stranger things | dick grayson

sixty five

word count: 2.9k

~

'Probability of organ failure, 80 per cent,' the computer spoke throughout the room, making the team cringe.

'Uh oh,' Eleanor muttered, putting her hands on her hips. It wasn't the outcome they were expecting— Conner was the son of Superman, and they didn't think he could ever get as sick as he was. But here they were, watching him grow paler by the minute.

Behind them, Conner pleaded, 'Dick, please! Please don't let me die like this!'

Gar quickly comforted him, saying, 'Hey, buddy, it's gonna be okay.' With a kind smile, he touched his friend's shoulder reassuringly.

'I'm so scared.' Conner looked up at Dick from across the room, his eyes wide and bloodshot with fear. Eleanor was nearly frozen in place— she had never seen him look so frightened.

'I understand,' Dick said as he approached the table where Conner was tied to. Eleanor slowly followed behind him. 'We're not going anywhere... I want you to hear me. We're going to save you.'

Conner nodded his head vigorously, believing him.

'Okay, you're going to save me. You're going to save me.' His face then showed confusion. 'Wait, wait, wait... Where have I heard that before? Oh. Oh, right! Why don't we just ask Hank? That's what you said to him, right? Right before he died, right?'

'Jesus Christ!' Eleanor muttered distastefully. It had been a while since she had thought of Hank. She tried not to think of any of the friends she had lost over the years: Spays, Jones, Hank, Dawn, Floyd. Eleanor had become numb to grief but being reminded of the losses she had faced still stung.

Dick instructed Gar, 'Put him under.'

As Conner protested and Gar held the mask over his mouth and nose, Eleanor watched as he fought the drugs— eyes wide and rapidly scanning the roof. Slowly, his eyes shut, and his stiffened muscles relaxed.

'What's gotten into him?' Gar asked, pulling the mask away from Conner's face. 'I've never seen him act like this.'

'Well, he is half Lex, half Superman,' Eleanor told Gar quietly. 'I guess the side of Lex that's in him is rearing its ugly head for the first time.'

'Do you think we're just like our parents and their personalities? Like it's in our genetic code or something?' Gar asked, earning a shrug in response.

'Maybe... but if I start dressing up like a bat to fight crime, shoot me,' she said, earning a quiet laugh from the green-haired boy. Eleanor winked at him before turning around to join Dick and Jinx's conversation on the other side of the lab. Her ears perked up at the mention of a certain someone, and she asked, 'John Constantine? Why haven't we called him yet?'

Her question went unanswered.

'Look, then we go with that. We have no choice,' Dick said, pleading with Jinx to use her magic powder. Eleanor was unsure of what the powder did, but she refused to ask. The less she knew, the better.

'I can't,' Jinx winced as the three returned to Conner and Gar.

'Why?' Dick near shrieked in annoyance, both Gar and Eleanor pulling faces of surprise.

Eleanor gently touched his arm as a silent reminder to remain calm. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, he was the team's backbone, and if he started to freak out, the rest of the team would follow quickly on the path of panic.