Prompt Post - Part Ten
I am REALLY, REALLY SORRY about taking so long, guys, and about not being around much recently. I've been busier than I have in a while, and it just kept slipping my mind between uni applications and volunteering and all sorts- for some reason I thought we were much further off a new post.
If there is anything I haven't responded to, as of now, I'm ( Read more... )
He didn't have to, but Nightwing was curious. There were rumors flying everywhere about the new superhero holding down the fort over there - the guy had seemingly sprung up overnight, appearing out of nowhere to take down a superpowered Black Adam when the villain had somehow escaped Belle Reve and gone on a rampage. This "Captain Marvel" character had somehow had the fight in the bag before the Justice League could even arrive for backup.
So far, Nightwing had heard everything from Captain Marvel secretly being a Kryptonian to a thousand-year-old wizard in disguise. He'd also heard both that Cap was a certified genius and a spastic, completely brainless ditz, depending on who you asked, so Nightwing decided he'd withhold judgment until he could meet the dude for himself.
He'd recently found a few sketchy leads tracing criminal activity from Blockbuster's Gang back to Fawcett, so now was a good a time as any. Captain Marvel had only been inducted into the Justice League a month ago, hardly enough time to be properly vetted, so Nightwing wanted to see for himself if the hero was worth his salt. He'd already asked Batman and KF (who had in turn asked the Flash), and hadn't gotten much info beyond the Cap being eccentric, but good at what he did.
(And besides, Dick loved taking any excuse he could to ride his motorcycle cross-country.)
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"Give it up, Ibac!" the Captain taunted, flying straight at the muscleman with his fist outstretched. "You know I'll only stop you again!"
The villain barked something that might have been an insult, and charged to meet Marvel's attack head-on.
Nightwing could have intervened, but instead he lurked on the rooftop of a nearby apartment complex to watch the fight, amused and so not whelmed. In Blüdhaven, he was used to a certain degree of stealth and trickery from the local crime circuit - this out-and-out street brawl between Bad Guy and Good Guy seemed almost like a relic misplaced from the sixties.
(Although, if he was going to be honest with himself, Nightwing had to admit he'd done his fair share of good old-fashioned supervillain fighting with the Team, back in the day. Back when he'd still been Robin.)
Lip quirking upward at the old memories, Nightwing watched as Captain Marvel successfully subdued Ibac, who ended up transforming into a much less threatening scrawny man in his mid-thirties upon defeat. Captain Marvel took something from around the villain's neck - some kind of pendant? Most likely the source of his powers - and waved cheerfully as the authorities arrived to cart the baddie off to jail. On the sidewalk, and from the windows of nearby buildings, citizens cheered.
Nightwing shook his head, rolling his eyes behind his mask. Why hadn't his life as a vigilante ever been so clear-cut? Captain Marvel had it good.
Nightwing was about to melt back into the shadows and head home when he paused, noticing something odd. Captain Marvel had beamed and waved brightly to the pedestrians who came over to congratulate him on his victory, but as the streets cleared, and the night settled back into calm stillness, the hero slumped, the grin sliding off his face. He looked a bit disturbed about something, even disappointed.
It wasn't anything strange. The guy was probably just tired. Maybe he was concerned about another villain. Or something in his personal life. There was nothing in Captain Marvel's lapse in cheer that ought to suggest to Nightwing anything was seriously wrong. No one could be happy all the time.
All the same: when Captain Marvel slowly rose into the air and flew off for some unknown destination, Dick only hesitated for a second before giving chase, sliding smoothly down the wall of the building and taking off into the night.
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It wasn't hard to keep up, not even accounting for stealth. It seemed the Captain didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to reach his destination.
The caped hero finally touched down on the corner of a surprisingly grimy, seedy-looking street that wouldn't have looked terribly out of place in Blüdhaven. Casting a furtive glance around, Captain Marvel eyed the darkened apartment windows and broken street lamps nearby before ducking into a nearby alley.
Nightwing narrowed his eyes. He hadn't been too concerned before, but this was starting to get suspicious. What business did Fawcett City's so-called protector have, sneaking around in the backstreets? There was something odd going on here.
