Vertigo, Part 11

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it.

Day Six

The Dreaming
The House of Mystery
Commander Ikari's Office (facsimile version)

"Baby talk? Literal baby talk? Are you insinuating there is a special language only babies can talk and understand?(1) Asuka had stood up, gesticulating incredulously with her arms. Cain thought she looked like some kind of flightless bird trying to take to the air, but wisely, kept that thought very far from his mouth.

"Of course I am not insinuating that! I am telling you! And not only human babies, all animal babies too can communicate with it." (2)

"Oh, sure. And next you'll tell me you can baby talk too!"

"Do I look like a baby to you? Abel might, as he still sucks his thumb some times, but that's beside the point. The story is this and that's it. Period. Now sit down and pay attention."

Reluctantly, Asuka huffed and sat down again. Fuming. "Ok, go on."

Caín pushed the orange glasses up his long nose. "Thank you. Now, where was I?"

Click.

"Ah, yes. Sugar pointed that a waking baby is way more noticeable than a crawling baby. And also saddled poor Cecil with another nickname. She called him "Doll-boy", as if Spike was not nicknamish enough."

Click.

"Spike offered to show her the basement. Where interesting things happen." (1)

Tokyo-3
Sea Dragon Restaurant-Bar
8:12 P.M.

Lt. Tomoyo Yamaguchi had, after a lot of coaxing of her fellow Bridge Bunnies, admitted she had a crush on a co-worker; and after an spectacular amount of coaxing, admitted it was Lt. Makoto Hyuga. "But he only has eyes for Major Katsuragi…" she sighed.

"Oh, please!" Lt. Satsuki Ooi said. "There are hundreds of eligible bachelors just in this neighborhood! You can't stay in the sidelines, girl! Just pick another! As my Grandma, in peace she rest, used to say, "A nail takes out another nail!", and she was no woodworker."

"Wait, what?" Tomoyo asked.

Lt. Aoi Mogami took a sip of her drink, and explained. "She means that if one relationship is going nowhere, just start another to forget the first one. Not that it worked too well for her, if my memory is accurate, but that's a story I won't delve in without a miner's lamp, a subterranean GPS, and lots and lots of rope."

Lt. Kaede Agano saw Tomoyo's look of confusion. "She means that's not her story to tell, not without therapy."

"Oh."

Satsuki nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! That's it. Back to the important stuff, Tomoyo. You can't keep on pining for some guy who doesn't even notice you're there."

Tomoyo shrugged, "Well… everybody knows Major Katsuragi is with Inspector Kaji."

"Yeah, so Makoto is in the same position as you!" Kaede laughed. "I remember an ad…" she leaned on the table, and looked at her companions, "it was an ad for some car… back in the past millennium, my brother found it in school, he was studying publicity campaigns, and showed it to me. I'll paraphrase, okay, I don't remember the names, it went something like… Sandra loves Joey, showing a high school age, black haired girl looking dreamily at a teenage boy; Joey loves Kelly, and the same boy looking at a redhead with the same look in his eyes; Kelly loves Stan, the second girl looking at a blonde boy. "She began to tick off her fingers, "Stan loves Anna, Anna loves Bruce, Bruce loves Julie, Julie loves Calvin, and finally, Calvin loves his truck (4). I laughed so hard I fell from my seat! I swear I did!" She laughed. "I mean, if only one of them had looked back, bam! Instant couple." And she snapped her fingers.

Tomoyo sighed. "Yeah, but Inspector Kaji did look back." The took a sip of her drink, "Instant couple."

"Well, then both are off the game, don't they?" Satsuki said, nodding sagely.

Tomoyo's phone beeped then; "Sorry, gotta go. See you tomorrow, girls. I have to get early tomorrow." She stood up from the table she had shared with the three Bridge Bunnies of Second Team. The four had shared a nice meal, a drink, and a lot of stories about their respective love lives, or lack of.

The other three waved Tomoyo goodbye, she paid her check and left the place. It was a nice night, and Tomoyo walked towards the charge station, two blocks away, there was a taxi base there.

When she reached the corner, she looked idly at her right, "Wait, that store wasn't there last week!"

