trans_9 | The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.

"Yo! Future-beefcake! He's evil right now! Stay back from him!" Mia calls to Terry, nocking another arrow.

Kate meanwhile was still struggling to crawl across the floor toward them to attack again. Can't afford to fail, not now.

At Mia's words, Terry froze. Sam didn't seem so important any more - he was focused on Tim. There was something about him... some look in his eyes. It was eerily familiar.

"Oh God, no," he whispered.

Tim shoots an annoyed look at Mia... who's aiming at him again. Perfect. He's going to have to be careful of her--and probably Terry, too, judging from the way he's looking at him. He grips his staff tightly.

At least Brainy is keeping Kon and Kara out of commission.

Mia lines up her shot. "Look, I don't care who or what you are, but from the desperation you've been showing, I'm pretty sure the stability of Robin's body is important to you, at least for the moment. You have any idea how much damage a human body can take without death or even permanent damage? I do. I've got at least six shots I can take on you that I'm 85% sure you can't stop without dropping the staff, and I'm 99.4% sure I can get off a second shot before you could pick it back up again."

She took a step forward, bowstring drawn. "And really, you never want to play the odds versus humans. We're funny like that."

Jaime, his suit cracked all over, and the gaps filled with some kinda of blue sealant that was helping heal his skin and repair the carapace of the suit over it, flew in from the other door to a rather confusing scene.

"Everyone. Freeze."

Because he doesn't know who's doing what.

Of course he knows how much punishment the human body can take--he's Robin, whatever else he may be, and Batman had spent a great deal of time making sure he knew his limits.

Tim whirls to face Jaime, a panicked look on his face. "Jaime," he says, sounding relieved to see him. "What the heck is going on?! Mia just went crazy--started shooting at me!"

And it's obvious that he's been injured--he's playing up the poor, hurt Robin card, holding his arm stiffly, and looking pained.

It looks like Mia has flipped on Robin, it looks like Brainy is hurting Superboy and Supergirl and Robin's trying to help them. It looks like Terry is helping a--oh God his head!--hurt Sam.

And Jaime knows how Robin fights. It's highly unlikely that he's been slugged up and taken over--he's a Bat after all. Mia's hardass, but not Bat-hardass.

Jaime reacts immediately, holding up his hand and zapping Mia with "population control," which has only just kicked back in again after repairs (it'd been damaged by the first shot of Paco's). It should temporarily stun her nervous system.

He also zaps Brainy, who collapses over the green light.

He makes a judgment call.

It's just the wrong one.

Edited 2009-02-22 07:51 (UTC)

Mia spasms, her grip on the arrow releasing, it flying at Robin as she falls to the ground. "You SUCK...." She groans out at Jaime.

Tims eyes get wide and he dodges out of the way of the arrow. It's a lot easier when he can see it coming.

He gives Jaime a smile of relief. "Thanks, man," he says. "I don't know what got into her. She shot me." His eyes are still wide and shocked-looking when he reaches for his belt, and pulls out a complicated-looking device.

The details don't matter that much. It's a Dracon beam--and it's aimed at Jaime. The shocked, panicky look drops away, and he gives Jaime a faint smile. "Dude, you're such a sucker."

Crap, that's what Paco had! He only has time for his eyes to go wide and to pop up a blue energy shield--but it's not enough to disperse it.

The blast hits him square on, and breaks through the shield, shattering the armor more, chips of blue and black flying off, and sending him flying back through a statue.

And there he lays very still, skin still steaming.

Tim nods in satisfaction, and turns toward the only remaining threat--Terry. He's not going to need the Dracon beam for this. He returns it to his belt.

It's a lot more fun to use this body the way it was meant to be used--the way Tim has trained himself to use it.

Terry stared at Tim, trying to convince himself that whatever was happening wasn't real. There was no way Tim could be like this. This wasn't supposed to happen yet. For years.

Scorpius had been right. There were more important things then Sam. He carefully set him down on the ground, being sure not to turn his back to the boy wonder.

"Tim..." he spoke quietly, the slightest bit of fear creeping into his voice, "what have you done to him?"

Tim gives Terry a sharp smile and takes up his staff again. "You're supposed to be Batman, Terry. The world's greatest detective," he taunts. "Figure it out."

Terry glanced down at Sam, at his head. "The slugs. The one he was trying to force into Nathan's head, and the ones that came from his brain. There's one in Tim, isn't there? That's who I'm talking to right now, isn't it?"

Tim gave him his best, brightest smile. "Give the kid a cookie," he said, his tone still slightly mocking. "You got it on the first guess. Of course, it might have been more useful if you could have warned him." He nodded at where Jaime was still smoking on the ground. "Oh, well."

