 | ShatterStorm Productions
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| ShatterStorm Productions
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I Was Made For You
++Dinah++
As weird as it was to have someone else play coach for me, I really liked Shan’s style better than Helena’s. I got knocked silly and/or unconscious far less often. In fact, Shan had yet to really bruise me up, mostly because I couldn’t lay a hand on her. It was like trying to catch a really playful dog who didn’t want to be caught. And it wasn’t as if I could outsmart her and pin her in a corner to grab her collar like I’d been able to do with the farm dogs. She could jump straight up a good ten feet and teleport in the blink of an eye. But I think the biggest difference was that she didn’t have to be so wary when we sparred. With Helena, she had to be so careful to not really hurt me when her eyes went red and slitted. The Huntress mode intimidated the hell out of me because I knew first hand just how strong and fast she really was. Even without the Meta powers active she was an extremely difficult opponent, but I had learned to hold my own until the eyes changed. Helena had trouble staying out of Huntress mode while fighting, even with just little old me. It was the nature of the beast, so to speak. It was good for her to practice control, so that her off and on Meta powers didn’t hurt me. More often than not, I was forced to hurl stuff at her to get her to back off. I understood the need to get out one’s aggressions, but I hated being the punching bag when she got too feral. I was really looking forward to watching the twins spar with Huntress. It was gonna be wild.
Shan didn’t have an off and on mode, and knew exactly what she was capable of as a fighter. There was no need for her to hold back, because she just seemed to know what I was capable of and how much punishment I could take and still get back up under my own power. And then she pushed me just a little bit further than I thought I could go. It was exhilarating and made me feel like a million bucks. She was also a riot to hang around with, which was a good thing, because I did everything but sleep and shower with her.
That thought threw my concentration and Slinky the tail swatted me flat onto my face. The sensation was not unlike the rattan practice sticks that Barbara trained me with, but stronger and thicker. “Distracted much, Sticks?”
“Urrgh,” I groaned back and she mockingly purr-growled at me as usual. It seemed to be a Davie and Shan thing to make up names for everybody and everything. When Shan was sparring or patrolling with me, I was Sticks. When she was flattering me, I was Pretty Bird. The crush wasn’t fading, but seemed to be growing ever stronger. I’d have given an internal organ to be able to talk with Gabby, who knew something was going on, no matter how much I tried to act normal. Instead, I suffered in silence around the constant presence of the very person who was causing all my crazy feelings.
Slinky wrapped around my arm and flipped me over. I was too tired to do anything but lie there and stare up at my new partner. She was curious, the white head tilted like a pup faced with an unknown. “What’s up, Dinah?” Ah, damn, she used my name and I groaned and put my arm over my eyes. With a whisper of sound, Shan sat on the mats beside me and waited.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about Slinky there,” I chickened out. A peek showed me Shan’s questioning and mildly irked expression. I had to wonder how she felt about me. “I’ve been watching you these last few days and wonder how you control everything. I mean, I know most of the brain’s not used, but the tail’s so long, the signals have so far to go and your reflexes are so fast…” I was rambling like an idiot, and Slinky’s tightening grip on my arm stopped me. It was like getting my blood pressure checked.
“Two brains.”
“What?”
“There’s a nerve cluster at the base of our tails that relay signals and can make rudimentary decisions. That’s why my reflexes are so fast. And you haven’t seen Ro fight, she’s way better than me.”
“Nerve cluster?”
“Yeah, it’s a miniature brain about the size of my fist, that works the same way as the more primitive parts of the brain. Like the cerebellum, adrenal medulla and the hypothalamus.”
“Bless you?” I ventured in confusion and she laughed, a full rich sound that warmed the room. “Dunno much about brain anatomy.”
“I’m talking about what some people would call the lizard brain.”
“God, you’re weird.”
That earned me a fond cuff up alongside the head. “It’s the parts of the brain that controls things like the fight or flight reflex, and the real basic needs, like sleep, shelter, sex, and survival.”
Determined not to show how unnerved I was by hearing the word ‘sex’ coming from her, I stroked Slinky and murmured, “That’s a lot of s’es.”
Slinky was batting back playfully at my fingers as Shan mocked me, “God you’re weird.” Then she suddenly jumped as though goosed and pushed my hands away from her tail. “Hey, stop that.” She actually had to grab Slinky and wrestle it away from the friendly grip on my arm. There was a strange look in her eye that thrilled and terrified me. “My point is that half the time I have no clue what the damn thing’s doing until I get sensations, because the little brain is directing it to explore the environment. The big brain lets it alone until it needs the stimuli… and this doesn’t make any sense does it?”
