Fic: NLTL: Switch-loaded
I hate neotoma, she keeps calling my fic, so I can't answer her comments without wheeeeee spoilers!!! XDDD Yeah okay like it wasn't semaphored with meter-wide flags anyways XDDD (Just kidding, Neotoma, I don't hate you ^__^ )
My justification is, Geoff Johns the Cold fanboi had his way, I can do it too, so there nyah ^__~ Also, I......... like being mean to Axel. okay okay so the little shit mayyyyyybe has some uses.... to heap my sadisticness on.....
This is pretty much the last fic in Nothing Left to Lose. I didn't set out to make liabrown squee; they were actually integral to the plot all along, but although Liasqueeage is an unintentional side effect, it will be a Good Thing for all concerned ^_~ Be not concerned if it doesn't mesh exactly with my first arc, Big Hard Sun, since that was being written even before Rogues' Revenge had started, so I've had to fudge and retcon a bit. But it meshes pretty well and places where it doesn't quite mesh, I can probably fudge around with time and events a bit - there's room to do that, thankfully ^___^
Previously on Nothing Left to Lose:
Prologue
Beside Myself
Boys Will Be Girls
Thorns
The Wind in the Will"
Bright Eyes
Catching the Wave
And bonus one-shot, Rumours
Title: Switch-Loaded
Author: Katzedecimal
Rating: T for righteous beatdown
Characters: Pied Piper, the Rogues
Summary: Everybody run, the homecoming queen's got a... flute!
"Has he said anything?"
"No."
"He just keeps staring at his stupid candle."
There was another one of those pregnant pause things, then Axel was smashed into the wall. "...oW..."
"Y'know, Len, I was thinking, maybe we should keep him. This place needs a doormat."
"Hn." Cold glared at the kid once more then went to crouch down next to his closest friend, "Mick? Y'okay?" No answer. "Mick? What happened?"
"...Piper's back..."
Cold snerked, "Is that all? Well if he tries anything we'll just put him back in his place."
"...don't. He's switch-loaded."
"What do you mean?"
"He's blooded."
"What? Mick, you're not making any sense."
"He was blooded before he caught us."
Cold snerked again, "What'd he kill, a housefly?"
"A god."
"You can't kill gods, Mick, they're gods. That's the whole point." No answer. Mick had fallen silent, staring at the candle he held cradled in his hands. It flickered, but what reflected in his eyes wasn't flame. "Mick.... What happened back there?"
"...anti-life..."
Cold shivered. "They got you? You've heard it?" Mick nodded, a single sharp dip. "But you resisted it?" A sharp negative jerk to the side. "But you're free of it, right?"
"He freed me."
"Who, Piper?! Oh come on, that's impossible. Even Libra doesn't take him seriously. It had to have been something else." Mick said nothing. "Probably your fire. Your fire helped you resist Libra. You were watching the refinery when it went up, weren't you."
"...switch-loaded..."
Cold shook his head, baffled, frustrated and more than a tad worried. "We'll take care of you, Mick, we'll get you help. If there's any help left out there, we'll find it for you. Just hang in there. Just keep looking at your fire."
* * * *
"Hello?"
"Lisa? Lisa, is Ratty there?"
"I'm sorry, Axl sweetie, he's gone. He had to go back to his own world."
"Oh NO!"
Lisa frowned, "Axl, what's wrong? Where are you calling from?"
"The hospital! You gotta find Ratty! Something's happening to Coyote!"
She stared at the phone, "What do you mean?"
"There's brainwave activity!"
Glide looked over at her husband, "It's Axl, he's at the hospital. He says Coyote's showing brainwave activity but Ratty just left."
Spin looked thoughtful, "We'd better check it out."
* * * *
The problem with running blind is that you have no idea where you're going. Which means you have no idea where you'll end up.
"Thanks for taking me in," Owen said.
"No problem," the other man smiled, "It's too cold of a night to be sleeping on a park bench."
"Yeah, it wasn't on my to-do list," Owen grinned, "My name's Owen, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you, Owen. I'm Larry Blotinsky." They shook hands briefly, then Larry sped up to run a light before turning a corner. "What put you there? You're definitely not dressed for it."
"One minute, counting sheep, next minute, ambushed by Anti-Life."
"You escaped?" Larry glanced at him, surprised.
"It wasn't easy," Owen sighed.
"But you got away."
Owen shrugged, gazing out of the car window at the streetlights flashing by, "I can be fast when I need to be." The car turned another corner. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe."
That doesn't sound very comforting, Owen thought.
"So the Wall's still running the Squad, is she."
Owen blinked. "Why do you ask that?"
"You're Captain Boomerang, right?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I served a mission on the Squad once. Codename's Bolt."
"Oh. Okay. I think I remember something about that." And it was a long time ago. You can't have met Captain Boomerang on the Squad because you'd know that it was Dad, not me. Something's wrong with this picture.
"We're here." Larry got out of the car and held the door for Owen, then took his arm to lead him up the steps of the brownstone walk-up. Owen tensed and tried to pull away but the grip got stronger and he was pulled through the door. "I brought him."
"Excellent." The figure in the golden cloaked turned, revealing smiling eyes behind a featureless blue mask. "Welcome, Captain Boomerang."
Sometimes, you end up in the fire.
* * * *
"See? See? There was nothing and now there's something happening!"
"I see it," Roscoe murmured. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Axl wrung his hands, "What do we do?? If Coyote's coming back and Ratty's gone..."
"We don't know he's coming back, Axl," Lisa began.
"Coyote hasn't changed a blip in ages! Now there's this and it's getting more! It can't be a coincidence!"
