Fic: Something There (Happy Halloweeeeen)
Okay, this, is not done. But, I've been sick plus having major computer problems and I'm kiiiiinda worried the system will crash and take this with it. It's a bit different. Personally? I don't find anything in the horror genre frightening or that scary. (RL is scary enough, I guess.) But I do ENJOY the genre like, whoa. A LOT! I like the stories and plots. (as you can guess, Halloween and Friday the 13th kinda bored me eventually.)
Anyway, I still have to warn for horror, because, while I just go 'keen', other's go 'that's kinda gross, Ali!' XD Usually, I'm left going... uh why? /squints/ But I figure something is wrong with me. Ahem. But most of that warning goes for part two anyhow.
Yes, it is a cliffhanger. Yes I will finish it soonish, just don't trust the computer today to do it today. And for those that wonder, Nightwing and Piper won the poll in a tie when combining my journal/this comm/my IJ journal. So they will be used in the plot device together in the second half.
Don't lynch me.
Title: Something there 1/2
Rated: Mature
Pairing: Piper/Trickster
Disclaimer: I still don't own them, and I still don't make money off of them. (Woe, for dudes am I broke.)
Summary: Halloween Prompt Challenge: Hell on Earth
He didn't try to stifle the yawn that tore through him without warning. There was no point. No one was there to see him do it anyway. No one to make off-color remarks about how wide he could open his mouth. No one there.
A faint memory trickled through and faded away before he could grab it.
(Up and down the stair. No one there on the stair.)
He shook his head, trying to clear it of the fog. He'd felt disconnected for weeks now. As though nothing was real. A long horrible dream that he could not wake from. Events strung together in no particular order, that made sense only at the time, but when looked back upon didn't seem to fit correctly. Not pieces of a puzzle that were missing, but pieces of three puzzles smashed together in an effort to make them fit. Resulting in a surreal picture that shouldn't exist.
(Nothing there, on the stair. Something that was, and was not there.)
Piper shivered as a chill ran up and then down his back.
There were no stairs. Only bars and solid glass. He was in a cell in Iron Heights. He'd turned himself in. He felt as though he deserved this. He'd failed. And failure deserved a punishment. Punishment would bring closure. And then? Maybe someday? He could go on with his life.
'It's the silence, that's all. It's getting to me. Making me jumpy. Imagine sounds! Play a tune in your head. It's all right.'
(Something that was, and wasn't there!)
He tilted his head back, closing his eyes, trying to imagine he was in a concert hall.
But no matter how he tried to picture it, all he could imagine was an empty cavernous place with nothing playing. Sinister.
'Encore!'
Piper startled, opening his eyes quickly and looking around. He'd thought the word, but not at his own initiative. And it had not been in his own mental voice.
"You're not here." He whispered.
Not that he could hear himself.
'Neither here nor there. And certainly not trip-trapping up the stairs. Not your average boogie-man though I can get down and boogie-woogie with the best of them. Come on, Pipes. You missed me, admit it!'
"Losing what's left of my mind." Piper squeezed his eyes closed, covering them with his hands. "Finally getting around to finishing going crazy!"
'If you can't beat them, join them! Sanity is highly overrated anyway. Look, you need to focus. I know you have this whole punishment thing going on right now. And seriously, you should have told me you were a masochist. Though, I should have figured that out by the fact that you used to wear polka dots, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say. But that's going to have to wait. We have things to do.'
"Not there. Not there. Not there."
'Don't be tedious.' The soft voice whispering in his mind sighed in annoyance. 'That didn't work when I was alive, and it certainly doesn't work now!'
Piper pushed himself down and lay on the mat they'd provided for him. Maybe sleep was the way to go. Just close his eyes, and go to sleep. Or, perhaps wake up, depending on whether or not this was a nightmare or his imagination.
His cell was spare, with nothing unnecessary within it. Nothing to look at, nothing to read, and nothing to work with. They wanted to make sure that Piper had no more chances to escape. Nothing that he could turn into an instrument. Not even a shred of paper in which to blow air over.
'Fiiiiine, be that way. But, I'm not going anywhere, just so you know.'
Blissful sleep. Sleep... sleep... sleep.
When did he notice? He couldn't quite remember. It was just a niggle of a feeling. Something was going wronger. More pieces of the puzzle were being added, but they didn't even have places to fit. It was as though they were being glued into place, and forced onto the puzzle. Building it up into a dimension that it should never attempt. It didn't matter that it made no sense, that there was no order. He had a deep sense of 'chaos', and he didn't know why.
'Getting hungry yet? No one's fed you in two days.'
That insistent voice. It just would not go away. Sometimes, it would rattle on about the past. Sometimes, it would sing to him off-key and horrible drinking songs that involved buxom women named Sally or the like. And sometimes, it would try to tell him that he had to get out of there, and now. It brought up the food issue again.
"It's not been two days." He disagreed. Surely it had only been a few hours? Or a few years. It hardly mattered to Piper, really.
'Yes, yes it has. You're not hungry because you're depressed, but it has been a couple of days. This place sucks, but they still feed the prisoners. And they haven't come down to feed YOU. Something is wrong. You have to get out of here.' The voice was getting more and more desperate.
"You are a product of silence." Piper told the voice slowly. "My imagination trying to supply noise where they've taken it away. I'm going crazy. That's all. Well, crazier."
'You're no more crazy than you've ever been. Sure, you got a thing about the rats, and terrible taste in men. But that doesn't mean you're crazy. I had an aunt that loved cats. Had about thirty or forty of them. Claimed they talked to her. Okay, bad example. But the point is, nothing wrong with it, really. But there IS something wrong with the fact that no one has come down to even check on you. Piper, you don't have to believe in my presence, but you have to at least check out what is wrong. If not for yourself, then tell yourself that you're doing it for the sake of the other prisoners. They're probably starving.'
Piper refused to answer, instead looking away and chewing on his thumbnail.
'You know there's something wrong. You know it!' The voice sounded incredulous.
Piper began to sing under his breath. "It's the ennnnd of the world as we know it. It's the ennnnd of the wooooorld as we know it. It's time I had some time alone. It's the ennnnd of the world as we know it. It's time I had some time alone. And I feeeeel fine. I feeeeel finnnne."
'So that's it then? It's the end of the world 'as we know it'. And you're going to let yourself starve down in a cell, that technically, you don't even deserve to be locked in? You're just going to give up? Stop living? Let everyone out there fend for themselves? I thought you were done with the selfish behavior. That you were going to play it strictly on the side of the angels from now on?'
Piper closed his eyes against the lecturing voice, turning his head to the side. "I'm tired." He said slowly, almost helplessly. Hopelessly. "I want a rest. Just for a while. A rest. Maybe forever." He murmured the last bit.
'We don't get that option. Not even when we DIE! No rest for the wicked or the weary. Now, get off your ass and figure out a way to get out of this cell. Before it is too late.' The voice was nearly yelling in his ear at this point. Which was impossible since he was A.) Alone. and B.) The cell nullified all sound.
"You're dead. Why should it matter to you?" Piper covered his eyes, but even as he did so, he forced himself to get to his feet.
'Dead is relative in this and all universes. All things are alive, being born, dying, and dead at all the same time. It's just that the living is linear for the most part. I'm no longer linear, and neither are you. You've just not learned yet how to stop seeing in a straight line. There's irony since you're as straight as one of Boomer's rangs!'
"Tricks? Don't start." Piper groused as he went to the edge of the cell and looked as far to the side in the hall as he could. "Still doesn't explain why you're here, or why you care at this point. Nothing in this realm affects you, does it?"
'It does when you realize that the realms are shifting, overlaying each other, and trying to collapse on top of each other.' Trickster was almost visible now, out of the corner of Piper's eye. If he turned to look at him though, he disappeared. But so long as he didn't try to look at Trickster directly, he could almost see the other man.
"Oh, God, not another Crisis situation?" Piper groaned, letting his head fall forward against the door.
"Not like the others." Trickster was becoming more substantial, but only if Piper didn't turn his head. "This isn't alternate universes, at least, not in the manner that has come up before. The realms all exist, normally, all at the same time. There are realms like ours, dimensions, then there are really crazy ones like the fifth dimension which is really... zany. And then there are others that are more understandable, but no less odd... or dangerous. Hell Realms. Sure, there are Heaven Realms, and such. Different ones, and there can even be some overlap. Ways of traveling between them, gateways, but for the most part? They are separate and ruled by different beings, inhabited by different beings. And all with their own rules and laws. Some have their own physics, as well."
While Trickster tried to explain, Piper was searching his cell for the first time since arriving. Looking for something he might work with. He hadn't bothered before, because he had been intent on staying put.
Trickster continued. "Hundreds of realms, Pipes. Hundreds! This? Is just one of them. And a mundane one compared to some of them. Ghosts aren't always ghosts, sometimes they are merely someone living in a realm, and appearing in this realm in an indefinite way. Like... visiting, but not completely here. Astral projection, from the other side. Where I am? I'm as solid as you. For me? You are the one that is 'barely there, walking on the stair, neither here nor there.' You... haunt ME! And have since the train."
"How is that possible?" Piper muttered, pulling up the mat and inspecting it before rubbing his face and sighing.
"Because, I..." Trickster trailed off, looking away. "Look, you just haunt me, all right? We don't have time to psychoanalyze my issues. That would take at leeeeeast a month! You've got to get out of here. Now!"
Piper used his fingers to pull on the plastic of the mat, separating it from the filling inside. He pulled and pried and used his teeth to try to turn it into a manageable piece to use.
"Did you ever wonder how you could use a grass whistle... to control another?" Trickster asked quietly. "Sonics may do a wonder of things, but come on... you're constructing something to... what? Hum on? Blow air on? And you know, know, know it will work. Haven't you ever wondered, how?"
"I try not to think about it." Piper told him, seconds before blowing on the plastic he'd rolled up and manipulated.
"Yeah, because, that's smart." Trickster huffed and shook his head. Piper's eyes slid toward him, trying to see the look on his face, but the other man faded and disappeared just as he turned his head the smallest amount.
The mechanism clicked, releasing the seal. Piper pushed on the door, sliding it to the side.
He barely felt the concrete as his full weight smashed his knees into the floor. His eyes tightly closed, his hands over his ears, he groaned. Cacophony. The noise was as harsh as a sledgehammer to his head.
It had been a while since he'd truly heard any sounds. It was overwhelming.
Every noise was amplified a dozen, no, fifty... a hundred times louder.
"Piper! Quick, you need to move!" Trickster was kneeling beside him, and Piper caught a glimpse of yellow stripes. "I know it is loud, but..."
His voice was drowned out by screams. Piper cringed and flinched as the sound split his head open and left nothing but pain in its wake.
Screams were not unknown at Iron Heights. But something was different about these.
Piper stumbled to his feet, leaning against the wall with one hand as he forced himself to take another step.
'That's it, buddy. One foot in front of the other.'
He was next to another cell, and the door was hanging open, but no one was inside it. Escaped?
Piper was regaining control of his hearing, making minute adjustments as he discovered his equilibrium once more.
The next scream he was able to turn down to a respectable level, and analyze.
