Disclaimer:All of this belongs to DC Comics, hence Warner Bros., hence AOL
Time Warner.
Characters: The Batclan as far as I'm concerned is the Batman (Bruce
Wayne), Robin (Tim Drake), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), the Oracle (Barbara
Gordon), the new Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), some Nightwing (Dick Grayson) on
the side.
The Gotham Police are Commish James Gordon, Det. Montoya and Bullock.
The Flashes are Barry Allen, Wally West. Max Mercury is the guardian of
course Impulse (Bartholomew Allen).
Young Justice is Robin ("Al Draper"), Super Boy (Kon-El), Wonder Girl (Cassie
Sandmark), Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones), Impulse (Bart Allen), and the
Secret and the Red Tornado.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The little girl is killing again. Isn't she cute with the pink dress
splattered in blood and little bits of gore sticking in her dimples? A dainty
butterfly in an urban wasteland of death. The white haired father frowns.
"What are you going to do about all the bodies? I only want the money from
your murders, not your mess."
Then numerous medics pop into existance. They all look the same with their
big hair and big feet. You don't think they're all the same boy and he's just
really, really fast? Either way, the bodies become people again. The world
isn't coated with blood anymore.
Only her scars remain. In a sitcom-y voice the boy asks, "Did you do that?"
*****
She wakes in complete silence. Her face is as much a mask as what HE gives
her. Her sences tells her everything is in its place. She is alone.
That does not comfort her like it used to. But she'll suck it up. Time for
training, then patrol, then the Oracle, then Spoiler, then following the
Oracle's directives until the sun rises.
But then the sun will rise. The day will come. And in the day, her medic. Er,
man, meant to say man.
*****
Tai-Wan. Is this where she comes from? Everybody seems to look like her here.
As she takes in the somehow techno yet seedy and shady atmosphere of this
dance club on the other side of the planet, she notices some of the people
here seem to nearly keep up with her pace. No one keeps up with Impulse.
His arms are wrapped loosely around her waist. She manages to jump around in
some insane revery that she picked up from watching everyone else in the
crowd of dancers. He manages to jump around haphazardly at a speed that
doesn't burn her. Together, a black short dress and white jeans on white
shirt symbolize the dance of chi between yin and yang.
She runs her fingers through his hair, over his shoulders, over his arms...
Just from looking at him, she can see his thoughts jump from one to the next.
He likes the dress, even if she covers her legs with just as jet black
tights. He likes the way her hair bounces. He likes her fingers in his hair.
He likes her bouncing in front of him. The music is nearly loud enough for
his tastes, even though a body could still shout over it. Every time her lips
or hands get close enough to his face he actively resists the urge to kiss
because he doesn't want to give her a reputation in a dive half way around
the world. Whatever a reputation is. The design raised in her sleeves is
pretty. Not as pretty as her. Look at those eyes. Mustn't kiss her, even if
she is licking her lips. Glad he has super speed-with his enhanced perception
he can be with her 'longer' than anyone else. What's she looking at?
"What are you looking at?", Impulse asks. She doesn't reply. "WHAT ARE YOU
LOOKING AT!!!", he yells over the music.
"FELT YOUR QUESTION THE FIRST TIME.", she yells back. She uses a hand to
turn his head by the jaw.
Now he's staring straight into the eyes of an Asian woman. She's a little
tall for her ethnicity, but nothing spectacular. Attractive not by natural
beauty but just by being old enough to be know how to present herself but not
too old to be...well, old. Instead of the hyper-feminine or nigh anime look
every other native is going for in the club, she's wearing a black navy
sweater on black slacks under a supervillain purple trench coat.
And one of her eyes winks at him. A small utility blade pops out infront of
this woman's mouth. She licks it. Five arcs later, five obvious Tong rough
customers are slashed superficially across the cheek. Throwing the blade to
the background, she smiles.
