Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Disney, Square Enix or Detective Comics. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Radio/TV
"Headset/Flashback"
-Scene Shift-
Chapter 5: Passengers
Within the dark confines of Arkham Asylum, a great number of things occurred.
It was never quiet at night. The best the security teams could do to block out the occasional screams of actual mental patients was somewhat spending time off their stations; doing whatever to pass the time. Reading, listening to music, watching anything to relieve the boredom.
They would be more attentive and focused when the more dangerous inmates were locked up in their cells; i.e. those of the Batman's infamous rogues gallery.
Yes they did have several within the asylum's walls, but the rest were out there somewhere. They were hiding, planning and readying themselves for whatever nefarious schemes they have in store. And for a handful currently present, they were just biding their time for whatever opportunity to properly escape.
While the asylum staff would be more serious in their jobs, there were a handful who exactly weren't.
There was nothing serious going on. There were no prisoner transfers of major criminals. Nothing entirely special is happening to truly demand attention.
In a sense, it was a slow shift; especially this late at night.
"Hey Johnson."
One security guard yawned a little before taking a small sip of coffee.
"Yeah, Carl?"
"You know where Bracken's at?"
"He's doing the 2am security parameters."
There were a handful of locations within Arkham which didn't have live security feeds. Either that or they were requiring maintenance. Even then, the security personnel couldn't exactly trust them all that well, due to past events revealing the feeds were tampered with; hiding the fact an inmate had escaped who knows how long ago.
This type of routine helps relieve some boredom, getting them on their feet in order to perform their rounds on their shifts.
"And Hugh?"
"Doctor Dee got somethin' from the mail this morning and the day shift forgot to take it down."
"Gifts needed to be cleared with Huntoon."
"It was just some weird piece of jewelry from his dead mother." The one guard shivered a little on the memory. "Was just this weird… eye thing connected on a chain."
"Either way, Hugh shouldn't go to that particular area on his own." Carl sat a little straighter in his seat. "Can you see anything from the monitors?"
Johnson peered at the live feeds, locating the section of Arkham where Doctor Dee resided.
It was rather dark in that particular area and the night vision on the feed wasn't revealing anything out of the ordinary.
"I see nothin'." Said Johnson. "All quiet."
Carl hummed a little as he got up from his seat. "I'll go down there and check on Dee anyway."
"Take a radio."
"Copy that."
With Carl leaving the station, he turned down the hallway to make his way towards his destination.
If the guard were to turn around when he did, he would've spotted a hint of a crouched figure. It was hugging against the corner of the security station and made sure to not be spotted by the mounted cameras.
This figure was Doctor John Dee, once known as the criminal scientist Doctor Destiny.
Fun fact, he wasn't always a criminal. He was well respected in his field of study. But his genius ended up taking to certain studies and experiments which made him blacklisted in the scientific community.
From the fruits of his labor came the Materioptikon, a device which allowed him to create reality from the fabric of dreams. The centerpiece of his creation was powered from a particular ruby his mother gave him years ago.
John never knew how his mother, the now late Ethel Cripps Dee, came into possession of such a unique item before she gave it to him. Nor did he know the truth; as it was stolen from its original owner over ninety years ago.
Whatever the case may be, John's work pushed him over the edge which soon led to his imprisonment at Arkham Asylum for nearly a decade now.
It was hard for John to fully keep track of time.
All he could remember was him being shoved in this nut house shortly after the Justice League was formed. Something involving a private matter, if he got it right. Not after their public reveal with an alien invasion.
Seeing the security guard -Carl- walk away, John crept away as silently as he could in a hunched manner, allowing the sounds of his feet to be covered by the music playing in the security station. It helps a bit further, due to his feet being bare, just like the rest of him.
In his one disfigured hand was a gun, once belonging to a security guard named Hugh. In the other, for protection, was an eyeball-themed amulet turned bracelet his mother -Ethel Cripps- procured from her former occultist lover; which was procured from a demon serving directly under Beezlebub.
Breathing shallowly, John kept himself quiet as he constantly surveyed his surroundings. He did not want to be captured again and sent back to his cell after all these years.
He made his way to the dining hall, where a window resided with a broken catch; or so he recalled. He planned on using that for his means of escape.
Pushing the doorway ever so slightly, Doctor Dee halted when the door creaked a bit too loudly. He didn't know if it was loud enough to be heard over the music playing at the security station. After waiting for several more moments, he heard nor spotted anything occurring from the security guards, thus allowing him to open the doorway further.
Upon entering the dining hall, John closed the door behind him and breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Good." John rasped out. "Good."
He soon shushed himself when he heard something moving within the present room. His eyes caught onto a figure hanging from the ceiling.
Curious, John slowly walked over and saw the person wasn't moving at all. He ended up reaching forward and grazed the hanged man's leg ever so slightly, causing a reaction.
"Surprise~!"
Doctor Dee jolted back a bit in surprise to see the hanged man wasn't dead at all, but very much alive.
"Don't worry, it's only me."
It took a bit for John to realize who this man was.
"Dr. Crane." Muttered Dee. "Jonathan."
The unmasked Scarecrow only smiled as his body slowly moved. His eyes held a bit of mischief behind the spectacles he wore.
"Now- don't tell anybody else about this!"
"You're… hanging yourself?"
