 | ShatterStorm Productions
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| ShatterStorm Productions
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++ Ro ++
It was a beautiful day. As the sun sank towards the nearby ocean, the skies painted themselves every color of the rainbow. The massive solarium was my favorite spot in all of Wayne Manor, as the massive banks of windows filtered out the burning UV rays without reducing the hot press of all the glorious sunshine we’d seen this summer. It was a pleasure I’d never known, being albino and so susceptible to the destructive side of sunlight.
Fluffy lay completely limp and unconscious between my legs, his big head on my belly, utterly at peace with the world. In this moment, beneath the golden, glorious sun, I was completely in accord with him. So I remained as I was, sprawled into the huge cushioned lounge chair among the brick walkways that divided the massive banks of plants and water features, my arms thrown wide over the expanse of fabric.
When my pack came to me, it was with no disturbance to my deep, deep peace. Helena slipped into my personal space like the friendly, silent feline she was. Barbara’s presence was like gathering static electricity, potent yet secretive. Janelle was an earthier counterpart to Barbara’s lightning. We were the elements, we four; Helena as the changing force of fire, Barbara as the mercurial force of water, me as adaptable air and Janelle as our grounding force of earth. Not bothering to open my eyes, I groped silently, my body barely moving.
Helena was the first to come to me, her sinuous body imperiously shoving Fluffy’s sprawling paws away to stretch along my right leg and ribs. The dog snorted lazily at the jostling, making us girls chuckle at him. Janelle somehow found the space to squeeze her small body against Hel’s back and nestled her nose next to my ear with a happy sigh. The strange relationship between my dark lovers was still an enigma, a strange combination of fond aloofness and friendly competition. I had no complaints. When Barbara didn’t immediately take up my other side, I slit open an eye to blurrily regard her. Smiling sweetly, she bent to kiss me before sitting at my hip with easy grace. Hard to believe that she had been paralyzed until such a short time ago.
I offered my hand, feeling Barbara play with my fingers and blunt claws. It was a strangely relaxing gesture.
“Jan had the bright idea to come watch the sun set with you,” Helena murmured softly, her voice buzzing against my skin just below my breast. The feel of Janelle’s grin on my temple earned one of mine in return.
“It’s going to be a beautiful one,” Barbara murmured and finally decided to drape herself along my free side. She started a bit when Apollo suddenly leapt from nowhere to perch delicately on her hip and regard us silly humans. He had an endless fascination with the red head. I could sympathize. That thought made me look down at the pile of our bodies and my heart swelled with adoration. Pressing kisses to the party-colored manes of my packmates, I purred softly. Barbara’s fiery locks, Janelle’s autumn brown and gold, Helena’s so mahogany to be nearly black; they were all contrast to the unbroken white of my own coloring.
“Glad you’re here,” I murmured around the lump in my throat. It was true in so many ways.
++ Dinah ++
It was hugely entertaining to watch Shan and Tiny roughhouse in the clearing my telekinesis had made. It was shaping up to be a nice little spot. The splintered logs had been cleaned up with chainsaws, cut into rough benches and tables beneath the arch of the sky. The ragged remains of the violence of my telekinesis had been reduced to firewood and cushioning shavings on the ground. A big fire pit had been laid with rough bricks and recycled cinderblock, lined in bright terra-cotta tiles. A similar rough barbeque was just outside the ring of wooden seating.
This was rapidly becoming my favorite spot on the massive Wayne estate.
Since Gabby and I were to be among the first students at the new school, we had stayed pretty much out of the nuts and bolts of the set up. When asked our opinions, we’d happily thrown in our two cents, and we’d put in plenty of hours of physical labor.
Shan was suddenly looming over me, throwing her long shadow across my Anne McCaffery book. I was ready for a break from the tale of how humans had to share the stewardship of Doona with the Hrrubans, and looked up with a loving smile. It had been over a week since I’d finally succeeded in seducing her, and we were getting even better with practice. As always, I basked in her kiss, the soft brush of her fingers over my cheek and chin.
“This is going to be a popular spot,” Shan grinned, her eyes so close that I could make out the blue film that turned her albino eyes from pink to violet.
