LoDK
The Legacy of the Dark Knight Saga
Jamie Prosser and the Fourth Champion
Chapter 12: Happy Birthday, Dear Charley…
Disclaimer: This is solely a not-for-profit fan activity and does not intend to infringe on copyrights held by Time Warner, DC Comics, Bloomsbury et al, and JK Rowling. Any characters who are original to this work remain the property of the author.
A/N: This story diverges significantly from accepted canon for the Harry Potter series from the outset, as in addition to the crossover elements, there are several deviations from the books that will be covered where they fit into the narrative. The timeline of the DC Comics elements borrows heavily from Young Justice (2011), but adds elements and characters from the comics, and relocates the series to the late Sixties and early Seventies rather than the New Tens as screened and is heavy on 'legacy' and original characters as a result.
A/N: Unless stated otherwise, the action of this story takes place in the run up to and during the 1997-1998 school year (305 "Anno Secreto" or "Year of Secrecy") parallel to the events of Deathly Hallows in canon. The year code "AL" is also my own invention and stands for After Liberation, counting the years after the Justice League's ending of the "Apokolips War", my as-yet unwritten take on the events of Young Justice Season 3 (Set late 1973 to April 1976).
This chapter is unbeta'd. A revised chapter will be posted as soon as it is available.
****
The Watchtower,
Earth Orbit
7th November 305 AS, 1200 EDT.
Supermartian was in the middle of one of his regular 'mental chess games' when his attention was diverted by the Zeta Tube spinning up and disgorging a familiar redhead. "Good afternoon, Ginny. I wasn't expecting you?"
Ginny shook her head, "You know I've been mentoring a girl who was involved in a 'stress-induced precocious manifestation'?"
Supermartian pondered the question, then pulled up a holo-screen and input a query. "Khayriyya Zaman, nine years old. Identified by Alanna as a latent pyrokinetic following an incident in Manchester about two months ago?"
"She prefers Charley," Ginny noted. "I've known since the court hearing that she didn't have any friends until me, and that her family's not the best…"
Even if he wasn't a telepath, Supermartian would have been able to tell that something was bothering Ginny, "But?"
"It's her tenth birthday on Tuesday," Ginny said. "So, I asked if she had any plans…"
"M'gann and Wally always loved birthday parties," noted Supermartian wistfully.
"Me too," agreed Ginny. "But not only is Charley's mum not giving her a party, she's expecting her brother Mikal to nick any takeaway money that she might give her."
Supermartian frowned, he might have mixed feelings about them himself - it was something that Kon-El and M'gann had never agreed on - but not giving a ten-year-old girl even a birthday meal seemed wrong to him. "I assume that you want to do something for her?"
Ginny nodded, "I don't think we should take her to The Orchard, she's still got issues with bigger boys from the 'incident'."
"That makes sense."
"So, I was thinking of roping in a few of the Team, and making it a girls' night at one of the restaurants in Manchester?"
Supermartian paused for a moment, then switched over to a different database on the holo-screen, "We helped Jack Branson - the owner of the Waterhouse - with some problems he has having with some Zakkarian bootleggers a couple of years ago, I think he'd probably be willing to help us out."
"Sounds good," said Ginny. "I'll call round and see who's available."
"I suggest you ask a female League member to go along to handle the bill."
Ginny nodded, "I'm planning on asking Chase, but if she's busy I'll ask Rachel or L'rahh." Then she headed for one of the main screens to send some messages.
"Good idea," said Supermartian, and then he turned back to the holo-screen and pressed the 'dial' key.
A ringing sound issued through the speakers for a moment, then it was replaced by a female voice, "The Waterhouse, Tazia speaking. How may I help you?"
"Is Jack Branson in today?"
"He is, sir,"
"Can you put him on please?"
"One moment…"
Ginny turned back to Supermartian, "Chase says she can come."
"I'll book it under her name," said Supermartian. "Do you know how many are coming?"
"At least six," said Ginny. "Charley, Chase, Maz, probably Nita and me. I'm still waiting to hear back, but I'd be fairly surprised none of the others say yes."
"I agree," said Supermartian.
"This is Jack Branson," said a male voice from the speakers.
"This is Supermartian of the Justice League…"
Ginny could 'hear' the man sitting up and collecting himself. "What can I do for you, sir?" His tone making it clear that if the answer was physically possible, and ideally legal, he would make it happen.
