Alternate Earth, where FLAG still exists...

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

After her "normal" bout of afternoon sickness, Deona decides on a little trip. Her husband's out at the Marina, so she leaves a small note saying that she was traversing somewhere and that she would be back. When she goes to the traversing room, the untethered soul went to the LC long enough to leave word. She pictures exactly what a particular place looks like in her mind...and makes sure to add alternate to that mentally.

When the moderate wind dies down, she opens her eyes...and finds herself in the driveway that leads up to the mansion, the headquarters of the organization she had been involved with before...the Foundation for Law and Government, or FLAG.

Deona had to mentally keep from shifting to coporeal form...this was one trip that she didn't want others to see her.

"FLAG headquarters," she says softly, "Almost a year ago, everything began here..."

As she slowly walked the path, her mind had taken her back in time, by almost a year.

She had been wearing a nice, somewhat formal blouse and skirt, walking slowly up the driveway. She had also been very nervous. After all, Jennifer Knight had wanted her to not be hired, due to having high-function Autism...but a few members of the board had shot her down. She didn't know then, but one of them was Devon.


When she got this nervous, there was a way to calm herself...even if it seemed silly.

Deona closed her eyes as she had walked and was singing...something she had learned, called "The World".

You are here alone again
In your sweet insanity
All too calm, you hide yourself from reality
Do you call it solitude? Do you call it liberty?
When all the world turns away to leave you lonely...

The fields are filled with desires
All voices crying for freedom
But all in vain they will fade away
There's only you to answer you, forever...

In blinded mind you are singing
A glorious hallelujah
The distant flutter of angels
They're all too far, too far to reach for you...

I am here alone again
In my sweet serenity
Hoping you will ever find me in any place
I will call it solitude when all my songs fade in vain
Fly my voice, far away to eternity...

The second time she had sung this, her eyes had been open, but very distant. What had broken her from the seeming trance had been a comment about her singing...and the ones commenting had been none other than Bonnie Barstow and Michael Knight.

Now, incoporeal, she walks across the grounds, wondering if she should walk inside. Nobody would see her.

I can't let anyone here see me, she thinks, They are not quite as open-minded as Richard in the alternate Gotham is...but I too need to say goodbye to those Devon, Storm, Damien, Caspain and I left behind...even though...everyone else from our world is dead--

She shakes her head, tears filling her eyes at the thought. April had been arrested as the "mole" involved and responsible for Deona's murder. Bonnie had been the second one to die, killed by Garthe Knight. Two of the girls in the operative group known as The Quartet had died in a trap, and so had KARR. Michael and Kitt went on a kamikazee run, saving lives, but sacrificing their own. Devon had died immediately afterwards and untethered. Storm, Damien and Caspain had been bombed on, but escaped...and eventually made their way to first the Lunatic Cafe, then to the Boardwalk Nexus. Apparently, Caspain had been mute since the bombing...but began talking again when he saw Deona.

I need to make my peace, too, she thinks, I have thoughts and such that I haven't even told Devon about.

Comments

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

Harley appeared from the closing portal, and took a moment to catch her breath and look around.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

The portal led to a spot some ways past the normally closed and guarded gate...luckily for Harley. Up ahead was a type of mansion, on expansive grounds...a mixture between old-style and modern.

Some distance away, on the driveway and close to a field, Deona is walking slowly...and deep into her memories...deep enough that her resolve to stay incoporeal is forgotten and she shifts, singing.

You are here alone again
In your sweet insanity
All too calm, you hide yourself from reality
Do you call it solitude? Do you call it liberty?
When all the world turns away to leave you lonely...?

The fields are filled with desires
All voices crying for freedom
But all in vain they will fade away
There's only you to answer you, forever...

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

Now seeing and hearing Deona, Harley approaches softly. Her old skills as a criminal are not forgoteen, as she moves quietly and stealthy. When she gets close enough, she follows Deona, and keeps an eye on her. Knowing that her friend must do this on her own, just like how Harley did, but will be watched over, just like how Deona watched over Harley.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

In blinded mind you are singing
A glorious hallelujah
The distant flutter of angels
They're all too far, too far to reach for you...

I am here alone again
In my sweet serenity
Hoping you will ever find me in any place
I will call it solitude when all my songs fade in vain
Fly my voice, far away to eternity...

Her hazel eyes open and she looks down...and sees that she is coporeal.

