Hit the Ground Running 9 : Space Between

[phaineofcatz]

You have been added to

🦇🦇🦇🦇😍FAMILY😍💛🤍💜🖤

Cass: 👋👋👋

Tim: Welcome Phaine, do you know how group texts work?

Phaine: T- No Tim, our world did not have the concept of, how you say, 'group texts' /j

Steph: hahaha

Tim: Okay, well, it's a text, but with multiple people talking at once.

Phaine: I'm sorry Tim, Tay was being sarcastic, that's what '/j' at the end means from our world.

Jason: lol, dorks

Cass: 🤣

Tim: Oh, never mind.

Steph: we use /s

Phaine: KK.

Phaine: T- Anyway, what's up? This seems to be a bit of an exclusive group for us to be joining

Tim: Dick saw a sale on Justice League merch and was asking what people wanted.

Tim: I figured since you're from another world this might be your only chance at any of it.

Dick: how do you type so fast

Tim: I'm on a computer Dick.

Phaine: My powers let me text with my mind.

Cass: 🤯🤯🤯

Steph: Wait, seriously?

Phaine: Yeah, actually Tay figured it out like, years ago apparently and has been holding out on me!!!

Phaine: T- I do what I want 😝

Dick: Okay, but merch?

Phaine: So what is it like, mugs and stuff with JL branding?

Tim: It's less JL branding and more JL member branding, like Green Lantern and stuff.

Phaine: T- Oh, we have that in our world too. Whatever

Dick: you don't want anything?

Phaine: Grayson, I legit hang out in the prime seat of my nerdy childhood fantasies and have a spare cape and cowl Bruce is just LETTING ME KEEP!!!

Phaine: T- Unless you're offering like, GL's actual power ring and lantern I think we're good on the nick knacks.

Dick: Suit yourself

Phaine: T- HAHA! Cute choice of words Dick XD

Cass: 🤣🤣🤣 🤵

Dick: I don't get it

Dick doesn’t need to get it. She puts the phone away and looks back up at the Black Bat look alike in front of her. She always loved the way Cass had done that suit. The wide stitched mask that covered her mouth always felt like a way to physically show her disability and reclaim it in some fashion. To say, “Yeah, I was hurt, I have trauma, it has scarred me irreparably, but I stand here strong despite that.”

She isn’t even sure Cass ever wore a suit like this here, but it’s still a meaningful symbol to Phaine. Add the fact she legit made it out of one of Bruce’s old cowls he kinda said she could have, and that she was standing in the bat cave? Her nerdy heart could just barely take it all.

Dick and the others can have their merch. They don’t seem to realize they LIVE in the land of swag.

“I know I’m pretty, but you shouldn’t stare~” The white shape on the mask moves in a poor imitation of a mouth, but it is still an improvement from a few days ago.

“Come on, Tay, let me bask in the cool factor here, you can’t pretend this isn’t like, a nerdy little paradise.”

“Yeah, okay, this is pretty cool.” She strikes a deep and aggressive kamai and then takes a few strikes and kicks at the air. “If we ever manage to get back with any evidence, Tom will probably lose it about not getting caught up in this too.”

“Hehe, yeah…” She doesn’t like that ‘if’ at all. She’s been trying not to think about the chance they can’t get back. But Tay’s right, they haven’t caught this guy yet. And even if they catch him, depending on how his machine works there’s a chance it was a one way trip.

Or worse.

There is an even scarier possibility than being stuck here with no way home. What if they catch him, and his machine can get her home. How dangerous does that make it? A machine that can pierce the barrier might have worked safely once or twice, but how does she know she won’t be getting home at the cost of entire worlds? Could she still take that risk? Could she not? What kind of person can weigh going home against possibly destroying an uncountable number of lives?

She loses balance as the shell shoves her off her heels, “Hey! Watch it, Tay!”

“You watch it, sis. I can’t read your thoughts, but I CAN feel the way they’re tearing you up. You can’t solve everything yourself. So lean on me a little, yeah?”

“Sorry. It’s just like, a lot, ya know? We don’t actually know if we can get back, or even if we could, what harm that might do? How can you be so calm about it?”

The shell wraps her in a hug. It’s more like being hugged by a stuffed animal than a person. Shade absorbs heat down to a little ways below her body temperature, which means it isn’t exactly cold, but it’s not warm like a person. The gesture is still comforting though.

