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thejusticelounge2012-06-15 12:48 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2012-06-15 12:48 pm
pursuit
“It’s time…” Guy leaned down and gently shook Kyle’s shoulder to wake him. He waited until the younger man was more or less conscious before setting the lantern-construct travel mug of very real coffee down on his night stand: the ultimate environmentally-friendly disposable coffee cup. Ollie would have been pleased with that Lantern solution at least, Guy thought bitterly.
He was already in his Corps uniform and ready for the unpleasant task ahead. They’d timed this as best as they could, by the book but still buying Jason as much time as possible. It was 6:00 a.m., and shortly Ollie would be awakening and reading his messages, including the one Guy had sent him directly as coordinator of the SeRVE program last night after Jason missed his 10:00 p.m. curfew. It was no accident Guy had waited until well after midnight to notify Ollie his charge was missing. He didn’t want to give the League the opportunity to interfere on this one; he and Kyle would bring him back, and no one else.
“Let’s roll, partner,” he coaxed him, straightening once he was sure Kyle wouldn’t roll over and go right back to sleep, and left to wait for him on the roof.
“Mm-hrmff,” Kyle responded, raising his head only enough to allow himself to grab the travel mug he knew Guy had placed on his bedside table. He arched up a bit, and took a few gulps of the hot coffee, opening his eyes just barely enough to glance at the clock. Six am. Naturally. When Guy got like this, he was nothing if not by the book.
And honestly - Kyle hated when Guy was like this, in a way. Not because of Guy himself, but mostly because when Guy was so matter-of-fact it meant the situation was dire. Dire and hitting close to the heart. Kyle hated dire and hitting close to the heart. Still, it was the nature of their job, he told himself, slowly rising out of bed, the Lantern uniform sliding on as he slipped out of his bed. Being a Green Lantern was not exactly all about candy and flowers.
Kyle took to his ablutions first before grabbing the coffee and heading up to the roof where Guy was waiting. He came and stood by his partner, who was ignoring the break of the beach waves, looking instead north. Towards Star City.
“I’m ready,” Kyle said, finishing his coffee and setting the mug on the table they’d set up on the roof. ”Vamos, partner.”
The barest of nods was all the confirmation required before Guy’s ring sparked even more with the power of his will and the light around him glowed brighter. In only moments they were in the air and speeding towards Star City, Guy’s ring locked in on the signal from the tracker he’d placed in Jason’s new laptop before wrapping it back up in the shipping packaging and giving it to him. He’d hoped he’d never have to use it all, much less expected to track it within days of gifting it.
They hit the Star City limits in just under thirty minutes. Guy checked with his ring; the laptop hadn’t moved in around 12 hours, and Jason had been missing for a full 24. The kid had either ditched the laptop, or stopped to spend the night with Roy, probably the latter.
He was already turning in the direction of Ollie’s place, when he realized the beacon wasn’t flashing ahead of them on the miniaturized city map his ring was displaying; it was flashing further to the north, not east. With a muttered curse, Guy slowed himself and hovered in mid-air, double-checking the display and facing the direction of Jason’s tracer.
“He’s not with Roy…” he informed Kyle, his stomach tightening once again before he buried the warring emotions within and detached himself, stopped caring until after their task was done. He knew the location better than he knew even Ollie’s. “He’s at Dinah’s.”
Kyle was following Guy on this one. Honestly, he wasn’t really thinking about where Jason was. At Roy’s, in a hotel, in the sewers below the Opera House for all Kyle really cared. The point was that Jason ran towards the line of fire, towards the place where he’d be most at risk. Survival skills? More like suicidal skills.
No, no wait. No. Now that was a thought Kyle did not want to toy with right now.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that Guy was slowing until he saw Guy’s legs tilt down as he hovered. Kyle slowed beside him, questioning. It wasn’t as if Jason would’ve been able to hide from being tracked. “Guy?” Kyle started, before Guy turned to him, his broad pugnacious face looking even more grim and pale than before.
“He’s at Dinah’s,” Guy said, his voice growly and low.
Kyle blinked. Why would Jason be at…? But then it made sense. Of course. Jason’s modus operandi was to bounce between any sympathetic ear and grab everything he could from them, before inevitably high-tailing it. Kyle was sure Jason had no intention of staying for any long period of time with Dinah, as long as Jason collected Dinah’s sympathy, concern, help, coddling and investment in Jason until the kid contrived some new self-pitying reason to ditch her.
Kyle’s jaw clenched as he stared at Guy. He then started flying again, towards Dinah’s apartment. Kyle turned briefly, nodding with his chin for Guy to keep following. “You…Guy, you talk to her and I’ll circle around the back of her apartment.” Kyle’s voice was soft but tense, trying to keep Guy moving, keep Guy on the task. He took a big sigh. “They probably won’t be expecting us, so. You okay with that, nene?”
Guy was so grateful for having Kyle for a partner at that moment. The kid had worked with him long enough to know when Guy’s powder-keg of a temper needed to be stalled, and when it was time to let the fuse burn down and get the hell out of his way. ”Yeah,” he agreed, once again in a voice devoid of emotion as he followed Kyle towards Dinah’s place, “Sounds good, buddy.”
Just a minute later, and he stood in front of his lover’s apartment door. No one was up at this hour, there was no need to disguise his clothing. Besides, he was Guy Gardner, he didn’t have a secret identity in the first place. A last check of his ring indicated the laptop was ten feet beyond the entryway. With a deep breath, he knocked purposefully just under the peep-hole.
