New HappyVerse fic: ...Auld Lang Syne
Dec. 2nd, 2006 02:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sylph_ficsTitle: Auld Lang Syne
Cowriter:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merfilly
Characters: Titans, Arrows, Birds, and lots of guest stars
Rating: PG
Word Count: 7,477
Continuity: HappyVerse
Disclaimer: DC Comics makes the money, people
Notes: It's official... HappyVerse is our refuge from the meaner things in comics--and our one-stop fix-it shop.
Summary: The party's not over... after all, there's a lot of happy news to spread.
Barry was not about to let the matter stew any longer. He had too many unanswered questions. The next morning, about when he expected the heroes of the night to be retiring, he took off, and headed straight for Dinah's given address.
He arrived in time to meet her as she entered the building, having just secured her bike in the garage. She had four runs in her fishnets, and a bruise showing along one cheek already. "Hi there," she said with a smile.
"Hi, Dinah. Have time to talk, or are you headed straight for bed?" She didn't look that tired.
"Come on up. I have to make sure the Dictator got all her notes straight." This smile was far more amused, and grew into a wider one. "It's Flash, silly. Not Arrow. No, he's a gentleman, now hush, and check your notes. I won't appreciate getting awakened at noon because you can't remember if it was five or six kneecaps I dislocated." She turned her focus back to Barry. "Sorry, she gets...snippy."
He had tilted his head quizzically at her speaking to the empty air. "It's all right, but how were you hearing her?" He followed her, letting her lead him through the building.
"Earrings let me receive, the necklace transmits, sound and video, if I choose. Or she gets rude and activates remotely." She led him up the back way, to the apartment above the florist shop he had seen coming in. "So, what brings you by? Jay said you had something planned for later, to make your return more official."
"I do. I'm going to drop by the Flash Museum and let everyone see that I'm back, but before I go play nicely with the reporters for however long it takes, there're some questions I need answers to, and I think you're the woman to talk to, unless you've changed more than I think."
Dinah cocked an eyebrow at him, but set a pot of coffee to brewing. "Sit, we'll talk, and you decide."
Barry sat, with a slight mental sigh at everyone wanting him to sit down. "All right. I spent a good part of yesterday talking to our old team and a few others, and I'm... not happy with some of the things I heard. More than that, one in particular is just not making any sense to me."
Dinah nodded at him, walking out of his range of sight to her room to change. "Keep talking, Barry."
"From talking to Hal and to Clark, I wasn't sure what I'd find when I went to talk to Bruce--let me tell you, those two know how to worry a guy--but when I caught up with him... he didn't seem that different than the man I knew. So why was Clark so convinced he was that different, and what happened between he and Hal that has them about ready to maul each other?"
He heard Dinah sigh softly, then she returned to him, puttering until the coffee was ready, making her words clear in her own mind. "Bruce had a lot of tragedies define him. Including the loss of a Robin. But, the thing with Hal is pretty cut and dry...Hal went evil. Bad enough that Ollie had to be the one to end it." Dinah toyed with her cup. "And then he didn't do such a hot shot keeping the Spectre powers in check, and frankly...much as I love Hal, I see Bruce's side of things, worrying he'll walk that road again." She looked up at him with sad eyes. "Hal's very nature drove him to it, made him cling so hard he broke all the rules to fix something he should not have, and then broke more and more until he had to be stopped."
Barry closed his eyes a moment, thinking that through, and aching at the thought of Ollie being forced to... stop his best friend. "That... explains some things. Bruce never was all that forgiving, and if Hal caused the kind of damage it sounds like you're saying he did... I see why Bruce has no interest in trying to solve things between them... You really think he might turn again? I can't see that of Hal, not the man I knew... But then, it's starting to sound like the whole world's changed maybe more than I can take, when even Bruce and Clark are hardly speaking, when Diana's..." he just shook his head, wishing he hadn't flicked through some of those newspapers... "What happened, Dinah?"
She reached across to take his hands around his coffee cup. "There's been some that said it was because we lost you. Others who saw the Big Seven as getting too far removed from humanity. There was our mistake, Bare...and we only just unraveled that mess." She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Somewhere along the way, whether it was when Big Blue died and came back, or before that, the world stopped being inspired, and it was harder for some to see the little pictures, the ones that make up life. That's my opinion."
Barry shook his head again, but he let her hold on to his hands. "Couldn't have been just me, Dinah... but it sounds like you do need me back. We'll have to see what we can do about some of this mess. Maybe with all of us back, we can send things a little more towards the way they ought to be. There's so much to live for, so much good... maybe what's needed is a few more people pointing it out..."
She nodded at him. "That's what Ollie and me and Bruce are trying to do. We've gone back to our basics, and the two families are spending time together, to take care of the people behind the masks." She straightened, taking her own coffee and sipping it. "That's another thing that went wrong, us not looking out for each other."
"If it wasn't so far in the past I think I'd have words with most of you over that one... we knew better, once. Good to hear you guys are working on it... but I didn't think Bruce and Ollie had stayed that tight? Let alone all of these kids..."
"You knew, about my Boy-o and Dick?" Dinah was not sure that particular subject, and its attendant issues, had ever come up.
"Speedy and Robin? You're right, I did know they were close, now that I think about it a second..."
Dinah nodded. "We almost lost Dick about seven months back. Roy was hurt, same fight. We all wound up at the hospital, and I insisted the boys be roomed together. I think supporting each other helped Ollie and Bruce work past any lingering resentments. And I was already working heavily in both worlds." She gave a small smile, one that hinted at private things. "It just came about we held Thanksgiving at Ollie's which led to Christmas at Bruce's and everyone seems happier."
Barry tilted his head at that, thinking it through, "Almost losing their boys would do that, I guess. Remind both of them of a few things..." He wondered about that smile, quite a bit, but she seemed happy, which was good enough. "Anything else I ought to know about what happened with Bruce while I was gone?"
"He's gotten a lot better, traveling, re-finding himself." Dinah was firm on that, her Gotham accent peeking out of her voice with it. "As for Hal...Ollie'd know better. He's seen more of him than me."
"And I should leave old pain in the past and be glad I didn't see it?" He knew that tone of hers. Had for a long time. "I'll ask Ollie. You two looked happy together. Good to know some things last."
Dinah could not help but laugh. "Bare, I left him. And when he died, I hurt all over again, then gave him another shot when he came back....and wound up leaving him again." She shook her head. "It's...different this time."
"So that's why Jay sounded like that..."
She blushed. "Yes...fresh start."
"Good. You two belong together."
"Not like you and Iris," Dinah was quick to say, her eyes sparkling at him. "Well, Oracle's paging me again, Bare, and if you hurry..." She paused to grin at him. "You can catch Ollie as he hits his door...or near enough."
"All right. See you around, Dinah," Barry said and headed out again.
"Anytime, Barry, anytime," she murmured, settling back with her coffee and big fluffy robe, unwinding from too many goons.
*~*~*~
Barry ran his way across the continent, thankful he'd gotten Ollie's address, and found it easily enough, rapping at the door.
It opened, and there was a young, blond, Asian-mixed heritage man standing there. "Hello?"
"Hi. I'm looking for Ollie, did I find the wrong house somehow?" The jaw and the eyes looked like his old friend...
"My father is...busy. You can come in to wait, while I get him." Connor took in the red suit, the subtle differences, and thought that this might be the Flash Mia had called briefly about to say had come back with his own Flash-friend, Wally.
Barry nodded. "That sounds fine... and I've forgotten my manners. I'm Barry Allen."
"Forgive me," the young man said, bowing slightly. "Connor Hawke."
"My mistake," Barry said with a shake of his head. //Hawke, not Queen? Oliver....//
"Please, sit...and if a small child bounds down here in a bit, I do apologize. I have my niece still." Connor showed the man to the den, before going to get his father.
Barry smiled slightly. He didn't mind the thought of a kid around at all, and settled into yet another chair.
A few moments later it was not a small child but a smiling Ollie who bounded in, stripped out of his over tunic, but not much further. "Barry!"
Barry got up to reach out for a back-slapping hug, "Good to see you again, Ollie."
Ollie was pretty fierce with his hug. "Great to see you. What brings you? Want anything? That boy of mine...Connor, did he introduce himself? Yeah, probably; better manners than me."
"Trying to put puzzle pieces together and not liking some of the shapes," Barry answered, shaking his head at the hyper-ness of his de-aged friend. "Wouldn't mind a glass of water, and yes, Connor introduced himself. Nice kid." //What has you bouncing, Ollie?//
"Come on, I've got a big kitchen, regardless what Alfred said." He led the way to the kitchen and got them both an iced water...in bottles. "I'm all ears for ya."
Barry shook his head again, slightly, and twisted the top off. "Alfred didn't say anything about your kitchen, though I did shock him speechless for a few moments. Not much way around it though. ...I don't like what I'm hearing between Hal and Bruce, I'm worried about both of them."
"That." Ollie frowned. "Yeah, well, much as I love Bruce and I love Hal, the two of them are the most...insufferable, stubborn things outside of Dinah."
"I did know that," Barry nodded. "Clark hinted, Dinah hinted, but... what went wrong with Hal?...if you can tell me."
Ollie took in a deep breath. "Clark got killed...or so we all thought. And these four imposters showed up...two of which were great additions, and two of which...evil as sons of bitches get. And they took out Coast City."
"Oh, my Lord," was honestly all Barry could say. He knew how much Hal loved his city.
"That was the beginning...Hal wanted to use that power, begged the little blue guys....to right this one wrong." Ollie clenched his fist. "They said no."
"Hal never did take 'no' well..."
Ollie nodded at that. "They told him come back to Oa...and he did. Took out half the Corps, getting there. Things got real nasty, and then there was Parallax, not Hal. He tried to rewrite the universe, the very timeline, to 'fix' things according to his thoughts of how it should be."
"'Parallax'?" The thought of Hal 'taking out' his friends and allies sent a shudder up Barry's spine.
This caused the archer to screw up his face. "Supposedly, there was this creature, as old as the corps, that had infected the ring...it exploited Hal, had been exploiting his fears for years, causing the white in his hair...a lot of stuff. And it was Hal, but it wasn't, you know?"
"It had a hold of him, huh? Twisting him up inside?"
"Yeah...but Hal was still there, they found out later." Ollie had let Dinah tell him that story many times, finding comfort in his friend dying a good death. "It came down to a big battle, and he killed Batgirl, one of the oddities of the emerging timelines. It was...it was hard, but my Hal would have demanded it."
Barry shook his head hard. "Try that again?"
Ollie shook his head. "It was hard." He thought about it. "One arrow, one shot, center of the chest. When the world finished sorting itself, we had things happen, things that didn't always match our memories."
"Hypertime," Barry said softly, finally placing that in the right point of time. "Everything from... I follow you now." //And I know why your memories don't always mesh.// That mess made even his head hurt, and running through the latest Crisis had not helped with that at all. He laid a hand on Ollie's shoulder, offering the support he hadn't been there to give.