“I am calm because the only thing I have to worry about is making sure you’re okay. As long as you get to live a life in a way you want, sis, then I’ll fight the whole world if I have to.”

That’s…maybe a bit more confrontational than comforting, but she knows Tay means well. “Hey, Tay, hehe. Sorry, I still find the ways your name rhymes funny.”

“It’s your name too, sis. Tay is short for Taylor.”

“Oh. Oh my gawd it is, why didn’t I figure that out! Ugh, sometimes I’m a space cadet. But like, anyway, why do you call me your sister? Like, I kinda like it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know what makes us siblings?”

“I mean, we aren’t. But Nix isn’t our aunt, and Tom isn’t our brother either. Neither of them are even related to us. Sometimes you find family and that bond is just as important as the one you were born with. Sometimes more. And besides, your mom and dad are my mom and dad, we were born on the same day, we’re basically twins!”

“Heh, except you’re taller than me and…not a girl? Maybe? Did we ever figure that out?”

The shell shrugs. “Fraternal twins then. And I’m not NOT a girl. I don’t think. I’m not NOT a boy either though. I don’t know, when I think about it too hard I just get uncomfortable either way.”

“Okay, I don’t want to press you about it. Just trying to figure out if there’s anything I should be doing to make you feel more welcome. My body legit had to change for people to start treating me the way I wanted, so I don’t wanna… Oh. Oh wait. Are you okay with our body?”

“What?”

“Do you have like, dysphoria about our body? We’re like, a lot of the way towards girl, but you like, aren’t exactly a girl? And whenever you make the shell you make it taller, like, taller even then we were before the Regen made us shorter.” She looks the shell up and down as she says it. “Okay, you do make the shell look kinda girl shaped though.”

“Oh. I don’t know. The height just feels right. I guess our body never actually looked like this? But when I go to make the shell how feels right in my head this is what I get. I guess you’re right that it is girl shaped now that I look at it. Maybe I am a girl? I don’t know.”

“Maybe we’re thinking too hard about it. You know how Jason like, teases us about overthinking stuff, maybe you just are girl shaped in your head, but like, the shape doesn’t mean you’re a girl? And that can be enough for now. I don’t need to have a reason to be your sister, and you don’t have to have a reason to be my sibling. And if that changes, you can just like, let me know?”

“Yeah. Okay, yeah, I think I like that. Man, I was just giving you a hard time for getting all up in your head and here I am doing it too.”

“Well, since it’s both of us it’s probably something wrong with the head!” They both start to laugh at the same time and get tangled up and choke and cough for a little bit. “Haaa, cough oops.”

“Only one of us can use the lungs at a time, noted.”

“Oof. You know, our PK is like, incredibly appropriate for us. Like, no one else could probably use it this way.”

“Mmmm… Maybe, maybe not. Remember, Nix said shifts were often a reflection of the natures, needs, or neurology of the shifter. Our EX showed up really early, but our PK showed up a couple years later. It’s possible we already were split by the time it manifested. And we’ve definitely been split at least eight years, so that’s plenty of time for it to have affected how our PK developed. Actually, it’s possible our Regen and EX are affecting our DID too.”

“Wait, how would that work?”

“Well, EX increases the effectiveness of our mind. That one is pretty straightforward. Most DID patients can’t have two fully functioning alters doing different things at the same time. Then our Regen, now this is a stretch, but stick with me. Our Regen heals us fast, when we do physical training we’ve healed from the damage by the time we finish cleaning up. Most people need at least a night’s rest for the same thing. That means that we can repeatedly train and get gains from it quickly. It also means we can’t build bulk muscle well, but we can build very strong limber muscle really quickly. Now, what if we apply that same idea to the mind, too?”

“So you think we like, a little bit broke our mind over and over again and it healed able to handle us being able to like, function independently somehow?”

“I think that we’ve had our mind split dangerously at least twice since getting here, and that it’s possible a person without Regen three would not have recovered from it quickly enough.”

“Oh. So we were forced to split, our brain like, healed a little bit that way, and then we fused and our brain healed like that, too. But we did it again and again. So now we’re like, more independent of each other?”

