Late Show

by Mindwarp

Dragonsinger's Against All Odds Ficathon (located at http// dragonsinger. livejournal. com / 709042. html) Prompt 12:

"Fandom: Marvel Comics: Runaways

Character: Gert Yorkes

Situation: She's not going to die in a stupid fire. Not if she has anything to say about it."

Rating: PG/K+

Genre: Gen

Word Count: 1618

Spoilers: through Volume 3 of Runaways

Author's Notes: Thank you, CCPL, for getting Vol. 2 and 3 in so that I could actually read enough Runaways to be able to write this for Dragonsinger, and, for that matter, allowing Dragonsinger and me to even meet. Interestingly, I could see Dragonhubby doing this himself, since he's a geek. (g) I hope this fits the prompt - I couldn't see a way for her not to die in the fire per se. This is what came to me instead. This is also unbetaed (well, I couldn't go to my usual beta, for obvious reasons, since that's Dragonsinger!), so any mistakes are solely mine. The title comes from "Late Show" by GARDEN, which is the opening theme for the Saiyuki Reload: Burial OVAs. (Side note: I apologize for crappy formatting, as FF is stripping out some line breaks near the end that are needed - for better formatting, see my LJ at mindwarp. livejournal. com).

Hey, Chase.

OK, first off, stop freaking out. It's not like you haven't seen this before. Remember when we raided my basement, and found Old Lace? It's the same thing as that message from my parents - it's a hologram of me.

Same reason, too, actually - if you're seeing this, I must be dead. For now, anyway. That had better be the only way you found this hidden among my stuff. If you were just going through my junk for any other reason... let's just say you'll regret it. No kissing for at least a week, jerk.

Oh, come on. I know I'm not in the Alex or Victor league when it comes to tech stuff, but you know I'm not an idiot, either. I managed to figure out how my parents' hologram projector worked, after some trial and error. I figured hiding it in this old Artoo look alike might even lead you to wondering if someone had pulled a Princess Leia on it.

I'll admit that's one reason I started playing with it. I wondered if my parents had left any other messages for me. Yeah, I know - the sentiment surprised the hell out me, too. You know how I felt about them. Lying, manipulating, cheating bastards, that's all they were. While they could, they went throughout all of history, raiding it for whatever they wished to have. Then, they ended up in our time, and decided, "Let's go ahead and help destroy the world, after we take over! Yay!" You know how THAT all went. Still, there was one thing I found out that was the truth, buried openly among all of the lies.

They really did love me.

Shocker, huh?

All of our parents loved us. They were willing to die for us, originally, after all, so that we would live if their plans went off without a hitch. Even when that changed, they still tried to protect us. They didn't mind hurting the others' kids, but their own - even when the Hayes held Molly hostage, they were just keeping her away from us. They were never planning on killing her. It was all a bluff. They really loved us, and we... we didn't get it. Yeah, they were doing the wrong thing, but...

It's funny. My parents were time travelers. Now, I just wish I had their gift, so I could see them just one more time, just so I could tell them that even when I hated them, I still loved them. Deep down, I always loved them. Just as I always loved you.

I don't know if I ever got to tell you that, or not. I know that one future version of me never did tell you. That's the main reason I had to record this for you. No matter what, I had to make sure that somehow you heard that from me. Those three little words... They're right, those words are the hardest thing to say sometimes when you really mean it. So...

I love you, Chase Stein.

I'm not letting you off the hook that easily, either, you idiot. Oh, hell, stop crying. Don't give me that "I'm not crying" crap. I was there when the future me died in your arms? I know how you reacted then, and that wasn't even me. Well, it's not me yet, anyway. So, quit with the freaking waterworks, OK? Just hit pause - it's that purple button - and then hit it again when you've pulled yourself back together.

Alright, are you ready to go on? Now, if you're listening to this, I'm dead. If I'm not, you're dead, but you already know that. Oh, hell, it better be you that's listening to this, Chase. Hopefully, you'll be the first to go through my crap when I kick it. I wish I knew of a way to give Old Lace a command that would make sure of that, but if I'm dead, and I can't pass on the telepathic link to one of you guys, then she might not be around. Maybe I'll look to see if there's a way to key this to your DNA - God knows we swap enough spit for me to get some good samples.