She didn’t get a lot of people knocking on her door at… Dinah glanced at the clock. “Who the hell?” She dragged herself out of bed, heading for the door. It was only once she’d reached the living room that she remembered her guest. “Oh no…”
Dinah rushed forward, shaking Jason’s shoulder. She whispered urgently. “Jason! Wake up. You need to go hide.” But he was too slow in waking and the knocking continued. “Go now! Wait in the garage.”
She could only hope that he moved quickly and silently as she rushed to the door. Quickly fixing her hair, Dinah opened the door a little. “Guy? Wh-what are you doing here so early?” She slipped outside. “And in full costume? I didn’t think you were into roleplay…” She set a hand on his chest. “Not that I’m complaining…”
Jason was awake almost instantly hen Dinah woke him, but he could only blink at her stupidly. Wait in the garage? Who -
Guy? But why would he be here? The stupid warmth at being followed (He cares enough) was quickly overwhelmed by the sharp vicious need to get out.
he looked around wildly and then headed for the garage, grabbing his backpack along the way. Get out, his mind said.
Stupid, he shouldn’t have slept. He shouldn’t have let Dinah convince him to stay - he should have just kept going - he should have avoided Star City altogether, and just gone gone straight to canada, or something, or down south. He should have left the state.
He considered his bike, and then had to leave it, too noisy, and waiting for the garage door to open would take too long.There was a slim possibility that Guy was here just to talk to Dinah, but something told him it wasn’t.
Leave out the back? Yes. Yes leave out the back, he thought, going for the door. He didn’t want to see the - anger? Disappointment? (but why would Guy be disappointed in HIM, he hadn’t done anything worth disappointment, he hadn’t failed like he’d failed Bruce. He hadn’t fucked up yet like he’d fucked up with Ollie)
Kyle left Guy to deal with Dinah and circled slowly around the back, to the sliding door that entered into the kitchen. He stayed floating, about six feet up from the ground, his arms folded. It was still early enough that no one would be able to spot him, not around back of the building.
Kyle scanned the rest of Dinah’s place, but there were no other likely exits. Not unless Jay decided to blare out with his bike, which would be a hella stupid move. No, better to sneak out on foot. Plus, he anticipated neither Dinah nor Jason knew that Kyle’d come along with Guy.
“Right on time,” Kyle murmured, seeing the back door slowly slide open. Kyle held out his ringed fist, and a thin smooth wall drew itself swiftly around Jason as he exited. He barely had time to react.
“Hola, Todd,” Kyle said, looking down at him from on high.
Jason cursed, jerking, trying to run back - and hit a thin green wall. “… Fuck,” He said, looking up at Kyle and.
It was difficult to tell what his expression was, backlit and all that, but Jason wasn’t going to let that stop him.
he yanked out his grapple-gun, shot it up, towards another roof.
Kyle used a green light Templar to deflect the grapple with its shield, and then the Templar dived in and pulled the gun out of Jason’s hands. Kyle created more green light Templars to crowd Jason inside his green cylinder, and they frisked him, retrieving all of the weaponry Jason had stashed about his person. Kyle knew it probably felt claustrophobic, but the point wasn’t exactly to try and make Jason feel comfortable right now. Just keep him thrown off just enough to be divested of his arsenal.
“Ring, scan for any further hidden weapons that I might have missed,” Kyle said finally, and the ring did as instructed.
Jason yelped but he couldn’t fight so many hands, so many people glowing green knights far bigger and more numerous than he coud handle.
Why the FUCK was Rayner doing this? It wasn’t like he was going to attack anyone, he just had to get away. “The hell Rayner!”
“The hell?” Kyle repeated and flew down, the Templars dissolving as Kyle made the thin green wall see-through. He landed on the outside and stuck his hands in, not touching Jason but using enough green light force to get Jason’s hands behind him to put Green Lantern heavy duty handcuffs. “The hell?” Kyle said again, not believing just how indignant Jason sounded. Like he still couldn’t comprehend that he was doing anything wrong, despite blatantly trying to run, and possibly getting poor Dinah in on this as his accomplice.
The Kate Spencer in the back of his mind piped up again, Remember ese. The chiquito only has the barest of social skills or mental processes. He can’t understand anything ever, beyond the confines of his own chingada’d mind.
Well, fair enough, Kate-conscience.
She was taken aback by the coldness in his voice, more so than the shield he put between them. But it had been several minutes already. By now, Jason would be blocks away from her home and well hidden. So she stepped back, her wrists still held by him and toed the door open. Dinah backed into the building, with Guy close behind her. Other than the blanket on the couch, there was no visible proof anyone else had been there. “No one’s here, Guy.” Which wasn’t a lie if Jason escaped.
A quick survey of her living room and entrance told him all he needed to know in those few moments. The laptop, which his ring had detected as being almost directly in line with the front door and about ten feet from it, had been removed. Guy was actually relieved to see the blanket on the couch; at least Jason and Dinah’s separate betrayals didn’t include them sleeping with one another last night.
He lifted his ring closer to his face, “Kyle, he’s rabbiting…”
Kyle heard Guy’s voice buzzing out all gravelly from his ring. “Not to worry, Guy. I got him. Bringing him around now.”