Her fun now begins. The thugs who once ignored her are now actively trying to
kill her. One of them is Kong "the Evil Elder Monkey" Fong-Cheng, supposedly
the Ruffest of the Ruffest. Doesn't anyone know the Lady Shiva is number one?
She dances in between knives and bullets and-did one of these fools just pull
an LX Industries laser pistol on her? Oh, hell yeah! Nothing touches her. No
one approaches her. Kill her, I dare you, I double DOG dare you! Ha ha ha ha/
The Lady Shiva glances around. None of the thugs are standing. Was she so
great that she killed them before even she percieved it? No, their bodies are
not here either. What is here is a little American white boy with the biggest
hair she's ever seen on such a small body.
"THAT WAS STUPID!", he yells at her over the music, while flipping through an
English to Tai dictionary. "THEY COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"
How precious! A small child concerned for her safety. Even though she's the
Lady Shiva and he's so very very bright, in a cheerful sort of way. "Who are
you here with, boy?", she whispers.
Now Impulse is frightened. He knows for fact she whispered. He knows he needs
to use super speed to fake other powers, like super hearing. So how did she
have him hear her? Then a strong hand pulls him away.
"HE WITH ME.", Cassandra Cain tells her plainly in English. Bart Allen knows
conciously what the Speed Force gives him. That doesn't stop him from feeling
afraid of this woman. Or safe, now that Cassandra is with him.
The woman pulls up to her full height and looks down on them both
appraisingly. She smiles in a not happy sort of way. More like a predator,
imagining sinking her teeth into dinner that isn't quite full grown yet.
"Good.", she claps her hands. Her whisper still gives a ghastly effect of
being heard not over the music, but through it. "Training with a speedster.
That's a good edge. I look forward to the results."
"HOW DID SHE KNOW I WAS A SPEEDSTER?!!!", he yells at Cassandra. The girl
pulls the dictionary out of his hands that he's been using to translate full
speech as it's spoken. "OH!!!"
"Buy you a drink.", the woman breathes to his girlfriend.
"CHEAP SHOT!", Cassandra yells at her.
"Oh, I didn't mean alcohol. I know what drinking can do to people...like us.
It's just that clean water is expensive in this town." The adult shrugs her
shoulders. "But that's okay."
The woman turns to walk away. But she stops. "Oh, I forgot to ask.", she says
over her shoulder. "Did you want to try to take me in, even though your year
isn't up?", her perfect Tai offers.
"ARE YOU GOING TO KILL?!!!", Cassandra yells. Impulse balks. The Lady Shiva
looks around and doesn't find any sign of Mr. Elder Monkey.
"I don't have to.", she says before becoming enveloped in the crowd.
As soon as the woman is out of sight Cassandra blows up. Screw that she's in
the middle of a crowded night club. Half way around the world from home. In a
culture that shuns emotional discharge, let alone public affection.
"I'M A KILLER!!!", she yells in Bart Allen's ear. She hugs him with a
strength he's sure only she can muster. And even though he's excited by how
close she is, he's mortified that she's bawling on his shoulder.
He makes the best motions he can think of to comfort her but they just seem
like cheap tricks of politeness to him. She's yelling to him over the music:
Her deal with the devil to be perfect for a year in exchange for a fight to
the death with the greatest martial artist in the world. She wasn't just
trained by Cain Marko, she killed for him-no, not him, his pocket book. She
doesn't show herself to him because a life of murder left her with a body of
scars and he won't like them and he deserves someone unmarked and the nudity
of that someone and she understands that it's not her...
She is greedy (for not allowing him someone else with the time she has taken)
and scared (because he should leave her right here where she'll never see
home again and never be redeemed in Gotham) and evil (because Cain Marko made
her kill again and again until she escaped sometime in her early teens)
and murderous (she wants to believe she'll sacrifice herself to the Lady
Shiva but what if she's just too good to die) and angry (but not at him)
and wanting (for the first time in her life) and sad (because) and so very
sorry.
