The Dork Knight

[Stern]

"I didn't even know you were there, to be honest. You already sounded freaked out by the time I got there."

Stern shrugged and checked the seal on his goggles. "You can stay up there and hide if you want. I wasn't planning on getting you in trouble. Just wanted to help you get to safety. Can't imagine too many people out there would be able to keep cool if they saw you."

Stern looked about. "Anyway, I need to get back to my place. I'm tired of wild goose chases. Good luck keeping hidden."

[Batdude]

"I think I got shot."

Marty blurted it out, sure that it was a really dumb thing to say. This guy could really be trouble, but he seemed so...boyscoutish? Is that even a word?

"I don't know, I've never been shot before."

[Stern]

Stern nodded. "Well, would you like me to look at it for you?"

Apparently the guy was just scared and hurt. Made sense. He crossed himself and took a deep breath. "I'm going to climb to the roof, ok?"

[Batdude]

"Ok sure, just keep that light off, whatever you do."

Marty found a spot to lie back on, and that seemed to help the throb. Now it was just hurting. He needed to take the edge off, and fished out a joint and his lighter from a pocket.

Was this guy a doctor? Look at it? Like a moonlighting Doogie Howser mutant doc? Marty absent-mindedly wondered about how far Beth Israel hospital was from here, and if he could make it if he felt like flying, which he didn't particularly at the moment.

[Stern]

Stern found the service ladder and climbed to the roof. What was that smell?

A small red glow gave him his answer. The guy was smoking. And apparently it wasn't your average smoke.

"Well, let's see."

Stern did his best to keep his ambient light low. However, he did shine some light at the guy's foot. "Indeed. You have been shot. You should probably get some serious medical attention from somewhere. But what with your, uh, habit, and your mutation, I'm not sure they'd be particularly sympathetic towards you. Cullen's is across town. They might be easier on you than Beth Israel."

Stern removed his shirt and pressed it around the guy's foot to stop the bleeding. "I can't remove the bullet, so whatever you do, you're going to have to do it fast."

[Batdude]

"Ahh...hell that hurts!"

Marty recoiled from Stern's touch a bit.

"Just...just tie it on or something."

He tried to think about the mileage back to Cullens, and if he could swing it. Maybe he could. Lightbulb was right, he probably shouldn't even consider Beth Israel. If being an extreme mutant wasn't a problem, being a gunshot wound victim with drugs would be.

"I'm gonna try and fly to Cullen's."

[Stern]

Stern tied the shirt around Marty's foot. "Ok. You have a cell phone or anything with you? I can give you my cell number and you can keep me posted."

Stern fumbled for his own cell phone. "My car is back at campus. I'll get back there as fast as I can and trail you back to Cullen's. That way if you have to go down to land, or just feeling dizzy from blood loss, we can stuff you in there as best we can and try to just drive you back."

[Batdude]

"Yeah...hang on."

Marty's hands shook slightly as he retrieved his cell phone and flipped it open. He paused, balling them into fists to stop the shaking, and then got ready to input Stern's number, carefully punching in the digits he gave him.

He took another toke, and closed his eyes, eventually exhaling. When his eyes opened, he noticed Stern's number adjacent to another number he forgot he had.

Joe's.

"Wait, that's it. I know a guy at Cullens who has a ride."

He really didn't want to go that way, and endure the street-wise kid's I told you so's. But then again, few people would understand other than him.

[Stern]

"Will he be coming to get you, then? That would be more helpful than you trying to fly bleeding like you are. Give him a call and see what he can do for you. I'll wait with you until he shows."

Stern looked around the sky. The helicopter and the police seemed to have given up pursuit. The driver was caught, so there was nothing more for them to do but patrol around.

Stern pressed himself against the billboard. With any luck his ambient light would mingle with the light illuminating the other side and reduce suspicion.

[Batdude]

For a moment, Marty stared at his phone and said nothing. He coughed a little, licked his lower lip, and hit the dial button.

[Twitch]

The phone rang. Joe had started to sleep. Almost involuntarily, he groaned and blindly fumbled for the phone.

"Mmmmph... yeah, hello?" he said, his voice a little lumpy.

[Stern]

Stern leaned against the back side of the billboard. He was feeling tired and a bit bored. He needed to make sure the bat person was going to get to Cullen's ok.

So he idly began fiddling with his mutant powers. He never really toyed with them, but the sudden entrance of another mutant caused him to want to know more about his abilities. Stern slowly started to cycle throught he color spectrum. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. He felt like one of those fiber-optic Christmas trees the people at Tech Support plugged into their USB ports last fall.

Stern wanted to know what was going on, but decided to let the stranger rest and get through his phone call uninterrupted.

[Batdude]

"Joe, it's Marty."

Marty spoke in a cool tone, deliberately trying to remain as chill as he could.

"I know it's late, but I need your car."

[Twitch]

Joe paused for a moment and considered what this meant.

"Okay." he said. Marty was in enough nonsense if he needed a ride. The last thing he needed was a lecture.

"Aight, where you at?" He asked. Joe had already slipped on his shoes, pants and a shirt. He grabbed the keys for the TA.

[Batdude]

"I'm..."

He glanced out for a quick chirp at any "visual" landmarks.

"...Kauffman and 12th, about halfway up the block. Watch for a billboard."

So far, Joe seemed pretty down to earth about it, which was good. The kid was definitely a team player.

[Stern]

Stern stopped his color looping and glanced over at his charge. "If he needs any extra help, I can make a beacon for him. What's his favorite color?"

[Batdude]

Marty paused, taking a cue from lightbulb, and nodded.

"Look for the red light." He at last spoke into the phone.

[Twitch]

"Aight. You should be able to hear me commin'. It's an 01 Pontiac Trans Am with an exhaust." He said quietly as he jogged through the hall. It was about 12:30 AM and fortunately, empty.

"I'll keep an ear out." Marty said, after a short pause.

Joe's only concern was that there might be some sort of security lockdown for the roomy garage, but he was able to open his stall with no trouble. He breathed a sigh of relief when the car's pointy nose cleared the doorway. Mindful of the car's electronic cutout's opening after 2700 RPM, he eased the car out of the lengthly driveway.

Joe had a pretty good idea of where Marty was, about 10 miles west. He kept it cool and did 5 over. No sense in getting the local Sherrif's department excited. The car loped through town, and when he got to the intersection of 8th and Kauffman, a billboard advertising a car dealership lit up with red light.

The car loped it's way into the alley beneath the billboard, but he couldn't really see much from his viewpoint.

"Yo, Marty." He called through the driver's side window, mindfull of yelling near the sonically sensitive mutant.

[Stern]

Stern lay on his belly flashing a red light just underneatht he billboard. A great looking car pulled up and a few seconds later he heard, "Yo, Marty."

The college student rolled onto his side so the red light continued. "Marty? I think your ride is here. You need help getting down?"

[Batdude]

"Nah man, I got it."

Marty nodded as he sat up. Fortunately the weed seemed to mellow him a little. His foot wasn't throbbing as much. Of course when he stood up, it throbbed slightly, but he could keep his weight off of it. He leapt down, spreading out his wings slightly to catch enough resistance to float to the ground, where he landed on his good foot as well as he could. Still, he had to shift weight a little, and when he did, he let out a sharp yelp.

"Gah!"

Tucking his wings up, Marty collected himself, and hobbled with as much dignity as he could muster over to the waiting car.