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randomplaces2017-06-14 09:59 pm
random_xtras) wrote in randomplaces2017-06-14 09:59 pm
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Futureknight Chapter 8 (Warning, lots of blood)
Ronnie glanced to her left and leaped into the air just as the second skinhead took a swing at her, coming down on his back seconds after his fist cracked into his friend's nose.
Whirling, she grabbed the third man and shook him, then threw him against the wall. She was searching the shadows for the fourth tough when the alley shimmered and disappeared.
"Uncle Lobo?" She frowned.
"You have a telephone call, Miss Veronica," said Prudence's voice over the speaker.
Ronnie grumbled and pulled off the helmet of her practice suit, then walked into the main part of the Cave and picked up her cellphone. "This is Ronnie."
"Hi!" said Rich cheerfully. "How's my favorite cousin today?"
Her expression went into the Bat scowl. "Don't ask me questions I'll have to repent of the answers to."
"That bad, huh," he said soberly.
"Yes. And no, I don't want to go out for dinner. Nor do I want to see the new display at the arboretum." She turned and walked toward the costume vault.
"Hey, Ronnie, remember, Bruce took years to finally stop the Joker."
"Bruce didn't stop the Joker, the Joker reformed. And the Joker wasn't as dangerous as this man." She bent to study the keypad by the vault door, wondering if it had been Prudence who had recoded it.
"True." Rich sighed. "Oh, I might have found a new sidekick."
"Might have?" She pressed buttons swiftly and quirked an eyebrow as the door slid open.
"Yeah. She found me on Sunday and said that she wanted to learn how to protect if she had to. She's got a lot of promise. Apparently she got caught in some kind of rumble between Batfreak and some Painchildren. She says the Commissioner was there."
"I don't remember seeing a girl there." Ronnie clipped the earphone on and started replacing the practice suit with the Bat suit. "But Robin and I arrived after the fight was well under way. Why didn't she come to Batman?"
"She said you already had a pupil." Rich paused suspiciously as the Bat suit whirred to life. "Ronnie, what are you doing?"
She held the helmet under her arm as she walked out of the vault and slid into the Batmobile. "Checking some systems." She started flipping switches.
"What systems?"
She grinned triumphantly and took off the earphone. "Talk to you later, Rich."
"Ronnie!" His yell of despair was drowned out in the roar of the Batmobile's engine.
* * *
She was cruising through the back ways of Gotham, one eye on the streets below and the other on the screen in the center of the steering wheel, when Lobo pulled his bike up next to the car and pointed to his ear.
"What do you want?" she asked, flipping on the radio.
"Where the #$&@ do ya get off sneakin' out without me?" he roared. "I taught ya more respect than that!"
Batman raised one eyebrow, biting off a laugh. "I heard you say you knew why you couldn't track Hormah."
"Don't change the fraggin' subject, y' ungrateful bastich!" he snarled.
She growled and pulled the car away from him, knowing that there'd be no talking to him till he calmed down. There was a sudden flash of red, green, and yellow, and she banked hard to the left to avoid running into Robin.
"Hey!" said her sidekick cheerfully as he settled into his seat. "Prudence was bumping her head against the wall and telling Ama you got away when I left."
Batman nodded and closed the door, then lifted the car a little higher and drove over the river. "Did you hear Lobo's theory as to why he can't track Hormah?"
"Yeah." Robin settled in the seat properly and fastened his harness. "Hormah's another Lobo clone."
Batman swallowed, realizing why her uncle was so angry. "Is he sure?"
"That's the only way there could be another full-blooded Czarnian still alive, unless somebody was playing with a time machine. But then he'd be able to track him."
"Right." She fell silent, digesting the ramifications of that information and accessing the suit's records to see what had happened during the three days that Narmo had been standing in for her.
One attack other than the one on Friday, she thought, setting her teeth at the scenes of devastation.
"Just another 'man it's Monday'," sang Robin absently.
