Thank you again, Mindy.
U ɴ ƒ o ʀ ɢ ɪ v ᴇ ɴ
Chapter Five: Betrayed
Crime Scene Do Not Cross Crime Scene Do Not Cross Crime Scene Do Not Cross Crime Scene Do Not Cross Crime Scene Do Not Cross Crime Scene –
David wearily walked along beside the yellow-and-black police tape. It stood out vividly against the white snow, circling around Millie's old house. Several police were wandering around inside, messing with "forensics", and several others were carrying equipment in and out. He had left Hawaii at 11am – or 4pm, depending on what time zone you looked at it from. Either way; it had taken four hours for him to face himself and actually force himself to come back here. He'd Jumped to his father's house, ignoring the young family who lived in it now. From there, he'd walked to Mrs Harris' home, hoping to seem like a casual Christmas-struck wanderer.
He passed the house, and then stopped. An elderly policewoman was standing there, leaning against the side of the police car, looking just as tired as he felt. She gave him a friendly nod as she saw him, but didn't seem interested in talking, so, with a quick glance around, David approached her and said "Hey. Mind if I uh, ask … ?"
"What happened here?" she laughed hoarsely. "Typical rookie break in. Some kid came in, found the two gals who lived here, stabbed them and freaked out. Left before he could steal anything."
David nodded, tilting his head to the side and asking "And the two woman?"
"One's in a critical condition at the hospital. The other's a goner."
David swallowed hard, and the policewoman looked at him intently. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you, son?"
"What?" David mentally kicked himself in the head. Casual Christmas-struck wanderer indeed. He was acting as suspiciously as the fictional thief who did this. "No, I, uh. No. Listen, thanks, but I have to go."
The policewoman raised an eyebrow. "Taking off in a bit of a hurry, don't you think?"
And all of a sudden David found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. The policewoman nodded sagely. "We were given your description by a bystander who saw you go in, but never come out. None of us thought you'd come back to see the damage you'd done, though."
David swallowed hard. "Listen, lady, you've made a mistake. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Really," she drawled. "Well, then, I hope you'll understand when I say I have to arrest you anyway, just to see if that story holds up."
David put his head into his hands for a moment, pulling at his hair, groaning. Safe haven after safe haven falling away… He straightened up a moment, and looked the policewoman straight in the eyes. Then he punched her, quickly and directly, in the face. She staggered back, screaming, and he turned and began to run. The police chased him, but this was his home turf; they might patrol it, but he lived and breathed it. He Jumped almost as soon as he rounded a corner, acting on reflex. He didn't really know where he wanted to go; he just wanted to get out of Ann Arbor. Escape.
Again.
He landed in the Coliseum.
It was dark, and, if David had his time zones right, 10pm. Artificial light streamed from thousands of sources outside the Coliseum, but none within. Within, it was dark and untouched, secret. Standing where he was now, on the balcony overlooking the ancient ruins, he could almost feel the weight of the ages press down upon him. A muted echo of savage yells rose and faded within that moment, and he shuddered.
A second later, he was walking down the grassy centre aisle, nervously looking for Griffin. He didn't know whether the other was going to keep his word or not, and he didn't know when he was going to show up. Or, if he did show up, where. It was a big place, but David guessed that the main places would probably be where they had first met. And sure enough, as he approached the other end, there was a familiar figure sitting on the edge of the ruin, a dark silhouette against the faint urban glow in the sky.
"Hi," David said awkwardly, and Griffin snorted, jumping to sit at the base of the wall.
"Hi," he mimicked. "How's the girlfriend?"
"Comatose," David said flatly. He sat opposite Griffin, not meeting the other's eyes.
"What do you want?"
David stared at him. "You really don't care if you hurt someone, do you?"
"No," Griffin answered indifferently. "Besides, we're equal now."
"Equal?"
"Yeah. You ruined the one thing I cared about, I hurt the one girl you cared about. It's called karma, balance of the universe." He shrugged. "I just delivered karma myself."