“Kinda?” I half-answered and she sighed.
“I suck at this. Ro can explain better than me.”
“You’re kinda hard on yourself, aren’t you?”
Okay, that earned me a weird look, a vulnerable glance that showed me a part of this woman I had never seen before. So nervous, so freaked about having me so close, so weirded out about how different she looked.
“Sorry Shan, my mouth gets away from me.”
“’S okay. I noticed you’re still wearing the gloves.”
Honestly, I didn’t dare take them off when I was trying to concentrate of something like sparring. Trial and error had taught me that any bare skin contact gave me hazy, off and on impressions, but they were only clear through my hands touching someone else’s hands. It was like getting bad reception on the radio and then finally finding a station coming in clear and in stereo. The fuzzy, erratic imagery was easily ignored, but not the overwhelming sensations through my palms and fingers. Probably had something to do with how many nerves were in the hands. “Yeah well, I don’t like reading people without permission.”
“You need my permission? It’s yours.”
It was a profound and utterly terrifying moment. There was a part of me that wanted to read her so bad I could taste it. I wanted to know the feel of her strong hands on my own. I wanted to know what that soft fur felt like and what went on behind those pale eyes. I was scared to death of that knowledge. She was so close, the blood color of her eyes clearly visible underneath the faint violet. Her breath was soft and smelled just different enough that my brain was trying to figure it out. So close, that I could almost feel the tiny hairs feathered over her translucent pale skin. Almost close enough that I was about to do something I’d never done, almost close enough to kiss a girl.
And panicked.
Absolutely panicked. Jerking away from Shan’s welcoming body heat, I bolted with some lame, mumbled excuse.
Not my best moment.
And the startled and hurt look on Shan’s face stuck with me as I scampered down the stairs and pulled up short at the Delphi. No Barbara, but wise, dark eyes watched me silently from the couch. I had deliberately avoided Davie, intimidated by the quiet telepath with her gaze that could see right through you. It was unnerving and yet encouraged me to trust.
“So,” she said calmly and conversationally. “Is it the telepathy or the nun thing that scares you off?”
I couldn’t help it, and the snort of nervous laughter gurgled in my throat. She smiled wisely and her body language turned inviting. So, I decided that my day couldn’t get any weirder and took her up on the offer of solace. Until I saw her shirt and was once again strangling on my laughter.
“Go ahead, that’s why I wear the silly thing.”
It was all the permission I needed and collapsed into hysterics. It wasn’t the thick fleecy track suit and high tops that had set me off, but the tight baby-doll t-shirt that read, ‘you can always kiss your sisters,’ in swirly cursive across her chest, punctuated with a big kiss mark.
++Davie++
Ah, behold the power of the sense of humor. It was as though Dinah’s panic had defeated with her laughter. Flicking my glance up, I saw a nervous Shan up on the second level, peering at me like a scared puppy.
“You okay?”
She looked startled by the question, or at least me asking it. A troubled scowl made me sigh internally. There was a part of me that wanted the kids to just get it on to alleviate their boiling hormones, and part of me that admired their terrified self-control. With no coherent answer from Shan, I kept a mental ear on her and concentrated on the recovering Dinah. As I was sprawled back gracelessly into the big couch, I waved her down.
“Stay put. There’s no need to get all formal on my account. Just relax.”
“’Kay,” she murmured groggily and snuggled into the larger portion of the couch near my hip. I had been hoping she would come to me on her own so that I could offer to help with her telepathy. “You really are a nun, right?”
Now it was my turn to laugh, patting her shoulder. “Yes. It’s a long story and sounds like something out of a comic book.” I took one look down at her and sighed heavily. “One you’re not going to let me get out of telling, hmmm?” Dinah gave me the puppy dog eyes and I knew she’d been hanging around Shan for too long. “Okay, just remember that you asked. I was abandoned as an infant on the steps of one of the larger, more isolated Greek Orthodox convents in Greece. The sisters there raised me. My telepathy kicked in before I could speak and they kept me at that isolated place so that I could learn to control it. Once I was old enough to take the vows, the church gave me a special dispensation because of my powers to go out and keep tabs on everything. It’s a weird job, probably one of a kind, but it suits me. At my age, there weren’t a whole lot of what we now call Metahumans and the church was curious. I’m like 007 in that I have permission to break just about any rule for my mission. Over the years, I’ve learned when and where to break or bend the rules. It’s hard to make that call, but the sisters that raised me did a fantastic job. They were always very good about trying to balance my wild, independent nature with the strictures of the church and morality. I’ve tried to pass down to the twins.” I smiled softly when their familiar consciousnesses immediately rallied to assure me that I had. Even Ro’s sleepy brain, still perpetually hazy with drugs and pain. Dinah was watching me raptly and I recognized the look. Such sorrow and such strength, she was the face of a billion kids just like her that were hurt for things they didn’t do or couldn’t control and were forced to grow up too fast and take care of themselves.
