![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eldabeTitle: Don't Tell Me Not to Fly
Fandom(s): DC Comics
Character(s): Lian Harper.
Rating: PG-13 for some creepiness.
Summary: Lian Harper came back to life in a world where heroes and villains never seem to stay dead. Now old enough to hold her own as a hero, Lian searches out the undisputed master of non-powered heroes in an age of superpowers. But Lian might not be the only one that has come back to life...
Acknowledgements:draconic_voices was the most fantastic beta ever, putting up with my absolute writer insanity. All remaining mistakes are completely mine. And thanks to iceshade, who shoved me back on track when I plateaued.
Complement:bliumchik put together an amazing mix to go along with this fic. It can be found here.
Flight Masterlist
Prologue - Can You Teach Me How to Fly?
Chapter One
Lian tossed her orientation packet on her bed. Then she picked it up and shoved it onto her bookshelf, in between her math textbook and her Blu-Ray of The Rainbow Boy. She mentally dubbed the section, "Random College Papers," and flopped on her bed. Three days in Gotham City and nothing. Lian wondered again if she should call him. She imagined walking up the walk to Wayne Manor and demanding that Bruce train her immediately. Or maybe sneaking over to the GCPD headquarters and flicking on the signal. She could probably make demands in Morse code onto the night sky...
The door banged open. "Oh, good, you're back!" Jess greeted her, pulling someone else in the room. "Lian Harper, this is Bailey Fine. She's in 12-09 and she just got here."
Lian propped herself up on her elbows. Bailey had light brown hair and glasses, and had a good four inches on Jess.
"Bailey just got here, so Haroon promised to show her the sites." Jess continued, yanking open drawers and digging around.
"Haroon?" Lian asked, raising an eyebrow at Bailey, who just shrugged.
"Oh, Haroon is in 12-15 with Keith. Haroon says he knows the absolute best pizza place near Wayne Towers. which is going to be the first stop on the tour." Jess pulled out a top and squinted at it.
Lian scooted herself sideways on her bed. "Hey, Bailey, come on and sit. She might be a while."
Bailey laughed and sat down, kicking off her sandals to pull her feet onto the bed.
"So, where's your roomie?" Lian asked, as Jess pulled out a sleeveless tee and compared it to her jeans.
"Dunno. I just got here a few hours ago, and she wasn't in the room. She has a nice bedset, though."
"Good way to judge a roommate." Lian agreed in mock-seriousness. Jess's bedspread was a cacophony of bright orange and green on a pristine white backdrop. Jess had already confessed to begging her mom for it despite the inevitable staining. Lian's blanket was her old one, from home: mint green with pink appliqué flowers. It had been a coming-back-to-life present when she was nine from Uncle Connor. It was faded, and probably gave the wrong impression, all things considered, but a big red Arrow insignia would probably be a little too much.
"So you're an..." Bailey played with one of the pink flowers, "art major?" She snapped her fingers. “No, kindergarten teacher!" She laughed.
Lian grinned back. "Undeclared," she admitted. "But you might be able to get Jess's from hers."
"Drama!" Jess hollered from the closet, where she was digging around for her shoes.
"You're supposed to let her guess!" Lian yelled back.
"I got bored waiting." Jess said, crawling out of the closet.
God, she had to make sure Jess never met Iris. The two of them would probably bring down the entirety of western civilization in search of entertainment.
There was a knock on the door, and Jess crouched behind her bed. "One minute!"
"Hurry up!" a guy's voice called. "I was promised pizza!"
Jess pulled on the first shirt that came to her hand and grabbed her purse before darting around her bed and pulling the door open.
"Keith Manners, Haroon Nigam, this is Lian Harper and Bailey Fine." Jess pointed them out.
"Pizza, anyone?" Haroon offered.
They all crammed into the elevator, while Jess chattered about her new Gotham Transit Authority card, and Haroon and Lian rolled their eyes. They spent nearly the whole day hanging out in midtown, taking crazy pictures with the gargoyles in front of municipal buildings. You could climb on the ones in front of the Gotham City Library if you did it fast enough, and Lian texted her dad the picture of her giving the gargoyle bat-ears. He’d get it, and hopefully he’d laugh. Haroon had, although no one else did. Gotham kids took a lot of pride in their personal vigilante; which was probably a good idea, all things considered.
