Young Justice: The Gold Corps: Shattered, Chapter 12: Acts

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This one caught me by surprise. I normally rate these stories as "T", but in this case, I had to change the rating to an "M" for reasons that will become apparent. …

...

Brother Smith's expression was as close to being surprised as anytime Rose had seen it. "You? You…intend to seduce your own brother?" He paused, apparently gathering his thoughts. "I thought, when we first talked, you told me there was nothing of that sort going on between the two of you."

"There's not. It's…complicated." Rose glanced off, putting on the expression of someone forced to reveal a confidence she'd never intended to reveal. "But…back home…Collin had a, a really bad experience with a girl. I mean, like, really bad. Like atomic bomb bad. I'm afraid, you put him in a room with some strange girl, an' he'd, he'd just freak out. I don't want that." She paused, audibly swallowing. "It's one of the reasons we had to leave." Then, "I'm the only girl he really trusts. And, yeah, he's probably the only guy I trust, too." At least, here. "For, for reasons I don't wanna go into." She squared her shoulders, determination on her face. "So I pick me. It'll, it'll work out, you'll see."

He was shaking his head. "You're talking about incest, Kim. That's unhealthy. I don't want to harm him—or you, either, for that matter…I've big plans for the both of you."

"Yeah, but I know my brother better than you do. Believe me, this is for the best." Yeah, she was already seeing how this would shape up…it would work, providing she could just persuade Brother Smith to go for it.

And persuade Ragnar Rok not to go ballistic before she could explain her plan to him. "Look, just trust me. I'll, I'll handle it. Besides. I, I don't want any of those girls with, with my brother."

"What if he refuses? After all, you are his sister…" Aren't you? She could almost hear the unspoken question. All the more reason to stick with the program.

"He won't. He'll do whatever I tell him to. It's…it's just the way things are, with us. Like I said, he trusts me. Fully. Even about this. He knows I won't abuse that trust, but sending him to some other girl would be abusing it. I know him better than that."

He gave her a long, long, completely unreadable look. Then, "Very well. If you're sure…" She nodded vigorously. "Then I shall trust your judgment. BUT…if it looks to be harming either of you, I'll have to put a stop to it, regardless of whether or not your brother 'freaks out.' I'll probably have to separate the two of you. Understood?"

"Yes, sir! A-and you'll, you'll see. That won't be necessary. It'll work out. We'll make it work."

When Ragnar came back to the room that evening, he was surprised to see Rose sitting, not on her bed, but upon his. Her expression was…very nervous. And even more alarming, to him, it didn't seem to be that much of an act, on her part. "Uh, Collin? Honey? I, uh. We, erm. I mean, uhm. I mean, you and I…have to talk."

Immediately he knew something was very wrong. Rose had called him lots of names during their brief acquaintance, but "honey" had never been one of them.

…

She motioned for him to come sit beside her. Ever the "obedient brother," he came over and sat a few inches away from her. She moved closer, so that their hips were touching. He started to hitch away, but she reached out and placed her hand on his leg, right above the knee. That made him highly uncomfortable. "Uh, Collin, see, here's the thing…" He really didn't want her touching him.

Truth was, Ragnar was coming to dislike this person he was partnered with. Practically every conversation they'd had had ended with her berating him for some failing on his part. While he understood that all this intrigue was new to him—for that matter, life on Earth was new to him, in so many ways-, and that he therefore had a lot to learn, he couldn't help but feel there were better, less acrimonious ways of explaining his mistakes and what he needed to do. She didn't seem to know any.

But regardless of her attitude, she was his partner, and therefore, his responsibility. That didn't mean he welcomed her touch.

So, very gingerly, as though he were picking up week-old roadkill, he plucked her hand up off his leg and placed it, very pointedly, on her leg. She immediately put it back on his, just above the knee, just like before, and kept right on "explaining" whatever it was she was explaining. He found he couldn't concentrate on what she was trying to say, except that she didn't seem to be saying it very well. "…and, and, I came up with something, it's not perfect, God knows, but it's all we've got at this point…"

He put her hand back on her own leg. She immediately placed it back on his. This dance went on three more times before he decided he'd just have to endure this unwanted touch, at least until she got through saying whatever she was saying.

"…and, basically, Brother Smith has decided you, uh, you deserve a very special reward for, for doing so well, as far as you have, and, well, he-*"

"My 'reward,'" he ground out, "is in knowing you are safe and unharmed. After all, you are my…sister." He couldn't keep his eyes from rolling at that last word.