The merchandise was common enough, several stores in Tokyo-3 catered to people who needed, or merely wanted, items for self-defense, like TASER units, reinforced jackets, or collapsible batons. But Tomoyo had never seen such a display of items resting on blood red heart-shaped cushions with white lace! At the top of the window, she could see one of those old style LED lights display, with the dots getting turned on and off in sequence, giving the illusion of moving letters and drawings made of dots of light. The text read "25% DISCOUNT IN BATONS. TODAY ONLY. SIZES FOR MEN AND WOMEN."

Tomoyo looked around, and found another store, this one a bookstore, but all the books were steamy romance novels, mostly Yaoi and Yuri (5), though there were more generic samples. A cardboard sign offered "Complete Collections. We Buy and Sell. Ask Inside."

A few people walked around, chatting quietly among themselves. The air was cool and carried a smell of wood and cologne. But there was something strange… not menacing or eerie… just…

It took Tomoyo a while to realice what it was, none of the conversations was in Japanese! She heard pieces of sentences, English mostly, one in French, one in German, another was… Korean..?

The people were no less varied, and quite eccentric too. Their clothes were a mismatch of styles, and even decades! A man with the classic American tourist look chatting amicably with the stereotypical rough gay biker in black leather; over there, a deeply tanned beach comber flirting shamelessly with a tall and muscular woman in coveralls and leather work boots; In any street in Tokyo-3, there would be stares. Lots of stares, but here, no one gave anybody else a second look. There was a lot of nodding and smiles. As if everybody knew everybody else. There was a comfortable familiarity.

There was a teathre at the other side of the street, called "Peeping Tom", and the marquee proclaimed the show of the "Perpetual Cabaret". A couple of men paid for their tickets at the box-office, and went in.

Now, this was an interesting place, and Tomoyo felt quite safe here. Even welcome. She went back to examining the stores. Another strange thing… the architecture didn't match the rest of Tokyo-3. Instead of steel and fake marble, with hard-angles, stenciled signs, and utilitarian design, the buildings were made of stone and brick, reminiscent of 1950s architecture; the windows were big panels of glass, instead of multiple small panes with metal supports, easy to replace.

The weapons store sign had changed. The text now read "25% DISCOUNT IN BATONS. TODAY ONLY. HELLO. ARE YOU OKAY..?"

Tomoyo gasped. And waited to see if the text repeated. ""25% DISCOUNT IN BATONS. TODAY ONLY. ARE YOU LOST, DARLING..?"

Now, this was disturbing. She went back to the book store. The cardboard sign now read "Complete Collections. We Buy and Sell. Ask if you need help."

Hesitantly, she examined the sign. She blinked. And the text had changed again. "Complete Collections. We Buy and Sell. We would be glad to help."

Tomoyo rubbed her eyes. It was impossible that somebody had changed the sign while she blinked! And once again, the sign changed, "Complete Collections. We Buy and Sell. Enjoy your visit!" And a smiling face at the end. (6)

Greek Underworld
Elysian Fields

"Still your heart aches, dear niece? (7) Hades sat on a moss covered stone, in the middle of a clearing. Close by, a stream fed a small pool, where several young men and women played, swam or just floated lazily. "Is this place not to your liking?" He leaned on his walking staff.

Cassandra Sandmark sighed. "This place is wonderful, Uncle Hades. I could never ask for a more beautiful place to stay in…"

Hades nodded slowly, "You miss him, don't you?"

"Yes. We were just beginning to know each other, as more than friends. But he disappeared. We were having dinner, and something appeared, and took him away. My friends and I looked everywhere! And then…"

"Second Impact." Hades whispered, and squeezed her shoulder in mute support.

She nodded brusquely, "And then we had no time to keep looking. And we died." (8)

"A sad day it was. I hoped the Moirae would weave a long thread for you in their tapestry before welcoming you into my reign." He shook his head. "I'm glad I could bring your friends here. Had to trade a couple of favors with Anubis (9) and Mictlāntēcutli (10) to get them here." He smiled conspiratorially.

"What did you do?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "I traded the Aztec a number of souls." He paused. "The ones who killed you, in fact. If you thought I was nasty with Syssiphus, you have no idea of how Mictlāntēcutli has set up his underworld. Mictlan (11) is no place for gentle souls, you know?" He chuckled. "Those villains deserve no less. All of them will be regretting every choice they ever made. Mictlāntēcutli is very angry about the lack of worthy warriors in his domain."

