The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

'Have you ever longed to take a walk on top of a cloud
If this feeling was a chemical I don't think it would be allowed.'

They were flying.

Faster than a speeding bullet.

Speeds that would leave the oft-lauded SR-71 in the proverbial dust.

They were a hypersonic round fired from an impossible gun and they cleaved the sky in twain as they rocketed along. Rose's eyes were clenched shut and her lips were pressed tight because she didn't trust herself to breathe.

But she listened. She could hear him. In defiance of Mach physics, she could hear him, and what he said was wond'rous.

She nodded her understanding.

And she managed a smile, because she didn't trust herself to speak, she didn't trust herself to breathe.

But she scrunched up her brain and she thought in his direction, because he had that limited telepathy, he'd spoken into her head and she tried now through inelegant force of will to speak into his head:

'But the sun is bright and the skies are so blue
It must be something bigger that makes me feel like I do
So if you come to the show then I want you to know

...I'm alive.'

She hugged him as they soared, best as she could, and she thought at him again, this time words of her own: 'Of course I believe in you. Of course I do. Even before I met you I believed in you. How could I not?'

Rose grinned, and thought hard: 'Thank you for saving my world.'

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted

Diana screamed and Ted Grant bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood.

He wanted to deck the teke, to rearrange the telekinetic's cranial bones the old-fashioned way, to shove his way to Diana's side and grab her hand. He didn't care if she'd crush his hand to powder in the process, someone should be holding her hand.

It was only sheer force of will-- that, and the knowledge that if he tried any of that shit he'd surely get himself pumped full of knock-out drops --that kept him from Wildcatting the Hell out of this place just to hold the girl's hand. But still. But still.

<"C'mon, sweets,"> he mumbled, tight, under his breath, in his garbled recollection of Themysciran Greek, never did get fluent but he'd learned a few sentences here and there, <"keep on keepin' on. Stick an' move, stick an' move. You can feel the belt, and the crowd is on yer side.">

 

[Lunaramblings]

Dale grinned at Jamie as he prattled on. He liked this guy.

"Well, it isn't an address so much really... see he owns a huge plot of land, practically a small town. Try these coordinates. They should, hopefully be the old horse barn on the back edge of the property. I will call ahead." Dale jotted a set of coordinates on the back of a receipt from Fordman's and handed it to Damien. He then put his pen back in his pocket and withdrew his cell. He punched in a message and hit send. Then he did so again.

Merick meanwhile walked of to Chloe, with no announcement at all hugged her fiercely.

"Ok... so, first, who's the cute goth girl? And why am I supposed to keep an eye on you for her. Oh, and I think she said something about thanks for feeding someone or something like that... anyway..." Merick stopped to take a very deep breath. And then he began again. "Oh, and I totally have the best story ever to tell you. But I don't know if now is the time. Is now the time?" Merick grinned ear to ear as he saw Gabriel The Cat.

"Hey buddy. Glad you made it. You rule little man."




----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the other side of the world, Edmund Tennylson followed Ceri toward their ride home. He looked sidelong at the field on which a monstrous battle had been waged. A battle of might, magic, and aliens. Edmund looked back at Ceri.

"Here is the thing... don't really go in fer all that religion stuff. Figure if their is a God, I done screwed up his creation enough that he ain't gonna cut me a deal n'matter what. And I figure if there is a devil, no matter the deal he could make me, the big guy is gonna call the bluff sooner than later and then, I am in fer even worse than I am now. Did always like them Buddhist though... Edmund contemplated as his phone began to beep. He withdrew it and looked at the screen. One word. Only one. Bilbo. Edmund Tennylson grinned and looked up at Ceri once again. "I recommend that you let your friends know we are gonna need to head to El Paso, that is if you want to meet up with the rest of our little posse. They are headed to my humble abode. There is a private landing strip there."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith and Rebecca

"Oh exotic you are Mr. Bruce Wayne. You are growing into a very fine figure of a man, with my better manners than mt little brother here. A third billionaire in Smallville, and a Tennylson there to boot. We get anymore of the club in there the WB network will make a show about Smallville, Kansas. Head on to the back. I have refreshments laid out, and my staff is discreet. Your secrets are safe here, you have my word." She looked at Bruce with her dark blue eyes, and he was not the only one with a dragons gaze on the plane.