At this news, and seeing over Dinah’s shoulder Kyle re-entering the apartment and guiding Jason ahead of him in cuffs, Guy lowered his eyes to her face. He made no effort now to hide his deep disappointment in her, but said nothing as his cold-as-stone expression slipped back into place. “Good job, partner,” he told him, holding Dinah’s expression another long moment before he released her hands.
The thin green wall dissolved and Kyle finally took hold of Jason by his neck and the handcuffs, and he tapped gently at Jasons ankles with his boots. “Move it, vato. Let’s get this over and done with.” Kyle walked Jason back through Dinah’s house, back to where Dinah and Guy were standing.
Jason struggled, but there was really little he could do against the glowing green … well, everyting. If he had had time and distance he could have gotten away, but not with - this.
“Yeah the hell, is the right words, Rayner-!”
And Kyle being - well, fierce and distant and something like anger? Not anger? Something colder, maybe and Jason didn’t like that. He didn’t like the feelings he was seeing in Kyle’s face, and it hurt even MORE that Kyle was force-marching him back through the house like a convicted criminal.
Like he’d been doing the wrong fucking thing.
When he hadn’t. He’d been trying to do the fucking right thing, finally, enough to satisfy everyone and now Guy and Kyle were - fuck Dinah - Dinah was in trouble now and he hadn’t meant to implicate her.
He shouldn’t have stayed. He should have just kept going, gone from the city and kept moving out of the state. He should have just gotten on a fucking plane and gone.
The burning sting of tears in his eyes was from anger and frustration.
Somewhere behind his stony expression it pained Guy to see Jason like this, on the edge of tears. He felt the temptation to back out, to pretend this hadn’t played out. He could e-mail Ollie and claim Jason came back on his own, or had a reason for missing curfew. Hell, Dinah was the new Chairwoman of the Steering Committee, and it was clear she would take Jason’s side; they could just sweep this under the rug like any corrupt cop might do for a small payoff…only Guy could do it for free.
And then be unable to look himself in the mirror tomorrow. He waited until they stopped, and he asked Kyle briefly if Jason had been searched for weapons yet. At Kyle’s nod, he took a deep, regret-filled breath and looked Jason in the eye.
“Jason Todd, as a duly-appointed law-enforcement agent of the United Nations, I hereby place you under arrest in accordance with UN act 1543A (2012), for violation of SeRVE regulation…” he paused.
“…104 (1)(a),” Kyle provided somberly.
“…Regulation 104 (1)(a): taking unauthorized and/or unmonitored leave,” Guy continued. “You retain all the rights applicable to you under California State Law, the United States Constitution, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you wish to be informed of these rights, someone back on the Watchtower will explain them to you as required.” He reached out a hand to Jason’s upper arm, and gripped it firmly but not forcefully. “…Let’s go…”
She stood in stunned silence as these charges were spoken. The moment he reached out to grab Jason, something in Dinah snapped. She stepped forward, shoving his hand away. “What the hell do you mean, he’s under arrest?!”
Dinah wrapped her arms around Jason, despite the thin green field Kyle had kept around him. “He was gone less than 24 hours and you’re arresting him? He did nothing wrong by coming here! He was with me the entire time and for all you know, I might have been trying to get him calmed down enough to go back!” Which, maybe wasn’t the first thing on her mind other than keeping him from disappearing into thin air but she’d have gotten there eventually. “I won’t let you arrest him.”
“Ma’am - I mean -Din - I mean ayyy - Black Canary,” Kyle didn’t hesitate to wrench her arms off of Jason. “Step back, please.” Trying not to think of the way he was actually manhandling the goddamn Black Canary, Kyle quickly nudged the young ex-Robin over to Guy, who caught and held Jason steady. A quick glance at his partner, and Kyle could see Guy wasn’t paying attention Jason at all. He was staring straight at Dinah. And he wasn’t even bothering to mask the shock on his face.
Kyle stepped between Dinah and Jason, using her restricted arms to pull her up close as he leaned in to her and hissed in her ear. “Dios Dinah - do you actually think this is EASY for Guy? Don’t make this harder for him, dammit.”
Dinah glared at Kyle, as much venom in her voice as she could put into a whisper. “If it’s so damn hard for him, why doesn’t he just let it go? Take Jason back but not under arrest? For God’s sake, Kyle! He didn’t do anything wrong! He’s had so many problems with people like Ollie that he just fucking wants someplace he’ll be accepted.” Now she was crying and it had nothing to do with the firm grip he held on her arms.
“Chico… please. Don’t arrest him.” She looked to Guy and then Jason but their faces just cut into her more. Dinah collapsed, her arms still held up by Kyle as everything hit her all at once. All she’d wanted was to keep Jason from running away but she’d failed. She trapped him here, leading to his arrest and now she’d hurt Guy, and even Kyle, too. Neither were likely to forgive or trust her again. She sat against Kyle, sobbing.
Guy couldn’t believe Dinah was doing this. She was entirely out of line, even if she couldn’t see the bigger picture. Taking Jason’s side was one thing, but she was showing all the emotion over how hard this was for all concerned, emotion that was only getting in the way of what had to be done. Hell, as far as the Guardians were concerned, he specialized in that, doing the crappy things that others didn’t want to dirty their hands with. Couldn’t she see that this was Jason’s only hope to actually turn himself around? That Jason needed this?
All he could do was shake his head in quiet refusal at her plea, and then look to his partner. Kyle would make sure she was all right before they left her completely alone. ”I’ll wait for you up top,” he told him, and then guided Jason silently out the front door.
