Long time, no write, right? We're going to apologize for that now. I'll write most of this, cause of Aeri's circumstances. Just because I'm sick, it doesn't mean that I can't kick your ass. Sure Aeri *rolls eyes*. Anyhow, Aeri got sick, and by sick I mean she's nearly passed out every freakin' day for the past few weeks. I think you're dying. I'm stressed, which is pretty much the same thing. Jeez, Tech week will be agony next month. Tech week, SATs, tech week, previews, show, show, ACTs, show. And seeing that you got a high enough score the first time to get into an Ivy League, I feel your pain. No you don't...not really. You're just saying things to make me feel better. That's true. On the plus side, at least I'm not "mad at you for being dishonest, but I'm mad at you for being honest" unlike Ashes. Ashes can go screw herself for all I care. Not my problem. Very mature of you. Anyways, we should probably talk about last chap a bit. Um, Jason was written like his Outlaws series, kinda. Jason's a weird character, his personality changes with each writer. It's annoying and hard to follow. So we wrote him how we saw fit. For the OCs, I can see them messing around with each other, like the Titans or the Avengers do. And seeing that Bolt is the god of thunder...XD Apparently some of our friends have been trolling the site as well, and have fallen in love with Boltman. Amusingly, they also love Thor. Which is why we must all go play Pokemon. Everyone's getting XX, right?
okay, now I'll explain why this is late. 1. Aeri was sick, and that really bums me out. 2. I read the ending of Death of the Family. It was disappointing, but still very good. I'm glad Alfred didn't die. 3. Guess why DC's on my shit-list...they killed Robin...again.
Now I'm not a big Damian fangirl. Sure he's a cute little pissface, but I'm not the biggest fan. That's not to say that I don't respect his character, I do. He's an amazing character, and a terrific Robin. But they killed him. They did the one thing you just don't do. They had him die like a punk. He got stabbed, through the stomach, by his future self hired by his mom. That shit's fucked up. And it kinda killed my DC muse. Like stomped it out and tore it to pieces. It pissed me off so much, that I went off comics completely. Hell, I wrote a fucking Fire Emblem piece. I'm probably not gonna post it, but come on. ITs not even the same genre. I stopped her before she could write a Deathnote slash fic though. Heh, L and Light...a bowl of strawberries...L would kick his ass to Gongaga if Light tried. Besides, I've read your slash, and its as bad as Chad's. Hey-No, don't attempt to argue.
Anyways, we don't own. Someshit is, infact, a word (suck it Mack), and the title is taken from Clear and Nero's cover of the Vocaloid Luka song, Stardust Utopia.
Chapter 6: Angelic Shriek (Stardust Utopia)
To anyone who walked in on the sight, it would have been quite amusing. Four, barely awake, young adults stumbling around a small kitchen unit, attempting to start the day.
"Where's the eggs?" Cameron questioned, staring at a spot on the counter. He swore he had placed the carton there just a few seconds ago.
"Right here," James answered as he cracked the eggs into a bowl.
"Is that clean?"Rin asked, grimacing at him as she poured four cups of coffee. Steven offered her a slight smile as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Does it matter?"
"Yes."
"You ate pizza off the floor, remember?"
"No, Ren did."
"She's like a dog," James mused aloud, passing the bowl of eggs to Cameron, who got to work at making them scrambled eggs.
"You're not far off," Steve chuckled, taking his coffee from Katherine and sitting down. Pulling a laptop from the far end of the table towards him, he opened it and began typing, his fingers dancing across the keys.
"Why aren't you helping?" Cam inquired, turning to look at him.
"I am."
"I doubt that."
"Suck it."
"You suck it."
"Once again su-"
The two's tirade was cut off as an annoying buzzing sound filled the air, only to be replaced with a unfortunately familiar voice:
"Red Hood to Babywing, come in Babywing."
"For the last time, don't compare me to Nightwing," James groaned. "I'm n-"
"Hey, I wore those threads once y'know," Jason commented, his smirk evident in his words. "Looked good in them too."
"I'm still not him, Jay."
