The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Ted blinked, and glanced at John, who appeared perfectly and bemusedly inscrutable. "Don't tell me your reputation precedes ya?"

John paid Ted no mind, neither Ted nor Diana, and instead turned that fantastic roguish smirk full upon Bekka.

"What brings me?" he placed his hands together, as if in the manner of prayer, and rolled his eyes skyward as if petitioning some Great Power for grace and forgiveness. "Whatever brings me anywhere, Becky me pet, but me ongoing quest for lasting redemption?"

Ted cleared his throat, noisily, and the clearing of his throat sounded like 'Horsecrap!'

Without missing a beat, John grinned a cat-ate-the-canary grin, and parted those hands. "Of course, sometimes, the road to redemption goes a lot faster than a sinful bloke would like. Quantum leaps instead of the infinitely preferable meandering pace. F'rinstance, this business with 'fixing' me long-standing destructive relationship with nicotine..." He paused, and gave her an examining look. "This wouldn't be payback for me role in getting you sacked from finishing school not two years back, would it? (I still maintain yeh brought it on yourself, luvvie.)"

There it was. The opening. Diana kept her head down so none buy Constantine could catch her hard cold smile "There he goes again Ma'am, He's a beast and cruel to we women. He's even been a beast to my kind sweet Uncle Ted, who has been a saint in caring for him," she let her shoulders shudder just a bit, "He even insinuates that it's you being cruel to him for offenses he gave you in the past. Is there no way you could order him sedated until we land and may depart his foul prescience?"

The last said Diana steeled herself and set her expression to one of utter sorrow "He is such a mean and cruel beast Ma'am."

Diana knew Uncle Ted would see through this and she hoped he wouldn't call her on this.

"I am afraid sedating him would involve more guinness than I have on this plane. Tho I could always see if I have a big enough hammer to conk him with. That might work, but I bet he would talk in his sleep, so really the only joy you would get out of that is the act of hitting him."

She paused a second as if contemplating mayhem, but the gleam in her eye betrayed the fact that she was joking.

"Now John, why do you think I would use a three million dollar dose to correct whats taken you decades to do to yourself? Do I appear to be that vindictive just because you dropped me off in the front of my school completely sodding drunk and most definitely out of uniform? well, OK, your right, I would."

Then she stuck her tongue out at him.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted and John

There it was. The opening. Diana kept her head down so none buy Constantine could catch her hard cold smile "There he goes again Ma'am, He's a beast and cruel to we women. He's even been a beast to my kind sweet Uncle Ted, who has been a saint in caring for him," she let her shoulders shudder just a bit, "He even insinuates that it's you being cruel to him for offenses he gave you in the past. Is there no way you could order him sedated until we land and may depart his foul prescence?"

The last said Diana steeled herself and set her expression to one of utter sorrow "He is such a mean and cruel beast Ma'am."

Diana knew Uncle Ted would see through this and she hoped he wouldn't call her on this.

"I am afraid sedating him would involve more guinness than I have on this plane. Tho I could always see if I have a big enough hammer to conk him with. That might work, but I bet he would talk in his sleep, so really the only joy you would get out of that is the act of hitting him."

She paused a second as if contemplating mayhem, but the gleam in her eye betrayed the fact that she was joking.

"Now John, why do you think I would use a three million dollar dose to correct whats taken you decades to do to yourself? Do I appear to be that vindictive just because you dropped me off in the front of my school completely sodding drunk and most definitely out of uniform? well, OK, your right, I would."

Then she stuck her tongue out at him.

Ted did lean back a bit, and gave Diana a strange look.

There was, of course, something familiar about her tone of voice, but he couldn't immediately place it. And really, he couldn't blame her for being put off by Constantine's corrosive attitude, sometimes he just wanted to knock the would-be wizard's teeth down his miserable gullet, but it wasn't like the girl to request a man be doped out cold rather than taking that selfsame man head-on in wits or fisticuffs...

He gave her a puzzled look. And didn't say a word, save for the expression on his face speaking volumes: 'Girl, who done taught ya t' fight dirty? 'Cause it sure as Rumbles in Jungles wasn't me. What're you playin' at?'

Constantine, in the meantime, took upon his face the expression of a man from Foxe's Book of Martyrs, crucified but serene, as though he were here the wronged party. "In the beginning, God, inscrutable bloke that He is, made Man. And, given The Lord's omniscience and knowing of all futures, He knew that eventually He would set upon Man innumerable rules and regulations, commandments and such far too complicated to keep. But in the meantime, to make sure that Man was plenty confused and miserable even before such time as those Laws were carved in stone, He made Woman. And henceforth, Man has suffered immensely every time he has gone down the pub or watched the footy or stumbled in his walk to grace without first getting permission to do so from The Missus."