Two days later, Damian finally dropped off her first set of instructions. It was fairly obvious that he hadn’t learned his sneaking skills from Bruce, because if Jess had been a local girl, everyone’s cover would have been completely blown. Gotham City’s own boy scandal had been all over the papers when Bruce Wayne had mysteriously reappeared from a multi-year soul-searching cruise around the world with a new son – this one biological. Damian’s face had been plastered across a ton of newspapers. Lian had missed all of it, being dead; but she’d played a lot of catch up when she got back. Especially when he was the only other person in the “my mother is a super-villain, my father is a hero” club. Even Thomas didn’t belong to that particular club.
For the next two weeks, Lian spent more time on rooftops than she’d ever imagined she would: finding some clues, hiding others, and never once getting to meet Batman. It looked like Damian was going to be her handler, which he seemed to enjoy far less than she did. She didn’t mind poking holes in his ego; it was probably good for him, all things considered. He could be a bit of an ass, no, make that a lot of an ass.
But he was good, and she wasn’t going to give up on that. It was still better than being trained by Robin, at least, who was two years younger than Lian, and totally new. It could be hard to get along with the newbies; people who didn’t grow up in the world, who didn’t know how to scan police bands for news of family members, or watch news reports and read between the lines to hear about family friends. Lian hated it when people found out about her story for the first time; she knew a dozen people personally who’d come back from the dead, but for the newbies it was a thrill, a spectacle, and Lian didn’t want to be a roadside stop.
Of course, standing on the top of Gotham Tower at two in the morning dressed all in black wasn’t helping her there.
“I’m just saying, some piping would be nice.” She said to Damian, again. “In red, for me, or even yellow, for the bat insignia. Black on black on black isn’t doing me any favors.”
“I though black was slimming,” Damian said. She could already tell that he was regretting engaging her, because his shoulder twitched when she continued.
“Sure, fine, but no one will recognize me like this. I might as well be some sort of street thug, for all that the kevlar-nomex leotard does.”
“You’re wearing a bat-belt, with the bat on it.”
“In black!”
“Should’ve brought your own gear, then. Or come up with your own name, at least.”
“Please. Like I wouldn’t have been issued a standard Bat-suit upon arrival. It’s not like I’m even allowed to use my own weapons.”
“We don’t. Use. Guns.”
Well, that conversation was over. It was true that Lian hadn’t picked a name yet; she kept meaning to, but they were all so awful. At this rate she was going to end up with “Jade Arrow”, and she’d come up with that when she was seven.
“Okay, today we’re going to be jumping off buildings without deploying the jumpline. The goal is to not die.”
“Thanks, Captain Helpful.” Lian muttered. Sometimes it felt like Damian was bored while teaching her. Sometimes he might be teasing. She wasn’t always sure. A lot of the time she was positive that he was repeating the lessons he’d received from Uncle Dick verbatim; which could be flattering. Or not, when you remember that he got those lessons when he was ten.
They spent most of the night like that: Lian jumping off buildings with no support, trying not to die. This was training, so she didn’t mind. Damian made her repeat everything at least fifteen times, sometimes more, sometimes night after night.
They ended up practicing pre-line deployment jumps for over a week; which made sense, because it was incredibly dangerous. Lian found out later that there were almost always two people watching her during the first four days. Of course, she found out when Cassandra Cain saved her from an ugly splatter on the YMCA roof by the docks; possibly the most embarrassing experience of her life thus far.
Three weeks into her training and she still hadn’t met Bruce. It rankled on her, because she knew that she was getting better. She wasn’t even terrible to start with, just under-experienced. So, when she finally gets the call to come to Gotham Manor on the last Friday of September, she was expecting sparring, or detective training, or something.
Instead, she had a five-course dinner with the whole family. Alfred serving, Bruce presiding, Tim, and Cassandra, and Barbara, and Helena, and a handful more, including Damain, of course. At the end of dinner, Bruce told her to take the weekend to remember the important things in life before she started training in earnest: Monday nights, ten o’clock, at the cave.
She went back to New York Saturday morning, and spent the whole day doing stupid stuff with her dad. That was the important stuff, and she wasn’t going to forget it. She spent Sunday with Cerdian and Iris, and took the NJTransit bus back to Gotham on Sunday night, in time to play a round of scrabble with her whole floor - extra points awarded for inappropriate words in foreign languages.
Monday night, 10PM, Lian was standing at the entrance to the cave. She received her own bike that night, and a standing invitation to Friday night dinners.
