tushanshu_logs | Event | Turtle Dive | January 20 - 23 | Underwater zombies crave your briiiiiines

[Of course, Zatanna was still a little too busy being half-dead to really care where not-her!Robin was putting his hands and lips right then. There would be time for that later. Assuming she finds out.]

[The cough came out as more of a spontaneous guggled sputter, expelling water while simultaneously gasping for precious air. Her whole chest expanded forecefully against his palms when the life came back into them, though her eyes did not immediately open. Zatanna tried to roll over onto her side, but she was still too weak from the ordeal.]

[She made it as far as a series of uncomfortable darts of her head from one side to the other before her eyes wearily blinked open. Glassy and unfocused, but enough to make out the familiar shape of colors in front of her. The mask and cape.]

R...Robin....

[Whether it was a question or a declaration of surprise soon became inconsequential, however, as her head soon lolled back to one side, and she slipped into unconsciousness once more.]

[At least, this time, she was still breathing.]

[Damian actually helped her turn sideways, to make sure water could be expelled from her body without choking her, and he actually heaved a sigh as she passed out again - but steadied her in recovery position while he sat back to catch his breath and thoughts.]

[If they were adults, five people on a bike would be sheer idiocy. However, they were all of them... young. And the kedan could shrink their size ever further. He looked up at the trio.]

She'll be fine. But we should probably get back to Keeliai. Can you... make sure we all fit on the seat of the bike? Her in front of me, you three behind.

[The kedan looked at each other, than at the bike, then slowly nodded.]

[And the one who was still wet darted closer and whispered thank you in Zatanna's ear.]

[Somewhere, deep in the recesses of her subconscious, Zatanna heard him. She wouldn't remember the expression of gratitude, nor what happens from then until she wakes up again, but a small part of her would still know.]

[She was dead weight in their arms, the majority of it her wet clothing. Not much they could do about that, though, as her lithe frame was loaded into the seat of the bike. With more care by some than others.]

[... hey, Robin was careful. Not necessarily gentle, but he wasn't rough, either. Merely efficient.]

[He also made sure she had the most of the protection his body armor could offer, against the ride. Not much, but still. He let her settle against him, head against his shoulder so he could watch where he was driving, and pressed close so the other three could fit behind them. (He wasn't leaving anyone behind.)]

[The ride was probably a little faster than comfortable speed would be, but Damian wasn't looking forward to what they'd find in the city - so he wanted to be done with it as quickly as possible.]

[And there would be a lot to be done with, there, almost as soon as there were houses around them. Damian used the momentum and his strength to smack some of the most eager zombies away from them, but that wasn't going to last.]

There. The purple house. [It was still some distance away, but he wanted the kedan to be ready.] As soon as I stop the bike, climb to the second-floor window, get inside, and barricade yourselves. Can you do that?

[There was a brief silence. And then a quiet,] Yeah. We can do that.

Good! Ready, set, go!

[He'd maneuvered the bike as close as possible to a portion of the wall they could climb with only moderate difficulty, then he stopped, slipped off, himself, as soon as the three bodies wiggled out from behind him, and laid out Zatanna on the bike seat, preparing to give them all a little bit of breathing room before venturing further into the city - to somewhere safer. He couldn't just leave her, after all.]

[She groaned twice during the ride back, whenever he hit a rough patch of road, jostling her uncomfortably in the seat. If she didn't wake up soon, she would be incredibly sore in the morning.]

[Actually, no, scratch that. Her everything was already scheduled for some serious pain once the initial endorphins and adrenaline wore off.]

[The path was clear for the duration of the first trip. The kids, safe and already heading for shelter. Offering one last glance to the pair before taking off. It was clear for the moment. No signs of life or afterlife or any other potential dangers. Not until they made it further into the city, where one of them had almost been waiting for them. A familiar face that no longer recognized either or theirs.]

[Damian's brain completely refused to accept, the moment he saw the red-yellow-and-black, that something could be wrong. He skid the bike to a stop.]

Robin! Over here!

[It caught the jingshi's attention, all right. But, within three steps, Damian realized his mistake. The way he moved was not right, disjointed, stiff, determined. Not a flash of recognition appeared in any of his motions.]

[And then there was the question of the wound that had done him in, clearly visible to Damian thanks to the mask's lenses.]

Fuck.

[Damian kicked the stand of the bike down again, then settled the still mostly-unconscious magician against the seat - and bounced off. He had to-- he couldn't-- he--]

[Dick...]

