bodilesswarrior | 27

[Iris is dying.

It takes everything inside Barbara, every ounce of training and experience, to be still. She knows she'll be too late. If she goes bursting in without knowing the situation, chances are high she'll just die next.

She knows better than that. It's not what Iris would want.

So she stays in her tower. She maps the way to Jack's cabin in her head, and she gathers her weapons, and she waits.

She's just about to make her own call - to the people she trusts most - when she gets Iris' message. When her heart sinks and bile fills her mouth.

She will not feel guilty or foolish or afraid; there's no time.]

[Voice]

[Barbara's voice is low and grim, betraying none of the rage or grief she feels.]

Jack killed Iris. I don't know why, not yet. She's in his cabin; he might still be there, he might have left.

There's something wrong with Mason - drugs, she said. Not sure how it's connected.

[A slow, deep breath.]

The laughter. The warped mirrors. They might be connected, too. They might not.

Either way, you need to stay on your guard. Look out for each other. Iris might not be the first victim, and she probably won't be the last. That's how the Barge is.

[Private to Cain]

You got one too, right?

[Private to everyone Iris is close to]

[She switches to video for this. She figures she owes them that. Everyone else that Iris loves.

There are no tears streaking down her face. Instead, her lips are curled in a fierce snarl, and her eyes are blazing. Still, her voice is steady.]

No one go out half-cocked. We don't know what we're dealing with, not yet, and the last thing she'd want is you getting yourselves killed.

[Private to Motorcycle Boy]

[Back to voice! Hoarse but calm.]

Harvey may be missing. Have you talked to him lately?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I am not light enough on my feet to go out looking, but I am more capable than I look these days. If you need me you only have to tell me. We'll find out the meaning of this.

Jesus fuck you've got to be kidding me.

[ She doesn't want to have to either. At least she knows it isn't permanent here. And anyway it's the Joker, she shouldn't even feel bad. ]

Of course. He's a meta, right?

[ Gotta love those metas. ]

Let him know I'll be in uniform.

I know. [There's a fond sincerity beneath - everything else. She trusts Bush, as much as she trusts...most people.] I'll call you if there's anything you can do.

[Barbara's eyes are red, now, though she manages a crooked little smile.]

I wish.

...Have you seen Derek anywhere? [She barely notices that she doesn't call him Powers.]

Right. Steph'll be in uniform, when you see her.

I'll let you know if I find out anything useful.

Edited 2014-07-24 22:23 (UTC)

Peak of human condition, so - yeah, basically.

Got it. [Well, that makes her easier to spot.] Let her know I am, too. [Although he figures the shield is hard to miss, either way.]

Thanks. I appreciate it. Always good to have someone with their eyes and ears open.

Powers? No, I mean, we chatted about him being let into Megs' room, maybe he found his way in there. He was sulking because...

[Wait, no, Barbara probably shouldn't know if Derek didn't say]

...just because. So he might be hiding.

Or dead. Dead's a possibility.

You could check with Chromie, too. She's his work supervisor.

What the hell's going on?

[ Iris has died before. And it's never been easy on him, but there's something especially hard to cope with when it's someone from his world to blame. ]

Trying to track him down. Where is Jack?

....what.

[Ugh. Not for the first time he wishes he hadn't been such a complete idiot. He's too fucking exhausted still to do much, and sure, he could push it if he had to, wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last, but he doesn't even know what the hell to do about all this shit. And he's not about to go running around half-cocked for people he barely knows.

Except there's no chapel to go to to settle it. No group decisions, nobody sitting at the head of the table to organize. Lay everything out, pros and cons so everybody knows. There's just them and this fucked up situation, whatever it is. And Iris keeps sticking her damn neck out for him like the rest of it doesn't matter, and Mason's...Mason. Damn harmless, doesn't even belong in this shit, so he scrubs his face and lets out a harsh breath and when the offer comes out he's not even surprised.]

Funny. I'm already dead twice over, so what the hell. What do you need.

[She's grown - not used to it, not exactly, but she accepts the risks Iris takes. She knows she'll always come back to them.

But she can hear the Joker's laughter ringing in her ears and Iris' body is on her couch and -

Her smile is a bleak, brittle thing, beneath red-rimmed eyes.]

I wish I could say for sure. I've - she's here, now. He shot her.

He was in his room, when he shot Iris. Stopped to leave her here. [There's a bitter disappointment edging the words; she should have caught him. Should have shot him between the eyes.] I don't know where he went next, or what he was doing before that.

[Barbara manages a smile. It's not pretty, but it's real enough.]

Like I said - be on your guard. Keep an eye out for anything weirder than usual.

Trust me, she wouldn't want you dying a third time, not unless you do something useful with it.

Sweetheart, this whole damn boat's weirder than usual, far as I'm concerned. How the hell do I even know what's normal for here? For all I know the carnival usually comes to town once a month.

[He rolls his eyes.]

How'd I know you were gonna say that.

Good idea. [She pushes a free hand through her hair, takes a breath. She's letting herself be vulnerable, right now, but she refuses to crumble.]

If we don't get any leads there, we can start a general search.

Fair point. [She forgets, sometimes, that "normal" isn't something you think on the Barge for a damn long time, if ever.

And she shrugs.] Just telling it like it is. Iris wouldn't baby you, but she wouldn't want you hurting for no reason, either.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. [A slight grimace. Iris, for sure, and maybe Derek, maybe Harvey - ] I tried to contact him, didn't get an answer. [Which doesn't need to mean anything, but...]

Fuuuuuck.

I'll swing by his room.

Be careful. [She doesn't hesitate at all to let the worry show on her face.]

Hey: I'm always careful.

[ She can't help it - coping with humor is ingrained in her very nature. She waggles her eyebrows suggestively. ]

Yeowza.

[Okay. Despite everything, that draws a smirk.]

You can seduce Captain America on your own time, young lady.

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