welcome to the justice lounge

Increasing his speed, Guy was through the airlock and back in the Watchtower in minutes. When he reached the Monitoring hub, he was relieved it was J’onn J’onzz stationed there. He quickly explained the death threat that had arrived for Dinah, and that he’d convinced her up here for her safety, but now something had drawn her out, back to Earth, alone, and she wasn’t answering her communicator.

“It may be just as well, perhaps,” J’onn replied, sounding concerned as his hands flew over the controls. ”I no longer feel the Watchtower may be a safe refuge, Guy. The children are being evacuated, and I feel we should do the same with the civilians. At least two of the children received a message from an unknown source stating they should remove themselves from the Tower immediately.”

“What about SeRVE members?” Guy asked, “Are they being evacuated?”

It didn’t take a Martian’s telepathic skills to pick up on Guy’s concern for one SeRVE member in particular. ”Go. I will search for Black Canary. If you have somewhere safe to take Jason Todd, then do so. I am sure the others will understand, given the circumstances.”

“Thanks J’onn,” Guy said gratefully, “I’ll get him ready to leave and be back in a few minutes.”

( so i lit a fire )

To: GLGardner@jl.com
From: oliver.queen@queenindustries.com

Subject: Alert

Gardner -

The Eden Corps is targeting anybody close to me. I know Hal’s off doing space Lantern work right now so he’s hopefully out of their reach, but if you could find a way to let him know so he’s not ambushed when he gets back earthside, I would appreciate it.

B is upgrading my home security. Hal needs to know that too.

Thanks,
Ollie

To: oliver.queen@queenindustries.com
From: GLGardner@jl.com

Subject: Re: Alert

Attachments: pic1.jpg, pic2.jpg

Ollie, am I glad to hear from you, I was just about to contact you. These guys have targeted Dinah. I got a package left outside Warriors, I attached a picture of the note and the box contents. Not safe for Lian’s eyes…

I’ll contact Hal via ring right away. I’m gonna get Dinah to move into the Tower or even here with me and Kyle for the time being, but let me know what you need from us, okay? Does B want to look at this package himself? Also, if you want a Lantern there in your home until Hal gets back, all you have to do is say the word.

Got your back,

Guy


pic1.jpg: a photo of a dead canary in a box, a sharp nail painted green protruding from its head. Under the avian corpse is a note.

pic2.jpg: a photo of a note which reads “Long Live the “Queen”! - But Not His Friends - E.C.”

( purple monkey dishwasher )

Ollie looks flatly over at Jason as Dick hurries from the room, desperate to see Roy. “Now -- are you going to make this all about how mean I was to "yell" at you?” Ollie asks Jason. “Or do you actually give a shit that my son tossed himself off a roof?”

Jay takes a deep breath, and releases it. “Whatever you want to think, Queen.”

Ollie holds up his hands, mouth tight in anger. “Fine. I don't need to tell you fuck all.”

“Fine.”

“That was a courtesy, not a necessity. As far as I'm concerned, you should stay the fuck away from Roy and it'll be for the best for both of you.”

Jay is seriously upset, but... he isn't going to yell at Queen for information, even though he desperately wants to know how Roy is. But it isn't his place is it? Queen doesn't seem to think he deserves to know anything about it.

Flinching hard, Jason mutters, “Fine. I knew that -”

“Fine what?” Ollie interrupts. “Fine you'll keep away from my goddamn family?”

“Yes, FINE. I'll stay the fuck away I'll stay the fuck away from all of you. If that's what made Roy throw himself - off - then YES i'm staying the fuck away!”

( snowballing )

Dinah sought him out in the Tower, unable to hold back the feeling bubbling up inside her. She found him in the trophy room, locking up a new case. He turned to watch her. She didn’t hesitate. Dinah rushed forward, grabbing Batman’s face. She pulled him into a fierce kiss, her body pressed up against him.

Batman was shocked and rather uncomfortable with the kiss, he practically froze for a moment before pulling her away. His face full of shock, “What’s the meaning of this?,” he growled but it was wavering between the Batman voice and Bruce’s.

“Just… Taking the initiative.” Dinah didn’t completely let go of him, smiling warmly. “What’s wrong with this?” She threw his question back at him.

This wasn’t the first time she kissed him out of the blue like this, and it won’t stop surprising him. One thing he’s learned about the cowl is that some women are driven sexually by the danger that comes alone with it but he knew Dinah enough that it wouldn’t be that to have her do this but he was still a bit unnerved and hesitant to answer. So instead he pulled her arm off him, and took a step back.

Dinah followed his step, but this time she kept her hands to herself. “Don’t pull away, Bruce.” She stepped up again, only inches away from him. “Not unless you can give me a valid reason this shouldn’t happen.”

His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he glared at her, he had many but yet they were deemed as foolish by the others. “You know that I don’t have time for this. Nor do I think it’s what you really want.”

