. It's as though one day all her money just disappeared."

Raven lowered herself to the ground. "What happened?"

"Every single person involved in the OS4 project has found themselves going bust. As surprising as it is, the Luthors were never involved in that group – David. The current leader has managed to assassinate most of the people who defied her over the years. She's been in power for a round for over 10 years. But no one has ever seen her face. Or if they have, no one's telling. There's no name, nothing. But Lex Luthor got contacted by some mysterious donor who wanted to talk to him about a deal."

Screwing up his face, Beast Boy sniffed. "But what has that got to do with Ellie?"

"To the boss of David, Ellie's a threat. She could easily take out her whole system because of the funding into the OS4. But with all the notes and everything destroyed and Ellie still out there, it means there is no way of combating her if she decides that she's going to take out David." He paused expectantly, frowning at their blank looks. "It means that the only way she is ever going to be completely sure of her position is to build an even better OS. And she needs the computer."

"So why doesn't she just get someone to kill Ellie and steal it then? Why go to all the hassle of kidnapping her? It's a lot easier to just grab something and run then grab a person and hope they don't try and escape," Cyborg stated.

"If when Ellie and the OS4 got separated, then Ellie almost died, what do you think happens to the OS4?" Nightwing said quietly.

"It goes bye-bye," Beast Boy muttered, popping a crisp into his mouth.

Nightwing nodded. "It goes boom."

The sudden explosion to her side surprised her, which was really what surprised her. Her life had become such a matter of explosions and pain mixed in with a whole lot of rescuings that being surprised at one of those seemed particularly stupid. So once she had gotten over the fact that someone had either managed to heat up the potassium nitrate again or had broken in the Watchtower, which she had been told was impossible, she wasn't particularly amazed when various people broke into her room wearing black jumpsuits and carrying oddly futuristic weapons. As whenever someone said something was impossible, it was Sod's Law or Murphy's Law or whoever's Law that it was somehow going to happen. But it didn't mean she was happy about it.

Because getting hit over the head hard enough to knock you unconscious on the first blow means only one thing. A hell of a headache.

AN: I know there was quite a lot of Teen Titans in that and sorry - that's the most they are going to be in there, I'm going to be dropping them now and focusing mainly on Wally. However there will be more of Bats and Superman as well as the rest of the founders, and of course, Ellie will also be in it. I hope you enjoy it and have fun with the cliffhanger!

OOOx...MWAHAHAHA,

Floaging