Summary:
A meeting about a secrets, and a routine secret meeting
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
The low hum of air conditioning dominated the room. Usually forgotten as it droned in the background, it now took the forefront of attention, punctuated by the steady beeping of Adelaine's life support machine. She lay completely still in bed, within an all new hospital room. It's been days since her husband attacked her, yet she still lay unconscious.
One silver lining, at the very least, is that color has been returning to her skin.
Off to the side, two of her children sat beside one another on a long, cushioned bench. Maxine and Brodie stewed in the pensive silence, both unsure of what to say.
Brodie attempted to speak first. "So... your boyfriend—"
"Not my boyfriend," Maxie said, interrupting him. Though she wasn't furious — just tired.
"Not yet." When he said that, she groaned. "But... well, no talking around it. Any idea how he can just throw a guy like that? One-handed? That's not something that normal people do."
Maxie breathed in deep, then sighed. "I got some suspicions," she admitted. "I'm sure you can tell what it is."
"Sure. Like I'm some psychic," said Brodie, a halfhearted smirk forcing its way onto his lips. "Okay. For real, though... you're probably dating that Manticore guy."
"Yeah." Maxie sounded resigned. "Yeah, I probably am..."
"Anything else weird you noticed about him?" he asked.
"..." She hesitated to answer, thinning her lips, but eventually gave something vague. "He does get a bit weird, sometimes. Like your little psychic joke? Lucian just... I don't know, it's like he's always a few steps ahead of everyone else," she explained.
"Like those stories that you keep getting from work?"
Maxie nodded. "He's always ahead of trouble, somehow. Like he's got a sixth sense for it."
Brodie shifted himself to a more comfortable position on the bench, relying mostly on one leg's strength. "That only makes the assumption more credible," he grunted. "Even if he doesn't end up actually being the super-vigilante-dude, then they're totally related. Have you seen both of 'em in the same room before?"
"No," she replied, "and... Luce hasn't talked about the guy. Like, at all."
'"Luce,"' thought Brodie, fighting a smile. "Well, the guy did say that their relationship was a bit strained when we met him. Might be a cover, might not be. Did you ask Lucian about it? Ever bring up the topic at all?"
She shifted. "N-no. Never did. Haven't had any reason to."
"Shame. That muddies the waters a bit. Still, you should probably ask soon."
"... why?"
Brodie leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. Some of his injuries ached at the sudden movement, but he powered through like always. "Listen. I know you're gonna stick around him."
Maxie was going to deny it, but he was ahead of her and simply continued, effortlessly snuffing out the bubbling resistance.
"Alright caramel squirt, here's the deal. He likes you. Adores you, even," he explained. "I could see it on the night we came here. When you talked to him through the doorway? I saw the way he looked at you. All puppy-eyed like some middle schooler talking to his first crush."
"God, you saw that? How do you even remember?"
"Middle child things," said Brodie. "Keep up. When I met him, I thought he was gonna throw me off the balcony," he joked. It stirred some of his injuries, involuntarily wincing for a second. He nursed his stomach as he continued. "Anyway, back to seriousness; I got more."
Maxie braced herself, already feeling her face cringing.
"Remember when he picked you up this morning? Fucker was all smiles. Fussed over you. And don't think I didn't see you acting like a tamed little kitty, either."
"God, please stop..." She leaned her head against the wall behind her, rubbing at her eyes with her palms. "What's even the point in saying all that?"
"The point," Brodie said with emphasis, "is that even if you two never become an item — which I doubt, I swear on my good leg — you're stuck with him for the long haul. He won't be able to pull away from you very easy, either. You have to know. You don't have to know everything, just that something is going on. So nothing can blindside you, if ever."
Maxie sighed. Discomfort and longing were clear to see on her face. "In other words... I gotta know what I'm getting into before taking the plunge."
"Exactly. And, also, did you see how furious he was earlier?" Brodie shuddered as he recalled the scene. He had been scared for his mother's life and his own when David's lackeys attacked, but Lucian's display of power... "Fat chance brushing that off as his reaction to most things. He was pissed because he cared. Still, though... seeing him that mad had me shitting my guts out."
