not quite bio-chem
Sitting on a roof, Dick had a lot on his mind.
He should be focusing on patrol, but instead, he’s thinking about Rory. And a little about Redback. Mostly about Rory.
She looked so…Dick couldn’t even think what she looked like. She was young but her eyes were older. Her eyes told Dick how much she had seen, how much she had experienced, how she grew up too quickly.
They also had this determination that was sort of scary. She wanted something so badly. If only Dick could help her. He wanted to, he really did, but he had enough on his plate at the moment.
The recent Arkham breakouts, the usual Gotham Crime, and Redback.
Redback had showed up last night and really freaked out Tim. First, she fell out of the sky and got up without a problem. Second, she had seen Tim when that shouldn’t have been possible. Third, she pulled a gun on Tim. Fourth, they haven’t heard a thing about her since-
“I’ve got something from Gordan,” Oracle says into Dicks ear. “He says he’s got a guy wrapped up in spiderwebs.”
-until now.
“Was it Redback?” Dick asks as he pushes himself off of the building.
“Of course it was Redback. Who else do you know that wraps people up in webs?” Tim snarks.
“I’ll go check it out,” Dick says. Oracle gives him the address and he flings his grappling gun in that direction.
The air was crisp and helped to clear his mind. To clear the swirling cloud of possibilities of who, or what, Redback could be.
To clear the deep pool of worry for Rory.
Rory slept for what felt like days. That doesn’t mean it was peaceful.
Her sleep was restless and plagued by dreams. The only positive was that she didn’t wake up and stayed like that for a while.
She must’ve been waking up, or she wouldn’t have heard the keys jangling in the door. Rory sat bolt upright. Her muscles stiff, she squinted against the light coming in through the window and lifted herself off the couch. She went to walk, but her shin hit the coffee table with a thud. She lurched forward, almost tumbling over the table completely. Her foot managed to stick to the carpet enough to stay standing.
The door creaked open further so Rory snapped her head toward the door just in time to capture the moment the owner of this house realized she was there. Rory tapped one finger to the pod behind her ear and the suit retracted.
The woman stood wide-eyed on the threshold, her handbag resting in the crook of her arm. Rory froze, like a deer in headlights.
“Who the hell are you?” She didn’t seem mad, more confused than anything. Rory stayed frozen for a few more seconds before realizing she wanted an answer.
“Sorry, I’ll just go. Don’t call the cops please.” Rory put her hands up and stepped back. “I just wanted somewhere to sleep, and I, well I ate your pasta. Sorry about that. But I’ll go now.”
Rory stayed facing the woman as she retreated to the window. The woman followed her, putting her keys and bag down along the way. The woman’s eyes softened, her hands coming out in front of her.
“No, I won’t call the police, promise,” she said. She took another step toward Rory, who had now stopped. “What are you doing breaking into houses?”
“I don’t have much of an option,” Rory whispered. The woman looked nice enough. Mid-length auburn hair, white button-up shirt, light-wash jeans, classic black heels, and a big beige coat. She would have to work the night shift to get home at what Rory assumed was the morning. Rory listened harder and the woman’s heartbeat was strong. She wasn’t scared, but she wasn’t overly calm.
I don’t think anyone is ever really calm in this city.
“What about Batman and his friends?” The woman asked with so much sincerity that it shocked Rory, almost as much as the question.
“What?”
“Sweetie, I saw your suit,” the woman explained. Her voice switched to a stage whisper. “I know you’re a Robin.”
“What? No, no, I’m not a Robin,” Rory rushed, but the woman shushed her. She waved her hand at Rory, dismissing her. She turned away from Rory and picked up the empty pasta container on the table. She turned the tap on and rinsed the container before putting it in the dishwasher.
“No need to hide it from me,” she said. Rory skirted the table to come right in front of the woman.
“I am NOT a Robin, okay? I’m my own person,” Rory insisted. “I haven’t even met Batman.”
The woman scoffed and walked around Rory to sit on the couch.
“Well, if you’re not a Robin, then what are you?” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, every muscle in her body went tense. “You, you’re not a villain, are you? You’re not going to hurt me?”
“Come on, if I was going to hurt you, I would’ve done it already.” Seeing that that did nothing to defuse the situation, Rory continued. “I’m not going to do anything to you. I’m not one of the Bats, but I’m not a villain either. Please, I just need somewhere to stay.”
“And you think I’m just going to let some random kid stay with me? No way,” the woman snorted. Rory just had to find a way to convince this lady. There was no way in hell that she was going to brave the streets of Gotham.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise to believe me. Just for a minute,” Rory sighed. The woman hesitated for a second but nodded. Rory took a deep breath and steadied herself. If this woman was going to report her, then it was too late now. She would be taken away, have all sorts of tests done on her.
“I’m from a different universe.” There it was. No turning back now. The woman’s eyebrows raised, and for a moment it looked like she was going to laugh in Rory’s face.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. The woman leaned all the way back and sunk into the couch. “You better not be joking.”
