tommy simone

So to be sitting in Bruce’s office, waiting for him to arrive was a real doozy of a situation to be in. Tommy was holding a fundraiser for underprivileged kids, and he knew he could get more rich jerks to donate if he could get Bruce to attend. All he’d have to do is slip word to the Gotham Gazette, and the wealth of Gotham would be dying to donate. 

He knew Bruce was a busy man, but he was beginning to get impatient. He’d been waiting about twenty minutes, and the chairs in Bruce’s office were so uncomfortable he could feel his ass falling asleep. He was just getting up to walk it off when he heard the door open, and in walked Bruce Wayne.

and Damn. He still looked so good in his damn suits.

⟡ 

The further the night progress the more Ada wished she hadn’t agreed to attend her former university’s event. It wasn’t that she didn’t relish the opportunity to return to a familiar environment; she had enjoyed her years there and was quite thankful of the institution that provided her with the necessary challenge to get her PHDs. The same institution where her father had spent so many years lecturing, but she hadn’t acknowledged exactly how long it had been until she slid her arms into the blue suede elbow length gloves. She suddenly realized that the last time she roamed the halls, she was just another normal promising chemist and aspiring physicist. No powers. She’d been less cautioned then. Happier. And now, with acceptance of her father’s death beginning to wane in the wake of recent revelations, she was merely navigating day-to-day living. Her career and those she cared for kept her stable enough, but she envied the girl she once was who was more naive to life’s difficulties. Still, she convinced herself to follow through with her plans. 

The lack of former classmates didn’t deter her; she had always been more adept at conversing with her instructors than with her peers. Ada received a few dubious glances at the sight of her gloves, but no one questioned her aversion to any form of close contact; she had always been an odd girl. It wasn’t until the discussion veered away from current findings circulating scientific journals to the opinions of metahumans that she began to feel entirely uncomfortable. Of which the general opinion was not in their favor. Naturally, none of them were aware that Ada had become a metahuman as well, and hearing former scholars she once idolized pompously degrade the meta class was disappointing. Some of her closest friends were metahumans. Doctor Snow, Barry, Cisco, Perenna. They didn’t deserve such distasteful things being spoken about them. At first she kept quiet, shifting and fidgeting uncomfortably and yearning for an easy exit from the conversation. However, having never been endowed with the talent of witty dialogue, there never appeared to be an appropriate time to intervene.

Ada had only just uttered the words ‘Actually Professor, I disagree…’ in her characteristic blunt and monotonous manner when she heard her name called. Turning, her expression immediately brightened at the sight of a familiar face. All traces of tension leaving from her limbs as her lips curled into a genuine smile. “Tommy Simone” she chirped. She hadn’t considered the possibility that he would be present, and had she, she might have looked forward to it much more. For how could she be anything but ecstatic to see her old friend again, her only friend rather, when she used to attend. “Carter didn’t tell me you were back in town,” she hummed. “When did you arrive? Did you get the muffins I sent? Will you stay for long?” the inquiries flowed off her tongue with more ease than she could converse with most. “I apologize, I’m rambling. How are you?”

Tommy beamed at Ada, ecstatic to be reunited with her. “Carter had no idea, I wanted to surprise him.” Tommy linked his arm with hers, narrowing his eyes at the professors who’d been badmouthing metahumans as he led her away. He chuckled as Ada asked questions, glad to be hearing her babble at him. “I only got back a few days ago, and I did get the muffins. Carter inhaled most of them, but I’m really grateful.” At her final question, Tommy hesitated. He still had unfinished business out in the world, especially after everything with Talia and his time with ARGUS. But for now, his place was here in the city.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere for a while. I need some time to just... exist? If that makes sense.” He was worried he was rambling now, but shrugged it off. “I’m good, just getting back in the swing of things. What about you? I know the woman of a thousand PHD’s must be rushed off her feet.” 

Carter stirred gently at the feel of lips pressing light to his skin. The small furrow that settled between his brows as he slept easing as he blinked into wakefulness, turning to press closer to the warmth of the man lying next to him. “Mornin’” He mumbled back sleepily, angling his head slightly to chase after Tommy’s lips in a chaste kiss.

He stretched an arm over his head has he rolled the stiffness from his muscles, the other arm securing tighter around Tommy’s waist to keep him close as he woke up fully. “I could get used to this.” He sighed dreamily, looking down at the shorter man with a dazed smile. “Waking up next to you.”

Tommy accepts Carter’s kiss with a smile, he feels the other man’s body somehow get even closer and lets out a sigh. “Mmmmhmm.” He says, placing his hand on Carter’s face and gently stroking his cheek with his thumb. “I can assure you the feeling is very mutual.” 

Camille. 

