Blüdhaven
June 21, 05:02
Getting back to the city had been a short affair. Dropping off the scummy tub of lard and steroid generated muscle in one of his hideouts before giving Houston a tipoff had been even easier.
Now I soared above the chaotically boiling city, watching the results of weeks of work unfold. Gunshots every few seconds, screams so faint you need super hearing to determine their source, and so many sirens and flashing lights it made it hard to believe it was still dawn.
Drinking in the sights and sounds and the accompanying pride and sense of accomplishment, I made contact with the rest of the team. First, I checked with Mike to see who currently had nothing on their plate, and it was… all of them.
That good huh.
"Guys, I'm back. How are you holding up?"
Just like me they hadn't gotten much sleep due to yesterday's events. This would've normally been a problem. Thankfully, it was that time of the year. Schools were on vacation. Else there was no way their mentors and parents would be okay with them being out here.
"You got Redhorn?" Rob asked.
"Bagged, shipped, and delivered. The feds should be finding him right about now."
"Nice. Guys like him should not be allowed to get away."
"How does someone like him become the Chief of Police though? Like, I don't get it. Were the people who appointed him blind?" asked KF.
"More like willfully incompetent and part of the corrupt food chain," Kaldur answered.
A grunt that could only be from Superboy came over and I smiled.
Looks like the boys had read the data packet I shared. When they agreed to help with the city, especially after hearing about Rob's sister, I sent them a small dossier about the beast we were dealing with.
Glad they took this seriously.
"Hey Rob. Your sister and her mum? Are they out yet?"
"Yeah. Batman did it. They're on their way to Gotham."
"You know you'll have to introduce me right?" Kid said, somehow conveying his true intentions to everyone despite his jovial tone.
"No I don't," Rob rebutted like had it waiting in the chamber. "My sister is off limits."
"Duuddeeee… come on. You know me."
"Exactly."
Shaking my head and chuckling, I focused on my movements, slowing when I noticed I'd gotten to my destination. "Guys. Gotta go. Hit me up if anything happens."
"Got it." "Will do." "SP. Please help me convince Rob."
I ignored that last one and continued my descent toward the garage in this scarce part of town. The cloak keeping me invisible deactivated and the repulsors in my boots followed.
A thump echoed loudly and I looked around, unleashing a scan and watching Spider-Sense for anything. Things came back clear on all fronts and I took that as a cue to proceed.
I unlocked the garage and threw the shutter open. Inside, a familiar van awaited me. Quickly entering the occupied space and opening the back of the vehicle, I found snacks, cans of food, water, clothes and all sorts of sanitary products.
A quick scan passed over everything, including the vehicle itself. Again, I received an all clear and I shut the doors. The familiar cushion of the driver's seat pressed against my rear and I started the vehicle.
The drive to my destination was short. It was a small homeless community near the docks. One consisting entirely of children. There were nearly fifty of them, and it still baffled me how they came together.
That wasn't the only question I had about them, but they'd proven themselves a cagey and stubborn bunch. Coming to the easy decision that their safety and health came before my curiosity, I stopped asking questions.
When I arrived, I parked outside the main gate into their little community. A messy arrangement of rusted metal sheets and mottled wooden planks held together by fraying rope and cables.
I commended the effort, comparing the strength of this wall to the ones that comprised the majority of homes in this country. Whichever group of people came up with the idea of using thin wood as walls deserved to be lashed publicly.
Maintaining the agreement I had with the kids, I blew the horn five times in a peculiar pattern, turned off the engine and got down. Back rested against the hood, I crossed my arms and legs and waited.
It didn't take long. A few of the metal sheets were moved and tiny hands and faces came into view. They were initially wary, but when they saw me and the van, their dour and fearful expressions improved.
One by one, a few of them funneled through the opened gaps and I directed them backward with my thumb. Two of the kids, a boy and girl, both the oldest of the group, stepped close to me.
Even though this was my fifth time bringing them stuff, they still didn't look or speak to me without a hint of wariness. It made me wonder how long they'd been out here and what they'd experienced.
But as always, I reminded myself it wasn't about me.
"Bob, Lacy. How are you guys doing?"
The one called Bob scowled and Lacy's grim expression cracked a bit, a smile at the edge of her lips. "We're fine. Although…"
I moved my eyes between the two, my peripheral vision picking up the kids carrying the supplies in neat rows on both sides. "What is it? What do you need?"