Dinah didn’t back down. “How do you know what I want?” To be honest, she was sick of men telling her what she did or didn’t want. When did she get to decide? “I’m not asking you to change your schedule for me. That doesn’t mean we can’t spend some of the time you do have together.”

“You’re right, I don’t know what you want and I’m sure I don’t want to know. I’m not sure why you’re after me and so strongly all of a sudden but I’m sure it’s in your best interests to stop, Dinah. If you want a friend, fine but I’m not the person you after.” He gave her a glare before turning to leave.

“Is that it?” Dinah glared at the back of his head. “I have friends, Bruce. That’s not what I’m after. And if you think this is sudden, you’re more blind than I thought.” She walked over, careful not to stomp. Showing her anger would only set him off more. She stepped in front of him. “I’m going to ask one more time.” She leaned up again and this time the kiss was soft, even against his unmoving lips. “Is there nothing here? Not even a little?”

It took all of his restraint to not kiss her back, he was cold and strong willed like that. He wasn’t about to kiss her back because of feelings for her, no that’s something he can control far more easier than concealing sexual desires. Unlike his feelings which Bruce has a long history of concealing (since he was eight years old, the man is a pro now) and become an expert at it, he’s still learning how to properly hide his carnal desires. So he took a deep breath, hoping the desires leave after with the carbon dioxide he is giving off, after the kiss to try to remove the thoughts, but he didn’t answer her other than give her a glare.

Dinah leaned back, looking at the white out lenses, imagining that she could see through them into his bright blue eyes. She wanted nothing more than for him to understand. This wasn’t a sudden whim, or a rebound. Dinah truly cared for the man before her. She smiled softly, if not a little ruefully. “You didn’t say no.” It wasn’t much to go on, but it had to be. “I guess, that’s good enough an answer for me. You can try to hide these things. You can even do a good job at it… But you are human, Bruce. Even if you’re too stubborn to see it.”

He lets out a heavy sigh, not wanting to deal with this bothersome back and forth so he looks her directly in the eyes. It takes him a moment before pulling the cowl over his head to bear his face to her and make it only fair for her to see him, since she has been staring her down the entire time.

“Listen, Dinah. It is because I am human that I need to be stubborn about this. You should know how much a single mistake can change our entire lives,” he was loosely referring to Craig and quite possibly Ollie, he wasn’t quite sure. “I’ll give you a chance, but if this doesn’t work out between us, we will immediately go back to being colleagues and nothing more. Do you understand?”

Now it was her turn to not to answer. She would go back if need be, but she didn’t have to like it, and this was too new for her to think about it ending. Right then, it was just the two of them, alone in the trophy room. She took his hands, no longer stiffly at his sides and placed them on hers. Dinah reached out, pressing her hand against the side of his face. “A chance is all I ask.”

He stood there quietly, brooding as always as he stood before her. Towering her by at least half a foot, he was wondering why she stood before him still. Perhaps she was awaiting for a set date, to make sure he isn’t saying things just to brush her off and push her away. So he took a second to recall his calendar, “there’s a gala I will be attending, tomorrow.” Was all he said, it was an invitation if she was quick to realize it.

He turned around once more, putting his cowl back on and began to leave the room.

“I’ll see you then.” Dinah smiled at his retreating back until the door clicked softly. At least it was something. Something to look forward to, unlike a certain date she had for that night. Dinah sighed, steeling herself for her date with Guy.

Batman was aware of everything, always and forever; including the fact that Kyle had recent taken multiple people for Lantern joyrides into space on no more than three separate occasions. So Bats had located the youngest Green Lantern one morning and assigned him a duty that would keep him out in space for a good long while - clean-up duty. Given the amount of space-battles around the Earth that the JL roster had on a monthly basis (ooc: lol, comics joke there, lol), never mind all the space junk that various Earth corporations were shooting up into the atmosphere, the Earth’s orbit left a trail of detritus: from broken robot shuttles to - of all things - a freaking big rig truck.

“Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, reporting for duty in Sector 2814,” Kyle muttered to himself, as he got ready to head out. “Yeah. Duty. More like ‘space janitor’.”

He was just about to hit the airlock button when out of the corner of his eye he saw Hal in the hallway, gliding past with a cup of coffee and a bear claw.

Kyle had a brief moment of panic. Should he? Shouldn’t he? Why not? Hal just got here; and he was a GL for this sector too. Share and share alike, right? Corps sticks together through thick and thin. And space-scrubbing.

“Hey! Hal,” Kyle skidded out into the hallway. “How’s breakfast?” Kyle didn’t wait for Hal’s answer, he just prattled on. “Look, I’ve been given a huge if not really boring job to do, and I’d love to get some help and especially with another Lantern, well. You’re the only other Lantern here, so obviously I mean especially you. But two Lanterns can get the job faster’n one, any time!” Kyle did his best ‘rah-rah’ face and then slumped. “Please?”

( haricots vert )

Jason exhaled and readied his next throw. The target at the end of the gym was spiked with all but two of his knives, and once he’s thrown this one he was going to have to go and pull them all out. He wasn’t going to throw the last one because he never liked being completely weaponless.