"Is there a point to the call, Jay?" Rin asked, frowning. "Or can we eat breakfast now?"
"We need segments of file 13943," Jason explained. "To quote Vince: 'Pronto'."
"Gimme an hour, and I'll send it." There was a quiet click, before complete silence. After a moment, James groaned:
"I fucking hate Bluetooth." Rin giggled at his response, and slid a cup of steaming coffee towards the boy.
"So this is the Batcave," Vince began, looking around the dank cave with interest. Jason and Steph turned towards him, the latter nervous about bringing the two into the sacred cave. "It's funny, I thought it'd be bigger."
"It does seem a lot smaller now," a voice stated behind the three. They whipped around in order to see, none other than, Tim and Cass standing by the display cases. Cass's eyes were wide, while Tim had a slight smile on his handsome features.
"Vincent," Cass began timidly. "Is it…you?"
"Yeah, it's me, Cassandra." The daughter of Shiva smiled warmly, and rushed towards the man, throwing her arms around him in an uncharacteristic show of affection.
"Whoa," Steph coughed. "Did they hook up or something? Wouldn't she tell me if she did, though?" "What's going on here? How do you guys know each other?"
Cassandra pulled away from Vince, who shared her smile, and started to explain, "Before I came to Gotham, I lived with Vince and his Uncle, both former assassins."
"Only for a year, kid," he stated, winking at the Asian girl. "Then I ran off, and you vanished into parts unknown."
"Which is where my story comes in, I take it?" Jason smirked. Vince nodded once, while the others gazed at him curiously. "After I came back, I was training with some of the most 'talented' members of the League of Shadows, alongside Vince here. We parted ways after, what? Two years?"
"Cue me moving to Bludhaven and doing some hero work with Nightwing." Vince smirked suddenly, "Those were fun times."
"If I recall," a voice stated from the shadows of the stairway. Dick Grayson, followed shortly by Damian and Bruce Wayne, made his way down the stairs towards them, a smirk of his own on his face. "You figured out my identity when I arrested you during a case."
"That charge was bogus, man. I wasn't even drunk," Vince grinned. Dick laughed and threw his arms around the brunette. "Look, I know you love me, but this is a little much, Grayson."
"Let me guess," Steph chuckled, "The two of you then moved to New York and had fabulous team-ups until Dick left to go chase aliens in bikinis, and ninjas in wheelchairs."
"Don't forget the lesbians," Vince laughed, pushing Dick off of him, who then mock-punched him in the shoulder. "Anyways, then I teamed up with Tim over there to save New York from Godzilla, before finally getting my chance to work with the actual Batman, and being a Batman myself."
"What are you doing here, Falcon?" Bruce questioned coldly, glancing over at Jason, who looked around in mock-innocence.
"We have new information about the Cult." There was a moment of silence, before he continued. "We don't know who their leader is, but they obviously have an issue with you, sir. They've attacked your businesses across the world as well as some of the people in your 'family'."
"Who are these people?" Dick asked, his expression serious. Like him, many of the others' expressions were grim.
"They attacked my team," Tim began, clenching his fists. "Kon took kryptonite to the chest, and both of Cassie's wrists were broken. These-"
"It's your fault if your team can't handle a few thugs, Drake," Damian cut in, scowling at the former Robin. Jason growled at him, starting threateningly towards the preteen.
"You little snot! These aren't the scum from Crime Alley. They killed my partner!"
"Jason," Steph warned, placing her hands on the angry gunslinger's chest in an effort to hold him back. She easily understood his rage. She had been beaten, almost killed, by the Cult, and then Damian made a comment that made her would-be killers sound like nothing. But Stephanie knew, surprisingly, that Damian hadn't meant that comment the way it had sounded. He had been questioning the Teen Titans' ability to deal with things without their leader, their Boy Wonder. It was a question every member of the Bat-Clan had been wondering ever since Tim had left his team. "Please."
Jason noticeably relaxed at her request, but he continued to glare at the demon-child. Tim walked over to them, placing a reassuring hand on his once adversary's shoulder. Bruce glared at them, before his eyes landed on Vince, who gulped quietly, "Explain. Now."
