secondknight (secondknight) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-03-17 12:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | batman, lois lane, nightwing |
Who: Max, Thomas and Roger
What: Blackout at the hospital!
When: During the blackout
Where: The Hospital
Warnings: Usual Roger cussing. F-bomb, ahoy!
Roger was pretty sure he had only been within holding distance of a baby once. Cops always referred to their work as “cleaning up the city” but sometimes when the patrol was particularly quiet, all he had to do was help people cross the street or change a tire. It was a warm day in New York and some woman’s piece of shit car had started smoking from under the hood. Frazzled, the woman saw him walk by, pushed her baby into his arms and started pulling important documents and baby bags out of the car. For all his training, every line of code he had to learn, holding something so small and fragile was not something he was prepared for. He remembered how tough the mother was. How she seemed to look at him like taking care of a baby was just on the list of shit she had to do that day. He still didn’t understand that sort of resolve the mother seemed to have and decided that until someone was dumb enough to have a kid with him, he never would.
Still, he tried not to be uncomfortable. He honestly was just there to support Max and Thomas, especially since Amanda wasn’t born completely healthy and the Mockingbird nonsense was likely getting to the both of them. So, here he was back at the hospital. Worried, but trying not to show it. He was the one who had to keep things light when everyone else was freaking out. Maybe even be a little crass or immature so they had something to scoff at.
Knocking on Max’s hospital door, he called out “Yo, it’s Roger. I thought bringing flowers would be weird, so I got this cactus for you instead.” He held the potted thing with two glued on googly eyes in his right hand. “It’s pretty fucking rad, not going to lie.”
Thanks to Thomas’ patronage of the alternate hospital he’d selected, Max had a room to use when she was there, even if she wasn’t still a patient. The baby had put on enough weight that they were out of the danger zone, and even an issue that had popped up that morning with her oxygen tube in the NICU hadn’t hurt anything. They’d let Max bring the incubator back with her to the room while they figured out what was wrong with the oxygen at the baby’s station, which meant Max could have some privacy and comfort while on her watch.
Thomas was out for food, and the baby was sleeping, and Max had just showered and changed from her morning run when the knock came at the door. She hadn’t even called out yet when Roger’s voice echoed in the room, and she sat on the edge of the hospital bed and watched him (and his cactus) come into view. “You brought me a fucking cactus?” she asked, but she was smiling as she looked at the thing. “Get the fuck over here.”
“It’s awesome!” He reassured her, even though Max could plainly see for herself that it was indeed the most bad ass gift you could get a new mother. Roger strolled over to her and held it out proudly like a child who just caught a frog in the backyard. “How ya feeling, shortstuff? You don’t look terrible.” Roger shrugged like he was just telling her the truth. Thomas had warned him that she was already back on her feet and presumably acting like herself, but he half expected her to have this boring, motherly nature about her. That was the last thing he needed.
Max took the cactus, and she lifted it in front of her face and turned it this way and that, and then she burst out laughing. “You realize I can use this thing as a weapon, right?” she asked, setting it on the nightstand and then patting the bed beside her. “Sit your ass down and tell me everything I’ve missed while trapped between these soothing pink walls,” she ordered, grinning at him. “And way to compliment a woman, Darman. I’m glad I don’t look like shit.” She sobered, but only a little. “Still tired, worried, but that’s normal for us.”
“Sounds like the baby hasn’t changed much.” Roger cracked a small, thin smile. He knew there was concern over Amanda, but he wasn’t in the position to say everything was going to be fine when he really didn’t know the first thing about it. His only really course of action was to seem supportive. That’s what he was there for. He plopped down next to her and ran his hands through his hair. “Trouble with redheads, but that ain’t anything new.” A shrugged sigh like there wasn’t anything he could do about that.
“Worried my ass off about Gwen. Training Katya. Having philosophical debates with a blue girl on the street. At least there ain’t zombies running around anymore so I’m not complaining.” Roger sort of was whining, but he really was doing his best to make it seem like everything on his plate wasn’t anything at all.
“I heard about your girlfriend,” Max said intentionally, quirking a brow to see if he refuted it, even as she bumped her shoulder against his. “You off the market, Darman?” Blue women and Gwen could wait for that one pertinent bit of information.