It reminded him of the time when he tried to protect his mother from her husband several years ago... A sickening crack, similar to when Lucian elbowed Pug-face in the, well, face, resounded in his mind.
He shook his head to shrug off the memory. "Anyway... he definitely cares about you. About us, by extension," he said, gesturing to Adelaine in bed. "He wouldn't have reacted so aggressively if he didn't."
Maxie nodded. Small little nods, repeated several times. "Alright... I'll go talk to him soon," she said.
"You don't have to tell us," Brodie added. "You just have to know. If it's a secret he's dead serious on keeping, I don't mind being left to my speculations. Keep it between the two of you. I'm sure Bailey would think the same."
"Okay. Alright." Maxie stood up, sighing out a determined breath. "You sure you'll be okay on your own now?"
Brodie nodded. "They've got guys watching this room now. Anyone that isn't family won't get through them. I can take care of mom."
Maxie stood up then, patting nonexistent dust off her pants, ready to leave. "Make sure you eat that food soon," she said as she reached the door. The box of takeout sat stark and colorful atop a small white table that had been provided as basic comforts. "I'm sure they'll let you use the microwave in one of the break rooms."
◎ ◉ ◎
Not long after Lucian received the Strike Back quest, he was tracked down by some police officers.
Well, 'tracked down' was a generous way of putting it. He had gone down to the first floor to get a cold drink from one of the vending machines, and they just happened to run into him then.
Granted, they were looking, so he felt like he should at least give them that.
The interaction was short in the end. It looked like the cops had already determined to let him go, and just wanted an official statement for documentation.
'If Batman caught wind of what happened, he definitely had that order passed through Gordon.'
Afterwards, he chugged his drink and left the bottle in the nearest recycling bin that he could find. Since his questioning ended, he had been planning out how to execute that quest, and the biggest part of it was the endgame.
Strike Back promised items or non-class abilities as a reward, not to mention the hidden rewards that he could receive, which could end up being anything. According to the Headmaster's youngest daughter, who was responsible for Penny's creation, those were usually a grade higher than the rest of the rewards provided by the quest they came from. They typically followed the quest's theme as well, or the event that instigated it.
Planning out what he wanted to receive when he completed the mandatory objectives, Lucian skipped the option of receiving more abilities. He didn't want to get new ones just yet, since there was only one set that he wanted: the abilities from the Changeling class tree, which weren't available to him at the moment.
Instead, he checked out the expansive list of D-grade items in Penny's catalog, with the exception of weaponry — he could receive a C-grade one for his efforts, so he didn't want to be redundant.
For his D-grade item, Lucian settled on the Utility Belt, and he chose the yellow variant to contrast with his current Manticore getup. It was a wide leather belt with a rectangular buckle made of an ambiguous metal. Attached to it were eight pouches made of fine-quality leather, which could shift and lock along the belt's length. Each one automatically adjusted their size so that the wearer's hand could fit with no issue, and stayed locked at that size until worn by another.
In addition, each pouch could carry a total of one cubic foot of material in terms of overall volume, ignoring stiff, irregular dimensions. When storing or retrieving items that were larger than the pouch itself, a pouch's lip could temporarily stretch to accommodate that item passing through. Lastly, there was no limit on actual mass that the pouches could carry, but it was specified that the belt would take on the cumulative weight of anything stored within.
In short, if each pouch was filled with one cubic foot of tungsten each, the wearer would have to carry nearly ten thousand pounds of weight on their hips.
As for Lucian's C-grade weapon... there was one choice that interested him the most.
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
C-grade Weapon: Blink Blade
Item Description:
This magical sword can bond to a user via infusion of any form of energy generated by their body. Once bonded, the user can summon it back into their hand via the minor teleportation spell embedded within. The spell has a fixed target, being the user.
Using the sword's teleportation function will consume a set amount of energy, sourcing it directly from the user. It will use up magical energy first, substituting with other sources if magic is not present, or has been used up, before resorting to eating away at the user's stamina as a last resort.
This teleportation function will work so long as the sword is in the same plane of existence as the user.