"No old country pop," growled Batman.
"Sorry." He switched to older pop and started singing 'Kung Fu Fighting'.
"Hey, Bats," growled Lobo.
"You ready to be civil?" She glanced at the window and saw him cruising next to the Batmobile again.
"#$&@ no." He gave her a toothy grin.
She shook her head. "Robin told me."
"Good." The grin faded to a snarl.
"If he's another you then he's probably doing all this for fun."
"No probably 'bout it. Crazy bastich's havin' the time 'a 'is life."
Batman watched him for a few minutes, feeling the hair on her arms stand up as she realized that he would have been just as likely to be out indiscriminately ending lives if it weren't for the hand of God in his life. If a "good" Lobo cut up as much as he did, a "bad" Lobo would be unthinkable to a rational mind.
-Jesus, shield us.-
A beep from the proximity monitor made her blink.
"Supergirl," said Robin.
"I see." She watched the black-haired girl child dart around Lobo and the Batmobile before settling on the hood.
"Prudence is mad," she reported solemnly.
"She'll get over it. She always does." Robin grinned at her through the windshield.
She frowned at him slightly, then fiddled with her mouthpiece and turned toward Batman. "Couldn't you have waited a few more days, like Vendea suggested?"
"As much a #$&@ boyscout as yer old man was," muttered Lobo.
Supergirl glanced at him, then telekinetically scooped a plastic bag off a tree branch and let it blow into his face. "Leave my father out of this."
He pulled it away and glared at her, but she only flew away. "Sheesh, what's her problem?"
"You try being twelve years old for a hundred years," said Robin wryly. "Or the daughter of a famous guy you never met, but that everyone expects you to be like."
"Nobody's makin' 'er play superhero," growled Lobo. "She could go be a hermit like Marty."
"No, she couldn't," said Batman. "That's not what she was born for."
"Whatever." Lobo revved his engine, then ducked as Clara zipped over his head. "Hey!"
-He's at the police station!- she cried, eyes wide.
"Warn them!" barked Batman.
"I did." She spun in place and followed the Batmobile as it accelerated.
"Go home," said Batman. "Take Robin with you."
"But, Batman...!"
"This isn't going to be a fight for children." Batman let Ronnie's voice come over the link. "Send Con and Wonder Woman."
"Why don't you call them?!" shouted Clara, then quailed at Lobo's glare.
Robin flew through the open door and reached toward his youthful aunt. "Let's go."
Batman watched the two specks of colour fade into the distance, then angled the Batmobile toward a roof and flew out.
* * *
The tall figure was looking for something when Batman burst through the wall of the foyer and slammed into him, her hands tearing away his mask before he bellowed a curse and backhanded her into the front desk.
She bounded to her feet and charged, gritting her teeth at sight of the familiar stubbly face.
He dodged, but the speed of the Bat suit caught him by surprise and they crashed through another wall, locked in combat.
"Why?" growled Batman, pushing Hormah's head back. "Why kill so many?"
"Fun'a it." He raked his fingers over the chest of her suit, trying to gain purchase as he smirked, then flipped and sent her flying back into the foyer. "Same reason I'll frag you."
"In yer dreams, bastich!" Lobo swung his hook and caught his twin in the side. "Nobody frags the Bat unless I say."
Hormah snarled. "Stay outta this, slorg bait!"
"Too late fer that." Lobo kicked him in the chest and sent him flying. "Think killin's fun? How 'bout dyin'?"
Batman caught Hormah, only to reel back as he slammed his fist into her faceplate hard enough to crack it.
"Murderin' bastich!" Lobo kicked him again.
"Call the #$&@ kettle black." Hormah let loose a handful of flechettes.
* * *
David frantically radioed for everyone to stay away from the building, ducking as an explosion blew out the ground floor windows.
"All units clear the area!" he repeated, hacking out dust. "Batman's got things under control!"
