revivalproject | It's the Final Countdown

Entry tags:

It's the Final Countdown

WHO: Billy, The Remembers, OTA
WHERE: Billy's City
WHAT: Kidnapping, and Final Showdown
WHEN: Event End
WARNINGS: TBD

Billynapping

It was nice to have a routine, and in a city like this, it could be hard to keep one, the ever changing landscape of hero vs. villain could make things difficult to predict. But this one was still going strong. Billy rode his bike through the streets, making sure to stop for his usual offering of donuts, before continuing on to the comic stand.

He offered a wave towards Peter, busy with a small group of kids, and went to lock up his bike so he could browse, holding the bag in his teeth so he could stoop on the pavement and struggle with the finicky key.

Shadow Monster

This was not good. This was a serious threat to this world where the Shadow had come to enjoy it's free reign.

The Darkness swooped in oozing and spreading like mist, its shape ill defined and ever changing, shielding Billy and attempting to drive away anyone who would try to get near. It spread up through the sky, spreading it's reach and calling out to those it had infected to come protect this world, whatever the cost.

Billy appeared to have no sway over the creature, looking just as surprised as frightened as the rest of them, though the Shadow clearly was determined to isolate him him, whether he wanted it or not.

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The plan had been to catch up with Ikora and Billy at the warehouse, as soon as possible. The Darkness oozing out and around from where Ikora had taken Billy sure was a crimp on execution.

Although, really, Ezra thinks to himself, he should have seen something like this coming. He doesn't really want to fight, but he also doesn't like that he's not really in position to do so, even if he wanted.

And, then, when he spots Ben, he finds himself disliking that inability even more.

Something was not right with Ezra. That much was clear when had been walking along the street, going about his business, and caught sight of his little brother. He was supposed to be in class, and skipping was not like him at all. Plus he was talking to people that Ben had never seen before. Deciding to watch from a distance, Ben was still not convinced all was well and followed his brother.

He didn't like what he saw as Ezra went to a not so savory part of town. Which only got worse his brother and several other people were facing off some strange phenomenon?

"Ezra!" Ben called, the man's pace quickening to reach the most important person in the world to him. Reaching out to grip the boy's shoulders. "What are you doing here?!" To say he was mad was an understatement, but his worry was even more evident.

"What are you?" Ezra shot back.

Except, really, he could guess. Of course Ben had noticed how he'd been acting wasn't lining up well with a lifetime of memories, and of course Ben was worried about his little brother.

He shook his head, dismissing his own question. "I'm-I'm trying to stop all this and fix it."

He searches Ben's face. "Does nothing about this entire city feel wrong to you? Not even a little bit?"

The words that Ezra shot back earned him a scowl from his brother. "No, not even a little bit," Ben said just as defiantly. "Except for you maybe. There is nothing to fix, except the fact that you're not in school." The man shaking Ezra a little bit as if trying to get some sense into him.

"What is really going on with you? Is it drugs? So help me, if you're doing drugs you're grounded for life."

But as he glances up at the strange darkness swirling around, he knew it couldn't just be drugs. Whatever was going on though, surely the heroes in this city could handle it.

Ezra startled into a laugh that to his ears sounded suspiciously like a sob.

"Believe me, if that really what was going on, and it was the worst and weirdest of our problems, I'd take being grounded gladly."

If he hadn't found more proof about which half of his memories were real -or if it was just the two of them shut away in a more mundane life - he just might be tempted to agree to whatever Ben said and go home. It was more tempting than the life with his parents Palpatine had dangled in front of him, in some ways, because the potential costs were less obviously terrible.

Billy, Ezra was fairly certain, didn't want to use his powers to hurt or kill people. Still, he watched the shadows, too, and his expression settled into grim determination.

"But none of this is really about us. We need to keep moving. I don't think we want to find out what happens if we get swallowed up completely by that stuff."

A confused frown comes on Ben's face at that laugh. Because he didn't find this at all amusing and he was just getting more worried the more they talked about it.

"You're right, it's not about us," Ben says. "Which means we need to leave. Let the people who handle these things handle it. If anything happens, we will just be in the way. There's no reason to put yourself in any danger."

He was almost pleading with Ezra at this point. If anything happened to his little brother, well, it would ruin him. The last thing he wants is to see him get hurt, or worse.

It was funny, Ezra thought, how there wasn't one right answer to these things. Once upon a time, Master Kenobi had told him that Maul wasn't his responsibility and that he should just go home. He'd trusted, and done was he was told, and all had turned out as well as he believes it could have, at that point.

Ben wasn't really saying anything different now, and in many ways, Ezra was even less prepared for this situation. All he really had to work with against whatever was going on in Billy's head and making all this happen, was his wits and his words.

But the problem was he'd already committed to the mission, and there wasn't anyone better equipped, unless one of the people who knew Billy much better suddenly got their memories back.

"If this were just the...villain of the week, maybe I could just let someone with superpowers here deal with it," he tried to explain. "But it's not. It's about what's real and what's not, and getting everyone safely back to Temba. And who I really am means I can't walk from the obligation to help everyone we live alongside."