A large piece of rope was connected to Dr. Crane's straightjacket whilst partially being tied around his neck for appearances sake.
"There's nothing like a good hanging to scare people witless." Chuckled the former college professor. "Fear of pain is algophobia." He then became thoughtful on his pondering. "I don't know what fear of hanging is called. But when they come this coming morning, I'll stick out my tongue and I'll be white as a sheet. They'll all look up at me and I'll give them a good fright."
"Heh… good one."
"Mind you suicide isn't in my repetuar. I'm too fond of myself to go down this route." Spoke the Scarecrow. "All I'm doing is enacting a small prank, using a mixture of my straight jacket, a coat hanger and a few other items to simulate as such." Crane then scrunched his face a little. "Seems my legs have finally gone to sleep, I can't exactly feel them."
Dr. Crane curiously looked at the bare naked man as if he was slowly recognizing him.
"You're Doctor Destiny, aren't you?"
John Dee's lip twitched. "I was."
"My~ it's been a long time since I've seen you. Aren't you supposed to be locked up downstairs?"
John Dee quickly shushed him. "You mustn't tell anyone. I'm escaping."
"I won't. It's your first time, right?"
"It is."
"Why? You've been here for years. Why now?"
"My mother died." Doctor Dee soon explained as he lifted up his one hand to reveal the eye-ball themed bracelet. "She gave me her amulet. It keeps people safe from things. She told me that. She gave me my ruby too, but now she's dead. Shall I tell you what I'm going to do?"
Dr. Crane nodded eagerly. "Tell me. Tell me."
"I'm going to get my ruby back. The Materioptikon. And then I'll drive everybody in the whole wide world mad. And then they'll make me king."
A throaty chuckle escaped Scarecrow's lips. "It sounds scary. Have a nice time. And you must promise -when you get back- to tell me all about it."
This made John rather cross, almost snapping back at him as if correcting the former college professor.
"You don't understand. I'm going to rule the world. Or destroy it. I'm not coming back here."
Dr. Crane rolled his eyes a little. "Yes, yes… but we always come back here. It's so strange and scary outside these days. Oh and if you see the Joker, tell him to come back over here in a couple of weeks. It's not April Fools Day here in Gotham without his little jokes." The spectacled man shrugged a little. "But I'm doing my best until then. I left one nearby."
John Dee looked over to where Dr. Crane gestured towards. There he saw a hanging security guard with a "kick me" sign taped to his back. Instead of alive, this one was outright dead. And clipped on his breast pocket was the surname "Bracken".
"Heh~ I see. Funny." John moved past it to reach the window with the broken catch. "Bye. Bye."
"Bye." Said the Scarecrow as he soon hanged there motionless before he eventually fell to slumber.
Nearing the window, Doctor Dee saw in the distance the lights coming off the tri-gate bridge which reflected from the water's surface below.
Opening the window with the broken catch, the heavily malnourished scientist slipped out of it and used a nearby trashcan to ease his descent to the ground below. He tumbled a little, but he didn't receive any injuries from the fall. And it occured again when he traversed the yard and climbed the chain linked security fence with razor sharp barbed wire interlacing the top; yet he received no scratches, gouges or anything harmful to him.
John Dee chuckled to himself as his amulet was still working, no matter what.
The first time he fully experienced this happening was when he escaped from his cell. There was a fight with Hugh the security guard where a bullet was fired. John felt the projectile, but it didn't kill him at all. He used the guard's surprise to his advantage and killed him with his own service weapon.
Sneaking around the island which houses Arkham Asylum, John Dee made his way to the border of the property before getting to the main road out of there. As much as a naive escape would merely go along a straight path, the scientist didn't want to be caught all too soon.
Time passed on by as he eventually left the island and walked around the road towards civilization. It was there he saw a car approaching him, making the deranged scientist walk out and intercept it.
The screeching of tires halted the vehicle as John pointed his acquired glock at the driver, who was a blonde woman who may have been a nurse or some employee arriving for the late night shift.
"Unlock the passenger door."
Not wanting to get shot, the driver compiled, letting John enter the vehicle, still aiming his stolen weapon at her head. The music was flaring, which quickly annoyed him.
"D-Don't hurt me." She stuttered out in fright.
"Turn off the music." Began John, to which his hostage shut off the radio. "Good evening."
"W-What do you want?"
"I'm going to find my mat… mat- my ruby." He said, not wanting to confuse his hostage with an unnecessary word. As he sat down, he tossed the woman's purse to the back seat, where her cell phone will now be out of reach for the driver. "You're going to drive me. I'll tell you where to stop. Now turn around. Go back over to the westward bridge."
"I… I…"
"Trust me, ma'am. I'm a doctor."
As the car turned around and sped through the night, darkness fell once more.
-Elsewhere-
From coast to coast of North America, the land was mostly asleep.
Millions moved along the bliss and scaries of the Dreaming.
One of which was someone not native to the country. Actually, she wasn't native to this world at all.
As she slept, she dreamt of home.
Of Mars.
Coincidentally, Earth nearly got her planet's name right, being M'arzz.
From it's harsh, reddened surface, no one from Earth would ever believe life was ever present on the planet.
There was life on the surface some millenia ago, yet circumstances forced them underground. It was from this did M'arzz's residents build their subterranean cities.
For the dreamer, she primarily focused at her home located at it's capital city of Ma'aleca'andra.
