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Post by Black Canary on Mar 5, 2012 1:13:08 GMT -8
"so then we are probably dealing with a meta." Dinah said from behind her. It was very difficult to sneak up on Barbara with all her security and the whole all seeing thing, but when you got that off chance of being able to achieve the near impossible feat it always proved amusing.
"well at least she is okay and maybe we can work on improving her memory in the morning but for now I think its best we try and gets some sleep and start fresh in the morning....do you mind if I crash her tonight? Dinah knew the answer but still felt compelled to ask the question.
"don't worry we will figure out what happened and get the bad guys....we always do." she smiled reassuringly.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 5, 2012 3:10:05 GMT -8
"Well.. we.. don't exactly KNOW if we're looking for a meta. It could just be something that's... untraceable and not showing up on standard tests..." Though, maybe her first gut instincts were right. Maybe they WERE dealing with a meta.
Though if Dinah's instincts were feeding correctly through her verbal speach, then maybe, they had something more definite.
Barbara inhaled after nodding slowly. "Of course. You know you're always welcome here..."
Barbara glanced over at the clock and rubbed her eyes. She really hadn't realized the time. Sleep, however, was the farthest thing on her mind. But, there really wasn't much else they could do for the situation.
"Resting sounds like a good idea... Maybe I can take a cat-nap myself..."
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 5, 2012 12:08:35 GMT -8
"alright then I will see you in a few hours.." Dinah headed up to her room stopping to check in on Charlie on her way. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Dinah couldn't help but feel a little guilty about the situation. Maybe if she hadn't taken off the way she did she could have stayed and trained Charlie more in hand to hand combat, maybe she wouldn't have gotten in the situation that she had if she did. It really didn't matter now but Dinah made the mental note to work with her when she was feeling better.She sighed and headed down the hall to her room. For the first time in a long time she felt like she was home. Another yawn escaped her mouth as she changed, she didn't realize how tired she really was. It didn't take long to fall asleep after sliding between the sheets and hitting the pillow.
Dinah was lucky enough to get a few hours of sleep before the nightmares started, it was the same one she had over and over again since that night, The destruction of Star city, Lian, Ollie....being helpless to stop it all....she jolted up wide awake, breathing heavily. It has actually been awhile since she had the nightmare. I wonder what the hell triggered that... Maybe it was the notion that Ollie might still be alive. It didn't really matter, she didn't feel like analyzing it, she felt more like hitting something.
Grabbing her MP3 player, the one new technology that she happened to love, she changed and headed into Barbara's little gym. Dinah was happy to see that it had been updated since the last time he was here, but right now the good old fashioned bag is what struck out the most.
Dinah put in her ear phones and stretched a little before working the bag. Blasting her music she started hitting harder with each punch, throwing in combo after combo. Her breathing started to rapidly increase as the bag started swaying further and further from her with each punch increasing intensity. With her last hit she heard a loud pop and a mountain of sand grew at her feet. "Damn..."
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Misfit
Junior Member
Misfit In Action
Posts: 58
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Post by Misfit on Mar 5, 2012 15:14:54 GMT -8
Since the dawn of time, mankind could always depend on sleep.
From the lowest pesant to the highest king, the comfort of sleep has always caused a restful joy that not only recharged, but allowed most to experience a state of limbo that allows the human mind to get the rest it needs after a full day of activity.
Charlie, however, was not one of those people to feel the full effects of sleep.
Sortly after Black Canary checked on her, Charlie slowly began to toss and turn in her sleep, letting out short, paniced grunts as a nightmare took ahold of her...
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Ever sonce she was a child, Charlie had a deep, nail biting fear of the Joker...
She had never met him in battle, thank goodness, but jsut the idea of a sick, twisted clown killing and hurting innocent people with a never ending smile sent chills down her spine. After Barbara had finally told her the tragic tale of how she found herself in her wheelchair, the fears turned to full fledged phobia. Though Charlie knew, in real life, it was almost impossible for the Joker to get to her...
But her dreams were another story...
Huffing and puffing, Charlie (in full Misfit gear) ran down one of Gotham's many, dark, decaying alleyways. The echo of a sinster laugh echoing off the walls. Charlie had to keep running. She wanted to get out of there. Go home. She wasn't ready to fight someone like the Joker...not yet anyways.