[He couldn't let the zombie get to Zatanna. It wouldn't do to have saved her life from the water to have her killed by... by somebody who wouldn't kill at all. (But even that thought was slow and sluggish. The world... the stupid turtle, everything was wrong, heavy, suffocating. His eyes were burning and he was short on air and something was feeling like a huge stone was on his chest.)]

[He couldn't think of that figure as it, however hard he tried.]

[Damian Wayne charged anyway.]

[He fought in much closer quarters than he knew was advisable with these things. And he was... he couldn't slash and stab at this person. Not even like this. So he ended up just holding him back, away from the bike, using sticks that the man that this boy would (or wouldn't?) grow up to be instead if other weapons.]

[He didn't even realize his shaky voice was mumbling, over and over again, too quietly to be heard even at the bike.]

Grayson. Please. It's me, it's Damian. Please come back... please...

[The sounds of battle brought her back. Her head was killing her, she felt dizzy even laying down, and every limb ached terribly. But something was wrong. She could hear it.]

Can you two keep it do--

[She recognized him even before her vision came back into focus. Physically, anyways; he looked like her Robin. If you didn't take into account the fact that he was basically attacking the other one. What the heck?! Okay, she definitely missed something. Something very, very wrong.]

Robin, stop! [Ungracefully pulling herself out of the seat, once more ignoring the fact that she was in no condition for much of anything.] What are you--?

[She made it all of two steps when her legs, weak from oxygen deprevision, gave out and she tripped. Coming to a land on the ground, on her knees. Guh, whn this was all over, she was taking the longest hot bath of her life.]

[...]

[...on second thought, forget the bath. Too much water.]

[A day at the Turtle Spa it was. After she figured out what the heck was going on.]

Robin, it's me! Zatanna!

Stay back!

[Robin's voice, for all intents and purposes, could be called 'full of tears' - though his face was dry. And the renewed awareness of the danger the girl was in seemed to snap him out of some sort of a (violent) state, and he speeds up, with difficulty pushing the zombie somewhat back. Then he makes a series of quick flips to land in a crouch by her side (hey, at least she didn't decide he was attacking her Robin and zap him with something right off?) to pull her up to her feet and back to the bike.]

He doesn't hear, Zatara. [Voice filled with both anger and hurt more hurt that nearly anyone has heard from him.] He's one of those... things. He's dead.

[And then he was rushing away again, to push the jiangshi back and away some more, quick and efficient and... still unwilling to actually hurt Grayson. The way to do it... he knew it, a little bat-shaped 'button' that he can stick to the chest - he could put it right by the R, if he wanted, the zombie was not agile enough to stop him. It would only give him a couple of moments to move away before exploding. The button was not meant to be used on living flesh, but - it wasn't living flesh, was it?]

[And Damian couldn't bring himself to.]

[Well, that was a command Zatanna had no intentions of obeying. She still had very little comprehension of what was going on. Her mind simply didn't want to process the notion. Mind control. It had to be mind control. Or a clone of some kind. Not like Conner. The other kind.]

What 'things'? What's going on?

[A little too late to be asking that now. The Robin Zombie finally seemed to take note of her then. Of her temporarily helpness state.]

[Zatanna had never gotten the chance to see his eyes (though she used to devote the occasional daydream to wondering what they looked like). Still, whatever they once were, no more. Even behind the torn and tattered opaque mask, she could tell from the sneer on his face there was nothing left but mindless rage.]

[She barely made it to her feet when he made a dash for her, letting out a cry that definitely wasn't her Robin. Or human.]

Typical. You go for a swim when the city gets attacked by zombies. Don't you people ever consider acting logically?

[Which, obviously, included Grayson, too. To let himself get killed by the stupid things. Typical.]

[Not that Damian stood still to think those, as the creature that used to be... somebody that mattered (why did I let anyone matter? I was better off before that...) slipped by him to go for the easier prey.]

Oh, no, you don't.

[He knew plenty well enough that pain didn't stop these things. So he used simple mechanical momentum as he bounded after the jiangshi, wrapped gauntleted hands around its neck, and did a trick that he couldn't yet use effectively against somebody much heavier than himself to flip the zombie over his head so that the thing landed facedown. Not that it slowed, coming right at the easier prey again.]

[Zombies? But that meant--]

[She didn't have time to process this. She didn't even have time to think. Through the pain and exhaustion, Zatanna's survival instincts kicked in. Seeing everything only in terms of this is a battle and I need to do something NOW. Retreating back, she managed to dodge the oncoming attack enough to allow the younger Robin to catch up, grabbing the Zombie and flipping him away from her.]

[Stumbling only once, she quickly croaked out a strong gust of wind to help further the trajectory, minimizing the chance for a quick recovering time.]

[It landed on its face...and was right back up again.]