Ted harrumphed. "Of all the misogynistic--"

John gestured dismissively, refusing to brook this accusation: "Bloody five of 'em! Maggie, Ceri, Becky, Nurse Wossname, and this little niece bint of yours, five X-chromosomal menaces 'ave darkened me proverbial doorstep today, and yeh're giving me 'Ell for 'aving a darksome mood as a result."

Ted arched an eyebrow. "What's that bit o' Scripture you're always dropping 'bout your sins findin' ya out?"

"Mm," John huffed. "If it were just me own sins, Teddy, I wouldn't shed a bluddy tear, nor bat a bluddy eyelash. But in the case of dearie-duck Becky..."

He grinned that Devil's grin once more. "It's more a case of her sins finding me out. I'm not the one what got her pissing drunk-- (pissing drunk, Bex, pissing drunk, 'sodding' is something else. Unless yeh meant 'sodden?') --I'm just the one who told her what pub in London she could find American-import beer actually served cold, she ordered every one of those brews 'erself. And then she complained ter me about The Millennium Eye, wondered why they called it 'The Eye,' wondered what it even saw, if it was an 'eye.'"

The grin darkened, and his eyes half-lidded. "So I showed her, 'umble magician and dispenser of knowledge that I am, I showed 'er what The Eye sees. What it really sees. And it changed her eighteen-year-old perspective on The Universe, it did, and thereafter there was more drinking and a certain amount of... life-affirming celebration? I imagine she might 'ave gotten so well and truly pissed she forgot what she saw, which, bit of a shame, though I can't 'ardly blame 'er. Like a good gentleman of proper breeding, I made sure she was delivered to 'er appointed place of education, but I am 'ardly responsible for the condition in which she arrived."

At this, he delivered a scathing look to Diana. "So keep this in mind, when passing your snarky judgements and prescriptions of knock-out drops, eh, 'Lady' Di? Make sure what yeh're judging me for is credit where credit is due rather than wrongful accusation, eh-wot?"

Ted just stared at John, and then glanced at each of the three women in the room. "He's something when he gets going, ain't he? Actually saw him talk a man to death, once. Actual actual talkin' t' death."

John smirked faintly. "In my defence, I did arrange to 'ave 'im brought back shortly thereafter."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Pegasus Med Bay

"Besides," Bekka said dryly, "your probably missing at least a dozen things he did get away with. He is incorrigible you know."

She then rolled over to John and leaned over and kissed his cheek. While there she whispered in his ear "You did take me dancing that night, and I will treasure that as long as I live. And you showed me something else, though you didn't realize it. You showed me how to live, and I am trying to teach that to my brother. You have met him you know, the Scion of Shadow."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Alfred, Chloe, Pete, Gabe, and Jamie

Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth was more than all-business as he strode up to Merick and Garfield. He no longer appeared put-upon. But the look on his face was not to be trifled with.

In one hand, he carried a broom with a detachable dustpan thereupon. In the other hand, he carried a mop. And he wielded them both with the same sort of serious reverence one might have reserved for The Sword in The Stone, or even Caliburn Ex Calibur.

"Right then," he declared, and pressed the broom into Garfield's hands as he did so, "'Beast Boy' seems to me all but perfect nomenclature for such as y'self, Masta' Garfield. Though the mischief y've wreaked would be worthy of any tricksy pixie of The Fair Folk, so per'aps 'The Changeling' eh'n't far off eitha'. But 'aving been deprived of The Mana', and 'aving been deprived of Masta' Bruce, I feel 'ona'-bound to ensure that this place is all the more spic-and-span when we leave it than when we found it, hmm?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Per'aps you can see about sorting the broken bits of china and cutlery? Immediatément, if y'would, s'il vous plaît."

Without missing a beat, he turned to Merick, and pressed into his hands the mop.

"And you, young feller-me-lad," he mused, "don't think I've forgotten what y've done to me yard what 'as to be corrected by landscapers, swan dives from impossible 'eights, and the like. Seems to me, whether your grand-dad would let you off the 'ook for this or not, you owe it to 'is 'ospitality and mine to mop up the scraps and spilled coffees and 'ippopotamus saliva. Don't you think that's true, young feller-me-lad? There's a bucket under the sink, might need filling."

Alfred shook his head, and turned away in a huff, murmuring under his breath: "'Beast Boy.' Well, I neva'. Boys are always beasts."

Pete and Chloe and Gabe each exchanged a look. And they each took a pronounced step back, staying clear out of The Gentleman's way.