Batman flew through the wall and skidded down the street like a skipping stone, then stumbled to his feet and staggered back inside.
David winced and grabbed for his gun as the hero fell back into sight, propelled by two Lobos who seemed to be trying to tear each others' throats out. Batman grabbed the one in dark red and threw him back into the building, then flew in after him, leaving the Lobo in black to hold his stomach and hack blood on the street.
* * *
"Ya ain't gonna win this, freak!" snarled Hormah. "I can't be killed."
Batman withheld comment, instead concentrating on damaging her opponent enough to immobilize him. But she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she saw how fast his injuries healed, closing over minutes after they were inflicted. -Jesus, show me what to do.-
Hormah pounded his forehead into her cracked mask and she felt a wave of agony as her visuals cut out.
Growling, she slammed her fist into his face, hearing bone crack, then felt herself airborne again. The screaming of a car alarm announced where she'd landed.
She was on her feet again in an instant, only to hit the pavement as her balancers cut out. "Urg!"
"Batman?"
She cocked her head. "Get out of here, Commissioner."
"No." Hands touched the suit. "How badly are you hurt?"
She hit the inner switch that would change her eyepieces to one way mirrors and glowered at him, then pushed him away and dragged herself to her feet moments before an explosion spattered the two of them in blood.
Batman looked at Lobo as he came to a rest a few feet away from her, then raised her eyes to Hormah, her vision darkening in disbelief. "No."
"Batman?" David reached for his gun as Hormah laughed and took a step toward them, then yelped as Batman backhanded him out of the way and threw something after him.
"Your turn, freak." Hormah's face contorted in mad glee.
Batman looked down at the still form of the only father she remembered and felt a numbness close over her. -Jesus. Forgive me. Forgive Hormah.-
Reaching into the reinforced compartment on her chest, she pulled out a small silver globe with a ring attached and quickly linked its circuits to her suit's.
Hormah paused, frowning uneasily at the unfamiliar object.
-Jesus, forgive me,- thought Batman a second time, then pulled the ring and threw the nano grenade just as Hormah threw something of his own.
She turned and tried to dive for cover, only to hit her face as the battered servos locked.
There was a flash of light and a wave of heat.
Then nothing.
* * *
David struggled against whatever it was that Batman had thrown at him, then froze as a firestorm roared over him.
It was over in an instant. He found himself laying unbound and unharmed in the charred remains of the wrappings. Car alarms blared in the distance.
He listened to them for a stunned moment, then slowly rolled over and pushed himself to his feet.
Devastation met his eyes: destroyed automobiles, melted streetlights, windows blown out of buildings.
-Lord...- He shuddered, too stunned to even think.
Then he started convulsively as he saw something move in the burned-out street. "Lobo?"
The former mercenary was dragging himself toward the crumpled form of Batman, leaving a thick swatch of red in his wake.
He groaned as David knelt beside him and stopped the tortured journey, then let his battered face drop to the scorched pavement and struggled to speak.
"Just be still." David swallowed at the clammy chill of the man's skin. "Help is coming."
"Ronnie…" Lobo lifted his head again and grimaced. "Needs ya." His face hit the street again. "Let… 'er… die… 'n… I'll frag ya."
David leaned close to hear the breathless words, then reared back in confusion. "What happened to Ronnie?"
A shaking, mangled hand pointed toward the motionless Bat suit. "Dumb… bastich!"
David stared at the back of Lobo's head as the meaning of the words sank in, then groaned and scrambled toward the fallen hero on all fours.
The scowling mask was gone. In its place was the soot-streaked face of Veronica Grayson.
"No…" said David softly, touching her cheek. "How?"
Fumbling, he sought some means of removing her battered helmet, but then gave up and searched for a pulse at her throat.
-No… please…- He groaned, but then gasped as his fingers found the thready flutter.
Tipping her head back, he began to blow air into her lungs, praying that moving her wouldn't aggravate her injuries.
