The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Sometimes being a good dad means breaking the rules.

Texted numbers spun and whirled through space.

They found towers, and sailed off into the sky...

...and they kept on going. Reached the mainland.

Dodging through servers and silking along cables, the numbers clamoured desperately for their goal.

...Keystone City. A rather unassuming corner of a computer lab where Jamie Hamilton had once had spirited conversations with the latest attempts at artificial intelligence.

One of his old workstations awoke with a whirrrr and a buh-deep.

A perfectly innocuous screensaver hid the desktop's goings-on as it took the message delivered to it by that text message, shuffled the digits, encrypted and re-encrypted, and, on flawless autopilot, sent an e-mail over a secure hardline to a certain bunker in Nevada.

This bunker, in turn, had a single computer already programmed to interact with the satcom network, as it had performed that task once for a lark.

Instead of snapping a photograph of Jamie standing around with a President and a Prime Minister, however, this time it did something of the opposite.

A complex, custom-modified algorithm searched the satellite network for photographs snapped of Smallville within the last twelve hours and irretrievably demolished them.

Completely, completely took them apart.

Except for one. One photograph.

The one of Jamie standing near Miller's Bend with his two fingers upraised, flipping the bird to the eyes in the sky. And even on that, his face was blurry, unrecognisable.

The only message that got through was those two fingers, two fingers upraised by a blurry blue-suited figure, and the two words those two fingers represented: 'Piss off.'

Lex Luthor stared at his Blackberry in a mixture of wonderment and fury.

Stared at those two fingers.

But he kept his cursewords to himself, shoved the Blackberry into his pocket and downed the rest of his glass of single malt.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose and Chloe

Rose squeezed The Wraith's hand.

And she reached out, and she squeezed Merick's.

The one thing she felt strongest of all? Was friendship.

"'Fight or die,'" she whispered, encouraged. "'Side by side, against the tide.' Those are some good lyrics."

Chloe hugged herself, leaning there against the counter, frowning softly.

"'The one secret of life and development,'" she quoted, "'is not to devise and plan but to fall in with the forces at work -- to do every moment's duty aright -- that being the part in the process allotted to us: and let come -- not what will, for there is no such thing -- but what the eternal thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the first.'"

Rose screwed up her face at that, questing for recognition. "Chesterton?"

Chloe smiled wearily, distractedly. "George MacDonald."

Rose shook her head in a bit of wonder. "You'd like my dad. Sound a lot like him sometimes."

"Really?" Chloe mused. "Maybe we watch the same TV shows."

She turned to Jones, however, and crossed her arms over her stomach, an all-business gleam in her eyes.

"What would you have us do first?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick squeezed Rose's hand. It was soft, and tender, and delicate. It was also strong, and real, and warm. Merick felt so many things in that moment. Hope. Faith. Strength. Love. Safety.

Merick, while witty would never be able to explain all that ran through his heart as he stood in the kitchen of Wayne Manor, flanked by super powered beings, an alien and friends. He would never even try. It was too personal. Too deep. Too real.

Merick squeezed Rose's hand. He said nothing.

 

[ChasNicollette]

[pay no attention to the girl behind the crazy]

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

It was not a time for pretense, or false image, or illusionary visages of person and name. He was to reveal to them their destiny, now, and he would do so as he was.

They would see him as he is, in his true form.

One that cast benevolence and mercy upon the weak, and listened to the music of the cosmos and the songs of stars.

One that dispensed justice and fury where there was lawlessness.

This was he, J'onn J'onzz.

This was the Martian Manhunter.

He shifted, morphed, transformed before them. And so he stood there in that great room of Wayne Manor green and broad-shouldered, muscles ripling, cape flowing, and his eyes tinted with glowing red.

But this was not the bio-luminescence that so many shared.

This was power in its purest, raw, unadulterated form.

And so he spoke.