"I'll like to book a table for a birthday party on Tuesday."
"Of course, sir. Any particular requirements?"
"Can you make sure that only female staff serve the booking?"
"Not a problem, sir. How many in the party?"
"I'm not sure yet," Supermartian admitted. "Probably between six and ten, but possibly more."
"That will fine, sir. If you can me the exact number by Tuesday morning that would be great. What name should I put the booking under?"
"Put it under Chase Jacobsen," said Supermartian and rattled off a credit card number that Ginny assumed was her official James Gordon Foundation credit card.
"Thank you, sir. Is there anything else?"
"No thank you," replied Supermartian, and reached towards the 'cancel' key on the holo-screen, "Good bye."
"Good bye, sir," Branson repeated before Supermartian closed the channel.
"I'm going to head down to the Burrow for dinner," said Ginny. "I'll check in on Sunday before I head back to Nantwich?"
"I'll be here," Supermartian assured her as she headed back towards the Zeta Tube.
The machine spun up and Ginny disappeared in the typical flash and blue-white light.
Supermartian paused for a second, then refocused his attention on his game, *Pawn to King's Level One…*
****
Languages Department,
Nantwich High School,
Nantwich CW5.
11th November, 1315 GMT, 17AL.
"Good afternoon, class."
"Good afternoon, Mrs Burke," chorused the class as they lined up behind their desks.
"You can be seated."
After waiting a moment for the students to get settled, Mrs Burke moved to her desk and activated the room's smartboard. "Now that we've covered the basics of text comparison, I'd like to move on to the next topic: 'Analysing non-fiction'. Would anyone like give a definition of a non-fiction text?"
Predictably, Eddie raised his hand.
"Eddie?"
"Non-fiction basically means 'fact'," replied Eddie. "So… anything that describes reality, I guess?"
"For example?"
Eddie though for a moment, "A newspaper or magazine article."
"You would hope so," agreed Mrs Burke. "Anyone else?"
"A diary?" suggested one of the girls. Ginny wasn't sure which one and wasn't going to turn around and find out.
"Another good example."
"A film review?" suggested Sax Smalls, his rumbling voice easily recognizable.
"Correct," said Mrs Burke. "There is also what is known as 'literary non-fiction' that like fiction tells a story, but one based on something that actually happened. Can anyone think of a good example of that sort of non-fiction?"
It didn't take Ginny long to think of one, and she put up her hand.
"Ginny?"
"The essays we write for homework."
"That's true," agreed Mrs Burke, then spotting another hand up. "Bryce?"
"Biographies. Particularly autobiographies?" he offered.
"Travel guides?" suggested another of the girls.
"Accounts of famous events?" suggested a third.
"All good answers," said Mrs Burke. "We're going to start with biographies: A biography is a 'story' about someone's life. They can be written by the subject or the subject working with someone else – in which case they are referred to as 'autobiographies', or by a third party, and may focus on a specific part of someone's life and experiences or their entire life. Also, even though we have categorized them as 'fact', biographies are often written as much to entertain as to inform and so is likely to contain exaggerations, dramatization and even the occasional white lie mixed in with the facts. For obvious reasons, most biographies - especially non-autobiographies – will focus on a famous person, a singers, model, actor, entrepreneur and scientist… However, it's not unusual for biographies – particularly autobiographies – to be of ordinary people who aren't well known but have done something interesting or had an extraordinary experience that they've had, such as surviving against the odds or doing something heroic."
She continued along a similar vein for the next ten minutes or so, then paused. "I'm going to give a short multi-choice quiz on the material we've just been discussing. You have until the bell rings to complete it, No conferring."
She picked up a handful of sheets of paper and circled the room, giving one sheet to each of the students, Once she'd finished her circuit, she returned to her desk and sat down, "You may begin," she informed the class.
Ginny flipped over the paper. It had ten questions on it, each with three options:
Question 1: Which of the following is a type of non-fiction?
An essay,
A newspaper article, or
A biography
Question 2: Which of the following are types of literary non-fiction?
Essays, sketches, autobiographies
Letters, news articles, blogs, or
Magazine articles, leaflets, advertisements
Question 3: What is the difference between non-fiction and literary non-fiction?
