Monday, May 14th, 2017. 9:45 AM.
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Waiting was never my strong suit, I hated it as a kid, and I hated it even more as an adult. Nothing good ever came from waiting. It was a cloud of anxiety, just sitting above me, lurking in the back of my mind. I tried to shoo my anxious thoughts away by reading the menu of the brunch place Dr. White had chosen to meet at, but as the minutes dragged and my eyes kept darting to the entrance, my mind began to wander.

The low rumble of the conversations around me seemed to help my thoughts since I tried to concentrate on others words instead of the ones filling my head. The older couple behind me were whispering loudly about their dog, Charles, and his habit of peeing everywhere. The woman in front of me was angrily tapping away at her phone screen, a long blue text bubble was visible on her display, and I wondered who was on the receiving end and what could be that infuriating that you couldn't call and express it over the phone.

Only a few people had recognized me when I walked in, the hostess- a young man and the owner. The owner sat me rather quickly and told me to not worry about paying, that he would get my bill. I knew when I asked why that he would tell me a story about Superman saving him or a family member and even though I knew that, it still hurt to see him speak about how Superman had saved his daughter from a car accident. The owner was an older man of his late fifties who had no hair upon his head but a thick mustache and beard along his jaw and lip. His bright blue eyes smiled at me, thanking me before offering his condolences and hurrying away to help the hostess with a large early morning group.

And just like that, the worry crept up again. To ease my mind, I pulled out a pen and doodle on a scrap receipt from the depths of my purse. I hadn't artistically held a pen in so long it almost felt foreign to me. The sketch was quick and choppy, and just as I began to darken lines along his jaw and add shading to his hair, I heard her voice. Looking up, I caught a glimpse of Dr. White as she ducked inside. Her dark brown eyes scanned the room for me as she approached the young man at the host stand. A quick memory of me breaking down in her office flashed in my mind, and I crumpled the receipt throwing it in my purse as she made her way over to me.

I stood up quickly, smiling, "Dr. White. Thank you for coming on such short notice."

With a wave of her hand, she dismissed my formality, "Annie, I expected you to call much sooner then you did."

I looked at her for a moment before sitting down. She followed suit and set her black tote under the table.

"Have you ordered?"

"No."

"Well, let's eat before we get into the heavy talk."

10:35 AM.

Our meal had come to an end, and I was shamelessly prolonging my need to sip my tea so that I wouldn't have to have this conversation. She was waiting, her brown eyes studying me carefully.

I decided to dive in, "I'm seeing him now, having entire conversations."

Dr. White leaned forward, her arms bent at the elbow, hands clasped and set under her chin, "Seeing who?"

"Clark. Superman. Him." I shot back.

Her nod was slow as she chose her next words carefully, "We need to continue this in my office..."

Her voice began to trail off as an uneasy feeling came over me. Pain shot through my lower abdomen and a chill went up my spine. I barely had time to comprehend the pain in my stomach when I heard the explosion, and the blast knocked me from my chair.

11:02 AM

Something was ringing. Someone was screaming, and someone was shaking me. My eyes popped open, and I waited for my vision to clear, in front of me was Dr. White. Dust and dirt-caked her face in an odd mask of grey and her hair was littered with pieces of drywall.

"What-what happened?" My mouth was dry, and I could taste the dust on my lips. Cautiously, I sat up wincing as my ribs screamed in protest at my movement. Looking around, I saw dozens of people walking around helping each other. The old couple with the dog had help from the young man at the hostess table, and the woman who was angrily texting was putting a tourniquet on a man's leg, her face stoic and her body calm- must be a doctor.

I let Dr. White help me to my feet where the pain in my side worsened. I shoved it away and went to help the first person I saw. The blast came from the right and where a wall with dozens of old photos used to be was a large hole filled with debris, that peered out into the now stand still street. All the windows had been blown out, and the building was dark. Outside, I could hear sirens and the loud voices of police and firefighters.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked.

The doctor, "I've checked everyone over and was able to dial 911, but they saw the blast so we should be out of here in no time," she set her calm green eyes on me and finished her task before standing up.

"Annie, right?" She asked.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"I'm Rebecca." She began to look me over, but I pushed her away, telling her I was okay.

"You're favoring your left side, you're hurt," she reached for the hand I had placed against my side, under my blazer.

A voice from a speaker of some sort announced the arrival of the police and first responders. They told us to stay in the middle of the room and that paramedics and firefighters would be the first in.

"Don't worry about me; just make sure everyone else is okay."

She kept her gaze on my determined face before turning back to the man with the tourniquet who was now passed out. I sat down on a table and sighed, running my blood-stained hand through my red hair. Something had pierced my skin, shrapnel, I think, but the vibrations coming from my wound made me feel otherwise. Turning my body away from the group, I shrugged off my jacket and unbuttoned the bottom few buttons of my now ruined blouse. The wound was deep and throbbing, blood seeped from it steadily, and with shaking fingers, I pressed into it. Biting down hard, I stifled a grunt.

