Gotham's True Power

[Indie Batman Beyond Comic Account: Rewire aka Davis Dusk]

[powerhungryrewire]

House Sitting Gone Awry

[powerhungryrewire]

oraclebeyond:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Stop.” He snarled.

[powerhungryrewire]

House Sitting Gone Awry

[powerhungryrewire]

oraclebeyond:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“And don’t you talk like you’re so high and mighty when you don’t know anything about my life or how it was.”

[powerhungryrewire]

House Sitting Gone Awry

[powerhungryrewire]

oraclebeyond:

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

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

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

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

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

Even with the threat of Arkham, he wasn’t lowering his hands. Mary would try and slug him again and probably start smacking him around now that there were no witnesses. He was agitated all because of her. No one could help him except himself and her Dad had nearly killed him last time. “Yeah I know about Arkham. It’s a place where you definitely belong with all the stuff you’ve pulled.”

[powerhungryrewire]

catwomanbeyond:

“They didn’t hurt you did they? I think they knocked me out for most of it something about causing trouble”, she resisted the urge to psychically check him, he wouldn’t like that and she was trying to learn to be better with personal space. 

“Getting knocked out would have been beter.” Where to even begin. At least Anna was knocked out first before everything happened. “I got drugged by Thibodeaux, bashed around by some meta guard and then Batman took me to power up the station.” The blackout was far from fine with him.

[powerhungryrewire]

"Davis. Davis. Davis", she just sort of pokes him a few times in the shoulder.

“What is it Anna?” Davis sighed, letting her poke him a few times.

[powerhungryrewire]

catwomanbeyond:

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

“Yeah, I missed you too” he said, glancing over strangly at her. She was always so jitterly and close like this. Davis grimaced at the mention of the blackout and nodded. “Yeah...I lost track of time, but they said I was in that sap tank powering everything for almost a week.”

[powerhungryrewire]

House Sitting Gone Awry

[powerhungryrewire]

oraclebeyond:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Do you like scary movies?’

Davis was fine with them, though it was far from his cup of tea. He had tried watching Jason X only to grumble about it the entire way through. Suddenly, he heard something. He turned and yelped, food clattering to the floor. There was a face nearby and his hands were already sparking with electricity. He knew this person and he looked horrified. “What the SLAG are you doing here, you psycho!?”

[powerhungryrewire]

"Davis. Davis. Davis", she just sort of pokes him a few times in the shoulder.

“What is it Anna?” Davis sighed, letting her poke him a few times.

[powerhungryrewire]

House Sitting Gone Awry

oraclebeyond

He hadn’t told anyone that he was going out of town aside from Davis from what he knew. No mention of any of his exes or anything. He probably told his job, but he didn’t know. Willie Watt was leaving for some quick job with big money somewhere in another city but would be coming back soon. Supposedly.

For Davis Dusk, everything was still very much up in the air. He was jealous for his friend for getting his record expunged. The whole world was open to him again in a way that Davis could never get. Murder and capture and attempted manslaughter tended to do that. He’d live with that but Willie had insisted on helping Davis out.

‘You can stay here’ he said. ‘It can’t be too good to live with your Mom again.’ She did feel more relaxed now that her son was out of the house, though still nervous over several other circumstances. Willie’s house wasn’t a bad place either. Guest rooms, a nice cozy place with food and a bed. He could vacuum, collect the mail and make sure nothing caught on fire. There was just one problem.

Replicant slagging Row.

He was right on the edge of the part of the city he hated. Right in a crowd filled with yuppies who would sooner slice off their own arms for some shiny new one when the arm had nothing wrong with it. It was loud, filled with dregs and morons and the overly rich. Even the people he had been forced to socialize with during his Dad’s elections hadn’t been crazy to lop off any appendage for some metal one that had a blue electrical gleam to it. Well, not a lot of them anyways.

He kept in touch with some of his old friends and paid with his trust fund. For now, he was enjoying some peace and quiet. He was away from Sable, away from Arkham, and away from any of the nutjobs and the monsters. For once in his life, he was fine.