"Oh, and when you next talk to Lucious, please tell him I have some imaging technology that I really want to show him. Preliminary test show it could improve medical diagnosis and treatments in trauma cases by at least fifty percent, but your company creams us in medical, so I want to let him have a look and see if he wants to incorporate it. This stuff falls into my 'Too damn important to worry about profit' pile."


I meanwhile watched Bekka chatting with the young billionaire who had just shared two battles with me. Exotic was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Excuse me, while you two decide who is the bigger billionaire, I am gonna deposit grumpy here in his chair." I started up the ramp when i heard a great 'swoosh' of air. I quickly turned and barely saw Var-Shen and Rose streaking off into the sky. Damn, I was hoping to get some time to talk to Rose on the flight back.

"OK, looks like Rose and the professor are taking the fast plane, lets get loaded and go, before the Chinese get real mad."

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

As Var-Sen and Rose took to the air, he stepped to where the wounded and still sleeping General lay.

The Chinese had come back to their wits now.

As J'onn J'onzz bent to pick up Zod, he heard the simultaneous sound of bolts closing on automatic weapons.

Still bent at the waist, the Martian Manhunter looked up towards where the infantry line stood. He looked up from where he leaned, his eyes red and glowing. He saw them all. One by one.

And then the Champion of the Red Planet stood to his full height, towering over them and their machines of war. His eyes literally blazed red fire now, and his hands at his side clenched into fists as sinew and tendon popped.

One by one, the Chinese soldiers lowered their weapons. One by one, and then all together, they capitulated their place in the battle to the Man From Mars. They knew futility when they saw it, they knew unsurmountable odds, and they knew that with a thought the Martian Manhunter could easily smite them from the face of the World.

Power perceived is power achieved.

But they also knew that he was not their enemy, and instead their enemy lay bound with glowing green wire.

And when J'onn J'onzz picked Zod up and flew up into the sky, some of the soldiers saluted and some bowed. And some began to clear away remnants of destruction so the rest of the team of Outsiders could take their leave.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Pegasus Med Bay

"Well, this is new." Dane said as the girls bones began to knit and her muscles twitched, fighting the sedative.

"Keep your focus Dane, Judging by her metabolic increase, shouldn't take but a few more moments for these to set, then we can let her get some rest." Sharon looked over at Ted then, seeing the worry on his face.

"Don't worry big guy, I have had to doctor up worse than this little girl. I'll take care of her like she was my own, and my team feels the same way."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Bruce

Bruce Wayne stayed quiet until he was sure Lex was out of earshot, unconscious or not.

He didn't want Lex to hear his real voice. But there was something... there was something not quite Right about speaking with The Voice of The Bat, he was coming to realise, when he didn't have a mask on. When he wasn't wearing his proper face.

He'd been talking like that to Alfred, and Alfred had recoiled from it.

Slowly, Bruce was beginning to understand his totem.

He bowed his head for a moment, and closed his own dragonslayer eyes. And then he gazed at the woman who was no damsel in distress.

He smiled a very charming smile.

"Say what you will about The WB, or The CW, or The Gossip Girl Channel, or whatever they're calling themselves this week," he mused to Bekka, in his normal natural human unmasked voice, "they do a remarkable job with their casting. There was that one show, with Tom Hanks' son, that was set in an interesting town. And Capeside, from Dawson's Creek. There was that brunette actress, I had such a crush on her. I wonder whatever happened to her?"

He pursed his lips, and arched his eyebrows.

"As for this imaging technology," Bruce murmured, "all my father ever wanted was to help and to heal, and he didn't care much for profits himself. We could have lived in The Narrows, for all he minded, so long as he could still work at Gotham General."

Bruce nodded slowly, as he turned away and headed towards a nearby seat.

"I'll talk to Mr. Lucius Fox," he assured her, "let him know my boyish curiosity has kicked in and I've stumbled upon a trinket for which I'd like the company to purchase the patents. I'll suggest that he 'be generous.' You might wind up making a profit and helping people."

He paused, and he regarded Bekka before sitting himself down.