The blink blade will take on any form the user wishes, so long as it is a one-handed sword and is not longer than their wingspan.
– ৹ – ৹৹◎৹৹ – ৹ –
Lucian already did have a sword, but he could infuse the Blink Blade into it and give it the ability to teleport back to him. That would significantly improve its utility. Moreover, he could choose to extract the Blink Blade from the electrified sword at any time he wished, effectively giving him two weapons in one.
If he kept the Blink Blade infused to his sword, he could keep the weapon somewhere safe and have an entirely different weapon, or maybe a tool, stashed in his currently singular weapon subspace. He could keep the electric Blink Blade as a secret weapon to serve as a deception tactic, or as insurance in case anything went awry.
'It's effectively a less destructive Mjolnir in sword form, if you think about it...'
After setting those two to auto-select for when it came time to receive his quest rewards, Lucian's phone rang. It was Maxie.
M: hey, where are you right now?
'Well, that's unusual,' thought Lucian. She usually skipped most punctuation except question marks and exclamation points. On top of that, she didn't shorten 'are' and 'you.'
L: I'm at the ground floor
L: I needed a cold drink, and I got jumped by cops along the way
M: shit are you okay??
L: I'm fine, they just needed an official statement from me
L: Left me alone pretty quick :P
M: ...
M: 😡
M: dont make me worry like that!
M: hmp!
Lucian snorted at her response. It was adorable.
L: Sorry, sorry... anyway, I'm still at the ground level
L: Did you need something?
M: just finished talking w brodie
M: meet me at the entrance?
L: I'll wait for you there
She arrived soon after — she must have been on her way down as they texted.
Already starting to walk away without a particular destination in mind, Maxie initiated conversation.
"Hey, so... there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about," she said hesitantly.
'This is either about our will-they-won't-they status, or my secret identity,' Lucian thought. He hadn't tried too hard to keep it hidden from her... or her siblings. It wasn't out of the question.
"What about?" he finally responded.
"It's something private," she said. "Wouldn't wanna talk about it out in the open like this..."
"As in private private?" he asked.
She nodded.
He then asked if she wanted to go home for that conversation, which she said no to.
"I wanna go outside somewhere," she added. "Not like, somewhere we could be listened in on, obviously... just somewhere not... confined, I guess." She took a deep breath and sighed. "Maybe I'm still disappointed that we couldn't stay at Robinson Park for longer..."
The memory replayed itself vividly in Lucian's head. Maxie was lying next to him on the grass, resting her head on his arm. The air tasted sweeter there than anywhere else in the city. It was almost idyllic.
Then, the gunfire came. He had Maxie get up and run, but couldn't just abandon the situation himself. He knocked her out so he could fight.
'Guess we might be having that talk sooner than I thought...'
"I know a spot we could hang out," he said. "Wanna get some food before going?"
Maxie nodded. "Sure... just fast food, though. And maybe something sweet to drink."
"I heard about this place that makes good milkshakes," said Lucian.
Hearing that, Maxie seemed to light up. "There's this place I always go to with Tammy. They make the best curly fries I've had in Gotham. Though a lot of their other stuff is kinda meh..."
Lucian smiled. "It's settled, then. Let's get fries from that place, then the milkshake. We could probably get a ride to the spot I had in mind after."
"I thought it'd be secluded?" Max questioned. It was a valid concern.
"It is," he assured her. "It's just kinda far from here. But, once the taxi drops us off, we'll be all on our own."
...
The spot for fries turned out to be a lot closer to the milkshake place than either of them imagined. As soon as they realized this, they marked those two locations as a pair of places to return to, if ever they felt like getting something quick and nice to snack on.
Maxie made a note in her phone, while Lucian simply memorized the information.
The cab ride to the place Lucian suggested was quiet. It was the kind of quiet that silently lit up nerves like gentle night lights. It wasn't anything concerning per se, but it was there. Whatever they end up talking about soon, it would change everything between them forever.
During the entire ride, they did their best to keep casual while simultaneously being hyperaware of each other's presence. Even the driver seemed to catch on, not saying a single word to them besides asking where to drop them off, and how much the fare was in the end.