“I didn’t want to say anything before I tried it, but last night I didn’t go to sleep when you did. I stayed up and practiced doing some stuff with PK while you slept. It didn’t wake you up for me to be conscious. And I stayed up several hours, but you woke up seemingly unaffected.”

“Is that why you were so quiet this morning? Did you like, nap while I was getting up and ready?”

“Kinda, yeah”

“Wow, jelly, I wish I could get ready while sleeping.”

“…Sis… That’s what I’m trying to tell you. You CAN. Our body needs a certain amount of rest, and each of our minds do as well, but our minds and bodies don’t all have to rest at the same times. That is INCREDIBLY unusual.”

“Uh-huh, I’ll say. Hey, does that like—”

“I am not going to get you ready for school every day while you sleep in.”

“Shoot. I was mostly joking, but the fact you called me on it actually makes me feel a little bad.”

“Neither one of us ever liked getting up early for school. Now, getting up early to train…”

“Speaking of, didn’t we come down here to like, do that.”

“Yeah, but then you got distracted and all weepy on me. So I had to give you a pep talk.”

“Mmmhmm, you gave me a pep talk.”

“Nooo, sis, come on.”

“Like a cheeeerleader?”

“Alright, you wanna train, I’ma getcher ass!”

They had put together the Cooler version of the suit partially for vibes, partially to try some things out. They wanted to see how much of the style she saw some of the bat fam use they could pull off themselves. Or at least imitate with their powers. The bats used a lot of martial arts styles, but they also took advantage of their gear and capes in some very particular ways. Genjitsu, Taijutsu, and Ninpo all blended together with a high tech arsenal to create its own deceptive movement. They hide as much of their fight as they show, and in the selection of which to do when, they controlled more than just time and space, a concept core to Taijutsu, but also they manipulated their opponent’s minds.

Normally, training that alone, even if you could do her shadow puppet trick with a second body, would be impossible. But Phaine wasn’t alone anymore, now was she? She and Tay were divided enough that they could hide their thoughts and plans from each other. And since they could see out of the same eyes it became a strange dance of mirror matches as they tried to replicate the tricks and tactics they’ve gotten to see both in comics, and now in person.

Phaine had noticed since they started practicing in their room that their endurance was improving. That seemed odd and sudden, but maybe something about having a meticulously tailored diet specialized for crime fighters, and having nothing she could really do other than train, had broken through a new threshold in her fitness. Or maybe the rules were just different here. Any way about it she’d found she was able to train longer without getting sloppy, and with Tay in the shell they wouldn’t get tired any faster than her. All together, since they started doing routines and combat training together in the cave they had started having trouble with losing track of time…

“What are you doing?” They both jumped. They had been too focused on each other, and they hadn’t heard the approaching footsteps. Batman was there and looking all dark knight-y.

“Uhwa…”

“You said we could train in here if we didn’t mess with anything?”

“We— We didn’t mess with anything, promise!”

“When I said that I thought you were doing cheerleading practice. Instead, you look like you are fighting each other seriously.”

“We can only do so much cheer practice alone, cause I can’t see.”

Batman’s stern demeanor falters for a moment. “Tay is blind?”

“Oh no, they can’t see from like, the shell. We both use my eyes, so when they throw me in the air and I do stunts we can’t see where I am to safely catch me.”

“Ah. The ‘shell’ is convincing enough I didn’t think about it not having eyes.”

“Yeah, not gonna lie, we forgot at first too. It seemed like a good idea, but we didn’t just magically get vision when we made a face.”

Batman enters the training area instead of looming at the threshold menacingly. “You were trying to copy what you saw me working with Damian on the other day.”

“Um, yeah. I like, I’m really good at copying things I see. And some of how you fight is like, similar to how Aunt Nix trained Tom and I, but you do some interesting stuff we haven’t seen before. We thought it’d be okay to just like, try it out.”

“Hmmm.” He’s been looking them up and down and checked their stuff on a bench nearby. She can tell he’s agitated, but she has no clue why. “Have you seen Dick today?”

“Huh? Wasn’t he out at some like, sale or something?”

“That was this morning. He stopped by the manor hours ago to drop off things people asked for.”

“Oh, wow, we maybe lost track of time. There isn’t any sunlight in here.”

“Well, Dick already left, so maybe he dropped off whatever you asked for with someone or in your room.”

“We…didn’t… OH! You mean like, the JL merch sale or whatever? Nah, we didn’t want anything.”