She suddenly leaned closer, and hissed, just loud enough for him to hear. "Play along, stupid! This is important, and I don't wanna haveta go over it again!" Then she leaned in, in an almost intimate way. "Come to think of it," she said, suddenly brightening, "You've just come from training. Let's go get you washed off." They usually had most of their disguised conversations in the bathroom, while he showered, and the sound obscuring their voices from the audio pickups.

Oh, all right, he thought. Anything to get her hand off his leg.

While he showered she told him that she had been watching, from Brother Smith's office, his latest round of "training." "And I have to admit, truthfully, I am impressed. I mean, for-real impressed. You haven't had that much formal training, but I imagine your time on your homeworld must've toughened you up quite a bit. And I'm guessing you're probably in the same strength category as Superboy, now."

"Hmph." There wasn't much he could say to that; it was the closest thing to a compliment she'd ever paid him.

"Anyway, what I was trying to get at, out there, is that Brother Smith has decided you deserve…a special reward for doing so well." She sighed, hating to have to say what she was about to say. "Something above and beyond just saving my life."

"Hmph. And that would be?" There had to be a reason she hadn't just come out with it already.

Rose took a deep breath. "Okay. Don't…don't freak out on me, okay? Promise?" Pause. "He wants you to have sex with, with someone. As a reward for your doing so well."

The only sound coming from the shower stall was the sound of the running water. For a moment, she wondered if he'd even heard her. Then, very clearly, "No."

"Hear me out. He wanted me to choose one of the girls here. I knew how you'd feel about that; you don't want to be unfaithful to M'gann, and I understand that totally."

"Good."

"So that's why I told him it'd have to be me."

"WHAT!?"

"Keep it down! Remember, you promised not to freak out! I'm calling you on that! Now, just hang on and listen to me, okay?"

He stuck his head out from around the shower curtain and looked at her as though he'd never seen her before. "Are you," he began, "insane?" It sounded like a serious question.

"Just listen, dammit! We don't have to actually do it, all we have to do is, is fake it. Make it look like we're doing it. I can guide you through that. That's why I chose me. Any other girl…well, you know."

He still had his head stuck out from behind the shower curtain, looking at her. "Let me see if I have this straight. You…and me…" He trailed off, almost choking, as though he couldn't seem to get the rest of the sentence out.

"You and me faking it, dammit! The video cameras in here aren't that good, especially with the lights off. Which they will be. All we have to do is put on a good show. And, and that's not that hard to do. Trust me."

Still more of that look from behind the curtain. She wished he'd stop that. This was hard enough as it was. "I was under the impression," he said, "that we were supposed to be brother and sister."

"We are."

"And we're supposed to….?"

"Yeah. Remember what Nightwing said: I'm in charge. I know what I'm doing, and this is the only way. Or would you rather I go find some shelter tramp to spread her legs for you? Don't you see? This is the only way we can even hope to preserve our cover."

He didn't say anything, but just returned to his shower. She could hear him sigh in resignation. "Alright. How do we…do this?"

Rose breathed a sigh of her own, one of relief. Worst hurdle, over. "Just put your shorts on and join me out here, okay?"

….

The main room: Rose stripped off her outer garments, leaving only her bra and panties. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to get any further undressed. Even though she had disguised herself by dying her hair down to the roots, and using makeup to deliberately obscure her normally fine features, there was nothing she could do about her trim, taut body. She went over and sat on Ragnar's bed and waited.

Presently, he came out, clad only in his shorts. Rose looked him over. Okay, impressive, yeah. If only he were someone else…anyone else… "Now, come over here, get in bed here." He complied, grudgingly, or so it seemed to her; the twin bed was barely big enough for him, let alone the two of them. "Now just stay put, while I shower off. I'll be right back." She dodged into the bathroom and washed herself off, particularly in certain places. Getting ready. Came back out, once again clad in her underwear, and climbed into bed beside him.

"Alright." She spoke in low whispers. "The sound pickups in here are not only tiny, they're primitive-looking; so they're probably not that sensitive. Still, keep your voice down.

"Okay. Now, I have a confession to make. Regular sex I know about, but this is not regular sex. So I'll have to improvise, a sort of a play-by-play running instructional commentary. You just play along with everything, and do everything I tell you to do, even if you don't understand it, okay? Just trust me, and do it.

"So now here's how we play it. You're my brother, yes, and you're very unsure about all this, it doesn't seem right….

"I believe I can handle that part without great difficulty."

"Shuddup. So you resist, passively. You sort of stiffen up, you're not very responsive, like you really don't wanna have anything to do with this…"

"That won't be much act either."

"Shuddup. You don't jump up and run away or anything, but you sort of attempt to keep your distance from me, sort of push me away, not hard or anything, but just for appearance's sake. Now, I know you have the brain of a cockroach, but is any of this getting through to you?"