Near its borders, a pair of white martian children were playing. They were siblings and they were close due to a number of reasons.
This dream was a memory of a simpler time. Of happier times.
Yet not all memories are pleasant. Others are hard to handle on most instances.
The merriment between the siblings came to an abrupt end when several green martians arrived.
It wasn't due to them inviting them to join in with their little play time, it was to defend themselves. And it wasn't the first time this happened in their lives.
Rocks were psychically thrown, causing the sister of the duo to stop the projectiles from hitting both her and her younger brother.
Yet the onslaught became too much, unlike the previous ones.
M'comm, the brother of the duo, became agitated and enraged, snapping at their aggressors. He soon shifted to a Ma'alefa'ak, a dangerous feral animal of M'arzz. Instead of merely scaring the green martians away, M'comm swiftly attacked and killed them, ripping them to shreds.
The dreamer, the sister, could only watch on in horror with what her brother had enacted.
As much as this would've ended right then and there, the memory seemed to darken as M'comm soon succumbed to the animal form, lashing out and becoming rabid beyond control.
His eyes landed on his sibling. His anger got the best of him as he saw his next target.
Soon realizing what was happening, the dreamer quickly turned and ran. Ran as hard as she could. She wanted to use her levitation and fly away, but she couldn't. Her fear was getting the best of her.
She ran and ran, calling out for help.
"Mother, father!" She yelled out with all her strength, telepathically. "Uncle J'onn!"
Neither of them were answering back. Not even her siblings.
"Someone help! Please!"
No one was responding to her pleas. The greens, yellows, whites or even the reds.
As M'comm was getting closer, the dreamer saw a black blur rushing past her and striking the rabid martian.
"Get away from her!"
The dreamer turned back and saw a stranger dressed in black holding back the rabid nightmare of her brother with some sort of weapon.
"W-Wait, don't hurt him." She called out. "H-He's not in his right mind-"
"This isn't real." He called out to her.
"W-What?"
"This is just a bad nightmare." Said the stranger, before a torrent of wind knocked the Ma'alefa'ak form her brother shifted into. "You need to wake up!"
It took some moments for her to finally realize the truth. She should've known this to be as such.
Before she knew it, everything warped and brightened considerably as she woke up from the nightmare.
With a gasp, inhaling an intake of air, the dreamer almost shot out of her bed.
M'gann M'orzz opened her eyes in a strange room and for a moment, she didn't know where she was. The bedsheets were unfamiliar to her as she held them close for comfort, both from the cold and for safety from the nightmare she got out of. Some nicknacks hung up on display and sprawled around somewhat were recognizable.
She was even in a humanoid appearance, being like an Earthling but with green skin and long auburn hair instead of her white martian appearance.
The disorientation passes, she wasn't on Mars anymore but on Earth. In particular, she was in an apartment complex in Chicago, Illinois.
Reason why she was there was due to her presently living with her uncle, J'onn Jones of the Justice League.
'It was only a dream.' She thought. 'But it felt so…'
The Martian then sensed something was amiss within the bedroom. She shifted from the bed and saw a dark coated figure lying on the ground, groaning as they got up.
"Now that was someTHING!"
This person sounded young, close to around her age perhaps and was definitely male.
And definitely an intruder.
She raised her hand and her eyes glowed green.
The figure was quickly flung across the bedroom and pinned at the adjacent wall by an unseen force.
"Who are you and how did you get here?" She tried to sound threatening. Using her telekinesis to keep the intruder in place.
It was really hard for her, due to her hardly having a mean bone in her body, as the Earth saying goes.
"I'm Roxas," groaned out the figure, "and how I got here… well I don't know how."
M'gann blinked upon hearing this."What do you mean you don't know?"
The Nobody grunted, trying to shift against the invisible bonds holding him in place. "That's what I'm saying. One moment I was helping out someone in danger and then…"
Roxas and M'gann then felt a shift in the air, a feeling as if reality warped around them.
From the darkness, a light appeared and morphed to reveal someone… or something…
Looking over, Roxas eyed the new arrival.
"Took your time, you know." He remarked peevishly.
"Yet you didn't follow my instructions in carefully approaching her. Thus I had to work through her abrupt departure."
"Sorry, but it was hard not to, given what I saw. I just acted."
Standing there, M'gann stood there in absolute shock as the two conversed. Her eyes dramatically widened as her hands were brought up towards her mouth.
"Y-You!"
The Martian quickly ended her telepathic hold on Roxas, letting him land to the floor. A split second later, she knelt down to her knees and held down her head in utmost reverence.
"Lord L'zoril, I -M'gann M'orzz- humbly greet you. May you guard us in the darkness and on the pathway between the waking hours, and protect us in dreams from the flame of your wrath."
In the eyes of the female Martian, Morpheus took on a different appearance than the bone-white skinned male humanoid. In his place was an ancient Martian deity, who was a giant, flaming martian skull. Its surface was black as night, the eye sockets brightly burned like a supernova.
"A martian?" Morpheus said in wonder. "I never would've thought your people would ever come to this world."
"I-I am not the first, lord. My uncle came to Earth by accident fifty five years ago. I -on the other hand- started living with him for about two weeks now." She stammered out.
"I see. And the hostility towards my compatriot?"
The young girl's eyes widened considerably and she choked on her breath slightly.