Luce and Max were delivered to an overgrown side road that was barely visible from the highway, where they proceeded to walk the rest of the distance to their destination. Maxie still had no idea where they were going — Lucian opted to withhold information on the place until they got there.
When they arrived, it was golden hour. Dull, warm light flooded the area, casting long shadows that looked like they wanted to swallow up the landscape. The wind blew constantly, yet it was gentle. Yellow-green grass and leaves blew around and created a soothing ambience.
Lucian led Maxie to a bridge that was familiar only to him. It was the one where he had acquired his first bit of loot to sell off for quick cash. The broken-down car was still there, rust overtaking its lower half, with dirt piling up on top of it and grass sprouting up all over.
'Been a while since I sold anything off... I wonder if that Joel guy's still around?'
The two of them settled in the center of the unused bridge. The concrete barriers were thick enough to set their food and drinks on. Plastic bags served as makeshift place mats, and their tall drinks glistened with condensation.
Maxie's was a caramel milkshake, which Lucian briefly teased her for, and his own was strawberry. That flavor... it was the same one that Tammy would have chosen.
"This place is nice," she mused, dangling a fry in front of herself before eating it whole.
"It's pretty great at sunset," said Lucian. "I've only ever been here at night before... guess we're both experiencing this scenery for the first time."
Maxie smiled when he said that. Still, she knew that she would have to bring up what she had to at some point. That point might as well be now.
She took a quick sip of her shake to ease her nerves, then willed herself to speak up. "About earlier... Brodie noticed something about you. He said you were much stronger than any normal guy should've been. I also saw what you did to that one guy's face..."
Lucian sighed out of his nose. It wasn't a sad or exasperated one. It felt like some sort of acceptance or resignation. "It was gonna come out, eventually," he finally said. "But I wanna hear what you think first. What do you make about all that?"
Maxie reached for a fry, but hesitated. Instead, she soothed her drying throat with another sip of milkshake. "Before anything else," she said, "I wanna point out a few more things."
Lucian hummed his approval.
"Beyond your weird apparent super strength, there's a lot of other odd things about you. You're so freakishly fast," she began to ramble. "Remember that one time you showed me your money? You parkoured your way up that whole obstacle course thing of yours way too fast. Then, I kept noticing more things. You're not just strong, you don't just move fast, you even think fast," she continued. "Like, what the fuck was that with the Rubik's cube this morning?? You were faster than literally every speed-cuber I've seen on the internet!"
"It wasn't that fa—"
"Yes it was!" Maxie snapped. It was more out of bewilderment than hostility. "You were too fast! Way too fast! That cube sounded like a... like... I don't know, some shitty electric fan where the blades keep hitting the cage!"
"Oddly specific—"
"Not the point!" She poked Lucian's side like she did earlier, to which he flinched, and then she took a few more sips of her milkshake to slow down.
"You uh... good to keep going...?"
Maxie nodded. "It's fine. I'm fine, sorry, I just— phew —it's just now hitting me how fucking crazy everything is about you."
"So I'm guessing there's more?" For the first time since they got to the bridge, Lucian drank some of his own shake.
"Just a few more things," Maxie replied. "There's this thing that you do, a lot of the time. Like, almost always. You always seem to know whenever trouble's coming, even when there's no sign of it. Back at the diner... this morning, when you picked me up."
She paused.
"Earlier, when you saved mom and Brodie..."
Lucian stayed silent.
"It's like you're some sort of psychic," said Maxie. Then, she paused as if realizing something, and she looked at him with wide eyes. "You're not psychic, right...?"
"No, no. I mean, it's kinda tangential to it, I guess, but I'm not actually psychic," he explained. "It's more like a sixth sense, if anything."
"... I thought so," Maxie hummed. "I'm not hearing any denials, either. About anything I said"
Lucian lifted his hands in mock defeat. "Don't wanna deny something that's true."
"You're not even gonna try and hide it...?" she questioned.
"Nah. I've honestly kinda been itching to tell you. Anyone, really, but... especially you."
Maxie faltered, finally calming down fully. "Huh..." She stared down at her drink, then at her fries. She popped another spring of spud into her mouth and quietly chewed at it for a bit.
