#notabirdnotaplane

The air in the containment room reeked burnt flesh and scorched metal. Chains hissed faintly where they met his skin, humming with silver and green mingling light. Kryptonite-infused silver — enough to make every movement feel like drowning in fire and make rescue difficult.

James lifted his head just enough to glare at the camera watching him from the corner. His coat hung in tatters, blood drying at his collar. The last thing he wanted was his help. Not after the words they’d exchanged. Not after Superman had stormed out and left him in the cold.

But Lex Luthor didn’t care about heartbreak.

A red light blinked to life above the comm unit. Lex’s voice drifted over the intercom, smooth and venomous. “Say the words, Mr. Norrington. Or I’ll find someone less… sentimental to encourage him.”

James’s hissed. He’d rather swallow glass! But when one of Luthor’s guards flashed UV light upon him, the pain arced through him like fire, forcing a growl from his throat.

He finally broke— low and cold, his British lilt cracking under the strain. He could feel Luthor’s smug eyes behind the lens. “Superman…” His voice cracked with restrained venom and pain. “ I— I need your help. Please… hurry.”

The moment the red light flicked off, he let out a rasping breath and sagged forward in the chains.

James sagged against the chains, eyes half-lidded. “There. You got your bait,” he muttered toward the mirrored wall. “But don't hold your breath that he'll come for me, we're not exactly on speaking terms.”

He let his head drop forward, voice barely a whisper now.

"if he does... he’ll hate me more for it.” he mutters more to himself than Luthor.

A low, satisfied chuckle filtered through the intercom — rich, deliberate, and unbearably smug.

“Oh, Mr. Norrington… you underestimate just how predictable your caped paramour really is.”

The hum of the containment field rose slightly, bathing James in a brighter wash of green.

“For all his righteousness and restraint, he can’t resist a damsel — or whatever it is you count as these days. He’ll come charging in, heart first, head last. And when he does…He’ll see exactly what his sentimentality costs him.” What James cost him.

𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓎 ℐ 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝑒

ℐ’𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 ℐ’𝓂 𝑔𝑜𝓃’ 𝒹𝑜

𝓟𝓾𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓰𝓻𝓸𝓸𝓿𝓮 . . . ❞

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@ashortdropandasuddenstop

Boredom was always Kilgrave’s biggest weakness. He could literally make anyone do anything and yet he still found himself getting increasingly bored by the day. He needed some new entertainment, somewhere fresh to explore and try to get Jessica Jones out of his head.

He settled on the city of Metropolis since it was similar enough to New York and also it had quite the few sights to see. However, he very quickly discovered people were just as rude in Metropolis as they were in New York… so he decided to have some of his own brand of fun.

Soon enough, the Daily Planet began reporting on the uptick in people winding up in strange places that they don’t remember how they got there. On the appearances of bodies in extremely odd places or positions… on the number of women reporting assaults and yet none of them could remember or recall what their attacker looked like or even if they were attacked at all. And all the while, Kilgrave was happy and content, not a care in the world because he genuinely believed he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Unfortunately for him, he garnered the attention of the one person in Metropolis no one wanted to piss off. And he ended up outing himself in the stupidest way possible.

He had been standing in line for a small coffee stand on the sidewalk, about to get his cup for free, when a woman cuts in line ahead of him because she apparently knew the owner. Kilgrave scoffed loudly and locked his jaw.

“You,” He addressed the woman, making her focus on him, “Walk into traffic. And you,” he turned his attention to the coffee vendor, “You saw nothing. Give me my coffee for free. You are delighted to do so.”

Suddenly, without warning, the woman turned on her heel without a word and walked straight into the roadway. The vendor gave Kilgrave his coffee as he asked and the man in the purple suit walked away as if nothing had happened.

Little did he know a pair of powerful eyes were watching him.

Any minute turned into two… three.. four… ten…

… Just when it seemed like Clark either forgot or ghosted on his lover and his brother, twenty-eight minutes later three soft knocks were heard against the front door.

Clark knew he was more than welcomed to enter without knocking yet, he knew this was a very important milestone in his relationship, and manners dictated he should wait until being welcomed inside.

It gave him enough time to properly tuck in his shirt and fix his hastily-placed tie. Don’t mind his wind-blown hair; he was in a rush to make it here on time.

Theo offered the hot chocolate a second time, as was customary, holding it out with a wide grin and gently shaking the mug. When it was again refused, as James couldn’t ingest anything other than blood without becoming violently sick, he shrugged and drew the hot drink closer to himself. Why James would be the one a nervous wreck he couldn’t tell, but then again he didn’t know anything about being in love or any sort of courtship. 

Maybe this was normal? 

Wrapping both hands around the warm ceramic Theo settled in to enjoy the chocolate. “Right. The journalist guy.” He’d stopped pestering about Clark so much after accidentally having a few encounters with the man, not sure what he’d do if ever running into him in a domestic setting... what if James knew about the whole impersonation incident? Or accidentally finding out the boyfriend’s whole secret identity thing? 