"You're not without your secrets, either, Miss Greystone," he pondered. "You and your family. Maybe we can keep an eye out for each other."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Pete, Gabe, and Alfred

Chloe smiled a wary smile, but not an insincere one. She really really did adore this boy and his fire, emerald and otherwise.

She closed her eyes and she laughed softly, and then glanced at Pete and her father.

"Could you guys give us a sec?" she requested.

They nodded quietly, and gave the two of them a little distance, shooting wondering glances both back at Chloe and Merick and forward at Damian, Jamie, and Dale.

"'Cute Goth girl?'" Gabe murmured to Pete.

Pete shook his head. "Got me swingin'. All I know is, that kid better watch where he puts his hands."

Gabe's eyes widened. "What?"

"Chill, Chloe's Dad," Pete grunted. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Alfred stood next to Marcy, trying to look casual about holding Merick's cat and Jamie Hamilton's coat in a box that was a microcosm hovering within the natural order of The Universe.

"I don't mean to alarm you," he murmured to her, "but it occurs to me to wonder if this is what going mad feels like."

After double-checking that her father and her friend were a good ways away, Chloe narrowed her iridescent eyes at Merick, intensely protective and yet burning with curiosity as she whispered: "You know I'm always up for a good story, and I always go out of the way to keep my sources anonymous if that's what they want. And no, this probably isn't a good time. But the 'cute Goth girl' was Death, as in the anthropomorphic personification thereof, and I fed her goldfish. I haven't the slightest idea why she'd want an eye kept on me. You met her? Merick, did you die?"

She blinked, her voice a hiss: "Merick, did you teleport into an apartment in Soho? For God's sake, I tried to warn you about those unstable wormholes."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri

"Funny, that," Ceri murmured softly, eyes half-lidded. "Well. Not 'funny.' Just. A dying killer contemplating Buddhism."

Her voice went quiet, went reverent: "He said: 'I teach one thing, and one thing only: suffering, and the end of suffering.'"

She paused, before climbing up into the plane, and she ran her tongue over that gap in her teeth.

"If you live 'till next springtime," she mused, "we should go to Mount Kailash, and make a few circuits 'round the bottom. Traveling the base of Mount Kailash is considered redemptive, and if you make enough loops, you get to skip straight to Nirvana. No more reincarnation, just peace and nothing and one-ness. During the springtime celebration of Saga Dawa, tradition dictates, good deeds count extra, that'll save yeh a bit of a walk. Just a thought. Just a thought."

She glanced out at the field of battle, and she watched her daughter fly off with that mysterious alien warrior and rescuer. And then watched The Martian subdue the tattered remnants of this bit of the military with aught but a wrathful gaze.

She touched Wraith gently on his armoured shoulder, apparently perceiving his disappointment at Rose's departure. And she murmured in his ear: "You have your purpose, Median Messiah, just as she has hers. She'll be back. And you two'll have plenty of time to talk. I promise yeh that. I guarantee it."

But then she spoke up louder: "In the meantime: El Paso, anyone?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick went stark white. He stopped his mile a second ramblings and looked directly into Chloe's eyes.

"Am I alive? Shit. Dude. I am totally a freaking poltergeist over here... shit. Great. Awesome." Merick started pinching and poking himself over and over, "Great I am frickin dead and it still hurts to pinch myself."

"Honey, you aren't dead. I think." Marcy smiled warmly at Alfred then patted her son on his shoulder.

"Oh snap. I got a message from Tommy, who by the way, apparently also not dead. Just... mostly dead... has been all day apparently. Anyway, Mum, he says, It can't rain all the time. No clue what that means. But he said it. See." Merick whips the note out of his pocket and hands it to Marcy.