Sounds aren't stagnant and colorless things. They have flavors. Tastes. Nuances. Meanings. Emotions. They can be analyzed. A voice can give away a lie with just the tiniest of shakes. And a scream can convey a summary of emotions. Rage. Pain. Fear. Even joy.
But there was no joy in this scream.
Terror.
His heart stuttered in his chest as he started in that direction.
"No, no, wrong direction. We're going out. Not deeper in!" Trickster seemed to be trying to grab at him, to pull him away, but all Piper could feel was a cold draft.
"You used the excuse of me helping other people." Piper reminded him, though, in truth he'd give anything to go back the other way. Still, he hurried toward the source of the rising screams.
"Damn it." Trickster bit off, but followed him as Piper rounded the corner and came to an abrupt stop.
Piper's hand found its way behind him, bracing himself against the doorjamb as he stared at the sight in front of him. His mind refused to process the entire picture, instead picking out details here and there. Blood. Staring eyes. Teeth.
A content smile.
It would have been better had it been an animalistic monster. Something so inhuman that it would be understandable and normal to imagine it attacking and devouring a human.
Piper took a step back as the man in front of him turned to look directly at him, smiling despite the gore on his face. "Rathaway."
"Warden..." Piper trailed off, taking another step backward, his breathing quickening as another puzzle piece slammed and jammed itself into the new picture. 'Insane'. He thought just as the Warden made a lunge at him, trying to capture his arm, his mouth open wide. His stained teeth... flesh caught between...
'RUN PIPER!' Trickster yelled, dashing forward, but disappearing before he could come into Piper's sight, and was therefore useless in the rescue. 'Well, damn!' Trickster growled at himself, trying to catch up to the quickly retreating Piper. 'Hard to be heroic when you're not completely in the same dimension.' He groused.
"You've saved me enough in the past. That's how you got in this condition." Piper called out, a touch bitterly.
'Well, there's gratitude for you!' Trickster's annoyed voice was close to his ear, and Piper was forced to make another adjustment to keep the volume at an acceptable level.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be alive. But it hasn't meant much in the meantime since everything--" He trailed off as they rounded another corner. He slid to a stop and grasped the edge of a desk, holding himself from toppling over. The slick substance under his feet turned his stomach, and he felt bile rise in his throat. "Oh, God..."
'Back up, very slowly.' Trickster said in a low voice.
"Kinda figured that out." Piper muttered, edging back in the direction he'd just come.
They were probably part of a K-9 unit, or drug sniffers at one point. Maybe. He wasn't really sure how they set those departments up, but right now? He didn't really care!
The low growl raised the hair on the back of Piper's neck, and he felt his stomach drop as they turned in unison to look at him. "Nice doggies. Good doggies. Go back to eating the guard." Piper gasped, backing up a bit faster before turning on his heel and pelting back down the hall. The sound of their claws clicking on the tile was edging closer and closer, making his heart leap into his throat.
'Can't go back down, Warden Hannibal the Cannibal is down there!' Trickster reminded him, his voice faint and drifting behind him.
Piper hung a sharp right, trying to find some stairs, not trusting any elevators at this point.
"What the hell is going on here? When did George Romero start writing the script of life in this universe?" Piper bitched as he took the steps two at a time. "Don't we have enough problems without dealing with a live version of Resident Evil?"
' You're mixing up your zombie canon sources there, but... It's what I was trying to tell you. It's one of the Hell Realms! It is trying to collapse into THIS realm. It's merging and influencing everything here. Demons are slipping through, and turning or taking humans. If nothing is done in the next twelve hours, the expression 'Hell on Earth' won't be an expression. It'll be a reality!'
"What about the Justice League? The Titans? Someone equipped for this kind of thing?" Piper grasped the railing, breathing heavily as he forced himself to continue climbing.
A low groan from above froze him in midstep.
He almost started back down, eager to avoid another confrontation when he realized that this time, it was a groan of pain. He could see the tip of someone's fingers, just over the edge of the stairwell.
"Help me..." The voice weakly called out.
'Careful, could be a trap.' Trickster warned, worry in his voice. 'I'd go ahead and look for you, but I suffer from 'Disappearitis'.'
"Trickster, as a guardian angel? You suck!" Piper pressed his lips together as he inched forward, taking the steps slowly. He was torn between caution and the desire to help.
'Who said I was an angel? Think of me more as your guardian... Uh... I'll get back to you on that. I don't know what the hell I am.' He admitted in a low voice, whispering though he probably didn't have to.
"Hello?" Piper asked, tentative, and fully prepared to make another run for it.
He heard movement seconds before approaching the next landing and saw a form laying on the ground. Blood pooled around his head and shoulders, and he didn't seem able to focus his eyes. "Help, please." He whispered to Piper.
"Oh, my God." Piper breathed, bending down on one knee and placing his fingers over the pulse point, and trying to gauge how well he was breathing. "Batman?"
'Careful, he might try to eat your face off! And that's when there aren't zombies around nomming on people's brains!' Trickster warned again.
"I don't think he can even see me." Piper checked the head wound closer. The mask was half ripped, the underlying helmet had been busted and dented. He hesitated to remove the mask completely, but he figured that at this point it didn't make much difference. Any booby-traps had probably been triggered beforehand. And it truly was in the way of his meager examination.
'Is that who I think it is?' Trickster asked, faint awe in his voice.
"I think so. But, can't say I can't see it either. Always thought it was kind of weird. When he was younger? He was one of the smartest guys I had ever met. Never figured how he could go from brilliant to a male Paris Hilton in the course of five or ten years. And sure there were rumors that he was an alcoholic and that was the reason, but, I just never bought into it totally." He shook his head.
'Whoa, wait, you knew him?' Trickster asked in complete surprise.
"My parents traveled in the same circles as Wayne and Luthor. They occasionally dragged me along. People forget Wayne went to University, and he didn't flunk out. He just... quit. Though, I bet if someone checked the records, it would say he flunked." Piper slowly shook his head. "You can make a computer say anything these days if you know how." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He needs a doctor, badly."
'Let me just look in my pocket.' Trickster said blandly. 'Nope, fresh out!'
"We can't just leave him here!" Piper ground his teeth.
'Head injuries, you're not supposed to move them.' Trickster countered. 'And I'm still not convinced he's not going to do a Romero on you.'
"If he does, we brain him. But for now, I think I'm going to have to risk it. He can't stay here, or he's going to either get eaten by the Warden, eaten by those dogs, or... eaten by something, I don't know. All I do know is that the prison has become a buffet with us as the dessert bar!" Piper frowned, wishing he could risk looking for something like a backboard. Not that he could really carry it by himself, but he'd have felt better with something to keep Bruce's neck immobile.
He took the man's cape and rolled it as best he could, wrapping it around his neck and tried to tie it without choking him.
Hearing a slight and tiny voice, he paused, checking through Wayne's hair and ears. Pulling out the small device, he held it up to his own ear. "Hello?"
"Who is this?" A mechanical voice asked. "Where is Batman?"
"He's hurt, bad. Head injury. I'm trying to get him out of Iron Heights, before something eats us." Piper felt a faint hope. "Who is this?"
"Oracle. You didn't give me your name." She pointed out. To Piper, despite the metalic quality of her voice, she sounded desperate.
"Does it make a difference?" Piper asked, putting one arm under Batman's legs and the other under his shoulders, lifting him unsteadily with a grunt. "Piper. I finally noticed I wasn't getting fed, and decided to see if everyone was all right. Found the Warden eating his secretary, and the K-9 Unit eating the guards. Decided that things were 'not all right' and figured getting the hell out of here was the right thing to do. I'm heading toward the roof. What is the status? Does anyone know what is going on yet?"
Something told Piper that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Oracle that he was being advised on the reality of the situation by a 'ghost'.
"Near as we can tell, another reality is invading our own. But no progress has been made to stop it yet. Continue toward the roof, I'll attempt to find a flyer to head in your direction." Piper could hear the faint clack of keys over the link.
"Gotcha." He nodded to himself, and tried to gently shift the bleeding man. "Anything I can do to help once they're here? How bad is it?"
He heard the hesitation in Oracle's typing. For a moment, he believed she would tell him he was going back to his cell or that they were taking him into custody. Instead, she told him in a faint voice. "It's bad. I'm instructing Superman to bring you to the Hall as well. We need all hands willing to help. You've not gone to trial yet, it's..."
Trickster snorted behind Piper. 'She has to rationalize it, so that she can make herself feel better about letting a 'Rogue' help. Especially, since she wanted our heads on a platter at one point.'
"Is someone there with you?" Oracle asked suddenly.
"You can hear him?" Piper asked in shock, and not a little hope. If she could hear him, then that meant that Piper wasn't crazy, right?
"Faintly. I couldn't make out what he said, even when I tried to increase the playback. It was like the faintest whisper. Who is there with you?" She demanded, suspicion in her voice now.
"Not sure you'd believe me if I told you." Piper used his shoulders to push a swinging door out of the way, and frowned as Trickster flickered out of his sight the second he'd turned in that direction.
"Try me." Oracle's voice was still demanding, but now held a sardonic quality that was all too familiar to Piper.
"James Jesse. The Trickster. He's... kind... of a ghost." Piper winced at the sound of that. He paused, listening for anyone else in the hallway, and then continued toward the last door that would take them up to the roof.
"I believe it." Oracle sighed over the link. "Stranger things have happened. Can he travel with you? Or... how does that work?"
'Tell her I'm tethered to you in a groovy metaphysical way that isn't at all kinky. Bondage without the fun!' Trickster chuckled.
"He's tethered to me somehow. I guess that means he'll follow wherever I go? Kind of like he's haunting me." Piper ignored the bondage comment as he stepped onto the roof and stopped, swallowing hard. He could see over the grounds and into the city proper from his location.
'Hey, you are haunting ME remember?' Trickster corrected and then broke off, giving Piper a moment.
"Holy shit." Piper breathed, edging closer and looking down.
'Nothing holy about it. It's about as far from Holy as you can get.' Trickster placed an insubstantial hand on his shoulder, making Piper shiver slightly.
"No one's cleaned up the bodies." Piper shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. It wasn't a question, but Oracle took it as such.
"No time. We can't keep up. We've lost so many."
Piper knew without a doubt that the person on the other end was a person and not a computer. Because, most computers couldn't cry. Piper felt helpless as he watched dark smoke curl into the sky from the center of the city. He thought about asking where Flash was, but then decided he didn't want to know. He feared the answer.
"I'll do all I can." Piper promised Oracle, for lack of anything better. "We both will. I'm so sorry."
"He should be there--"
"I'm here." Superman interrupted. "I'll be at the Hall in about a minute with both Batman and Piper. Have someone with spare clothes for Piper. Despite the dire situation, it might be better if he didn't move about in prison issue."
"Understood." Oracle clicked the link off for the moment while Superman gently gathered Batman up into his arms.
"Can you hold on, or do I need to make two trips?" Superman asked, not looking up from Bruce Wayne's battered face.
"I can hold on I think." Piper looked back over the prison yard tentatively and swallowed again. Carrion eaters of some otherworldly design called back and forth to each other as they feasted on what was left of prisoners that had almost, but not quite escaped. He wrapped his arms around Superman's neck tightly, closing his eyes and after a moment, wrapped his legs around his waist. Piggyback. He didn't care how it looked. There was no way in hell he was going to fall off unless someone ripped his arms off.
