Hit the Ground Running 8 : Familiar Faces

[phaineofcatz]

Bruce leads her down into the cave. She hasn’t been in here all week, so it kinda feels cool all over again. Actually, how often would she have to come down here for it to STOP feeling cool? It’s like, every comic nerd’s dream, but then also just chock full of tech and tools and stuff to train with. Does Bruce still feel like a badass every time he comes down here to his cabal of trained warrior children fighting for justice?

Speaking of those warriors, there are several of them waiting, already in the cave. “Soooo, how’s it going?” Come on Tim, it’s been three seconds, don’t already make it awkward.

“Soooo we’re crazy. So what? You all dress up as animals and punch people around the city, don’t act as if we’re the only weird ones.”

“Taaay, please don’t like, start a fight, this is weird for everyone. Just like, we’re okay, really, you don’t need to walk on eggshells or whatever. Okay?”

“All the better. This is no place for a child who cannot handle an adult conversation.” Damian, never change. Actually scratch that, Damian, go make some friends your age.

“Tay, I think you already know us all, but if you have questions let us know. Everyone, meet Tay. Tay makes things a little more confusing, but the two of them have been through a lot together, and it doesn’t change what we need to do.” Bruce’s introduction is probably more to clear the air than anything else, but it helps. Off to the side Cass gives her a quiet nod that she thinks is a degree of acceptance. “Tim, how is the tracking going?”

Tim spins back around in the chair to face the computer. “Signal is on the west side, tracking the target from above. It seems like he was part of the setup for the attempt, but left shortly before it happened.” He pulls up video of a tall, blonde man who looks like he WORKS for a living.

“Oh I like, think I remember him! He’s one of the guys who were there when we showed up! How did you find him?”

Bruce points out some camera footage of the man in some windows off to the side while he talks. “J’onn saw him clearly enough in your memories to shape-shift into him. I used that to do a search for him across the city. We were still working through old footage and his patterns last week, but now that we know a bit more we can use him to identify the next location when the time comes. The target’s name is Patrick Sellers, we believe he is currently headed to get paid for the job, so Signal is tracking him to see what we can find out by listening in.”

“Exactly! We’re pretty sure that this guy hires two shifts of workers for each event. A shift of builders and a shift to stand watch when he turns on the machine and come with him after. They probably help with tear-down and repair after they teleport out. Our man here seems to be alternating between tear-down and setup. We don’t know if that’s coincidence or deliberate, but we’re hoping to get more info by tailing him.”

“Huh, that’s a pretty good use for J’onn’s combined power set and some police level surveillance. Read the victim’s mind, find the assailant, shape-shift into them, use that as the reference to search. I don’t actually remember them doing that in any of the comics we read?”

“J’onn uses it often enough for investigation. But I could have told you all this upstairs, this is the real reason I brought you down here.” Bruce picks up and offers her what looks like a smartphone and a strange single headphone.

“Oh? Is that a communicator? Don’t we already have one?”

“The communicator I gave you is a temporary one with limited range, and it seems to be malfunctioning here and there since you teleported this afternoon.” Whoops. Phaine and Tay both do their best to school their collective expression. Looks like she needs to be more careful about shading the communicator. They could probably just explain that she can hide it with their powers, but like, a holdout’s a holdout. “This one can be worn at pretty much all times and stay hidden, but is designed to pair with the phone as a base station. It’s waterproof, so wear it whenever you are able, and keep the phone on your person at all times. Also, you can use the phone as you see fit so long as you do not uninstall anything or tamper with the OS.”

“Oh my gawd I can have internet access?!”

“Wait? You haven’t used the internet the whole time you’ve been here?” Tim is looking at her like she might fall over dead any moment.

“I mean, yeah, you like, couldn’t get my phone connected to the network. I’ve just been listening to the music I have downloaded and writing in my journal.”

“Why didn’t you use one of the computers?”

“Tim, the only computers we know about in the manor are your personal laptop and the Bat computer. Even if you hadn’t told Phaine not to come down here unsupervised, even I don’t have the testicular fortitude to use the Bat computer for playing around on the internet. And really, we don’t actually know what your internet looks like, or have any accounts. We’re not supposed to exist, yeah?”

Tim and Bruce look at each other a bit confused for a moment.

“Father obviously was being cautious, but we did not expect you to be here so long. I am sure there will still be constraints on your access, but this is simply a better long term plan.” She can’t tell if Damian is watching out for his father’s honor, or if he just genuinely believes Bruce has planned that far ahead. She’s pretty sure Bruce just forgot that a teenage girl without IRL friends has to live and breath on the internet.