"First," he told them, "a team needs to be dispatched to Honduras to recover Water. I would suggest that the Wraith accompany young Master Wayne in this task. Bruce, no doubt that your influence and considerable resources will be useful in retrieving the artifact. With this Creature of Shadow at your side, no harm shall befall you.

"Next, someone with considerable data skills will unmask the hidden form of the BRAIN InterActive Construct," he explained, his eyes looking gently at Chloe. "And of course, this will be no easy task, and may require the movement between various sources at once, which is where our young, hat-clad warrior will assist. Recruiting others for this would be at your discretion, but trust and secrecy is paramount.

"And for the last," he said, turning to Rose, "you will fulfill your mission and deliver the Crystal of the House of El to the Last Daughter of Krypton. In this task, I shall accompany you."

He folded his arms across his chest, towering above them. "Once these things have been done, it will be time to flush Zod from hiding before he initiates his plan to dominate this world.

J'onn's eyes flashed brightly, and his voice became a thunderous statement of truth.

"I have seen worlds die," he told them, "but I will not watch this one perish."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick gazed with passionate determination at the green figure before them. He commanded awe. He demanded attention. He was awesome.

"Well then sir, we have a common driving factor. Chloe, you have my word, I will help you in any way I can. I have your back. Besides, as I call it, I owe you one. Rose, your Dad seemed to understand all this more than any of us. He has the Crystal. Where do you guys want to start?

Merick was eager to begin. He wanted vengenance. He wanted to save those he loved. And he could sense the longer they dawdled the worse the situation would become. "Air-Tennylson is at yalls disposal. Just tell me what and where and we will do what we need."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Pete, Chloe, Rose, Bill, Bruce, and Alfred (with apologies to Superman1496)

"A rather long day indeed," Bruce muttered, watching the tapestry man and the armoured shadow-creature proceed down his hall to the kitchen.

"Very well," Alfred pursed his lips, squinted an eye. "Shall I see about dusting off the spare bedrooms, getting an assortment of linens out of the airing cupboard? Just in case?"

"I don't think any of us are getting sleep anytime soon," Bruce noted. "Call it a sneaking suspicion. But yeah. Better to be on the safe side."

"Always is, sa'," Alfred nodded, and slipped away to begin his work while Bruce went to retrieve the phone.

"This is Bruce," he pointed out as he picked up the receiver.

"Bruce," Pete replied, relieved even to hear those crisp, no-nonsense tones, he'd thought for sure the cell was going to quit on him. "It's Pete. Pete Ross, from school and... uh... after-school."

"I know who you are, Pete," Bruce noted with just the vaguest hint of impatience.

"Yeah, 'course," Pete grunted. Somebody's always crappin' in your cereal.

"Look," he replied, "the shit jumped off big-time 'round here, and I was making sure Chloe was intact. D'you mind if I talk to her?"

Bruce frowned.

He'd wanted time to talk to her. Time to straighten things out. To figure out which end was up.

Promises had been made... promises to Henri Ducard and promises to Chloe and Bruce needed her help to keep both sets of promises. He needed to talk to her without the encumbrance of other listening ears.

But that wasn't ever going to happen. Not tonight.

Seemed like the whole town had come over.

Bruce rubbed his forehead with one hand.

What was one more? ...especially Pete, who had some kind of history with Chloe, some sort of bond forged in extraordinary circumstances as well as ordinary. And whether he understood that history, that bond, or not, Bruce knew he had to respect it.

"Where are you right now?" he asked.

"Feed store," Pete replied, surprised at that particular question. "Route 16."

"Come on over," Bruce told him. "She's okay, but I'm sure she'd be happy to see you. Can you get here all right, or should I send Alfred around with The Bentley?"

'Proto-Messianic,' Pete wanted to say. 'You got a Bentley?'

"Nawh," Pete actually said, "don't trouble 'Fred. I can, uh, catch a ride."

"Marvellous," Bruce nodded, and hung up the phone.