Soon, she turns the corner and finds her two closest friends, Black Canary and Barbara standing at the end of the alleyway. Joy ran through every inch of her body. She was so relieved that she didn't even question why Barbara was in her Batgirl costume...or standing.
As she walked closer, her smile turned to fear as she noticed exactly what she was seeing.
Hand restrained behind their back, Canary and Batgirl were forced on their knees as the Joker stepped out, purle undertaker type hat with a swishing matching jacket. He had a gun in his hand, stepping up behind both women. Worried for her friend's safety, Misfit immediatly put her hands up, finding herself unable to keep from breaking down into tears.
"No...p-p-please...don't hurt them..."
It was as if time slowed down, pointing the gun at the back of Canary's head. He wanted Charlie to watch.
*BANG!*
Turning the gun to Batgirl.
*BANG!*
As Charlie let out a scream of fear and rage, Joker turned the gun on her. Before he pulled the trigger, an images filled Misfit's head. Of Oracle putting her on a mission. Of bouncing down to the Wash. Of Captain Cold. And finally, of a man holding her head...and of absolute fear.
*BANG!*
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Still in a place between sleep and the real world, Charlie leaned up from her bed, letting out a massive, ear splitting scream. She couldn't process that she was awake now. As far as she knew, her greatest nightmare had come true. Her best friends were dead. All she could do was curl her fists in rage and scream, knowing of nothing else she could possibly do.
Her mind was still something of a blank slate, and all she knew at the moment was terror.
Terror and fear.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 5, 2012 22:03:01 GMT -8
Barbara never found her way to a bed... or the couch even, but instead ended up curled ontop of her keyboard. Which, in all honesty, was a second bed for her. It was too much of a habit to nod off at the keyboard that it pretty much was the norm anymore. Especially when she was working on something.
Most people would find it hard to sleep with the glare of a computer monitor in her face. technically it was bad for you. Technically it messed up with one's stages of REM sleep.
Not Barbara.
She was able to sift into a deep dream-state easily.
She really hadn't been awake for long until someone in her dream popped a bottle of champagne. Something about that bottle's pop, caused her to stir and opened one eye.
That... sounded too real to be a dream.
She could have swore she heard Dinah's voice, but wasn't entirely sure. She was still in a haze. "--Dinah--?" she called out, blindly reaching around for her glasses.
She stopped the moment she heard a blood curdling scream race through her ears.
Okay. NOW she was awake.
Awake. And Worried. That sounded like Charlie.
"CHARLIE--?!?!" She pushed away from her central hub and looked down the hall way. Which way should she go? Maybe Dinah and Charlie were together. Maybe someone broke in...
She screamed. "DINAH--!!!!!!!!!!"
No. Her alarms would have tripped off.
Maybe someone ported in?
As she made her way down to her bedroom, she pulled her escrima sticks from behind her chair and entered the room, ready to fend off any would-be attacker. Only... there was no one there. Just Charlie, sitting upright in bed, obviously in distress.
"Wh--What--!??" She pushed herself closer to her. "What happened--?"
She looked around again, further assessing the situation. She blinked, finally getting an idea. "....nightmare..?"
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 5, 2012 22:31:57 GMT -8
Dinah had just started to clean up the mess when she heard Charlie scream followed by Barbara yelling for her. She bolted out of the gym and into charlies room nearly taking out the door and Barbara as she charged in ready for a fight.
"what happened?" Charlie looked terrified. Dinah did a quick sweep of the room making sure there were no unwanted intruders. Calming down a little bit she realized she must have had a nightmare. It clicked in her mind that it was odd that they both had a nightmare but she quickly brushed it off to the job and whatever it was Charlie had gone through yesterday.
She moved a little closer and tried to comfort the girl. "it was just a dream, your safe"
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Misfit
Junior Member
Misfit In Action
Posts: 58
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Post by Misfit on Mar 5, 2012 23:35:33 GMT -8
Charlie continued to scream, tears still rolling down her cheeks, still caught in a spot that isn't quite asleep and isn't quite awake. It was hell. A hell that no 16 year old girl should have to experience.
In her mind, her heroes died.
It felt so real that it might as well have actually happened in front of her. She was helpless to save the life of those who she cared deepest for. It was not only the terror of seeing death, not just the terror of never seeng her best friends again, but a deeper feel that she was, to a degree, responsible for it.
