Reborn With A Cause
Victor Stone hadn't wanted to place his fate into a rich man's hands.
After all, it was a rich man with a god complex who had already damned him before.
But the stain of cold nights and a Katherine-less existence had pulled him down on his stubborn feet.
Distrust and suspicion had weighed on him heavily for a good long moment when Oliver Queen stood before him.
Yet, in the end, the offered hand had dangled in front of him like a proverbial carrot promising hope.
Hope.
It was such a small thing really. But it was enough.
More than enough for him to shake Oliver Queen's outreached hand and once again become something new.
It was this sense of "renewal" and promise that had him striding into the home base for the team Queen had assembled to bring some justice into the world.
Justice.
The word gets funnier to him every time. If only someone had got justice for him and his family.
But he had come to some acceptance of things long ago. Things were different. He could never go back.
It was she who could never accept that he could not go back.
Victor shook his head to steer himself for looking back down that road to the past. He was here for a new direction.
Even if at the moment, he felt misplaced and quite simply lost.
After a third wrong turn into the foyer, Victor found his two other teammates sitting at a table finishing up the last remnants of a late breakfast.
Victor tightened his grip on his shoulder bag as he approached them. Nervousness akin to a new kid's first day at school trembled up his part metal limbs.
Silly, really.
Was he looking for acceptance?
Whatever he was feeling, he didn't trust his mouth to formulate verbal action correctly so he simply nodded brusquely to them.
The tall, muscular blond guy introduced himself as Arthur Curry (A.C.). aka Aquaman. The guy had a sun and surf personality that Victor was sure would not bode well with his recent broody nature.
The other guy Victor obviously deduced as the team's speedster named Bart Allen. The lither young man had a restless energy apparent in his quick motions.
"Take a seat, bro. Ollie left some chow for you," A.C. said, gesturing to the table.
Bart laughed softly at the word "chow."
"Yeah, grapefruit and gross yogurt. Guess it's wealthy folk's version of a hearty breakfast."
"And what would you prefer, oh breakfast champion?" A.C. asked, jokingly.
"Me? I'm aching for some slaughtered meat," Bart declared, seriously.
A.C. made gagging noises in response.
Their friendly banter had a calming affect on Victor. He felt his nervousness dial town a notch and he sat down.
"Thanks. I'll take whatever I can get right now."
He quietly congratulated himself on finally communicating.
However, as Victor was helping himself to yogurt and granola it became apparent that the other two were not so subtly scrutinizing him.
He immediately felt the barbs bubble on his emotions as he met their looks with open hostility.
"You two have a problem? I mean I know I got a pretty face. But I actually prefer the attention of the female variety, just so you know."
A.C. colored and apologized quickly. "Sorry, man."
But Bart practically burst open with something he definitely had been holding in.
The bold and sometimes ugly thing called curiosity.
"Dude, I gotta know!"
Victor raised an eyebrow annoyed. "You gotta know what?"
Bart suddenly realized how big a hole he had dug for himself. But like a train at full speed, he found it was hard to stop.
He coughed. "Um, just wanted to ask. Do you. . . Do you like still need to pee and stuff? Is there some built in container box that recycles—"
"Stop," Victor ordered, not wanting to hear where the kid's train of thought was going.
"You asking if I still eat? Still need to do my business? Or if I'm still even human. That's what you really want to know right? Does Mr. Tin Man bleed? Hell, yes. We can actually prove it if you ready for a brawl."
A.C. elbowed Bart sharply and snarled out the side of his mouth "That was totally uncalled for."
Victor glared at them as Bart slouched down in his seat.
He took a deep breath while mulling surprised at his own surge of anger. Would he never be free of this self disgust?
After a moment, Victor's chest untightened and he could use his respiratory system again.
A.C. looked ready to fillet the speedster but Bart beat him to the punch.
"Look, I just kind of crash and burned there," Bart began.
"Nah, it's okay. Gotta expect those awkward questions," Victor said, quietly.
After all, he had went down similar roads with living with Katherine. Even now her questions echo in his memory.
The first ones were light and teasing:
Are those pearly whites new or do you still have that crooked one I adored?
You know, I think they made you hotter. Are those silicon abs?
Then the questions just became hard to hear. Hard to bear.
Baby, please don't do that now. Do I have to see those wires?
Victor, you know I've always wanted to have kids. Victor, can you . . .?
Till . . .
Victor, I'm sorry. I've met someone and I . . .
He simply stopped listening after that.
"Dude, are you all right?"
Victor blinked as A.C. gripped his shoulder concerned.
"Yeah. Just checked out for a moment. Happens sometimes."