Literary non-fiction is always longer,
Literary non-fiction uses similar techniques to fiction, or
Non-fiction is not found in a book, but literary non-fiction is always published in a book
Question 4: What are the distinct features of a leaflet?
It has more information than a poster
It has information about things like a news article
A specific layout, headings and sub headings to show the topic of the leaflet
Question 5: Which of the following are features found in a letter?
A headline, subheadings and factual information
A folded structure with plenty of pictures, or
A date and a salutation
Question 6: Which of the following is the most accurate description of a blog?
A written description about fictional ideas,
An online diary of sorts, usually quite personal and written in the first person
A specific layout, headings and sub headings. Written in the third person
Question 7: What are the distinct features of a biography?
A fictional story about a specific character and details about their life,
A non-fictional article about a news event that involves one specific person, or
The story focuses on factual points of interest regarding the person's life
Question 8: How can letters differ in type?
They can be formal, informal, to a friend or to someone you have not met,
They can differ in length but are usually to people you know, or
They are to a person you have never met but the letters can still be for different purposes.
Question 9: Travel writing is…?
A piece of formal fiction writing
Descriptive, informative and written in the first or third person
Written in the third person and using descriptive techniques
Question 10: What can you look for to identify a type of non-fiction text?
a) The length, how ambitious the vocabulary is and whether it has been well written,
b) Whether it uses both sides of an argument and persuasive techniques, or
c) The content, the language used and the way that the writing is structured (use of headings or subheadings).
Ginny skipped through the questions easily and had answered all ten by the time the bell rang for the end of class.
"I think that went well?" offered Eddie as they followed the rest of the students out of the class.
Ginny nodded, "I'm not sure if I got all of them right, but I think I got most of them."
"Yeah, I think one of them might have been a trick question?"
"I thought so, too," Ginny agreed. "Are you all right if I head up to Manchester for Charley's birthday party?"
"Sure," said Eddie. "Who else is going?"
"Most of the girls," said Ginny as they headed towards the old shed that they'd hidden a Zeta module a few weeks ago. "Aleea's visiting her parents on Rann, and Rosa said she was 'busy'."
"Not exactly a surprise," offered Eddie. "She's not one for parties."
Ginny shrugged. "Chase's has booked the table for us, and Amanda, Elena, Maz, Nita and Peta are going to meet us there."
"Cool," said Eddie, and opened the shed door for her. "Give Charley my best."
"Will do," said Ginny and walked over to the arch, and activated the Zeta Tube.
"Recognised Protector B147…" confirmed the computer as the tube swallowed her up and sent her on her way.
****
Central Park,
Manchester M40.
1530 GMT.
Ginny reappeared in a blue-white flash. Maz, Nita and Peta were already waiting for her. "I hope you haven't been waiting too long?" she asked as she swapped her school pullover and blazer for a green jumper and her brown leather jacket.
"Not really," said Nita, who like Ginny was warmly dressed in a yellow jumper and a black-and-gold leather jacket. "I got in about fifteen minutes ago."
"I just arrived," said Maz, who was only her school uniform and a light raincoat.
"Me too," said Peta who was wearing her League-issue tracksuit. "Blondie is picking up Amanda and Elena in a Bioship, they'll meet us at the restaurant."
"Let's go then," said Ginny and lead the way out of the shed.
Once they got the main road, they turned south-west and after about half-an-hour they arrived at the Chatsworth Estate Library and went in.
A white-haired elderly woman sat at the main desk, "Hi, Ginny."
"Hi, Mrs Ryder," said Ginny. "Is Charley here yet?"
Mrs Ryder nodded, "She seems a bit down, like she was expecting something…"
"I guess her mother must have ignored her birthday," suggested Ginny. "Again."
Mrs Ryder's face fell, "The poor girl!"
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten, and my friends and I are taking her out for dinner."
"That's nice of you, Ginny," said the older woman. "Charley's over in the Philosophy and Psychology section."
"Wow," said Maz. "That's pretty heavy stuff for a ten-year old."
Ginny shrugged. "I'm sure Maddy was reading that sort of stuff at that age."
"Maybe not psych books," suggested Maz. "But I could buy it."
It didn't take the quartet very long to find their objective.
"Happy birthday," said Ginny as they walked up to the arm chair that the pre-teen was sitting in.