“So you were never a freak?”
How that question hurt her to say, I could feel it as if it were my own. So I reached out and smoothed back her bangs, feeling the mental tingle of her skin against my own. “Now, Honey, you don’t feel that way anymore, do you?”
“I dunno,” Dinah sighed, her eyes avoiding mine. So I reached out and grabbed one of her gloved hands.
“I’d like to help teach you if you’d like. I think there’s a ton we can learn from one another, hmmm?” I talked in that low, soothing tone that the twins told me was positively hypnotic and Dinah remained calm as I tugged off the padded workout glove from her left hand. Gripping her wrist, I could feel her energy sparking in and under her skin like electricity to blaze like fire in her hand. It was just like standing too close to a power transformer, an experience I didn’t care to repeat. “Just trust me.”
Then I slid my palm into hers and we were both sucked in.
It looked just like New Gotham, dark and wet and windy and more than a little eerie. Except, looking down at my hands… everything was in black and white.
“It’s always like this,” Dinah said nearby and I turned to face her. “Except for particularly important stuff to whoever controls the environment.” Sure enough, the only color in this place was the blue of her gaze, the hue shocking in this colorless place.
“Why here?”
That question earned me a strange look. “Because it’s my home.”
“It’s awfully quiet and empty.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Dinah said softly, turning to look around the bare cityscape. “I’ve never been in control of the surroundings before.”
“So play with it. I’ll holler if something bothers me.”
“Play with it?”
I chuckled and waved her over. From my pocket came a postcard that I brandished, forcing the environment to show the card in glorious, blazing color. “See this place?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It’s where I grew up. Give me your hand and lets see if we can try a change in setting, huh?”
Nervous, but brave, Dinah slipped her and into mine and the pictures swirled like liquid shades of gray, where color began to bleed together with them. “Wow,” Dinah breathed as the rolling hills of southern Greece sprang to life around us. The Mediterranean glittered in the distance, tiny colored sails scattered across its gemstone surface “This place is gorgeous.”
“Exactly the way I remember it,” I hummed happily as I breathed deep of the fresh air. “Which of course means that this is merely a false and happy place for me.” The look of confusion made me grin and tug at her hand to sit in the sweet-smelling grass beside me. “This place doesn’t exist Dinah, it’s a conglomeration of memories and ideals within my head. None of the places you see when you read people actually exist. I scanned your memories a minute ago and I see a pattern.”
“Really? ‘Cause I’m really confused.”
“What you see when you read someone are memories, but only from that person’s point of view. Each person will see the same thing a different way, and our perceptions are always affected by how we see things. You still look confused. Okay, when you lay here, what do you feel here?”
“Umm… peaceful and calm.”
“Yes, but what do you sense?”
“Sense?”
“Hear, taste, that sort of thing?”
“Oh! The detail is so real. I can smell the flowers and dirt and the ocean and… wow, I can smell stuff I’ve never smelled before. And everything’s so colorful and clean. How weird…”
“Not really. I’ve always had this place, but my experiences have modified to my needs over the years. And visitors alter it. Recently, of course, the twins have been here more often than anyone else. So, they altered this environment by teaching me about themselves; like their incredible senses. They can hear and see and smell things in a way that our merely human brains can’t comprehend. But this place is pretty close. Or so they tell me. That’s why everything is so colorful and sharp and the smells are so overpowering and sounds carry so far. Do you like dogs?” The change in topic caught the girl off guard even as Fluffy barked nearby. “I hope so, because here he comes.” As though conjured by my thoughts, which is exactly what the huge, poofy white dog was, Fluffy bounded over a nearby hill and pounced on us both.
“He’s great!” Dinah squealed in delight as she roughhoused with the perfect dog: big, soft, gentle and intuitive to visitors to this domain.
“I’m glad you like him. The twins helped me create him as kind of a playmate for both me and when they visit here.” Peering through Fluffy’s expansive coat, Dinah was serious but relaxed.
“You really adore them.”
“Completely. They’re my family. Since I never had a biological family, I think I had good skills to bond to different people.”