"Y-Your compatriot?" M'gann squeaked out.
If she could pale any further, she most certainly would at this moment. So of course she had to quickly plead an apology.
"Forgive me, lord. He merely showed up here so suddenly and I was startled. I didn't know…"
Morpheus held up a placating hand.
"No harm done, young martian. We are all friends here."
She stiffly nodded. "W-What do you want, Lord L'zoril? As your humble servant, I would do anything necessary to please you."
"You probably don't have to go that far." Roxas muttered out.
M'gann almost shot Roxas a look that would absolutely kill him if it wasn't for the Dream King to speak up.
"My compatriot and I have come to reclaim something of mine. A ruby. It was known to your people as D'orilar, the stone of binding."
"It was stolen by cultists about ninety years ago, along with a few other items." Roxas added in. "We're going around and getting them back."
M'gann was startled upon hearing this. "T-That is most unheard of. Such an action is-"
"Their present leader already has paid for their crimes. The rest will follow in due time." Spoke "L'zoril".
"Yes… But the D'orilar… I don't know-"
"From what we were told, the Justice League presently has it in their possession."
"Do you perhaps know where it's kept?" Asked the hooded Nobody.
"W-Well a lot of the trophies the Justice League kept is at the Hall of Justice over in Washington D.C."
"About that… We actually checked there before coming here and Morpheus-"
"Morpheus?"
"One of my many names, young Martian."
"Of course. Forgive me for interrupting."
"Once again, no harm done."
Roxas resumed where he left off. "Anyways, he didn't sense his ruby at the Hall of Justice when we searched the place top to bottom. So we needed to find someone else who might know of its location."
"Surely there could've been someone with the League who could be of better assistance." Said M'gann before becoming a bit of a stuttering mess. "N-Not th-hat I'm honored with your presence, lord."
"We tried looking for them, but apparently their members currently aren't on Earth." Roxas answered, crossing his arms with a frown under his hood.
Upon scouring through the Hall of Justice, the pair learned who was in the current roster of the heroic group. From there, they used this knowledge to search for them through the Dreaming. They were somewhat able to locate the entire Justice League, yet they found they were not only awake -making it much harder to get in touch with them with Morpheus' current power- but in a far off star-system for some apparent reason.
M'gann frowned on the implications. "When my Uncle J'onn said he was going on an off-planet mission yesterday, I didn't expect the whole League to be involved. It must've been rather serious for them all to leave."
No doubt the martian will talk to her uncle and learn what mission they all partook in. Because in this instance, he was clearly missing out on meeting an ancient deity their people worshiped for millenia.
"It is unfortunate, but we could not wait for their return."
"I understand." The young martian soon pondered and racked her mind of everything her uncle J'onn spoke of his time in the League. "I do recall my uncle J'onn telling me once a bunch of the trophies they kept wouldn't be at the Hall of Justice, due to certain issues. Same with the Watchtower. Outside of some personal hideouts for specific League members, the rest of the stuff would be secured at an off the books and secured warehouse."
"And where is this warehouse?" Asked the Keyblader.
"Little town called Mayhew over in Delaware. I think I can look up the address if-"
"There is no need." Interrupted the Prince of Stories. "I thank you for your assistance, M'gann M'orzz." He paused as if sensing a number of things about the martian before him. "If you wish, you may dream of the City of Focative Mirrors."
Tears quickly swelled in her eyes as she gasped in utmost surprise.
"T-Thank you, Lord L'zoril. I can never thank you enough for your gift."
"Alright, let's go."
Seeing as they now have their next destination, Roxas was ready to open up a Dark Corridor when-
"You don't need to come with me, Roxas."
"...Excuse me?"
"I believe I can be alright on my own in securing my ruby."
"But I thought-"
"It's quite alright. You have done well in assisting me in retrieving my tools."
"And what should I do now?"
"Now… Now you can explore this World as you wish."
With that said, Morpheus disappeared from the Chicago apartment, leaving the pair of unusual teenagers alone in the residence.
"So…"
"So…"
This was awkward.
"I'm sorry for attacking you." M'gann quickly said after a few seconds. "That was completely rude and uncalled for for me to attack a direct servant of-"
"Compatriot." Roxas corrected. "Remember? Or we're partners more like it."
"Partners?" M'gann said in confusion. "How is it that you know Lord L'zoril?"
"I believe I should explain the situation more clearly, just so you don't assume…"
"I would very much like that." M'gann fidgeted a little and tried to compose herself. "Would you perhaps like something to drink?"
"That would be nice. Thank you." Roxas said.
Exiting the bedroom, the pair quickly made it to the kitchen.
And once giving Roxas the refreshment, he soon explained the situation with how he first made contact with the Lord of Dreams and Nightmares up to this present moment.
It was a lengthy tale, but one which both entertained and troubled the young martian.
It nearly made M'gann want to go to the nearest convenience store and procure herself some Oreos; in which she was practically forbidden to have by her uncle. All so she can relieve some tension in her chest.
She never understood the full reason why after eating a single one on her first day on earth. It was all hazy for her, but recalled the amount of… pleasure she felt and the odd desire to consume more while in public.
It was after that did J'onn practically forbid her from eating any more, unless it was for certain occasions. All because she ended up enacting a very... embarrassing spectacle out in the open. But things became a bit more clear once he shared the memory with her.
