Subject: [OTL]: [Young Justice] No One Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 17:10:55 -0700 (PDT) From: D Benway No One found in the void by Benway ____________________________________________________________ This story borrows some not-for-profit use from DC Comics. This story is not intended for innocent or overly sensitive readers. Many thanks to Luba K for editorial help. Many of the other terrible things I've done to Kon, Tim, and various Bat- and X-People are archived at Luba's site: http://home.att.net/~lubakmetyk This story was inspired by Young Justice #35, in which our heroes venture into space to act as medics during this summer's cross-over / homage to a very bad film. They argue over the merits of fighting versus not fighting, and Kon has a very bad (and melodramatic) dream foretelling Hollywood-style (i.e. dry) deaths for some members of his team. What happens in this story isn't going to happen in YJ #36, for reasons that should be obvious. Young Justice is: Kon-El, aka Superboy, a clone of Superman, perpetually 16 years of age (physically), 4 years old (chronologically, but doesn't act it). Once had a girlfriend, Tana Moon. Created at the large hole in the ground occupied by Cadmus Labs. Possesses a certain 'tactile telekinesis' (the T), which he's learned not to shout about in every issue. Has no secret identity. Tim Drake, aka Robin III, team tactician and all round clever and organized type. Has many secrets, including his identity. Bart Allen, aka Impulse, a descendant of the Flash and exile to the 21st century. Cassandra (Cassie) Sandsberg, aka Wonder Girl. Invented by J Byrne, put to much better use by P David. Cissie King-Jones, once aka Arrowette, team archer. Anita Fite, aka Empress, replacement for CKJ. Token female human on team, and so must also be voodoun priestess. The Secret. Girl made of vapour who is the official team Spectre. Kon also has several friends from his days in Hawaii, including: Roxy Leech, an admirer and daughter of his former business manager. A girl from the wrong side of the tracks who crossed over to become a rookie cop. Dubillex, a telepathic version of Alfred with horns. Crusader, head of security at Cadmus labs, where Kon El was decanted. A golden age hero recalled by few, save the writers. Serling Roquette, girl genius and love interest who, once created, found that the writers had no idea of what to do with her. _______________________________________________________________ FUCK! FUCK!FUCK!FUCK! PUSHHARDPUSHHARDSTOPPUSHINGBACKPUSHPUSHPUSHPUSHHARD! HARD! HARD! Fuck. Not supposed to say that. Kal'd never say that. Fuck. Did it. Did it. I did it. Oh man, I did it. Fuck that was bright. Stars. Stars everywhere. No gravity. Stars keep spinning. Stars really everywhere. Up, down, everywhere. Where are they? Held in the air. Should hear them. Can't see nothing but stars. How big did I make the bubble? It felt like ten, maybe fifteen feet. Should have gotten everyone in the cockpit, when we got blown out. The ship's around somewhere. They'll come get us, any second. OK, the guys must be unconscious. Got to find them. Feel for them. Got to push off the field. Learned how to do this. Guess all that practice paid off. Nothing. Nothing. Can't see the stars, over there. "Hey," I say. "You OK?" No response. Gotcha! Leg. Choking. Behind me. Got one, gotta get the next one. Got'em. Another leg, get'em turned around, gotta feel for the face. Yuck. Get the air in, get that off. Come on, Robbo, breathe. Breathe. There. Got it. He's breathing, hard. Now the other one. OK, ankle, wrong way. Go back, man I hope it's not Cassie if she wakes up when I SHITNONOGETITAWAYPUSHITOUTGETITOFFMEGEITOFF- "Kon." No. "Kon," he says. No. No, no, no. "Kon," he says. "Get a grip. We've got casualties in the hold." "Didn't mean to," I say. "We have to get the heat and the gravity back on, Kon," he says. "I can't hear anything. It sounds like a total system shutdown." "We're not on the ship," I say. Oh man, I fucked up. "Not on-," he says. What if the others- "How do you know we're not on the ship?" he says. "Stars," I say. "I can see stars everywhere." Except for those dark spots. Pushed it out. Got it off me. "I can't see anything," he says. "I think I'm blind. We're in one of your force fields, with air?" Blind? "Yeah," I say. Can't be blind. Can't be blind. "Good work," he says. "Where are the others? Who else is hurt?" He's too quiet. There's