Bruce continues studying her. He is SOOOO much harder to read with the mask on, gawd what does he want? Wait, this is kind of familiar… “You seemed to be really interested in heroes from our world, I figured you would want a souvenir.” OH! She remembers reading this bit! Bruce is upset cause none of his kids got his merch, which like, they can’t just wear the bat logo Bruce, that’d be really identifiable. But if that’s why he’s all grumpy she’s totally got this covered.

“Yeah, like, that’s what Grayson said too, but like, why? All those kinds of junk exist in our world.” She spins around to gesture all around her. “I am standing in THE Bat cave, I was just training moves I saw THE Batman do, I was using a REAL and ACTUAL cape and cowl made for crime fighting to train! One that I am now realizing you said kind of offhandedly that you didn’t care about, but I maybe was assuming overly much that meant I could keep using it?” She gives her best sheepish look.

“What she’s trying to say is that we can get an overpriced mug with a superhero logo on it at any corner store in your world or ours. There is nowhere in EITHER world we could meet Batman other than right here. Legitimately, if anyone were to believe us when we get home we would be a god among comic nerds.”

Bruce cracks just the slightest smile through his Batman facade. “I did mean that you could keep it, that really is an older model I didn’t end up using. You say you need to see from the perspective of the shell?”

“I mean, I don’t NEED to, but like, it’d really expand what I can practice if we could.”

“I think I can help with that…”

They had realized there were electronics in the mask, the wires and components were easy enough to feel with their PK, but they hadn’t known what they did. It’s not like she gained some intimate understanding of an object by filling it with her PK, she could just feel the shape at the edges of material density, texture, and pressure. It turns out that what they did is power a display inside the mask that could be linked and controlled with other bat tech using some kind of encrypted wireless signal. He didn’t go over the details, but he showed her that her phone could connect to the mask, and one of the things she could set it to project was the camera.

The range wasn’t far enough that she could use the phone camera as an eye in the shell and do stunts, though she did play around for a moment having eyes in the back of her head. The real trick was a small secondary camera that could connect to the phone over a longer range. “We use these as spy cameras, they have decent range and material penetration, but they are still a weak and encrypted enough signal that they are very difficult to detect.”

“Are you seriously letting me have one of these? Isn’t this like, crazy high tech gadgetry, even in your world?”

“I will let you have these two. They are actually an older model as well. A lot of our old gear can’t be released or discarded since it has sensitive tech in it. Most of it sits around for a year or so after decommission until we have time to dismantle or repurpose it. It isn’t like you’re taking it out of the manor, you are stuck here after all.”

“I guess that’s like, kinda fair. Okay, but I’m like, super excited to try this out! We can like, actually get some really good practice in with these!”

“I am afraid THAT will have to wait, Miss South.” If Alfred’s shade throwing eyebrows are impressive, then his disproving ones are almost scary. “I thought perhaps you had shared lunch with one of the others, but not only have they confirmed you did NOT eat lunch, it is well passed dinner. I had asked master Bruce to check on you before he went on patrol, but instead I find you here playing with these toys.”

Even Batman looks sheepish, Alfred is no joke. Guess he basically is a father to Bruce, kinda hard to beat out the parental disapproval. “They were having a problem, I was just—” Alfred turns the full extent of his gaze on Batman and Bruce cuts out. “Anyway, I have to get to my patrol, Phaine, go eat before you make yourself sick.” Batman quickly turns and heads for the batmobile, abandoning her with Alfred.

“Sorry Alfred, we kinda did ask him for help with something. Try not to be too hard on him. We just need to put some stuff down and we’ll come right up, we promise.”

Alfred’s eyebrow game returns to shade throwing levels as he fixes her back in his focus. “See that you do.” He turns away and heads back upstairs. As he gets further away she hears him say under his breath, “Every one of them is the same. Where does he keep finding children like this.”

Phaine giggles as she and the shell walk towards the locker. As they go they sneakily try out the camera they had already connect to their phone. It’s kind of disorienting, but they think they can get used to it. It DEFINITELY makes the shell more versatile. Tay folds herself into the locker and Phaine puts the cameras on the shelf, but then Tay stops her. “I want to play around with one of those, get a feel for it. We can just use it with the phone, we don’t need the mask. And grab one of the fabric cords and an extra triangle of fabric, I’ve got ideas~”

Phaine shrugs and pockets the camera that was already connected and the other materials, then heads upstairs. They got a few feet from the locker before their stomach growled. Oops, they really haven’t eaten since breakfast! It’s so much easier to lose track of time in the cave, maybe she should set some food alarms like she used to? But for now, they should just not keep Alfred waiting any more than they already have.