A hand touched his arm and he flinched, then looked up into the face of the blonde JLA medic.
"You'll have to move," she said softly, gently pushing him aside as her hands found hidden catches that opened the burned and broken armor, then pulled an oxygen mask over Ronnie's nose and mouth.
David watched numbly, his eyes on the still silver face as the blonde wrapped something around Ronnie's chest and activated it. -Please, Jesus. Let her live.-
There was a gasp, then another as the band contracted and relaxed.
"Miss Veronica!" The soft cry was feminine and grieved.
David turned toward it and was unsurprised to see Catwoman crouched next to him. "Prudence."
A gloved hand hovered over the costumed woman's hidden mouth as a sad mewling sound came from her chest. "Lord God, please…"
"The surge fried the suit circuitry," said the blonde, her hands stilling in their quick efforts.
"What of her neural net?" whispered Prudence.
The blonde shook her head. "Offline, as is the life-support module."
A faint whimper interrupted the steady gasps, and Ronnie's eyes fluttered.
"Ronnie?" "Miss Veronica?" David and Prudence spoke simultaneously.
She whimpered again, her face contorting slightly as her eyelids stopped their frantic shivering and moved once, decisively.
"Can you hear us?" asked the blonde, sitting back on her heels.
Another blink.
"Are you in pain?"
Two blinks.
"Do you feel anything?"
A long, anxious pause and then two more blinks.
The blonde bit her lip, then turned to David. "Can you hold her for a few minutes?"
He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
"Wrap her in your jacket, keep her warm against your chest. She can't feel it, but knowing that she's close to someone dear will help her."
"Is she…?" He choked off the word even as he did what she said.
"Dying?" She shook her head. "Not unless shock sets in."
David bit his lip as he cradled the motionless woman, then lay his cheek against her hair. "Shh. It's alright. It's over. Hormah's gone."
"Hormah's gone, and it's over. But it ain't all right."
David turned toward the voice and saw Young Lobo crouched next to Lobo with a look of numb shock on his face.
"Let me see," said the blonde.
Young Lobo caught her wrist and pushed her hand away. "He's gone. Died face down in the street like a dog…"
Ronnie gave a thin keen, and David looked down to see tears leaking from under her closed eyelids.
"Are you sure?" he demanded hoarsely.
Young Lobo looked at him blankly. "You try livin' with yer guts blown out."
"Narmo!" the blonde said warningly, then held her hand over Lobo's back and bowed her head. "Farewell, Father. Ada not of blood but of the heart…" She trailed off into another language, the soft, musical words heavy with grief and parting.
Young Lobo bounded to his feet with a growl and stalked away, pushing past the laser barrier and disappearing into the crowd.
A tall blonde in black leather and an eye patch put her arms around the weeping medic, her one eye resting lovingly on the body of the fallen warrior. "Ambulance's here, Vendea. Prudence, stop yer fussin' 'n git back ta the kids. Clara's in a #$&@ of a state. Dave, git Ronnie in there. We don't got time ta waste."
He frowned at her as he stood slowly, thinking that under the pointed ears and scars she looked familiar.
"Star?" Superman landed next to them.
"Yeah?" the woman in leather said evenly, handing the medic over to him and pushing David and Ronnie toward the ambulance.
"Are you…?"
"I'm alright. Take care'a Vendea."
David lay Ronnie on the gurney and touched her cheek, then jumped back down to the pavement. "I'll come as soon as I can. My people are looking for me."
Star and Superman looked at him, then nodded.
"Right. But get yer tail ta Star Labs ASAP," ordered the tall blonde, then limped to the ambulance and hopped lightly inside.
"Esther," he realized, realizing too why Clark had seemed so familiar.
"Yeah." Superman watched the ambulance drive away, smoothing the medic's hair as she rested her head on his shoulder.
David glanced over at a call from a detective that had just been allowed past the barrier by the green-skinned Misti, then jerked his eyes toward a figure in a silver Bat cowl and cape, his mind making more connections and wondering about others.