Lucian did the same, letting her cool off a bit more.
"Why's that...?" she eventually asked. "Why tell me, I mean..."
He shrugged. "Felt right, I guess."
'Felt right...' Max weighed the admission in her mind. 'Carefree without a thought. That sounds like him,' she decided.
After that lull, Lucian decided to finally be the one to initiate. "So... your verdict...?"
"I think you're a metahuman," she said afterward.
"Not quite the big deal it feels like you were making it," said Lucian. "Come on. Say what you really think. I wanna hear it."
"... I've had this assumption a while before," Maxie started. "You know, from the night we went out on a date? I read an article the day after, about the Manticore."
Luce only listened for the moment, letting her get put her thoughts into words.
"After the fire, taking us to the apartments, everything... I felt like I had to check something. I 'passed out' while we were running, but I've had no history of that happening before — ever. Then, the Manticore appeared on the scene, stopped the bad guys, then just disappeared. Then, I was awake before long."
She turned ever so slightly, just enough for Lucian to see a three-quarters profile of her face, without really looking at him. "You put me to sleep, didn't you...?"
Lucian's eyes fell to his own food, which had cooled down completely. "Yeah. I did that."
"So you're the Manticore."
"... Mm. That's me."
Silence.
Just a little too long. Lucian was about to speak up, but Maxie was ahead of him.
"I'm not mad, by the way. Just... you know, everything's clicking onto place now." She scooted closer to him, carefully dragging the food with her along the barrier. "Besides, you stopped those thrill junkies before they could hurt more people. You did the right thing."
Lucian focused for a moment. Around them, there was only thickening woodlands and defunct structures. The river's flow was so shallow that it was only a trickle, and there wasn't anywhere nearby that people could hide in to eavesdrop. [Danger Sense] didn't alert him to anybody watching either.
The only thing he could hear were Maxie's breathing and his own, as well as their heartbeats. Oddly, they were both beating faster than normal, though his was just slightly slower.
Resolving his will, he took a deep breath and said, "Max. I want you to look at me."
She did, and more than just looking, she turned her body fully to face him straight on.
With her attention firmly on him, Lucian summoned Blackwhip to wrap around his entire body. Not a single bit of skin or clothing was exposed. Then, he switched Loadouts — full Manticore gear. Blackwhip briefly expanded before mostly receding back into his body. He kept a good portion of it out to serve as his cape.
"Well, here I am," he said, voice distorted by his jacket's Cloak of Distortion infusion. "I hope that wasn't too weird, I just didn't feel like we had full closure until I did this."
"Huh..." Maxie stared at him blankly, then chuckled. Eventually, she was laughing openly for a short while.
When Lucian, the Manticore, cocked his head, she thought he looked oddly like some sort of oversized kitty-cat, what with the ragged 'ears' atop his head and the fluffy 'scruff' of his jacket's collar. He even looked like he was wearing a muzzle, even if it looked... very pointy.
When she realized that he was still staring with his head tilted slightly, she immediately went to assure him. "Sorry, sorry. It's just— I'm a lot less surprised about this than I thought I'd be. It's kinda freaking me out inside that I'm not really freaking out."
Lucian, meanwhile, wrapped Blackwhip around himself again. He dismissed his Manticore loadout, and the Vestige shrink-wrapped around him before retracting fully. "So... what now...?"
Maxie stared up at him, a small smile still present on her face. "I guess that's it for now," she answered. "I got so many questions, but... you still feel like you," she said. "Not that I know you too well, but... this doesn't really change the way I see you. So I say it's all the same between us in the end."
Turning to face the sun again, which was starting to set, Lucian agreed. "Yeah. That's... a nice note to settle on."
Maxie quickly popped another fry into her mouth — a pretty large one. She chewed and gulped it down quickly, now a lot hungrier than she had been after Lucian's revelation. She hopped up to sit on the concrete barrier, then took her box of fries into her hand so she could eat faster. "Let's finish off these fries before they get all stale on us."
Lucian did the same, positioning himself right next to her, almost touching shoulders. "Like they owe us money."
