The battle was getting really intense. The Justice League had been at it for hours against Lex Luthor and his band of superpowered miscreants, and several of them were tired. Superman and Aniv were the only ones still going strong, and Aniv, having been up much later than she should have practicing her powers, was failing fast. Though she did her best to hide it, she could see the looks her cousin was giving her between punches and she knew she was in for it when they got home.
Ani-Val-El Shalin had been on Earth for over two years. Twelve years old now, she had developed her physical powers to rival Superman's, and her mental powers to rival those of the Martian Manhunter. She had discovered more ways to counteract Kryptonite whenever she came into contact with it, and had learned enough about Earth to become top of her class. She had developed many talents, because just as her family had predicted, she was immediately skilled at anything she attempted.
She was also becoming more beautiful by the day, making Kal very uncomfortable whenever a boy spoke to her. Her emotionlessness was a constant, meaning that she never revealed whether she felt anything when approached by anyone showing interest, but it still made him nervous. He knew that Kryptonian laws dictated that they were not to marry outside of their species - not that that had stopped her father - and that she was, technically, betrothed, to someone who was light-years away. He didn't relish the idea of having to talk to her about that, and he knew that time would come soon.
What he didn't know is that she only had eyes for one boy, a boy she hadn't seen in months. Even now as she fought her thoughts turned to him, and she felt herself go flying as she failed to block a car thrown by one of Luthor's cronies. Why did thoughts of him always distract her so? He was her best friend, and nothing more. She knew of her betrothal and that she had a higher calling on her home planet - she couldn't let such thoughts get in her way. As a princess, she was called to be more serious, more calculated in her emotions. She couldn't let herself be so easily sidetracked.
She'd been getting sidetracked a lot more lately. Not only with thoughts of her friend, but of her home. Juprin. More and more, she was once again trying to distance herself from her human alter ego, asking Kal to call her by her birth name any time they were not in public. He rarely did so, because, as he said, 'you never know when someone could be listening.' It frustrated her to no end. She never told him how much it did so, though she knew that on her bad days he could see the flashing in her eyes.
A kick to the gut from Superman and the last powerful henchman was down. Flash grabbed Luthor and it was over. Batman was loading up the ones who had been defeated into the police vans, already handcuffed and sedated. Aniv watched them and, deciding they were done and no longer needed her, flew off. She needed time to collect her thoughts and emotions. She needed Solitude.
"Elizabeth, I know you're here."
She sighed. "I told you, my name is Aniv."
Kal walked over to where she sat. "Did you really think you could hide here?"
Aniv didn't even look up. "At the Fortress of Solitude? Never. That's never why I come here. You know that."
He sighed. "Elizabeth -"
"Aniv."
"Elizabeth," he pressed, "you can't just fly off like that. It's dangerous. We might have still needed you, you could have been hurt, you -"
"I can take care of myself, Kal."
He glared slightly. "You may be just as powerful as I am -"
"More so."
"More so," he conceded, "but you also have more weaknesses. You aren't as strong as you think you are. You've been too easily distracted lately, and if you look away from where you're flying for even a second -"
"I'm not irresponsible."
"Will you stop interrupting me?" His expression was stern. She had been pushing her limits more and more over the past few weeks, and he was tired of it. Having been chalking it up to school and League stress, he'd been letting it go, but he knew he couldn't do that much longer. She tended to get more brazen the more he let her off the hook, and he was tired of it.
"You're extremely close to being put on probation, you know," he warned. "That's the third fight in a row you've flown away from like that and we can't keep letting you do that. One more and you won't be allowed to fight for six months, and we both know you're lucky to be allowed now."
Aniv glared at the ground. For what it was worth, she didn't know why she was being so rebellious as of late. She knew she had been, and somewhere inside her, she felt sorry about it, but for some reason her mind was always on other things and her emotions were, while well hidden, extremely out of whack. Trying to handle it on her own only seemed to make her act out, which is why, to Kal, it seemed like she was rebelling.
He folded his arms, then sighed. His gaze wandered, and he looked outside. "We'll talk about this later. I'll leave you to think for a while. Be home by dark, or else."
"Yes Kal," she replied, only semi-sarcastically, as she flopped back onto the flat surface formed by the crystals that she had been sitting on.
Kal walked toward the entrace. "By the way," he said, pausing to look back at her, "you're grounded."
Aniv didn't respond, and Kal flew toward Kansas and their farm in Smallville. The twelve-year-old sighed, her gaze on the ceiling and her heart on her home.