Did he know about that? Did he know it was Theo involved? Probably not... so engrossed in his own worries the fey at first didn’t realize that the minutes were dragging on, and the second cup of chocolate was getting cold. He finally saw the time after standing up to reheat it and pausing to watch the anxiety etching itself further on James’ face. “Maybe just a late night at work - aren’t journalists supposed to be on call all the time or something?” 

Then nearly the same time that the microwave beeped knocks sounded at the door - and Theo’s heart leapt as his stomach bottomed out. The feathers in his hair stood up on end in response and he looked at the door - then the open window as it was being answered by James. 

With nowhere left to run and hide Theo stood in the living room with the now reheated chocolate in hand, staring across the small space at Clark and letting his own panicked silence stretch on until it was becoming painful. He looked down at the mug in hand and held it out so quickly as a peace offering that some of the chocolate sloshed onto his hands, “Chocolate?”

❈ — Normally the sound of the door to the rooftop would have gotten his attention but Clark didn’t move. Lois took a few tentative steps then, and called out to him. “Clark..?”

He was crying. Lois could hear it in his voice, and it was only confirmed by the tear streaks on his face and red rimmed eyes that made the blue in them pop even more. Once he stepped closer to her, she hugged him right back, pouring as much love into is as she could, before he pulled away and settled back down into a seating position with her in his lap. Lois had been out running errands and making a quick visit to her parents before coming back to the apartment, and though she figured Clark would be out on Superman duty for the day, the reporter didn’t expect to come home and find him like this. It broke her heart. 

She let him speak, let him get it all out, and truly the tale was so saddening that she felt her own tears glossing her eyes from it (she’d have to make it a point to introduce herself to the kid and make him feel welcomed). But it was Clark’s expression that hurt the most. Lois hated seeing him so upset like this and wanted nothing more than to help him feel better. But she could see he was still struggling with it all, even though it turned out alright in the end for the kid, for the most part at least.

“....could you, maybe, be upset that you weren’t there to save his parents? And because of that, you feel responsible for his loss...?” A hand came up to lightly stroke his cheek, wiping away a tear that had strayed. “If that’s the case...it isn’t your fault, Clark. It was an unfortunate tragedy that could have happened to anyone.” 

    { ⛓ } – Call it incomprehensible reasoning, insanity even, to challenge Superman of all heroes. A Kryptonian of immense strength and abilities far surpassing that of a human being, any man would cowardly shudder beneath him. Yet the idea of the hero’s downfall wasn’t foreign to the darkly-clad sinner - rather a welcome treat to a contingency used on several occasions. That murdered his own Clark Kent, and countless more. The unadulterated joy that swelled in the former-vigilante caused a bout of laughter to slip from bared teeth, and there he sat, eagerly waiting at the edge of a building rooftop facing the distinguished Hall of Justice. It stood so magnificantly with nary a light on he could just-- Not yet. What the Batman Who Laughs required was a calling card before the plan began. 

Head turned down towards the surface below, that maniacal, widespread grin somehow broadened even further upon anticipating what would become a travesty for the public in moments. Three large sheets of metal, melded into the renown shape of the Batman sigil stood protruding from the field just outside the entrance. Displayed on the front of said pieces however, were three crucified corpses - each sloppily dressed as a member of the Justice League being Wonder Woman, Superman and Green Lantern, from left to right. And etched upon the middle body - namely the unfortunate soul dressed as Superman - was a crudely drawn, bloodied smile across their lips, resignating with that of wide smile. A fascinating gimmick, he thought, but not Batman enough.

So without further ado, the villain rectified that. 

❈ — “Woah!” Lois felt her heart jump as the horse sprang into a quick trot suddenly. Her hands gripped the reins tightly as her body tensed up. It had been years since she’d been on a horse, the last time being with her father and it was right before she went off to college, so to say she was a bit rusty was an understatement.

Although, she had a patient and wonderful, and incredibly handsome, teacher to help with her riding needs...in more ways than one.

“Clark, she’s going...she’s going a little faster than I’d like right now...” Lois’ eyes were wide as she tried her best to pull on the reins a bit to get her horse to slow down. “You purposely gave me the feisty one, didn’t you?” 

When Clark mentioned taking a weekend trip to visit his mother, Lois was more than eager to go. She loved Martha to bits, and her home just felt so welcoming and warm. And being on the farm was something Lois not so secretly adored. Being around the animals was a comfort to her, because it reminded her of her childhood, and it was nice to live a simpler, slower life away from the bustle of Metropolis for a bit.

“I think I’ve got the hang of it now. Patience is key, I suppose...” Lois chuckled softly as her horse eased a bit into a slower trot finally, causing Lois to relax slightly. Glancing over at Clark, she scoffed. “Don’t laugh at me, Smallville! It’s been so long since I’ve ridden, cut me some slack!” 

❝ 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘵, 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑔𝑜𝓉, 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓰𝓸𝓽 𝓪 𝓵𝓸𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮.

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙜. .

. . '𝐓𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. ❞

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Edit dedicated to my top three muses: Marty McFly (@notachicken15 & @notachicken68) Peter Parker (@notthehumanspider), and Clark Kent (@notabirdnotaplane)!

Update: Anybody who stumbles upon this edit,I wanted to say I made a full-length version that you can watch here!