“I should hope so. Jeez, we’ve gone to enough trouble. It looks wonderful, Shan. If no one else appreciates you for all this work, I sure do.”
That smile made me all warm and fuzzy, and I relished the delicate blush that stole over my lover’s face.
“Dinah?” Davie’s mental voice brushed over mine and I smiled.
“Here, Davie, in the new clearing.”
“Excellent. May we come see?”
“Yes, of course,” I encouraged and tugged Shan down again to be kissed. “We’ve got company coming. You ready to show off your work?” Her shy smile warmed my heart at the praise I knew she still felt that she didn’t always deserve.
Voices carried through the deep forest, and I realized that if was more than just Davie. Sure enough, with the telepath were my mom and her new family. Any residual resentment I had towards Carrie and Kelly had dissipated. Well, I occasionally had a tingle, but after spending some time with the twelve-year-old, I found that I really liked her. That Kelly kept herself aloof and unapproachable was something I had stopped taking personally. She was like that with everyone.
Grinning happily, Carrie came over to the benches and tables. “This looks great! It’s like summer camp, or so I’ve read.” A shadow drifted across her face and I remembered getting memories from mom on what had happened to the little red-headed family. Carrie’s father must be some kind of serious bastard to still be hunting her and Kelly all these years. No matter. They were family now and we would defend them to the death.
“Just have to be careful of splinters,” I joked and Carrie laughed. I was definitely getting to like this big-sister stuff. Mom came over, hugging us both hard.
“I’m glad you two get along,” she sighed happily and we girls giggled. She even had a big smile for Shan, who she thankfully liked. All in all my future looked good. I had the skill and heart to protect my family, my city and my people.
Yep, the future was bright!
++ Helena ++
Bittersweet.
Like strong coffee ice-cream, I savored the feeling in my mouth, my heart, my soul. It was a gorgeous day, summer full and ripe around us, the air scented with sweet plants, and the smells and sounds of New Gotham pulsing just beyond the walls. Only Barbara’s strong hand anchored me, just as she always had since…
Since mom had died.
Wordlessly, I knelt in the long grass, Barbara silent sentinel beside me. It looked the same as it did the day I had buried the person I loved most in the world, the starkly carved granite that bore her name. Selina Kyle
Beloved mother and friend.
There were no dates, because in a way, she would never truly be gone. The grooves of the words were smooth against my shaking fingers as I traced them and tasted my tears and loss.
“Miss you, mom. I wanted you to know that I’m okay, and I’m gonna keep being okay. Barbara finally got a clue and realized that she couldn’t live without me.” I could sense the gentle smile. “And I found someone else that understood that wild part of me that way I think you did. You never got a chance to see what I’ve become, mom. I get to be a hero, chase the bad guys into their holes the way you did, the way… the way my father did.” I had made my peace with Bruce Wayne, and somehow I could sense the approval of the woman who had loved him so. Clearing my throat, I wiped at a few tears and pressed them into the fragrant earth covering her bones. “There’s babies coming, mom. They’re gonna be amazing. And I took over the Wayne Manor, can you believe that?” Nervously rustling into my back pocket, I yanked out the rumpled paper.
The name had been my idea. Not just a tribute to the people I loved both then and now, but also as a last-ditch effort to really get involved.
“Here mom, I want you to have this.” Reverently, I smoothed the page, once again studying the document photo-copied there. “New Gotham school district okayed us. Just yesterday. I wanted you to be proud of me and Barbara and everyone else, and I wanted you to be a part of it too. It’s just the kinda thing you’d’ve done if you were still around. No one’ll ever forget you now. Ever.”
The page was an official document, full of gibberish and legalese. But what still made my heart ache in wonderment and bittersweet emotions, was the name of the new school on the Wayne Estate.
We were official and the sky was the limit.
This would be a place not just for reading, writing and ‘rithmetic, but for educating everybody on the new breed of humanity. The choice of words for our name were deliberate, so that even our school acronym would be a reminder of who and what we were about. Classes would start soon, and our futures were bright. Soon, students would begin filling the echoingly empty manor and the school would begin it’s new mission.
At the Selina Kyle Memorial Education and Teaching Academy.
