everyonelives | someone is on your side

Yeah. Just in high school.

( People talk. Hands on his knees, he stands from the small table in his hotel room. )

You helped free the hostages, Davina is cataloguing the dark objects -- everyone's free.

Are you still going to keep working for Allison and Isaac?

[The objective of the task force of sorts seems to be completed, but this is a lot of man power and organization that could be put to good use. Though it's unclear if anyone is thinking that far ahead at the moment.]

Look, I've never been able to tell you what to do, you've barely ever been able to take my advice, but I think it's time we head back to Star City. Not forever. But.

( He wants to go back.

There are logistics to think of, and Cooper's place in it, and what happens even after that. But, for now, he thinks this makes the most sense for him. )

You earned a break.

[Is it a break if she's going back to the shattered remains of what her life used to be? Can she float around the same house with her father, knowing that she remembers a universe where he died? Can she look JJ in the eye without seeing Deathstroke?

She's not in a rush to deal with any of these things, but she's also ninety percent certain she's not going to be able to get away with it.]

I'm not sure Star City is going to be a break.

[But she's not saying no.]

Feminist-angled press aside, slaying wasn't a break. Nor was this. This might be the closest thing you get to a break ... until you decide you don't need one anymore. And you know if you don't at least make an appearance, Dad is jumping on another plane.

( He just feels it in his bones. Come to the light, Carol-Anne. )

[She sighs as she goes to settle down next to him, and nods.]

Fine. I'll come back to Star City.

[She makes a face.]

And figure out how to square things with JJ.

Can you square things with J.J.?

( Sorry, but you're talking to your objective, practical genius brother. And from all angles, this is not squareable. But, that's why you love him. )

I'm not planning on getting back together with him.

[She can't. She can't close her eyes without seeing Zoe's face, and that's not someone she can be with, even if it is a different JJ.

Then she presses her lips together and turns to face him.]

But our dads are best friends. I should at least give him a chance to clear the air.

Again, he's the one that needs to clear the air? Mia, you left him in Europe on your - engagement trip. I'm not saying you can't be civilized, I just don't think even J.J. would come to you hat in hand and just... clear the air.

( He's missing big pieces to the puzzle and his (19) of sense motive senses there's something else underneath everything. )

Mia, did he do something?

And I'm not saying I should. I, one hundred percent, am the one on the apology tour here.

[That's what she's meant. But at the same time, she grimaces and shakes her head.]

No, he didn't. Not ... not him anyway.

Not him. Was this - it's not just slaying. Did someone - what, blackmail you into leaving him?

( or ask or - something? something's not adding up. )

[She takes a deep breath, slumping back as she covers her eyes because something has to give, and she really didn't want to tell anyone this, but here they are.]

When my Slayer abilities were activated, I started ... remembering things. Another me. Another life. Like Crisis, that everyone talks about? I was there.

You were there. The big crisis with dad and the other - Paragons. Okay.

( He's listening. He's here. He's just trying to stay caught up. )

[Technically that "you" is a "we" but she doesn't want to make things worse. She takes a breath as he processes before pushing herself up some more.]

I wasn't a paragon or anything, but apparently the Monitor wanted to remind Dad what he was fighting for or something. Anyway, the world that I lived in before crisis though? Star City was ... a mess. The criminals had taken over after Dad died, and things were just getting worse and worse and ...

[Deep breath.]

In that reality, JJ was a Deathstroke. He killed Zoe right in front of me. And everytime I looked at him, I saw her and I just ... eventually I couldn't deal anymore. Then, Faith showed up to give me the Slayer talk and I took the out.

( She couldn't make things worse. He could never blame his sister like that, for anything. Because she had reasons for everything and she always landed on her feet.

He tries keeping up. She wasn't a paragon and the Monitor needed their dad. The world she describes isn't far from the truth. Star City still has crime, but not to that degree. This other life, it sounded brutal. And worthy of being erased or replaced. Especially, when she gets to J.J. and his alter ego. )

Zoe? ( It pains him, the three musketeers down one musketeer. And thanks to J.J. ) No wonder you bolted. He was Deathstroke? So, everything about it being too much, you were reconciling what happened. Both you's. I can't believe you've been living with two lives in your head.

It was easier when I was with the Slayers. They didn't know me so if I slipped up between the two versions of me, they couldn't tell the difference.

[She rubs her eyes.]

But being around you, dad, everyone back home and having to juggle both ... it's going to be a lot. I don't even know what Dad knows about all of this.

You think he does?

( If it involved him, then it makes sense. Unless the Monitor wiped it from his mind, too. )

Are there two me's?

I don't know why he wouldn't?

[But they're in for a rude awakening later. She hesitates at the second question, unsure what she should tell him, but since the Zoe of it all was already out of the bag.]

Yeah. You had your own company, but under your mom's name. People weren't super fond of Queens.

Space-time continuum? Not going completely insane? ...Compassion?

( He has his ideas. )

So, instead of Queen Consolidated, Harris. I wasn't one of the criminals, was I?

No.

[She smiles slightly.]

But you were my guy in the chair. Though we didn't get to grow up together in that world. Mom took me away to this cabin in the middle of nowhere. No one knew I existed.

I was your Overwatch?

( But, more in an eventual capacity? )

Look, I have more questions, but I don't want to overload you. And, it feels like you've been overloaded for months. I'm sorry you had to live with that alone, Mia.

[She shakes her head.]

It was a choice I made. Not something you have to apologize for.

[But it does have her worried about going home. She knows that she was going to have to do it eventually, but now it's a little more real. She will deftly change the subject though:]

Cooper coming with us?

( Very, very smooth. But, it's something that does need to be discussed - between he and Cooper. )

I haven't asked. I know we talked about being together for real when this is all over. We didn't talk about where or what would happen then.

Well, maybe it's time for you guys to have that conversation.

[Because they've reached the end. Now they actually have to follow through on their word.]

For what it's worth, I like him. What he did was hard, and he did it anyway.

And he died for it.

( Who else is going to get a complex from that? This guy. )

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