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

[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. ]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Steph blinks. Oh. The way she's talking, it sounds like everyone where she's from is a metahuman. That's a little different than what Steph was assuming, and kind of weird to think about. ]

That's what we call people with powers where I'm from. So... does that mean you're...?

[mysterzie]

That's just human.

Does that mean I'm... what? [ There's a bit of defensiveness in there. She doesn't know what Steph's getting at but it's weird to think that different worlds might not even have these basic rules, and Erin has no idea what might out her as something wanted and strange even among her own people. Then again, if this is some sort of government conspiracy, surely the people watching already know Erin's a rogue dealer...? ]

[mysunnydisposition]

Powered. I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just... not that common where I'm from.

[mysterzie]

Not that common...?

[ See Erin. See Erin confused. She is so confused. ]

People don't usually have powers? [ Like, yeah, there's some poor sods who are born without that can't take any powers in, but that's a minority and a handicap and all those terrible things. ] Ever?

[mysunnydisposition]

Not usually, no? I don't have powers. It's never really been a problem for me.

[ Okay, she can definitely appreciate how it'd come in handy in the whole crime fighting thing, but she - and Batman, and all his people - managed fine without it. ]

[mysterzie]

What about dealers?

[ This is confusing and a bit distressing. Like imagining a world where everyone only has one arm or something. ]

How... I don't get it. Wow. Seriously?

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Blank stare. ] I'm... guessing you don't mean drug dealers?

[mysterzie]

No, power dealers. The people that swap powers and carry them around and all that for the government?

You... you don't have them?

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Frown. ] Nnnnoo, I've never heard of anyone like that. Even metahumans don't usually change powers...

[mysterzie]

[ Her gaze falls down to her hands, loosely threaded together between her knees. That's a big difference. ]

Oh. [ She looks up, slight grin on her face. ] That's really weird. Superheroes but nobody has powers? How do you manage?

[mysunnydisposition]

Well, most of the heroes have powers. And... most of the bad guys too, to be honest. [ She shrugs, with a wry little smile. ] The rest of us just train a lot and do our best to keep up.

[mysterzie]

[ She's just having a hard time getting her head around that. ]

Nobody stops the heroes because nobody has powers... which is why nobody stops the villains either, right? How does training help?

[mysunnydisposition]

Well... even metahumans will usually stop whatever they're doing if you hit them hard enough.

I mean, we usually leave the really scary ones to the powered heroes, but we're not exactly defenseless either.

[mysterzie]

Oh. I bet you have a lot of stories to tell.

[mysunnydisposition]

Maybe. I don't know how much I can really tell - some things aren't really my secrets, you know?

[mysterzie]

Who's going to know? Besides, there's got to be some you can tell.

[mysunnydisposition]

Batman always knows. [ She's joking, but only a little. Seriously, he's a little scary sometimes in that way. ] And who knows where this is broadcasting, anyway?

[mysterzie]

Hopefully not to home.

[ Because then that obviously means home is the world they're still in. ]

So, you're a superhero with no stories at all?

[mysunnydisposition]

Well. One time I tried to strangle my dad to death with a chain.

[ Pause. ]

That's not really a good story. Most of them are just kind of depressing.

[ What? It was the first thing that came to mind. ]

[mysterzie]

[ Well. Yeah, no, that's pretty bad. ]

Shouldn't you have stories about saving people?

[mysunnydisposition]

Oh. Well... yeah, I've saved people. I just don't if they make really good stories. [ But since you're asking... and if she doesn't mention Robin by name... ]

One time me and my... uh... friend were trying to stop some looters during a blizzard, but while we were fighting, the snow collapsed the roof and buried us in a warehouse. I just wanted to dig us out so we didn't freeze to death, but my friend talked me into looking for the jerks that almost killed us so we could get them out too.

We found a woman and her kid who holed up looking for shelter before the roof came down. We got them out alive, but we wouldn't've if we didn't go looking for the looters too.

...and then the bad guy tried to kill us with a chain saw again, which was totally rude, but it was still worth it.

[mysterzie]

See, that's a good story. Doing the right thing and all that.

[ Erin seems satisfied, anyway. ]

So, uh, how do you fight a chainsaw without powers...?

[mysunnydisposition]

[ She snorts a little. ]

A lot of dodging and trying to take out a knee or something without getting hit. Ro- my friend had better body armor than I did, and he had these spikes on his arm, here... [ She runs a finger along the outside edge of her forearm to demonstrate. ] He jammed the chain with those and broke it so he could knock the guy out.

It helps that the kind of person who comes at you with a chainsaw doesn't usually have a clue what he's doing in a fight.