Kyle just nodded wordlessly at Guy, as he held Dinah upright. He knew Guy couldn’t handle Dinah not like this. Probably not vice versa either. Dinah had never seen Guy this way, and the shock of that as well as Jason’s arrest seemed like too much for her to bear.
He walked her over to her couch and sat her down. After a moment’s consideration, he took a seat next to her. “You…” Kyle tried to figure out how and what to say to her. “You gotta understand Dinah, Guy and I - we’re not doing anything wrong. We’re doing everything right. Taking Jason into custody is the law. It’s right. We have to do right because…” Kyle took her hands, trying to get her to look at him. “Because we broke the rules enough for Jason and all he did was take advantage of that. He doesn’t care how we treat him, if Guy and I treat him well, if we treat him neutrally, if we treat him badly; it’ll all look the same to Jason in the end. Like only his actions are right and every one else is wrong. That’s how he sees things. The kid isn’t well. He needs help.”
Kyle didn’t like saying any of this. Frankly, Kyle didn’t want to talk about any of it. He was so sick and tired of his life revolving around the Tela Novella de Jason Todd. But for Dinah’s sake and for Guy’s sake, Kyle hoped he was able to make sense to Dinah.
He nudged her knee with his own. “Comprende, nena?”
She leaned into him when they sat down, tired and hurt and confused. “No… No comprende… Dammit, Kyle. This… none of this makes sense. Just, none of it. Arresting him is wrong. He’s a fucking kid. And one who’s been following the rules up in the Tower. He helped… Sort of helped in the Nanobot fiasco with the Manhunters…”
She had heard about Kyle an Kate’s venture across the galaxy and the resulting battle with the Manhunters. It wasn’t yet clear if they came to Earth after the two Leaguers but it would not have been a stretch to say so. As far as she knew, there hadn’t been more issues with Jason since. Dinah opened her mouth to argue again but gave up. Kyle and Guy had the law to stand behind for now, but when the Steering Committee met, she had every intent to fight for Jason.
“Forget it. I can’t stop you now anyways.” She pulled her hands away from his, moving to her feet. “Go to Guy. I’ll see you in the meeting hall.”
Jason hadn’t even dared to look at Dinah - but when Guy had said he was fucking arresting him his mind just stopped.
He wasn’t even SURE he was feeling anything. Other than this huge crack in his - world?
No, not like that. It felt just as bad as when he’d come back and Bruce would rather put a batarang through his throat than take him back. Would rather let the fucker roam free than even consider just - taking him out.
Stunned nothing-feeling. He didn’t even fight when Kyle’d pushed him to Guy and Guy’d took him up, out.
The sprawl of LA beneath them both was already tinted with the glow of morning sun, like the view from one of the few sky scrapers that LA had. Like the view from a high-rise apartment block in Gotham.
Jason felt sick.
The wind was higher up here, ridiculously cold after being at mostly streetlevel in Los Angeles’ bright streets, and Guy was - just-
There.
cop-like.
Like a fucking cop.
There was the child’s voice, the one that never actually left Crime Alley, the one that had never been picked up by Batman and taken to the Manor.
And the child’s voice was This is why we don’t trust a cop. This is why we don’t trust no one.
“Dinah was trying to make me go back,” he said, dully, staring at the ground. It would be so easy to just take a few more steps forward.
How come it was so easy to do the stupid thing, and when you tried to do the right thing, you got your heart broken?
“Weren’t. Her fault. How’d you find - oh. The laptop. Of course.” Of course the laptop. Sentiment, again.
He should have. Left it behind. If it had been given to him by Batman, he would have left it behind because he wouldn’t even know what the tracer LOOKED like. But it was Guy. He hadn’t thought he’d be like Batman.
Was that all I was to you? A convict? I thought you were different.
Just like Batman, then.
Things never worked out when he tried to do the right thing.
“So how come ya didn’t come back?” Guy asked quietly in the dawn air, watching Jason closely, “Could she have talked ya into it?”
Jason shrugged, not looking at Guy. Couldn’t look at Guy anymore. “No. She couldn’t have. I thought it was for the best.”
Yeah, look what happened when he tried to do what he thought was right. For the brief moments when he realised that Guy and Kyle had come for him, there had been a little glow of they really cared?
Except it wasn’t.
“Not comin’ back was yer second mistake, Jason.” Guy kept his voice low and peered over the platform’s edge, wondering what was keeping Kyle.
“I dunno, looks like it shows peoples’ real colours,” Jason said, a little bitterly. There wasn’t anything he could do to pick THESE cuffs - they were solid green constructs.
Maybe he could just walk off the edge.
He exhaled and twisted a little, pressing his shoulder against his mask, flipping the lenses in his still-on mask back down, so his eyes were blanked out and white.
Kyle emerged from the house with three cans of Fresca and flew up to join Guy and Jason. Jason was looking so forlorn and pathetic. And yet still a little…edged. Kyle figured as much. He pushed aside his sympathy for Jason. After all, Jason certainly had none to spare for Kyle.
“It’s all good Guy,” Kyle said, with a very significant look at Guy. If Guy registered Kyle’s slight inclination of his head towards Dinah’s place, he didn’t acknowledge it. Still, Kyle knew his partner noticed everything, when he chose to.