Pete blinked at the borrowed cell, at the "call ended" symbol that blinked at him from the LCD. "Yeah. See you in a few."

Pete vaulted the counter and proceeded outside.

His dad was holding the flashlight as the toothless guy and Ben Hubbard were tightening the nuts on the pick-up tyre.

He tossed the phone back to the fella from whom he'd borrowed it. "Thanks," he nodded, as the fella caught it in the air. "I owe you big."

"Pssh," the guy dismissed. "I got unlimited nights on this thing."

"Bad-ass," Pete opined, and clapped him on the shoulder before jogging across the parking-lot towards Ceri McCrimmon's car.

He called over his shoulder to his dad: "Just goin' over a rich white dude's house."

Bill Ross half-glanced at Pete, half-nodded. "That's cool, son."

Then he heard a car door slam, and he glanced up more fully. "Wait, what? Now?"

"Consarn it, Bill," Hubbard complained, "hold the light steady."

Pete sat in the car for a moment, hands on the wheel, feeling perplexed.

Ignition?

He blinked, and then looked down and to his right.

Found the ignition in between the front seats, near the gearshift.

Fuckin' Saabs.

He gunned the thing to life and pulled out of the parking lot before his dad could hand off the flashlight and chase him down.

Dunno who pisses me off more, Bill reflected with dark humour. That Luthor kid or my own damn sons.

Bruce, meanwhile, had taken up residence in the doorway of the kitchen.

He listened to the stories, the terribly sad stories.

He knew what it was like to lose a world. His parents had been his world, his mother and his father, and they were... they were gone.

Bruce watched the shadowy fellow bonding with the Rose girl, the teleporter Merick and The Wraith taking turns swearing oaths of courage and allegiance. He watched Chloe, so deep in thought, deep in oceans of thought...

He watched the tapestry man become big and powerful and green, and he reflected on Chloe's earlier description of a Swamp Thing...

(He had declared that The Wraith could take any form he was most comfortable in. He supposed that this also held true for this Manhunter... this Martian.)

"If The Crystal is an essential component," Bruce suggested, "and Rose's father is knowledgeable in such things, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to fetch both it and him. Good call, Merick."

He glanced to Chloe. "Pete's on his way. He was worried about you."

Chloe smiled a little smile, a smile of history and bonding, but she remained as all-business as she could manage. "Well. Sweet of him. Maybe he can put his Spanish classes to work helping you guys South of The Border?"

Bruce arched an eyebrow. "Yeah. Honduras. My passport is in a safety deposit box in a vault in Gotham. Didn't think I'd need it out here. Shows what I know."

"At least you have a passport," Rose mumbled. "State lines: I can't even travel North to Keystone without getting a nosebleed. Or getting hit by a train."

She retrieved her hand from Merick, and rubbed her face with it, though she still held Kyle's Wraith-claw in the other hand.

"Of course," she continued, "I don't know how much good I'm going to be doing talking to a person. (I usually botch First Contact scenarios. Like that whole Earth-Minbari War thing? Practically my fault.) Maybe my mum can go with me? Or Dad, if he's not busy helping Chloe with the hack-and-Google."

 

[AmenRa]

General Zod

He sat with his feet propped up on the metal desk, while before him three flat screen monitors displayed various information. The center monitor read in the unique symbolic language of Krypton, while the two that flanked this one carried information from the Internet that marked sites and locations of interest.

The office was non-descript, plain, and inert. It was on the forty-second floor of a large building that overlooked downtown Metropolis. It had been secured by General Zod's artificial intelligence program through a rather ingenious method. The BRAINIAC had funnelled the necessary funds from several bank accounts spread across many North American and British corporate industries. The companies, such as LuthorCorp, Starke Industries, OsCorp, Wayne Technologies, Queen Industries, were missing money, but none that an accoutant could detect.

The computer hardware had been secured based on recommendations by the BRAIN InterActive Construct. Zod had stolen, no, the computers had been given to him in tribute.

Hail Zod.