"It's nothing," said Bob, first to me and then Lacy. "It's nothing. He's just sad. It'll pass."
"You don't know that."
"Kids," I cut this off. "Remember what I told you the last time? I'll help you with whatever you need. I can't do that if I don't know the problem. So spill."
Some of the kids hauling the stuff slowed down. A quick look from their leaders restarted their engines.
Huffing, Lacy explained the problem. "There's this kid. John. His dog has always been sick. He said it was like that even before his parents… "
"The dog died yesterday," Bob continued.
"You don't know that!"
"I do!" Bob shouted back and looked at me. "I've seen this before. The dog is dead. But John won't let go of it. He thinks it just needs medicine. We had to stop him from sneaking out."
"So you want medicine?"
Bob was about to speak but Lacy cut him off. "Yes. If we give it to him and it doesn't work. He'll—"
"He won't let go, and the medicine will go to waste."
"So what do we do? We just take the dog from him?"
"Alright. Alright," I cut in before things got worse. "Where is he?"
"What?"
"The boy, John. Where is he?"
"Why? What are you going to do?" Both kids got defensive.
I put up a finger. "One, if the dog is still alive, I can get it the help it needs. Two," I put up another one. "If it's not, I have a way to convince John to let it go. So what'll it be?"
The kids shared a long look.
"Fine," Bob accepted after a while. "We'll go get him."
I watched the kids go and called Mike.
"Sir," he answered.
"Send me the full details of the resurrection spell."
My watch beeped and I opened the message, reading the contents at my fastest speed.
"Sir, is this really advisable?"
"Most likely not. But the rewards have never failed me. There's no reason for it to start now other than some silly prank."
"All the same sir. Please exercise caution."
"Always."
Faust's knowledge on magic was extensive, but from the little we'd gathered, his main focus was the manipulation of the soul. He had many spells geared toward sensing, trapping, and using them in some way.
For one it explained his reaction to the Soulsword, two, it answered the question of how he managed to persist after his original body aged to dust, and three, how he had not one, not two, but four resurrection spells.
Of course, such magic, or black magic, as his own memories corroborated, came with steep, sometimes unaffordable costs and attention from entities who would take offence.
Thankfully, not only did my recent rewards solve these issues, the spell I needed incurred the least amount of cost. Just some years of my life, which I wouldn't even need to pay if Diplomatic Immunity did exactly as described.
'Ohh…' I thought to myself when I spotted the little boy being led my way and the Beagle lying limp in his arms. Scans bounced forward and returned in a split second. They returned with news of a low body temperature and no heartbeat.
That dog was dead dead.
"Hey John," I went on one knee. "I hear this little guy's sick. What's his name?"
"Noodles. Please help Noodles," he cried.
"Don't worry," I held out both hands and the boy responded, gently passing me the dog. "I'll have Noodles up in no time."
More and more kids spilled out of the holes in the gate. I put them out of mind and focused on the dog.
Shifting most of the animal's weight to my left hand, I made a fist with my right and made a show of scanning it, letting the blue lights stream out of my gauntlet. Eyes around me lit up at the sight.
"Hmm, Noodles is very sick," I stopped and said. "He's fallen into a coma."
"A com…ma?
"He means it's asleep," Lacy placed a hand on John's shoulder.
"A very deep sleep," I added. "But don't worry. I can wake him up."
From my belt I retrieved a stim and gently injected the dog with it.
"What is that?"
"It's part of the process," I put the empty syringe back. "Now, here comes the next part. It is important that everyone keeps quiet and nobody interrupts me," I said and swept my gaze across the crowd. "Okay?"
Little heads nodded vigorously and I cradled Noodles. The candle flame lit up and I took a deep breath, rousing my magic. The short incantation I'd memorized and repeated to myself dozens of times in the past few minutes flew from my lips.
Magical energy flowed into the dog and a blue haze wrapped it. The effect lasted a few seconds and my magic settled down. Noodles was still limp, but his fur had turned pristine and he now had a warmth to him.
I was about to commence another scan when I felt a pulse travel through my hands. Noodles shifted and I felt another pulse, then another. Its muscles came alive in my grip and it began to move.
"Noodles!"
"Ruff!"
I gave the boy his dog back and the kids began to cheer. They closed in on John as if Noodles was a wonder of the world and I took a step back, smiling.
"Mike—"
"Scans with in-built sensors have already commenced."