The whistle of the air whipping past him required him to once more adjust his hearing, but Trickster still remained in his ear no matter how fast they went.
As they landed, Superman frowned and looked around. "I can almost hear him." He murmured. "But... not quite."
But then he strode away, carrying Batman to get medical help. He didn't have time to unravel the mystery of a whisper of a whisper.
Thump thump
Crutches?
No, A crutch. New clothes clutched under one arm while the other balanced the young man and kept him from falling over. "Piper?" He half asked, and then held out the bundle. "Hope it fits. I know it isn't your usual colors. But, best we could do under short notice."
"Robin?" Piper frowned and took the bundle before taking a step back in surprise. Robin's leg was missing from the knee down.
"Nightwing donated most of the costume. Red Arrow the rest." Robin continued as though he hadn't seen his reaction. 'Pure Bat'. It reminded Piper of a 'stern' Vulcan.
'Probably how he's getting through this right now. Most would be in a corner waiting for the end.' Piper raised his chin and nodded slowly. "I'll thank them when I see them, let them know in the meantime that I appreciate it, if you see them first?" He figured that if Robin was going to 'ignore it', then he should as well.
"Will do. Report to the main hall when you are dressed." He nodded toward the restrooms and then hobbled away.
"Thank you." Piper called out half-heartedly and then pushed the doors open to find a stall.
He fumbled with the unfamiliar clasps and closures, as well as dealing with light-weight armor that had been made for the contours of another body. But in the end, he managed to get the red and black costume lined out. Though he fingered the domino mask, wondering if he should even bother. It didn't seem right to wear it, yet if they didn't expect him to, they wouldn't have provided it. His glasses were missing, of course. Probably in some property room somewhere. So that wasn't an option anyway.
He held the mask up to his eyes and blinked. Then with a small smile, he pressed the adhesive against his face and adjusted his eyes to the lenses. "Neat." He chuckled wryly.
Further down in the public bathroom, he heard a stall door bang, then another one a bit closer. Then, a third.
Piper felt a spark of panic and hurried through the door of his own stall, jumping further away, toward the sinks. The fourth door, next to the stall he'd just vacated banged, and then finally his own. Eyes open wide, he backed further until he felt the cold line of sinks against him.
He jumped as Trickster spoke. 'Might want to get out of here, I think.' He sounded as nervous as Piper felt. 'Autoflush is one thing. Autobangingthedooroffthehinges is a whole other story!'
Piper turned to retreat, to go back out into the lobby when he caught sight of his face in the mirror. He held his breath, eyes wide.
'Don't look!' Trickster yelled. 'It's not real. Don't LOOK! GO!'
But the reflection in the mirror moved when Piper moved, the expression matched his own through the decay and rot. He raised his fingers to his face, and could almost feel the slick and slimy flesh give way under his fingertips. Not real. Not real. Not real! He desperately thought to himself.
"Is there anyone... Fuck!"
The mirror shattered as an arrow struck it. "What the hell was that?" Red Arrow asked, grabbing Piper's shoulder and pulling him quickly backward through the door. "There's a breach!" He yelled, not waiting for an answer.
"What? Where?" A dozen voices asked in alarm.
Piper felt numb in the babble of voices that ensued as he continued to back away.
There was a scream from the other end of the hall, and there was a sudden rush toward the source.
The building was filled with 'heroes', and even a few that like him, had a criminal record. Catwoman, Riddler, and the like.
But all were in a high state of vigilance and low grade panic. The fear almost left a taste in the air. But it was almost easy to pick out the 'normal heroes' from those that didn't do it for a living on a regular basis. Those that had been villains at one point hung back, while the heroes rushed to see who had screamed and why. There were of course, shades of 'gray' who were tentative about moving forward, but even they tried to see 'what was going on'. This left Riddler, Catwoman, and Piper who was still in shock toward the back of the mass.
The attack was swift, but brutal. Too many attacking at once, making it difficult to see. People getting into each other's way.
It reminded Piper of a dog-pile in the worst way. The kind where the people on bottom got hurt if it was a football game. Everyone trying to get the ball, and in the end, no one accomplishing anything of merit.
Just broken bodies.
Riddler and Catwoman came to stand beside him, watching from a fair distance as the heroes tried to sort themselves out. Tried to figure out who was all right and who was not.
Catwoman shook her head slowly.
"Someone is hurt." Riddler said, almost unnecessarily.
"No. Someone, is dead." Catwoman corrected in an undertone.
It was confirmed as someone toward the center of the group cried out in dismay, and emotional pain. "Noooooo! No! No!"
Piper closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. Not wanting to see, or hear, but unable to walk away.
"I thought... it looked like..." Someone was crying hysterically. "Oh, god!"
Superman rose above the crowd and announced. "Everyone, go to the Main Hall. Do not trust your eyes to tell you the truth." He sounded grim, and the core of the Justice League was trying to shield the body of the unwitting victim of their attack. But Piper still saw, regardless.
Stars. Gold, red, white, and blue. Black hair.
His heart dropped further and he swallowed.
"It would seem to me, my friends, that if we can no longer tell friend from foe, that we are in far worse trouble than we thought." Riddler pronounced, leaning heavily on his cane. It was then that Piper noticed that the other man was injured. Catwoman, he saw, was holding her wrist against her chest, bracing it carefully.
"We're in trouble no matter how you look at it." Catwoman grimaced. "This, whatever it is, it can play with the mind. Twist and turn us, and not to mention those creatures out there. It's like a horror movie come to life."
"It's the whole horror genre come to life." Riddler shook his head. "And the capes don't have a clue how to handle it. This is the things of nightmares. Supernatural. Not scientific. These are not aliens in the sense they are used to. This is magic, in its purest, yet most malevolent form."
"It's a Hell Realm. It's collapsing into our own." Piper spoke up for the first time. "But I'm not sure why or how it started. But we have less than twelve hours to stop it, or it is forever."
Trickster leaned over Piper's shoulder, and he could almost feel the 'weight'. 'Someone opened a gate to a Hell, and then left it open because he was killed by the demon he was attempting to conjour up. Now it is trying to equalize between the two.'
"A gate to a Hell was opened and then left open. Now it is trying to equalize between the two, much like when someone removes a small partition between two halves of a tank." Piper corrected himself.
"What makes you think that?" Catwoman asked, eyes narrowed behind her mask.
He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Trickster told me, just now. He's... ah..."
"A ghost?" Riddler supplied. "That might be useful." He said thoughtfully. "Someone with Intel, finally. I suspect that the Capes usual supernatural assistance has been blocked from doing such. This is the first time I've heard anything that actually makes any sense to me. They knew it was another reality, but not how or why it was invading. I think they took it to be a purposeful invasion."
"Can the gate still be closed?" Catwoman asked, looking intently just to Piper's side.
'Tell her I'm slightly behind you.' Trickster said in faint amusement. 'And yes, I think it can, but it will be hard. Like trying to close a gate with water rushing in.'
"He's slightly behind me, he says. And, how do you know that?" Piper asked. "How do you know any of this?"
'Because I'm a link in the chain, just like you. You are linked to me, and I to you. And there is a link from me, to another, who like me talking to you, is talking to me. I'm passing on the information as he can get it as well.'
"A metaphysical game of telephone. Great. Can he be trusted?" Piper asked, careful not to look over his own shoulder. It felt easier if he just pretended that the man truly was standing behind him. If he tried to face the voice, he felt like he was talking to himself.
'Do we have a choice?' Trickster countered. 'Look, this is all we got. I'm willing to believe him. He's been right so far.'
Piper was quiet a moment and then finally cleared his throat. "All right. He says yes, but it will be difficult."
"When are such things ever easy?" Riddler straightened up as far as he could, and then limped his way toward the main hall. "The question now is, how do we convince the League?"
Catwoman pressed her lips together and moved painfully behind Riddler. "We tell them, and then whether they act on it or not, we do. We deal with it."
"Oh, what fun we shall have." Riddler pronounced sarcastically as he pushed the door open.
"Why would they not believe it? Wouldn't they be relieved to have something to focus on? To know what the cause is?" Piper though, despite asking knew how single minded people like Wally could be. And how easy it was for them to disbelieve or believe the wrong thing without 'proof' to back someone up.
There were simply too many people, too many voices, and all clamoring with their opinions and thoughts. Their theories. And each one was different, and when Piper had tried to lift his voice among the others, it was taken as just another 'option' to consider. Some had questioned his 'source'. And while few found it hard to believe in ghosts or that he was in contact with one, none found that it gave any more weight to the idea than any other idea.
"That went about as well as I expected it to." Riddler was leaning heavily on his cane, the question mark biting into the skin of his palm. "Thick headed stubborn..." He trailed off.
Catwoman held her wrist in her other hand, cradling it gently and shook her head as well. "They're going to be at this for a while, and by then it will be too late. And chances are, they are going to take one of their 'better theories' and run off with it, jumping in with both feet and both fists, and before you know it, we'll all be done for."
"We can't just go, the three of us, we need allies." Riddler pointed out, shifting a little on his good leg trying to avoid any weight on his bad one. "Two injured, and one weaponless. What a frightening and imposing team we make!"
"I think..." Piper sighed and looked down toward his feet. "I think we can manage that. But we have to get back to Central City." He grimaced. He wasn't too sure if he should suggest it or not. Perhaps too much had passed for it to work anymore. Perhaps they would refuse to listen. But, perhaps in the end, a Rogue was still a Rogue?
"The Rogues." Catwoman looked over at Piper, figuring it out within seconds. "Think they would actually help?"
"It's their world too. If it goes to, well, hell. Then they suffer also. And while we've never wanted to 'rule the world', we have always had the power to go do it, if we chose to. We just weren't that ambitious. I think that's why all those secret societies and such have always wanted us in with them. You can say what you want about the Rogues, but when push comes to shove? We could kick ass when we wanted to."
"Works for me. It isn't like I can contact any of the Merry Band that I was once a member of. The only one I could halfway 'count on' would be Penguin, and even he can't be trusted to really help out." Riddler shook his head and started hobbling toward the doorway. "We're going to have to figure out a way to Central City, without having to wait on a Cape to take us."
"Anyone up for stealing a chopper? Jet? Plane?" Catwoman gave them each a rueful look. "I don't think they'll really miss one at the moment. As long as we don't take one of theirs. We could go to the airport, perhaps steal one from one of those private hangers?"
"Indeed. With the chaos that is going on, I believe that they've downed all air travel with the exception of Metas and the Military." Riddler nodded as he made his way down the hallway, toward the exit of the Hall. "The real question is, do any of us know how to actually pilot one."
"I do." They heard a voice behind them.
Turning as one they were all surprised to see Robin, a crutch under his arm. His face was stoic, just as it had been when Piper had arrived. Half a step behind him, Red Arrow and Nightwing waited, arms crossed over their chests.
"As do I." Nightwing told them. "We're going with you."
"You believe me?" Piper asked, drawing his brows up and feeling as though a cold chill was running through him. Trickster with his... arm... around him?
