( closed )

[imaginate]

Characters: Kyle & various.
Date: Nowish.
Location: Earth, Metal, and Wood Sector.
Situation: Various.
Warnings/Rating: Mind control related trauma, discussion of mass murder.

Comments

metal sector; closed to dick grayson

[imaginate]

He doesn’t have a photograph, but anyway he goes to see Dick first. That’s going to be the tougher conversation. He honestly doesn’t even know what he was thinking. The kid was a detective. Had he really expected to get away with being cagey about what had happened? Especially after he’d asked for help with Hal?

(Hint: didn’t think so.)

For a moment, he feels angry at Soranik, for just butting in and saying it. Not that he didn’t appreciate his own accomplishments he just... preferred not to talk about them. (Especially in timelines where they hadn’t even happened.)

Well. It was out there now and there was no way Dick wasn’t going to ask.

Kyle sits at the ice cream shop, waiting, fingers tapping on his knee. The kedan are muttering something or the other about something in the snow, but he doesn’t tune in to it directly. There’s more pressing problems on his mind.

How was he going to get out of this one?

[hackingyoursensors]

Dick walks in a few minutes later. He looks exhausted: all of the recent revelations have made it harder to sleep. Contingency plans, patrol, upgrading equipment... that's how he's spent his nights lately. And now, he'll find out even more disturbing news. But he has his reasons. (It'd be a lie to say that the corps disappearing and the yellow construct haven't been contributing to his sleeplessness.)

First, though, he'll sit down across from Kyle and smile. Teasingly:

"Geez, don't look so happy to see me."

[imaginate]

Kyle manages to smile at Dick as he comes in. He also can't resist, and pulls a small green banana from his pocket, setting it on the table before it vanishes. 'In case you were wondering.'

He taps the table. 'Mint chocolate? Be right back.'

[hackingyoursensors]

He can't help it-- he bursts into laughter. Kyle pls.

Dick stands up too.

"Wait, I'm buying yours, remember?"

You're not getting out of his generosity, Kyle.

WO-3A; closed to jack frost

[imaginate]

The next person he promised to talk to was Zatanna. He shows up a little randomly, if he’s honest, but she did promise.

He grins involuntarily at the thought of the imaginary ‘NO WALLYS ALLOWED’ sign and very nearly calls out from near her door before he catches sight of Jack’s door, and he frowns. Something the kedan mentioned earlier weighs on him. He’d thought it was inocuous at first, but it had stubbornly stayed with him throughout his conversation with Dick.

There was something in the snow. It made us feel... different.

He finds himself going over to the door and staring at it. When in doubt, ask, right?

‘Jack? You in?’

[wintershepherd]

Jack was indeed in his suite, playing with a few ideas for ice lures to show Finnick. Ever since he'd given the man a lump sum of his juulan to help fund the start up of Finnick's fishing business, he had been experimenting with what kinds of ice that he could create that held up best to the ocean's salt water. It was fun in an oddly repetitive way, something that seemed unusual that would hold his attention.

When he heard Kyle's voice at his door however, Jack was glad for the distraction. He bounced to his feet, leaving the tray of lures and the washtub of fresh ocean water he'd flown out to the shell's edge to collect early that morning and opened the door with his habitual grin.

"Hi Kyle!"

[imaginate]

'Hey.' He lifts a hand to wave, but it falls back to his side without much movement. Kyle's not usually good at disguising his feelings, and the impassive expression on his face is a combination of watchful distance and doubt. He steps in and shuts the door behind him.

Might as well get right to it. 'Did you put something in the snow?' His voice is sharp, full of barely-contained anger.

[wintershepherd]

For a fleeting, absurd moment Jack thinks that Kyle means the ice lures he was just working on and his gaze slides back to them but when it returns to the Lantern, the man's expression is still distrustful and Jack feels something uncomfortable coil in his stomach.

"In the... you mean that weekend? Kyle, what's wrong? Are you all right?"