“Yeah, me too. My adopted family tried to do a decent job with me, but I’ve being seeing and sensing things since I was a kid. I really thought I was a freak.”
“And now?”
“Not so bad. Barbara and Helena are my family now. And helping others helps me build confidence.”
“Good girl.”
We basked there in the perfect sunshine for moments or an eternity. “Davie?”
“What hon?”
“Can we come back here sometimes?”
“My pleasure.”
“We should probably get back.”
“Yep. Lead the way.”
++Helena++
I had slept more in the last four days then I had in what felt like my whole life. It was a blissful haze of mixed sensations and fractured perceptions. It was Barbara’s gentle care of my injury and the concern of the people around me. It was the freedom from the constant animal rage that drove me to such extremes. It was the tall woman who had barely been away from my side in all this time. She soothed the crazy beast inside me, focused and tamed that feral power. I didn’t understand it, and frankly didn’t care to. There was something about this stranger that gave me peace.
Stretching luxuriously, I took startled note that I had reached both arms over my head. Dull pain throbbed under my skin, the damn collarbone no doubt, but the wound was gone. Peeling up the bandage, I confirmed that the knife’s damage was indeed mended. I would still need to be careful of the mostly-healed break, but otherwise was feeling pretty damn good. Ro stirred lazily at all of my wiggling around and I didn’t even try to resist the urge to pounce on her like a frisky kitten.
“Hi,” I greeted her startled gaze and lazily rubbed my nose and cheeks over her face. “We started a conversation a couple days ago that I’m just achin’ to finish.”
It was a deep, lusty kiss as I aggressively attacked her mouth with all the reawakening feral need inside of me. There was only the briefest pause and I understood that her smart brain was objecting to this roughness. Then the lizard brain perked up and her animal smell grew stronger in my nostrils, igniting a fire in me that was as irresistible as it was taboo. The Huntress wanted out to play with this exotic woman who fascinated me so. I wanted her in the most hungry, primitive way, wanted to taste every scent on her, mark her with bites and scratches, make her submit to my strength and then return the favor. Ro groaned heavily, arching into my body as I raked my nails over her torso and bit at her tongue.
Then I screwed it up.
It only took one wrong move, just enough Metahuman-strength to cause a pain that made her let out a sound that chilled me. When I was a kid, I heard someone run over a dog a few streets over. It let out a shriek of agony that chilled my blood almost twenty years later. That similar cry of pain that twisted Ro’s body as I gripped down on her shoulders scared me half to death. In an instant, I was frantic with worry, letting her body curl up to protect the wound she had taken to save my life. That she thumped my collarbone lightly was redundant, I didn’t even feel it through the high of adrenaline.
“Oh God, Ro! Barbara! Dinah!”
I instinctively scrambled away as Shan leapt in with her eyes ablaze with the kind of protective anger I understood all too well. Cowering in the corner of the room, I was discounted by Shan, who hovered over her twin, soothing her with gentle hands. “Ro, c’mon, Boo, you’re gonna be okay. Let Davie see, c’mon sis.”
The litany went on, calming Rowan’s mind and body as Davie and Dinah burst in. I could almost feel Davie’s power reaching into Ro to help, and the long body began to uncoil. There were tears on the pale lashes, matting down the fine fur on her cheekbones and around her nose. Barbara finally made an appearance with the familiar medkit in hand.
And Shan growled at her.
The room froze with tension, Dinah torn between confusion and protectiveness. I was proud of her for stepping in close to Barbara, whose hands were ready to go for the collapsible riot batons hidden near the armrests. “Wait!” I cried in desperation, up on my feet and in the middle of all the tension before I could register actually moving. “Wait, Shan, please. It was an accident, please; I would never hurt her, not on purpose. Never. I swear.”
It was a breathless eternity before Ro’s soft moan broke the tension and Shan scrambled to crouch beside her. They sat for a long moment; faces pressed close, bodies touching everywhere they could. It was an intimacy the rest of us could only dream of.
I couldn’t have that; I didn’t know what the hell I’d been thinking. All too human doubts swamped over me, stifling the animal connection I couldn’t dare believe in.
Or it would break my heart.
++Reece++
I was shocked to see her. Huntress wasn’t seen unless she wanted to be seen. Only this time… I wasn’t sure.
Thankfully, the night was slow and I was able to leave the car parked and head down the alley to the fire escape. Peering warily over the edge of the roof, a high-heeled boot or her mocking blue eyes didn’t greet me, so I figured it was safe to actually climb onto the flat surface. I couldn’t see her from here as I had from the street, and slowly approached the place where she had been. Seeing her in a clown suit may have been less of a shock than seeing her still there, staring blankly across the city. In sweats and a tank top of all the innocuous things.