He glanced down at the heap of discarded armor and the still body of the most notorious anti-hero in history, then stepped back and walked to meet the approaching detective.
Whirling, she grabbed the third man and shook him, then threw him against the wall. She was searching the shadows for the fourth tough when the alley shimmered and disappeared.
"Uncle Lobo?" She frowned.
"You have a telephone call, Miss Veronica," said Prudence's voice over the speaker.
Ronnie grumbled and pulled off the helmet of her practice suit, then walked into the main part of the Cave and picked up her cellphone. "This is Ronnie."
"Hi!" said Rich cheerfully. "How's my favorite cousin today?"
Her expression went into the Bat scowl. "Don't ask me questions I'll have to repent of the answers to."
"That bad, huh," he said soberly.
"Yes. And no, I don't want to go out for dinner. Nor do I want to see the new display at the arboretum." She turned and walked toward the costume vault.
"Hey, Ronnie, remember, Bruce took years to finally stop the Joker."
"Bruce didn't stop the Joker, the Joker reformed. And the Joker wasn't as dangerous as this man." She bent to study the keypad by the vault door, wondering if it had been Prudence who had recoded it.
"True." Rich sighed. "Oh, I might have found a new sidekick."
"Might have?" She pressed buttons swiftly and quirked an eyebrow as the door slid open.
"Yeah. She found me on Sunday and said that she wanted to learn how to protect if she had to. She's got a lot of promise. Apparently she got caught in some kind of rumble between Batfreak and some Painchildren. She says the Commissioner was there."
"I don't remember seeing a girl there." Ronnie clipped the earphone on and started replacing the practice suit with the Bat suit. "But Robin and I arrived after the fight was well under way. Why didn't she come to Batman?"
"She said you already had a pupil." Rich paused suspiciously as the Bat suit whirred to life. "Ronnie, what are you doing?"
She held the helmet under her arm as she walked out of the vault and slid into the Batmobile. "Checking some systems." She started flipping switches.
"What systems?"
She grinned triumphantly and took off the earphone. "Talk to you later, Rich."
"Ronnie!" His yell of despair was drowned out in the roar of the Batmobile's engine.
She was cruising through the back ways of Gotham, one eye on the streets below and the other on the screen in the center of the steering wheel, when Lobo pulled his bike up next to the car and pointed to his ear.
"What do you want?" she asked, flipping on the radio.
"Where the #$&@ do ya get off sneakin' out without me?" he roared. "I taught ya more respect than that!"
Batman raised one eyebrow, biting off a laugh. "I heard you say you knew why you couldn't track Hormah."
"Don't change the fraggin' subject, y' ungrateful bastich!" he snarled.
She growled and pulled the car away from him, knowing that there'd be no talking to him till he calmed down. There was a sudden flash of red, green, and yellow, and she banked hard to the left to avoid running into Robin.
"Hey!" said her sidekick cheerfully as he settled into his seat. "Prudence was bumping her head against the wall and telling Ama you got away when I left."
Batman nodded and closed the door, then lifted the car a little higher and drove over the river. "Did you hear Lobo's theory as to why he can't track Hormah?"
"Yeah." Robin settled in the seat properly and fastened his harness. "Hormah's another Lobo clone."
Batman swallowed, realizing why her uncle was so angry. "Is he sure?"
"That's the only way there could be another full-blooded Czarnian still alive, unless somebody was playing with a time machine. But then he'd be able to track him."
"Right." She fell silent, digesting the ramifications of that information and accessing the suit's records to see what had happened during the three days that Narmo had been standing in for her.
One attack other than the one on Friday, she thought, setting her teeth at the scenes of devastation.
"Just another 'man it's Monday'," sang Robin absently.
"No old country pop," growled Batman.
"Sorry." He switched to older pop and started singing 'Kung Fu Fighting'.
"Hey, Bats," growled Lobo.