"I believe that the others are barking up the wrong tree." Nightwing stated, tilting his head back the way they'd come. "Whether or not you're right, I can't say, but you develop a sense of intuition after a while. Mine says, follow you three."
Red Arrow nodded slowly. "I feel it too. I think you were speaking the truth. It isn't the first time we've dealt with such things, but never on this kind of scale."
"Come on. We've got just enough room for all of us, if we take one of the transports. They're not going to miss it today." Nightwing turned and led the way to a hanger. "And if they do? They don't have time to come after us for it. I'll deal with the repercussions later, if there is a later."
The walk to the transport was quick despite the injuries that some of them had. Piper at one point considered expressing concern about such, but then at the last second figured that if Nightwing and Red Arrow weren't going to comment, than it wasn't something he should mention either. Besides, they probably needed all the help they could get.
He also wondered if perhaps they felt something on some level about him bringing Batman back to some semblance of safety. Or perhaps, they wanted to keep an eye on him since he'd seen Batman's true face? He had every right, in his opinion, to be paranoid at this point!
Riddler fastened himself in, and sighed deeply, tipping his head backward and closing his eyes. "Do we know if instruments are affected? I know we can't always trust our eyes." He asked, not bothering to re-open his eyes and look at anyone.
While Nightwing powered the plane, Robin sat next to Catwoman, re-wrapping her wrist and checking it with quick and sure fingers. He pronounced it a very bad sprain, and told her to try and avoid using it if she can. It wasn't much of a surprise to see a bottle of Advil passed around.
Piper ran his finger along the edge of the uniform he was wearing. It was heavier than he was used to, not to mention the 'wrong colors'. He was also not used to the mask on his face, but he entertained himself a little with clicking the lenses and seeing the different settings.
He was concerned that he didn't have weapons at the moment, at least, not his weapons. But once they were in Central City, chances were good he could restock.
Piper was surprised when apparently the others were thinking along the same lines. Perhaps he should have realized sooner, since each of the 'heroes' had led a team before. They would be thinking along the lines of how each person could handle themselves and how best to direct them in a battle.
"Where is your base of operations?" Nightwing asked, watching the instruments carefully and only glancing at times through the window.
"Rathaway Manor." He stopped playing with the lenses and focused on the others.
Red Arrow unbuckled himself and slid over to Piper. "Do you know how to use a boomerang? Or arrows or anything besides pipes? Who knows what we might encounter before we get to your stash, and it would be better if you could help defend yourself."
"I know how to throw a boomerang." He confessed. "Digger taught some of us. He was drunk at the time, but I still got it to do what I needed it to do." He gave a wry smile. That was back in the 'good ol'days' before things went to shit.
"I can also swing a mean club if I have to." Piper snorted at the thought. "I'm a good shot if given a gun to aim." He tried to think if there was anything else he could do or use. "I've learned to fight, hand to hand. But as for the majority of weapons? No. I can't shoot an arrow or anything."
Red Arrow slipped over to Nightwing, bent over him and then scooted over to Robin. When he returned, he had in his hands and arms 'batarangs' as well as a bo staff that collapsed to a smaller size. "Best we can do for you at the moment. Riddler?" He turned to the other man.
Riddler patted his jacket with a grave look. "Taken care of."
Catwoman nodded as well. "Already armed." She assured.
Piper spent the rest of the flight figuring out how to clip and secret things on his new belt and costume.
The landing was smooth, but as they looked out the window, it became apparent that the path from the plane to the manor would not be easy to travel.
"Are those zombies?" Red Arrow asked in a pained voice. "Like, real honest to God, eat your brains zombies?"
"Yep." Nightwing unbuckled himself and stood up. "Aim for the head, I suppose. It works in the movies. Robin, you guard the plane."
Robin slid into the pilot seat while the others made their way to the hatch.
"I want a flame thrower!" Riddler yelled as he quickly hobbled down the concrete path. He aimed his gun and struck one of the zombies in the head, right between the eyes. It stumbled backward, but did not go down.
"That's one theory down." Nightwing said bitterly, swinging as hard as he could.
"Fuck!" Red Arrow used his bow to swing at one of the zombies, pushing and throwing it to the side as he ran past. He grabbed Riddler about the waist and bodily picked him up in an effort to get through the dead that were converging upon them. If the headshots had worked, it wouldn't have been an issue. But, now instead of an asset, Riddler was a liability. But Arrow wouldn't leave a man behind if he could help it.
Catwoman took to the trees, using them to get through until she could get closer, jumping down only at the last to scamper onto the large porch that was once white and pristine.
Piper found the bo staff handy, as he used it to knock them out of his way, but fear and terror were what fueled him to run fast enough to dash behind the others and dive through the door that Nightwing busted open.
Once through, the others grabbed tables and such, shoving them in front of the door.
"Downstairs, I'll be right back." Piper told them, as he ran for his workroom.
"We'll stay up here, to guard our exit." Red Arrow called down. "Yell if you run into trouble."
"Yell?" Piper muttered to himself. "Try scream in terror." Still he continued toward the room where he kept the majority of his personal arsenal.
'Hurry.' Trickster breathed into his ear. It was hardly necessary for the ghost to remind him, but Piper considered that perhaps Trickster was feeling powerless. Something that none of them appreciated.
The door opened with a groan, having not been used in a while and he stepped inside. The lights were not working, which made sense considering the circumstances. Most of the twin cities were without power, but it did little to make the situation feel better.
He told himself, just grab two things. His flute, and the gun he'd made a while back. No, three things... the thing that helped...
What was that on his foot?
He jumped back, feeling foolish when he heard the tiny squeak. "Oh, oh, it's just you guys..." He breathed almost a sigh of relief. "I've missed--"
He broke off as he realized something was wrong. He'd reached down to pick one of his friends up and immediately released the small body in his hands, backing up rapidly as he did so.
Little hair remained on the large rat he'd picked up. And the skin had felt raw, and wet. Slick with a fluid that his brain insisted had to be pus and blood. The smell a sickening sweet odor that reminded him of rotting food and meat in a sink, maggots writhing and engorged. It had all the warmth of a raw chicken fresh from the fridge.
All of this was conjured up for him in the span of a few seconds, and what had once been familiar and friendly now filled him with revulsion as he hurried grabbed what he could. He could feel them, clinging to his legs, trying to bite through the boots which were thankfully re-enforced due to innate bat-paranoia. He kicked his legs, reaching down with his flute to knock them off, but found that they were starting to overrun him.
Frantic, he ran up the stairs, hoping that if he could get into the open, he could get them off before they could find a clear place to bite.
"What the..." He heard Red Arrow seconds before someone was batting at him, as though he were on fire.
He opened his eyes to see that both Nightwing and Red Arrow were using their preferred weapons of choice as batons, knocking the rats off and in most cases following it up by beating them to a pulp on the ground.
"Did they bite you?" Riddler asked, sounding a bit panicked himself. His hands on Piper's shoulders as he surveyed him with his eyes.
"No. No, but not for lack of trying. I don't know what the hell this suit is made of? But I want one." Piper said breathlessly, and shaking despite his efforts to control. He felt a chill around him, over him, through him. Trickster's words were in his ear again. 'Are you all right? Are you sure you're okay? I'm so sorry...'
Piper nodded a quick nod. "I'm fine." He promised.
"We survive this? You can have one! Hell, you can have a wardrobe! I'll personally sew little batwinged musical notes on it for you. Just as long as we stop this mess!" Nightwing despite his exertions appeared calm, the only thing that betrayed his fear and worry was the grip he had on his weapons. "Where would be the other Rogues?"
"They have a safe house. Actually, there's more than one, but this one is more defensible and not known to Flash. It was nicknamed the 'Last Resort, Resort' by Trickster once. A kind of bunker. If they are anywhere in a situation like this? It would be there." Behind them, he could hear the skittering. "We need to get out of here, now. The rats are coming!"
Hissing. Rats didn't usually hiss, though they could if provoked to. And usually, when happy they would grind their teeth together. This? This was not a good sound, and it sounded like there were hundreds of them.
"Great. Zombie rats." Catwoman bitched with a sneer. "And not a zombie cat in sight!"
"Actually, isn't it usually dogs that will deal with rats while cats are..." Riddler started as he hurried to the door, using his cane with his bad leg.
"Riddler, now is NOT the time!" Catwoman growled as she passed him. "Let's GO!"
"Come on!" Nightwing was bringing up the rear while Red Arrow took point. "What the hell are those things?" Nightwing pointed up.
"Does it matter? Kill them!" Red Arrow yelled back as he drew an arrow back and let it loose. It arched gracefully into the air and struck the creature that had been screaming toward them. It had the look of a demonic prehistoric bird. The talons were already coated with blood and gore, but as it took the arrow it fell with a loud thud.
Nightwing hesitated for a moment, but in the end decided they couldn't risk taking the body as a specimen. They jumped into the plane in time to hear the squeals and screams of various creatures as they hit the door.
"I'm really getting sick of close calls." Arrow said, leaning against the door breathing heavily as Nightwing moved up to help Robin pilot. "Any chance we can land close to their safehouse?"
Piper paused and then shook his head as he explained it's location.
"Of course." The other man bit out in irritation. "We'll have to go on foot once we get onto the correct street."
"Well, if it was too easy to get to, it wouldn't be that safe. Now would it?" Trickster bitched to the side of Piper. "Kind of goes against the whole 'safe house' concept!"
Riddler froze in place and then asked in a strangled voice. "Did you hear that?"
"Trickster being snide?" Catwoman asked quietly. "Nope, not at all." She paused and then added. "Yes, we heard it too."
Piper found himself almost breathing in relief. A tiny part of him had started to wonder if people hadn't been humoring him all along. But if they were truly starting to hear him, then that meant he wasn't totally insane.
"Can you hear this?" Trickster asked. "Riddle me this, big boy. Why would someone with your color tone wear green?"
Riddler frowned and then sneered. "Why would anyone possibly believe that orange, yellow, and blue stripes was good fashion sense?"
"This isn't good, people. If you can hear me that clearly? Then it means that it is getting closer and closer to being 'too late'. This realm and the other will be melded together to the point that we won't be able to separate them." Trickster told them.
"How do we get them to stop merging?" Nightwing asked, his voice low but perfectly audible in the back.
"From what I understand? The guy that runs the joint doesn't particularly want to merge either. Get together with him, and close the gate. But I'm not sure how it is closed. You'll have to ask him. It. Him. Whatever." Trickster didn't sound any happier than the rest of them felt.
"And where do we find this particular ruler of Hell?" Nightwing asked.
Trickster's voice floated through the cabin of the plane. "They want to know where to find him. Do you know? Really? You sure? Okay. I hope to... um... heaven... you're right."
"Who is it that you're talking to?" Nightwing asked, piloting them deeper into the city, where the streets were narrow and the obstacles more dangerous. He'd get in as close as he dared, and from there, they would have to approach on foot.
"Just another spook like me. Someone that goes bump in the night, usually because we forgot to leave a night-light on." Trickster answered smoothly. "He's another dimension, I guess you could say, from me. He's able to see deeper into the situation."