“She’s not my girlfriend.” Roger shot Max a look that was likely one of the most immature things she had ever seen across his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he had anything resembling a girlfriend and frankly couldn’t see himself being any good at it. “Kat can shoot fucking lightening from her hands. I have to keep an eye on her and make sure she can be a mask without hurting anyone.” It helped that she was hot and seemingly without the sort of baggage most women he knew tended to have.
The look reminded her of school boys and fist fights and pulling pigtails, and she gave him a knowing look back. “Uh huh,” she said, not bothering to hide the fact that she thought he was full of shit. “Your Kat must be the mouthy one on the comms,” she said, nudging his shoulder again a second later. “And Gwen? Anything there?” she asked blatantly, with the sort of vagueness of men discussing women. No feeling or emotional shit, just plain questions that expected plain answers.
That caught him off guard. He had never been down that road with Gwen and never expected to be. But, he really worried about her. Way more than he should. A slow shrug this time with some concern. “She’s got some guy, right? I’m not dumb enough to confuse a long time friendship with romance.” Another shrug, this one dismissive. “Mockingbird threatened Katya first, but then went straight for Gwen. I know Kat can take care of herself, but now I’m sticking around Gwen’s building when Nobody needs to do her mask thing. I know it’s crazy, but she can’t get hurt because I won’t stop running around in costume.”
“You sound like Corbinian,” she said, unthinking, and then she looked at him with a little more clarity. “She’s got some guy, sure, that doesn’t change a fucking thing except that you wouldn’t move on it,” she said, because she knew that about Roger; he’d never make a move on someone in a relationship, not Roger; he was too traditional for that. “I tried to convince her to let you move in when she came to visit. She doesn’t think she’s important enough to worry about. If I’d had the cactus, I might have thrown it at her.”
Roger scoffed, frustrated. “Doesn’t she know how important she is to the rest of us? How much fucking work she does even when people are bitching about their little issues?” He rolled his eyes like Gwen was just being ridiculous for not seeing her worth to everyone. To him. “She’s always been there for me. We always get what we need to do done. She’s one of the few people I know I can trust.” And, that was saying something in this town. Especially with the potential mask mole running around threatening people. “I just want her to be happy. Maybe she just needs a break, you know? Some kind of crime fighter paid time off.”
“No, she doesn’t. She thinks everyone out there fighting is more valuable than her behind the scenes,” Max said, clearly frustrated with Gwen’s concept of self-worth. Admittedly, though, Roger’s reaction was interesting. His trust in Oracle wasn’t unlike Thomas,’ but it was somehow entirely different. “You could take her on vacation,” she suggested, managing to sound like a guy in bar when she said, while pulling off an innocent expression as she looked at him.
Roger looked over at Max, grinned and then punched her in the shoulder. “No one is going to take a scruffy guy like me on vacation. Plus, I ain’t throwing down with whatever macho bullshit guy she’s dating.” In his head, the guy Gwen was dating had to be the coolest, strongest most powerful dude in the city. Like the guy who could eat a thousand live kittens and still be adored. If he let himself believe it, then he could keep that friendship line nice and clear.
Max laughed, and she rested her hand against Roger’s cheek and pushed at him playfully. “I don’t know. Your scruffy ass is an acquired taste,” she teased. “And I’d pay to see that fucking throw down.” She chuckled a little. “You’re a good catch. Don’t sell yourself fucking short.” She paused, then, expression going more serious until she caught his eye and held his attention. “Nothing wrong with going after something you want, Darman.”
His smirk faltered for a second. “There’s a lot of things wrong with it when what you want is gunna be trouble.” Roger had enough trouble in his life, he didn’t need his personal life to be complicated. Plus, he never saw evidence that going after a doomed desire turned out good. Sure, Max had a baby now, but she was still so young. She had skipped so many steps just because she went after what she wanted. Which, reminded him. “I’m sorry for pushing you this past month. You didn’t need all the stress and my bullshit at the same time. Things are going to get way easier once this Mockingbird thing is over.” And, that was one thing he knew was going to be true.
Max had spent an entire lifetime being one of the guys, and under normal circumstances, she would have shoved Roger once or twice and everything would have been fine. “Hormones, Darman. No need to apologize for your opinion about things. I should be apologizing for handling it all like a crying little girl,” she said, but the smile she gave him when he said it was exceptionally fond. “As for things being trouble, things always are. It’s not necessarily a reason to shy away,” she said, and she would have added more, but everything in the room buzzed to a stop and they were plunged into pure, black darkness. She waited two full seconds for the generator to kick in. When it didn’t, she was cursing and standing and walking to the incubator and kicking on the battery power the nurses had showed her for moving it around.
