Chatter (DCU, AU, PG-R, 3/?)
Title: Chatter (3/?)
Fandom:DCU, Bat-Family Centered
Characters: Corvid/Gotham, Mentions of the Bat-Family and other DCU Characters, The Keepers
Word Count: 1410
Rating: PG-R for swearing
Disclaimer: I don't own the location of Gotham or the Bat-Crew, or any other DC owned Characters/Locations
Synopsis: Corvid might swear she can walk home alone, but Smallville worries about her anyway.
Previous Chapters: Tonight, Almost a Party
Author's Notes: This takes place in my Keeperverse. I'm having so much fun with this. I know I figured that by Chapter 3 there would be more Non-OCs, but Smallville ran away with me. He's adorable, and so very worried about Gotham. This would have been up sooner, but my arms were killing me and I could barely move them so typing was pretty much out except for a few minutes a day.
Smallville jumps a bit when Themy nudges him. He hadn’t even realized that he’d completely zoned out, just staring at the spot where Gotham practically ran out the door. He and Metro had been insisting on walking her home, but she refused, saying that she could handle herself. He wanted to go anyway, but she threatened to kill anybody who followed her and he kinda believed her. Especially since everybody else at the table said she was being honest. At least she had given him a card with a phone number on it, he’ll call it tomorrow to make sure she’s alright. She said to only call if somebody was giving him trouble, but he could handle his own problems.
He offers a slightly awkward smile to the table and tries to act like he wasn’t considering following Gotham home just in case. She’s so little, at first he thought she was a lot taller than she really is, but then he noticed that half her height came from those shoes… Somebody ought to walk her home just to make sure she doesn’t trip over those ridiculous shoes and fall victim to one of this city’s many lunatics. He really thought she’d be taller, and a guy, maybe Batman. He knows that’s stupid, Keepers aren’t really supposed to be heroes. There aren’t really any laws against, but it’s very frowned upon. Most Keepers wouldn’t put themselves at that kind of risk anyway; too much is riding on their health.
Themy just grins at Smallville, “You really must be Metro’s cousin, you both have that same look on your face that says you’re thinking of doing something really stupid. If you follow her home she will break you into little tiny pieces. And then she’ll use you as sprinkles on her ice cream cones… Sit down Star or I will drag you back here and bludgeon you myself. Not one of you has been worried about the men who are leaving, but the moment a woman walks out you all jump up like she‘s going die without your manly assistance.”
“The men who have left don’t live here, they’re all teleporting back to their cities, or wherever they’re living at the moment,” Metro counters, looking a little offended at the idea of being sexist. Smallville knows that Metro actually is old fashioned, whether he’d own up to it or not. Smallville also knows that his cousin really isn’t being sexist right now; he’d try to walk the burliest man in here home if that man lived in Gotham City. He takes a moment to feel grateful that his town has been relatively quiet since he’s taken over. His father was the Keeper before him and from what he’s said the town used to be a freak-fest. It would have beaten Gotham in a “Weirdness Per Capita” contest… though maybe not by much.
“It’s a moot point anyway, she’s already home,” The Phantom Stranger didn’t even look at them as he walked by, but he was definitely talking to them.
Smallville tried not to let his relief show but Frisco laughed, “She’s hooked somebody else, and he’s just a baby too! Oh Gods have mercy on this poor boy. Metro, quick, get him to a boy-convent, or let me take him home, anything to remove this ridiculous notion from his head.”
Smallville sputtered a little at that one and tried not to turn bright red, “It’s not like that! I was just worried ‘cause she’s a girl, and alone, and it’s Gotham!” He emphasized as if there was no way that anybody could deny the dangers of being alone in Gotham City.
“She is Gotham. She was Gotham during No Man’s Land, and that was far worse than Gotham during Halloween,” Manhattan, who is a lot more quiet than Smallville would have figured, informs him. “When they blew up the bridges it broke all of her limbs, she still managed to crawl to the clinic in the safe zone. That’s how she ended up working in the clinic during NML, luckily she’s a fast healer because she couldn‘t have forgiven herself for taking up a bed that someone needed. She had to deal with the pain, heartbreak, starvation and grief of everybody left in Gotham, which was a lot more people than the Government says there were, mixed with the outrage of all the Gothamites who left. She can walk home just fine. Most of us would have broken under that. If anything, she should walk you home.”
Smallville can’t stop the question, “Why did she stay?”
“She’d never abandon her city,” Star answers like the question couldn’t have been more stupid. “She said her people needed her then more than ever and that she’d never leave.”
“She almost never leaves the borders of her city anyway… excuse me, cities,” Keystone adds through a mouthful of food.
“She has more than one?” Smallville’s pretty sure nobody mentioned that before.
Metro smiles, “Sort of, it’s Bludhaven, but in her mind they’re the same. Oh, and I tried to talk her out of staying, but she wouldn’t listen. We all tried to convince her to leave.”
Smallville hated what was done during NML and the entire table is starting to get a dark cloud over it as the individuals are getting lost in thought so he tried to change the subject a little, just to lighten things up but also because he really was curious about the Phantom Stranger, “Does the Stranger track all of us, all the time?”
“Nah,” Central is the first to answer, “I mean, he could if wanted, but I don’t think he keeps that close of a watch on us all. Everybody knows that the Quintessence watches Gotham more closely than they watch the rest of us, especially the Phantom Stranger.”
“It annoys the hell out of her,” Star laughs a little, “I think she does things that annoy them just because she suspects they’re watching.”
Frisco grins, “No way, she does things that annoy them just because they’re things she wants to do, I don’t think she gives a damn who’s watching! She‘s better than that.”
“Somebody has hero worship,” Themy smirks at him.
“Oh, she has a few heroes that I’d like to worship, but no, I just think that she’s excellent. Fierce, feisty, with her own style, who wouldn’t love her? Besides, she and I could never work… we both like men far too much. And she’s married,” Frisco smiles, looking far too mischievous.
“I didn’t know she was married, who is she married too?” Smallville hadn’t seen a ring. His cousins didn’t mention anything…
“It’s not a ‘Who’ it’s a ‘What’ my Chum,” Atlan laughs, “Frisco means her City, she’s doesn’t care about anything but the city, it’s heroes, it’s people, and doing everything she can to protect all of the above. She’s a woman on a mission, and she’s married to her mission.” Smallville, along with everyone else, looks up as his cousin Polly walks over to their table.
“And here I thought you meant that she was married to the Bat,” Polly smiles, showing way too many teeth and a shiver runs down Smallville’s spine. Smallville knows exactly how much of an insult that statement was; he hasn’t been a Keeper long, but dating a Champion is seriously frowned upon. It’s another one of those things that aren’t strict rules against, but practically nobody ever does it. They say it can remove the hero’s free will, because loving the Keeper and the city are so similar that they feel compelled to keep going out and risking their lives for the city. There are rumors that Green Lantern, the one who became Parallax, had a thing going on with Coast City, or that they were just really close, and that’s why he was willing to go so far to bring her back. Smallville thinks that the real reason is the fear that Champions might figure out the truth, that Keepers exist. Then Keepers might have a more direct influence over the heroes and odds are that they Quintessence doesn’t like the idea of anybody having that kind of power. Either way, Keepers are definitely encouraged to keep their distance. Metro gathers up Smallville and drags Polly away before Themy decks her. All the while Polly’s muttering to her brother that everyone knows it true and how Gotham doesn’t ever follow any of the rules. Smallville finds himself wondering if that's true.
Out Tonight