something wrong. "Can you see anyone?" he says. Dark spots. Two places where there's no stars. Two more I- "Kon?" he says. "Kon, take a deep breath-" Coughing again. Pull the stuff out, push it away. "We have to look," he says. "May be unconscious." More coughs. Keep pulling it out. Don't think. "Kon," he says. "I'm OK now. We have to look. See if anyone else-." Coughing. Doesn't need my help this time. Holding on to me, barely. Have to hold onto him. Have to check it out. Dark spot. Push off, get close to it. It's just a place where there's no stars. No. Moving with us. "Who is it?" he says. "Switch to IR." Should've thought of that. Nothing warm. Just that thing and a big hot blotch outside are warm. And the stars. The stars are warm. "Is there anyone else in here?" he says. "No," I say. "They're all still back on the ship." "How big is your force bubble?" he says. "Twenty feet," I say. "Maybe twenty-five." "Good," he says. "Can you see the ship? It should show in IR like a box with a flare at one end." "Um, no," I say. "What can you see?" he says. "Anything hot with a shape?" "A shape?" I say. "A shape like our ship," he says. Coughs. Don't have to help. "There's a big hot cloud," I say. "Oh," he says. "Did you see what happened?" "I was asleep," I say. "Just getting some shuteye while we decelled from lightspeed. The bang woke me up." "Can't remember that," he says. "Can't remember anything before leaving the fleet." Head injury. Just needs a reminder. "We got an SOS," I say. "Guardian wanted us to radio for someone else to come, but you and Cissie said we should check it out because none of the casualties were in really bad shape. We were on the Cadmus shuttle. You said we had to get Cassie back because she was freakin'. You told me you thought that helping rescue someone might help her." "Freaking before the fight?" he says. "Doesn't sound like her." "Before what fight?" I say. "Fight," he says. "Out by Pluto." "No, freaking after we lost Secret and Cassie got her foot shot off," I say. "Lost Secret," he says. "Yeah," I say. Must have hit his head. That can make you puke. "Did we win?" he says. "Yeah," I say. "Are there other ships with us?" he says. "Did we radio in about the distress call?" "No other ships," I say. "We radioed." "Subspace radio?" he says. "Don't have one," I say. "Ordinary radio." "How far out were we?" he says. "Dunno," I say. "Think Cissie said something about Neptune." Fuck. Something stinks. Concussion doesn't make people do that. He's hurt. Coughing. Get it out of him. Hard to gather it all up. "Kon," he says. "Are you injured?" "No," I say. "You?" "Yes," he says. "Can't see nothing," I say. "Can't make things out clearly in IR." "Do you have a flashlight?" he says. "Don't carry one," I say. "Lost mine when we were evacuating Stargirl," he says. "Got it," I say. Still got my phone. Didn't leave it behind. It's got a light, real puny bulb. "You're trying to use the light on your phone," he says. "Doesn't work," I say. "Battery's dead. Fucking battery's dead." Kal wouldn't say that. Get a grip. Shaking, like with a fever. Not cold in here. He shouldn't be shaking. "Can you feel what's hurt?" I say. "Got your gloves on?" he says. Threwthemawaygotridofthem. "Kon," he says. "Feel my skin." Wet. Sweaty. Greasy, not sticky. No blood, but not OK. "Taste it," he says. "Huh?" I say. "The sweat," he says. "Put some on your tongue." Come on, get a grip. Tastes wrong. Not like salt, like something else. "Blood," I say. "Oh," he says. "You hit your head," I say. "How well can you take hard radiation?" he says. "No biggie," I say. "Long as it isn't the big K." "I think we were caught in an atomic explosion," he says. "Yeah," I say. "But we're OK." "I've got radiation poisoning," he says. "Bull," I say. "You hit your head. You'll see when they come and get us." "They're dead," he says. "Who's dead?" I say. "Everyone on the ship but us," he says. "No," I say. "We were blown out by some kind of explosion and they're looking for us right now and you hit your head and that's why you keep puking and we'll get rescued and they'll fix your eyes. No problemo." "From what you told me, the ship is gone," he says. "Was there anyone on board with shielding or long-distance teleportation ability?" Guardian? No. Dubillex? Serling? No. None of our guys. "Don't think so," I say. "Then even if they survived the blast, they've asphyxiated or frozen to death by now," he says. Cadmus. Not