The ringing was coming from me, and so was the vibrations. I slowly prodded, tears threatening to spill as my fingers dug deeper. It was here I could feel it, my finger pressed against something metallic and cool, putting more pressure on it; I nearly doubled over, this is what I was looking for.

Determined not to pass out before I pulled it from my body I gripped it between my pointer and thumb and pulled. Black dots swam across my vision, and I jerked hard, throwing the metal object to my feet. Heaving and covered in sweat, I pulled my eyes open and looked at the object inside me.

It laid in a pool of blood, a small metal object the size of a flash drive. It was sleek and shaped like a bullet, a green blinking light shined from one end, and when I picked it up, I could feel the vibrations.

"What the fuck?"

Suddenly the blinking became faster, and the vibrations began to emit a high frequency. I dropped the device and stepped in it, smashing it to bits. Behind me, firefighters came in with paramedics and Rebecca called to me. Dr. White was suddenly at my side.

"Annie, we have to go now." Her hand clasped onto mine as she pulled me from my spot.

"Dr. White, the paramedics are here, we should leave with them!" She was pulling me in the wrong direction. We were going further into the building, and I pulled on her hand, yelling at her to let me go. We were heading towards the kitchen, rounding a corner led us up to the swinging doors, and I took control of the situation.

"Dr. White!"

She turned to me, and I shot a fist out, landing the punch. She instantly let go of me, her hands flying to her bleeding nose. Frowning, I shook out my throbbing hand.

"Where are you taking me?!"

With a sleeve to her nose, she stepped closer to me, "He is our God, he will bring order to our world."

I stepped back, pressing a hand to my side.

"You're- you're apart of the cult. The one who praises Steppenwolf."

"Smart girl."

"This, all this was your doing?" I gestured to the damaged building, "All these people were hurt so that you could what implant whatever that device was inside of me?"

She cocked her head to the side, removing her hand from her face. The entire lower part of her face was covered in blood. It caked her teeth as she spoke, and she seemed not to be bothered by the pain.

"There are rumblings, rumors, gossip. He will rise again; he will defeat our savior, our God, but not if what he cares about most has been silenced for good. He won't hear your heartbeat. He will go mad. He will destroy the planet in rage, and our God will take control and save us all."

I stared back at her, shocked at how similar she spoke like Luthor. A knife slid down her sleeve, and I noticed she had swiped it out of her napkin.

"Hello, any survivors over here!" A voice declared before rounding the corner to greet us. A firefighter gestured for us to hurry to him.

"The building is unstable. I need to get you to safety, Miss."

I shot a look over my shoulder. She was gone, and so I dropped the brick and followed the man out. The first thing I needed to do was call Bruce.

4:23 PM.

My body jolted awake in a cold sweat. The room around me was dark, and my body was sore. I was taken to the hospital and released late afternoon. The stitches given to me were tight, and the gauze and tape stretched against my skin as I sat up. My head swam, and the room blurred slightly, closing my eyes to stop the motion, slow breaths escaped me. When it subsided to something, I could tolerate, I opened my eyes and reached for my phone.

Five missed calls from my mom, two from Martha and twelve from Bruce. In that order, I called each one- saving the one I needed to speak to most for last. Before calling Bruce, I made my way to the bathroom, my feet shuffled across the cold tile, and I flicked on my light, wincing at how bright it was.

My hair was a mess in its ponytail, and a few cuts were along my temple, and I had a bruise on my jaw. I dared not to look at the stitches under the gauze but ran the shower and began to strip.

"Annie?"

Bens muffled voice on the other side of the door made me grimace. I didn't want help washing, and I didn't want to talk about it either. At the hospital, the explosion at the restaurant was breaking news. Most in part because I was seen being led from the wreckage. Theories about the blast and why I was targeted began to take effect on him about two hours into my hospital stay. He was even more upset that I disobeyed the doctor's orders to stay overnight.

Sighing, I replied, "Yeah?"

"There's someone here to see you."

I placed the heels of my palms to my eyes and groaned, "Tell them I don't want to see them. I was just in an explosion for fuck's sake."

"That's why they're here. She says she knows you- something about bumping up the meeting."

Quickly, I pulled my tank top back over my head, pulled up my sweatpants, and turned off the shower before I swung the door open and pushed past Ben.

I stopped short at the sight of them. In my living room stood Ingrid Clary and Arthur Curry.

"Put some shoes on. We're leaving." Arthur said before turning on his heel and walking out the door.

Ingrid shot me a weak smile, "We're in a bit of a time crunch."

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Till next time!