Making sure that Alfred wasn't looking, Jamie quietly and rebelliously took a page from Merick's book: he leaned over towards one of the glass cases of weapons, and breathed hotly upon its surface, steaming that spot. And in that spot, quickly before it faded, he drew a smiling face with his fingertip.

And then he whirled about, hands in his pockets, hiding that little bit of graffiti behind his back as he tried to look as innocent as possible.

"'So follow me, follow,'" he recited, quoting a pair of philosophers that weren't Chesterton but were equally wise, "'down to the hollow, and there let us wallow in glo-hoh-hoh-horious mud.'"

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

Earth's atmosphere proved no barrier to him once again as he returned from space. He entered over the North Pole, the shock wave of his return to sub-sonic speeds heralding his arrival much the way thunder tends to do for those who are gods among men.

Once within the glimmering aurora of the North, J'onn J'onzz saw the great structure that was the Fortress of Solitude, and peering within he saw the two Kryptonians he sought.

He landed smoothly among them, giving proper honor and greeting with a bow of his great, angular, and green head.

"It is done," he said to Var-Sen and Raya, "I have found a new world that is waiting for you."

 

[ChasNicollette]

John Constantine, Hellblazer

She then rolled over to John and leaned over and kissed his cheek. While there she whispered in his ear "You did take me dancing that night, and I will treasure that as long as I live. And you showed me something else, though you didn't realize it. You showed me how to live, and I am trying to teach that to my brother. You have met him you know, the Scion of Shadow."

John's Devil smile faded somewhat, thought it was no less a smile.

It was a human smile, for once, for once, he had a perfectly human expression on his face.

He nodded solemnly. "I knew there was something special about you, Bex, moment I laid eyes on you. Tickled the threshold of me astrological awareness, eh? Your 'oroscope told me, just by looking at you, you'd been right smack next to something powerful. And power like that... forgive me, Bex. Forgive me. I couldn't let some ice-bluddy-cold finishing school tell you what to do with power like that. So I showed you a glimpse of Truth, and I showed you a glimpse of Life. Because yeh should always live Life at the top of your lungs, so when yeh die, yeh die grinning and flipping The Devil the bird. Or at the very least, yeh should dance 'till your legs fall off, and you came bleeding close that night..."

John laughed, though, a hollow laugh, and he shook his head, and he smoothed out one of his eyebrows with the backs of half-curled fingers.

"As for the particular Power you wound up tied in with," he mused. "That's a whole plane of trouble, right there, you realise? You're lucky some mystic berk with a sense of propriety didn't pick up 'is aura from the word go, maybe infanticide him to put him out of everyone's misery. Or worse, indoctrinate 'im, like The Margrave or The Dark Tower. Very lucky indeed."

He pursed his lips, and he gazed quietly at Bekka Greystone.

"My niece Rose," he murmured, "she's close with 'im. And you, Bex, dearie-duck, you're 'is tupping sibling. But all Shadow's ever done is get caught in the crossfire of a war that's older than the world, and your dear bruv'll get you lot caught in that crossfire, too. I'm not saying you shouldn't love 'im. I'm not saying you shouldn't die defending him, that's what a real family would do. But there's gonna be pain, ugly darkling pain, and it's going to be because of him."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Pegasus Med bay

Bekka smiled a sad little smile at John's words.

"Well John, if my legs do fall off, someone will have to tell me because I'd never know. And some power did try and do him in John, and he carries that with him, as do I."

She leaned closer to the magician, and he could feel the power in her words.

"I remember everything of that night, and if it takes every breath in my body, every dollar of the company my fathers fathers built, I will not bow before the terror that those bastards wrought, and I will fight by my brothers side to bring them down."

She smiled once more at John Constantine, and said in a quiet voice "I do know something about being caught in the crossfire John. And I bloody well now know how to duck and fire back!"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick and Gar both became stoic at the words of the English gent. Merick decided then and there that even though he had crossed paths with some irksome foes in the last few hours, that this was a battle he had best not fight.

"Yessir. Sorry." Merick tried... bless his impish heart he tried. But he simply could not look at the mess and at Gar without grinning like the Devil.

"Right away sir."

Merick went to the sink and got water and the bucket and began to fill it and clean. In short order he and Gar had cleaned up the mess and were washing themselves up.

"So the cute blond? Whats the story?"

"Her name is Chloe. And she is amazing. I have only known her for about a day, but... there is something about her. Something amazing. And I don't mean like the stuff we can do, you with the zoo, me with the teleporting thing... it's something better. Something deeper. More real. More meaningful. I can't explain how she makes me feel... But I like her. A lot.