◎ ◉ ◎
Elsewhere, things were steadily in motion. Bruce Wayne settled in his family's manor, now completely free of any bandages that Alfred had been making him wear. He was lounging in the massive living room, going over files that he and his family had gathered while waiting for the rest to arrive.
The chandelier above was brightly lit, chasing away most of the darkness and emphasizing the warmth of the living space's expensive construction and artful furniture.
A teenage boy was in the living room with Bruce, sitting on a different chair. He was perched sideways on its armrest, sipping on hot tea. In his hands was his own copy of the files that Bruce had, and there were more set aside on the wide coffee table.
Damian began musing over what he read. "Psionic powers... direct hand-to-skin contact as a prerequisite... cutting off his hands would be an effective way to shut him down permanently."
Bruce looked up at him over his mug of coffee mid-sip. He set it down on the table before him and said, "Shutting him down would only need physical barriers to keep his hands isolated. Handcuffs that completely cover them should suffice. Even just immobilizing him should do the trick the firs time so he can safely be put into custody"
Damian looked at his father, face unreadable. "He deserves worse."
"... he does," Bruce admitted.
Two sets of footsteps approached from the direction of the front doors.
"Speaking of worse," said Dick, "what should we do about the Manticore?" He sat down on the opposite side of the table, directly in front of Bruce. "I feel like he actually might do worse to that guy. He did pretty well last time, but he wasn't personally invested in the whole thing when we raided the factory. We're still not sure what makes him tick, and how well he can keep his temper."
Jason, who arrived with him, settled in the seat that Damian perched on. "Some of my guys at the hospital told me what happened there. Can't say he's in the best state of mind to be involved right now."
"He might not be," Bruce half-agreed. "For now, we'll keep an eye on him while continuing to corner the Donovan family. I suspect that Lucian will engage the Steele family's attackers tonight — it'll be a good chance to see how he thinks and acts under pressure and high emotions."
Nobody else said anything — they generally agreed.
Soon, more of the family returned to the manor.
Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain entered together, one skipping energetically with a sly and happy-go-lucky grin, while the other followed swiftly behind her, like a little shadow. Stephanie was in casual wear, while Cassandra was still in uniform, seemingly having just returned from her own excursion. The two of them settled into the remaining spots, exchanging greetings with everyone as they did.
Duke Thomas, who worked as the Signal during the day, entered the manor as well. Instead of sitting down with everyone, however, he retreated into his own room after pleasantries were exchanged.
The last one to arrive was Tim Drake, looking as composed as ever. He carried a binder and laptop with him, seemingly having collected even more information to pass around.
"Now that everyone's here," said Bruce, "let's start planning. After that, dinner — then we head out to do our jobs."
—=—=—=—=—=—=—=—
[A/N]: Heyooooooo
It me again, I back.
Another slower chapter this time to let some of the tension from the last one fade away. Action will pick right back up again on Ch.36.
For future reference, I plan to lean into the more horrific aspects of what Lucian can do, but I don't plan to alienate him from the bat-family, so be assured that their relationship with him won't sour. I mentioned the Changeling class again this chapter — it's one of the Basic classes. It's one of those that he'll level up fully, extending to Doppelganger, an Intermediate class, then Shapeshifter, an Advanced class.
Oh, also, also! Voices. It just dawned on me that people sometimes assign voices to characters while they read. To me, Maxie sounds like if Pomni [TADC] had a deeper voice and had a bit more edge to her. Or like if you mixed her voice with Zooble's. Lucian... I don't have anything to compare him to that's in English, actually... but I'd say he's pretty close to a mix Megumi's and Gojo's voices from the original dub of Jujutsu Kaisen.
Further note: if you're on Webnovel, I'm making an auxiliary chapter soon to have a place where readers can check on what abilities and equipment Lucian has at present. As for my Ao3 readers... I'm not sure how to go about this. Do I just make a new 'fic' and link it? I don't think that's allowed...
Also after this whole Donovan Debacle closes up, I'm taking a break! It won't be that long, but a man has to pace himself.
Toodles~!
[ Oh, also, WebNovel peeps! Giv stones! Pls and thank 🙏✨ ]