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schizoauthoressTitle: The Last Enemy
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: R
Spoilers: "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" tie-in comics (issue #6) with Golden Age flavoring
Warnings: character death; language; slightly bizarre backstory/headcanon being employed; m/m pairing
Prompt/Fill: None! This is totally for me!
Word Count: 1985
Summary: How Vigilante and Shining Knight became people Kid Eternity could call upon...
Note:
1. Many of the characters mentioned in this story are public domain heroes, and not all of them were published by or acquired by DC Comics. They are used mostly to avoid any conflict with BTBAB canon that might arise from using more well-known Golden Age characters.
2. I know, this sort of contradicts Vigilante's 3-minute appearance in the opening of "Night of the Batmen!", but that contradicts his comics appearance (and besides I had a few quibbles with his portrayal). I'll explain him later.
Word of the Day: adamantine, adjective:
1. Utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
2. Too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
3. Like a diamond in luster.
The Last Enemy
"A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man."
-- Miguel de Unamuno
When all's said and done, for all the wild twists and turns his life has taken, he's just a simple man at heart. An old cowboy. Maybe he's a relic in these changing times, Vigilante thinks, but as he steals a glance at the man beside him, tall and shining in his armor as always, he has to admit that the company is good. Perhaps the best.
From under the golden bell of his helmet, standing before this large and assorted group of heroes, Doctor Fate is intoning the details of his plan to stop the otherworldly interlopers that want to lay waste to the Earth. Vigilante fuzzily recalls that Doctor Fate's voice was different, somehow, but he's never worked closely with the sorcerer and dismisses it as the vagaries of old memory -- even though the man's build seems... off, in a way, from what he recollects. It doesn't matter much. So few of their old friends and allies still play this game, still follow the steps of this old dance. This might be an entirely different Doctor Fate, but Vigilante was in the habit of trusting the old one's judgement, so he'll put his trust in that one more time.
"...Ancient legend calls them the Frost Giants. They were expelled from our plane of existence many ages ago--"
"Götterdämmerung," Vigilante interjects, and of course he catches the confused looks that the new crowd is exchanging. There isn't any time -- nor does he have the inclination, truthfully -- to reminisce about his handful of teenage summers spent in Berlin in the late twenties and thus explain his grasp of German, so he just finishes his thought, "Twilight of the Gods, the last drama of Der Ring des Nibelungen. You mean to say we'll be facing down with the... things that killed the Norsemen's gods?"
"Indeed," Doctor Fate replies, "though it is far more likely that the people worshipped as gods were the metahumans of their time. Almost all the ancient mystic records point to that conclusion."
"Which no doubt leads you to believe that we will stand the same chance of success," Shining Knight says in his characteristically dry manner. Vigilante feels his mouth twitch into a smile, knowing exactly what Sir Justin is alluding to. Almost all the Norse 'gods' died even as they killed their Frost Giant opponents.
Doctor Fate shakes his head. "We shall do far better. I am sure of it."
Vigilante can't help muttering under his breath, part of the opera he'd named earlier, "Auch deine Raben hör' ich rauschen; mit bang ersehnter Botschaft..." but no one reacts to his words.
****
At the end of their strategy session, Vigilante is once more the instigator of an exchange of confused looks. This time, it is because Shining Knight has insisted on being accompanied by him on the field of battle. The question is plain on their young faces -- 'Is Vigilante magic? I didn't think so...'
And the truth of the matter is, he is not magic. Possibly, he is the furthest thing from, being quite happily mundane and pushing quite close to the label of 'old'. Doctor Fate inscribes his bullets with magical symbols, though, and Vigilante trusts that these will do the trick. Then, just because he feels like erasing those questioning faces -- and maybe putting some shock there instead -- he marches over to Sir Justin and plants a big smooch on him.
They've always been private, in deference to Sir Justin's ways mostly, although the conservative climate of the times certainly made that a good idea. But Greg has never been afraid of judgement or danger, and he's not afraid now. They're facing the Frost Giants, who are known for punching the tickets of metahumans. (Greg is just a man, and underneath the magical armor and without the magical sword, Sir Justin is just as ordinary.) He doesn't give a damn if anybody is gonna stir shit over him kissing the man he loves.
Justin pulls back, lips still parted and a blush coloring his cheeks. Greg brushes a thumb over one of his cheekbones and smiles brightly. "I love you."
