"it's quite weird to see the Earth before the golden age" wondered North as I sat atop a building in Gotham.
"Hmm it's not our Earth though" I say as I look out over the skyline while gently plucking the strings of Strand like a guitar.
"Well yes that is true, it doesn't mean it's not our responsibility to help them" I nod as I finish the song I had been playing before standing up and transmatting my helmet back onto my head.
"You have me there" my HUD boots up and North dismisses himself back his personal space.
I walk to the edge and walk off it, as I fall a small distance I push Arc light into the soles of my boots and when my boots make contact with the powerline it lets me rail grind it like in infamous.
I grind the powerline as North sorts out any alerts he received and putting them on my HUD for me to see, "we've got a kidnapping happening not far from the docks but the bat is already there" North hums, then continues, "oh here we go, we've got a shootout happening in Crime Alley and the Redhood was last spotted halfway across the country less than a day ago so it's unlikely he'll be there" I nod and kick off the powerline and land on a roof.
As soon as my feet touch the roof I'm in a dead sprint across it and launching myself with a blink.
While in the air I nudged North who transmatted my winged wolf under me, to which I grabbed and set my feet on before engaging the boost and blasting over the buildings at break neck speed.
In minutes I've cleared the district I was in and near the outskirts of the Narrows. I slowed my speed and I arrived closer before pressing down on the back of the board and coming to a stop.
My HUD told me that the shootout was a small distance away but from what I could see it was nestled between two buildings not really giving me a way to safely get between them with my board.
I stepped off my board and it dissolved into blue light before I reached down and grabbed the last word off my hip.
I pulled on a bit of void light to blink up to the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the shoot out to do a bit of recon.
"Looks like black mask is making a play at the Redhood's turf" I nodded at North's deduction as I watched the two groups fire at each other, one side all wore the black mask synonymous with the gang while the other were just wearing a lot of red.
"You should probably stop them" said North to which I rolled my eyes.
"I know North I'm just making sure" I stand from my crouched position and spread my arms before dropping off the side of the building.
While I fall I gather Strand into my entire body and when I slam into the ground it erupts into a wave of glowing green strings that intangle everybody it touches.
I stand in the crater my landing had made and admire my handy work, "that was a bit excessive Nick" I waved of North and using a bit of Arc fuckery I magnitise all of the guns to myself.
"Yeah and they were killing each other, also batman's middle name is excessive force" I grumble as I pluck the strings of Strand holding the Redhood's gang in the air.
They dropped to the floor and ran away as I turned to the black masks, "ok so I would call the cops but it's crime alley so it's unlikely they'll show up, so imma do this" I reach deep into the Strand connecting all thinking beings and pluck the corresponding string to each of the gang members after locating them.
As I strum my fingers over the Strands their eyes go dull and they are compelled to seek the nearest police station and to confess any crime they have committed.
I let them fall from their strung up position and watch them stumble like zombies away, "well that worked better than I expected" I say as I use a bit of void light to blink up to the nearby building.
"That was reckless" commented North, "you've never used the Strand like that. What if you had accidentally cut their connection, they would have gone brain-dead" I waved him off as I walked closer to the edge of the building's roof to see if the gangers were following my command.
"It's the black masks gang North, you know how horrible members of Gotham's gangs are" I had let North read all of my memories when he had resurrected me the first time in the Russian cosmodrome all thos years ago.
"I am aware but you know these people aren't character, some have actual reasons to become gangers beyond wanting power" I take a moment to look at North before nodding.
"I know North, it's why I haven't killed anybody since we arrived here from killing the Witness" it had been a hell of a fight to do almost completely alone but I had managed by giving up on the whole 'class' system the light offers as a cruch.
"I'm just reminding you" I nodded and sat myself on the ledge with my legs hanging off the edge.
I looked up at the smog covered sky and sighed. "I want to try something" I said to North to which earned me a questioning hum.
"This smog is annoying me" I gather the void into my entire body before using it to devour the space between me and the air above the cloud of smog, in a blip of purple light I blinked from my position and found myself miles above the ground before wings of solar sprouted from my back.
"The stars are different" I said as I looked up at the night sky that looked so different from either of my past homes.
"Stellar drift" commented North.
"I know, it will be weird to not see the Traveler anymore" it made me sad that I would never see orb mom again.
"You know she hates that nickname" complained North.
"I know" it was a joke I had after reviving and finding that I was both a Guardian and a Speaker for the Traveler.
She hated that I called her orb mom when I first met her, and had hated that no matter what she did I never stopped calling her that (in the privacy of my own head as others would take it the wrong way if I said it aloud).
"We should find a place to sleep tonight" I nodded and cut the Light I was supplying to the solar wings and they dissolved, dropping me back to the earth.
"Show off" was all North said as I plummeted to the earth at break neck speed, as I neared the ground I dissolved my body into pure void and became a gas just before I slammed into the ground.
I reformed myself from the void and rolled my shoulders, "so any idea where we should set up?" I asked and the moment I said those words I felt a tug on my Light causing me to turn to the left and see a bar that had been long abandoned called The Drifters Domain.
"Oh that is total not coincidence" I said as I opened the 'abandoned' bar to see that it was completely stocked and the inside looked brand new, on the wall behind the bar sat the iron banner gong.
"So this is total mom's gift right" I asked North who was about to deny my question if not for a note appearing on the bar that read.
"I have asked you many times Nickolas to not call me that" at the bottom was a chibi Traveler symbol.
"I retract my skepticism" North said and I patted his shell, "it happens to the best of us. Except me of cause"
"And I almost thought you were being mature Nick" North rolls his eyes and dismisses himself.
I grin and vault the bar to inspect my stock, "hey mom did you get Cayde's old stash" on the bar a note with a arrow appeared pointing to behind me.
I turned and under the iron banner gong sat a biolocked cabinet that when opened had Cayde's stash of whiskey and wine he had personally aged himself when he got bored during the building of the last city.
"Thanks mom" I grinned and I popped open a whiskey called Cayde-7 as a joke because it was Cayde's baby, I grabbed a tumbler and poured a bit to taste.
I was just as I expected, "it's fucken terrible" I say with a grin and I slam back the rest of it with tears in my eyes, "you suck at making alcohol Cayde."
I resealed the bottle with a bit of Light so it remained like it was before I opened it and put it back in the locked cabinet, using a small pull of void light I flipped the closed sign to open without having to move.