Author: LittleBit
Category: UC Crossover
Characters: Liz Parker, Oliver Queen, members of the Justice League, Lex Luthor
Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville, Roswell, or any of their characters. If I did, things would be very different. The title is from the Metallica Song, Hero of the Day which I do not own.
Rating: Teen
Timeline/Spoilers: Roswell up to Ch-ch-changes and for Smallville, I’d say anything before Justice in S6 but other things through the later seasons are fair game.
Summary: After Liz leaves for Vermont, she finds that the powers she tried to run away change her life more than she ever thought possible.
NOTE: #1 Since I’m starting this story before the end of S3 of Roswell, Liz has not received any visions. They will not be part of this story.
#2 Thank you to SnowyOwl_17 for her hours of listening to me rambling as well as for her awesome betaing skills.
#3 Thank you to RoswellOracle for the beautiful banner.
Prologue
Liz Parker felt very lost, very alone, and most of all very scared.
When she had told her parents she wanted to leave Roswell to go to school in Vermont, she thought she’d be able to go back to normal. That she could leave all of the alien stuff, including her new powers, behind as long as she could get away from Max. Two days and several states away, and Liz knew she was wrong. She was different now and there was no going back to normal.
Everything had been fine for days. After she had asked her dad to send her to Vermont, the green electrical current had subsided a lot and by the time she had gotten on the bus the next day they were gone. Her parents had wanted to drive her to Vermont but Liz had insisted on the bus. Her dad couldn’t be away from the café for that long and her mom didn’t do well with driving long distances so the bus just made more sense. They had reluctantly agreed and off she went.
The bus ride was long and tiring so whenever they made a stop, Liz was one of the first ones out. Therefore, when they stopped at a bus stop in Kansas, Liz got out to stretch her legs. It was when she was looking through the vending machines that it happened. She started to feel warm; as if her skin had been sunburned then her hands had started to tingle. Liz had never experienced anything like it but knew she had to get out of there before something happened. She backed away from the crowd that were perusing the wares of the vending machine, bumping into a guy about her age who looked at her in surprise and looked around for a quiet place to go.
Unfortunately Liz didn’t get that far. She was no more than twenty feet away from the machines when flames erupted out of her hands. Luckily her arms had been hanging by her sides and no one had gotten hurt but that didn’t keep everyone close from seeing. Panic erupted and the crowd went crazy trying to get out of the way.
Taking advantage of the chaos to get away, Liz pulled up the hood of her jacket to hide her face until she could duck into a supply closet. She sat there with her ear pressed to the door and waited. After the noises stopped, she still waited. She waited for what seemed like forever but her watch said three hours. She crept slowly out and when she saw that everything looked normal apart from the scorch marks on the ground, she exited the closet.
Liz knew she needed to get away from there. Her bus was long gone as well as her luggage but she still had her purse with her ticket and some cash. Luckily the lady at the ticket counter had just started the next shift, and though she had heard about the commotion she didn’t connect Liz with the incident, but she excitedly told Liz all of her theories about it. However that was where Liz’s luck ran out.
Liz turned away from the ticket counter but only managed to get a few feet away when two tall men in suits stepped in front of her. “Miss, we need you go come with us.”
Despite the panic she was feeling, Liz spoke evenly. “Sorry, I’m going to miss my bus.”
“You’re not going on the bus.” The one on her left stated. “There are some questions that need answering about the incident earlier.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Liz replied as she tried to backtrack.
However, the men grabbed her before she could get out of reach, and pulled her away. The crowds looked on but didn’t do anything, the official looking suits making them believe that the men were on official business and they didn’t interfere. Liz thought of screaming but knew that it would not do any good. Instead she tried to talk her way out of it, “You guys have the wrong person. I saw that girl get on a bus right after it happened.”
The men didn’t listen to her, instead they muscled her into a large Black SUV. She opened her mouth to say more when she felt a prick on the back of her neck and then blackness.
Once the subject was unconscious, the driver made a call on his cell phone. “Mr. Luthor, we have her.”
**********
As Liz felt consciousness slowly come back to her, the first thing she was aware of was that she was on a cold, hard floor. For a moment she thought she must have fallen asleep on the floor of the supply closet at the bus station, but then the memory of being shoved into the SUV came back to her, causing her eyes snapped open. The ceiling above her was plain, institutional looking and very unfamiliar.
“It’s good to see you are awake.” Liz heard a voice say, though it was distorted, as if it were coming through some kind of speaker. She rolled to her side and saw the reason for the speaker. She was in a room made a glass walls, not just a room, a cell.
