Little Bird's Vengeance Chapter 31 Not Quite An Answer...
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kon hissed, watching his team mate examine the ground at the edge of Central Park. "The others will be here soon."
"This shouldn't take that long," Rob replied. "Besides, I deliberately started nearest your arrival point."
Kon scowled. He knew Rob had probably timed exactly how long they had before Cassie and Bart arrived, but making his girlfriend mad at him for sneaking out with the invalid was the last thing he wanted.
Well, maybe the fourth last, after the world ending, someone he cared about getting hurt or killed and an innocent getting hurt or killed.
And it was more like the invalid had snuck out and dragged him along for the ride.
Even if said invalid was completely non-powered, suffering from a truly horrendous array of wounds, and almost certainly repressing enough pain to cripple a small army.
And probably wouldn't have actually used the Kryptonite even if Kon had use his tactile telekinesis to stick him to a chair.
On the other hand, Bats were used to getting their own way, and Cassie would probably forgive him for giving in as soon as she remembered that.
"Supes, aren't you coming?"
Kon jerked, having almost forgotten what it was they were here to do. "No luck?"
"No. If the intruder materialized here, there would be physical evidence," Rob explained absently. "If he appeared on the street, we would no doubt have heard by now. So the next most obvious place would be…that alley there."
Kon followed Rob's pointing, then seized his friend and flew them there fast enough to be perceived as little more than an indistinct blur to anyone who happened to be glancing that way.
"Ah, yeah, it was definitely here," Rob said confidently as soon as he'd blinked away the dizziness.
"And what makes you so sure?" Kon asked, glancing around, drawing his own conclusions but not being nearly as sure in his answer.
"Well, partly because that wall is sitting right on the cut-off point, but mostly that half-squashed pile of trash bags," Rob replied.
"The bags could have been squashed by anything," Kon argued.
"True," Rob conceded. "But the way they're squashed shows that either it was a very heavy impact, or a reasonable duration. If it was something very heavy, it would still be there."
"Not if it was taken away since."
"Maybe. But see those feathers? I'd guess a burst pillow or something. The way they've settled is more conducive with a body settled for a period of time and then removed."
"But that might have happened at any point within the last however-long. Those bags could have been there for a month."
"That paper sticking out there came out this morning."
"And that all leads you to the inescapable conclusion that this is where that intruder landed? No other possible explanation?" Kon asked grumpily. Once, just once, he'd like to pull one over on Rob.
"Of course not. I can think of five different scenarios that would also leave that particular set of evidence, but all of them would leave other traces as well, and none explain why there are no other traces." Rob paused, then a slight smirk played around his lips. "They also fail to explain the boot prints that start there…"
"What boot prints?! I can't see anything!"
"You wouldn't. They're incredibly faint; I can't even make out the tread. It's something you need a knack for." Rob smiled to himself. "Sometimes we play tracking games across the rooftops, following the footsteps left behind and trying to work out who left them. Normally don't manage it before something comes up, but it's fun while it lasts."
"Yeah, like your games of hide and seek that can last a week."
"Not my fault Nightwing ran off with his Titans without telling us."
"Which is why you kept hiding…"
"It's surprising just how much you can learn if you hide in the right place," Rob said defensively. "Anyway, you were on the right trail with those deductions. Questioning rather than assuming is a good trait."
"So, now we've found this place, what do you want to do?"
"Just have a look around. Could you fly up a bit? Thanks."
Kon watched Rob carefully surveying the area, leaning in close to the apparently invisible boot prints, and eventually gingerly lifted something up.
"Now this is interesting," he murmured. "What do you make of it?"
Landing again, Kon zoomed in with his microscopic vision. "That's…a hunk of crystal formed around a bullet? Never seen anything like that before."
"Me neither. Looks almost like the crystal was fired at the bullet while liquid, and then solidified around it. The bullet's been shot, so possibly a defence mechanism? Can you tell me anything about the crystal?"
"It's nothing I've ever seen before. Sorry."
"That does actually tell me quite a bit. It tells me it's nothing you've seen before. You've see practically all common crystal, precious stones, that Kryptonian semi-living crystal stuff Superman has his fortress made of, various other things. Which means we don't have to test for them." Rob rolled it in his fingers a few times. "Does it resemble anything to you?"
Kon frowned, examining the matrix again. "There is something familiar to it, but I can't place what," he said at last. "Another lead?"
"Means it's probably not Asguardian," Rob agreed. "We might want to get back to the Helicarrier. We can send Wonder Girl with the spectrometer down here when we all get back."
"And just what did you think you were doing?!" Wonder Girl screamed at her errant team mates across the briefing room table. "What bit of 'stay here' don't you get?"
Jane watched with more than a hint of amusement. She, Darcy, and all the Avengers had gathered to await the wandering quartet, but none wanted to intercede in the disagreement until it got physical. The two boys, however, seemed to be reacting completely differently. While the larger boy, Superboy, Kon, whatever he called himself, was looking guiltily down at his feet, Red was acting completely oblivious, examining something in a small jar.
"-it's as though you have no sense of self-preservation, and you let him get away with it!" Wonder Girl continued.
"Yeesh, Cassie, just listen to yourself," Red interrupted at last. "Of course I have an under-developed sense of self-preservation; unless I miss my mark, we all do. You know that full well, and you also know full well I don't restrict myself as much as you would. If I hadn't coerced Kon into coming I'd have gone on my own."
"Would you just give your injuries enough time to heal for once?" Wonder Girl sighed.
"I'm fine."
"You always are," the three Titans sighed in unison. Jane had to restrain a giggle.
"How did the scanning go?" Red asked.
"We got it done," Wonder Girl shrugged. "I don't understand the results, but we have them."
"Can you go out and scan that alleyway as well?"
