So this will be a series of one shots meant to expand and develop my Earth 49 idea by introducing characters and ideas that can reappear or be developed further in actual stories. This way I won't have to do stories and origins for every character and people can just read this when characters show up again.
Charles looked at his wardrobe intently, a glass of water in his hand as he sat at the table in his somewhat small but still nice apartment. A newspaper was on the table and his eyes kept glancing to it, before returning to the wardrobe and the contents that were contained inside it. He wanted to get a beer but he knew that wouldn't be a good plan, he needed to stay focused if he was going to make the right decision. He was thinking deeply about what was contained in his wardrobe, considering all the things that could go wrong but also everything good that could come out of it.
There was a knock at his door which surprised him, but as he got up he wondered if it was who he thought it was. He never got visitors, his landlord and neighbours found him creepy and avoided him like he was a plague carrier, and considering what has happened of course she would come to see him. They haven't spoken to each other in three years, haven't been in the same room for five, but of course this would be what brings her to his door. So he wasn't surprised to see her when he looked through the peephole, and after undoing the two locks he opened his door to see his sister standing there, calm and collect as always, before stepping out of the way to let her in.
"This is nice." Kass told him as she looked around his apartment.
"I suppose. We've certainly lived in the worse places." he replied as she shut the door and gestured for her to sit on the chair while he sat down on his bed, and as she did she saw the newspaper. He saw her jaw clench as she looked at the photo before she looked away, and a heavy silence weighed on them for a few seconds as they looked at each other until she finally spoke.
"Have you spoken to him?"
"No. Have you?"
"I was going to. But...I couldn't bring myself to go and see him like that. Locked up in an asylum, and speak to him knowing what he did."
The silence returned as they thought about Victor, and they both glanced towards his photo in the newspaper. He was shirtless, showing all the tally marks he had cut into his skin to keep track of how many people he had murdered, and a mad grin on his face that reminded them of the look they had on his birthdays when he was little. Always excited and full of joy because the attention was on him to the point he became pretty obnoxious and they wanted to yell at him, but then their mom would remind them that they acted the same way when it was their birthday.
"Why didn't you know what he was going through?" Kass asked suddenly, and he frowned in confusion. "It was always you and him Charles. He loved you, you were his baby brother and the two of you shared everything with each other. Why didn't you know he was like this?"
"You're his twin sister and you're a profiler for the FBI. Why didn't you know?" he replied with a small glare that made her look down at the photo in shame.
"Because...I don't know, because we reacted differently after what happened and when mom passed away we had even less reason to see each other? And I know that doesn't matter but I did call him after he was discharged, but he said he was fine and that was the most talking we had done in a long time so I didn't want to push him. But I should have, he's always hid his problems and tried to deal with them himself instead of talking to people."
"So you do think it's my fault?" he asked and she hesitated before answering.
"No, but you know how he was. He always wanted to make sure you got all the help and if he needed help he made sure he got it by himself, and I guess I was hoping that after what happened with his squad he was already making sure he was getting the help he needed. It's stupid I know, but it was easier to believe that than to get involved in his life."
"Well I doubt moving to Gotham helped. It's had a guy dressed as a bat and a psychotic clown fighting in the streets for years, it would drive mentally stable people crazy." Charles told her. "There's actually been research into which city is worse. Gotham beat Hub by a few statistics, and Hub beat Vanity. So honestly if he had picked anywhere else he probably would have been fine."
"Yeah, I guess." Kass explained, clearly uncomfortable by the cavalier way he was talking about Victor, before looking at him with concern. "Are you taking your medication? Seeing your therapist?"
"Wow, you are bad at this. Don't try to ease your guilt by caring about me, I've been taking my meds and talking about my feelings for years now. I'm not going on crazy paranoid rants about conspiracies and how everything is being used by the government to control you, now I'm just extremely cautious about people. I'm not going to go kill a bunch of people like Victor or dear old dad."