"Sh..." she starts to say, then says, "I wonder...if Harley got the message..."

A short distance is the field, then a pond.

((Hey...how familiar are you with Knight Rider? If you're familiar enough, we might bring in some NPCs from this world...))

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

((some what familiar))

"Deona..." Harley speaks softly when she stops singing.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

Deona turns and sees Harley.

"My friend...you made it. Good," she says with a sad smile. "That song...when I first walked this path, almost a year ago...I was very nervous. It was...my first day as an operative of FLAG. The best way I could calm down was to sing...and I had chosen that song. Little did I know that 2 people heard me...Michael Knight and Bonnie Barstow."

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

"What happened next?" Harley inquired, letting Deona continue on the path of memory.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

She gestures for Harley to join her then walks slowly as she talks, headed for the pond.

"I got introduced to them...and then in came my boss, the Executive Director of FLAG...Devon Miles. We hit it off pretty well, actually. Afterwards, I was introduced to three other operatives, all female. The youngest was in her teens, while the oldest is older than I am. All hav--had AI supervehicles...all with sentient personalities. Mine was a silver Grand Prix named Artemis. She not only sounded like a British lady...but she had the personality, too."

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

"Artemis... she is your cat now?" Harley asked, listening as she walked beside Deona.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

She laughs and says, "Devon named her after the AI." She looks up and says, "That meeting...was in the first of September. I did pretty well as the newest operative...even when Jennifer Knight...nasty woman...accosted one of the operatives and tried blackmail on her. I started calling her Jenny-girl...even to her face...and the other girls caught onto using it. She...really hated all 4 of us female operatives. The other 3 because of an incident...and me, because...I'm not perfect. She didn't want me hired, but a number in the board shot her down, figuratively. I didn't know until the day I came that one of those who supported my hiring was Devon."

Deona changes direction, heading for an expansive ballroom building, that is separate from the main mansion, but on the grounds.

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

Harley changes direction with her, and continues to listen to her story.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

When they arrive, Deona opens the door and goes inside. The ballroom is really expansive...and in a few ways, the white building is old-style...more old-style than modern.

She smiles and says, "This place was used for Foundation fundraisers...especially during holidays. One such holiday was Halloween." She laughs a little and says, "I originally wasn't going to go to the Halloween fundraiser, even when I heard it was a costume event. Like I had told Devon, Halloween's for kids, and I'm not a kid. Would you believe he talked me into it anyway, saying that it's an event for adults to have fun at and not be ashamed to dress up for...?"

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

Harley laughs at that, "I have never been ashamed of wearing my costume... so no worries if you had been."

"What did you wear?"

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

"A Harlequin's face pain that became a jester with the mask?" Harley repeated, following her. Wondering if she was somehow connected to this. "What happened next?"

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

Deona realizes what she says and shakes her head. "No, my friend, it wasn't you. The guy came as a harlequin, complete with face paint...but when the files were stolen, he exited as a jester."

As they continue across a field to a pond, she says, "Close to here was where I got accosted. The other girl that was in that situation...she definitely had something she didn't want exposed. Nothing bad...not to others...but it didn't phase me. Even when she hit me across the face. Told her that was the only freebie she got...then when she hit me again, she lost some teeth. She tried to blackmail me with something from my past, namely the fact that my ex-husband back then had been a pornographer. She told me that if I didn't literally bury stuff from my past, she'd expose me." There it a hard smile as she says, "Didn't work. I didn't hide anything of my past, not even the failed marriage. I had been tricked by him, after all. I told her so, then confronted her with what I knew about the jester/harlequin. That's when she got nasty. I guess it was during then that Artemis sent an SOS out to everyone and tied all comlinks into mine, so they could hear what was going on. Jenny-girl started getting nasty on me, including grabbing a steel pipe she was going to use on me. Ohh, everyone was mad, but Devon was furious." She mimics Devon's voice as best she can, "Jennifer Knight, don't you dare!"

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

"I had thought..." she shrugged, "Something makes me think you are connected to Gotham somehow." Then she listened and smiled, "Good for you girl, standing up for yourself like that."

