Yue

 1st February

22:34 GMT -5

"Frederick, I think you should think very carefully about-."

He fires the second barrel of his shotgun directly into Richard's chest, forcing him to brace himself slightly.

"The fuck are you?!"

"Now, Frederick, think it through. Why would the result-"

He turns to run, then trips over one of his net-entrapped colleagues.

"-be different the second time?"

Richard steps forward and handcuffs Frederick's ankles together before he can get back on his feet.

"You know, it used to be that when people shot at me I had to dodge."

"If you really miss it I could clone you a new body?"

He pantomimes thinking for a moment, then shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good."

"Uh uh uh!"

Frederick tries to get to his feet, trips, and-

"Uuuughfuckin'idiot!"

-thumps his bound colleague on the back, causing his face to smack into the pavement.

Richard winces in sympathy. "Okay, I'm calling this a mercy arrest." He effortlessly pulls Frederick's arms behind his back and cuffs him there as well. "Now, can you lie still or do I have to gas you?"

"Ah, excuse me?" A woman in Congregation uniform jogs down the road towards us. "Can I help?"

Richard nods. "I think we're freaking them out. Could you sit on them until the police get here?"

"Sure, I can do that! Just a sec." She closes her eyes and bows her head, then two other Congregationalists flash into being next to her. "Do they have any serious injuries?"

"Fuckin'idiotbrokem'fuckin'nose!"

"No, no they don't." I glance at Richard, but he doesn't appear concerned in any way. "Thank you for your assistance." I take a data stick out of subspace and put onto it a full recording of the period leading up to the 'fight', as well as the confrontation itself. "Please hand this over to the officer in charge."

She takes it. "Can do!" I nod, smile, and-. "Ah..?"

"Gotham police are well used to this sort of thing, it won't be-."

Richard walks forward with pen in hand as she pulls out a small notebook and holds it out towards him. "Who do I make it out to?"

"S-shannon?"

"Sure." He signs it and then turns to me. "Oh El?"

I take it, and… I've never been all that sure what to put on these. The few times a 'fan' gets me in a position where I feel obliged to do this I just sign 'Orange Lantern', but Shannon here is actually being a useful auxiliary. 'Thank you for your assistance, Illustres, Orange Lantern Corps'. I look at it for a moment. Yeah, that should do. I float the book and the data stick to Shannon and the pen back to Richard.

"Thankyou!"

I look over to Richard. "Want a lift-"

He crouches and then leaps, easily passing the third floor and landing on the roof.

"-up? Okay then."

I fly up after him, following as he begins to parkour across the rooftops.

"Are we expecting anything else to happen this evening?"

"Nah, not really. To be honest, things have gotten a lot quieter lately."

"Have they?"

"Yeah. I mean, Batman broke up the old families-"

"With a little help from Mr Dent."

"They were going down anyway. And once that happened, it was only a matter of time until City Hall and the police got cleaned out. Right now, we're seeing record low unemployment, so street crime's way down. Most of the 'theme criminals' are either in Arkham or Belle Reve."

"Not Blackgate?"

"No, the warden agreed that putting gangs with their bosses wasn't a great idea."

"Are the Congregation making themselves useful?"

"Yeah. They're so popular in Gotham now that it's almost like having a city-wide surveillance system. And they trust the police enough to actually contact them when they hear about something."

"No internal corruption?"

"Nothing substantial substantiated." We come to the end of the block and he accelerates, easily leaping from one side of the road to the other.

"You know you.. could just use a kinetic belt for that."

He lands in a roll, then springs to his feet again. "Sure, if I wanted to take all the fun out of this."

"How are things with your foster-mother?"

"It's…" He slows to a jog, then stops completely. "Well, my Arabic's getting better. She's… More… I think she's trying to Mom me, but she comes off more like she's conducting an interrogation."

"She did grow up in the League of Shadows. But I'm sure that your future brothers and/or sisters will be grateful to you for wearing down her rough edges."

"I'll remind them." He looks over the city rooftops for a moment, then turns back to me. "So. Zatanna's birthday?"

"Y.. es."

"Are you… Going..?"

"How is.. she.. doing?"

"Not all of us have your empathic vision, Oh El." He sighs quietly. "She seems… Okay? She's been spending more time with her school friends, and… Working on her stage act. She's going to be joining Mister Zatara on his next residency."

"That sounds… That sounds good?"

"She knows it wasn't going to work out. With you." I nod. "Was it.. the Star Sapphire, making her act like that?"

"No, it was Drakul Karfang making her act like that. But… No. I.. had some people check the wards on the staff. They weren't breached, and they were doing what they were meant to. But drawing on its power required that she focus on love. And she wasn't just doing that for the fight with Nabu, and she didn't stop afterwards. Every time she used magic, she was focusing on how much she.. loved me. Thinking about the things that made her love me."

"Kinda like how I ended up bulletproof."

"No, if.. she'd called the Predator, I'd be trapped in a block of violet crystal right now. But… Yes, it's a similar idea. The enchantments contained the corruption, not the normal psychological effects." I sigh. "But… I don't want her to think that she's completely alienated me. I still.. like her. I only-."

"You're only staying away because you want her to get better."

I nod. "I don't think… Maybe after the birthday party? Would that work?"

"I think she'd appreciate it."

"Then that's what I'll do. So… What's your uncle up to these days?"