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Title: Match to the Fuse
CoWriter: [livejournal.com profile] merfilly
Characters: Ensemble DC
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2435
Continuity: Happy'Verse
Disclaimer: DC Comics owns
Notes: Fourth of July and back around to our OYL's beginning...



Getting back to normal had taken a long time, it seemed. Over a year had passed since the Battle of Metropolis. But now, there were two full teams of Titans, a functional League, and a very full JSA to cope with the ills of a world that was rapidly seeing a swell in criminal activity of the meta variety. The villainous sorts were crawling back from under their rocks, and getting smacked down properly.

Tim, Kon, and Mia normally ran together, but the rotation cycle did not always allow for them to pull Tower duty on the same coast. Rose did the same rotation as Mia, to keep her company when they weren't with the boys. Joey had decided this was due to her not being comfortable with his mom being in their father's life. Not that his mother was living with his father again (yet, he hoped), but they were spending quite a bit of time together.

Cass and Steph were still working Gotham, mostly in the East End since Selina was…not able. Jason, more often than not, overlapped their territory toward morning, so they could all have a few minutes peace together before they went off to sleep.

Kyle was settling in to the local sector, working right alongside Hal and loving it. It meant he was home very regularly, getting settled into life with his fiancé, and watching Donna and Connor get close as friends, preparing for making a child together.

Roy and Dick had finally gotten a decent place to live, where their little girl could have the puppy that a very obnoxious (in Roy's opinion) 'uncle' had gotten her. That it was a trained German Police Dog, and that Lian could now speak German commands was a bonus, no matter how grudging Roy was on the added protection.

Bruce was back in the League, and Ollie occasionally lent them a hand. He was swamped, though, getting ready for the elections. Dinah had settled nicely back into the JSA, and still ran her missions for the Birds. She had no lack of help, between Rose and Kon, who both still lived with her, and Tim, who was there often enough to always have a plate waiting. Mia made it a little less often, but never turned down a Birds mission, getting serious experience under Dinah's watchful eye.

The routines were becoming normal for them all. Enough that by the Fourth of July, when they had all planned another big family get together, this one at the Grayson-Harper house, they had all their plans made so that none of the teams would suffer for their not being there.

Then a wave of disappearances struck the scientific community, people renowned for their skills in technology or the higher sciences. Many of them were kept quiet, companies fearing incoming ransom demands--not quiet enough to avoid the Bat's notice--and it was the simultaneous attacks on Mr. Terrific and Red Tornado that provided both the first escape and the first major warning to the hero community.

Mr. Terrific made his get away and went straight to his team, who went on high alert. Cyborg was not quite so lucky, and was taken by the androids... who suffered severe losses when he got himself unscrambled enough to trigger a Titan call. Both cases were presented to Batman, giving him the final pieces he needed to finger who the likely culprit was.

Knowing who was responsible, and locating that individual, were two separate things, but he finally tracked down a probable location for the League to assault. He had Kyle Raynor as his Green lantern while Hal was on Sector patrol, Wonder Woman, Superman, and his Flash was none other than Barry Allen. Between the five of them, he had no doubt they would handle the problem.

Kyle and Bruce made their way deeper into the compound, evading the androids that Professor Ivo had made in literal hordes. Bruce knew the three metas could handle them, and they needed to catch Ivo, find out what his real goal was before the man could slip away.

He'd had to warn Kyle back to work through a section of defenses sensitive to light (and when had Ivo taken his defenses this seriously?), leaving him to cover their backs, when another wave of the androids found them despite their care.

Kyle proved his mettle then, using the ring to capture and hold the bulk of the androids until he could disable them. Bruce had started to turn back to deal with one last defense when he saw Kyle had it in hand, and caught a flash of movement that would be out of Kyle's field of vision. With the amount of will going into holding the androids already, it was entirely too likely the ring would not give adequate warning.

They had proven to change targets when attacked, and he threw, one aimed for the weak spot, one for the optical sensors. It reacted, and so did the two that had come to join it, catching Bruce in a crossfire of their energy disruptors. The armor held through the first shot (though he felt the suit's electronics all fry), his ability to evade handled the second, but they'd trapped him too well.

He took the third blasts full-on--and the world went black.

`~`~`~`~`

"Arsenal here," was the automatic reply from Roy as he tapped his comm, his eyes never leaving the drill he was supervising.

"Bro," came Kyle's voice, and something in it made Roy's senses scream warning before the next words were even out of his mouth. "You and Nightwing're going to be needed at the Hall. Maybe the kids--no, not yet."

