March 27th - Countdown Cornered

[exitthewallflower]

Jake Daniel Ellis.

Hindsight being what it is, it makes perfect sense. A troubled childhood, foster parents ranging from ill-equipped to worse, trouble with the law, violence and then calm. A time where people looked at him, beaming, thinking, how wonderful that's he's grown out of all of that. They were wrong. He didn't grow out of it, he just learned how to hide it better. I should know, my own brother was just the same.

Hindsight, she's a bitch all right.

And just like JJ seemed to, right up until the end, Ellis has the devil's luck. He disappeared just as we confirmed his identity. But not into the hideout we'd found, tucked away in the back room of a warehouse he reconstructed into his own private hideout, into the city, where despite all the APB's and citizen alerts, he seemed to disappear.

Just like JJ.

And like my dear brother, he seems to have found a hostage. I get the report when everyone else does. The police had sent uniforms to Erica Richmond's house. The ex girlfriend. The one who had gotten drunk and abandoned him for someone else at a party. Who announced their breakup via social media, not bothering to call him for twelve hours after to tell him it wasn't a joke. Like a bad country song, he thinks she started it all and according to the empty apartment and broken front door, it looks like Ellis wants to end it with her, too.

I'm pretty sure I know where he's going, I went through his online accounts pretty thoroughly and he likes to go on and on about the perfect impromptu first date he'd taken Erica on. His car had broken down so instead of a picnic in the park, they climbed to the top of the train station and watched the city below them as they ate. Beginnings and endings, over and over again it plays out like a loop of unending tragedy. I can't let her die.

I'm furious. All I can think about is JJ. He was a killer, there was never any saving him, I know that now as clearly as I can see him falling over the railing to his death. I'm starting to think there's no saving Ellis, either. I don't like these thoughts, but I haven't liked anything the last few weeks, it's just something that has to end. A cycle that has to be broken.

I call for backup. Cass and Kaine are close. Jason's closer. I think I'm okay with that.

Something has to break.

I think it's going to be me.

And I'm afraid I don't care.

Comments

[prodigaljaybird]

He's on the rooftops near the station when he sees her winging toward him. Jason smiles faintly beneath his hood. He isn't frightened or nervous, he isn't even angry yet, though the sight of Ellis when they find him will surely draw that up. Right now, he's content, ready to work, and enjoying the sight of another bird.

He always loved to watch them fly. That never changed, not even when most everything else did.

Jason cocks his head when Barbara lands next to him, something in her bearing bringing with it an unexpected hope, and Jason's voice is surprised, yet almost gentle when he asks, "Going my way?"

[exitthewallflower]

"Have you seen him?" I'm in no mood for pleasantries. Not tonight. Tonight I just want to get this done. Whatever it takes, Ellis stops tonight.

Someone needs them. "Have you seen her?"

[prodigaljaybird]

"No," Jason answers, surprised, but not necessarily unnerved by her perfunctory greeting. She's emotional, not in control - it's not how a Bat behaves, but then, maybe Jason's been fine with that for a long time.

"Nobody but civilians, but they could already be inside."

[exitthewallflower]

"We need to get to the roof, that's where he's reading and if we take him inside civilians are going to get in the cross-fire." Without waiting, I shoot a line so I can swing over to the station roof. It's the best place to lay a trap and we can't afford any mistakes. Not like JJ. I can't let that happen again.

Flying through the air, I try not to think about it. About how he just kept pushing and pushing, using Alysia and then the Joker and then Mom to push me to that edge and over. I try not to think about the anger and betrayal in Dad's voice when he ordered my capture. But even my usual methods to calm are failing me. How did it get so far? What did I miss? What could I have done differently to save both Mom AND JJ?

I land quietly and while waiting for Jason, I hear it. A woman crying from the far side of the roof, behind a raised ventilation opening that blocked my earlier view.

DAMN IT. They're already up here. I try to motion to Jason to hold off so I can try and figure out exactly where Ellis is in the dark before we spook him, but I don't know if he's going to see the signal in time.

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason hears it, scanning the darkness at her side, and when he holds it's not because Barbara told him to. It's because he wants to see what she will do.

He catches a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye, calling softly, "Four o'clock."

[exitthewallflower]

I hear him and I don't move, instead shifting my eyes in the direction Jason had called. I can see movement in the shadows and slowly I slip a batarang from my belt. If he's armed I can disarm him.

I turn and throw, just as he lunges for Erica.

I just miss him.

He's going to get to her first.

[prodigaljaybird]

He certainly is. Jason has three guns on him - any one of them would be enough to end this, but he doesn't draw. Instead, he plucks a batarang of his own from a gauntlet and throws, catching Ellis hard enough in the shoulder to pin him momentarily to the wall.

It's a deep, ugly wound, but he could get free, if killing Erica means enough to him to tear out his own flesh.

[exitthewallflower]

"Get the girl!" I can already see Ellis tearing himself off the wall, his eyes are crazy and I know with absolute certainty that letting him near Erica will bring disaster.

I almost make it, throwing another batarang to try and take out his knee. It connects and he stumbles, but he stumbles onto where Erica had been stashed and he comes up with a gun pressed to her head. It's JJ all over again, standing at the edge, close enough to fall, and an innocent between me and him.

"STOP!" Ellis shouts and for the moment, we all have to.

[badtotheclone]

I'm afraid Cass and I are too far away. Not too far to stop the killing of the girl but too far away to stop the killing of Countdown. I've pushed enough people over the edge to know when someone is starting to break and I worry what might happen if Babs gets her hands on Countdown. As much as I may argue that some people deserve to die I know that's not what she does or, deep down, what she wants to do.

I don't wait for Cass. She's fast, but I'm faster and I know she's right behind me. Right now ever second counts and I breath a sigh of relief when I spot Countdown, still alive with the girl.

I cloak immediately and land behind him, invisible and silent. He has the girl at gunpoint and Babs and another guy aren't attacking just yet. Don't know the other guy real well but I know a killer when I see one. Maybe he can get a shot off, put a round through Countdown's head. But, no need to risk it.

Besides, something tells me it's important to take this guy alive.

Quick as I can I reach over his shoulder and yank the gun away from the girl's head. Times like this I wish I had a Spider-Sense that could tell me if he's rigged himself with booby traps or something. I squeeze the gun until I feel it bend and then toss it aside, shoving Countdown out from the wall and over toward Babs.

I want to see what she'll do.

[onewhoisall]

He pushes on, speeding ahead of her and she knows- even though she knows without knowing his thoughts what he can see. He thinks they're going to kill Countdown, that is why he is moving ahead of her. She won't let it happen, she can't

She's behind Kaine, too far behind as she lands on top of the wall behind Kaine. She drops down behind him silently. She doesn't say anything but she thinks it.

No.

[exitthewallflower]

I breathe a sigh of relief when the Spider drops behind Ellis, disarming him and giving me an opportunity I'm not sure I'm ready for. But I take it anyway, grabbing the murderer and hammering my fist into his face before spinning and plunging my heel into his ribs. I'm pretty certain I break at least one and he falls back towards the edge of the roof.

I follow, fists clenched, breathing heavy and all I see is red. Red-tinted images of the bodies he's left behind, the scared faces of people on the street, all red.