"That's not karma. That's revenge."
"Balance of the universe," Griffin repeated steadily. "So tell me, Spidey. What do you want?"
David sighed heavily. "Listen, right now I'd love to beat the crap out of you, but I can't. I made a promise to my mother that I'd try and talk to you."
"Your mother?"
"Yeah."
"What in the blazing hell does your mother have to do with me?"
"She wants a truce," David told him simply, and saw incomprehension on the other's face, so he added "She's a Paladin."
The shocked look might have been almost comical, had it not been followed by terrifying apathy. "Oh, yeah. They do that."
"Do what?"
"Offer truces. Pretend to be nice. Pretend to be different." Griffin shook his head, laughing softly. "They're not different. They're all the same."
"You sound like Roland," David told him. Griffin shrugged again, still indifferent, and David tried a different tact. "What if it's real? Not fake?"
Griffin laughed again. "Listen, Davey, things never change. She's lying. Even if she's your mother, she's lying. She's just a stone cold bitch."
David felt his hand curl into a fist, and before he realized it, that fist had collided with Griffin's cheek again. He wasn't sure how he'd gone from one side of the hallway to the other, but suddenly he was pinned on the ground, and Griffin was thrashing him. Pain exploded on all parts of his body, and then David threw the smaller Jumper off him, kicking him.
Then they were both standing up straight, charging at each other, hitting, punching, kicking, pulling, pushing…
Griffin pinned David to the ground, and told him in a remarkably calm voice "If you do that again, I'll kill you. You got me?"
David nodded wordlessly, struggling weakly, and gasped as his breath left him as Griffin sat on his chest, pinning his hands underneath his legs. "Because you don't seem to get it, I'm going to try and explain something to you. We're Jumpers. They're Paladins. There will never be a truce until either side are dead. Alright?"
David shook his head. "That's not true," he managed to force out, rapidly running out of air as Griffin's weight crushed his lungs. "Mom – she would never – ."
"She's using you, David! She's pretending to be love you so you'll do what she wants! That's what they all do! All of them! None of them are ever real, no matter how close they are to you! Did you actually trust her? Did you believe her? Did you think that she'd love you and coddle you and give you a shiny gold star? You have no idea how this war really works! No idea!"
"You don't know her!" David yelled. "You don't know that that's true!"
"She's a Paladin! They get choices about it! They get paid to kill us, and they enjoy it! If she truly wanted a truce, she'd quit! She wouldn't ask for a Jumper to be brought to her so that she could torture and kill him! She would ask for forgiveness for what she'd done!"
"How – How did you know what her plan was?" David asked, able to breathe more easily as Griffin shifted his weight.
"Because they're always the same," Griffin shot back. "Always the same. Once you join the Paladins, you never turn back. Bloodthirsty, sadistic bastards… Oh, they can leave anytime they want all right, but they never ever do. They get a kick out of killing us. Once a Paladin, always a Paladin – what kind of job could ever replace being legally allowed to kill people and getting paid for it? They're sick, David, all of them, including your mother!"
David was silent for a moment, studying Griffin, before he began to talk. "Listen, Griffin, just because Roland killed your parents and you've had a bad life, it doesn't give you the right to make everyone else miserable. Maybe your parents hated you, I don't know, but I'm glad they're dead. I'd hate to see their reactions if they found out that their son grew up to be something like you."
Griffin went white, and David took that moment to strike. He snatched his hands out from underneath the other, and pushed him to the ground, throwing all of his strength into a karate strike that he'd only ever heard about. He aimed at the side of Griffin's exposed neck, at the part where it met his shoulder, and hit it less than a second later. Griffin shuddered, and then passed out in David's arms. David didn't smile, instead dropping Griffin and dragging him into one of the small, enclosed areas. He didn't know how long he'd been out for, but he couldn't stand listening to him any more.
What time would it be in Alaska, now? If it was 10:25pm in Rome, it'd be 12:25pm in Alaska. That meant that he still had six hours and forty-five minutes before he was due there for dinner.