"Dude... that's sweet. Good luck."

Merick grinned and walked away. He moved over by Chloe and put an arm around her.

"Dude. I would totally rather get a melvin from Zod than have to deal with Alfred angry. By the way? I was thinking, for the dance, would you like to catch dinner first? Anything you want. Anywhere you want. Whattaya think?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya Ro-Zan

Raya stood in silence in the light of The Fortress.

She wore black and stood in a field of crystalline white, and she stood out in starkest contrast, there with her head bowed.

Zor-El had given her much to think about. For every question she had asked, he had been ready for another... and even her subtlest questions had garnered profundity from him. She had forgotten this about him, perhaps a little bit, that even Zor-El's holographic ghost was wiser and cleverer than all the host of The Council put together.

She stood a short ways apart from Var-Sen-called-John Smith, not because she could not bear his touch, far from that, but because the depth of thought that Zor-El had evoked in her was difficult to distract.

There were many legends yet to be written. Would she and Var-Sen truly be one of these, out there with living sounds that had never known light, with planets that didn't socialise, with birds and tesseracts and beasts and devils...

This galaxy alone was massive and populous, and there were twenty-seven more.

What place had a dead world and a dead people in a Universe like that?

...but then, then, she heard it, on the fringes of senses so very much vaster than human, she heard a sonic boom on the wings of the storm and she glanced up, and she saw him with eyes that would put the mythic Heimdall to shame.

She smiled softly, and she ascended from the depths of her thought to rejoin the conscious, and she reached for Var-Sen's hand.

J'onn J'onzz descended.

He landed smoothly among them, giving proper honor and greeting with a bow of his great, angular, and green head.

"It is done," he said to Var-Sen and Raya, "I have found a new world that is waiting for you."

Raya smiled at him, her eyes glinting in The Fortress' crystal glow, smiled with gratitude and a similar bowing of her head.

"'Where are we going?'" she wondered, with this gratitude, with this reverence. "'Where are you taking us?'"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Edmund had sat quiet for a good long while. He had been in quiet meditation. Focusing on the events of the last few hours. He listened however. He lisened to the conversation between Bruce and Ceri. He listened to bits and pieces of what he could over here from the next room. And then he opened his eyes. He sat forward. Forearms on his knees, fingers interlaced.

"It strikes me that in all this time I have put many things ahead of my family. I lost my wife. My son hates me. But still life moves ahead. Bruce, we all have demons. Some of us, as strong as we think we are, are not strong enough to over come them. I spent the majority of my life living in a world apart from the one my son and grandson live in. A world that is dark and stained in the sins of men like myself, and the sins of things far worse. Don't run from the world. Or you will one day wake up a sick old man, alone, with nothing but an underground bunker full of memories of fallen friends and fallen enemies. That is what i have become Bruce. I turned my back on all that I could have had. Don't make that mistake."

Edmund took a deep breath and smile at Bruce.

"You don't have to walk the path alone. You have a group of friends around you. Let them help you. Don't try to go it alone. It's a heavy burden. Or you could totally ignore the rambling of this crazy old coot and walk your own path."

 

[ChasNicollette]

"Remember When It Rained"

Bekka smiled a sad little smile at John's words.

"Well John, if my legs do fall off, someone will have to tell me because I'd never know. And some power did try and do him in John, and he carries that with him, as do I."

She leaned closer to the magician, and he could feel the power in her words.

"I remember everything of that night, and if it takes every breath in my body, every dollar of the company my fathers fathers built, I will not bow before the terror that those bastards wrought, and I will fight by my brothers side to bring them down."

She smiled once more at John Constantine, and said in a quiet voice "I do know something about being caught in the crossfire John. And I bloody well now know how to duck and fire back!"

John drank in her words.

Magic answers need.

And he was ashamed. Ashamed of himself and what he was, a shame he felt only in his most introspective moments, alone on his birthday and staring into an empty bottle of Loch Lomond and a smouldering ashtray. A shame that not even an Amazon's brutal disparaging had caused him to feel, Bekka had brought to the fore of him.

And he reached out and he cupped her face in his hands.

"Three million dollars," he murmured, "you said, to heal me? I'm not worth it, sweets. I never 'ave been. Just a waste, me. That money could 'ave been far better spent. Spent on someone what deserves it. Not that I'm ungrateful. Just... realistic."

Magic answers need.

His face tightened, his eyes broke into a thousand pieces. "I don't 'ave any power. Not of me own. Not like Zed or Blood or Fate. But... 'what grace is given me, let it pass to...'"

He trailed off.

He closed his eyes.

And he kissed her, gently, on the forehead.