Ollie gave a little shake. "Now, let me tell you why Hal gets pissy about Bruce holding it against him. Not only was he being possessed when he did most of this, but...he saved our solar system. From a suneater. I was dead... for most of this. Kyle...Connor's fiance, and the Lantern at the time, went and found Hal, who had not died."
"...'fiance'?" Of all the things to get caught up on... "Never mind. Go on."
"Well, Hal argued...or Parallax did, but eventually Hal came back. He stopped the Suneater...saved the whole damn solar system. You know Earth with like 6 billion people. And Saturn...J'onn says there are two moons out there inhabited by his people's offshoots." Ollie shook his head. "Doesn't count enough in Bruce's books that Hal managed to fight it all off and do the right thing." Ollie laughed softly. "Maybe it was that selfish bit where Hal jerked me, ten years earlier out of a time stream, to bring me back, just before he left to win the day."
"If I thought you believed that," Barry said, narrow-eyed, but let it slide into nothing. "I... may have to have another chat with Bruce about that. It sure sounds to me like Hal turned it around..." //Bruce, some days...//
Ollie shook his head. "It's gone so far now...they both have decked each other, and they work together just fine. It's ...other times they can't seem to move on."
"Always were so prone to settling things with their fists," Barry muttered. "And all three of you have given me that 'work together just fine' line. We were more than that."
Ollie nodded. "Me and Di and Bruce...starting small. Working on our families." Ollie took a deep breath, but the pride was there, at what they had done so far. "I think Di's got ideas, and I know Hal does, for when things get more settled."
"Hal definitely has ideas. I think I heard most of them yesterday," Barry agreed. "Not sure about Dinah, but probably so."
Ollie snorted. "She plays her cards close to her chest now," he said. "That Oracle girl's fault."
"I hear a lot about her, but I don't know who she is," Barry replied, driven to shaking his head again at the idea of Dinah having learned subtlety.
"Not my secret," Ollie said. "Not Dinah's either...I found out more or less by deduction, once I started dealing with Bruce again."
"All right. I won't push."
"She's a good kid, though...just a bit too Bat." Ollie shook his head. "Maybe between the two of us, we'll be able to fix Hal and Bruce's friendship."
"Just might," Barry agreed cheerfully. "And on the topic of the other one involved, now that I know about Hal... What will you tell me?"
"Bruce?" Ollie looked skeptical...but something flashed through his voice and eye. "He's rewalking the path that made Bruce Wayne into Batman...and dragging his two boys with him."
"I know what he's doing now," Barry replied. "What I'm asking about is what I missed. What happened that it hurts Clark to mention him." He hadn't missed the grief and guilt in Superman's words and the look on his face.
Ollie grimaced. Clark was not always high on his list of people. He respected the man, thought he served a purpose, just did not see eye to eye on certain key things. "The last Crisis...it hurt a lot of people, but the so-called Trinity was hard shaken....Clark almost killed Bruce, Diana killed to free Clark, and to protect the world from Clark....and Bruce said or did something that cut Clark to the core."
"He always was good at that, if he thought it needed to happen..." Barry shook his head. "Is there anyone that hasn't tried to rip each other to tiny pieces while I was gone?"
Ollie appeared to give that serious thought. "No one argues with my Connor. And apparently my Mia is a born negotiator." He grinned at Barry. "There have been good times."
"That's good to hear." //If a little hard to believe, given everything else...//
"Trust me, Bare...I've screwed up enough to know the good times."
"Wish you didn't have to say it, but I'll believe you. How about you tell me about some of those, and your kids while you're at it."
Ollie grinned crazily. "Let me tell you about my kids, starting with the oldest...Roy's come so far since you were around last..." He started in on the various things in his life he was proudest of, especially his children and granddaughter.
Barry sat back and listened with a smile. It was good to hear pleasant things of the time he was gone, instead of all the bad.
Ollie made note of that, and made himself a promise to get the others to do that too. Barry needed to see more than the horrors, or he was going to regret giving up the afterlife; Ollie had felt that way at first too, until the minute he laid eyes on Connor after his soul filled the body.
*~*~*~
Kyle lit lightly and headed in, intending to find Kilowog and find out who he owed a shift or three to. Kilowog was in the middle of dressing down two raw recruits, once he finally found him, and Kyle decided to lean against the wall and listen. Learning a few new insults never hurt, and he might need them sometime.
Kilowog finished, and turned to Kyle with a grin. "Hey Poozer," he said.
"Hey, Kilowog. So, who do I owe, and did Guy ever calm down?"
"Aww, Gardner's fine. We had fun patrolling your shifts..."
"So which corner of the galaxy am I getting sent to to make up for it?"
Kilowog looked around, then pulled Kyle under an arm. "You're going there. The little blue guys agree you are probably strong enough to handle the random energies where the anomaly was...we're letting you lead a team to look there for the ones still missing."
Kyle started to laugh softly, shaking his head, "Damn. Now he's adding precognition to the list? Poor Roy..."
"Wha?" Kilowog looked confused.
Kyle kept laughing at that look, leaning against him, "Oh, nothing... Just Nightwing. He told me to kiss Kory for him when I found her, and I'm getting sent straight there..."
The big pink alien shook his head. "Hal asked me to wrangle it for you," he whispered conspiratorially. "He's got some range on his ring, when it comes to talking."
"How the-- did he know?! ...Ollie Queen, I swear..."
Kilowog laughed. "Just don't ever say he started it...the little guys like telling him no just to see what he'll do, it seems like."
"Do they not remember how that ended the last time?"
"Think that's the point...to see if he's under control now...his temper."
Kyle growled softly, shaking his head. "If it backfires someone else gets to try and talk sanity into him this time." //And if it hurts Ollie that badly again I am going to do some talking of my own with the little blue guys. They owe me one anyway.//
Kilowog nodded. "Go pick your team, and get going, will ya?"
"Yeah. I'm gone. Got a girl to go find for her ex, after all..." He went to go see who he could round up and head out with.
*~*~*~*~*
He did not do more than have Jay call the press, asking the various services to send a reporter to the Museum. He then waited for the time he had chosen, Jay at his side, and made an entrance.
Two red blurs, and then in front of all the rookie reporters and society beat columnists that had been roped into the unknown revelation, there was the current Flash, their beloved elder statesman to the hero community, and a man thought dead for so long.
"All of you know Barry Allen from his statue over there," Jay said. "I'm getting old, and it seems the holidays have provided us with a miracle to help our cities."
"I'm…honored to find what you did for my legacy," Barry told the assembled press. "Now, I'm going to live up to it, as your Flash once more."
After that, it was a raucous question and answer session as the various low-end reporters saw this as the move of a career. To one side, a quiet, mild mannered reporter just smiled at Barry's man of the people approach.
`~`~`~`~`
"Very relaxed, very happy," was Kilowog's answer to Guy's inquiry about Kyle.
"What?!" Guy shook his head. "Man looses a woman like Jade, and half a year later, he's happy?"
"He was wearing a ring, on that finger you pretend you don't," Kilowog added, amused by the way Guy and Fire refused to admit to anyone what they had done.
"Shut up, man." Guy was not going to get into that, even as he hoped and prayed that Fire had not gotten... he shook his head; she would kill him if she had. "Kyle got married? Or engaged?"
"That's what you said rings on that finger mean."
"Man, I need to talk to Pee Gee, see what she's heard."
`~`~`~`~`
Dinah opened the door to see not one, but two young people on her doorstep....and one of them was completely unexpected.
"Black Canary?" Rose appraised the woman with an eye that spoke of knowing certain things. "Dick said he called ahead."
"He just asked if I had room for a guest with Kon...must not have wanted to say your name over unsecure lines," Dinah managed, keeping her composure for the most part.
"Hey, Di," Kon said, sliding past her. "Smart of him, and so where are you going to put her?"
Dinah ruffled his hair in passing. "She can have the other guest room." She held her hand out for Rose's bag. "You're going to need more clothes, honey." She kept any and all worry about having Rose in her home locked away.
Rose smiled at that. "Dick got me a credit card, as long as I help out," she said, exhibiting at least some teenaged girlishness.
Kon nodded. "Rose, hungry?" He was, as usual, but he had manners. "You, Di?"
"Going to cook for us?" Dinah asked, amused. "I could stand to eat."
"Sure Kon." Rose gave him a flirty smile.
"I was going to see what you had stuffed in your fridge, first, before I tried cooking, but sure, I can give it a shot..."
Dinah rolled her eyes. "Call for take out, and I'll get Rose settled in."
Rose followed her new guardian to a room that had the basic furniture and a few pictures on the wall.
"You can do anything you want to the room except use the furniture to test your swords. I have a space I'm slowly converting to a work out room, and would not mind some help with it," Dinah said.
"Sure Di," Kon replied. Rose was just going to have to deal with Chinese, he had a craving for sweet and sour chicken and by now he knew what Di was likely to want. But guessing for Rose... nope. He turned and followed with the phone in one hand and the menu in the other. "Hey, Rose. It's Chinese unless you both yell at me, but what would you like?"
"I'll take the house special," Rose told him, having learned in Gotham it was best to let the cooks decide. She turned back to her room and said in a very low voice. "Why?"
Dinah did not need clarification. "One, Dick asked me to. Two, I believe in second chances."
Kon nodded and went to go order, swearing to himself yet again that one of these days he was going to learn Chinese--or at least enough to order food in and understand what they were saying. It felt... weird not to be with Tim, after the last week and a half... but he was on his way to god knew where with Nightwing--with Dick--to talk to Batman and keep up this world tour thing Tim'd told him about, so... It was still weird.
"If I ask if you have another reason you prefer not to admit, will you be mad?" Rose asked impudently.
Dinah sighed. "I feel an obligation to a man I knew once," she answered carefully. "A man I have not seen in some time."
Rose nodded at that answer. "Fair enough."
Kon was trying not to listen, and prowling around the living room restlessly. Finally he decided to go camp in the greenhouse again until the food got here.
*~*~*~*
Kyle found the energies of this region of space still very much in chaotic states. He spent nearly as much time shielding his team as he did searching. The more he did, the more he was certain his ring was very different from theirs, as if the power was coming from a secondary source. It was a mystery he had to accept for now, as he tried hard to find the woman his soon to be brother in law had once dated.
Scanning every random rock with an atmosphere was getting really, really old, though. He knew it was necessary, but... //Kory where the hell are y--// "Lifesigns," he suddenly snapped to the rest of the team and twisted to go down, breaking the atmosphere and hovering, asking the ring to tell him where to search. The team had this down to routine by now and fanned out... But he was the first to see the gleam of metal that didn't belong on this ball of rock, and he went that way fast. It was someone of theirs, no matter what...
"Hello, the ship!" he yelled from a few feet up and out, waiting for someone to pay attention.
Kory lounged indolently on the bed she had made herself from fragrant blooms, eating another piece of fruit. She heard the voice and lazily floated up, investigating. When she saw six green shielded forms, and then recognized the one nearest, the person who had spoken, she let out a load cry of joy, causing her two companions to emerge from inside the ship.
"Green Lantern!" Kory flew to him in delight. "We are finally rescued?"
