Gotham's True Power

“If Willie was so scared, how come he celebrated his birthday with me before he left?” Mary demanded. “He came back, we had a wonderful evening and an even better night.”

By emphasizing the last word, she was sending the message that she was more than just in Willie’s good graces. He’d never, so long as she knew him, been given to hooking up for the sake of getting a little satisfaction. On the contrary, he’d always been someone whose heart drove his mind.

To his threat, she responded with exaggerated laughter. “Oh, oh, oh! Yes. The surveillance. Which is uplinked to systems you can’t fry, so if you nailed me, I think Willie would realize who the real dreg is here.”

“You see, I don’t go about putting the lives of others on the line. So you got slapped. Grow the hell up. You’re a big boy, old enough and ugly enough to manage.” She advanced closer, speaking softly enough for the mics not to pick it up, “Or are you not man enough to handle a little thing like me?”

Davis cringed. Did she just admit...disgusting. He wondered some of the worst case scenarios. It was entirely possible but he couldn’t dwell on those. “Here’s a better question: how come you didn’t know he was gone and he didn’t tell you he left? Probably wanted to put as much distance between him and you as possible.”

Was she trying to use his threat against him? Davis flexed his fingers again, not firing any blasts. He knew the second he did, it could go into a world of hurt. “Yeah, and if you suddenly hit me, I don’ think the security system is going to somehow mess up like it did last time. And like I would fry Arkham’s security system when you hit me. You’re just as deranged as half the people in that Institute.”

She stepped closer as he clenched his fists, his heart pounding. Mary Morris didn’t scare him. A woman in Gotham did however, who would be too happy to let this go to waste. “I’m not attacking you and I don’t want to attack you.” He could fry her. It could be so easy. A quick jolt could paralyze some of her muscles and have them seize up. A harder jolt could cause her body to spasm, especially if he let it go. Just a couple of minutes and--

No! No...he wasn’t going back to Arkham or worse. He wasn’t giving in.

She leaned her upper arm against the doorjamb. Arms crossed over her chest, Mary informed him, “I was given access. Who do you think was looking after the place when it was being renovated?”

“But since we’re on the subject of crimes, let’s do a comparison. Kidnapping. Attempted murder. Multiple counts of assault and battery. All that versus one punch, and one slap. A punch you more than had coming I might add. My Dad nearly died. You might not have given a damn about yours but mine is everything to me, and I won’t apologize for being angry as hell at you for nearly taking him away from me, my Mom, my brothers - one of whom is barely a teenager, I might add.” Mary stopped to brush the tears from her eyes.

“I have never laid a hand on Willie in anger. But you keep it up? Fire those damn things at me? Go ahead. You’ll have not only every cop in this city after you, but every cape.”

“I’m an angry single mother who lost her husband, very nearly lost her boyfriend to a bunch of rogue robots, and who almost lost her father to your selfishness. At least I have an excuse for having a breaking point. What’s yours? Other than being a spoiled little twip?”

“Not by me you didn’t” Davis insisted. “And Willie left me in charge. Not you.” He was feeling trapped again. Pinned by this woman just egging him on. He could attack her...hide her...that was all well and good, but Mara Sable might be okay with throwing him back into the Power House with no problems just to have him. Mary didn’t scare him. It was what the alternative was.

“And what about the other people you’ve knocked around? I know about at least one. And the way Willie tried to run away from you in Arkham, looked worried about going back to you and left you? He looked happy away from you, you psychotic dreg.”

He stood rooted, hands still buzzing with energy. His experience with Dick Grayson had taught him to never lower his guard against one of them. Like Daughter like Father or whatever. It made sense considering what Nicole was like. “What’s going to happen if put these down? This is still being filmed by the security in Willie’s house. It’s not going to vanish like Arkham.” Not that he knew who caused it. He didn’t know Mary Morris had gotten rid of the footage on her own. Mara Sable had just told him the footage had ‘vanished’. His release was due to the abuse he had be dealt with, the hope he wouldn’t sue for this bit of ‘sabotage’ and most importantly: because someone wanted him for a job. He had a task to fulfill still.

“What am I doing here? Like I’m going to answer your questions. But you’re here alone in Willie Watt’s house.” Mary’s declaration was imperious though tinged with certain anger. There was still fire in her words though she was not seeking the offensive position. Having decked Dusk before and ending up before a judge for her ill conceived conduct, she wasn’t about to do it again, though she remained vigilant for impending attack.

He seemed almost to glow. The sparks shot out from his hands made her angrier still in her state of worry over Willie’s well being.

“Where the hell is Willie? And why shouldn’t I call the cops on your sorry ass?” she demanded. “You fire those things at me and you’ll end up in Arkham again. Remember Arkham? The place you got sprung from because they felt sorry for you for getting hit by a girl?”

“I locked the slagging doors! You’re breaking and entering! That’s pretty damn illegal last I checked!” He knew one shock could probably do her in. Phycially, Mary easily had the advantage. He had always been a thin person (though thankfully not as thin as Ghoul) and Mary had a lot more meat on her. He had the powers though. He could do it...if he didn’t have something he was supposed to do.

“I’m house sitting you crazy dreg! And like hell I’m telling you where he is. What are you going to do? Smack him around for leaving you? I’m not the first person you smacked for not doing anything and I bet you’re not the last.” Sure that probably wasn’t true. According to Willie, Mary had fought one of Willie’s exes in Arkham. He had grumbled how life just kept getting crazy even when he was tucked away in Arkham.

“I missed you~”, she stopped her poking, putting her chin on his shoulder, “I heard about the blackout”

Mary wanted to be good, really. A magical birthday celebration with Willie (which ended much as the last one had) and then nothing for weeks. Willie had gone quiet which left both Beez and Mary confused.