And with what tiny power had been given him, the power he'd managed to cobble together over years of searching for such power, that tiny little fraction of the supernatural pushed against Bekka Greystone through the kiss of his lips, and all the repair-work that had been done to John Constantine faded in an eyeblink.

And nothing seemed to happen, save for John suddenly breaking the kiss, agony on his face, a coughing fit battling its way through his lungs and throat.

Nothing had seemed to happen.

"Buggerit," John scowled amidst the hacking. "I never was good at doing the right fucking thing."

...but perhaps. Perhaps. Only for a moment, for a fraction of a moment, sitting there in her wheelchair, Bekka Greystone would feel an oddly pleasant sensation, a tingling and a sparkling, in the soles of her feet.

And then it would be gone again.

At least for now.

('Magic answers need.')

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

Merick grinned and walked away. He moved over by Chloe and put an arm around her.

"Dude. I would totally rather get a melvin from Zod than have to deal with Alfred angry. By the way? I was thinking, for the dance, would you like to catch dinner first? Anything you want. Anywhere you want. Whattaya think?"

Chloe grinned her bright, disbelieving grin at Merick Tennylson.

"How soon before the dance are we talking, here?" she wondered, half-teasing. "That's quite a ways away yet. Are we talking, like, pronto? Or is this more so you can set reservations?"

She chuckled softly, and closed her eyes to think as she slipped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Tell you what," she murmured after a moment, and only then lifted her head to look at him again as she hugged him, "just take me to that taco stand from which you got all that food you brought to Bruce's house. I never did get to have all that much of it. I'd just like to hang out there with you, guac and suspect tomatillo sauce and all. For me, romance isn't candlelight and Manilow. It's good takeout, and good company."

Then she squinted her eyes, and half-glanced in Alfred's direction, her voice going quieter: "He does seem pretty formidable, doesn't he? Very, I dunno, 'Caine Mutiny.' You know, I might not Melvin Death for you, I respect her too much, but the next time Mr. Pennyworth gives you what-for, just let me know. See if I can't soothe the savage beast with a little purple prose. Meantime, try to stay on his good side, would'ya? You can't wow me on the dance floor if you've been keelhauled."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ceri and Bruce

Ceri kept her eyes closed, though her smile faded quickly. She listened. She wondered what Bruce would say to this. He was on the verge of something, on the fringes of a major turn, his destiny about to shift...

Ceri had no superhuman powers to speak of, not a one, but there was something about a young man in a desperate quandary. Her mother sense was tingling, even if she wasn't this boy's real mother in any sense of the word.

She cared whether he lived or died and that was enough.

Bruce leaned his head back against the headrest of his seat, and he seemed to grind this through the endlessly-whirring gears of his brain.

He'd felt like a fool, standing in The Cave with Lionel Luthor and Pete Ross, waiting on Chloe's last-second rescue, making intuitive and deductive leaps regarding the structure of The Cave, the meaning of the hidden room. But, now, now, he was learning to trust his instincts and his intelligence. He felt far less like a fool.

There was more to him than he'd ever realised, just waiting beneath a compartmentalised surface.

"Thank you," he murmured, "for your advice."

He ran his thumbtip over the four fingertips of the same hand, and slightly squinted his eyes.

And when he spoke again, it was with a voice the colour of stone.

"The difference is," he murmured, "you sacrificed your personal freedoms for a life of personal benefit. You surrendered your chances for a good and loving life unto the altar of accruing wealth by the strength of your arm and the blood of others. The difference is, 'Slade,' 'Eddie,' that what I intend to do is sacrifice my chance to live my life so that others, innocent others, might live theirs. Not everyone gets to live in daylight. I'm going to forfeit my chance to do that. At least for awhile. I'm going to die so that others may thrive."

He turned his gaze away, gazed out through the window. "I'm not going to slay others that I might 'survive.' That's the difference. Everyone has regrets. I'm going to make sure mine are worth it. That's the difference."

Ceri's face tightened, though her eyes did not open, and she literally did not know whether to laugh or cry.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Pegasus Med Bay

John you noble stupid bastard!


"Sharon!" Bekka yelled as the coughing fell over John Constantine, "Get over here! He's gone and done something stupid."

With Sharon's help Bekka got John on a bed and sitting.

"You silly silly man! Don't you think we looked into using the serum on me? It doesn't work on spinal and brain injuries, and now that your thrice-cursed body has rejected it, I doubt another dose would cure you."