"That's the intent," he replied with a smile. "Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked the ring to scan her, just to be sure... he didn't intend to touch her until he was sure she was all right. He looked down, seeing the other two, and nodded sharply, glad to have found more of them.
"We are well, Lantern." She slowly descended, and he saw both Animal Man and Adam Strange...except Adam had a rag wrapped around his eyes.
"Nice to see the cavalry arrive...what's it been? Six, seven months?" Animal Man asked, thinking of his family.
"Sorry it took so long, and just about that, yeah." The ring finally told him she was fine, and he reached out. "A couple of people sent you something, Kory," and he pulled her close enough to kiss her, relatively chastely. "That's from 'Wing," and he kissed her again. "And that's from Arsenal."
She reached up, touching her lips. "Oh," she breathed, thinking of home, the two men she had watched dance around eternal issues, one of whom had graced her life with so much love. "I cannot wait to see them." She smiled, as the other Lanterns made the two men comfortable, and they headed back toward Oa.
"They're worried," he agreed with what she hadn't said, then settled in to the flight. "But... he's smiling again, Kory." There were worse ways to pass the time in flight than gossiping with a beautiful woman, though he remained alert to the shifting currents, ready to guard them.
"They are...happy together, I hope." Kory had known Dick would not be her eternity, even as she had kept him as long as she had been able to.
Kyle shot a sharp look at her, "Now, how'd you get that out of what I said?"
"Because only Roy Harper makes Dick truly smile," Kory said logically. "As you had mentioned them both for the kisses, it seemed true."
"True enough. ..and yeah. They're happy. Or at least they seem to be--been years since I saw either one of them that happy... oh, God, Kory. There's so much to catch you up on..."
"Tell me all, then," she encouraged. "I like to hear of my friends."
"I've been away a lot, but..." and he launched into telling her what she'd missed, though he ached to tell her some of it--and when it came to Kon's story he broke the flow to reassure her that he was back safely.
She listened avidly, letting the tragedies fall away in the light of the hope he brought, by speaking of happy times. They were most of the way to Oa before he was finally done telling her everything important. "Did you ever meet Roy's brother, Connor?"
"Yes." Kory had liked the cut of Connor's quiet warrior spirit.
He grinned, just a little foolishly, "Good... he and I... if Ollie manages what he's trying, we're getting married next fall--it's a running joke that we ought to make it a double wedding, but Dick..."
"Dick will not risk his friends and loved ones to another wedding ritual," Kory said, amused. "Congratulations are in order."
Kyle grinned again, "Pretty much... and thank you."
She kissed his cheek then. "You're a cute one." She kept any sadness she felt away; Jade had loved this man, and Kory would have felt kindly toward him just for that. Donna having also loved him raised him a few more notches in her book.
Kyle eyed her, shaking his head. "If you say so," as they reached Oa and lit. There were better doctors here to tend to whatever was wrong with Adam, and several people would be glad to see them safe.
Kory would endure the layover, but like Animal Man, she was more than eager to be home, and would prevail on the Oans to send them directly to Earth, rather than force them to travel the traditional ways back. She knew the Oans were capable of shortening the travel time to practically nothing, and she was in no mood to e patient on that.
Kyle could practically feel her impatience, and didn't envy anyone that got caught up in it.
*~*~*~*~*
Jay sat with Alfred, a cup of cocoa in his hand, eye swollen shut.
"Just missed them, huh?"
It had a been a few weeks since his last visit, when he had showed up right after the Thanksgiving holiday, looking for company and the kind of food he knew Alfred could cook up. Alfred had worried that Leslie's presence that night had made the young man skittish about coming around; he was not comfortable with the pacifistic doctor.
"Do not worry, Master Jason. Your efforts will not go unappreciated," Alfred reassured him. "If you would leave me a number this time..."
"Yeah, Alfie... good idea. The sooner we get this over with, the better." He scribbled a number down, one with a cell phone prefix, on his napkin. "You think me and him?"
"He'll be quite pleased."
`~`~`~`~`
Diana watched from her place high on the hill as Cassie and Ione cavorted in the surf. She had noted the lightness growing in her youngest sister the more the two grew close. Any thoughts she had of the inappropriateness were put aside, the minute Cassie had come back from Titan's Tower and sought Ione out. Whatever events had happened, as Donna had arrived and left again almost instantly, had done something to make Cassie truly open up to the Amazon seeking her heart.
All Diana wanted was for the remnants of the Amazons to be happy, even as she hoped that one day, Artemis would be able to bring the rest of the Tribes back to this realm.
`~`~`~`~`
Jay ran up to the construction site, full of energy and life as he joined Sand.
"We saw the news, and Jesse had tons to say about her New Years," the quiet man said. "Glad to have them back?"
"Very." He staggered as Wildcat clapped him on his back.
"It will be finished in the month... are we going to do this?" the boxer asked with a trace of unhappiness.
"Ted... of course we are. No League, no JSA, no effective Titans... we can't let that continue," Jay said. "Besides, we can't let Dinah keep trying to fix the world quietly, or that Lantern boy with so much recklessness, alone."
Wildcat sighed at the mention of his goddaughter. "She's something, ain't she?"
Jay squeezed his arm. "Just call her, you big goon. She's not one to stay upset so long. And Alan said she was fine with him after Christmas. She's just... I think she's tired of being told she's making mistakes."
"You're right... but I won't call her." The big man looked toward Metropolis. "As soon as I can, I'll camp on her door til she sees me."
Jay shook his head, laughing. "Your girlfriend might get lonely; our Dinah is a busy woman."
"Who needs to come home to us," Sand said firmly. "When the museum reopens, and we announce we're going active, I want her on the team."
"What about Pieter?" both elders asked in the same breath.
"He suggested it." Sand shrugged. "Since he's seeing someone currently, I have faith in their ability to work together."
"Then we'll try to convince her," Jay assured him.
`~`~`~`~`
"Incoming extraterrestrial teleportation," the Tower informed Cyborg. The Tower was quiet again, down to the handful of members who lived there.
That got Raven's attention and she moved towards him, head tilting worriedly. Gar, of course, wasn't far away either, and his fur bristled a moment. "If this is trouble..."
"Four life forms detected," the Tower added. "Two Titan presences confirmed," it told them.
Raven's eyes widened, and she turned to head outside without another word, moving quickly, but Gar got ahead of her. There weren't that many Titans that hadn't been earthside... //Please. Please.//
"Raven!" came from the statuesque redhead standing just outside the Tower.
"STAR!" Beast Boy phased through five different forms before he reached her, followed closely by Cyborg and Raven. Animal Man kept a hand on Adam's elbow and stood back, while Kyle just watched in amusement and happiness. The Oans had sent him back to Earth, officially giving him the sector alongside Hal.
Raven realized she was using up her hugs for the next year or so, but she was so glad to see her sister safe that she couldn't help reaching out and pulling her close. "Kory..." she said softly, head against her much taller friend's chest, arms tight around her. "You're home."
Kory enfolded Raven close, letting the two males hug around them as she shielded Raven to her body, actually trying to rein in her own emotions to be less overwhelming. "I did. Kyle found us, and now we are home."
"Yay! Kyle, my man, you did it!" Beast Boy bounced over to hug the Lantern as well, then went straight back to his Goldy.
Kyle smiled at the quick hug. "Yeah...gonna take the other two on, Star. Be seeing you." He formed a construct to do just that.
Raven just held her tight. "Oh, Kory, there is so much you have missed... Garth will be miserable he missed you. Vic, call the others before they hear from someone else..." She felt Kyle leaving, but it hardly registered.
"On it, Rae," Vic said, keeping a light hand on her and his other on the small of Gar's back.
"Kyle told me everything he knew, from after I left Earth."
"Oh man....KYLE!" Vic yelled after the Lantern, getting his attention. "Wally's back!"
The flicker through of incredulity on the construct made Animal Man nervous, but Kyle grinned. "Hot....man, that is the best news!"
"Good," Raven nodded--"But he only told you what he knew... we have so many of our own back, since New Years... Wally, as Vic just said, and Bart, back to his old self... and Barry, and I mentioned Garth..."
Gar leaned back into Vic's hand, grinning like an idiot. "Ain't it though, Kyle?"
"And now you're back, too..." Raven was honestly smiling.
"Let me get these guys home, then I'm sure Connor can fill me in! I have news for him, but you should know! This is my sector now!" Kyle was ecstatic.
"Yes!" Vic did the victory pump in the air, then grinned. "Go on; we'll expect you to come by soon, though. Got big plans."
"Yes, we do," Raven nodded, finally managing to control her expression, and shifting slightly back from Kory... but only slightly.
Gar had echoed Vic's "Yes!" bouncing into the air as if his legs had springs, then settled down, still practically buzzing with energy about what they had planned, then he looked at Vic with confused eyes. "Wait, I know Connor's his best friend, but why..."
"They are engaged," Kory announced, smiling.
Everyone else looked at her with a shocked look.
"They're.... did someone decide this was 'National Coming Out' year or something?" Gar spluttered.
"You mean Dick and Roy?" Kory asked sweetly, kissing him on the top of his head. "Have the three of you decided it is official yet?" Now Vic spluttered, at a loss for words that Kory would point out what she saw so blatantly so soon.
Raven's jaw fell slightly, "Koriand'r, we've only had Vic back a few days..."
"I see...it would be best to get readjusted to normal life before making such an announcement, I think." She smiled at them all.
Alerts started forwarding to Vic again, fliers and speedsters inbound--amazing how fast they came sometimes.
"I'm glad you're back, Kory," Raven told her, shaking her head at how easily Kory threw everyone into distraction..
"I am very glad to be back!" Kory announced, flying up in an expression of her joy, still holding Raven. She laughed, letting Raven move away from her as she went to greet those coming to see her once more. That it was Donna at the lead was perfect, and the two women embraced with fierce affection.
Raven flew beside her, smiling at Donna when they finally separated, and she looked down to see Wally dropping Dick and Tim off and heading out again. //Why weren't they... oh. Right. Bruce.// Dick had felt more worried about that than he had sounded... but right now whatever was troubling him could wait. So many of them come home... and she had some thoughts of her own on one other... but that she would keep close to her heart for a time. There was no sense in raising hopes only to dash them.
In just a short time, Kyle showed back up with Roy, Mia, Rose, Kon, and his fiance, even though Connor was not a Titan.
"We're going to need more food," Vic said to Gar, shaking his head at everyone that had come back and been dragged in. "A lot. Thank god we're well funded.."
"That's the truth." Gar stared. "We have a huge family."
"Yeah we do... and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Let's go ruin some grocery clerk's day while everyone's too busy hugging on Kory to notice."
*~*~*~*~*
Bruce's phone rang, jingling with Dinah's number, and he swiftly picked up. "Yes, Dinah?"
"I thought you might be amused to know Ollie wound up on Lian duty. Alone. He's called three times in a panic already." Her voice was giggling. "It was a nice soother to how my day started."
"...Who's idea was that?" Bruce wondered, shaking his head. He'd been amused by Wally's quick arrival and equally quick departure when both boy's communicators went off, but the speedster had chattered so fast that he wasn't certain what he'd been talking about as he grabbed them up and took off. "And... what happened to start your day so badly?" He could hear the tension thrumming in her voice.