"No," she said firmly. "Kon, Bart, you go do it. Rob and I are staying here."
Red visibly winced. "Kinda deserve that, don't I?" he said jokingly.
"Yup." Wonder Girl dropped into a chair and plonked her boots on the table as Superboy and Kid Flash vanished. "Don't try anything and I won't tie you to that chair," she threatened her remaining teammate, pooling her lasso on her lap.
"Fine, fine," Red grumbled. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" He passed her the jar he'd been playing with.
The teenage girl lifted it up to the light, examining the object within. "Where did you get a bullet encased in crystal, and why are you showing it off?" she asked.
"Why would you want a bullet encased in crystal?" Tony Stark asked. Jane privately agreed with the question, but from what she remembered of teenage boys, "it's really cool" would generally be considered adequate reason.
"Why would you want a giant penny? Or a mechanical T-Rex? Or-" Wonder Girl started, apparently rhetorically until Red interrupted her.
"Those are nothing to do with me," he denied. "That lot's all Nightwing's."
"I hear you keep adding to it," Wonder Girl accused.
"I think B just wants to keep humouring him," Red grumbled.
"Excuse me, but…what are you talking about?" Darcy asked.
"My oldest brother, Nightwing, used to collect trophies from the more ridiculous cases when he was younger," Red explained. "Somehow, the rest of our little community found out and it gets brought up as a point of good natured teasing every now and again. And in answer to all the earlier questions, I found that little trinket near where Titan Tower's intruder landed on this Earth, and I have no idea what the crystal is or how it was formed."
"Kon couldn't identify it?" Wonder Girl asked, slightly surprised.
"Nope. That's slightly worrying," Red replied.
Wonder Girl shook her head. "No idea. Anyone?" She passed the jar to Captain Rogers, who gave it only a cursory glance before giving it to Thor. Thor frowned at it, then gave it to Stark.
"Well, the bullet was discharged, and then…collided in mid-air with a liquid form of the crystal that hardened around it," Stark concluded. "I'd need to run some tests to identify the crystal."
"That's what I thought," Red sighed. "It's not a common crystal, it's not diamond, it's not one of a number of extra-terrestrial things we've encountered before. But Kon reckons there's something vaguely familiar about the structure of it. Unfortunately that could mean anything; he examined quite a lot of things while learning to control his microscopic vision."
"So something normal?" Stark asked. "You have a look, Bruce." As he tossed the jar across the room, Jane noticed Wonder Girl shaking her head slightly as though disorientated, but she remained silent, leaving no obvious cause for her sudden discomfort.
"I can't tell without a closer examination," Dr Banner shrugged. Jane had been talking to him earlier; despite his green side's reputation, he seemed to be very calm, reserved, gentle soul. His focus had shifted of late to medicine and related sciences, but he'd been trying to catch up on the latest developments in theoretical physics since his return to America.
"I think…the shape of the crystal is interesting," he continued. "It's like…the unhardened form was in jets, in columns of whatever this stuff was as a fluid. See the patterns it formed as it crystalized? Dr Foster, what do you think?"
Jane took the proffered jar, and stared at the contents. As Dr Banner had said, the shape and patterns seemed to be…almost spiralling. "Crystallography was never one of my strong points, I'm afraid," Jane shrugged. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"Might it have come from your world, Red?" Agent Barton suggested, taking and examining the specimen in turn. "Isn't there anyone you can think of who might be able to do this?"
"Yes," Red replied.
"No," Wonder Girl said at the same time.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment. "Yeah…no…yes?" Red said. "It's…kinda hard to explain."
"Who are you thinking of?" Wonder Girl asked.
"Kole Weathers…I think? Crystal spinner?" Red frowned. "Hang on, did she ever even exist?"
"Wait, that girl with her statue in the Hall of Fallen Titans?" Wonder Girl asked. "I'm not sure I've ever heard of her."
"I saw a file on her once. Data inconclusive," Red shrugged.
"Who is this Kole?" Agent Romanov asked.
"She was a girl who could spin crystal. She really isn't around, though. She died during this…incident some time ago. A number of people got wiped from existence. We weren't involved, so it's near impossible for us to tell what was going on. Even those in the thick of it have dim, patchy memories at best," Red explained.
Jane stared at him, vaguely aware of everyone else doing the same. "Uh…what?" Captain Rogers said after a moment.
"In conclusion, no, there's no-one currently alive stroke in existence in our world who could do that," Red summarised.
"Itcouldbesomethingfromthefuture,youknow,somethingthathasn'tbeeninventedyet," an impossibly quick voice said, as Kid Flash blurred into vision.
"Anything's possible," Red shrugged. "But not everything's likely. Does Kon have the spectrometer?"
"Right here, Rob," Superboy said, also arriving.
"Right. We should probably start looking through the results. Dr Foster, Dr Banner?" Red stood, and looked expectantly at Jane and her fellow scientist, before leading the way to the lab.
"Hey, wait for me!" Stark yelled.
AN: I got a whole bunch of questions, but they've pretty much all been answered in the course of writing this chapter. With luck, the Avengers will get over the shellshock soon enough. However, that won't be next week; next week will have an update for Black and Red.
In other news, the mini-arc in Flashback detailing Batgirl's origin is now finished. So there will now be a return to Family Ties and all the excitement brought by that. Not sure exactly how long it'll be before I decide to do more Flashback, so Family Ties until further notice.
Also, I've had time to go back through the last few chapters (well, it's been a work in progress for a while, so that's every chapter from 24 on...) and spruce 'em up, give them a bit of a polish. If you want to go back and reread them, they're better now, but haven't changed substantially.
Finally, please review. I love hear from you. Seriously. Please?
Anyway, be back soon.
Katara