WO-3A; closed to zatanna zatara

[imaginate]

By the time he reaches Zatanna’s suite, Kyle’s expression is a thundercloud. He tries to make it more neutral, but he can still hear his heartbeat in his ears and the rage coursing through his veins.

Spending time with his adopted sister should clear the air a little, right? He was usually cheerful around her.

Keyword: usually.

He knocks, half hoping she wasn’t in. He had a bad feeling about this.

[backwordscompatible]

No such luck.

Not only was Zatanna home, but Kyle's distress was so visibly apparent, she was able to pick up on it right away. Her first thought, naturally, went back to their conversation over the network. Before they started joking around with each other. She frowned in concern, wondering if she'd been right all along in her initial suspicions.

"Kyle? What's wrong?"

[imaginate]

Don't tell her is overpowering.

'Nothing,' he lies immediately, wondering why he even bothered saying that, when she could see right through it. 'No - I mean. Nothing you should be concerned about. May I come in?'

[backwordscompatible]

"Of course."

She steps aside, making plenty of leeway for the Green Lantern to enter. Once they're both inside, however, and the door safely shut behind them--her window was closed at the moment, too--she repeated the question.

"You realize it's a little too late for not worrying, right?" Since when did telling her not to do something, regardless of phrasing, ever work? "You show up here out of the blue with a look like that on your face? Somethings up. Even I can tell."

EA-3B;

[onefouroneseven]

To say that the news Percy broke was only slightly worrying was an understatement. Clones. Soranik knew the concept, of course, and was as familiar with the theory as anyone else on Korugar who paid attention to medical developments. But it sat poorly with her - everything about this development did.

She knows damn well that they could simply go in and take Nita back from whoever has her - but that would go over poorly with their determination to be seen as helpful rather than troublemakers. And after everything the day before, Soranik would much rather weigh the pros and cons of doing so before taking any action. It's still an option, however, and she isn't completely writing it off.

"So what next?" She had several ideas herself, and her hand went to twist the ring around her finger. "While anything conclusive is unlikely, I can run a number of scans on the both of us."

[imaginate]

Kyle too had been worried about Percy's news. Nita aside (they couldn't bust her out and that nearly made him gnash his teeth in frustration), his ring had a genetic lock. If he'd been cloned perfectly? Would it work with the clone's brain? Was he the clone?

He holds up a hand. 'Don't. We don't have enough information yet.' A pause. 'Have you had any experience with a clone using your ring?'

[onefouroneseven]

"It's a way to get information." She would need a sample from the clones themselves to compare to in order to be completely sure, but as Percy had referred to the facility in the past tense, knew it wasn't an option.

A shake of her head. "No. But you're assuming that we are clones - and unless the Keedan have created a way to cultivate tissue samples before our arrival here as well as find a way to transplant our memories, tattoos, and scars - then there is a high likelihood that these bodies are our own."

There's another way to test, she thinks - if the tracker is still active in her cheek. Only three people in the universe knew about the specifics of the tattoo, but there was no way to know unless Sinestro himself showed up.

[imaginate]

'Well, there is that unaccounted timeframe between us leaving and them fishing us out of the ocean. Given that they were willing to destroy what was obviously something important so easily, they must have had a backup. It does mean that the people who've died here and "come back" are clones. If there was a way to know for sure-- I don't want to waste charge.'

He twiddles his thumbs, looking at a very fascinating spot in the ground. 'Manhunters have tried cloning me before. It wasn't complete, but could use my ring, albeit ineffectively.' Constructs of zeros and ones were not terribly useful unless one wanted to swamp one's enemy in numbers.

WO-2C; closed to wally west

[imaginate]

Kyle kicks some stones down the path as he walks back towards Water Sector. He nearly wishes it was his shift on Lantern HQ, but it isn't, so he can't go there just yet. Connor... he did want to see Connor, but he would know immediately that something was up and want to hear about it. Even if Connor never pressured him, Kyle still felt ashamed that he couldn't just open up to his friend like he used to.