Bruce covers his embarrassment with a cough. “Yes, well, I ask that you not post any photos. And the phone automatically block’s any site or app’s attempts at getting your location. Also don’t post any information about yourself or us. But it should be fine for you to have some basic accounts.”

“Seriously though, now I get why you said you were going crazy. Oh, uh, not to make fun of the whole…” He gestures wildly with his hands. Wasn’t Tim the leader for a team? How is he still this awkward?

“Yeah, whoops, looks like we were crazy the whole time, our bad.”

“Uh, yeah. What have you actually been up to stay busy? If you haven’t been coming down here and you can’t even go outside, you’ve, what? Been sitting in your room listening to music and writing for two weeks?”

“I mean, I draw too. I help Alfred cook sometimes, and Duke has been sharing his homework with me so I can like, pretend to keep up with my studies. Honestly, I’m ahead in math and science and it’s not like I can rely on history or civics here for back home, so mostly he’s helped me with English and lit stuff. But mostly I’ve been training in the room you’re loaning me. Assuming time passes the same here as my world I’ve already missed two weeks of practice, so I’m going to have to really stay on top of it if I don’t wanna lose my place.”

“You’re on a sports team? I thought you had to hide your physical abilities?”

“Oh, I’m like, not on a team, I’m on a squad! Cheerleading is about nailing executions, but it’s more about like, planning, and coordination, and working together! So even though I can outperform all the other members, if there’s no one who can match me it doesn’t work for a routine. In the end I just look like a slightly stand out member of the squad. At least that was Tom’s pitch to Aunt Nix and my parents. I think it does work though, I’m like, on the main squad and have prime roles in all our routines, but no one off the squad realizes I’m anything special. And the girls on the squad are too full of themselves to let it get out that I could do all of our routines with an arm and a leg tied behind my back.”

Cass has mostly been listening in her incredibly calm way, but she pieces something together. “…Routines! …Not dance.”

“I mean, I like to dance too, but yeah, I meant like, cheer routines not dance routines. Honestly, it’s pretty limiting to not have a partner and like, a vaulting space to practice, but I can do my low single parts.”

“You know, sis, we could probably figure out a way for me to be your partner with shade, I think I can control a whole suit like we do that spare arm thing. It’d take a little practice but we could manage and then we could train in the gym upstairs.”

“NO! I don’t mind you using your PK in discrete ways or more closed off spaces, but do NOT create a whole person with your shade in front the giant bay windows in the gym or larger halls. Actually, you probably should stay out of the gym, it can be seen from of the grounds and we sometimes get photographers looking for a scoop.”

“Ah, never mind. Sorry, sis.” If the disappointment is audible in Tay’s already flat voice then it must be positively dripping from the expression Phaine has on her face. Even Damian gives them a sympathetic look.

“I am not trying to be harsh, but we still haven’t figured out how much information they have to target you with or why they are willing to go to such lengths to drag you here from another world.” He takes a moment for a quiet sigh. “Look, you have followed all of the rules I have set for you, and I want that to continue. I still want you supervised in the cave for anything else, but you can come down into the training area and access your locker. But, if I find you have tampered with anything else you’ll be confined to the manor again and the gym constraints will stay in place.”

“Oh. Oh! Are you like, serious?” Phaine bounces on her toes, “Oh my gawd! We promise we won’t mess with anything right, Tay?”

“Yeah, we’ll behave.”

“Father are you certain? They are…” He looks at them like he is trying to find the most disdainful thing to call them in good conscience.

“Cheerleaders!” Phaine, somewhat appropriately, cheers.

“Hey, leave me out of that, sis! You joined the squad on your own.”

“I think it’ll be alright Damian, and if you’re worried about it you can always check in on them.”

“Not to interrupt this party, but Signal just reported in on the payoff and wants to know if he should keep tailing Sellers or the handler?” Tim indicates the screen where the two have just exchanged an envelope and are going their separate ways.

“Follow the handler, we don’t expect Sellers to be a priority for the next few days and Oracle has digital eyes on him.”

“You hear that Signal? Switch targets and see what shakes out for a little while.”

“Hey, uh, actually, how do these communicators work? I only ever heard Oracle in mine and I don’t really know how to call any of you.”

“Well, for starters, that earpiece is still your old one, give it here and swap for your new one.” She hands over the old earpiece and pulls the smaller one out of her pouch and starts trying to get it in place. “Most of the functionality is managed on the phone I gave you, but there is a pressure sensor on the base that sits behind your ear. It can be pressed through your ear without covering your ear canal. It has three actions, tap, double tap, and hold. What each does can be set on the phone. Here, I’ll show you how it works.”