The Lanterns had opted for flying back up to the Watchtower, for whatever reason. They both thought it felt right, after making an arrest like this. They took the sullen Jason to the brig and Kyle took a few steps back, letting Guy handle the rest.
Kyle sent messages to Ollie and Kate.
He was already in his Corps uniform and ready for the unpleasant task ahead. They’d timed this as best as they could, by the book but still buying Jason as much time as possible. It was 6:00 a.m., and shortly Ollie would be awakening and reading his messages, including the one Guy had sent him directly as coordinator of the SeRVE program last night after Jason missed his 10:00 p.m. curfew. It was no accident Guy had waited until well after midnight to notify Ollie his charge was missing. He didn’t want to give the League the opportunity to interfere on this one; he and Kyle would bring him back, and no one else.
“Let’s roll, partner,” he coaxed him, straightening once he was sure Kyle wouldn’t roll over and go right back to sleep, and left to wait for him on the roof.
“Mm-hrmff,” Kyle responded, raising his head only enough to allow himself to grab the travel mug he knew Guy had placed on his bedside table. He arched up a bit, and took a few gulps of the hot coffee, opening his eyes just barely enough to glance at the clock. Six am. Naturally. When Guy got like this, he was nothing if not by the book.
And honestly - Kyle hated when Guy was like this, in a way. Not because of Guy himself, but mostly because when Guy was so matter-of-fact it meant the situation was dire. Dire and hitting close to the heart. Kyle hated dire and hitting close to the heart. Still, it was the nature of their job, he told himself, slowly rising out of bed, the Lantern uniform sliding on as he slipped out of his bed. Being a Green Lantern was not exactly all about candy and flowers.
Kyle took to his ablutions first before grabbing the coffee and heading up to the roof where Guy was waiting. He came and stood by his partner, who was ignoring the break of the beach waves, looking instead north. Towards Star City.
“I’m ready,” Kyle said, finishing his coffee and setting the mug on the table they’d set up on the roof. ”Vamos, partner.”
The barest of nods was all the confirmation required before Guy’s ring sparked even more with the power of his will and the light around him glowed brighter. In only moments they were in the air and speeding towards Star City, Guy’s ring locked in on the signal from the tracker he’d placed in Jason’s new laptop before wrapping it back up in the shipping packaging and giving it to him. He’d hoped he’d never have to use it all, much less expected to track it within days of gifting it.
They hit the Star City limits in just under thirty minutes. Guy checked with his ring; the laptop hadn’t moved in around 12 hours, and Jason had been missing for a full 24. The kid had either ditched the laptop, or stopped to spend the night with Roy, probably the latter.
He was already turning in the direction of Ollie’s place, when he realized the beacon wasn’t flashing ahead of them on the miniaturized city map his ring was displaying; it was flashing further to the north, not east. With a muttered curse, Guy slowed himself and hovered in mid-air, double-checking the display and facing the direction of Jason’s tracer.
“He’s not with Roy…” he informed Kyle, his stomach tightening once again before he buried the warring emotions within and detached himself, stopped caring until after their task was done. He knew the location better than he knew even Ollie’s. “He’s at Dinah’s.”
Kyle was following Guy on this one. Honestly, he wasn’t really thinking about where Jason was. At Roy’s, in a hotel, in the sewers below the Opera House for all Kyle really cared. The point was that Jason ran towards the line of fire, towards the place where he’d be most at risk. Survival skills? More like suicidal skills.
No, no wait. No. Now that was a thought Kyle did not want to toy with right now.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that Guy was slowing until he saw Guy’s legs tilt down as he hovered. Kyle slowed beside him, questioning. It wasn’t as if Jason would’ve been able to hide from being tracked. “Guy?” Kyle started, before Guy turned to him, his broad pugnacious face looking even more grim and pale than before.
“He’s at Dinah’s,” Guy said, his voice growly and low.
Kyle blinked. Why would Jason be at…? But then it made sense. Of course. Jason’s modus operandi was to bounce between any sympathetic ear and grab everything he could from them, before inevitably high-tailing it. Kyle was sure Jason had no intention of staying for any long period of time with Dinah, as long as Jason collected Dinah’s sympathy, concern, help, coddling and investment in Jason until the kid contrived some new self-pitying reason to ditch her.
Kyle’s jaw clenched as he stared at Guy. He then started flying again, towards Dinah’s apartment. Kyle turned briefly, nodding with his chin for Guy to keep following. “You…Guy, you talk to her and I’ll circle around the back of her apartment.” Kyle’s voice was soft but tense, trying to keep Guy moving, keep Guy on the task. He took a big sigh. “They probably won’t be expecting us, so. You okay with that, nene?”
Guy was so grateful for having Kyle for a partner at that moment. The kid had worked with him long enough to know when Guy’s powder-keg of a temper needed to be stalled, and when it was time to let the fuse burn down and get the hell out of his way. ”Yeah,” he agreed, once again in a voice devoid of emotion as he followed Kyle towards Dinah’s place, “Sounds good, buddy.”
Just a minute later, and he stood in front of his lover’s apartment door. No one was up at this hour, there was no need to disguise his clothing. Besides, he was Guy Gardner, he didn’t have a secret identity in the first place. A last check of his ring indicated the laptop was ten feet beyond the entryway. With a deep breath, he knocked purposefully just under the peep-hole.