Yeah, DNA - that's the key, after all. My folks picked up a lot about genetic manipulation when they got me Old Lace. Thankfully, they were pretty smart - and knew that I was lucky enough to inherit their brains. Too bad I also inherited their looks... don't give me that. I never understood what you saw in me. It sure as hell wasn't my looks. I'm not Karolina, or even Nico. So, they left me their data. One of the files was about cloning. It was very interesting reading, to say the least. Thank God I listen to Coast to Coast AM every night. What I picked up from there really helped. Who knew there was some hard science after all among all of the conspiracy, alien, and Bigfoot talk?

Anyway, you know how computer geeks always tell us to backup our data frequently? Well, to get a good clone, you've got to do that. Remember how I would always want a little me time every day? That's what I was doing. Call me paranoid, but I didn't count on having a high life expectancy. Do you know how many teen runaways actually make it? Not many, I'm sure. OK, so I picked that up from some Misty Lackey books Nico lent me, but I can still see the truth in the fantasy. Add in what we do on top of that, plus whatever enemies we've inherited from the Pride, and we're screwed. Maybe that's why we fight back. It's that whole "live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse" thing. I'm sure my corpse will be pretty - pretty ugly, that is. Come on, stop trying to boost my ego. Right now, I have none, since I'm dead. Flattery will get you nowhere, unless you can follow my instructions.

So, yeah, I'm paranoid. I don't know when I'll buy it. Maybe I'll be lucky, and I'll be the leader of Avengers like the future me was before I go. Maybe I'll be old and grey, and defy my own pessimism. Of course, in that case, ignore the end of my message. If I reached that point, when you bring me back, I'll be that way again, in which case I'll probably just die again soon. It's not worth it, not for either of us.

Of course, with our luck, I could die tomorrow. I learned that from Alex. Of all of the lessons he taught us, that one stuck with me, even more than his betrayal did. Even knowing that he was willing to see us die, I still didn't want him dead. Especially now, after seeing how much my parents loved me, I can understand why he did what he did. He just wanted to spare his loved ones. So, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I know I've already hurt all of you, especially you, Chase. I hope that coming back this way won't hurt you even more.

By the way, I know how you think. When I die, you're probably going to try to find some other way to bring me back. You'll be willing to sell your soul to do it. Don't do it, Chase. Whatever you're thinking, don't do it. You're hurting, and you're already not the greatest thinker on the planet. Don't do something we'll both regret, OK? Please? For me? Damn, I hope you got this message in time before you go through with whatever dumbass plan you came up with on your own. As is, you're going to have to recruit some help to get my clone online. The procedure's pretty high tech, and unlike me, you didn't inherit your parents' skills. Plus, it turns out that to get my... well, soul, for lack of a better term, and my body back in synch will require a mix of psionics and magic. Asimov was right - sufficiently advanced magic and technology are indistinguishable from each other. You'll have to recruit Molly, Nico, and Victor for this, or people like them, if they're not around anymore.

Why? Why, what? Why didn't I offer this to them? I couldn't, Chase, I honestly couldn't. I had my 'rents' files - but I didn't have enough of their tech for all of us. Believe me, I understood just enough to make this work, I hope. I'm crossing my fingers, to tell the truth. Maybe Karolina and her fiancee's people could have puzzled it out, but I wouldn't count on it. Believe me, if I could have shared this with all of you, I would have, especially you. If you die before I do, and I lose you because I couldn't...

Yeah, anyway. I only have enough stuff to make this work for me. Believe me, I've been looking for more. I may want them back for only a few moments, but I know the rest of you will be pretty pissed off if my folks used this stuff on themselves and somehow managed to bring their clones online. So, once this stops playing, grab the flash drive that's hooked up to this thing. I set it up to pop out when I'm done. Heh, that sounds like I'm Thanksgiving dinner, doesn't it? The only thing on the drive is how to bring me back. Do it and... well, I'll see you soon, I guess.

Damn, how do I finish this?

You know I suck at emotional stuff like this. Not like you're much better, Chase.

Yeah, whatever.

I love you, dork. Bring me back soon.