“Helena?”
It was my softest tone and she still startled as though I’d shot at her. Her lanky body automatically twisted to avoid falling over the edge and seized up in mid-motion like a badly oiled machine. I was moving before I could register it, throwing myself at her like a baseball player. Good thing too because, while her astonishing reflexes had saved her from a fall off of the tall building, landing on the back of her neck the way she was going to might be nearly as dangerous. Catching her body was like being body slammed by a horse; she was that solid and muscular.
“Jeezus,” I hissed into her hair at the close call and felt her shake. “What the hell is wrong?”
“Ouch,” Helena protested tightly, barely a hint of her sarcasm and strength in her tone. Then I saw the vicious, cloudy bruising that covered the entire left side of her upper torso.
“Yeah, ouch, I see that. You should be at home.”
“No,” she grumbled like a little kid. “I can’t right now.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she growled and I resituated my body so that I was leaning against the wall she’d fallen from and let her sit beside me, leaning against my chest.
“Bullshit. Don’t tell me that you’re guilt-tripping again.”
It was what had ruined our pseudo-relationship in the first place. Not that I regretted it. She’d been so tortured over trusting Harley Quinn and Barbara’s boyfriend dying because of it that she had been more than a little insane for a while there. Part of her had died in that blow up, part of her that trusted and believed. That spark had never come alive again, and I really wanted that for her. I held those few kisses as treasured memories and had put all my energies into helping her heal and move on. The kind of sibling warmth that had grown up felt terrific, and even if she still wreaked a bit of havoc on my libido, it was a hell of a lot easier to concentrate around her now.
“Not about that,” Helena finally sighed and wearily rubbed her eyes like an overtired kid. The childlike mannerisms had shown up after her life had been torn apart by Quinn and still made appearances when she was especially stressed. It was a behavior I had recognized immediately. Hell, there were days when I was right there with her. “There’s… there’s some new people in town,” Helena started up hesitantly, wiggling in closer to the loose arm I’d thrown around her upper body. “And they’re… different.”
“Queen of the understatement,” I prodded gently. “Care to fill in the guy who’s only human here? Different is always an adventure around you.”
“Yeah,” she huffed in soft humor. There was a pause and I thought I was going to have to prompt her again. Then she started talking in this soft tone that held me in thrall. “No one knows what it’s like when I go Huntress, the rush of it and how different the world looks and sounds like. Then this woman shows up and she’s like part cat and dog and stuff and she… she just knows, y’know?” Rather than respond, I schooled my patience and waited her out. I was rewarded by her voice growing even softer, her body relaxing in my loose grip. “I dunno how to explain it, she just reached in and understood every feral, crazy part of me, took a bullet to save my life, held me for four days while I recovered and made me feel safe and adored.” Woo boy, this is what I got for encouraging her not to hold back with me.
“And this woman? What happened with her? She sounds pretty cool to me. Taking a bullet and all.” I had a damn good idea what she was talking about, the reports that had caught my eye almost four days ago. Mysterious figures in black disappearing into thin air in front of six police witnesses. I was hardly shocked that Huntress and company were involved. There was a puddle of blood that hadn’t matched any of the unconscious thugs and I now knew it must have belonged to the two women. Charming.
“Yeah, but I hurt her, Jesse. Grabbed her shoulder without thinking ‘cause I got all riled up and Meta-strong without thinking.” A great, wracking sob forced itself from deep within her body, making her cringe and hide her face in my jacket arm. “I always hurt the people I love, dammit.”
I was about to respond to her pain when something caught my eye and fear blasted down my spine. The ghostly figure had materialized out of nowhere, the city lights and the half-face of the moon painting it white and black, a tail dancing as though caught by a lazy breeze. “Shit,” I squeaked and would have gone for my gun, but a hand was held up. Something about the crouched body language told me that the stranger meant no harm, especially when Helena froze and whispered a name I couldn’t quite make out.
++Shan++
Sure, I’d been pissed off and upset, but I hadn’t done anything. Guiltily, I remembered the look on Barbara and Dinah’s faces when I had growled. But Helena had selflessly thrown herself in front of my rage to protect her pack and I had backed off. Then Ro had begged me to find her, to make everything better. Ro never asked more of me than I could give, but this time I wasn’t certain I could deliver. Whatever was going on between my twin and this mercurial wildcat was a little baffling even to me, and I was usually the weird one.
