Ultimate Young Justice #2 - Boys' Night Out Pt. 2

[The Wonderful Wachter]

Ultimate Young Justice #2
Boys Night Out! Part Two
By M.R.Proteau & The Wonderful Wachter

Gotham City, December 31, 2011, 11:36 PM

“Blue?.....Blue???”[/i] Robin’s voice called frantically through the comm-link.

Marvin shook his head groggily and groaned as he tried to sit up. His vision was blurry- he was seeing twos and threes of everything. As it came into focus, his awareness picked up the fact he was laying down amidst a pile of crushed brick and mortar, his body covered in a fine layer of dust. He brushed himself off, careful to avoid his eyes, when he noticed a sight that stopped his heart. There, a few feet from him, was a nightmare. His favorite scarf, his lucky hero scarf, was singed to ash. Only a tiny fragment remained, flapping miserably beneath the rubble.

“Damn it!” he cursed as he reached for it, momentarily caught up in this personal loss of his. But in the end, it simply was a scarf. He looked about him, assessing his situation. His body was in the ruins of a wall some fifteen feet from where he had been standing when the bomb went off. Other than the wall, that seemed to be part of the collateral damage of his backside, everything else looked relatively unscathed. Minimal damage.

“Why is the ring more useful when I’m not controlling it…” he mumbled for a second, proud of the fact that despite being unable to disarm the bomb, he had saved the building. But he felt like he was forgetting something through the concussion… “Oh sh–. Robin!”

He stood up woozily and thanked god that the comm-link survived the blast. He clicked it tentatively.

“Robin?”

”Blue! You’re alive!” Robin’s voice radiated relief over the line

Looking down at his rather bedraggled appearance, Marvin frowned and answered, “Relatively….my scarf is…”

”’bout time, you’ve been out for a bit, I’ve already deactivated two of the bombs and am heading to a third…by my count we still have…”

“Right, yeah, eight to go…” Marvin grunted. “Fun times,” he continued, looking at his watch. “It’s late, we’re so screwed…” he grumbled, wondering how Robin could be so positive and upbeat. Eight more and less than half hour to go…how could he think…right, he’s a super-hero, he always believes he can save the day…maybe if I had a little more faith and hope this ring would work better…

As he focused on Robin’s faith and hope, intense blue light emanated out from his ring. The ring seemed to have new tricks up its sleeve every day. He grinned, knowing what to do. Fake it until he makes it. He reformed his costume, scarf and all, ready to go once more.

”About to be seven Blue, so head to the next target, Robin out.”

There was really only one thing left to do. Robin would be his carrot of hope. In a blaze of blue, he took off into the night once again.

***

The Sprang Bridge, Gotham City, 11:43 PM

Robin landed with a rolling tumble atop the bridge. He pulled himself out of the roll rather quickly, ducking behind a parked car to inspect a strange sight. A dark-skinned man – slightly older than the boy in red – had somehow summoned a tendril of water to grab an object off the bridge support, yank it free and drive it into the mouth of the Gotham River where it met the harbor. As the tentacle vanished deep beneath the surface, a torrent of water burst forth with the roar of a muffled explosion rippling out from the depths. Suddenly, he understood what happened to the first bomb that evening. The one he hadn’t needed to disarm because it wasn’t there.

His facial recognition skills were slightly behind that realization. Had it not been for the powers, he couldn’t even be sure who he was facing. Momentarily starstruck and feeling like a hypocrite for his feelings about the Blur, Tim couldn’t believe his eyes. Bruce had made him watch every episode of Brave and the Bold to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, fighting styles, and tendencies of every meta on the show, hero or villain and then record them into a log on the Bat-computer so he had to slap himself mentally for failing notice it sooner.

“Kaldur…”

However, this wasn’t the same underdog, hydrokinetic he had been before Kaldur had vanished from the show. He seemed to have grown a good three, four inches in height and put on a few more pounds of muscle mass. His eyes were totally different, his jaw slightly more rigid. But those were all physical differences… Tim felt that there was something off about the man. It wasn’t right the way Kaldur made his hair stand on end, like there was electricity in the air. And if not for the hair and the costume, he’d have assumed it was someone else.

Tim shook his head to regain his focus and called out to the reality television hero. “Nice job, Kaldur, but there are still seven more to defuse.”

“Yes… I could sense that,” he responded solemnly. Even his voice was not the same as it had been on the show. More somber. Almost alien… and this time not an act. He turned to face Robin and inadvertently made the boy take a step back. His eyes were not human. They glowed with a power, with an intelligence that could not be comprehended. Kaldur stared at Robin, blinking slowly. “You are the Robin.” He didn’t sound surprised… He didn’t sound anything. “Booster swore up and down that you did not exist in this timeline.”