Cassandra can't wail loud enough. Her tears don't flow fast enough. She can't
hold on to him hard enough and doesn't dare try. Her guilt should burst her
skin but it can't pierce the martial artist who earned it.
The music stops. The tears distort but she can see blue sky instead of
glaring lights and green prairie instead of melding bodies and the bright
halo of Bart Allen that remains.
She can feel his tears begging to break onto his cheeks. "Sorry.", she says
for the thousandth time. "Let go. Hold you to strong and hurt you. Just like
killer would."
She tries to let go even though to do so would break her heart. He doesn't.
"The only thing that hurts is your crying.", he tells her. "You been through
so much and it's like you came out of that hole to be with me. And I can't
even keep you from crying."
"You talk bad about these scars and I can't show you how beautiful you are,
with your eyes and your hair and your lips." The boy pauses to kiss those
lips lightly. "You talk about guilt when you escaped the highest paid
assassin in the world to keep from doing bad and make up for it every day
with the Batman-and from what Rob tells me, if he accepts you you have to be
a hero. You shouldn't be sorry to me, I should be sorry to you. I can try to
make it up to you by running you to someplace Lady Shiva and no one else will
find you, so you will never have to hurt again."
"If you want me to."
She sees in his eyes that he really means it. She starts crying again, only
more quietly. He continues to rub her back. "ssss...I'll make it alright. I
promise. I'll/"
And she shuts him up with a kiss. The pain on her heart from guilt turns to a
bursting feeling. She knows exactly how to express this. So does he.
"I love you.", the voices chorus. Their arms settle into familiar comfortable
places. Their tongues work to bind them to each other. They press together-
subconciously echoing their desires to be one flesh.
Their lips smack apart. "I love you." Touching again and apart. "I love you."
Cassandra notices that the world has slowed down around her, and when she
moves her gaze the colors change with it. Bart has activated his field so
they have the speed to tell each other and kiss each other and...
Replace a scar with a beauty mark.
Time Warner.
Characters: The Batclan as far as I'm concerned is the Batman (Bruce
Wayne), Robin (Tim Drake), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), the Oracle (Barbara
Gordon), the new Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), some Nightwing (Dick Grayson) on
the side.
The Gotham Police are Commish James Gordon, Det. Montoya and Bullock.
The Flashes are Barry Allen, Wally West. Max Mercury is the guardian of
course Impulse (Bartholomew Allen).
Young Justice is Robin ("Al Draper"), Super Boy (Kon-El), Wonder Girl (Cassie
Sandmark), Arrowette (Cissie King-Jones), Impulse (Bart Allen), and the
Secret and the Red Tornado.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The little girl is killing again. Isn't she cute with the pink dress
splattered in blood and little bits of gore sticking in her dimples? A dainty
butterfly in an urban wasteland of death. The white haired father frowns.
"What are you going to do about all the bodies? I only want the money from
your murders, not your mess."
Then numerous medics pop into existance. They all look the same with their
big hair and big feet. You don't think they're all the same boy and he's just
really, really fast? Either way, the bodies become people again. The world
isn't coated with blood anymore.
Only her scars remain. In a sitcom-y voice the boy asks, "Did you do that?"
*****
She wakes in complete silence. Her face is as much a mask as what HE gives
her. Her sences tells her everything is in its place. She is alone.
That does not comfort her like it used to. But she'll suck it up. Time for
training, then patrol, then the Oracle, then Spoiler, then following the
Oracle's directives until the sun rises.
But then the sun will rise. The day will come. And in the day, her medic. Er,
man, meant to say man.
*****
Tai-Wan. Is this where she comes from? Everybody seems to look like her here.
As she takes in the somehow techno yet seedy and shady atmosphere of this
dance club on the other side of the planet, she notices some of the people
here seem to nearly keep up with her pace. No one keeps up with Impulse.