Tommy knew that he should work on saying her name without so much resentment, but he still wasn’t exactly sure where the two of them stood in regards to a relationship. Not exactly friends, not exactly enemies... Frenemies? Tommy cringed at the thought. He finally heard footsteps from behind the door and let out a sigh of relief.

“You know, cell phones are a genius invention... They let us communicate without one of us having to haul themselves downtown to make sure the other one isn’t misbehaving. Hello Camille.”

He was about to grab his third glass of free, cheap tasting champagne when he thought he heard a familiar voice behind him. Turning slowly, he saw a brunette talking to two of the older physics professors and he slowly edged closer to her. 

He smiled to himself when he saw her face, clearing his throat to get her attention. “Ada Kish. Long time no see.”

Carter looks gorgeous. Because of course he does.

The sunlight is washing over him too, the ripples and planes of his body lit like a sculpture in a gallery. He has a serious expression on his face that Tommy loves, his arms wrapped loosely around Tommy like he’s worried he’s going somewhere. Tommy smiles to himself, knowing that he won’t be going anywhere for a while yet. This feels like home.

When he sees Carter start to wake up, he plants a gentle kiss on the other man’s mouth. 

“Good morning.”

Capable of breaking in to practically any supposedly formidable semblance of defense, The Cat was excessively prideful of her ability to crack security codes, pinch a wide variety of items and leave a crime scene without a trace. It took years of dedication to hone her particular set of skills. To master the artistry of stealth, to train herself in an style of combat uniquely her own, to understand the convenience of refining her intrinsic sex appeal as a instrument to acquire the treasures and objects of value she desired as the cat burglar. Selina Kyle didn’t shy away from a challenge, she was a world-class criminal after all. A prodigious opponent. A napoleon of misdeeds. The feline fatale. Her arrogance might have been a worse vice than her sticky fingers, call it a character flaw but damn if her pride wasn’t earned. She clawed her way out of the unforgiving and ceaselessly violent gutter of Gotham to grasp her acclaimed reputation. 

And yet…

The muscles taunt beneath the smooth skin of Selina’s neck released a satisfying pop as she lolled her head from one side to the other. A feeble attempt to alleviate the tension, an frustration, seizing her as the notification 1 ATTEMPT REMAINING flashed mockingly at her. Selina didn’t typically deal in the trade of information, preferring physical prizes than tidbits of data. But a job was a job and her employer was especially eager to obtain the piece of hardware before her. Not in the least tempted to investigate the reasonings, not when a hefty payday was in store once the task was completed. Even when she discovered her target was an individual with considerable influence she chalked it up to hidden rivalry. It wasn’t until her payout was snatched from view, a treachery she should have anticipated, did curiosity entice the cat. Selina didn’t put all that effort in for nothing and idle threats to her wellbeing didn’t faze her. Not when Roman Sionis was still gunning for her. Low level criminals could hardly make her heart flutter. She devised a plan, figure out what the hell was on the computer and use it as leverage for an even larger reward. Difficulties bypassing its safeguards were not factored into ‘the plan’. So she sought out a little assistance. 

“Do you always willingly meet with strangers who leave notes at your home address?” the feline purred from the shadows, sultry tenor dripping with sarcasm. From her vantage point; Selina got a full view of the get up – suppressing a smirk. “Nice digs, you really look the part” a muted snort echoed across the rooftops before she dropped dramatics. Sinking into a crouch she sprang forth, twirling through the air and landing gently on the balls of her feet. The leather of her suit gleamed under the moonlight as she adjusted the goggles against her crown. “I’ll get straight to the point, I require a little help if you’re capable” her gaze shifted to the nook she hid the laptop. 

“If you’re as good as they say you are, it shouldn’t be too difficult” 

As Catwoman came into view, Tommy’s jaw dropped. This was THE Catwoman. When he was Hijack he’d dreamed of the two of them working together, pulling off the perfect heist. He’d even tried to track her down a few times, but luck hadn’t been on his side. But now, here she was. Asking for HIS help.

Trying not to seem too eager, Tommy considered her carefully. “I’m more than capable.” He said with a smirk, walking closer to Catwoman and trying to keep his cool. “What do you need? And what, exactly, do I get out of this?”

Especially running on zero sleep. Rok’s condition hadn’t worsened over the last couple of nights but that didn’t mean they weren’t out of the woods. Every moment she wasn’t working, she was taking the lengthy trek back to the lab. She avoided every conceivable route that would give away the location of the only safe place for him. It only made her usual routine ten times longer. Breathing out the bubbling frustration, she acknowledged the diner that came fast on her left. The little flying saucer keychain tapped against the glass as she struggled to unlock it. She had complained to Kevin about this for weeks but he believed that it could be salvaged. 