He watched the information as it was displayed. The BRAINIAC was part of the World Wide Web now, and could go anywhere, hack into any system, read any data.

It was learning.

It was learning about Earth. But, more importantly, it was learning about a town called Smallville, and about those that centered around the arrival of a certain blonde-haired child of Zor-El.

Names were read by Zod and committed to memory. Virgil Swann. Lionel and Lex Luthor. Thomas Wayne. Chloe Sullivan. Rose McCrimmon. Pete Ross. Dr. James Hamilton. Dr. John Smith.

Jonathan Kent.

Martha Kent.

Other words and phrases that were relevant came up. The Kawatche Cave. Alien language. Prophecy. The Torch.

He saw the archived photos.

Hope.

No, he thought as a sinister smile crept along his mouth. Not hope.

He reached up with a felt-tipped pen and drew on the screen of the monitor, re-aligning the outline of the Kryptonian symbol of 'hope' and adding a few angles and lines.

Conqueror.

Zod.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick grinned like an idiot at being complemented. He nodded.

"Let me jump back to Hawaii and grab the 'rents. Be back before you know it." With that their was a familiar Swoosh and Merick was gone.

Merick arrived right back at his Dad's office. He looked around for a moment. Then he heard his father swearing. Merick jogged over to a half collapsed section of the stable.

"Dad, you okay?"

"Merick, give me hand. I can't find Gar anywhere.

Merick grabbed ahold of the leaning piece of walland started lifting. "I don't think hes there Dad. Maybe he took off for cover."

"It's the damnedest thing. I came back figuring their would be a lot of badly hurt, and maybe killed animals. Instead every cage, stall, and tank was empty, they are gone. All of them. Garfield too. I just don't get it."

"Dad, Gar is smart. I am sure he just let the animals out and then made for cover. He will probably turn up later or tomorrow. In the mean time... I need you and Mom. I want your blessing. I don't know how much you know about what happened here today, but there were these beings. Aliens I guess, and anyway, they kinda wanna take over. So with my little gift, I have been recruited, well really I volunteered, to fight. To try to stop them. I don't know if I can. If anyone can. But I cant sit by and watch everyone and everything I care about be destroyed. I know you understand, and Mom kinda already gave me her blessing. But I want yours too.

Slow down son. I saw everything that you did. You were a hero today. I don't suppose any father wants to hear about his son risking his life, and going to battle against a deadly enemy. But, son, I wouldn't be fool enough to believe that I can stop you. You have too much of me and your grandfather in you. No matter how we try to run from our past we always have to face it sooner or later. Merick, I give you my blessing son.

"Wait, you saw everything? How?"

"Merick, you have your gifts, I have mine. I trained as a remote viewer before I met your mother. I can focus on a subject anywhere in the world, and see them and their surroundings."

"So, you can see places. Like say you wanted to see a particular town, or building, could you see it in your head?"

"Well, it is easier with a target, but I can see pretty much anything if you give me coordinates. I just see the map, I find the coordinates, then I focus until I am at them. Once there I can move around as if I were actually there. Why? You have that look you get when you come up with some nefarious scheme."

"Can you teach me. Is it like a skill I can learn or is it different?"
"I can try. I don't make any guarentee but I can try. It takes focus, and discipline. If you are willing to take the time we can work on it. Where's your Mum?"

"Oh. Hawaii. I will bring you to her. Hang on." Merick grabbed hold of his fathers shirt and they were gone.

A second later they arrived at the spot where he had left Ceri, Jamie, and his Mom a short while ago. Merick grinned at Jamie. Hi! Where did the ladies go?"

 

[Wyldfire]

Kara nodded her head as Diana corrected her on what she meant by 'a man's world'. She glanced up towards the night sky, "I'm starting to realize that Smallville has a lot of secrets," Kara said as she came back into the conversation.