Roy's heart hammered hard in his chest as he tried to remember just where Connor had been this weekend, and when he remembered it was an ashram week, he paled. His eyes darted to his lover, knowing just why Kyle had to be calling.

"Want me to call my dad for you?" Roy managed, turning away so hopefully his voice did not carry to 'Wing.

"It's him, yeah... He's... they think he'll be okay..."

"I'll tell 'Wing, and we'll get moving that way…I'll let Dad know." //And Dad can tell Di, 'cause I just can't…not after telling Dick.// Roy took a deep breath. "Stay with him, bro, and we'll be there soon."

"I'm on it," and the harshness in the Lantern's voice was another warning to the archer.

//Shit, Kyle…you were getting better.// Roy kept his voice neutral when he spoke. "We'll all be there soon." He hung up, and walked over to 'Wing. "Walk and talk, Fearless Leader…we need to be at the Hall, yesterday."

Dick whistled to Kory to take over and twisted to follow Roy, getting clear of the training field before he asked, "What needs us at the Hall?" He knew they were supposed to be busy today...

"Bruce got hurt... I don't have details, but they said he's going to be fine... I think Kyle was involved... he's damn tore up." He was heading up for a jet, but his hand went to and stayed on Dick.

"...they were going after the androids today, 's why we're tagged for stateside. God, we saw what those can do--and Kyle called?" Dick was focusing on the details, trying to avoid the solid knot of ice in his chest and the instinctive panic that still hit when a call came too close. //Bruce!//

"Yeah, man. He's pretty tore up, and I still got to get Ollie on the line…can you do pre-flight?" Roy knew it had to be hitting hardest with Dick, with the fact Dick and Bruce had only just gotten tight again this past year.

"I can pre-flight these in my sleep," Dick retorted and went to do just that, using the routine as another way to keep himself from thinking about how bad it had to be if they still had Bruce in the Hall facilities. //Maybe not... less trouble hiding him there...//

Roy hit Ollie's number on his phone, hoping the man wasn't mired down with campaign groups today.

"'Lo?" Ollie said, his voice tired.

"Dad... need to talk to you. Private."

"I'm alone, son... just going over the finances for this beast." Ollie leaned back in his chair. "What's going on, Roy?"

"Kyle called me to have me get Dick scrambled to DC, asked me to call you and get you and mom headed that way, too." Gods, but he hated talking around things like this.

Ollie gave a long pause, not even able to savor the feeling of Roy treating him and Dinah as parents in that coded wording, just feeling the impending doom.

"I'll get myself there, son, and I'll handle her finding out too. See you soon." His voice was tense, too much worry there that betrayed just how hard Oliver Queen wanted his current life to work just as it had been.

"And I think it'd be a real good idea if you'd get little bro, too," Roy tagged on.

"I'll handle that... Kyle needs him?"

"Yeah, Dad."

"I've got it, son."

They hung up, and Dick took off, heading south to DC.

`~`~`~`~`

Ollie quietly told Connor they were going to head to DC, 'borrowing' League transport time, but Mia overheard, heard the careful way Ollie tried to keep from upsetting Connor when he said Kyle needed them there. He was just glad Connor had decided staying home to teach Mia was more important than going to see Eddie this week.

She grabbed her phone, ducked downstairs, and called Tim.

"Mia? Everything okay?"

"I don't think so. Dad and bro are headed to DC, because Kyle needs him. And Ollie's not mentioning a word to me. You heard anything?" Mia fidgeted by holding the phone against her ear with her shoulder, and running her hands over her latest armor design.

"Not a word." He didn't like that fact, either. Not if something was going on with the League part of his family. "Talk at me, while I see what's in the chatter today."

"I don't like the way Ollie was looking pinched in the face. I know this campaign is already eating him up, and the three of them have not had any time outside the holidays completely together... I really hope everything is okay, but I just feel like this is that other shoe." She paced around the mats, wishing she were like Dinah, able to just throw herself into solitary kata and lose her anxieties.

"That doesn't sound good," Tim agreed as he settled in front of the Cave computer to crack the League communications--and Mia heard as he stopped breathing for long, long moments. "I'm going to send Kon to get you," Robin's voice finally said, and she could hear him moving.

"Shit." She slid out of civvies and into the armor without even thinking from that tone. "I'll use the tunnel to leave; he remember where it comes out by daylight?"

"I'll find out." He cut the connection with her and called Kon.

"Yeah?" Kon was, from the sound, listening to a new cd and playing his latest video game, which meant he was home alone.

"Kon, I need you to go pick Mia up. She'll be outside, you remember where?"

"Yeah, dude... how could I forget?" Kon grinned at the last time he had snuck away to Star City. "On my way, and where am I bringing her?"