Camille hissed victoriously when she’d finally managed to pop the lock. Stepping in, she felt the shift in the room. She wasn’t alone. “Are you going to stop stalking me..” her words tapering off at the sound of his voice. He wasn’t the person she was expecting. Tommy was a whole hell of a lot less murderer-y.

“Tommy,” she said softly before narrowing her gaze. “How did you get in here?”    

Tommy’s eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke to him, irked that Camille hadn’t been phased by his presence. “Oh, I love getting into places I’m definitely not supposed to be in.” He tilted his head slightly, trying to figure out how to play this. “Apparently, it’s something that you and I have in common.”

He got up from the table and looked around The Encounter, taking in the plastic planets and glow in the dark stars. “Do you often break into high tech laboratories during a citywide crisis, or was last week just a one time thing?”

 Now that he was back to that time, he would need a new ID, because things in the future were different, and they didn’t exactly need a piece of paper to prove to someone that they were who they said they were. It was so much easier to prove that in the year that he was in, he knew for a fact that he would forget it a lot of times when he goes out, at least until he got used to it.

Since he would need the document, and there was nothing he could do about it, he went to someone that a person said would be able to help out, “Hey,” he gave him a smile, he seemed to be busy, but he could wait if he wouldn’t be able to talk to him about it at that moment, “Are you Tommy?” it was better to make sure he was the right guy before starting talk.

Tommy immediately felt a bit flustered, a blush coming on to his cheeks. He didn’t lose his head over every hot guy he saw, but this one seemed like he had something special. “Uh- Yes, I’m Tommy. That’s me.” He hoped he was coming across as more than a bumbling idiot.

“So- uh, you’re in need of some forms of ID?” Tommy tapped the keys of the computer, tearing his eyes away from the other man to start the process. “Out of general interest… what is it, different universe, alien planet, time travel?” After helping people assimilate into Earth’s population for a few months, he’d pretty much seen it all.

He knew that Camille would be arriving to open any minute, so he sat patiently in the corner booth absent mindedly playing with his remote hacking device as he did. After about ten minutes, he heard the front door open. He saw Camille’s silhouette at the front door, and flicked a switch on the device that turned the lights on. A grin broke out on his face.

“Camille. I was hoping we’d get the chance to catch up.”

@catchmeifyoucanxcamille​

He’d always been hesitant to meet a client during the day, but it was the only time he’d been able to fit them in. He was close to being done when a shadow came across his table. He was just about to tell whoever it was to knock it off when he laid eyes on one of the most attractive guys he had ever seen.

“Uh... Hi.”

@fxreignprince​

After going back and forth on if he should meet the mysterious stranger, there he was. Freezing his ass off on the roof of the city’s municipal building at midnight in his Nexus costume, wondering when the other party would finally show up. He was very close to giving up and heading home when a silhouette appeared on the other side of the roof.

“Tell me, do you always ask people to meet with notes posted to their home address? It’s somehow both charming and creepy at the same time.”

@kittysaysxmeow​

There was a weight resting on Carter’s shoulders upon his return to Central City - an overwhelming feeling of responsibility for not being there during such a huge moment of crisis. He had not been able to save the day single-handedly in any lifetime, he knew, but even just helping in what little ways he could felt like enough. The guilt that settled in his gut at being absent this time round didn’t sit well, especially when he found out that those he cared about had been caught in the crossfire.

He fished out the spare key Tommy had given him to his apartment, not wanting to knock and wake the other man if he was still sleeping off the stress of the past few days just to check on him and make sure he was whole. He did his best to enter stealthily, opening the door as slow as possible to avoid it creaking, and shutting it just as carefully behind him. The effort was in vain, he realised, when he padded into the living room to see him sprawled out on the sofa, slightly dishevelled and morose looking under a pile of blankets. “Hey.” He murmured softly, pocketing his key and offering Tommy a small, apologetic bow of his head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” He muttered, moving to kneel on the floor beside him, searching under the blankets for his hand and giving it a small squeeze. “Are you okay?”

​​

Tommy hadn’t been himself since the night at Mercury Labs. He’d barely left his apartment since returning home from the hospital, and his sleeping pattern was non existent. Every time he closed his eyes the nightmare version of him appeared again, taunting him. He was exhausted, but he knew that sleep meant more of the horrors he’d been forced to witness under the toxin, and he didn’t know if he could handle anymore.

When Tommy heard the key in the door, a chill ran down his spine. He shrunk into the sofa, waiting with bated breath until Carter appeared. He let out a deep breath, giving the taller man a smile from where he laid on the sofa. Tommy knew that Carter was going to feel guilty about not being around for what happened, so he did his best to smile. “It’s okay.” He croaked, interlocking his fingers with Carters. He thought for a moment about how to answer Carter’s question. He didn’t want to lie to him, he didn’t have the energy. “No.” He meant to stop there, but instead the tears came and he carried on talking. 