It took Charley a moment to realise that Ginny was talking to her, but as soon as she did, Charley quickly put down her book and flung herself at Ginny, grinning broadly. "You remembered!"
"Of course, I did," Ginny assured her. "That's what friends do."
"I'm still not used to having any," Charley reminded her.
As usual, Ginny chose to ignore that comment. "Well, this friend would like to introduce you to a few more friends."
"Really?"
"Really," Ginny assured her. "And take you to dinner."
"Thank you!" said Charley, then glanced at the other girls. "Are these your friends?"
"Some of them," said Ginny. "And I hope they'll be our friends now."
"I'd like that," said Charley, separating herself from Ginny and turning towards the others. "Is this everyone?"
"I decided to keep it a girls' night," said Ginny. "I know you're still having some issues with boys."
Charley nodded.
Maz stepped forward. "Masala Kaur Pascim, my friends call me Maz or Bijali."
"Bijali… that's Hindi… means lightning," said Charley. "That means you're either speedster or an electrokinetic?"
"You speak Hindi?" asked Maz curiously.
"Enough to get by," Charley admitted. "It's not one of my top ten."
"Top ten?" said Maz incredulously. "That's cool. I speak at least a bit of about nine or ten but I'm only fluent in four."
Charley smiled impishly, "I can at least get by in about fifteen. I'm still working on nine… How's your Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil?"
"A bit rusty," Maz admitted. "My accent's horrible… particularly when I'm excited."
"Which is most of the time," Ginny offered. "I'm decent at Latin, working on Amazonian and Atlantean for my spells."
"To answer your question," interjected Maz. "I'm strictly a speedster for now, Dark Flash didn't have enough time to teach me the electro-blast technique over the summer. I'm hoping to fix that soon."
Charley nodded, and then turned to Nita. "Then you must be Nita?"
"Benita McCabe, also known as Shadowfox," confirmed Nita with a nod, then she touched her amulet. "My amulet allows me to channel the ashe – the lifeforce – of most animals into superpowers. I'm not as good as you or Maz but I do speak English, Akan and Swahili and bits of French and Italian."
"Twi or Fante?" asked Maz.
"Both," replied Nita. "But mainly, Asante Twi. My accent's 'too posh' for Fante, and I don't get enough practise with Akuapem Twi to be fluent."
Charley nodded, and then turned to the final new arrival. "And you?"
"I am Peta, also known as Little Mermaid."
"Atlantean?"
Peta nodded, "From Llyrus, one of the lesser coastal cities rather than the capital, but Orin – Aquaman – is my king. I am of course fluent in both English and Atlantean."
"Of course," agreed Charley.
"I also have a working knowledge of Amazonian, but I'm not really conversant, like Ginny it's for spellwork only."
"Did you want to read a bit more before we get going?" suggested Ginny. "We've got about an hour before the bus."
"Thanks," said Charley and sat back down. "I'll be finished by then."
****
Manchester M1.
1648 GMT.
The quintet stepped off the bus one by one, then formed up into a group, Ginny and the other older girls surrounded Charley as they continued their south-westerly journey until after about ten minutes of zig-zagging through the city centre they reached the pub where the others were waiting.
Ginny snagged a server as soon as they entered. "Table for Jacobsen?"
"Down at the back," the woman – who appeared to be a Valerian – replied and pointed the way. "Dr Jacobsen is already here."
"Thanks," said Ginny, and lead the group towards the back.
Chase looked up just as they approached the table. "Good evening, girls,"
"Good evening," chorused Ginny, Maz, Nita and Peta.
"Take a seat, girls," said Chase. "What do you want to drink?"
After some discussion, the new arrivals agreed on a round of Soder Cola, and Chase got up and headed for the bar.
It was busy at the bar, so by the time she got back to the table, Ginny, Charley and the others had sorted out where they were sitting, with Charley in the corner flanked by Ginny and Nita with Maz at one end of the horseshoe and an empty spot for Chase at the other end. "Have you been doing anything interesting lately, Charley?"
"Well, we had the usual Apokolips Day Assembly today," Charley said.
Chase made a face, "Don't remind me, I was only a few months old on the first Apokolips Day."
"Can you remember it?"
Chase shook her head. "Even I'm not that good. I've only got a few vague memories of the War and I remember the announcements that Superman had fallen in battle against Darkseid and ended it."