---

Tay had played with the camera a bit out of the corner of their eye while they ate, but didn’t actually explain what they wanted the materials for before they went to bed. Phaine didn’t have to wait much longer to find out though. She woke up and quickly discovered a few new fashion accessories. On her left arm the cord had been repurposed into a knot-work bracelet that could be worn thick and loose at the wrist or tightly wound up her arm. On her right wrist she found a cuff of material that looked quite small and simple with only a decorative weave at the edges.

The cuff was the source of a few other surprises. “Morning, sis, sleep well?” There was no visible change, but Phaine could feel her highlight creating the sound, hidden in the layers of the cuff.

“Oh, huh, I guess that does make it a little easier for us both to talk.”

“Yeah, fighting for the same mouth can be annoying.” Tay continued to show her what she’d been up to while she slept. The cuff was actually the whole three foot long and two foot wide triangle of fabric. Tay had folded it so they could carry it inconspicuously, but could open or refold it almost instantly. The braiding was also actually much longer than it looked, and could easily be uncoiled to about four meters of thin line. “I experimented a bit last night with how thin I could get it and still control things at a distance. We could probably make it a good bit thinner than this, but a single thread is definitely too thin for us to control anything properly.”

“Huh, I hadn’t thought about it, but it makes sense there is a lower limit on how much like, mass we need to be able to connect through.”

“Call me paranoid, but I wanted us to have some prepped material always at hand in case we need it.”

“Okay, Paranoid. But you did a good job making them look like accessories we’d actually wear. Not that we’re going out in public or anything. Oh, but I guess we could keep wearing these even once this is all over! We could put some beads on the knot-work and then we’d have like, a meteor hammer kinda deal going on whenever we wanted!”

“Alright, smart ass. But yeah, the beads sound cool, sis.”

They did some morning exercises and had some breakfast, over which they assured Alfred that they would remember to eat lunch and dinner today, even asking when Alfred would start making dinner so they could help. She showed him how they had downloaded an app for tracking tasks, routines, and alerts and that they had set reminders to eat and drink. The look Alfred gave her wasn’t disproving so much as tired? Sympathetic?

“Why does it feel like Alfred pities us suddenly?”

“Sis, I am pretty sure normal people just eat when they are hungry and don’t need a new phone app to remind them.”

“Okay, but like, we totally don’t need that when we can see the sun or a clock or something. It’s just cause the cave like, looks the same all day!”

“That still isn’t eating when you’re hungry, that’s eating when you notice it’s the right time of day. It’s basically a soft alarm.”

“There is nothing wrong with like, having a schedule, I don’t get the problem.”

“I don’t get it either, but I’m pretty sure not getting it is part of the problem…”

“Well, like, whatever,” they open their locker in the cave and let their shade flow into their things. “We have more important things to worry about right now. Like getting me air born!”

Tay unfolds the shell and steps out of the locker. “One flyer, coming up!”

GAWD it feels good to fly. They had a bit of an awkward start, she had to wear the cowl to be able to see the cameras, and she had to use her shade to hold the cape out of her way, kinda bunched up around her like an extra shirt. It also took a little to get used to seeing the overlaid images and pick out who was where, but they could do it, and it meant that each of them was able to function fully on their own in their role.

They rolled through a bunch of stunts and just got a feel for it. Tay noticed they could also record what the cameras saw, and since they could hit record and stop with PK they were getting beautiful little clips for her to study and tighten up her form.

By the time the battery died in the first camera they’d been playing with last night they were already confident enough to do it with just the one. They set the camera charging and kept at it all the way until lunch, which was the point at which they found out that the display in the mask even had a HUD for notifications on the phone! They put their stuff in the locker and set the second camera charging for later. Freaking crazy rich people even have charging ports in the back of the locker.

