Avoiding Past And Future

(81) Misplaced 14

WARNINGS* blood* mentions of body horror-esque injury* severe injury* extreme emotional distress* borderline mental breakdown

november 6

"What the hell was that?!"

Robin didn't know who yelled, didn't know who was moving around him as muted chaos broke out all around. His mind barely grasped what was left and what was right. All he knew is that he just watched his brother detach himself from himself and inject that self into the helmet.

One moment it was like the entire scene before him just froze, like somebody had hit pause on life.

The next, sparks started bouncing off the helmet. Sparks that used Phantom's ecto-bindings to cross over to the other side. Robin was no fool, for once none of them were. Everybody around them knew to some extend what was going on.

If there was one thing about their current predicament that nobody could rebuke, it was the fact that any attempt made at removing the helmet without Dr. Fate's permission results in a not so nice zap to get the offender to back off. As it seemed, even distance didn't matter if there was still some form of connection between the two parties.

Cujo growled at the pair, barks bringing him closer and closer to them. Growing into a fiery beast, he snapped at the connection, getting zapped in the process while making no difference. Rapid shifting between his forms, sparks danced off of him as he steadied his breathing. Rushing in once more, his jaws clamped down hard. The fire on his fur blazed on, heat sweltering off of him as he tried in vain to play tug of war with the electrically charged binding.

Seeing that the pup wasn't going to stop even as it was getting more and more injured, Captain Marvel rushed in. Body slamming Cujo into releasing his hold, he got a few seconds of agony shooting through him as well. Gasping for breath as he tried to regain his senses, he watched Cujo attempt to rush for Phantom again. With the speed of Mercury on his side, he threw himself on top of the pup, desperately trying to keep Cujo from hurting himself even more.

Cujo desperately looked between the big dog, Conner and Robin, trying to find anybody willing to help his boy if they insisted on not letting him try. Conner stood in silent horror, eyes glued to Phantom's body as Cujo's whines pierces his ears. "He's not..." He didn't dare utter the words, afraid of what it would mean. "Why is he not breathing?"

Grunting as he wrestled the tiny yet mighty pup, Captain Marvel looked at Conner in confusion. "What do you mean? He never really breathed." Marvel grit out, praying Cujo wouldn't remember he could just turn intangible on a whim. "Like there would be moment's he'd stop and after a while just start up again like he forgot he had to breathe." Noting his colleague struggle against the distressed dog, Oliver joined Marvel in the dirt to hold Cujo back. Bringing one foot forward, he dug his heel into the ground as he tried to keep himself cemented to the icy dirt with the other.

The hero's words weren't properly penetrating his brain as Conner kept watching on. He wasn't even sure if his senses were betraying him or not with how perfectly still the body looked. Reaching out to Phantom like he was Aurora on her 16th birthday, Conner was surprised when he actually felt the intense pain of the electricity. Muscles tensing up, it took both Kaldur and M'gann's help to pull him off the boy. Taking a moment to center himself, his eyes fell to the ground as he whispered out. "There's...no heart beat either."

"Conner what are you talking about? He never did." Marvel's frustrations rose, scrambling as Cujo finally managed to wriggle out of his grip and try to rush for Phantom. Wolf jumped in his way, baring his teeth at the desperate hound until Cujo shrunk down to a pup once more. Wining desperately, he tried to get past the mutant, only to receive more low growls in return.