She then pulled his head down and gently kissed him on the forehead. "Leave being noble to others you idiot, you be a wise ass and a rogue and a liar and leave nobility to someone else, or I'll go get Ceri and you will be in trouble!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Constantine

John scowled, and laughed in a broken, surrendered fashion. "Don't be daft, pet. Please don't, I can't bear it when brilliant minds are daft. I couldn't pass the serum on to you, not literally, I don't 'ave that kind of poïesis. But it's... it's Jamie 'Amilton's Conservation of Momentum, or whatever-the-bollocks. Healing takes energy, woman. Doesn't matter if it's a potion or a serum or robots the size of dust mites, it takes energy. And I passed that energy on to you. Dunno why it didn't do nuffing. Maybe too much dissipated in the transfer. (Bollocks.)"

He already looked gaunt again, already looked a little bit stretched too thin, looked a little bit expended. Just like before.

He gazed quietly and sadly at Bekka Greystone.

"One thing I need to tell yeh about magic," he decided. "Well, two, but they're... they're part and parcel. All these different mystical traditions, all the world over, they weave in and out of each other, sometimes they're incompatible but they all tap into the same source. Pictish Earthen magic combines with Mayan incantations, and these with Stygian chthonics, and so on. So when I talk about karma..."

John's hands balled into fists in his lap. "If you try to 'elp me, I can't properly earn me way out of the hole I've dug meself. Good as your intentions are, if yeh bail me out, I won't make any progress. Meantime, there's this Rule of Three. Any damage I do with magic, and evil I wreak, that gets visited back on me times three. But the same is true of good works... maybe, by helping you instead of you helping me, I can cash in some of this three-times good to some positive instant karma, maybe clamber out of me oubliette by me raggedy fingernails. D'yeh understand? I eh'n't being stubborn, or noble, or an idiot. There are rules to this dangerous game I play, I'm just trying to win."

He turned his head away and raised one of those fists before his face as another coughing fit powered through him, leaving him haggard in its wake.

His face contorted a little bit. And that Devil's grin returned, by hints and by degrees. The Devil may care, but did Constantine?

"Of course," he chuckled, wry to the last, "yeh bring Ceri through 'ere, she's likely to read me the proverbial riot act. That might be good for a few karmic Brownie points, enduring that sort of suffering? If nothing else, I'll 'ave one more nice thing to look at while I'm coughing up me bronchial tubes."

 

[Wyldfire]

Diana cuddled in to Ted in a way that was appropriate for a four or five year old, but not really a scantily clad fifteen year old as she watched John and Bekka go throught their dance.

"I could believe the talking to death, but if he touched me with those lips I know it would be the end of me. Flat dead from disgust." The last given with a wink at her "uncle".

"And by the way Uncle Ted, I know I fought dirty earlier, but I felt that I was underarmed for a duel with John." The last was followed by a giggle.

 

[AmenRa]

Dr. Donald Blake

Blake gave Rose a half-smile as he closed the BMW's door.

"Unless you're a board certified vascular surgeon, there's not much you can do right now," he answered her. Or was she talking about helping with something else? "You've helped me tremendiously," he told her, walking towards the door to the hospital's Emergency Room. "It's a sure thing your parents are raising a fine young lady."

Blake stopped and opened the door. "I'll tell you, though, I'd sure like to see these caves you're talking about. I'd like to see the writings. I love history, especially anything to do with the Vikings or other Norse-influenced cultures."

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

Raya had asked where he was taking them.

Before J'onn could answer, he looked to the crystal console that sat before him.

"I have not forgotten my promise," he said aloud.

The voice of Zor-El echoed throughout the chamber. "As I knew you never would, old friend. Your guidance and protection will be important in the coming times, as Kara grows stronger and embraces her powers. She will come to know your strengths and wisdom as I see the world through her eyes, and in time she will see it through mine."

The Martian Manhunter turned towards the two Kryptonians.

"There is a world far from here, accessed through a wormhole in space. It is a serene world, a beautiful world, with plants and animals and many wondrous things. There are mountains and deserts and arctic wastes. This is a world that has been called Sanctuary by the Guardians, and they place it under your protection. Once you have settled there, from time to time a visitor, a representative of the Green Lantern Corps will come to check on you, to check on this world called Sanctuary.

"When you are ready to leave, I will take you to this place," he explained.

"I'd like to say good-bye to some friends," Var-Sen stated.

J'onn nodded his head. "Of course," he agreed.

"And I'd like to ask one more favor of you, J'onn," Var-Sen said. "There is a ritual that you could perform, in your place as an Administrator of Law and Justice to the Council," he explained.

"That is, of course," and he looked long at Raya, "if she will have me forever?"

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

As much as Martha wanted to help the young man standing at her door, she knew there wasn't a whole lot she could without her husband being around.