He followed, peering into the alley from the cover of a particularly dark patch of shadows. Nightwing watched as Captain Marvel slowly walked to the deepest, darkest part of the alley, his posture resigned and unhappy. Nightwing squinted, but there was nobody else there. The Captain was alone.
"Shazam," he said quietly.
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Blinded by the flash, Dick screwed his eyes shut for a moment, waiting for his vision to adjust so he could see again. When he opened his eyes, he had to blink several times to verify that what he was seeing was actually reality.
Captain Marvel was gone. In his place stood a kid, a young kid, scrawny and unhealthy-looking, dressed pitifully in clothes that hung off him like rags. He couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old.
As Nightwing watched, the boy swayed, having to brace himself against the brick wall of the alley for support. The boy suddenly doubled over and began to hack and cough, a terrible, rattling sound that betrayed at the very least a serious chest infection, if not pneumonia. His whole body trembled with the effort of standing.
Dick had seen enough. Stepping out from the darker shadows, he slowly walked into the alley, not making any attempt to cover the sound of his footfalls as he strode over scattered trash and debris.
The kid reacted surprisingly fast; whirling around to face him even as the he struggled to remain upright, with heavy coughs wracking his entire frame.
"Who's - Who's there," the boy demanded, gasping for air between coughs.
"Easy," Nightwing said, holding up his hands to show that he didn't mean any harm. "I'm not here to hurt you."
The kid coughed helplessly into one arm, back slumping against the wall, but then finally he managed to look up at him. The boy's eyes widened, feverish and glassy. His skin was sheet-white. "B…Batman?" he asked faintly, looking scared.
And then suddenly Nightwing understood. "No," he said quietly, stepping forward to calmly catch the boy as he collapsed.
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And poor Dick, no matter where he goes, people are going to mistake him for the bats.
Really good start, can't wait to see how things turn out.
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But seriously, I like your Dick. He's... well, he's Nightwing. He's not as jaded as he is when he's Batman, and not as bubbly or sulky as when Robin. He's balanced, as Nightwing, and the prompt calls for Nightwing, not Batman, to take in Billy.
Looking forward to more!
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He didn't have to, but Billy knew from the moment he regained consciousness that something was wrong, and so of course he ought to act on it. Now was no time to give in to exhaustion! He opened his eyes with a supreme effort and made a feeble attempt to push himself up off an unfamiliar mattress - the sheets tucked around him were far too soft and comfortable for this to be his crumbling, spartan excuse for an apartment.
It was dark. He was in a room of some kind, he could tell that much. But as Billy struggled to peel off the blankets and sit up, he realized with an unpleasant jolt that there was something thin and plastic running along his arm, a thin tube that was actually inserted into the crook of his elbow. His breath hitched in panic. What was - why was - he wanted it gone. With trembling fingers, he reached his other hand over to grasp at the narrow line of tubing, with full intent to yank it right out.
But then there were gentle hands on his wrists, grabbing them to stop his movements, and an unfamiliar voice spoke quietly in the dark: "Hey, now. Don’t mess with that, okay?"
Billy blanched, jerking back involuntarily. He hadn't even heard anyone coming. All of the sudden, he remembered what had happened: he’d been on his way home, had reached home, or at least the empty alley by the abandoned apartment complex, and he'd changed back from the Cap into a kid again. But he hadn’t ever made it out of the alley, had he? Something had gone wrong. Someone had seen -
"Who are you?" Billy asked into the dark, voice trembling. His first urge was to transform into Captain Marvel, or at least yank his wrists free, but he couldn't take the risk of giving away his secret if the stranger didn't already know. Or making him mad. "Where am I? Did...Did you kidnap me?"
The stranger actually laughed. "Oh, man. For a superhero, you're pretty jumpy. Who trained you to think like that, Batman?" There was a pause, and the stranger actually seemed to consider the words. "Wait a second, did he? Because if so, he and I are definitely having a talk about - "
"Please don't tell!" Billy interrupted, desperate. This couldn't be happening. He hadn't even had his powers six months yet, and someone had already found him out. How could he have been so careless? "I can't - if you're trying to blackmail me, it won't work! I'm not going to do anything to hurt the Justice League! But, I, please." He swallowed. "Please don't tell."