Okay, that’s not entirely fair, their bat tech gear helped keep everyone safe. She’s the only one using the gear locker and bat cave like her own personal gym. She feels a pang of guilt, but the alternative is to just sit in the uber wealthy mansion and be depressed. Bruce probably has a piano in there somewhere, she could look out the window at the rain and play mournful tunes. Or not, she really never got any good at piano. Dad had taught her guitar instead saying, “It’s a good way to pick up the ladies,” or something like that. Poor, poor misguided dad.

Maybe that wasn’t entirely fair. She might still pick up ladies. Like, when she’s older, or at least when she looks older. And dudes like guitar too right? Oh, wait…can she even date someone? How does that work? Does she have to hide Tay from them? What if Tay doesn’t like who she wants to date, does she just have to deal with it? And what if Tay likes someone? Does Tay like girls or boys? Does Tay even like anyone?

“What’s eat’n ya, sis?”

“Just thinking like, do you uh…do you like girls or boys?”

“I guess I like both. Why do you ask?”

“Just like, trying to figure out how dating would work for us now. I can’t just like, date someone you hate. But also, how would we even make that work with both of us?”

“I dunno, but I think we have bigger issues with dating than DID. For starters, we’re not all the way girl, remember? Anything much more than kissing and we’ve got some explaining to do. Also, anyone who’d be into us physically either is younger than us, or interested in us for looking way younger than we are. We probably don’t want to date either right now. And that gap is only going to grow.

“Oh shoot, you’re right. At the rate we’re going we won’t look like we’re in our twenties until we’re in our thirties. Gawd, how does Aunt Nix date anyone?”

“I guess after a while we kinda have to give up on matching age. Why are you caught up in this all of a sudden, I don’t remember you having anyone you liked? The squad always talked shit behind our backs about being closeted cause we wouldn’t date any of the jocks at school.”

“I don’t know, I just like, sudden got worried that if either of us liked someone it would be hard on the other one. I kind of forgot we have so much other junk in the way already.”

“Look, it’s true that life is going to be more complicated because we’re a system. But life is already complicated. We don’t have to make every problem about our DID.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, Tay. Sorry for getting in my head again. But like, if we could figure it out, would you wanna date someone?”

“I mean, yeah. I kinda…well, never mind. But yeah, I think I would want to date eventually? If we can figure it out.”

“I think I would too.” Well, who knows, maybe someday dad will turn out to be right in a weird way. For now though, she doesn’t have a guitar or a piano, she has a sandwich. And wow she is hungry, how had she lasted so long yesterday without noticing? Maybe she’s so hungry today to make up for missing meals yesterday?

They opted to do some things in the manor instead of going back to the cave. Duke and Damian would be home from school soon and she could do homework and stuff with them to stay occupied until dinner. Better to avoid inviting Alfred’s wrath two days in a row. They decided to play some more pool, Phaine thought if she could get to the point where she and Tay were competitive with each other she might actually stand a chance against Jason for that rematch…

---

It was easier to have a rhythm during the week, especially now that they could train in the cave in the mornings while everyone was out. Before she knew it Wednesday had rolled around and they were expecting news about their case at some point tonight. She was trying to keep herself from getting to worked up about it, so she stayed in the manor most of the afternoon again. She was just waiting for Alfred to get back with the boys so she could do homework with Duke until it was time for regular patrols.

“Where’s Duke?” Alfred and Damian had just entered from the garage, but they didn’t seem to be waiting for anyone else from the car.

“Master Duke will be home some time later this evening.”

“There was an incident. Signal had to step in because father is busy working your case.”

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t realize…”

“Why are you apologizing? Signal is a competent hero, he can handle a trivial problem like this on his own.”

“Oh, I thought you were upset my case was getting in the way of Bruce’s work.”

“Your case IS my father’s work. He would not have taken it on if he did not feel it was important.” GAWD he’s just like his dad, how can the two of them be SO HARD to read. Damian wasn’t even raise by Bruce or Alfred, is it genetic? OH… Actually it might be genetic… No wait, Tay told her to stop diagnosing everyone in the bat fam with autism just because she identifies with them, let them go to a shrink like the rest of— ooooh. She’s gonna have to see a therapist about this whole DID thing, isn’t she? Whoops…

“We appreciate that Damian, it is easy to feel like a burden right now, since we are mostly just stuck unable to help.” Oh shoot, she got in her head and forgot she was having a conversation. Tay saves the day. Hehe, she’s gonna run out of cute ways to rhyme ‘Tay’ eventually, but not yet!