JSA. Didn't want to go on their shuttle. "You don't know that," I say. "You can't see anything." "Yeah," he says. "Maybe I'm wrong about that." Wanted Cadmus. Didn't know the JSA. "So how bad is it?" I say. "Bad," he says. "Can't hold it in, keep trying not to be sick-" Up against me. Hold him up against me. Shivering. Making sounds like day-old kittens Cassie showed me. Can't be happening. Not him. Can't be happening. Do something. What? Do what Cissie- Cissie's- No. Don't know. Couldn't see. Hold him tighter. Not too tight. Hand, through hair. There. There. Can't think of anything to say. "Don't tell Bruce," he says. "Tell him it was quick." Doesn't sound so strong now. Whispering. Was whispering before, now quieter. Shit. Shitshitshit. "Bruce?" I say. "Don't need to breathe?" he says. "What?" I say. "You don't need to breathe," he says. "No," I say. "Need sunlight if I don't have any air." "Oh," he says. "Enough out here?" "Maybe," I say. "I'm not sure. I'm not as strong as Kal." "What if there isn't?" he says. "Kal says I can hibernate," I say. "Go to sleep and stay in stasis." "Done it before?" he says. "No," I say. "Won't get message," he says. Coughing. Worse. Keep taking it out. Use the T. "Hurts," he says. "Eight, nine hours for message to get through. Could get here soon after. Need to find us. Watch in IR for something hot." "Hang in there," I say. "Not so long." "Too long," he says. "They'll-," I say. Rob says the ship is gone. "Name's Tim Drake," he says. "Dad owns Drake Industries in Gotham. Makes-" "Makes what?" I say. "Wire hangers," he says. "Dry cleaning. Getting to my head. Head falling apart." "Come on Rob," I say. "Tim," he says. "Name's Tim." Don't need Tim, need Robin. "Friend," he says. "Stephanie. Brown. Gets my trust funds. Half now, half thirty." "Thirty what?" I say. "Thirty," he says. "Thirty. Thirty years old." "Your girlfriend?" I say. Tana. "Yeah," he says. "Spoiler?" I say. Doesn't answer, just starts shivering again. Had a girlfriend. Died. Burned up in front of me. Smiling at me, then on fire. Burning, burning, screaming, right in front of me. "Tell her," he says. "What?" I say. "Tell her-," he says. "Want her here now. Want dad. Want Bruce. Want to see them." Not good enough. Never good enough. Useless shit grown in a tube. "They're coming," I say. "Keep it together." "Not coming," he says. "No good. Falling apart." "No," I say. "Kon," he says. In my face. Pulled himself up. Can't see him. Just smell blood and puke. Hold him tighter. Not too tight. Shaking. Him or me? "Did fine," he says. "Thank you. For giving me more-" "Tim," I say. Stay with me. Stay with me. They're coming. "Something after?" he says. "They'll fix you," I say. "Fix your eyes. Take the poison out. They'll do it Tim, just keep hanging in there." "Never believed," he says. "Hope I'm wrong." Ship's gone. Serling. Guardian. Dubbilex. Cassie. Anita. Bart. Cissie. Secret. Whole life gone. Tana. Whole life gone. Everyone's gone. No-one left but you. "Respect you," he says. Coughs. Get it out. Use the T. In. Out. "Don't love you," he says. No. Please. "Not that way," he says. "Only like vanilla." Doesn't making sense. Going. Radiation messed up his head. I need you. Don't go. Not you too. Keep going. In. Out. In. Out. "Hurts," he says. "Oh yeah," I say. "Won't hurt after get ice cream," he says. "Vanilla." "Sure", I say. "Count ten?" he says. "Count ten," I say. "One," he says. "Seven. Four." Keep pumping. Have to use the T on that too. In. Out. Beat. Beat. In. Out. Beat. Beat. WhatifIdoit In. Out. Beat. Beat. WhatifIdoitinthewrongorder? In. Out. Beat. Nononothingtopushnothingitsgotloosegottogetitall. Can't get it all. All loose inside. Nothing to push. Makes that sound. Like Tana. My Tana. Tell her my name, my real name, then she burns. She burns and she dies. Makes that sound and they tell me she's dead. Beautiful Tana. Rob. Tim. Make a hole, very small, pointed at the sun. Let the air out. Go where they can't find me. Run away from all those people in Hawaii who want me to come back so they can talk about Tana. Just lie there asleep for a thousand years. Meet up with Cos and Imra and the rest. Get my Legion flight ring back. No. I will not run. Roxy. She's still alive. Hawaii. She's in Hawaii. She's still alive. It's so quiet, now. I'll wait here. Hold him here in the dark until they come. Look for the heat of their ship. Then I'll let him go. But what will I do after that? FIN