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Finally, there was a sigh, and then the stranger spoke again. "I'm not going to tell anyone your secret," the man said, quietly. "I don't know exactly what happened to you, or how - and trust me, I'm dying to know - but it's your own business when it comes down to it." He paused. "If you want to fight the good fight as Captain Marvel, and be a hero like the rest of us, it's definitely not my place to say you can't. If I'd been able to join the Justice League at your age, I'd have done it in a heartbeat."
Billy almost didn't dare to breathe. "Who are you, sir?" he repeated.
"Nightwing." The figure abruptly released Billy's wrists and stood, walking a little ways from the bed. "I brought you to an area hospital after you passed out in the alley. You've got a serious case of pneumonia, kid. From what the doctors say, you wouldn't have lasted another week without treatment. Not in the state you were in."
Billy paused, taking in the information slowly. He could have...died? Billy was no stranger to death, not at all, but it seemed bizarre to think that the bad cold he thought he'd been fighting off might have ended him, where Ibac and even Black Adam couldn't.
And yet it would be a lie to say he felt fine, even now - Billy's stomach felt empty and pinched, his head hurt, his chest ached, and all his muscles felt weak and sore. He'd been feeling horrible all week, for more than a week in fact, and the lack of food certainly hadn't helped. But even so, fighting crime as Captain Marvel had distracted him easily from the mounting signs of illness - the World's Mightiest Mortal didn't seem capable of getting sick. As Captain Marvel, with the stamina of Atlas, he could run circles around the baddies all day without ever feeling any strain.
Until he changed back.
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"It always gets worse, if you don't take care of it," Nightwing said, quietly. He walked back to the side of the bed, and stared down at Billy calmly. "Doesn't matter what the problem is. And of course you didn't have any way of fighting it. You're homeless, aren't you?"
Billy started. He hadn't meant to reveal that much to this stranger. Was it that obvious? "I - uh," he said, panicking again. "No, I just - I live with my, um, foster parents? They work really late, so - "
"Save it, Billy. I'm a detective," Nightwing said, sounding almost amused. But he quickly sobered up again at the look of panic he received in return. "Yeah, I know your name. I can explain everything later. But, just listen to me for a sec.
"I haven't told the doctors anything so far. All they know is that I found you passed out from sickness. They're definitely suspicious of where you came from, but if you're willing to play along, I'll do everything I can to keep you from getting mixed up in the foster care system. I won't let them send you off to someone who would mistreat you." He paused. "But I'm not sending you out on the streets alone to die again. Not even Captain Marvel can save you from starvation."
Billy swallowed. "I wasn't dying, sir."
Nightwing's voice was blunt. "You're nearly ten pounds underweight, kid. That IV is in your arm isn't medicine - it's there to feed you. The doctors said it was a miracle that your immune system managed to fight off the infection as long as it did. If you try and run, to fend for yourself any longer - you are going to die."
Billy sighed, staring down into his lap. So much had changed recently, and yet at the end of the day he still felt so constantly exhausted, and hungry. Even lonely. His parents hadn't left him much, but they'd instilled in him a steadfast sense of optimism, a belief that things would get better if he worked hard. Was this the sign he'd been waiting for?
Meeting the wizard Shazam, becoming Captain Marvel, had made Billy happy. It had brought purpose to his life, however difficult. But his life wasn't a guaranteed thing anymore, was it? Tonight had proven that.
He just wanted to help people.
"...What do you need me to do?" Billy asked softly.
Unexpectedly, a hand reached down to affectionately ruffle his hair. "Tell me, kid," Nightwing asked lightly. Deviously. "Have you ever ridden a motorcycle before?"
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This whole thing is wonderful. LIFE IS WONDERFUL
I will make a more coherent review later <3
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Your Billy is too precious for words and Nightwing. Ah, Nightwing. Spot on.
I can't wait to see where you take this next!
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Nightwing is amazingly in character. Oh, Billy, Nightwing's not going to let you get mixed up in the social services system again. He's been there. He knows how bad it gets. Hell, they sent him to juvie because they couldn't find a foster home for him.
He'll take care of you.
I SHALL WAIT PATIENTLY FOR AN UPDATE!
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