His arms are wrapped loosely around her waist. She manages to jump around in
some insane revery that she picked up from watching everyone else in the
crowd of dancers. He manages to jump around haphazardly at a speed that
doesn't burn her. Together, a black short dress and white jeans on white
shirt symbolize the dance of chi between yin and yang.
She runs her fingers through his hair, over his shoulders, over his arms...
Just from looking at him, she can see his thoughts jump from one to the next.
He likes the dress, even if she covers her legs with just as jet black
tights. He likes the way her hair bounces. He likes her fingers in his hair.
He likes her bouncing in front of him. The music is nearly loud enough for
his tastes, even though a body could still shout over it. Every time her lips
or hands get close enough to his face he actively resists the urge to kiss
because he doesn't want to give her a reputation in a dive half way around
the world. Whatever a reputation is. The design raised in her sleeves is
pretty. Not as pretty as her. Look at those eyes. Mustn't kiss her, even if
she is licking her lips. Glad he has super speed-with his enhanced perception
he can be with her 'longer' than anyone else. What's she looking at?
"What are you looking at?", Impulse asks. She doesn't reply. "WHAT ARE YOU
LOOKING AT!!!", he yells over the music.
"FELT YOUR QUESTION THE FIRST TIME.", she yells back. She uses a hand to
turn his head by the jaw.
Now he's staring straight into the eyes of an Asian woman. She's a little
tall for her ethnicity, but nothing spectacular. Attractive not by natural
beauty but just by being old enough to be know how to present herself but not
too old to be...well, old. Instead of the hyper-feminine or nigh anime look
every other native is going for in the club, she's wearing a black navy
sweater on black slacks under a supervillain purple trench coat.
And one of her eyes winks at him. A small utility blade pops out infront of
this woman's mouth. She licks it. Five arcs later, five obvious Tong rough
customers are slashed superficially across the cheek. Throwing the blade to
the background, she smiles.
Her fun now begins. The thugs who once ignored her are now actively trying to
kill her. One of them is Kong "the Evil Elder Monkey" Fong-Cheng, supposedly
the Ruffest of the Ruffest. Doesn't anyone know the Lady Shiva is number one?
She dances in between knives and bullets and-did one of these fools just pull
an LX Industries laser pistol on her? Oh, hell yeah! Nothing touches her. No
one approaches her. Kill her, I dare you, I double DOG dare you! Ha ha ha ha/
The Lady Shiva glances around. None of the thugs are standing. Was she so
great that she killed them before even she percieved it? No, their bodies are
not here either. What is here is a little American white boy with the biggest
hair she's ever seen on such a small body.
"THAT WAS STUPID!", he yells at her over the music, while flipping through an
English to Tai dictionary. "THEY COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"
How precious! A small child concerned for her safety. Even though she's the
Lady Shiva and he's so very very bright, in a cheerful sort of way. "Who are
you here with, boy?", she whispers.
Now Impulse is frightened. He knows for fact she whispered. He knows he needs
to use super speed to fake other powers, like super hearing. So how did she
have him hear her? Then a strong hand pulls him away.
"HE WITH ME.", Cassandra Cain tells her plainly in English. Bart Allen knows
conciously what the Speed Force gives him. That doesn't stop him from feeling
afraid of this woman. Or safe, now that Cassandra is with him.
The woman pulls up to her full height and looks down on them both
appraisingly. She smiles in a not happy sort of way. More like a predator,
imagining sinking her teeth into dinner that isn't quite full grown yet.
"Good.", she claps her hands. Her whisper still gives a ghastly effect of
being heard not over the music, but through it. "Training with a speedster.
That's a good edge. I look forward to the results."
"HOW DID SHE KNOW I WAS A SPEEDSTER?!!!", he yells at Cassandra. The girl
pulls the dictionary out of his hands that he's been using to translate full
speech as it's spoken. "OH!!!"
"Buy you a drink.", the woman breathes to his girlfriend.