++ Shan ++
“That all you got?” I sneered at my partner and Helena rolled her eyes.
“It’s not me you have to worry about, smartass.”
The hit came out of nowhere, a blistering sting rippling across my scalp, despite the padded edges. Even my enhanced reflexes couldn’t snag the batarang as it whistled away from the impact to return to Gabby’s hand. Sweating and scared, the teen nonetheless wielded this new power magnificently. Babs was doing really good work with her.
“Nice shot, OJ,” I admitted grudgingly and rubbed the sore spot. “You nailed me fair and square.”
Where Ro was squared off with Dinah, she smirked before feinting at my lover to test her defenses. A smart-aleck comment from Davie a few days ago had started us on learning whole new skills. Something to the effect of, ‘what kind of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are you four if you can’t use the weapons?’ Despite the continuing inane theme of the Turtles, she had a point. In the hands of us twins and the Hel-cat, the power of hand-held weapons could be realized in a way that would make our ancestors drool. And Dinah had proven to have an unexpected gift with nearly any tool of defense and destruction we put in her hands. Couple that with her ‘kinesis and we were trouble! Gabby was learning all of Oracle’s tricks of the trade, in the chance that she’d ever need to defend herself.
Hel wasn’t too pleased with the idea of carrying weapons, but a pair of Rafael-inspired sai seemed to be changing her mind. The three-pronged defensive hardware suited her style of fighting. Dinah and Babs had rigged a pair of the telescoping fighting sticks to snap together and create a fairly long staff. There was no way in hell I was gonna use those ridiculous nunchucks, so Bug and Davie were still in the design phases of various toys that were being built into our new suits. Hel’s was so cool that Alfred had been slaving over completely new uniforms for me and Ro. I knew that Bug had been helping the man out to design tailored costumes for each of us, and she’d been offering various kinds of offensive and defensive hardware for testing.
This time I spied the batarang headed my way, and ‘ported to intercept. Plucking it out the air as I rematerialized, I dropped like a stone and landed in a half-crouch right in front of Gabby, snarling wildly. Something totally unexpected happened.
Gabby yelped and shrank away, honestly afraid. It was only a split-second, but I saw and smelled the terror before she tried to cover it up. For an instant, I saw how badly the Harley-ized Ro had hurt not just Babs, but Gabby too. It was a desperate, powerful hug, as I swept the girl into my arms and began to purr.
“S… sorry,” she whispered against my neck and I squeezed harder.
“No, Gabs, we’re sorry. We forgot that you were hurt too. Forgiveness doesn’t negate fear.” Once again, I had no clue where the wisdom came from, but Gabs leans back only far enough to look at me wonderingly. “Time and love will do that. Maybe we should call it a day, huh? I don’t think I can handle getting nailed by you one more time.”
Her expression cleared, and for now, that was enough.
++ Janelle ++
How I despised paperwork. So how had I ended up doing it half my life? The school made me feel useful amidst these extraordinary people, so it was worth all the hassle. Sighing heavily, I sprawled back into my chair and gazed over the massive forest that surrounded the Wayne Manor. It was an amazing facility we had here, perfect for what we were embarking on. Nothing related to the school had me restless this evening.
Well, nothing directly anyway.
There was a part of me that was still overwhelmed at everything that had happened to me. Trapped in a false world inside my own mind, while the real one went on without me, I had completely lost three years. Even as I had grown used to the stranger looking back at me in the mirror, the differences were stark contrast. I’d firmed up the softness I’d accumulated as an invalid and gotten back a healthy skin tone, but the hair I had left long as a reminder.
Not that I needed to look any farther than the twins to remind me.
It had taken a couple weeks of getting to know Ro’s new packmates, but I’d finally been allowed into their bed, so that our mutual love interest could stop splitting her time. For a few nights, we’d all merely slept, until Ro got fed up with Hel’s possessive tension and jumped her. Watching those two wildcats had been an experience like none other, especially with Barbara running light fingers over me with seeming casualness.
By the time that night ended, none of their touches were casual, and I was treated to an initiation to a world I could have never imagined. Even Helena roughly marked my skin in several places while her packmates made me cry out like a proper hussy.