The voice’s owner was staring at her with cold, blue eyes from the other side of the glass, as if she were a specimen under a microscope. He wore a dark suit that looked to be custom made for his slim physique, and though his head was devoid of any hair, he looked to be only a few years older than she was. He watched her study him for a moment before he spoke, with a smug smirk on his face, and in his voice. “I thought my men might have gone too heavy on the drugs.”
“Why did they grab me?” Liz asked. “What am I doing here?”
“You are here because of the incident at the bus stop of course.” The man informed her, as though that fact should have been common knowledge to her.
“That wasn’t me.” Liz argued. “I’m just an ordinary girl.”
The man smiled at her, thought it wasn’t one that made her feel any easier. “We both know that isn’t true, Elizabeth.”
Liz felt her blood run cold; he knew her name. She knew it could simply be because he saw her driver’s license in her purse, but the way he said her name suggested otherwise. “It’s rude to go through someone’s things.”
“Is it not just as impolite to lie to someone?” The man replied straight faced, and completely serious. “More to the point, I would not have been able to find out who you are had I not looked through your possessions.”
“And now that you know who I am?” Liz asked, feeling a sense of dread as she waited for him to answer.
“I was able to find out quite a bit about you Elizabeth Anne Parker, and we both know that you are no ordinary girl.” The man stated; he gave her a slight smirk, before his tone became very matter of fact. “At first, I thought you were simply a pyrotechnic like the young man my men were tailing; that the two of you possibly knew each other and were meeting. However, once I did a background search on you, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I presumed wrong.”
Liz couldn’t help but think that he seemed far too sickly, happy about that. It was scary just how much eyes twinkled as though he had just received a much sought after gift that had taken a great deal of work to ascertain.
“Four years ago, there was a shooting in Roswell, New Mexico at the Crashdown Café. There were no injuries, but there were a couple of eyewitnesses who stated that one of the waitresses was shot; but she appeared to have no lasting injuries. The witnesses speculated that one of the patrons healed her, but they were regarded as tourists who were a little too caught up in the alien hype in the area, and therefore their statements were not viable.” The man explained. “That waitress was Elizabeth Parker.”
“You imprisoned a teenage girl because of something you’ve read in a supermarket tabloid?” Liz asked, trying to put off a much stronger façade than she was currently feeling.
“Imprisoned?” The man repeated, with what almost appeared to be an offended tone. “You were brought here for your own protection. The incident at the bus stop proves that you have limited, if any, control over your abilities.”
“I doubt you lock your guests up in cells.” Liz retorted sarcastically, before she could stop herself.
“That chamber is for your safety, as well as everyone else here.” He calmly explained.
“What exactly do you think I can do?” Liz asked, trying to continue with her innocent act. “You said you first thought I was a…pyro-whatever, but you‘re talking about something that happened years ago. What does one have to do with the other?”
“You were shot, that I have no doubt of. You were shot, and you healed yourself. Healing and fire starting are two abilities that have very little in common.” He declared, with slanted, but smug eyes. “Due to that, our preliminary hypothesis is that your ability is not one individual power, but rather the capacity to absorb powers from anyone around you that possesses them.”
“So I’m some kind of power sponge?” Liz asked putting off a tone of disbelief, but she couldn’t help the feeling of mild curiosity at the thought. She hated to admit it but it made sense. In the last year and a half, whenever Liz had shown any sign of powers it was the same powers that the aliens had; the flashes, dreamwalking Max while he was in New York, even the energy that had ran up and down her hands was like Michael’s, nothing had been her own. However, as curious as she was, Liz did not feel safe exploring it here; not with this guy anyway. Not that she had much of a choice. “And you plan to ‘help’ me with this Mr.….”
“Luthor, Lex Luthor.” Lex introduced himself, in a tone that just told her he was a man that usually got whatever he wanted simply because of his name. “And yes. I would like to help you.”
“And what if I don’t want the help?” Liz asked. “Can I leave?”
“No.” Lex proclaimed. “You are too much of a danger.”
“Then I am a prisoner.” Liz announced; her innate suborn personality finally rearing its head. “I won’t cooperate.”
“You don’t have to.” Lex retorted. Liz watched as a team of large men came seemingly out of nowhere, and surrounded Lex before they moved towards her. They entered her cell and reached for her. Liz tried to use whatever powers she might have within her, but they didn’t work. They grabbed her and pinned her to the bed. Once she was restrained, Lex approached her from the side, his eyes a cold blue.
"Let's see what you are capable of."
Okay, there’s the first part of my newest story. Love it? Hate it?
This one is going to be formatted a little differently, instead of one long story I hope to write several shorter stories that still covers everything a longer one would.
Oh, and while I always write for the fun of it, this one more so than normal.