She didn’t get a lot of people knocking on her door at… Dinah glanced at the clock. “Who the hell?” She dragged herself out of bed, heading for the door. It was only once she’d reached the living room that she remembered her guest. “Oh no…”
Dinah rushed forward, shaking Jason’s shoulder. She whispered urgently. “Jason! Wake up. You need to go hide.” But he was too slow in waking and the knocking continued. “Go now! Wait in the garage.”
She could only hope that he moved quickly and silently as she rushed to the door. Quickly fixing her hair, Dinah opened the door a little. “Guy? Wh-what are you doing here so early?” She slipped outside. “And in full costume? I didn’t think you were into roleplay…” She set a hand on his chest. “Not that I’m complaining…”
Jason was awake almost instantly hen Dinah woke him, but he could only blink at her stupidly. Wait in the garage? Who -
Guy? But why would he be here? The stupid warmth at being followed (He cares enough) was quickly overwhelmed by the sharp vicious need to get out.
he looked around wildly and then headed for the garage, grabbing his backpack along the way. Get out, his mind said.
Stupid, he shouldn’t have slept. He shouldn’t have let Dinah convince him to stay - he should have just kept going - he should have avoided Star City altogether, and just gone gone straight to canada, or something, or down south. He should have left the state.
He considered his bike, and then had to leave it, too noisy, and waiting for the garage door to open would take too long.There was a slim possibility that Guy was here just to talk to Dinah, but something told him it wasn’t.
Leave out the back? Yes. Yes leave out the back, he thought, going for the door. He didn’t want to see the - anger? Disappointment? (but why would Guy be disappointed in HIM, he hadn’t done anything worth disappointment, he hadn’t failed like he’d failed Bruce. He hadn’t fucked up yet like he’d fucked up with Ollie)
Kyle left Guy to deal with Dinah and circled slowly around the back, to the sliding door that entered into the kitchen. He stayed floating, about six feet up from the ground, his arms folded. It was still early enough that no one would be able to spot him, not around back of the building.
Kyle scanned the rest of Dinah’s place, but there were no other likely exits. Not unless Jay decided to blare out with his bike, which would be a hella stupid move. No, better to sneak out on foot. Plus, he anticipated neither Dinah nor Jason knew that Kyle’d come along with Guy.
“Right on time,” Kyle murmured, seeing the back door slowly slide open. Kyle held out his ringed fist, and a thin smooth wall drew itself swiftly around Jason as he exited. He barely had time to react.
“Hola, Todd,” Kyle said, looking down at him from on high.
Jason cursed, jerking, trying to run back - and hit a thin green wall. “… Fuck,” He said, looking up at Kyle and.
It was difficult to tell what his expression was, backlit and all that, but Jason wasn’t going to let that stop him.
he yanked out his grapple-gun, shot it up, towards another roof.
Kyle used a green light Templar to deflect the grapple with its shield, and then the Templar dived in and pulled the gun out of Jason’s hands. Kyle created more green light Templars to crowd Jason inside his green cylinder, and they frisked him, retrieving all of the weaponry Jason had stashed about his person. Kyle knew it probably felt claustrophobic, but the point wasn’t exactly to try and make Jason feel comfortable right now. Just keep him thrown off just enough to be divested of his arsenal.
“Ring, scan for any further hidden weapons that I might have missed,” Kyle said finally, and the ring did as instructed.
Jason yelped but he couldn’t fight so many hands, so many people glowing green knights far bigger and more numerous than he coud handle.
Why the FUCK was Rayner doing this? It wasn’t like he was going to attack anyone, he just had to get away. “The hell Rayner!”
“The hell?” Kyle repeated and flew down, the Templars dissolving as Kyle made the thin green wall see-through. He landed on the outside and stuck his hands in, not touching Jason but using enough green light force to get Jason’s hands behind him to put Green Lantern heavy duty handcuffs. “The hell?” Kyle said again, not believing just how indignant Jason sounded. Like he still couldn’t comprehend that he was doing anything wrong, despite blatantly trying to run, and possibly getting poor Dinah in on this as his accomplice.
The Kate Spencer in the back of his mind piped up again, Remember ese. The chiquito only has the barest of social skills or mental processes. He can’t understand anything ever, beyond the confines of his own chingada’d mind.
Well, fair enough, Kate-conscience.
She was taken aback by the coldness in his voice, more so than the shield he put between them. But it had been several minutes already. By now, Jason would be blocks away from her home and well hidden. So she stepped back, her wrists still held by him and toed the door open. Dinah backed into the building, with Guy close behind her. Other than the blanket on the couch, there was no visible proof anyone else had been there. “No one’s here, Guy.” Which wasn’t a lie if Jason escaped.
A quick survey of her living room and entrance told him all he needed to know in those few moments. The laptop, which his ring had detected as being almost directly in line with the front door and about ten feet from it, had been removed. Guy was actually relieved to see the blanket on the couch; at least Jason and Dinah’s separate betrayals didn’t include them sleeping with one another last night.
He lifted his ring closer to his face, “Kyle, he’s rabbiting…”
Kyle heard Guy’s voice buzzing out all gravelly from his ring. “Not to worry, Guy. I got him. Bringing him around now.”
At this news, and seeing over Dinah’s shoulder Kyle re-entering the apartment and guiding Jason ahead of him in cuffs, Guy lowered his eyes to her face. He made no effort now to hide his deep disappointment in her, but said nothing as his cold-as-stone expression slipped back into place. “Good job, partner,” he told him, holding Dinah’s expression another long moment before he released her hands.