“I’m not, I promise,” Rory said. The woman didn’t move an inch. “I’m not crazy, oh please don’t think I’m crazy.”
The woman shook her head. “I don’t- I don’t think you’re crazy. It’s just, well, I’ve devoted my life’s work to that. And for someone to rock up at my house saying they’re from another universe? It’s a dream come true. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Neither,” Rory says, taking a seat across from the woman.
“And you’re definitely not joking?”
“Why would I joke about this?” Rory asks.
“Hell if I know.”
They sit in silence for a few minutes, stewing in their respective situations.
“You can stay,” the woman says abruptly. “As long as you like.”
“Thanks,” Rory murmurs. “I’m Rory.”
“I’m Jemma, Jemma Simmons.”
There was a whole lot of sitting in silence for the rest of the day.
‘Jemma Simmons’ rang a bell for Rory but she couldn’t figure out where from for the life of her. Jemma went to have a nap after her overnight shift and told Rory to make herself at home.
It turned out to be a rather big apartment. The master bedroom had an ensuite but there was another bathroom down the hall. The spare room was on the other side of the bathroom, closer to the kitchen and living room.
There was a fresh towel hanging on the rack in the bathroom and the bed in the spare room was made.
Jemma either has great powers of premonition or she keeps it done it up at all times.
Rory finally decided it was time for a shower and walked into the bathroom. She turned on the water and got undressed. She was about to step in the stream when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.
There was a trail of dried blood running down her forehead, the remnants of a split lip, a black eye, and a pretty nasty bruise spreading across the entirety of her neck. And that was after a meal and sleep.
No wonder Dick and Barbara looked at me like I was a lost puppy.
Those injuries would have looked way worse yesterday when they were relatively fresh. She’d had hardly any rest so they wouldn’t have healed as fast. Looking down at her hands, the cuts were almost entirely gone except for a thin white line that looked like a scar. That should be gone by tonight.
The bruise on her neck though? That would take a day or two. She’d have to wear a scarf if she went out.
She turned away from the mirror and stepped into the water. It was hot and the warmth seeped into her stiff muscles, loosening her joints. She stood there for a good 10 minutes, not moving, just letting the water cascade off her back.
By the time Rory got out of the shower, Jemma was up and about. Rory put her clothes back on and joined her out in the living room.
“Oh, do you need some clothes? We’ll get some when we have the chance. For the time being, you can wear something of mine, I’ll go see what would fit you.” Jemma hopped up and went to her bedroom. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Rory plopped herself onto a couch and let her eyes close. Once Jemma came back with those clothes, Rory would be going straight to bed. With that math, she could go out tonight as Redback to see if she could find any clues to the guy who brought her here. If he could get her here, he could get her home.
Jemma could also help her. She said that dimensional travel was her life’s work, surely she would know something. At the very least, she would have some ideas.
“Here you go,” Jemma said cheerily. She placed some grey trackies and a jumper from a university Rory didn’t recognize on the arm of the couch. Rory took them in her arms and went to go to the spare room.
“Wait,” Jemma said, “can I ask a few questions? About how you got here?”
The bed was calling her name but Rory owed this to her. She couldn’t just live in Jemma’s apartment without answering a few questions. But she really needed to get out of those clothes.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll get changed first though.”
A few minutes later, Rory was sitting across from Jemma who had a notebook and pen at the ready.
“How did you get here?”
“Well, um, there was a portal, and I fell into it. Then I was in this sort of purgatory space between universes. A guy pushed me into another portal and I ended up here.”
Jemma took notes a lightning fast pace.
“Yep, and who was the guy?”
“No idea. He just sort of showed up. He didn’t have a face, or clothes. Or skin, for that matter.” Rory shrugged.
“How did you know you were in a different universe?”
“I didn’t at first, not really. I guess on a subconscious level I did, but I don’t think that was normal. I have this sort of…instinct. It’s like a gut feeling, sometimes it helps me dodge bullets, other times it tells me if someone can’t be trusted.” Jemma didn’t stop writing for a second. “I went to the library because I had no idea where I was. I did some research and found some stuff that didn’t add up so I-”
“What stuff?”
“Places that didn’t exist back home, new superheroes, missing superheroes. At first, I thought it was time travel, but it’s the same date as it is back home,” Rory said. Jemma finally looked up, her brow furrowed.
“Time travel? That’s something you can do in your dimension?” Jemma asked.
“Oh, no, not that I know of. That being said, dimension travel isn’t a thing either. I mean, sure people have theories, but nobody’s even close to pulling it off,” Rory answered.
“Yeah, same here. The only ones that could do it are the magic users, and they haven’t shared the trick with the rest of us.”
Rory hummed in agreement. There was a lull in the conversation and Rory took that as her cue to go.