"Well there's Smallville High, which is where I go. Only started classes a few days ago, actually. It's kind of... weird being in a school like that. There are a lot of kids. The guys are okay for the most part, but they seem to like showing off a lot," Kara said.

"There isn't any training needed to go to school or anything, just that from what I've seen you either fit in or you don't. There are quiet people, and then there are really loud and obnoxious jerks too."

"And I don't think you'll need to worry about dressing to impress. You have really nice clothes," Kara said with a smile.

Diana smiled at Kara's worlds sharing the view of the stars. This was going to be so different from home. "So it is all book learning here," she said, "I suppose I will have to do my own practice after school then."

She was already thinking about ways to do this. But that was for a later date, now she was out in the night with a new sister and it felt good.

The commentary on her clothes was interresting. "Are the clothes you wear so very important?" she asked, "It seems shallow to put such importance on them. Wouldn't how one behaves be a better way to judge one another?"

Diana continued walking, again unconciously increasing her pace. This world seemed so different than what she was used to, it made sense to her now why the Gods had seperated the amazons from the rest of the world. They had needed them to stay ready for when the time came that the world would need protecting.

 

[AmenRa]

J'onn J'onzz closed his eyes for a moment.

He reached out with his mind, with his essence, and he looked for it.

Ah, yes, there it is, he thought when he touched her presence. Of all the psychic presences within this world, within this galaxy, her's was the brightest. Her's shown with a fire as bright as Krypton's red sun.

J'onn J'onzz did not intrude upon her, he just listened for a moment, and felt her feelings of joy and warmth. The same feelings she had always carried with her since the day she arrived. Since even he had watched her mother and father cradle her in their arms.

But he detected another feeling there, one that he also knew all to well.

Though she seemed to be in the company of another, Kara Zor-El felt alone.

Not much longer, Child of Krypton, he thought quietly to himself as he left her presence. Soon you will not be alone. Soon you will learn the truth of who you are, and you will begin your journey towards your destiny.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jamie

Jamie put The Crystal back in his inside suit-coat pocket, downed the rest of that bottle of beer, and picked up Ceri's phone.

He went to check his father's old fob watch, the one with astronomic designs, orbits and star-charts on the lid, but then remembered just before he opened it that the thing was broken. (Indeed, had always been broken.)

Instead, he checked the time on the cellphone, and nodded to himself as the fob watch returned to his pocket.

Swoosh.

Jamie arched a brow and swung his head around.

The teleporting boy and the teleporting boy's dad!

"'Ello," he waved absent-mindedly.

(He must've looked very strange, with his tie as a headband, his glasses on a bit crooked, an empty beer bottle by his feet and a cellphone in his hand, but strangeness of appearance did not occur to Jamie Hamilton.)

Merick grinned at Jamie. "Hi! Where did the ladies go?"

"Wandered off," Jamie pondered, as if just now realising it, cerebrum on holiday. "Seems I have that effect on women, sorry."

He blinked, and shook his head, came back to the moment, and bounded exuberantly to his feet.

"Actually," he remembered, dusting himself off, "there was mention made of grilled pork and Mahi Mahi, and possibly chips. Said you'd been there before?"

His hand shot out to Dale Tennylson, his puckish grin shining full force.

There was that handshake again...

"Jamie Hamilton," he introduced himself. "Doctor. Pleased as Punch to meet you. (Well, again. Well. ...is it 'again?')"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Despite the doctor's strange appearance, there was something about him the Dale had instantly liked. More importantly something made Dale feel he could trust this man. Dale accepted Jamies handshake. "We briefly met back at those caves. Dale Tennylson. Glad to meet you as well. Merick, are we..."

"Yeah, seemed a safe place. And I did love it here." Merick grinned at Dale and Jamie.

"They must have gone to the little shack we ate at. It should be just aroung the path. Let's go grab them." Without waiting for an answer Dale started down the path. He had had a lousy day. He really wanted to see Marcy.

