Chapter the Third reveals itself! And then runs from the police! It flashes, like Kyoko does when there's a call on the other line! (We finally broke her from saying "I gotta flash".) Bwahahaha. I own Batman Beyond. There should be a "do not" somewhere in there, shouldn't there? Ah well. Now that I'm done stealing Corisu Li's disclaimers (or at least that's what she thinks), onward to Chapter Three! I mean the Third! Whatever!
C H A P T E R T H R E E - Fire and Night
"Matthew!" Mariann shrieked, bursting through a window on the third floor and blowing her secret identity all to hell. She entered rooms along the hall, gently handing the occupants out the window to Jessica and Aruma in turn. Finally reaching Matthew's room, she bit back a scream as she smoke trailing from under the bandages. Jessica came to the window and took him gingerly, carrying him to the parking lot below. Terry's voice rang in her ear: "First floor cleared."
"Second, too," came Aruma's response. "How's the third, Mari?"
"Cleared," she replied numbly. Jessica rose to the window, dark hair flowing down her back. Mariann turned to her, eyes full of emotion but empty at the same time. "You were right," she said quietly as flames licked around the doorframe. "Marcellus moonlights as a Joker; Matt was trying to convince him not to go through with it."
"So much for that," Jessica replied tersely. "Look, I'm not happy about it, okay? Now get outta there before you suffocate." Mariann floated apathetically to the window and let Jessica wrap her arm around her shoulders. The elder kissed her sister's forehead as they neared the pavement. "I love you, baby sister."
"I love you too, Jess."
"We need to go!" Terry's voice was near-frantic. "There are fires all over the city!" He gave them locations and they took to the air.
'Now I will tell you what I've done for you.' Mariann saw a fireman that looked like Matthew and nearly dropped out of the sky. 'Fifty thousand tears I've cried.' Aruma called the water out of the pipes of an apartment building, dousing the flames and scalding the Jokerz in one go. 'Screaming, decieving, and bleeding for you.' Jessica pulled a lapis lazuli stone from her pocket, intending to focus her power through it and create an ice shield over the building to let it melt and douse the fire, but a Joker grabbed her ankle. In the ensuing tug-of-war, she dropped the gem. 'And you still won't hear me.' Terry piled the Jokerz up and dropped a net over them; Commisioner Gordon waved as he flew overhead. 'I'm going under, drowning you.' Mariann carried a car full of toddlers from a parking garage and dropped it on a group of Jokerz A/N:Quit looking at me like that. They deserved it. Damn punks. and grimly noticed a photographer capturing her as a sweaty, soot-covered savior. 'I'm falling forever, I've got to break through.' Aruma used a lone Joker as a battering ram, knocking out a row of them: Bowling for Boneheads. 'I'm going under.' Jessica, using the ruby quartz stone meant to call her gems to her (as opposed to carrying them all, because that would be stupid), she retrieved her lapis lazuli and muttered an incantation, spreading a sheet of ice over the entire city. 'Going under.' Terry saw the sheet of ice overhead, but more importantly, he saw Jessica use the last of her strength and fall towards earth in denim-clad Letitia form.
"Dammit," he growled, firing the spare rockets and and blasting towards her altitude-losing body. He folded his arms by his sides to gain speed, thrusting them outwards at the very last minute to catch her roughly. "Bruce," he said into the link. "Letitia's down for the count. I'm bringing her in."
"Alright," Bruce said. "Aruma, Mariann, keep an eye out. That ice shield seems to be doing the trick but better safe than deep-fried." Terry smirked caustically, looking down at the sleeping girl curled against his chest.
"Jokerz went on an arson spree last night, setting fire to hundreds of buildings. Twenty people died and hundreds more were injured before those responsible were caught and the fires put out by Batman and his three lovely assistants." The shot of Mariann's sooty visage appeared. Katherine 'hmph'ed and curled further into Terry's chest. Letitia was on the other side, half-asleep and using him for a pillow.
"I'll give your boyfriend one thing, KP," Terry said quietly, clicking off the news. "He's a slaggin' genius. He had the fires timed perfectly, set just far enough apart that I never could have done it on my own."