"Wait, Mictlāntēcutli got their souls? What did you give Anubis?"

"Not both souls. "He shrugged, "He had… the one who is always running, Impulse, i think you call him. Actually, I think he was really glad to get rid of him. The one in bright colors, the one who calls himself after a small bird, was with Anubis. Whom, by the way, asked me to break the hold an ancient priest called Hath-Set had over the souls of Prince Khufu Kha-Tar and his wife, Chay-Arra. They will reincarnate as heroes, but they are not cursed to die at the hands of Hath-Set anymore." (12)

"The Hawks?"

"Yes. Anubis couldn't break it. Hath-Set shaped a curse no god could break. But he didn't believe in other pantheons, so he didn't include them in his curse. It was an interesting challenge, I must say. For a curse cast in a hurry, it was quite intricate. In other circumstances, I would have enjoyed unraveling it. But bringing your friends here was all I cared for. You are the most sensible of all my nephews and nieces, you know?"

Cassandra hugged him slowly. "Thank you, Uncle Hades. For everything."

"Don't thank me yet, Cassandra. I have not yet received any word from my counterparts in other pantheon. Your beloved has not gone to them, so keep hope."

The former Wonder Girl patted her Uncle's hand. "I will. Even if I have to brave Tartarus itself or have to wait for a thousand years."

"If you ever have to go to Tartarus, you'll find allies there. Queen Diana and the champion I sent to help the Amazons contain the horrors of Tartarus. I believe you knew him in life, the Batman, he calls himself."

She smiled, "Oh, those poor horrors!"

"Indeed. I'm not easy to impress, as you know, but he managed to do it, so I acquiesced. In any case, his death came long before its ordained date (13). Unlike his companions. Lady Thanatos proposed a way to, to say it in simple terms, keep him in play. The Amazons needed help, the Batman needed to return, and Lady Thanatos needed to keep the balance of life and death. It was no hardship to satisfy those three needs."

"And when his time runs out?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Then he will continue his path, and go to whatever fate he has earned for himself." Hades looked at the pool, "Should he return to my domain, he will be given the Hero's Welcome, even if he holds no belief in me or my domain." He stood up, sighing tiredly. "I wish I could stay longer, Cassandra, but my duties call."

"I understand, Uncle. Thank you for visiting."

"Until next time, niece." And he vanished as silently as he had appeared.

Quintessence Plane

"I really hate this plan. Cant you just shake a staff or do some kind of mambo-jumbo?" Deadman asked. "It's bad enough to hijack somebody and then to have to use the facilities, you know?"

"I understand your reticence, and if I was at my regular level of power, I'd do as you say, but…"

Deadman interrupted him, shaking hands and head, "Say no more." He sighed. "I hate doing the voyeur stuff, but we need to know what and where, right?" He adjusted his clothes, pushed forward an imaginary hat, and vanished from the Quintessence Plane, saying, "You better have Adam somewhere on your torso, Gendo. I don't want to see anything more than strictly necessary."

The Dreaming
Lord Daniel's Palace

"Welcome back, my lord." Lucien took his master's traveling cloak and folded it neatly over his left forearm. "Lady Death arrived a few minutes ago, and is waiting for you at the Tea Room. Lady Despair arrived a couple of minutes before your own arrival. I took the liberty of removing Lady Kyoko's belongings since her reintegration."

"Very well. Lucien." Daniel adjusted his clothes while he walked leisurely to the tea room. "Any other developments in my absence?" Lucien walked one step behind and at the right of his master. "Yes, my lord. Lady Kyoko returned to your palace, accompanied by her daughter, Young Lady Asuka Langley Soryu. The Young Lady interfered with one of Cain's attempts to murder Abel, Cain was accidentally knocked out. He recovered consciousness for a brief time, enough to offer a story to the young lady. Abel took the chance to invite both ladies to the House of Secrets for some tea, and a story for Young Lady Asuka. After Abel finished with his chosen story, the young lady stopped briefly in the graveyard between the brothers' respective Houses, where she awoke Young Sir William, and chatted briefly with Lady Death, who kindly informed me of this latter development when she arrived. Most probably, Young Lady Asuka is now in the House of Mystery, listening to the story Cain chose for her."