”Shit.” Roger stood up after Max and pulled his phone out to provide what little light it could produce. This was why he needed to have his utility belt with him at all times. It at least had a much more powerful penlight than what his cellphone could do. “Is she okay?” He turned his attention to Amanda with the sort of irrational concern a black out can cause. Carefully walking past the incubator, he looked out the window to find the entire area sitting in nearly complete darkness. Down the hall, he could hear people start to panic.
The generator kicked on a moment later, just as Max was reassuring Roger that Amanda was alright. The hospital was large, and the generator only powered emergency equipment, so the incubator was lit, all the things connected to it functioning, but the room was still cast in shadow, the only visible light the emergency exit at the door. The halls beyond were the same, with power only to operating rooms and life support, and Max glanced into the hall before returning to Roger at the window and looking out on utter and complete blackness. “Shit,” she agreed, reaching for a cellphone that didn’t work because of the tower outages and unwilling to use her own ability to light up the room, lest someone walk in. “Think this is the power company’s doing?” she asked, sounding like she didn’t think it was the power company at all.
Roger turned to look at her. “Not in the fucking slightest.” Oh, this was bad. If something happened to her or the baby while he was there, Thomas would never talk to him again. He’d have to live with that for the rest of his miserable life. Hell, if he couldn’t take care of his friends, he might as well hang up the face shield and stop trying to fight crime all together. These thoughts raced through his mind in seconds and he quickly resolved that failure was not going to be an option here.
“Is Thomas in the building?” He asked, using his phone to quickly check dark spots in the room where someone could be hiding or potentially pop out of. They were clear. For now.
Max had been home once since the baby was born, to get clothes, and she’d picked up one of her guns along the way. She made quick work for fishing it out of her bag and loading it, and then she kept it down at her side, so no one who came in the room could easily see it. Voices outside the room were escalating, and Max edged closer to the incubator. “I don’t fucking know,” she said honestly, because she had no idea where Thomas was just then. “Check the NICU?” she suggested, because if the blackout had made Thomas return, he would go there. I’m fine,” she assured him, shaking the gun slightly to remind him as much.
“I can’t just leave you here.” Roger didn’t mean it to come out so harshly authoritative. Then, it occurred to him that if Thomas was in the hospital, he’d be the one who was in the most trouble. Darman had no idea if the healer had come to see Thomas yet and being able to make it up where Max was could be near impossible in this light. Max could defend herself long enough to make sure the two parents were safely with their child. “His eyes.” Roger said simply, knowing Max would understand. “I’ll make sure he gets here. Don’t let anyone in. Not a doctor, not a fucking nurse. Keep them out.”
Max laughed just a little, even though she was extremely glad not to have to sit there and argue with him. In this situation making sure everyone was accounted for was the most important thing. They could figure out the threat later. “I’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Got it,” she said, motioning toward the door with the gun. “Go.”
The incredible irony of regaining one’s sight only to be plunged into darkness was not lost on Thomas. He was in the elevator when the power went out, fortunately alone, and after waiting for about thirty seconds for the power to re-engage, he made sure the security camera wasn’t functioning, and then he scaled the wall, broke a panel, and lifted himself out of the elevator. It took him about forty more seconds to reach a door, another ten to find a duct over it and only three before he was on his feet in the NICU floor hallway.
The hospital staff was well-trained but there was no hiding the concern and haste in every movement. Thomas’ sight damped down and then sharped, already adjusted to the pitch black of the elevator shaft and no working with ten times the accuracy he’d had in the weeks past. Cutting through his anxiety with purpose, Thomas slid down the hallway, moving so quickly and so silently that busy nurses barely even perceived his presence before he was gone. He came to a stop in front of the exact spot where Max and Amanda were supposed to be, but they were not there. He stood stock still, thinking, throttling panic, trying to decide what to do next--raise an alarm, check their hospital room, or stay here to search further.
Roger was out the door in a flash, grabbing a tall nurse by her waist to not only move her out of the way, but ask her where the NICU was. Flustered, she pointed down the hallway and gave him a floor number. With a rushed thanks, Roger was off. In the darkness, alone and surrounded by strangers, he almost felt sluggish. From the moment he was out of Max’s room, his steps became heavy and maneuvering around patients and doctors made him feel like he was a drink or two in.