"So, see, I was in China. And after we beat Zod, this dude, totally fell out of the sky... well it is more like he was SHOT out of the sky. So I tried to catch him. But he was moving to fast, so I shielded him, and then countered his momentum by blasting him backwards. Anyway, then the ground was like right there, so I just prayed not to die and swooshed. Then I fell through a church see... and I think I said I was a donut, but I dont know for sure. Anyway, then I passed out and woke up with the old drunk guy, who I guess is named Lu Yan, and we were on a beach. And we ate lunch, and then other people showed up. A guy name Hector, and his son, who talked a lot about The Dreaming, and had a talking bird, and there was the cute goth girl... Death... and there was this guy that was huge but not huge, powerful but control. He had this aura about him, like the electricity you feel in the air before an earth rattling thunderstorm. And there was this odd little girl and a talking dog. And... and... wow. And Tommy is alive, but not alive. His body was destroyed, but I guess he was in this The Dreaming place, so cause he died there he belongs to Daniel, Hector's son, but we were supposed to have this destiny, so now it is all FUBAR'ed. And... and... Did any of that make sense?" Merick gasps for breath and looks around. Hoping he made some sense.




--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well Ms. McCrimmon, if you are willing to take the trek, I would be honored. Figure it cain't hurt none, really. Just kinda hope I can keep this goin till then. And as for your ex's brother, well, I will put W. on it as soon as we get to El Paso. And if there is anything I can do for you or yours you just let me know." Edmund extends his hand and removes the mask. "No more secrets. That's no way to start a new friendship"

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen

As they crossed over the middle states of America, Var-Sen slowed to subsonic speeds, and he now held Rose's hand, for she could fly on her own now.

Soon they were over Kansas, then Lowell County, and near enough to the farm with the rusty old mailbox that read "KENT". He stopped in midair, pulled Rose to him, and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

"I didn't save your world, you did," he told her. "You, your friends, new allies and old, all worked together to bring about the changes in yourself and others. This is the very essence of the spirit of humanity that Kara's father wanted her to embrace. You, Rose, have shown her the way."

He then let her go, floating away an arm's reach or so, and then nodded towards the red barn. "I will wait there," he said, "while you make contact."

As he turned to fly towards the Kent barn, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder. "By the way, where is Chloe Sullivan?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

They flew in silence for a few moments more, and the g-forces of deceleration played merry hob all up and down her spine.

They flew side-by-side, hand in hand, solidarity incarnate, and Rose glanced briefly at Var-Sen as the world soughed past beneath them. She wondered if he'd heard her thoughts after all-- she wouldn't be at all surprised if her half-assed attempt at a telepathic "send" had bounced off of his invulnerable skull --she wondered if she were even capable of transmitting in such a manner.

Can you read my mind? she wondered, briefly, though she kept this thought to herself.

And then they stopped, hovering in the mid-morning light of Smallville above the ancestral lands of The Kents, and Var-Sen answered her question with a platonic, encouraging kiss and calm earnest reassurance.

They parted in the air, and with a sigh of weary relief, she allowed herself to sink to the ground.

As he turned to fly towards the Kent barn, he stopped, and looked over his shoulder. "By the way, where is Chloe Sullivan?"

Rose blinked, and she grinned softly. "You and your blondes."

Rubbing the back of her neck with one hand, Rose half-closed her eyes. "The last time The Valkyrie Missile saw The Watchtower, Watchtower was attending an all-points interdenominational extra-curricular slumber party at Bruce Wayne's house. But before the superspeed cross-country team could drag me to a hangar in Texas, my dad confided in me that they had an evac slated for a bunker in Nevada. I'm not sure which nav-point has the journalist, but wherever she is, I'm sure she's completely in command of the situation."

She grinned at him, and then she wheeled about and jogged off.

Her feet were getting harder to lift, she was all worn out. She actually had to try and lighten her feet a little bit with her flight's countergravity so that she could traverse the long driveway without taking half of forever.

She looked like a fright. The burn on her throat and the burn on her chest were prominent, though they didn't look half as bad as they'd done when they'd first been inflicted. She didn't even want to think what Mr. or Mrs. K would think when she showed up on their front stoop, what they would think if they found her there all but half-Scarecrowed.

But there wasn't time to heal and there wasn't time to change and hurriedly she rapped her knuckles upon the farmhouse door, holding her weary breath and hoping for the best.

"'Now or Never,'" she murmured to herself.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

China, aboard the Pegasus

*Cut scene*
Wraith walks past Bekka, placing one armored hand on her shoulder briefly before walking up to the front of the plane and putting Lex in a chair. Buckling him in he reaches over and closes the shade on his window, then closes all the others in the compartment. Then he sits across from Lex, and waits.