"I require no such displays to know that, Gregory," he reminds his partner, returning that smile with a more subdued one. Justin's voice drops to a whisper as he leans closer, close enough that his lips brush against Greg's with every word, words he knows that the other man needs to hear right now, "You are my safe harbor, my greatest treasure, my dearest love..."
He has no objection to saying them. They are the truth. And they make Gregory's already bright smile even more beautiful. Sir Justin takes a step back and pulls his chainmail hood back over his grey-streaked blond hair, knowing that if he doesn't, they will get... sidetracked.
From across the room, they hear Sylvester, once the Star-Spangled Kid and now Starman, exclaim, "Well, I'll be damned! Ol' Stripesy was right." (Vigilante knows that if he turns to look, he'll probably see Sylvester scratching at his head with the business end of the Cosmic Staff that Ted Knight bequeathed to him, while Doctor Fate or someone looks on in horror at his carelessness.) And that, surprisingly but pleasantly enough, is that.
****
The tide of battle is turning -- slowly, but definitely turning -- in their favor. Most of the Frost Giants take more than one bullet to make them stay down, but of all the skills that have slowly worn down with time, his shooting remains as sharp as it was at twenty-two. Best guns in the West, or anywhere, a claim he could make with pride and without exaggeration.
The back of Winged Victory -- Sir Justin's ageless and magical steed -- is an excellent vantage point, and one that Vigilante regrets somewhat as he sees Ozmar the Mystic fall (even though the ancient man takes five, no, six Frost Giants with him into death). And then Zenobia follows soon after, though her bloodthirsty, gnomish little conjured soldiers have their revenge on the axe-wielding Frost Giant who killed her so gruesomely. They die protecting the Earth, and the Earth may never know. But then he sees Starman blasting away with the Cosmic Staff, cutting a great swath of decimation through the Frost Giants when he can muster the energy, ringed about with other fighters who protect him when he can't. He sees Sylf the Second turning his enemies to stone, and Sheena destroying each statue with a mighty punch.
This time, the Frost Giants opened their interdimensional portal not in Scandinavia, but the Canadian Arctic. Doctor Fate and several other sorcerers, including Ibis the Invincible and Mr. Magic, had cast a containment spell that hid their existence and this battle from all eyes on the other side of the barrier. A few of the Frost Giants have flight-capable mounts of their own, and it is the duty of Shining Knight -- and Vigilante -- to keep them from escaping by sky.
Shining Knight is doing wonderfully, in Vigilante's opinion. His sword unerringly seeks out places to leave mortal wounds on his foes, and he cleverly guides Winged Victory clear of their clumsy attempts to retaliate. Vigilante leans to the other side as Winged Victory coasts to the left, and fires a quick succession of shots at one of the dragon-like beasts. The beast shrieks, bucking off the Frost Giant on his back, and Vigilante slings an arm around Shining Knight's waist to pull himself back in line with the way that the other two are leaning.
Shining Knight directs Winged Victory to dive downward -- Sheena is in trouble, as Vigilante soon notices, and he empties his gun into the Frost Giant. He is in the middle of reloading when Winged Victory gives an agonized scream, and then he is in empty air, his field of vision tumbling between pale grey sky and white ground.
Vigilante hits the ground, air knocked from his lungs so he can't even draw breath to cry out when his knee is painfully wrenched out of the socket. Paralyzing bolts of agony obliterate any other sensation in his leg and snake up his torso like shockingly icy streams. He gasps, breathing in cold air and a flurry of snowflakes, which makes him hack.
Somewhere beyond the pain, Vigilante hears Shining Knight bellow out a challenge. Vigilante grits his teeth and forces himself to move, getting a good footing with his uninjured leg and half-crawling, half-dragging himself toward the sounds of the scuffle. He's down to one gun, but there's still a lot of the enchanted ammunition on his gun belt. He can still fight.
Shining Knight stands over the still form of Winged Victory, boots churning up the bloodstained snow as he duels with the Frost Giant. From out of Winged Victory's ruined chest, the shaft of a huge spear rises, soon splintered by an errant strike from the Frost Giant's sword. Vigilante hisses a curse and rolls clear of the chunk of wood, fighting to remain conscious as his injured knee is jogged exactly the wrong way.
An inhuman voice is chanting something, and Vigilante feels his gut clench with a miserable inkling of what it could mean. He struggles with fingers gone stiff with cold and pain to draw his remaining gun, terrified he will take too long. Shining Knight howls again, wordless rage, and the clanging of swords fills the air. Vigilante drags himself closer and draws a bead on the Frost Giant -- his bullet tears a chunk out of the monster's neck in the same moment that its eerily glowing blade impacts Shining Knight's armor.
