I was so, so broken up over Adam West dying He was such a fundamental part of getting into the world of superheroes for me and I loved and admired him so dearly. I'm not sure if my adoration for him and his incarnation of Batman comes through in my writing at all, but even if it doesn't I hope that I and others inspired by his heroics find a way to continue the legacy that endeared him to us oh so much.
Special thanks to analiarvb, secretlystephaniebrown, i-stole-orions-heart, cobaltqueen, icefrozenover, thepheonixqueen, Enmuse, a-taller-tale, Yin, notatroll7, vpzerada, washingtonstub, Awesome_Milkshakes, TGnat, and FreelancerMissouri on AO3, ffnet, and tumblr for the wonderful feed back! I truly appreciate it more than you know.
Double Time
Chapter Eighteen: It's a Trap!
He honest to god didn't know what to make of her.
"What's the matter, Wash? Cat got your tongue?"
Junior, somewhat in spite toward Washington, began snorting in laughter which only doubled when the hero gave him a warning glare. It was a lost cause getting any respect around everyone there, that much was for sure. Someday Wash was going to accept that as the status quo of Blood Gulch and not be as irritated by it as he was that moment.
Refocusing on the redheaded woman before him, Wash wasn't sure what to do next. She clearly was someone he remembered, and yet someone he wasn't sure he knew at all. A paradoxical confusion he hadn't felt since the time he realized that Texas was still alive and around to lend, or in most cases not lend, her helping hand in Blood Gulch.
"You're… from Freelancer," he put together.
The woman stared back at him for a moment, a flicker of disappointment across her face before she sighed and lifted up her goggles. "I was kinda wondering what the time paradox was going to do with all the nonsense that happened in Freelancer. Was kinda hoping I had left more of an impact." She looked into Wash's eyes, her green eyes nearly electric in they brightness. "Guess I could have done more to reach out and make an impact to other members of the team, too, though. For that I'm sorry, Washington."
Suddenly, it all came colliding on him at once. Wash let go of Junior and got to his feet.
"Field leader — Carolina. How… But… You…" he stammered before holding up his hands and taking a long breath. He then looked back at her seriously. "Explain the time paradox comment because I find when words like that are used, the other nonsense falls in order or by the sideline."
"Of course," Carolina answered before holding up a finger. "Give me one and three quarters of a second, though."
"Wha—" Wash began.
Suddenly a blur of blue swept past him from one direction, nearly causing him to stumble back along with Junior, who hit the ground rear first, and then from the other side, which blew Wash forward before he found more solid footing. Carolina was standing in front of them still, hands on her hips and things seemingly unchanged.
That was, seemingly unchanged until an explosion went off down the road from them
Shocked, Washington and Junior both turned toward the explosion and looked amazed.
"What the hell was that?" Wash demanded.
"Just for amusement's sake, do you want that answered or do you want the paradox thing answered?" Carolina asked dryly.
"Which answer is more relevant to keeping us further from death?" Wash asked critically.
"There's a debate to be had on that," Carolina hummed in response, foot tapping.
"Forget it — answer the explosion thing first!" Wash decided, throwing up his hands.
"Right, that was the Felix stand up cut out," Carolina answered, pointing to the display behind them.
Caught off guard, both Wash and Junior spun around toward the display only to see it completely gone, only the Wash cut out he had grabbed before was still with them. Then he turned back to Carolina.
"Why was it rigged to explode!?" he demanded.
"I thought that part was obvious at this point," Carolina said, cocking her head to the side. "Didn't you read the note I gave you?"
"The note—" Wash began before thinking back on the day at the park. "You were warning me about Felix in the park… and now you're saving me from exploding posters of him." He looked at Carolina. "Sounds like you're coming back from the dead to tell me that Felix is evil."
"Well… I mean, have you met him?" Carolina asked. "No one talks with that many double meanings without being a secret bad guy. I mean, why else would someone be so cryptic all the damn time?"
Washington and Junior glanced at each other before looking back to Carolina.
"People say I'm cryptic," Wash pointed out. "Usually it's to protect the people I love from my identity."
"That they know about?" Carolina asked critically.
"You're cryptic — leaving a random note in the park instead of saying hello. Sounds like you're evil," Wash argued.
"I couldn't walk up and say hi, you were being watched by Felix. And I was totally right," Carolina reminded him. "You're welcome by the way. For both saves."
"You sound eerily like Tex," Wash said with a squint.
For a moment, the comment seemed to tun Carolina almost to stone, her face frozen in shock.
Washington, a little concerned, reached out toward her to see if she had somehow managed to hurt herself. "Carolina? Are you…"
Suddenly Carolina grabbed him by his shoulders and began quickly shaking him, an intensity of fire in her eyes as she did so. "You take that comment back right now I swear to god if anyone heard you if somehow she heard you don't you realize how offensive that is oh my god what's wrong with you can't you see that there's no worst way to offend a woman children spend their whole lives trying not to grow up to be just like either of their parents you shut up don't you know what's good for you punk take it back right now—"
Junior honked in alarm while Washington tried not to grow dizzy from the shaking.