In the Med Bay Sharon secures her patient, and when Min arrives with John Constantine she secures him in the other bed, motioning everyone but Teddy Grant to move forward to another small crew compartment. She then straps herself down for takeoff, keeping her bright blue eyes divided between her patients and the man waiting over the Amazon princess.


The remainder of the outsiders file onto the plane, and with a last look across the battlefield, the doors are shut and passengers secured. Then, with a whine and a roar, a black horse rises up on trails of fire, and shoots off across the sky, heading home.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

A Long Story Shortened

"Well you're safe. We just... weren't sure what had happened to you," Jonathan Kent said after welcoming his daughter back home. Kara seemed somewhat shaken, though there were no signs of any injuries. Their daughter was resilient, that much they knew.

"A lot has happened... and I don't know if I have enough time to explain. I was in China and then..."

"You were in China?" Martha questioned, cutting her daughter off and looking somewhat stupefied at the concept of her daughter being in a foreign country. Jonathan wore a more serious look, and Kara averted her eyes to avoid his icy stare.

"Like I said. It's a long story."

"Well you better start explaining," Jonathan said.

Kara sighed and she did her best to retell the most recent events, leaving out a few details she felt too... well she wasn't sure how they would take it. She left out, for instance, the bits about her almost being beaten to death.

Somehow Kara knew that they probably wouldn't take that very well.

"And after I opened up the gateway... I just felt like I was being pulled in every direction. And then I came back here, though actually I had to run back home. I ended up in some field. Not sure where," Kara said as she slumped down on the couch.

Jonathan was about to question her further when there was a sudden knocking on their door.

"We'll finish this discussion later," Jonathan said, drawing a reluctant nod from Kara.

"And you're grounded," Jonathan added before answering the door.

"Rose?"

Kara instantly sat up in her seat, and she felt her skip a beat.

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Damian took the slip of paper and put in the cordinate of the jump location ended by hitting the enter key. He then swivalled in his chair.

Upon looking at the doctor he nodded. "That is fine."

He then simply waited for everyone notice the change in movement. With how loud the transport normally is outside of the compartment. The inside is omniously quiet. He then stood and walked over to a lone corner where a simple keypad was against an empty wall. He started to punch a 10 didget code into the keypad and the large wall opened showing a row of casket sized vaults and a lone vault that looked the size of a medicine cabinet. He then opened it showing rows of orange unlabeled bottles. He simply grabbed one and opened taking two of the pills inside.

 

[AmenRa]

Martian Manhunter

J'onn carried General Zod to the Kawatche Cave just outside Smallville.

The green-skinned alien flew into the cave with Zod in his arms. He stopped, setting feet gently on the powdery ground, and held Zod by the scruff of the neck with one hand. With his free hand, J'onn activated the symbols on the cave wall. They reacted to his touch, a bright blue beam scanning and recognizing his unique pattern of Martian DNA. The symbols flouresced and coalesced, and the stone wall opened.

J'onn entered carrying Zod.

As soon as the Martian had breached the console room's threshold with the renegade Kryptonian, a blue-white tendril of energy snaked its way from the center of the stone console and wrapped snake-like coils around Zod. Zod was snatched from J'onn's grasp and suspended in a sheath of energy in the center of the room.

The Martian Manhunter, having anticipated the control console's reaction to Zod's presence, simply moved over to the vacant wall and waited on the arrival of Kara Zor-El.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

"We'll finish this discussion later," Jonathan said.

"And you're grounded," Jonathan added before answering the door.

Rose's ears could not hear a pin drop at sixty paces.

They couldn't perceive the squeal of a dog whistle, or hear the beat of a hummingbird wing. They couldn't tell the vintage of a wine by the sound of it being poured.

But they were sharp.

And just before Kara's heart skipped a beat, Rose's heart sank, because she heard Jonathan Kent declare that Kara was persona non grata, and was under the teenaged equivalent of house arrest.

Awesome timing, Mister K.

She couldn't just ask Kara over to play. She had to think of something.

Think fast. Thinkthinkthink!

The door swung open, and Rose blinked up at Kara's dad.