They both cry out, in pain and horror, as the magical armor gives beneath the blow. Shining Knight falls to his knees, one hand clutching his split-open abdomen. Vigilante is somehow on his feet in that moment, charging at the Frost Giant with a scream of rage -- two bullets make an utter ruin of the monster's head and stop the decapitating swing of its sword. Instead, the blade drops to the snow, dull metal once more, and Vigilante feels the pain returning as he collapses beside Shining Knight.
"Gregory..." Sir Justin's hand is hot and slick with blood as he feels out Greg's shoulder and then face, for his vision is already tunneling down into darkness. Greg doesn't care -- he grabs onto Justin's hand and holds on tight.
"I'm here, love. I'm right here."
"Safe..." Justin whispers with a faint smile.
Greg lies, "Yes," knowing the truth would do no good, and watches as the man he's loved for decades smiles a little more and breathes his last.
Others are moving toward them. Other enemies, heading for the edge of the containment spell. Ibis is chanting somewhere nearby. Greg knows that, despite the name, Ibis is no more untouchable than any mortal, should the Frost Giants break his protective spells as they did to Sir Justin.
He will not, cannot, get to his feet again. But the best gunhand in the West, or anywhere, can still shoot. And shoot he does, cutting down the first line of monsters. They advance by a few paces as he reloads, and he doesn't take down nearly as many the second time. But they are falling; it is doing some good...
Vigilante sees Zatara flying through the air toward Ibis, and he knows things will be all right. He loads his gun one last time, takes Sir Justin's cold hand in his, and keeps firing on the Frost Giants until his gun clicks empty -- until his last target buries an axe-blade in his chest in final defiance before it succumbs to its gunshot wounds.
He dies. He dies in protection of and service to the Earth and all her people, and he goes with peace in his heart, a hero.
*-*-*-*-*
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: R
Spoilers: "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" tie-in comics (issue #6) with Golden Age flavoring
Warnings: character death; language; slightly bizarre backstory/headcanon being employed; m/m pairing
Prompt/Fill: None! This is totally for me!
Word Count: 1985
Summary: How Vigilante and Shining Knight became people Kid Eternity could call upon...
Note:
1. Many of the characters mentioned in this story are public domain heroes, and not all of them were published by or acquired by DC Comics. They are used mostly to avoid any conflict with BTBAB canon that might arise from using more well-known Golden Age characters.
2. I know, this sort of contradicts Vigilante's 3-minute appearance in the opening of "Night of the Batmen!", but that contradicts his comics appearance (and besides I had a few quibbles with his portrayal). I'll explain him later.
Word of the Day: adamantine, adjective:
1. Utterly unyielding or firm in attitude or opinion.
2. Too hard to cut, break, or pierce.
3. Like a diamond in luster.
The Last Enemy
"A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man."
-- Miguel de Unamuno
When all's said and done, for all the wild twists and turns his life has taken, he's just a simple man at heart. An old cowboy. Maybe he's a relic in these changing times, Vigilante thinks, but as he steals a glance at the man beside him, tall and shining in his armor as always, he has to admit that the company is good. Perhaps the best.
From under the golden bell of his helmet, standing before this large and assorted group of heroes, Doctor Fate is intoning the details of his plan to stop the otherworldly interlopers that want to lay waste to the Earth. Vigilante fuzzily recalls that Doctor Fate's voice was different, somehow, but he's never worked closely with the sorcerer and dismisses it as the vagaries of old memory -- even though the man's build seems... off, in a way, from what he recollects. It doesn't matter much. So few of their old friends and allies still play this game, still follow the steps of this old dance. This might be an entirely different Doctor Fate, but Vigilante was in the habit of trusting the old one's judgement, so he'll put his trust in that one more time.
"...Ancient legend calls them the Frost Giants. They were expelled from our plane of existence many ages ago--"
"Götterdämmerung," Vigilante interjects, and of course he catches the confused looks that the new crowd is exchanging. There isn't any time -- nor does he have the inclination, truthfully -- to reminisce about his handful of teenage summers spent in Berlin in the late twenties and thus explain his grasp of German, so he just finishes his thought, "Twilight of the Gods, the last drama of Der Ring des Nibelungen. You mean to say we'll be facing down with the... things that killed the Norsemen's gods?"
