Fic: Scare
I promised on Tuesday and now I must deliver. ....it is Tuesday today, right? The song is Coelacanth, by Shriekback, off the same album (Oil and Gold) that gave us Nemesis.
Title: Scare
Author: Katzedecimal
Rating: T
Characters: Trickster, Piper, Question, Scarecrow
Summary: The moment we've all been waiting for!
So soft, so very, very soft, the tune... So gentle.. winding out of a dream... Such a soft, soothing tune... gently repeating... coaxing him out... drawing him forth, in search of the lovely, lovely tune...
So mournful, the tune... such gentle sadness... the tender heart lies bleeding... bleeding the notes of the tune... rivulets of sweet, sweet music around his feet, drawing him forth in search of the lovely, lovely tune...
So soft and sad and soothing, the tune... so restful to the soul... coaxing and comforting... smoothing away the pain... and the fear... the precious fear...
"I've never seen you before," he whispers into the night.
"No," says the hooded figure.
"You're not from around here?" he asks, curious.
"No," says the figure of a dream. A figure of fear clad in dark green and thunder grey, he is all but invisible in the night, save for his glowing green eyes.
"How do you talk and play that flute at the same time?" he asks, curious.
"I'm good at it," the beautiful dark dream replies.
Just a little closer... just a little closer... "Is it you who's making that tune? That tune that takes away the fear?"
"Yes."
"The fear is mine. You have taken something of mine. You have taken my fear."
"Only borrowing it for a little while."
"You've taken my fear... That wasn't very nice."
"I'm not a nice person."
"Oh but you are. I can tell. It's in your song, your song is so sad, so mournful. It sings of your suffering. You've suffered, as only nice people can. So many bad things happen to good people. You've been very kind, haven't you? You've been a good person and where has it gotten you?" He tilts his head, blinking lazily, heavily... the sweet, sweet music... "You've changed your tune."
"Done that a few times."
"And what is that charming chime?"
"Just my voice mail." Damn, he keeps changing frequencies so my disrupter can't keep up, Piper thought, And his frequencies are disrupting my frequencies.
"Voice mail? But there is no voice mail. It's empty. There's no one left to fill it, is there. It's in your song, all the loneliness, all the tears you've shed, all the pain in your sweet, kind, empty heart... Your music tells me so much... It tells me...you're the Piper." Now the sweet dream is startled, ever so slightly, but ever so slightly is enough... "I've heard about you. They said you helped kill the Flash but that isn't true, is it? You'd never hurt the Flash... You're too kind... but nobody believed you... Isn't that just the way it always goes? The innocent have everything to fear..."
Isn't that how it went? The loneliness and alienation, the fear, the despair, the shattered self-wor-*
"DUCK!" Piper and the Scarecrow both stared at the yellow rubber duck that landed between them. And exploded. Then the sound that only Piper could hear, the sound.. not the air displacement of the Flash, no, it's different, like someone... like someone running on air.
"YEEEAAAAHHHHHH-HOO!!!!!" The blue and yellow egg spiralled down and shattered, splashing goop all over the Scarecrow. "Dis mah special silly putty! Ordinary silly putty just peels right off! This... doesn't."
Trickster?! Piper stared in shock and felt the rage building up, God damn it, is the kid that dense?
Then the apparition turned and looked him full in the face and said, "Damn, Piper, you just never cease to amaze me! I mean, you resisted Poison Ivy's sex pollen for days and now Scarecrow's fear stuff! Dude!" -- and then there was only shock.
The apparition in the stripes and blue jacket not only looked like James Jesse and sounded like James Jesse, he moved like James Jesse. He darted forward and snatched the tuning fork off of Piper's bandolier, then shot up on his airwalkers before either Piper or Scarecrow could react. "Did I hear you calling Piper's pure heart empty?! I can't forgive that! I'll punish you with -" the figure spun in mid-air and struck a pose - and the tuning fork, "Really bad karaoke!!"
The dissonent tones fractured the Scarecrow's voice. Piper shook his head, shaking off the effects, The gas, of course! I'm such an idiot! Question said he wasn't using it so I forgot all about it! He retuned his disrupter for wide-band, which would also disrupt his flute, I was trying to keep this tidy, but obviously that isn't going to work.
"Oh yes... You are the Trickster?"
"That's me, the one and only! Accept no imitations, offer void where prohibited!!"
This one is not a dream of fear but a nightmare of joyous colour and smiles. "I had heard that Deadshot had killed you."
"Yeah but the guy's a total incompetant, I mean, you can see how good of a job he did, right? It's so hard to get good help these days."
"Then you do not fear death?"
"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt! See?" The demon calling himself the Trickster pulls open his jacket, revealing an eye-bleeding yellow shirt that reads 'Dead and Loving It.'
"Then you are an enemy of fear!!" he snarls -- and the demon, who has wrapped an elastic band around the tines of the tuning fork, uses it as a slingshot to shoot a small cube of substance right into his mouth. "!!!! ..Mmph!!!"