"You ready to be civil?" She glanced at the window and saw him cruising next to the Batmobile again.
"#$&@ no." He gave her a toothy grin.
She shook her head. "Robin told me."
"Good." The grin faded to a snarl.
"If he's another you then he's probably doing all this for fun."
"No probably 'bout it. Crazy bastich's havin' the time 'a 'is life."
Batman watched him for a few minutes, feeling the hair on her arms stand up as she realized that he would have been just as likely to be out indiscriminately ending lives if it weren't for the hand of God in his life. If a "good" Lobo cut up as much as he did, a "bad" Lobo would be unthinkable to a rational mind.
-Jesus, shield us.-
A beep from the proximity monitor made her blink.
"Supergirl," said Robin.
"I see." She watched the black-haired girl child dart around Lobo and the Batmobile before settling on the hood.
"Prudence is mad," she reported solemnly.
"She'll get over it. She always does." Robin grinned at her through the windshield.
She frowned at him slightly, then fiddled with her mouthpiece and turned toward Batman. "Couldn't you have waited a few more days, like Vendea suggested?"
"As much a #$&@ boyscout as yer old man was," muttered Lobo.
Supergirl glanced at him, then telekinetically scooped a plastic bag off a tree branch and let it blow into his face. "Leave my father out of this."
He pulled it away and glared at her, but she only flew away. "Sheesh, what's her problem?"
"You try being twelve years old for a hundred years," said Robin wryly. "Or the daughter of a famous guy you never met, but that everyone expects you to be like."
"Nobody's makin' 'er play superhero," growled Lobo. "She could go be a hermit like Marty."
"No, she couldn't," said Batman. "That's not what she was born for."
"Whatever." Lobo revved his engine, then ducked as Clara zipped over his head. "Hey!"
-He's at the police station!- she cried, eyes wide.
"Warn them!" barked Batman.
"I did." She spun in place and followed the Batmobile as it accelerated.
"Go home," said Batman. "Take Robin with you."
"But, Batman...!"
"This isn't going to be a fight for children." Batman let Ronnie's voice come over the link. "Send Con and Wonder Woman."
"Why don't you call them?!" shouted Clara, then quailed at Lobo's glare.
Robin flew through the open door and reached toward his youthful aunt. "Let's go."
Batman watched the two specks of colour fade into the distance, then angled the Batmobile toward a roof and flew out.
The tall figure was looking for something when Batman burst through the wall of the foyer and slammed into him, her hands tearing away his mask before he bellowed a curse and backhanded her into the front desk.
She bounded to her feet and charged, gritting her teeth at sight of the familiar stubbly face.
He dodged, but the speed of the Bat suit caught him by surprise and they crashed through another wall, locked in combat.
"Why?" growled Batman, pushing Hormah's head back. "Why kill so many?"
"Fun'a it." He raked his fingers over the chest of her suit, trying to gain purchase as he smirked, then flipped and sent her flying back into the foyer. "Same reason I'll frag you."
"In yer dreams, bastich!" Lobo swung his hook and caught his twin in the side. "Nobody frags the Bat unless I say."
Hormah snarled. "Stay outta this, slorg bait!"
"Too late fer that." Lobo kicked him in the chest and sent him flying. "Think killin's fun? How 'bout dyin'?"
Batman caught Hormah, only to reel back as he slammed his fist into her faceplate hard enough to crack it.
"Murderin' bastich!" Lobo kicked him again.
"Call the #$&@ kettle black." Hormah let loose a handful of flechettes.
David frantically radioed for everyone to stay away from the building, ducking as an explosion blew out the ground floor windows.
"All units clear the area!" he repeated, hacking out dust. "Batman's got things under control!"
Batman flew through the wall and skidded down the street like a skipping stone, then stumbled to his feet and staggered back inside.