The thin green wall dissolved and Kyle finally took hold of Jason by his neck and the handcuffs, and he tapped gently at Jasons ankles with his boots. “Move it, vato. Let’s get this over and done with.” Kyle walked Jason back through Dinah’s house, back to where Dinah and Guy were standing.
Jason struggled, but there was really little he could do against the glowing green … well, everyting. If he had had time and distance he could have gotten away, but not with - this.
“Yeah the hell, is the right words, Rayner-!”
And Kyle being - well, fierce and distant and something like anger? Not anger? Something colder, maybe and Jason didn’t like that. He didn’t like the feelings he was seeing in Kyle’s face, and it hurt even MORE that Kyle was force-marching him back through the house like a convicted criminal.
Like he’d been doing the wrong fucking thing.
When he hadn’t. He’d been trying to do the fucking right thing, finally, enough to satisfy everyone and now Guy and Kyle were - fuck Dinah - Dinah was in trouble now and he hadn’t meant to implicate her.
He shouldn’t have stayed. He should have just kept going, gone from the city and kept moving out of the state. He should have just gotten on a fucking plane and gone.
The burning sting of tears in his eyes was from anger and frustration.
Somewhere behind his stony expression it pained Guy to see Jason like this, on the edge of tears. He felt the temptation to back out, to pretend this hadn’t played out. He could e-mail Ollie and claim Jason came back on his own, or had a reason for missing curfew. Hell, Dinah was the new Chairwoman of the Steering Committee, and it was clear she would take Jason’s side; they could just sweep this under the rug like any corrupt cop might do for a small payoff…only Guy could do it for free.
And then be unable to look himself in the mirror tomorrow. He waited until they stopped, and he asked Kyle briefly if Jason had been searched for weapons yet. At Kyle’s nod, he took a deep, regret-filled breath and looked Jason in the eye.
“Jason Todd, as a duly-appointed law-enforcement agent of the United Nations, I hereby place you under arrest in accordance with UN act 1543A (2012), for violation of SeRVE regulation…” he paused.
“…104 (1)(a),” Kyle provided somberly.
“…Regulation 104 (1)(a): taking unauthorized and/or unmonitored leave,” Guy continued. “You retain all the rights applicable to you under California State Law, the United States Constitution, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you wish to be informed of these rights, someone back on the Watchtower will explain them to you as required.” He reached out a hand to Jason’s upper arm, and gripped it firmly but not forcefully. “…Let’s go…”
She stood in stunned silence as these charges were spoken. The moment he reached out to grab Jason, something in Dinah snapped. She stepped forward, shoving his hand away. “What the hell do you mean, he’s under arrest?!”
Dinah wrapped her arms around Jason, despite the thin green field Kyle had kept around him. “He was gone less than 24 hours and you’re arresting him? He did nothing wrong by coming here! He was with me the entire time and for all you know, I might have been trying to get him calmed down enough to go back!” Which, maybe wasn’t the first thing on her mind other than keeping him from disappearing into thin air but she’d have gotten there eventually. “I won’t let you arrest him.”
“Ma’am - I mean -Din - I mean ayyy - Black Canary,” Kyle didn’t hesitate to wrench her arms off of Jason. “Step back, please.” Trying not to think of the way he was actually manhandling the goddamn Black Canary, Kyle quickly nudged the young ex-Robin over to Guy, who caught and held Jason steady. A quick glance at his partner, and Kyle could see Guy wasn’t paying attention Jason at all. He was staring straight at Dinah. And he wasn’t even bothering to mask the shock on his face.
Kyle stepped between Dinah and Jason, using her restricted arms to pull her up close as he leaned in to her and hissed in her ear. “Dios Dinah - do you actually think this is EASY for Guy? Don’t make this harder for him, dammit.”
Dinah glared at Kyle, as much venom in her voice as she could put into a whisper. “If it’s so damn hard for him, why doesn’t he just let it go? Take Jason back but not under arrest? For God’s sake, Kyle! He didn’t do anything wrong! He’s had so many problems with people like Ollie that he just fucking wants someplace he’ll be accepted.” Now she was crying and it had nothing to do with the firm grip he held on her arms.
“Chico… please. Don’t arrest him.” She looked to Guy and then Jason but their faces just cut into her more. Dinah collapsed, her arms still held up by Kyle as everything hit her all at once. All she’d wanted was to keep Jason from running away but she’d failed. She trapped him here, leading to his arrest and now she’d hurt Guy, and even Kyle, too. Neither were likely to forgive or trust her again. She sat against Kyle, sobbing.
Guy couldn’t believe Dinah was doing this. She was entirely out of line, even if she couldn’t see the bigger picture. Taking Jason’s side was one thing, but she was showing all the emotion over how hard this was for all concerned, emotion that was only getting in the way of what had to be done. Hell, as far as the Guardians were concerned, he specialized in that, doing the crappy things that others didn’t want to dirty their hands with. Couldn’t she see that this was Jason’s only hope to actually turn himself around? That Jason needed this?
All he could do was shake his head in quiet refusal at her plea, and then look to his partner. Kyle would make sure she was all right before they left her completely alone. ”I’ll wait for you up top,” he told him, and then guided Jason silently out the front door.