"Indeed," Doctor Fate replies, "though it is far more likely that the people worshipped as gods were the metahumans of their time. Almost all the ancient mystic records point to that conclusion."
"Which no doubt leads you to believe that we will stand the same chance of success," Shining Knight says in his characteristically dry manner. Vigilante feels his mouth twitch into a smile, knowing exactly what Sir Justin is alluding to. Almost all the Norse 'gods' died even as they killed their Frost Giant opponents.
Doctor Fate shakes his head. "We shall do far better. I am sure of it."
Vigilante can't help muttering under his breath, part of the opera he'd named earlier, "Auch deine Raben hör' ich rauschen; mit bang ersehnter Botschaft..." but no one reacts to his words.
****
At the end of their strategy session, Vigilante is once more the instigator of an exchange of confused looks. This time, it is because Shining Knight has insisted on being accompanied by him on the field of battle. The question is plain on their young faces -- 'Is Vigilante magic? I didn't think so...'
And the truth of the matter is, he is not magic. Possibly, he is the furthest thing from, being quite happily mundane and pushing quite close to the label of 'old'. Doctor Fate inscribes his bullets with magical symbols, though, and Vigilante trusts that these will do the trick. Then, just because he feels like erasing those questioning faces -- and maybe putting some shock there instead -- he marches over to Sir Justin and plants a big smooch on him.
They've always been private, in deference to Sir Justin's ways mostly, although the conservative climate of the times certainly made that a good idea. But Greg has never been afraid of judgement or danger, and he's not afraid now. They're facing the Frost Giants, who are known for punching the tickets of metahumans. (Greg is just a man, and underneath the magical armor and without the magical sword, Sir Justin is just as ordinary.) He doesn't give a damn if anybody is gonna stir shit over him kissing the man he loves.
Justin pulls back, lips still parted and a blush coloring his cheeks. Greg brushes a thumb over one of his cheekbones and smiles brightly. "I love you."
"I require no such displays to know that, Gregory," he reminds his partner, returning that smile with a more subdued one. Justin's voice drops to a whisper as he leans closer, close enough that his lips brush against Greg's with every word, words he knows that the other man needs to hear right now, "You are my safe harbor, my greatest treasure, my dearest love..."
He has no objection to saying them. They are the truth. And they make Gregory's already bright smile even more beautiful. Sir Justin takes a step back and pulls his chainmail hood back over his grey-streaked blond hair, knowing that if he doesn't, they will get... sidetracked.
From across the room, they hear Sylvester, once the Star-Spangled Kid and now Starman, exclaim, "Well, I'll be damned! Ol' Stripesy was right." (Vigilante knows that if he turns to look, he'll probably see Sylvester scratching at his head with the business end of the Cosmic Staff that Ted Knight bequeathed to him, while Doctor Fate or someone looks on in horror at his carelessness.) And that, surprisingly but pleasantly enough, is that.
****
The tide of battle is turning -- slowly, but definitely turning -- in their favor. Most of the Frost Giants take more than one bullet to make them stay down, but of all the skills that have slowly worn down with time, his shooting remains as sharp as it was at twenty-two. Best guns in the West, or anywhere, a claim he could make with pride and without exaggeration.
The back of Winged Victory -- Sir Justin's ageless and magical steed -- is an excellent vantage point, and one that Vigilante regrets somewhat as he sees Ozmar the Mystic fall (even though the ancient man takes five, no, six Frost Giants with him into death). And then Zenobia follows soon after, though her bloodthirsty, gnomish little conjured soldiers have their revenge on the axe-wielding Frost Giant who killed her so gruesomely. They die protecting the Earth, and the Earth may never know. But then he sees Starman blasting away with the Cosmic Staff, cutting a great swath of decimation through the Frost Giants when he can muster the energy, ringed about with other fighters who protect him when he can't. He sees Sylf the Second turning his enemies to stone, and Sheena destroying each statue with a mighty punch.
This time, the Frost Giants opened their interdimensional portal not in Scandinavia, but the Canadian Arctic. Doctor Fate and several other sorcerers, including Ibis the Invincible and Mr. Magic, had cast a containment spell that hid their existence and this battle from all eyes on the other side of the barrier. A few of the Frost Giants have flight-capable mounts of their own, and it is the duty of Shining Knight -- and Vigilante -- to keep them from escaping by sky.