"He didn't know about us when he planned it though." Katherine stood, pulling her hair into a quick ponytail.
"Where y'going?" Terry asked.
"To see if he's awake yet." She pulled her denim jacket on and grabbed her keys. "I wanna talk to him."
"Hey, you." Katherine smiled brightly as she entered the makeshift hospital room in the school. Matthew was sitting up and staring out at the window. "I guess you're feeling better." He turned hollow eyes on her. The smile flinched. "What's wrong?"
"So this is what my daughter has become," he said softly in a voice most unlike his own. Where Matthew's was warm and kind, this voice had an edge of razor-sharp ice. It sent a cold pain down Katherine's spine; a steel knife on a December's eve. The smile fell away.
"Matthew, what are you talking about?"
"Oh, he's just my shell now," he continued in that awful voice. "You have none of your mother's grace, you know." He cocked his head. "No, no, you do, it's just that where hers is stately and pronounced, yours is quietly natural. You really are quite lucky, you know." Katherine made a final, desperate grab for the edge of sanity.
"Matthew, my mom died in childbirth. You never knew her and neither did I." Matthew laughed, a low, terrifying chuckle.
"A convincing cover story for one of this Earth, isn't it? No, your mother is hiding out in that wretched kingdom of hers, waiting for you to come save her from the big, bad, Dark King, the Wretched One, the girl's father. I have many names, you know." He stared at her with those awful, empty eyes. "Here I am, you might as well grant her wish." Katherine's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the truth washed over her; she threw her hand outwards and nearly broke his mind, but remembered that it was Matthew, too, and instead took his consiousness from him. The spell was a violent one, and she closed her eyes against Matthew's grimmace of pain at the last moment before peaceful blankness took him. Hands shaking, Katherine contacted the others.
"He's who?" Alma was gently shaking with anger.
"Our father," Katherine repeated quietly. "The bonafide article. Lengthy speeches, comparing me to Mother, spastic use of 'you know', the works. Somehow that bastard's possessed Matthew."
"What about the incident last night?" Terry leaned against a table. They were in the Cave. Matthew was restrained on an examining table, monitors attached to various parts of his body. Katherine recalled the fight: Mr. J and Matthew, the lightning, that wave of...whatever it was.
"Maybe," she said carefully. "But...how?"
"Come here." Bruce turned from the computer and guestured to the group. They obeyed silently, staring at the images on the giant screen. Two MRI readings were displayed, one Katherine's from when her powers manifested themselves, years and years ago, the other Matthew's from roughly five minutes ago. "Look." He pointed to Katherine's scan. The areas used were red and took up nearly half her brain: The "normal" 10, scattered areas throughout the middle, and about 20 in the rear lobes.
"So?" Letitia asked. "We know we use more of our brain than normal humans."
"Now look over here." The older man illustrated his reply by pointing to Matthew's scan. The same 20 of his rear lobes were now shaded red. Katherine arched an eyebrow.
"But what does it..." She trailed off.
"Katherine?" Terry knelt by her, staring into her downturned face. Her eyes were focused solely on the floor. "KP!" He took her shoulders.
"Stop," Alma said quietly. She knew that look. "She's inside now. She can't hear you."
Indeed, Katherine had put herself into a sort of trance, walking through her mind to the very end, the farthest back she'd gone in a long time, where she'd locked him all those years ago. As she passed the locks, the walls, the barriers, she found them broken, damaged, a gaping hole in her internal prison. She pulled out quickly, dodging fragmented brick and steel.
"Sweet merciful gods," she whispered. Terry and Letitia each grabbed an arm as she swayed.
"What?" Letitia asked, staring at her. "What did you see?"
"Last night," Katherine said through gritted teeth, still glaring at the concrete floor. "Last night Mr. J came at Matthew with a metal pipe. He hit him with it at the same time I entered his mind and lightning struck. It was a one-in-a-million opportunity and it was all he needed."
"Then why didn't he go into Mr. J?" Letitia mused quietly.
"To piss me off," Katherine spat. Terry squeezed her arm gently.