With the joke, a change washed over Kaldur. He deflated before Tim’s eyes, assuming more humanly proportions and aspects. Robin filed that away for future investigation.

“Yeah. I’m real. You’re real. The Blur is real. And only one of us likes to stay out of the news.” Questions wanted to burst forth from Tim’s lips. He wanted to know what happened to the other hero after he was kidnapped during the Seigelville attack? How had he freed himself? But that would have to wait. Business first. “Anyways… There are seven more bombs set to go off around the city,” Robin explained as he brought up the three-dimensional map of Gotham. “All set to go off at midnight. I have some help from the Blur but we could really use a veteran powerhouse like yourself…”

“I will help but I am afraid it will not be enough,” Kaldur said as he took in the blinking beacons on the map. “We are three and they are seven.”

“No prob, I got it covered,” stated Robin with the utmost confidence.

Aqualad gave him a skeptical look but nodded in acceptance nevertheless. “I will take the one near the corner of Fox and Gardener…”

“Awesome…” Robin pointed his grapnel and fired a shot back towards the city but he paused before squeezing the trigger again “Hey Kaldur…”

The hero looked at him quizzically again.

“Use this to keep in touch,” Robin tossed him a comm-link. Bit of a double edge sword to hope he’d run into another hero on his way to the next bomb. That was his last one. It was caught deftly by the other man who turned to head towards his target but Tim had one more thing to say. “Oh and uh…

“Yes?” Kaldur turned back to regard him with the utmost patience

“When this is all over with, can you sign my batarang?” Robin flashed him a grin.

The man relaxed, showing his human side once again with a smile that was more than just sad. “I would think that Batwoman would be the better choice.” He snapped a waterbearer out and a water whip sprouted forth to yank him off the bridge.

And that was that. Tim pushed the trigger to reel himself up towards the Gotham skyline and readied another call to make. He knew when to ask for help. “C’mon Babs, pick up….”

“Oracle here,” the feminine voice on the other end answered.

“It’s Robin, I’m feeling the need, the need for speed.” He winced… Okay, that was bad. He’d be sure to bring up his shame over it at his next confession. “Sending you the specs now!”

“Gotcha Redbird. Hummingbird will be there…” Barbara confirmed without hesitation as she disconnected the line.

He switched the line back to local. “Blue come in…”

”Yo, what’s up, Red?”

“Think you can contain another explosion?”

”Depends,” Blur answered hesitantly.

“On?”

”Whether you think I can or not?”

“Huh?” Robin asked confused.

”My constructs work on hope, mine, others, cats, dogs, bats…” he explained with slightly more assurance in his voice.

“Huh, others. Perfect!” Robin exclaimed excitedly. “I need a pick up now. Corner of Marshall and Rogers.”

”Pick up...you thinking girls or food? I hope it’s girls cause if we survive past midnight, I’m not gonna kiss you.”

“Neither you idiot, come pick ME up at Marshall and Rogers ASAP!”

”Oh…sorry,” the Blur apologized without much sincerity. ”I’m still not gonna kiss you.”

He cut the link and pulled out a pair of state of the art binoculars to scope out Kaldur in action a few blocks over.

The other hero had uncovered another bomb and had it in his hand. Before Robin could wonder what Kaldur was waiting for, sparks of electricity emanated from his hand to short out the bomb’s circuitry. That certainly explained why he made Tim’s hair stand on end… Unexpectedly, Kaldur suddenly looked up and faced directly in Tim’s direction. That morose smile of his played at his lips and Robin felt that he could see him despite the great distance between the two.

Freaky…

***

Downtown Gotham, just outside Gotham Plaza where the New Year’s Ball is dropping, 11:57 PM…

The Blur landed gently and lowered the platform Robin was riding on to the ground. Kaldur joined them a few precious seconds later.

“This is the bomb near the largest population center, but there are still three more…” the Blur said, a trace of panic in his voice. “We’re not gonna make it…”

“It’s covered, relax, and focus on the now. I need you here, these people need you here,” said Robin comfortingly, trying to help the Blur keep it together.

“What? Who?”

“Not your concern. It’s covered. Focus here, on the people, their hope. That’s all that matters.”

“Okay, okay…Focusing. Downward dog and all that…” Marvin joked, mustering up all his confidence and courage.

“Remember the words of the great Jedi Muppet.” Robin clapped a hand on his back. “You can do it.”

“That’s Rob Schneider in Water Boy… Not Yoda.”

“You know what I mean. You got this, Blue.”

”You better hope so, bird brain!” a voice unfamiliar to everyone except Robin called out from the comm-link.

“Speak of the devil,” Robin muttered to the others and then into the comm-link, “You’re not helping there, Speedy Gonzalez.”

”Yeah, well at least I’ll be outside the city before your goose gets cooked!” Bart Allen retorted over the comm-link as he raced towards their location.