"It's surprising that I can't see your face at all with that hood you're wearing." M'gann noted with an intrigued hum. "How is it so blackened like that?"
Roxas shrugged. "Magic. Want me to take it off?"
M'gann nodded, laughing sheepishly. "Yes. I would actually prefer to apologize to Lord L'zoril's friend in the eyes if that makes any sense."
The boy before her simply nodded and removed his hood to reveal his face to her.
She blinked in slight wonder at the sight of the teen before her, noting his gravity defying hair and enrapturing blue eyes.
"Wow…" M'gann muttered, leaning forward to look right into his eyes. "They're so beautiful."
"What is?"
"Your eyes." The young Martian girl said with a warm smile. "They're really pretty to look at."
Roxas blinked when he heard that and he actually flushed slightly in embarrassment.
"Uh, thanks, I guess." He muttered out. He soon scratched his cheek as he looked at her appearance. "You look pretty as well."
M'gann cheeks gained color of her own as she bashfully looked away.
"So your name is M'gann, right?"
The Martian nodded at him.
"And yours is Roxas if I heard it right."
"Yup." He confirmed.
"That's a strange name." M'gann said aloud thoughtfully. "Though… I haven't really been on Earth for long. I've only been here for about two weeks."
"Yeah I remember you saying that." Roxas hummed in clear intrigue. "So you're indeed from another World."
"Yes, the sister planet neighboring this one." M'gann tilted her head at the comment. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm not from this World either." He revealed making M'gann's jaw drop slightly with her eyes widening.
"Y-you're not from Earth?" She asked in surprise. "But you look so human."
"I… sort of am and am not." Roxas said, bobbing his head left and right. "It's complicated to explain what I am exactly."
He could in fact be telling the truth. M'gann knew there were other species out there which clearly looked like humans, like the near extinct Kryptonians. Perhaps the blonde sitting before her was an alien like herself.
"What was this place you were so excited about? This city of mirrors."
M'gann was startled out of her thoughts with this new question aimed towards her.
"The City of Focative Mirrors," she corrected him, "is considered a higher plane of paradise for my people. A place of utmost tranquility. A true Heaven, if one was to compare it to. Sometimes visiting there is greater for those who are rather… lonely."
Roxas' brows furrowed at that statement. "Lonely how?"
"Just feeling so alone in the world. Being without true comfort with those familiar to you. Feeling utterly lost and feeling without purpose after a tragedy. And…" A blush soon darkened her cheeks. She became rather bashful soon after. "I'd rather not say. It's too embarrassing to say aloud."
What M'gann didn't want to voice was that the other means of visiting the fabled city was if the person was… being extremely sexually frustrated. In the closest term she was able to think of was an erotic dream hightened to the utmost degree.
Learning of that portion was indeed embarrassing for the young martian. M'gann hoped her time in the fabled city wouldn't be of this particular option.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep right now to dream of that place?" Roxas asked now. "Even if it is embarrassing to say out loud, it sounds like a great place to go for personal reasons."
M'gann's face began to exert some steam, the martian shaking her head rapidly in denial.
"As much as I'd like to, I don't know if I could. It would be really hard, given what just happened. I just feel so excited after meeting Lord L'zoril."
"I can probably understand. Is there anything you wish to do then to pass the time?"
She pondered for a few moments before a figurative light bulb lit up above her head.
"Would you like to watch some movies?"
-Back with John Dee-
Riding along the road, John kept his gun trained at the driver as he observed his surroundings.
While trying to give directions for his destination on the fly, the scientist was looking around the state of the world.
Things clearly change once cut off from it for so long.
In an instant, John felt something in the air.
"Turn left here."
Upon making the turn onto the highway, the driver put on a brave face and spoke towards her captor.
"Listen, buster, I'm warning you. You lay a finger on me, I'll… So help me, you try anything. My husband's a mafia hitman- he'll kill you so don't even think it don't-" The gun barrel inched closer to her, almost touching her arm. "Oh god. Don't kill me."
The weapon was pulled away as it's present owner became apologetic. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that…" He exhaled a sigh. "Sorry."
The driver nervously gripped the wheel a bit tighter. She noticed the man sitting beside her didn't seem to bear that much ill intention. Perhaps he could be reasoned with and she can be left alone once this is all over.
Swallowing a small lump in her throat, the blonde spoke. "Ah… Hmm… You escaping from prison?"
"No. From Arkham. The madhouse."
He heard her breath shakily in sheer terror, her face becoming even paler than before. Every Gothamite was well aware of Arkham's reputation for holding the super crazies of their city.
"Oh… Jesus."
Escaping prison was one thing, but Arkham was another these days. It made things much worse for her.
"Uh… Any reason why you escaped?" She nervously asked.
"My mother died not long ago." He said. "She was very old. That was when I knew I had to get away from that place when I got the news."
"I see." The driver guessed he merely wanted to see where his mother was perhaps buried so he may pay his respects or something like that. Hopefully then he'll be out of her hair and perhaps back at Arkham. "What she do?"
"Excuse me?"
"Your mother. What she do for a living?" Came the driver's question. "If you feel any better, my mother merely watches cable news all day long."