"Ludicrous as it sounds, given the other bizarre happenings recently, I'd give this the benefit of the doubt," Spin said.
"We need to get Coyote back to Ratty!" Axl insisted, "They're supposed to be together! You heard the fulcrum stuff!"
Glide nodded, "Yes... And... when they had the windows to the other Coyotes and Bards..."
Spin nodded, "I felt it too."
"But if Ratty's gone back to his world, what're we gonna do?" Axl wailed.
The light flickered then flashed brighter. The sun was showing reflections again. This time, there were faint, faint outlines around the city buildings, like after-images. They watched as the hair-thin outline of a nurse tended to a patient who wasn't there. Then the flickering steadied and the images faded away.
"I did see Ratty's notes," Roscoe said slowly, "I did notice the frequencies he used for his home world. I do remember the number of Hertz cycles."
They looked at the sun again.
* * * *
"Len's pretty worried about you." No answer. Mark tried again, "Mick? What's switch-loading mean?"
"Happens in the petroleum industry. Leading cause of container explosions." Mark had to lean close to hear. "Empty container, like a tanker car, last held gasoline.. looks empty but it's full of vapour, too rich to burn. Pour diesel into it, or kerosene, lowers the vapour pressure, makes it flammable. Then all it takes is one spark."
"No smoking, right, Mick?"
"Don't need to. Diesel surface builds its own static charge. One splash... It'll set itself off."
"Is that what happened at the refinery?" Mark asked. Mick nodded, silent. "Len says you told him Piper was switch-loaded..."
"I saw him." Mick's voice was so low now that even leaning close, Mark had to strain to hear. "He saved me. He broke the Equation. I'm not sure which was scarier."
"You're scared of a fag with a flute?"
"No. I'm scared of a man who can make boom tubes and kill a god. I'm scared of a man who can break the Anti-Life Equation and call it bullshit."
Mark was silent, not knowing what to say to that.
"He and JJ were close. They looked up to each other."
Mark scoffed, "It sure didn't look like it." Mick fell silent again. "...I'm sorry. Go on."
"They were friends, close as me and Len."
"Probably closer than that," Mark sniggered. Mick fell silent again. "Sorry." No response. "I'm sorry, Mick. Go on." Nothing. "Mick?"
"He saw his best friend murdered and carried his corpse. JJ gave up his life to save him. He's barely cold in his grave and that stupid kid was back in his stolen shoes, using his name. Now he's hanging around with us and we're callin' him Trickster. And how do you think he's gonna react if he finds out what that kid's been doing?"
"Why... what's he been doing?"
* * * *
Axl was crying. He'd tried to stop the tears but eventually gave up.
"You know how fast? You think you can do it?"
"I'm going to have to, aren't I?" Glide sighed and smiled at her husband, then looked at Axl, "Oh honey..."
"I know, I know, I might be blubbing over nothing, it might not even work. But if it does," he grabbed a kleenex and scrubbed at his eyes, "I know the risks."
Spin nodded gravely and reached out to hug the boy, "You have to keep them laughing, kiddo. Stay on top of it."
Axl smiled. "You guys have been so awesome to me, ever since Streak killed my parents. If anything happens...."
Lisa kissed his forehead gently, "We know, Axl. We know." She hugged him tightly then stepped back, "You'd better go. Even if this does work, we don't know if it'll take just this bed or this room or even the whole hospital."
Axl hugged them both then went to kiss Coyote's pallid cheek. "Goodbye, Coyote," he whispered, "Thanks for everything. If this works and you wake up in the other world, go find Ratty and be happy, okay? He loves you." He turned and hugged his foster parents once more, then ran out of the room.
Left alone, Glide and Spin looked at each other, wondering how long it would be until the next overlap started and wondering if their proposed stunt would cause even more damage. They could access the Speed Force in their own unique way, generating their own frequency field that protected them from their own speed. They stood on either side of Coyote's bed, where it would be caught between their speed fields. When the next overlap occurred, they would spin, matching Ratty's Hertz cycle notations, and try to anchor themselves and their passenger, pinning them in Ratty's world. If it worked, they would stay there when the overlap ended. Whether they could get back again...
They gazed out the window, waiting.
* * * *
"Is he gaen' t'be alright?"
"Maybe."
"What's his stupid problem, anyways?"
Cold's eyes slid over to Axel with a cold glare, "He heard the Anti-Life Equation, then something set him loose."
"He says it was Piper," Mark said.
"Aye, that'd scare th'dickens out o' me," Evan snorted.
"Yeah! You know why they call them faggots, right?" Axel said enthusiastically, "It's coz they used to burn them before the witches to get the fire goOWWWWWWW!!!" He yelled as a jet of flame shot over his head and singed his hair to a messy-looking buzzcut.
"Ach, there's an improvement!"
"What'd you do that for?!"
"You never met him. You never knew him. You have no right to talk."
"Feeling better, Mick? There's beer," Mark popped a can open and passed it over.
"Summon change the radio station, that slow jazz is makin' me weary."
"You've been awfully protective of him lately, Mick," Cold said calmly, taking a pull of his own can.
"I don't want to get owned when he finds out that Junior here has been running fifty-gallon drums of rohypnol in that get-up!"
"Yeah, I know."
Silence fell like a lead weight. "You what?"
"You knew?!"
"Ye do?"
"You knew?"
"..mY hEaD hUrTs.."
"Do you know about the internet videos too?" Mick asked, incredulous.
"Yes."
"Ah, guid, th'radio's stopped."
"What?!"
"You knew."
"..oW.."
"And you haven't done anything??"
"I've been thinkin' about it."
"Just thinking?"
"That stuff was puttin' me t'sleep."
"You knew."