"I am glad you were willing to meet with me," Koriand'r began, smiling slightly at the redhead in front of her. Barbara Gordon, however, looked slightly uncomfortable.
"So…you and Vince now, huh?"
"Ah, you know Vincent?" Barbara grimaced slightly at the alien's question. There was only a four year age difference between her and Vince, an age difference than hadn't mattered to them for quite some time. She had known him when he was only thirteen, her seventeen. She had just been paralyzed by Joker, and her Father had thought that by sending her out of the city for a month or so, she'd let go of all the rage bubbling within her. In a way, he had been right. Barbara met Vince in that time, and the small boy of thirteen had inspired her to take the name Oracle. The two had remained friends after all those years, ignoring the few times later in their friendship that the lines had blurred, and were happy to be considered such.
"He's a friend."
"As he is to me." Koriand'r smiled warmly as she continued, "I spend more of my…free time…with the others on our team."
"I see."
"Ah, and Rin would like to open a chain."
"Excuse me?"
"A way for your team and ours to share information: a chain, I think she called it."
"A link?"
"Yes." Barbara fought the urge to roll her eyes at the alien woman. It seemed that very few things changed in regards to her lover's former lover.
"Alright…what's the IP?" As Starfire rattled off the information, Barbara's fingers danced across the keyboard. She was in her element, she and her computers were one.
But there were two things nagging at her mind. One was the mysterious group that had attacked Steph, nearly killed the Titans, hired Poison Ivy to attack New York, and was responsible for various attacks on Wayne Enterprises. What was their motive? Who had Bruce so righteously pissed off that this would happen? Ra's? No, Cass would have warned them. Riddler? Not his style. Who could it be?
The other thought, however, was much less grim, but no less confusing. It had started out as small twinges over a month ago, before escalating to something she recognized, something she had wanted for so long.
How hadn't Dick, who prided himself on being so observant, realized it during the night?
She wasn't paralyzed any more.
AN: So...worth the wait? How many bombshells did I drop? Were any questions answered? Were hundreds formed? Will anyone review? Don't push it Nox, they're mad at us. Cuz we suck. But how do they know we suck? Aeri, are they trying to spy on us? Nox...shut the fuck up. Anyways, Falcon is a bat-family member, kinda, so he had to see the cave. The Guardians are adorable to write for, since in my mind they've become a family. Barbara and Kori is always good, those two crack me up in the comics. Yo, Falconie, did you like the Rise reference? I thought you might! Hey Fallen, don't kill me for the Babs thing, alright? Everyone should ignore the Jason/Steph slant in this chapter, unless you ship them. But never ignore the Cass/Tim. Never. It's her OTP. Jason, Dick, Bruce, Steph, and Damian can sleep with whoever, but Tim gets Cass. Every single time. So this can be a Falcon/Steph pairing? Interesting. Although, it seems that in this story, Vince has slept with every Batgirl. Hehe, he's like Nightwing. Speaking of:
Sand Torrent: You is Babywing. Jason disapproves. Jason is sexier than James...unless the play-by is sexier than Jensen Ackles.
Guest: Yes...Jason is cute. Don't injure yourself on that keyboard, darling. You need brain cells to function, we don't want you to end up like Nox. Oh take it up the-say it in italian, if you want me to listen to you.
Broken Shadows: I'd say thank you, but most of them aren't my characters. However, Bolt is one of my favorites too. I'm more of a Wham-Fan, myself. Tch, nerd. But Falcon is hot. Gross, that's my bro's character. I know *winks saucily* *breaks faces* But i hate that Rin character. Simply horrible. Wait, that's your character. And I've read Binary! Thorin's amazing. I still don't like her though. ITs a hard character to like. I'm very confused Aeri. Why would you hate your own character? A character based off of-oh. yup. Like how Kit is- Momoko and Steve...yes. Ouch. I'm sorry.
Anyways, hey Query? Even though you don't read this, can we be the Bud and Lou to your Harley? Oh god, don't make me cry again Aeri. Anyways, it looks like team Solaris is blasting off again!