John snorted a little. "Fairs, fair, I suppose. When she was alive, she was a very successful thief." That got a bit of a laugh from his captive driver, which somewhat seemed to ease the tension a little. "It's true. She stole anything and everything. Art, jewelry, other people's identities. Her first victim for theft was my own father, who apparently wanted me aborted."
"...That must've been complicated."
"It was. Caused us to move so damn much before I decided to leave."
"Maybe… Maybe she did it to protect you."
This caused John to glance at the amulet on his person before letting out a scoff. "Funny way of doing it for all that time. She was more focused on protecting herself."
Rosemary finally took better note of his appearance. "Say, why aren't you, y'know, wearing anything?"
"They took my clothes away at one point. They were scared I would kill myself. Hang myself with tied up shirt and pants, perhaps." Dee plainly stated.
"Aren't you cold?"
"Yes. Very cold." Said John, despite feeling some hot air coming from the car's heating vents.
"Well… There's an old coat of Harry's -my husband- in the back seat. Why don't you put it on? You must be freezing."
John blinked on the kind offer. "A coat? That's very nice of you." He then gave her a rotted toothy smile. "I'd like to wear a coat. Thank you."
Once retrieving the article of clothing, the escaped asylum inmate awkwardly slipped it on. It was a gray trench coat with a furred inlay. It was pleasant to have it rub against his bare flesh.
"Say, what's your name?" He asked his hostage.
"Rosemary."
"Rosemary… That's for remembering…"
"So what should I call you?"
John saw no harm in answering. "I used to call myself Destiny. Doctor Destiny. It wasn't my name. My mother called me John. Johnny boy. Dreamboy." He chuckled on the fond little memories. "I was a real doctor. Not a medical one. A scientist one. Now I'm just Dr. Dee. Doctor John Dee."
Rosemary nodded whilst trying to recall someone by the name of Doctor Destiny. With the man escaping Arkham with such a moniker, the man had to be a super criminal or something. Yet she couldn't recall such a person at all. A C-lister, perhaps?
She didn't want to say a word of this factor, for now at least. She didn't want to offend her captor and cause issues.
For now, she gave him more to offer.
"John… I've got some sandwiches, in a lunch pail behind my seat, if you're hungry…?"
John waved her off. "No. No thank you. I've never been very hungry anymore."
Rosemary nodded slightly before asking something a bit personal towards the man.
"Look, John. I'm a nurse. You can tell me, I won't freak out. Your appearance. Are you suffering from anything-"
"No. I haven't contracted anything at all in these past years. Nothing sexual, if that's what you're implying. Perhaps a cold or two, but nothing else."
John subconsciously brought a hand to the general area of his genitals. They were all shriveled up and basically useless after being not used in a number of ways.
The last time he had sex was with his wife a long time ago where she died at childbirth bringing their son to the world. He hadn't laid with anyone ever since.
"Then I gotta ask, but where have you been for all this time? The way you… look like you do?"
"Locked up. In the darkness. In a maximum security cell in the basement of Arkham. Badly maintained, mind you."
"Oh, I… uh… should've…" Rosemary fumbled out. "Sorry."
John hummed a little as they drove through the highway.
"They put me there and they forgot about me." He muttered out.
"John…? Who's this "they" you keep talking about? The police? The staff at Arkham? Did you… Did you kill people?"
"No." He simply said. "I did… foolish things to draw too much attention. Things to gravity. To identity. I traded their faces with their enemies. I pretended I was their number, just to see what it was like…"
"Who, John?"
"The costumes. The heroes. The Justice League."
A sense of dread seemed to rise in Rosemary's gut on hearing this bit of detail.
"And when was this?"
"A long time ago. Around the time they started out, before they went public if I recall."
Rosemary slowly nodded as she was more or less paying attention to the road.
"...Mother said, 'if you are going to be a criminal, John, you are not going to bring shame to the family name'." He quoted from memory and spoke in a higher pitch as if sounding like his mother. "I had to change my name as per request. I called myself Destiny. Dee is for Destiny…" He sighed wistfully. "Now mother's dead. It doesn't matter anymore. Now I can be Dee again. Dee is for lots of things. Death. Dust. Darkness. Demons…"
Now that he thought about it, John hadn't known what happened to the rest of his family. It has been years since he last spoke to them. Last time he was in contact with them was when he received word he was now a grandfather. And this was some years before he was locked up in Arkham.
"Yeah. Well, speaking as a mother of two little girls, John, if either of them announced they wanted to be master criminals or anything else, I'd tell them to change their names." She said in hopes of connecting with her captor so she can be not harmed once dropping him off. "Make a change from telling them to tidy up their rooms, I suppose."
"I'm not a black magician." John suddenly snapped out.
The blonde jolted in her seat. "I-I didn't say you were, John."
Realizing what happened, he tried calming her down. "I know. Not you. The other scientists." He explained a bit further. "I'm a hermetic philosopher. And a scientist, too. Truly. If I wasn't a scientist I couldn't have done what I did to the ruby." He soon turned towards his captive. "Do you know what dreams are made of Rosemary?"
His driver gave him a look of bewilderment.
"I mean it literally." He clarified.
"Made of?" She said, not really sure of what is asked of her. "They're just dreams-"
"No, they aren't." He stressed out. "People think dreams aren't real because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes."
Rosemary opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Then… how did you come to this conclusion?"