"..i'M gOnNa gEt hIt aGaiN, rIgHt.."
"Yes, I knew and yes I've been thinking about what to do about it. Evan, we don't have a radio and there's only five guys here."
"So?"
"So where's the sixth voice coming from?" Cold looked up, "Evening, Hartley." He turned to glare at Mick but Mick looked as shocked as everyone else.
"You knew," the voice was low and monotone. Something about it made the hair stand up on the Rogues' necks. "You knew that he was trafficking rohypnol and posting videos of the rapes. You knew that he was cooking meth and dealing it to kids. You knew that he was doing this and calling himself Trickster."
"What'd I tell you if you came after us again?"
"Cold, don't," Mick said, "He's switch-loaded. Just throw him the kid and let's go."
Cold turned to glare at his friend, "Ain't throwing him the kid, Mick. The kid's one of us, we don't throw away our own."
"He's not one of us. Pulling shit like that, he'll never be one of us. Just let Piper take him."
"No. I don't know what's gotten into you, Mick, but we'll sort that out later."
Mick said nothing but backed away. Mark glanced from him to Cold, then to Hartley.
"What'd I tell you, Hartley?" Cold was saying.
"I'm already cleared."
"There's still Kid Flash..."
"I'm cleared of that, too." There was a soft 'wub' sound as Hartley shifted. Mark could barely hear it but he knew what it meant. He glanced at Mick again.
"I'm not letting you have the kid."
"I wasn't asking permission."
"Aw like you could take me anyways, ya loser!" Axel laughed and shot up on his airwalkers. He palmed one of his bombs, "Hey queer boy! Catch!"
The flute came around like a baseball bat and smacked the bomb back at him.
"Shit! Fly ball!" Mark said, and ducked. The explosion went around Hartley, deflected by his wall of sound. "Mick?"
"...boom..."
Axel was running on air and reaching for one of his yo-yos. "You aren't the Trickster," Hartley said, "You run on stolen shoes with stolen gags that you could never reproduce because you don't know how they work." There was a tone then suddenly the kid was on his ass, lying dazed on the floor, clutching his leg and looking shocked. "But I do."
They heard the squeaking of the rats.
"Ach, that does it, ye faggot!" Evan snapped, "Ah gotcher back, kid. Ah been waitin' fer an excuse like this!" Multiple images of him abruptly surrounded Piper.
"So have I," Hartley said quietly, "Go ahead. Call me a faggot one more time."
"Ah'm gonna enjoy killin' ye," Evan leered, "Ye whinin' spineless verminous faggot!"
Mark's hand fluttered to his forehead. Mick nodded, "Yeah, he was sick that day. He never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, either."
"What? I thought that one was required viewing at the super-villain training institute!" Mark looked back to where Evan was attempting to lay a fist on Piper and not having much luck getting through his wall of sound. Piper caught him with a roundhouse kick to the kidney, followed by a roundhouse elbow to the face coming the other way. The air rang with the sounds of shattering glass. Rogue loyalty told Mark that he should back Evan up and sure enough, Cold was glaring at him, expecting him to join the melee... He glanced at Mick again. It took a lot to scare Mick and Mick had known Piper better than any of them. "What the hell, I never liked the guy anyways."
Cold fired his gun. There was a halo of snowflakes as the bolt fractured against the wall of sound. "Mark?!"
"I'm good, thanks."
"What?!"
"Oh come on, Len, he fridged the guy's parents to get at Flash!"
"Have you lost your mind, too?!"
There was a tone then all the Mirror Masters shattered, leaving only the true Evan McCulloch. Mark stared, "Wow."
"Looks like JJ was right."
"He's not dead," Mark observed, "Not going to be running any marathons for a while, though."
"I still owe you for my parents, McCulloch."
"..y-ye could've killed me wi' th-at trick.. an' ye didn't... y'... ye're too spineles-s..."
"Oh, I won't kill you," Hartley brought the flute to his lips, "But I can give you such a phobia as to make you wish I had!"
They poured in by the hundreds, streaming over the figures on the floor. Axel screamed. Evan screamed. Rats! Clawing, biting, sliding down into his clothes, he could feel their fur and their naked whiplike tails and screamed until his head hurt. His head hurt so much, it felt like his brain was swelling, felt like his head was going to explode.... then the blood started running from his nose and ears and he remembered how the Rathaways had died. He looked up but saw only the cold green glow from a face completely obscured by shadow. "What's wrong, McCulloch? You did tell me, as long as it isn't a kiss." Piper watched dispassionately as Evan passed out.
"Alright, you've had your revenge," Cold snapped, "Now get out. And if you show your face around us once more, there's gonna be hell to pay."
Mick winced, "He's been to Apokalips, he's already paid Hell."
"Yeah and we haven't seen his face once," Mark looked around, "The heck? The air feels greasy... There's a charge brewing." He stared at Piper, who was blowing a steady tone from his flute, "What the fuck? How's he doing that?"
"Vibration. Sound. Create friction in the air, builds a static charge. You're about to be upstaged."
*KRA-KOWWWW!*
Cold changed the setting on his gun. The flute tone changed. "...and so am I."
Cold fired. The dust hanging in the air ignited, forming a brief fireball that disrupted the wideband field. The rats fled, shrieking. He holstered his gun, changing tactics. "You were never one of us, Hartley," he snarled, "You're too soft. That made you useful but to be honest, you weren't even that. You were a disappointment to us as well as to your parents. Even Trickster thought you were a doormat."
"...Put 'em under a spell, Piper...""...I'm betting two-to-one on Piper..." "...That flute never ceases to amaze me..." "...A little music here, Maestro!!!..." "...Not him, not now!..." The flute came around, a length of metal pipe with sharp bits, and smacked into Captain Cold's jaw.