"Rose?"

John Smith had apparently, correctly guessed that Kara's parents wanted her to stay down-to-Earth for a little while longer. And Rose agreed.

Much as Kara was not as completely and utterly human as Rose had thought, she still respected the little world within a world that was The Kent Farm, and it broke her heart to think of shattering that. She couldn't avoid denting it more than a little, but she wouldn't ever shatter it unless she could help it.

Half-truth is sometimes necessary for survival.

She smiled a wobbly smile at the arguably handsome Pa Kent.

And she opened her mouth, and words tumbled out. She talked rapid-fire, nervous but smiling, and she wondered that she maybe sounded more than a little like Merick. (She hoped he was okay, wherever he'd gone.)

"Is everything okay here, Mr. K?" she wondered. "The Farm didn't suffer too badly, I hope, in the shower? That was a Hell of a thing, huh? Gotta be a cosmic coincidence on like an exponential kind of scale, that we get hit twice like that? Probably it's sunspots or something, that would explain the power cuts. Anyway, now that it's light out, I was thinking of getting a bunch of the kids from school assembled to go door-to-door and get an assessment of the damage to folk, maybe put together some preliminary numbers for when The Red Cross or The National Guard get here. I mean, the Sheriff's department is totally stretched elastic thin right now, so it's up to us to band together and do right by our neighbours, don't you think? A lot of folk 'round town respect your family, and I could do a lot worse than have Miss Kara Kent on my team whilst we go from house to house."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri

"Well Ms. McCrimmon, if you are willing to take the trek, I would be honored. Figure it cain't hurt none, really. Just kinda hope I can keep this goin till then. And as for your ex's brother, well, I will put W. on it as soon as we get to El Paso. And if there is anything I can do for you or yours you just let me know." Edmund extends his hand and removes the mask. "No more secrets. That's no way to start a new friendship"

Ceri smiled faintly, oh-so-faintly, at Edmund Tennylson.

"If I can help you live," she murmured, "I'll help you live. Because I think you could maybe get to the place where you'll do more good than harm rather than the other way 'round."

She closed her eyes for a moment, just for a moment, and when she opened her eyes, she examined that extended hand.

She put her hands in the pockets of her jacket, and she looked Edmund in the eyes.

She didn't shake his hand.

"If I have to help you die," she murmured, "I'll do that, too, because if I can't preserve the good in you and help you help this world become a better place, it's my duty to prepare you for the next world.

"These two things are what I am, these two things are what I do."

Tight little smile. Hard, deepdark eyes. Hands curled into fists in her pockets.

"But please, Edmund, Eddie, 'Slade,'" she whispered, "don't mistake that for friendship. Don't get me wrong. Please don't. I just think that the path to redemption requires two things: love deep as the deepest well, and an iron will to help keep you on the straight and narrow path. Your family can give you the love, if you can give them cause to forgive you. I'm here to be the iron, because I think that'll do you more good than would a friend."

She didn't shake his hand.

She turned and boarded the plane, and she gazed out of the window as they powered up into the sky.

She wondered where Emil Hamilton was.

More than that, however, she wondered where Claire McCrimmon was.

Ceri blinked back tears.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jamie, Gabe, Pete, Chloe, and Alfred

Jamie noticed the tiny thrumble of the deckplates fairly immediately, his toes wriggling in the thin socks he wore within his new green Converse sneakers. He closed his eyes and made a twitchy little face, the sensation a subtle yet profound vibration in the lumbar region of his backbone, a shiver in his kidneys.

"Cor," he murmured, "that's a new one. Almost infrasonic, that is. Like a bull elephant making a long-distance call."

He opened one eye, though, in an attempt to be less rude than usual, saluting Damian with the stethoscope: "Cheers, mate."

Some of the others, however, were not as quick on the uptake. In their defence, they were understandably distracted, because Merick's motory mouth was at full throttle.

Gabe's eyes were huge in his head. "Did you catch that last part?"

Pete shook his head, eyebrows in a bunch, looking a little bit dazed. "I think some of it was in English."

"JFK was a donut, once," Gabe frowned, trying to be helpful.