The Lord of Dreams stopped brusquely. "Interesting." He said. "An event rarely heard of." He resumed his walk. "After the tea party ends, please send a messenger to the House of Secrets, to invite Lady Kyoko to a meeting. I am curious to talk to her, now she has recovered her wholeness."

"I believe Matthew is free of duties this evening, my lord. Shall I send him?"

"Good choice, Lucien; I leave the matter in your capable hands." He opened the Tea Room door, and greeted his sisters. Death sat primly on a chair, chatting animatedly with the always sulking Despair.

The Dreaming
The House of Mystery
Commander Ikari's Office (facsimile version)

Click. "So, in the end, after accidentally inventing a seesaw, Sugar ended up covered in red paint and wooden shavings, her father was angry at Spike's father for a few days, and while her mother bathed Sugar several times until she was clean again, the little demon spawn decided she loved Spike. Her mother only noticed that Sugar seemed to be happier than ever before."

Cain turned the projector off, and removed the carrousel.

"Cute story, Cain. Needs more robots." Asuka said, loading each word with a deadly amount of sarcasm.

Cain smiled nastily. "Heh, heh" he chuckled. "The story has not ended, this is just the intermission. You can get up, stretch your legs, use the facilities, get some refreshments and come back here. Because…" He stood up, and dramatically opened a door. It led to a small closet, containing a warehouse worth of carrousels, all of them loaded with slides!" "I have 99 issues worth of story to tell! Plus an epilogue!" He laughed maniacally. (14)

Asuka groaned, and slid down her seat.

Author Notes:

(1) A big deal of Sugar and Spike's charm is that they can talk to each other, but being babies, their understanding of the world is quite limited.

(2) That includes even baby lobsters…

(3) Cain is showing the events in Sugar and Spike issue 1 (Apr, 1956).

(4) This was a real marketing campaign. The details are quite fuzzy in my memory, therefore the paraphrasing.

(5) Romance stories with characters of the same sex, usually young. Yaoi is protagonized by males, Yuri by females.

(6) Tomoyo has arrived to one of the most unusual places/characters in the DCU. This is Danny the Street. A short and sentient street that can go to any town, village, or city in the world. Danny has been described as a gentle place, a refuge for lost souls and those who need some help. He is also a trasvestite, for some reason. He appears by night, shuffles a couple of blocks in a street, and stays for a while. He communicates with street signs, signs in stores, puffs of smoke, even comic books. He debuted in Doom Patrol issue 35 (Aug, 1990), and was a temporary headquarters for the team. Update: About Danny's pronouns. I did check Danny's Who's Who entry and Doom Patrol issue 62 (Dec, 1992) where he turned into a fully grown planet, as it probably was his last appearance before the date of Second Impact (could be mistaken). In both, Danny is addressed as a "He", unlike Rebis, who didn't identify as male or female, so Rebis got awkwardly personalized pronouns, such as "hir". I'm not sure if Rebis went for "they/them" before the year 2000.

(7) This is Cassandra Sandsmark, the second Wonder Girl, daughter of Zeus and long-time member of Young Justice. She debuted in Wonder Woman 105 (Jan, 1996). BTW, this is the one Rei liked for her callsign.

(8) For this story, the members of Young Justice joined the JLU, and several of them were killed in the line of duty. Robin (Tim Drake), died with most of the Bat-Family, thwarting Ra's Al Ghul's plans, while both Impulse and Wonder Girl died in a separate event, that has not been mentioned so far.

(9) God of Death in the Egyptian pantheon.

(10) God of Death in the Aztec pantheon.

(11) The Aztec Afterworld. It's quite a Grimdark place.

(12) The Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They were the reincarnated souls of an Egyptian Prince and his wife. Both were murdered by a treacherous priest, only to return during the 1940s.. Eventually, more identities were added to their story, always doomed to meet each other, only to be murdered again by a reincarnated Hath-Set. In SV, they are waiting for their next reincarnation. Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Hath-Set debuted in Flash Comics issue 1 (Jan, 1940), though Hawkgirl didn't take her costumed identity until later.

(13) This will be important later.

(14) When Cain wants to be petty, he gets petty.