"The 'shuddups' are unmistakable."

"Christ." She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his chest. We are so fubar'd. She breathed deeply for a moment. How on Earth was she supposed to conduct an undercover assignment saddled with this moron? Of course, she knew Nightwing's reasoning: Ragnar was new to Earth, and was unfamiliar to any of the face and voice recognition programs they'd be likely to encounter. Another level of concealment, and one that could come in handy, she had to admit. Plus, he had the raw muscle to serve as their own built-in backup, should they need it. "Well, we'll just have to do the best we can. Okay. Remember, you're unsure about all this, but I keep on talking, persuading you…" and she went on and on. Then, "Finally, you give in, and allow me to pull us together closer—"And she did so, mostly moving herself. He weighed a lot more than he looked—"Anyway, you basically stop resisting, and let me start, I dunno, kinda, enfolding you, kissing you, letting me get ready to, to have you-*"

"You're making yourself sound like a Venus Flytrap." Surprisingly, she chortled, her head against his chest. "Well, at least I made you laugh."

"Yeah, I probably needed that. Okay. Back to work…"

She rolled him over on his back, and slid down him, putting her head close to his. "Okay, I'm gonna have to, like, move up and down on you, okay? Try not to get too turned on or anything, remember, this is just the way it goes, in real life, only, only, you know, with you, uhm, actually penetrating me. Without that, I mean. In this case."

Afterward, in the pretend-afterglow of the pretend-orgasm: "So now what?"

"Now we just lie here, like this. You're okay, aren't you? No problems? Okay, good." She sighed again, holding him as close as she possibly could, her arms around him. "You, you did good."

"That's the first praise I've gotten from you the entire time I've known you."

Rose was surprised. Had she really been that hard on him? Of course, the stakes here were so high…but still. "Well, maybe I've been a little harsh. I can't expect you to know everything. But you have to learn to trust me, to accept my leadership in this situation. I have the experience. That's why Nightwing brought me into this whole thing, and even with all that, nothing's certain. I get the distinct impression Brother Smith knows a lot more about us than I'm comfortable with, but how he knows, I'm not sure.

"So…you're…okay? I mean, this was a big step, one that a lot of experienced operatives would've had problems with…you're okay?"

"Yes. I won't lie and say I'm totally comfortable with it, but I am…okay. Although," he said with a slight smile, "I fear I now have at least one experience I can never share with Megan." His smile dropped. "Assuming I have the chance to share anything with her at all, ever again."

"Yeah, I don't think she'd understand. And you will have that opportunity, though…I'm like the others: there's too many people working on this thing for it to go on for long. You'll get her back." Abruptly, and for reasons she could never fully explain, even to herself, she reached up and kissed him. He drew back, startled. "Uh, that was for luck," she explained, hastily.

"Right. For luck."

….

Back at the mall, Stacey McAllister was once again closing up shop at the Victoria's Secret where she worked. Once again, the mall was largely deserted; she could see some late-night shoppers down at the other end, but this end was fairly free.

Which was exactly the way she liked it, this late at night. She wasn't a loner, but she'd learned that unsavory types tend to hang around the less-populated areas of suburbia at these hours. However, if you simply avoid people altogether, you avoid trouble.

She turned away from the door, having made sure the electronic safeguards were in place…and received a small shock.

Across the mall, in almost the same place she'd seen him last time, was that same little boy she'd seen not long ago. Looking right at her.

But this time, rather than just standing there, he was not only staring at her with that same unnerving intensity, but his right hand was outstretched, pointing at her.

She looked behind her, an automatic gesture, to see if there was someone behind her. But there wasn't, only the blank, reflective surface of the storefront. Another reflex: she checked the reflected image of the mall in glass, to make sure he hadn't sneaked up on her while she had her back turned.

She couldn't find his reflection in the glass surface. Puzzled, she looked back across the mall…and there he was, still with his hand outstretched, his finger pointing right at her.

"Er, are—are you, are you pointing at me? Who-who are you?" Her voice squeaked just a little. There was something just plain eerie about all this, and right then, she would have almost welcomed the presence of a nice, friendly mugger. Somebody normal.

His mouth opened. Although he couldn't be more than a few yards away, she had a hard time understanding what he said. It wasn't that he didn't speak loudly enough, or speak clearly, but something about the way he spoke chilled her. "It's coming," he said. Or had he said, "He's coming?" She wasn't sure.

"I'm, I'm sorry? I, I didn't quite catch what you said. What's coming?"

The child's arm lowered, though his gaze never left her. With a sensation of cold chills running up and down her spine, she realized that the whole time she'd been watching him, she hadn't seen him blink. Not once.

"The Fire."

To be continued…