"Are you ready to order?" asked the Valerian waitress.
Chase glanced around, "I think so… I'll have the scampi and chips, please."
"Chicken tikka masala for me," said Elena. "With Garlic Naan."
"What soups have you got on tonight?" asked Amanda.
"Tomato, vegetable or cream of chicken today," replied the waitress.
"Vegetable, please."
Charley paused, then looked at Ginny a question on her lips.
"It's okay," Ginny assured her. "You can order whatever you want."
Charley debated for a minute or two more, then took a deep breath, "I've have the chilli con carne."
She said this very fast as if worried that someone would stop her, but the waitress didn't comment and merely noted it down.
Ginny glanced over the menu again to make sure she hadn't missed anything. "I'll have the barbeque chicken melt and chips."
"Vegetarian curry, please," said Nita. "I'll have the regular naan."
"Cod and chips for me," said Peta.
"I'll have two sharing platters, one chicken wings and king prawns and a pulled pork," said Maz.
This time the waitress did react, glancing at Chase with what Ginny could only call a 'is she serious' face. When Chase nodded, she noted it down.
"Can you throw in a plate of loaded chips as well?"
"Of course," said the waitress, her expression now saying that if they were paying she'd go along with it. "They'll be out within twenty minutes."
Once the waitress was out of earshot, Ginny spoke up again, "We've also got a couple of presents for you as well. Do you want them now or later?"
"I've got presents?!" said Charley, clearly surprised. "You didn't need too, it's too much…"
"Nonsense," Ginny assured her. "That's what friends are for."
"Keep telling me that," Charley asked. "I'm still getting used to the whole 'friends' thing."
"No problem," Ginny assured her and took three packages from her bag. "One's from me, one's from my mum and one's from the Montroses."
Charley was still slightly overcome, but she managed to rally enough to take the packages from Ginny. Working carefully but methodically she unwrapped the packages to find a book on meditation techniques, Chinese translations of Jules Verne's Fifteen Little Heroes and From Earth to the Moon and a selection of sweets.
Charley, Maz and Nita also added simple and fun gifts to the pile, so by the time she'd finishing unwrapping the waitress had started to bring the meals out.
As soon as her chili con carne hit the table, Charley dug in enthusiastically. "What? I didn't have much lunch."
"It's fine," Ginny assured her. "After all, you're not Maz."
"Hey!" exclaimed the Sikh speedster, ignoring the fact that she was about a third of the way through her first platter after only a few minutes.
"She's got a point, Maz," said Chase, who was starting on her scampi and chips in a much more deliberate manner than any of the three younger girls.
Regardless, it didn't take long for the group to polish off their meals and then their waitress bought out a large chocolate fudge cake and then joined The Team in a rousing round of "Happy Birthday to You" – which several of the other patrons decided to join in on.
Windsor Gardens,
Chatsworth Estate,
Manchester M40.
1852 GMT.
"Well, did you have a good birthday?" Ginny asked as she and Charley walked up to the younger girl's front door.
Charley smiled broadly, "Best one ever. I could get used to having friends."
"Glad to hear it," Ginny told her.
"Are you coming over tomorrow?"
Ginny shook her head. "They're auditioning for the school play in Drama class so it could run over. I'll be over on Friday."
"I'll see you then," said Charley as she unlocked the door. "Good night."
"Good night," repeated Ginny. "Sleep tight."
****
Science Department,
Nantwich High School,
Nantwich CW5.
14th November, 1235 GMT.
Eddie and Ginny were leaving their Friday afternoon physics class when Eddie's wrist-computer buzzed to indicate an incoming call.
After a moment searching, they found an empty classroom. Eddie activated the commlink. "Darkclaw here, go ahead."
"This is Watchtower, are you and Protector busy?"
"No, we've finished classes for the day, we were just about to get some lunch. Do you need us?"
"Our thermal sensors on Steel City just went berserk. Bijali is responding, can you back her up?"
Eddie glanced at Ginny, who nodded. "Can do. Where's our entry point?"
"The Foundry is within half a mile of the hot zone." Supermartian replied. "DS Cutter is already onsite."
"Understood," said Eddie. "On our way."
After stopping briefly in the cafeteria to tell Danny that they had to leave early and asking him to pass a message to Charley through Mrs Ryder at the library saying she might be a little late, they hurried out to their hidden teleporter and Zeta'd over to Steel City.