That long night, which left me sore all over for days, was a catalyst to my acceptance, and I knew that I would never be alone again.
“Hey, Jan,” Helena’s voice startled me as she poked her head into my little office adjacent to the master suite. “Come play. It’s a gorgeous sunset and the teens have decided that we need a proper barbeque.” When I didn’t move, still caught up in the webs of my thoughts, Helena sauntered over to stand at my knees. When she spoke again, her voice had changed from her usual boisterous self to the gentle pussycat that she could be in bed. “What is it?”
A grin tugged at my mouth in pleasure that I was allowed to see this side of the wildcat that ruled our day to day lives. “Gathering wool. Thankful that I’ve earned your trust. That I’m here, with all of this.”
My vague gesture encompassed everything, I hoped. With a grin and a snorting chuckle, Helena pulled me to my feet and wrapped me in a suffocating hug.
“Glad I got a clue. I like you. Now c’mon, family and pack awaits.”
Willingly, I allowed Helena to drag me to the roof where I could bask in the warmth of family and pack, indeed.
++ Menolly ++
Being treated like I was… human was still taking some getting used to. It was the little stuff that still left me off-kilter sometimes. Like eating at a table, with utensils. Everyone was very careful to treat me like an equal without making a big deal about it. Tiny too, and the treatment had made us both blossom. He was a proper boy/dog now, the household easily adapting to his animal simplicity. As long as I was social on a regular basis, and slept regularly and often with supervision, I was given free rein with all the astonishing technology and labs in the manor. I had begun constructing several new ones, not just to maximize the potential of the nanites, but anything else that caught my attention. Ro and Barbara especially understood the burn to create things, and helped me out on a regular basis. It was bizarre that they left me in charge of my own projects, and asked me kindly and with no pressure to help out of some of theirs.
But as much as I felt like I was starting to fit in…
There was Gabby.
Every time I was around her, I felt like someone had partially disconnected my nervous system, starting with my upper brain. Sure, I understood that I was attracted to her, but so what? No one would want me for real, I was too strange. The sweet smell of her attraction to me was a constant torment, but I couldn’t bear the idea that it was only animal attraction. I relished being a person now, not some kind of object to be used and owned. Yet, Gabby was as kind to me as the others, and made a real effort to act normal around me.
Did she know that I could smell her need?
So, if she needed me, but still treated me like a person… then maybe, just maybe I could act on the energy between us. Some instinctual part of me understood that Gabby probably never would, too afraid of hurting me emotionally. Intrigued now, I did my best to examine the warm feelings that were so welcome, and so strange.
I loved all these wonderful people here, the ones that had given me a healthy home to grow in as an individual. But there were layers. The crush I’d always had on the twins, even when they were just a memory, the new crushes on the kind adults in my life now. The attractiveness of my peers, like Dinah, even if I could only admire from a distance.
But Gabby was different. She wanted me too, and wasn’t in a relationship with anybody. Determination washed over me, and I relished having control over my own destiny. No matter how pursuing Gabby might turn out, it was my decision, my success or failure.
Nothing was more powerful than that!
++ Alfred ++
Knowing that the household was most likely gathered in the study, I stacked my treasures on the breakfast cart and journeyed out of the armor room. It was strangely ironic and completely appropriate that the new generation of heroes had adopted the very room where their predecessors had once spent so much time. In the past, this was where Batman and his various young heroes had relaxed from their shadow lives.
When I first entered the mostly-dark room, there was little note of my presence and I drank them in for a long moment. I was thrilled with my new family, even if I had trouble moving beyond the formality of my position.
A discrete clearing of the throat had their attention, the movie on hold. “What’s up, Alfred?” Miss Helena asked cheerfully, and the main lights came up.
“Greetings everyone, I have an announcement. I have the first generation of the new armor. Miss Shan? Since you have been the most anticipatory, would you like to see yours first?”
“Hell yes,” she managed not to shout, but her voice was squeaky with excitement. She vanished and I braced myself in the instant before she reappeared only inches from my nose “Sorry,” she apologized sheepishly.
“Quite all right, child,” I smiled and picked up one of the neat stacks of material. “I believe that you will like this.”