[theroyalten]

Break All the Rules | powerhungryrewire

[theroyalten]

‘Doc Nasty’ was an event she had yet to sit in on. Melanie still had to laugh at Davis’ reaction. She laid like dead weight on him. He was stuck with her until she had her information. Really, Willie could’ve warned him that she was ridiculously starved for touch and was the type of person to even sleep touching someone.

“Definitely not Jokerz. How are any of them even here?” She sighed heavily and slid onto the floor to lean against the bed. “Guard it is. Though he’s probably really skeevy and the biggest dreg.”

[powerhungryrewire]

“A few doctors are trying to say it’s because you have to be nuts to dress like the Joker” Davis guessed. “There’s more but probably some of them have problems and others are trying to get out of an easier thing than juvie.” Easier in their minds. Arkham was a different sort of place than any correctional facility.

“You can try the guard if you’d like. Not sure what he’ll ask for.” If Melanie wanted to take the risk, she could. He was fine with avoiding the Jokerz anyways. He wasn’t a fan of them. Not by a longshot.

[theroyalten]

Break All the Rules | powerhungryrewire

[theroyalten]

“More like I’m going stir crazy,” she corrected. Melanie was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet when she stood for more than a few minutes. She was used to having personal freedom and this place was the farthest thing from it. She needed to get out ASAP.

She laughed at his reaction and remained where she was. “Good because I don’t wanna give them out anyway. So who do I need to rob and-or kill to get a cigarette?”

[powerhungryrewire]

“Yeah...you get used to it” Davis grumbled. “My first week I felt like I was going more nuts than the folks at Arkham thought I was.” Being cooped up against his will wasn’t the same as staying in one spot by choice. Even then, Davis hated staying in one spot for too long. 

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

“Then you got the Jokerz. They have a channel but they may make you do something stupid or want something in return.” Credits, food, whatever. “You also got one other spot, but anything could be there and maybe not cigarettes. It’s where they keep all the contraband.”

[theroyalten]

Break All the Rules | powerhungryrewire

[theroyalten]

“DavisDavisDavis - oh there you are,” she said, giving him an award-winning smile. Melanie glided towards him before flopping on his legs, laying awkwardly half on him and half on the furniture. It was his own damn fault for talking to her the first week she’d been here.

“I neeeed a cigarette.” It was practically a plea. He had to know some way. Someone she could bribe somehow. “I’ll trade sexual favours for the information.” A tease with a straight, but hopeful, face.

[powerhungryrewire]

Davis looked over her, eyebrow cocked as she laid slighlt on him. This was...different. “You’re pretty excited.” Chipper was more like it. She was anxious and seemed very happy to suddenly see him. He was slightly uncomfortable but the mention that came next made him frown.

“If you need cigarettes I know some places...but I’m not interested in sexual favors” he grumbled, a deep frown on his face.

[theroyalten]

Break All the Rules | powerhungryrewire

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

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

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

“DavisDavisDavisDavisDavis,” she chanted softly, on the hunt.

[powerhungryrewire]

Davis was in the midst of reading. Zhora was in the free world and he still had a little bit of time left before he got out. He spent most of his time turning pages and enjoying some relative peace and quiet. That wasn’t to say he ignored everyone. He had a few people he enjoyed seeing. Lorelai Larson was a recent metahuman convict and had the two were similar in many aspects.

He looked up and saw another of his friends. “What?” he said. He closed the book shut, remembering where he left off whenever he returned to this.

[powerhungryrewire]

The Doors Are Open

[digital-darwinism-deactivated20]

“I have a feeling you’re going to love this place.” The VR-Room was more of a hot location for the trendy and more obnoxious. The Retrofuturist belonged more to the locals who embraced full “gamer“ culture and wanted to replay their favorites. Why, the day they’d announced a full immersion “experience” (i.e. a 48-hour play-through for those willing to pay) for Pokemon Yellow, the place was teeming with nostalgic older folks and a fuck ton of young people.