---

It took a bit more to show her how to set up the earpiece than Bruce had expected. The phone was similar to an android, but the UI had definitely evolved a little differently in this world. All in all it was basically just managed by an app, and she was pleased to find that not only could she customize it easily, Tay’s highlight trick worked on both the new phone screen and the earpiece.

That did mean she had to take a detour through explaining what she was doing to Bruce and Tim. Bruce thought it was a mildly interesting application of her powers, but Tim, poor DEFINITELY autistic Tim. He had to know how it worked. They spent a while showing him on their phone and the new one Bruce had given her. Tim had all sorts of questions about how precisely and accurately she could ‘touch’ with her highlight. Bruce lost interest pretty quickly and left Tim to help her.

He ended up installing an app on her phone for testing and calibration of touch screens and running her through a bunch of drills. It turns out that she was more precise than accurate. To her the whole phone screen felt kinda the same, so she was a little bit guessing where to do the highlights, but once she chose a spot it was repeatable almost beyond the tool’s ability to detect variation. She figured that with practice it would get pretty easy to control. After he was satisfied he went back to showing her how to use the phone. He also showed her some apps she might want and some internet spaces she could join later and what they were for. They didn’t exactly have the same social media, but there was enough overlap she could probably find her niches if she was stuck here long enough.

By the time they were done with tech talk Bruce had a more serious update for them. “Signal shared his report. We have confirmation that Sellers is on tear-down for the next job, and we also have confirmation for a date next Thursday, but not a time. We expect to get an update with time and location the night before. That should make it easier to prepare and hopefully catch them before they get a chance to try again.”

“Please and thank you, I don’t wanna know what happens if they like, keep splitting Tay and I further apart.”

“We already have a memory barrier between us that’s getting harder to cross. I think we can still a little bit feel each other’s strong emotions, but if it gets much worse I’m worried we won’t even snap back together anymore…”

Tim looks confused. “Would that be so bad? If you were two people wouldn’t that be easier?”

“Tim, I let Phaine take over fronting because she was more capable of being happy on her own than I was. Even if there weren’t concerns about the harm it could do to us physically, it’s complicated?”

“Okay so like, I think I’ve got this, Tay. Tim, who are you?”

“Uh, I’m Tim Drake?”

“Yah-huh! Does that mean you’re like, NOT Red Robin?”

“Oh. I think I see where this is going, you can skip the long version.”

“Neat! If you don’t need me I’ma go practice with my siiiisster? Sibling? Sibling. I’ma go practice with my sibling.” She kept backing away towards the training area as she said it.

“…Can watch?” Cass starts following them out.

“Yeah, you can even join in if you’re feeling froggy. Shame Dick’s not around, sis. You could ask him to throw you.”

Phaine spins away to not face anyone and harshly whispers to herself. “HEY, how do you know about that?! Wait. Don’t answer that… I hate when I’m dumb…”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘don’t peek in my journal’ doesn’t work when I see through your eyes, sis.”

As the singular pair walks out of the room with Cass in tow, Damian turns to Bruce, “Are you sure it is wise to allow them this much information and freedom?”

Bruce sighs, “They could have snuck in here at any time, they know how to get in. The cave has sensors and defenses, we would know if they tried anything. And there is another reason I am giving them so much leeway. DID creates alters for a reason, and that reason is the perceived safety of the system. Typically it starts because one or more members of their long term support, their family, is a recurring and unpredictable danger to them. It doesn’t matter if they ARE safe, it matters that they FEEL safe. If they don’t there is a chance a more dangerous split could happen. I do not want us to become another support system that they come to see as a threat.”

“And the contingencies we have in place for them?” Tim helped put some of them together, and every member of the core team was briefed on them already.

“They do not know what they are, but Jason says they know we have them, and Phaine agrees we need them. J’onn said that she is empathetic to a degree that is almost dangerous to herself. It is quite possible she is just willing to accept it as for the greater good. We will see.”

“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst?”

“Don’t we always?”

---

Cass did not participate, but she did stick around to watch for a bit. A quick trip to their locker and they easily had enough material for Tay to build herself a shell of a body she could use. They stripped out some threads and made a few long cords they could use to stay connected to the shell without having to worry about getting tangled up, which made it look like some sort of weird, life sized puppet.