Mark started forward but Mick held him back, "They didn't heed the warnings at the refinery, either."
They watched as Piper wrenched Cold's arm behind his back and dragged him over to the dirty window. "You see the sky, Cold? Look at it! See the other worlds? The other Earths? There's fifty two of them and I've been to every single one. Do you know what's happening? Do you? I do -- there's another Crisis coming, and this is all your petty domineering mind can think about!" Cold struggled and Hartley leaned on his arm, making him gasp as the shoulder threatened to pop. "There're versions of us on every one of them, Cold, and out there, on one of those worlds that you see out there, there's a version of you who didn't lie to himself about what their father would do to his sister if he left her behind. He took her with him and she grew up mentally stable and confident and every bit as much a hero as her brother. And guess what? - she married Roscoe Dillon and do you want to know what Frost calls him? Do you?" He bent close. They couldn't hear what he whispered.
Cold went ballistic. He stomped hard, just catching Piper's instep, and wrenched himself free. He drew his gun, changing the setting again, and fired. The water molecules in the air around Piper's sonic force generator condensed and froze, jamming the circuits. The soft 'wub' sounds stopped as the wall of sound came down. Cold fired again but Piper had already exchanged his silver concert flute for the gold clarinet-bodied model. Ice condensed on his arm but a deep tone shattered it. Then a chord jammed Cold's gun.
The two swapped punches for a minute then Piper caught him in a kokyunage and pinned him to the floor. "Listen!" he hissed, "Loneliness plus alienation plus fear plus despair, plus self-worth divided by mockery, divided by condemnation..." Mick shivered and gave a low moan of fear. Mark turned away. "This is Anti-Life," Hartley hissed, "Feel it, Cold? Can you feel it? I can't. And if you try to manipulate me again, I'll complete the Equation. Do you understand?" Cold struggled and Piper ground him down, "I said, Do you understand?"
"...yes..."
"Good." Hartley released him and stood up, shaking his cloak back into place. Then he turned and looked at the two remaining Rogues.
Mick threw his gun down, "No fight." Mark glanced at him and threw his wand down also. Hartley said nothing but turned away. "Are you taking us in?"
"You've seen it out there. There's no one left to take you in. It's all Anti-Life now."
Mick swallowed, "Which you can break..."
"Sure looks that way."
They digested that in silence for a minute. Mark looked puzzled, "But if you didn't come here to arrest us, why'd you come?"
"To warn you. There's a high probability that Inertia isn't dead."
"What?! Oh come on, that kid was meat when we dumped him at the cop shop!"
"He'd just gained Zoom's control over his personal time. The best way to escape death is to fake it; what better way to fake it than to slow his heartbeat until it's so long between beats that they go completely unnoticed."
Mick felt his stomach go uneasy. "But... His body's at the morgue..."
"Anybody checked there recently?"
Mick and Mark looked at each other. "...What happened to Josh?" Mark asked hesitantly.
Piper looked over his shoulder. They still couldn't see his face. "Who's asking? Weather Wizard? Or his father?" Mark couldn't answer. After a few more moments, Piper looked out at the ghostly images in the sky, then turned away, "I have work to do."
"....We're sorry about JJ."
"So am I." Then he put his flute to his lips and was gone.
"Ho-lee shit!" Mark said, looking around, "How'd he do all of this with a flute??"
Mick sank to his heels beside Len and shuddered. "He thinks about sound," he said, wiping his forehead, "He thinks about vibrational frequencies."
"We'd better get these guys to a hospital," Mark said, "The kid's not looking so hot." He glanced up and shrugged, "Not nearly as bad as Evan though. Think he'll live?"
"Yeah. Killing him wasn't the point. We better bandage him up though."
"Yeah. How's Len?"
"He's fine. Just layin' low. Like he should've done in the first place!"
"...oh shut up..."
"I warned you. I told you he was switch-loaded. I told you not to mess with him."
"...yeah yeah alright so I miiiiiight have hosed it up..." Cold sat up and glared around, "That kid see it? No? Thank god for small miracles." Mick shrugged and went to help Mark tear bandages and patch up Evan.
They tore and wrapped in silence. Mark tsked and shook his head, "Man, did you see that kick? When Chuck Norris gets angry, he turns into Pied Piper."
Mick snerked. "When Chuck Norris goes to bed, he checks the closet for Pied Piper."
"And then lies awake all night wondering where he is, 'cause he's already out of the closet, haha!! Ha! ..heh... .....hm."
"Cancer can be cured now -- Pied Piper makes Chuck Norris cry."
"Jesus walked on water but Pied Piper walks on Chuck Norris..."
* * * *
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Will we be able to get home?"
"I don't know."
"What if we can't? What if we're stuck here?"
"I don't know."
"You heard Ratty... Everything's opposite in this world. The Top and the Golden Glider were criminals. Everyone will think we're them! How can we help people if they think we're criminals?"
"I don't know."
"And the Len here, he's not the same... He's a cold man, he left his sister behind to face... He's not my brother."
"I don't know, Lisa. But I know this: Whatever this world brings us, we'll face it together. We have each other and as long as we have each other, we'll come out on top."
* * * *
The man in Room R1341 was silent and still, just as he'd always been. No one knew how long he had been there. No one could remember checking him in but his records went for ages. None of the doctors or nurses really remembered checking on him, but they must have done because their signatures were on the clipboard and their notes were in the computer. Just one more task, done automatically without really thinking about it, so no one really took any notice that he was there at all. He had simply always been there, silent and still in his coma.
...wake up... wake up!! wake up gotta wake up...