Once Roger reached the NICU floor, though, his pace quickened. Almost as if adrenaline finally kicked in, Roger bolted down the hallway towards a figure that was undoubtedly the one of Thomas. Even out of the suit, the man was a walking shadow. “Hey!” He called out a couple feet away and then stopped short next to Thomas. Roger knew better than to reach out for the man in darkness. A simple tap on the shoulder could send him flying into the NICU window. “Max is in her room. Your eyes-” Roger was barely making sense. “Wanted to make sure you guys were together.”
Thomas whirled around, and he made a quick move toward Roger that was all trained, sharpened threat. He aborted the movement when he recognized weight and form and then name Roger’s next sentence was striking familiar and Thomas’ arm folded back into his shadow. “Darman. Where is she?” He advanced, not thinking, forgetting to control his panic at not finding his daughter where he thought her, hands at Roger’s collar. “Where is she?”
Something dark boiled under his skin. Reactionary. It didn’t matter who Thomas was to him, there would always be a part of Roger that didn’t respond well to physical threats. Especially after he took such care to avoid this one in particular. A sharp, quick moment passed and Roger lifted his hands to push Thomas away, but he restrained himself. Painfully. “In her room. Both of them.” His eyes shifted to look down with great patience at his friend’s hands in a silent request to let him go. As if Thomas dropped a piece of trash and forgot to pick it up.
Thomas immediately released him, looking blindly toward the room floors away. Thomas could be extremely physical when he wasn’t thinking, and he did things like move into personal space and haul people around. It was just one more sign of how much Thomas was the Bat, and how much the Bat was Thomas. Relief made his voice fall back into its natural lower register. “You saw them? Just now?”
“Yes, I was visiting. I didn’t know if you could make it up there without help.” Roger seemed unsure if his choice was the right one. Maybe he should have just stayed with Max and waited for Thomas to get his ass up there. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if something happened while he was gone. “We have to go.” That much was obvious. Roger turned to start back towards the stairs. “Can you see?”
He’d just left them. It seemed that to Thomas this news was more good than anything else; no anger or chastisement appeared on his face. He would have found them eventually, but depending on his choices, there might have been a delay, and if he hadn’t been able to see, that delay would have been extended. “Yes. The healer, she was here." He nodded quickly, recovering himself and taking another step back in a move that was almost apologetic. The expression moved over his face, clear even in the dark, and though his vision returned, it appeared that whatever habit that had kept the stoic mien in place had melted to some extent.
Both men moved rapidly down the hall, and Thomas words proved true as he snaked quickly through running nurses and wandering patients. He knew exactly where he was going. “Is the blackout confined to the hospital?”
“No, it looks like it stretches at least a couple blocks.” Roger huffed as he ran, shouldering the stairway door open. “Don’t think it was an accident.” It was a clear statement with a tinge of worry attached. If the blackout had been city wide, it could be impossible to tell if it was sabotage or not, but if it was, Roger couldn’t help but feel a little impressed. Mockingbird didn’t strike him as anything but a pretty masterful troll who managed to get on the vigilante radar, but a troll with actual power was one of the most dangerous things he could think of. Roger checked behind him a couple times to make sure Thomas was there even though he knew damned well he was more than keeping up. It was a gut reaction, a strange sign of protection for a comrade.
Once the door swung shut, Thomas touched his ear and activated the comm just long enough to say, “Cipher has been located,” before they pelted into the stairway and started climbing. Thomas didn’t huff; he had gone out of his way to put himself back into shape during his temporary reprieve from the mask, something active to keep his mind off his own ineffectiveness. He wasn’t at one hundred, but he soon would be. “I think it’s Oracle,” he said to Roger, several minutes later, right before they got to the last landing.
Roger’s pace stopped for a moment long enough to register what Thomas was saying and he shook his head. “What? No.” Of course it made sense on paper. She had all the information needed to threaten each of them. No one on the comms could know that much personal info. “She asked me to help.” And, having him on her side would be enough to alleviate any suspicion. If Oracle was behind it, someone had to be at her throat. There was no way she’d turn her back on her friends. Hell, her family.
Thomas didn’t sound angry or scared. “I know. But that doesn’t mean it’s not her. She has the capability for this--” Thomas waved a hand back and up to indicate the blackout, “--and all the information necessary. She was also one of the two of Katya’s contacts, and you are the other. This blackout, if it is connected to her, eliminates you.” He stopped to look back at Roger.