Had he come to regret their liaison? There were few things left for Mary Morris to fear. Beez simply missed her “sort of grown up friend“, while Mary’s hopes for a proper reconciliation were growing dimmer by the day. What made it worse was that Willie hadn’t even deigned to respond to the two texts she’d sent him since he’d left the morning after his birthday.

Before she moved back into her old house to babysit her younger brother and his breeding blonde, she was determined to find out what the hell was going on with Willie. Ever since the replicants had run riot, she’d kept a key to his home. There had never been any boundaries between she and Willie. If he’d wanted this changed, he’d have changed the lock codes and removed her from the security system, so when the door popped open and allowed her to enter the residence she took it as a good sign.

Sidling around the corner, she had a smirk on her face that vanished the moment she saw the lone occupant of the house.

Mary slipped into a defensive stance, the easy, sensual entry having disappeared between beats of her own heart. Her face contorted into a snarl. Whatever this jackhole is doing here, he’s got something to do with Willie going quiet.

“What the hell have you done with Willie?” she demanded.

Davis was sitting on the couch, enjoying some leftovers. He had gone to What A Way To Go-Go not too long ago and had some leftovers. Ever since his first day out, they had been very generous with him when Willie took him there. Davis wasn’t sure how to feel in there. On the one hand, he felt like a celebrity. Sometimes, he felt like he was almost on display as some twisted trophy. However he also felt, strangely enough…human.

Everything was reheated and the lights were dim. It had been a long day as he chowed down. He had gone through most of his movies and now had another video up. It was some old movie before his parents were even born. Advertised as some slasher movie, Lorelai Larson had said it was good. So Davis was watching, already feeling fine. Some woman was on the phone, a blonde making popcorn as he ate some of his food.

‘Do you like scary movies?’

“Oh thank god” Davis muttered. “I was worried that Doc Nasty would have material.” He did his best to wiggle out of Melanie’s sitting spot but gave up. “You got a couple of options. I know there’s some guard that sells some contraband stuff. Don’t know who but he got some transfer here from the maximum security wing by the time I got in. That’s all I know.“ That was only one option.

It was free time and she was getting more restless being locked up. It wasn’t supposed to be this long that she’d be here but the therapists managed to see through her bullshit. Melanie was supposed to be an A+ actress, she could fool the best of the best, but the doctors seemed insistent that she wasn’t cured.

Well fuck that. She was getting a cigarette if it was the last thing she did. And she was going to get into a little trouble if she wasn’t going anywhere anyway.

Melanie headed for a friend’s cell to see if he was home. He’d been here longer. He’d know where she could get things that they didn’t want smuggled in. Maybe she’d help him get outside for a few hours before they went back - it’d be good to stretch her legs. Selina had done the security here, after all.

Right now, the newest retroconversion was Destroy All Humans. “I went to the same high school as the owners’ son Corey.” Corey would be working there for the summer. Now that he’d finished up his first year of college, Willie was curious to hear how that was going. “We didn’t exactly hang out in school, but I kind of wish we had. He’s a great guy.”

For all of his worries, he had been nervous about causing another scene. He had people running from him and staring him last time. Now they didn’t seem to bother him too much. Maybe this could keep up and he’d have a normal day back. He’d actually be able to live life peacefully like this. Maybe this was what he needed.

I am not sure. In this moment, you are not suffering from anything we could help you with. Anger isn’t a mental condition, it’s a response. Emotional, physical, it courses through us, makes us go to the primal place our ancestors tapped into to survive and edge out over others who might have seen us dead. That heated core you carry about in you, that builds into blinding rage, was a trait most prized some centuries ago… now, we try to stamp it out, brand it as insanity, because our instincts are no longer welcome in the world. I would suggest you seek council, Davis. A psychologist, not a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist wants to figure out what’s wrong with you and give you medication, a psychologist will talk with you, help you dig into your emotions, and find better ways to express and release them… ones that preferably don’t involve homicide. I can recommend a few trustworthy private practices that value the safety and privacy of their patients. 

As for Saraneth… she is my burden, Davis… and like any victim, I too, will always feel chained to my abuser in some way. Even when she’s dead. At least when she doesn’t remember anything, looks out through the glass and smiles, I can pretend I had a mother. 

So what now? Do I find someone out there to talk to? Do all those exercises where I count to ten and hope I’m not angry after that? But I’m glad you think I’m not nuts...it’s nice to hear someone believe that.

“See, a lot of metahumans have felt like they’ve had to hide their abilities because everyone’s so afraid of what they don’t understand. If something is more powerful than them, they fear it rather than taking the time to realize they’re still talking to people.” Metahuman didn’t mean superhuman. They weren’t superior, but rather people with special abilities. “With all this anti-meta talk out there and stuff like PAMA on the news? I guess some of them wanted to know they had friends out there after all. That’s the whole point.”

“Support’s nice to have.” He could have used some back in the day and Willie was nice to have. The two had gone through a lot but Davis had gone farther than Willie ever did. Now Willie was going to get a better life and Davis was hoping to pick some of the pieces back together.

And Willie knew all about it. The club founder was none other than Tamara Caulder. People were beginning to speak a lot more openly than they did before. “It’s not as taboo a subject as it used to be.”

“Suppose not. So what’s the club all about?” he asked slowly. If these people were trying to be some superior race, he’d have none of it. He already dealt with one genocidal nutjob in Arkham. Gotham had even dealt with the Meta Revolution. If this was the junior cadets club, he’d have to see if he could stop it.