David winced and grabbed for his gun as the hero fell back into sight, propelled by two Lobos who seemed to be trying to tear each others' throats out. Batman grabbed the one in dark red and threw him back into the building, then flew in after him, leaving the Lobo in black to hold his stomach and hack blood on the street.
"Ya ain't gonna win this, freak!" snarled Hormah. "I can't be killed."
Batman withheld comment, instead concentrating on damaging her opponent enough to immobilize him. But she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she saw how fast his injuries healed, closing over minutes after they were inflicted. -Jesus, show me what to do.-
Hormah pounded his forehead into her cracked mask and she felt a wave of agony as her visuals cut out.
Growling, she slammed her fist into his face, hearing bone crack, then felt herself airborne again. The screaming of a car alarm announced where she'd landed.
She was on her feet again in an instant, only to hit the pavement as her balancers cut out. "Urg!"
"Batman?"
She cocked her head. "Get out of here, Commissioner."
"No." Hands touched the suit. "How badly are you hurt?"
She hit the inner switch that would change her eyepieces to one way mirrors and glowered at him, then pushed him away and dragged herself to her feet moments before an explosion spattered the two of them in blood.
Batman looked at Lobo as he came to a rest a few feet away from her, then raised her eyes to Hormah, her vision darkening in disbelief. "No."
"Batman?" David reached for his gun as Hormah laughed and took a step toward them, then yelped as Batman backhanded him out of the way and threw something after him.
"Your turn, freak." Hormah's face contorted in mad glee.
Batman looked down at the still form of the only father she remembered and felt a numbness close over her. -Jesus. Forgive me. Forgive Hormah.-
Reaching into the reinforced compartment on her chest, she pulled out a small silver globe with a ring attached and quickly linked its circuits to her suit's.
Hormah paused, frowning uneasily at the unfamiliar object.
-Jesus, forgive me,- thought Batman a second time, then pulled the ring and threw the nano grenade just as Hormah threw something of his own.
She turned and tried to dive for cover, only to hit her face as the battered servos locked.
There was a flash of light and a wave of heat.
Then nothing.
David struggled against whatever it was that Batman had thrown at him, then froze as a firestorm roared over him.
It was over in an instant. He found himself laying unbound and unharmed in the charred remains of the wrappings. Car alarms blared in the distance.
He listened to them for a stunned moment, then slowly rolled over and pushed himself to his feet.
Devastation met his eyes: destroyed automobiles, melted streetlights, windows blown out of buildings.
-Lord...- He shuddered, too stunned to even think.
Then he started convulsively as he saw something move in the burned-out street. "Lobo?"
The former mercenary was dragging himself toward the crumpled form of Batman, leaving a thick swatch of red in his wake.
He groaned as David knelt beside him and stopped the tortured journey, then let his battered face drop to the scorched pavement and struggled to speak.
"Just be still." David swallowed at the clammy chill of the man's skin. "Help is coming."
"Ronnie…" Lobo lifted his head again and grimaced. "Needs ya." His face hit the street again. "Let… 'er… die… 'n… I'll frag ya."
David leaned close to hear the breathless words, then reared back in confusion. "What happened to Ronnie?"
A shaking, mangled hand pointed toward the motionless Bat suit. "Dumb… bastich!"
David stared at the back of Lobo's head as the meaning of the words sank in, then groaned and scrambled toward the fallen hero on all fours.
The scowling mask was gone. In its place was the soot-streaked face of Veronica Grayson.
"No…" said David softly, touching her cheek. "How?"
Fumbling, he sought some means of removing her battered helmet, but then gave up and searched for a pulse at her throat.
-No… please…- He groaned, but then gasped as his fingers found the thready flutter.
Tipping her head back, he began to blow air into her lungs, praying that moving her wouldn't aggravate her injuries.
A hand touched his arm and he flinched, then looked up into the face of the blonde JLA medic.
"You'll have to move," she said softly, gently pushing him aside as her hands found hidden catches that opened the burned and broken armor, then pulled an oxygen mask over Ronnie's nose and mouth.