"Dick whammied me. Asked me to take one more guest, and I said yes." She sighed. "Wasn't expecting the guest to be Rose Wilson...but I have to trust Dick's instincts on this. Then Kyle showed up with Connor, Mia, Roy and the next thing I knew, Kon and Rose were scooped up and they were all gone back to the Tower."
"So that's what he's been up to," Bruce murmured softly, eyes narrowing at the lasting reminder of one of the worst times in his son's life--a time he'd been too distracted to see the full extent of and too late to intervene in. "Wally showed up to steal Dick and Tim away again, just after their comm gear went off. Kyle shouldn't be back so quickly, and with that list... Someone else is back." They were running out of this kind of luck, they simply had to be.
"I know...so I called the Tower myself. A barely not-smiling Raven told me Kory, Animal Man, and Adam Strange are here." Dinah paused. "And if the boys failed to tell you, as Kon said it offhandedly, Garth came back too."
"They told me," Bruce said easily. "Other than my eldest's surprise, how have things been?"
"I miss you." She rolled to her back on her bed, phone tucked by her ear. "And I thought, maybe, just maybe, the next time Oracle does not need me, I'd get Zinda to drop me off."
"I'd like that," Bruce said, a little more swiftly than he liked, even with Dinah. "I.. miss you, too."
She laughed softly. "It's okay, Bruce...I'm not going to let anyone know you might actually be enjoying me and Ollie sharing your life."
"Dinah, that's--" he bit it off.
She laughed, low and musical in his ear. "Bruce...I accept you and your ways. That's enough."
Bruce relaxed slowly, finally hearing what she'd meant instead of what he'd heard. "Thank you, Dinah. I do miss you." //More than you realize...//
"Want me to make you miss me more?" she tempted, her voice falling to a lower pitch, one that promised silk and lace and long sleepless days between them.
"Only if I get to return the favor," his own voice dropped, roughening slightly, matching hers.
He heard her breath catch, before she moaned softly. "Oh, Bruce..."
He smiled, a quick, sharp thing, and spoke to her again, "Yes, Dinah?"
*~*~*~*~
The tall, foreboding man in the deep cowl turned his head toward the smaller, pale girl in chic goth clothes, the wadjet on her eye but one of the symbols of her office. He indicated the heavy tome he carried.
"I know, brother. But I have my marching orders this time." She sighed happily. "Kid Eternity is being very careful, and I'm watching. We're not letting anyone out that doesn't deserve a chance at bliss in life."
A questioning look came on the heels of that, and she shook her head.
"I told you before…when they are nigh immortal, I can't hold them here. Even if he has earned a few trips through Tartarus's worst levels, it's not my duty to chain him there. I don't think he'll like where he wakes up though…."
`~`~`~`~`
Cowriter:
merfillyCharacters: Titans, Arrows, Birds, and lots of guest stars
Rating: PG
Word Count: 7,477
Continuity: HappyVerse
Disclaimer: DC Comics makes the money, people
Notes: It's official... HappyVerse is our refuge from the meaner things in comics--and our one-stop fix-it shop.
Summary: The party's not over... after all, there's a lot of happy news to spread.
Barry was not about to let the matter stew any longer. He had too many unanswered questions. The next morning, about when he expected the heroes of the night to be retiring, he took off, and headed straight for Dinah's given address.
He arrived in time to meet her as she entered the building, having just secured her bike in the garage. She had four runs in her fishnets, and a bruise showing along one cheek already. "Hi there," she said with a smile.
"Hi, Dinah. Have time to talk, or are you headed straight for bed?" She didn't look that tired.
"Come on up. I have to make sure the Dictator got all her notes straight." This smile was far more amused, and grew into a wider one. "It's Flash, silly. Not Arrow. No, he's a gentleman, now hush, and check your notes. I won't appreciate getting awakened at noon because you can't remember if it was five or six kneecaps I dislocated." She turned her focus back to Barry. "Sorry, she gets...snippy."
He had tilted his head quizzically at her speaking to the empty air. "It's all right, but how were you hearing her?" He followed her, letting her lead him through the building.
"Earrings let me receive, the necklace transmits, sound and video, if I choose. Or she gets rude and activates remotely." She led him up the back way, to the apartment above the florist shop he had seen coming in. "So, what brings you by? Jay said you had something planned for later, to make your return more official."
"I do. I'm going to drop by the Flash Museum and let everyone see that I'm back, but before I go play nicely with the reporters for however long it takes, there're some questions I need answers to, and I think you're the woman to talk to, unless you've changed more than I think."
Dinah cocked an eyebrow at him, but set a pot of coffee to brewing. "Sit, we'll talk, and you decide."
Barry sat, with a slight mental sigh at everyone wanting him to sit down. "All right. I spent a good part of yesterday talking to our old team and a few others, and I'm... not happy with some of the things I heard. More than that, one in particular is just not making any sense to me."
Dinah nodded at him, walking out of his range of sight to her room to change. "Keep talking, Barry."
"From talking to Hal and to Clark, I wasn't sure what I'd find when I went to talk to Bruce--let me tell you, those two know how to worry a guy--but when I caught up with him... he didn't seem that different than the man I knew. So why was Clark so convinced he was that different, and what happened between he and Hal that has them about ready to maul each other?"
He heard Dinah sigh softly, then she returned to him, puttering until the coffee was ready, making her words clear in her own mind. "Bruce had a lot of tragedies define him. Including the loss of a Robin. But, the thing with Hal is pretty cut and dry...Hal went evil. Bad enough that Ollie had to be the one to end it." Dinah toyed with her cup. "And then he didn't do such a hot shot keeping the Spectre powers in check, and frankly...much as I love Hal, I see Bruce's side of things, worrying he'll walk that road again." She looked up at him with sad eyes. "Hal's very nature drove him to it, made him cling so hard he broke all the rules to fix something he should not have, and then broke more and more until he had to be stopped."
Barry closed his eyes a moment, thinking that through, and aching at the thought of Ollie being forced to... stop his best friend. "That... explains some things. Bruce never was all that forgiving, and if Hal caused the kind of damage it sounds like you're saying he did... I see why Bruce has no interest in trying to solve things between them... You really think he might turn again? I can't see that of Hal, not the man I knew... But then, it's starting to sound like the whole world's changed maybe more than I can take, when even Bruce and Clark are hardly speaking, when Diana's..." he just shook his head, wishing he hadn't flicked through some of those newspapers... "What happened, Dinah?"
She reached across to take his hands around his coffee cup. "There's been some that said it was because we lost you. Others who saw the Big Seven as getting too far removed from humanity. There was our mistake, Bare...and we only just unraveled that mess." She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Somewhere along the way, whether it was when Big Blue died and came back, or before that, the world stopped being inspired, and it was harder for some to see the little pictures, the ones that make up life. That's my opinion."
Barry shook his head again, but he let her hold on to his hands. "Couldn't have been just me, Dinah... but it sounds like you do need me back. We'll have to see what we can do about some of this mess. Maybe with all of us back, we can send things a little more towards the way they ought to be. There's so much to live for, so much good... maybe what's needed is a few more people pointing it out..."
She nodded at him. "That's what Ollie and me and Bruce are trying to do. We've gone back to our basics, and the two families are spending time together, to take care of the people behind the masks." She straightened, taking her own coffee and sipping it. "That's another thing that went wrong, us not looking out for each other."
"If it wasn't so far in the past I think I'd have words with most of you over that one... we knew better, once. Good to hear you guys are working on it... but I didn't think Bruce and Ollie had stayed that tight? Let alone all of these kids..."
"You knew, about my Boy-o and Dick?" Dinah was not sure that particular subject, and its attendant issues, had ever come up.
"Speedy and Robin? You're right, I did know they were close, now that I think about it a second..."
Dinah nodded. "We almost lost Dick about seven months back. Roy was hurt, same fight. We all wound up at the hospital, and I insisted the boys be roomed together. I think supporting each other helped Ollie and Bruce work past any lingering resentments. And I was already working heavily in both worlds." She gave a small smile, one that hinted at private things. "It just came about we held Thanksgiving at Ollie's which led to Christmas at Bruce's and everyone seems happier."
Barry tilted his head at that, thinking it through, "Almost losing their boys would do that, I guess. Remind both of them of a few things..." He wondered about that smile, quite a bit, but she seemed happy, which was good enough. "Anything else I ought to know about what happened with Bruce while I was gone?"
"He's gotten a lot better, traveling, re-finding himself." Dinah was firm on that, her Gotham accent peeking out of her voice with it. "As for Hal...Ollie'd know better. He's seen more of him than me."
"And I should leave old pain in the past and be glad I didn't see it?" He knew that tone of hers. Had for a long time. "I'll ask Ollie. You two looked happy together. Good to know some things last."
Dinah could not help but laugh. "Bare, I left him. And when he died, I hurt all over again, then gave him another shot when he came back....and wound up leaving him again." She shook her head. "It's...different this time."
"So that's why Jay sounded like that..."
She blushed. "Yes...fresh start."
"Good. You two belong together."
"Not like you and Iris," Dinah was quick to say, her eyes sparkling at him. "Well, Oracle's paging me again, Bare, and if you hurry..." She paused to grin at him. "You can catch Ollie as he hits his door...or near enough."
"All right. See you around, Dinah," Barry said and headed out again.
"Anytime, Barry, anytime," she murmured, settling back with her coffee and big fluffy robe, unwinding from too many goons.
*~*~*~
Barry ran his way across the continent, thankful he'd gotten Ollie's address, and found it easily enough, rapping at the door.
It opened, and there was a young, blond, Asian-mixed heritage man standing there. "Hello?"
"Hi. I'm looking for Ollie, did I find the wrong house somehow?" The jaw and the eyes looked like his old friend...
"My father is...busy. You can come in to wait, while I get him." Connor took in the red suit, the subtle differences, and thought that this might be the Flash Mia had called briefly about to say had come back with his own Flash-friend, Wally.
Barry nodded. "That sounds fine... and I've forgotten my manners. I'm Barry Allen."
"Forgive me," the young man said, bowing slightly. "Connor Hawke."
"My mistake," Barry said with a shake of his head. //Hawke, not Queen? Oliver....//
"Please, sit...and if a small child bounds down here in a bit, I do apologize. I have my niece still." Connor showed the man to the den, before going to get his father.
Barry smiled slightly. He didn't mind the thought of a kid around at all, and settled into yet another chair.
A few moments later it was not a small child but a smiling Ollie who bounded in, stripped out of his over tunic, but not much further. "Barry!"
Barry got up to reach out for a back-slapping hug, "Good to see you again, Ollie."
Ollie was pretty fierce with his hug. "Great to see you. What brings you? Want anything? That boy of mine...Connor, did he introduce himself? Yeah, probably; better manners than me."
