Interlude: Savor the Moment (Patreon)

Interlude: Savor the Moment

“How is she.”

Black Canary stiffened at the sound of his voice, before clamping down on the reaction. The Batman very pointedly gave no sign of amusement. It was easier to deal with the League as a whole if they thought him incapable of humor.

“Better,” Canary said with forced nonchalance. “Still emotional and off balance, though; she probably wouldn’t have agreed to a monitor if she felt confident.” A small sigh. Batman noted genuine guilt in her posture, along with the more obvious melancholy. “She says that due to her physiological changes, it’s unlikely that she’ll be able to regrow her arm.”

He did not raise an eyebrow at that, instead turning to regard the teenage girl on the screen.

Destiny was sitting up in her bed in the Mountains infirmary, mechanical arm resting on the bedside table. He’d read the medical report: superficial wounds, exhausted both physically and emotionally. But the resources on hand couldn’t touch on the mystical side of things. His eyes narrowed as the teenager continued talking with Raven and Miss Martian. As always, Destiny’s body language was impossibly still, even by his standards. But now he was able to pick out a scant handful of involuntary actions. Something to add to her file, then.

“Stable enough to debrief?” he asked.

Canary winced. “Not… quite,” she said. “I got the general flow of events from the rest of the team, but as for Destiny’s fight with Klarion?” She shrugged. “The girl said Klarion wouldn’t be a problem again, and neither would Nabu.”

Batman raised an eyebrow, turning to look at the teenage mage. “She killed them,” he said.

“As much as extradimensional concepts of Order and Chaos can be killed, yes,” Canary said. “It would explain the changes to her biology, half the time any normal medical equipment we used on her gave back high energy warnings…” She turned to look at Batman, brow creased. “The girl…this is going to be a shit show, Bats. Fate goes as far back as the Justice Society, and there are more than a few people I know who won’t take his ‘death’ very well.”

Batman nodded. “I have spoken to Wonder Woman already, and she is willing to let matters lie,” he said. “She’s not happy, but she’s agreed that attacking a teenager, either physically or socially, helps no one.”

Canary sighed, tucking an errant lock behind her ear. “Hopefully that will be enough to sway the rest. Zatara won’t be particularly pleased, I’m sure.”

“He will calm down once he verifies Klarion’s demise as well.”

“If you say so.”

Batman inclined his head. “And Destiny’s mental health?”

“Hard to gauge,” Canary said, biting her lower lip. “You’ve noticed that she’s less controlled now, of course.” She didn’t even bother glancing his way, so Batman allowed himself a small smile. “That carries over to her mental state as well. Right now, she’s at her most vulnerable. The team says they found her almost catatonic at that little facility in the Pacific. She’s better now, but still fragile. Kent’s death hit her hard.”

“The full autopsy shows that there was nothing she could have done to save him,” Batman said. Canary glanced over as he pulled a small file out of his cloak. “Klarion and the Brain had him for at least a week, with all the horror that entails.”

She took the file, flipping through it slowly, before snapping it shut. “Jesus.”

“Given Kent’s connection to Nabu, and Klarion’s personal antipathy for Destiny, I also suspect that additional precautions were taken to prevent mystical healing.”

Canary let out a breath. “The incisions,” she said. Batman nodded. “They kept him alive for her, then,” she continued, going back to the file. “The mixture of chemicals in his blood stream, I’m no doctor but…”

“You may disseminate the contents of that file as you deem fit,” Batman said.

Canary gave a wry laugh. “Of course, let me just drop the autopsy of the girl’s dead mentor on her lap, what could possibly go wrong?” She shook her head. “If it’ll help her heal, but she has a ways to go, first.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Canary smirked. “Liar.” Then she turned back to the screen. “And the facility itself? I’m pretty certain that Brain and Klarion never ran in the same circles.”

“Orim has his men locking down the site,” Batman said. “But the destruction caused by both battles was severe.”

“The data?”

Batman said nothing.

“That bad, huh?” Canary said, frowning. “This little villain conspiracy…”

“Nothing there suggests the existence of an organization,” Batman said.

“Nothing except?” Canary asked.

Batman nodded. “There is also nothing that suggests a connection between the two villains who worked there.”

“So at least someone else has a hand in it,” Canary said, crossing her arms. “Someone with the resources to put Brain and Klarion in contact, and the clout to keep themselves separated.”

Batman simply inclined his head.

Canary sighed. “We knew this day would come,” she said. “There’s only so many times the Justice League can handle any individual threat before one of the smarter villains gets the idea to make an organization of their own, isn’t that what you said?” Canary ran her fingers over the sleeve of her leather jacket. “I’m just surprised that they went after Klarion, of all people.”

“In all likelihood, he found this benefactor instead.”

“You think his grudge against Destiny went that far?” she asked.

“I have been told that Chaos is inscrutable,” Batman replied instead. Canary just raised an eyebrow.

“That’s never stopped you before.”

“Rest assured, I’m looking into it,” Batman said.

Canary sighed. “Well, keep us informed this time, would you?” she said. “Flash keeps pushing for ‘department memos,’ and I swear if I get left in the dark one more time and mind controlled because of it, I’m backing his petition.”

Batman did not smile. “Diabolical.”

Canary just shook her head. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” She checked her watch. “I have an appointment with Destiny in ten, so I’d better put this away before she asks about it.” She hefted the file Batman had given her. “Thanks for checking in, I know you’ve been busy.”

Batman turned back to the screen. “The team is my responsibility,” he said. And he’d seen the expression on Destiny’s face enough times in the mirror, besides. What kind of hero would he be if he couldn’t keep people from ending up just like him?

Canary laughed as she started walking down the hall. “To hear you tell it, the whole world is your responsibility.”

Batman said nothing as she rounded the corner, still watching the screen.

His head tilted slightly at the sound of footsteps. When Aqualad came into view, the room was empty, as if no one had ever been.

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A/N: Sorry for the delay, I had family over last night. 

Shorter, housekeeping chapter here. First person narration, while really good for getting inside a character, makes it harder to convey certain information, namely, everything that was talked about in this chapter. I meant for it to be the normal size, but Batman's Taciturn nature worked against me there. Hope you all enjoy, regardless.