Bart shrugged. "Well, you just missed out on a killer apology while you was in the brood."
"I did, huh?"
"Totally, bro. I think Bart Fart even shed a tear." A.C. said.
Victor half smiled. "Bart Fart? Did he change his code name?"
Bart scoffed. "No way, man. A.C.'s trying to be cute. Which is like impossible with his ugly ass face."
Victor find himself laughing to his surprise.
God, he had missed this thing.
The laughing thing. And the whole group thing. Like in the old days before he bled mechanical oil.
Of course, thinking they were all going to be fast friends was a bit premature but he was becoming hopeful.
"You know Ollie's given us all a chance to be kind of reborn. I was ripping into stuff extreme. Didn't know I was kind of pushing the limit till someone got hurt because of my actions," A.C. said.
"I've already been reborn. Didn't turn out so well," Victor acknowledged.
"Well, this time maybe you'll have better luck. This time you have a cause not just a function," A.C. continued.
"Yeah, I mean I was kicking it homeless like you, man," Bart said, addressing Victor.
"Oh, yeah? I didn't know that," Victor said.
The kid's I'm so tough act suddenly became more clear to him as a front to cover his vulnerability.
"It's harsh out there. You see some crazy stuff and you gotta do what you can to survive," Victor said, acknowledged.
"Guess we got some stories to swap between us then," Bart said, agreeing.
Victor was pleased they were slowly overcoming the earlier misstep.
"What about fish stick here?" Victor asked.
Bart spewed out his pulpy orange juice while laughing at the sudden seafood nickname.
"Excuse me?" A.C. said to Victor, throwing Bart a towel.
"You heard me."
"I was kind of a radical activist," A.C. said, nonchalantly.
"Dude, I don't think radical covers it. I mean I was doing petty theft while you were trying to sink freaking titanic," Bart commented.
A.C. shook his fork at Bart and Victor. "Hey, the world we live is going to the shit pool and you all think its not gonna affect you. I gotta tell you, it does. We're all connected–"
"Okay, okay. I already seen 'Inconvenient Truth.'I already got the 411," Victor interrupted.
Thankfully for Victor and Bart, A.C. was further interrupted by Oliver's voice from the hallway.
"Boys! We have a mission. Time to gear up!"
Victor, Bart and A.C. all looked at each other seriously for a moment.
"Yes, mommy!!" They shouted in return.
Bart jumped up, excited. "You guys heard the green man. Time to do our hero thing."
"Calm down, Bart. It's not like Ollie mentioned there was also hot women in distress," Victor said, downing his juice.
Not like his Katherine would even want to see him any kind of distress. In her eyes, he had evolved into an inconvenient piece of furniture.
Victor . . . it's like I hold you but you're not there. You're remade into some kind of I don't know . . .conscious tool.
And maybe, that's all he'll ever be.
A tool.
Victor roused from his thoughts as A.C. leaned over next to him in a conspiratory fashion.
"You gotta understand that Bart's a little less developed in the chick department. He basically crashes and self destructs on that front," A.C. whispered, grinning.
Bart gave A.C. the Evil Eye as he put his dishes up.
"Man, you guys can choke on my dust as I beat you to the jet." he announced.
With those partings words, the speedster had left the room.
"Well, destiny is calling us. Time to make a difference," A.C. said, stretching as he got up.
"You mean I'm really not destined to be a human size can opener?" Victor asked, half joking.
"Well, I'd keep the option open. Never been a human can opener. But, in all likelihood, we're all meant for something more. Whatever we've been through in the past. It's time to rebuild for the future," A.C. said, solemnly.
Victor considered as Katherine's voice once so sweet to him now swelled up like the sound of angry bees.
Victor, I can't understand what you've become. What you're gonna become.
I hate this uncertainty. And, I can't do this anymore.
Little by little her fear had tore into him. Little by little she had seen him as more machine than man.
But if that was true, he would not hurt like hell in his chest at the thought of her.
Now, little by little he's gotta rebuild the man in himself.
Victor raised his head to find A.C. waiting at the doorway.
"You coming?"
It was good that this time, he wouldn't be alone.
"Yeah. And thanks for the encouragement, fish stick."
"You're welcome, Tin Man."
"...Fish guts."
"Mr. Roboto."
"Little Merman."
"Gentlemen! The world can't save itself from super powered freaks! Get a move on!"
Victor Stone stood up, half mechanical and fully human powered.
"Let's go kick butt."
THE END
I was inspired by the awesome episode of "Justice," to write this. The highlight of the episode to me was the great interaction between the heroes. I hope I was able to capture a small part of that in this fic. Comments and reviews would be lovely.
–Kaleida