"Trying to put puzzle pieces together and not liking some of the shapes," Barry answered, shaking his head at the hyper-ness of his de-aged friend. "Wouldn't mind a glass of water, and yes, Connor introduced himself. Nice kid." //What has you bouncing, Ollie?//
"Come on, I've got a big kitchen, regardless what Alfred said." He led the way to the kitchen and got them both an iced water...in bottles. "I'm all ears for ya."
Barry shook his head again, slightly, and twisted the top off. "Alfred didn't say anything about your kitchen, though I did shock him speechless for a few moments. Not much way around it though. ...I don't like what I'm hearing between Hal and Bruce, I'm worried about both of them."
"That." Ollie frowned. "Yeah, well, much as I love Bruce and I love Hal, the two of them are the most...insufferable, stubborn things outside of Dinah."
"I did know that," Barry nodded. "Clark hinted, Dinah hinted, but... what went wrong with Hal?...if you can tell me."
Ollie took in a deep breath. "Clark got killed...or so we all thought. And these four imposters showed up...two of which were great additions, and two of which...evil as sons of bitches get. And they took out Coast City."
"Oh, my Lord," was honestly all Barry could say. He knew how much Hal loved his city.
"That was the beginning...Hal wanted to use that power, begged the little blue guys....to right this one wrong." Ollie clenched his fist. "They said no."
"Hal never did take 'no' well..."
Ollie nodded at that. "They told him come back to Oa...and he did. Took out half the Corps, getting there. Things got real nasty, and then there was Parallax, not Hal. He tried to rewrite the universe, the very timeline, to 'fix' things according to his thoughts of how it should be."
"'Parallax'?" The thought of Hal 'taking out' his friends and allies sent a shudder up Barry's spine.
This caused the archer to screw up his face. "Supposedly, there was this creature, as old as the corps, that had infected the ring...it exploited Hal, had been exploiting his fears for years, causing the white in his hair...a lot of stuff. And it was Hal, but it wasn't, you know?"
"It had a hold of him, huh? Twisting him up inside?"
"Yeah...but Hal was still there, they found out later." Ollie had let Dinah tell him that story many times, finding comfort in his friend dying a good death. "It came down to a big battle, and he killed Batgirl, one of the oddities of the emerging timelines. It was...it was hard, but my Hal would have demanded it."
Barry shook his head hard. "Try that again?"
Ollie shook his head. "It was hard." He thought about it. "One arrow, one shot, center of the chest. When the world finished sorting itself, we had things happen, things that didn't always match our memories."
"Hypertime," Barry said softly, finally placing that in the right point of time. "Everything from... I follow you now." //And I know why your memories don't always mesh.// That mess made even his head hurt, and running through the latest Crisis had not helped with that at all. He laid a hand on Ollie's shoulder, offering the support he hadn't been there to give.
Ollie gave a little shake. "Now, let me tell you why Hal gets pissy about Bruce holding it against him. Not only was he being possessed when he did most of this, but...he saved our solar system. From a suneater. I was dead... for most of this. Kyle...Connor's fiance, and the Lantern at the time, went and found Hal, who had not died."
"...'fiance'?" Of all the things to get caught up on... "Never mind. Go on."
"Well, Hal argued...or Parallax did, but eventually Hal came back. He stopped the Suneater...saved the whole damn solar system. You know Earth with like 6 billion people. And Saturn...J'onn says there are two moons out there inhabited by his people's offshoots." Ollie shook his head. "Doesn't count enough in Bruce's books that Hal managed to fight it all off and do the right thing." Ollie laughed softly. "Maybe it was that selfish bit where Hal jerked me, ten years earlier out of a time stream, to bring me back, just before he left to win the day."
"If I thought you believed that," Barry said, narrow-eyed, but let it slide into nothing. "I... may have to have another chat with Bruce about that. It sure sounds to me like Hal turned it around..." //Bruce, some days...//
Ollie shook his head. "It's gone so far now...they both have decked each other, and they work together just fine. It's ...other times they can't seem to move on."
"Always were so prone to settling things with their fists," Barry muttered. "And all three of you have given me that 'work together just fine' line. We were more than that."
Ollie nodded. "Me and Di and Bruce...starting small. Working on our families." Ollie took a deep breath, but the pride was there, at what they had done so far. "I think Di's got ideas, and I know Hal does, for when things get more settled."
"Hal definitely has ideas. I think I heard most of them yesterday," Barry agreed. "Not sure about Dinah, but probably so."
Ollie snorted. "She plays her cards close to her chest now," he said. "That Oracle girl's fault."
"I hear a lot about her, but I don't know who she is," Barry replied, driven to shaking his head again at the idea of Dinah having learned subtlety.
"Not my secret," Ollie said. "Not Dinah's either...I found out more or less by deduction, once I started dealing with Bruce again."
"All right. I won't push."
"She's a good kid, though...just a bit too Bat." Ollie shook his head. "Maybe between the two of us, we'll be able to fix Hal and Bruce's friendship."
"Just might," Barry agreed cheerfully. "And on the topic of the other one involved, now that I know about Hal... What will you tell me?"
"Bruce?" Ollie looked skeptical...but something flashed through his voice and eye. "He's rewalking the path that made Bruce Wayne into Batman...and dragging his two boys with him."
"I know what he's doing now," Barry replied. "What I'm asking about is what I missed. What happened that it hurts Clark to mention him." He hadn't missed the grief and guilt in Superman's words and the look on his face.
Ollie grimaced. Clark was not always high on his list of people. He respected the man, thought he served a purpose, just did not see eye to eye on certain key things. "The last Crisis...it hurt a lot of people, but the so-called Trinity was hard shaken....Clark almost killed Bruce, Diana killed to free Clark, and to protect the world from Clark....and Bruce said or did something that cut Clark to the core."
"He always was good at that, if he thought it needed to happen..." Barry shook his head. "Is there anyone that hasn't tried to rip each other to tiny pieces while I was gone?"
Ollie appeared to give that serious thought. "No one argues with my Connor. And apparently my Mia is a born negotiator." He grinned at Barry. "There have been good times."
"That's good to hear." //If a little hard to believe, given everything else...//
"Trust me, Bare...I've screwed up enough to know the good times."
"Wish you didn't have to say it, but I'll believe you. How about you tell me about some of those, and your kids while you're at it."
Ollie grinned crazily. "Let me tell you about my kids, starting with the oldest...Roy's come so far since you were around last..." He started in on the various things in his life he was proudest of, especially his children and granddaughter.
Barry sat back and listened with a smile. It was good to hear pleasant things of the time he was gone, instead of all the bad.
Ollie made note of that, and made himself a promise to get the others to do that too. Barry needed to see more than the horrors, or he was going to regret giving up the afterlife; Ollie had felt that way at first too, until the minute he laid eyes on Connor after his soul filled the body.
*~*~*~
Kyle lit lightly and headed in, intending to find Kilowog and find out who he owed a shift or three to. Kilowog was in the middle of dressing down two raw recruits, once he finally found him, and Kyle decided to lean against the wall and listen. Learning a few new insults never hurt, and he might need them sometime.
Kilowog finished, and turned to Kyle with a grin. "Hey Poozer," he said.
"Hey, Kilowog. So, who do I owe, and did Guy ever calm down?"
"Aww, Gardner's fine. We had fun patrolling your shifts..."
"So which corner of the galaxy am I getting sent to to make up for it?"
Kilowog looked around, then pulled Kyle under an arm. "You're going there. The little blue guys agree you are probably strong enough to handle the random energies where the anomaly was...we're letting you lead a team to look there for the ones still missing."
Kyle started to laugh softly, shaking his head, "Damn. Now he's adding precognition to the list? Poor Roy..."
"Wha?" Kilowog looked confused.
Kyle kept laughing at that look, leaning against him, "Oh, nothing... Just Nightwing. He told me to kiss Kory for him when I found her, and I'm getting sent straight there..."
The big pink alien shook his head. "Hal asked me to wrangle it for you," he whispered conspiratorially. "He's got some range on his ring, when it comes to talking."
"How the-- did he know?! ...Ollie Queen, I swear..."
Kilowog laughed. "Just don't ever say he started it...the little guys like telling him no just to see what he'll do, it seems like."
"Do they not remember how that ended the last time?"
"Think that's the point...to see if he's under control now...his temper."
Kyle growled softly, shaking his head. "If it backfires someone else gets to try and talk sanity into him this time." //And if it hurts Ollie that badly again I am going to do some talking of my own with the little blue guys. They owe me one anyway.//
Kilowog nodded. "Go pick your team, and get going, will ya?"
"Yeah. I'm gone. Got a girl to go find for her ex, after all..." He went to go see who he could round up and head out with.
*~*~*~*~*
He did not do more than have Jay call the press, asking the various services to send a reporter to the Museum. He then waited for the time he had chosen, Jay at his side, and made an entrance.
Two red blurs, and then in front of all the rookie reporters and society beat columnists that had been roped into the unknown revelation, there was the current Flash, their beloved elder statesman to the hero community, and a man thought dead for so long.
"All of you know Barry Allen from his statue over there," Jay said. "I'm getting old, and it seems the holidays have provided us with a miracle to help our cities."
"I'm…honored to find what you did for my legacy," Barry told the assembled press. "Now, I'm going to live up to it, as your Flash once more."
After that, it was a raucous question and answer session as the various low-end reporters saw this as the move of a career. To one side, a quiet, mild mannered reporter just smiled at Barry's man of the people approach.
`~`~`~`~`
"Very relaxed, very happy," was Kilowog's answer to Guy's inquiry about Kyle.
"What?!" Guy shook his head. "Man looses a woman like Jade, and half a year later, he's happy?"
"He was wearing a ring, on that finger you pretend you don't," Kilowog added, amused by the way Guy and Fire refused to admit to anyone what they had done.
"Shut up, man." Guy was not going to get into that, even as he hoped and prayed that Fire had not gotten... he shook his head; she would kill him if she had. "Kyle got married? Or engaged?"
"That's what you said rings on that finger mean."
"Man, I need to talk to Pee Gee, see what she's heard."
`~`~`~`~`
Dinah opened the door to see not one, but two young people on her doorstep....and one of them was completely unexpected.
"Black Canary?" Rose appraised the woman with an eye that spoke of knowing certain things. "Dick said he called ahead."
"He just asked if I had room for a guest with Kon...must not have wanted to say your name over unsecure lines," Dinah managed, keeping her composure for the most part.
"Hey, Di," Kon said, sliding past her. "Smart of him, and so where are you going to put her?"
Dinah ruffled his hair in passing. "She can have the other guest room." She held her hand out for Rose's bag. "You're going to need more clothes, honey." She kept any and all worry about having Rose in her home locked away.
Rose smiled at that. "Dick got me a credit card, as long as I help out," she said, exhibiting at least some teenaged girlishness.
Kon nodded. "Rose, hungry?" He was, as usual, but he had manners. "You, Di?"
"Going to cook for us?" Dinah asked, amused. "I could stand to eat."
"Sure Kon." Rose gave him a flirty smile.
"I was going to see what you had stuffed in your fridge, first, before I tried cooking, but sure, I can give it a shot..."
Dinah rolled her eyes. "Call for take out, and I'll get Rose settled in."