"JFK was also a pimp-daddy with Marilyn Monroe," Pete replied, without missing a beat, "but I ain't sure Merick here's JFK material. Too many degrees from Kevin Bacon."

"Ah, I see," Gabe mused sagely, though he didn't really see at all.

Chloe stared at Merick like he'd sprouted a second head, and that second head was George Grosz explaining Cain, or Hitler in Hell.

She ran her tongue over her teeth, and took a deep breath.

"First of all," she suggested, "wall of text, much? Kind of buried your lead, there, Launchpad. Second of all, Death, um, I think you only die if you touch her, or she touches you? She mentioned something like that when we were sitting and talking. It's gonna take me awhile to parse the rest of that... The Dreaming? A big guy like an electrical storm, talking dogs and talking birds, did you have lunch with Thor in Narnia? As for being dead but not dead..."

Chloe rubbed her face, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the exam table.

"This is something you're going to have to explain to me slowly," she decided, "rather than hurl it out in the conversational equivalent of drunken boxing. No offence."

She slid down to the floor, and paused, one hand on the medbed and both feet on the deck. "Are we moving?"

Alfred nodded quietly, noticing that Gabriel the Cat's tail had bushed up to several times its normal size, and that the poor cat's eyes were as wide as could be.

"I rather think we are," he agreed.

Jamie strolled over to Damian as Damian took those pills, and peered at him with interest. "Generally, as a doctor, I advise against self-medicating. But then again, I advise against abusing caffeine, as well, and I do that fairly often, so what do I know? What've you got there, if you don't mind me asking?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted

Ted nodded quietly at Sharon, trying to be less of a belligerent sunnuvabitch than he was presently inclined to be. A blood vessel in his temple wouldn't quit pulsing away, and a muscle in his jaw wouldn't quit twitching, and he didn't trust himself to say anymore.

They brought John in, poor crazed brilliant idiot bastard John, and the guy had a look on his face like he was sleeping peacefully for the first time since ever. The man had nightmares like some people had daydreams, any time he closed his eyes. But for once, he seemed relaxed.

He seemed at peace.

Don't go anywhere yet, Ted instructed John silently. I always told folks you were the only guy I knew has more lives than I do, and it wouldn't be cool o' ya t' prove me wrong.

Ted glanced across at Diana, as she wrestled her own demons as she healed between blinks of the eye.

That goes double for you. Don't go anywhere.

The plane made ready for take-off, and while Ted refused to leave the medical compartment-- he was grateful to fiesty blonde Sharon that she didn't attempt to oust him from his spot --he knew the foolishness of standing there while the thing climbed into the sky. He sat, and strapped down, and watched his "brother" and his "niece" with eyes like sea green steel.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Pegasus Med Bay

After the initial jolt of taking off the plane leveled out smoothly. Sharon and Dale stayed in their seats, and when Teddy made a move to unbuckle Sharon shook her head at him. When the boom of breaking the sound barrier hit, she sighed and stood up.

"OK sugah, you can get up and hover over this little girl like your aching to do. Dane, head off and get four, no, six M.R.E.'s. Once these two wake up they are gonna be ravenous, and I am betting this guy could use some grub himself."

Dane left the compartment while Sharon checked over her charges, moving around Teddy when she had to.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick drooped his head a little as Chloe spoke. Merick looked back up as they arrived in El Paso.

"Sorry. Kinda got would up there. But seriously... you know Death? That is so Family Guy. 'Cept this Death is sooooo cuter than Norm McDonald. Ok. So I think from what I gathered, is that this Daniel dude, is like the king of the Realm of Dream. And Tommy, he must have been teleporting like I do, only just his soul. Like astral projection. And apparently, he did so while in like a dream state, sleeping, like a coma. So when his body died, his soul was in Dream. The Land of Nod. And cause of that, he owes his soul to Daniel. Who I guess, is like The Sandman or something." Merick reached out a hand to Chloe, to steady her if need be.

"So Tommy is alive, but only in a spiritual sense. And trapped in another dimension?"

"No. See, there is this deal. Since Tommy is technically alive, he has the opportunity to become the new agent of Balance. See, right now, he will work with both Hector and Daniel, one day he will be made to make a choice. If he chooses to go to Dream and stand beside Daniel, then he will never again be part or our waking lives. But if he chooses Balance, then he must choose someone of his own bloodline to take his place in Dream."

