beneath the black, the sky looks dead

[couldbeavoided]

WHO: THE VOID and YOU?
WHERE: Around the City and the Brooklyn Bridge
WHEN: Sunday, 8/2
WARNINGS: Violence, death, chaos
SUMMARY: The Sentry loses control.
FORMAT: Quick.


[ There was no abrupt revelation, no struggle; when Robert Reynolds had opened his eyes that day, the Sentry was simply nowhere to be found. He'd flown from the mansion into the sky, a poisonous oily creature wearing Bob's skin and the Sentry's clothes until even that began to shed. Red eyes and an aura like fire and toxic ash, sharp tendrils coiling out behind and around him like sentient shadows.

Years. Years here, trapped, ignored, denied. Bob was done fighting, and hurting; his mind went blank so that someone else could use his body to fight back. But it was his body, too -- the Void celebrated his freedom by flying into the sky, raising his arms and calling upon the sky to darken in deep reds and purples. Clouds collected and rain started pouring; he raised his face to the rain and smiled, before he dropped from the sky and flew cleanly through the Brooklyn Bridge. ]

Comments

[futurebatwoman]

[ She can't feel much of anything anymore, really. She's got enough scattered awareness left to know that that's bad, that Batwoman swearing means something else has gone wrong or she's just realized the same thing Max has sort of known but not been admitting to herself for the past several minutes.

The damage is too much. She's not making it out of this one, rescue or not. ]

The suit.

[ She makes a weak attempt to grab Batwoman's wrist, tries to make her listen. This is important. ]

Out. Get me.

[ A momentary spasm shaking her body. Max hardly feels it. ] Get me out.

[gevurah]

[ She falters, staring at her wrist before meeting Max's eyes. She can already tell what she wants to do. Needs to do. ]

Damn it, Max. [ Quiet anger seeps into her voice. ] You're not dying on me.

[ But time is of the essence. If EMTs can't make their way here and she can't move Max's body without agitating the wound severely, then she needs to point someone in this direction. But Max can't be seen in the suit.

She shifts closer to get her hands on the material and tug. ]

This is going to hurt. [ She has to move fast, even if she tries to remove it as gently as she can allow. ]

[futurebatwoman]

[ She swallows at that, or tries to anyways. Lies because she can, because that's easier than anything else. Later, it might register that Batwoman recognized her face, and easily. For now it doesn't. ]

'Course not.

[ She does her best to brace herself, at once sure that it can't hurt any worse than she already does and certain that it's going to hurt like hell. She tries to smother the scream, she really does, but part of it still comes out, strangled by her own stubborn refusal to show any more than she has to. ]

Frag.

[ And that hiss of a word is about all she has left for articulation before she passes out. That's for the best, probably, but she still swims for the last remnants of light before everything fades, tries to surface despite everything. Her pulse is failing close behind, trailing slower and slower. ]

[gevurah]

[ Her own heart misses a beat and dread settles its way into her stomach. She manages to take off the rest of the suit, then puts it aside, forgetting about the bitter feelings she held against Max and this suit for "stealing" her what't supposed to be her uniform.

None of that matters now. She's dying.

She grabs Max's hand and slips her own behind her head. ]

Max. Max! Stay with me. Can you hear me? Stay with me.

[futurebatwoman]

[ There's an attempt at a response, full comprehension of what Batwoman's saying just out of reach but the idea getting through somewhere. It doesn't quite make actual words, though, and then there's just nothing.

Everything in her body slowly goes slack, the last remnants of awareness vanishing.

Her heart beats for maybe ten more seconds before it too stops, the blood it needs somewhere on the alley floor beside her.

She'd meant to say sorry. Tried, in that last moment, but she'd left it too late. ]

[gevurah]

[ No.

No, no, no.

The silence between her and Max's still body is only punctured by her sharp breathing and occasional curse under her breath. She needs to move, but in a surprising turn of events her legs don't want to budge.

She can't leave Max here like this.

Sirens in the distance grow louder. She can hear voices now. More stone and steel hitting the streets somewhere else. Nothing from Max.

Slowly, she lays Max down on and picks up her suit. She looks at her one last time before slipping back onto the bike. The engine roars to life and she speeds away, almost as if she needs to distance herself from another failure. ]