"CHEAP SHOT!", Cassandra yells at her.
"Oh, I didn't mean alcohol. I know what drinking can do to people...like us.
It's just that clean water is expensive in this town." The adult shrugs her
shoulders. "But that's okay."
The woman turns to walk away. But she stops. "Oh, I forgot to ask.", she says
over her shoulder. "Did you want to try to take me in, even though your year
isn't up?", her perfect Tai offers.
"ARE YOU GOING TO KILL?!!!", Cassandra yells. Impulse balks. The Lady Shiva
looks around and doesn't find any sign of Mr. Elder Monkey.
"I don't have to.", she says before becoming enveloped in the crowd.
As soon as the woman is out of sight Cassandra blows up. Screw that she's in
the middle of a crowded night club. Half way around the world from home. In a
culture that shuns emotional discharge, let alone public affection.
"I'M A KILLER!!!", she yells in Bart Allen's ear. She hugs him with a
strength he's sure only she can muster. And even though he's excited by how
close she is, he's mortified that she's bawling on his shoulder.
He makes the best motions he can think of to comfort her but they just seem
like cheap tricks of politeness to him. She's yelling to him over the music:
Her deal with the devil to be perfect for a year in exchange for a fight to
the death with the greatest martial artist in the world. She wasn't just
trained by Cain Marko, she killed for him-no, not him, his pocket book. She
doesn't show herself to him because a life of murder left her with a body of
scars and he won't like them and he deserves someone unmarked and the nudity
of that someone and she understands that it's not her...
She is greedy (for not allowing him someone else with the time she has taken)
and scared (because he should leave her right here where she'll never see
home again and never be redeemed in Gotham) and evil (because Cain Marko made
her kill again and again until she escaped sometime in her early teens)
and murderous (she wants to believe she'll sacrifice herself to the Lady
Shiva but what if she's just too good to die) and angry (but not at him)
and wanting (for the first time in her life) and sad (because) and so very
sorry.
Cassandra can't wail loud enough. Her tears don't flow fast enough. She can't
hold on to him hard enough and doesn't dare try. Her guilt should burst her
skin but it can't pierce the martial artist who earned it.
The music stops. The tears distort but she can see blue sky instead of
glaring lights and green prairie instead of melding bodies and the bright
halo of Bart Allen that remains.
She can feel his tears begging to break onto his cheeks. "Sorry.", she says
for the thousandth time. "Let go. Hold you to strong and hurt you. Just like
killer would."
She tries to let go even though to do so would break her heart. He doesn't.
"The only thing that hurts is your crying.", he tells her. "You been through
so much and it's like you came out of that hole to be with me. And I can't
even keep you from crying."
"You talk bad about these scars and I can't show you how beautiful you are,
with your eyes and your hair and your lips." The boy pauses to kiss those
lips lightly. "You talk about guilt when you escaped the highest paid
assassin in the world to keep from doing bad and make up for it every day
with the Batman-and from what Rob tells me, if he accepts you you have to be
a hero. You shouldn't be sorry to me, I should be sorry to you. I can try to
make it up to you by running you to someplace Lady Shiva and no one else will
find you, so you will never have to hurt again."
"If you want me to."
She sees in his eyes that he really means it. She starts crying again, only
more quietly. He continues to rub her back. "ssss...I'll make it alright. I
promise. I'll/"
And she shuts him up with a kiss. The pain on her heart from guilt turns to a
bursting feeling. She knows exactly how to express this. So does he.
"I love you.", the voices chorus. Their arms settle into familiar comfortable
places. Their tongues work to bind them to each other. They press together-
subconciously echoing their desires to be one flesh.
Their lips smack apart. "I love you." Touching again and apart. "I love you."
Cassandra notices that the world has slowed down around her, and when she
moves her gaze the colors change with it. Bart has activated his field so
they have the speed to tell each other and kiss each other and...
Replace a scar with a beauty mark.