Gracie - Thanks for the review! This is set a few weeks after the episode "A League of Their Own." As you will see in this chapter, I may or may not be following the series timeline correctly. Behold! The power of poetic license! BTW, I love Flash, the big goofball. He won't feature in this story, but I will try to put some humor in future chapters.
Aryah - So right. I saw this ep and tried to imagine what Richie had to go through both during and after. I hope I can capture some of that in this fic.
CloudNeroZ - Thanks for the boost about the characters. I have also developed a fondness for V/R pairings. Slow and sweet here, though.
Pita - Eek! I's ascared of Marius! Here you go!
Kate! Back for more, eh? Groovy. Definitely PTS for our little Richie.
Jade Dragoness - Yeah, I hate short chappies, too, but sometimes that what the plot requires. Once we get to the action, I think they will expand themselves.
Reminder - Upcoming Virgil/Richie slash (though not in this chapter).
Standard disclaimer - Soooo not mine!
Time passed. What was the first sensation? Was it the cold against his back? The utter blackness that refused to grant him true sight? Or was it the cacophony of silence pounding in his ears? How long he lay there, insensate, was anyone's guess; he certainly wasn't up to telling time. He wasn't even certain that he was always awake - the dark and quiet of this place (was it even a real place?) confused his senses. If his eyelids drooped, he couldn't tell.
He ached. What was hurt, exactly, he could not say. His hands felt strange, as did his stomach and legs. But his head! A millimeter of movement and he was hit with an agony so blinding it threatened to brighten this dark place. But pain had its uses. It could sharpen the senses.
He had company. He could hear the soft susurration of breathing nearby. A quiet, steady inhalation and exhalation that told him the other was asleep or unconscious. So long as the other remained in that state, there was no immediate need to move, to attack, or even to defend. He would wait and try to ease the pain in his body. The other would wait, for now.
He remembered. A bright light…was it the entrance to the afterlife? No, and yes. The light, yes, he could see it now. The light had hurt him, had sent him to this strange place, this new life. It wasn't an all-encompassing light, however; it was a stream of energy from the hands of the enemy.
The enemy. The enemy had a name. Static Shock. He could feel an emotion swelling within him. It filled his veins with a fiery hatred that stole his breath and forced him to gasp, filling his lungs with the damp air. Following this fierce emotion was loathsome fear, which sent an icy coldness through his body, dampening the flames. What came next?
Ah, anger. An old friend. He remembered that he had been angry most of his life. For the longest time he had been picked on due to his size, his name, his family's poverty. Anger had carried him through his prepubescent years, allowed him to survive on the streets until he grew into his taller, stronger frame. He used the anger as a catalyst to force himself into ever-increasing danger. He was no coward.
But the fear remained. He remembered that he hadn't always been afraid of Static. He did always lose to the young superhero, but he had never truly feared him. Until now. If it hadn't been for the power gained in the second Big Bang, he would be dead.
Static Shock would die. Not because the firefly had almost killed him, but because Static had made him afraid.
The other. The pattern of breathing had changed, coming faster now. Francis Cameron, a.k.a. F-Stop, a.k.a. Hotstreak, braved the pain and let his head turn to the right. Calling forth his meta-human powers, Hotstreak produced a flame that lit a small area of the cavern. His eyes sought and found his companion. He knew him. He would know those cornrows anywhere. Ebon.
Ebon was waking up.
Sparing a glance for his friend, J'onn reinforced his shields to block out Batman's ever-increasing aggravation. As he looked once more upon the face of the teen in question, whose mask shielded piercing blue eyes, the "wrongness" that Batman had been searching for suddenly became clear.
J'onn straightened and turned towards his friend. Batman's eyes widened.
"You know what's wrong." It wasn't a question.
"No," J'onn replied, "but I understand your concern now. The boy is suffering. Look beyond the glass and into his eyes."
Batman didn't question J'onn's diagnosis. He turned back to the picture of Static and Gear and rewound the tape. He listened closely to the words, watched the body language. He could hear and see it now: a quaver in Richie's voice as he once again thanked his heroes for their help, a slight stiffening in his posture when Static touched him, an undertone of…need?…in his farewells. He could also see what J'onn glimpsed in the still frame - Gear's eyes, although the color was undetectable, had always shone with happiness and good humor. In this frame, those glittering orbs held no shine. Batman had seen those eyes before. Had seen them countless times in his own mirror when he was growing up. They were the eyes of a child who had seen too much, who had witnessed something that no child should ever see. They were the eyes of a child in torment.
"I spoke with Static this morning when he finished patrol. He said that everything was fine. He was OK, Richie was OK," Batman stated. "If something was wrong with his best friend, why wouldn't he have mentioned it? How could he not notice? I've only spoken to the kid a few times; you've spoken with Rich even less. We were both able to see that something is seriously troubling him. Why couldn't Virgil?"
J'onn considered the question before responding, "Humans have an expression - 'you cannot see the forest for the trees.' I believe that is appropriate here. Static is too close, and Gear has learned to hide his true feelings from him. We, however, have the benefit of distance. Things that are not obvious to his friends are clearer to us."
Batman checked his chronometer, the one set to Dakota time. "The kids will still be in school for awhile. I'll wait for them at their HQ and signal Static when school is out."
J'onn accompanied Batman from the laboratory to the Watchtower's hangar. "Do you wish me to accompany you? I may be able to sense that which is troubling the young one should he be reluctant to reveal his thoughts."
Batman paused beside the Javelin. "No. I don't want Richie to feel trapped or that we don't trust him to tell the truth. Richie needs us to believe in him right now."
J'onn nodded and left the docking port. He wondered if anyone had believed in a young Bruce Wayne during his time of crisis. As the shuttle left the Watchtower, he raised Batman over the comm and said, "Safe journey, my friend. Should you need us, we will be waiting."