The awkward and heavy silence changed as Kass glared at the mention of their father, that having been a subject none of them had been allowed to talk about since their mom changed their names from Zsasz to Sage. There had been an argument when Victor decided to change his back, and at the time he had claimed it was because he refused to hide and would rather be upfront about it after years of living in fear of the possibility that someone would fine out. Find out that they father was an infamous serial killer who was responsible for the deaths of ten people and even claimed to be immortal, a fact that his children had found difficult to reconcile with the loving parent that had raised them or his wife who had loved him with all her heart and struggled on for another eleven years until she passed away from a cancer she didn't have the will to fight through. A man who died in prison having never been visited by his family, or at least that was what they were told. In his worse moments Charlie had feared that if their dad had been smart enough to do what he did for so long then why couldn't he be smart enough to fake his death, and despite being better now that idea came to him again often.
Kass took several deep breaths to calm herself down before she spoke again. "Charles, I only asked because you don't look good. The more stressed you are the worse things are for you. I know things have been difficult between us, but I do care about you and I want to make sure you're ok. Which is why I'm asking you if you would like to come live with me in Central City. It's not much and work keeps me busy, but it's better than Hub City and it could give us a chance to reconnect. You could even get a job at Central News, probably be less exhausting than working here."
Charles was silent for a moment as he took in what she said, and when he spoke Kass flinched at the anger in his voice. "Do you think I'm stupid? I know what you think about me Kass, you think I could snap and go crazy. You've always thought that, since the day I was diagnosed you've thought I would turn out like dad, and now you want me to move in with you so you can keep an eye on me. Look for signs that I'm going to turn out like them, be your perfectly calm and normal self as you bravely try to figure out if your brother might kill someone."
"No, that's not what I meant." she said quickly as she stood up to get closer to him, but the second she did he shot up to his feet and she awkwardly took a few steps back towards the door.
"Just leave ok! I didn't want you hear, and I haven't needed you for years. I've dealt with my problems while you just left me and Victor. I might not have been there when he needed me, but you were never there for us. The second you had the chance you were gone, so just leave!" he yelled and she stood there in surprise, before she turned around and headed for the door.
She paused and seemed like she was going to turn back, but then she was gone and left Charles alone in his apartment. Everything felt cold and unwelcoming, but as he breathed heavily from anger he grabbed his glass of water that he left on the table and drank it in one gulp. Going to a cabinet he grabbed his anxiety pills as he tried to calm down, guilt bubbling to the surface while part of him continued to think that there was no other reason why she would come here. She's never trusted him since he was diagnosed, always looked at him differently and he knew that she was even more awkward whenever he had something his hands that could be used as a weapon. Or it might be in his head, because like always once he calmed down he started to wonder what he had been thinking. She was his sister and while things have never been great, she's neve once made him feel like he couldn't trust her. He should run after her and tell her how sorry he was.
But then his eyes settled on his wardrobe and immediately all thoughts of chasing after his sister was forgotten as he made his way towards it. She was right about one thing, he had been stressed for for awhile as he looked at this city and saw how little people cared. Crime, violence and death were reported daily but nobody seemed to care. He has struggled for months over the question of how he could get people to care, to fight for what is right and against everything wrong with the world. Then he looked at Gotham and while it certainly wasn't better, and he saw that people had cared more since that bat guy showed up than they did before. He was given the answer to the question, and as he opened the wardrobe to look at the the trench coat and the box containing the masks made out of pseudoderm part of him was screaming that he should stop and that this was crazy. That after years of medication and trying to control his condition he should know by now that he should be wary of his thoughts, that he should scrutinize every single one before he made a choice. But in that moment he ignored the voice and embraced the inevitability of fate.
Please tell me what you think and if there are any spelling mistakes or sentences that don't make sense. So originally this chapter was meant to only show the Question and Victor Zsasz to establish they were brothers, as in the comics Quesiton's full name is Charles Victor Szazs and their similar name had made me wonder if they were related at first, but then I reread the DC Presents comic that had the New 52 Vandal Savage and introduced his new daughter Kassidy Sage. This gave me the idea to make Question and Zsasz Savage's kids which I thought was fun. Anyway Charles here is meant to have paranoid personality disorder, as like many my favourite version of the character is from the JLU cartoon and I thought it would be interesting if in this all his conspiracy theories and paranoia was caused by a real disorder that he struggles with especially since I can't think of any characters with this disorder. With Zsasz I changed his origin since I don't think his canon one works well especially as it means he lacks any combat experience to be a threat towards anyone with training, so I thought having him be a traumatized solder would work better if I ever use him in a Batman story.