Shining Knight is doing wonderfully, in Vigilante's opinion. His sword unerringly seeks out places to leave mortal wounds on his foes, and he cleverly guides Winged Victory clear of their clumsy attempts to retaliate. Vigilante leans to the other side as Winged Victory coasts to the left, and fires a quick succession of shots at one of the dragon-like beasts. The beast shrieks, bucking off the Frost Giant on his back, and Vigilante slings an arm around Shining Knight's waist to pull himself back in line with the way that the other two are leaning.
Shining Knight directs Winged Victory to dive downward -- Sheena is in trouble, as Vigilante soon notices, and he empties his gun into the Frost Giant. He is in the middle of reloading when Winged Victory gives an agonized scream, and then he is in empty air, his field of vision tumbling between pale grey sky and white ground.
Vigilante hits the ground, air knocked from his lungs so he can't even draw breath to cry out when his knee is painfully wrenched out of the socket. Paralyzing bolts of agony obliterate any other sensation in his leg and snake up his torso like shockingly icy streams. He gasps, breathing in cold air and a flurry of snowflakes, which makes him hack.
Somewhere beyond the pain, Vigilante hears Shining Knight bellow out a challenge. Vigilante grits his teeth and forces himself to move, getting a good footing with his uninjured leg and half-crawling, half-dragging himself toward the sounds of the scuffle. He's down to one gun, but there's still a lot of the enchanted ammunition on his gun belt. He can still fight.
Shining Knight stands over the still form of Winged Victory, boots churning up the bloodstained snow as he duels with the Frost Giant. From out of Winged Victory's ruined chest, the shaft of a huge spear rises, soon splintered by an errant strike from the Frost Giant's sword. Vigilante hisses a curse and rolls clear of the chunk of wood, fighting to remain conscious as his injured knee is jogged exactly the wrong way.
An inhuman voice is chanting something, and Vigilante feels his gut clench with a miserable inkling of what it could mean. He struggles with fingers gone stiff with cold and pain to draw his remaining gun, terrified he will take too long. Shining Knight howls again, wordless rage, and the clanging of swords fills the air. Vigilante drags himself closer and draws a bead on the Frost Giant -- his bullet tears a chunk out of the monster's neck in the same moment that its eerily glowing blade impacts Shining Knight's armor.
They both cry out, in pain and horror, as the magical armor gives beneath the blow. Shining Knight falls to his knees, one hand clutching his split-open abdomen. Vigilante is somehow on his feet in that moment, charging at the Frost Giant with a scream of rage -- two bullets make an utter ruin of the monster's head and stop the decapitating swing of its sword. Instead, the blade drops to the snow, dull metal once more, and Vigilante feels the pain returning as he collapses beside Shining Knight.
"Gregory..." Sir Justin's hand is hot and slick with blood as he feels out Greg's shoulder and then face, for his vision is already tunneling down into darkness. Greg doesn't care -- he grabs onto Justin's hand and holds on tight.
"I'm here, love. I'm right here."
"Safe..." Justin whispers with a faint smile.
Greg lies, "Yes," knowing the truth would do no good, and watches as the man he's loved for decades smiles a little more and breathes his last.
Others are moving toward them. Other enemies, heading for the edge of the containment spell. Ibis is chanting somewhere nearby. Greg knows that, despite the name, Ibis is no more untouchable than any mortal, should the Frost Giants break his protective spells as they did to Sir Justin.
He will not, cannot, get to his feet again. But the best gunhand in the West, or anywhere, can still shoot. And shoot he does, cutting down the first line of monsters. They advance by a few paces as he reloads, and he doesn't take down nearly as many the second time. But they are falling; it is doing some good...
Vigilante sees Zatara flying through the air toward Ibis, and he knows things will be all right. He loads his gun one last time, takes Sir Justin's cold hand in his, and keeps firing on the Frost Giants until his gun clicks empty -- until his last target buries an axe-blade in his chest in final defiance before it succumbs to its gunshot wounds.
He dies. He dies in protection of and service to the Earth and all her people, and he goes with peace in his heart, a hero.
*-*-*-*-*
Daggerpen doesn't remember her password
on 2016-02-22 23:48 (UTC)Like, this is really, really good, in that "just had to fetch a new box of tissues because tears" type way. I love the choice of the Gotterdammerueng allusions and setting for the last stand of these two heroes, particularly - it's just so beautifully poetic, not to mention a fitting way for them to go out. I knew the end was coming, but I still gasped a little when I got there, because, damn. Just damn. Pitch perfect and thoroughly heartbreaking. Well done <3