He gripped at his hair in frustration and let out a deep breath, before he met Ben's gaze. "If you remembered who you really are, you'd agree!"

"Would I?" Ben said with skepticism. "If any of what you said is real, then why would I want to remember? You haven't exactly said anything that would make it worth it. I like my life here the way it is. Don't you? It can't be all that bad. In fact, its better than what you have described of this so called other life."

And he's not exactly wrong. Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't live a pleasant life. Not any more at least. Ben was happy and content where he was at. Why would he want to give it up? To put an end to all of it?

Ezra closed his eyes. "There's a lot I like about this life," he admits. "Things I didn't get to have before. A nice place to live. A good school. Someone always looking out for me who hasn't been ripped away by circumstances."

Not yet, at least.

"It's not that I don't want to be your brother. We said before that we're family, and we still will be," he insists. "But I can't ignore what's actually happening here either. I think...this life only exists because someone we know from Temba is in pain."

Perhaps there was a part of Obi-Wan still there. A part that didn’t want to remember, that didn’t want to go back to the pain that his old life brought. Here he was happy. He had a life that wasn’t one tragedy after another. It was a normal a simple life, but it brought him peace.

Though as Ezra went on, Ben’s countenance changed. Blue eyes turning a bit sad, and yet contemplative. His hands gently gripping the young man’s shoulders again.

“Ezra, you are my brother, and I love you.” His words an echo of a time not so long ago. “I don’t understand everything that’s going on here, but I can see that you’re serious and that you have made up your mind.” It pained him to see and acknowledge that. He wanted nothing more than to just take his little brother home and pretend none of this happened. But he couldn’t do that.

“If this is what you really want, what you feel is right, then I will stand by you.”

Ezra smiles back, but it's slow dawning and doesn't entirely hide the roil of contradictory emotions inside him. Ben's expression and tone feel more like Obi-wan, who Ezra has missed horribly these last weeks.

And yet he doesn't like seeing that sadness ghosting over Ben's face. He's sure will miss Ben, too, and their small happy family.

"Thank you," he says, fervently. "So much. For listening to me and supporting me. You always have, in his life and the other one. And now we really do need to get going."

He steps back and starts leading the way towards the warehouse were Ikora was supposed to take Billy.

"Also, when this is all done, we should have a good long talk," he adds, over his shoulder.

Edited 2021-06-06 01:38 (UTC)

“All right,” Ben reluctantly agreed to the suggestion that they needed to get going. He wasn’t so sure about this as he preferred to keep a nice healthy distance from the actual action. But if that’s where Ezra was going, he would follow. And he did.

Though Ben gave him a confused look when Ezra said they needed th talk after this. “If you say so,” he calls back. After all, they had done a lot of talking already. But he had a feeling his brother was right.

Ezra isn't exactly thrilled about either of them being around the shadows, either, without a good way to fight them. He's not even sure a lightsaber would work, if they did have them.

But a lightsaber isn't the only way to solve a problem. Convincing Billy he could stop all this still seemed like the best solution, and the only way to help do that was to press forward.

He keeps glancing back at Ben, wondering if there was any of the long trained skill at self defense underneath a reporter's mild manner.

Ben has absolutely no memory of being a warrior and has no ability to really fight. He’s just an ordinary guy living a simple life. Which is why he’s not thrilled about either of them charging into this either. But at the very least he might have a good story to tell when all of this is over?

However, when Ezra glances back once, Ben’s eyes widen. The man suddenly charging forward with a speed and reflexes that might be surprising to them both.

“Ezra look out!”

He pushes his brother aside just in time as the shadow creature lashes out. Sparing Ezra from being hit, only to take it himself.

"No!" Ezra cried out. No, this wasn't how this was supposed to go at all.

He tries to catch Ben as his brother stumbles back.

Is it just a nasty punch? Do the shadow do something else? He just doesn't know.

As Ezra catches Ben, thankfully before he hits the ground, the man gasps in shock. A dark burn mark on his chest. Blue eyes wide with terror and pain.

Ben sputters and tries to say something as he looks up at his little brother. However, nothing comes out and everything goes dark as he loses consciousness. His body going limp.

"No!" Ezra cries out again, and shakes Ben a little. He had to wake up. They had to get going. "Ben?"

His mind flashes unbidden to the memory of Maul's voice in his head and he'd tries to find his way across the wastes of Tatooine - he still wasn't sure how much that been dehydration induced hallucination versus Maul using, as he'd had at various point, whatever warped bond they'd had to project.

He is dead. You lead me to him.

"Obi-wan?" Ezra whispers, dropping a hand to check for breathing and pulse.

No. Not dead. Not yet. He blinks back tears. It had been a lie then, and it was his fear lying to him now. He just had to...get up. Carry Ben to the warehouse. Maybe Ikora could help. Or maybe if Billy saw people were really getting hurt, he'd snap out of it.

It's harder without being able to channel the Force, but he can do a fireman's carry. He carefully shifts Ben so he can lift him - thankfully, as long as he isn't trying to actually move in a direction, the shadows seem to hang back.

And then, once he thinks he has his balance, as much as he can, he bolts.

He can do this.

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It's the Final Countdown

Shadow monster time (for Ben)

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