Good. Let's see if Diplomatic Immunity can put its money where its mouth was.
.
.
.
.
Blüdhaven
June 24, 09:41
I took Felicity's hand and helped her alight from the SUV. Behind her the door of the backseat opened and the vehicle's other occupant joined us.
He was a bald, dark skinned man. A pair of clear glasses framed his serious expression and the rest of his attire could be summed up as a construction worker currently on a break.
A safety vest and a hard hat was the only thing missing out of his ensemble.
"Shall we go?" I gestured to the group of men waiting in front of the old and abandoned warehouse we, well, they, were here to see.
"I am ready," said Dubbilex, his voice altered by the image inducer that made his current appearance possible. "My mental powers can keep up the illusion in case the device fails."
'That won't happen.'
"Are you sure about this?" Felicity asked, her eyes shifting between me and the genomorph. I'd already introduced them weeks ago when we met to discuss starting our own construction company. So it wasn't Dubbilex that worried her.
"Don't worry," I clasped her hand and squeezed gently. "This is temporary. After Superman addresses the public tomorrow, we can break the news to the guys. If they don't take it well… let's just say I know who I'm keeping."
"Hmm," she patted my chest and fixed the collars of my overcoat. "Well, then go introduce him. I'll wait here. When you return we're gonna talk about what the crazy words you say do to me."
"They don't do anything!" she panicked and looked at Dubbilex in alarm. "They don't do anything crazy. Just normal things. Like fear, and joy."
I gave her a knowing smile and placed a quick peck on her cheek. "He knows babe," I said and started moving.
The expressionless genomorph took after me and we were soon out of earshot.
"So, worried about tomorrow?"
"You mean the address?"
"Yeah."
"I must admit, I am a bit anxious."
"I'd like to say don't be. That everything will go well. But I've experienced too much… let's call it neanderthal behaviour to believe something so naive."
"You are talking about racism?"
"Mmhmm. There are those who'll be afraid just because you look different. Their case is understandable, and they're not the ones I'm talking about. It's the idiots. The ones who'll suggest that the government deal with you and your people. Humanity first," I made quotes. "That sort of thing.
Oh, and don't forget the actual neanderthals. They'll vehemently support and defend Luthor. Some, and I hope I'm wrong about this, some will say if he really did create you, then you are indeed his property. I know. Humanity. Some days I'm embarrassed, some days I'm horrified. The brightest, the cruelest, and the dumbest all rolled up in one. Gotta love us."
"I guess all I'm trying to say is what matters most is what you and those around you think of yourself. Yes, there'll be hate, but ultimately, those spewing it only hold power if you give it to them. So chin up. You'll be fine. Everything will be fine."
"You have given me a lot to think about. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now let's go see the guys. I think we've kept them waiting long enough."
We hurried our steps and finally arrived.
"Good morning," I greeted and extended a hand forward, "Hodge."
The leader of the group lowered the sheet he was holding and grasped it, returning the greeting.
"Morning boss."
"What's up? How's everyone?" I withdrew the handshake and looked around.
The responses were great all around and I nodded, going straight to business.
"Okay. This is Donovan," I gestured at Dubbliex and he went for a handshake as well. "He'll be the tech guy I spoke to you about. Anything you want to know, ask him. I'll leave you guys to it."
Leaving the scene faster than I arrived, I trusted Dubbilex to do his job and quickly returned to Felicity. Her back was pressed against the car and her attention was on the tablet in her hand.
She put it away when she saw me and stood up straight. That gave me more confidence at what I was about to do. I stepped close to her and wrapped both arms around her waist.
She responded in kind and wrapped her own around my neck. We both smiled and read the desire in each other's eyes, but I resisted and focused on the question I wanted to ask.
"Okay… I don't wanna ruin the moment, but this has been bugging me so… here goes," I said. "What are we? Tomorrow is date five and I'm wondering what we are."
Instead of confusion or being off put, Felicity put on a faux angry facade and tightened her grip. "Elliot. Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?"
We're jumping straight in then? Good.
"Yes. I like you a lot. You're smart, you're beautiful, and I really really like you. Have I said that already?"
"Yes," she laughed. "But I like hearing it. Keep going."
"So yeah. I don't want what we have, even as small as it is, to end. So will you be my girlfriend?"
"If you'll be my boyfriend."
The time for words was over with that green light. I brought my head low and she met me halfway, our eager lips sealing together.
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