randomplaces | Alternate Earth, where FLAG still exists...

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.

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((some what familiar))

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

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."

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

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."

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

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.

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

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...?"

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

"What did you wear?"

She smiles, "I had always had a dream...of dressing up as Persephone. I was very lucky to find the perfect costume that fit me. It was also around then...that I realized I had fallen in love with Devon. Of course, since then he was my boss, I wasn't about to tell him." Once her hair was done and such, she looked exactly like Persephone from the myths.

Deona shakes her head and adds, "The three females found out, though. That night, Devon came...dressed up exactly like Julius Ceasar, toga, laurel and all. I wasn't about to say it but the other girls' costumes were...on the tight side. Seemed he thought so, too. I got more than one compliment on the costume...as well as being told that he was glad I had decided to come, and especially dressed as Persephone. He even surprised me by asking me for the first dance!"

"Awwww that is so romantic..." Harley holds out her hand, as the offer to dance to help the memory. She is no Devon, but she might do for now.

"Nah, that's okay," she shakes her head and smiles, "It was to a Miles Davis jazz tune." She says, "That night, Jennifer and a flunky went in, during the event, and stole the files on all 4 of us female operatives. One of the girls shot at him, and the flunky dropped the mask he had been wearing...a harlequin's face paint that became a jester with the mask. I had Artemis check the pattern on the face paint and figured it out and let Devon know what happened. The next day...Jennifer Knight went after me."

She heads back out and carefully closes the door behind them, then heads back to the pond.

Alternate Earth, where FLAG still exists...

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