Finally, he grabbed Carolina's hands and forcefully yanked them off his shoulders. "Stop that! I can't understand a single word you're saying!" he snapped at her. "What was that? Super speed?"
Carolina blinked a few times then put a hand against her forehead. "Wow, sorry. That was maybe an overreaction there."
"You think?" Wash asked critically.
"Look, I meant what I said in my note the other day," Carolina said, dropping her hand and looking intently into Washington's eyes. "Both that you shouldn't trust people you don't know… and that you need to put some faith in the people you do know right now. Because what's going on? It's too big to explain to you just yet."
Washington crossed his arms. "Well that statement sure builds a bridge of trust between us," he said sarcastically.
"I just saved you from a car and from an exploding Felix," she counted on her fingers. "Exploding Felixes, by the way, have trended toward a bad omen for you lately if you haven't noticed."
Blinking, Wash rubbed at his neck. "Well… you're not wrong."
"Right. Because I'm right about this," Carolina argued flippantly. "But even if you can't trust me because of some paradox I'm not going to explain to you right now—"
"Blargh!" Junior pointed out.
"Agreed, it's very alarming that she keeps mentioning things she can't mention," Wash muttered.
"You're not going to trust me, fine. I'm pretty much an unknown in this equation, I get that," Carolina remarked. "But if you can't trust me, then by all means, trust the advice I gave you before. Trust who you know."
Fo a moment, Wash wasn't even sure what she was talking about, but the events of the last few days all came clicking together, and his eyes widened. "You've been working with Tex and Church behind the scenes. You're the reason I've not been seeing much of Tex — you and whatever it is she has Church working on decoding."
Carolina waved her hand in a seesaw fashion. "Eh. I've kept away from dealing with Church… for… reasons."
"Cryptic again," Wash warned.
"You are such a killjoy compared to the Wash I used to know," Carolina said. "I kind of like it. You have the air of experienced badass. You even have a sidekick. Man, it's like you grew up on us—"
"Ju—" Wash caught himself and shook his head. "The Extraterrestrial Kid is not my sidekick. I don't believe in sidekicks. I think they churn out kids into mini child soldiers and set their lives on a path not completely of their own choosing."
Raising an eyebrow, Carolina crossed her arms. "Wow. Pretty strong opinion for a former sidekick."
Junior gasped and covered his mouth like the world's largest secret had just been revealed to him.
"We'll talk about it later," Wash said flippantly. He never took his eyes off of Carolina. "I deserve to know what's going on if it's my life that's on the line. If Felix is bad, then he also knows far more about my personal life than I care for him to know. And that's not getting into the situation with Locus and the mayors."
"Yeah, we're trying to figure out which of them is the pack mule for their payments," Carolina said with a shrug. "Church was supposed to be finished with that by now but, fuck if someone here didn't happen to distract him with lots of useless security upgrades."
Washington raised his hands up. "Wait a minute — what are you talking about? Someone's paying Locus?"
"And Felix," Carolina explained. "Don't tell me you didn't notice that their costumes match."
While Washington stared straight back at Carolina, Junior snorted behind him.
"It has to be Kimball — didn't you see how she's the one putting up these traps?" Wash said, pointing to the broken Kimball stand up. "It's obvious."
"Uh, obviously a plant," Carolina argued. "Would you just trust that I'm on this already? Sheesh."
"No, you said to trust who I know, and I'd trust this more if it was coming out of Tex's mouth," Washington said firmly. "Speaking of which, why isn't she the one here dropping these morale bombs on me right now instead of you?"
"Wash, do you really not know what's happening right now?" Carolina asked skeptically. "Weren't you the sidekick to a detective superhero?"
Squinting at her, Wash began to feel even more on edge than he had before. "What do you mean?"
"Think about what's coming up, and why someone just wanted to take you out of the picture," Carolina said, waving to the cardboard cut outs behind them. "There's an election — one where funds are being funneled to mercenaries with incredible powers. And tonight is the night of their big debate."
Wash looked at her incredulously. "And—"
"And anyone who could put whatever plans they have in danger is going to be taken out of the picture," she said seriously. "Anyone."
Eyes widening, the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Tucker," he gasped. "Tex is going to save him?"
It was then Carolina's turn to squint and tilt her head. "Who? I was talking about the kids you were training—"
"Goddammit!" Wash shouted, throwing down the cut out and leaping past Carolina while Junior let out a series of alarmed honks. "Watch Junior!"
"What?" Carolina called out behind him. "I don't do kids— Ow fuck! It just bit me—"
Washington didn't have time to look back and scold either of them.
He had to get to Tucker. He had to call the Reds. He needed to check on even Church.
And he had to beat himself up for not realizing the danger himself right away.