There was a slight twitch in Terry's hand. Like he wanted very, very much to make a fist and start punching things. Tim had hit a nerve.

"I could have saved him." Terry muttered. And if he was Batman, he would have. He would have been thinking clearer. He could have acted faster.

But wait... he was still Batman. He may not have the cowl, but he was still the Dark Knight. Something clicked in his head. Something changed in his voice.

"Tim. If you're in there - I'm sorry about this. I couldn't prevent this from happening, but I can still save you."

Tim snorts lightly, twirling his staff a little. "You think so?" he asks Terry mildly. "You can try. But I don't know how well that will work. The only way to save him--" he gestures at Sam, using him as an example, "--is to kill him, and I'm pretty sure you don't work that way."

He's counting on Terry not knowing his words for the lie that they are. And he doesn't like at all the way Tim's consciousness and his body responded to the change in Terry's voice.

The Batman/Robin dynamic can't be that deeply ingrained, can it?

A twisted, empty grin twitched at the corners of Terry's mouth. "You think you know me? Bruce may not have killed, but I'm not Bruce. I don't have the same rules."

Sure, in his early days as the Bat he'd had to kill. But he'd never liked it. And he prayed that he wouldn't have to kill Tim.

With just the slightest hesitation, Terry leaped forward, punching out towards Tim's neck.

Tim dodges the blow and swings his staff at Terry, hoping to knock him to the ground. "Kind of obvious you're not him," Tim says coldly. "Whatever your 'rules' are. You're nowhere near his league."

Energy slowly starts to come back to the Girl of Steel. It's clear that she's not entirely up to par yet, and she honestly won't be without a few hours of ~~nude~~ sunbathing ~~with Brainy~~, but she's still Supergirl. Unless she's under a red sun, she's still got some power.

But first things first.

Kara checks to make sure that both Brainy and Kon are okay.

Brainy's waking up. Sooner than Mia, due to how quickly his brain can reboot, and for a moment, his stare at her is ugly, and he slams her back to the floor with his shields, covering her mouth and nose so she can't breathe, as he gets out the lead box.

His expression is wild, furious, like some tortured animal breaking free from its cage. "You think you can stop me! You think you can control me! I'll break you, Coluan! I'll show you who controls who! She's a pretty little thing, isn't she? I'll have you turn her into a pretty little corpse and dissect her to study her anatomy to further the knowledge of the Yeerk empire--"

But he twitches, the box stays closed and his hand trembles as he fights for control of it, and the shields around her mouth disappear, though she's still pinned so she doesn't get scared and clock him, and Brainy grinds out, "Yes. I can control you, parasite."

He takes a deep breath, and then his voice is impeccably calm.

"You simply woke first. Don't assume that means you have actual control. Nothing has changed."

Terry and Robin are fighting, they're surrounded by the injured, and...and it appears Blue Beetle is dead. Yes, his scan confirms it. His eyes narrow.

"Kara, can you fly?"

She licks her dry lips and tosses her long, super-shiny golden locks over her shoulder. She eases herself up into the air, her feet not touching the ground. She lands down again, the soles of her boots softly touching the floor. "I can. What do you need, handsome?"

Taking advantage of the distracted Robin, he slams a forcefield into Kate, knocking her out, and with a twitch of his hand, it turns into a stretcher that carries her and wraps a shield around her. A similar stretcher is created for Mia, and for Sam, and he thanks his lucky stars that Robin gave his flight ring back after the Yeerk had infested him, so that he can just fly them out

"Carry Superboy. I'll carry Sam, Mia, and Kate. They all need to be brought to the Medlab immediately."

Sam...may not make it. Brainy can function as a neurosurgeon, but he's not one by trade, and the damage may be too much, it may have been left too long...

But he will not let him die here on the floor like an animal. If all he can do is ease his passing, that's what will be done.

Danny is unconscious, but Brainy'd tucked him in a little alcove to the side, so he's hidden by statues, until he comes to. They have to move fast, and he has to hope he's not found or comes to--he now regrets smacking him, but he hadn't known which side he was on, and he wanted to be sure that kryptonite was in the hands of someone immune to control--the only person he'd been sure had been himself.

"Leave Blue Beetle. I'm afraid he's...beyond medical aid now." His voice is deeply regretful. "My scans show no life signs."

Tim swallows down a snarl of frustration as Brainy makes it clear whose side he's really on. And he can't even stop him with the device he'd created to neutralize Brainy's force field. Despite Tim's taunts to the contrary, Terry is good enough that he requires his full attention.

Damn it.

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