“If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, but I’m going to have a nap. So…,” Rory trailed off. Jemma nodded and closed the notebook.
“Okay. Before you go, I know you said you weren’t a Robin, but by the looks of that suit, you definitely look superhero-ish. Batman is quite territorial so try to keep a low profile,” Jemma warned.
Rory thought on that for a moment before nodding and heading off to bed.
Screw Batman, he won’t even know I’m here.
Batman knew about Redback. Tim made sure of it.
Tim had come back from patrol two nights ago pretty out of it. He had told anyone who would listen about the phenomenon that was Redback. Basically everyone was all ears (except Damian) because she could be a threat. She pulled a gun on him!
Everything about her put Tim on edge. The way she moved looked trained, too well trained. She had a threatening air about her that dared you to try something. When she got up after falling, Tim could’ve sworn his heart stopped. Nobody just gets up after a fall like that.
Unless you’re an alien of some kind. Tim had gone down that road but dismissed it only because of the gun she had. It looked very similar to the ones Jason carried around. The only difference was it looked more technologically advanced. Aliens didn’t tend to have human guns.
The sheer amount of research he had done to try and get a lead was astonishing, and yet, he was empty handed. The only upside was he had found some good intel on a few minor crime rings around the city.
‘Redback’ just didn’t exist. But that was only in existing organizations.
Maybe she was new? No, she was too practiced.
Maybe there’s a group they’re yet to hear about? That’s worrying, but at this point the most likely.
Tim was shut down a bit by Dick after he went to check out a possible sighting. He said that a man had been wrapped in a cocoon of spiderwebs. Dick had asked around and he found a woman who was willing to talk. She says the man pulled a gun on her but a masked assailant had stopped him and then wrapped him up. Dick is leaning toward trusting her all because she stopped one guy.
Tim isn’t convinced though. One good deed doesn’t mean you’re a good person. Dick told him not to worry so much because so far she seemed to be helping the cause. Dick hadn’t SEEN her, though. She could give Damian a run for his money.
Rory woke up in the spare room and the sun was just setting behind the lowest buildings of Gotham. On the other side of the door, she could hear Jemma putting things in containers and putting stuff in her bag. Rory was wide awake now and needed to get out of the house.
She slid out of bed and into the kitchen. She leaned on the kitchen island and waited for Jemma to turn around. When she did, she jumped and clutched her heart.
“Jeez, don’t creep up on me like that,” she said. She grabbed one last container and stacked it in the fridge.
Rory examined the fridge doors and found that it was scattered with photos. One tucked under a large magnet caught her eye. She wandered over and took it off the fridge. It was Jemma smiling widely with a man who was smiling just as widely. He had his arm around her and the Ferris wheel behind them sparkled with fairy lights.
“Who’s this?” Rory showed Jemma the photo. Her heart skipped slightly when she saw the photo.
“That’s Leo. He, we used to be really close,” Jemma said, looking down.
“Used to…oh, sorry. He seems nice,” Rory said. She tucked it back where it was and she took the time to look at it one more time. She cocked her head to one side, something nagging at the back of her mind.
Then it clicked.
“Wait, Leo, as in Leopold. As in Leopold Fitz?” Rory spun back around to see a flabbergasted Jemma. “And you’re Jemma!”
Jemma looked as lost as a flamingo in a flock of pigeons.
“What the hell just happened?” Jemma asked. Rory dashed out of the kitchen and back into the spare room. She grabbed the pod on the bedside table and rushed back to Jemma. She placed the pod on the coffee table and tapped it twice. A hologram popped up with numerous options.
“Friday, show me Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz.”
A photo of Jemma and Leo materialized. They were standing in front of the old SHIELD headquarters looking like little kids at a candy store.
“This is you guys in my universe. Obviously, you don’t look the same, and you’re not British, but it’s you. Back home both of you are agents of SHIELD, a kind of secret organization. I was an agent there as well, but there was a… downsize, and both of you were killed by Hydra agents. Long story short: you guys were a dynamic duo,” Rory finished with a huff.
The Hydra moles had killed so many SHIELD agents and destroyed their reputation that nobody thought SHIELD would be able to regroup. But they did and Rory was one of the survivors. Her small group made it and restarted SHIELD from the ground up.
“So I’m dead in your dimension?” Jemma was fixated on the hologram.
Rory nodded. “If it makes you feel any better, your story was told to loads of recruits. You won’t be forgotten.”
“You forgot me,” Jemma said, smirking.
“Yeah, and then I remembered you,” Rory challenged. Jemma shook her head but let out a breathy chuckle. She picked up her bag and took her keys from the little bowl on the table.
“I’ve got the night shift again so don’t break anything while I’m gone. I’ll be back around 6,” Jemma called over her shoulder as she left, locking the door behind her.
Rory picked up the pod and put it behind her ear. She gave it one tap and it spread across her body in a matter of seconds.
She was out the window before Jemma even made it to the elevator.