Interlude: 5 Times Jess Met Everyone
Fandom(s): DC Comics
Character(s): Lian Harper.
Rating: PG-13 for some creepiness.
Summary: Lian Harper came back to life in a world where heroes and villains never seem to stay dead. Now old enough to hold her own as a hero, Lian searches out the undisputed master of non-powered heroes in an age of superpowers. But Lian might not be the only one that has come back to life...
Acknowledgements:
draconic_voices was the most fantastic beta ever, putting up with my absolute writer insanity. All remaining mistakes are completely mine. And thanks to iceshade, who shoved me back on track when I plateaued.Complement:
bliumchik put together an amazing mix to go along with this fic. It can be found here. Flight Masterlist
Prologue - Can You Teach Me How to Fly?
Chapter One
Lian tossed her orientation packet on her bed. Then she picked it up and shoved it onto her bookshelf, in between her math textbook and her Blu-Ray of The Rainbow Boy. She mentally dubbed the section, "Random College Papers," and flopped on her bed. Three days in Gotham City and nothing. Lian wondered again if she should call him. She imagined walking up the walk to Wayne Manor and demanding that Bruce train her immediately. Or maybe sneaking over to the GCPD headquarters and flicking on the signal. She could probably make demands in Morse code onto the night sky...
The door banged open. "Oh, good, you're back!" Jess greeted her, pulling someone else in the room. "Lian Harper, this is Bailey Fine. She's in 12-09 and she just got here."
Lian propped herself up on her elbows. Bailey had light brown hair and glasses, and had a good four inches on Jess.
"Bailey just got here, so Haroon promised to show her the sites." Jess continued, yanking open drawers and digging around.
"Haroon?" Lian asked, raising an eyebrow at Bailey, who just shrugged.
"Oh, Haroon is in 12-15 with Keith. Haroon says he knows the absolute best pizza place near Wayne Towers. which is going to be the first stop on the tour." Jess pulled out a top and squinted at it.
Lian scooted herself sideways on her bed. "Hey, Bailey, come on and sit. She might be a while."
Bailey laughed and sat down, kicking off her sandals to pull her feet onto the bed.
"So, where's your roomie?" Lian asked, as Jess pulled out a sleeveless tee and compared it to her jeans.
"Dunno. I just got here a few hours ago, and she wasn't in the room. She has a nice bedset, though."
"Good way to judge a roommate." Lian agreed in mock-seriousness. Jess's bedspread was a cacophony of bright orange and green on a pristine white backdrop. Jess had already confessed to begging her mom for it despite the inevitable staining. Lian's blanket was her old one, from home: mint green with pink appliqué flowers. It had been a coming-back-to-life present when she was nine from Uncle Connor. It was faded, and probably gave the wrong impression, all things considered, but a big red Arrow insignia would probably be a little too much.
"So you're an..." Bailey played with one of the pink flowers, "art major?" She snapped her fingers. “No, kindergarten teacher!" She laughed.
Lian grinned back. "Undeclared," she admitted. "But you might be able to get Jess's from hers."
"Drama!" Jess hollered from the closet, where she was digging around for her shoes.
"You're supposed to let her guess!" Lian yelled back.
"I got bored waiting." Jess said, crawling out of the closet.
God, she had to make sure Jess never met Iris. The two of them would probably bring down the entirety of western civilization in search of entertainment.
There was a knock on the door, and Jess crouched behind her bed. "One minute!"
"Hurry up!" a guy's voice called. "I was promised pizza!"
Jess pulled on the first shirt that came to her hand and grabbed her purse before darting around her bed and pulling the door open.
"Keith Manners, Haroon Nigam, this is Lian Harper and Bailey Fine." Jess pointed them out.
"Pizza, anyone?" Haroon offered.
They all crammed into the elevator, while Jess chattered about her new Gotham Transit Authority card, and Haroon and Lian rolled their eyes. They spent nearly the whole day hanging out in midtown, taking crazy pictures with the gargoyles in front of municipal buildings. You could climb on the ones in front of the Gotham City Library if you did it fast enough, and Lian texted her dad the picture of her giving the gargoyle bat-ears. He’d get it, and hopefully he’d laugh. Haroon had, although no one else did. Gotham kids took a lot of pride in their personal vigilante; which was probably a good idea, all things considered.