"The ruby my mother gave me years ago seems to turn them into matter. It forces them to translate themselves into forms we can recognize in this world. It also controls dreams in their raw state. Your dreams. Anybody's dreams." He leaned back in his seat as he soon reminisced a little, fiddling around with his amulet as he continued speaking. "Make a pony appear in the yard on my birthday or make it snow in the middle of July in my own bedroom. I don't know where my mother got the ruby from. All I knew was that she was afraid of the original owner. My father… or someone else. She had a lucky charm as well. She wouldn't give me that… not while she lived. Never told me why. Only saying it kept her safe."
"She probably had her reasons."
John nodded as he continued. "I built machines that the ruby powered. Then I built the machines in my dreams. But the Justice League stopped me from dreaming. So I had to use the ruby directly. I coded circuitry into its clasp. I changed its resonance; I irradiated it; I forced flaws; I isolated it from its original power source, whatever -or whoever- that was. I made it more real. I… changed it."
Rosemary seemed to become a tad more weary as John seemed more delusional and madder than before.
"It isn't a ruby, really. It's a solid dream. It's the only dream I have these days. Nobody else can use it anymore. Nobody but me."
"I see…"
"For years since I've been locked up, being away from my ruby, I preoccupied much of my time with pondering."
"Pondering what?"
"Human nature and the secret of real understanding and compassion." He soon gave her a curious look, like a teacher does towards a student. "Do you want to know what it is?"
Rosemary could refuse, leaving things rather tense until arriving towards wherever she was going. Instead, she humored her captor with a small nod.
"This is going to sound rather odd, but the secret to having compassion for people is knowing that they are fundamentally selfish. And I say this without judgment. It's how human beings are built. It's how we're made. But if you know that going in, if you understand that we are operating out of the biological congenital selfishness, then life begins to make a lot more sense. Knowing that, it sets you free from having to take their actions, their lies, personally. People lie because they're selfish. They lie because they are human."
"They lie because they're scared." Said Rosemary. "People will say anything. Do anything to keep from being hurt." She swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. "That's what I think, anyway."
John nodded slowly, reflecting a little.
It was then did he spot a sign nearby and felt a particular pull towards it. He silently gestured to Rosemary to turn towards the highway exit. "We're close to it now. I want to drink its light. To drink the light of my ruby."
"...That sign post just said Mayhew, five miles." She said to him, once breaking her silence. "Is that where we're going?"
All she got was the smile gracing his lips.
-With Morpheus-
He was a passenger, moving and riding through the dreams of countless individuals.
The lord of dreams rode on a dragon's back through most of the country towards the east coast. It was made of riveted iron and oddly smells of cotton candy.
He briefly traveled by bus; in the back the dreamer copulated desperately, not noticing his autonomously passenger.
Morpheus then got to the front and noticed the driver. He was a scarecrow-like figure with a pumpkin head, smoking a cigar.
He knew him.
Approaching the state of Delaware, Morpheus appeared in the dream of a small dog, who dreamed impatiently of a past life, long forgotten, when he sailed tall ships across uncharted seas. The sale spray of the ocean stings his face.
The prince of stories was moving through dreams, pulling towards the town of Mayhew, feeling for his jewel. Through the dreams of hundreds of lives, Morpheus was a passenger and they would never know.
Before long, Morpheus appeared at his destination at Mayhew Storage once exiting the dream of a sleeping guard stationed nearby.
He knew he found the right location as he started feeling a familiar power after nearly a century.
It started pouring once he made it to a particular area of the storage facility grounds.
Upon reaching a certain warehouse, Morpheus knew he was close due to him beginning to feel the pull of his dream ruby.
Opening the secured doorway with a unique spell to bypass a great number of things -such as unique technology to high level magical defenses- the Prince of Stories saw the warehouse was large and expansive, due to the amount of items kept inside.
Before he began his search through exploration, Morpheus heard someone behind him.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
The Dream King turned around and saw another guard entering the space as he swiveled his flashlight all over. In mere moments, the light landed on Morpheus, causing the security guard to bring his other hand to his pistol.
"Hey! Hands where I can see them!" Spoke the guard. "You're trespassing-"
"I mean you no harm, good sir." Morpheus said calmly. He raised his hands in compliance, but not before using one to retrieve some sand from his pouch. "I'm only here for something of mine. Once done, I'll be on my way."
"Look pal. I don't know what you're pulling but-"
With a mighty blow from his lips, the Sandman let loose a gust of his dream dust towards the security guard's face. In mere seconds, the man collapsed onto the ground as he quickly succumbed to slumber.
"Pleasant dreams."
With him now having the space to himself, Morpheus now took better inspection towards his surroundings.
The warehouse was clean and tidy, except for a small layer of dust on a number of items spread out. It was quite befitted to the place rented or bought out by those associated by the Justice League or the very group themselves.
The Lord of Dreams traversed through the maze of packing cases, glass containers to various other means of containment. Passing by a number of them, Morpheus could tell whatever lied inside were truly lethal, due to him feeling the power residing within the artifacts.
Morpheus was drawn forward and guided by the familiar force he hadn't felt since his imprisonment. After what felt like hours or perhaps days, the lord of sleep reached his intended destination at the rear end of the warehouse.
"Yes…" He said softly to himself.
He could see the glow of his ruby within a small packing case as he drew ever closer.
Once approached, Morpheus pried the container open to reveal his final tool of office resting on a cushion of straw.
