one little bat

[mysunnydisposition]

Who: Stephanie Brown
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: HS Marsiva
When: 2/18

[ Focus on Steph's face as she starts to wake up. She wrinkles her nose, groans softly as she rolls onto her side... and then her eyes snap open. ]

What the...?

[ The camera pulls out as she sits up, looking down at herself. She's still in her costume, hood and cowl pulled back, not in a hospital gown, no tubes or needles attached to her anywhere. The costume's even in one piece. And-- ]

Nothing hurts. [ It's muttered, to herself - she's still a little too disoriented to realize she's being filmed. ] Why does nothing...

[ She presses a hand experimentally against her left shoulder. No pain, no blood or bullet wound... A slight lump under the fabric of her costume that might be a scar, but it seems long healed. What. The hell.

Steph rolls out of the cot, getting to her feet slowly like she's afraid she'll fall over. She's fine, though. Totally fine. At least, until she finally notices the big viewing windows looking out on the void. She exhales slowly, eyes wide, as she approaches the window. ]

Okay. So either this is random neurons firing while my brain shuts down, or... we're not in Gotham anymore.

Comments

[mysterzie]

Only since yesterday. We're stuck here, by the way. No way off.

[ Because if she can't find a way, then there's definitely no way for anyone else to get out of this ship. ]

But hi. I'm Erin.

[mysunnydisposition]

Well there has to be a way off somehow. We got here somehow, after all...

Steph. ...is I guess what I'm going with here. [ She sighs and mutters, looking down at her costume. It feels kind of silly now. ] I think my secret identity's pretty much blown anyway...

[mysterzie]

And then they locked us in. Assholes.

Wait, secret identity? [ That gets her attention. ] That's not just a costume?

[mysunnydisposition]

Well I mean... technically it's a costume. That I sometimes wear to fight crime.

[mysterzie]

You're a superhero? A real one?

[ Oh hell. That is kind of the coolest thing Erin's ever heard if it's true. ]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Well that's a complicated question... and a little painful. Steph bites her lip for a second before she answers. ]

Maybe. I don't know anymore. I used to be.

[mysterzie]

Used to be? How would anyone stop being a hero?

[mysunnydisposition]

[ She huffs softly and sits down on a nearby cot. ]

I kind of got fired. And then I tried to fix it and I just screwed everything up. Bad. [ She rubs the heel of her palm against her forehead. ] Really really bad.

[mysterzie]

Did you turn into a supervillain?

[ That's totally how getting fired from superheroing works, right? ]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Her head snaps up again. ] What? No!

I just... I had a partner, or a... mentor, whatever. Someone who's been doing this a lot longer than me. He took my old costume, told me to stop... I probably should have listened.

[mysterzie]

What happened?

[ She seems interested, if not a bit oblivious to the obvious discomfort going on here. ]

If you're not a supervillain and you're not a superhero anymore...

[mysunnydisposition]

Then I guess I'm just an idiot in a costume who's... probably committed about twelve crimes in the last forty-eight hours.

[ And she feels a little nauseous thinking about it. ]

Wait, did you mean what happened when I got fired, or what happened... after?

[mysterzie]

Uh... Whichever you'll actually talk about?

[ See? She can be diplomatic if she wants to be. ]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ She snorts softly. ]

The first thing was stupid. He told me to stay in the car, but I thought... that I could help. Best I did was distract, briefly, but I was on sidekick probation, and I disobeyed an order, so... he fired me.

[mysterzie]

But... you helped, didn't you? What an ungrateful jerkwad.

[mysunnydisposition]

Yeah, well. We're not allowed to be less than perfect with Batman.

[mysterzie]

Batman?

[ Yeah, she doesn't look terribly impressed. ]

That's not how superheroes should act. What about all that team spirit and stuff?

[mysunnydisposition]

That's... that's just what he's called. Because his costume kinda looks like a bat, it's this whole big thing. I guess it stops sounding silly when you've been in Gotham long enough.

And... I don't know. Maybe that's not the only reason. He never really wanted me doing it anyway.

[mysterzie]

It always sounds silly. Batman.

[ Yep. Still silly. ]

You're probably better off if he's that quick to kick you out.

[mysunnydisposition]

Maybe. I guess it doesn't matter here anyway. I mean, how much crime fighting is going to be happening in space?

[mysterzie]

You never know. Maybe there's a secret space crime ring smuggling goods across all these billions of planets that no one else dares to stand up against?

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Tiny smile. ]

Well, then I guess I'd have to do something about that.

Do they have superheroes where you're from?

[mysterzie]

[ That gets a smile back. Hey, maybe Erin can be her sidekick! ]

No... Anyone who tries to use their powers like that usually gets shut down too fast or have them taken away. Sometimes vigilantes but never people like in comics or on TV.

[mysunnydisposition]

Oh. That's... awful. But you have metahumans? Are they allowed to use their powers at all?

[mysterzie]

Metahumans...? [ What the fuck does that even mean. ]

Um, everyone gets to use their powers unless they're, like, real dicks with them. Or really dangerous like spontaneous combustion or pulling knives out of places knives shouldn't come from, stuff like that. Or certain powers have to get marked so people always know if you're some kind of mind-reader or teleporter or shapeshifter...

[ Which Erin has not gotten because Erin ran away from all that bullshit. ]