knowhere | hologram.

Got a question.

[There's a very casual way about the way he's sitting in his bed, legs stretched out in front of him. There's very little to show off right now, but he doesn't mind announcing himself.]

And honestly, the sample base seems like it's mostly gonna be robots, but I'm not counting you out. See, I don't doubt that we can all be pulled from our worlds and even from different times. The science works out, but I want to make sure that there's more cases of it.

See, there's a pickle here, and it's in the shape of someone claiming he knows me. I want to make sure he knows me, and not just some other-Earth version of me.

I think we all know that there's no telling these things for sure. Of course there isn't. But I'd like to start lining up the cases.

[There's a pause where he shrugs in an almost dramatic fashion, as if he's trying to make it seem like it's no big deal and just a thing he wants to know. He doesn't have that big of a stake in answers, except for the part where he has too much of a stake. The contempt in Robin's voice was almost too telling.

Jason doesn't like it.

He does go on after a moment:]

For those of you who don't know about that, or don't give a damn, I'd like your take on this. C'mon, let it out. Vent a little. I think we could all use it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That sounds exactly like it, but I'm not too keen on it working that way.

It means I messed up somehow. [It means that his meeting with Bruce didn't go the way he wanted it to.

He won't say that, though. He'd rather hold himself accountable for messing up than to accept the reality of his relationship with his father.]

It is unsettling. In the world I remember, we were, well, we were both going to die.

But he's from my future and very much, apparently, not dead.

[And Wing isn't quite sure he wants to know the rest.]

Maybe fate just fell out a different way?

I'm not the biggest fan of fate.

[It means he doesn't have any control over his life, and the truth is that Jason already feels like he doesn't. Why push things a step further?]

Fate doesn't require your belief in it to exist.

[Beware the gnomic wisdom of Crystal City.]

Would you prefer to have no hope, friend?

Being destined for something usually doesn't involve a whole lot of hope. Not in my experience.

Perhaps you're right. But, well, I think I die back home, and if my dying brought about something better, through fate, surely it was worth it?

[He doesn't sound as sure as he wished he felt.]

Drop the fate. Make it your own choice. That's how I see it. If you died doing something you believed in, hold on to that. If Fate, or whatever you're calling it, is a factor, then look at what's making that happen. What caused that chain of events.

[He shrugs.]

But it's all a choice.

It should be, at least. It was a choice in my case.

Was it not in yours?

Reaching, aren't you?

I'm sorry, friend. I'm curious, that's all.

I'm just a big fan of making choices for yourself. Not for someone else.

I think all beings should have the freedom to decide what they do with their lives, yes. It's just sometimes, well, destiny seems to have larger plans for us.

Yeah? So how do you feel about being alive in spite of pushing the red button and ending your life?

[Red button? That must be a figure of speech?]

Being alive here? That I have a second chance, that I've been given a great gift.

Well, at least you're not turning your back on it.

I have been kept away from the world for too long to say no to any experience.

The world ... you mean, living?

[Wing laughs.]

Well, that too, but I meant that Crystal City, my home...we hid underground away from, well, everything.

So, wait, did you return there? Or are you just hoping that we'll get this place fixed up?

Oh no, I haven't returned. But perhaps now, I can. I gave my life gladly for them and the thought I might see them again?

[He's speechless. Well, not for long. ]

And you? Do you wish to return home?

As long as they'd be happy to see you.

[Jason still isn't sure anyone would be happy to see him, and his one encounter with someone who might answer that question hadn't gone particularly well. Hence his inquiries in the first place.]

As for me, I've got unfinished business.

Why wouldn't they?

[Sorry, he really is this naive.]

I'm sure friends would too, beyond your unfinished business.

Can I ask what it is?

Sometimes, you burn the wrong bridges. [Or die in explosions.]

And I'm not interested in sharing. It doesn't matter much here.

One can always build new bridges, stronger than before.

[Uh oh, Wing does love these fortune cookie wisdoms.]

You're right. This place can be a new beginning for all of us.

Too bad I wasn't really looking for one. But hey, it's what I've got. Better not to pretend that it's something else.

hologram

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