.....Wake up!!!
Thank you all for enjoying my fics. I really enjoy writing for you, you've all really given me back some faith in fandoms ^___^
My justification is, Geoff Johns the Cold fanboi had his way, I can do it too, so there nyah ^__~ Also, I......... like being mean to Axel. okay okay so the little shit mayyyyyybe has some uses.... to heap my sadisticness on.....
This is pretty much the last fic in Nothing Left to Lose. I didn't set out to make liabrown squee; they were actually integral to the plot all along, but although Liasqueeage is an unintentional side effect, it will be a Good Thing for all concerned ^_~ Be not concerned if it doesn't mesh exactly with my first arc, Big Hard Sun, since that was being written even before Rogues' Revenge had started, so I've had to fudge and retcon a bit. But it meshes pretty well and places where it doesn't quite mesh, I can probably fudge around with time and events a bit - there's room to do that, thankfully ^___^
Previously on Nothing Left to Lose:
Prologue
Beside Myself
Boys Will Be Girls
Thorns
The Wind in the Will"
Bright Eyes
Catching the Wave
And bonus one-shot, Rumours
Title: Switch-Loaded
Author: Katzedecimal
Rating: T for righteous beatdown
Characters: Pied Piper, the Rogues
Summary: Everybody run, the homecoming queen's got a... flute!
"Has he said anything?"
"No."
"He just keeps staring at his stupid candle."
There was another one of those pregnant pause things, then Axel was smashed into the wall. "...oW..."
"Y'know, Len, I was thinking, maybe we should keep him. This place needs a doormat."
"Hn." Cold glared at the kid once more then went to crouch down next to his closest friend, "Mick? Y'okay?" No answer. "Mick? What happened?"
"...Piper's back..."
Cold snerked, "Is that all? Well if he tries anything we'll just put him back in his place."
"...don't. He's switch-loaded."
"What do you mean?"
"He's blooded."
"What? Mick, you're not making any sense."
"He was blooded before he caught us."
Cold snerked again, "What'd he kill, a housefly?"
"A god."
"You can't kill gods, Mick, they're gods. That's the whole point." No answer. Mick had fallen silent, staring at the candle he held cradled in his hands. It flickered, but what reflected in his eyes wasn't flame. "Mick.... What happened back there?"
"...anti-life..."
Cold shivered. "They got you? You've heard it?" Mick nodded, a single sharp dip. "But you resisted it?" A sharp negative jerk to the side. "But you're free of it, right?"
"He freed me."
"Who, Piper?! Oh come on, that's impossible. Even Libra doesn't take him seriously. It had to have been something else." Mick said nothing. "Probably your fire. Your fire helped you resist Libra. You were watching the refinery when it went up, weren't you."
"...switch-loaded..."
Cold shook his head, baffled, frustrated and more than a tad worried. "We'll take care of you, Mick, we'll get you help. If there's any help left out there, we'll find it for you. Just hang in there. Just keep looking at your fire."
* * * *
"Hello?"
"Lisa? Lisa, is Ratty there?"
"I'm sorry, Axl sweetie, he's gone. He had to go back to his own world."
"Oh NO!"
Lisa frowned, "Axl, what's wrong? Where are you calling from?"
"The hospital! You gotta find Ratty! Something's happening to Coyote!"
She stared at the phone, "What do you mean?"
"There's brainwave activity!"
Glide looked over at her husband, "It's Axl, he's at the hospital. He says Coyote's showing brainwave activity but Ratty just left."
Spin looked thoughtful, "We'd better check it out."
* * * *
The problem with running blind is that you have no idea where you're going. Which means you have no idea where you'll end up.
"Thanks for taking me in," Owen said.
"No problem," the other man smiled, "It's too cold of a night to be sleeping on a park bench."
"Yeah, it wasn't on my to-do list," Owen grinned, "My name's Owen, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you, Owen. I'm Larry Blotinsky." They shook hands briefly, then Larry sped up to run a light before turning a corner. "What put you there? You're definitely not dressed for it."
"One minute, counting sheep, next minute, ambushed by Anti-Life."
"You escaped?" Larry glanced at him, surprised.
"It wasn't easy," Owen sighed.
"But you got away."
Owen shrugged, gazing out of the car window at the streetlights flashing by, "I can be fast when I need to be." The car turned another corner. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe."
That doesn't sound very comforting, Owen thought.
"So the Wall's still running the Squad, is she."
Owen blinked. "Why do you ask that?"
"You're Captain Boomerang, right?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I served a mission on the Squad once. Codename's Bolt."
"Oh. Okay. I think I remember something about that." And it was a long time ago. You can't have met Captain Boomerang on the Squad because you'd know that it was Dad, not me. Something's wrong with this picture.
"We're here." Larry got out of the car and held the door for Owen, then took his arm to lead him up the steps of the brownstone walk-up. Owen tensed and tried to pull away but the grip got stronger and he was pulled through the door. "I brought him."
"Excellent." The figure in the golden cloaked turned, revealing smiling eyes behind a featureless blue mask. "Welcome, Captain Boomerang."
Sometimes, you end up in the fire.
* * * *
"See? See? There was nothing and now there's something happening!"
"I see it," Roscoe murmured. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Axl wrung his hands, "What do we do?? If Coyote's coming back and Ratty's gone..."
"We don't know he's coming back, Axl," Lisa began.
"Coyote hasn't changed a blip in ages! Now there's this and it's getting more! It can't be a coincidence!"
"Ludicrous as it sounds, given the other bizarre happenings recently, I'd give this the benefit of the doubt," Spin said.
"We need to get Coyote back to Ratty!" Axl insisted, "They're supposed to be together! You heard the fulcrum stuff!"