Rose followed her new guardian to a room that had the basic furniture and a few pictures on the wall.
"You can do anything you want to the room except use the furniture to test your swords. I have a space I'm slowly converting to a work out room, and would not mind some help with it," Dinah said.
"Sure Di," Kon replied. Rose was just going to have to deal with Chinese, he had a craving for sweet and sour chicken and by now he knew what Di was likely to want. But guessing for Rose... nope. He turned and followed with the phone in one hand and the menu in the other. "Hey, Rose. It's Chinese unless you both yell at me, but what would you like?"
"I'll take the house special," Rose told him, having learned in Gotham it was best to let the cooks decide. She turned back to her room and said in a very low voice. "Why?"
Dinah did not need clarification. "One, Dick asked me to. Two, I believe in second chances."
Kon nodded and went to go order, swearing to himself yet again that one of these days he was going to learn Chinese--or at least enough to order food in and understand what they were saying. It felt... weird not to be with Tim, after the last week and a half... but he was on his way to god knew where with Nightwing--with Dick--to talk to Batman and keep up this world tour thing Tim'd told him about, so... It was still weird.
"If I ask if you have another reason you prefer not to admit, will you be mad?" Rose asked impudently.
Dinah sighed. "I feel an obligation to a man I knew once," she answered carefully. "A man I have not seen in some time."
Rose nodded at that answer. "Fair enough."
Kon was trying not to listen, and prowling around the living room restlessly. Finally he decided to go camp in the greenhouse again until the food got here.
*~*~*~*
Kyle found the energies of this region of space still very much in chaotic states. He spent nearly as much time shielding his team as he did searching. The more he did, the more he was certain his ring was very different from theirs, as if the power was coming from a secondary source. It was a mystery he had to accept for now, as he tried hard to find the woman his soon to be brother in law had once dated.
Scanning every random rock with an atmosphere was getting really, really old, though. He knew it was necessary, but... //Kory where the hell are y--// "Lifesigns," he suddenly snapped to the rest of the team and twisted to go down, breaking the atmosphere and hovering, asking the ring to tell him where to search. The team had this down to routine by now and fanned out... But he was the first to see the gleam of metal that didn't belong on this ball of rock, and he went that way fast. It was someone of theirs, no matter what...
"Hello, the ship!" he yelled from a few feet up and out, waiting for someone to pay attention.
Kory lounged indolently on the bed she had made herself from fragrant blooms, eating another piece of fruit. She heard the voice and lazily floated up, investigating. When she saw six green shielded forms, and then recognized the one nearest, the person who had spoken, she let out a load cry of joy, causing her two companions to emerge from inside the ship.
"Green Lantern!" Kory flew to him in delight. "We are finally rescued?"
"That's the intent," he replied with a smile. "Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked the ring to scan her, just to be sure... he didn't intend to touch her until he was sure she was all right. He looked down, seeing the other two, and nodded sharply, glad to have found more of them.
"We are well, Lantern." She slowly descended, and he saw both Animal Man and Adam Strange...except Adam had a rag wrapped around his eyes.
"Nice to see the cavalry arrive...what's it been? Six, seven months?" Animal Man asked, thinking of his family.
"Sorry it took so long, and just about that, yeah." The ring finally told him she was fine, and he reached out. "A couple of people sent you something, Kory," and he pulled her close enough to kiss her, relatively chastely. "That's from 'Wing," and he kissed her again. "And that's from Arsenal."
She reached up, touching her lips. "Oh," she breathed, thinking of home, the two men she had watched dance around eternal issues, one of whom had graced her life with so much love. "I cannot wait to see them." She smiled, as the other Lanterns made the two men comfortable, and they headed back toward Oa.
"They're worried," he agreed with what she hadn't said, then settled in to the flight. "But... he's smiling again, Kory." There were worse ways to pass the time in flight than gossiping with a beautiful woman, though he remained alert to the shifting currents, ready to guard them.
"They are...happy together, I hope." Kory had known Dick would not be her eternity, even as she had kept him as long as she had been able to.
Kyle shot a sharp look at her, "Now, how'd you get that out of what I said?"
"Because only Roy Harper makes Dick truly smile," Kory said logically. "As you had mentioned them both for the kisses, it seemed true."
"True enough. ..and yeah. They're happy. Or at least they seem to be--been years since I saw either one of them that happy... oh, God, Kory. There's so much to catch you up on..."
"Tell me all, then," she encouraged. "I like to hear of my friends."
"I've been away a lot, but..." and he launched into telling her what she'd missed, though he ached to tell her some of it--and when it came to Kon's story he broke the flow to reassure her that he was back safely.
She listened avidly, letting the tragedies fall away in the light of the hope he brought, by speaking of happy times. They were most of the way to Oa before he was finally done telling her everything important. "Did you ever meet Roy's brother, Connor?"
"Yes." Kory had liked the cut of Connor's quiet warrior spirit.
He grinned, just a little foolishly, "Good... he and I... if Ollie manages what he's trying, we're getting married next fall--it's a running joke that we ought to make it a double wedding, but Dick..."
"Dick will not risk his friends and loved ones to another wedding ritual," Kory said, amused. "Congratulations are in order."
Kyle grinned again, "Pretty much... and thank you."
She kissed his cheek then. "You're a cute one." She kept any sadness she felt away; Jade had loved this man, and Kory would have felt kindly toward him just for that. Donna having also loved him raised him a few more notches in her book.
Kyle eyed her, shaking his head. "If you say so," as they reached Oa and lit. There were better doctors here to tend to whatever was wrong with Adam, and several people would be glad to see them safe.
Kory would endure the layover, but like Animal Man, she was more than eager to be home, and would prevail on the Oans to send them directly to Earth, rather than force them to travel the traditional ways back. She knew the Oans were capable of shortening the travel time to practically nothing, and she was in no mood to e patient on that.
Kyle could practically feel her impatience, and didn't envy anyone that got caught up in it.
*~*~*~*~*
Jay sat with Alfred, a cup of cocoa in his hand, eye swollen shut.
"Just missed them, huh?"
It had a been a few weeks since his last visit, when he had showed up right after the Thanksgiving holiday, looking for company and the kind of food he knew Alfred could cook up. Alfred had worried that Leslie's presence that night had made the young man skittish about coming around; he was not comfortable with the pacifistic doctor.
"Do not worry, Master Jason. Your efforts will not go unappreciated," Alfred reassured him. "If you would leave me a number this time..."
"Yeah, Alfie... good idea. The sooner we get this over with, the better." He scribbled a number down, one with a cell phone prefix, on his napkin. "You think me and him?"
"He'll be quite pleased."
`~`~`~`~`
Diana watched from her place high on the hill as Cassie and Ione cavorted in the surf. She had noted the lightness growing in her youngest sister the more the two grew close. Any thoughts she had of the inappropriateness were put aside, the minute Cassie had come back from Titan's Tower and sought Ione out. Whatever events had happened, as Donna had arrived and left again almost instantly, had done something to make Cassie truly open up to the Amazon seeking her heart.
All Diana wanted was for the remnants of the Amazons to be happy, even as she hoped that one day, Artemis would be able to bring the rest of the Tribes back to this realm.
`~`~`~`~`
Jay ran up to the construction site, full of energy and life as he joined Sand.
"We saw the news, and Jesse had tons to say about her New Years," the quiet man said. "Glad to have them back?"
"Very." He staggered as Wildcat clapped him on his back.
"It will be finished in the month... are we going to do this?" the boxer asked with a trace of unhappiness.
"Ted... of course we are. No League, no JSA, no effective Titans... we can't let that continue," Jay said. "Besides, we can't let Dinah keep trying to fix the world quietly, or that Lantern boy with so much recklessness, alone."
Wildcat sighed at the mention of his goddaughter. "She's something, ain't she?"
Jay squeezed his arm. "Just call her, you big goon. She's not one to stay upset so long. And Alan said she was fine with him after Christmas. She's just... I think she's tired of being told she's making mistakes."
"You're right... but I won't call her." The big man looked toward Metropolis. "As soon as I can, I'll camp on her door til she sees me."
Jay shook his head, laughing. "Your girlfriend might get lonely; our Dinah is a busy woman."
"Who needs to come home to us," Sand said firmly. "When the museum reopens, and we announce we're going active, I want her on the team."
"What about Pieter?" both elders asked in the same breath.
"He suggested it." Sand shrugged. "Since he's seeing someone currently, I have faith in their ability to work together."
"Then we'll try to convince her," Jay assured him.
`~`~`~`~`
"Incoming extraterrestrial teleportation," the Tower informed Cyborg. The Tower was quiet again, down to the handful of members who lived there.
That got Raven's attention and she moved towards him, head tilting worriedly. Gar, of course, wasn't far away either, and his fur bristled a moment. "If this is trouble..."
"Four life forms detected," the Tower added. "Two Titan presences confirmed," it told them.
Raven's eyes widened, and she turned to head outside without another word, moving quickly, but Gar got ahead of her. There weren't that many Titans that hadn't been earthside... //Please. Please.//
"Raven!" came from the statuesque redhead standing just outside the Tower.
"STAR!" Beast Boy phased through five different forms before he reached her, followed closely by Cyborg and Raven. Animal Man kept a hand on Adam's elbow and stood back, while Kyle just watched in amusement and happiness. The Oans had sent him back to Earth, officially giving him the sector alongside Hal.
Raven realized she was using up her hugs for the next year or so, but she was so glad to see her sister safe that she couldn't help reaching out and pulling her close. "Kory..." she said softly, head against her much taller friend's chest, arms tight around her. "You're home."
Kory enfolded Raven close, letting the two males hug around them as she shielded Raven to her body, actually trying to rein in her own emotions to be less overwhelming. "I did. Kyle found us, and now we are home."
"Yay! Kyle, my man, you did it!" Beast Boy bounced over to hug the Lantern as well, then went straight back to his Goldy.
Kyle smiled at the quick hug. "Yeah...gonna take the other two on, Star. Be seeing you." He formed a construct to do just that.
Raven just held her tight. "Oh, Kory, there is so much you have missed... Garth will be miserable he missed you. Vic, call the others before they hear from someone else..." She felt Kyle leaving, but it hardly registered.
"On it, Rae," Vic said, keeping a light hand on her and his other on the small of Gar's back.
"Kyle told me everything he knew, from after I left Earth."
"Oh man....KYLE!" Vic yelled after the Lantern, getting his attention. "Wally's back!"
The flicker through of incredulity on the construct made Animal Man nervous, but Kyle grinned. "Hot....man, that is the best news!"
"Good," Raven nodded--"But he only told you what he knew... we have so many of our own back, since New Years... Wally, as Vic just said, and Bart, back to his old self... and Barry, and I mentioned Garth..."
Gar leaned back into Vic's hand, grinning like an idiot. "Ain't it though, Kyle?"
"And now you're back, too..." Raven was honestly smiling.
"Let me get these guys home, then I'm sure Connor can fill me in! I have news for him, but you should know! This is my sector now!" Kyle was ecstatic.