Kyle just nodded wordlessly at Guy, as he held Dinah upright. He knew Guy couldn’t handle Dinah not like this. Probably not vice versa either. Dinah had never seen Guy this way, and the shock of that as well as Jason’s arrest seemed like too much for her to bear.
He walked her over to her couch and sat her down. After a moment’s consideration, he took a seat next to her. “You…” Kyle tried to figure out how and what to say to her. “You gotta understand Dinah, Guy and I - we’re not doing anything wrong. We’re doing everything right. Taking Jason into custody is the law. It’s right. We have to do right because…” Kyle took her hands, trying to get her to look at him. “Because we broke the rules enough for Jason and all he did was take advantage of that. He doesn’t care how we treat him, if Guy and I treat him well, if we treat him neutrally, if we treat him badly; it’ll all look the same to Jason in the end. Like only his actions are right and every one else is wrong. That’s how he sees things. The kid isn’t well. He needs help.”
Kyle didn’t like saying any of this. Frankly, Kyle didn’t want to talk about any of it. He was so sick and tired of his life revolving around the Tela Novella de Jason Todd. But for Dinah’s sake and for Guy’s sake, Kyle hoped he was able to make sense to Dinah.
He nudged her knee with his own. “Comprende, nena?”
She leaned into him when they sat down, tired and hurt and confused. “No… No comprende… Dammit, Kyle. This… none of this makes sense. Just, none of it. Arresting him is wrong. He’s a fucking kid. And one who’s been following the rules up in the Tower. He helped… Sort of helped in the Nanobot fiasco with the Manhunters…”
She had heard about Kyle an Kate’s venture across the galaxy and the resulting battle with the Manhunters. It wasn’t yet clear if they came to Earth after the two Leaguers but it would not have been a stretch to say so. As far as she knew, there hadn’t been more issues with Jason since. Dinah opened her mouth to argue again but gave up. Kyle and Guy had the law to stand behind for now, but when the Steering Committee met, she had every intent to fight for Jason.
“Forget it. I can’t stop you now anyways.” She pulled her hands away from his, moving to her feet. “Go to Guy. I’ll see you in the meeting hall.”
Jason hadn’t even dared to look at Dinah - but when Guy had said he was fucking arresting him his mind just stopped.
He wasn’t even SURE he was feeling anything. Other than this huge crack in his - world?
No, not like that. It felt just as bad as when he’d come back and Bruce would rather put a batarang through his throat than take him back. Would rather let the fucker roam free than even consider just - taking him out.
Stunned nothing-feeling. He didn’t even fight when Kyle’d pushed him to Guy and Guy’d took him up, out.
The sprawl of LA beneath them both was already tinted with the glow of morning sun, like the view from one of the few sky scrapers that LA had. Like the view from a high-rise apartment block in Gotham.
Jason felt sick.
The wind was higher up here, ridiculously cold after being at mostly streetlevel in Los Angeles’ bright streets, and Guy was - just-
There.
cop-like.
Like a fucking cop.
There was the child’s voice, the one that never actually left Crime Alley, the one that had never been picked up by Batman and taken to the Manor.
And the child’s voice was This is why we don’t trust a cop. This is why we don’t trust no one.
“Dinah was trying to make me go back,” he said, dully, staring at the ground. It would be so easy to just take a few more steps forward.
How come it was so easy to do the stupid thing, and when you tried to do the right thing, you got your heart broken?
“Weren’t. Her fault. How’d you find - oh. The laptop. Of course.” Of course the laptop. Sentiment, again.
He should have. Left it behind. If it had been given to him by Batman, he would have left it behind because he wouldn’t even know what the tracer LOOKED like. But it was Guy. He hadn’t thought he’d be like Batman.
Was that all I was to you? A convict? I thought you were different.
Just like Batman, then.
Things never worked out when he tried to do the right thing.
“So how come ya didn’t come back?” Guy asked quietly in the dawn air, watching Jason closely, “Could she have talked ya into it?”
Jason shrugged, not looking at Guy. Couldn’t look at Guy anymore. “No. She couldn’t have. I thought it was for the best.”
Yeah, look what happened when he tried to do what he thought was right. For the brief moments when he realised that Guy and Kyle had come for him, there had been a little glow of they really cared?
Except it wasn’t.
“Not comin’ back was yer second mistake, Jason.” Guy kept his voice low and peered over the platform’s edge, wondering what was keeping Kyle.
“I dunno, looks like it shows peoples’ real colours,” Jason said, a little bitterly. There wasn’t anything he could do to pick THESE cuffs - they were solid green constructs.
Maybe he could just walk off the edge.
He exhaled and twisted a little, pressing his shoulder against his mask, flipping the lenses in his still-on mask back down, so his eyes were blanked out and white.
Kyle emerged from the house with three cans of Fresca and flew up to join Guy and Jason. Jason was looking so forlorn and pathetic. And yet still a little…edged. Kyle figured as much. He pushed aside his sympathy for Jason. After all, Jason certainly had none to spare for Kyle.
“It’s all good Guy,” Kyle said, with a very significant look at Guy. If Guy registered Kyle’s slight inclination of his head towards Dinah’s place, he didn’t acknowledge it. Still, Kyle knew his partner noticed everything, when he chose to.
The Lanterns had opted for flying back up to the Watchtower, for whatever reason. They both thought it felt right, after making an arrest like this. They took the sullen Jason to the brig and Kyle took a few steps back, letting Guy handle the rest.
Kyle sent messages to Ollie and Kate.