"Dis mah special chewing gum! 'Cause you talk too much." The Trickster ran circles around the Scarecrow, spraying him with silly string that hardened into an unbreakable reinforced filament rope. Then he stood back, "Tah-dahhhh! No applause please, just throw money. Pretty good, huh, Piper?" He looked around, "Piper? Where'd he go?!" He shot up over the rooftops but Piper had vanished into the night. "Piper!" he wailed, "Why'd you leave?!"
* * * *
The Question shook her head and snapped her celphone shut, "He's not picking up. I'm as confused as you are."
Trickster ran his hands through his hair and took back his sack-onna-stick, "Thanks for watching my stuff."
"No problem. That was good work, fast. You're right, you work well together. But... Scarecrow wasn't using the gas."
Trickster sighed again, "I know that and you know that, but Piper.... needed to not know that."
"I get you. What do you think went wrong?"
James shrugged. The sirens were closing in, clearly audible from the rooftop where they sat. "Knowing him, he probably tried for a quick and quiet take-down with minimal property damage. Probably would've worked if he weren't already messed. Like I said, one toe-hold, that's all it takes."
"I meant at the end there."
"I don't know. I don't know. Unless..." he turned to look frankly at the Question, "Did he have something to do with me being alive again? You said 'pure speculation' but the way you said it makes me think not."
Question took off her hat and scratched her head, "I don't know much about it. During the crisis, he tried something. It didn't work but it didn't not-work, either. Beyond that, he won't tell me any details."
"The fact that he told you that much says a lot. That's probably it then. The guy's easily one of the strongest of the Rogues in terms of power and mental strength, but he's got self-esteem issues like you wouldn't believe."
"Sounds about right, then," Question nodded then tilted her head, "You know him pretty well."
"Better than I thought," James admitted, "I'm surprised at myself. I didn't think I really knew him much at all." He looked out over the Gotham city night, watched the strobing police lights as they took the Scarecrow into custody. "Now what am I gonna do?"
He looked up at the sound of ripping paper to see Question holding out a sheet from a notepad. "He's here," she said, "I don't know his precise location, but this is the general vicinity. You might be able to track him."
He took it, "Pretty far from Keystone."
"Home away from home. After the Rogues, he's lying low for a while. He only came out here because I asked him to. I'm sorry; if I'd known better..."
Trickster waved a hand dismissively, "If I can find him, I can fix him. I know what he needs. What're the phone numbers?"
"First one's his cel. Maybe he'll pick up for you. Second one's my cel. You find him.... you let me know."
"Thanks, I owe you."
Question shook her head, "Already paid for. That 'Sailor Moon' schtick? - Priceless."
...Ain't I a stinker? ^__~
Title: Scare
Author: Katzedecimal
Rating: T
Characters: Trickster, Piper, Question, Scarecrow
Summary: The moment we've all been waiting for!
So soft, so very, very soft, the tune... So gentle.. winding out of a dream... Such a soft, soothing tune... gently repeating... coaxing him out... drawing him forth, in search of the lovely, lovely tune...
So mournful, the tune... such gentle sadness... the tender heart lies bleeding... bleeding the notes of the tune... rivulets of sweet, sweet music around his feet, drawing him forth in search of the lovely, lovely tune...
So soft and sad and soothing, the tune... so restful to the soul... coaxing and comforting... smoothing away the pain... and the fear... the precious fear...
"I've never seen you before," he whispers into the night.
"No," says the hooded figure.
"You're not from around here?" he asks, curious.
"No," says the figure of a dream. A figure of fear clad in dark green and thunder grey, he is all but invisible in the night, save for his glowing green eyes.
"How do you talk and play that flute at the same time?" he asks, curious.
"I'm good at it," the beautiful dark dream replies.
Just a little closer... just a little closer... "Is it you who's making that tune? That tune that takes away the fear?"
"Yes."
"The fear is mine. You have taken something of mine. You have taken my fear."
"Only borrowing it for a little while."
"You've taken my fear... That wasn't very nice."
"I'm not a nice person."
"Oh but you are. I can tell. It's in your song, your song is so sad, so mournful. It sings of your suffering. You've suffered, as only nice people can. So many bad things happen to good people. You've been very kind, haven't you? You've been a good person and where has it gotten you?" He tilts his head, blinking lazily, heavily... the sweet, sweet music... "You've changed your tune."
"Done that a few times."
"And what is that charming chime?"
"Just my voice mail." Damn, he keeps changing frequencies so my disrupter can't keep up, Piper thought, And his frequencies are disrupting my frequencies.
"Voice mail? But there is no voice mail. It's empty. There's no one left to fill it, is there. It's in your song, all the loneliness, all the tears you've shed, all the pain in your sweet, kind, empty heart... Your music tells me so much... It tells me...you're the Piper." Now the sweet dream is startled, ever so slightly, but ever so slightly is enough... "I've heard about you. They said you helped kill the Flash but that isn't true, is it? You'd never hurt the Flash... You're too kind... but nobody believed you... Isn't that just the way it always goes? The innocent have everything to fear..."