She barely heard me, that much was obvious, as she took the gift in trembling hands and squatted to shake it into looseness against the hardwood floor. This costume was constructed of the newly improved materials that Miss Menolly had worked so hard on. At first glance it appeared much like Miss Helena’s gorgeous cat suit, a firm, neoprene-like material that was both thick and thin at the same time. There were thicker, cushioned stripes worked into the design that were reminiscent of a snake’s long belly scales
“It looks too big,” Shan commented once she had the suit completely flattened out beneath everyone’s gaze. “And how the hell do you open it?”
“Here,” I explained patiently, kneeling to pick up the left cuff, where the glove dangled obscenely from the unusually stiff forearm. “There is a key built into both sleeves, as well as the tail sleeve. Press them to the collar to open it from the neck, or to the waist to split the top and bottom into shirt and trousers.”
Shan watched in perfect attention as I touched the dull, silvery, unobtrusive triangular tabs together and the bonding strips gaped open. A single, curious finger from my young companion had the entire thing open from neck to groin. “What is this stuff?”
“I’m afraid you will have to ask Miss Menolly for an explanation of the bonding strips working properties. It makes little sense to an old man.”
How I adored the girl’s grin, an engaging, toothy blast of warmth for me. My paternal feelings for this unusual young woman was something I had given up fighting. When she jumped up and grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt, I stood and wisely turned my back.
“It’s awfully bulky,” Miss Rowan murmured to herself and I heard Miss Menolly chuckle knowingly.
“Just be patient, Boo.”
“Okay, Alfred, you can turn around again, I’m relatively decent. How do you close it up? Guess we’ll need to see how much we need to take it in to fit perfect, huh?”
“Not at all, Miss Shan,” I smiled serenely and turned around, avoiding looking down where the suit gaped open at the bonding strips. “Touch the key to the lock again and wait a moment.”
The instant the key surfaces touched, I was treated once more to the strange miracle of the properties of this new type of armor. The bonding surfaces slowly began to seal themselves shut, pausing as long as Shan kept a curious finger blocking its progress.
“Sweet,” she breathed quietly, watching the gaping edges close themselves around her torso. Then she jumped in shock as the next phase of the suit initiated, and the baggy material began to tighten up, molding to her skin in comforting caress. “Ohmigod,” she squealed happily. “Ro, try yours on, you’re gonna shit when you feel what this thing is doing!”
It only took a moment for Miss Rowan to change as well, and they stared at each other, near mirror images clothed in identical black with dull silver highlights. Now young Menolly came over to watch the process with a critical eye. “The booties are thin, but twice as strong as the rest of the suit, to protect your feet. I figured that you’d want to actually feel the surfaces beneath you.”
I handed over the helmets, warmed at their enthusiasm. Both women turned the strange-looking helmet in their hands, obviously confused. It was ridiculous looking contraption, like a full hood coupled with a skullcap and bug-eyed face mask that vaguely resembled their old helmets. Except that there were two loose bulges of material sewn into the sides of the helmet, that looked like nothing so much as a misplaced pair of socks.
“Hey!” Ro suddenly chortled. “I get it. These stupid-looking things are for our ears. Squeakers, we’ll actually be able to hear halfway decently!”
Even completely covered by the suit, the delight of the twin’s was obvious. The helmet conformed to their skull and ears, allowing those interesting appendages at least some small measure of freedom within the stiff-soft material. A flash of bare skin in the corner of my eye warned me to not look, as Miss Helena and Miss Dinah had managed to filch theirs while I had been otherwise occupied. They murmured quietly to each other, marveling at the amazing technology they were wearing. Miss Menolly had stepped close, regarding them with a quiet pride that sat nicely on her normally shy personality.
“Now,” she said with strong satisfaction. “You look like superheroes.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
++ Carolyn ++
The concept of family was malleable here.
It suited me perfectly.
The woman I had been once had blended with the woman I was now. Scandal lingered in the back of my mind, amusing me hugely. After what I had been through, I clung to the love that warmed this cold old house. Basked in it, really. There was a small part of me that railed that I should be furious with Dinah, my baby now in an obviously sexual relationship with Shan. She was a big girl, and I ignored the little voice. After what all these people had been through, me included, we deserved happiness and no stupid, puritanical dogma was going to ruin that.