They found that it was easy for Tay to control the shell while Phaine controlled the body or the other way around. They could both still feel the other’s movements, and it was a little distracting, but neither of them needed to pay attention to what the other was doing. It only took them a couple minutes of practice to be able to move freely without either of them interrupted each other.

The real trouble came from a different direction. More specifically, the direction the body was facing. “Oh, right, the shell doesn’t have eyes. As soon as you turn away to do your part or are flipping in the air I’m basically blind back here.”

“Shoot, that does like, make sense.” They close their eyes for a bit and focus on feeling their connection to the shade. “I can like, tell where it is in relation to me, but you’re right, I can’t tell where I am in relation to it. Like, I can totally extrapolate, but it takes a sec, and that’s enough time to drop us… Maybe I throw you instead? It’s not like you hardly weigh anything.”

“I’m not the one who’s trying to practice, you are, and do we even learn anything by doing it in the shell?”

“I dunno, but it should be safe and even if we don’t like, figure anything out we at least figure out we don’t figure anything out! How about you control the body and I control the shell and you throw me how I ask and I practice!”

Phaine feels Tay take a deep breath and sigh. “I guess it’s whatever. Tell me what you need.”

The shell bounces and runs back up to their body. “Okay, so like… Oh, why did you make the shell so much taller than me? It’s like, too tall to be a flyer, a girl this tall would be a base.” As she gets close to herself it’s obvious that the shell is almost a full six inches taller than her actual body.

“I just made it my height… Right, when the Regen kicked up we got shorter. Well, this is how tall I feel, if you don’t like it make yourself shorter.”

“Huh…” The shell comes undone at the seems for a moment and comes back together the same height and portions as their body. “I guess we could make the shell any shape we want, that’s kinda neat. Ick, but it’s kinda creepy being a faceless mannequin…” She looks intently at the face as she shapes it a little more and highlights some blank eyes. Still weird, but less creepy. Then she has a fun idea. “And I Guess we Can like, both talK easier if I do this!” The shell sounds out through a white line roughly where a mouth should be. “AlrighT, so lets sTart small and worK our way up. I want you to load me with both hands ouT to step into and then launch me uP! I’ll just do a simple X-out and then you can catch me in a cradle. Since I weigh like, so litTle as a shell you should be able to do it solo easy!”

“…I am a little upset that I knew what any of that meant. How hard do you want me to do the…toss up? I think that’s right.”

“Yeah! And don’T be a stick in the mud, you’re a CHEERLEADER now!”

“I am regretting so many of your life choices right now.” But Phaine feels Tay set and offer her their hands to step up on.

She braces the shell’s hands on their shoulders and steps into the grip. “OKay, on three.” She bounces on each number “One. Two. THREE!”

At the same time she pushes with the shell’s arms and leg while Tay throws her foot in the air. The shell is really light, so they end up getting a lot of air, but she realizes partway through that without as much mass it’s hard to feel where their inertia gives out. She leans on her vision instead and does the X-out when it looks like she’s slowing down. Then when she sees herself falling she tucks and rolls back to land in the right angle for the cradle. Tay catches her cleanly and then gives her a slight toss to land on her feet.

“OH! You even like, did the dismount! Hehehe, don’T lie, you’ve been paying atTention during practice!”

“You have been paying attention during practice. I just remember cause it’s important to you.”

“Aaawww, that’s sweat of you Tay!”

“No, I mean I remember cause it was important enough you drilled it into our brain… Wait, are you making fun of me?”

“NOOooo, I’d never~ Anyway, Tay, lets play!”

They only actually did a little practice on her routines, but they ran through all the two person stunts she hadn’t been able to practice in the room. Tay was sort of right, flying as the shell wasn’t quite right, but it did give her a chance to see her form from the outside while she was doing it. That was valuable in its own right and let her clean up her tuck timing a little bit. If they could find a way to see out of the shell and swap back to her being the flyer it would maybe be the most effective way to do drills she could imagine.

They eventually broke for dinner. They kept the cords they’d made intact and packed up the bits of fabric in their locker. She should probably be stressed out from a crazy day. She literally fell out of the sky and found out she for sure has a mental illness, not to mention that there is still someone out there legit trying to rip her apart and she doesn’t even know why still. But between learning Tay probably wasn’t dangerous and getting to FINALLY fly for a little bit she was in high spirits. And it sounds like Batman has the whole mad scientist thing figured out now, so she probably won’t even have to worry about it until they catch this guy and make him send her home!

She’s so high on the vibes that she forgets about the new phone until after dinner when Tay asks if they can look some stuff up online.

INTERNET! Sweet, sweet internet!

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