Charlie's eyes opened.
She took a moment, tears still streaming, to understand where she was. She was in the guest bedroom, quickly remembering that it was where Barbara had placed her earlier. It was coming back to her, but it didn't make the pain of the visions any less.
Her screaming was silenced, looking up at both Dinah and Barbara, already by her bedside.
Just as quickly as the screaming had vanished, sobs of sorrow began.
As she was closest to her, Charlie leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Dinah, giving her a tight hug, never wanting to let go. Tears and sobs rushing into Dinah's shoulder, as Charlie's long red hair quickly became intangled with Dinah's, desperate for any type of contact.
"...thank god...*sob*....you're still alive.....*weep*.......I couldn't do it......I couldn't.....I....."
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 5, 2012 23:50:07 GMT -8
Dinah held her close rubbing her back. "its alright, it wasn't real" her heart ached for the girl, she was so upset.
From what little she had gotten from Charlie it sounds like her dream was about either her or Barbara or both of them dying, an all to familiar nightmare of Dinah's.
It was probably a nightmare all heroes experienced at some point in their run, the feeling of failure, not being able to save the ones you love. Luckily not everyone got to experience it in real life...it was a bitch.
Dinah continued trying to comfort Charlie stroking her hair trying to sooth her. "do you want to talk about it? sometimes it helps or so i'm told...."
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Post by Oracle on Mar 6, 2012 0:54:16 GMT -8
Barbara slowly lowered her escrisma and placed the set in her lap. She pushed herself forward, wheeling her chair to the foot of her bed. Seeing Charlie in such a frightened state was un-nerving.
The moment the tears started steaming down Charlie's face, Barbara's stomach weakened.
She hated seeing her cry. She hated seeing her operatives in pain.
Barbara went from extreme worry to extremely pissed off in .5 seconds.
Whoever the hell did this to Charlie was going to pay. And she was going to see to it personally if she must.
"I'll go make some tea..." she said after a few moments.
At least with Dinah there, Charlie would be alright. Dinah would be able to get her to calm down.
She looked back to Dinah. "Is tea okay for you as well? Or would you like something else?" she paused "...I know I think I need something stronger.."
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Misfit
Junior Member
Misfit In Action
Posts: 58
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Post by Misfit on Mar 6, 2012 4:10:23 GMT -8
As Charlie continued to sob into Dinah's shoulder, the whimpers began to slow down a little. She knew she had to be strong. She had to be brave. Her friends were still alive, and the scary was over. That's all that mattered now.
With a sniffle, Charlie sat back up, wiping away her tears only for more to gently leak back out. She nodded gently, keeping her eyes down, almost afraid to look Dinah in the eys as she spoke.
"It was......*sniff*....it was my worst fear.....I saw Joker....Joker.........ad the two of you....."
She couldn't say the actual words of what exactly Joker did to them in her dream, but it was rather obvious.
"....and I couldn't stop him.....and I wanted to....I really, really did...."
As she spoke, her voice began to break, followed by more sobbing, and plenty more tears.
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 6, 2012 12:19:38 GMT -8
"stronger" she answered Barbara while she listened to Charlie.
Dinah pulled Charlie back in wrapping her arms tightly around her. She really hated seeing her upset like this. "I know that dream, I've had plenty like it myself and they are hard to process." She laid down with Charlie so that she could be more comfortable. With both arms protectively wrapped around her Dinah rested her head against hers and continued.
"we see and deal with a lot of things the average Joe doesn't, a lot of people are oblivious to the madness around them, or maybe they just choose not to see it. We are thrust into it day after day and at some point it starts to get to us. The pain, the fear that we see day to day. Nightmares are an unfortunate side effect, so I can't assure you this will be your last, but there is a good possibility that yours was triggered from something that happened to you yesterday so you can be sure that I am going to hunt the guy down and beat the crap out of him" she tried to lighten the mood to make Charlie feel better.
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Post by Oracle on Mar 6, 2012 17:30:04 GMT -8
"Stonger..." she nodded to Dinah and made her way back out to the kitchen.
She stopped a moment, to see the light on in her rather large training flat. Was this where Dinah was previously?
She poked her head in to take a quick look around, only to be greeted by a heap of sand beneath the boxing bag.