"This is crazy. I think we have all gone a little crazy."

"Yeah. Well, either way... I wish I had got to play with the little girl and the dog. Looked fun. Anyway. So we are at Grandpa's?"

"Yup. Everyone follow me to the main house. No weapons. He does have sensors, scanners, miscellaneous other things. I really don't want to set things off and have another battle on our hands. Especially since I actually like some of these guys."

Dale headed out into the world beyond the Boom Tube. The sun had come up and the heat had yet to catch up enough to make it an unpleasant day. Dale led them toward a path.

"It's a bit of a hike. We can set up shop in Dad's office." Dale continued on with out making sure they followed.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Daytime in Smallville

Upon answering the door, Jonathan Kent was somewhat surprised to find Rose standing outside their door. He shouldn't have been surprised, given the story that Kara had just told them not more than a little while ago.

"Rose it's okay. We're all fine. Why don't you come inside," Jonathan offered, opening the door a little wider to allow her inside.

Martha had moved over to sit next to her daughter, and she ran a hand down her long, golden hair.

"So you guys really mad at me?"

"A little. It's just... it's not easy for us, especially for your father, to watch you grow up into a strong, beautiful woman. And with your gifts..."

"They seem more like a curse, sometimes," Kara sighed. Her fight against Zod proved that Kara had a long way to go before she could be of any use on the battlefield.

"They're not, sweetheart. You just have to take it one step at a time."

"So how long am I grounded for?" Kara asked dreadfully.

"Till you're forty," Martha teased.

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Damian started to remove his armor. Across his back the scars should have gave the good doctor his answer. However Damian gave him one. "Painkillers. I had more organ harvests as my mother put it than I would like to remember. I believe the organs were from my genetic structure. Considering my Mother has no qualms with cloning how ever illegal as it may be in most countries. But the countless battles leave a lot of scar tissue."

He then opened one of the coffin size vaults and inside he stepped closing the vault. With a hiss he stayed but a few momments and he stepped back out his hair looking wetter than when he went in. and then he replaced his armor. with a fresh suit out of one of the other vaults. This suit sleeker than the other.

He then uncharactoristicly quipped a joke, "Hope I didnt keep anyone waiting."

He placed his bo in an empty utility harness. Hearing the comment about weapons but not completely trusting security. But willingly left his weapon laced coat on the table. He then put on his normal hood rather than go and dismantle another to remove all the bat references. He then hits the button on one of the neck ribs letting the cape flow out and cover his body.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Rose paused, and opened her mouth, and then, suddenly dreadfully embarrassed, nodded her head and progressed across the threshold. She hugged herself gently, and hunched a little bit. "Okay. Thank you, sir."

'Just when you learned the game of life
All the rules change overnight.'

Blowing air through her lips, she ventured warily through to the living room, remembering absent-mindedly the visit she and her parents had had all those years ago. (No, wait, just a couple of nights ago. Wasn't it?)

She stopped suddenly, though, when her eyes flickered over to Kara, and all kinds of weight seemed to slip from her hunched shoulders. Nothing like empirical verification to remind you what really mattered in life.

She grinned from ear to ear and, limping slightly, she propelled herself across the room to hug Kara as tightly as could be, practically a pounce, half-kneeling half-crouching so as to embrace the young Kryptonian while still she sat on the couch.

And then, still grinning, weary-eyed but with a soul indefatigable, she slid back and sat with a soft thump on the living room floor. Grinning up at Kara, she reached up to tuck a crimson forelock behind one ear.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, with feeling, the antithesis of those desperate bitter tears she'd cried before Var-Sen's seeming resurrection.

Her eyes and grin flickered across to Martha. "Don't get me wrong, Mrs. K., I'm glad you're okay, too. I'm glad y'all're okay."

Those eyes widened, then, and worry deepened. "Are you really gonna ground her 'till she's forty? (I'm not so sure that's legal.) Is it okay if I borrow her for a little bit, first?"

'Did you really think your destiny was a one way street
You gotta be ready for anything.'