“Helena,” I coaxed and tasted the strange man’s wariness. “No one is angry with you. Least of all Ro.”
“You are,” she mumbled defensively and I sighed.
“No, I’m just all boofed up. If I’d been mad, I would have tried to kick your ass, broken shoulder be damned. Ro trusts you, so I believe that what happened was an accident.”
There was a long pause before Helena spoke again. “Boofed up?”
It cut through the tension and I leapt down from my perch. “Yeah, fur standing up agitated critter kinda thing. It’s all good. Who’s your pal?”
His scent was vaguely familiar, clinging lightly to the clocktower, nearly lost in all of the other stronger scents. I crouched by Helena, watching her eye me from where she hid behind his arm. It was a sobering moment as I watched the conflicted blue eyes as they flickered everywhere but my gaze. Then she came to some kind of internal decision and sat up straighter, showing her face again. “This is Detective Jesse Reece.” Alarm radiated down my spine and Slinky danced to the energy. A cop, wonderful… “I’m sorry, Shan, I don’t know what happened.”
“I do.” That quiet statement took her off guard and I tried to organize my thoughts. “She’s my identical twin, Wildcat. I know her better than anything and she knows me. For the first ten years of our life we were lab rats, with almost no emotional care or support but one another. We were the worst kind of animal, smart, violent and more than a little insane. We escaped and a woman we still miss and adore taught us kindness and love and tenderness. Thankfully, we had the basics in one another. We don’t trust easily, Helena, and you don’t either, but I’m not stupid and I can see that you’re under her skin and vice versa. Now get the hell up and give me a hug.”
Honestly, I had hardly expected her to do it, but after a moment she extracted herself from the detective and carefully hugged me. It was a wary, almost hesitant gesture and I returned it gently, mindful of her tattered emotions and her injury. “Thanks, Shan,” she murmured and I stood while gathering up her tired body.
“Detective?” I addressed the swarthy man as he also stood. “It’s been a rough day. Would you be willing to give us a ride home?” Boy, did he look startled at the request. “I noticed that you have no partner and your car down there is empty.”
“Uh… sure, my pleasure.”
Good adaptation skills, I admired that in an ally. And my toothy grin only made him blanch a little. Good, he was smart enough to be afraid, that must be why he was still breathing on these mean streets. “Helena, I need you to play piggyback with me, okay?”
“’Kay,” she yawned and I chuckled.
“Still tired?”
“God, I’ve never slept so much in my life.”
“Yeah, but you’re sure healing damn fast,” I admired, trailing a thumb over her shoulder. “No hole, and the bone seems to be more solid than not.”
“Quick healer.”
“Understatement.”
Her body was more solid and compact than Dinah’s when she leaned into my back. She squeaked and smacked my shoulder when Slinky tucked up into her crotch and coiled tight around her upper thigh to grip her body against mine. “Watch the tail!”
“Hey, you didn’t have any complaints the last couple of times. Oh relax; I’m just yanking your chain. Wrong twin, remember? Now, when Binky gets a hold of you, I doubt you’ll be complaining.”
“Shut up,” she muttered in embarrassment and buried her over-warm face into the back of my neck. Slinky curled around my waist and back around her as well.
“Hang on with your legs. We’re out of here.”
“’Kay. Did I hear correctly that you just called your sister’s tail, Binky?”
I grinned evilly. “Yep. They are a source of great comfort and entertainment to us.”
“Kinky,” Helena snorted as I paced over to the fire escape and started down.
“What can I say, we’re amateur poets.”
Helena laughed the entire way to the ground.
Back on terra firma, Detective Jesse Reece eyed me, smiling hesitantly. “Do you and your… sister really have nicknames for your… tails?” He got an ‘a’ for effort in the acceptance department. Good man. So I eyed him speculatively, deliberately dropping my gaze to his crotch for a moment before returning to his eyes.
“You’re a boy, detective, you should talk.”
And Helena was in hysterics again.
++Barbara++
It was eerie to have the clocktower so quiet, everyone having scattered to find Helena. I was lonely and sad. The last four days had been a whirlwind and I had yet to really catch my breath. It was a good idea to hold these strangers at arm’s length, dammit, it was! I didn’t want anyone to challenge my safe zone; it was too damn thin anyway. There was an insane part of me that really expected to have Harley saunter in like she owned the place. Which, because of my obsessive fear, I suppose she did. I kept expecting to see Wade walk in with his innocent eyes dull in death. It was nerve-wracking. Yanking off my glasses, I tossed them roughly at one of the monitors and rubbed my eyes until they ached. Okay, until they ached worse. It was usually easier to lose myself in Oracle and the endless domain of Delphi, but I couldn’t get my mind off of my immediate situation.