"Yes!" Vic did the victory pump in the air, then grinned. "Go on; we'll expect you to come by soon, though. Got big plans."
"Yes, we do," Raven nodded, finally managing to control her expression, and shifting slightly back from Kory... but only slightly.
Gar had echoed Vic's "Yes!" bouncing into the air as if his legs had springs, then settled down, still practically buzzing with energy about what they had planned, then he looked at Vic with confused eyes. "Wait, I know Connor's his best friend, but why..."
"They are engaged," Kory announced, smiling.
Everyone else looked at her with a shocked look.
"They're.... did someone decide this was 'National Coming Out' year or something?" Gar spluttered.
"You mean Dick and Roy?" Kory asked sweetly, kissing him on the top of his head. "Have the three of you decided it is official yet?" Now Vic spluttered, at a loss for words that Kory would point out what she saw so blatantly so soon.
Raven's jaw fell slightly, "Koriand'r, we've only had Vic back a few days..."
"I see...it would be best to get readjusted to normal life before making such an announcement, I think." She smiled at them all.
Alerts started forwarding to Vic again, fliers and speedsters inbound--amazing how fast they came sometimes.
"I'm glad you're back, Kory," Raven told her, shaking her head at how easily Kory threw everyone into distraction..
"I am very glad to be back!" Kory announced, flying up in an expression of her joy, still holding Raven. She laughed, letting Raven move away from her as she went to greet those coming to see her once more. That it was Donna at the lead was perfect, and the two women embraced with fierce affection.
Raven flew beside her, smiling at Donna when they finally separated, and she looked down to see Wally dropping Dick and Tim off and heading out again. //Why weren't they... oh. Right. Bruce.// Dick had felt more worried about that than he had sounded... but right now whatever was troubling him could wait. So many of them come home... and she had some thoughts of her own on one other... but that she would keep close to her heart for a time. There was no sense in raising hopes only to dash them.
In just a short time, Kyle showed back up with Roy, Mia, Rose, Kon, and his fiance, even though Connor was not a Titan.
"We're going to need more food," Vic said to Gar, shaking his head at everyone that had come back and been dragged in. "A lot. Thank god we're well funded.."
"That's the truth." Gar stared. "We have a huge family."
"Yeah we do... and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Let's go ruin some grocery clerk's day while everyone's too busy hugging on Kory to notice."
*~*~*~*~*
Bruce's phone rang, jingling with Dinah's number, and he swiftly picked up. "Yes, Dinah?"
"I thought you might be amused to know Ollie wound up on Lian duty. Alone. He's called three times in a panic already." Her voice was giggling. "It was a nice soother to how my day started."
"...Who's idea was that?" Bruce wondered, shaking his head. He'd been amused by Wally's quick arrival and equally quick departure when both boy's communicators went off, but the speedster had chattered so fast that he wasn't certain what he'd been talking about as he grabbed them up and took off. "And... what happened to start your day so badly?" He could hear the tension thrumming in her voice.
"Dick whammied me. Asked me to take one more guest, and I said yes." She sighed. "Wasn't expecting the guest to be Rose Wilson...but I have to trust Dick's instincts on this. Then Kyle showed up with Connor, Mia, Roy and the next thing I knew, Kon and Rose were scooped up and they were all gone back to the Tower."
"So that's what he's been up to," Bruce murmured softly, eyes narrowing at the lasting reminder of one of the worst times in his son's life--a time he'd been too distracted to see the full extent of and too late to intervene in. "Wally showed up to steal Dick and Tim away again, just after their comm gear went off. Kyle shouldn't be back so quickly, and with that list... Someone else is back." They were running out of this kind of luck, they simply had to be.
"I know...so I called the Tower myself. A barely not-smiling Raven told me Kory, Animal Man, and Adam Strange are here." Dinah paused. "And if the boys failed to tell you, as Kon said it offhandedly, Garth came back too."
"They told me," Bruce said easily. "Other than my eldest's surprise, how have things been?"
"I miss you." She rolled to her back on her bed, phone tucked by her ear. "And I thought, maybe, just maybe, the next time Oracle does not need me, I'd get Zinda to drop me off."
"I'd like that," Bruce said, a little more swiftly than he liked, even with Dinah. "I.. miss you, too."
She laughed softly. "It's okay, Bruce...I'm not going to let anyone know you might actually be enjoying me and Ollie sharing your life."
"Dinah, that's--" he bit it off.
She laughed, low and musical in his ear. "Bruce...I accept you and your ways. That's enough."
Bruce relaxed slowly, finally hearing what she'd meant instead of what he'd heard. "Thank you, Dinah. I do miss you." //More than you realize...//
"Want me to make you miss me more?" she tempted, her voice falling to a lower pitch, one that promised silk and lace and long sleepless days between them.
"Only if I get to return the favor," his own voice dropped, roughening slightly, matching hers.
He heard her breath catch, before she moaned softly. "Oh, Bruce..."
He smiled, a quick, sharp thing, and spoke to her again, "Yes, Dinah?"
*~*~*~*~
The tall, foreboding man in the deep cowl turned his head toward the smaller, pale girl in chic goth clothes, the wadjet on her eye but one of the symbols of her office. He indicated the heavy tome he carried.
"I know, brother. But I have my marching orders this time." She sighed happily. "Kid Eternity is being very careful, and I'm watching. We're not letting anyone out that doesn't deserve a chance at bliss in life."
A questioning look came on the heels of that, and she shook her head.
"I told you before…when they are nigh immortal, I can't hold them here. Even if he has earned a few trips through Tartarus's worst levels, it's not my duty to chain him there. I don't think he'll like where he wakes up though…."
`~`~`~`~`
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 08:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 08:01 am (UTC)Lots of YAH! indeed.
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Date: 2006-12-02 06:17 pm (UTC)And thanks for the help on Jason. BEtween Yena sharing that and Alfred agreeing, I found a Jason in my head, clearing his throat, going "Now, lady, fix it!"
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Date: 2006-12-04 08:01 pm (UTC)Now more coherent *grin*
Date: 2006-12-03 07:07 am (UTC)*giggle* That’s an awesome nickname for Babs.
He had tilted his head quizzically at her speaking to the empty air.
Still endlessly amused by that.
Barry sat, with a slight mental sigh at everyone wanting him to sit down.
Barry, surprisng as it is to a speedster, who’s idea of a polite conversation is probably keeping it down to mach 1, sitting down is how the rest of us conduct our conversations.
Let alone all of these kids..."
Sometime I think the kids are the only thing that’s kept the DC universe together.
own Flash-friend, Wally.
Just an awesome bit.
A few moments later it was not a small child but a smiling Ollie who bounded in,
*eyebrow lift* there’s a difference?
//What has you bouncing, Ollie?//
Lessee, spending the new years with his Pretty Bird, having an awesome boyfriend, his family is happy, do I need to continue? Oh yeah, and a dead friend is back from the dead if I didn’t mention it. Some guy, runs around in red pajamas a lot.
"Maybe it was that selfish bit where Hal jerked me, ten years earlier out of a time stream, to bring me back, just before he left to win the day."
Nah, that’s the only thing that’s got Bruce giving him as much a chance as he has so far. The thing he’s not forgiving is that Hal expects that to make up for trying to end it in the first place. One right and wrong do not cancel each other out.
Ollie appeared to give that serious thought.
If you have to think about that, that’s not a good sign Ollie.
"No one argues with my Connor. And apparently my Mia is a born negotiator."
That’s because he won’t argue back, which totally takes the fun out of it. And Mia has to be a negotiator, she’s got two stubborn older brothers, and rather hot tempered quick-tongued father.
"He's got some range on his ring, when it comes to talking."
*grin* I’m pretty sure he could stand in his backyard and yell and you’d hear it, if he decided he wanted to be heard, he just doesn’t ‘cause that’d give Superman a headache.
//And if it hurts Ollie that badly again I am going to do some talking of my own with the little blue guys. They owe me one anyway.//
Again, I’m probably being mildly sadistic, but I think that would be really interesting to watch.
To one side, a quiet, mild mannered reporter just smiled at Barry's man of the people approach.
I just have the best image of reporter!Clark standing there, mentally composing another Pullitzer.
"You can do anything you want to the room except use the furniture to test your swords.
House rules in a superhero house are certainly different. Most people would be worried about yucky posters, or stickers on the door.
"I feel an obligation to a man I knew once," she answered carefully. "A man I have not seen in some time."
Yeah, he is coming back right?
"Because only Roy Harper makes Dick truly smile," Kory said logically.
Good call Kory.
Re: Now more coherent *grin*
Date: 2006-12-03 07:45 am (UTC)Filly's so great.
"He had tilted his head quizzically at her speaking to the empty air.
Still endlessly amused by that.
It is quite funny, especially to a man who died that long ago (stupid DC stupid compressed timeline BS...)
Barry, surprisng as it is to a speedster, who’s idea of a polite conversation is probably keeping it down to mach 1, sitting down is how the rest of us conduct our conversations.
Or walking. Barry is grateful to Bruce for the walking. At least it was movement.
Sometime I think the kids are the only thing that’s kept the DC universe together.
Of course they are.
"own Flash-friend, Wally."
Just an awesome bit.
If it's Connor, It's Filly. Who rules.
*eyebrow lift* there’s a difference?
Bruce (and probably Dinah) say YES! loudly.
Lessee, spending the new years with his Pretty Bird, having an awesome boyfriend, his family is happy, do I need to continue? Oh yeah, and a dead friend is back from the dead if I didn’t mention it. Some guy, runs around in red pajamas a lot.
Yeah. He's pretty high on life right now. *cuddles the hyper Ollie*
Nah, that’s the only thing that’s got Bruce giving him as much a chance as he has so far. The thing he’s not forgiving is that Hal expects that to make up for trying to end it in the first place. One right and wrong do not cancel each other out.
*nod* Yes. That's Bruce's reasoning, basically.
If you have to think about that, that’s not a good sign Ollie.
It's very much not a good sign... but isn't it true? They've all hurt each other so badly...
That’s because he won’t argue back, which totally takes the fun out of it. And Mia has to be a negotiator, she’s got two stubborn older brothers, and rather hot tempered quick-tongued father.
*chuckle* How very true. How absolutely true. Connor won't and Mia has to be.
*grin* I’m pretty sure he could stand in his backyard and yell and you’d hear it, if he decided he wanted to be heard, he just doesn’t ‘cause that’d give Superman a headache.
*laugh* Yeah, he just might manage that...
Again, I’m probably being mildly sadistic, but I think that would be really interesting to watch.
Kyle angry is not something you want to see.
I just have the best image of reporter!Clark standing there, mentally composing another Pullitzer.
*G* I dunno if it's that great a story (material-wise) but it's certainly lovely prose, I'm sure.
House rules in a superhero house are certainly different. Most people would be worried about yucky posters, or stickers on the door.
We die laughing, and not frantically.
Yeah, he is coming back right?
You make both of us so happy.
Good call Kory.
She just says it's obvious.
Re: Now more coherent *grin*
Date: 2006-12-04 01:10 am (UTC)Dinah certainly thinks it is appropriate.
Still endlessly amused by that.