"Coming Doctor?" Merick started down the path after his father.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Marcy was, for the first time that evening, feeling good. She was sharing a good meal, a few beverages and a few laughs with a good friend.

"So, where did you and Jamie meet?" Marcy asked as she tucked into her fish tacos and pineapple salsa. It really was divine. "He just seems so... different.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jamie

"Coming Doctor?" Merick started down the path after his father.

Jamie had removed his tie from his forehead and was attempting to reconstruct a halfway-decent Windsor knot as he walked, but at Merick's summons he glanced up.

"Erm, yes," he nodded, wide-eyed, and sped up the cadence of his stride. "Allons-y!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri

"So, where did you and Jamie meet?" Marcy asked as she tucked into her fish tacos and pineapple salsa. It really was divine. "He just seems so... different.

Ceri poked at her bowl of poi, tasting the pasty-looking stuff furtively from her spoon.

Not bad. Not bad. Not lamb with mint jelly, that's certain... but not bad.

"We met through work," she smiled softly. "Not the hairdressing, you realise. The other work. James, he's one of the cleverest men on the planet, but eh. You've seen him. Tendency to get in one kind of trouble or another, wherever he goes. His bosses felt he needed a 'minder.' A 'babysitter.' So his bosses called my bosses."

She smiled appreciatively as the waiter brought her a styrofoam take-away container, French fries for James. ("Cheers.")

The smile faded, though, as Ceri returned to her meal.

"First night we met," she murmured, "we fought. And we ended just like we began."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"Well I, for one, think you did just fine with your first contact with me. Even if we both ended up on our rears."
I looked over at the alien then.

"I don't think I should worry about my passport, and I can get us in the general area...."
Then Merrick took off in a swoosh and I stopped talking for a second & muttered "Am I that sudden when I take off? Bloody disconcerting."

I looked back at John, ignoring the snort beside me as Rose held in a giggle.
(women!)

"As I was saying, I can get us to the general area, I think. If I blind port it is based on my will, and my desire. I think, no, I know I am somehow using magic or a power derived from magic, and it can sometimes be unpredictable if i am experimenting."

Like the first time I tried going to Gotham & wasn't focusing. Granted, Gotham College is a large campus, and has some spectacular women locker rooms.
Girls can scream real loud too when they are scared.

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter listened to The Wraith, and thought for a moment. He then leaned across the table and looked at the book Wraith had brought with him.

The Martian Manhunter was silent for another moment, then he looked once again into the eyes of the Shadow Creature.

"Magic, or a type of magic," J'onn said, "can be neither good nor bad. It is the one who uses it that decides.

"On my world we had such books. They were magic, or a type of magic, they were not of the Sands, but they were of the Sands. They existed in a realm where few had dared trod. Few except for you, my friend."

J'onn J'onzz gave The Wraith a deep bow of respect.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

"I feel that I have only began to crawl when it comes to the realms I may walk. And there are no good or evil men, just good or evil choices men make."


I looked down at the huge leather bound tome, the cover scratched and singed, time writing it's litany across it's face.

"This is a mystery I will have to explore later. Zod is here as you say, and I doubt he is sitting at a desk with his feet up."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Marcy nodded appreciatively. She understood what Ceri meant.

"It seems so odd, my friend, the woman that highlighted my hair, who seemed so normal and average, yet you and Jamie are so much more. I guess I just never looked beneath the skin. Never tried to see more than what was on the surface." Marcy looked up as she saw the trio of trouble headed down the path. "Company sweetheart." Marcy pulled a handful of bills from her pocket and left the money with check. "Something tells me our stay in paradise has been cut short."

Merick made it to the women first. Grinning as always. "Mom, Ms. McCrimmons. Your transport awaits. You guys all set?"

Dale made directly for his wife. Literally lifting her off the ground with the force of his embrace."I am so glad to see you. We all could have died today. Again. But here we are. You ladies have fun? Checking out all the surfer dudes?"