David watched numbly, his eyes on the still silver face as the blonde wrapped something around Ronnie's chest and activated it. -Please, Jesus. Let her live.-
There was a gasp, then another as the band contracted and relaxed.
"Miss Veronica!" The soft cry was feminine and grieved.
David turned toward it and was unsurprised to see Catwoman crouched next to him. "Prudence."
A gloved hand hovered over the costumed woman's hidden mouth as a sad mewling sound came from her chest. "Lord God, please…"
"The surge fried the suit circuitry," said the blonde, her hands stilling in their quick efforts.
"What of her neural net?" whispered Prudence.
The blonde shook her head. "Offline, as is the life-support module."
A faint whimper interrupted the steady gasps, and Ronnie's eyes fluttered.
"Ronnie?" "Miss Veronica?" David and Prudence spoke simultaneously.
She whimpered again, her face contorting slightly as her eyelids stopped their frantic shivering and moved once, decisively.
"Can you hear us?" asked the blonde, sitting back on her heels.
Another blink.
"Are you in pain?"
Two blinks.
"Do you feel anything?"
A long, anxious pause and then two more blinks.
The blonde bit her lip, then turned to David. "Can you hold her for a few minutes?"
He frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
"Wrap her in your jacket, keep her warm against your chest. She can't feel it, but knowing that she's close to someone dear will help her."
"Is she…?" He choked off the word even as he did what she said.
"Dying?" She shook her head. "Not unless shock sets in."
David bit his lip as he cradled the motionless woman, then lay his cheek against her hair. "Shh. It's alright. It's over. Hormah's gone."
"Hormah's gone, and it's over. But it ain't all right."
David turned toward the voice and saw Young Lobo crouched next to Lobo with a look of numb shock on his face.
"Let me see," said the blonde.
Young Lobo caught her wrist and pushed her hand away. "He's gone. Died face down in the street like a dog…"
Ronnie gave a thin keen, and David looked down to see tears leaking from under her closed eyelids.
"Are you sure?" he demanded hoarsely.
Young Lobo looked at him blankly. "You try livin' with yer guts blown out."
"Narmo!" the blonde said warningly, then held her hand over Lobo's back and bowed her head. "Farewell, Father. Ada not of blood but of the heart…" She trailed off into another language, the soft, musical words heavy with grief and parting.
Young Lobo bounded to his feet with a growl and stalked away, pushing past the laser barrier and disappearing into the crowd.
A tall blonde in black leather and an eye patch put her arms around the weeping medic, her one eye resting lovingly on the body of the fallen warrior. "Ambulance's here, Vendea. Prudence, stop yer fussin' 'n git back ta the kids. Clara's in a #$&@ of a state. Dave, git Ronnie in there. We don't got time ta waste."
He frowned at her as he stood slowly, thinking that under the pointed ears and scars she looked familiar.
"Star?" Superman landed next to them.
"Yeah?" the woman in leather said evenly, handing the medic over to him and pushing David and Ronnie toward the ambulance.
"Are you…?"
"I'm alright. Take care'a Vendea."
David lay Ronnie on the gurney and touched her cheek, then jumped back down to the pavement. "I'll come as soon as I can. My people are looking for me."
Star and Superman looked at him, then nodded.
"Right. But get yer tail ta Star Labs ASAP," ordered the tall blonde, then limped to the ambulance and hopped lightly inside.
"Esther," he realized, realizing too why Clark had seemed so familiar.
"Yeah." Superman watched the ambulance drive away, smoothing the medic's hair as she rested her head on his shoulder.
David glanced over at a call from a detective that had just been allowed past the barrier by the green-skinned Misti, then jerked his eyes toward a figure in a silver Bat cowl and cape, his mind making more connections and wondering about others.
He glanced down at the heap of discarded armor and the still body of the most notorious anti-hero in history, then stepped back and walked to meet the approaching detective.