“Shut it, Impulse. One minute and counting…”

”I’ve got three live ones coming your way special delivery Robin!”

***

Gotham Plaza 11:59: 40…

Impulse raced in and came to a halt in the time before you could even consider blinking. He dressed much like the former Kid Flash though he had a white and blue base instead of yellow and red. And unlike the Flash, the tufts of his vibrant red hair snaked out the top of his mask. He set the remaining bombs next to the one planted in front of Robin, the Blue Blur, and Kaldur.

“Got it!” Robin says, “At ten do the set, Kal then it’s all you Blue!”

Marvin closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, finding the confidence Robin had in him, opening himself up to all the shared hopes for the new year of the crowd below as they gathered to watch the ball drop, repeating to himself. You’re working with heroes now, you are a superhero now. Dreams come true, anything can happen and he hears Robin say over and over again, ‘you got this Blue’ in his memories.

“Ten!” the crowd roared.

Aqualad gathered the remaining bombs in a geyser of water sending them up soaring into the sky above the city.

“Nine!”

Marvin launched himself into the air after them.

“Eight!”

Marvin opened his eyes and located the bombs.

“Seven!”

‘You got this Blue’ resonated through Marvin’s head.

“Six!”

Marvin reached out to the bombs with one of his constructs.

“Five!”

The blue light enveloped the bombs in a blue glowing sphere.

“Four!”

The Blur and the bombs rose in unison ever higher.

“Three!”

“I can do this! I am a hero!” Marvin yelled to himself.

“Two!”

“He remembered his own hopes for the New Year, using it as a conduit to absorb all the hopes of those below.

“One!”

“I got this!” Marv screamed at the top of his lungs.

Zero!

The ball dropped. The crowd screamed. Happy New Year! People kiss. And above them all, the bombs exploded.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Marvin hollered as his bubble held and people oohed and ahhed at the big blue sun in the night sky, thinking it part of the celebration. Seeing the opportunity, Marvin used his ring to reshape the energy of the explosion, forming a giant blue bat symbol in the sky holding a blue lantern in its lower legs. Then he let go. His construct exploded into a sea of beautiful fireworks and the crowd was none-the-wiser.

“You did it!” Robin yelled into the comm-link as Bart pumped his fist a few hundred times in the blink of an eye and Kaldur smiled calmly.

Robin looked at the other two heroes next to him. “Good job, guys! We saved a lot of lives tonight. And they’ll never know it.” Marvin caught the end of the comment he glided in for a landing, setting down next to them, grinning from ear to ear as he took in them all. “But that doesn’t matter. We know and that’s good enough for me.”

“I could do with some recognition,” Impulse said completely deadpanned. “Press still tries to call me Kid Flash.”

All but Kaldur laughed at the joke as they felt the giddy adrenalin start to fade.

“Alright,” began Marvin slowly. “I’ll just bring up the elephant in the room.” He faced Robin, intensely serious. “Do you think he saw my construct?”

“He who?”

“You know, The Batman. Gotham’s Dark Knight.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” came Robin's rote reply.

“C’mon. You’re real. He’s gotta be real too. I mean, you use batarangs.”

“You mean these?” Robin pulled out three batarangs from his belt. “Ain’t nothing special. You can buy ‘em at the store. Right, Kaldur?”

The solemn man nodded. “I do believe so. Right next to my action figures.”

“Dude. Don’t look at me,” Impulse told Marvin when he tried to find support. “I hate Gotham, but…” he vanished for an instant. “It does have its perks.”

In his hands were four authentic Gotham chili dogs for a job well done.

***

Epilogue

The apartment of Marvin and Noah Kuttler, January 2, 2012, 11:04 AM…

Marvin stood in his kitchen clad only his boxers; a feat he could never do back home in Bludhaven. Wearily, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he poured milk into a bowl of cocoa blasts. From the next room, he caught the sound of a knock at the front door. Grumbling, he shoved a spoonful of chocolaty goodness into his mouth and headed for the front door.

Peering through the peephole, he saw a dark haired teenager wearing sunglasses and a black bomber jacket standing outside in the hall. Marvin rolled his eyes, not recognizing the kid, and formed a pair of far too bright blue-pants… needed to work on that. He opened the door with the look of a man about to turn down Girl Scout cookies.

“Can I help you? Marvin grunted at the stranger.

“Marvin Kuttler, the boy who lived…” the dark haired teen smirked.

“Huh, I think you have me confused with a British schoolboy… No scar!” he pulled his bangs back.

“True, that’s because you walked away from the car crash without a scratch, Blue…” the teen said as Marvin’s jaw dropped. He recognized that voice…

***

Be here next time for Ultimate Young Justice #3 to see just what Tim Drake is up to…[/size][/center]