Two days later, Damian finally dropped off her first set of instructions. It was fairly obvious that he hadn’t learned his sneaking skills from Bruce, because if Jess had been a local girl, everyone’s cover would have been completely blown. Gotham City’s own boy scandal had been all over the papers when Bruce Wayne had mysteriously reappeared from a multi-year soul-searching cruise around the world with a new son – this one biological. Damian’s face had been plastered across a ton of newspapers. Lian had missed all of it, being dead; but she’d played a lot of catch up when she got back. Especially when he was the only other person in the “my mother is a super-villain, my father is a hero” club. Even Thomas didn’t belong to that particular club.
For the next two weeks, Lian spent more time on rooftops than she’d ever imagined she would: finding some clues, hiding others, and never once getting to meet Batman. It looked like Damian was going to be her handler, which he seemed to enjoy far less than she did. She didn’t mind poking holes in his ego; it was probably good for him, all things considered. He could be a bit of an ass, no, make that a lot of an ass.
But he was good, and she wasn’t going to give up on that. It was still better than being trained by Robin, at least, who was two years younger than Lian, and totally new. It could be hard to get along with the newbies; people who didn’t grow up in the world, who didn’t know how to scan police bands for news of family members, or watch news reports and read between the lines to hear about family friends. Lian hated it when people found out about her story for the first time; she knew a dozen people personally who’d come back from the dead, but for the newbies it was a thrill, a spectacle, and Lian didn’t want to be a roadside stop.
Of course, standing on the top of Gotham Tower at two in the morning dressed all in black wasn’t helping her there.
“I’m just saying, some piping would be nice.” She said to Damian, again. “In red, for me, or even yellow, for the bat insignia. Black on black on black isn’t doing me any favors.”
“I though black was slimming,” Damian said. She could already tell that he was regretting engaging her, because his shoulder twitched when she continued.
“Sure, fine, but no one will recognize me like this. I might as well be some sort of street thug, for all that the kevlar-nomex leotard does.”
“You’re wearing a bat-belt, with the bat on it.”
“In black!”
“Should’ve brought your own gear, then. Or come up with your own name, at least.”
“Please. Like I wouldn’t have been issued a standard Bat-suit upon arrival. It’s not like I’m even allowed to use my own weapons.”
“We don’t. Use. Guns.”
Well, that conversation was over. It was true that Lian hadn’t picked a name yet; she kept meaning to, but they were all so awful. At this rate she was going to end up with “Jade Arrow”, and she’d come up with that when she was seven.
“Okay, today we’re going to be jumping off buildings without deploying the jumpline. The goal is to not die.”
“Thanks, Captain Helpful.” Lian muttered. Sometimes it felt like Damian was bored while teaching her. Sometimes he might be teasing. She wasn’t always sure. A lot of the time she was positive that he was repeating the lessons he’d received from Uncle Dick verbatim; which could be flattering. Or not, when you remember that he got those lessons when he was ten.
They spent most of the night like that: Lian jumping off buildings with no support, trying not to die. This was training, so she didn’t mind. Damian made her repeat everything at least fifteen times, sometimes more, sometimes night after night.
They ended up practicing pre-line deployment jumps for over a week; which made sense, because it was incredibly dangerous. Lian found out later that there were almost always two people watching her during the first four days. Of course, she found out when Cassandra Cain saved her from an ugly splatter on the YMCA roof by the docks; possibly the most embarrassing experience of her life thus far.
Three weeks into her training and she still hadn’t met Bruce. It rankled on her, because she knew that she was getting better. She wasn’t even terrible to start with, just under-experienced. So, when she finally gets the call to come to Gotham Manor on the last Friday of September, she was expecting sparring, or detective training, or something.
Instead, she had a five-course dinner with the whole family. Alfred serving, Bruce presiding, Tim, and Cassandra, and Barbara, and Helena, and a handful more, including Damain, of course. At the end of dinner, Bruce told her to take the weekend to remember the important things in life before she started training in earnest: Monday nights, ten o’clock, at the cave.
She went back to New York Saturday morning, and spent the whole day doing stupid stuff with her dad. That was the important stuff, and she wasn’t going to forget it. She spent Sunday with Cerdian and Iris, and took the NJTransit bus back to Gotham on Sunday night, in time to play a round of scrabble with her whole floor - extra points awarded for inappropriate words in foreign languages.
Monday night, 10PM, Lian was standing at the entrance to the cave. She received her own bike that night, and a standing invitation to Friday night dinners.
Interlude: 5 Times Jess Met Everyone