“How about you, Damian? Do you have homework or do you maybe want to hang out and draw for a bit?”

“I need to spend some time with Batcow and Goliath. But yes, I would like to draw after.”

“Kay, I’ll go get our stuff together and meet you in the drawing room when you’re ready?”

“That is acceptable.”

Damian is at a point where he grasps and conveys form and structure well, but he has not quite gotten used to portraying depth or light. She was showing him hatchwork to give him a chance to work his way up to it, but she kinda wishes she had charcoals to show him gradients. Cross hatching is kind of a more difficult way to portray shadow, texture, and depth, and it can be frustrating to try learning the technical skill at the same time as you are learning how to place and vary the shading itself.

She didn’t want to ask for charcoal tools though, because she’s pretty sure Damian’s birthday is in a week or two, and if she ends up stuck here long enough she’d want to save that as a gift to give him. Even if she’s not around to teach it to him, he could probably figure it out by researching online. It’s a bit selfish, but drawing with him has felt like she got to feed something back into the world she admired growing up. If she could give him a gift that helped him push his art further before she left then maybe he would remember the weird trans girl that wasn’t supposed to exist even after she didn’t anymore.

It’s strange wanting to leave a mark on a world she doesn’t even belong to. We all want to be remembered, and these will be the only people in this world who ever know she even was. Maybe it’s the anxiety of the approaching events making her feel more like her time with them is limited. Maybe it’s because she misses her little sister, and in some small ways Damian is a little like her. Her sister is social and outgoing, sure, but that is driven by a deep seeded anxiety that she has to prove herself to have a place in the world. It isn’t bad to be motivated, but being afraid that your worth to others is fleeting, that is a very painful way to live. She hopes he finds more things like art, things that he does for himself.

They drew together until it was time to start helping Alfred make dinner. Duke still wasn’t back yet, but Tim had shown up and said Signal had made the bust and just needed to finish up the police hand off before he could come back. He also said Bruce wouldn’t make it for dinner, but there would be a few more heads in the cave tonight and to prepare some pre-patrol snacks. Alfred informed her candidly that he ALWAYS is prepared for snacks, because both Damian and Bruce get hangry.

She reveled in the validation for guessing right with Damian, but then had the very scary image of a hangry Batman. Alfred really was the best of them, the whole bat fam would be in trouble without him. Over dinner they found out that Duke had been handling some guy she’d never heard of who’s powers sounded like some kind of Manifestor or Devisor who could suddenly bring out surprise tools to help him fight and cause problems. Actually maybe he was a Warper? It sounded like he had a limited set of prepared items. Whatever, Duke sent him packing to Arkham, so he wasn’t a problem for her to worry about now.

After dinner she helped Alfred with cleanup before heading down to the cave. She found several of the bat fam gathered having a good laugh together. Dick’s cheerful voice is the first she hears as the exits the elevator. “It’s just a little game we play.”

“What else do you guys keep score about?” Duke is being initiated into the more lighthearted aspects of being a hero it seems.

“Raise your hand if you’ve ever started your own superhero Team.” Damian always sounds in a better mood just after a meal. As she gets closer she can see the robins with their hands all up.

Tim keeps it rolling. “Next! Raise your hand if you’ve ever changed up your hero name.” Duke and Damian are the odd ones out this time.

“Trained by assassins?” Cass raises her hand as she asks, and Tim, and Damian join her.

“Well that’s kind of concerning. Uh, Phaine?” Duke is looking at her a bit worried and it takes her a moment to realize that one of her hands is up.

“Ack! Tay, we aren’t playing!”

“Okay, kid, but now ya gotta share with the class.” Jason looks more amused than concerned at least.

“Aunt Nix and Uncle Lenoir were both spies and assassins. Uncle Lenoir just during world war two, but Nix said she’d dropped back into the profession a few times over the centuries.”

“Okay, but like, I don’t know if it counts anyway, our world is like, different.”

“Good enough for me, kid, you’re officially on the scoreboard.”

“Hey, Dick, I thought you trained with Deathstroke?” She doesn’t know if Tim is giving Dick flack or if this is a genuine question, but Dick deflects either way.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Huh. Wait, she thought Dick DID train with Deathstroke. Maybe not in this world?