I worship Chuck Dixon for giving me that...he does it so well in his writing of her, as easily witnessed in the current Rush City
Barry, surprisng as it is to a speedster, who’s idea of a polite conversation is probably keeping it down to mach 1, sitting down is how the rest of us conduct our conversations.
From what I remember, Barry is the more relaxed of the younger speedsters for dealing with life at slow speed, but there is a limit even for him. And Yena captured that feel perfectly.
Sometime I think the kids are the only thing that’s kept the DC universe together.
Agreed.
Just an awesome bit.
I had an image of heroes who were complete strangers identifying their eras by who was the speedster for them....
*eyebrow lift* there’s a difference?
Not by far, quite a lot of the time. Much as I love the mature Ollie developing in comics (minus several not right bits) I do wish they'd remember he drinks life in big gulps.
Lessee, spending the new years with his Pretty Bird, having an awesome boyfriend, his family is happy, do I need to continue? Oh yeah, and a dead friend is back from the dead if I didn’t mention it. Some guy, runs around in red pajamas a lot.
*g* Love that summation. Ollie high on life is a bit overwhelming though
Nah, that’s the only thing that’s got Bruce giving him as much a chance as he has so far. The thing he’s not forgiving is that Hal expects that to make up for trying to end it in the first place. One right and wrong do not cancel each other out.
Hal's problem is that Bats doesn't seem convinced he's trying to atone....
If you have to think about that, that’s not a good sign Ollie.
Nope.
That’s because he won’t argue back, which totally takes the fun out of it. And Mia has to be a negotiator, she’s got two stubborn older brothers, and rather hot tempered quick-tongued father.
Who you calling hot-tempered? :-)
*grin* I’m pretty sure he could stand in his backyard and yell and you’d hear it, if he decided he wanted to be heard, he just doesn’t ‘cause that’d give Superman a headache.
Funny, Hal always got along with Supes so much better than Ollie did....
Again, I’m probably being mildly sadistic, but I think that would be really interesting to watch.
*shudders, remembering speech to Superman about splitting atoms*
I just have the best image of reporter!Clark standing there, mentally composing another Pullitzer.
hehehehe....he's just trying hard not to show the world how ecstatic he is to have Barry back.
House rules in a superhero house are certainly different. Most people would be worried about yucky posters, or stickers on the door.
Well, having three people under one roof that have gone evil does that.
Yeah, he is coming back right?
*nudges toward the Endless part*
Good call Kory.
I love using Kory to point out things like that. She's so fun to write.
though not by much though
Date: 2006-12-03 07:08 am (UTC)*cheshire cat grin* Hey boyo. Good to see ya.
It had a been a few weeks since his last visit, when he had showed up right after the Thanksgiving holiday, looking for company and the kind of food he knew Alfred could cook up
Alfred’s cooking, gets them every time. And Alfred’s wisdom comes free of charge.
"You're right... but I won't call her." The big man looked toward Metropolis. "As soon as I can, I'll camp on her door til she sees me."
That… might not be the best idea. Considering her housemates, if they decide they don’t like you, you could get flying lessons for free.
The Oans had sent him back to Earth, officially giving him the sector alongside Hal.
Good, it’ll be harder to plan the wedding if he’s out on Oa and it isn’t right to leave Connor to the details when you’re the artist.
Ahhh, so wonderful. Raven and Kory are such good sisters together.
Now Vic spluttered, at a loss for words that Kory would point out what she saw so blatantly so soon.
Uh, she’s only been gone for six months, if you’ve forgotten her skills in tact in that long, maybe you need to do some rewiring. Her tact is only matched by Rose.
"I thought you might be amused to know Ollie wound up on Lian duty. Alone. He's called three times in a panic already."
Oh, poor Ollie. Having to babysit without advanced notice.
Ollie is in so much trouble when they meet up again.
Which will be soon I hope? Great addition, loved so much.
Re: though not by much though
Date: 2006-12-03 07:56 am (UTC)It's entirely your failt, you know. We didn't have a clue how.
Alfred’s cooking, gets them every time. And Alfred’s wisdom comes free of charge.
*G* Yup. And also Yup.
That… might not be the best idea. Considering her housemates, if they decide they don’t like you, you could get flying lessons for free.
Ummm.... yeah... Bother Dinah, get slammed by the telekinietic tank and the superstrong girl with the wicked fast blades... Not so smart. But very Ted.
Good, it’ll be harder to plan the wedding if he’s out on Oa and it isn’t right to leave Connor to the details when you’re the artist.
We giggle lots. Yes, yes we do. And Kyle says he's a media artist, not a wedding planner, and that's what professionals are for!
Ahhh, so wonderful. Raven and Kory are such good sisters together.
They... yes. They are.
Uh, she’s only been gone for six months, if you’ve forgotten her skills in tact in that long, maybe you need to do some rewiring. Her tact is only matched by Rose.
*snickerflailgiggle* Yeah. Pretty much. Vic says he didn't expect her to notice that quick and that damnit there's nothing going on!
Oh, poor Ollie. Having to babysit without advanced notice.
Babysit ALONE, without someone else to play backup, and with Lian-the-awesomely-talented Harper-mischevious? Heck, yes.
Ollie is in so much trouble when they meet up again.
Who says he isn't recieving some of these calls, too?
Which will be soon I hope? Great addition, loved so much.
*G* thanks! you saw the smut, right?
Re: though not by much though
Date: 2006-12-04 01:17 am (UTC)Thank you again...and Yena has the logic worked out too, so much happy to have that settled.
Alfred’s cooking, gets them every time. And Alfred’s wisdom comes free of charge.
Truth.
That… might not be the best idea. Considering her housemates, if they decide they don’t like you, you could get flying lessons for free.
Ahh, but what he doesn't know yet...can hurt him.
Good, it’ll be harder to plan the wedding if he’s out on Oa and it isn’t right to leave Connor to the details when you’re the artist.
hehehehe....Dinah hired a coordinator.
Ahhh, so wonderful. Raven and Kory are such good sisters together.
I lov ethe dynamic between the two of them. Really a lot.
Uh, she’s only been gone for six months, if you’ve forgotten her skills in tact in that long, maybe you need to do some rewiring. Her tact is only matched by Rose.
*gigglefits*
Oh, poor Ollie. Having to babysit without advanced notice.
He does fine, as long as he has warning, because then he plans it. No warning? With a child that is hyper by nature?
Ollie is in so much trouble when they meet up again.
Hehehehe....Dinah probably perfected her phone skills on him....
Which will be soon I hope? Great addition, loved so much.
They are very busy people....
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 01:41 pm (UTC)So glad you liked it. We were stressing over Barry again. And well, Filly rules with the JSA, and I try with the Titans.
*g* "Plots"? "Plots", us? No way... *giggle*
It's nice to be able to bring them home. It truly is.
And Kory's wonderful in Filly's hands--not that we didn't know that already.
Glad you enjoyed.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 03:48 pm (UTC)Also, I wonder at who those people in the last section are; Sandman Endless, maybe?
Maybe Steph could become the Spectre... That would have everyone back.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 04:13 pm (UTC)Yes, they are definitely Sandman Endless. Very definitely. *cuddles Death, beautiful lovely one that she is*
Hm... that's an interesting thought. *considers*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 06:27 pm (UTC)And yes, they are Death and Destiny of the Endless. For some reason they thwacked me over the head and said 'write us' so I did.
I prefer the characterizations that make her Deadman, to be honest....
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 06:13 pm (UTC)*chuckle* What on earth gave you that impression?
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 08:51 pm (UTC)The Endless are...interesting.
And Steph as Deadwoman? Hmm, I forsee wacky hijinks when she inhabits Cass.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 09:26 pm (UTC)And yes, Hal abd Bruce are ungodly stubborn, but that's one of the things that make them loveable.
:-)
As always, ready for more!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 02:20 pm (UTC)"Somewhere along the way, whether it was when Big Blue died and came back, or before that, the world stopped being inspired, and it was harder for some to see the little pictures, the ones that make up life. That's my opinion."
I especially love some of the sort of meta-commentary that you work in along with all the happy. "Happyverse" is really a misnomer, because it's far more than casually happy, it's really quite deep and thought out.
Starfire! Oh, she's wonderful here--alien and perceptive and lovely.
This isn't the level of detailed comment this deserves, but please let it suffice to say that you made my day with it.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-03 08:39 pm (UTC)*smile* Well. About that "HappyVerse" label, I don't think we ever intended to do some of the things we've done when we started.... but bringing Barry back changes everything. It alters so many dynamics, because well, when Clark's shamed to tell Barry what happened, when his sheer goodness is right there with them again, how can they not get some of that back?
I think I mentioned somewhere else that the DC Universe didn't used to be this sucking miasma of angst and pain that it is now--and there's no reason for it to be. Those are some of the most brilliant, loving, creative and exceptional characters ever created, they're better, "more" as Barry put it, than that. They just... (actually, it's the writers' faults, not my poor, beloved, abused characters) needed to be reminded of it, and Barry's perfect for that task--not that some of the others weren't trying, but... well. Barry's Barry.
(Or, translated, canon sucks and I/we reject it, replace it with our own, and give indignant looks towards anyone that tries to tell us we shouldn't.)
*cuddles Star* Filly does a Glorious Starfire.
I'm so glad!! *beams*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 01:55 am (UTC)It's been agony, seeing them go by on the friends list and having so little time lately to dedicate to them! But Barry.... Seeing barry again is just--oh, I've been hopelessly in love with barry since reading JLA: Year One. I loved the leadership "struggle" between him and Hal (the one Hal wanted to lose so badly) so much.
I think I mentioned somewhere else that the DC Universe didn't used to be this sucking miasma of angst and pain that it is now--and there's no reason for it to be. Those are some of the most brilliant, loving, creative and exceptional characters ever created, they're better, "more" as Barry put it, than that.
That's so, so true, and a fantastic summary of why reading DC can be so terribly depressing. Because if these brilliant, good-hearted, skilled, well-meaning people screw up their lives to this extent, what hope is there for the rest of us?
So Happyverse gives me hope--not for the DCU per se, but for humanity. That's so not a small thing.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-04 01:24 am (UTC)Thank you. Yena has gone a long way to shape a verse that I can play in so happily. My angst in other circles has even dropped, because I'm having fun seeing how to shape OYL for this.
I especially love some of the sort of meta-commentary that you work in along with all the happy. "Happyverse" is really a misnomer, because it's far more than casually happy, it's really quite deep and thought out.
*blush* thank you. I love comics. But time and panel constraint stop you from getting the full gist of the thoughts from everyone so much of the time. One of the rambling, ongoing things in my head is figuring out the whys and the hows of the interactions. Fanfic seems to give the ability to show that, even if it comes out biased by the author.
Starfire! Oh, she's wonderful here--alien and perceptive and lovely.
*bows* Thank you. One day, I was looking for something different to write, and this warm alien voice decided my brain was a cozy home.
This isn't the level of detailed comment this deserves, but please let it suffice to say that you made my day with it.
It's nice to see you're reading it. And to know it tickles your fancy.