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

He was a freaking game nerd, too. Ever since Gretchen Hauser took a job with Competitron, Corey Cavalieri had taken over retroconversion for the arcade. He’d programmed additional scenarios inside Sentries of the Last Cosmos and other fan-faves. The plan was to get his foot in the door as a game designer and he even had an indie project going on right now for a game based off what Dr. Dey had to say about the Earth 9 timeline.

[powerhungryrewire]

Davis gave Willie a wary smile to help appease him. Destroy All Humans sounded fun, whatever it was. To top it all off, Willie and Corey seemed to know each other well enough. Maybe it would be like before and Davis wouldn’t get judged.

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

“So is this place far?” he asked. “And no one is going to...stare and everything?”

[cittamemes]

Send "Smooch!" for a reaction to my muse suddenly being kissed by yours.

[powerhungryrewire]

Arkham is the New Blackgate: Confrontation

[doctorkiebeth-deactivated201606]

It is not my place to introduce you to my son, but he and Willie Watt happen to be friends. If you and he happen to bump into each other, I hardly have control of that, now do I? [She wears a somewhat sly look that rather used to bending the rules like this.] 

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

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

[Her face twists bitterly. Such words are painful for her.]

[powerhungryrewire]

I suppose so...[It was so strange to have his shrink come up with this big of a gray area. He was so used to people who wanted to follow the rules to a T and here was someone who was so vastly different from any of his other ones]

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

But you could be free of her, right? You wouldn’t have to deal with her or anything. Even if you can have those good moments, she’s still bad...she’s still done all those things to you.

[powerhungryrewire]

The Doors Are Open

[digital-darwinism-deactivated20]

Metas got a bad rep most of the time. Then again, when they were doing shit like Randy Daggett, Willie Watt, and Davis Dusk, was it any wonder people still thought of people like Ebon and Shiv? Ford. Still, most of the metahumans attending classes at the Mary Dahl Academy had been able to band together and save their school from a would-be bombing last year. Some of their norm buddies, like John, even helped.

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

‘And that’s the most I’ve ever heard this guy say in one sitting,’ Willie realized. John was typically a quiet boy who only spoke when directly spoken to. “There’s a place I want to show you,” he admitted. “All the best games of yesteryear are there.”

[powerhungryrewire]

He understood what it was like to feel isolated and have people react negatively. Davis never would have anticipated what his parents would do after they found out. As soon as William knew his son had powers, he sent him to the Power House to get tested and then forbid his son from ever using his powers or telling anyone. No one knew aside from his family and eventually Ghoul.

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

“Best of luck with that” He turned to Willie and gave a curt nod. If they would take a rain-check on a book, he’d be okay with that. Willie didn’t need to spoil him or anything. “Sounds great.”

[powerhungryrewire]

The Doors Are Open

[digital-darwinism-deactivated20]

“It’s a club at Mary Dahl,” John explained. “I’m not a metahuman.” Both his parents were Dakota City Bang Babies. His dad had a moniker back in the day, not that he remembered any of it, but his mother didn’t. Madelyn Spaulding firmly was of the belief that her name was enough to instill respect and fear. These days, at long last, she was right. “Turns out a lot of our students are, though. Enough to merit a club, anyway.” Fancy that.

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

But it still wasn’t a safe world. Willie knew that from experience. “Let me guess. Cheesy B-Movie singalongs aren’t your cup of tea, Davis?” Willie laughed a bit over that. “It’s fine. I’ll catch it later with some other friends. You and I? Heh…if you don’t see anything that strikes your interest in here, how about some VR?”

[powerhungryrewire]

So much for finding another meta, though John’s words were interesting. There was a slew of metahumans at Mary Dahl these days. Daggett had been one before he attacked Nicole. Although now he wondered if they had a bone to pick with her. Hadn’t Susan Dusk mentioned a few people were giving Nicole a hard time in the news after she finally admitted to what was going on?

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

“The titles doesn’t hit me” he said. “I’ve never been a fan of...well I mean it may not be as bad as...that.” This time it wasn’t involving actual people. “I’m into more serious sci-fi. Parody has never made me laugh as much.” He did smile. “VR does sound schway. Any machine you want to hit up?”