damned_institute | Nightshift 36: Courtyard

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Nightshift 36: Courtyard

((From here.))

Why was it that the Courtyard seemed so much darker than most other places? He dug the water features, sure, but Xigbar didn't like how the place just seemed... dead. He had to make a note to get out of this madhouse pretty soon, or else he'd go stir-crazy. Sticking around with people was great and all, but this was just not good enough. Oh well. Cookies were calling, and after getting his munchies, Xigbar could think of what to do later.

Whatever it was, he was going to get something done. Last night was a fluke, and it was never, ever, ever happening again. Ever. He was Number Freaking Two, he was the go-to guy when something had to be done ~~and was interesting enough to hold his attention~~! Which meant that if he didn't get something done soon, it'd be hard to keep calling himself a member of the Organization. And that just wasn't going to fly.

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"Oh, no, I'm sure he takes his work very seriously," Teisel teased. It felt good to get some of his own back after all those 'old' comments. Ah, what a shame, the guy wasn't even going to try flying? Oh well. His hair was safe for another day. "Awww, they're not?" he said with mock sympathy. "You poor thing. How awfully convenient for you." He knew he was being cruel, but Superboy had been a royal pain in the ass for a while now.

"Prove it? How do you plan on doing that? Wait," he said, sneering, "don't tell me you're wearing tights under that getup." Another maniacal giggle slipped out. "I'll do without proof if that's all you've got."

Hmmm, the face markings seemed reasonable. Geetz and Gatz had had those too, hadn't they? Of course, Teisel had only seen the two Servitors in the flesh (so to speak) while they were in that reaverbird shape, so he couldn't be sure. And was an Angel supposed to be her rank's Servitor?

And then she mentioned something about "her sister's boyfriend" and a red flag popped up in his head. How could an android have a sister or a boyfriend? They seemed pretty frigid to him. Was he on the wrong track here? What other explanation could there be?

Grrrr! "No, marks don't make me a goddess," Skuld retorted. "This does." Another wave shot out of the pond, this one only aimed at "Superboy". It wouldn't hurt him, this time... but getting soaked again wouldn't be terribly pleasant either.

"And yeah, both my sisters are goddesses--and they're on their way, just so you know." Let him sweat over that for a while; if he had any brains he'd just take off now. (Which was probably a no, then.)

He was going to sock the irritating old geezer one in a minute! Carrying on like Kon was lying about being himself and just saying his powers weren't working to cover up the fact he didn't have any. Part of him thought it wasn't surprising they didn't believe him - heaps of people wanted to be him and it made sense some of them had tried to claim they were before. But he was the real deal, not some fake! He had to prove to them he really was Superboy, but how? He couldn't fly, he wasn't invulnerable and his super-strength was gone.

He was about to try using the TTK to dismantle something when the crazy girl sent another wave of water at him. Stumbling back as he tried and failed to get out of the way, Kon yelped as his arm hit the tree again. "So you got some lousy powers! Aquaman can do that and he's nothing special either! Here's a newsflash - having superpowers doesn't make you some sort of goddess!" He shouted at her as soon as the wave had subsided.

He was really sick of being soaked with pond water and arguing with these two, but without his powers he wasn't sure what else to do. He'd never been without the TTK before, not really and he needed to get it back. Dragging his shirt off, Kon started wringing it out trying to figure out what he should do now. "You keep saying your sisters are coming but I'm not seeing them. You sure they haven't ditched you?" he snapped moodily at the girl.

Watching Superboy get drenched by another wave, Teisel had to admit feeling a tiny twinge of sympathy. The poor guy was really getting wolloped tonight. Not that it was Teisel's problem, but he still felt kinda bad about it. Just a little.

The kid had been asking for it, though. He needed to learn when to shut his face. "Hey, guy," he called over, not wanting to walk over to Superboy and risk being in the line of fire. "Maybe you should try not antagonizing her, eh?" Teisel, for one, was in no hurry to meet her "sisters."

"I can call Onee-sama anytime I feel like it," Skuld informed him. Scarlet rose up a little and nodded firmly; distance didn't mean much to an angel. "I haven't because I don't need to." Smug as ever.

Except Scarlet had already tried, and no response... Belldandy and the rest had to be okay, they were too strong for anything to happen to them, but where were they?

Skuld being Skuld, though, she was transferring her worry and fear into motivation to pound anyone else who crossed her path into the ground if they stepped out of line.

"Maybe you should try keeping your mouth shut," he snapped back at Teisel. He was not antagonising the crazy girl, not really. Wasn't his fault she was claiming to be a goddess just cause she had some lousy powers that still worked.

To the girl he said "Why don't you call theses sisters of yours then? Maybe they'll help me out instead of trying to drown me for no good reason!" Her sisters couldn't be any worse than she was, maybe they'd even take her away so she couldn't decide to randomly assault people for being friendly.

Ugh! He could feel the gross pond water running down his legs from the sodden pants he was wearing. Hanging his slightly less soaked shirt over a nearby tree branch, Kon bent down and stripped off his shorts. Making a face at the wet squelch the fabric made he began wringing them out like he had the shirt.