So, I made myself available to my daughter if she needed to talk, and made a real effort to get to know Shan, whom I really liked. They were good together, a solid balance of strengths, weaknesses, and common interests. Not to mention having Helena, Ro and all the others at their backs. I couldn’t detract Dinah from her path, the metahuman powers had made sure of that, but I could do what I could to ensure that she was as safe as could be expected.
That brought my attention back to the bundle in my lap, and I stroked the sturdy material with a fingertip. How like Alfred to sense the reluctant wistfulness in me, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.
I wanted to be the Black Canary again.
Oh, not full-time, I was too old and too scarred for that, but I missed the thrill. The edge of danger, the wind in my hair as I raced through the city, bleeding and sweating to keep it safe. Barbara felt it too, I could see it in her eyes. That thought made me shake out the black body suit and study it in the low light.
Like Robin before me, there was a bird shape on the chest, wings outstretched in freedom. Perhaps I would, but fear still held me back.
“Still debating?” Davie’s voice made me jump in surprise and look to the doorway. There was an energy there that neither of us was entirely certain what to do with. Then again, didn’t I feel just the same about Kelly? While we had never been intimate in the physical sense of the word, we had been a family and couple in every other sense of the word. We three made a good team, and my thoughts strayed to Barbara’s intimate little pack. If they could make it work, maybe I could too.
Davie’s eyes widened at my slow smile.
“You know,” I mused, knowing perfectly well that I was being a tease. “I think that we old timers could show the kids a few new moves.” Kelly stepped from the shadows, physically dwarfing Davie, with Carrie at her side. Dick flanked her. “You ready to learn the ropes, Chameleon?”
In response, Carrie blurred and was gone, completely matching her powers to the colors and shades around her. “Yep,” came her disembodied voice. Then she blinked back into sight, looking put out. “Mom!”
Kelly grinned and ruffled her daughter’s hair. She had obviously triggered her power to heighten or deaden other metas. “Jus’ had to make sure I still had the mojo. Ready there, Canary?”
I took a moment to hit the adjoining bathroom and change to the music of their various chuckles. Attired once more in the tools of the trade, I kissed first Kelly, earning a bemused smile, then Davie. The exotic telepath looked startled and reluctantly pleased, before she and Kelly looked shyly at each other and began giggling.
The future looked bright!
++ Gabby ++
Bummed, I stared into my coke and internally moaned that I couldn’t even drink. Gibson had no problem with me being here and the new and improved No Man’s Land, but no alcohol. He was a nice guy, so I didn’t have a problem with the rule, usually.
Tonight I was on my own. Which sucked, because I wasn’t used to it anymore. Patrols had become a regular part of our lives, school would be starting soon, and I had felt trapped and useless at the manor. So I’d come to the meta club to hang out, and new felt fairly miserable.
There was a decent crowd tonight, a colorful cross-section of humanity that looked perfectly normal if you didn’t know any better. Most of them, anyway. I recognized Jack, the woman who was constantly arching with electricity, clothed in her special suit that Menolly had constructed to keep her power under control.
Thinking about the pretty little mutate made me smile. We’d started the exciting dance of courtship, shy and fiery by turns. We rarely spent a sleep-cycle apart, and the exploratory kisses and caresses were growing slowly bolder. She called the shots, and I had no problem with that, only pushing lightly against her boundaries. She’d been through too much nasty shit in her life, and I wasn’t about to hurt her further.
A ruckus on the other end of the room made me look over.
And stop in my tracks.
It was Menolly, flanked by Dinah and Shan, all dressed like visions of leather and sex, in those damnable costumes that were so damn sexy. Did Menolly design them that way on purpose? ‘Cause I sure couldn’t imagine Alfred doing it. Then again, look at that first suit he made for Helena…
While Shan stepped over to greet some friends, and Di went for the pool table, Menolly came to me. When had she made a suit for herself? And when had she started going on patrol?
“Just this once,” she explained sheepishly, as though reading my mind, and gestured at the suit, which gaped open to the waist to show a thin tank top. “I had to know what they did exactly, so I could Oracle better.”