Isn't that how it went? The loneliness and alienation, the fear, the despair, the shattered self-wor-*
"DUCK!" Piper and the Scarecrow both stared at the yellow rubber duck that landed between them. And exploded. Then the sound that only Piper could hear, the sound.. not the air displacement of the Flash, no, it's different, like someone... like someone running on air.
"YEEEAAAAHHHHHH-HOO!!!!!" The blue and yellow egg spiralled down and shattered, splashing goop all over the Scarecrow. "Dis mah special silly putty! Ordinary silly putty just peels right off! This... doesn't."
Trickster?! Piper stared in shock and felt the rage building up, God damn it, is the kid that dense?
Then the apparition turned and looked him full in the face and said, "Damn, Piper, you just never cease to amaze me! I mean, you resisted Poison Ivy's sex pollen for days and now Scarecrow's fear stuff! Dude!" -- and then there was only shock.
The apparition in the stripes and blue jacket not only looked like James Jesse and sounded like James Jesse, he moved like James Jesse. He darted forward and snatched the tuning fork off of Piper's bandolier, then shot up on his airwalkers before either Piper or Scarecrow could react. "Did I hear you calling Piper's pure heart empty?! I can't forgive that! I'll punish you with -" the figure spun in mid-air and struck a pose - and the tuning fork, "Really bad karaoke!!"
The dissonent tones fractured the Scarecrow's voice. Piper shook his head, shaking off the effects, The gas, of course! I'm such an idiot! Question said he wasn't using it so I forgot all about it! He retuned his disrupter for wide-band, which would also disrupt his flute, I was trying to keep this tidy, but obviously that isn't going to work.
"Oh yes... You are the Trickster?"
"That's me, the one and only! Accept no imitations, offer void where prohibited!!"
This one is not a dream of fear but a nightmare of joyous colour and smiles. "I had heard that Deadshot had killed you."
"Yeah but the guy's a total incompetant, I mean, you can see how good of a job he did, right? It's so hard to get good help these days."
"Then you do not fear death?"
"Been there, done that, got the t-shirt! See?" The demon calling himself the Trickster pulls open his jacket, revealing an eye-bleeding yellow shirt that reads 'Dead and Loving It.'
"Then you are an enemy of fear!!" he snarls -- and the demon, who has wrapped an elastic band around the tines of the tuning fork, uses it as a slingshot to shoot a small cube of substance right into his mouth. "!!!! ..Mmph!!!"
"Dis mah special chewing gum! 'Cause you talk too much." The Trickster ran circles around the Scarecrow, spraying him with silly string that hardened into an unbreakable reinforced filament rope. Then he stood back, "Tah-dahhhh! No applause please, just throw money. Pretty good, huh, Piper?" He looked around, "Piper? Where'd he go?!" He shot up over the rooftops but Piper had vanished into the night. "Piper!" he wailed, "Why'd you leave?!"
* * * *
The Question shook her head and snapped her celphone shut, "He's not picking up. I'm as confused as you are."
Trickster ran his hands through his hair and took back his sack-onna-stick, "Thanks for watching my stuff."
"No problem. That was good work, fast. You're right, you work well together. But... Scarecrow wasn't using the gas."
Trickster sighed again, "I know that and you know that, but Piper.... needed to not know that."
"I get you. What do you think went wrong?"
James shrugged. The sirens were closing in, clearly audible from the rooftop where they sat. "Knowing him, he probably tried for a quick and quiet take-down with minimal property damage. Probably would've worked if he weren't already messed. Like I said, one toe-hold, that's all it takes."
"I meant at the end there."
"I don't know. I don't know. Unless..." he turned to look frankly at the Question, "Did he have something to do with me being alive again? You said 'pure speculation' but the way you said it makes me think not."
Question took off her hat and scratched her head, "I don't know much about it. During the crisis, he tried something. It didn't work but it didn't not-work, either. Beyond that, he won't tell me any details."
"The fact that he told you that much says a lot. That's probably it then. The guy's easily one of the strongest of the Rogues in terms of power and mental strength, but he's got self-esteem issues like you wouldn't believe."
"Sounds about right, then," Question nodded then tilted her head, "You know him pretty well."
"Better than I thought," James admitted, "I'm surprised at myself. I didn't think I really knew him much at all." He looked out over the Gotham city night, watched the strobing police lights as they took the Scarecrow into custody. "Now what am I gonna do?"
He looked up at the sound of ripping paper to see Question holding out a sheet from a notepad. "He's here," she said, "I don't know his precise location, but this is the general vicinity. You might be able to track him."
He took it, "Pretty far from Keystone."
"Home away from home. After the Rogues, he's lying low for a while. He only came out here because I asked him to. I'm sorry; if I'd known better..."
Trickster waved a hand dismissively, "If I can find him, I can fix him. I know what he needs. What're the phone numbers?"
"First one's his cel. Maybe he'll pick up for you. Second one's my cel. You find him.... you let me know."
"Thanks, I owe you."
Question shook her head, "Already paid for. That 'Sailor Moon' schtick? - Priceless."
...Ain't I a stinker? ^__~