Glide nodded, "Yes... And... when they had the windows to the other Coyotes and Bards..."
Spin nodded, "I felt it too."
"But if Ratty's gone back to his world, what're we gonna do?" Axl wailed.
The light flickered then flashed brighter. The sun was showing reflections again. This time, there were faint, faint outlines around the city buildings, like after-images. They watched as the hair-thin outline of a nurse tended to a patient who wasn't there. Then the flickering steadied and the images faded away.
"I did see Ratty's notes," Roscoe said slowly, "I did notice the frequencies he used for his home world. I do remember the number of Hertz cycles."
They looked at the sun again.
* * * *
"Len's pretty worried about you." No answer. Mark tried again, "Mick? What's switch-loading mean?"
"Happens in the petroleum industry. Leading cause of container explosions." Mark had to lean close to hear. "Empty container, like a tanker car, last held gasoline.. looks empty but it's full of vapour, too rich to burn. Pour diesel into it, or kerosene, lowers the vapour pressure, makes it flammable. Then all it takes is one spark."
"No smoking, right, Mick?"
"Don't need to. Diesel surface builds its own static charge. One splash... It'll set itself off."
"Is that what happened at the refinery?" Mark asked. Mick nodded, silent. "Len says you told him Piper was switch-loaded..."
"I saw him." Mick's voice was so low now that even leaning close, Mark had to strain to hear. "He saved me. He broke the Equation. I'm not sure which was scarier."
"You're scared of a fag with a flute?"
"No. I'm scared of a man who can make boom tubes and kill a god. I'm scared of a man who can break the Anti-Life Equation and call it bullshit."
Mark was silent, not knowing what to say to that.
"He and JJ were close. They looked up to each other."
Mark scoffed, "It sure didn't look like it." Mick fell silent again. "...I'm sorry. Go on."
"They were friends, close as me and Len."
"Probably closer than that," Mark sniggered. Mick fell silent again. "Sorry." No response. "I'm sorry, Mick. Go on." Nothing. "Mick?"
"He saw his best friend murdered and carried his corpse. JJ gave up his life to save him. He's barely cold in his grave and that stupid kid was back in his stolen shoes, using his name. Now he's hanging around with us and we're callin' him Trickster. And how do you think he's gonna react if he finds out what that kid's been doing?"
"Why... what's he been doing?"
* * * *
Axl was crying. He'd tried to stop the tears but eventually gave up.
"You know how fast? You think you can do it?"
"I'm going to have to, aren't I?" Glide sighed and smiled at her husband, then looked at Axl, "Oh honey..."
"I know, I know, I might be blubbing over nothing, it might not even work. But if it does," he grabbed a kleenex and scrubbed at his eyes, "I know the risks."
Spin nodded gravely and reached out to hug the boy, "You have to keep them laughing, kiddo. Stay on top of it."
Axl smiled. "You guys have been so awesome to me, ever since Streak killed my parents. If anything happens...."
Lisa kissed his forehead gently, "We know, Axl. We know." She hugged him tightly then stepped back, "You'd better go. Even if this does work, we don't know if it'll take just this bed or this room or even the whole hospital."
Axl hugged them both then went to kiss Coyote's pallid cheek. "Goodbye, Coyote," he whispered, "Thanks for everything. If this works and you wake up in the other world, go find Ratty and be happy, okay? He loves you." He turned and hugged his foster parents once more, then ran out of the room.
Left alone, Glide and Spin looked at each other, wondering how long it would be until the next overlap started and wondering if their proposed stunt would cause even more damage. They could access the Speed Force in their own unique way, generating their own frequency field that protected them from their own speed. They stood on either side of Coyote's bed, where it would be caught between their speed fields. When the next overlap occurred, they would spin, matching Ratty's Hertz cycle notations, and try to anchor themselves and their passenger, pinning them in Ratty's world. If it worked, they would stay there when the overlap ended. Whether they could get back again...
They gazed out the window, waiting.
* * * *
"Is he gaen' t'be alright?"
"Maybe."
"What's his stupid problem, anyways?"
Cold's eyes slid over to Axel with a cold glare, "He heard the Anti-Life Equation, then something set him loose."
"He says it was Piper," Mark said.
"Aye, that'd scare th'dickens out o' me," Evan snorted.
"Yeah! You know why they call them faggots, right?" Axel said enthusiastically, "It's coz they used to burn them before the witches to get the fire goOWWWWWWW!!!" He yelled as a jet of flame shot over his head and singed his hair to a messy-looking buzzcut.
"Ach, there's an improvement!"
"What'd you do that for?!"
"You never met him. You never knew him. You have no right to talk."
"Feeling better, Mick? There's beer," Mark popped a can open and passed it over.
"Summon change the radio station, that slow jazz is makin' me weary."
"You've been awfully protective of him lately, Mick," Cold said calmly, taking a pull of his own can.
"I don't want to get owned when he finds out that Junior here has been running fifty-gallon drums of rohypnol in that get-up!"
"Yeah, I know."
Silence fell like a lead weight. "You what?"
"You knew?!"
"Ye do?"
"You knew?"
"..mY hEaD hUrTs.."
"Do you know about the internet videos too?" Mick asked, incredulous.
"Yes."
"Ah, guid, th'radio's stopped."
"What?!"
"You knew."
"..oW.."
"And you haven't done anything??"
"I've been thinkin' about it."
"Just thinking?"
"That stuff was puttin' me t'sleep."
"You knew."
"..i'M gOnNa gEt hIt aGaiN, rIgHt.."
"Yes, I knew and yes I've been thinking about what to do about it. Evan, we don't have a radio and there's only five guys here."