"At last…" He gently picked up the dreamstone by the chain. The ancient gem twirled around as the light grew ever more. "Here you are…"
It was then did something occur, quickly making Death's younger twin realize his dream ruby had been greatly tampered with somehow.
What should have been a welcome surge of energy, restoring the Lord of Dreams to his full potential is in fact draining him instead. Draining him of the modest life force which sustained him since his escape and Roxas' assistance.
With his last bit of consciousness, Morpheus realized he made a terrible mistake as he slumped onto the floor; curled up in a fetal position.
He shouldn't have come here alone.
He shouldn't have dismissed Roxas from coming along.
Outside of Mayhew Storage, a car pulled up at the nearby parking area. The rain was starting to pick up at a considerable rate.
"Are you sure this is the place, John?"
"I'm sure this is it, Rosemary."
"There's a guard over there. I don't think-"
"He's asleep."
It took a bit for John's hostage to notice this inside the guard box.
"Guess you're right." She said, soon seeing her captor getting out of the car. Rosemary soon rolled down the window and spoke to him. "Hey, listen, I uh, I hope it all goes okay. You know? And John- keep the coat. Harry wouldn't mind, and I'd hate to think of you wandering around, freezing and nake. And get help okay?"
John blinked a few times before giving her a rotted toothy smile.
"Thank you, Rosemary." He said, slowly walking away. He then stopped and turned back around. "Rosemary."
"Yes?"
"You're a good person."
"...I don't know what you mean."
"I mean, I was thinking of this on the rest of the way here. I experience people as basically selfish whilst you experience them as afraid. Which they are, we all are. You're absolutely right. And good. Thank you."
Rosemary felt weird when this was all said. She was slightly confused, yet relieved as she'll perhaps go home very soon where she'll be safe with her family."
"Oh, before I forget." Said John, startling her. "Your husband. Harry. Is he really a mafia hitman?"
The blond nurse blinked, remembering the bit of threat she told John earlier this evening.
"Harry? God, no- it was just something I said, when I was, you know, scared you were a dangerous crazy or something. Harry's a high school teacher."
John nodded in understanding. People would say anything in order to stay safe.
"Oh… well, I don't suppose it would have made any difference either way."
Before Rosemary could react-
*BANG*
The now dead blonde nurse slumped over, her bleeding head falling over the driver's wheel as the horn sounded out. Not wanting to deal with the sound more, perhaps even drawing in unwanted attention, John reached through the window, unclipped the safety belt and pushed the corpse to the side.
With the sound now gone, Doctor Dee walked into the storage facility and towards the warehouse area owned/rented by the Justice League; feeling the incited pull of his precious ruby. He ignored everything else around him, even the sleeping guards.
Reaching the rear end of the building, John Dee came across the unconscious Morpheus where the tampered dreamstone layed not far away with it's bright glow shining in the darkness.
"Hello, my baby. Did this naughty man try to use my baby?" He loudly voiced, once picking up the jewel by its chain. He clicked his tongue several times, as if disapproving the man's actions. "He didn't know that you were mine these days? All mine, every glint and facet."
With ruby in hand, John left Morpheus' still form alone and walked out of the building; back out into the rain with an occasional skip and twirl in his bare footed step.
"Ohhh baby~ You feel even more powerful than before. Where did the extra energy come from?" He soon poked and prodded it with a teasing grin. "Have you been fickle? Have you been with someone else since we were together last?" He snorted, soon wearing his long lost trinket around his neck and letting the coat cover up the glow. "It doesn't matter, darling. We are together again. That's all that counts."
Doctor Dee walks down the road, heading towards the lights of the commercial strip of Downtown Mayhew.
"So go, my little love. Touch the world. Eat their hearts and poison their dreams. Rip their nightmares into the daylight and scum their sleep with creeping fear."
John could feel the ruby react to his command and do as it was told. The deranged scientist couldn't wait to see what would happen soon enough.
Looking onward, Doctor Dee was drawn to the lights of Mayhew's night diner like a moth to a flame, due to it being open at this time.
Grabbing the door handle, he entered the establishment as he called out to the waitress behind the counter.
"Hello, miss. I would like a cup of coffee, while I wait."
"Sure, hun." Spoke the waitress, soon procuring the new customer a porcelain coffee cup from behind the counter. "Gotta ask, but uh… what are you waiting for?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. The end of the world."
-End Chapter-
AN:
Another chapter has come and gone. It's rather short, relatively speaking, but it's needed given what's to come.
And before any of you ask about the following chapter being an adaptation of the Sandman issue "24 Hours", I'm basically not doing it. If I did, then it would be a literal cut and paste of the events which would be a waste of time. So I'll be doing something else instead of taking place during that time period to make things interesting.
FMW: On top of that, we got our first intro to the Young Justice element in this story with Miss Martian's intro and her meeting Dream and Roxas. So much to do here at the start.
Jeb: Just to clarify in terms of time period of the story, we are presently in the month of March, far off from the events of the start of Young Justice. And yes some other readers may point out the fact M'gann has shown up on Earth in June instead of March, but I have a number of reasons to do so, but won't spoil them now.
FMW: That and we're in a crossover AU so things are obviously gonna be different in some cases or many others. You'll just have to wait and see just what will come up as time goes on.
Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thank you!
R&R