Do not listen at keyholes, lest you be vexed.
David ignored the little voice that recited that in the back of his mind and Jumped.
\/\/\/
He arrived in his mother's house, upstairs, in the guest room. There was no sound from his Jump, only the glimmering scar leaving any sign of his passage. He exhaled slowly, and then moved stealthy out of the room. There was no-one in the hallway, and he quietly walked down the stairs. He could barely see Sophie's head above the couch, but he could see his mother's face. The two were watching something on-screen. Praying that he could perform another silent Jump, he passed through a wormhole and appeared underneath the couch that Sophie was sitting on. The Jump was silent, nonviolent, and his half-sister didn't even know he was there.
It was extremely dark and dusty underneath the couch. But it was actually surprisingly comfortable; he could stretch out as far as he wanted and not touch either end. He couldn't spread his arms out much, but that was fine. The danger was that the chances of him pulling off a third silent and nonviolent Jump were extremely small, meaning that Sophie would probably either feel or hear him leave.
But that was alright… So long as they weren't actually plotting against him.
David lay there in the dark, his eyes closed, listening.
"You wanna see a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear! See, see? Ta-DA! It's... It's gone."
David vaguely recognised those words. Hadn't he watched that movie with Millie? The Dark Knight? But he ignored the words as Sophie giggled softly.
"See, a guy like me -"
"Freak."
"Look. I know why you have your little group therapy sessions in broad daylight. I know why you're afraid to go out at night. The Bat Man."
"What do you propose we do?"
"It's, uh, simple. We, uh, kill the Bat Man."
"If it's so simple, why haven't you done it?"
"If you're good at something, never do it for free."
"That's true," Sophie murmured. "Charge as much as you can. You know, the Joker's got a point."
"What do you mean, sweetie?"
"Sure, it's fun, and easy, but it's too simple. Too easy. Waiting is better."
Mary laughed approvingly, and the couch springs creaked as she reached over – presumably to ruffle Sophie's hair. David felt a hot wave of jealously wash over him, and fought to contain it.
"Thinking about the Jumpers, sweetie?"
"Yeah. Hey, Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it, hon?"
"Why didn't you kill David when he was just five?"
Mary paused, and David found himself suddenly unable to breathe. Then she answered. "I loved him. More than anything. I was willing to risk my job for him, as well as my life."
"So what changed?"
"You did," Mary murmured. "Once I had you… I'd left Mary Rice behind me. I wasn't going to let that weakness consume me twice."
Sophie readjusted her weight and, very hesitantly, asked "Does that mean you love me more than David?"
That was a question that David had always wanted to, but never had the courage to ask. He'd assumed instead that she loved them both equally, but he'd never had the strength to find out the truth… The truth which, like it or not, he was about to hear.
Mary didn't hesitate before answering, though. "Of course I love you more. You're my daughter. He's just an abomination who calls himself my son. Why would I love him?"
Sophie was quiet for a second, and then Mary added reassuringly, "Don't worry, sweetie. He'll be dead soon enough."
So now he knew.
David didn't know it was possible to actually feel his heart break. But there was a growing ache there, and his eyes were stinging. He shoved an arm across his mouth to keep himself from sobbing out loud. His mother, who had brought him into this world, who had freed him, who had looked him in the eye and told him she loved him… She had been lying.
He was unable to cope with any more. The events of the last few hours had wiped him out completely.
Concentrating the last of his energy on a silent Jump, he went back to the Coliseum.
He's just an abomination who calls himself my son… Why would I love him? Don't worry, sweetie, he'll be dead soon enough.
David slumped against the crumbling stone wall of the Coliseum, and began to cry.
Author's Note:
I love The Dark Knight. What else can I say? I'm pretty sure you know what I'm asking for... If you don't click the little green button, it'll be lonely. All alone... So leave a review, pretty please? :-D
Take care, all.
- Req.