Merick stepped aside. He realized this was a moment that could be waited for "Whenever y'all are ready, I am just gonna be over here." Merick wandered over to a little garden by the restaurant, and picked two off the biggest brightest flowers there.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

"You will travel far, my little Kara. But we will never leave you, even in the face of our death. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine."

Those warm words from her father had accompanied Kara Zor-El as she traveled as an infant from her home planet of Krypton to the distant planet called Earth many years ago.

But she had long since forgotten them.

"Well, I didn't think so at first. I tend to just wear whatever suits me for the moment. I don't exactly have a lot of clothes," Kara said, somewhat embarrassed. Most of the girls and guys their own ages had some of the latest shirts and pants to wear.

Kara had some new clothes, but nothing too new.

And she always had that dusty red jacket. Even during the summer she would wear it. It was like a second skin for her.

"But I mean, I guess things are a lot different here than from you're from. Appearances can mean everything," Kara added.

"Not for me, though. I don't really like looking on the outside. My dad always taught me to believe in people, see inside them first."

Diana began picking up the pace again, and Kara had to step it up again to catch up.

"In a rush?"

Kara smiled and playfully jogged ahead of Diana.

"Think you can keep up?" the young Kryptonian asked with a grin.

 

[Wyldfire]

"Well, I didn't think so at first. I tend to just wear whatever suits me for the moment. I don't exactly have a lot of clothes," Kara said, "But I mean, I guess things are a lot different here than from you're from. Appearances can mean everything," Kara added.

"Not for me, though. I don't really like looking on the outside. My dad always taught me to believe in people, see inside them first."

Diana had hoped things would be the same as at home but a part of her knew better. "Your father is a wise man Kara, follow his teachings and you will be the better for it."

Diana began picking up the pace again, and Kara had to step it up again to catch up.

"In a rush?"

Kara smiled and playfully jogged ahead of Diana.

"Think you can keep up?" Kara asked with a grin.

Diana's smile matched Kara's at the playful challenge. This was the kind of comraderie she had missed. Diana laughed as she picked up her pace to match Kara's then just a bit faster. "No sister, I am simply reveling in this joyous night. Now let us run!"

with that she sped up again, not realizing that she was running much faster than she should be.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara had issued her playful challenge, and Diana has accepted with eagerness. Perhaps the thrill of running with the wind to their faces was something the girl had missed now that she was in the States. There was certainly no other feeling quite like it.

At first Kara had the lead, but when Diana pulled ahead of her Kara began to realize that there was more to Diana than first appeared.

Perhaps it was just natural that women from Themyscira were this fast.

Perhaps not.

"You're pretty fast," Kara said as she caught up again. She had to use only a tiny sliver of her abilities to catch up, but it was still more than she probably should have. But for some reason she felt comfortable around Diana. She could be herself without being judged.

And together they could run around the world if they wanted to, with nothing but the wind in their face and the ground beneath their feet.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri and Jamie

"Don't be too apologetic," Ceri chuckled ruefully. "It's been kind of a long-term goal of mine to seem as normal as possible."

And then "trouble" arrived in the form of two Tennylson gentlemen and a Hamilton.

As Dale and Marcy greeted each other emphatically, Dale's strong arms bearing Marcy aloft, Jamie strolled up to Ceri with an awkward look on his face and his tie an awful mess. He took off his glasses, pocketed them.

"Happy to see each other," he noted, in reference to the other couple, rubbing the back of his head with one abashed hand, "d'you think?"

"I should think, yeah," Ceri nodded quietly, rising to her feet.

They stood there quietly for a moment, each apparently wanting to say something important, each searching for the words.

The moment came. The moment went.

"I got you chips," Ceri pointed out, almost apologetically, holding up the Styrofoam container.

"Oh, cheers, thanks," Jamie grinned lopsidedly, accepting the present, bashfulness like agony in his eyes. "I didn't get you anything, I'm afraid. I thought there'd be a little shop, for gifts and things, couldn't find one. There should always be a little shop. So people can... shop."