“Alright, raise your hand if you’ve ever been murdered and come back to life.” Jason’s hand is up before he even finishes talking. Damian and Cass both raise theirs as well.

“Are we counting the thing with the crime syndicate? I can never remember.” Dick asks the room at large.

Jason looks grumpy and says, “No.”

But Tim has a different take, “I say yes.”

“Does it just count if it’s murder, or would your heart stopping be enough?”

“Wait, when did our heart ever stop?”

“When we were four, remember? They never figured out exactly what we were sick with, but we were running a hundred thirteen fever and they had us in ice to try and get it to level out. The doctor said we were dead for a little bit and he was surprised we didn’t have brain damage. Actually, That was around when our shifts started, so maybe it’s related?

“Doesn’t count anyway, only murder for this one, kid. It actually matters less if you died and more that people thought they’d done it. Nice try though.”

“Are you guys for real?” Duke may be getting more than he signed up for here.

Jason nods his head solemnly, “Yeah, happens more than you’d think.”

“I’m not sure I want to play this game anymore…” Yeah, Duke is squicked.

“I know you’ve got fun ones, maybe pivot to some of those?”

Tim chimes in, “Ooh, like, raise your hand if you’ve pulled a prank on Batman in the field.” Suddenly signal and Phaine are the only ones with their hands down.

“Only because I was made an accomplice by Grayson. Exchanging father’s smoke bombs for glitter bombs was idiotic.”

“Now that’s a story I want to hear.” Duke looks a bit more chill now.

The story wasn’t actually all that exciting. When they said glitter bombs they basically meant smoke bombs with glitter instead of particulate. They had still worked as a distraction, just one that left sparkles everywhere and took weeks to clean out of the suit and bat mobile. But it was a good diversion and it lasted them long enough that Batman made it back to the cave.

“The next attempt will be tomorrow night shortly before eight PM in the Bowery. The exact location was not given, only a rendezvous point. Sellers is in the second shift, so we will follow him in and stop them in the act. Jason, your knowledge of the Bowery will be invaluable for this operation, work with Tim to form a plan. Tim I want you here with Phaine and Tay during this op, keep them at the bat computer with comms on in case we need their familiarity with other-world tech.”

Phaine’s not sure what she can contribute at this point, so she heads off to her locker to get the shell and train a bit. She hasn’t actually meant to match the bat fam’s weird sleep schedule, but she’s accidentally fallen into it a bit. It probably doesn’t help that even if she goes to bed early Tay usually stays up and plays around with shade for a while. She’s been taking bits of material up and fiddling with them. Phaine’s not entirely sure what she can do for hours with her eyes closed, but she manages.

As she enters the lockers she notices that Cass’s heartbeat has followed her in to grab some gear. She doesn’t even bother picking up her stuff anymore, the lockers are modular enough that she just PKs it through the door and Tay assembles the shell and grabs her ‘eyes’ on her own. It’s probably a bit creepy to watch, but she can feel what’s happening the whole time, so to her it’s just her sibling getting dressed for practice.

“It’s like mine.” YIPE! She forgot Cass was there already.

“OH! So you do wear that suit in this world, I wasn’t sure. I like, always felt the way your suit was designed was like, a really cool way to reclaim your identity and voice. So when we were playing around with Bruce’s old cape we kinda, did it up in that style. If I like, were designing it without constraints, I’d probably replace the black stitching with yellow, to emulate kintsugi, but the black is probably better for stealth.”

Cass examines the shell more closely. “Memorized my suit?” Her heart rate is slightly up, but her face doesn’t look angry.

“I hope that’s not like, offensive?” Tay takes the cape and cowl off and hands them to Phaine. “We didn’t actually ask if it was okay, and your suits are probably like, really personal.”

“Not impersonating me.” Half this family is sooo hard to read, Phaine still can’t tell if she’s in trouble or not.

“I wouldn’t want to impersonate you, I just like, I don’t know, identify with that? You have taken harm done to you and instead of hiding it you’ve worn it as a badge proving your strength. And I don’t mean like, physical strength, but like, choosing to be something more than what you were forced to be.”

Cass nods. And then Cass leaves. And then Phaine is left alone with herself and a lot of questions. “I still can’t tell if the suit’s okay or not.”

“Same, sis. Same…”

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