"I'm sorry, Kyle, but Jonathan isn't home right now. He went into town a little while ago," she said, a sympathetic look coming over her face. She didn't even bother to ask what Kara was doing over Rose's place, but she trusted her daughter to do the right thing... whatever that was.

Surprisingly enough, as if fate had been anticipating her thoughts, Kara came running up to her house.

"Hi mom," Kara said quickly, and the young Daughter of Krypton tossed Kyle a quick smile as she joined them on the front porch. "Rose and the Doc are headed for the hospital. I told them we'd meet them there in a bit if you still want to go."

Martha looked at her daughter with a bit of surprise, but she was also glad that her daughter had made a few friends (albeit somewhat strange in appearance).

"Kyle, I'll tell Jonathan as soon as he gets home," Martha said, directing her attention to the young man in front of her.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

A Dark Room?

A small table sat in the center of a dark room, the only visible light source being a small lamp that dangled from the ceiling. Spread out on the table were various photographs and maps, though one in particular stood out to the bald man hovering over the table, and his hulking form cast a shadow over most of the other pictures.

"Where was this taken?" he asked, pointing a bulky finger down at the photograph that had caught his attention.

"The alpha landing site just outside of Metropolis," the dark figure responded without stepping outside of the shadows that pervaded most of the room. The bald man smirked before picking the photograph up and scanning the document with a set of cold blue eyes.

"And is..."

"Still there," the other figure responded, cutting his superior off as if he knew what information would be demanded of him."The team awaits your command, sir," the shadowy figure added, and if one could peer into the darkness they would see he held a small, hand-held radio.

An uncomfortable silence took hold of the room, but with a slight nod of his head the bald man finally gave the go-ahead.

"Take her," he commanded, and his subordinate repeated the order through his radio.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Ted "Wildcat" Grant

If Ted Grant were asked if he thought of himself as being a higher class of man, he would deny it in a heartbeat. As far as he was concerned, he was just as regular as any Joe, just as average as any Tom, Dick, or Harry. Of course, he had an advantage that he kept secret from most, but having nine lives didn't change how one lived those lives, and Ted figured he lived his lives in just about as standard a fashion as could be managed.

He threw punches, and taught other folk how to throw punches. Couldn't get much more standard-fare blue collar than that.

But on the other hand, when Diana of Themyscira curled up in his lap in a manner unbecoming a woman of her age, he thought of her immediately not as a woman of her age, but of the five year old he'd known once upon a decade. And he held her not as a niece, but as a daughter.

And he smiled grimly.

"Far's I know," Ted mused, "John's never successfully performed a Kiss o' Death. But y'ain't wrong about not bein' equipped ta fight dirty with him. I doubt even Ol' Scratch himself would fight dirty enough ta bring down Constantine."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Blake gave Rose a half-smile as he closed the BMW's door.

"Unless you're a board certified vascular surgeon, there's not much you can do right now," he answered her.

Rose nodded glumly. "Well. No. I didn't think. I mean, I know that cryopyrin, you mentioned that to somebody over the phone, that has to do with the activation of inflammosomes, and packing a patient in ice would probably be an attempt to simulate the mammalian dive reflex, slow down vital functions so as to prolong their survival, revive them later... but-but-but no, no, I didn't think. That I'd be having a slice at anybody's innards. Just another pair of eyes, another pair of hands, I could be that guy, you know, the one to whom the doctor says, 'scalpel' in a deep imperious voice and that guy's right there, boom, right there with the scalpel."

She smiled a faint little smile. "(Probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever said. And I've said some pretty ridiculous things.)"

"You've helped me tremendiously," he told her, walking towards the door to the hospital's Emergency Room. "It's a sure thing your parents are raising a fine young lady."

Rose blushed nearly as red as her hair. She grinned, and her grin beamed so brightly as to utterly eclipse that preceeding faint smile.

"Um, ginchy," she mumbled. "Thank you. Happy to Samaritan."

Blake stopped and opened the door. "I'll tell you, though, I'd sure like to see these caves you're talking about. I'd like to see the writings. I love history, especially anything to do with the Vikings or other Norse-influenced cultures."

She tucked a crimson forelock back behind a still-crimson ear and nodded slowly, thoughtfully.

"I'll talk to my managing editor," she promised. "The next time we do one of those field trips, I'll totally let you know. I honestly dunno 'bout The Norse is a Norse of Course of Course Connection, but I'm sure it can't hurt to have a gander."

But then she gestured sharply to him, told him to get a move on.