"So?"
"So where's the sixth voice coming from?" Cold looked up, "Evening, Hartley." He turned to glare at Mick but Mick looked as shocked as everyone else.
"You knew," the voice was low and monotone. Something about it made the hair stand up on the Rogues' necks. "You knew that he was trafficking rohypnol and posting videos of the rapes. You knew that he was cooking meth and dealing it to kids. You knew that he was doing this and calling himself Trickster."
"What'd I tell you if you came after us again?"
"Cold, don't," Mick said, "He's switch-loaded. Just throw him the kid and let's go."
Cold turned to glare at his friend, "Ain't throwing him the kid, Mick. The kid's one of us, we don't throw away our own."
"He's not one of us. Pulling shit like that, he'll never be one of us. Just let Piper take him."
"No. I don't know what's gotten into you, Mick, but we'll sort that out later."
Mick said nothing but backed away. Mark glanced from him to Cold, then to Hartley.
"What'd I tell you, Hartley?" Cold was saying.
"I'm already cleared."
"There's still Kid Flash..."
"I'm cleared of that, too." There was a soft 'wub' sound as Hartley shifted. Mark could barely hear it but he knew what it meant. He glanced at Mick again.
"I'm not letting you have the kid."
"I wasn't asking permission."
"Aw like you could take me anyways, ya loser!" Axel laughed and shot up on his airwalkers. He palmed one of his bombs, "Hey queer boy! Catch!"
The flute came around like a baseball bat and smacked the bomb back at him.
"Shit! Fly ball!" Mark said, and ducked. The explosion went around Hartley, deflected by his wall of sound. "Mick?"
"...boom..."
Axel was running on air and reaching for one of his yo-yos. "You aren't the Trickster," Hartley said, "You run on stolen shoes with stolen gags that you could never reproduce because you don't know how they work." There was a tone then suddenly the kid was on his ass, lying dazed on the floor, clutching his leg and looking shocked. "But I do."
They heard the squeaking of the rats.
"Ach, that does it, ye faggot!" Evan snapped, "Ah gotcher back, kid. Ah been waitin' fer an excuse like this!" Multiple images of him abruptly surrounded Piper.
"So have I," Hartley said quietly, "Go ahead. Call me a faggot one more time."
"Ah'm gonna enjoy killin' ye," Evan leered, "Ye whinin' spineless verminous faggot!"
Mark's hand fluttered to his forehead. Mick nodded, "Yeah, he was sick that day. He never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, either."
"What? I thought that one was required viewing at the super-villain training institute!" Mark looked back to where Evan was attempting to lay a fist on Piper and not having much luck getting through his wall of sound. Piper caught him with a roundhouse kick to the kidney, followed by a roundhouse elbow to the face coming the other way. The air rang with the sounds of shattering glass. Rogue loyalty told Mark that he should back Evan up and sure enough, Cold was glaring at him, expecting him to join the melee... He glanced at Mick again. It took a lot to scare Mick and Mick had known Piper better than any of them. "What the hell, I never liked the guy anyways."
Cold fired his gun. There was a halo of snowflakes as the bolt fractured against the wall of sound. "Mark?!"
"I'm good, thanks."
"What?!"
"Oh come on, Len, he fridged the guy's parents to get at Flash!"
"Have you lost your mind, too?!"
There was a tone then all the Mirror Masters shattered, leaving only the true Evan McCulloch. Mark stared, "Wow."
"Looks like JJ was right."
"He's not dead," Mark observed, "Not going to be running any marathons for a while, though."
"I still owe you for my parents, McCulloch."
"..y-ye could've killed me wi' th-at trick.. an' ye didn't... y'... ye're too spineles-s..."
"Oh, I won't kill you," Hartley brought the flute to his lips, "But I can give you such a phobia as to make you wish I had!"
They poured in by the hundreds, streaming over the figures on the floor. Axel screamed. Evan screamed. Rats! Clawing, biting, sliding down into his clothes, he could feel their fur and their naked whiplike tails and screamed until his head hurt. His head hurt so much, it felt like his brain was swelling, felt like his head was going to explode.... then the blood started running from his nose and ears and he remembered how the Rathaways had died. He looked up but saw only the cold green glow from a face completely obscured by shadow. "What's wrong, McCulloch? You did tell me, as long as it isn't a kiss." Piper watched dispassionately as Evan passed out.
"Alright, you've had your revenge," Cold snapped, "Now get out. And if you show your face around us once more, there's gonna be hell to pay."
Mick winced, "He's been to Apokalips, he's already paid Hell."
"Yeah and we haven't seen his face once," Mark looked around, "The heck? The air feels greasy... There's a charge brewing." He stared at Piper, who was blowing a steady tone from his flute, "What the fuck? How's he doing that?"
"Vibration. Sound. Create friction in the air, builds a static charge. You're about to be upstaged."
*KRA-KOWWWW!*
Cold changed the setting on his gun. The flute tone changed. "...and so am I."
Cold fired. The dust hanging in the air ignited, forming a brief fireball that disrupted the wideband field. The rats fled, shrieking. He holstered his gun, changing tactics. "You were never one of us, Hartley," he snarled, "You're too soft. That made you useful but to be honest, you weren't even that. You were a disappointment to us as well as to your parents. Even Trickster thought you were a doormat."
"...Put 'em under a spell, Piper...""...I'm betting two-to-one on Piper..." "...That flute never ceases to amaze me..." "...A little music here, Maestro!!!..." "...Not him, not now!..." The flute came around, a length of metal pipe with sharp bits, and smacked into Captain Cold's jaw.
Mark started forward but Mick held him back, "They didn't heed the warnings at the refinery, either."