"Kind of a cagey answer." Nightwing's lip curled slightly.
"He's a cagey character, but I believe him. He has nothing to gain by lying." Trickster's voice hardened as he spoke, and Nightwing merely nodded. Seconds later, it didn't matter.
TBC
Anyway, I still have to warn for horror, because, while I just go 'keen', other's go 'that's kinda gross, Ali!' XD Usually, I'm left going... uh why? /squints/ But I figure something is wrong with me. Ahem. But most of that warning goes for part two anyhow.
Yes, it is a cliffhanger. Yes I will finish it soonish, just don't trust the computer today to do it today. And for those that wonder, Nightwing and Piper won the poll in a tie when combining my journal/this comm/my IJ journal. So they will be used in the plot device together in the second half.
Don't lynch me.
Title: Something there 1/2
Rated: Mature
Pairing: Piper/Trickster
Disclaimer: I still don't own them, and I still don't make money off of them. (Woe, for dudes am I broke.)
Summary: Halloween Prompt Challenge: Hell on Earth
He didn't try to stifle the yawn that tore through him without warning. There was no point. No one was there to see him do it anyway. No one to make off-color remarks about how wide he could open his mouth. No one there.
A faint memory trickled through and faded away before he could grab it.
(Up and down the stair. No one there on the stair.)
He shook his head, trying to clear it of the fog. He'd felt disconnected for weeks now. As though nothing was real. A long horrible dream that he could not wake from. Events strung together in no particular order, that made sense only at the time, but when looked back upon didn't seem to fit correctly. Not pieces of a puzzle that were missing, but pieces of three puzzles smashed together in an effort to make them fit. Resulting in a surreal picture that shouldn't exist.
(Nothing there, on the stair. Something that was, and was not there.)
Piper shivered as a chill ran up and then down his back.
There were no stairs. Only bars and solid glass. He was in a cell in Iron Heights. He'd turned himself in. He felt as though he deserved this. He'd failed. And failure deserved a punishment. Punishment would bring closure. And then? Maybe someday? He could go on with his life.
'It's the silence, that's all. It's getting to me. Making me jumpy. Imagine sounds! Play a tune in your head. It's all right.'
(Something that was, and wasn't there!)
He tilted his head back, closing his eyes, trying to imagine he was in a concert hall.
But no matter how he tried to picture it, all he could imagine was an empty cavernous place with nothing playing. Sinister.
'Encore!'
Piper startled, opening his eyes quickly and looking around. He'd thought the word, but not at his own initiative. And it had not been in his own mental voice.
"You're not here." He whispered.
Not that he could hear himself.
'Neither here nor there. And certainly not trip-trapping up the stairs. Not your average boogie-man though I can get down and boogie-woogie with the best of them. Come on, Pipes. You missed me, admit it!'
"Losing what's left of my mind." Piper squeezed his eyes closed, covering them with his hands. "Finally getting around to finishing going crazy!"
'If you can't beat them, join them! Sanity is highly overrated anyway. Look, you need to focus. I know you have this whole punishment thing going on right now. And seriously, you should have told me you were a masochist. Though, I should have figured that out by the fact that you used to wear polka dots, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say. But that's going to have to wait. We have things to do.'
"Not there. Not there. Not there."
'Don't be tedious.' The soft voice whispering in his mind sighed in annoyance. 'That didn't work when I was alive, and it certainly doesn't work now!'
Piper pushed himself down and lay on the mat they'd provided for him. Maybe sleep was the way to go. Just close his eyes, and go to sleep. Or, perhaps wake up, depending on whether or not this was a nightmare or his imagination.
His cell was spare, with nothing unnecessary within it. Nothing to look at, nothing to read, and nothing to work with. They wanted to make sure that Piper had no more chances to escape. Nothing that he could turn into an instrument. Not even a shred of paper in which to blow air over.
'Fiiiiine, be that way. But, I'm not going anywhere, just so you know.'
Blissful sleep. Sleep... sleep... sleep.
When did he notice? He couldn't quite remember. It was just a niggle of a feeling. Something was going wronger. More pieces of the puzzle were being added, but they didn't even have places to fit. It was as though they were being glued into place, and forced onto the puzzle. Building it up into a dimension that it should never attempt. It didn't matter that it made no sense, that there was no order. He had a deep sense of 'chaos', and he didn't know why.
'Getting hungry yet? No one's fed you in two days.'
That insistent voice. It just would not go away. Sometimes, it would rattle on about the past. Sometimes, it would sing to him off-key and horrible drinking songs that involved buxom women named Sally or the like. And sometimes, it would try to tell him that he had to get out of there, and now. It brought up the food issue again.
"It's not been two days." He disagreed. Surely it had only been a few hours? Or a few years. It hardly mattered to Piper, really.
'Yes, yes it has. You're not hungry because you're depressed, but it has been a couple of days. This place sucks, but they still feed the prisoners. And they haven't come down to feed YOU. Something is wrong. You have to get out of here.' The voice was getting more and more desperate.
"You are a product of silence." Piper told the voice slowly. "My imagination trying to supply noise where they've taken it away. I'm going crazy. That's all. Well, crazier."
'You're no more crazy than you've ever been. Sure, you got a thing about the rats, and terrible taste in men. But that doesn't mean you're crazy. I had an aunt that loved cats. Had about thirty or forty of them. Claimed they talked to her. Okay, bad example. But the point is, nothing wrong with it, really. But there IS something wrong with the fact that no one has come down to even check on you. Piper, you don't have to believe in my presence, but you have to at least check out what is wrong. If not for yourself, then tell yourself that you're doing it for the sake of the other prisoners. They're probably starving.'
Piper refused to answer, instead looking away and chewing on his thumbnail.
'You know there's something wrong. You know it!' The voice sounded incredulous.
Piper began to sing under his breath. "It's the ennnnd of the world as we know it. It's the ennnnd of the wooooorld as we know it. It's time I had some time alone. It's the ennnnd of the world as we know it. It's time I had some time alone. And I feeeeel fine. I feeeeel finnnne."
'So that's it then? It's the end of the world 'as we know it'. And you're going to let yourself starve down in a cell, that technically, you don't even deserve to be locked in? You're just going to give up? Stop living? Let everyone out there fend for themselves? I thought you were done with the selfish behavior. That you were going to play it strictly on the side of the angels from now on?'
Piper closed his eyes against the lecturing voice, turning his head to the side. "I'm tired." He said slowly, almost helplessly. Hopelessly. "I want a rest. Just for a while. A rest. Maybe forever." He murmured the last bit.
'We don't get that option. Not even when we DIE! No rest for the wicked or the weary. Now, get off your ass and figure out a way to get out of this cell. Before it is too late.' The voice was nearly yelling in his ear at this point. Which was impossible since he was A.) Alone. and B.) The cell nullified all sound.
"You're dead. Why should it matter to you?" Piper covered his eyes, but even as he did so, he forced himself to get to his feet.
'Dead is relative in this and all universes. All things are alive, being born, dying, and dead at all the same time. It's just that the living is linear for the most part. I'm no longer linear, and neither are you. You've just not learned yet how to stop seeing in a straight line. There's irony since you're as straight as one of Boomer's rangs!'
"Tricks? Don't start." Piper groused as he went to the edge of the cell and looked as far to the side in the hall as he could. "Still doesn't explain why you're here, or why you care at this point. Nothing in this realm affects you, does it?"
'It does when you realize that the realms are shifting, overlaying each other, and trying to collapse on top of each other.' Trickster was almost visible now, out of the corner of Piper's eye. If he turned to look at him though, he disappeared. But so long as he didn't try to look at Trickster directly, he could almost see the other man.
"Oh, God, not another Crisis situation?" Piper groaned, letting his head fall forward against the door.
"Not like the others." Trickster was becoming more substantial, but only if Piper didn't turn his head. "This isn't alternate universes, at least, not in the manner that has come up before. The realms all exist, normally, all at the same time. There are realms like ours, dimensions, then there are really crazy ones like the fifth dimension which is really... zany. And then there are others that are more understandable, but no less odd... or dangerous. Hell Realms. Sure, there are Heaven Realms, and such. Different ones, and there can even be some overlap. Ways of traveling between them, gateways, but for the most part? They are separate and ruled by different beings, inhabited by different beings. And all with their own rules and laws. Some have their own physics, as well."
While Trickster tried to explain, Piper was searching his cell for the first time since arriving. Looking for something he might work with. He hadn't bothered before, because he had been intent on staying put.
Trickster continued. "Hundreds of realms, Pipes. Hundreds! This? Is just one of them. And a mundane one compared to some of them. Ghosts aren't always ghosts, sometimes they are merely someone living in a realm, and appearing in this realm in an indefinite way. Like... visiting, but not completely here. Astral projection, from the other side. Where I am? I'm as solid as you. For me? You are the one that is 'barely there, walking on the stair, neither here nor there.' You... haunt ME! And have since the train."
"How is that possible?" Piper muttered, pulling up the mat and inspecting it before rubbing his face and sighing.
"Because, I..." Trickster trailed off, looking away. "Look, you just haunt me, all right? We don't have time to psychoanalyze my issues. That would take at leeeeeast a month! You've got to get out of here. Now!"
Piper used his fingers to pull on the plastic of the mat, separating it from the filling inside. He pulled and pried and used his teeth to try to turn it into a manageable piece to use.
"Did you ever wonder how you could use a grass whistle... to control another?" Trickster asked quietly. "Sonics may do a wonder of things, but come on... you're constructing something to... what? Hum on? Blow air on? And you know, know, know it will work. Haven't you ever wondered, how?"
"I try not to think about it." Piper told him, seconds before blowing on the plastic he'd rolled up and manipulated.
"Yeah, because, that's smart." Trickster huffed and shook his head. Piper's eyes slid toward him, trying to see the look on his face, but the other man faded and disappeared just as he turned his head the smallest amount.
The mechanism clicked, releasing the seal. Piper pushed on the door, sliding it to the side.
He barely felt the concrete as his full weight smashed his knees into the floor. His eyes tightly closed, his hands over his ears, he groaned. Cacophony. The noise was as harsh as a sledgehammer to his head.
It had been a while since he'd truly heard any sounds. It was overwhelming.
Every noise was amplified a dozen, no, fifty... a hundred times louder.
"Piper! Quick, you need to move!" Trickster was kneeling beside him, and Piper caught a glimpse of yellow stripes. "I know it is loud, but..."
His voice was drowned out by screams. Piper cringed and flinched as the sound split his head open and left nothing but pain in its wake.
Screams were not unknown at Iron Heights. But something was different about these.
Piper stumbled to his feet, leaning against the wall with one hand as he forced himself to take another step.
'That's it, buddy. One foot in front of the other.'
He was next to another cell, and the door was hanging open, but no one was inside it. Escaped?
Piper was regaining control of his hearing, making minute adjustments as he discovered his equilibrium once more.
The next scream he was able to turn down to a respectable level, and analyze.
Sounds aren't stagnant and colorless things. They have flavors. Tastes. Nuances. Meanings. Emotions. They can be analyzed. A voice can give away a lie with just the tiniest of shakes. And a scream can convey a summary of emotions. Rage. Pain. Fear. Even joy.