[Well, crap.]

[A last ditch effort; she held up both hands and initiated a freezing spell. One that would capture the Robin-lookalike creature. Its body went still, paralyzed with one arm still over its head, mouth agape mid-cry. Horrifying. Terrible.]

[But it still looked too much like him.]

[She was heavily out of breath from the little amount of exertion, heaving large gasps of air as she stared it down. All of three feet separated them; she'd managed to catch him just in time.]

Robin, stop, please. I know you're in there. [Actually, she had no idea. Maybe it was him, maybe it wasn't. She had to try.] This...this isn't right.

[The last part was spoken more to herself than the creature.]

[Any other time, the spell would've held indefinitely. But she was still too weak, and after a few seconds, the strain was palpable. Wincing, she struggled to maintain hold on the creature that was already desperately trying to fight her.]

Oh, no, you don't. You're not going any...[groan]...anywhere....

[And now, the button went on the back of the zombie shoulder, close enough to the neck that the cape flying out wouldn't make a difference.]

[Then Damian rolled around, half-tackling Zatanna down to protect her from the explosion.]

[When it was over, he looked over his shoulder to make sure there were no intact pieces large or mobile enough to be a threat, then retreated from the girl, staying down on his knees, head bowed, white-out lenses fixed on his hands.]

[She hit the ground roughly, face turned away, the full weight of the younger Robin's surprisingly heavy frame shielding her from the brunt of it.]

[Once the sounds of an explosion faded away, she made the mistake of looking up. Glancing over just long enough that--had she anything left in her stomach--she would've vomited right there in then. As it was, her body lightly shook. Threatening to dry heave into the dirt. The urge was there. She somehow managed to suppress it No tears, but a vacant stare as her eyes fell to the ground.]

[...it wasn't him...it couldn't've been him..]

[Now if only she believed that.]

[It took Damian a while to pull himself at least a little back together, the only thoughts in his mind it was easier without looking at his face and Mother would have been proud.]

[But, eventually, he looked up.]

Get on the stupid bike.

[She didn't respond. She didn't even acknowledge she'd heard him...which she very well may not have.]

[Zatanna remained perfectly still. Almost catatonic. Like she had been when he first pulled her from the waters, only her eyes were open. The only sign of life. Still staring at that small patch of dirt to one side, where a dark, wet puddle seemed to have her total focus. Blood. Robin's blood. What was left of him.]

[No, he wasn't going to let her stay like that any longer. It was too fucking dangerous. He hauled himself up, then braced himself and started pulling her up by the shoulders.]

I said. Get on the stupid bike.

[Except this time, he's not letting her move on her own.]

[That snapped her out of her trance.]

Huh--? What--get off me!

[It was irrational to be mad at him. He'd just saved her life. Again. But all she could think of was this little brat had just blown up her best friend right in front of her.]

What the hell is wrong with you?!

[Unimpressed Robin was unimpressed.]

You are going to the palace.

[Even voice that brooks no argument.]

There is defense there. At least Evandau is halfway competent to manage that.

[Crossed arms, but not letting her consider other options.]

That's not what I meant

[They would get to her being taken to the palace in a minute. First things first.]

You blew him up. Robin. Without a second thought. [From her point of view, at least.] He was...and you... [Words failed her, thoughts jumbled and incoherent even in her own mind.] You killed him.

He had been dead for a while, Zatara. The wound on his side wasn't even bleeding, only faintly oozing. There was nothing left of him.

[His voice was no longer shaky, or filled with tears. It was, if anything, detached. Dispassionate.]

Killing zombies is not the same as killing people. Believe me, I've done both.

[Meanwhile, she was desperate.]

You don't know that. It could've been magic.

I could've saved him.

I was fighting these things before I came to the shore to look for the children, Zatara. I did learn a thing or two. He was gone.

[This place returned people to life... at least, one person. But Damian had backslid way too far to allow himself hope. Any hope.]

Which is why it is too dangerous out here. Those things are attracted to living things. We need to get moving. Go. On. The. Stupid. Bike.

[He could see her visibly deflate. The understanding clear. She was in denial at this point, because denial was all she had left.]

What if I said no?

[... even with the mask, the look he gave her was unmistakable.]

I'd take you when you passed out again.

I'm not going to pass out again.

[...probably.]

[Still, rather not take any chances. She did approach the bike, though she didn't look very happy about it. When her eyes left his, turning away so he couldn't see the look on her face, she went blank again. Remaining that way long after taking a seat. After he climbed on after her, and they had begun the trip to the palace.]

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demon_brat - 2013-02-03 21:53 (UTC) - Expand