He needed someone familiar, and yet not familiar.

His lip curled into a thin smile as he realised the perfect candidate, and headed off to Wood 2C, was it? Yes, that was the place. He found the door easily enough and knocked.

Let's hope he was in. 'Wally? It's me, Kyle.'

[sciencewhizard]

The unfortunate (or maybe fortunate thing) is that Wally's been unaware of the situation going down with Jack and the snow glitter. The clones? Nothing he wants to think about right now; after having been nearly cloned once in a very painful process, he doesn't want to relive that anytime too soon. So he's just been taking to distract himself about the turtle, finding things to drag home to his suite and tinker with. That sort of thing. So he just so happens to be in when Kyle comes knocking.

All it takes is a second after the knock before he's zipped to the door and opened it, a grin drawing across his face.

"Heeey, dude. Finally decided to give Casa West a visit, huh? Only took you forever, slowpoke."

[imaginate]

There's a knot in Kyle's stomach that twists as the familiarity of the greeting hits him, but he still smiles genuinely. It's all Wally, and he can't fault the kid for being so much like his Flash.

'Yeah, yeah. Got any eats?'

EA-2C; closed to daenerys targaryen (dated to after her arrival)

[imaginate]

[He'd been asked, not summoned. That alone is enough to give him pause. It tells him something important about her; despite 'rightful Queen' being very clear in mind. He's no stranger to words that heralded war.

He doesn't dress in his uniform; he chose the cleanest and most well pressed formal clothes he had, while making sure they were comfortable in case he was attacked by anything or anyone along the way. He brushes his hair (actually brushed his hair, Ma would be proud) and keeps the maps of the city that he'd made, marking out restaurants and clothing boutiques on these copies instead of the anonymous console cafes. Somehow, he has a feeling she will have no use for information like that.

And so it was that he found himself walking towards her suite, which wasn't far from HQ. Upon arriving, he knocks. Politely, he announces himself:] Khaleesi.

[iwillnotlookback]

[ She's become accustomed to having her handmaids around her, Dany reflects as she goes to the door. Normally they would see her guests in and announce their presence while Dany sat in appropriate state to receive her visitor.

Here, she must do these things herself. ]

Welcome, Kyle.

[imaginate]

[Unlike before, he does not maintain a neutral politeness, but a genuine smile (not particularly wide, but still a smile) as he steps in.] Would you prefer that I stand, or sit?

shell's edge; closed to zatanna zatara (dated during rationing)

[imaginate]

[He's not supposed to use the ring, he knows, yet he can't help it. The constant wear of people sniping at each other, or whatever scapegoat they can find, is making his blood boil. Worse still is the fact that he can't really speak to anyone freely about how angry and frustrated he feels. If he does, he'll probably end up shouting at them, too.

Somehow he finds himself at Zatanna's suite, is surprised she's in, and asks her out for a walk. He's quiet throughout, shoulders hunched, hands shoved in pockets, expression neutral, and doesn't speak until they reach the shell's edge.] Okay, can I ask a favour?

[backwordscompatible]

Like I would miss out on an opportunity for you to owe me one.

[Their last conversation had been...optimistic. A lot was still unsaid between them, if only because they already knew what the other would say. And that they would disagree. Still, Zatanna was hopeful. Kyle was like family to her, and she would have hated for them to remain on bad terms for too long.]

[She had accepted his offer without hesitation, already knowing there would be more to it than just a casual walk. The silence for the duration of the trip confirmed her suspicions.]

What's up?

[imaginate]

[Several times on the way here he'd thought about saying something, but only when they'd reached the words began to tumble out easily.

He stretches, and looks out over the water, before he looks back at her.] Do you think you could... make a couple of large rocks? And then Kyle smash?

[It's a feeble attempt at a joke, sure, but he does need the distraction.]