"C'mere," he murmured, leading her to a chair. "He probably just passed out too quickly." Katherine gave a derisive snort. Bruce, sitting silently with his fingers interlocked, spoke suddenly.
"How do we get him out?"
Katherine sighed, slumping in the chair and laying a hand over her eyes. "Through me," she told him. "My mother imprisioned part of him in each of our minds. He played jailbreak with me. It'll take me a bit to rebuild the walls, but once I do I'll draw him out."
"Katherine." Letitia's voice held a warning. Katherine didn't look up. "Katherine!" She moved her hand and looked at her oldest sister. "Are you sure you can?"
"No, but Mother could, so..."
"That's because she's your mother. She's thrice the psychic you are." Terry paused at that. He had seen Mariann pull a 12-ton oil tanker from the bottom of the ocean. Thrice that was...scary to think about. He looked back at Katherine.
"I'm his only hope," she was saying, weakly.
"Better him than you," Alma argued. Letitia stayed silent, arms folded under her breasts, staring at the floor. Katherine stood, quietly, but with a shimmering energy about her, an undercurrent of anger.
"I am the youngest daughter," she said quietly. "I am protected and sheltered, and I thank you and appreciate the love you show for me." She looked up, jaw set, eyes flashing. "But I am also a Princess, one of the Three Guardians, and I've taken an oath to protect. From the day I was born to the day I was born again I was taught to keep everyone who did not have abilities such as mine safe from my father, because he was sure to seek vengeance, if not on me than on those I love." She swung her arm out to guesture to the cloth that hid Matthew's prostate body from view. "Ladies and gentlemen, vegneance sought and found." As she stood there, trembling with fear and range, his voice sounded from behind the partition.
"Such an orator, such an orator."
I hate one of my own characters. Go fig.
Reviewer Recognition!
Kyoko Kasshu-Minamino: Eh, who cares when you review, as long as you review. Especially since you're my only reviewer. ;-; Poopieheads.
And now, since this chapter was sort of short, an AUTHORESS BONUS- Everybody loves free stuff.
Stuff We'll Never Hear On Batman Beyond No Matter How Much It Needs To Be Said
Dana: Your dress is so cute!
Chelsea: Your dress is shorter than my locker door! Get a new dress!
Mary: Remember, it takes 47 muscles to frown, but it only takes 7 to draw back and bitchslap the little motherfcker upside the head.
Nelson: So this one time, I was thinking, and it was scary.
Batman: I'll castrate you with a rusty spoon.
Blight: But I'm not afraid of spoons.
Batman: But you should be afraid of rusty spoons.
Blight: I'm more afraid of sporks.
Jack: (to Ten) Just because you like a guy doesn't mean you need to hop him like he's the last chopper outta 'nam.
Stalker: (to Matt) Confucious say - there are three 'tards in the world. 1 - Mustard. 2 - Custard 3 - YOU, you little shit...
Paxton Powers: Sometimes when I'm in a difficult situation I ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" And always a little voice inside me answers, "Well, he probably wouldn't try to cram another corpse into the crawl-space, moron."
Chelsea: They're too short!
Max: The tests, or your pants?
Bruce: When you're in combat and everyone stops and points...there's a bomb dropping behind you.
Nelson: Are you threatening to threaten me?
Bruce: I got lung spots older than you!
Terry: (about Mad Stan) It's like giving a blind man a mallet and telling him to go hunt moles.
Bruce: I don't likeā¦people.
Willie: What's a tumor?
Random Teacher: An irregular growth that serves no purpose, but superfluously uses resources.
Nelson: Like you.
Bruce: Failure is not an option.
Terry: Yeah, it's a way of life.
Nelson: I am the least important thing in this classroom, including the chairs and desks.
Max's Voicemail: I'll be back shortly, in the mean time...Welcome to my life, on your left you will see stupidity and on your right, pain and don't forget, folks, keep your head and limbs inside the tram because we're heading straight into hell.
Blight: I am beginning to realize that the best minds in the world cannot help me if I remove them from their skulls.
Nelson:(absolutely nothing)
Eh heh...got a little carried away there, ne? Anyway, until next time, enjoy.