They watched as Piper wrenched Cold's arm behind his back and dragged him over to the dirty window. "You see the sky, Cold? Look at it! See the other worlds? The other Earths? There's fifty two of them and I've been to every single one. Do you know what's happening? Do you? I do -- there's another Crisis coming, and this is all your petty domineering mind can think about!" Cold struggled and Hartley leaned on his arm, making him gasp as the shoulder threatened to pop. "There're versions of us on every one of them, Cold, and out there, on one of those worlds that you see out there, there's a version of you who didn't lie to himself about what their father would do to his sister if he left her behind. He took her with him and she grew up mentally stable and confident and every bit as much a hero as her brother. And guess what? - she married Roscoe Dillon and do you want to know what Frost calls him? Do you?" He bent close. They couldn't hear what he whispered.
Cold went ballistic. He stomped hard, just catching Piper's instep, and wrenched himself free. He drew his gun, changing the setting again, and fired. The water molecules in the air around Piper's sonic force generator condensed and froze, jamming the circuits. The soft 'wub' sounds stopped as the wall of sound came down. Cold fired again but Piper had already exchanged his silver concert flute for the gold clarinet-bodied model. Ice condensed on his arm but a deep tone shattered it. Then a chord jammed Cold's gun.
The two swapped punches for a minute then Piper caught him in a kokyunage and pinned him to the floor. "Listen!" he hissed, "Loneliness plus alienation plus fear plus despair, plus self-worth divided by mockery, divided by condemnation..." Mick shivered and gave a low moan of fear. Mark turned away. "This is Anti-Life," Hartley hissed, "Feel it, Cold? Can you feel it? I can't. And if you try to manipulate me again, I'll complete the Equation. Do you understand?" Cold struggled and Piper ground him down, "I said, Do you understand?"
"...yes..."
"Good." Hartley released him and stood up, shaking his cloak back into place. Then he turned and looked at the two remaining Rogues.
Mick threw his gun down, "No fight." Mark glanced at him and threw his wand down also. Hartley said nothing but turned away. "Are you taking us in?"
"You've seen it out there. There's no one left to take you in. It's all Anti-Life now."
Mick swallowed, "Which you can break..."
"Sure looks that way."
They digested that in silence for a minute. Mark looked puzzled, "But if you didn't come here to arrest us, why'd you come?"
"To warn you. There's a high probability that Inertia isn't dead."
"What?! Oh come on, that kid was meat when we dumped him at the cop shop!"
"He'd just gained Zoom's control over his personal time. The best way to escape death is to fake it; what better way to fake it than to slow his heartbeat until it's so long between beats that they go completely unnoticed."
Mick felt his stomach go uneasy. "But... His body's at the morgue..."
"Anybody checked there recently?"
Mick and Mark looked at each other. "...What happened to Josh?" Mark asked hesitantly.
Piper looked over his shoulder. They still couldn't see his face. "Who's asking? Weather Wizard? Or his father?" Mark couldn't answer. After a few more moments, Piper looked out at the ghostly images in the sky, then turned away, "I have work to do."
"....We're sorry about JJ."
"So am I." Then he put his flute to his lips and was gone.
"Ho-lee shit!" Mark said, looking around, "How'd he do all of this with a flute??"
Mick sank to his heels beside Len and shuddered. "He thinks about sound," he said, wiping his forehead, "He thinks about vibrational frequencies."
"We'd better get these guys to a hospital," Mark said, "The kid's not looking so hot." He glanced up and shrugged, "Not nearly as bad as Evan though. Think he'll live?"
"Yeah. Killing him wasn't the point. We better bandage him up though."
"Yeah. How's Len?"
"He's fine. Just layin' low. Like he should've done in the first place!"
"...oh shut up..."
"I warned you. I told you he was switch-loaded. I told you not to mess with him."
"...yeah yeah alright so I miiiiiight have hosed it up..." Cold sat up and glared around, "That kid see it? No? Thank god for small miracles." Mick shrugged and went to help Mark tear bandages and patch up Evan.
They tore and wrapped in silence. Mark tsked and shook his head, "Man, did you see that kick? When Chuck Norris gets angry, he turns into Pied Piper."
Mick snerked. "When Chuck Norris goes to bed, he checks the closet for Pied Piper."
"And then lies awake all night wondering where he is, 'cause he's already out of the closet, haha!! Ha! ..heh... .....hm."
"Cancer can be cured now -- Pied Piper makes Chuck Norris cry."
"Jesus walked on water but Pied Piper walks on Chuck Norris..."
* * * *
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Will we be able to get home?"
"I don't know."
"What if we can't? What if we're stuck here?"
"I don't know."
"You heard Ratty... Everything's opposite in this world. The Top and the Golden Glider were criminals. Everyone will think we're them! How can we help people if they think we're criminals?"
"I don't know."
"And the Len here, he's not the same... He's a cold man, he left his sister behind to face... He's not my brother."
"I don't know, Lisa. But I know this: Whatever this world brings us, we'll face it together. We have each other and as long as we have each other, we'll come out on top."
* * * *
The man in Room R1341 was silent and still, just as he'd always been. No one knew how long he had been there. No one could remember checking him in but his records went for ages. None of the doctors or nurses really remembered checking on him, but they must have done because their signatures were on the clipboard and their notes were in the computer. Just one more task, done automatically without really thinking about it, so no one really took any notice that he was there at all. He had simply always been there, silent and still in his coma.
...wake up... wake up!! wake up gotta wake up...
.....Wake up!!!
Thank you all for enjoying my fics. I really enjoy writing for you, you've all really given me back some faith in fandoms ^___^