But there was no joy in this scream.
Terror.
His heart stuttered in his chest as he started in that direction.
"No, no, wrong direction. We're going out. Not deeper in!" Trickster seemed to be trying to grab at him, to pull him away, but all Piper could feel was a cold draft.
"You used the excuse of me helping other people." Piper reminded him, though, in truth he'd give anything to go back the other way. Still, he hurried toward the source of the rising screams.
"Damn it." Trickster bit off, but followed him as Piper rounded the corner and came to an abrupt stop.
Piper's hand found its way behind him, bracing himself against the doorjamb as he stared at the sight in front of him. His mind refused to process the entire picture, instead picking out details here and there. Blood. Staring eyes. Teeth.
A content smile.
It would have been better had it been an animalistic monster. Something so inhuman that it would be understandable and normal to imagine it attacking and devouring a human.
Piper took a step back as the man in front of him turned to look directly at him, smiling despite the gore on his face. "Rathaway."
"Warden..." Piper trailed off, taking another step backward, his breathing quickening as another puzzle piece slammed and jammed itself into the new picture. 'Insane'. He thought just as the Warden made a lunge at him, trying to capture his arm, his mouth open wide. His stained teeth... flesh caught between...
'RUN PIPER!' Trickster yelled, dashing forward, but disappearing before he could come into Piper's sight, and was therefore useless in the rescue. 'Well, damn!' Trickster growled at himself, trying to catch up to the quickly retreating Piper. 'Hard to be heroic when you're not completely in the same dimension.' He groused.
"You've saved me enough in the past. That's how you got in this condition." Piper called out, a touch bitterly.
'Well, there's gratitude for you!' Trickster's annoyed voice was close to his ear, and Piper was forced to make another adjustment to keep the volume at an acceptable level.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be alive. But it hasn't meant much in the meantime since everything--" He trailed off as they rounded another corner. He slid to a stop and grasped the edge of a desk, holding himself from toppling over. The slick substance under his feet turned his stomach, and he felt bile rise in his throat. "Oh, God..."
'Back up, very slowly.' Trickster said in a low voice.
"Kinda figured that out." Piper muttered, edging back in the direction he'd just come.
They were probably part of a K-9 unit, or drug sniffers at one point. Maybe. He wasn't really sure how they set those departments up, but right now? He didn't really care!
The low growl raised the hair on the back of Piper's neck, and he felt his stomach drop as they turned in unison to look at him. "Nice doggies. Good doggies. Go back to eating the guard." Piper gasped, backing up a bit faster before turning on his heel and pelting back down the hall. The sound of their claws clicking on the tile was edging closer and closer, making his heart leap into his throat.
'Can't go back down, Warden Hannibal the Cannibal is down there!' Trickster reminded him, his voice faint and drifting behind him.
Piper hung a sharp right, trying to find some stairs, not trusting any elevators at this point.
"What the hell is going on here? When did George Romero start writing the script of life in this universe?" Piper bitched as he took the steps two at a time. "Don't we have enough problems without dealing with a live version of Resident Evil?"
' You're mixing up your zombie canon sources there, but... It's what I was trying to tell you. It's one of the Hell Realms! It is trying to collapse into THIS realm. It's merging and influencing everything here. Demons are slipping through, and turning or taking humans. If nothing is done in the next twelve hours, the expression 'Hell on Earth' won't be an expression. It'll be a reality!'
"What about the Justice League? The Titans? Someone equipped for this kind of thing?" Piper grasped the railing, breathing heavily as he forced himself to continue climbing.
A low groan from above froze him in midstep.
He almost started back down, eager to avoid another confrontation when he realized that this time, it was a groan of pain. He could see the tip of someone's fingers, just over the edge of the stairwell.
"Help me..." The voice weakly called out.
'Careful, could be a trap.' Trickster warned, worry in his voice. 'I'd go ahead and look for you, but I suffer from 'Disappearitis'.'
"Trickster, as a guardian angel? You suck!" Piper pressed his lips together as he inched forward, taking the steps slowly. He was torn between caution and the desire to help.
'Who said I was an angel? Think of me more as your guardian... Uh... I'll get back to you on that. I don't know what the hell I am.' He admitted in a low voice, whispering though he probably didn't have to.
"Hello?" Piper asked, tentative, and fully prepared to make another run for it.
He heard movement seconds before approaching the next landing and saw a form laying on the ground. Blood pooled around his head and shoulders, and he didn't seem able to focus his eyes. "Help, please." He whispered to Piper.
"Oh, my God." Piper breathed, bending down on one knee and placing his fingers over the pulse point, and trying to gauge how well he was breathing. "Batman?"
'Careful, he might try to eat your face off! And that's when there aren't zombies around nomming on people's brains!' Trickster warned again.
"I don't think he can even see me." Piper checked the head wound closer. The mask was half ripped, the underlying helmet had been busted and dented. He hesitated to remove the mask completely, but he figured that at this point it didn't make much difference. Any booby-traps had probably been triggered beforehand. And it truly was in the way of his meager examination.
'Is that who I think it is?' Trickster asked, faint awe in his voice.
"I think so. But, can't say I can't see it either. Always thought it was kind of weird. When he was younger? He was one of the smartest guys I had ever met. Never figured how he could go from brilliant to a male Paris Hilton in the course of five or ten years. And sure there were rumors that he was an alcoholic and that was the reason, but, I just never bought into it totally." He shook his head.
'Whoa, wait, you knew him?' Trickster asked in complete surprise.
"My parents traveled in the same circles as Wayne and Luthor. They occasionally dragged me along. People forget Wayne went to University, and he didn't flunk out. He just... quit. Though, I bet if someone checked the records, it would say he flunked." Piper slowly shook his head. "You can make a computer say anything these days if you know how." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He needs a doctor, badly."
'Let me just look in my pocket.' Trickster said blandly. 'Nope, fresh out!'
"We can't just leave him here!" Piper ground his teeth.
'Head injuries, you're not supposed to move them.' Trickster countered. 'And I'm still not convinced he's not going to do a Romero on you.'
"If he does, we brain him. But for now, I think I'm going to have to risk it. He can't stay here, or he's going to either get eaten by the Warden, eaten by those dogs, or... eaten by something, I don't know. All I do know is that the prison has become a buffet with us as the dessert bar!" Piper frowned, wishing he could risk looking for something like a backboard. Not that he could really carry it by himself, but he'd have felt better with something to keep Bruce's neck immobile.
He took the man's cape and rolled it as best he could, wrapping it around his neck and tried to tie it without choking him.
Hearing a slight and tiny voice, he paused, checking through Wayne's hair and ears. Pulling out the small device, he held it up to his own ear. "Hello?"
"Who is this?" A mechanical voice asked. "Where is Batman?"
"He's hurt, bad. Head injury. I'm trying to get him out of Iron Heights, before something eats us." Piper felt a faint hope. "Who is this?"
"Oracle. You didn't give me your name." She pointed out. To Piper, despite the metalic quality of her voice, she sounded desperate.
"Does it make a difference?" Piper asked, putting one arm under Batman's legs and the other under his shoulders, lifting him unsteadily with a grunt. "Piper. I finally noticed I wasn't getting fed, and decided to see if everyone was all right. Found the Warden eating his secretary, and the K-9 Unit eating the guards. Decided that things were 'not all right' and figured getting the hell out of here was the right thing to do. I'm heading toward the roof. What is the status? Does anyone know what is going on yet?"
Something told Piper that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Oracle that he was being advised on the reality of the situation by a 'ghost'.
"Near as we can tell, another reality is invading our own. But no progress has been made to stop it yet. Continue toward the roof, I'll attempt to find a flyer to head in your direction." Piper could hear the faint clack of keys over the link.
"Gotcha." He nodded to himself, and tried to gently shift the bleeding man. "Anything I can do to help once they're here? How bad is it?"
He heard the hesitation in Oracle's typing. For a moment, he believed she would tell him he was going back to his cell or that they were taking him into custody. Instead, she told him in a faint voice. "It's bad. I'm instructing Superman to bring you to the Hall as well. We need all hands willing to help. You've not gone to trial yet, it's..."
Trickster snorted behind Piper. 'She has to rationalize it, so that she can make herself feel better about letting a 'Rogue' help. Especially, since she wanted our heads on a platter at one point.'
"Is someone there with you?" Oracle asked suddenly.
"You can hear him?" Piper asked in shock, and not a little hope. If she could hear him, then that meant that Piper wasn't crazy, right?
"Faintly. I couldn't make out what he said, even when I tried to increase the playback. It was like the faintest whisper. Who is there with you?" She demanded, suspicion in her voice now.
"Not sure you'd believe me if I told you." Piper used his shoulders to push a swinging door out of the way, and frowned as Trickster flickered out of his sight the second he'd turned in that direction.
"Try me." Oracle's voice was still demanding, but now held a sardonic quality that was all too familiar to Piper.
"James Jesse. The Trickster. He's... kind... of a ghost." Piper winced at the sound of that. He paused, listening for anyone else in the hallway, and then continued toward the last door that would take them up to the roof.
"I believe it." Oracle sighed over the link. "Stranger things have happened. Can he travel with you? Or... how does that work?"
'Tell her I'm tethered to you in a groovy metaphysical way that isn't at all kinky. Bondage without the fun!' Trickster chuckled.
"He's tethered to me somehow. I guess that means he'll follow wherever I go? Kind of like he's haunting me." Piper ignored the bondage comment as he stepped onto the roof and stopped, swallowing hard. He could see over the grounds and into the city proper from his location.
'Hey, you are haunting ME remember?' Trickster corrected and then broke off, giving Piper a moment.
"Holy shit." Piper breathed, edging closer and looking down.
'Nothing holy about it. It's about as far from Holy as you can get.' Trickster placed an insubstantial hand on his shoulder, making Piper shiver slightly.
"No one's cleaned up the bodies." Piper shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. It wasn't a question, but Oracle took it as such.
"No time. We can't keep up. We've lost so many."
Piper knew without a doubt that the person on the other end was a person and not a computer. Because, most computers couldn't cry. Piper felt helpless as he watched dark smoke curl into the sky from the center of the city. He thought about asking where Flash was, but then decided he didn't want to know. He feared the answer.
"I'll do all I can." Piper promised Oracle, for lack of anything better. "We both will. I'm so sorry."
"He should be there--"
"I'm here." Superman interrupted. "I'll be at the Hall in about a minute with both Batman and Piper. Have someone with spare clothes for Piper. Despite the dire situation, it might be better if he didn't move about in prison issue."
"Understood." Oracle clicked the link off for the moment while Superman gently gathered Batman up into his arms.
"Can you hold on, or do I need to make two trips?" Superman asked, not looking up from Bruce Wayne's battered face.
"I can hold on I think." Piper looked back over the prison yard tentatively and swallowed again. Carrion eaters of some otherworldly design called back and forth to each other as they feasted on what was left of prisoners that had almost, but not quite escaped. He wrapped his arms around Superman's neck tightly, closing his eyes and after a moment, wrapped his legs around his waist. Piggyback. He didn't care how it looked. There was no way in hell he was going to fall off unless someone ripped his arms off.