****
The Foundry,
Steel City.
1237 GMT.
"Recognised Darkclaw B136, Recognised Protector B147," declared the computer as it spat them back out in the familiar main room of the Foundry.
Eddie immediately crossed to the main screen, which had automatically booted up when they entered the base. "I've got the location, it'll take us about five minutes to run there."
"How about if we fly?" Ginny asked.
"We haven't got a Bioship, but seconds I guess?"
"Then that's the plan," declared Ginny. "Allagímorphos!" Immediately, their school uniforms shifted into facsimiles of their biosuits.
"Can we talk about this?" asked Eddie.
"Only if it doesn't work," Ginny told him. "Set the doors to automatic exit."
"Done."
"Then hang on."
"What do you mean?"
"Thanaitor, Corchala, Khaiphos!" chanted Ginny, then drifted off the ground and flew towards her teammate, grabbing him behind the arms and lifting him up.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?!" Eddie asked as Ginny accelerated towards the exit, which opened smoothly allowing them to exit onto the road outside.
"Not really," Ginny admitted. "But I don't think we've got the time to waste!"
"Good point," Eddie admitted. "Turn right!"
With Eddie calling out directions as needed it was only a moment before they were in sight of the 'hot zone'. They arrived just in time to see Maz snatch DS Cutter away from a burst of heat-vision from the suspect that set fire to a park bench instead.
"Okay, I think I can guess why Supermartian wants me here," observed Ginny. "I guess I'm the go-to for pyros nowadays."
"Put me down by the BearCats," Eddie told Ginny. "I'll help with crowd control."
"Sounds good," agreed Ginny. "I'll try and draw her fire. Hopefully she's not a Daxamite or a Rokynian."
"Nope," said Eddie, as the woman ignited her fists and threw several fireballs at the Spartan team that was trying to get into position around her. "Probably an Infernian."
"Thank Epona for small mercies," said Ginny and swooped low over the police line and let Eddie drop to the ground beside DS Cutter. Then she turned flew towards the villain. "Can we talk about this?" she asked the woman.
The woman didn't say anything out loud, but she glanced up and shot twin eye beams at Ginny, nailing her in the chest.
"Guess not," said Ginny, grunting in pain. The 'Stonestrong Spell' had blunted a lot of the beams' force, but they still hurt. "You really need to cool off! Pagameno!"
A rune formed between her outstretched fingers, then unleashed a freezing stream of power towards her target, but before the spell could hit and coat her in ice, the Infernian expanded her flames across most of her body and countered the spell.
"Well, that didn't work," said Ginny, and flew towards her opponent. "Let's try something different."
She bobbed and weaved a couple of times to avoid eyebeams and fireballs from the woman. "Taramis!"
The 'Fist of the Mountain' slammed into the woman, knocking her off-balance but not out.
Ginny glanced around and spotted Maz just as she dropped a couple of bystanders behind the line of BearCats and other police cars. "Bijali, I need a vortex!"
"On it," replied the Sikh hero immediately set off and began running in a tight circle around the woman.
"We've got you now," declared Ginny.
But she spoke too soon, as seconds later, Maz crashed out of her spin, her costume smoking from a glancing hit from an eyebeam.
"Not bad! But you're still not getting away!" declared Ginny. In a flash she conjured several runes and directed the streams of power at the Infernian. "Anemoutoichos, Lexipono!" The first two spells knocked her off balance and then another Freezing Spell neutralized her counterattack, leaving her wide-open for a 'Chain of Knives' binding spell.
"That should hold her for a while," Ginny told DS Cutter when she and the other two members of Alpha joined Ginny standing over the fallen villain. "Do you know what she was after?"
"Hambledens have their big weekly cash pick-up about this time," replied the sergeant. "We think she was after that." She turned the two injured Spartans that had come up behind. "Take her away."
"Yes, ma'am," replied the older of the two.
Satisfied that the Infernian was under control, the sergeant turned back to Alpha. "You can go, we've got it from here."
"Thank you," said Ginny, then turned and lead the way out of the throng towards the safehouse.
A/N: Things are a bit up in the air at the moment as I've changed jobs so after the next chapter updates will probably be fairly slow, but rest assured I have no intention of dropping this fic (although I am reevaluating how many sequels will follow).