milliways_bar | (no subject)

"What didn't look like what, Tess?" Knox is enjoying a burger and fries with a Soder.

"The end of the multi-verse," Tess replies, gesturing toward the window. "No planets exploding, no pretty lights in the sky, just a lot of bright, white light."

"What?

"What?"

The end of...what?

She'll repeat. "The end of the multi-verse. Maybe they're different, the end of one versus the end of all."

"Your reality ends? Along with all the others...but you're here so it couldn't have ended completely.

"Unless...you aren't dead, are you?"

Alex suddenly feels really nervous and uneasy.

She shakes her head. "No, Superman stopped it." Because of course he did. Then she offers a small smile. "Not dead currently, but I do have a habit of dying."

"Of course he did." That is the only reaction anyone can have. "So you watched it end and then un-end? Is that even a word?" He tries to take in the enormity.

"You're not kidding, are you? About being dead."

"It wasn't the best day of my life, that's for sure. The un-ending is a little... fuzzy memory wise." The things Tess can take in stride once they're over.

"Twice, officially. I've been really, really close a few other times, though."

"How did you come back? Is it something you can talk about?" He figures she'll just shoot his questions down. Maybe with an old-fashioned "no comment."

"Medical staff who have been on the ball. Lack of a heartbeat is reversible in certain situations." It's not a 'no comment', but it's close.

"Guess no one took you to Gotham General." At times like this, gallows humor is handy. "Well, glad you and your world are alive and well-ish."

"I so rarely have cause to visit Gotham," she muses. "So tell me, Knox, what's been going on in your neck of the woods?"

A subject change seems like a good idea.

"Hot as heck in Gotham. Which is the norm for August. Not a single Mr. Freeze sighting, and the people are not happy." In fact, Freeze is safely contained in Arkham and behaving. "All kinds of crazy rumors about our Luthor, but not a stitch of evidence.

"And someone approached me about writing a book on Batman."

"Good luck getting anything solid on a Luthor." This might be the voice of experience.

"And what does Bats have to say about it?"

"The man has never given a single interview in nine years. He'll occasionally show up for a press conference with the Hero League and hide in the shadows and grunt something, but that's it. So if he has any opinion about books on him, we've never heard it.

"But there are quite a few. My favorites are the ones that say he's a vampire." Six of them, at last count.

"The Hero League?" And here Tess thought they couldn't be any less original than her group. "Well, his humour can be pretty biting."

"He dresses like a bat and calls his partner Robin. He must have a sense of humor." Or none at all. Hard to know for sure, of course.

"The official name is the League of Heroes of America. We abbreviate. And some outlets go with the 'Justice League' the way the Pittsburgh Pirates are called the Bucs." Those wacky reporters.

Oh yeah, Bruce is hysterical. Not that she'll be mentioning it.

"It's the Justice League in my world. And his partner there is Nightwing. No one called Robin that I'm aware of."

"That is a much better name. Though anything beats Batboy, or Kid Batman." The Gazette uses both. "How long are they at it?"

"I'm not sure exactly," yes she is, "but it's been a few years. The original Nightwing left the position recently and the new one is still being trained."

"Our Robin has been at it about three years. And there's a Batgirl as well. A new arrival." And this one's a bit harder to figure out for Knox. Bruce Wayne hasn't taken in any additional wards.

"We don't have a Batgirl, either. The original Nightwing vetoed it."

"Sidekicks have veto power? I didn't know that was in the Constitution."

Tess smirks slightly. Had he said that to Babs' face, she'd have kicked his ass.

"The name. She didn't want to be a female version of anyone, she wanted to be herself."

"That's fair.

"So...the Batman and Nightwing in your world talk to the press?" That would be a shock.

There's a soft laugh. "Oh, no. He would never talk and she would never shut up. But when random superheroes show up in my city I like to break out the welcome wagon."

Well. That's close enough to the truth.

"The power of the press? Or the power of the purse?

"And if the latter, does that mean you fund heroes the way I think there's someone funding Batman in my world?" No proof to say it's Bruce Wayne, so he holds his tongue. But he's sure.

"If it were the latter, why would I tell you?"

"You wouldn't, even if I'm from another world and even if you run a newspaper, I guess. But what kind of reporter would I be if I didn't ask."

That might be a yes, he has to think.

"If you want my advice," she says, completely ignoring the current topic at hand, "I wouldn't write that book. He won't like it. Ironically, he hates the spotlight."

"A lot of books are written about people who don't want books written about them. He can handle it. It's not like I plan a smear job. More a recap of Batman 10 years later." It's not like Batman is likely to show up at his door and beat him up for exercising his freedom of speech. He hopes.

With the Batman? One never knows.

"Are you going to even try to get him on record? Because that could be entertaining in and of itself."

"I can get out some feelers, just in case. But I think the Commissioner isn't going to let me turn on the signal to find him." Thought that might be fun.

"Shame. I think it'd be hysterical if you did."

"They have a retired cop making sure no one goes near it. There was some psychologist who got up there and called him for a paper she was writing." During that mess with Harvey Dent taking over the gangs. Not great timing on her part.

She's overheard by a short-haired young woman walking by in a sleeveless cutoff with "Sun's Out, Guns Out" emblazoned on the front.

She turns her head at the quiet but clear declaration at nobody in particular.

"...I'd hope that most things don't look like the end of the universe."

Tess turns, offering a shrug and a half smile. "The end of the multi-verse was less... dramatic."

Cassie raises an eyebrow. "I guess it'd be hard to live up to the hype.

"So you're...dead, then?"

"No, it was reversed, but it got pretty damn close."

"Well, that's lucky," Cassie says. "How'd it happen?"

"An overseeing race of aliens decided we'd screwed up and began wiping 'verses out one by one." It sounds ridiculous, Tess knows, but it's the truth.

"It's always somethin', isn't it?"