Hunching up, I pressed my forehead to my knees until my spine objected. The twins and Davie had interacted with me, but mostly skirted around my well-protected borders, wary of getting to close to those emotional warzones. I watched them effortlessly charm my family, filling needs I hadn’t even known existed. I hadn’t known just how rough Helena practiced with Dinah until the girl came out of a workout all smiles and healthy sweat, not bruised and battered yet stubbornly determined. I hadn’t known how lonely Helena was until that furry stranger had filled an animal need that I doubted even Helena really understood. It was Rowan that had made the strongest effort to befriend me, when she wasn’t sleeping, which had been fairly constantly.
“Damn cats,” I grumbled to myself and grinned humorlessly.
“Not all cat,” Ro spoke softly and I sat up quickly. It was so odd to watch her lounging nonchalantly against the support post for the second floor. The body language was so normal and ordinary, and such a bizarre contrast to her exotic looks. “Little bit canine and ape too.”
“So I read,” I agreed softly as she strode over and leaned into the counter exactly the way that Helena would. “It’s fascinating. Thank you for letting me see it.”
‘It’ was a thick hard drive that looked as though it had been through a war. Inside of it was an irreplaceable reservoir of knowledge about biological manipulation and microtechnology. I could only guess that handing it over to me was a gesture of trust. There was information on it that was more than a little disturbing; reports of human/Metahuman/animal experiments that made my skin crawl. Sevarius Smith and his cronies were indeed the cliché mad scientists.
Ro pulled up one leg to tuck it under her chin in a way that left me green with envy. Even when I was a world-class gymnast, I was never that flexible. Years of Helena’s boneless presence in my life should have left me used to it, but this new woman retargeted that feeling of loss and envy. The pale eyes watched from beneath the feathery, ragged bangs with a grave understanding that unnerved me. It wasn’t until I felt a tiny vibration in the chair and looked down that I even realized her tail had gently wrapped around my ankle and lifted my foot up. My first instinct was to snarl at her to back the hell off and leave me alone, but something stayed my defensiveness. The last few inches of the tail slithered over my numb flesh in a series of tentative back and forth moves. Just like a curious animal exploring some intriguing unknown. It was fascinating to watch.
I had read about the small brain located at the pelvis where the spine went from her trunk to become that amazing appendage. But watching it explore like a separate entity, hell bent on figuring out its environment, really illustrated that. Coiling further up my leg, the tail tickled over the back of my knee and I felt a faint glimmer of sensation that made me jump just a bit.
“You felt that,” Ro whispered and I looked up.
“Sensations come and go. There are days I swear I can almost walk again and others where I’m so numb I’m cold.”
It was painfully honest and my voice hurt as much as my throat. God, I hated talking about it. Then Rowan Jones did something so totally unexpected that I felt the pain and loss erupt out of me.
She knelt down and hugged me.
She had no way of knowing how touchy I was about being touched and I doubt she would have cared anyway. I could have made her back off with a word or a sign of struggle, but instead I accepted the calm offer of solace. The tears burned like painfully hot water, agonizing but cleansing. “I hate… I hate feeling like this! Helpless and broken, good for only the smart and stoic one,” I bawled as the wave of emotions roared up from its dark depths and I squeezed my eyes shut and held on for dear life. “I wanna walk again, I… miss the feel of running and… and…”
“Freedom,” Ro purred oh-so-gently and I could only cry harder.
God yes, I missed my freedom.
++Ro++
There was some old expression about still waters running deep. Never was that more true that wounded Barbara Gordon. Humans had this annoying habit of keeping themselves so… apart from each other, causing irreparable psychological damage. To touch was as natural to me as breathing. It took real effort to school my instincts around other people, to rein in my natural, animal need to touch and feel and smell everything. It wasn’t as though the tail ever obeyed those social strictures anyway. Davie had told me and Shan about the Joker shooting Barbara the night they locked him away for good. A single bullet in retaliation to Commissioner Jim Gordon, and by proxy, Batman himself. Grunting in pain, I gathered up Barbara’s shaking body, coiling the tail around her limp legs and headed for the bedroom. Tonight I would share the comfort of my body heat with her. If she were lucky, the others would pile into the big bed, stupid social rules be damned. Just as soon as they brought Helena home…
A sharp laugh woke me with a start, disoriented and stiff. I remembered the bedroom, I’d hardly left it in days, but the body weighing me down was unfamiliar. Red hair splayed over my chest, and her fist was clenched tight into my thin shirt. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her head in a protective cuddle in hope that the voices wouldn’t wake her.