"Not to self: Order new bag." Something told her, that with the way Dinah worked and would probably be working on the equipment there that she was going to start having to replace things that were suseptible to her vigorous nature.
Making her way into the kitchen to start the process of making a cup of camomile tea. While she waited, she made the additional cups of coffee and started a few pot. Even if there happened to be no food in her fridge at least there was always an ample supply of caffeinated beverages around which included energy drinks and cans of pop as well.
Yup. The House of O ran high on caffeine. Kinda had to most nights.
Making use of her waiting time, she attempted to straighten up the kitchen from where Charlie threw it into discord from earlier. She was sure she missed a few of the many coffee stirrers that happened to spill over, but she could worry about those a bit later.
With the whistle of the kettle, Barbara grabbed one of her mugs and prepared the tea, adding just a bit of honey to sweeten the mixture. After balancing everything on a tray in her lap, she returned back to room, offering a cup to Dinah.
"A cup of coffee, just the way you like it..." She paused thinking about it. "Unless.. you take your coffee differently from a few years ago.. then.. you might have to tell me your new methods."
She pushed herself closer to Charlie's side and handed her one of her many hero themed cups. This one in particular had a Superman logo.
"Why not take a drink of this...?" she handed the mug to Charlie. "I hear 'Super-Tea' is pretty practical." she winked.
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Misfit
Junior Member
Misfit In Action
Posts: 58
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Post by Misfit on Mar 7, 2012 3:13:18 GMT -8
In any other timeframe, this would be a dream come true.
All she ever wanted was to be one of the girls. Barbara, Dinah, and Charlie. The female three amigos. She just wanted one night where there weren't any badguys. No super-villains to beat down. Nothing but the three of them, out of costume, hanging out.
It was all she wanted.
Just one night...
...but not like this.
Instead, like she always thought she would be, Charlie found herself as the child. The damsel. The runt of the litter. Because she can't hold her emotions together for five friggin' seconds, she has to be craddled by two of the world's greatest superheroines.
Stupid, stupid girl.
And then, Dinah spoke.
Cuddled up with her in bed, holding Dinah close, she stopped sobbing and listened to her words. They were words of truth, but also words of anger. Then, it finally came to her: Charlie was wrong. She wasn't being cared for by these two out of pity, or sorrow, or disappointment. She wasn't laying in that bed with Dinah because she felt sorry for her, or getting served tea by Barbara because they looked down upon her.
They did these things because they were her friends.
With one more gentle sniffle, Charlie looked at Dinah and gave a soft, comforted smile, one more tear rolling down her cheek, though this one was driven by happiness.
"...thank you..."
Charlie's hand, still shaking, gently took the Superman logoed mug, giving Barbara the same smile.
"...both of you..."
As she took her first sip of tear, the color slowly returned to her body. The scared little girl was gone, and while she had no idea what happened to her, she knew that the Birds of Prey would find out.
Together.
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Post by Black Canary on Mar 7, 2012 20:50:04 GMT -8
Dinah smiled at Charlie and wiped her tear away. "your welcome, you know we are always here for you no matter what" she sat up a little bit and took the coffee from Barbara. "Black is just fine, why add the extra calories, you know me straight to the point" she smiled and took a sip. "by the way I broke your punching bag, must have been old..."
"so what is our plan for the day? I should head down to the hotel and check out, no point in staying there when I have my own apartment or here...?
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Post by Oracle on Mar 7, 2012 21:27:48 GMT -8
"Anytime." she said to Misfit with a smile.
Rubbing her head, she turned her attention back to Dinah. "I figured as much. Hopefully it's strong enough for you..."
Barbara shook her her head. She recalled the rather large sand pile she found a bit earlier. "Yeeah..." she grinned. "I saw the sand. At least we can make our dream sand castle beach house now." she joked, taking a sp of her own coffee. Time for that liquid energy to start working their way through her veins.
"I was.. actually going to ask you about that. I... didn't know if you wanted to be alone there or... perhaps.... stay here. I know I'd love to have you back here..."
She turned to Charlie. "....you too..." She rubbed her arm. "I... was going to ask you about it. But since the subject is up... and we're all semi-awake... I guess now is a good time more than ever.
"...something's brewing in the streets of Gotham. The tip off I got from Q put a lot of things in perspective. We're going to need to be on our toes... and I could use all the help I can get."
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