A smirk crossed his face. “I’m honored that you actually thought I was capable.” Even if Thomas didn’t, Katya aside, there was something to be said about the Bat detective process. “I’ll keep an eye on Gwen. Insist on staying in the same room with her. I’ve done it before and if she fights me too hard on it, we’ll know.” Roger punched his open hand in a move of decisiveness.
“Come on.” A deep breath to process what he had to do and what would happen if Thomas was right before continuing until they made it to Max’s room. Roger took a step inside and then slipped to the side so Thomas could enter. “Found him.” A smile in his voice, even if Max couldn’t hear it.
In the room, the moonlight glinted off the barrel of the gun a moment when the door opened. A second later, the gun was gone, tucked in the back of her pants. She glanced at the incubator a second, checking to make sure everything was still ok, and then took a few steps forward, not many at all. “You’re better than a hunting dog, Darman,” she said with a small smile. She had no idea the healer had come, and she couldn’t tell in the darkness of the room (illuminated only by the incubator and moonlight). “Brandon?” she asked, wanting verification he was alright, the name a little awkwardly spoken, since she hadn’t really talked to him in nearly two weeks. “Someone should check on Audrey and Luke. I tried the houses with the hospital phone, but I’m not getting anyone,” she admitted. “And the nurses are saying the power company say this thing has nothing to do with them,” she added, the statement making it clear she’d already been putting two-and-two together in her mind. “What if this has something to do with what happened at the hotel?” she asked.
Thomas glided inside with his usual silent step, and the sure way he moved wasn’t particularly telling, as in familiar places he always moved with certainty. He did, however, come inside only far enough to face Max, and the pale eyes gleamed a familiar gleam in what little light was available. He looked past her toward the incubator. “Luke has not checked in, nor has Oracle,” he said, in a battlefield voice. Considering the conversation they just finished, Thomas glanced back at Roger. “Darman--” he interrupted himself. “What hotel? When?”
“I assume she’s talking about the attack on Oracle and herself at the hotel a while ago. Did we never find out who was responsible?” Roger crossed his arms, his face dipped down in thought. “Max, we think-” Roger looked to Thomas for verification. “We think Gw- Oracle might be responsible for the Mockingbird threats. She’s the only one with access to all our information and would know how to get under our skin.” There was a hint of apology in his voice, as if Oracle was sitting right there with them. “She asked me to help track down Mockingbird once, so maybe-” Roger didn’t finish his sentence. He knew he was grasping at straws.
Max had assumed that someone had told Thomas about the hotel - Oracle or Luke, maybe. “It was during the Mask Killer, Brandon,” she said. “They didn’t take anything. Just came in and sedated us. I asked Oracle about it last week, but she insisted it couldn’t have been related.” She sounded guilty for not pursuing it further, and she stepped back to the window and incubator, expression thoughtful. “The blackout. It can’t be anyone else,” she finally said, knowing Oracle’s ability. “But why the fuck is she doing it? I know good moles, and i know good spies, and this isn’t that. She was here yesterday, and she looked like fucking shit. If she’s doing this intentionally, it’s because someone’s forcing her to.”
Thomas had a thread of anger at the fact he didn’t know about this attack, but when he found out it was during a time he was not available, he interpreted the lack of information as his own fault, and the anger evaporated. “Agreed. We’ve seen the way whoever is behind this operates: threats of harm. Perhaps that is the case.” Thomas was by the monitor now, crouching close, but still talking in a very low but even voice. To Roger he said, “It sounds like she wanted you on it. Go find her.” It wasn’t a suggestion, but interestingly it was not quite an order, either. The tone was more... encouragement.
Roger was busy watching Thomas over by his daughter. He wasn’t surprised, but it was a different side of the man that he hadn’t seen. Not even around Luke. It was humanizing in a way that just knowing his identity never seemed to accomplish. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.” He nodded and looked to Max. “You two tell me if you need a hand. Stay safe for the love of everything.” That part he really meant.
It took Max longer than it should have to realize Thomas wasn’t looking at the incubator with the unfocused gaze they’d all become so accustomed to in the last month, and she crossed her arms, but said nothing, not then, not in front of Roger. “We’ll have our comms on. I asked Luke to see if Bly could make us some new ones. If it’s Oracle, the channel is really fucking compromised, so don’t say much on it,” she told him, the comment reminding her to hunt her own out of the overnight bag she had with her. “Call if you need anything, Darman. No playing hero on your fucking own.”