The whistle of the air whipping past him required him to once more adjust his hearing, but Trickster still remained in his ear no matter how fast they went.
As they landed, Superman frowned and looked around. "I can almost hear him." He murmured. "But... not quite."
But then he strode away, carrying Batman to get medical help. He didn't have time to unravel the mystery of a whisper of a whisper.
Thump thump
Crutches?
No, A crutch. New clothes clutched under one arm while the other balanced the young man and kept him from falling over. "Piper?" He half asked, and then held out the bundle. "Hope it fits. I know it isn't your usual colors. But, best we could do under short notice."
"Robin?" Piper frowned and took the bundle before taking a step back in surprise. Robin's leg was missing from the knee down.
"Nightwing donated most of the costume. Red Arrow the rest." Robin continued as though he hadn't seen his reaction. 'Pure Bat'. It reminded Piper of a 'stern' Vulcan.
'Probably how he's getting through this right now. Most would be in a corner waiting for the end.' Piper raised his chin and nodded slowly. "I'll thank them when I see them, let them know in the meantime that I appreciate it, if you see them first?" He figured that if Robin was going to 'ignore it', then he should as well.
"Will do. Report to the main hall when you are dressed." He nodded toward the restrooms and then hobbled away.
"Thank you." Piper called out half-heartedly and then pushed the doors open to find a stall.
He fumbled with the unfamiliar clasps and closures, as well as dealing with light-weight armor that had been made for the contours of another body. But in the end, he managed to get the red and black costume lined out. Though he fingered the domino mask, wondering if he should even bother. It didn't seem right to wear it, yet if they didn't expect him to, they wouldn't have provided it. His glasses were missing, of course. Probably in some property room somewhere. So that wasn't an option anyway.
He held the mask up to his eyes and blinked. Then with a small smile, he pressed the adhesive against his face and adjusted his eyes to the lenses. "Neat." He chuckled wryly.
Further down in the public bathroom, he heard a stall door bang, then another one a bit closer. Then, a third.
Piper felt a spark of panic and hurried through the door of his own stall, jumping further away, toward the sinks. The fourth door, next to the stall he'd just vacated banged, and then finally his own. Eyes open wide, he backed further until he felt the cold line of sinks against him.
He jumped as Trickster spoke. 'Might want to get out of here, I think.' He sounded as nervous as Piper felt. 'Autoflush is one thing. Autobangingthedooroffthehinges is a whole other story!'
Piper turned to retreat, to go back out into the lobby when he caught sight of his face in the mirror. He held his breath, eyes wide.
'Don't look!' Trickster yelled. 'It's not real. Don't LOOK! GO!'
But the reflection in the mirror moved when Piper moved, the expression matched his own through the decay and rot. He raised his fingers to his face, and could almost feel the slick and slimy flesh give way under his fingertips. Not real. Not real. Not real! He desperately thought to himself.
"Is there anyone... Fuck!"
The mirror shattered as an arrow struck it. "What the hell was that?" Red Arrow asked, grabbing Piper's shoulder and pulling him quickly backward through the door. "There's a breach!" He yelled, not waiting for an answer.
"What? Where?" A dozen voices asked in alarm.
Piper felt numb in the babble of voices that ensued as he continued to back away.
There was a scream from the other end of the hall, and there was a sudden rush toward the source.
The building was filled with 'heroes', and even a few that like him, had a criminal record. Catwoman, Riddler, and the like.
But all were in a high state of vigilance and low grade panic. The fear almost left a taste in the air. But it was almost easy to pick out the 'normal heroes' from those that didn't do it for a living on a regular basis. Those that had been villains at one point hung back, while the heroes rushed to see who had screamed and why. There were of course, shades of 'gray' who were tentative about moving forward, but even they tried to see 'what was going on'. This left Riddler, Catwoman, and Piper who was still in shock toward the back of the mass.
The attack was swift, but brutal. Too many attacking at once, making it difficult to see. People getting into each other's way.
It reminded Piper of a dog-pile in the worst way. The kind where the people on bottom got hurt if it was a football game. Everyone trying to get the ball, and in the end, no one accomplishing anything of merit.
Just broken bodies.
Riddler and Catwoman came to stand beside him, watching from a fair distance as the heroes tried to sort themselves out. Tried to figure out who was all right and who was not.
Catwoman shook her head slowly.
"Someone is hurt." Riddler said, almost unnecessarily.
"No. Someone, is dead." Catwoman corrected in an undertone.
It was confirmed as someone toward the center of the group cried out in dismay, and emotional pain. "Noooooo! No! No!"
Piper closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. Not wanting to see, or hear, but unable to walk away.
"I thought... it looked like..." Someone was crying hysterically. "Oh, god!"
Superman rose above the crowd and announced. "Everyone, go to the Main Hall. Do not trust your eyes to tell you the truth." He sounded grim, and the core of the Justice League was trying to shield the body of the unwitting victim of their attack. But Piper still saw, regardless.
Stars. Gold, red, white, and blue. Black hair.
His heart dropped further and he swallowed.
"It would seem to me, my friends, that if we can no longer tell friend from foe, that we are in far worse trouble than we thought." Riddler pronounced, leaning heavily on his cane. It was then that Piper noticed that the other man was injured. Catwoman, he saw, was holding her wrist against her chest, bracing it carefully.
"We're in trouble no matter how you look at it." Catwoman grimaced. "This, whatever it is, it can play with the mind. Twist and turn us, and not to mention those creatures out there. It's like a horror movie come to life."
"It's the whole horror genre come to life." Riddler shook his head. "And the capes don't have a clue how to handle it. This is the things of nightmares. Supernatural. Not scientific. These are not aliens in the sense they are used to. This is magic, in its purest, yet most malevolent form."
"It's a Hell Realm. It's collapsing into our own." Piper spoke up for the first time. "But I'm not sure why or how it started. But we have less than twelve hours to stop it, or it is forever."
Trickster leaned over Piper's shoulder, and he could almost feel the 'weight'. 'Someone opened a gate to a Hell, and then left it open because he was killed by the demon he was attempting to conjour up. Now it is trying to equalize between the two.'
"A gate to a Hell was opened and then left open. Now it is trying to equalize between the two, much like when someone removes a small partition between two halves of a tank." Piper corrected himself.
"What makes you think that?" Catwoman asked, eyes narrowed behind her mask.
He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Trickster told me, just now. He's... ah..."
"A ghost?" Riddler supplied. "That might be useful." He said thoughtfully. "Someone with Intel, finally. I suspect that the Capes usual supernatural assistance has been blocked from doing such. This is the first time I've heard anything that actually makes any sense to me. They knew it was another reality, but not how or why it was invading. I think they took it to be a purposeful invasion."
"Can the gate still be closed?" Catwoman asked, looking intently just to Piper's side.
'Tell her I'm slightly behind you.' Trickster said in faint amusement. 'And yes, I think it can, but it will be hard. Like trying to close a gate with water rushing in.'
"He's slightly behind me, he says. And, how do you know that?" Piper asked. "How do you know any of this?"
'Because I'm a link in the chain, just like you. You are linked to me, and I to you. And there is a link from me, to another, who like me talking to you, is talking to me. I'm passing on the information as he can get it as well.'
"A metaphysical game of telephone. Great. Can he be trusted?" Piper asked, careful not to look over his own shoulder. It felt easier if he just pretended that the man truly was standing behind him. If he tried to face the voice, he felt like he was talking to himself.
'Do we have a choice?' Trickster countered. 'Look, this is all we got. I'm willing to believe him. He's been right so far.'
Piper was quiet a moment and then finally cleared his throat. "All right. He says yes, but it will be difficult."
"When are such things ever easy?" Riddler straightened up as far as he could, and then limped his way toward the main hall. "The question now is, how do we convince the League?"
Catwoman pressed her lips together and moved painfully behind Riddler. "We tell them, and then whether they act on it or not, we do. We deal with it."
"Oh, what fun we shall have." Riddler pronounced sarcastically as he pushed the door open.
"Why would they not believe it? Wouldn't they be relieved to have something to focus on? To know what the cause is?" Piper though, despite asking knew how single minded people like Wally could be. And how easy it was for them to disbelieve or believe the wrong thing without 'proof' to back someone up.
There were simply too many people, too many voices, and all clamoring with their opinions and thoughts. Their theories. And each one was different, and when Piper had tried to lift his voice among the others, it was taken as just another 'option' to consider. Some had questioned his 'source'. And while few found it hard to believe in ghosts or that he was in contact with one, none found that it gave any more weight to the idea than any other idea.
"That went about as well as I expected it to." Riddler was leaning heavily on his cane, the question mark biting into the skin of his palm. "Thick headed stubborn..." He trailed off.
Catwoman held her wrist in her other hand, cradling it gently and shook her head as well. "They're going to be at this for a while, and by then it will be too late. And chances are, they are going to take one of their 'better theories' and run off with it, jumping in with both feet and both fists, and before you know it, we'll all be done for."
"We can't just go, the three of us, we need allies." Riddler pointed out, shifting a little on his good leg trying to avoid any weight on his bad one. "Two injured, and one weaponless. What a frightening and imposing team we make!"
"I think..." Piper sighed and looked down toward his feet. "I think we can manage that. But we have to get back to Central City." He grimaced. He wasn't too sure if he should suggest it or not. Perhaps too much had passed for it to work anymore. Perhaps they would refuse to listen. But, perhaps in the end, a Rogue was still a Rogue?
"The Rogues." Catwoman looked over at Piper, figuring it out within seconds. "Think they would actually help?"
"It's their world too. If it goes to, well, hell. Then they suffer also. And while we've never wanted to 'rule the world', we have always had the power to go do it, if we chose to. We just weren't that ambitious. I think that's why all those secret societies and such have always wanted us in with them. You can say what you want about the Rogues, but when push comes to shove? We could kick ass when we wanted to."
"Works for me. It isn't like I can contact any of the Merry Band that I was once a member of. The only one I could halfway 'count on' would be Penguin, and even he can't be trusted to really help out." Riddler shook his head and started hobbling toward the doorway. "We're going to have to figure out a way to Central City, without having to wait on a Cape to take us."
"Anyone up for stealing a chopper? Jet? Plane?" Catwoman gave them each a rueful look. "I don't think they'll really miss one at the moment. As long as we don't take one of theirs. We could go to the airport, perhaps steal one from one of those private hangers?"
"Indeed. With the chaos that is going on, I believe that they've downed all air travel with the exception of Metas and the Military." Riddler nodded as he made his way down the hallway, toward the exit of the Hall. "The real question is, do any of us know how to actually pilot one."
"I do." They heard a voice behind them.
Turning as one they were all surprised to see Robin, a crutch under his arm. His face was stoic, just as it had been when Piper had arrived. Half a step behind him, Red Arrow and Nightwing waited, arms crossed over their chests.
"As do I." Nightwing told them. "We're going with you."
"You believe me?" Piper asked, drawing his brows up and feeling as though a cold chill was running through him. Trickster with his... arm... around him?
"I believe that the others are barking up the wrong tree." Nightwing stated, tilting his head back the way they'd come. "Whether or not you're right, I can't say, but you develop a sense of intuition after a while. Mine says, follow you three."