"Don't let me hold you up any longer," she implored him. "Go, save lives, go scrub up and incision and suture and say 'scalpel' in a deep imperious voice. I'll just. Hang out. Go save the day."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Raya

Raya listened quietly to the ghost of Zor-El conversing with the last great manhunter of Mars. She closed her eyes, and she pictured this Sanctuary. A sanctuary, a sanctum sanctorum, watched over by The Guardians, long regarded as one of the oldest and wisest sentient races in The Universe. What a safe and secret place this must be...

She wondered as to the colour of its sun, but then she decided this mattered not at all.

Raya opened her eyes, then, when Var-Sen declared his intent to bid farewell to those whom he had come to befriend on this lovely lonely world called Earth, and she nodded, as it was altogether right and good that he should do this.

But then...

But then...

But then Var-Sen of The House of Sen took Raya Ro-Zan by one more surprise.

"And I'd like to ask one more favor of you, J'onn," Var-Sen said. "There is a ritual that you could perform, in your place as an Administrator of Law and Justice to the Council," he explained.

"That is, of course," and he looked long at Raya, "if she will have me forever?"

She stared at him, and she could feel her face grow as pale as the arctic crystals which surrounded all of them. She stared at him with eyes that could see half of forever right from where she stood.

And then she smiled. Then she smiled a smile that outshone the yellowest of suns.

Her voice was a whisper, but Var-Sen could hear two snowflakes colliding, could hear a whisper a whole wide world away, so she knew this was sufficient volume as she smiled and whispered: "You said to me once, in a place far from here, surrounded by stinging sands, you said to me: 'Until then, we have eternity.'"

She dipped her head for a moment, and colour returned to her cheeks in a rush.

"We still have that. We will never have anything else but eternity."

Her lip quirked. Her eyes sparkled. And she draped her arms about his shoulders and kissed him softly, softly.

"And I said to you then, and I say it again: 'I can live with that.'"

"I would love to have eternity with you."

 

[AmenRa]

Smallville Medical Center

Dr. Donald Blake bid a farewell to Rose. He liked her, and thought she was a pretty smart little girl. He remembered seeing her somewhere, although he wasn't sure where, but he reckoned she might have been in the midst of the tornado that he, that Thor, put away.

He stepped through the medical center, locating Dr. Scanlan, and together they set to work. It was not a hard procedure, but time-consuming, and several hours later Blake was exhausted.

Blake sat alone in the Physician's Lounge near the Surgical Center. He had a cup of coffee in front of him, but he was only staring at it. He was too tired to even drink it.

Asgard

He heard The Voice, the One Voice, the Voice of Thor. He knew the thunder god beckoned to him, called out to him, seeking him for release from The Void.

His bond with Thor had become immensely stronger, and it did so every time Blake summoned the Son of Odin. Thor was starting to be able to speak to him from That Place, and Blake to Thor. Such as it was now, as Blake heard from somewhere distant.

We must travel there now. We must speak with the Allfather

Wearily, Dr. Blake stood from the table, gripping his old wooden walking stick, he made his way through a side exit. He walked into an empty parking lot, heading towards the back area where empty ambulances sat waiting for their oncoming shifts.

Taking one last look around, ensuring that he was alone, Blake struck the ground with the old, rune-covered wood.

KRAKA - BAAADOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!

 

[Lunaramblings]

"Thank you," he murmured, "for your advice."

He ran his thumbtip over the four fingertips of the same hand, and slightly squinted his eyes.

And when he spoke again, it was with a voice the colour of stone.

"The difference is," he murmured, "you sacrificed your personal freedoms for a life of personal benefit. You surrendered your chances for a good and loving life unto the altar of accruing wealth by the strength of your arm and the blood of others. The difference is, 'Slade,' 'Eddie,' that what I intend to do is sacrifice my chance to live my life so that others, innocent others, might live theirs. Not everyone gets to live in daylight. I'm going to forfeit my chance to do that. At least for awhile. I'm going to die so that others may thrive."

He turned his gaze away, gazed out through the window. "I'm not going to slay others that I might 'survive.' That's the difference. Everyone has regrets. I'm going to make sure mine are worth it. That's the difference."

Ceri's face tightened, though her eyes did not open, and she literally did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Well then son, you are already a better man I. Some times you must embrace the dark. Just be careful not to fall into it too deeply. I have lived my life by my own code. I did what I felt I needed to do. I wasn't always right. That's all. Bruce, be a shining knight to those you want to help. Just try not to shine so bright you draw every gun in the room. I guess what I am trying to say son, is that if you want to be a knight, be a dark knight.

Edmund runs his hands through his hair and ties the top back with a band from only god knows where. Then he leans forward and slaps Bruce on the knee.

"Then again, what do I know. I am just a crazy old man."