Work Text:
Prompt: Fall
Crossover: DCU and Star Wars
It wasn’t often that the entire Justice League was called out for a genuine end-of-the-world all-hands problem, not even in the early years of its existence and certainly not now. Terry had seen the worry behind Bruce’s impassive mask as they’d looked at the data that Superman had sent.
They could all see the effect of what was happening. Even the most oblivious citizen could see that as the portals opened and closed they either left things behind or took things that fell through them with them. There were pockets of diseases that were cropping up that Terry had only heard about in history books and some that no one had ever seen, people and buildings disappearing, and living beings showing up with absolutely no frame of reference. It wasn’t like people from other planets were unheard of in this day and age; Terry worked with a Green Lantern, a Kryptonian, and someone who was half Thanagarian. But even with the complete knowledge afforded by Kai’s ring, no one had come close to being able to identify or communicate with the variety of beings that were simply accidentally stepping through a portal and onto Earth. None of the other planets in the sector were experiencing anything other than an influx of panicked beings who had been living on Earth and were now evacuating to safer ground. There was no such thing in any country on Earth.
Despite the best efforts of the League, however, they were only playing catch-up. No one could find what was causing the portals, whether it was magic or technology or a metahuman of some sort. All they knew was that it was getting worse, and that if the problem wasn’t solved soon Earth was going to be torn apart, if it didn’t fall to something even worse in the meantime. Bruce was just as worried about the wrong thing coming through the portal as he was about the portals themselves and their effect on reality.
Most of what could be done in Gotham was already done by the citizens of Gotham themselves, embracing the survivor’s instinct that every city native had in their bones. Terry’s family was sheltering at Wayne Manor, along with Max and Dana and her father. Some of the other cities known for hosting heroes had similarly followed that hero’s instructions and sheltered in place with plenty of food and water, while others ignored things and did as they pleased. Terry understood both sides, since he wouldn’t want to be stuck inside at the end of the world either, but it made things more complicated. It seemed like every time one of them had a decent opportunity for some readings they needed to break off to stop a civilian from stumbling through a portal.
The portals appeared all over the globe, but there seemed to be concentrating in the most densely settled cities. Most of North America was still pretty rural, with only a few places seeing steadily increasing portals. Batman was posted in Chicago, and Terry was doing his best to keep people away from portals and to guide the ones who stumbled through back into the portals before they closed. Wayne was back at home in the cave, vidlink off but listening to Terry and his observations as he worked. “One just opened in midair,” Terry said quietly from his perch. “First time I’ve seen that.”
“Can you get a closer look? I’ll turn on the vidlink.”
The suit wasn’t really suited for sustained flight. Tim Drake had made some sort of comment about ‘falling with style’ about it once that had made his mom chuckle but that he hadn’t understood. Terry could glide very well, though, and hover for a short time, so he did as directed.
He had just cautiously lined up adjacent to the portal, not wanting to risk getting in the way of anything that might come through, when something slammed into his back and shoved him into the portal.
He turned as he fell, catching a glimpse of a police hovercraft before he fell out of Chicago’s dark night to a rocky ocean landscape. The portal closed just as his foot cleared the opening, cutting off his connection back to Wayne and leaving only static.
“Slag it,” he sighed. He tugged his cowl off and sighed. No one who had disappeared through a portal had managed to reappear on Earth in the time that they’d been monitoring. Even if the problem got fixed it would take time to get back home if he even managed it at all, and there was no easy way to recharge his suit. Normally there was about a week’s worth of battery between charging, but he’d been going nonstop for about three days. It would still be wearable, but it would just be a slightly more durable onesie at that point and it wasn’t particularly comfortable as clothing. The real problem, of course, was that he had nothing else to wear. And looking around him at the barren landscape, there weren’t many options around.
He sat down on a convenient rock and took a moment to just breathe. There was a very real possibility that he would never get home. Never see his mom or Matt or Dana or Mr. Wayne again.
At least the portal had the courtesy to drop him in the middle of nowhere so that he could have his breakdown in private.
As if the universe was mocking him (and it wouldn’t surprise Terry in the least) a man wrapped in a thick cloak with shaggy hair and a thick beard was surprisingly close when he next looked up. He wasn’t moving with any sort of haste, but the way he moved put him more in mind of Grayson than anyone else he had met, all well-practiced efficient grace only slightly hampered by a body that had been through the wringer.
Terry stood up as the man approached, mask still crumpled in his hand. He could have put it back on, but found it hard to care. Eye to eye he was reminded more of Wayne than Grayson, since he felt as if he was being examined from the soul out. “There’s no ship, so that has me wondering how you got here,” the man said.
“I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I told you I fell out of the sky.”
The man tilted his head. “Oddly enough, I do believe you. Do you have a way of falling back?”
“I don’t. There were portals, no one could figure out why there were portals, and then I was here, which is not how I wanted my day to go.”
“Interesting. I’m Luke Skywalker.” There was the suggestion of a bow, reminding him even more of the teachers that Wayne had connected to him over the years.
“Terry McGinnis. Is there any way I can borrow something to wear?”
“As long as you don’t mind wearing the same thing I am. I’m the only humanoid on the planet, as far as I’m aware.” Skywalker looked a little amused now. “I’m guessing that’s not terribly comfortable?”
“Not really,” Terry admitted.
“My wife used to fight in skin-tight catsuits. It never looked like something enjoyable to me.” He gestured towards a rocky path. “Let’s see if we can figure out something. I’ll go ahead and make some calls.”