Not that he was weaponless without his knives anyway - he had his gun and his tranq dartsandtranq-gun but…

Knives were a lot easier to pick up again, and less likely to blow a hole in the hull.

The gym was a spacious room two floors under the arborteum, with all the equipment a superhero with both super and non- superpowers could possibly desire.

And some fascinatingly strange ones too - which Jason had a suspicion were meant for some of the less Earthling JLA members.

Jason’d found the gym by his fucking self, because Rayner had frankly just abandoned him in the arborteum (No he was not thinking about that kiss, not about the weird warmth or anything), and Jason was NOT going to do any picking up of any fucking plants because he’d practically bared his soul (almost. kinda, he’d told him something that no one else had heard before,even though it hadn’t been that much of a secret, the secrets Jason had, he wouldn’t tell anyone not so easily) to Kyle Fucking Rayner who had fucking just decided he wasnt worth the effort to even let down easy.

Or hell, tell him he kissed badly. Or he didn’t like the taste. Or he didn’t want to. Or … even”hey can’t we just be friends” like all those shitty, stupid sitcoms.

( we're like this allll the time! )

Despite years of being on the Watchtower, none of it would ever completely feel real to her. Being up in space, standing on the most technologically advanced space station in Earth’s orbit, it was all a little daunting sometimes. That’s why she often spent time in the arboretum, just to get a feel of nature. Everything here was real, alive. No computer monitors, no alarms, and usually, no people. Few members of the League spent anytime in here. Dinah just hoped for a chance to relax in the warm, clean air.

She wasn’t planning on tripping over someone as green as the plants around her. “Kyle?” Dinah knelt by his side, shaking his shoulder to wake him up. It was then she noticed the bruise under his chin and the small amount of blood at the corner of his mouth. “Oh, shit.” She wrapped his arm over her shoulder, about to lift him when she caught sight of another man, leaned heavily against one of the trees. The flash of white in his dark hair told her who he was. Jason Todd. Oliver had mentioned the Red Hood was up here. Looking between the two men’s bruises, it wasn’t difficult to piece together what had happened.

“Oh there will be Hell for this…”

( Read more... )

phone exchange

Dinah? It’s me, Craig! You remember our whirlwind marriage back in college, right? I have some news that might cheer you up: it turns out we’re still legally married! Come on, baby, I know you want me back as much as I want you! I’m staying at a hotel in Star City. I want to see you. My hot, sexy little wifey!

Oh, Craig…

I wouldn’t come near you with a thirty foot pole, you slimy son of a bitch.

Okay, so maybe reunion sex is out. But there’s still a reason for you to come see me, Dinah. Or better yet, I should come see you, because I’m a little down on my luck and as my wife, the place you’re living in is legally mine too, right? This hotel’s a ratbag but it’s expensive. Never liked goddamn Star City anyhow.

Not likely, Craig. Besides, I’m not even going to be home for a few weeks. If you need a place, I’d be happy to get you a better hotel. There is no way in Hell or high water that I’m spending another night day in the same building as you. Why can’t you get it through your think skull? There’s nothing between us anymore but a legal marriage and I assure you, you won’t have that for much longer.

You’re not still with that zero Ollie Queen, are you? You’re better than that trustafarian, babe.

Anyhow, I might have a reason you’ll want to see me. In fact I’m SURE you’ll want to see me.

It’s about our baby.

( things from college that won't go away )

At Kyle and Dinah’s urging, Connor got permission to turn one of the practice rooms into a meditation room. There were mats laid out, and windows looking out into space, as well as candles and soft ambient music from some planet he’d never heard of, but it seemed soothing.

Connor himself was already seated in the lotus pose, eyes closed as he centered his breathing.

He wasn’t sure who would show up, if anyone, but he was prepared to spend the afternoon alone if no one did.

Kyle peeked into the room that Connor mentioned he’d convert into a meditation room. Sure enough, there was Connor, practically looking like the Buddha himself. No one else was here yet, but Kyle was hopeful that Dinah would show up. J’onn said that she and Batman went off together on some Bat-mission; it was likely she was in for some deep relaxation after something like that.

“It’s all right Kyle, you can come in,” Connor spoke up, although Kyle was sure his eyes hadn’t even opened. Feeling a little shy (the room just seemed so very peaceful!), Kyle entered slowly.

“Nice place you got here.”

( now who can manage the lotus position? )

Whoever wanted to have a room on the Watchtower was allowed one — god knew there was more than enough space on the floating tin can — and it wasn’t like Ollie’d never been in Dinah’s. But staring at the sliding metal door with her name on it, the room looked like an impenetrable bulwark.

He was being stupid. This was just the woman he’d known for years and loved for the better part of them. What was there to be nervous about? Well, apart from everything.

She opened the door for him when he buzzed in to ID himself, and watched, standing against her desk and hugging herself, as he came in and sat down on her bed.

“Dinah,” he said. “I guess we need to talk. Properly.”

( with our clothes on. to start. )