“I’m- I don’t feel like myself. It’s like-” He sobbed, taking a deep breath before continuing. “It’s like someone reached inside of me and scooped out everything good. Every feeling, every thought... Every little thing I’ve tried to change. I’m not me, and I’m scared.” He looked the other man in the eye, squeezing his hand. “I feel so hollow.”

While Tommy readjusted to being the right size, Ray went to work letting the suit’s AI interface with the labs’ security camera network. A tiny screen popped up on the inside of his visor displaying each feed in turn. Looked as if the labs were far from empty, a few civilians remained inside, but mostly there were figures in dark clothes patrolling the hallways with purpose. “We’re all clear for now… but we don’t have long. There are people here who don’t look like your average security staff.”

An alert pinged up on his HUD showing a very familiar energy signature and he smiled knowing Cisco had just breached the team from S.T.A.R over to Mercury. “Looks like Dr Snow and the cavalry have arrived.” Tommy’s question gave him pause for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah, Atom, is used more commonly though. I lost my fiance in the Starling City siege. Decided afterward to become something better, so I’d be able to protect the people I care about, and those who can’t protect themselves.”

“Oh joy.” Tommy muttered to himself, his fingers tapping the keys on the terminal. “That’s exactly what we need.” For a fraction of a second, Tommy thought the display had shifted slightly, but he must have imagined it. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, pushing down what he assumed must be tiredness. This needed all of his attention. “Good, we’re gonna need all the help we can get.” Tommy was trying to get through a particularly thick layer of encryption that was keeping him from accessing the Lab inventory. He didn’t look away from the hack when he spoke again, but his voice sounded genuinely sympathetic. “I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

“Okay.” Ray didn’t need Tommy to explain any further than that one sentence, he could tell by his body language and vitals how freaked out he was. Cradling Tommy carefully against his body, he took flight, heading through the external cover of the vent. Following the piping down through the roof into the building’s top floor; their reduced size allowed them to bypass each filtration mesh easily and it wasn’t long before they set down in an empty corridor.

Readjusting the gauntlet again, he let Tommy stand on his own two feet again, then zapped him back to his true size. A few seconds later and he was back to normal too, scanning for any hostiles in their vicinity. “We’re clear for now. How long do you need to get into their system? I can keep lookout.”

Tommy kept his eyes shut during their flight through the vents, the lightheaded feeling he’d felt just after shrinking down getting more and more prominent. He only opened them when Ray had set him down on the ground, his eyes adjusting to the seemingly endless hallway they were both standing in. The same tingling sensation came over him as he grew back to normal size, but the lightheadedness persisted. He shrugged it off, assuming it was a side effect of the shrinking technology Ray used. 

“It’s not something we can easily drop into conversation,” Ray agreed, “being a vigilante, hero, legend, whatever label we’re given.” He shrugged, the suit’s armoured shoulders, making the movement seem more comical. “I know about a lot of science stuff. This centrifuge is actually a fascinating design… but I’m veering off on a tangent.”

Ray completely understood the concerns Tommy raised with regards to shrinking. It was something he had considered himself -briefly- all those years ago. But, aside from that one explosion, every size change had gone well thus far. “Small enough to get through the grates in the air conditioning ducts. Don’t worry, I’ll get you back to your right size as soon as we’re inside.” A little cheeky smile came to his face at the mention of a date. “He won’t have to use a microscope.” Adjusting the settings on the shrink beam built into his right gauntlet, he carefully aimed at Tommy and discharged the energy. A second later he had shrunk down to a smiliar size, then moved closer to his friend. “You okay? I can carry you bridal style or you can stand on my toes? Whichever suits you best.”

Tommy nodded along with Ray’s words, thinking about the type of person he’d been back when him and Ray had spent their nights together. He’d been so isolated and lonely back then, an uncharted island of his own creation. But now? He was an actual person with morals, surrounded by people that loved him just the way he is. He wouldn’t change it for the world.

“I probably should have told you while we were- but it seemed like a complication that you didn’t need at the time.” He hoped the apology would do for now, as they had a whole other problem on their hands; but he would explain more if Tommy wanted later. “But, yeah, the shrinking and flying are probably the most useful in this situation.” He tilted his head as Tommy spoke, nodding as he absorbed each piece of information proferred by the other vigilante. “I know the centrifuge, Dr. Snow means,” he smiled a little saying Caitlin’s name; another person he cared about was accounted for.

“I get that too.” Turning his attention to the building, he spotted a vent and the suit tracked it’s path down into the top corridor. “How do you feel about me flying us in? Oh, and shrinking down?”

“You don’t have to-” Tommy stopped, trying to think of what to say. “I get it. I wasn’t exactly forthcoming about how what I was doing in my spare time either.” When Ray said he knew of the centrifuge, Tommy let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god. That should make things easier.”