That description made me grin. ‘To Oracle’ indeed. “Maybe I should do the same someday.”
“Maybe,” Menolly teased back and I felt warm all over. Then a pulse of music I knew well thrummed through the club and I perked up. “Hey, I know this song, it’s one of your favorites,” Bug commented happily and grabbed my hand. “Dance with me.”
I found myself dragged out to the dance floor by the small woman who was much stronger than her tiny stature indicated. We felt good together, half dancing apart and half together. It was like sex, the shy drift of bodies into closer and closer contact, shyness and nerves melting away in the growing heat. We moved together well, and I took that as a good sign for our near future.
When Menolly boldly tugged me down to be kissed, there in the flashing lights, I felt my heart and body warm. When Shan bumped up against me, half-suggestively, I felt surrounded and loved. It didn’t get any better than this.
++ Davie ++
“How you holding up?”
Scowling at the little microphone that a technician was fiddling with at her collar, Shan took a deep breath and looked at me with frightened eyes. “Little scared, sensei.”
I was pleasantly startled by the respectful term, the Japanese word for ‘teacher’. It’s what the Turtles called Splinter, and I liked it. Ro was more relaxed, but her tail still danced in agitation beside her sister’s. Casey O’Rourke suddenly bustled in, all business in her pantsuit, and rarin’ to go. “Ready?”
Helena swatted both twins on the butt as she sashayed by crowing, “bring it on! We’ve been waiting months to do this!”
That was enough for the others to follow meekly into the comfortable study that had been set up as a little studio. Barbara and Bruce were there for the four superheroes, as was I. The others were nearby for moral support. We were dressed comfortably, as normal as anyone else, to project assurance to the awaiting audience.
Casey had been setting this up for what seemed like forever, because we had completely shut off the media except for her. Accurate information had to be passed out, and we’d set up this live interview to begin the process of helping the next stage of human evolution to be accepted by the greater part.
“Okay guys,” Casey grinned reassuringly and we all relaxed a fraction. “Remember that this is your show. If this goes well, we’ll set up another block of TV time to do questions and answers. If you get stumped, I have that list of topics. Are we good?”
We murmured affirmative as one of the techs gave us a one minute warning. Casey put on her game face and turned to the camera with the red indicator light.
“Good evening from New Gotham, my name is Casey O’Rourke, and I’m here with a select handful of the newest stage of human evolution. Good evening everybody, if you’d like to introduce yourselves?”
Once that was over, Casey turned the interview into more of a conversation, trusting that people were following along on the other end of the camera, Ro went into great detail about Smith’s lab, assuring that she was personable and sweet and protective. She was a genius at it, projecting all the best things about the twins and all of these good people. Shan was quiet reinforcement, occasionally dropping in comments. Barbara and Bruce went into the bare details of how the meta powers were genetic adaptations, and that each of us were unique. They were also positive on living with Metas, no matter how extreme our powers. The twins demonstrated the teleporting, and how prehensile those tails really were, handing a pleased Casey her glass with Slinky. Helena flashed her eyes, crumpling a hollow metal tube that she couldn’t dent without her Meta strength. Bruce, Helena and Dick went into how the manor would be a place for safety, schooling and training for metahumans, and welcomed people to visit as long as they set up an appointment.
Finally, hunger set in, and Casey called a halt to the rambling interview. The red light flashed off and we all gave a sigh of relief, cast and crew alike. “Well,” the reporter smiled tiredly. “I think that went well. I’ve already made arrangements with Helena to stay here for the foreseeable future and act as intermediary for the whole lot of you. It’s the least I can do for you, after being saved from that sociopath.”
Ah yes, the now-neutralized Harley Quinn. The nightmare landscape of her mind would haunt me forever, but it was worth it to protect my family. No matter what the future, these people were indeed my family, for I belonged here the way I had never belonged anywhere before.
It was time for me to set aside my restless oars and take root here. I was ready now, and grabbed the twins around their necks to hug them roughly. Purring, they accepted the embrace and sent me out among the people who were redefining me one piece at a time.