“Huh,” Shan’s voice reached me. “No Babs, no Boo, no nobody. Weird.”
“Still sleeping?” Helena asked softly and I was relieved to hear her voice. After her panic from hurting me earlier, I had been worried about her. The nearly inaudible squeak of sneakers brought my dark angel to the door and I waved urgently at her. Nodding in comprehension, she snuck back out to talk with my sister in urgent whispers. Barbara mumbled half relaxed and half agitated and I could smell her body temperature rising. It could be a good or bad thing and I prayed that Helena came back quickly. Someone left and I had to wonder what I was missing. Dinah’s voice drifted in from the Delphi’s speakers and I distantly felt the reassuring brush of Davie’s mind. She must be far away and fatigued to sound so faint. Again Helena entered the room, her body language pained and nervous. I was so happy to see her that my relief nearly made me faint.
“Hi Kitten,” I purred and she looked both pleased and freaked.
“So you’re really not mad at me?”
“Because you were enthusiastic?” I scoffed and grinned toothily at her. “God forbid. Get your cute tush over here and don’t jostle Babs.”
Carefully, Helena settled next to Barbara’s somnolent body and leaned over to kiss me. It was gentler than we’d played before, her lips warm, soft and needy. “I’m sorry,” she murmured in a vulnerable tone and I shifted my good arm to ruffle her dark hair.
“I know. Apology accepted. You’re cold.”
“Yeah, the car’s heater helped, but I’m still chilled.”
“Haunting roofs again?”
“I needed to think.”
“I understand. Grab that quilt and bundle up.”
Shivering, Helena kicked her shoes off and cocooned into the colorful quilt we’d commandeered from the woman asleep half across my torso. Without the slightest hesitation, Helena snuggled up tight to Barbara’s back and nuzzled into the red hair. “You’ve been really good to us,” she murmured and it took a moment to realize that she meant me. “Looks like you even thawed this one out.”
“She needed a hug,” I explained gruffly as my all too human embarrassment justified my animal actions. “She needed a caring touch and you know how the tail is…”
“Binky?” She said innocently, dark lashed fluttering flirtatiously and I scowled until she chuckled and ducked back into Barbara’s hair. I growled and she only giggled, “ooooo, scary.” She already knew me so well. Then she shifted to kiss me again and even my mild irritation at the stupid childhood tail-name faded away in her warm acceptance. The girl sassed like a diva, was as strong as a Clydesdale, moved like a panther in heat and kissed like a porn star. It was no wonder I was smitten. Twitterpated, I could almost hear Shan laughing inside my head. Actually, she was only chuckling from the doorway, and I ignored her in favor of Helena’s many charms. It was my girl that raised her head up first, licking my lips and chin seductively. “I like it, it’s cute. You’ll have to show me exactly what Binky here can do, because your sister keeps giving me ideas.”
Any replay was stalled out by Barbara’s agitated noise and the defensive half-curl that tweaked her frame. Instantly, we were both wrapped around the muscular body, soothing away the tremors and whimpers. Shan curled her body down my free side and joined in the pack bonding by petting their heads of red and near black. With Barbara at a forty five-ish degree angle to my body, head and torso sprawled against my own and Helena wrapped tight against her back and Shan cuddled into my other side, it was a good thing it was a big, strong bed. As Barbara slipped from calm sleep to nightmare and back and forth, we prepared ourselves for a long night.
To Be Continued…
By Martin Page
Take this man who comes to you
Take me to your side
I throw away my soulless days
I need you in my life
In the doorway of my heart
The presence of you shines
So put your face to my window
Trust what you see inside
(Chorus)
What are these hands for?
If I can't bring you fallen rain
What are these eyes for?
If I can't see the moon
Watch over you
What are these arms for?
If I can't hold you through the night
What does this heart beat for?
If I can't lay by your side
You must know
I was made for you
I'll meet you by the wisdom tree
And I'll hold you so close
Come on out of the wilderness
Let love free you from your ghosts
(Chorus)
We'll walk upon the hill
So high above the city
And count the rooftops down below
Lay on the grass
Dream out loud
Catch runaway chains
Dance in the rain
Someday you'll take my name
(Chorus)
Kneel down in the moonlight
Let your hair fall down around
Blow out all your candles tonight
And I believe you will see
I was made for you
(Chorus)