"Well," Ceri noted, with a firm nod and arms across her stomach, "I'm sure you'll think of something."

Another moment came, this one sleeted through with an odd kind of tension...

Jamie put down the Styrofoam, took Ceri's face in both his hands and kissed her full on the mouth.

Ceri's eyes widened in astonishment, her eyebrows arching skyward, and then her eyelids settled to half-mast and her hands gripped his forearms.

...the moment went, and they parted with a gasp.

Jamie was trying to seem debonair at the same time as he was desperately curious: "Any good?"

"For a start, yeah," Ceri blinked, patting him on the middle of his chest with one palm. "Have you been... practising?"

"WikiHow," Jamie admitted, sheepish, with a little bit of a shrug and a little bit of a nod.

"God bless," Ceri chuckled, scooping up the takeaway box as she brushed past Jamie on her way towards the exit and the garden. "Enough surfer boys for me, thanks. I prefer 'em brainy and scrawny."

"You lot hear that?" Jamie grinned to Marcy and Dale, full-bore puckishness, hands in his pockets, following Ceri and walking half-backwards in order to do so. "She prefers me."

Ceri paused in the door, though, and Jamie had to stop short so as not to run into her.

She glanced at him, impishly, mock-thoughtfully. "O'course, that would make Stephen Hawking a perfect storm, now, wouldn't it?"

Jamie went pale. He went really pale. His gestures suggested extreme caution. "You're not gonna snog him, too, are you? Because he'll only break your heart. He does that."

Ceri slugged him in the arm, firmly, a mysterious look on her face. "That's disrespectful and more than a little gross."

And then she was gone.

"You started it!" Jamie protested, aghast.

He stood there, completely bewildered. "I think women are hard enough to understand, without a British sense of humour as well. Can't make sense of a British sense of humour, even if you're British yourself."

Jamie turned, hands back in pockets, to smile a little apologetically at Dale and Marcy. "He's a nice enough guy in person, Hawking. The bee's knees. But you get him alone with a pretty girl, and he'll just start bragging about his large--" (cough) "--hadron collider."

And then he darted out after Ceri.

He caught up to her, sniffing innocently at one of the flowers Merick had picked, still in Merick's hand.

"Are we ready for off, then?" he wondered, perfectly flummoxed.

"We're just waiting on the rest of our party," Ceri nodded, perfectly inscrutable.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose, Chloe, and Bruce

"I don't get it," Rose murmured as her giggle faded. "You were telling me earlier about Heaven and Hell, and how you knew they existed. How can you know about Heaven and Hell and yet not believe in good and evil?"

"'When bad men combine, the good must associate;'" Bruce quoted, "'else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.' Edmund Burke."

He smiled wearily, a smile that didn't quite know how to portray itself.

"I don't know that I believe in Heaven or Hell," he explained. "But I believe in good, and I believe in evil. I've seen both, in stark contrast. A bad man vanished off into Gotham's night while a good man and a good woman died bleeding, surrounded by the scattered pearls of the good woman's broken necklace. The good man told me... he told me: 'Don't be afraid.'

"If there is a Hell," Bruce murmured, "it's for the fearful. If there is a God, then He hates cowards."

He smiled faintly, and moved to stand beside Chloe.

"'Hell is for the fearful,'" he reiterated, steadfast. "'God hates a coward.'"

(At this, Rose glanced away, off out a window, but managed to keep her facial expression wholly neutral.)

Chloe grimaced faintly. "I think it's interesting how we're standing here debating the existence of such mundane concepts as 'good' and 'evil,' and blithely accepting the existence of magic."

(Bruce couldn't hold back a smirk at that.)

"You don't believe in magic?" Rose blinked, utterly taken aback. "Doesn't everyone believe in magic?"

Chloe smiled thinly, purposefully ignoring her memory of her time spent with Death.

"No," she replied, very much in denial. "Not everyone."