"The new place your father hangs out all the time. I'll meet you there."

"Hell." Kon got picked on for being the muscles, but his brain was sharp enough to pick that one up, and he got moving.

`~`~`~`~`

"Call for you, Junior," Alan said, ducking into the office Dinah was using. She nodded, cursing Merlyn again for shooting her cell phone out of her hand, and for not having had it replaced yet.

"Black Canary here," she sing-songed, continuing to pour over her latest case notes on tracking the al Ghul sisters.

"Pretty Bird," Ollie's voice was stressed, not light, and she could hear the sound of his armor settling into place.

"Arrow..." She kept her voice neutral then, her eyes floating to the open doorway. "What is it?"

"No details yet on my end, but something's wrong with your society boy..."

"I'm on my way, Arrow." He heard her click into the professional voice that hid a multitude of emotions. She so rarely went 'Bat' with any of them, but he knew she was at the JSA HQ.

"See you there," he agreed, and let Connor contact the Watchtower to bounce them through.

`~`~`~`~`

Clark had expected Dick to come. Seeing Roy beside him was not terribly surprising, as the two were all but married since the Titans reformed on the East Coast. Roy could help Dick cope... except both boys were going straight for Kyle first, to help him out. One of Roy's hands settled to Kyle's shoulder, one of Dick's went around his back... and Kyle slumped against Roy.

Connor arriving at a run was not too unusual; again, Clark was enough in the know to understand the artist and the young archer were a pair. Roy and Dick shifted seamlessly out of the way as Connor reached them, letting Kyle settle against him instead, then settled back in. The fact Oliver was just behind him, and just as concerned over Kyle threw the farmboy a bit.

Dinah's presence was a complete mystery to him, as was the arrival of Mia with Kon, when Tim had made his own way there already, arriving just behind Connor and Ollie. The hallway outside the medical bay was getting extremely crowded, very quickly.

He could not help but turn his ears there, hearing as Tim reassured Ollie //why in the world would Ollie care?// that Jason and the girls would hold Gotham as long as needed.

Dick turned to arch a brow at his little brother, wondering how Tim had picked up on this when he was supposed to be in Gotham... and watched the way Mia curved into his side. //Aah.... Since when do the Arrows play messenger-bird?// the thought might have amused him if he hadn't been quite so freaked.

Dinah shooed everyone off of Kyle, except Connor, and managed to get her arms around the artist anyway, coaxing his head to her shoulder, reassuring him softly.

"What can you tell us, son?" Ollie asked, trying to be calm, but more worried than he had been since the day they had kept vigil over Dick, nearly a year ago.

Kyle leaned into Dinah, and looked straight at Connor as he answered. "He took two shots from multiple androids' disruptor weapons that I saw. I must have missed one. By the time I could get them all disabled and get to him, I couldn't find a pulse... and the docs lost him again once I managed to get out and get here. They said the multiple hits scrambled his nervous system..."

The entire family looked pale at the news, before Dinah finally spoke up. "He'll pull through," she whispered, tears stinging her eyes, but she could not let them fall. Roy watched her, saw it as she put away her fear and worry, to be the Nurturer they all loved.

"He's got us," Ollie agreed, hand at the back of her neck.

Clark blinked, startled. //What on earth?//

"Once he's up," Dick started to growl, and Kyle glared at him.

"No way, 'Wing, I get second crack at killing him."

"Second, because I have first," Dinah said softly, agreeing with Kyle's reasoning.

"I was counting both of you, yeah," Kyle agreed, before Ollie could lodge a protest.

"Damn straight."

Date: 2007-06-10 09:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyoneill.livejournal.com
You two are goddesses for continuing the happyverse and yet adding in some tension/angst that really makes my day! Loved Clark's confusion. Hope you continue this! This family is just perfect...and bizarre, but perfectly bizarre or perfect in its bizarreness. :)

Date: 2007-06-11 03:17 am (UTC)
senmut: modern style black canary on right in front of modern style deathstroke (HV-'Ships)
From: [personal profile] senmut
Though the world is a fixit verse, we've tried to keep some of those tensions...they make the characters 3D. Thus the almost very unhappy bit with Roy and Dick over Slade.

This, however, was cooked up almost from the beginning...we knew just what would happen when we decided we were to the point that canon started OYL.

Glad you enjoyed.

Date: 2008-02-17 12:36 am (UTC)
ilyena_sylph: picture of Labyrinth!faerie with 'careful, i bite' as text (happyverse_general)
From: [personal profile] ilyena_sylph
Apparently I suck, and have never replied to this comment.

Thank you so VERY much.

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