Red Arrow nodded slowly. "I feel it too. I think you were speaking the truth. It isn't the first time we've dealt with such things, but never on this kind of scale."
"Come on. We've got just enough room for all of us, if we take one of the transports. They're not going to miss it today." Nightwing turned and led the way to a hanger. "And if they do? They don't have time to come after us for it. I'll deal with the repercussions later, if there is a later."
The walk to the transport was quick despite the injuries that some of them had. Piper at one point considered expressing concern about such, but then at the last second figured that if Nightwing and Red Arrow weren't going to comment, than it wasn't something he should mention either. Besides, they probably needed all the help they could get.
He also wondered if perhaps they felt something on some level about him bringing Batman back to some semblance of safety. Or perhaps, they wanted to keep an eye on him since he'd seen Batman's true face? He had every right, in his opinion, to be paranoid at this point!
Riddler fastened himself in, and sighed deeply, tipping his head backward and closing his eyes. "Do we know if instruments are affected? I know we can't always trust our eyes." He asked, not bothering to re-open his eyes and look at anyone.
While Nightwing powered the plane, Robin sat next to Catwoman, re-wrapping her wrist and checking it with quick and sure fingers. He pronounced it a very bad sprain, and told her to try and avoid using it if she can. It wasn't much of a surprise to see a bottle of Advil passed around.
Piper ran his finger along the edge of the uniform he was wearing. It was heavier than he was used to, not to mention the 'wrong colors'. He was also not used to the mask on his face, but he entertained himself a little with clicking the lenses and seeing the different settings.
He was concerned that he didn't have weapons at the moment, at least, not his weapons. But once they were in Central City, chances were good he could restock.
Piper was surprised when apparently the others were thinking along the same lines. Perhaps he should have realized sooner, since each of the 'heroes' had led a team before. They would be thinking along the lines of how each person could handle themselves and how best to direct them in a battle.
"Where is your base of operations?" Nightwing asked, watching the instruments carefully and only glancing at times through the window.
"Rathaway Manor." He stopped playing with the lenses and focused on the others.
Red Arrow unbuckled himself and slid over to Piper. "Do you know how to use a boomerang? Or arrows or anything besides pipes? Who knows what we might encounter before we get to your stash, and it would be better if you could help defend yourself."
"I know how to throw a boomerang." He confessed. "Digger taught some of us. He was drunk at the time, but I still got it to do what I needed it to do." He gave a wry smile. That was back in the 'good ol'days' before things went to shit.
"I can also swing a mean club if I have to." Piper snorted at the thought. "I'm a good shot if given a gun to aim." He tried to think if there was anything else he could do or use. "I've learned to fight, hand to hand. But as for the majority of weapons? No. I can't shoot an arrow or anything."
Red Arrow slipped over to Nightwing, bent over him and then scooted over to Robin. When he returned, he had in his hands and arms 'batarangs' as well as a bo staff that collapsed to a smaller size. "Best we can do for you at the moment. Riddler?" He turned to the other man.
Riddler patted his jacket with a grave look. "Taken care of."
Catwoman nodded as well. "Already armed." She assured.
Piper spent the rest of the flight figuring out how to clip and secret things on his new belt and costume.
The landing was smooth, but as they looked out the window, it became apparent that the path from the plane to the manor would not be easy to travel.
"Are those zombies?" Red Arrow asked in a pained voice. "Like, real honest to God, eat your brains zombies?"
"Yep." Nightwing unbuckled himself and stood up. "Aim for the head, I suppose. It works in the movies. Robin, you guard the plane."
Robin slid into the pilot seat while the others made their way to the hatch.
"I want a flame thrower!" Riddler yelled as he quickly hobbled down the concrete path. He aimed his gun and struck one of the zombies in the head, right between the eyes. It stumbled backward, but did not go down.
"That's one theory down." Nightwing said bitterly, swinging as hard as he could.
"Fuck!" Red Arrow used his bow to swing at one of the zombies, pushing and throwing it to the side as he ran past. He grabbed Riddler about the waist and bodily picked him up in an effort to get through the dead that were converging upon them. If the headshots had worked, it wouldn't have been an issue. But, now instead of an asset, Riddler was a liability. But Arrow wouldn't leave a man behind if he could help it.
Catwoman took to the trees, using them to get through until she could get closer, jumping down only at the last to scamper onto the large porch that was once white and pristine.
Piper found the bo staff handy, as he used it to knock them out of his way, but fear and terror were what fueled him to run fast enough to dash behind the others and dive through the door that Nightwing busted open.
Once through, the others grabbed tables and such, shoving them in front of the door.
"Downstairs, I'll be right back." Piper told them, as he ran for his workroom.
"We'll stay up here, to guard our exit." Red Arrow called down. "Yell if you run into trouble."
"Yell?" Piper muttered to himself. "Try scream in terror." Still he continued toward the room where he kept the majority of his personal arsenal.
'Hurry.' Trickster breathed into his ear. It was hardly necessary for the ghost to remind him, but Piper considered that perhaps Trickster was feeling powerless. Something that none of them appreciated.
The door opened with a groan, having not been used in a while and he stepped inside. The lights were not working, which made sense considering the circumstances. Most of the twin cities were without power, but it did little to make the situation feel better.
He told himself, just grab two things. His flute, and the gun he'd made a while back. No, three things... the thing that helped...
What was that on his foot?
He jumped back, feeling foolish when he heard the tiny squeak. "Oh, oh, it's just you guys..." He breathed almost a sigh of relief. "I've missed--"
He broke off as he realized something was wrong. He'd reached down to pick one of his friends up and immediately released the small body in his hands, backing up rapidly as he did so.
Little hair remained on the large rat he'd picked up. And the skin had felt raw, and wet. Slick with a fluid that his brain insisted had to be pus and blood. The smell a sickening sweet odor that reminded him of rotting food and meat in a sink, maggots writhing and engorged. It had all the warmth of a raw chicken fresh from the fridge.
All of this was conjured up for him in the span of a few seconds, and what had once been familiar and friendly now filled him with revulsion as he hurried grabbed what he could. He could feel them, clinging to his legs, trying to bite through the boots which were thankfully re-enforced due to innate bat-paranoia. He kicked his legs, reaching down with his flute to knock them off, but found that they were starting to overrun him.
Frantic, he ran up the stairs, hoping that if he could get into the open, he could get them off before they could find a clear place to bite.
"What the..." He heard Red Arrow seconds before someone was batting at him, as though he were on fire.
He opened his eyes to see that both Nightwing and Red Arrow were using their preferred weapons of choice as batons, knocking the rats off and in most cases following it up by beating them to a pulp on the ground.
"Did they bite you?" Riddler asked, sounding a bit panicked himself. His hands on Piper's shoulders as he surveyed him with his eyes.
"No. No, but not for lack of trying. I don't know what the hell this suit is made of? But I want one." Piper said breathlessly, and shaking despite his efforts to control. He felt a chill around him, over him, through him. Trickster's words were in his ear again. 'Are you all right? Are you sure you're okay? I'm so sorry...'
Piper nodded a quick nod. "I'm fine." He promised.
"We survive this? You can have one! Hell, you can have a wardrobe! I'll personally sew little batwinged musical notes on it for you. Just as long as we stop this mess!" Nightwing despite his exertions appeared calm, the only thing that betrayed his fear and worry was the grip he had on his weapons. "Where would be the other Rogues?"
"They have a safe house. Actually, there's more than one, but this one is more defensible and not known to Flash. It was nicknamed the 'Last Resort, Resort' by Trickster once. A kind of bunker. If they are anywhere in a situation like this? It would be there." Behind them, he could hear the skittering. "We need to get out of here, now. The rats are coming!"
Hissing. Rats didn't usually hiss, though they could if provoked to. And usually, when happy they would grind their teeth together. This? This was not a good sound, and it sounded like there were hundreds of them.
"Great. Zombie rats." Catwoman bitched with a sneer. "And not a zombie cat in sight!"
"Actually, isn't it usually dogs that will deal with rats while cats are..." Riddler started as he hurried to the door, using his cane with his bad leg.
"Riddler, now is NOT the time!" Catwoman growled as she passed him. "Let's GO!"
"Come on!" Nightwing was bringing up the rear while Red Arrow took point. "What the hell are those things?" Nightwing pointed up.
"Does it matter? Kill them!" Red Arrow yelled back as he drew an arrow back and let it loose. It arched gracefully into the air and struck the creature that had been screaming toward them. It had the look of a demonic prehistoric bird. The talons were already coated with blood and gore, but as it took the arrow it fell with a loud thud.
Nightwing hesitated for a moment, but in the end decided they couldn't risk taking the body as a specimen. They jumped into the plane in time to hear the squeals and screams of various creatures as they hit the door.
"I'm really getting sick of close calls." Arrow said, leaning against the door breathing heavily as Nightwing moved up to help Robin pilot. "Any chance we can land close to their safehouse?"
Piper paused and then shook his head as he explained it's location.
"Of course." The other man bit out in irritation. "We'll have to go on foot once we get onto the correct street."
"Well, if it was too easy to get to, it wouldn't be that safe. Now would it?" Trickster bitched to the side of Piper. "Kind of goes against the whole 'safe house' concept!"
Riddler froze in place and then asked in a strangled voice. "Did you hear that?"
"Trickster being snide?" Catwoman asked quietly. "Nope, not at all." She paused and then added. "Yes, we heard it too."
Piper found himself almost breathing in relief. A tiny part of him had started to wonder if people hadn't been humoring him all along. But if they were truly starting to hear him, then that meant he wasn't totally insane.
"Can you hear this?" Trickster asked. "Riddle me this, big boy. Why would someone with your color tone wear green?"
Riddler frowned and then sneered. "Why would anyone possibly believe that orange, yellow, and blue stripes was good fashion sense?"
"This isn't good, people. If you can hear me that clearly? Then it means that it is getting closer and closer to being 'too late'. This realm and the other will be melded together to the point that we won't be able to separate them." Trickster told them.
"How do we get them to stop merging?" Nightwing asked, his voice low but perfectly audible in the back.
"From what I understand? The guy that runs the joint doesn't particularly want to merge either. Get together with him, and close the gate. But I'm not sure how it is closed. You'll have to ask him. It. Him. Whatever." Trickster didn't sound any happier than the rest of them felt.
"And where do we find this particular ruler of Hell?" Nightwing asked.
Trickster's voice floated through the cabin of the plane. "They want to know where to find him. Do you know? Really? You sure? Okay. I hope to... um... heaven... you're right."
"Who is it that you're talking to?" Nightwing asked, piloting them deeper into the city, where the streets were narrow and the obstacles more dangerous. He'd get in as close as he dared, and from there, they would have to approach on foot.
"Just another spook like me. Someone that goes bump in the night, usually because we forgot to leave a night-light on." Trickster answered smoothly. "He's another dimension, I guess you could say, from me. He's able to see deeper into the situation."
"Kind of a cagey answer." Nightwing's lip curled slightly.
"He's a cagey character, but I believe him. He has nothing to gain by lying." Trickster's voice hardened as he spoke, and Nightwing merely nodded. Seconds later, it didn't matter.
TBC