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

Deona chuckles and shakes her head. "The youngest of the girls, Storm Dracona, tackled Jenny-girl, knowing the woman wasn't going to stop, and took a blow to the head from the steel pipe, a blow that was meant for me...Storm was in a coma for at least a week or rwo...long enough for Jenny-girl to get arrested on a list of charges, including attempted murder." She shakes her head, "The day Storm regainec consciousness, I was sent to Miami on a case, in November...month long case involving the murder of a local FLAG operative and an underground weapons network. Turned out, the whole case was a trap, designed by the head of Miami FLAG and Jennifer Knight, with the purpose to kill me. Not only did I surivive, I exposed the head of the local branch as the traitor as well as being with the Cuban Mafia and with running that underground weapons network."

She pauses and adds, "All during that, Jennifer got out of jail, tried to get Karr at first brainwashed, then killed...yes, I said killed. He may be an Arteficial Intelligence, but he was still a living being. She wound up trying to elude the other operatives...and went over a cliff and into the ocean."

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

"And I thought my life was complicated." Harley whistled, and continued to listen to her story

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

A short distance from the pond, she sees someone coming...and quickly looks around, but sees only a few huge trees. It's someone she knows, all right.

"Michael...? Hide!"

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

Harley dives for the bushes, and quickly hides.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

Deona dives for other bushes as well, and a scant minute later, Michael himself passes by. He looks around, listens, then shrugs and continues on.

After a couple of minutes, Deona says quietly, "Coast's clear," and gets out of the bush, dusting herself off.

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

Harley crawls out, and dusts herself off. "You did not want him to see you?"

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

"This isn't the world I originally came from, Harley. They wouldn't know me here."

She looks around and continues, "When I got back from the case...a month later was the beginning of the end...maybe the beginning of everything, too. It was late December, a short time before Christmas..." Her voice becomes sad. "I had been at lunch and thinking of asking Devon out to lunch the following day when I heard something...nasty...that guy you saw...that is Michael Knight...the oldest operative in FLAG. There's a guy that looks just like him, but is extremely evil. His name's Garthe Knight...an old nemesis of the agency. He and a bunch other were planning nothing less than open war on FLAG...and I had overheard it. Artemis snapped a photo and recorded the conversation. There was also mention of a 'mole' in the group, so there was no way I could tell him in person. I returned, packed some stuff, wrote a letter to Devon telling what I knew...I don't know why, but in that letter, I confessed how I felt. I closed the letter and asked Bonnie to give him the letter if I wasn't back by morning. I left that late afternoon and went tracking...I needed to know what he planned, if it was a joke...and why." She shakes her head, "The following morning, Bonnie gave him the letter...and at that time, I had tracked the guys to a place, 2 1/2 hours drive from here. The conversation with Garthe Knight was recorded...he knew it...and left a message directed at Devon. He...he planned on destroying FLAG by first killing someone close...then killing the female operatives and the techs...and leaving Michael for last." Her tone is bittersweet as she adds, "The first target was me....I was shot in the gut by a cane that was actually a gun. Instead of the hospital, I chose to return to FLAG and warn Devon, knowing what the cost would be."

[exiles-jubes.livejournal.com]

"Is that when you died?" Harley asked softly.

[deona-zephyr.livejournal.com]

She nods, tears filling her eyes, "Yeah, it is...Artemis barreled back here, and even threated to crash down the main gates if they didn't open them immediately...they opened them, then told Devon." She sniffs a little and says, "You know why I didn't tell him at first I was in love...fate's weird...I gave the warning...and found he had read the whole letter...and found out he was in love with me and had kept quiet for the same reasons. I died in his arms...and I felt something in me come undone...and before all awareness was gone, I could hear him sniff, then weep."

She scrubs at her eyes and says, "While I awoke whole and untethered in the Boardwalk Nexus and had made my way to Lunatic Cafe...FLAG had gone haywire. Shortly before my funeral, the mole, a technician named April was arrested...then in February, Bonnie was murdered, by Garthe Knight. As soon as she was buried, two things happened. Two of the girls and another AI, Karr, was lured into a trap...died when a bomb went off in a warehouse. Michael and Kitt went on a kamikazee mission to end Garthe's war, once and for all. It succeeded...Garthe was killed inside...but Michael and Kitt lost their lives. Devon...he died immediately afterwards, cause unknown. He untethered, just like me. He doesn't remember how he died at all."

There is a sob as she says, "The only survivors, Storm, her AI Damien and a child-like AI, Caspain, were bombed out by the remnants of Garthe's men. They were on the run for many months...she...she almost died...she made it to the Cafe, then the Boardwalk Nexus, but still...in our original world, there's nothing left...of any of this...FLAG no longer exists at all..."