Apparently I can't spell today. Just picture him wearing whatever underwear you prefer - with a little smiley face right in the middle.

Oh no he did not just... As fast as it had come on, any guilt Teisel had felt for teasing Superboy was dead. "Did you just tell me to shut up?" he asked, voice low. "Why don't you come over here and say that again, huh?" Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, Teisel directed a snarl at the kid. If he didn't either step up or apologize, the pirate was more than willing to go over there and beat an apology out of him.

His murderous rampage was stalled, however, when the guy suddenly decided to take his pants off. Shivering in his own wet clothes, he stared in disbelief as Superboy stripped down to his unmentionables just as though he was all by himself. He stopped staring and found an interesting bit of grass to look at when he noticed that one: the underwear was white (except for the...smiley?) and two: it was soaked. Blech. Well, maybe the androids won't care. If they did, he had a feeling that wringing out those clothes was a pretty futile gesture.

Skuld's train of thought got somewhat derailed when the boy... stripped. What was he doing?! She and Scarlet just stared at him; after a moment, Scarlet burst out laughing. Even that was silent to all but Skuld, but it was still more than a little obvious. He'd better not be trying to impress us!

Skuld shook her head, and with a wave of her hand flung the shirt back into the boy's face--she had telekinesis too, and hers wasn't tactile. "Just go inside already."

Kon laughed at Teisel's little display of aggression. He really had no idea who he was challenging. He was supposed to be the next Superman, how did some random pirate expect to have a chance against him? Except for the problem with his powers. But he'd get them back in no time. He had to.

Of course, the other guy shut up pretty quickly when Kon's pants came off. What - he'd never seen a guy in his underwear before? OK the underwear had a smiley face on it that was - pretty weird. And definitely not what he'd choose himself but it wasn't that big a deal.

Except it was enough to have the little angel-girl laughing at him. "Hey, I so did not choose this outfit." He was about to offer to lose the lame underwear too when his shirt hit him in the face. Snatching it off he asked, "Wha- Did one of you do that?" They must have, there wasn't enough wind around to have blown the heavy, sodden piece of clothing into his face like that. Now he remembered why he was sticking around here in spite of the repeated attempts to drown him. "Look you gotta tell me why your powers work and mine don't. Then I'll leave, swear. I gotta get my TTK back, I'm on a mission for the Justice League, see? They're relying on me to save the world!"

Okay, see-through skivvies or not, Teisel would not just stand there and be laughed at again. It was time to see how Supertwit's non-existent powers did against a good left hook.

He hadn't taken three steps when he was brought up short. There hadn't been any wind, so how in the world had that shirt moved? At Superboy's question, Teisel looked back to the androids, feeling very stupid for letting himself ignore them. They didn't look angry, but maybe it was best to stay back. He couldn't understand why the kid was so adamant about talking to them. Wasn't he hurt bad enough yet? This guy needs to know when to call the retreat, he thought, completely missing the irony of that opinion coming from him.

Skuld snorted. "I told you, I'm a goddess. If you're being affected by something, then it looks like it can't touch me."

Which was arguably sheer luck, but she wasn't about to let on about that.

She levitated the boy's pants as well, and dropped them on his shoulder. "Now, if you don't mind, I have territory to defend."

"Well that bites," Kon muttered. Looked like he'd have to find out how to get his powers back on his own.

He snatched his pants off his shoulder where the girl had flung them and began dragging the wet clothes back on. "Geez, OK, I'm getting dressed already, calm down. You know, I'm more used to girls wanting to get me out of my pants than into them."

Wandering over to pick up his flashlight - and hey, it still worked in spite of being dropped so many times tonight - Kon turned back to the crazy wanna-be goddess. "Just don't drown anyone else tonight, 'kay? I'd hate to have to come back and stop you hurting innocent bystanders."

Glancing over at Teisel he said, "Hey, Long John Silver, you coming?"

Looked like they were dismissed, and luckily Superboy had taken the hint this time. Even better, he was getting dressed, though reluctantly. Teisel's new eyes threatened to roll right out of his head at the guy's parting comment, but it looked like that was just how he was. Unfortunately.

Looking with some degree of envy at Superboy's working flashlight (his own had shorted out--the casing wasn't watertight, apparently), he cast one last wary look at the androids. "Have a nice evening, miss. And...er...other miss."

"Long John Silver?" he muttered to himself. Where had that come from? Still, the guy was the only one with a working flashlight now; Teisel didn't think it wise to split up now. "Yeah, yeah," he said, trying not to look like he was hurrying. It seemed a lot darker out here when he couldn't turn his flashlight on. "Keep your pants on." He cast a sidelong glance at the guy. "This time."

Skuld nodded to the older man; he seemed all right. She still couldn't let him past, but she didn't think he'd try.

He better not, Scarlet said.

"Yeah." With that, they vanished back into the shadows of the trees.

[Dropping down a thread!]

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Nightshift 36: Courtyard

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