++ Barbara ++
Something woke me suddenly, and I lay quietly amidst my lovers in the pre-dawn gloom and cast about with my non-sight senses. There was no threat in the muggy air, and only the hiss of rain coming in through the open windows. I smelled my women, the thick of the air, that weird laundry detergent that Alfred used.
There was a flutter of movement deep in my body that froze me from the synapses out.
Was that?
Ohmigod…
Looking down where my swelling belly was pressed to Ro’s spine, I saw that Helena’s hand was in its customary spot, cradling the growing triplets. They were growing inhumanly fast, assisted as they were by the nanites.
Then, again…
They were stirring restlessly, the sensation completely foreign and yet deeply familiar to my body. It was an exquisite sensation, and I held my breath, waiting and hoping for the feathery feeling again.
Binky stretched in time to Ro’s other muscles and Jan made a small noise where she was cradled in the tallest’s arms. I reached out and took her hand, tugging it to lay beside Helena’s limp one, gently elbowing the later.
“Feel,” I whispered excitedly as Helena jerked awake and made an irritated kitty noise.
Everyone was still, waiting with shallow breath in the thick air.
As though sensing her mother’s closeness, there was a ruckus of movement deep in my womb, thrilling the three of us. It was as though the triplets were suddenly completing for our attention and a delighted laugh bubbled up from inside me.
“Oh, oh wow,” Helena breathed and Ro made a delighted sound before rolling over to nuzzle me. Hel groped over Ro’s body, earning a yelp and a giggle from Jan, until she found a hand. “Feel!”
“So soon?” Jan asked. “They’re only three months!”
“Bless those Fleas!”
There were a few flutters for Janelle’s small hand as I rolled to my back and stretched. “That is the coolest feeling,” I hummed happily and Jan gave Ro a warm look where she was draped over her.
“You have got to get me knocked up, too.”
Ro chuckled in that throaty purr, echoed by Helena. “I think that can be managed, Honey.”
This was the perfect life. Anything I could ever want. Despite the world outside our cozy nest, all the darkness and hate and fear, we had this. Students and families were filling the manor, classes would begin in two days. The world was slowly being educated in the reality of its Metahuman children, and in time, there would be general acceptance. My past and present and future were all in line together, and I would never again be alone.
My children, who even now, I couldn’t image not adoring with everything that I was, would carry the best legacy into the future. We mothers and lovers had come from the darkness of pain and loss to a bright, bright tomorrow. No matter which of us walked with whom or when, we would always be a part of one another and that was good enough.
Perfect.
I like the image of Ro, relaxed in the sunlight with Fluffy in her lap. That actually came directly from the chorus of The Bells. It helped kick-start this finale, because I really wanted to revisit every major character, to give them a chance to toss in their last two cents. Hope you had a good time on this rollercoaster! Bye for now.
The Bells-Venus Hum
I wait to hear the bells
The bells, the bells, the bells
Cup my hand around my ear to listen for them
The bells
I ache to hear the bells
The bells, the bells, the bells
Hold my breath, hold my chest-wait for them
The bells
I start to hum a tune, oh so softly hum a tune
One foot from the other, and the first it follows suit
Oh so slowly follows suit
I am taken by the sun!
The golden glorious sun!
Arms spread wide and my face toward the sky!
I am singing at the top of my lungs!
I am taken by the sun!
Near silent behind the trees I hear them now
The bells
They are ringing, I am singing with the bells
There is joy I cannot spell with dry words or letters
I can sing it very well and it comes out much better
I am singing very well of the joy I cannot say
Without the music of the bells
I am taken by the sun!
The golden glorious sun!
Arms spread wide and my face toward the sky!
I am singing at the top of my lungs!
I am taken by the sun!
The Journey Home- Sarah Brightman
The journey home is never too long
Your heart arrives before the train
The journey home is never too long
Some yesterdays always remain
I'm going back to where my heart was light
When my pillow was a ship, I sailed through the night
The journey home is never too long
When open hearts are waiting there,
The journey home is never too long
There's room to love and room to spare
I want to feel the way that I did then
And think my wishes through before I wish again
Not every boat you come across is one you have to take
No, sometimes standing still can be the best move you ever make
The journey home is never too long
Comes helps to heal the deepest pain
The journey home is never too long
Your heart arrives before the train
